The Lovely Little Things of Today

+JMJ+
Today was a day full of lovely little things which I desire to share with you in list form.  The order of the list shall correspond with the order of events, from the beginning of the day to the end:

1.  After class today, Monsignor led us in praying the Stations of the Cross.  We walked along a path outside as we prayed each station, meditation on the passion of Christ.

2.  I left halfway through praying the Stations of the Cross so that I could make it to Mass at 4pm.  There, the funniest thing happened to me.  At the church in our neighborhood, daily Mass is celebrated in a little side chapel.  There are usually just around 5-7 other people there.  Today, there were only four other people, three elderly women and one elderly man.  I was kneeling and praying in the second pew before Mass started when the woman in front of me, a tiny old Italian woman, turned to me and said something very quickly in Italian.  I gave her a confused smile and shrugged, saying "Inglese" (which means "English").  She said something else to me and I just smiled and shrugged again, and we both went on with our lives...or so I thought.  Mass began.  When the time came when the first reading was supposed to be read, the lady who had spoken to me before Mass turned around and looked at me.  I just smiled back at her, like "What?"  Then, I saw Father was also looking at me with an expectant look, complemented by gestures that said, "Well, aren't you going to come up and do the reading?"  They were expecting me to read for Mass in Italian!!  HA HA! I couldn't help but let out a little giggle, then just shook my head, looking apologetically towards Father, trying to hold in my laughter.  I couldn't (and still can't) believe they were actually expecting me to read in Italian!  I don't know what they could have been thinking; apparently, for some reason they thought I spoke Italian.  Too funny...

3.  I volunteered with the Missionaries of Charity tonight!  It was so great!  The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa's sisters) have a few houses in Rome.  I went with my RD and one other student to volunteer at the house they run for homeless men.  We helped serve dinner to the men, cleaned up the kitchen and dining areas, and talked to a couple of the men.  Being able to serve was such a gift.  The sisters were very happy to have us and asked us to come back.  I hope we do!  We probably will:)

4.  I saw the room in which St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists order, lived the last two years of his life and died.  This room is not normally open to the public, but we asked and got special permission.  Deo gratias!

The crucifix on the wall (left) is the actual crucifix St. Paul of the Cross prayed with and used

5.  I saw a pink limo.  There was a little girl in the back window (which was down) waving at us and yelling something to us.  It was adorable and pretty exciting.  I bet that limo is the biggest car I've seen since I've been in Rome, aside from busses.

6.  I went out for dinner with two classmates, my RD, and an English-speaking priest from Trinidad!  Yay!  It was so much fun.  I got this delicious pizza that had at least four different kinds of cheese on it. The priest from Trinidad shared with us about his ministry back in Trinidad.  One of the most interesting things he talked about was his parish's observance of Lent.  He has six villages and will spend six-eight hours, in one sitting, hearing confessions.  He goes from village to village, preaching.  Here's the SUPER cool part: they have a Lenten cruise in Trinidad!  1500-2000 people get on a boat that sails around the Island while a priest preaches, teaches, and all the people get to spend quality time together while being catechized!  Best plan ever!  Father also told us that in Trinidad, they make coffee and chocolate.  Sign me up!  Coffee, chocolate, Lenten cruises!  Sounds like a good path to heaven to me!  ;)

Tomorrow morning, I'm hoping to get up in time to go to the Station church for Mass.  What is a station church?  In Rome, for everyday in Lent, a Church is picked in which Mass will be celebrated throughout the day in all different languages!  Pretty spiffy!  The American Mass is at 7am, so I should get to bed.  Some of the students, myself included, are going to visit Ostia tomorrow, too!  More on that later.  Goodnight and God bless!

+JMJ+

Dress for Success

+JMJ+

I'm sure (or, I'd like to think) that some of you have noticed that I didn't post on my blog yesterday.  It is true, I was not blogging last night; rather, I was passed out across my made bed, still dressed from the day, hat and shoes still on.  No one took a picture, so you'll just have to trust me on this.  It probably wasn't pretty anyway.

After eight hours of sleep and two caffe macchiatos, I was a brand new person this morning.  Yay! We toured St. Lawrence this morning.  St. Lawrence, St. Stephen, St. Justin Martyr, and Blessed Pope Pius IX are all buried there!  It's one of the seven pilgrimage Churches in Rome.  On our way, we passed the Colosseum.  That's still on the to do list!

Now, let's talk about yesterday (Wednesday).  Normally, I have class in the morning and evening on Wednesday; yesterday was an exception.  Due to the unique circumstances of Pope Benedict XVI's announcement of his intention to renounce the office of the papacy on the 28th of February, our program director cancelled classes so that we could attend the Pope's Wednesday audience and the Mass he would celebrate for Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season in the Church.  Pope Benedict XVI will only have two more Wednesday audiences and the Ash Wednesday Mass was his last scheduled papal Mass!

A Wednesday papal audience is basically consists of the following: part of one of the Gospels is read, the pope addresses the pilgrims gathered on a topic related to the Gospel that was read.  This first address is given in Italian.  He follows this with shorter messages in various languages for the pilgrims who have come from all over the world.  These messages are typically a summary of the longer message he gave in Italian, but not always.

We left at 6am to get in line for the audience, which started at 10:30am.  Amazingly, we got there around 7am and were the first ones in line!  Our RD was with us and she said that the NEVER happens, that there is always a substantial line by 7am!  Such a blessing!  We spent our time waiting making reading, talking, and making rosaries.  I brought a bunch of rosary cord with me and the other students have picked up the trade very quickly!  Our time spent waiting was well spent and even enjoyable.

Our group, waiting for Pope Benedict!

At the beginning of the audience, when Pope Benedict came out, the crowd went wild!  Everyone was cheering, shouts of "We love you, Papa!" were coming from everywhere in the room, some people were even crying.  Everyone was so happy to see the Holy Father!  He was happy to see us too.  He began his address by commenting on his decision to resign from the papacy and thanked, so genuinely, the Church for their prayers.  This is what he said, definitely worth taking a moment to read:

"As you know, I have decided – thank you for your kindness – to renounce the ministry which the Lord entrusted to me on 19 April 2005. I have done this in full freedom for the good of the Church, after much prayer and having examined my conscience before God, knowing full well the seriousness of this act, but also realizing that I am no longer able to carry out the Petrine ministry with the strength which it demands. I am strengthened and reassured by the certainty that the Church is Christ’s, who will never leave her without his guidance and care. I thank all of you for the love and for the prayers with which you have accompanied me. Thank you; in these days which have not been easy for me, I have felt almost physically the power of prayer – your prayers – which the love of the Church has given me. Continue to pray for me, for the Church and for the future Pope. The Lord will guide us."

Here's the rest of the text of the address he gave, in which he focuses on the Lenten season we have just begun.  Take a look!

Pope Benedict also blessed all who attended the audience, their families, and any religious items the pilgrims had brought with them!  Thank you, Papa Benedict!

Pope Benedict at his Papal audience!
(There was a huge crowd of high school students from a Dominican high school in France sitting in front of our group)

After the audience, we took a short break to find some lunch, then, at 1:00pm, the waiting began!  Mass was scheduled to start at 5:00pm.  The doors to St. Peter's Basilica (where Mass was to be held) were scheduled to open for Mass at 3:30pm.  The guards closed the basilica at 1:30pm so they could set up for Mass.  This meant that the line for Mass would officially start at 1:30pm.  So we got in line at 1:00pm.  Our group was in the very front of the line!!!  While waiting, I got a little bit of reading done, found a Nashville Dominican Sister, and made a German friend named Sebastian.  Ash Wednesday was the perfect day for so much waiting; it taught me a lot about the anticipatory time of penance we should have during Lent!  In line, looking towards Mass, most especially the Eucharist, with Pope Benedict; in Lent, looking towards heaven!

When the guard opened the gates at 3:30, it was madness!  Let me tell you, when Mass with the Holy Father is at stake, those nuns can push!  Everyone burst through the gate like water would burst a dam. I ran like I've never run before (the gate is all the way at the back of St. Peter's square, so you have to go all the way up to the entrance, hence the running).

We ended up getting good seats, about the same as what we got last time with our special section tickets (there were no tickets for this Mass).  But then, we got even better seats.  Here's what happened: I was sitting next to our RD, who knows Italian.  She heard a group of people ask one of the Swiss guards if they could move up to some empty seats in the important-reserved-for-dignitaries section.  Apparently, the guard answered something to the effect of, "Not dressed like that, you can't."  The group that had asked were dressed in jeans and sneakers, etc.  My RD and I were dressed in nice skirts, sweaters, and dress shoes.  She asked the guard if we could move up, and he said we could!  We weren't in the front row, but we were in the front section in front of the altar, not on the side!  We could see everything, the whole altar (therefore, the whole consecration), and were close enough to make out facial expressions!

Yes, I stole this picture from the internet, but just to show you where I was sitting.  See the line of bishops on the right?  See the crowd of people sitting in the dark behind them?  I was in there!  I'm pretty sure our seats were a special gift from Mary, the Blessed Mother :)

One of the cardinals, Cardinal Bertone, stepped up to address the Holy Father at the end of Mass.  This move was not in the program.  He said that we (the Church) wouldn't be sincere if we said that there was not a sadness felt among us at his (Pope Benedict's) decision to resign.  He continued,

"All of us have realized that it is precisely the deep love that Your Holiness has for God and the Church that prompted you to make this act, revealing that purity of mind, that strong and demanding faith, that strength of humility and meekness, along with great courage, that have marked every step of your life and your ministry, and that can only come from being with God, from standing in the light of the word of God, from continuously going up the mountain of encounter with Him to descend again into the City of men." (Here's the full text of Cardinal Bertone's address) 

This truly communicated the sentiments of the entire Church.  Cardinal Bertone and many people gathered (myself included, I admit) got emotional.  We love the Holy Father so much!  We will miss having Pope Benedict as our Papa, guiding the Church inspired by the Holy Spirit in the office of St. Peter, but we trust him and support him in his decision!  It's not only a decision for him, it is for the Church and for the world.  His courage and humility in following the will of God, even when God asks something unconventional and difficult, is admirable and inspiring!

At the end, when Pope Benedict was processing out, we (a couple other students, my RD, and I) squeezed our way toward the aisle, waved frantically, and smiled really big!!  Pope Benedict LOOKED AT US, WAVED, BLESSED US, then WAVED AGAIN!  (We know he was looking at us because we were the only ones smiling and waving among the group of elderly dignitaries we were sitting with.)  I was so happy and excited!   I still am!!

And now, we return to the beginning of my post, where I mentioned I was sprawled on my bed, passed out from exhaustion.  That's what happened when we got back to our villa last night.  Today has been a   much needed day of relaxation and (soon) study.  Deo gratias!

P.S.  You may have noticed a distinct lack of pictures on my blog lately.  Well, I have sad news.  I lost my camera at St. Francis' hermitage in Assisi.  I'm hoping to come up with a replacement soon!  Until then, bear with me!  I'll use some of the photos my classmates have been taking and post links to some good ones I come across online.  Here are some pictures from Pope Benedict's Ash Wednesday Mass and a couple from his Wednesday audience.

Also, here's a funny, lighthearted article for the beginning of Lent! A Non-Catholic's Guide to Lenten Weirdness

Finally, I apologize that this post is overwhelmingly long.  I have yet to master the art of blogging: short and succinct!

Lenten Preparations: Carnival!

+JMJ+
Ahhh I have so much I want to share but so little time to spend blogging right now!  I will briefly share the events of my day, a little bit of what last night held and what tomorrow holds

Today is Carnival in Roma, what we know as Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras.  The Italians have been celebrating Carnival for a while now, but today was the last of the big shebang.  One of the customs they observe is that children throw confetti at adults.  Our theology professor provided my classmates and I with the traditional Carnival confetti yesterday on the condition that we would throw it at our Art and Architecture professor this morning.  Fair enough.  We all ambushed our professor with handfuls of colorful confetti and lots of laughs at the end of class today.  He was a good sport about it, but told us we weren't allowed to do it again on Thursday; it's not exactly in the spirit of Lent I suppose...

In my Art and Architecture class today, we toured and studied the Pantheon (which is now the church of Santa Maria ad Martyrs), La Maddalena (a church named after St. Mary Magdalen), San Luigi dei Francesi (the church of St. Louis, king of France, the "French church" in Rome), ending in Piazza Eustachio, where apparently the best coffee in all of Roma exists.  Funny tidbit--as we were walking to the Pantheon, we passed Gammarelli.  Gammarelli is a store for priests, meeting their everyday and (mostly) liturgical needs.  But this isn't just any priest store.  Gammarelli has been the papal taylor (the company that measures the pope for his papal cassock, and really whatever else he needs.  As we were passing by this store, our professor described it as "the Armani of the clerical world."  Ha!  Such a funny concept...

I spent my afternoon in St. Peter's.  The line was much longer to get in...I can't imagine why...

Last night, some of my classmates and I went to St. Peter's square to pray for Pope Benedict, to let him know he is loved, and that we trust him and support him in his efforts to always do the will of God, what is best for Church.  My classes are cancelled tomorrow (well, today here now) so the other students and I can go to Pope Benedict's Wednesday audience and his (from what I've heard) last papal Mass.

Ok, I am literally falling asleep writing this, so I will have to go to bed now and write more later.  Please pray for the Church, the Holy Father, and for whoever the new pope will be!

"Pray, hope, and don't worry."
~Padre Pio

We Love You, Papa Benedict!

+JMJ+
I just got back to campus about an hour ago.  A group of students and I went to St. Peter's Square this evening to pray for Pope Benedict XVI and the Church.  We even had a banner that said "We love you, Papa!  We are with you!!"  That's what is important right now, trusting in the Church and in the Holy Father, and letting him know that we love and support him when he is facing opposition, attack, and suspicion from all around him.  We love you, Pope Benedict!!!

In case you haven't heard, Pope Benedict announced today that he will resign from the papacy on February 28, 2013.  Before you go to the general media, or even if you already have, please read his official statement (below).  Trust in the Holy Father, inspired by the Holy Spirit, and the wisdom of the Church!

The below is the official Vatican translation of what the pope said on February 11, 2013, regarding his resignation.

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church.

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering.

However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013 BENEDICTUS PP XVI

The Assisi Post

+JMJ+

I got back yesterday afternoon from a weekend spent in Assisi.  When I would tell people that I was studying abroad in Rome for a semester, about half of the time, I would hear, "Oh, you HAVE to go to Assisi!"  Now, I understand why.  My experience in Assisi this past weekend was incredible, something that I'll remember forever.  It's truly indescribable (at least, no one could have adequately explained the experience of being a pilgrim in Assisi to me), but I'll do my best to write about it!

Let's start with the basics: what exactly was I doing in Assisi?  Why did I go?

I went to Assisi as a pilgrim, someone who visits a holy place with a prayerful disposition and the intention of receiving special graces from God (please, correct me if I'm wrong here).  I know before this trip, whenever someone would talk about going on a pilgrimage, I always got the sense of a pilgrimage being just a vacation to a holy place.  Well, this weekend, one of the graces I received was coming to a better understanding of what a pilgrimage actually is.  I know, for me, that's something I almost definitely couldn't have understood without actually going on a pilgrimage.  I am so thankful!

Ok, that was slightly off the path of sharing the basics of my Assisi visit.  I'll return to my experience as a pilgrim in my next post; for now, back to simply explaining where I went and what I saw.  Assisi is where St. Francis lived his life (hence, St. Francis of Assisi), from his birth in 1181 or 1182 to his death in 1226.  Another quick, but important, digression: let's clear up something about St. Francis.
What most of society thinks about St. Francis:

Nature loving hippie who talked to animals and hugged trees

The reality of who St. Francis was:

A man who heard the call of God, gave up everything (he was a wealthy noble!) for a life of poverty and penance, embraced and cared for lepers, loved and cared for his brothers, led a life of both contemplative prayer and public preaching, suffered much from illness and the mystical gift of the stigmata (he received the wounds of Christ!), founded the Franciscan order, and "rebuilt the Church".  Yes, tradition tells us he preached to the birds too, but he loved nature because it gave glory to God!

We visited a number of important sites from St. Francis' life.  We saw where he was born and where he died.  We saw his house, including the "prison" room where his dad locked him up.  We visited the hut where Francis and his brothers first began living their radical life of poverty.  We saw the San Damiano cross, from which Francis heard God's command, "Francis, rebuild my Church."  We saw the tomb of St. Francis and the remains of five of his companions (which they just found in December of 2012!).  We saw the San Damiano church/convent that Francis "rebuilt"; this was also the convent where St. Clare and her sisters stayed.  She performed many miracles there and died there.  We saw the tomb of St. Claire, her habit, and Francis' habit.  The place where we stayed was very close to the Basilica Santa Maria Degli Angeli (St. Mary of the Angels).  This church is built around the Portiuncula, also called the tent of forgiveness.  St. Francis lived much of his life in this area and died in a spot that is now built into the basilica for veneration.  The last place we visited was the hermitage of St. Francis, a cave up in the mountains, a ways away from Assisi, where he would go to spend time in prayer.

I have to run to class, but I want to tell you so much more!

Coming soon!

I want to tell you more about my hike up to the hermitage of St. Francis.

Also, I realize that a lot of the terms I've been using in my blog (veneration, basilica, transubstantiation, stigmata) are not exactly part of the vernacular or else may be commonly misunderstood.  From now on, I'll try to briefly explain some of the terms I've been throwing around that may not be "common knowledge," that often I myself need a more concrete understanding of.

Also, real pictures coming soon!

Excitement, Both Already Done and Yet to Come!

+JMJ+

I am afraid I am developing a coffee addiction.  I didn't want this to happen!  But the days are so full and the sleep is so short that I just feel like a new person after having a cafe macchiato (aka pure caffeine)!!  Heehee...someone stop me! (but don't really...)

My day started at 5:30 this morning.  I was up and on my way to St. Peter's for Mass (pretty much the only thing that could get me out of bed that early).  From St. Peter's, the others that went to Mass and I headed out to meet the rest of our class for Art and Architecture touring.  We arrived early, so we stopped at a cafe for coffee and breakfast.  I then proceeded to walk all over Rome in the rain with my class.  Rome is even beautiful on a dreary day!  We toured the Via Ostiense Museum, St. Anselm, which is the Benedictine House of Studies in Rome, the Basilica dei Santa Bonifacio e Alessio, Santa Sabina, and San Francesco Aripa.  Here are some highlights:

St. Anselm Church, the Benedictine House of Studies in Rome

Courtyard of St. Anselm's.  If you look closely, you can see St. Peter's looming in the fog.

Saint Alessio under staircase

This (above) sculpture of St. Alessio is in the Basilica dei Santa Bonifacio e Alessio.  St. Alessio has a really cool life story, so I'll share it briefly.  Time for a saint story!  So, St. Alessio made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and decided just to stay there.  However, after a number of years, Alessio began to become known for his holiness so he went back to where he came fron.  When he came back, Alessio didn't let anyone know who he was.  He came as a stranger to his family's house and asked for room to stay.  All of their rooms were full, but they allowed him to stay under their staircase.  He lived their for the rest of his life and died holding a paper in his hand oh which he had written his life story and his identity.  Upon his death, the pope had to come to pry the paper from Alessio's hand; the family learned they had been serving one of their own, all along.  The staircase in the picture in the church is the staircase that St. Alessio lived under.  St. Alessio teaches us a great lesson in hospitality: you never know who you might be serving or lending a hand to, so always treat them as Christ.

Orange grove through hole in the wall of Santa Sabino

View from lookout spot in the courtyard of Santa Sabino

A rainbow appeared just as we got to the lookout  spot!

Walking away from Santa Sabino

Get ready to have your mind blown.  This is the cell (now turned into a chapel) in which St. Francis stayed when he was in Rome.  We also got to see, touch, and venerate the rock that Francis used as a pillow!  Wow!

In the evening, some of my classmates and I prayed the rosary on Italian TV with Aleteia again.  I got to hold the World Youth Day Cross the whole time!!  Want to see?  Which reminds me, I decided not to take on the internships right now, in case anyone was wondering.  I think the Lord has something else in mind for me here...I wonder what it will be!  He's already given me so much!

After the rosary, the Rome program director took some of the students out for coffee (feeding my addiction...).  We were going to go to a talk on education in the Holy Land, but the speaker changed his mind last minute and decided to speak in French rather than English.  We left that event early since none of us could follow what was being said.

Students having coffee with Mr. Assaf, our fantastic program director

In other exciting news, I bought plane tickets tonight to go to Poland in March and I'm leaving in 4 hours (yikes!) to go to Assisi for the weekend!  I'll be praying for all of my Franciscan friends!  Farewell until Monday!

Random, colorful car I spotted today

A Day at the Villa

+JMJ+

I think today might be the first day that I did not go "into the city."  As much as I'd have liked to, I had class, homework to do, and a tired body to rest.  Class was lovely this morning.  We discussed the fifth and sixth books of the Aeneid, concentrating on the foundational Roman values Virgil wove into the text.  It's exciting to study those values in an ancient text in class one day then go out and see the society, both ancient and modern, that has been built around them the next day!  Next, we delved into poetics.  Studying poetry has been something new for me, which means I not only have to learn the material for the class, but I also have to learn how to learn that subject matter.  The latter adds a lot to the challenge, at least doubles it!  It's a good challenge because it stretches me and gets me out of my comfort zone!  It's so good!

At lunch today, the Rome program director brought the students a jar of Nutella.  Yesterday, he brought us two jars.  They were gone by this morning.  The one he brought us today was gone before the end of dinner tonight.  There are only 15 students!  We have a serious Nutella problem!

By the way, Nutella is delicious on oranges...

Monsignor Soseman came to teach our theology class this evening (as he does every Monday and Wednesday evening).  We've been reading A LOT of commentary on the letters of St. Paul.  To my delight, a good amount of the commentary has been from the writings of St. Josemaria Escriva!  Yay!

An American seminarian came and had dinner with us.  He, and usually two others, come almost every Wednesday, have dinner with the students, then make a holy hour with us.  Making a holy hour is typically spending an hour in prayer with the Eucharist exposed in a monstrance on the altar.

In case you were wondering, my laundry is now dry and put away.  It has been a good day.