Holy Thursday in Rome

He is risen, truly risen.  Alleluia!  Happy Easter.

As promised, I finally have a few minutes to write about my Holy Thursday experience in Rome.  Leading up to Holy Week, one of my professors kept telling us about a great tradition here in Rome.  After the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Eucharist is taken over to the altar of repose and many of the churches stay open until midnight or later.  They do so to allow the faithful to come in and remain with Our Lord in His Eucharistic presence to pray and spend time with Him.

As many of you know, my parents were in town from Wednesday of Holy Week through Blessed John Paul II’s beatification.  One of the many great gifts of this time with them was sharing this Holy Thursday tradition with them.  It had been a long day, as were most of our days together, filled with sightseeing and Holy Thursday Mass so we were pretty tired.  However, I was able to take them to a couple of churches to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament with them and to show them the churches.

One church which I was particularly excited to show them was the Basilica of Saint Augustine.  During my time in philosophy, I was able to take a class on the Philosophy of St. Augustine, which completely changed my view of philosophy and really made me fall in love with this amazing saint and his mother St. Monica.  I have always liked St. Monica because of here amazing love for her son and the many prayers she offered on his behalf.  I have also enjoyed sharing her story with my mom, sister and sister-in-law especially since my mom’s birthday is on August 26^th, St. Monica’s Feast Day is the 27^th and St. Augustine’s Feast Day is the 28^th.  Last year I left to come to Rome on Aug 25^th, the day before my mom’s birthday…not the best gift I have ever given her.  The second day I was here in Rome we went to the Basilica of St. Augustine for the first time on St. Monica’s feast day.  This was a great gift as St. Monica is buried in the basilica.  The church quickly became one of my favorites.  It was a great gift to be able to pray for my mom and all the mothers in my life at the tomb of such a holy mother on her feast day.  Sharing this gem of a church with my family was even more special on such a holy and special night.  Walking in, we saw around 30 people in the church at around 8pm, and this made the church even more beautiful.

The same thing happened at the next church and after two or three churches we decided to call it a night since we were worn out from the day and had a busy day on Friday.  I dropped them off at their hotel and began making my way back to the College on the bus.  As the bus was pulling into one of the stops along the way I noticed a church I had never been in before.  I decided to hop off of the bus and go inside to have a look.  I walked in and found a small group of what seemed like parishioners joining in common prayer in front of the altar of repose.  I stayed there a few minutes saying some prayers on my own, and then made my way out.  As I was waiting for the bus I figured it was a nice enough night and decided to walk back to the College from there.  I began my walk and came upon another church that was open and peeked inside.  I continued this journey walking back to the College and stopped at about four of five different churches along the way staying for varying periods in each.  The real inspiration for this blog comes from what I saw in each church.  Every church had anywhere from ten to upwards of fifty people.  It was not just the pious church ladies either, it was a beautiful mix of young people, elderly men and women, parents with their children, groups of teenagers, priests, seminarians, religious and any other type of person you could imagine.  I saw this at every church I entered, from the first at around 8pm until the last at around midnight.  I was most inspired by the young people.  I encountered several groups of teenagers coming in and spending time in front of the Blessed Sacrament.  Many times I find myself getting discouraged with the youth here in Rome, but this experience showed me that the faith is very much alive among them.  Getting to bed late was definitely worth it to be able to spend time with our Lord and to allow Him to show me His love through the faith of others.  If you ever have the opportunity to be in Rome for Holy Week, I definitely recommend taking part in this wonderfully blessed tradition!

Altar of repose at the Basilica of St. Augustine

As always please know of my prayers and please continue to pray for me as we finish up the semester and head into finals at the beginning of June.

In Christ,

Patrick

Lent - An Early Reflection

This entry is inspired by the readings for Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours thus far for the Lenten Season.  Lent is a time of turning back to the Lord, of ridding our lives of things that hold us back from God.  We also have the tradition of adopting practices that will help us to grow ever closer to Him.  This has been so apparent to me during this first week and a half of Lent and I wanted to share a few thoughts with you.

The one underlying theme that has really stood out to me and in a way even "shocked" me has been God's love for me/us and how strongly He desires for me/us to return to Him with my/our whole heart, mind, body and soul.  My favorite scripture passage comes from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament.  God is speaking to His chosen people of the house of Israel and has just given the 10 commandments to Moses.  After telling them what they are to do, he reinforces His central point in Dt 6:4 when he says, "Hear of Israel, the Lord is our God the Lord alone.  You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."  When I read this passage, I am always amazed at how much God loves me, but I usually only look at it from God's point of view.  However, with the readings in the Lenten liturgy, I have been called to go deeper in this reflection.  It is not enough to only sit at this stage in my reflection, thinking about how God loves me.  Rather, I must be inspired by God's love for me and respond to His generous gift of love!  The only fitting response to his great gift is nothing other than my entire life.  I must return His gift of love with all of my heart, all of my soul and all of my strength, in one word, I must give him all of my LOVE!  Here are a few of the readings that have helped me to gain this insight.

          "As I live says the Lord, I do not wish for the sinner to die, but to return to me and to live" ~ Antiphon for Midday Prayer

          "Turn and be converted from all your crimes, that they may be no cause of guilt for you.  Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed , and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.  Why should you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord God.  Return and live!" ~ Ezekiel 18:30b-32

Though the readings of the season are geared towards this message, I think there is something else that has prepared me to accept this message.  Over the past year or so, I have had this intense desire to despise sin.  I have prayed that God would give me a hatred for sin and for anything that does not lead me to Him.  Thinking back on St. Therese of Lisieux's autobiography, Story of a Soul, I remember how disappointed she would get just thinking about things that offended God.  How was she able to have this mentality and, as confirmed by her spiritual director, to never commit a mortal sin during her entire life?  The only answer is that St. Therese had an extrodinary love for God.  When one is in love, they never want to hurt their beloved.  Rather, they seek every opportunity to sacrifice their own will for that of their beloved.  I do not suggest that I am even close to the holiness of St. Therese, however, I do feel like God has allowed me to grow in my love for Him.  This can only come about by gaining a greater awareness of His love for me.  What a beautiful cycle of love.  We must first experience the love of the Father and, once we experience it, our natural response is to love in return.  The more we love and open ourselves up to be loved, the more we can experience love.

I pray that all of you are having a blessed Lent so far.  If you are struggling in doing your penances let me offer you (and myself) a little advice.  I read today that the goodness of an act does not depend on the difficulty of the act, but on the happiness (true happiness) that comes from it.  What does this mean?  Choose sacrifices, or extra practices that will draw you closer to our Lord.  One that I might suggest if you are looking for something extra to do would be to meditate on Sacred Scripture each day.  It does not have to be much, even 15 minutes each day is a great start, but allow yourself to be submersed in God's word and you will be amazed at how he moves in you.  One suggestion for what to focus on is the passion narratives from the Gospels.  This will be great things to meditate on, especially as we approach the celebration of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord.

Know of my love and prayers for all of you.

In Christ,
Patrick

March 25, 2011 - Solemnity of the Annunciation

Sweet Sweet Freedom! Finals Round 1

Well gang, I survived my first found of oral finals.  It was not as great as some of the guys said it would be, but overall it was a really good experience, not so much for the actual finals, but for some other reasons I hope to elaborate in this blog.

First of all, it was a very trying ten days.  Seven finals in ten days…that’s a bit much.  It was a great opportunity however, to focus on the intellectual aspect of my formation for a while.  With all of the things going on here at the college, that seems to get pushed to the background pretty often for me.  It was very refreshing getting to commit myself to studying and learning about God and our Roman Catholic Church.  Learning early Church History in Rome was such a blessing and I was often humbled at the opportunity.  Having the teacher stop in the lecture when he speaks of one of the great saints and say, “you know if you go over there by such and such…it’s about a ten minute walk from here,” is pretty amazing.  Though I did not appreciate it at the time, it was good to have the old struggles that come along with learning.  It was a great lesson in discipline and time management to make use of the scarce time available to prepare well for my tests.  One thing I am extremely grateful is the new attitude I have tried to develop (somewhat successfully) towards school and exams in particular.  As I approached my tests, I had a great feeling of peace (though I was still pretty nervous) knowing that I had studied hard and learned some great material trying to make my studies not only an academic exercise, but a prayer.  I was comforted with a peaceful feeling about my finals.  I truly feel like I am beginning to care less about grades and more about learning about our loving and faithful God.  If I get a 7 on a test, so be it, as long as I tried my hardest and learned something along the way.  I know that sounds like a talk a parent would give their child who is struggling, but it is a great feeling.

Another great thing about finals was the attitude in the house.  Everyone was studying and at times stressed out, but it was great to see how we all supported each other.  Everyone was always asking if others had finals and offering them words of encouragement to keep going.  The most important and moving thing was the amount of prayer that took place.  People were as dedicated as ever to their daily prayers, attending Mass, and other devotions.  Along with this, the guys in the house prayed constantly for one another as we prepared for and took our tests.  I really feel like we grew closer as a house by uniting ourselves in prayer.  I know that it was a great comfort for me having so many tell me they would pray for me as I went off to my tests.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who continue to support me with your kind words and prayers.  Your support is humbling and appreciated always, but especially during finals when I was stressed and tired.  Your prayers truly helped me not just to make it through them, but also to keep my prayer life going in the midst of so much craziness.  Thanks again and be assured of my prayers for all of you.

In Christ,

Patrick

Lector Institution

On Sunday January 16, 2011 I and 53 of my brother seminarians were instituted to the ministry of Lector.  This means that we are now officially appointed and called by the Church to proclaim the word of God in the context of the Sacred Liturgy.  As Archbishop O’Brian said in his homily during our installation, the Church uses the institution as Lector, then later as Acolyte (serving at the Altar), to allow us to take gradual concrete steps toward the altar, culminating in ordination to the Deaconate at the beginning of our fourth year and ultimately in priestly ordination after the fourth year of theological studies.  I would like to share a few reflections that I have had since being instituted and carrying out my new office in the Church.

As I mentioned to some of my brother seminarians, “I went straight from high school to the pros”!  My first assignment for carrying out my duty as Lector was to read the second reading at our Sunday mass for the seminary community.  Not only was I scheduled for a Sunday mass, but it just so happened to be the day designated for the newly appointed Cardinal Burke to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving here at the college for his being elevated to the College of Cardinals. 

The day was great.  Since being instituted God has really called me to reflect on my new ministry and to continue to go deeper into the Sacred Scriptures.  The 2^nd reading from the Office of Readings Sunday morning continued this call.  It was taken from the Vatican II document on the Scared Liturgy entitled “Sacrosanctum Concilium”.  One line that particularly struck me was that when Scripture is read in the Liturgy, it is in fact Christ himself who speaks through the minister.  What an honor it is to be able to carry out such a role in the Church.

As with my first meeting with Cardinal Burke, I was quite impressed.  In just a few minutes of being around him, it becomes apparent the he is a very prayerful and humble priest of Jesus Christ.  His words in his homily were very comforting for me.  He spoke several times of the tremendous weight of the responsibilities which he has taken on by virtue of his elevation to the College of Cardinals.  In his humility, he stated that the only way that he can carry out his responsibilities is to remain faithful to and utterly dependent on Christ and his Church.  He focused, in particular in his reliance on prayer, both on his own prayerful relationship with our Lord, and the prayers of all of the faithful for him and his ministry.

Lately, I have realized more and more what great responsibility comes along with being a priest.  At times, I have been worried, wondering if I will be able to live up to so noble a calling.  The answer to my question is no; I cannot live up to the call to be a priest of Jesus Christ.  However, this is the beginning of being a faithful servant.  I know that there is nothing that I can do to minister to God’s people, it is only by moving aside and letting God work through me that I will be a good and faithful servant.  I must continue to realize that I can do nothing without God’s help and with this knowledge, I must allow myself to be totally dependent on Him.

Thank you all for your prayers for me.  Please continue to pray that I will be a humble servant for our Lord and that I will always seek to know and follow his will.  Please know of my prayers for all of you.

In Christ,

Patrick

Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

So obviously, my post is a little late for the title, but the blog was inspired on Thanksgiving day, so there you go. I heard from pretty much all of the priests who have studied here in Rome along with the older guys who are still here that the first holiday season away from home is the toughest.  I am sure that will be the case.  However, so far it has been a good kind of hard.

First off, Thanksgiving weekend here is crazy busy.  We had Thanksgiving on Thursday (obviously) which included each hall getting together for a breakfast, then mass at noon, followed by a huge Thanksgiving day meal, but that was just the beginning.  We also had our New Man class dinner on Friday night, followed by the "New Man" and "Old Man" shows Saturday night, then to finish it all up, the "New Men vs. Old Men" football game known as the "Spaghetti Bowl".  All of these activities helped to once again make the new men feel like we were at our home away from home with our new family for the next 4 to 5 years.  Although these activities were wonderful, fun and comforting, I still had plenty of time to miss my family and friends and reflect a bit.

It is amazing that it has taken being thousands of miles away from home to realize just how blessed I am.  On Thanksgiving my mom's whole side goes to one of her sister's house (the same sister every year).  We get there mid to late morning, visit for a while, the men watch football, the women talk, the men turn the T.V. louder, the women talk louder, then we eat.  This is usually followed by napping and more eating.  It is such a simple tradition, but it is great.  The family is all there simply enjoying time together.  It was particularly difficult being away since this is the first major holiday since my grandfather passed away in February.  I was able to see how it is because of his strong faith and focus on the family that my family still gathers frequently, not just for big holidays, but every Sunday at least a handful of people go to my grandma's for lunch.  It was absolutely amazing that I was reflecting on all of this just before mass because I know through faith that once that mass started and most especially during the Liturgy of the Eucharist, I was intimately united to my grandparents that have passed away, my family and friends back home and all of the members of the Church past and present...how awesome!

Only a few days after Thanksgiving, I had another occasion for great joy as my parents celebrated their 35th Wedding Anniversary.  What a great example they have been to me throughout my life and in particular during my time in the seminary.  They have done nothing but support me from the moment that I told them I had decided to apply and for that I am forever grateful.

So, even though I am far from Louisiana, I have much to be thankful for as we approach the celebration of the Birth of Christ.  I am thankful for my family, especially for my parents and grandparents and for the gift of faith that I have received from them.  I am thankful for my friends.  I am thankful for all of those back in the diocese that continue to sustain me with their prayers and support.  I am thankful for this opportunity to study in the Eternal City and for God's call for me to follow His Son.

Happy Feast of St. Andrew!

Main altar in the Basilica of St. Andrew in Rome.

In Christ,
Patrick

P.S. - I am also thankful for a package I received yesterday which had 4 pounds of Community Coffee and gumbo and red beans and rice supplies amongst other things!

Consistory Weekend

Hello Again Gang,

As you can see from the frequency of my posts, things are getting a bit hectic around here these days.  This weekend was the consistory where Pope Benedict elevated 24 new cardinals to the Sacred College of Cardinals.  Their most well known task is electing the pope, but they also perform many varied important roles for the Church.

Of course, looking forward to this weekend I was excited to see the inner workings of the Church and the "Church Celebrities", but I never knew how fruitful of a weekend it would be spiritually.  I had a ticket for the consistory on Saturday, but due to large crowds, I was not able to get into St. Peter's for the event.  I came back to the college and relaxed for a while as I had to work the reception afterwards here at the college for the two new American cardinals, Cardinal Wuerl and Cardinal Burke.  My job was to serve drinks and this lasted from about 12:15pm - 3:15pm.  It was amazing that in such a simple task, I had so much fun and was unusually joyful.  I really felt like St. Theresa was watching over me helping me to do a simple job with great love.  I had many opportunities to visit with people who had come to witness the event because they knew one of the two cardinals.  It was so humbling hearing them thank me and my brother seminarians over and over again, offering us words of encouragement and most importantly assuring us of their prayers for us.  Recently I have been praying about being more focused on what I am doing at any given moment.  I feel called to do this especially when talking to people.  Maybe they are keeping me from what I "should" be doing (according to my plan), but perhaps God has put me there to talk to them for a reason.  This was especially insightful when related to my desires to do something great for God, to be the saint I am called to be.  Typically, when I think of the saints, I think of the great things they did and wonder how I could ever do these grand works.  Through prayer, I have realized that most of the actions of the saints, taken individually would not be too grand, but their constant normal acts inspired by the love of Christ have changed the world.  This is what we are all called to do.

After serving for the reception, I made my way over to St. Peter's where we took part in the traditional greeting of the new cardinals.  Certain areas of the Apostolic Palace were opened up that are closed to the public except for this event and the new cardinals were spread throughout receiving anyone and everyone.  I made my way to about 7 of the new cardinals.  I first greeted and congratulated them then asked them for a blessing and for them to pray for me, usually after they had already requested for my prayers for them.  This was so humbling.  Here were men who have faithfully served the Church and have been called to be Princes of the Church asking me to pray for them.  It was a great witness to their humility and it showed me that they are truly no longer living their own lives, but Christ is living in them (in the words of St. Paul).  It was such a powerful experience for me to get to meet them and see that they are people just like me.  The only reason that they have been so successful in their ministry is because they realize (as indicated by their requests for prayers) that it is not about them, but it is about Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven and that they need a personal relationship with him if they want anything they do to bear fruit!

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI,
processing out after mass.

Cardinal Koch blessing another seminarian and me.

To round out the weekend I was able to attend mass in St. Peter's which the Holy Father celebrating and all of the new cardinals attendanced along with several other cardinals (including Cardinal Arinze!!), bishops, priests and deacons.  Mass with our Holy Father never ceases to amaze me.  It is so wonderful being able to attend mass celebrated by the head of the Church here on earth.  The awesomeness of the experience was even that much greater since this was my first time being at mass with him in St. Peter's where the altar upon which the holy sacrifice of the mass takes place is directly over the tomb of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles.  St. Peter's successor celebrating mass on an altar resting on the tomb of St. Peter...it doesn't get much better than that.   As Pope Benedict was processing out after mass, I was able to make my way near the railing and was no more than 10 feet from him as he passed.  What a great opportunity it was to be there.  I heard a quote when I first got here, that "the pope of your time here in Rome, is the pope of your heart".  Pope Benedict truly has been the pope of my heart from the time he was elected.  I look up to him as a role model of a good priestly life and hope that I can follow his faithfulness to God's call.  Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and please know that you are all in my prayers. 


In Christ,
Patrick

First Travel Weekend - Athens

Hello all,

As some of you know, I was fortunate enough to spend this past weekend in Athens, Greece.  This trip was amazing for several reasons.  First of all, it was great to venture out from the college for a little while.  Though I thoroughly enjoy being here, it was nice to get away.  The main reason for this is that when I came back, it felt like coming home (though South Louisiana will always be home).  In a way, it really helped to ease my homesickness.

Though Athens is great in general, this weekend was extra special since they had the running of THE marathon yes the original route from Marathon to Athens.  This year marks the 2500^th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon which took place in 490 B.C.  The marathon originated after a man ran from Marathon to Athens to tell the leaders in Athens of their unexpected victory over the invading Persians.  To add to the excitement, one of my brother seminarians ran the marathon.  It was his first ever marathon, but as he said, “I did train for three weeks”.  You can see from this statement why his nick name is “Cavallo Pazzo” (Crazy Horse).  Cavallo Pazzo ended up finishing in 3 hours and 41 minutes, which is a very good, especially since it was his first and since the course was very difficult (more than half of it was uphill!).  This was my first time being at a marathon and it was quite exciting.  I went to the Panathenaic Stadium, where the marathon ended, and took part in the festivities there waiting for Cavallo Pazzo to finish.  It was great being in a stadium with thousands of people cheering on the runners.  It was especially exciting whenever a Greek would finish because they would start playing Greek music then dancing and cheering would ensue.

In addition to the marathon, we got to see some amazing things in Athens.  Saturday morning we made our way up to the Acropolis, which houses the Parthenon (temple to the goddess Athena), a building which housed the Vestal Virgins which were attending Athena in the Parthenon, and various other buildings.  It was great walking around a city so foundational to western culture and philosophy, especially after spending the last two years studying philosophy.  It was great walking in the footsteps of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and so many other great philosophers. 

After eating some amazing Greek food we then embarked upon the greatest part of our trip (for me anyway).  Since we were quite full and still in need of some prayer time for the day, we made our way to the Areopagus.  Right now you are thinking: “Patrick, what on earth is the Areopagus?”  The Areopagus is the location given in the Acts of the Apostles (Ch 17) where Paul gave his speech to the men of Athens.  This location was home to our holy hour/midday prayer/post-lunch nap and it was awesome!  Even though I have visited Paul’s tomb at St. Paul outside the Wall and I know that he walked all around Rome, which I get to be in everyday, this was such a powerful experience for me.  The Areopagus is a rock located in between the Acropolis and the Ancient Market Place, both full of temples dedicated to the Greek gods.  Paul stood in the middle of these two areas so sacred to the Ancient Greeks and proclaimed the one true God of Jesus Christ.  May we all have the courage, the wisdom and the holiness to do the same! 

The final thing I would like to comment on is the faith of the people that I was fortunate enough to witness.  We stayed in some rooms in a Jesuit student housing complex.  The area of town where it was located is home to many immigrants, including many Polish immigrants.  The Jesuit Church had several masses on the weekend, more than half of which were in Polish.  We went to mass on Saturday evening and when we got there (a little late due to circumstances beyond our control) the church was overflowing.  There must have been between 25-50 people standing in the back and even outside of the church.  One thing that was particularly moving to me was a rather simple and humble gesture.  When it came time for the consecration, everyone present, young or old, man, woman or child, inside in a pew or outside on the cold hard floor, everyone knelt.  It was such a great outward expression of their interior faith in what happens during the consecration and in the true presence of God in the Eucharist.

As always, please know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers.  Please pray for me.

In Christ,

Patrick