Things have been quite busy, as usual, over here. Leading up to Christmas school and life in the seminary were quite full with lots of things to get finished up before break arrived. However, nothing too exciting too place in the intervening time so I will just pick up with the start of Christmas break. On the 16th of December a good friend of mine, Zach Edgar, from the seminary in Saint Louis came over to visit and he stayed here at the seminary until the 27th
. Once I finished school on the 18th we got busy seeing all that we could in the short time he had here. We visisted tons of Churches, took tours under Saint Peter's, visited the Vatican Museums, saw the Sistine chapel, took a day trip an hour north of Rome to the village of Orvieto, and celebrated Christmas Eve with the Holy Father! It was a whirlwind, but it was wonderful to have a friendly face from home around during the holidays.In particular Christmas in Rome was awesome. We had a big Christmas dinner here at the college at 5:30 and then afterwards we donned our cassocks and surplices and headed down to wait outside the basilica to get in. We were fortunate and had people's choir tickets which meant we had reserved seats directly behind the main altar. We got in the Basilica around 8 and then waited until 10:00 (Yep, even "Midnight" mass at the vatican is at 10 PM!) when the procession started! That was when it got really interesting because the choir sang the first part of the enterence chant when all of a sudden we here a shriek and a cry from the congregation and then everything went quite for about a minute... then the organ started up again and Mass went on. We had not clue, due to being blocked by the altar, that in fact the Holy Father had been attacked my a crazed woman from the crowd! Thanks goodness he was not injured (unfortunately the cardinal next to him also was taken out and broke his femur!), and Mass went on a usual. It was an absolutely beautiful Mass, with the wonderful choir, the thick smoke of incense and all the dignity of a Papal liturgy- and it truly was a joyous way to celebrate the Birth of the Eternal Word, Jesus our Savior! The pealing of the bells as the angelic "Gloria in excelcis Deo!" began could only bring you chills! The Holy Father also had beautiful words to share as he reflected on this great mystery of our redemption and what is calls us to as sons and daughters of God- just
a short snitbit-"Origen, taking up one of John the Baptist’s sayings, saw the essence of paganism expressed in the symbol of stones: paganism is a lack of feeling, it means a heart of stone that is incapable of loving and perceiving God’s love. Origen says of the pagans: “Lacking feeling and reason, they are transformed into stones and wood” (in Lk 22:9). Christ, though, wishes to give us a heart of flesh. When we see him, the God who became a child, our hearts are opened. In the Liturgy of the holy night, God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: “Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if he did not enter your soul? Let us pray that he may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)” (in Lk 22:3).
Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us! Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen."(full homily here)
And truly, that is and was my prayer for all of you this Christmas, that more and more the living God, singly revealed in Jesus Christ born of Mary in Bethlehem, might come and dwell in your hearts and share with you his life, which alone is and will be our eternal life.
After Mass we headed up to the college and there was some hot chocolate and panatone (a traditional italian Christmas pastry) waiting for us and we sang some Carols before heading to early Christmas morning. However, we did not just sleep in all morning, because we wanted to get to Mass on Christmas morning at 10 AM at the Church of Saint Mary Major. It is pa
rticularly special to be able to go to the Holy Sacrifice at that Basilica on Christmas morning because in the crypt of the Church there is a relic of the manger of Bethlehem which has been venerated here for hundreds of years dating back to the 600s. After the Mass at Mary Major we grabbed a taxi across the city to Saint Peter's square to be with the Holy Father for his bi-yearly Urbi et Orbe (To the City and the World) Blessing in which he gives a short talk, offers his Christmas wishes in some 50 or so languages (it was pretty cool to hear the Holy Father speaking Swahili!), and then gives his Apostolic Blessing which is a plenary indulgence for all who recieve it (it even is valid if you listen to it over the air waves or on TV!) It was also the first time I was able to see the unveiled life size presepio or manger scene in the square which had been under construction for about a month! It is pretty impressive! (See picture) After the blessing we went back to the college and had a festive Christmas day lunch, followed by a nice long nap! It was also nice because I was able to open the few presents from Mom and Dad that were sent over with Zach! All in all it was truly an incredible Christmas, and one which I will certainly never forget! I hope that all of your Christmas' a home were most blessed and that you continue to live out the joy of this Holy Season for the few weeks more which it lasts! 
The day after Christmas we went to see the church of Saint Lawrence outside the Walls to visit the tomb of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Church, whose feast day it was! Very cool indeed! Then we came home and both Zach and I packed up since he headed back to the States on the 27th while I boarded a plane for a bit of a holiday/pilgrimage to the land of Martyrs, Kings, and fine ales- England! Stay tuned because I will have news and photos from that trip up in the next few days! But in the mean time, God bless, and Merry Christmas!
