Recent Happenings in the Eternal City

Well things have gotten into somewhat of a routine here the past couple of weeks with the start of school.  Yesterday marked the end of week two of my classes at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (a.k.a. The Angelicum or The Ang) and so far so good.  Since we finish our degree in only 3 years here as opposed to 4 back home, we end up taking a good number of classes.  This semester I am taking 8 courses: Fundamental Theology, Intro to Scripture, The Acts of the Apostles, Intro to Theology, The Pentateuch,  Biblical Greek, Intro to Patristics and Ancient Church History.  Lucky for me I go to one classroom and the teachers change out each class so I don't really have to remember which class I have on a given day...I just make my way to my classroom and wait.  The setup for classes here is spoiling me already.  We have 4 - 45 min classes each morning starting at 8:30.  After each 45 min class we get a 15 min break, even if the class goes over two of the periods...it is quite nice!  Even better, there is a coffee bar in the university about 30 seconds from my classroom, so we are able to have a nice cappuccino in between classes...this does wonders to help one stay awake and alert in class...not that it matters for me, but it is a big help for those who have trouble with that sort of thing!

Another great experience, which I mentioned briefly in my last post was being able to attend a Papal Mass in St. Peter's Square where Pope Benedict and Holy Mother Church elevated 6 people to Sainthood.  Among them of note for the NAC community, were Sts. Mary MacKillop and Br. Andre Bessette.  St. Mary MacKillop is the first saint from Australia and so the Aussie population in the house was glowing and gitty with excitement for the big day.  St. Andre was a Holy Cross brother from Canada, so the 1 1/2 Canadians in the house along with some from the Northern U.S. were also very excited.  I was able to share in the excitement of the day by attending the mass with about 6 of my Australian brothers and a fellow American.  We really got to enter into the excitement as we (the two Americans) were assigned to prepare and hold the Australian flag...we were honorary Aussies for a day!  It was great to see how getting a saint really boosted the guys faith.  Not only were they happy and proud to have a saint from their motherland, but they were also excited about what her canonization was doing for the Church in Australia.  There were many people who came to Rome for the canonization and the guys here were telling us of the effect St. Mary was having back home.  The faith of the people was truly increased by having a concrete and personal example of how to live a Christian life.  I feel like I truly got to see what the whole meaning behind having devotions to saints is all about.  Also, being at mass with the Holy Father was amazing.  It was the first time since Would Youth Day in 2005 that I have attended mass with him and I was reminded of the universality of the Church and the pope's role as chief shepherd of the flock on earth.  A final amazing thing about the mass was that my next door neighbor here at the college got to chant the gospel.  He was one of the men recently ordained a deacon in St. Peter's, so at that point he was a deacon for less than two weeks.  He chanted the gospel in Latin in front of the Pope, several cardinals, a plethora of bishops priests and deacons, and o yeah a square full of people!  I mean it was time, he had been a deacon for almost 2 whole weeks!

I guess that is about it for now.  I hope that all is well back home.  Let us remain united in prayer.

In Christ,
Patrick

Viva il Papa

Well folks, yesterday was a pretty amazing day for me.  Riding the wave of amazingness (I make up my own words) that came with attending mass on Sunday in St. Peter's Square where the Church elevated six Blesseds to Sainthood, our Holy Father wrote me a personal letter!  Well if you want to get technical he wrote it to all seminarians, but nonetheless, I felt pretty special.  Having been at mass with him the day before and the fact that he lives all of about 7 minutes away on foot made this letter take on a whole new meaning and made it very real. I am not ashamed to admit that I even got a little teary-eyed towards the end of it.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE take a moment to read it.  Even if you are not a seminarian, which I suspect many of you reading this are not, I think it would be great for you to read it.  I think it will give you an idea of what is expected of us in the seminary from Holy Mother Church.  You will also see our Holy Father's view of seminary formation.  With this new knowledge I think that your prayer for seminarians will be more real and fervent (not that I am doubting your prayers for me in the least, but a little help can never hurt)!  Anyway, lest you spend too much time here and not reading the letter, here it is:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20101018_seminaristi_en.html

In Christ,
Patrick

Holy Ordinations Batman!

Fortunately for my own sake, but for most of you unfortunately, my sense of humor has not changed as seen in the title of this post.  One of the greatest sources of humility since arriving here in Rome has been the fact that people from other parts of the country (and the world) don't get my sense of humor(or maybe they just don't like it).  At least if y'all don't like my jokes back home you at least give the impression that you think I am funny, but here, not even a courtesy laugh, just strange looks.  O well, I am still entertained by my jokes, so they will keep coming!

Anyway, the real reason I wanted to post is to tell you about the diaconate ordinations yesterday in St. Peter's.  3 "words": O MY GOODNESS!  They were amazing.  I was in the choir so my seat provided limited viewing of the actual ceremony, but this was a very moving experience.  First of all, experiencing 30 men being ordained at one time was truly inspiring.  In a time where we constantly hear of a lack of vocations and shortages of priests in dioceses, this was an awesome opportunity to see God still very much at work in the hearts of His faithful.  It was great being with the deacons in the days leading up to their ordination, to witness their preparation and to see them ready themselves to say yes to God's call for them in an official and concrete way.

The stage upon which all of this took place definitely helped to make this a memorable and mind blowing experience.  We went into St. Peter's through a side entrance and as soon as I was able to see the sanctuary underneath the Chair of St. Peter, I was reminded of St. Therese of Lisieux's presence as there were beautiful white roses in several places throughout the sanctuary.  The basilica seemed even more beautiful that day, brightened both by extra lights they turned on for the big event, and by the light of Christ shining through the sacraments to be administered.  As I gazed up to the pilgrims that were touring the basilica that morning and looking down to the ceremony from the dome I could only wonder at what they were thinking.  What a view it must have been to be up there seeing 30 men lying prostrate symbolizing humility and their laying down their lives for Christ.  And, lest we forget, this is all happening so near to the tomb of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, many other saints buried in St. Peter's, and the successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict, who was most likely somewhere in the Vatican at this time.  Needless to say, this was a great way to end the introductory/orientation time in Rome the week before we started classes.

I told some of the priest on formation here, that the ordination made me want to go and do an extra holy hour to make sure that I am in that position in three years.  Please continue to pray for me, that I will continue to follow the Lord's call for me and know of my prayers for all of you.

In Christ,
Patrick

God Still Answers Prayers

Today, I bring you the second installment of my reflections from my recent silent retreat.  Before getting to that however, I ask for your continued prayers for the 30 men who will be ordained to the Diaconate this Thursday in St. Peter's Basilica and for their families and friends who will be traveling to take part in this special occasion.

Once again, I have kind of given away the topic of this post in the title.  But you may be saying to yourself, "self, what does he mean God still answers prayers?"  Well, self, this is what I mean.  Everyday after mass, I say a small prayer of thanksgiving for what I have just received.  Usually my prayer consists of something like this;  "Lord, I thank you for allowing me to take part in this celebration.  I ask that you allow this mass to effect my entire life.  Help it to transform me to be more and more like you.  I PRAY THAT MY EVERY WORD, ACTION AND THOUGHT WOULD GLORIFY YOU."  On around the second day of the retreat I found myself praying this prayer and God kind of nudged me with a grin on His face and made me realize that a part of this prayer was realized during this retreat.  As I said before, it was a silent retreat.  No talking, not even to say hello to my brother seminarians...we all knew we were not being rude, rather, we were entering into the silence.  The only time I was able to speak was during morning and evening prayer, during mass to respond at the appropriate times, to say grace before meals and to speak to one of the priests during spiritual direction.  With every word I uttered I was truly giving glory to God!  And not only was I praising Him, He allowed me to see the great grace to realize how good He is to me.  I pray that I will continue to be open to seeing how God answers more of my prayers as I know He does indeed answer them (sometimes I just fail to realize it).  I pray that more and more my every word, thought and action will give glory to the Lord.  As always my thoughts and prayers are with all of you back home.

In Christ,
Patrick

Holy Priests

Well, I just returned from a week of retreating silently.  It was absolutely amazing and therefore, I hope to post a series of reflections from my time in Greccio (where the retreat was) over the next few days.  This first post is one that comes from a heart full of gratitude and humility.

So many times people thank me for being a seminarian, which is great, but too often I fail to thank you for being amazing Catholics!  One of the first days there we were told that the cost of our retreat was a pretty hefty sum.  Faithful Catholics just like you pay a great deal of money for us seminarians to be able to go away for a week and "waste time" with Our Lord.  Why would people give money for us to go away and, in the eyes of the world, to do nothing?  The answer is simple:  YOU WANT HOLY PRIESTS!  You want priests who are have a deep personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.  Yes, you want priests who know their theology, celebrate beautiful liturgies, can relate to people, etc, I am NOT saying these things are not good, they are very important, but all of these things flow from being in a loving relationship with Christ.  Being in silence with God for a week, doing three holy hours each day, praying the Liturgy of the Hours, attending Mass, hearing talks and simply being quiet (both externally and internally) allowed Him to do much talking to me.  The best thing he said to me was, "I love you"...you will see a few ways he told me in my upcoming posts!

Thank you for your prayers and support.  Thank you for wanting and demanding holy priests.  Thank you for supporting us seminarians in whatever way you are able.  I hope that in some way these posts bring you closer to our loving God.

In Christ,
Patrick

P.S. - It is not letting me upload pictures at the moment, so take my word that the place we stayed was great!