Finding God in Lost Luggage

Found myself rather awake (and at a reasonable hour, no less), so I was able to pray a good two hours before breakfast. Not bad, considering I was in Spain Saturday and Rome Sunday and Monday. Quite a trip. My luggage liked it so much, it's still over there, probably eating paella and sipping sangria while watching the Catalan townsfolk doing their traditional dance in the plaza by the Cathedral of Barcelona...

We filed a report in Rome when only four out of our communal six bags came down the chute, and the Roman concierge was kind enough to call every so often to see if the missing bags had been spotted. Alitalia is ultimately responsible for them, even though it was Iberia Airline of Spain that made the fatal mistake that likely led to their being misdirected. I suspect they went astray from the start, in Santiago de Compostela.

Anyway, as we joked during our trip, we were all coming to a greater appreciation of the Gospel injunction to "take nothing for the journey." Only we didn't expect it to actually "be done unto us" that way!

I checked the Alitalia website this morning to see if their much-vaunted "real time tracker" had any news. Nope. Just "The search is continuing. Please check again later."

Barbara and I would very much like to see our suitcases again before we die... Would you add a little prayer to St. Anthony that they come home soon?