For Love: April 2012

The group during the Papal Palace Tour.

It's been just 2.5 weeks since we all got back from Roma. Everyday I am reminded of something I saw or learned from the pilgrimage. It was a once in a life time experience. Father Bill, one of our Chaplains said from the first email sent out that this is not a vacation. Everyday we woke up at 5:30 to be downstairs at 6 ready to head to daily Mass. Daily Mass was at a different "station church" (Read about them here)

After Mass we usually headed back to the Convent (Casa Fatima) for breakfast. After breakfast we then headed out for the day and usually didn't return until 10pm.

Our daily adventures varied everyday. Some days we had more free time than others. Most of my free time was spent wondering or should I say "roaming" the streets and going into different churches. There are just over 900 hundred churches in Rome. 900. It would take you just about three years to see all of them. And every church is different and beautiful.

Starting the day off so early was tough, but hey, you're in Rome so it didn't matter. Every morning we walked into the station church for that day and saw 50ish seminarians lined up on the sides of the church allowing visitors to take the seats. Yes, their Rector may make them do this but still, it said something, servants of the Lord. These men are already making sacrifices for their Bride, the Church. This is the future of the Church, be at peace.

Throughout the week we got a very extensive tour of The Vatican. We went on the Scavi tour, which is the burial grounds/tombs of those around the time when St. Peter was crucified. At the end of the tour you end up at the bones of St. Peter. "upon this rock I will build my church" is all that went through my mind. We were standing on the rock which the church was built. We got a tour from our very own Fr. Logan inside St. Peter's. (Father Logan is a retired Navy Chaplain and now is a contract priest for the Air Force in Germany. The joke was if you wanted to information about where ever we were you just had to put a euro in him and he would start talking. You name it he knew it.) One of the free time periods my teammate Kyle and I climbed to the Cupola (the top dome). We decided to save 2 euros and climb the stairs all the way up. It was totally worth it. At some points you are literally climbing sideways up the stairs. The view was breath-taking. Father Washington works at the Vatican, and is friends with the Chaplains as well as the Campbells (CAPT. Campbell works on the yard, him and his wife joined us on the trip). Fr. Washington got us through the famous bronze doors and up to the third floor of the Papal Palace. We got up to the third floor you stepped out of the elevator and looked to the right and there was the door to the Pope's apartment. This was a never in a life time opportunity. We also got a tour of the Swiss Guard's barracks and armory as well as their chapel.

On Friday we went to the Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs). These are the steps that led up to praetorium of Pontious Pilate. These were the steps where Jesus stood for this trial before Pontious Pilate. You can now climb stairs, but you must climb them on your knees. To do this on a Friday during lent... talk about powerful. There are 28 steps and every step I thought, wow this really hurts. But then quickly you realized this is nothing compared to what Christ felt, and then I began to want to feel more pain. You look down and see the steps are so worn. The marble steps are now enclosed by wooden ones. They creak every time someone moves. I didn't do it last time I was in Rome and I regretted it. After I finished I thought about the pain in my knees and what Christ did for ME and for YOU. Not only did he get scourged at the pillar (which we saw the pillar), he carried his own cross, the cross of our sins, and he was crucified. He did for us, so that we may enter into Heaven. I will never forget climbing those steps and realizing as much as I could what Christ did for me. Christ died for us, the perfect Man, died for you, for me, for the world. The rest of the day I wanted to reflect on just that and not talk, it was a enough to think about for awhile.

Saturday we had our last stop at the 4th Major Bascilica, Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. As we stood outside the church and Fr. Logan was explaining the inside (someone must have put a euro in him) Father Mike chimed in and talked about how our faith is not just myths or based on stories, it's real and it's history. Whether all the relics that we saw were real or not it didn't matter, because our faith is based on history and facts. That's when everything clicked in my brain. That's when it all made sense to me. Everything that we had seen throughout the week was real and it showed the history of our Church. We saw the catacombs of St. Cecilia and over 200 martyrs that died for the Church. The blood they shed for the Church, is why I am Catholic today. Without them dying for the Church who knows where we would be now, would we be Catholic? Earlier that day I read a chapter from The World's First Love great read by Fulton Sheen. It was providential that I read about the birth of Christ that morning and how the holy family first prayed before the creche and so too should parents today pray the rosary before their child in their crib. So, that morning at Santa Maria Maggiore, I got to pray the rosary before the wood of the manger that Christ was laid. I prayed before it just as Mary and Joseph did. Beautiful.

The pilgrimage was so full of our rich Catholic faith. Every Catholic should go if he or she has the opportunity. There were so many other great things that we got to see or do...so here let me show you some pictures.