Our Last Class in Rome

Wednesday January 28, 2015

By Deacon Alvaro Perez PES

Yes, today we finished our J-Term in Rome. Our day began with the Holy Mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica on the Altar of St. Peter the Apostle. Our brother deacon Peter Hughes encouraged us to sow the seed with generosity, patience and joy and then we had time for personal prayer.  After that, we took a detour from our regular 20-minute bus ride to visit the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This community was founded by an Irish Bishop in Nigeria in the 1930's.  I was struck by the joy that these sisters expressed, and by their love for Jesus Christ and for their apostolic work throughout the world.

In the afternoon, we had our 'final exam', which was a very simple conversation with Fr. Carl about our experience here in Rome. Some of us have already turned in our final papers and some are still writing, fueled by the famous Italian cappuccino. The due date is tomorrow. Some of us are running around doing our last-minute shopping. Others are squeezing in a last visit to one of the treasured places here in Rome.  Each of us is wrapping up our time here in a slightly different way, as we prepare for our Canonical retreat in Assisi, which will serve to prepare us for our priestly ordination in May and June.

How can we describe this experience?  There are many adjectives we could use:  awe-inspiring, exhausting, deeply spiritual, challenging, exciting and much more.  What is true for each us of us though, is that it has been a powerful experience of encounter with Peter, and so with Christ and His Church.   The Apostle Peter became the rock of the nascent Church, and died just two blocks from where are staying.  But he is not just a history lesson.  We believe that this Peter is still alive in the uninterrupted line of 266 Popes.  Interestingly, the new Peter lives just two blocks from where we are staying as well, and some of us have come so close even to touch him.  As our Holy Father, he has confirmed us in the faith so we can become those ministers of Christ for whom the first Peter gave up his life. Our prayer is that, as priests, our response to the difficulties, joys and rejections of life will be the response of Peter:  "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68). Complete trust.  Please pray for us while we are on retreat in Assisi!

St. Paul's and St. Peter's

Our morning at St, Paul's outside the Walls was very quiet but was not as low key as I expected. We had mass with Cardinal Harvey, who is in charge of the basilica, and was head of the Papal household for Pope Benedict and for the last seven years of Pope St. John Paul.  His homily was great.  But what really surprised me is that he invited us out for coffee and just spent an hour talking with us.  Cardinal Harvey is originally from Wisconsin and he knows all the guys at the NAC who are studying for the North Central region of the US (he probably knows more) and made the connection to us.  It really shows his great humility.

Always a good sign when the church is this empty.

The tomb of St Paul is behind the grill.

After that, we had a rather somber talk from Father Miranda of the Institute of the Incarnate Word,  He had spent two and a half years of the last three years in Aleppo as it was besieged by Syrian rebel forces. The siege is still ongoing but he had to leave out six months ago because the Institute had sisters there and someone had to escort them out. There are still priests there, and you could see the guilt he feels for not being there even as the situation continues to worsen.  He had a great heart for the people of God.  To be honest, it made me thankful to minister in an area where there has never been a conflict on that scale (yes we had the Dakota wars, but nothing like the situation in Syria).  The only thing I can contextualize the situation to is Sarajevo, and this looks worse (and there are martyrdoms going on in Aleppo).  And yet even in it, the faith endures.

On that bright note, in the early evening we visited our last institution of the Roman Curia, the Secretariat of State.  There are two departments there: essentially those who prepare and translate stuff for the Pope and those who work in the diplomatic corps.  Our contact, Monsignor Gallagher,  works on the translator side (he helps prepare the official Latin texts of written documents), but we got to see the door to the Papal apartments where the Pope normally lives and where Francis keeps his office. For some reason we didn't get to tour there, but it was still a good visit.

The Secretariat also has the best view sans Pope.

-Deacon John Powers

The Joy of the Gospel is the Encounter with Christ

Monday January 26, 2015

by Deacon Gabriel Walz

Greetings and Happy Monday from Rome!  

We have experienced yet another day filled with adventures.

This morning we had a later start than usual.  We were free, as any other morning, to go to breakfast anytime between 7:15am and 9am.  At about 10:00am we walked over to visit Msgr. Commentz at the Apostolic Penitentiary.  This is the oldest congregation of the Roman Curia, dating back at least to the 12th century.  They are few in number—one cardinal, six priests, and several members of the lay-faithful—yet they receive inquiries from around the world on a regular basis and seek to respond to each one within either 24 or 48 hours (unless some circumstance prevents this from happening).  

Our meeting with Msgr. Commentz went a bit longer than we’d anticipated.  This meant a slight change in our schedule.  We journeyed back to our lodging—the Domus Romana Sacerdotalis (just down the road a few blocks from Saint Peter’s Basilica)—and ate lunch together at 1pm.  Then, at 3pm we attended our final classroom session of our time in Rome.  

During our final class session, we discussed sections of Pope Francis’ document The Joy of the Gospel.  In this document, Pope Francis cites Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter God is Love, where he says that: “Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction”.  Pope Francis adds that: “Thanks solely to this encounter – or renewed encounter – with God’s love, which blossoms into an enriching friendship, we are liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption… how can we fail to share that love with others?” It seems that the role of evangelization, then, is to mediate the encounter with Jesus Christ.

After our class, we set out again to the cobblestone streets of Rome; this time we journeyed to visit the Jesuit Church called the Gesu (Jesus).  The Gesu is a beautiful Church where (among others) saints Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier are buried.  We arrived in time to see their “light show”—the church was dark except for the spotlights that drew our attention only to specific pieces of art while across the speakers a narrative (in Italian) wove together the story of what we beheld (all the while the narrative was intermingled with beautiful chant in the background); it was quite beautiful.

Finally, Fr. Joseph Carola, S.J. gave us a brief overview of the life of Saint Ignatius and we were privileged to visit the rooms he stayed in during his time in Rome.  Fr. Carola celebrated Mass for us in the room where Saint Ignatius died and Deacon Alvaro preached.  In his homily, Dcn. Alvaro reminded us of the role that St. Ignatius has played—even when we didn’t notice—in helping to form us for mission during our pilgrimage in Rome.  Like Ignatius, we are to make our lives into pilgrimages toward God.  The zeal of Ignatius and his order for God reminds us that we too are called to be missionaries: to 'move' out of ourselves – when we are able to constantly challenge ourselves to another quest – when we understand that we are not there yet. 

Afterwards, we went out for pizza; it was a great day!

Please keep us in prayer and be assured of our prayers as well.  

God bless!

 

Last Sunday in Rome

Sunday January 25, 2015

By Deacon John Powers

This morning we were free for mass on our own. I went to the church where St. Philip Neri is buried, and it was great because it's one of the few churches in the center of Rome to have what we would think of as active parish life (aka there were actually Italian families with kids there).

The view on the way was very nice.

This afternoon was a little more exciting, we went to vespers with the Pope at Saint Paul's outside the Walls.  It is the last of the four Constantine basilicas we needed to visit as a class.  We will be going back, but one of the really cool things about it is that it has mosaics of all the popes.

So now if we meet the criteria, we get an indulgence.

My one shot of the Pope. The mosaics of the most recent popes are in the upper right.

After vespers and dinner a bunch of us went out for gelato because today is the patronal feast of the Seminary.  Tomorrow we are going to visit one of the Vatican courts and the Jesuits.

Deacon Arthur Roraff expressing joy after a long day and a proper recompense

@ the Pope's Cathedral

Friday January 23, 2015 

By Deacon John Christianson

As we left the hotel this morning at 8 am to make our way to the Lateran Basilica, there was a overcast, but no rain fell. We entered the Basilica and as you would expect from all Basilicas in Rome, especially the Arch-basilica of Rome, the space inside was overwhelming. Most of the older Churches and Basilicas in Rome do not have pews so this extenuates the sense of their enormity. I will not include a description of the Basilica in all its parts or a history, but  I will share some of the features that caught the eye of my mind. Looking from the entrance, the balduccino seemed to be perfectly proportionate to the whole Church which also denotes the proportionality of the sanctuary to the rest of the Basilica. On top of the balduccino are two figures who have Golden heads. Inside the Golden heads are the skulls of Saints Peter and Paul. Having these two Saints and some of their remains above the altar where the Lord's Passion, Death, and Resurrection is celebrated, reminds us that as the Apostles were sent out by Christ, we too are called to evangelize the world in the context of the Eucharist. 

We celebrated Mass at the Altar of Pope John XXIII. Fr. Carl elected to celebrate the Mass as we would on November 9th (the Feast), but chose to have the readings from the day. This helped Deacon Grant Lacey, because he volunteered to preach the day before, preparing for the readings for the day versus for the feast. In his homily, Deacon Lacey related the unsureness of our futures in our given ministries to the apostles, who did not know what their ministries and lives would entail. These are very sobering words to a group of guys who are so excited to begin their ministries that the talk among us in Rome is about chalices and vestments that have been bought or will be bought in the coming months. 

We returned to the hotel at a quarter to noon to hear Fr. Terence Lino Idraku AJ speak about his order and its ministry in around the world. Unlike the USA, lunch or pranzo is not served until at least one o'clock in Italy. Yes, it takes a little while to get use to the late start time. There are always 3 to 4 seminarians in line waiting for the doors to open everyday. I guess that some of us have not acclimated to the Italian schedule yet. Fr. Lino, an Ugandan priest who belongs to the institute of the Apostles of Jesus, said that some people can become somewhat offended at their name, because they ask, are not all people called to be the apostles of Jesus? He told us that he responds with, of course all people are called to be the apostles of Jesus. We didn't choose this name to claim that we are the only ones called, we chose this name as an invitation for all to become like us, the apostles of Jesus . 

Still raining, Still Dreaming

Thursday January 22, 2015

By Deacon Grant Lacey

It's winter in Rome and it's still raining.
Not a summer rain that rages across the plains but a quiet rain that comes and goes as it pleases.
Not a rain that drives one indoors but a rain that causes contemplation.  You contemplate the lives of the great saints who walked these streets before you, you contemplate your own future life and ministry and you contemplate buying an umbrella from the gypsy standing on the sidewalk.
But you don't.
Because it isn't that kind of rain.

We has mass this morning at chapel in the Roman seminary dedicated to Mary under the title "Our Lady of Confidence." Msgr. Callighan our intrepid rector from SPS presided at this mass and during his homily he sketched out part of the long standing devotion to Our Lady of Confidence at that seminary.  The name comes from an image of the blessed mother holding the child Jesus that is set just above the tabernacle.  The image is quite small but the seminarians have prayed before it for years.

The story Msgr. related is of a group of seminarians that had been called up and were preparing to go fight in the Great War.  They prayed to Our Lady of Confidence for their safe return that they may serve as priests someday.  To the man they all returned home safely. One of the seminarians who was part of that episode was a young man named Roncalli, who later became St. Pope John XXIII.
It is fitting that Msgr Callighan brought this devotion and a copy of this image to SPS, we have work to do, and we trust Our Lady to intercede for us that we might bring it to fulfillment.

Mater Mea, Fiducia Mea.
My Mother, My Confidence.

Viva il Papa

Wednesday January 21, 2015

By Deacon Adam Laski

Why would you want to spend your morning with an old man in white?  Pope Francis has become the center of lots of media attention for the way that he captivates crowds and meets people with the heart of a pastor.  This morning the deacons had a chance to attend a Wednesday audience with the Pope.  The energy in the audience hall was building as many pilgrims from all around the world gathered to greet the pope, hear his words,and receive his blessing.  It strikes me now that I have a moment to reflect, that Pope Francis is not simply a charismatic personality but he represents the words of Christ to peter, “you are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

This is not simply a triumphalisitic conclusion on the part of Christ.  Looking for the kingdom of God?  “Come join the perfectly constructed Church.” Instead this is the foundation of a Church which is all at the same time the mystical body of Christ and being perfected in all of her members. 

This is why audiences at the Vatican can be beautiful and crazy.! 

Beautiful because there is an image of the Church throughout the world in each of the groups of pilgrims and their unique languages.   There are Catholics from all different walks, backgrounds, and cultures who come to encounter the holy father, expressing an act of faith in Christ which is the faith of the Church.  People see in the pope a sign of the mystical body of Christ present in each of the local churches throughout the world. This isn’t because he is a “super-sacrament” but rather the father of our big family.  

 Crazy because many of those people want the same things: an amazing selfie with the pope, a great spot to shake his hand when he passes by, to make a phone call to tell their mom they’re about to meet the pope in person.

But, joking aside, they are there because they see the pope because the pope is, a father in the true sense of the term, one providing a mission for the family, a compassionate facing the needs of the church throughout the world, and doing his best to meet them with the compassion of Christ, while at the same time witnessing to, as he has reminded us, the joy of the Gospel.

So when we had a chance to line up and wait for the pope to pass by, hear him speak, and pray for a brief moment with him, it is to renew us in our identity as sons of the Church that Christ has established.  To express our desire to remain faithful to the reality that we are part of Christ’s body spread throughout the world.