Spice exploration: My India teaching mission, part 3

Father Gregory and I pose for a photo at the end of today's class. Nearly all the women in the class are religious sisters and all or nearly all the men are priests. They hail from India, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

(For background on my India teaching mission, click here, or go here to see all my posts from India.)

Father Gregory Gresko, O.S.B., and I have been teaching our course on the indissolubility of marriage for three days here at the Indian Session of the John Paul II Pontifical Theological Institute for Marriage and Family Sciences and are settling into a pleasant rhythm. He designed the course and is the main lecturer, and I step in at various points to add information or shed additional light on the topics under discussion.

I make a point during yesterday's class.

Today I particularly enjoyed showing students how to understand the disputatio format of the Summa theologiae and explaining to them articles that are relevant to this week's lectures, including ST III, q. 29, a. 2, on whether Mary and Joseph had a real marriage, and ST Supp., q. 44, a. 1, concerning the metaphysics of the marriage bond (e.g. that it is an interior bond rather than something externally imposed). The students are highly motivated and ask great questions.

I can't even begin to describe what the meals here are like. My fear coming here was that I wouldn't be able to eat anything but bananas, as I don't tolerate hot spices well. But in fact the John Paul II Institute's cooking staff do an amazing job of making delicious meals that have full Indian flavors without the heat.

Andrea, a friend of Father Gregory's who came here with us to take our course, took the photograph above, showing yesterday's breakfast. The pancake is called appam, and the sauce includes ginger and onions. Delicious!

At my perch in our lecture hall.

Many thanks to those of you who have been praying for my safe travels. Early tomorrow morning, Father Gregory and I fly to Bangalore to speak at the symposium there that I mentioned in an earlier post. We are also going on a safari! The next time I post, I hope to be able to share with you a photo from my camera of a Bengal tiger.