Roma part 1

I’ve been promising to write about Rome, so here it is! I’m going to break it into two entries because it’s a lot to read all at once. 

Nia, Matthew, Dannielle and me walking
in to Easter Sunday Mass. 

Not surprisingly, Rome was a great experience. I stayed with one of my best friends, Nia, at her mission school and got to spend a lot of time with her community. I really loved the Emmanuel Community and it was such a gift to spend Easter and the beatification with such wonderful Catholics. I really learned and grew through their examples and friendships.

I’ll admit that my first day in Rome was a little difficult. It was my first time being back in the West since arriving in Africa. When I got off the airplane, I felt sort of nauseous. From the moment I arrived at the airport there were a lot of flashy advertisements, huge stores selling expensive clothing and perfumes, plus everyone was white. It was pretty disorienting, but I’ve heard from other missionaries that it’s a normal reaction. 

I somehow navigated the trains in Rome to arrive at Nia’s hotel, but she was at a papal Mass so I had a couple of hours to wait before she came back. I was actually relieved because in that time I was able to calm down and relax a little. Plus I got to take a hot shower and use fast internet! 

It was great seeing Nia and we were sure to scream and jump around and then a few hours later our friends Dannielle and Matthew (Dannielle’s boyfriend and our college friend) arrived, which resulted in more screaming and jumping. I’m sure Matthew would appreciate if I clarified that he didn’t jump. It was just so wonderful to all be together again.

At the same time, however, I kept wishing our friend Maria Mitchell could come (This is foreshadowing). Maria has a really special connection with Blessed John Paul II. She had seen him in person many times and on one occasion had even spoken with him. She was in St. Peter’s Square on a school trip the night he died, so she was one of the thousands of mourners praying for him during his last hours. As she prayed, her picture was taken by a journalist and she ended up in Time Magazine. 

It just didn’t feel right being there for his beatification without her. One night I even had a dream she came and was with us, but the next morning when I told Nia and Dannielle about the dream they acted uninterested. After that dream, I kept wishing even more that she could have come, but Nia told me Maria was taking her finals. 

That Saturday night we had the Easter Vigil with Nia’s community and it was really beautiful. It was my first time hearing Mass in English in 9 months! That night we celebrated with everyone in her community and the next morning went to the Easter Mass with Pope Benedict! It was my first time to see a pope and I’ve always loved Pope Benedict’s writings (especially from when he was Cardinal Ratzinger). Going to Easter Sunday mass with him was a huge gift. 

The week continued with a lot of sight seeing. I got to go to a Wednesday audience and saw Pope Benedict again there. That was the closest I got to him. I was maybe 70 feet away. It was really exciting and I joined with everyone there chanting “Papa Benedicto!”

The man of the hour

During the rest of the week, Nia took me around on running/sometimes panicked- late to something else- tours of all the normal places to see in Rome. The hard thing about Rome is there are so many historical and spiritual sites and on a short vacation like this, it’s just not possible to see everything, but also I sort of felt an obligation to try to see the most famous sites. I think next time I’ll drop the frantic tourist act and just spend more time in the places I really loved or where I have a true interest, but I’m glad I can at least say I’ve been to the major spots. I hate to admit it, but I’m a terrible tourist and kept needing Nia to tell me again and again where we were or what we had seen earlier that day.

We were actually running when I took this. 

Also, although I thought she did a great job, apparently Nia is not the best of tour guides. A couple of times during our sightseeing, Nia would say “Oh and that’s (fill in the blank)” and someone else would say, “no… no. That’s not right,” and then would take over the explanation. Characteristically, Nia had a good sense of humor about her lack of Roman sites knowledge and one of my favorite moments was when she told Matthew the name of a river she apparently passes somewhat frequently and we later found out that river is in France, not Rome.

The week was passing quickly, and one night, Nia, her classmate Natalia (who will soon be my housemate in NJ!), and I wanted to make dinner for a priest. We had been sightseeing that day and so we were all heading back to cook, but Nia insisted I go out shopping with another friend. Confused, I went shopping for the first time in 9 months. We went inside some of the high end stores before finding an H&M. I was totally overwhelmed by the experience and only bought a plain t-shirt in the wrong size. Not my best effort.

I came back right as dinner was about to begin and saw Nia and Natalia in the hallway. As I started talking to them, Maria Mitchell walked down the stairs! I was so shocked I didn’t scream or even smile. I just stood there like an idiot as she ran down and hugged me. I’m not even sure if I hugged her back. Everyone teased me about my lack of reaction later. Apparently the entire group had been planning Maria’s surprise visit for a couple months. 

Danni and Nia apparently were really confused and concerned I was onto them when I talked about the dream, so Nia just made up Maria’s exams to throw me off. I absolutely believed her, although in retrospect, obviously Franciscan wouldn’t give final exams during Easter week. I was fooled and it was such a great surprise. 

I think all the good pictures of
Maria and me are on her camera
so this blurry picture will have to
do as evidence that she was there. 

The next day Maria (who should be given a degree in Roman tour-guiding) took me to the catacombs and after to St. Paul’s Cathedral where we met up with Nia and Natalia. This was one of my favorite days because going from catacombs to cathedral was like examining a contradiction that was suddenly explained and organized. I hope that makes sense, but my English is getting rusty and I’m having a hard time finding the right words so I’ll just explain further. As I stood in St. Paul’s after just having been in the catacombs hours earlier, I was struck by the contrast. I wondered if St. Paul or any of the other early Christians who buried the martyrs or performed secret Masses in the Catacombs would believe where we have come if they could see the grandeur of St. Paul’s. I was just amazed that our tiny early Church survived persecutions and continued to grow and build until today. I couldn’t believe that here I was 2,000 years later praying in the same places and a member of the same Church, same faith, and living for the same God for whom they sacrificed everything. 

I’m getting overly sentimental, so I’ll just wrap up this post by saying I feel so grateful to have had this opportunity. 

My next post will be about the actual beautification.