June 23 - Reflections and Return to USA

Well, it has been a wonderful 10-days on pilgrimage.  It certainly has not been without challenges and difficulties, but as I wrote the pilgrims prior to departure - ANY pilgrimage has its struggles and difficulties... it is one way the devil tries to destroy the graces that people receive during their journey.  So, interspersed with photos from throughout our trip - let me (from my perspective) try to share some of my thoughts on the graces of our trip.

On the bus on arrival in Krakow

Mass in the Divine Mercy Shrine

The Barbican in Krakow - part of the old city walls of fortification

Krakow was a time of great blessing.  Beginning our pilgrimage at the Divine Mercy Shrine itself was a clear sign of God's presence with us on this journey.  The first group to arrive was able to join in the 3pm Divine Mercy devotions in the convent chapel - where the earthly remains of St. Faustian rest - and where the image of Divine Mercy is located.  Once our second group arrived, we were able to celebrate Holy Mass in this very special place.

Then we were able to enjoy and tour the wonderful city of Krakow - then reflecting on the horrors of Auschwitz - while recognizing the many Graces that God offered to its victims.  

Contemplating the realities of Auschwitz

Listening at Birkenau - Auschwitz 2

Then traveling to Wadowice - the place where Pope Saint John Paul II was baptized and raised.  We visited the wonderful new John Paul II museum next to the church - in a building what used to be his home.  These days, too, were days of grace and an awareness of God's nearness and God's mercy.

Church where JP II was baptized.

Altar of JP II

Baptismal font in which JP II was baptized

THEN - after such graced moments - the devil began his attacks.  Due to a strike at Italian airports (we have heard rumors that it was due to the Italian soccer game at the Euro Cup), our connecting flight from Vienna to Florence was cancelled.  This caused rebooking... which were not very "user friendly" - but everyone and our itinerary was profoundly impacted.

• We were split into 3 groups: a group of 4; a group of 21; and a group of 8.
• Groups 1 & 2 flew, as scheduled, on the first flight from Krakow to Vienna - but then had a 9 (or 10) hour layover until our next flights:
• Group 1 to Rome then to Florence - arriving about 11pm
• Group 2 to Stuttgart then to Florence - arriving about 10pm
• Group 3 had to remain in Krakow yet another day - but they shared that they had a WONDERFUL extra day in this city - exploring Schindler's factory (where he helped save many Jews from the Nazi camps) and exploring the city of Krakow some more.  But then, the devilish attacks began on this group...
• They flew from Krakow to Frankfort - although their flight was delayed about 40 minutes, causing them to miss their connection to Florence.  They were diverted and rerouted to Amsterdam - yes, Amsterdam - then to Rome - arriving 7 hours later than had been scheduled.  
• AND, 5 of the 8 people arrived, but their luggage did not.  In fact, although they left for the US this morning - they left without luggage.  THIS was a special attack on our pilgrims - as some had put some important items in their checked bag which they'll need (and will not have) on their return.  

Despite these attacks, we continued on and grew closer together as pilgrims as a result.  We were not about to allow the devil to steal from us the many graces of our journey!

Florence - which Group 3 was unfortunately not able to experience - was nice...  A closed Baptistry due to Jubilee Year activities...  And we had hoped to renew our baptismal promises inside.  But this didn't stop us from renewing our commitment to Christ!

Visiting the museum in Florence

Assisi was, as always, WONDERFUL!  It is a place of such peace and calm.  Our visit to Maria degli Angeli provided a good start - then going up to the old town (after waiting for the rain to end) - visiting the churches of St. Claire and St. Francis - our beautiful hotel - the wonderful view - and an evening out on the balcony with our fellow pilgrims.

Then, off to Rome - the Eternal City!  Again, there are so many graces - and temptations to lose them.  Our visit began at the beautiful Paul Outside the Walls - then a bit of rain (which was fine) and St. Mary Major.  All very good - at each place going through the Holy Door, praying for a moment, and moving on.  But the "lost luggage" continued to haunt us.  We have only a 1-hour window in which the airline allows you to call to inquire about your luggage - and judging from the wait time, a LOT of people were effected by the strike on Friday.  Temptation after temptation to despair or become angry because of "things."  But we continued to find ways to overcome our doubt and fear by focusing on God's love and mercy.

At St. Paul Outside the Walls

Looking down toward the tomb of St. Paul

Tuesday was Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the grotto of the Popes.  Here, too, problems.  Because of a "backlog" that morning, Fr. Richards and I waited in the sacristy for more than 1/2 hour - then when we were finally ready - we were told we had missed our time and would not be allowed to celebrate Mass.  Fortunately, the other group's priest (scheduled after us) was kind and merciful - and we promised to finish in 1/2 hour, so they could also have their opportunity for Mass.  The devil is foiled again!

At this point, I went to work - while the pilgrims had a chance to visit the church and shop.  Then I showed them around our office - which is very near to St. Peter's Basilica. 

Our office is the one on the left with the flag on the roof

The afternoon was a visit to the Vatican Museum.  It's HOT!  It always adds to the atmosphere where there is little sleep and lots of people...  We walked through the heat and crowds to the Museum.  The paperwork I was told to bring was not sufficient... one of our pilgrims fell ill... the crowds pushed in on us... the museum was PACKED... the Sistine Chapel was less than spiritual... but we persevered on!

Lunch, then a visit to the roof of the North American College.  Again, attempts to derail us!  There was a miscommunication and the bus driver took us to the American University - not the NAC.  But we got turned back around and arrived at the correct place, went up the elevator to the roof, and enjoyed a beautiful view of the city and St. Peter's.

I was getting distracted, and this is the only photo I have (via Kristlyn) of our time on the roof.

The audience was on Wednesday.  Again, I went to work while the pilgrims awaited the arrival of the Holy Father.  They got a VERY good glimpse as he went by in the Pope-mobile.  They had a good - albeit hot and sunny (and "pushy") experience.  Lunch, the last Papal Basilica - St. John Lateran - the Holy Stairs - and attempt to visit the Gesu (but it was CLOSED - go figure), then Mass with Cardinal O'Brien.  All through this: heat, tired people, lost luggage, lost sleep, lack of public restrooms... but we continued on - not allowing the evil one to win.

the CLOSED Gesu

After Mass with Cardinal O'Brien

And today - arrival at the airport HOPING luggage will be available - but nothing.  Getting on a flight for home without your important and earthly belongings...  one last attempt by the evil one to destroy the graces of our Year of Mercy Pilgrimage.

Throughout the journey I tried to remind our pilgrims of these attacks - and that we discover our true freedom when we can recognize and confront those attacks - and choose God instead.  Perhaps, reflecting on the past 10 days - perhaps this was the lesson - at least for me.

God's grace, God's mercy is ALWAYS available - it is WE who must choose it - or lose it.

Thank you to all who joined me here in Rome - whether here on pilgrimage - or spiritually being united with us through this blog.  Thank you for your prayers and spiritual closeness.

One last reflection... a personal one.  Seeing everyone from "home" - spending time with Fr. Richards... it brought all my emotions back to the surface this morning... But it is God who has me here for some reason He will reveal in due time.

Now, I prepare for my next work trip - Pompei.  I'll blog again next week!

June 22 - Papal Audience and Last Day in Rome

This morning we again started very early - as we attended the Papal Audience in St. Peter's Square.

Following the Audience, a quick lunch and off to the Cathedral Church of Rome - and the world - St. John Lateran.

Church of Saint John Lateran

Prayer: O God, who from living and chosen stones prepare an eternal dwelling for your majesty, increase in your Church the spirit of grace you have bestowed, so that by new growth your faithful people may build up the heavenly Jerusalem. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Lateran Basilica is called “mother and head of all the churches of the city and the world.” In fact, this basilica was the first to be built after Emperor Constantine’s edict, in 313, granted Christians freedom to practice their religion.

The emperor himself gave Pope Miltiades the ancient palace of the Laterani family, and the basilica, the baptistery, and the patriarchate, that is, the Bishop of Rome’s residence — where the Popes lived until the Avignon period — were all built there. The basilica’s dedication was celebrated by Pope Sylvester around 324 and was named Most Holy Savior; only after the 6th century were the names of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist added, and now is typically denominated by these latter.

Initially the observance of the feast of the dedication of the church was confined to the city of Rome; then, beginning in 1565, it was extended to all the Churches of the Roman rite. The honoring of this sacred edifice was a way of expressing love and veneration for the Roman Church, which, as St. Ignatius of Antioch says, “presides in charity” over the whole Catholic communion (Letter to the Romans, 1:1).

As we gather in this church, we are reminded of an essential truth: the temple of stones is a symbol of the living Church, the Christian community, which in their letters the Apostles Peter and Paul already understood as a “spiritual edifice,” built by God with “living stones,” namely, Christians themselves, upon the one foundation of Jesus Christ, who is called the “cornerstone” (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:9-11, 16-17; 1 Peter 2:4-8; Ephesians 2:20-22). “Brothers, you are God’s building,” St. Paul wrote, and added: “holy is God’s temple, which you are” (1 Corinthians 3:9c, 17).

The beauty and harmony of the churches, destined to give praise to God, also draws us human beings, limited and sinful, to convert to form a “cosmos,” a well-ordered structure, in intimate communion with Jesus, who is the true Saint of saints. This happens in a culminating way in the Eucharistic liturgy, in which the “ecclesia,” that is, the community of the baptized, come together in a unified way to listen to the Word of God and nourish themselves with the Body and Blood of Christ. From these two tables the Church of living stones is built up in truth and charity and is internally formed by the Holy Spirit transforming herself into what she receives, conforming herself more and more to the Lord Jesus Christ. She herself, if she lives in sincere and fraternal unity, in this way becomes the spiritual sacrifice pleasing to God.

Our visit celebrates a mystery that is always relevant: God’s desire to build a spiritual temple in the world, a community that worships him in spirit and truth (cf. John 4:23-24). But this observance also reminds us of the importance of the material buildings in which the community gathers to celebrate the praises of God. Every community therefore has the duty to take special care of its own sacred buildings, which are a precious religious and historical patrimony. For this we call upon the intercession of Mary Most Holy, that she help us to become, like her, the “house of God,” living temple of his love.

— Benedict XVI, Angelus Address, November 9, 2008

Following our visit to St. John's - we went across the street to the Holy Stairs - brought here to Rome by Constantine - the very steps that Jesus walked up when he was tried by Pontius Pilate.

The Pantheon

It was in this building that the first known All Saints’ Day was celebrated by Pope Hadrian IV in A.D. 609.

In 30 B.C., the young nephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar, Octavian Caesar, defeated his enemy Mark Anthony in a naval engagement off the coast of Turkey.  Taking the title of Augustus, or the “revered one,” Octavian Augustus Caesar quickly set up shop as the unofficial king of Rome, calling himself by the military title of emperor.  In poetry, in hymns to the gods, in new legislation, he presented himself to the Roman people as a savior and the champion of Roman greatness.

BEGINNING OF THE ROMAN PANTHEON

Augustus’ ally and supporter Marcus Agrippa built a lavish temple dedicated to “all the Roman gods,” known by its Greek title, the Pantheon.  Here were altars to the various gods of ancient Rome, meant to show the piety of Augustus and the support of the pagan gods of Caesar’s new imperial regime. Agrippa’s temple was burned to the ground in A.D. 80 and rebuilt, burned again in A.D. 110 and finally rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian in A.D. 128.  Hadrian’s temple to all the gods is the one tourists visit in Rome today.  It is the best preserved Roman-era temple, and it has survived probably because of the church.

HADRIAN’S PANTHEON

Hadrian’s Pantheon is impressive.  Unlike most other ancient temples it is round, not rectangular. A huge done surmounts the temple, making it the largest Roman dome to survive.  At about 142 feet round and 142 feet tall, it is half of a perfect sphere.  Made of poured concrete, ranging from 20 feet thick at the base of the dome to 3.9 feet at the top, it is impressive.  Studies have shown that the concrete is made of different sands at different heights, placing more of the lighter materials at the top than at the bottom. Almost 5,000 tons of concrete were used.

It also was the model used in the 19th century for the American dome of the Capitol buildings in Washington, D.C., and it is the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.

THE OCULUS

But the best known aspect of Hadrian’s Pantheon is the Oculus, or the eye.  At the top of the dome is a large circular opening, open to the sky, about 30 feet wide.  This open space provides the light which, as the day and years go by, illuminates the various altars to the gods.  The stone walls retain the heat of the day, and so a slow draft of warm air moves out of the oculus and prevents rain from falling in, and what rain did get in was drained off by good plumbing in the floor.  That same marble floor was trod on by the Emperor Hadrian, Martin Luther, the kings of Italy and the majority of the popes.

PANTHEON BECOMES A CHURCH

In A.D. 609, the Byzantine Roman Emperor Phocas donated the old pagan temple Pope Boniface IV, who dedicated the church to “St. Mary and all the Martyrs,” which is the official name to this day.  The statues to the pagan gods were removed and the images of the Apostles were put in their places.  In this manner it became a church dedicated to all the saints and not all the gods.  Masses are celebrated there on a regular basis. Various worthies have been buried in the church, including the renaissance artist Raphael and the modern Italian kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I.

We later had Mass at Santa Maria sopra Minerva - where the body of St. Catherine of Sienna is beneath the Main altar.  It was a wonderful gift that Cardinal O'Brien came to celebrate Mass for us.  What a great moment for our group!  At the conclusion of Mass (and after our photo with the Cardinal - and another Proximo tour group who joined us for Mass) we took the opportunity, here in the presence of the body of St. Catherine of Sienna, to pray asking her intercession.

Heavenly Father, your glory is seen in your saints.

We prais your glory in teh life of the admirable St. Catherine of Sienna,

virgin and doctor of the Church.  Her whole life was a noble sacrifice

inspired by an ardent love of Jesus, your unblemished Lamb.

In troubled times she strenuously upheld the rights of His beloved spouse, the Church.  Father, honor her merits and hear her prayers for each of us.  Help us to pass unscratched through the corruption of this world, and to remain unshakably faithful to the Church in word, deed, and example.

Help us always to see in the Vicar of Christ an anchor in the storms of life, and a beacon of light to the harbor of your Love, in this dark night of your times and men’s souls.

We ask this through Jesus, your Son, in the bond of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

St. Catherine of Sienna – Pray for us.

The only Gothic church in Rome, the Basilica Santa Maria sopra Minerva (Basilica of St. Mary over Minerva) is so named because it was built directly on the foundations of a temple to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom.  The basilica that stands today was begun in 1280. Architectural changes and redecorations in the 1500s and 1900s stripped it of some of its magnificence, but it still includes an awe-inspiring collection of medieval and Renaissance tombs.

History of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Not much is known about the ruined temple to Minerva on this site, built by Pompey about 50 BC and referred to as Delubrum Minervae.  A temple to Isis and a Serapeum may also underlie the present basilica and its former convent buildings.  Some Roman ruins can be seen in the crypt.  The ruined temple is likely to have lasted until the reign of Pope Zacharias (741-752), who finally Christianized the site, offering it to Eastern monks.  The Christian structure he commissioned has disappeared.

The present building owes its existence to the Dominican Friars, who received the property from Pope Alexander IV (1254-1261) and made the church and adjoining monastery their influential headquarters. The Dominican Order administers the area today.  The old Romanesque basilica was not splendid enough to serve as the chief Dominican church in Rome, so two Dominican monks, Sisto Fiorentino and Ristoro da Campi began the present structure in 1280.  This pair of monastic architects had worked on the Gothic church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, which served as the model for this church in Rome.  The church was completed in 1370.  It was later renovated by Carlo Maderno among others, given a Baroque facade, and restored in the 19th century to its present neo-medieval state.

It was in the Dominican monastery adjoining the church that the astronomer Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was tried by the Inquisition for teaching that the Earth revolved around the Sun.  He was forced to recant and retire.

What to See at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva

Just behind the Pantheon is the Piazza della Minerva, whose focal point is an endearing sculpture of a cheery baby elephant carrying a small Egyptian obelisk on his back. It was sculpted by Bernini in 1667. It is said to represent Pope Alexander VII's reign and illustrate the moral that strength should support wisdom.  The Egyptian obelisk is much older - it was found in the ruins of a temple of Isis that once stood nearby. Nothing visible remains of the Temple of Minerva (or Isis) over which the present church was built.

Santa Maria sopra Minerva has a remarkably plain facade (17th-century), with three small entry doors and three round windows.  This belies the richness and size of the interior beyond.  Inside, the viewer's eye is immediately drawn to the arched vaulting, painted blue with gilded stars and accented with brilliant red ribbing. The former is a 19th century restoration in the Gothic style.

I asked our tour guide if we could make one special stop on this, our last day in Rome - at the tomb of St. Francis Xavier in the Gesu.  Unfortunately, the church was "closed."  None the less... praying for everyone at home...

Prayer asking the intercession of St. Francis Xavier (at the Gesu)

Lord Jesus,

You have sent us to proclaim the Gospel to all nations,

and have promised to always remain with us.

Look upon us gathered here at the relic of St. Francis Xavier.

Pour out the abundance of your Spirit upon each one of our brothers and sisters especially on those who are called to ponder

upon the journey made and to plan what has still to be done,

so that we may offer a more authentic service to mission.

Grant that we may ever be faithful to the Gospel and to give an answer to the hopes which the world places before your church today.  Stay with us, Lord, when we gather around the table of your Bread and your Word, and when we walk the paths of the world side by side with our brothers and sisters.

Grant that we all find ourselves in heaven, our homeland,

after having been members of the same family on earth.

Amen.