ROMA: Week Four, Nettuno [UPDATE:] & Cascia

“Yes, for the love of Jesus, I pardon him, and I want him to come with me to paradise. May God forgive him because I already have.” 

These words came from a dying twelve-year-old girl in Nettuno, Italy on July 6th, 1902. More than one hundered years later found me kneeling in the very same room where St. Maria Goretti voiced her forgiveness of the man who stabbed her 14 times after she refused to give in to his sexual advances. Praying with these words from my Catholic Shrines guidebook made me reflect on the role of forgiveness in my own life. How can one not be moved by such a phrase from this daughter of God in the moments of her last breath?

Nettuno was the kick start to one of the best parts of the Rome Program: Travel Weekends.  We’re allowed to use these free travel weekends to explore more of Rome, Italy, or Europe (if we feel so inclined). Once we arrived, we found our way to the Basilica of Our Lady of Graces and Saint Maria Goretti and along the way rejoiced in the Mediterranean Sea. Majority decision was that we would make a stop on the beach after we visit the tomb of our saint. As we walked down the steps in the Basilica, I had a flashback to the pure awe I had when we celebrated our first Mass in Rome at the tomb of St. Philip Niri. St. Maria Goretti definitely lived up to my expectations! In front of her wax-covered fragile body (enclosed in a glass tomb), I reflected on her life – one lived with the purest of hearts – and I begged for her intercession for my perseverance in chastity. I dedicated her as patron of my friends and family that may struggle with this virtue, and I asked the Lord to help me forgive those who have hurt me. Maria forgave her murderer; surely – through the grace of God – I can forgive those who kill me in my heart.

Our primary reason for this hour-long trip was, of course, was to see the body of Maria Goretti. And if there is one thing I’ve learned about the Communion of Saints, it’s that when pilgrims have a strong desire to visit these models of holiness, they put in a good word for us to the Man Upstairs. You will hear me refer back to this truth multiple times!

After our adventures at the beach, we looked for a place to eat. It wasn't until our train ride back to Rome that we realized it was Friday…you see, on the Rome Campus, we try to abstain from meat on Friday for the intention of our priests and seminarians at the Pontifical North American College (referred to as, "the NAC"). And so, we were about to shake our heads in shame when we realized that we hadn’t eaten meat after all! One of my travel buddies immediately said it was thanks to the intercession of Maria Goretti. There is no doubt that the saints help us to strive for holiness, even with little things such as these.

And now, I must confess that I am not actually writing this at the end of Week Four, as intended from the beginning. In the posts following, I will be sharing the greatest gifts the Lord has given to me during my stay in Italy over the past weeks. A large part of these gifts is what He has provided for my friends and I when we travel to honor the lives of those who lived solely for Him.

So, I pray:

Lord, thank you for the gift of hope You provide through the lives of the saints!


Thanks for reading! Look forward to "Part Two: Cascia, Italy"!

***UPDATE:

I would be kicking myself if I ended my posts from Rome and left out one of the best saint friends I've made! We found out about St. Rita of Cascia from the awesome Catholic Shrines of Western Europe book. How can you resist visiting a saint who's a wife, mother, widow, Augustinian nun, stigmatist, and now incorruptible saint of impossible cases?! We knew close to nothing about this woman and she has since become our patron saint for our semester abroad.

Our first encounter of the power of her intercession was when we wanted to switch buses in the town between Rome and Cascia. We barely missed the only bus heading from Terni to Cascia, and a man with little to no English was able to stop the bus and help us get tickets. Ever since then, she has answered our prayers! In my Assisi post, I talk about the hike from Assisi to St. Francis' hermitage. As we were hiking, it started to sprinkle and so we said a quick prayer to St. Rita...I kid you not - as soon as we finished the prayer, the skies cleared up and the rain stopped!

St. Rita: usually portrayed with a
scar from the thorn in her forehead
& cradling a Crucifix

Rewind to the Sunday before our weekend in Assisi and Mo, Lo & I were trying to find a priest who could translate the Pope's Sunday Angelus for us. We walked into a random church on our way to St. Peter's Square and saw a statue of St. Rita. We said a quick prayer, walked out of the church and saw a group of Polish priests heading the same way! Sure enough, one priest translated Papa Francesco's words from Italian to Polish, and another priest translated from Polish to English for us. Coincidence? Maybe, but probably not because I don't believe in coincidences when it comes down to the Lord and His saints!

These are just a teeny snippet of what St. Rita's helped us accomplish all to help us delight in the Lord!

And so, I strongly advise you to take up St. Rita as your patron. Just ask for her help every once and a while - and I always like to say, "but only if it's the Lord's will...which I hope it is!" ;)

St. Rita, pray for us!

ROMA: Week Three, dichotomy of obligatory classes and the beauty of freedom

Disclaimer: It is extremely difficult to talk about all the fantabulous things that happen within a week. Mix this difficulty with the fact that I tend to write more when I'm tired and you'll get what we have here... 

dichotomy: a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.

There are words that have left my mouth that demonstrate this dichotomy in my life: "I wish I could be in Rome without having to be a student."
Being a student kind of interferes with my desire to explore Rome...but I have to remember that I am here because I am a student. So without further a due, here are the blessings of the week:


We made it to our first General Audience, where every week Pope Francis greets the public with a special talk or reflection and then offers a blessing for all present and any religious articles they brought. Blessing#1: All 50 of the Rosaries I made have now been blessed by the Pope. Blessing#2: I was four feet away from Pope Francis. Four feet away. In the moment, I physically could not enjoy the moment. My body was congested, aching, and tired from waking up at 5:30 to get such a great spot. But thank God for the gift of retrospect so that I can realize that I am extremely grateful for this chance of a lifetime!

Friday: what may have been an unintentional gift of the Rome Program to us students turned out to be one of the best rewards I've received: the gift of free time. After class, we were free to go out for lunch and whatsoever. A random group of us did exactly that. We played "Simon Says" and each person took turns choosing which direction to turn. Whilst wandering about along the Tiber River, we stumbled across a beautiful church and a spectacular view overlooking the city. Blessing#3: I hope to value every moment of free time, especially when I don't have to sit cooped-up in a classroom!

Saturday, "Girl's Day": We separated from the boys in our group and spent the day in Orvieto, Italy. "Beautiful" cannot fully describe this small town in its entirety. At the top of the hill sits a tall Gothic Church in which holds a tiny cloth with the blood from a Eucharistic miracle. As I prayed in front of this marvelous mystery - how does a piece of bread bleed drops of blood unless it is not simply a piece of bread but the Body and Blood of Christ? - I wondered how anybody could see this miracle and refuse to believe in our Lord and Savior. Blessing#4: The gift of a renewed faith.














To finish off the week, I spent most of Sunday with a close friend of the group and Blessing#5 is that I was able to enjoy her company and soak in the peacefulness of being in the Eternal City.

Blessing#6: This past week was the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade and in the States men & women, boys & girls marched for life in Washington, D. C. I wish I were there, but because I was here, I prayed for all of the unborn. I prayed for all women & men affected by abortion. I thanked God for the gift of life - because our life IS a gift!

**The following is the rant I wanted to begin this post with, but I recognize that the Lord gives us more blessings that we can recognize, even a midst the struggle.

The excitement of a thing is only great and extra-spectacular until you learn it is time to buckle down (or up) before the car crashes into the brick wall of reality. As intense as this sounds, week three was not tragic; there were no accidents within my group, especially no cars running into walls. This week we had our Faith & Justice lectures from 8 a.m. to noon. This means 4+ hours of our professor carrying on in his long, winding tangents-like-wells that make you want to build a bridge to climb over them and carry on into St. Peter's Square or one of the many Piazza's in Rome. So one of the lessons that I learned this week is that it is extremely difficult to pay attention to a typical lecture when Roma is calling your name. The depths of my soul were literally pining to venture out into the city. And I am convinced that my body retaliated by weakening its immune system and thus I became sick earlier in the week. It could also quite possibly be my lack of sleep, but that's besides the point.

Lord, thank You for making the struggle seem small compared to Your blessings.

#TruthAboutChristianity

There are close to few times in my life that I find an intense quote worth sharing via Facebook and the like. Now that I am getting more attached to the blogging world, I have this desire to ease my way in by sharing this mind-blowing statement of truth The Epistle To Diognetus. Resist the urge to ask me the background information on this letter because I have absolutely no clue...I'm hoping my questions can be answered in our Faith & Justice course tomorrow morning, the class for which this reading was assigned.
With further a due:

Christians are not distinguished from the rest of mankind by either country, speech, or customs; the fact is, they nowhere settle in cities of their own; they use no peculiar language; they cultivate no eccentric mode of life. Certainly, this creed of theirs is no discovery due to some fancy or speculation of inquisitive men...They take part in everything as citizens and put up with everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land. They marry like all others and beget children; but they do not expose their offspring....They find themselves in the flesh, but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their days on earth, but hold citizenship in heaven. They \obey the established laws, but in their private lives they rise above the laws. They love all men, but are persecuted by all. They are unknown, yet are condemned; they are put to death, but it is life that they receive. They are poor, and enrich many; destitute of everything, they abound in everything. They are dishonored, and in their dishonor find their glory. They are calumniated, and are vindicated. They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted and render honor. Doing good, they are penalized as evildoers; when penalized, they rejoice because they are quickened into life. The Jews make war on them as foreigners; the Greeks persecute them; and those who hate them are at a loss to explain their hatred. In a word: what the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world.

God love you and Mary protect you!

Lord, let me live the truth of these words. 

ROMA: Week 2, an Exploration of Art in Rome

It is impossible to exaggerate the brain food I've been fed this week. My head is legitimately exploding with facts about ancient Rome, the art of the early Christians, the method of examining a piece of art, and the different variations of the way a person is sculpted throughout the centuries...and more! This was our first week of class, and it has been the greatest hands-on lessons I have ever experienced. As an Education major, I'm always learning about the importance of hands-on, performance-based and project-based learning. Almost every day this week was spent in the city of Rome following our fast-paced French Art instructor  through the remains of public baths, temples, the COLOSSEUM,

the Roman Forums, the Pantheon and the like.The latter part of the week was spent intensely looking at the artwork in the Vatican Museum and in a few Catholic Churches. Aside from the qualities that come with gradually immersing myself in the Roman culture, I've been applying the most important concept of our art class to my life. This concept is that I have to make time in my life to look at things. As our professor said: How many times do we do this in our lives? How many times do we actually take the time to stop and appreciate the beauty?


As grateful I am for all that I learned this week, I have to admit that it was a major struggle to stay awake during our morning classes after the long days of walking around the city (hence the urge to take a snapshot to keep my brain busy...). 

And so I leave you with this brief, brief summary of Week 2.** I could probably write for hours on end...but alas, as a part of the human race I am close to that zombie-like state we sometimes encounter when the body needs to shut-down for the night (did you notice I just put zombies and robots in the same sentence? This is proof of what I'm talking about). 

The following snapshots are my attempt to appreciate the little things of Rome:

1

3

2

5

             

4

1) Art in the form of food: After a week of Italian food, it was real nice to have a burger, fries, and a beer. The irony of it all is that I consumed this deliciousness at Abbey Theatre Irish Pub!
2) This picture is the fruit of 30 minutes trying to study at a coffee shop with friends.
3) This was art that I found in the Vatican Museum. Art in its most natural form. Our professor also tells us that we need to stop looking down while we walk - who cares if we trip?
4) The silhouette of St. Peter's Basilica. Another natural view from the collection at the Museum.
5) Art in the form of words: These were the words from our resident director one morning. "As our view of God increases our worr & stress decrease, because it's only then that we begin to believe that all that are over our heads are under His feet."

Lord, open my eyes, my heart, my mind, and my soul.


**This week we also experienced our first Community Night - one of our great privileges on the Rome Campus. Look for my post next week and you'll hear more about the community on campus! :)

Thanks for reading!

ROMA: Week One

Here I am once again after a long LONG time out of the blogging scene. The lame-ness of it all is that the last you heard of me was about 5 months short of a year ago. Now that's what I call sad, especially for some wanna-be blogger. Anyway, what better excuse is there to get back into the habit than the fact that I am now in Rome, Italy. I will spare the super-exuberant adjectives and simply say that I am beyond blessed to be here. Rome already feels like home and this is as it should be. This feels like a dream...especially the part of participating in a Mass that was celebrated on an altar with the incorruptible body of St. Philip Neri. Or walking in front of the tomb of St. John Paul II. Or seeing said tomb during a tour of the St. Peter's Basilica. A TOUR OF ST. PETER'S BASILICA. Or running through Rome with a group in attempt to win the scavenger hunt. Or drinking delicious wine in an authentic Italian restaurant. These are the things that I have only dreamed of until now.

These are also the best of week one (which really consisted of only 3 days, but felt like a full week anyways). Other tidbits would include trying to understand when to turn where at which corner of the street to get to campus; taking in the beauty of all simple things such as the campus grounds and the easy breezy weather; and how to interact with Italians...which is something I may never master and I'm okay with that.

I could carry on forever, but it is 12:37 p.m. Roma time. I, as well as everyone in my group - please pray for all 25 of us as well as the staff & the sisters - will probably be thankful for the extra sleep.

Lord, thank You for the gift of Yourself. There is nothing more I can ask for.

A Simple Question Answered by the Interwebs...

"Just Google it!" 

This seems to be my life motto. Frankly, I'm going to avoid all of the "information-overload" reasons of why this is an unnecessary and possibly damaging habit and skip to what I really want to talk about:

Liturgy of the Hours

I recently met with a priest friend of mine who was home for a visit and one of his parting remarks was, "Well, maybe this summer you can get back into the habit of praying [Morning Prayer for Liturgy of the Hours]. It's that and the Rosary. If you pray, all things will fall into place."

I've always failed at praying the Rosary every day, and one day I decided that I didn't really need to pray Morning Prayer every day either. I didn't have the heart to tell him these disappointing truths so that's probably why the Holy Spirit took over.

...Since I had a 15-minute drive home to think about the conversation, I wondered "Why should I pray Morning Prayer?" I could understand why I should pray the Rosary every day...I mean, I love Our Lady! I can definitely make an effort to ask for her help on a daily basis.

But, Morning Prayer? My friends and I have been praying Night Prayer almost every night. Why wouldn't that be enough? The Divine Office* is a crucial part of the Priesthood and Religious Life, but is it necessary for the Laity which I am proudly a member of? I pondered and pondered this question until I decided to do some digging and find out the answer. I'm too embarrassed to ask Father what seems like an ignorant question: "Why should I pray Morning Prayer?" because I should know this answer. So I went to the "next best source," where I can find out answers by keeping my anonymity. I asked Google because I only needed a good reason to pray the Office.

Sometimes, it is important for us to know the reasons behind the practices of our Faith. I had made the Office a part of my morning routine for a long time (not only in the convent, but also once I got to college). Routine comes easy for me and maybe for most of us: Wake up, pray, brush teeth, shower, etc. But when you do something out of habit without knowing why, all it takes is one little fall and we start to think twice. So here's a thank you to some Catholic Dad out there, because:

A Catholic Dad's blog has a short and sweet explanation of why we should pray at all, and why we should pray the Liturgy of the Hours:

The Divine Office allows for us as Catholics to set special times of the day aside to connect with our faith and our relationship to Christ. “This celebration, faithful to the apostolic exhortations to ‘pray constantly,’ is ‘so devised that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praise of God.’ In this ‘public prayer of the church, the faithful (clergy, religious, and lay people) exercise the royal priesthood of the baptized.’”[5] The Liturgy of the Hours is “like an extension of the Eucharistic celebration.”[6]

and:

As Catholics we are all called to be priests, prophets and kings through the liturgy or “public work” of Christ.[11] When we make prayer an important part of our day, whether it be in the form of “Reading Sacred Scripture, praying the Liturgy of the Hours and the Our Father – every sincere act of worship or devotion revives the spirit of conversion and repentance within us and contributes to the forgiveness of our sins.”[12]

He found his sources from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. What a genius to look there! :)

*The term "Divine Office" is the same as "Liturgy of the Hours". For more information follow this link to the Divine Office official website. :)

Go Forth and...Live the Summer Life

It's been months (literally...like 3 and a half) since my last post and I have since unleashed my blog to the general public (ie, my friends). Due to this incredibly awkward but simultaneously stimulating circumestance, they have been slightly hinting for me to add another post. So this goes to all y'all out there - you know who you are! :)
There will be a "Second-Semester Summary" to come soon, but for now, here are some exciting tidbits I deem worthy of sharing:

- home
- get my own car this summer
- just learned how to change the oil on my own car
- nannying 3 boys
- biking so much that the wheels fall off
- hopeful to be a positive role model for some young-lady cousins
- ROAD TRIP to Michigan with the best of friends

- second round of Character Course Challenge: see picture, follow link for further information :)




- Visiting Z  in Wisconsin with my "new friend," (as introduced to my parents) C.
- volunteering my time at First Choice Pregnancy Services, hopefully!
- secret thrifting (as it was banned by my parents...sometimes when you need things, it's better to just find them in a thrift store; all the power to you when you can save money!)
- waiting to see what else awaits me for this summer!