My Practically Perfect Day

+JMJ+
Today was practically perfect in every way!!!  It was the most beautiful spring day, definitely the nicest since I've been here in Rome.  It also happened to be my 20th birthday.

Sunrise on the way to Mass at St. Peter's

I was out of the villa all day today, from 6:30am to 10:30pm!  Livin' it up!  I went to Mass at St. Peter's this morning.  God even provided a priest who was celebrating the Mass in English!

After Mass, I went to the 30-cent pastry shop and got a croissant and caffe macchiato for less than one euro.  And it was delicious.  Now that's the way to do it.

The thirty-cent pastry shop is conveniently located right next to the metro, which I then took to the Villa Borghese.  The Villa Borghese is the art collection of the (super wealthy) Borghese family that has been turned into a museum.  The Villa Borghese has extensive grounds which have been turned into a public park.  I love this place.  Conveniently, it was on the way to my destination...but before we get to that, check out some pictures of the park from this morning:

My intended destination was...(drum roll please)...the tomb of St. Josemaria Escriva in the church Santa Maria della Pace!!!!  I got there all by myself and only got disoriented twice throughout the whole adventure.  If you know me, you know that's impressive.  Also, the map on my phone, which requires internet connection to work, randomly started working exactly at the time I got disoriented!  Thank You, Jesus, for that little miracle!  Thank God for miraculous internet hotspots...He can be so practical.

Santa Maria della Pace does not look like a church from the outside; the only way I could tell I was at the right place was by the address on the side of what appeared to be just another residential building.  Thankfully, looks can be deceiving.  Once inside (it was locked and no one there spoke English, but by the grace of God I was able to communicate enough to get me inside), I was led downstairs to a beautiful underground chapel made almost entirely out of marble.  It was so cool!!!  St. Josemaria's body was there, entombed under the altar.  It was so special and such grace for me to be there to pray and give thanks for the gift of St. Josemaria's life.

Tomb of St. Josemaria Escriva (silver coffin under altar)

After my visit to St. Josemaria's tomb, I headed out to meet my classmates for lunch in Trastevere...and I got lost, and ended up missing a little (big!) surprise they had put together for me.  I felt really bad when I found that out later, I still do.  Mea culpa!

After getting lost, I eventually found my way back to Villa Borghese and decided since I had already missed the meeting time for lunch and the day was so lovely that I would just take a stroll through the park, which I did.  Such a good decision.  I passed a playground and decided that swinging was very important, even for 20 year olds, so I swung for a good five minutes.

Me, swinging

Aleteia had a group saying the the rosary again in St. Peter's Square on Italian TV.  I decided to jump in on that, I mean why not, right?  Well, let me just say I never ever thought I would be singing kumbaya on the steps of St. Peter's on Italian TV.  Moving on...

Group gathering to pray the rosary

From St. Peter's, I met up with my RD and two of my classmates.  We headed over to the Missionaries of Charity's homeless shelter for men to help prepare, serve, and clean up dinner.  Two of the men there are Polish, so we sang them a Polish song we learned on our Poland pilgrimage.  They LOVED it.

After volunteering with the sisters, we went to stations of the Cross at the NAC.  From there, I came back to the villa, where I found my bed covered in flowers and cookies.  So went the practically perfect day.  Deo gratias!!!

Sunset skyline seen from the bus in Piazza Garibaldi

My birthday surprise from my classmates!