Moving in silent desperation
Keeping an eye on the holy land
A hypothetical destination
Say, who is this walking man?
~ James Taylor
Two reasons for the above quote from James Taylor. 1. I went to a James Taylor concert here in Rome this past Friday night...AWESOME! 2. I spent the day today walking around Rome...reason for this blog...also AWESOME!
Today marks the 27th anniversary of my making my appearance on the scene of the world. How did I celebrate? I walked ALL OVER the city of Rome. I took part in what is called the "7 Church Pilgrimage." This ancient tradition involves visiting 7 of the major churches in Rome on a walking tour and was very popular among many of the saints. This pious practice was popularized by St. Philip Neri who is buried here in Rome (about a 10-15 minute walk from the College).
Originally I wasn't sure that I was going to take part. After all, it was going to be my birthday, I did have some school work I wanted to get done, and the kicker...it involved walking all over the city! However, with not much coaxing from a fellow seminarian I signed up for the lunch, thus committing myself to attend! The closer the day came, the less I wanted to go on the tour, but something amazing happened (actually a lot of somethings). As I was walking to St. Mary Maggiore for the final Station Church of Lent 2012 (during Lent the Station Churches involves going to Mass at a different church in the city each day), I had a profound sense of peace and just had a feeling that it was going to be a good day. I was wrong, it was a GREAT day.
My walk from the College to St. Mary Maggiore began with meditating on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Most Holy Rosary (as all of my walks to the Station Churches did). Next I was able to attend Mass at the beautiful basilica dedicated to Mary the Mother of God. In this Church are pieces of the crib in which Christ was laid...a good first object for meditation!
Next we went to St. Lawrence Outside the Walls. This is a beautiful basilica to which I had only been once before this past December 26th. The reason for visiting on that date is because it is the Feast Day of St. Stephen, the First Christian Martyr and he is buried there. Also buried there, as you might guess from the name of the church, is St. Lawrence, the Deacon Martyr who was roasted alive for his unwavering faith in Jesus as the Christ. The third person buried here, Blessed Pope Pius IX is of particular interest to us here at the NAC because he is the one who founded the College in the 1800s. It was great to be back at this beautiful church, in particular to be able to pray at the tomb of St. Stephen. My middle name is Steven (just like my daddy's name!), and even though the saint spelled his wrong, I still have come to develop a great devotion to him. He inspires me by his faith, especially being able to pray for those who were stoning him as he was dying. Seeing statues or paintings of him also brings me back to the Abbey Church at St. Ben's as they have a great painting of the Proto-martyr in one of the side chapels there.
Our next stop took us to the only church of the 7 we visited which I had not been to before. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is known for its great relics dealing with the Passion of our Lord. Among the relics are several pieces of the True Cross, the sign ("Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews") which hung above Christ stating why he was being crucified, nails from the Crucifixion, Thorns from Christ's Crown of Thorns, and the finger of St. Thomas which he stuck in the side of the Resurrected Christ just before he proclaimed "My Lord and my God." Needless to say, being so close to these relics, especially during Holy Week when we are called to prayerfully consider and enter into in a more intense way, the suffering and death of our Lord was truly amazing.
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| Relics of Christ's Passion. |
St. John Lateran, the pope's Cathedral. Not only that, but there are also relics of Sts. Peter and Paul above the main altar. As I walked I was drawn into the Blessed Sacrament Chapel where they were having Adoration. I popped in to pray Midmorning Prayer and felt so thankful for the quite time with our Eucharistic Lord. After walking around a bit and learning how the reliefs down the main isle mirror each other (one side from the OT, for example the Flood, and the other side from the NT with the Baptism of Jesus across from the Flood) it was time to move on once again.
A brief intermission on the way to the next official church on the tour was a quick stop in the "Quo Vadis" church. Legend has it that St. Peter was fleeing Rome because of the persecutions of the Emperor Nero, in which he would eventually be martyred. As he was walking out of the city on the Appian Way, St. Peter saw Jesus and he asked him, "Domine, quo vadis" or "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus responded by saying that he was going into Rome to be crucified again. Hearing this, Peter knew that he could not flee the persecutions. He returned to Rome, and as we know he was crucified upside-down as per his request as he did not feel worthy to die in the same way as his Savior.
St. Sebastian was our final stop before lunch. The Basilica of St. Sebastian is located at the catacombs which take the same name. This Church has the remains of St. Sebastian who was a 3rd century Roman soldier who was a Christian. The emperor, Diocletian, tried to get rid of all Christians in public life, including those in the army. Sebastian was killed as a result of these persecutions and devotion to him spread quickly after his death.
After lunch we continued our walk to St. Paul Outside the Walls. Truly one of the most beautiful churches in Rome, this basilica was constructed over the tomb of the great Apostle of the Gentiles. We probably had the most time at this church, and after an unsuccessful attempt to go to confession (nap time!!!!), I had this urge to read Paul's writings. I went down right in front of his tomb, took out my Bible and opened to the beginning of his Letter to the Romans (I was doing a walking tour of Rome after all!). I ready the first chapter and something struck me. The line "To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ" jumped off the page at me. I was struck with the realization that the many great saints that had taken part of this pilgrimage before me and even many of those at whose tombs I had prayed earlier in the day had read these words from St. Paul. St. Paul was writing to them! The Church in Rome existed, at least in part, thanks to the work and writings of St. Paul. We are now the faithful of Rome (if not the city literally, God is still speaking to us personally through his Living Word...also, it is not called the ROMAN Catholic Church for nothing!). What an amazing opportunity and a great blessing that God would open my eyes to the Scriptures in this way.
6 down, 1 to go. Only 3.5 miles separating me from St. Peter's and returning home to the College! After making it to the square the group split up and we all went in to St. Peter's on our own. Earlier in the day, I had decided that I would go to Confession at St. Peter's so that I could use the day of prayer to do a good examination of conscience. When I entered the basilica, I made my way over to the area for Confession and got in line. While waiting, I had a great conversation with a man from Ohio who had great questions about the faith. His daughter and he were receiving the sacrament and I had the great desire to pray for them as it had been a while since they went. I prayed the Hail Mary repeatedly as they went to Confession knowing that Our Blessed Mother would calm any nerves they may have had. Finally I got to go and it was a great Confession (not because of what I did!). The priest sounded Irish and gave me some great things to think about, especially the helpful reminder not to be too hard on myself!
A final grace of the day were the many wonderful conversations I was able to have with people on the pilgrimage with us. Overall, there were about 50 + seminarians and 50 + laypeople (one couple was in their 70s) on the 13 mile walk. The sight of so many people giving up their day to prayerfully journey through the city which has given the Church so many Saints and Martyrs was humbling and hopeful to say the least.
What better birthday could a guy ask for? God is so good to me. He will have every right to demand a great deal from me in this life as he has given me so much. That is fine with me, as long as he continues to give me the grace to remain faithful and to follow the instructions of our Blessed Mother: "do whatever he tells you." I offered up my 13 + miles of walking today for all of you back home. I pray that you all have a very prayerful Holy Week and that it leads to a grace-filled and Happy Easter.
In Christ,
Patrick
P.S. - This was written @ 9:00 the day of the 12 + hour walk...sorry in advance for any type-o's.
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