Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone is having a blessed Advent as we wait to celebrate the birth of Christ! My thoughts and prayers will be with all of you back home as I spend Christmas here. In a few days, all of the seminarians will be released for about two and a half weeks from school. Christmas is one of the times when all of us here are required to travel, so the house will be empty as everyone scatters across the globe. Some of the men here will be visiting the Holy Land while a large majority of us will be spread across all of Europe. I am going to be making a quick stop in Louvein, Belgium because we can stay for free at the American Seminary there. I hope to visit Cologne becuase my great grandparents were married there before immigrating to the US. The Cathedral in Cologne is also said to hold relics of the Three Magi, so I think this will be a good place to spend some time before Christmas. After Christmas, I will go to Krakow and Prague. I have mixed emotions about visiting Krakow. We will be seeing some of the places where John Paul II lived as well as visiting Auschwitz. In this one city, we will see the both the heights and depths that man is capable of. I was hesitant to visit Auschwitz during the Christmas season, but I know that it is important for me to see.

I realized that I have yet to speak much about my normal day in Rome. It is somewhat of an oxymoron to speak of a normal day in Rome because I have yet to have a week that was the same as the one before. Our schedule is dominated by the liturgical schedule of the Church. Many of the major feasts celebrated by the Church have some importance or link with the city of Rome. There are many days when we might visit one of the churches in Rome to see the body of the saint who is being remembered. On other feast days, we might be attending a mass with the Pope or having a large celebration within our own home. Each day in the liturgical life of the Church is the source of something that occurs here in the city which we attempt to experience whenever we can. Our weeks are also dominated by the number of guests that we receive into our house. It is a blessing to see friends and family members from back home, so we are constantly adjusting our schedules to see people when they make it in town.

That being said, there is some constants that I can count on every day. Our community life begins every day at 6:15 with Morning Prayer and Mass. I usually wake up around 5 so that I can wake up and do a little reading before Mass. After Mass, we have breakfast which is quickly followed by all of us scrambling to gather our books before walking to school. I attend the Gregorian University which is near the Trevi Fountain. I have to leave no later than 8 so that I can make the 30 minute walk to school. I really enjoy the walk every morning because I am able to walk by the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain every day. I will occasionally take the bus if it is raining too hard, but I generally walk every day. If anyone has followed the news, the rain this past week was horrible to the point where the Tiber was dangerously flooded. This was a bus week!

At the Greg, our classes are arranged in 45 minute periods with 15 minute breaks in between. Those 15 minutes are critical because they give you time to scramble downstairs to fight for a coffee at the bar before running back up the stairs in time for class. Some days I have four classes while on other days I only have three. By the end of four hours of Italian, I am usually brain dead for the rest of the day. At 1:15 we have pranzo which is our big Italian lunch. This is a sit down meal which we need to be at with the community unless something absolutely prevents it. Cena (dinner), on the other hand, is a light meal that can be missed whenever you want. In between pranzo and cena, the day is ours unless we have seminars, apostolate work, or any of the other required events. Evening prayer with the community is also required every day at 6:45. By the time we do our Holy Hour, exercise, and other requirements, we don't have much time left in the day for many other things.

As busy as it is, I do love my time here. Living here is forcing me to be exposed to new cultures, new thoughts, and new ways of doing things. Every day I am still bombarded by new things which requires internal growth. God is using all of this to help me grow and to put Himself at the centerof my life.

As we all approach this season of Christmas, take some time to reflect on what Christmas really means. God Himself became man 2,000 years ago. This is the simple truth preserved by Christianity which should dumbfound us when we hear it, yet we are often blind to its power because of our familiarity with the Christian message. For all of our understanding, we should be knocked to our knees at the thought that the Creator of the world chose to be born as a man. Rome has made me more and more aware of the historical roots of our faith. As I pray in the churches here, I can not help but be struck by the fact that I am praying at the remains of the names preserved in our New Testament. Peter and Paul, James and Phillip, Bartholomew and Andrew. I am also surrounded by those Saints who passed on the message given to them by the first followers of Jesus. All of this, in an unbroken chain down to us today. We stand in the shadows of men and women who experienced Christ living in this world. We should not let ourselves forget Christ's humanity while we bask in His divinity. It is this simple truth that God became man which sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. It is this simple truth that allows us to become children of God.

Mary gave herself whole heartedly to God, and was given the gift of having Christ dwell in her very womb. May we ourselves say yes to Chirst during this season of Advent so that he may dwell in us as well. As we celebrate His birth into this world, let us not forget that we also have the grace of being used to bring Christ into this world through our actions and choices. May Christ dwell in you richly during this Season, and may He bless you abunduntly.

In Christ's Love,
Luke

Cinque Terre

Several weeks ago, I went with two other seminarians to an area on the northern edge of Tuscany known as Cinque Terre. This area is named after the five main towns which sit on the side of the mountains where they rise out of the Mediterranean Sea. There are also other little towns in this area that sit further above the sea on the mountains. All of the little towns are connected by an extensive trail system, and the five main towns are connected by a train. This entire area is terraformed, so as you hike from town to town you are passing through vineyards and olive groves.

The trip was amazing for many reasons. We stayed in a little town called Volastra which sits on the mountain above the main five towns. I was nervous about the weather because it rained while we were on the train, and the weather reports forecasted rain for most of the weekend. We arrived at the train station late, and the owner of the B&B where we were staying picked us up in his car so that we wouldn't have to hike through the rain. If you ever find yourself in that situation, I recommend hiking through the rain. Anyone who has been in a car with an Italian driver will know why! He began by nearly running over some pedestrians as we left the train station. Then he proceeded to drive us over mountain roads, while it was still raining, faster than a sane man would drive on a dry, straight road during the day. Remember that he is Italian, which means that he talks with his hands. So now we have someone driving at night on wet roads really fast while talking with his hands (ie off the wheel). To make matters even more exciting, he begins passing people. Not on the straight section though because that would be too easy. I remember passing one car as we were going around a hairpin turn, and then passing a big truck as we went through a tunnel. I am grateful to him for offering to drive us to his hotel, but it was more of an adventure than I was expecting.

We stayed in a little town halfway up the mountain called Volastra. It only had one restaurant which tells you how small it is, but this restaurant had the best seafood I have had in my entire life. The next day we went to mass in Volastra where we met Padre Carlos. I was blown away by the mass. Most of the poeple there were involved with the Focolare Movement which started in Italy. The name means "Hearth" because it was started by a few girls who would gather around the fireplace in their homes for prayer. The music was beautiful, and the depth of faith in these people was more moving than I can express. Visiting this little church was one of the higlights of my trip. When I came to the North American College, I was told that I needed to travel to experience the universal church. To be honest, I thought that was nothing more than an excuse to travel around the world. This trip really made me aware of how important it is, and how much of a blessing it is, to see how the faith is lived in different places. I never would have expected to find such a vibrant community in a little run down church clinging to the side of the mountain. Everyone says that faith is dead in Europe, but that will never be true as long as little communities like this survive.

God has been teaching me a lot about trusting in Divine Providence lately, and this trip was one of the ways he spoke to me. He was there to guide us every step of the way. I was initially worried about the weather, but it ended up not raining at all the entire time we were at Cinque Terre. We were heading down to the first village when we ran into some tourists from Canada who told us that the trail below was washed out. We turned around, and hiked up and over the mountain which was absolutely beautiful. We were high enough that we got great views of the cities down below us. Eventually we made our way down to the sea, and we found out why some of the trails were described as "airy". Many of the trails were little more than goat tracks perched on the side of cliffs. There were a few spots were a slip would have been very bad if not deadly. We got off route sometimes, and ended up wandering through the vineyards which was a lot of fun. Eventually, we made our way down to the main trail and began exploring the little towns.

The towns were all filled with brightly painted houses and streets covered with old painted wooden boats. Apparently it is not good to leave the boats in the water, so they are oulled up into the streets whenthey are done fishing. The harbors were rocky with only a few spots broken down by the sea enough to be called beaches. We ran into the same tourists town after town which got to be very amusing. We made it through most of the towns, and even ran into some other seminarians who came to Cinque Terre for the day from another nearby city. The food was amazing everywhere we went, and the views were always incredible. After a long day, we went back to our town by train.

The next day, while we were walking down to find mass in another town, we ran into Padre Carlos. He let us know that the other masses would make us miss our train home, so he offered to drive us to the next city after going to mass with him. The entire trip was filled with moments like this. In the end, we eventually made our way back to the train station to begin our journey back to Rome.

I learned a lot on this trip although it is hard to put most of it into words. I learned to put even more trust in God's Providence, and my faith was rekindled by those I met. Having time away from Rome also allowed me to see the ways that I have been changing since coming to Europe. I can only thank God for all he is doing, and ask for His continued guidance. All of you back home continue to be in my prayers, and I ask that you also continue to pray for me.

Barcelona

I have survived my latest trip, this time to Barcelona. The toughest thing about Barcelona was dealing with the language difference. Barcelona is the capital of the Catalonia Region of Spain where the primary language is Catalan, not Castillian Spanish. I had gotten so accustomed to being able to speak with locals while traveling through Italy, that I forgot what it is like not being able to communicate with the people around you. Some people understood Italian but the majority of times we resorted to a mix of English, Spanish,and Italian. I'm sure you can see how this led to some confusing conversations. Around the tourist areas we could usually find English speakers which helped a lot.

I did not know a lot about Barcelona, but several of my friends said that it was a great city so I was very interested to get there. Our hotel was in the middle of the Gothic Quarter where we were surrounded by some old, beautiful Gothic Cathedrals. We eventually made our way over to the Ramblas which, to my mind, was a cross between the Champs Elysees in Paris and Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It was crowded with stores, museums, street vendors, street performers, and a fare share of pick pockets. We eventually found a local market, and had an aamzing lunch of local meats, cheeses, and fruits. After that, we started wandering around to see some of Gaudi's famous buildings. Gaudi was a famous Modern (Art Nouveau) Architect who lived from 1852 to 1926. He was also a highly devoted Catholic whose faith was intertwined with his fantastic buildings. You may or may not like Modern Architecture, but you will probably like Gaudi's works. It is not Modern in the sense that we use today. He uses bright colors and fantastic shapes to develop buildings unrivaled by any others in the world. It is hard to see his buildings close up and not appreciate their beauty. He was also a genius when it came to engineering, which is what allowed him to make buildings with such odd columns and other structural elements. He began a Cathedral called the Sagrada Familia which is still being built today. Look at the attached Photo Album to see more pictures of the Facade and Interior Roof. The columns of the Cathedral are designed to look like flower stems and the roof is made of flower petals. He has houses that make you feel like you are in the Fairy Tale of Hansel and Gretl while others evoke scenes of a sleeping dragon. I was very impressed by his work. Barcelona ended up being a beautiful city. It is very clean and manages to integrate the old and newer buildings in a way that feels very natural. It somehow has the feel of an old cultured city while still being very modern.

The next day, we traveled to see Monserrat and Manresa for a small pilgrimage. Monserrat is a monastery high in one of the most unique mountains that I have ever seen. The most unique feature of the mountain is its rock formations. All of the other mountains surrounding this one are much lower while this one juts above all of the rest with beautiful rock spires coming off of it everywhere. It is famous because of a statue known as the Black Madonna. Legend says it was found in a cave by some monks who came to this mountain to found a monastery. My opinion is that some other monks must have beat them to the punch. Later on, Saint Ignatius of Loyola came to this place to lay down his sword and armor when he dedicated his life to Christ. After leaving this place, he went to a nearby cave in Manresa where he fasted and prayed for many months. Out of this experience came the Spiritual Exercises. Both of these sites were absolutely beautiful. On the way there, we befriended one of the men checking tickets on the train. This ended up being beneficial because we had the wrong ticket for the way home, but he let us on the train without having to pay the difference. He sat with us most of the way back chattting about different things. It was a funny conversation because we would speak in Italian, and he would respond in Catalan. It seemed to work though. We never got much deeper than politics and family. That night we spent time at a famous fountain in Barcelona that puts on a lights show every half hour. The fountain constantly changes the way that the water comes out of the fountain while also changing the colors that illuminate the water.

We spent a little time in Barcelona the next day before returning back to Rome. I've attached links to my pictures below.

Barcelona:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zuf920z.ckvchjjv&x=0&y=q5w4oo&localeid=en_US

Monserrat and Manresa:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zuf920z.a7jvleez&x=0&y=hz8to4&localeid=en_US

Greccio

This past week I had a silent retreat at Greccio (pronounced Grechio), which is a beautiful place high in the mountains. The monastery pictured above is one of the places that Francis of Assisi lived. It is important because it is the site of the first Christmas Nativity Scene as well as the first mass held at midnight, both of which are devotions started by Francis. The monastery was very beautiful on the inside with different creche scenes from around the world. It also showed Francis' utter devotion to Christ. His room was part of the cliff wall where he slept propped up against the rocks.

My retreat center was part of this monastery, but was located a short walk away. It was a beautiful place to be with God. We were surrounded by mountains, and right outside the retreat center were many trails that led up to the peaks around us. I will never forget wandering up the mountain , and finding an old shepherd out on the side of the mountain guarding his flock. It put a new perspective on the Gospel passages to see this with my own eyes. God blessed me in many ways on the retreat. Before I left, all of the changes that I have gone through after coming to Rome started to overwhelm me. The retreat helped to calm me down and put my focus back on God. Now I am excited again about the coming months.

As an aside, I never put any of the pictures from my tour of the Swiss Guard Barracks. I thought everyone would enjoy these two photos.

Thanks for the Prayers!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all those who prayed for me. I found out yesterday that I passed my Italian proficiency test. I know that it was only possible through all of your prayers. My joys of learning Italian are far from over because I will have to continue to improve as I live here in Italy. I would ask that you continue to pray for God's blessings in this area of my life.

Long Story Made Short...

To say that the past few weeks have been interesting is an understatement. With the exception of this past week, every day started with four hours of Italian, and it ended with some type of Conference explaining what life at the NAC will be like. Most of these days also included a tour of somewhere in Rome. It all started with a trip to Castel Gandolfo to see the Pope at one of his Wednesday audiences. After the audience, we took a tour of the Popes private gardens. His gardens were beautiful. They had many amazing little spots for prayer. The Archbishop who guided us through the gardens told us many stories of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

We saw a lot in the first few weeks. We saw the excavated ruins below St. Peters (the Scavi) which hold the bones of St. Peter himself, and celebrated mass in front of his tomb. We visited the Swiss Guards barracks, and were able to learn more about the history of this storied group. During this time, I had to being wearing Clerics for the first time. It is amazing how everyone who sees you wearing clerics expects you to be able to speak every language, know where every church in Rome is, etc... It has been interesting to say the least. Every seminarian has stories of both amazing and odd experiences that happened to us while we were wearing clerics. I still do not know what most of the languages that I heard were, or how I managed to answer their questions. Today, I had my most interesting mass experience. I heard a strange noise while at mass in the city, and when I turned back I realized that the man behind me had a rather large parrot perched on his shoulder. I have to be honest, the parrot was much more well-behaved than most small children. I laughed when the man put the parrot behind his back while receiving communion. I can only imagine the reactions if the parrot had managed to get a host in its mouth. The funny thing is that all I could wonder about was how Francis of Assisi would have reacted to this.

Tomorrow, I go on a Silent Retreat for a week. I ask for your prayers for myself and all of my seminarian brothers while we are on this retreat. I also ask for your prayers for Father Joe Gitl. He is a preist of Galveston-Houston who had some heart troubles while visiting Rome. He is currently in the hospital awaiting tests and surgery before he can head back to Houston. Pray for a speedy recovery and for good doctors.

All of you continue to be in my prayers.

God Bless,
Luke

The End is in Sight...

I apologize for not updating this blog for so long. I have had many interesting things going on, but the last few weeks have been dominated by two things. Orientation and more Italian classes. Orientation is finished now, and the end is in sight for the Italian courses. I would ask all of you to pray for me on Monday when you get this update because I will be taking my Italian proficiency exam. A third of the test is an online test and the other two-thirds is an oral examination. I will have to introduce myself, describe a random photo, and read a selection of Italian literature out loud. I have three chances to pass this test so that I can take my classes in Italian, and I am hoping that I pass it the first time around. At this point it is in God's hands, so your prayers are very important.

I promise to tell you about all of the things that I have seen since leaving Assisi as soon as I finish this test!

In Christ's Love,
Luke

The Grotto of Frasassi

Even though this trip was a while ago, I want to write about my visit to the town of Genga (pronounced Jenga) on August 17th. Me and three other seminarians decided to go and see the Frasassi Caves which is one of the largest subterranean cave systems in the world. These caves were not discovered until 1975, and they extend for almost 19 miles on 8 different geological levels. Originally, I was hoping to go spelunking through the caves for 4 hours on Sunday, but that didn't work out because of the train schedule. Instead, we were able to do the one hour tour through the caves. The caves were amazing, but I wasn't allowed to take photographs. I have one photograph of myself in the caves with Lam (a diocesan brother) which the Staff of the grotto took, but I will not be able to post that until I find a scanner.

After touring the caves, we decided to hike into the mountains to find a church known as Saint Mary's Inside the Saxa Hermitage (Santa Maria Infra Saxa Hermitage) which was built into the cave of an old hermitage by Pope Leon XII in 1828. We hiked along an old creek, and we eventually saw the hermitage far above us in the mountain. After hiking half a mile past the cave, we found a paved trail that led up to the Hermitage. There were Stations of the Cross posted along the trail which was very appropriate because the path was quite steep and painful. When we arrived at the top, I was stunned by the view. It is hard to express how beautiful it looked to see this church situated as it is.

After we spent some time enjoying the view and praying in the church, we decided to explore further back into the cave where the hermits lived. This ended up being a hilarious experience. I had brought the only flashlight, so the four of us crowded around it as we explored deep into this pitch black cave. As we delved furthed into the back of the cave, it began to slowly ascend up along a pile of shale. The shale was very noisy and the footing was treacherous, so we began to move slowly. As we settled down, we heard the chittering of nundred of bats above our heads. Immeadiately, one of the seminarians ran down the hill which scared all of us, so we all turned and started running down this loose hill of stones. Eventually we realized how ridiculous this was and began climbing back up into the cave. I made a joke about putting our shirts over our heads when the bats came after us. Not to long after that, we looked back to see that one of the guys was crawling up the hill with his shirt over his head. It was a hilarious experience.

On the way back, we decided to take our shoes off and wade through the creek. We had a great time exploring the creek bed, hopping across rocks, and swimming through a few spots. The funniest moment of our time in the creek bed came when one of the seminarians got stranded on the other side of the creek with a deep pool of water between us. He didn't want to swim yet, so we passed his bag across the creek with a long stick, and then he tried to pull vault across the entire pool. He almost made it without getting wet, but he ended up landing a little short.

It was a great trip. I look forward to going back at some point to enjoy this area of Italy again. I want to include this last picture that I snapped on the train ride back home. I think this picture captures well the experience every travelor has on the way back from a succesful trip, so I labeled it "Aftermath" in my computer.

Cascata delle Marmore

Last Friday I decided at the last minute to go with some other seminarians who were trying to go see the Waterfall of Marmore. This is the largest man-made waterfall in the world. It was begun by the Romans in 271 BC to drain the swamps around the ancient city of Rieti. A canal was dug to the edge of the cliffs in order to drain the water. This solved the problem of malaria that plagued Rieti, but when the Velino River flooded, water overflowed to the point of threatening the city of Terni. This waterfall remained a contentious subject until the flooding problem was finally solved under Pope Pius VI in 1787. Today, the waters power a hydroelectric plant, and the water is released over the falls at different times.

We arrived in Terni to find out that most of the buses were not running because of the holiday of Ferragosto. I have heard many times that Italy shuts down in the summer for vacation, but it was never real to me until now. As we walked around Terni, we realized that every single shop was closed. It was like the town had been evacuated. It was amazing to see because there is no way that any town in the US would be able to completely shut down for vacations. The Italians approach life in a completely different way. Terni is a large industrial town, and every single plant and factory that I saw was shut down.

When we finally arrived at the waterfall, I was amazed by its size. The total height of all of the falls together is 541 feet, while the tallest single drop is 272 feet. The falls are surrounded by a haze of water vapor from the spray off the rocks at the bottom. There is a free bus that brings people to the top of the falls, and our original plan was to ride the bus to the top and hike back down beside the falls. As we waited for the bus, we were able to experience first hand the Italian concept of "standing in a line". As the buses approached, everyone begins to push and shove until they are in a position to fight their way into the bus. They end up strung out along the road, and surge to wherever the bus stops. There is no real advantage to being in the front or back because it all depends on where the bus stops. Once the bus stops, all of the yelling starts. I didn't understand all of the yelling, but it started with one woman saying that they needed to let her into the bus first because she was carrying a child. At this point, everyone else with children starts yelling and screaming. The whole time that this is going on, there are two empty buses waiting to pull up as soon as the first one is filled. As funny as it was to watch, we decided to hike to the top instead of fighting the "line" anymore.

The park is beautiful. When we entered, I was surprised to find out that there is whitewater that comes right off of the base of the waterfall. I met a local paddler who said that he might be able to set me up with some gear for paddling. As my friends describe it, I quickly became "a kid in a candy store." I enjoyed walking up the creek and watching the rafts come down. Eventually we began the hike up beside the waterfall. At one point, we were able to stand in the spray coming off the bottom of the first drop. We were instantly drenched which was a nice way to cool off. The top of the falls are beautiful, and give an amazing view of the valley below. We decided to hike back down the mountain to get to the bus back to Terni. Unfortunately, we missed the bus we needed to take, and had to wait for about 40 minutes for the next bus away from the Falls. While we were waiting we had our first porchetta paninis. To call it a pork sandwhich wouldn't do it justice. At the bottom of the falls are numerous vendors with whole pigs that have been roasted. When you want a sandwich, they carve the meat right off of the pig.

We finally made it down the mountain to find that we only had one train left to Assisi. We hopped on that train, and when we got to our connecting train we discovered that our connecting train had been cancelled. After that, we ended up taking a bus to get from Foligno to Assisi. Unfortunately, our bus was going to be stopping at the base of the mountain that Assisi is on, and of course all of the buses to the top had already stopped by the time we arrived. The guys chose me to try and convince the driver of the bus we were on to take us to the top. I was amazed that my Italian ended up being capable of telling him what I wanted, but I was not able to convince him to drive us up to the top. It ended up being a long walk back, but the day was worth it. Next time, however, we will remember to check the bus schedules ahead of time!

Celebrating the Saints Italian Style

The past week has been filled with a lot of activity. The city of Assisi has three patron saints who lived and died here in Assisi. The first is Saint Ruffino who was an early Bishop of the city and won the martyrs crown. The second is Saint Francis who lived a life devoted to God, and in the process helped to renew the Catholic world with his message of peace and simplicity. The third is Saint Clare who was a contemporary of Saint Francis. She devoted herself to a life of prayer, and began the Franciscan Order for women.

This week is special to Assisi because on August 11 is the Feastday of Santa Chiara, August 12 is the Feast Day of San Ruffino, and August 15 is the Feastday of the Assumption of Mary. The town of Assisi proved that it knows how to celebrate it's saints. Monday started with a mass in a crypt that holds the body of Santa Chiara. In the evening, there was a procession that began at San Ruffino, moved to the Church of Santa Chiara, then to the Church of Maria Sopra Minerva, and then back to San Rufino. The procession consisted of a cross leading the religous, then the priests, followed by the Bishop. Behing the Bishop was an effigy of San Ruffino, which was then followed by all the towns people. What made the night extremely special was that they lit up all of the roads and castles in Assisi with candles. It made for a beautiful night. After the procession, there was dessert put out for all of the participants. It was there that I first truly experienced the Italian understanding of lines. To put it simply, there is no line. Those who are willing to push and prod the most make it to the cake, while others are left to fend for themselves. Some of the old Italian women were especially vicious.

The next day had beautiful masses for San Ruffino, and the day culminated in an amazing firewors show over the Castle of Rocca Maggiore. A few of the seminarians stay at a house further up the hill which has a patio overlooking Rocca Maggiore. We decided to through a party, and spent the night on the patio celebrating and watching the fireworks.

The weeks festivities culminated on Thursday night with a Vigil for the Marian Feast down at Santa Maria degli Angeli [Saint Mary of the Angels]. The night starts with a bonfire outside of the Church. In the wood of the bonfire were placed over 20,000 prayer intentions left at the Cathedral by pilgrims over the year. The bonfire started with a prayer service offering our prayers to God. After a lot of singing and prayer, there was a procession with candles through the church. Once we were in the church, there was beautiful singing and prayers for the Feastday. We ended the night going for gelatto [Italian ice cream] with some sisters from America who have been living and working in Assisi for the past 25 years.

The Feastday of the Assumption is also a federal holiday in Italy, so we had Friday off for travel. I did a lot of traveling over the past few days, and had a great time. Those stories will follow when I have time. Interestingly enough, the week was also filled with many other personal celebrations. I had one friend take vowswith the Sisters of Life on the 12th, and another friend take vows with the Franciscan Sisters that we had gelato with on the 15th. To top it off, my mother's birthday is today on the 17th. All in all, it was a week filled with celebrations.

Beginning the Third Week in Assisi

Its hard to believe that I am starting my third week in Assisi. After two weeks I am actually able to speak some Italian. I can carry on a basic conversation and follow most simple conversations. It has made it alot easier to travel in Italy now that I can communicate with the people around me. There were several times when I was saved from getting on the wrong bus by being able to talk to the bus driver. As much as I enjoy it, the Italian classes have been tough because they are so accelerated. In two weeks, we went over most of the material that I learned in one semester at UD. After another few days, most of what I will be learning will be new to me.

My days at Assisi have settled into a steady routine. I wake up early in the morning to do Morning Prayer and Mass in Italian with some of the Franciscans in the area. After that I try to get some prayer time in before breakfast. After breakfast, I go up the the Academy for four hours of Italian. We come back down for pranzo [lunch] at the Hotel, and then we go back for another two hours of Italian. In my afternoons I usually do some running through the hills, and then I go and walk around Assisi. Sometimes I will visit churches or go into an interesting store. If I have had a long day, I might sit in one of the piazzas with some wine. Cena [dinner] is at 8:30, afterwhich we go out to Assisi to relax. Sometimes we will go up to the Casa that has become known as Castille de Mobilae because of the three seminarians from Mobile that live there.

Yesterday, a few of us took the day to take a train to Florence. We didn't try to rush around and see everything which was a nice change of pace. We had mass in the Baptistry where there was a beautiful mosaic that covered the inside of the cupola. After that, we went to the Cupola of the Duomo to admire the view of Florence. We had a funny experience at lunch. One of the seminarians had spent some time in Florence, and wanted to take us to a restaraunt that he liked. He promptly led us the wrong way, and 30 minutes later we found the restaraunt right back where we had come from. Unfortunately, it was also closed for the week. We ended up at an Irish Pub with food that is better forgotten. We wandered around Florence for the rest of the day taking in the sights before we eventualy made our way back to Assisi.

Greetings from Assisi!

My first week in Rome has flown by, and I am already living in a new city for the next month to study Italian. I enjoyed my time in Rome, but it went by too quickly. The first week was filled with getting settled into my new room, meeting the men I will be studying with for the next few years, and trying to see Rome. The seminary provided guided tours everyday which let me learn things about these places that I never would have known if I was walking through it myself. Our first trip was to San Lorenzo where St Laurence, St Stephen, Justin Martyr, and Pope Pius IX were buried. Pope Pius founded our college in 1859 which is why our first pilgrimage was to this church. Over the next few days I was able to wander through many churches, and walk beside the Coliseum and other ruins. We also took two day trips outside of Rome. The first was to a little town called Bracchiano. This town had a perfectly preserved castle which we explored. After that we travelled down to a beautiful lake where I spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing on a paddleboat which we rented. Our other day trip was to a town called Orvieto. It is famous because of the relic held there from a Eucharistic Miracle where the Eucharist bled onto the altar cloth. The main church in Orvieto has one of the prettiest facades that I have ever seen.

Now I am in Assisi until the end of August. The town is beautiful, and I know that I will enjoy my time here. I am only in my second day of class, so I would ask for your prayers that my Italian continues to improve. I will send more pictures of Assisi later, but I thought I would tell you the story of our arrival to Rome. The seminary told us to bring fans along because of the heat. The hotel sent a van to take some of our luggage, but we got to make a grand procession through town holding our fans which got a lot of laughs from the locals. Until next time, pace e bene.

I made it to Rome!

I made it to Rome safe and sound. God does have a sense of humor however. The fun started when my flight from Houston to Newark was pushed back. I ended up barely making it to Newark in time to get on the flight for Rome. Once I was on the plane, I was able to play the fun game of guess who is a seminarian. Unfortunately, 10 of the guys missed the flight and didn't make it into Rome until much later. Once I got in the plane, I found out that my chair couldn't recline. I wasn't able to sleep much because of that, so I was a zombie when I finally made it to Rome. It was not until I went to get my baggage that I found out my baggage didn't make the plane to Rome. I hope that it shows up soon, but I'm not betting on it. I still find it hard to believe that I am actually in Rome. Tomorrow we begin to go tour some of the things in Rome, so I will try to take some pictures.

The Road to Rome...

All,

It is hard to believe that my first two years of seminary have come and gone. In some ways it feels like it has been a lifetime since I have entered seminary, yet the past two years have flown by. The time in seminary has been good for me. It has pushed me to grow more as an individual. Some of the changes are easy to identify while other changes are much harder to explain. It is easy to talk about the classes that I have taken and the daily prayer routines and all of the externals that make up my normal day. It is much tougher to explain the inner changes that I am having to face. I think that these past two years have helped me to see myself as I truly am, all of my strengths and all of my weaknesses. I am far from holy, but with God’s help I hope to continue to grow in holiness. I do not regret my choice to enter seminary. I have fallen more and more in love with the lifestyle. In spite of the challenges that come with it, I continue to see myself wanting to give my life to this calling.

Over the past two years, I was completing what is called Pre-Theology. During this time, I took 33 hours of philosophy, 12 hours of theology, and 12 hours of foreign languages. All of these classes have prepared me to move on to Major Seminary as a Theologian. The next four years will be filled with classes focused directly on Theology and Priestly Ministry. God willing, I will be ordained as a Catholic Priest at the end of this next period of schooling. I have been asked by the diocese to complete all of my priestly training in Rome at the North American College. I am very excited about this amazing opportunity to study in Europe, but it will also be tough to be so far away from all of my friends and family. I know that many of you have had questions about this so here is the brief sketch of what will occur. Towards the end of July I will leave to go to an Italian Immersion Program in Assisi. After that I will return to Rome to being to prepare for classes. While in Rome, I will live at the Pontifical North American College which sits on a hill overlooking the Vatican. My classes will be held at the Gergorian University which is located near the Trevi Fountain. I can have visitors while in Rome, but I will not be able to provide you with lodgings. I hope that many of you can visit Italy during my time there. During my first two years, I will not be able to return to the United States. God willing, I will be ordained to the priesthood after four years. I will most probably be spending four to five years in Rome.

This web blog will hopefully be a good way for me to keep everyone updated on my journey. I am sure that I will have many other ways of being contacted, but all of that is pending my actual arrival in Rome. Until then, I want to thank all of you for your continued support. Please keep me in your prayers as I make this transition to Rome. I know that it will be tough at first, but I am also excited to see what God has in store for me.

May God Bless you,

Luke