Lunch on the Rooftop

+JMJ+
Happy day!!  Finished up finals and had lunch on a rooftop.  Yes, you read that correctly.

I had my last final this morning.  It was both extensive and comprehensive, but good.  Afterwards, I packed a Nutella and banana sandwich and bolted off with a couple of my classmates to meet their priest friend at the NAC (American seminary).  Let me tell you, if you are a twenty year old girl and you ever want to feel out of place, go to the NAC.  I will also tell you, if you are a young man and you feel inclined to check out the priesthood, go to the NAC.  It is awesome.  Our priest friend brought us up to a rooftop balcony deck sort of area where we ate our lunches enjoying a view of the whole city.  From there, we could also see the seminarians on the NAC soccer team practicing for their upcoming game against the Brazilian seminary in Rome.  They're part of the Roman seminary soccer league.  Then, he gave us a little tour of the NAC.  There's 250 seminarians and priests living and studying at the NAC.  It was such a gift to be able to see a little bit of the beautiful future of the Church in the States being formed in such a good place in Roma!

These guys are seriously good.

A roof with a view. 

Not a bad deal...

After spending the remainder of the afternoon wandering around the St. Peter's area, I met up with a few of my classmates for Mass at the Polish church here in Rome.  After Mass, and after everyone else had left the church, we sang a song in Polish, which we learned while we were in Poland, to the Blessed Mother.  A Polish sister heard us singing, came out of the sacristy and said some stuff in Polish, and then, "Come with me."  She proceeded to take us to a papal cassock and relic of Blessed John Paul II that had been given to the church.  Thank you, Blessed Mother!!  And I only found out that it was the feast of St. Stanislaus, a Polish saint, after Mass, haha.  So that's why we planned to go to the Polish church today.  Happy feast day!

After Mass, we wondered back to the St. Peter's area and somehow ended up getting gelato too.  Our program director brought us back to the campus, so we didn't even have to wait for the bus at the end of the day!

I've Got Sunshine!

+JMJ+

Yesterday and today have been beautiful days, in more ways than one!  Spring has officially arrived.  It is BEAUTIFUL outside.  I've been able to wear dresses without tights and leave my coat in the closet.  Glorious!  Today, my roommate and I laid in the olive grove, basking in the sunshine while praying a rosary.  Can you say perfect?

Yesterday, I had my last class of the semester.  It was an art and architecture tour.  My professor took my classmates and I to the colosseum area, where we studied the colosseum and surrounding churches. Among the churches was the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul.  This church is not named after the apostle John and Paul, apostle to the gentiles.  Sts. John and Paul were Roman soldiers who were martyred for their Christian faith.  The basilica was built over their house.  Inside, the basilica is adorned with chandeliers.  Lots of chandeliers.  Why?  In 1946, Cardinal Francis Spellman of the archdiocese of New York was the titular cardinal of the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul.  He found out about a hotel that was closing in New York.  This hotel had many many chandeliers that it just didn't know what to do with.  Cardinal Francis Spellman thought they would look nice in the basilica, so he had them shipped over and put up and there they are now.

Check out those snazzy chandeliers

It's also finals week, which means study time has taken up more of my day than usual, but that has not been a bad thing.  In fact, it's been very enjoyable.  I spent yesterday afternoon studying with a couple of my classmates and my RD at the library of Santa Croce University, one of the pontifical colleges in Rome. The library is beautiful and the perfect environment for studying.

Santa Croce University is an Opus Dei school, so I found St. Josemaria hanging around there...

After studying for a few hours, we went to the church of St. Vincent Palotti.  What did we see there?  Only his personal room, belongings, writings, his habit, the bed he slept and died in.  WOAH.  The room was in the back, we had to ask a priest to show it to us, so it was just the four of us back there.  What a beautiful gift!  After seeing St. Vincent's room, we went to Mass at the church.  He is buried under the altar there.

The evening was spent studying.  I had a final this morning and I have another one this evening, so I'll be getting back to my studies as soon as I post this.  Tomorrow is the last day of finals, and therefore the last day of the semester!  It's hard to believe, but it's true!  Only a few more weeks left in beloved Roma.  They will be wonderful!

Happy Birthday, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati!!

+JMJ+
Surprise!

So the surprise I mentioned yesterday ended up working out.  A group of my classmates and I went to what was basically a birthday party for Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati tonight with his niece and her siblings and about twenty-five of Blessed Pier Giorgio's biggest fans in Roma (from all over the world).  It was so fun!  It started with Mass, which we weren't able to make it to because we had class.  After Mass, there was a half an hour of adoration, followed by a prayer service in honor of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati.  After the prayer party at the church, everyone went to Wanda, Frassati's niece's, office where she works on Pier Giorgio's canonization process.  Her office was more like a den sort of room for entertaining.  It used to be her husband's office, who was architect.  We had a pizza party!  Woohoo!

The church where we celebrated Pier Giorgio's birthday

You know, just the courtyard outside of Wanda's office...no big deal

As for the rest of the day, I spent all morning in class and all afternoon having a study party and being in class.  Now it is time for bed so I can study more tomorrow after class!  Helllooooooo finals week!

I'm Baaaaaaaack!!!

+JMJ+
Hello!!!  I've missed keeping up with my blog, but now my crazy irregular awesome week is over (aka time with my lovely family) and now I am back in business!

My family, in Assisi

My siblings and I crashed a movie shooting!

Welcome to finals week!  After spending a week galavanting all over the city (and to Florence and Assisi!) with my family, it's time to get back to the books!  I spent all day yesterday and today writing papers and studying.  OH YEAH!

Actually, I didn't spend alllllll day today studying...because it's Divine Mercy Sunday!  When the Church gives us such a gift, we just have to celebrate.  How do I celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday?  Regina Coeli with Pope Francis (the Regina Coeli is like the Easter season version of the Angelus), then Mass at the Divine Mercy church here in Rome, break for gelato with a friend, then back to the Divine Mercy church for an mercy hour at 3pm, during which the super-crowded overflowing church prayed an international Divine Mercy chaplet.  The church was PACKED, all the pews filled, the aisles and side chapels filled, even the steps outside the church were packed with people coming to pray and celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday.  It was powerful for me to see the Church in Rome come out in such great numbers with such great love for Divine Mercy Sunday; they all came, prayed the Regina Coeli with the pope, but then continued the day of prayer after leaving the square.

The Divine Mercy church

Tomorrow, I have many projects due then finals the rest of the week to study for.  It'll be intense, but it'll be good.  Tonight, we had a study party in the dining room.  We were actually VERY productive.  Our productivity may have had something to do with the lack of internet connection in that room, just maybe.  It may also have had something to do with the breaks we took every forty minutes or so to do various crazy things.  Regardless, it turned out to be a very productive and enjoyable evening.  Hurrah!

Tomorrow may also hold an exciting surprise, but we'll see if that works out.  You'll be sure to hear about it soon if it does!  Now it's bed time.  Buona notte!

A Little Bit of Back-Tracking...

+JMJ+
Back to catching you all up on Holy week.
On Good Friday, I went to Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum with my family.  My family had no seen Pope Francis yet.  We knew he was going to be saying the stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, so we went to spend Good Friday evening with him.  We ended up spending a good part of our afternoon there as well;  we arrived at the Colosseum four hours prior to the time when stations were scheduled to start.  My family got a taste of all the waiting for the Holy Father I've been doing this semester.  They handled it pretty well, and it was a fun time to share with them!

My siblings!

Trying to be artsy while waiting for Papa and contemplating Christ crucified and reading for class...

Papa!   (The lighting makes him look like retro Papa,,, this was not intentional)

On Holy Saturday, I intended to spend the day working on homework and studying, but I instead I ended up working on organizing my life a little bit, walking around Trastevere to check Easter Vigil times at different churches, and spending some quality time with friends and family.  Holy Saturday night, the vigil of Easter Sunday, I went to the Easter Vigil Mass at St. Cecila's.  It was so so beautiful!  There were only about forty people there, which was a nice change of pace after so many thousands of people at papal Masses and events.  The liturgy was a beautiful celebration of the resurrection of Jesus! We processed down into the crypt of the Church for the part of the Mass in which the people renew their baptismal vows.  My mom, my sister, and two of my classmates went with me.  It was perfect.

Blessing the Easter candle

Preparing the incense

St. Cecilias's during the Easter Vigil 

Processing down into the crypt

Christ is risen!  Alleluia!

Easter Sunday was a joyous occasion, as it should be!!  We got up early and went to wait in line for Easter Sunday Mass with Papa.  The gentlemen held our spot while the ladies took a morning coffee break.  It was a long wait, but by the grace of God through the generosity and persistence and bravery of my RD, we ended up in the 9th row back from the altar. That's really close!!!

Early morning coffee break!

We sat this close!!!  Deo gratias!!

Pope Francis paused in front of this image of the Risen Lord

Easter Gospel!

JESUS!!!  

Swiss guards

Pope Francis, making rounds on the Pope Mobile

Urbi et Urbi address after Mass

After Mass, I came back to where my family is staying to try to get some work done, but I just fell asleep for a few hours instead.  I believe those few hours were more productive than any schoolwork could have been at that point.  Deo gratias!

This evening, I just got back from a two day trip with my family, one day in Florence, one day in Assisi.  It was so beautiful, but also exhausting, and I still have much to do in preparation for tomorrow, so I must wait to share with you about my little two-day excursion.  Hopefully my blogging will return to a more regular state soon!

Holy...Week!

+JMJ+
Wow!  What a week!  Sorry I fell off of the face of the earth there for a few days.  I was feeling a bit "blogged" down...ha....haha...so I decided to take the Triduum off, then got swept away by all the excitement that's going on around here.  I'll share a bit of that with you now, but only briefly, because I'm leaving in the morning for a two-day trip to Florence and Assisi with MY FAMILY!!!!

Let's do a little run through of Holy Week:

On Holy Thursday, I went to the Chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.  Pope Francis celebrated the Mass!!  The Chrism Mass is the Mass where all the oils that will be used for sacraments until next Easter are blessed.  I didn't get a seat in the special section this time, but I was very close to the aisle.  One of the classmates was right on the aisle and was able to hand off a postcard she had written for Pope Francis to a cardinal walking RIGHT BEHIND the pope who said he would give Pope Francis her letter!  YAY!  Also, there was a large family sitting next to us that had a baby, so we let the baby through to the aisle, out of charity of course....and hoping that Pope Francis might come over and kiss the baby.  No such blessing was to be ours that day...

Enjoying the Basilica while waiting in line on a rainy day

View from where I was sitting in the basilica 

We sat right next to one of the guards!  Had to be stealthy, major. 

The Chrism Mass is a Mass dedicated to priests in a special way.  The procession of priests into the basilica lasted around fifteen minutes because so many of them came!!  Even the priests from the parish up the road from our villa were there!  So beautiful!

This is one of the vats of holy oils to be blessed.  It was HUGE!

Papa!

Bye, Pope Francis!

After Mass, I prepared for my family to arrive!  I helped clean the apartment they'd be staying in, went grocery shopping, and had this prepared for them to surprise them when they arrived:

Ok, fine, I ate almost all the Nutella,,,still, it was a nice gesture, right?

When my family arrived, I gave them no time at all to rest or settle in!  Right away, we were off to Trastevere for the sepulchro walk.  On Holy Thursday, the Eucharist is taken to an altar of repose after Mass.  In Rome, these altars are elaborately decorated with candles, flowers, bread, and wine, and the churches stay open until midnight so that people can come and pray.  A sepulchro walk is making a pilgrimage to any seven of these churches, taking a few minutes to pray in each one.  I think it was one of my favorite things I've done all semester.  The altars were so beautiful!

My personal favorite

The altar at our villa was decorated too!  We had adoration all night.

The rest of the Triduum and Easter was good too, but since I went a little overboard on my extrapolation of Holy Thursday, the rest will have to wait since I've got to be up and ready to go EARLY.  Happy Easter!  Ciao!!

Shampoo

+JMJ+
Today:
-Sleeping in! (until 7:50am...this is a big deal)
-Class
-Run errands, like checking churches for Easter Vigil times and picking up papal mass tickets.  Best errands ever.
-Go to the library for a few hours, during which I created this!  It is not finished yet...stay tuned.
-Meet friends to meet up with a priest from Peru for Mass and a meditation to kick off the Triduum
-Priest offers us coffee, tea, and cookies.  We accept and stay and chat for a while.
-Late dinner over a meditation
-Got my camera in the mail!!

Ok, now I must go to bed so that I can get up in the morning for the Chrism Mass with Pope Francis.

and MY FAMILY IS COMING TOMORROW!  Everyone, get excited.