Although by Night

I am doing a reflection on this poem for my Spiritual Theology class and I am a big fan.

How well I know the spring that brims & flows,
Although by night.
This eternal spring is hidden deep,
How well I know the course its waters keep,
Although by night.
It's source I do not know because it has none
And yet from this, I know, all sources come,
Although by night.
I know that no created thing could be so fair
And that both earth & heaven drink from there,
Although by night.
I know its depths possess no bed to fathom
And that none may ford across or sound them,
Although by night.
Its radiance is never clouded, and in this
I know that all light has its genesis,
Although by night.
I know its currents carry such abundance
They water hell & heaven & all nations,
Although by night.
The current welling from this fountain's source
I know to be as mighty in its force,
Although by night.
And from these two proceeds another stream.
I know that neither over this one reigns su­preme,
Although by night.
This eternal fountain is concealed from sight
Within this living bread to give us life,
Although by night.
And here is calling out to all the creatures,
These waters quench their thirst, although by darkness
Because they lie in night.
I long for this, the living fountain-head,
I see it here within the living bread,
Although by night.

St. John of the Cross

warmer

The weather is getting warmer here and it feels like spring! We are persevering...I have two finals on Monday, two on Tuesday, and one on Wednesday. Everyone here leaves on Friday at like 3am. Fr. Carola is sending us off with mass at 2:15 am.

I'm working on studying now and papers...please pray for us!

Continuing pilgrimage: St. Padre Pio, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica

After we left Lanciano, we hopped back into the van to drive an hour to San Giovanni Rotundo, where the Capuchins in their brown habits and sandaled feet still bring to mind the simple man long ago who renounced everything, even the clothes he was wearing on his back, to life entirely for Christ. Many modern distortions think of St. Francis mainly as a tree-hugger, when in fact, while he did love God’s creation, he was a saint so conformed to Christ that he was the first ever to receive the stigmata, that is, the wounds of Christ. We were excited to meet a more recent Saint who bore those same wounds, in the same brown tunic: St. Padre Pio.

Facing a detour to get to San Giovanni, we drove instead winding overtop a mountain, we tried very hard not to feel sick, as Father kept getting distracted by the beautiful scenery below. It was beautiful, but I was reminded again that I am not quite a “fan” of heights. Plus I was not exactly sure of how well these guardrails would hold up, as we just saw a car absolutely dominate a guardrail about a half an hour ago, and we could only praise God that it didn’t skid overtop directly at us. Again, quite handy to have a priest with you, incase there was a sudden need to administer Last Rights. Even the town at the top of the hill was absolutely covered in fog, where we could hardly see a few feet in front of us.

By the grace of God we made it over (okay, it wasn’t really that bad…but it reminded me a bit of Needles Highway out west, which reminded my stomach why I did not “stomach” that trip very well). Father had found a wonderful place for us to stay. It was basically the pilgrimage hotel, very very new and quite “posh” I must say, and I was reminded as I walked into the main entrance and was greeted by a huge statue of our Blessed Mother Mary, that this is indeed a Catholic country! And also, how much these people love their Saints, because Padre Pio was even on our light switch! It is quite amusing going from town to town in Italy. Every city has their own Saint or Miracle. There is no shame to have the Blessed Mother billowing above the main streets while you walk to class, or St. Peter directing you with his keys to the true Kingdom, while you’re distracted at finding best sales at shops. (Ah, the joy of true freedom­).

We got settled in our rooms and were able to even greet Jesus who was staying down the hall—yes a little chapel with the Blessed Sacrament in a tabernacle! (Again…I love Italy). Father led us to the church where St. Padre Pio is now exhumed after the 40^th anniversary of his death and entrance into Eternal Life.

So why is this old Italian Capuchin so important, anyway? Well, a) he is a saint. But I guess why is he a saint.

St. Padre Pio only died in 1968. I think my mom said that made her about 8. That first of all is super exciting, because he is a saint of our century! He entered the Capuchins early on. He liked them because of their beards. (I guess sometimes God can easily use outwards things to draw us in as well!) He was only about 30 when he was praying before a crucifix, was drawn totally into the Passion of Christ, felt a sort of suffering but also deep consolation, and realized that he indeed was suffering the pains of Christ. He had received the stigmata—the wounds of Christ. He bled from his hands, feet, and side with no real reason except that he had totally conformed his life to be molded and modeled after Christ.

He also had a great gift of hearing confessions. In fact, people would come from all over the world to have them hear their confession…and wait in line for hours. I think he heard confessions almost all day sometimes. Just think about that! Now days, at some churches, thanks be to God, the lines are growing, but most of us cannot fathom a time in our lives when we’ve really had to wait a substantial amount of time to be in line for confession.

What came along with his ability to draw souls in for healing in confession, was that he had the ability to read souls. One account was given of two Protestants who did not believe the stories they heard about how he would be able to tell people what their sins were. So they made up all these sins, and went to confession with him. After they were done confessing all their made up sins, Padre Pio actually told them what their true sins were. Just imagine the embarrassment and the shock this must have given them.

Needless to say they converted shortly after…

He also had the gift of bi-location. Especially during the war, soldiers in Germany would see this man in a brown tunic and hood summoning them over by him. They would go over by him, and right afterwards, a grenade would go off right where they had previously been standing. Then they would look back and Padre Pio was gone…when in fact he had never left his monastery in San Giovanni, yet he could recall all these instances, and later some of the soldiers when out to seek who this man was.

There are many many other stories. I would definitely suggest reading anything there is about him. He is SO interesting and so real. He was known for his bad temper, something he was so embarrassed about and struggled with a lot. He was a Saint, but you would never have known such a honest fiery priest.

We were able to pray before his body, which was exposed. One of the girls reflected afterwards on how peaceful he looked and how looking at his face, it brought so much encouragement because she knew he was looking at God!

They had a little museum so to speak, where you could wander through the monastery, and see his cell, his gloves that he wore to hide the stigmata (he was quite embarrassed by it because it caused so much commotion among the people), and a bookcase the size of a wall in my room packed full of letters from people all over the world…letters from just one year of his life.

That night we had a very nice relaxing dinner, where we heard many stories from Father Cozzens of his time of his studies in Rome. He just finished up his Doctorate last year, and had been living in Rome for about 4 years. He was here when Pope John Paul II died, and was able to be in the procession when they carried JPII’s body and also was in the piazza at St. Peter’s when Pope Benedict the 16^th was elected.

Sunday morning Father Cozzens was able to celebrate mass for us at the very same altar where Padre Pio always celebrated mass. It was very exciting and such a blessing for all of us, but I know especially him. Saturday he had requested celebrating mass in a small side chapel they have right outside of Padre Pio’s tomb. The man said that it was not available, but wouldn’t he like to celebrate mass at the same altar where St. Padre Pio always celebrated mass? Well I think Fr. Almost BURST with excitement, and every time we’d look at a picture of Padre Pio celebrating mass at that chapel, he couldn’t help but excitingly exclaiming “WE’RE GOING TO HAVE MASS THERE TOMORROW!” Haha. It was wonderful.

Our time there was closing with rain, while Deacon Al led Katherine Kalynn and I in the stations of the cross. Right when we got to the last one, the resurrection, the sun came through and the rain stopped. Praise the Lord! (I get crabby easily when it gets cold and rainy…crummy weather does not suit my mood well!)

We hopped back into the van and decided we’d take a different way back so we could side trip to Monte Cassino. The joys of having a van and not having to use public transportation—we could decide where we wanted to go as we went! We were getting close to Cassino, when we saw a cute town built into the hill. So…we decided we’d check it out! Well it was the most charming tiny town: Pesche. Half of it was absolutely falling apart and some of it was barely standing, and part had actually been rebuilt. One building would have a roof missing and a tree growing out of it, while the one next to it someone would still be living in! Ah, the historic Italy I love.

Well it turned out to be so tiny there wasn’t any place to stop for lunch, so we drove down into the town below to try to find something, but everything was closed. We were growing steadily crabby because we couldn’t even find a gas station or supermarket open. This is when we realize: we’re not in America anymore! Father just laughed as he happily pointed out “Well, at least these people take the Sabbath seriously!”

We managed to find the one restaurant open in the town, which turned out to be that everything was home made and absolutely delicious. We were absolutely stuffed, and were starting to get late on our way to Monte Cassino.

Monte Cassino is literally just the mountain of the town of Cassino. It is about two ish hours south of Rome. The importance is that St. Benedict, when he founded his Benedictine monastery, chose this for his location. It is the most immense monastery, and the most beautiful place I think I have seen. It is perched right on top of this mountain, because St. Benedict didn’t want just anyone coming up there…but only those who were serious enough to climb the mountain.

As we climbed to the top (in the van, thanks be to God---although the heights factor was not helping again), you could see for miles around—even over to the town of Aquin where, who else but St. Thomas Aquinas (pray for us!-patron of my Univeristy) was from and is buried.

We were able to listen to the end of the monks’ vespers and go down into the crypt where St. Benedict and St. Scholastica (twin saints. He founded the Benedictine monks, she founded the nuns) are buried.

As we went outside we were greeted by the most beautiful sunset. I was so inspired by this place, where since about the year 500 monks have been praying for us! Father Cozzens exclaimed excitedly “THIS is the beginning of Western monasticism!” Goodness, the history is just so rich! This is our FAITH! This is the CHURCH!

We made it back to Rome by 8 that night, back to a reality of paper writing. But it was such an inspiring weekend. It is one of my favorite things about this experience is getting to know the saints personally.

St. Padre Pio, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica-pray for us!

quote

“Christian purity is not a refusal of or disdain for love. On the contrary, it is the cultivation of love-of true love, that is. What the world calls love is usually nothing more than empowered egotism most of the time. No one lives in love without sacrifice, without renunciation. The capacity that people have to give to another is equal to their readiness to deny themselves. Eroticism is the real tomb of love, because it is only an unbridled pursuit of oneself for oneself.”

Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap.
Sober Intoxication of the Spirit, St. Anthony Messenger Press - Servant Books

Pilgrimage: Lanciano

In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking." (The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1327)

Last weekend I went on a short pilgrimage led by Fr. Cozzens, who was here teaching a course to some of the St. Paul Seminarians. It was a last minute excursion, seeking miracles and saints. Such are the adventures in the life of a Roman.
Saturday morning we departed en route to Lanciano. The pilgrimage include Fr. Cozzens, Deacon Al from St. Paul (going to be ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ May 30th! Pray for him!), and four of us younger students.
Here, in the early centuries, around 800, a priest of the order of St. Basil in the Church of St. Francis, doubted the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. After the words of consecration, the host was changed into a circle of flesh and the wine transformed into blood. I’ll quote the rest from a holy card I received which explains it well.
“Many verifications of this miracle have been performed over the past 1,200 years, but the most convincing was made in November of 1970. This miracle underwent scientific scrutiny and the conclusions were presented on March 4, 1971 in detailed medical and scientific terminology. The microscopic studies ascertained and documented these facts:
The flesh was identified as striated muscular tissue of the myocardium (heart wall) having no trace whatsoever of materials or agents used to preserve the flesh from decay. Both the flesh and blood were found to be of human origin. The flesh and blood type were found to belong to the same blood type, AB.”
Praised be Jesus Christ!
We got there around noon, watched a short video introducing the history of the miracle and the church. Afterwards, Father was able to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass here for us. These are the wonderful blessings of being able to travel with a priest and a deacon! Many blessings and the sacraments immediately available for you.
Moreover, it was such a beautiful reality to be before this miracle, still preserved in the chapel today. There is a big beautiful church of St. Francis, and in the front the miracle is adored. The Body of Christ is in a monstrance and His Blood is in a chalice, and is in the front of the church, where a tabernacle would be in a church. Behind the Miracle, there is a window, and on the other side is another smaller chapel. This is where Father celebrated mass for us. Visually, it was so beautiful. Father was at the altar right before the miracle and through saying the words of consecration, the bread and wine at the altar in his hands were being transubstantiated into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist that we have the blessing of being able to receive every day.
The privilege of being able to receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is something I know I can easily take advantage of. It was not after some time of prayer and meditation that I could really contemplate the beauty of this opportunity, esp. here. Here is this Miracle that has been preserved for thousands of years, physically and substantially changed into true Flesh and Blood of Christ and here is the Eucharist, instituted by Christ at the Last Supper, The Lord’s Real Presence is here. We consume Him every time we receive Holy Communion. Here is our Lord, giving Himself to you, to me, to all of us, every day…wanting to be totally united by allowing us to consume Him, Body and Blood, in the Blessed Sacrament—if only we would be just a tiny bit open to Him to allow HIM to totally consume our HEARTS AND LIVES!
How unworthy we are, yet how merciful and beautiful that our Lord would choose to humble Himself in order to reach us, that we might TOUCH Him, in our weak physical state…so that we would be part of His Body.

May we pray every day to be made small and humble in order to let Him rule our hearts and lead us in every action that we may learn to live lives of total charity. How much He truly desires us! He gazes at us—every single person on earth—and already loves us, and wants to be in relationship with us more than we ever dare to think or desire every day.

I will elaborate more from my pilgrimage later, because this is getting quite long, and I need to write a bit more for my paper.

I am praying for all of you, especially whenever I receive Holy Communion.

Please pray for me
Most importantly, for an increase of faith in all of us

May we always be united in the Holy Eucharist.

God love you
Sam

For more information on the Eucharist:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p2s2c1a3.htm

pictures from family trip

First day in Rome: L'Insalta Ricca



Day 2: Pantheon


New Years Eve:

Where Did December Go? Happy New Year!

I haven't given a real update for much time. I'll give my busy excuse...which I always give...and really is just quite lame. But again, here I am, much overdue for an update.

So December came and is gone. I now embarassingly see that I didn't even have a real update for the ENTIRE month of December! So here's a quick recap:

The beginning of December, the weekend of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception, my friend Katlyn Head came to visit. She is studying in Winchester, England, so it was pretty easy for her to fly over here for a couple days.

Immaculate Conception we celebrated by going to a High Latin mass celebrated by Cardinal Pele from Australia. And of course, ate some Chinese food to celebrate the Blessed Mother.

The next weekend was I believe when we went to Norcia. Sausage galore. Every street has at least 2 boar sausage shops on it. I do not know how each one stays in business! Apparently the whole of Italy is after this amazing sausage though. This is the town where St. Benedict and St. Scholastica were born. They were twins, and both founded religious orders. And both eventually became saints! Imagine! This town is surrounded by mountains, which was amaaaaaazing.

One of the community nights Fr. Carola led us all in singing Christmas carols. :) It was the first time I had really sang any. We sang the 12 days of Christmas and I was given the 5th day! Alena, I belted it out in your honor. (even with hand motions-it was awesome).

The next weekend I went back to Norcia by myself. I think I posted about this previously.

THEN the family came. And oooooh what an event that was! Tuesday I was supposed to meet Dave and Jen...well I was late about 45 mintues, then waited an additional 45 minutes for them, was about to leave, when I asked Mother Mary to help me out...crossed the street, looked up and let out a noise. I say a noise because I couldn't actually believe I just about ran into Jenny on the sidewalk in Rome. It was somewhat of a scream/yelp, and I'm pretty positive I scared her as well. Missy, Cassie, and Jason showed up later on in the day, and mom and dad we ran into on the street when we decided we were too hungry to wait any longer.

I took them to L'Insalata Ricca for their first Italian meal...and we were EXHAUSTED. Wednesday was Christmas Eve. We woke up late, and finally got out the door to do a bit of touristing. We saw the Pantheon and Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (where St. Catherine of Siena's body is). Then we raced to Bernardi for Christmas Eve dinner. It was so much fun to have some of the people's families there. Dave happened to know some of the same Jesuits Fr. Carola knew and everyone commented on how chatty my brother in law was. Also, poor Jason kept being questioned whether he was teh "real" Jason, or the creeper who had started to get our family's emails accidentally. All of Bernardi knew the story and had red email, and thought it was hysterical. The pic of all of us is from the terrace of Bernardi.

We headed back to our apartment and took a nap and at about 7 headed over to St. Peter's to wait in line for midnight mass with the Pope! I wrote about this in my last post...It was wonderful and exhausting. We got back home and to bed by 4am.
Christmas day we had hoped to get a good look at Rome. Unfortunatly, by the time we woke up (2pm!!!) and out the door (5pm) it was basically dark again. We were not adjusting to the time difference very easily. We saw a few of the sights, and had some gelato.
The 26th we headed out to Pompeii. 35 Acres of ruins! And so well preserved. This was amazing. Mt. Vesuvius erupted and lava pumpled the whole town. There are still some frescos on the walls though!

The 27th I think was the Collessium and the Forum, which Jason and Dad were uber pumped about. Ha. Jason has been excited about Collessium ever since we started to plan the trip, so it was really awesome to be there.
We also went to the Mammertine Prison, where Saints Peter and Paul were kept. Later that day they also saw the catacombs.

The 28th was Sunday, and we spent the morning cold and wet waiting in line at the Vatican Museums. It was free that day, so it took us a good 2 hours to get in. The inside is amazing, but also quite overwhelming. There is just SO MUCH to take in. Then afterwards we checked out the inside of St. Peter's, since we hadn't been in there except for midnight mass. It was a long exhausting day at the Vatican, and I'm not sure we could handle much else. Later that night we went to mass at the Gesu (motherhouse of the Jesuits) and out for some warm yummy Irish Stew at my favorite restaurant when I'm sick of Italian food: Abbey Theatre, and Irish Pub. They also had American football on, so the men were very excited.

The 29th was the Scavi tour. We went below St. Peter's and got a tour of what St. Peter's is built on: centuries old moseleums. And also, St. Peter's grave!

Then we caught the train to Assisi, and ate at a place recommended by Rick Steve's. (Of course!) It was so funny because we were lost in the city trying to find the place, but when we'd ask the locals that we were looking for a Trattoria, they all immediatly knew which one we were looking for. Apparently Rick does good work. And it WAS. Had the most amazing biscotti with dessert wine ever.

Then mom got ridiculously sick, and we did a whirlwind tour of some of the churches. Ran into who else but ABBEY VOGT at Santa Chiara. Small Xavier Catholic world, eh?

We headed to Siena in the afternoon. While mom napped, Jason, Cassie, Missy, dad and I meandered through Siena. They had an ice rink and had shipped in snow. It was cute :) Dave and Jenny got there really late...they had stay longer in Assisi. The next day we did a walking tour, saw the famous sites, and left at about 4pm for Rome. It was New Year's Eve, and we had to go to Bernardi to get all the luggage, then spend about an hour and a half on the metros to get out to Ostia where we were staying. It's on the beach, which is pretty, but basically was out of convenience because the airport is really close.

We finally got to Ostia at 10pm, and were really hungry since we hadn't had dinner yet. We bummed around looking for a place that wouldn't charge us a cover charge and wasn't too expensive alltogether. We managed to find this hole-in-the wall restaurant where no one spoke English. There were about 5 other couples there, all over 65 and they all seemed to know each other. It was very cute.

At the end of dinner, our waitress came over to our table, set down an oval plate, snickered, and shuffled away. We all stared at each other confused, looked down at this supposed plate of beans and sausage. "Who ordered this?" None of us had, and we were really confused. Our waitress walked passed, snickered again, and walked away. You could hear one of the ladies ask the waitress in Italian if we were American. "Oh boy, we look like a bunch of tourists/idiots!" Then another lady came over and exclaimed "IT'S MONEY IT'S MONEY!" We all stared at this bean/meat concoction wondering how in the world this could be anything like money. "Oh it's GOOD LUCK!" says Cassie. "Si Si! Buone Anni!" proclaimed the woman. Apparently
Apparently lentils and sausage bring you good luck. Whoever came up with that idea just wanted to make people eat some gross food. We eventually did finish it off though.

Then the bombs started going off. Well, they sounded like bombs anyway. Nope, it was just fireworks! They were being set off from the planters by the owner of the restaurant right outside the front door. There were other people throwing them from their apartment windows at the apartment complex next door. Praise God for the insaneness that is Italy! And HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As if that wasn't eventful and hysterical enough, we came back inside to Italian cake and champagne! The waitress came around with a bottle of cheap champagne for every table, and we toasted to our new Italian friends. Mostly, a woman who kept telling us her family lived in San Franscesco and got really excited, talking about a mile a minute. Of course, we didn't udnerstand a word, and the more she asked us "Capiche?" Do you understand? And we said "no" She jsut started talking all the more...faster, louder, "Capische? Capische? hehe heehee...Buone Anni!"

We toasted to her, and I became friends for life with her (doing the ceremonial linking of arms and drinking champagne deal) while her husband stood nearby talking on his cell phone shaking his head and smiling. Another couple came over by us, excited to tell us how much they LOVED America, and how her husband was goign to go there soon. He and his awesome comb-over spoke about his love of Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble. I knew I loved this guy's comb-over for some reason.

Needless to say it was an eventful night, ending with us going outside to more chaos of fireworks, and managing to find Jenny and Dave at 1am looking for food. They had just made it back from Siena, and had to leave to catch their flight in about 5 hours. It was craziness, but a funny way to start the new year!

January 1st: Feast of Mary, Mother of God. We slept in, made it into Rome to find what looks like a tornado went through. Apparently Rome had more chaos than ever, and none of the shops were open. We meandered about, the streets deserted. It was kind of eerie but also peaceful to not have the normal hoard of people around. Apparently they take this day more seriously than even Christmas, because there was literally NOTHING open!

We ended the day with mass at St. John Lateran, headed back to Ostia, and CRASHED. We were up early at 5:30 the next day, and the fam was off! It was quick, busy, exhausting, and wonderful!

After that, the rest of break was resting up and not doing a whole lot else. We went out to dinner a lot, and that is about it!

Well January has begun, and starting this past Wednesday our classes did too. It is wonderful to have everyone back from their travels and now the house is full again. Everything is buzzing and we prep for the last three weeks of the semester. Unfortunately, it's hard to start up with classes since this means it is the final push of papers and tests as well.

Rome is buzzing as well with a new swarm of St. Thomas students studying here for J-Term. The Theology 101 students were over on Tuesday for lunch, the Theology 300 students have been visiting Bernardi, and at different restaurants and on the street we have managed to see the emerging purple and grey sweatshirts from two business groups, an engineering group, and also supposedly there is an Art History group here as well. This is another great way to study abroad, to even just get a taste of what being abroad might be like.

I cannot imagine though just being here for that short of time. I am so grateful to be here for the year. To really get to know Rome as my home. Especially living in the community of Bernardi, we have really grown as a family, something great I had heard about the Bernardi community, but was not really sure what to expect. I cannot believe that we only have three weeks left. The semester really flew by. I’m really trying to soak up as much as possible from the group before they have to leave. Everyone is really trying to soak up what they can from Rome these next few weeks. Visit what sites that they have foregone until this final stretch.

Wednesday was the start of our community nights again. We had Fr. Brown come talk to us about the relationship between Science and our faith. He is a Jesuit who works for the Vatican observatory. Yes, the Vatican has their own observatory! He had a doctrate in astronomy and he and some others live at Castel Gondolfa (sp? it's the Pope's summer residence) and study the stars and the solar system!

It's another fascinating way God calls us with our individual gifts to work for His greater glory.

Rome Sweet Home: Midnight mass with the Holy Father

The eve of Christmas found me outside of St. Peter’s basilica waiting with thousands of pilgrims. Who can describe such an event? We were celebrating our Lord’s Incarnation with Peter’s successor. The Vicar of Christ. With this many people, it was quite a celebration.

We stood in line for anywhere from 4 to 6 hours praying the rosary, the liturgy of the Hours, and singing Christmas Carols. All of this was done surrounded by huddles of other people from all over the world just waiting for the doors to open to “charge” St. Peter’s. My family was there, so I was feeling extra blessed.

I don’t know how one can accurately describe time spend in the presence of the Holy Father. There is such excitement that builds, and it becomes somewhat of a spectacle. With thousands of people packed into St. Peter’s, you start to feel a bit like a sardine and also so easily distracted by everyone shuffling around and pressing against the barriers when the Holy Father processes in down the main aisle. But then looking around, you realize, why shouldn’t it be such a spectacle? What a beautiful sight that people are oohing and gawking at the Vicar of Christ! Who else should they be so excited for, except for Christ Himself? This man was commissioned by Him, and is someone to be admired.

What beauty it is when people can get excited by an 81 year old German man. Obviously there is something deeper than that: the mystery behind Christ summoning fishermen to lead His Church and asking all of us to follow Him.

We celebrate today the same faith that the Apostle Peter celebrated some 2000 years ago. Right at the very spot where midnight mass was, here Peter proclaimed the greatest victory of all. As the first Pope, he witnessed to us what it really means to follow Christ: that is, total surrender. Peter died for Christ right on Vatican Hill, and was buried in a very simple grave right below where now there is such a majestic Church in honor of him and most importantly who he was always pointing to: Christ. Peter didn’t ask for a beautiful building to be built, but others were inspired by the message he pointed to. They wanted to make his victory of death known. He had real courage to follow Christ’s call totally.

Today St. Peter’s remains such an exuberant sight. A beacon. A diadem. For some maybe it is another stop on their list of tourist attractions. But the truth remains: there is a certain distinct beauty involved in the structure. Just the grandness and the largeness of the building is enough to be impressed. For some people, that is just where they need to start. To know that there is something bigger than this. That people who commission such a beauty for a greater reality.

I reflected on this tonight, as two of my friends came to visit me in Rome. After a long trip, and a relaxing afternoon, we decided to get some gelato and headed over to St. Peters. We just stood there admiring it. This is where the Lord speaks through the Church, through the Holy Father--the successor of Peter. This is where Peter died for our Lord. This is where millions of pilgrims come to understand their faith more. To see who this German Shepard is. This is history. This is Truth.

We just sat and stared at St. Peters’ eating our gelato, and realizing that there is no place that could evoke such zeal in our hearts. Here is Pope Benedict the 16^th, his light was on, and we knew he was home here in Rome, resting in a place where Peter himself rested after giving himself over totally unto death. Here the Pope rests trying to imitate daily that total sacrifice of our Lord on Calvary and the thousands of martyrs who followed.

This is the true heart of Rome.

Snow In Italy! :)

...from the week before Christmas

This weekend I traveled back to Norcia. It is a little medieval town in the valley surrounded by mountains. Fr. Carola took us there last week. I was really missing snow and needed some time to get out of the city before my family comes tomorrow. This was the perfect opportunity to rest up after a busy week of papers and tests, and before I start into tourist mode again!

I left Saturday afternoon, took a train and bus, and in just three hours I now look at an Italy much different from Rome! Norcia is perched just at the bottom of a valley surrounded by mountains with snow on the top! Being a Wisconsinite, I will admit I miss snow here (although the crazy snowstorms going on back at home I know I would not regret missing after being there for a few days).

My day was pretty relaxing. I stayed with the Benedictine nuns that are there. I got my very own “cell” to sleep in (convents call their rooms cells, which really aren’t creepy like you’d normally think of a cell. It just means it is your own little place to go to). They let me join them for their prayers, and otherwise I was on my own.

Saturday I started out on the big adventure of climbing a mountain. I set off about noon, bundled up because it was so cold in the valley. It took about an hour for me to get to the base, and I passed horses and beautiful little houses perched below the mountains. Then I started the great task of scaling up the mountains. Warning: I would not try this on your own. I am pretty sure Fr. Carola would not have approved. I started off on a path but eventually the path stopped…but I just kept scaling up. It was amazingly beautiful. I don’t even really like heights, but it was something about the freedom of being on the mountain and the beauty that surrounded me that kept me going up (and the fact that I wanted to beat the other people who had climbed it last week…which I’m pretty sure I did!).

Climbing that mountain reminded me of what Fr. Florian, a great priest here, said to me about following God’s will. You may not always see what is way ahead of you, but in order to climb you can only look at what is right in front of you. And this is very true, because every time I tried looking way ahead or even turning around, I really had to first focus on stopping and steadying myself in order to feel secure. Even so, at points I was in the thicket of trees I couldn’t see the top of the mountain, but I knew it was there. We just have to trust in God that He obviously knows what He is doing, and that we are just supposed to trust Him and move ahead in faith.

It was a beautiful climb, and honestly I’m quite amazed I got back. Going up is easier than going down for me. While going down is faster, it always kind of scares me, especially since it was so snowy up there.

I made it back for evening prayer with the monks, and a restful night of 11 hours of sleep. That day really wore me out! But it was a wonderful adventure to have and now I await my family to get here in a few hours!

Have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Happy Incarnation in…2 days!
God love you!
Sam

Trapsing about

Life here is moving pretty quickly. It’s been almost a month since my last update, and we only have about a month left of the semester!

December involved a lot of traveling for the group. The great thing about studying in Europe is that so much is all so close, and most air travel is very very cheap. The first weekend I had a friend who is studying in Winchester, England visit for the weekend. It was so much fun to show her around. Also, it made me re-realize how amazing this city is! It’s funny how things like the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum become so trivial because we walk by them every day, but with a fresh pair of eyes, it caused me to slow down and really look and what was before me. This is history right before my eyes!

Other students had the privilege of traveling to various places: the Sound of Music tour in Austria, visiting parents working in London, Lourdes to visit St. Bernadette, Malta, Germany, and now over Christmas a group of the men even are able to be in Egypt! Also, for those not traveling out of the country, it has been a great time to explore the city more, in addition to various towns in Italy. Fr. Carola brought a group to see St. Maria Goretti's house and last week brought us to Norcia, a medieval town in Italy in the valley of mountains. There is a Benedictine monastary there with a wonderful group of monks we were able to pray with.

It’s very exciting to hear everyone’s stories and how they survived their travels out of the country. God blesses us so much!