Remembering last year....

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday.  This solemnity is celebrated on the Sunday after Easter.  Saint Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun, had several "encounters with Jesus".  These encounters were in the form of visions and visitations from Jesus himself.  You can read more of Faustina's experiences  from her diary here.
She was canonized on April 30, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Last year, on this day, I was in Rome for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.  He is now Blessed John Paul II. 

I will never be able to express in words the experience of being in St. Peter's Square for this event.  Both Pope Benedict XVI and John Paul II have a very special place in my heart.  I feel as though I know them.  It feels like they are part of my family.  As a matter of fact, Pope Benedict reminds me so much of my grandfather.  Whenever I see him, I feel like I want to run up to him and hug him...to have him embrace me in his arms the way my Grandpa Joe did. 

I wanted to share with you some pictures from that wonderful day!  Thanks to my dear friend, Monsignor Steven J. Lopes, we were able to have a birds eye view of the entire ceremony from the garden balcony of Cardinal William Levada, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.  Mons. Steve is the Cardinal's priest secretary.  Although we started out in the middle of a crowd that numbered in the hundreds of thousands, Fr. Steve rescued the four of us from certain death by a crushing crowd!  I kid you not!  Thank goodness for cell phones and persistent nuns!

These are the pictures I took AFTER we were rescued and were safe!

This is the view of Cardinal Levada's balcony from St. Peter's
That's where were were privileged to be!!

Once we made it through the crowd, this was our view down
the Via della Conciliazione!

News crews were set up on the tops of many buildings.
This was a station from Germany.

I think we had an excellent view!

This was the view looking directly down from the balcony. 
Wall to wall people with no breathing room.
And yes, it's true, many Europeans do NOT wear deodorant!
Just sayin.

Telephoto lens!

Some of the sisters enjoying the view.

Wonderful coffee and Italian Easter bread..Colomba Pasquale.

Awesome boys choir.

The opposite view of the balcony.

Aren't they pretty?

Can you imagine waking up to this view every morning?

Deo Gratias - Thanks be to God!

Pope Benedict XVI

This has to have been one of the most wonderful spiritual experiences of my life!  It was intense.  I felt like I belonged there.  I felt like I was home!

  “The flames of mercy are burning me. I desire to pour them out upon human souls. Oh, what pain they cause Me when they do not want to accept them!.” (1074 – paragraph 2)

The Holy Staircase

Did you know that there are over 900 churches in Rome?  Of course, not all of those are Roman Catholic, still...that's a TON of churches for just one city that's less than 500 square miles.  By comparison, Jacksonville, Florida has just 52 Roman Catholic parishes and is the largest city (land area) in the Continental U.S.  I mention this because I was in Rome for 6 days and was only able to visit 4 churches...including St. Peter's Basilica. 

Eventually, I will get around to sharing all 4 of them with you, but today I wanted tell you about the Holy Staircase.

Across the piazza from the Basilica of St. John Lateran (this is the Pope's church as Bishop of Rome), there is a place called the Holy Staircase. 

                     "The Holy Staircase is said to be stained with Christ's blood, as it is popularly identified,
                       at least since the mid-1400's, with the marble steps that Jesus climbed and descended
                       twice on the day of His Passion, on the way to trial before Pontius Pilate in the
                       Praetorium.  St. Helena, Constantine's mother, is said to have brought the Scala Pilati
                       from Jerusalem to Rome as a gift for Pope St. Sylvester I (311-314), who installed it
                       opposite the old Patriarchate.  The devout climb the 28 marble steps (faced with 18th
                       century walnut planks) on their knees.  The old Chapel of the Popes is at the top of
                       the staircase, concealed behind a heavy grille.  This is Rome's most venerated site,
                       called the Sancta Sanctorum because Pope Leo III (795-816) stored countless precious
                       relics under the altar, in one large and three small cypress cases.
                       In other words, this Chapel is the location of "the Holy of Holies", no different from
                       Solomon's temple in Jerusalem.  An architrave set on four  porphyry columns states,
                       "Non est in toto sanctior Orbe locus" (there is no holier place on earth).
                                                                         -from Macart's book St. John Lateran


As you can see from the photo, there was a line of people waiting to climb.  I had no idea what I was in for!  This looked much easier than it was and I will admit to you all that I was not prepared for the spiritual significance.  This was extremely painful!  Every step made my body ache.  The closer I got to the top, the clearer the painting of  The Crucifixion became.  Good Friday took on new meaning for me.

By the time I reached the last step, I was a mess!  I was a crying, sweating, aching, shaking mess!  I don't think my knees will ever be the same again.  As I knelt during Mass these past two Sundays since returning from Rome, I was reminded of this experience and in awe yet again at the love that God has for us...for me.
The pain and suffering that I felt was just a fraction of what Our Lord experienced.  He could have stopped it.  He could have set Himself free.  He chose to suffer.


****On a side note, Blogger has apparently permanently lost my Beatification post.  At the advice of others, I checked my Google Reader and found the post there.  I've done a copy/paste to a word document so that I can repost it at some point....however...the copy and paste didn't work for the pictures.....sooooo, I'll have to upload them again.  For those of you that commented on the post.....Blogger apologizes...profusely.  In light of my experiences at the Holy Staircase, I'm inclined to FORGIVE them, but I must admit.....Blogger is really starting to get on my nerves....just sayin******

Home

I'm home from Rome and recuperating!  As soon as my head is clear of the fog and the jet has lagged it's last....I'll begin posting my adventures!  For now, just know that all of you were in my prayers and the Holy Father sends his blessings!  Ciao!

Roman roads

This is a short but very interesting post written by a a gentleman (Bryan) and his wife who moved to Italy in 2006. Click here to read the post.

I think things like this are fascinating! And of course, anything about Italy interests me!

Pictures from Halloween

The girls were cheerleaders (obviously). Their favorite part was getting to wear some lipstick and eye make up. Nathan had gone to his cousins right after school so I never did get a picture of him in his costume....he was Indian Jones. The picture of him above is from the pumpkin patch.

They got more candy than they could eat in a lifetime! I will slowly remove it from the house until by Thanksgiving...it will be all gone!!

Now we get to focus on Thanksgiving and all that we're thankful for. I plan on doing a Thanksgiving tree this year. I will have to work around my next chemo treatment (which is the 6th). Hopefully I will feel well enough to follow through, but, I know I'm better off with a plan.

As an extended family, we have not talked about what we plan to do for Thanksgiving. Last year, Dan and I were in Rome celebrating our 10th anniversary. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at Cardinal Levada's home. We had all the traditional American dishes as well as some awesome home made pumpkin ravioli!

I know that whatever we do...we will be together...thanking God for all of our blessings!