End of the School Year

I hope this finds you all well as the hot summer weather settles in to stay. It has been a busy past 2 months with classes finishing up. We had our last day of class on the 20th of May. The semester went quite well and I am learning a great deal. My favorite class this semester was Trinity in which we delved into the mystery that is the One and Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I will save you the details, but it was/is awesome! With classes to an end we moved into exam period which goes until the end of June. I have had one exam thus far which went well and have 4 to go with my last one on the 23rd of June. I am looking forward to when vacation will officially begin!

Other than working to wrap up the school year these last months included the Clericus Cup. The Cup is a soccer tournament put on in the city that features priests and seminarians from the various colleges. The purpose is really to help people to see that men who are dedicating themselves to the Lord and His Church and still go out there and play hard- while living out their Christian values. I played midfield for the North American Martyrs and was able to be with the team as we made it all the way to the Championship game. Unfortunately we ended up losing 1-0 to the seminary Redemptoris Mater run by the Neo-Catechumenal Way, a charismatic movement in the Church. The final was quite a spectacle with a ton of fans out to watch including about 10 guys from the college who dressed up in superhero costumes! Hopefully next year we can get back to the championship and bring home the cup!

We also had our last travel weekend of the year a few weeks ago and myself and 3 other guys headed up to Leuven Belgium- the home of Stella Artois- where there is another american seminary that we can stay at for free. It was a great trip and with the car we rented we were able to go to Aachen Germany to see the seat of Charlemagne's empire, and also to Cologne, Germany with its massive gothic Cathedral, the burial place of Saint Albert the Great- the teacher of my hero Saint Thomas Aquinas, and most of all a Dunkin' Doughnuts! (I had my first doughnuts in 10 months! it was wonderful!) It was a great time and a joy to spend a few days away with some of my closest friends from school.

Last weekend for the feast of Corpus Christi was also a real blessing... but you will have to wait another day or two for a post on that.... some beautiful pictures included!

On Friday is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the closing of the Year from Priest's which will conclude with a mass in Saint Peter's square with Pope Benedict. I will be at that and will hopefully have some pictures to share.

Know of my constant prayers for everyone at home. Keep an eye out for another post soon about Orvieto and the end of the Year for Priests! God bless! Live Jesus!

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.