Its been too long...

Happy Second Sunday of Advent!

I hope that this finds all of you very well in this season of expectation for the coming of our Savior into the world! It has certainly been way too long since I have put an update on here so I will try and give a quick overview of all the craziness of the past few months. It is amazing how life flies by!

We I posted last in early October I was on the eve of beginning school and over the past few months I have been plugging away in my classes at the Gregorian University. I have class every morning for 3 or 4 hours in courses on Revelation and its Transmission in the Church, Christology, Synoptic Gospels, Greek, and Ancient Church History. They have all been going well and I feel very blest because those two months of italian classes when I first arrived have been paying off! I have had very little trouble understanding the large majority of the lectures in italian. Thanks for all your prayers!

In addition to the daily grind of classes and studying there have been some other notable things which have filled my days.

I have been able to explore more of the city of Rome and the surrounding areas. It continues to be another class all to itself- the history, art, and culture. There was a Saint Louis priest on sebatical here and he was a great guide to the city. He took us one Saturday out to a city north of Rome itself where there were some ancient etruscan ruins from the 10th-2nd centuries BC. It was a beautiful little city right on the sea, and the ruins were pretty cool as well- they looked like Hobbiton from the Lord of the Rings!

I was also able to Mass one Saturday over in the rooms of Saint Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, with one of the Jesuit spiritual directors here at the college. It was such an awesome experience to be there in the rooms where he lived, worked, and died. Ever since I chose him as my confirmation saint I have always prayed a great deal to him, and it was amazing to be there- knowing that his intercession was a big part that brought me to the seminary in the first place!

There have been two other great chances to travel in the past few months. I was blest to be able to go to Germany and also to San Giovanni Rotondo in Southern Italy. In Germany I went through Munich to a small Bavarian town called Altotting. It is known as the heart of German Catholicism because of the shrine to Our Mother Mary in the center of the town. Bavarians have been traveling there and praying before the statue of our Lady of Altotting for nearly a millenia! It was cool to enter into the procession of pilgrims through the centuries as my friend Brandon and I went to pray there- Mary's powerful prayers were definately able to be felt! While we were there we had the chance to rent some bikes and ride out in the country side a bit along the River Inn. It was so beautiful and nice to see the rolling hills covered in fall colors! It looked a lot like the hills outside of Saint Louis down by Washington! We rode for about 12 km down the river to a small town called Marktl on the Inn which is where Pope Benedict was born and we saw the Church were he was baptized into the family and life of God! It really made me feel so much more connected to our holy Father to be able to see the place which formed him as a young man, and during his years as a seminarian and priest. While there we also enjoyed some delicious German beers, strudles and pretzels! It was a nice change from pasta! haha.

About a month later in mid november I went on another pilgrimage to San Giovanni Rotondo which is where Saint Padre Pio lived. He is one of the most loved saints in all of italy- and the italians flock there in the thousands to pray at his tomb. It was a peaceful trip and we spent a lot of time int he city of San Giovanni itself seeing the sites associated with Saint Pio's life. We were also able to go about 45 minutes away to a sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel which has been around since the 5th century when he appeared there. It was really neat to learn all the history about the place- next to Rome and Jerusalem it was the biggest site for pilgrims in the 8-10th centuries! It was also just a beautiful place to take in the gorgeous land that Italy is while munching on some salami, bread, and cheese on the hill top!

These trips to Holy sites both near to Rome and a little farther away are some of the greatest gifts that I have recieved since getting over here. There are so many graces and blessings which have been recieved by Christians at these places throughout the ages. It is a great gift to be able to take my intentions and all of yours to these places and to ask for God's blessing on our lives and families. Know that where ever I go you are in my prayers and on my mind the whole time!

Through school I have also started to make some friends from different places around the world. In particular the English, Irish, and French seminarians in school with us are all really nice guys. I have had the chance to go over to both the English and French colleges to visit with them, and learn about what life and the Church is like in their countries. It is so amazing to experience in this way the Universality of the Catholic Church- the UN has nothing on us!

One particularly moving experience in relation to them occurred this past Tuesday, December 1, when I was able to attend a prayer service at the English college on what they call Martyr's Day. It is so called because it is the day on which the first of 36 of their alumni gave his life for the faith under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in England. During the Reformation the Catholic church was violently supressed in England and so these heroic young Englishmen would come to Rome to be formed as priests, knowing that when they returned to England they would almost certainly be called to give their very lives for the sake of the True Faith. We began with a reading from an account of one of the Martyrs imprisionment and tortue under the Queen's secret police, and then we were able to venerate the relics of Saint Ralph Sherman- the priest who's Birth into eternal life we were celebrating. After that we sang the Te Deum- the song of praise to the Holy Trinity, which the Saint Ralph, and his companions began to sing on their way to the Tyburn where they were to be hung, drawn, and quartered. It later became tradition for the seminarians in Rome to sing gather in the chapel to sing this song before the famous Martyr's image, when ever they heard of one of their brother's loving sacrifice of his life and his victory over death back in England. I have always had a great devotion to the English Martyrs- their example of true heroism and love for God and neighbor- so it was an evening I will never forget.

In addition to all these amazing events we also were able to celebrate in great jubilation a good ol' American Thanksgiving! We got to skip school on Thanksgiving an each hallway makes a typical American breakfast of eggs, bacon, and whatever else- it was so good! Then we have Mass at noon- Archbishop Burke celebrated it for us- and gave God thanks in the most perfect way possible in this life. After that we sat down for a delicious meal of turkey, potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and of course pumpkin pie! While it was definately tough being away from home and my family during these days it was a comfort to be able to still celebrate properly! The following weekend is new man weekend and we put on an hour long show of skits, and other entertainment which give our first impressions of life here in Rome. It seemed like everyone really got some good laughs as we depicted the joys and trials of italian and seminary life. Then on Sunday we have what is called the Spagetti Bowl which is a flag football game between the Old men and New men. It has been about a decade since the New men won, and while we weren't able to break the streak we were able to come within three points- closer than it has been quite a few years! It was really a fun couple of days which made being away from home during the holiday much easier to handle.

Well- I think I have hit most of the high lights from the past few months... there are always more stories but I don't want to bore you for too long! We have a few weeks left of class before a nice 3 week long Christmas break and I am looking to spending time here with a friend from Saint Louis coming to visit, and to be able to celebrate Christmas with the Pope at Saint Peter's. It should be quite an experience so keep posted for another post about all those happenings. I promise not to wait another two months to post something!

Be assured of my prayers for all of you during these blessed days of Advent and Christmas. May the light and love of the Holy Infant be in your hearts and with your families! O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! Live Jesus!- CS