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.