Fasting and Feasting

A long and lovely day (but always prayers for Ukraine and for loveeveryminute in my heart). 

Padre Luís, Cecílio, and Ermelinda came for an early lunch before we picked up Sr Manuel (extra of them) and drove off to Olivença (a Portuguese town in Spain) - the men went to a bullfight, and Ermelinda and I did some sightseeing around the town. The main is a part of the view from the King's Tower - you can see the bullring. Everyone came back to ours for a second go at the lunch, so we have a lot less leftovers than I was expecting!

Lent verse of the day is Matthew 9v14-15, where John the Baptist's followers ask Jesus why his followers don't fast like they do. The booklet suggests different ways of fasting, such as:
- fasting from hard words: using generous words 
- fasting from sadness: going for gratitude 
- fasting from violence: adopting gentleness and patience 
- fasting from lamenting: valuing what we have 
- fasting from words: filling ourselves with silence, listening to others, listening to God...

Gratefuls:
- the food coming out well: my first go at serving bacalhau (salted cod) to the Portuguese (who are the experts), plus some of our lamb, braised in wine, and a lemon meringue bavaroise
- the ethnographic museum, superb
- Sr Manuel coming to ours for the first time, an honour