"Well," I found myself thinking, "this certainly is not how I usually spend Christmas." Indeed, this was my first Christmas away from home and the usual traditions that mean so much to me.
Christmas break began last Thursday, and Saturday I left Rome for a short trip to Padua (St. Anthony of Padua, St. Luke the Evangelist, and St. Matthias the Apostle are buried there) and Venice, that spectacular city of water. I travelled with my friend and fellow Joliet seminarian, Paul, who is from Naperville and lives at the North American College in Rome.
We returned to Rome the morining of Christmas Eve and spent the afternoon preparing for the days of celebration ahead. Somehow, Paul managed to get us tickets to "Midnight" Mass (it began at 9:30pm) at St. Peter's Basilica with Pope Francis........not just to attend, but to sing in the choir!! We were in the "response choir" and sang all of the assembly parts into a microphone to help the congregation with the Latin and Italian Mass parts and also to provide the responses for the televised version of the Mass being shown around the world. What an incredible experience. We were so close to the Holy Father and it was so awesome to sing with people from all over the world.
The next day, the house attended the Urbi et Orbi greeting and blessing of the Holy Father in St. Peters Square. This is when he greets the City of Rome (Urbi) and the whole world (Orbi) and provides some brief commentary on the state of the Church and the world. Afterward, the house circled up and sang Christmas carols in the square near the lifesized Nativity scene. Hundreds of people from all over the world began to join us in song to celebrate the birth of our Savior and King. We sang "Angels we Have Heard on High" and since not everyone knew English, the crowd could really only join in for the "Gloria" chorus. In that moment, it didnt matter where you came from, what language you spoke, how much money you had, what your sins were, or anything like that; all that mattered is that we had come to worship Christ the Lord, the Newborn King who came to sve us from our sins. This is the cause of our joy and this is the beautiful message of the Church.
Now I am on a week's journey through France with my brother seminarians. Christmas break to be continued...
