Ciao Cari Fratelli e Sorrelli!
I hope that this finds each of you very well as the fall weather begins to take hold back home, and as the Cardinals, very sadly, bring their season to an end. All is still quite well here at the seminary in Rome. Time is still flying by and tomorrow I will actually begin classes at the Gregorian University- finally! So it will be a test to see how much italian I have actually
learned as I have to take notes for myself and my classmates in our first class- which is on the Three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke that is). So please say some prayers to the Holy Spirit that we may have the gifts of wisdom, knowledge and understanding as we begin our studies in Sacred Theology.
I hope that this finds each of you very well as the fall weather begins to take hold back home, and as the Cardinals, very sadly, bring their season to an end. All is still quite well here at the seminary in Rome. Time is still flying by and tomorrow I will actually begin classes at the Gregorian University- finally! So it will be a test to see how much italian I have actually
learned as I have to take notes for myself and my classmates in our first class- which is on the Three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke that is). So please say some prayers to the Holy Spirit that we may have the gifts of wisdom, knowledge and understanding as we begin our studies in Sacred Theology.In the last few weeks there have been several awesome experiences. After finishing italian classes Charles, the other seminarian from Saint Louis in my class, and I headed up to Milan for a day to visit our old italian teacher from home. Her name is Gloria and she gave us lessons all last school year at her house near the seminary. She has quite a bit of family in these little towns outside of Milano and she was visiting
for a month. This was really our only chance to get away so we booked some dirt cheap plane tickets and flew out of Rome at 7:30 AM on Saturday the 26th. We spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon with her meeting her family, seeing the towns where her family is from, eating at her uncles restuarant, and visiting the beautiful Lago Maggiore which is a beautiful lake situated at the foot of the Alps. It was a wonderful d
ay, but after traveling and speaking all day in italian I was pretty exhausted by the time we finally got back to the seminary around 10:30 that night. It was well worth it though!
for a month. This was really our only chance to get away so we booked some dirt cheap plane tickets and flew out of Rome at 7:30 AM on Saturday the 26th. We spent the morning and a good part of the afternoon with her meeting her family, seeing the towns where her family is from, eating at her uncles restuarant, and visiting the beautiful Lago Maggiore which is a beautiful lake situated at the foot of the Alps. It was a wonderful d
ay, but after traveling and speaking all day in italian I was pretty exhausted by the time we finally got back to the seminary around 10:30 that night. It was well worth it though! The next day my entire class, all 56 of us, left on silent retreat for the next 7 days. We bussed it out to a little town in the Appinines an hour and a half east of Roma that is called Greccio. The week was absolutely heavenly. The retreat house was nesseled up in the hills and there were miles of hiking trails into the mountains around that afforded some breath taking views of the Rieti Valley below. Watching the sun both rise and set over those hills, as our retreat master said- "The Monstrance of God the Father" was a great way to draw nearer to the Lord those days in addition to the many hours spent before Our Incarnate Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. It was a beautiful oppo
rtunity to slow down after the craziness of these past two and a half months and to just be grateful for the incredible gifts and blessings (like you all!) that Holy Trinity has and continues to shower down upon my life. They were seven spectacular days of wasting time with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Greccio is a very graced place and after spending a week there it was easy to see why Saint Francis of A
ssisi was inspired to celebrate Christmas there in 1228 when he invented the Christmas Nativity Scene! (There is a picture of the cave where they celebrated mass that Christmas Eve some 800 years ago)
rtunity to slow down after the craziness of these past two and a half months and to just be grateful for the incredible gifts and blessings (like you all!) that Holy Trinity has and continues to shower down upon my life. They were seven spectacular days of wasting time with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Greccio is a very graced place and after spending a week there it was easy to see why Saint Francis of A
ssisi was inspired to celebrate Christmas there in 1228 when he invented the Christmas Nativity Scene! (There is a picture of the cave where they celebrated mass that Christmas Eve some 800 years ago) Coming back from retreat on Saturday the 3rd we began Deaconate week in anticipation for the 
Ordination of 30 men from the college to the Order of Transitional Deacon. It was a great week with tons of visitors from the states around- including many from Saint Louis since Archbishop Carlson was ordining them, and also there was a man from Saint Louis getting ordained. We had nothing really planned during the week except for choir practice and so when the Saint Louis guests began to arrive on Monday and Tuesday I was able to spend a lot of time with them and have my first practice as a host over here. It was a blast! Going around and seeing different sites, and eating some good gelato was a treat, and it was wonderful to see faces from home! (Wink, Wink! I can't wait to see you all over here) Thur
sday came and the ordination, in Saint Peter's was absolutely gorgeous. It was and is always beautiful for me to see other men finally reach that anticipated day of ordination when they lay their lives down in love and service. I can't wait for that day when I will, Deo volente, be able to do the same. The next day, Friday, we were able to celebrate with our old Archbishop Raymond Burke a mass of thanksgiving for Jason in the Church of Saint Louis King of France here.
Ordination of 30 men from the college to the Order of Transitional Deacon. It was a great week with tons of visitors from the states around- including many from Saint Louis since Archbishop Carlson was ordining them, and also there was a man from Saint Louis getting ordained. We had nothing really planned during the week except for choir practice and so when the Saint Louis guests began to arrive on Monday and Tuesday I was able to spend a lot of time with them and have my first practice as a host over here. It was a blast! Going around and seeing different sites, and eating some good gelato was a treat, and it was wonderful to see faces from home! (Wink, Wink! I can't wait to see you all over here) Thur
sday came and the ordination, in Saint Peter's was absolutely gorgeous. It was and is always beautiful for me to see other men finally reach that anticipated day of ordination when they lay their lives down in love and service. I can't wait for that day when I will, Deo volente, be able to do the same. The next day, Friday, we were able to celebrate with our old Archbishop Raymond Burke a mass of thanksgiving for Jason in the Church of Saint Louis King of France here.Most of the visitors left on Saturday and we had yesterday and today to rest up after a crazy week and to get ready for 
school and an early wake up (5:00 AM yikes!) on Monday. However, it was not all just sitting around because this morning the Holy Father, BXVI, canonized 5 new saints for the Church- now Saints Damien of Molokai (who worked with lepers in hawaii), Jeanne (foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor), Fracesco Coll (who was a Spanish dominican), Raphael Baron (who died in 1938 at 27 after a short life of holiness as a Trappist in Spain) and Zygmunt Felinski (who was a Polish bishop in the 19th century who endured great persecution). It was a beautiful Mass, and I was able be part of the peoples' choir, so I sat directly behind the main altar and so had a great view of the ceremony. Other than just being so close to the Holy Father and sharing in the beauty and solemnity of the Papal liturgy, it was so moving to realize that the Roman Church is still producing holy men and women who can live lives of radical and heroic virtue even in our modern, secular society. It really brought into focus the whole goal of the Catholic faith, of our Baptisms, and of my vocation to the priesthood- nothing else matters but becoming holy, becoming Saints! The Church is still alive, and through the sacramental life of the Church the Holy Spirit is still transforming and strengthening us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Know that I prayed for all of you- my family and friends- at the Mass this morning that, norished by the Bread of Angels every Sunday and constant daily prayer, we may someday also gain the crown of victory over death in heaven with all of the Angels and Saints to the Glory of the Blessed Trinity!
school and an early wake up (5:00 AM yikes!) on Monday. However, it was not all just sitting around because this morning the Holy Father, BXVI, canonized 5 new saints for the Church- now Saints Damien of Molokai (who worked with lepers in hawaii), Jeanne (foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor), Fracesco Coll (who was a Spanish dominican), Raphael Baron (who died in 1938 at 27 after a short life of holiness as a Trappist in Spain) and Zygmunt Felinski (who was a Polish bishop in the 19th century who endured great persecution). It was a beautiful Mass, and I was able be part of the peoples' choir, so I sat directly behind the main altar and so had a great view of the ceremony. Other than just being so close to the Holy Father and sharing in the beauty and solemnity of the Papal liturgy, it was so moving to realize that the Roman Church is still producing holy men and women who can live lives of radical and heroic virtue even in our modern, secular society. It really brought into focus the whole goal of the Catholic faith, of our Baptisms, and of my vocation to the priesthood- nothing else matters but becoming holy, becoming Saints! The Church is still alive, and through the sacramental life of the Church the Holy Spirit is still transforming and strengthening us to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Know that I prayed for all of you- my family and friends- at the Mass this morning that, norished by the Bread of Angels every Sunday and constant daily prayer, we may someday also gain the crown of victory over death in heaven with all of the Angels and Saints to the Glory of the Blessed Trinity!I love you all greatly, and think about and pray for you constantly. Thank you for all your prayers and support. Have a blessed Sunday. He is Risen! Pax et Bonum. Ci vediamo presto.
