Easter with the Cure of Ars

Resurexit Sicut Dixit! He is Risen as He Said!

I hope this finds you all well in these joyful days of Easter. All is most well here are the school year moves ever closer to an end and as the warmer days of spring take hold.

Easter here in Rome was wonderful. Every other year here at the College we have all of the Triduum in house and it just happened that it was the case this year. So while I was not able to attend the great liturgies of the Church's holiest week with the Holy Father, we had really beautiful and prayerful liturgies at the NAC.

On Easter Sunday morning a group of 40 of us left for Ars, France to spend a week in the town where the Holy Cure of Ars and Patron Saint of All priests, Saint John Marie Vianney, poured out his life for the sake of the salvation of the soul of his parishoners. I was able to spend a lot of time praying in the Church in which he said mass, heard confessions for 16 hours a day, and prayed at times all night long for the conversion of his parishoners. It was really cool to read his biography while sitting in one of the little side chapels and then looking and seeing the confessional just mentioned or the pulpit from which he daily preached the good news of Jesus the Crucified and Risen Lord.

Of all the sites around the little village of Ars- the church, his rectory with his bedroom preserved as it was in his day, and the beautiful country side- the place that in many ways was most captivating for me was the little garden around a statue of the Cure on the hill opposite the village. The statue depicts a scene from John Vianney's life when he had just been appointed the pastor of the parish in Ars. He was walking from Lyons (about 40 km away!) and was a bit lost trying to find his new parish. On the way he ran into some young shepherd boys one of whom was named Anthony. The Cure asked him to lead him to Ars and after having arrived to the crest of this hill- from which the town is first seen- the humble priest told the boy "Tu m'as montre le chemin d'Ars, Je te montrerai le chemin du Ciel!" You have shown me the way to Ars, I will show you the way to heaven!" The statue which is seen in two of the pictures where, is one of the most inspiring images I have ever seen because in the hand of the Cure raised pointing toward the heavens there is encapulsated the entire mission of every priest- to lead souls to Jesus and through him to his Father in Heaven!

It was a truely blest week of prayer, renewal, fraternity, enjoying the beauty of the countryside, and eating delicious french food!

In addition to spending time in Ars we made a day long pilgrimage to the nearby village of Paray-le-Monial where our Blessed Lord revealed His Sacred Heart to a young religious sister, now know as Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque in the late 1600s. We were able to have mass in the chapel there where the apparitions took place, and it was really awesome to meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus since, as John Vianney said, "The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus." Throughout the time spent in prayer for my own vocation, and for all the priests and seminarians at home in Saint Louis, at the PNAC, and throughout the world, I really came to be reenergized and renewed in my desire to give my life in service to Jesus as a priest of his one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church!

I thought this shop was cool since it had mom's name on the door! (Reine = Queen in French! Love you mom!)

As Easter Draws Near

Hello All! I hope that this finds you all most well as lent ends and we prepare to celebrate the three holiest days of the year- the Triduum.

Things have been going very well over here since the last time I posted something. School is going well and I mananged to survive my first go around with exams! After exams I was so blest to have mom and dad come and visit for about 10 days. It was so good to see them and be able to show them a little more what life is like over here. We had a blast and walked a ton! Seeing lots of Churches, visiting Florence and Siena, and eating well! It was really a wonderful few days- just not long enough. It was just as hard to say good bye the second time around! But we trust in God's providence that He has us where we are meant to be, and try to live in that trust.

Since then the second semester has been going well with a new round of classes to take in. There are some particularly good ones like Trinity and Patrology (the study of the fathers of the Church). It is going well and flying by! Also, I have been playing in the Clericus Cup for the North American Martyrs! The cup is an annual soccer tournament held between the various seminarians and religious houses in Rome. We have been playing really well- only losing one game in shootouts- and are looking forward to finishing out the regular season after easter break is over, with our eyes on the championship in May. It has been a lot of fun getting out there and competing against guys from around the world- especially when we win!

With lent and soccer time has been flying by and we are already in Holy Week. We have two weeks off and we will have all the liturgies of the Triduum here at the College. They should be really quite beautiful and prayerful. After Easter I will be going to Ars, France for a week long retreat with about 30 other guys from the NAC. It will be a real blessing to be in Ars during this year of the Priest and to have the chance to visit the tomb and the sites of Saint John Vianney- the patron saint of priests! Keep us in your prayers- you will be in mine.

Have a blessed Triduum and a joyous Easter! May the peace, joy, and love of the Crucified and Risen Christ penetrate into the very depths of your souls! God bless. Ciao!

England

Ciao tutti! Things are going most well over here in Rome as we are about halfway through exam period. I have three down and just two more to go. The best news is that mom and dad will be arriving tomorrow! But before they get here I figured I should update and fulfil my hilterto un-kept promise to post on England about a month ago!

So here is the deal: I am going to post just a short snipit about the trip and just put up lots of pictures (per the request of my brothers!)

England: After Christmas I headed with 2 friends from school, John and Peter, up to London for 9 days. We stayed with a priest of the Diocese of Westminister and a Vincientian from Milwakee who was in town. We were able to see a lot of London but also made side trips to Canturbury and the dreamland of Oxford! The last few days of the trip we went to a little village- Steepleton-Ashton, in the westlands near Salisbury. It was a delight to be in the country side and we were able to see various Medieval Cathedrals (sadly no longer Catholic after Henry and Elizabeth's bloody revolution in the 1500s), Stonehenge, and the Roman ruins in Bath. The best part of all however was the little cabin with a fireplace to sit by during the cold january evenings while we talked for hours about the Church, England, and so many other things. It was an incredible trip that an anglophile like myself will never forget! Enjoy the photos!

Pictures above are of: the Radcliff camera at the Bodelian Library of Oxford from the Tower of the University Church; the Magdalen College Tower across Christ Church Meadow; the interior of Saint Mary the Virgin University Church where John Henry Newman was vicar before his conversion to the true and catholic faith; above the dreaming spires of Oxford's All Souls College; in front of the Eagle and Child which was the pub where Tolkien, Lewis, and the rest of the Inklings would meet every Tuesday morning and read their projects aloud over bangers, mash, and beer; the river through the heart of Bath with the Georgian homes along the hill behind; the Roman baths from which Bath got its name; the cottage in Steepleton-Ashton; the Wells Cathedral where we heard the Magdalen College Cambridge Choir sing Evensong (heavenly!); at Stonehenge.

The pictures below are of: the cathedral of Salibury from the cloister; Stonehenge at sunset; the the guys sitting by the fire at Steepleton-Ashton; the sitting room of Catholic Chaplin house "The Old Palace" where my hero Msgr. Ronald Knox lived in Oxford; The spot where Saint Thomas Becket was murdered in the Canturbury Cathedral; the Oxford Oratory which is where the poet Gerard Manley Hopkinis was pastor in the 19th century; Magdalen College Tower (the College C.S. Lewis was a member of at Oxford); the houses of Parliment; me in front of "Big Ben"; the flying buttresses of Westminister of Abbey; the Cathedral of Canturbury; a statue of Ven. John Henry Cardinal Newman outside of the Brompton Oratory in the heart of London; the soaring towers of the facade of Westminister Abbey; me in front of a little river running through Canturbury; me infront of the Salisbury Cathedral; the rectory and church of Our Lady of Dolours Parish Hendon where we stayed in London; the site of the Tyburn Tree where 105 Catholic priests and laymen and women we killed under King Henry VIII and Elizabeth I; the Dining Hall of Christ Church College Oxford where Harry Potter was filmed; me in the "Tom Quad" of Christ Church College; the corner in the Eagle and the Child where the Inklings would gather on Tuesdays.

Christmastide

Buon Natale e felice anno nuovo a tutti! I hope that this finds you all enjoying these last days of the Christmas season and the first days of 2010. You have all been in my prayers as we celebrated the birth of our savior and the coming of a new year.

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 particularly 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!