I’m back. I apologize for the long absence from my blog, but I’ve kind of been enjoying just relaxing and doing nothing for the past few weeks. I guess I shouldn’t say I was doing “nothing” exactly. I was in Rome after all. I was actually doing quite a lot, but I was thoroughly enjoying myself and decided to let the blog sit for a while as I took a break. This was my third trip to Rome and perhaps the best. The first time I went was for 3 days at the end of a larger pilgrimage to Italy in 2003. It was on this trip that I was first able to say with some certainty that I thought God was calling me to be a priest. A week after returning from that special pilgrimage I applied to the seminary. My second trip to Rome was for 2 weeks in the winter of 2005. That is the time of our “spring” break from seminary. During this time I went and saw all the churches I could possibly see and tried to “take everything in”. It was a wonderful time that I spent with brother seminarians from the United States who study at the North American College there in Rome. I also enjoyed spending time with some other friends I knew studying there. As I mentioned earlier, I think this trip to Rome was perhaps my favorite.

Dome of St. Peter’s from the Aventine Hill

Since I had already “seen” all of the major stuff on my last two trips, I was really able to just wander the city at ease this time and enjoy following wherever the Spirit might lead. I normally had a plan each day, but sometimes I would end up doing something completely unexpected. One day I had planned to go to St. Paul Outside the Walls and then to the church of his martyrdom in the morning and doing a bunch more stuff in the afternoon. As it turns out, the church of St. Paul’s martyrdom had closed when I got there. Rather than move on, I decided I would wait until it reopened an hour and a half later. It was such a lovely day that I just sat and prayed there. Birds were singing and it was warm and sunny. As I was reading the text for meditation it just happened to be about St. Paul and his “running the race to the finish”. I couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that I was sitting at the very place where St. Paul crossed the finish line. This was the end of the race for him when he finally got to go home to heaven. I had a wonderful hour and half of meditation and then got to visit the church. These kinds of things don’t happen on a scheduled plan, so I was very grateful to God that He gave me this time of leisure to just enjoy His company around Rome and experience whatever might be in store.

Monastery of the “Three Fountains” Where St. Paul was Martyred

Of course I saw the Pope…twice. I went to his regular Wednesday audience and then to his Sunday “angelus” address. I’m amazed at how the Holy Father can do these big meetings week after week. He truly loves the people and wants to meet with them. I was blessed to be able to share some of these experiences with my brother seminarians from Mundelein who also took some extended travel in Rome. I also got to see the other member of my ordination class from Kansas City who is studying at the North American College. Perhaps the greatest friends I got to spend time with were the religious brothers and sisters with which I stayed for these two weeks. Their community is called the Apostles of the Interior Life and they have played a big role in my own vocation and spiritual growth. Their charism is to give spiritual direction and do direct evangelization. The sisters order is just over 25 years old now and they have recently started a male branch. I stayed with the brothers and they were so wonderful in their hospitality. It was great to pray with them and to go to Mass with them. I got to learn some Italian too! I am friends with many of the sisters and one of the brothers is from the University of Kansas, so this was a sort of reunion as well. Check out their website to learn more about them: http://www.apostlesofil.org

Brothers of the Apostles of the Interior Life

When I made my plans to go to Rome back in November (it seems like ages ago) I thought that maybe I would be too tired after pilgrimage to tack on a trip to Rome. It turned out that this little excursion to Rome was exactly what I needed. I don’t think I’ve spent a more relaxing, joy-filled couple weeks in long time. It was almost like a retreat really. Now, it’s back to work. We started classes for the spring quarter today. It’s hard to think of it as spring when it’s 20 degrees and there’s snow everywhere. It was 60 degrees when I left Rome! It’s hard to go back to winter. Still, it is nice to be home. Now that I’m back in my routine here I’ll do a better job of updating my blog. The vacation is over and real life has returned. I’ll try to post something here at least once each week. Let me know if there is any particular topic you’re interested in. Thanks to all who followed me journey through the Holy Land. Now you can follow my journey to ordination…Deaconate November 17, 2007 and Priesthood June 21, 2008. I can hardly wait.

Chicago Upon My Return Home
…just kidding…
The Swiss Alps Flying from Rome to Switzerland