Pope Benedict's Last Angelus

+JMJ+
Guess what is special about this Sunday?  Aside from what is obvious from my blog title, today is GET INTO THE VATICAN MUSEUM FOR FREE DAY!  Yay!  Apparently, every last Sunday of the month is like that.  Alright!  I've been hearing that the Vatican Museum will be closed all of March, so today was an especially good day to go.  We were really hard core about it.  I thought it opened at 8am, so I got up at 5:30 and was at the bus stop by 6:15, hoping to get in line an hour early.  Well, when we arrived, there were only about 20 people in line in front of us.  Why was the line so short?  The museum actually opened at 9am.  Two hours early!!  Yeah!  One of my classmates was with me.  We made friends with an American couple that was in line in front of us.  The husband worked for NASA and was on a business trip in Russia!  Crazy.

When the museum opened, we rushed in and ended up splitting up.  Since we were the first ones in, the museum was empty before we went in.  I found myself the only one in many of the exhibit halls, which was really cool actually.  It was quiet and beautiful.  I saw a gazillion sculptures and two gazillion Etruscan pottery pieces (you know, like in Disney's Hercules?).

I saw so much, it was hard to take in all at once.  You would need hours, and I only had an hour and a half (because I wanted to get out to St. Peter's square for the Angelus with Pope Benedict).  Some famous things that I saw that you might recognize:

Laocoon and his sons being killed by sea monsters, an image
from Virgil's Aeneid

School of Athens

I have a confession to make.  I always thought of "The School of Athens" as a medium sized painting in a nice frame hung on a wall.  Well, I was wrong.  I walked into one of the exhibit rooms and BAM there it was, larger than life, painted right on the wall.  Oh, so that's what it's like....

I also saw this giant pine cone sculpture. Pine cones are a big deal here in Rome and are a symbol of renewal and rebirth.

Looking out the window, I also discovered this inside the Vatican walls:

The papal tennis courts and playground!  Ha!

Pope Benedict's last Angelus was so good, so beautiful.  I was blessed that I found my RD in the crowd (a miracle, really) and she was able to translate the Italian the pope spoke.  He commented on the Gospel for today, the Transfiguration.  He said that he felt this Gospel reading is for him in a special way right now, that God is calling him to come up the mountain and be with him in the way of prayer and contemplation.  He is not leaving the Church, but doing what he has always done, that is, trying to do the will of God, which is God's will for the whole Church.  Papa Benedict is a man of such humility and holiness!  I found this blogpost that someone wrote, before Pope Benedict's announcement of his impending resignation, about how Pope Benedict reacted to becoming pope and the humility he showed in that, the same humility with which he now steps down from the papal office.  (Only takes a couple minutes, definitely worth a glance if you have a moment!)

I obviously didn't take this picture, but I was in the front!! (by the fountain that is halfway hidden by Pope Benedict's head)

I went to Mass in English this afternoon.  I am pretty sure I was the only native English speaker there.  Haha!  It was really cute, such a great effort and love put into the Mass by just a few people who sort of knew English, but you could tell they were regulars at that English Mass.

Well, I must be off to bed!  I spent the evening working out details for a trip to Venice next weekend.  Exciting!