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.
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