House of Prayer

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During the week at the seminary, we pray Morning Prayer, Mass, and Evening Prayer as a community (in the chapel pictured above). Morning Prayer, followed by Mass, Mon-Fri begins at the night owl's worst hour: 6:15 AM! (This is the part of the day where one is most grateful for the invention of coffee!) Each day then concludes with Evening Prayer at 6:45 PM. Thus, everyday begins and ends with prayer in community. These are the "bookends" of our day that keeps it all together.

After a week like this, Saturday, which is a "free day", is a wonderful rest day.  For us, this means we don't have classes, we can pray morning and evening prayer on our own (at the hour of our discretion), and we are allowed to go out for Mass.

Prayer is still marks the beginning and the close of the day. However, I try to use every Saturday as a chance to visit a different church around Rome.

Every church I've been to is stunningly beautiful and incredibly large, full of awe-inspiring art. Within these churches, the architecture and art can leave on feeling quite small. And that's kind of the point of it all.

These are "houses of prayer" where we kneel before the infinite God present in the mystery of the Eucharist housed in the tabernacle. Thus, every Catholic Church is God's home to which He has invited us. The passage below from Isaiah


I will give them, in my house/ and within my walls, a monument and a name/ Better than sons and daughters;/ an eternal name, which shall not be cut off, will I give them. (Is 56:5)

Through the prophet Isaiah, God is telling us that He invites us into heaven, eternal life, united with Him. The union that we have with Him this side of heaven in prayer is the path to a transforming union where God will make us "better than sons and daughters" but indeed we shall have a share in Christ's life (c.f. Hebrews 3).

The Caravaggio's "Madonna dei Pellegrini" (Our Lady of the Pilgrims) captures the "smallness" with which we approach prayer. It depicts a poor man and women wearing rags, visibly dirty from their daily work. They kneel at the door of the kingdom to which they are welcomed by Mary, holding the small baby Jesus.

That said, let us keep praying and conforming our lives to Christ. This is the path to the fullness of life, found not in ourselves, but in the Creator, the God who calls us to Himself.

Roamin' in Romania

So last week, I was able to travel to Romania with three friends.  It was a pretty amazing experience.  This part of Eastern Europe was just absolutely beautiful.  We flew into the regional capital of Transylvania, call Cluj and drove to various cities around the region.  Though Romania is a heavily Orthodox country, there are some Eastern Catholics and there is significant Hungarian minority in region, which is mostly Roman Catholic.  Thus we did had no trouble finding mass throughout our trip, yet were exposed to new kinds of beautiful architecture and stunning religious art.  In Cluj itself, we were able to walk to three different cathedrals (Roman Catholic, Greek Catholic, and Greek Orthodox) in one afternoon.  We all commented on how uplifting it was to see such bold faith in a country that was severely damaged by the Soviet communism. 

One of the most memorable things about the whole trip was just driving through the country side.  They only have one expressway in Transylvania, which only extends about 50km, then it’s all winding road that pass through every small town on the way.  So, besides the beautiful landscape, we got a close look at the average town and its people.  It almost felt like something you would see in the move:  traditional dress and horse and wagon and all. 

But I think what struck me most was that each town, which only took a couple minute to drive though at a significantly slowed down pace, had a small church – small but gorgeous.  It naturally got me thinking of the priests that serve in these parishes.  Now just coming from Rome, the point of Catholic connections and business (that is busy-ness), it was easy to almost recoil with how small and isolated each church was, and to ask what could they possibly do of real significance in such a place [see rant at the end if you want further thoughts on this].  But as we kept driving and we saw more and more towns and I began to notice the people more and more, just going about their daily activities.  They weren’t worried that they were missing something by not living in a big city like Rome; they were simply living their live to the best way they knew, living lives of love and fulfillment. 

Now I may be assuming a lot about these people that I never talked to, but it brought me back to my desire to be a priest- to be with the people and grow with them in love of one another and in praise and love of God.  It is the marvel of a life of simple fulfillment, to be a priest and live each day doing ordinary tasks for the love of God and love the parish.  What more could one want?  What more could one do?  If you do that, the day is completely filled! There’s not time for anything else. 

It’s after experiences like this that my time to return to Phoenix seem so far away.  Though….there is no reason why I can live with this simple love now… I should get my act together….This is why I’m still in formation.  Keep the prayers coming!

St. Martin of Tours, pray for us.

ALERT- THIS IS NOT PART OF THE REST OF THE POST- PHILOSOPHICAL TANGENT DON’T READ UNLESS YOU REALLY WANT TO:  Ok with that said, I had this tangential reflection during my Ecclesiology (study of the Church) class the other day.  Right before classes started this semester, I finished a book by a French philosopher that I thought had some very relevant reflections for the contemporary world (I know I read French philosophy in my spare time, whatever, I told you not to read this unless you really wanted).  In this book he talks about the temptation of numbers, that is giving statistics about a movement or group to express their strength and prove points (see 2 Sam 24).  Yet the over use of numbers degrades the people included in such movements or groups in to mere units, just an indistinguishable point in a mass.  I can see this temptation embrace in the Church often- after all Catholics make up 25% of the population of the United States, if we all voted together we could completely change the country.  Even still this can happen even around vocations.  We can get so excited about a number of seminarians or priests we have - then we have a large army with which to implement truly Catholic things.  But we are not raising army, we are not making cogs for the great Catholicism machine.  No we are raising priests; and this is what all those little churches throughout the Romanian country side mean for me.  The beauty of the Church, of being Catholic, is that the universality of the faith never destroys the particularity of that faith lived out in the local churches around the world.  A priest when he lives the gospel, builds up the Kingdom of God, and a Christian follows their vocation of love, builds the Kingdom of God.  Yes we pray that we may “be of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking of one thing” (Phil 2:2); but we are not united in heart with one another because we work with each other for one goal,  we are united because of the same Spirit that works through us for each other.  Our hope does not rest on our growing numbers (for when they stop growing, or fall, what happens to us and our hope); our hope is in Chirst, and Him crucified.  The beauty of the Christian life in general, and the priesthood in particular, is that by living personally in the life of Christ we form a universal community (the antithesis of a mob) the power of which this world of political movements has no knowledge.  Thus, the pitiable impotence that the world of “busy-ness” might read into this isolated little churches, is exactly where the gospel is lived, is exactly where Christ and His entire Church acts together daily, is exactly where the world is changed; and that’s the only place a priest should want to find himself.  

Saints up close

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Thanks to the Solemnity of All Saints falling on a Tuesday, this last weekend was a 4 day weekend for Kevin and I.  So Kevin and I had the opportunity to do some traveling.  Kevin went with some seminarians to Romania (including Transylvania) and I stayed in Italy and visited Venice and Padua with two other guys.

Venice? Padua?!  They are beautiful each in unique ways.  In Venice, as soon as one gets off the train the water is right in front of you.  After riding a boat-bus (vaporetto) on the Grand Canal for about 20 minutes, one arrives at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Mark.  This is where St. Mark is buried... St. Mark, the Evangelist, the one to whom the writing of the Gospel of Mark is attributed!

Our first morning in Venice, we went to Mass at the Cathedral Basilica and prayed for an hour before the exposed Eucharist in a monstrance (a.k.a. adoration) in its tiny adoration chapel.  Every part of this church is incredibly ornate with over 4,000 square yards of mosaics covering the ceiling.

St. Mark is buried under the main altar, front and center.  It is quite amazing that the Catholic Church has held on to and venerated the remains of such an important saint with great respect.

"Corpvs divi Marci Evangelistae" = The Blessed Body of Mark the Evangelist

Padua is where St. Anthony of Padua is buried.  His remains are also in a grand basilica.  By the basilica there is a museum filled with local artwork that depict hundreds of miracles attributed to his intercession.  He was known for his extraordinary gift of preaching.  Definitely someone I want to pray for me as I prepare for ministry.

The artwork in all these churches is very vivid and uplifting.  They all tell the stories of the Old and New Testaments with great detail bring them to life. I wish I could have taken more pictures of the insides, but you can look up these churches to find more details.  In the meantime, click here to have a look at some more pictures of Venice and Padua.  And read Pope Benedict XVI addressing how, by our baptism, we all have the vocation to be saints.

Pranziamo

One of the most common questions I have gotten from friends and family in the States since I’ve been in Rome is “How’s the food?”    Now with all the sights and experiences of live in Rome and studies at the Gregorian, why this question comes up so often is beyond me; but funny enough I always have plenty to respond with – and they usually all revolve around pranzo.

Don’t get me wrong, pizza and gelato are big pluses when it comes to eating in Italy, but pranzo is the true Italian experience.  Pranzo is Italian for lunch.  But don’t be misled- this is nothing like the school lunches we grew up with.  In Italy, lunch is the main meal of the day: businesses shut down, the streets are emptied as everyone goes to settle in pranzare (to lunch- yes it’s a verb as well!).  And so, of course, living the principle of enculturation (and having Italian cooks running our kitchen) we at the NAC follow suit. 

It starts with salad (this is actual and American adaption- authentic Italian mean have the salad right before desert- score one for American sensibilities).  Oil and vinegar are always the dressing, but you will be surprised how creative seminarians can get with a little cheese and pepper.  Then comes what is known as the prima (the first dish) which is always some kind of pasta.  And yes the pasta is much better here.  After that comes, naturally, the secondo (the second- I probably didn’t need to translate that) which is usually some type of meat (typically veal) with some vegetables.  Finally, when all is said and done, comes desert- which is usually fruit, but every once and a while we get a dulce (sweet) and enjoy some gelato.  Though portion sizes are not like in the States when you order pasta, pranzo is quite the filling meal that makes us all sympathetic to the Italian custom of a siesta.

Yet the actual food part doesn’t really capture what pranzo is.  As the main meal of the day this is the time when the whole community comes together and is able to spend time with each other.  The emphasis of pranzo is not just to get fed, but to enjoy time with your brothers.  Once the meal is underway are large refectory is full of the noise of conversation and fraternity.  It is the time when we can come in contact with other members of the community and enter there lives, strengthening each other and growing in love.  This longer lunch the most of us are use to draws us back into the meaning that the rest of day has, finding a moment of rest and refreshment in a community center around Christ.  Then we can better reflect his love through the rest of the day.

Moreover, to facilitate this community time, we take turn serving our brother.  It is a good remind that with all that we have here in Rome to enjoy; our purpose is to serve others.  Right now we just server in rotations, but when the day comes that we return to Phoenix, our service should be daily to feed the people of God and bring all the joys that we found here to them.   Including pranzo.

P.S. Here's a bonus pix of Fernando singing in a band in our lounge a couple weeks ago.

The Times

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Praised be Jesus Christ!

This is a prayer of praise and at the same time a plea for the grace to persevere in faith.

The need for grace is certainly felt in the times in which we're living.  In the last week, there have been some very eye-opening events.  In particular, the riot in Rome hit home.  Not literally, thank God!  But it was close. Close enough to make the reality of worldwide desperation and crisis become a little more real.

I went to the roof-top patio of the seminary on last Saturday to do some reading.  It was a cool day.  Very windy.  The sun shone brightly and the skies were very clear.  It seemed like a beautiful, calm day in Rome.  Except for two columns of black smoke rising from the roman skyline, less than a 40 minute walk away.  I had heard there was some sort of riot going on.

Credit: www.martinfrost.ws

The smoke was indeed from cars that had been set a blaze by rioters.

There are many things to say about the riots and what they demonstrate about economic crisis, corruption, and the violent level of desperation many people have reached.

But more generally, it seems that, worldwide, people have misplaced their hope and lost the value of human dignity.

Yesterday, Saturday (22 Oct), Rome celebrated the memorial of Blessed Pope John Paul II.  In his early life, he experienced life under desperate circumstances.  He lived through communistic Poland during the Nazi occupation.  He saw people invest their hope in a leader who had lost respect for human dignity.  He himself had to work in a chemical factory to avoid being deported to Germany.  Yet, through all this evil, he persevered in his vocation to the priesthood, even studying philosophy and theology during his work hours at the factory.

As we all know, he spent his life as a living witness to true hope and tirelessly worked to defend human dignity.  In these times, we should turn to this so well-known Blessed of the Church for his intercession for the current needs of the world.

Credit: repubblica.it

Last Sunday (16 Oct), Kevin and I were two of the fortunate 60 seminarians from the NAC that got to attend a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI at St. Peter's basilica.  This Mass marked the close of multi-day international gathering hosted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.  It was a beautiful Mass and it was so awesome to be so close to the Holy Father.  In the pictures, the seminarians in the top-right are the guys from the NAC.  Though he's not pictured, that is the row where Kevin was sitting.  I was behind the location from which the picture was taken.

During his homily, the Pope Benedict XVI said that he would be announcing a Year of Faith that will start Oct. 11, 2012 and concluding on Nov. 24, 2013.

This is very exciting news!  The need for a new evangelization that JP II and Benedict XVI have been speaking about is now taking shape in a concrete way.  Let us pray for a true renewal in the faith that our hope may be founded on the Truth, who is God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, such that a true understanding of and respect for human dignity, which is found in our filial relationship to God, may be lived by all nations.

I leave you with some of the pope's words from his apostolic letter announcing the Year of Faith:


"We cannot accept that salt should become tasteless or the light be kept hidden (cf. Mt 5:13-16). [...] We must rediscover a taste for feeding ourselves on the word of God, faithfully handed down by the Church, and on the bread of life, offered as sustenance for his disciples (cf. Jn 6:51). Indeed, the teaching of Jesus still resounds in our day with the same power: “Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life” (Jn 6:27)."

At Last in Context

And so after almost three months in Italy, we have finally started our Theology classes.  While so many back home are in midst of mid-terms, Fernando and I are just getting our first taste of European academics.  A number of us where commenting that this has been the longest break from school (May to October: 5 months!) that we have had ever.  So it has actually been refreshing to be back at it and no longer in a limbo of activity.  I likening it to standing up after a long car ride- the first stretch feels amazing!

Our daily schedule now starts at 6:15 with Morning Prayer followed by Mass.  After breakfast (with coffee!) we have a half hour walk to the Gregorian University (“the Greg”) for 8:30 class.  Now, of course, our class schedule change from day to day- and these Italians have found some of the most, lets say, “creative” ways to fits all these classes together.  It looks like some days I could be there until 4 or 5, then others I’ll be back to the NAC by 10a.m.  At least it keeps me on my toes.

The Italian lectures, which are all of our classes (except for Fernando’s Greek class), have actually been going better than I have expect.  Some professors are more challenging than other, but by and large they speak clearly and use a lot of gesture while they are explaining something (big surprise there). Plus, the community of American seminarians is committed to helping each other understand and helping if we have difficulty.  

The best advice I received on understanding the lectures, is not to get caught up in a word or phrase that you don't know- just keep going.  There is going to be something, probably for our whole time here, that we wont get, or never heard before, a word and ways of saying something; but if we focus on that one thing we miss the context of the word and everything that follows.  And a lot of time, it is in the context that we get the meaning of something unknown.  Its a reminder that we can't know everything and wisdom doesn't come the way we want it to.  Humility of listening- who know there was such a thing.  

O well, overall, this first week has been wonderful.  We have a couple classes that start next week instead, so there is still more to come!  Enjoy the pictures of Mother Greg.

Hope beyond hope

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I have a confession to make.  I am sad to say that I haven’t followed the AZ Diamondbacks since they won the World Series. So that makes 10 years, since the 2001 November series, that I haven’t followed baseball.  Granted, I never followed baseball very closely.  I spend much more time on music. My point is, I am thrilled that the Dbacks have come back after having gotten slaughtered by the Brewers in games one and two.  Tomorrow’s game is going to be intense.  Unfortunately, I won’t be able to watch it live. But it would bring me great joy to see our AZ Dbacks make it to the National League championship and… dare I say… the World Series.  C’mon, Arizona, hope wouldn’t be hope if the situation wasn’t difficult.

Speaking of difficult situations, Kevin mentioned in the last post that we took an Italian language proficiency test a couple of weeks ago.  Well, the results are in.  After two months of intensive courses and having our minds stretched and our perseverance tried, we passed!  This means that the exam results show that Kevin and I have made enough progress in the language to take a dive into lectures in Italian.  The first semester or two will probably be like trying to swim in rapids.  Hopefully, with time and effort (and perseverance) our Italian skills – with our Lord’s constant aid – will continue to improve to the point that we can increasingly thrive in our study of theology.

One very important reality I have recently been reminded of is that in our journey to do the Lord’s will we must place all our hope and trust in the God who is the source of our life and strength.  One part of the beautiful Mass for the ordination of deacons and priests states May God who has begun this good work in you now bring it to fulfillment (see Philippians 1:6).  Our hope must first and foremost be in Him who thought of us, gave us life, and constantly sustains us in His love.  It is not our own strength and will-power that will bring us true success.  Our highest achievement is entrance into the eternal life we are made for and our heart of hearts longs for.  This is something that is offered to us by God and it is only through Him that we can attain this only goal. I am the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6).

These reflections come from the awesome week-long silent retreat I went on last week as well as the ordination of this year’s 4^th year seminarians at the Pontifical North American College to the diaconate.  The silent retreat was very physically and spiritually restful and rejuvenating.  

The Franciscan house we stayed at for the retreat

 It was at a beautiful place called Greccio which is where St. Francis of Assisi lived for some time with his early order of Franciscans.  It is also where he made the first ever “nativity scene” (also known as a creche”) depicting St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and the baby Jesus.

Sunrise from the top of a mountain behind the retreat house

 (More pictures here)

The ordination took place in the Basilica of St. Peter.  There were 35 men who were ordained to the “transitional diaconate” which means that there will be around 35 men ordained to the priesthood next year for dioceses all over the US (and a few for Canada and Australia).  It is truly inspiring to see so many young men surrendering their lives to serve the Church and to be witnesses to the Kingdom.  And the surrender of these men is no passive submission, but a total giving of their selves through an enthusiastic act of love for God and His people.

Now if only the Dbacks could conjure up the same enthusiasm for beating the Brewers and place their trust in the right place…