My 1st Month via Foto

Well, today was my last day of official Italian classes and they were...okay.  I still have a long way to go, but as they say here, va bene (it's good).  I finally posted a few pictures on Facebook so feel free to check them out.  There are not many, since I have been taking advantage of not having to take a picture of everything I see since I will be here a while.  I will try to take more so that you can see more cool things.  I will probably not post again until after next week.  "Perche?" you ask.  This brings me to my next point.

I will be leaving on Sunday (with the rest of my class) for a week-long silent retreat.  Please keep me, my classmates, and the fourth year seminarians (who will also be on retreat, just not with us) in your prayers.  This will be a great way to prepare for the new school year which is quickly approaching (we start classes on Oct 11th).  I also ask that you continue to pray for my Italian studies, especially praying that I stay dedicated to studying on my own!  Thanks.

In Christ,
Patrick

Italian Class

This one is just for fun.  The second week of class, after I had gained my teachers trust (or after she knew I was a wise guy), I showed her this clip in class and told her this is what I heard when she spoke Italian to me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JhuOicPFZY

Praying for all of you on the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle.

In Christ,
Patrick

P.S. - As an extra homework assignment my teacher is making me type up a list of all the funny things she says in English and the Italian words she uses constantly.  I made the list one day in class when my brain was on Italian overload...it was only 10 minutes after class started!

God's Mysterious Ways

Our view of the Vatican from the roof of the college!
(The glare was pretty bad)

I am posting again and so soon...permission to be impressed granted!  I hope all is well.  Now that our daily excursions have ended I have time to write down a few thoughts that have come up in prayer and in life in general.  First, as a side note, I feel the need to say how amazing Skype is and the internet in general.  I have been able to speak to many family members and friends via Skype, including watching my niece at her birthday party and joining in on the singing of "Happy Birthday"!  I am also listening to Delilah fuss at a girl for not going after a guy she likes as I type this...O Delilah!

The main thing that has blown me away in my time here is the mystery between being so far away from home, yet feeling so connected to all of you.  The internet has some to do with that since we can be in contact so easily, but as in all things, there is something bigger; there is Someone bigger.  I have heard priests say at their first mass how much they felt the power of peoples prayers during their time in formation.  While I did not think they were lying, I did not know exactly what they were talking about.  Of course I have always appreciated your prayers and support, but until recently I guess I just viewed them as any other type of support...like a pat on the back.  Since I have arrived here that has changed.  I now see (with limited ability of course) the spiritual connection that we truly have when we pray for one another, especially during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, since we participate in the one eternal sacrifice.

As you can tell from my previous posts, my time here so far has been amazing and blessed.  I would be lying, however, if I said that my time has been without struggles.  I have freaked out over my Italian classes several times.  I have felt like I was not learning anything and that I never would.  That has since changed and I feel like I am progressing, slowly but surely.  I have talked to a couple of guys and we are set on learning the language so that our experience in Italy can be that much better.  We are making plans to study together during the semester and in order to stay focused, I have decided that I will not be singing in choir the first semester to ensure that I have the time I need to dedicate to my Italian studies.

The main source of my struggles, as you could imagine, has been being away from home, from you my family and friends.  Along with being away from you, I have left behind my culture, my brother seminarians that I have been in formation with the past two years and just about everything that is familiar to me.  I came here having met 1 out of the 230 men here.  As tough as the change is at times, God has granted me the grace to view this challenge as an opportunity to grow closer to Him.  Nothing is familiar, except for God's love and my relationship with Him.  When I feel lonely, He has made me aware of my suffering so that I can offer it up for others.  When we suffer, we are intimately united with Christ on the Cross.  One of the readings I came across recently recently is from St. Paul's letter to the Colossians when he said, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church." ~ Colossians 1:24  The Lord's ways are truly amazing.  Over the summer, I began reading Pope John Paul II's letter entitled Salvifici Doloris (The Christian Meaning of Human Suffering) in which he tells of the great power of suffering.  It is a  brilliant letter and is much needed in a world that tries to do everything possible to avoid suffering.  I have also begun reading Those Mysterious Priests by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  I am only about 35 pages in, but so far he has talked about how the priest is called to be both priest and victim, just as Christ was and is.  The priest is to offer up his sufferings for his flock and for the whole world and so become a victim.  Just when I was feeling like I was getting nothing from the book (I mean I had read a whole 15 pages) I read this description of the priest/victim at just the right time!

The one caution I had about writing this is people reading it and thinking I am miserable.  Let me tell you I AM NOT!!!  I am in Rome close to the Holy Father and the heart of the Church.  I have had my trials and will definitely continue to have them, but they are nothing I cannot endure with our Lord's help.  I believe that God is allowing me to go through these trials so that I may draw closer to Him.  It has also allowed me to realize that other people suffer the same separation from family and friends for much more challenging reasons than studying for the priesthood, in particular, those removed from their families due to war, violence, and economic struggles.  All this reminds me to pray for our military, those in war torn countries, and for all who must leave their families in order to make enough money to provide for their basic needs.  Being the foreigner and not knowing the language (yet), has also given me a new prospective on immigrants back home.  I greatly admire all of my brother seminarians from other parts of the world, especially the Hispanics that I got to know at St. Ben's.

Recap:  Please continue to pray for me!  Know that I am praying for you and please email me if you have specific intentions.  Pray especially that I will decrease and He will increase (See John 3:30).

I encourage you (if you have not yet) to read the speeches Pope Benedict has given while in the UK.  I have started and they are wonderful!  They can be found at http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/ or http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/travels/2010/index_regno-unito_en.htm.

In Christ,
Patrick

My view of the sports field from my room window.  This was
  the battle of the undefeated teams.  2nd Year vs. 4th Year.  2nd Year
 won, which made us look better since they beat us on Labor Day.

Assisi Weekend

Baptismal font where both St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized.

I apologize for the delay in posting.  The demands of Italian classes, other obligations and my first run in with the Italian power system (I fried my power cord for my computer) kept me from writing another blog, but alas here it is.

I will write about the main event now and if time permits, I will add to it later.  September 3-5 we took a class trip to Assisi to visit the holy sights there and to relax a bit.  This was a much needed break from the hectic pace of orientation.  Since Assisi is a relatively small city and I had been there twice, I was able to take a lot of time to relax, sleep and allow myself to finally overcome the jet lag.  I did tour some of the sights with one of the guys who studied Italian for a month in Assisi, so he was able to tell me about several things I did not know.  This weekend was extra special for me, because I learned an interesting fact since the last time I had been to Assisi.  As most of you know, my grandpa (Paw Paw) passed away this past February.  The fact that he was a very spiritual and religious man was no secret to me, however I learned in his last days that he had a great devotion to St. Francis of Assisi.  I found this interesting because the last time I was in Assisi, I bought a statue of Jesus on the cross being embraced by St. Francis to give to my grandparents (not knowing about Paw Paw's devotion).  I was excited to get to Assisi and pray for my grandpa at a place that would have been so special to him.  As the weekend went on, I thought about Paw Paw and prayed for him several times.  On Sunday morning we ascended the mountain to have mass outside at the hermitage where St. Francis lived after his conversion.  Somehow in my two previous trips to Assisi I had passed over this amazing place.  When I arrived before mass, I immediately had a peaceful feeling.  It was a beautiful wooded area, the weather was cool and I was in the place where one of the greatest saints in Church history lived and prayed.  I was able to walk through his humble hermitage before mass and saw the rock bed where Francis slept.  I felt a great peace there and felt like I was so close to God, St. Francis and Paw Paw.

St. Francis' "bed".  A rock floor in the corner of his tiny room.

Needless to say, mass was amazing.  Afterwards a group of us went down to the lower part of the city and visited the church ( which houses the small church where Francis was brought to die.  The weekend was amazing because I got to pray in amazing places and finally caught up on my sleep.  Now I am ready to conquer this thing they call Italian!  Hope to post again soon, but until then, please continue to pray for me and know of my love and prayers for all of you!

In Christ,
Patrick

P.S. - Please pray for Garrett, the 15 year old godchild of my aunt's friend who has an inoperable brain tumor.    Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for him.

New Italian Challenges

Ciao!

     It has only been four days since my first post, but a lot has happened since then.  First, the next morning I began my Italian studies.  We have several tutors who come to the college each morning and teach us in groups of about eight from 8:30am to 1:00pm with a thirty minute coffee break at 10:30am.  It was a little intimidating, since my tutor came in speaking about 85% Italian!  It is frustrating at times, but I know that being immersed in the language will pay off in the long run!  That being said, after only four days, I feel like I have made some progress.  I am not ready to go out on the city and strike up conversations, but I am able to make those sarcastic remarks to my tutor during class that you all know is a big part of me!  Today, to make sure that she knew I wasn't being mean to her, I told her, "Io sono sarcastico" - I am sarcastic.  She responded by basically saying that I didn't need to tell her that!  Monday afternoon we were privileged to be given a tour of the Swiss Guard Barracks and Armory.  This was amazing.  One of the actual Swiss Guards gave us the tour, telling us about how they got started and showing us the weapons and uniforms they have used throughout their history.

Our Swiss Guard tour guide in the uniform room.

Part of their extensive armory.  These are 99% retired weapons.

     Tuesday morning had more Italian classes in store (we will have them M-F for the next 3 weeks).  After class this week, we are having 1 hour conferences on different aspects of formation and how they are run hereat the North American College.  Then, Tuesday afternoon was probably the best thing since getting my fan...the Scavi Tour at St. Peter's Basilica.  For those of you who don't know, the Scavi tour requires a ticket which usually takes several months to secure.  The tour is of the excavations underneath St. Peter's Basilica where tradition tells us St. Peter was buried.  This point has been debated over the years, but Christians, and especially Catholics, hold this tradition very dear.  The tour was given by a 2nd year guy here at the NAC and along the way he gave us the entire story...basically, tradition + excavations lead to the discovery of St. Peter's bones directly under the altar at St. Peter's Basilica.  I knew the basics of the story before I went and though I was extremely excited, I didn't feel like I was amazed as I should have been.  When we got the the end of our journey this all changed.  I was standing literally 5 - 10 feet away from the bones of the Prince of the Apostles.  As we were there praying, our tour guide read this passage to us from Sacred Scripture:

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"  They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"  Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.  And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.  I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.  Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
                   Matthew 16:13-19

I really can't explain how I felt at that moment.  I have never felt so connected to and in love with the Church! I was literally starring at the rock upon which our Church was built, both spiritually and physically.  I took the opportunity to ask St. Peter for his prayers, that I may persevere in doing what God has called me to do, and also prayed for all of you who have supported me so much thus far.  I suggest that ANYONE who knows they will be going to Rome try to do everything in their power to go on the Scavi Tour!  It is well worth the money, time, and anything else it will take to do it!

This plaque marks the spot where the obelisk near the spot where St. Peter was martyred stood
until it was moved to its current place in St. Peter's Square in front of St. Peter's Basilica 

     The week has finished up on a somewhat quite note...just Italian classes, multo homework and little sleep. Tomorrow morning we leave for what seems to be a slow and relaxing weekend in Assisi.  Please pray for me and my classmates as we continue to grow together as a class, and for all those who will be making their way back to the college in the upcoming weeks.  I hope to post something about Assisi when I make it back either Sunday or Monday.  Until then, let us remain united in prayer.

In Christ,
Patrick