SJ Rome Pilgrimage 2015: Days 5 and 6 from Brandon

Sorry I missed a day. We're going nonstop here, it's hard to find time to write, but when I do, like right now, I love sharing with you what I've been privileged to do. So, we had two very busy days yesterday, Tuesday, and today, Wednesday. I'll give you the short versions.

Yesterday, we had the privilege of having the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass at a side altar in St. Peter's. Fr. Johnson said Mass for us. As I've written, St. Peter's is beyond massive, it's impossible to even wrap your head around the whole size while you're in there. So it was incredible to go to our one little corner in the southwest side of the basilica, just the 11 of us, and focus on Jesus Christ present on the altar, as our Holy Sacrifice. The entire environment and feel of St. Peter's just points you to God. It points to the Eucharist. If there was no Eucharist, there would not be any need for a House so fit for God. But, the reality is, Jesus Christ the Son of God is present in our midst, so in the 16th century, they built as best a house for Him as they could. And it continued to nourish us to this day while we had Mass and focused on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

After Mass, and some more touring of St. Peter's, we took a break before returning to St. Peter's to the Scavi Tour. The Scavi Tour is a private tour in the Vatican where you go into the Necropolis underneath St. Peter's, directly beneath the basilica floor. Long story short, this necropolis is 2,000 years old, with pagan and Christian burials, and traditionally was believed to hold the grave of St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. Well, under the excavations of Popes Pius XII and Paul VI, that tomb was found, and the bones found near it. For those skeptics out there reading this, every major archaeologist on the project agreed the evidence proved it. The DNA matched a Mediterranean man his age, who had done hard labor his whole life. Near the grave, was a mark of a huge P where on the bottom of the P there were three lines coming out, so it looked like P and E, the first two letters of his name in Latin. The closer they got to the site of the alleged tomb, the more that symbol appeared, over a thousand years old. And, finally, they found a piece of graffiti on the inside of the tomb, from before the tomb could have been sealed that said, "Peter is here." The Church has declared it to be his remains.

Anyway, after giving my small argument for its validity, that was a kind of awakening for me. This whole trip we've prayed before the relics and tombs of great Saints. Francis, Clare, Ignatius, Robert Bellarmine, and even more. These men lived for Jesus. But Peter... Peter lived with Jesus! He knew Jesus, talked to Him, touched Him! This is not theoretical, this is a man who knew Christ on Earth, was His best friend! And I'm looking at this man's bones! How much more real can it get? Just contemplating over that made me smile, it made me dumbfounded as to how there's so much doubt, so much confusion over the faith, and sometimes it doesn't seem real, but this man was very real, Jesus Christ was very real, and I knelt and prayed for intercession before the bones of St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, the first Pope, the man who knew and loved Jesus Christ on Earth. This also reminded me of the gift of the Eucharist, it is Christ just as present as when He was here 2,000 years ago. So why don't we go talk to Him more in the Eucharist?

Those were the highlights of yesterday. Today, Wednesday, was a great day too. We started with attending the general audience of Pope Francis in St. Peter's Square, this is different from the Angelus, where we just saw him from a window. Today, we saw him from the front of St. Peter's Square, and heard him deliver a sermon on the need for better care and love of children.

After the general audience, we went to the Jesuit Curia, which is like the Jesuit's government. We met Fr. Rodriguez, an old friend of Fr. Bravo, who now works for the Father General, the head priest of the Jesuits, here at the Curia (Toan likes to call it the Jesuit Korea). He gave us a tour, told us about discernment, why he loves the Jesuits, and gave us advice on our own discernment. He was a very interesting priest and was very engaging with us. We got an amazing view of the city from the roof of the Jesuit Curia.

After the Curia, we went to the Church of Santo Spirito in Sassia (Holy Spirit in Saxony) which is now partially dedicated to St. John Paul the Great and the Divine Mercy. It was beautiful, and St. John Paul the Great is very special to some of us on this trip. After Santo Spirit in Sassia, we took a break and some of us went back the Bellarmino, the Jesuit house where Jesuits attending the Gregorian University live, including our friend Fr. Brian Reedy who has joined us for a lot of the trip and given us some inside tips on the city. I had a nice quick nap on the roof of the Bellarmino, and considering we haven't had good weather the last few days, having some sun today was nice. We did a quick tour of the Pantheon after the Bellarmino, but the Pantheon is not too big, nor is it a very well shaped Church. As Fr. Reedy put it, "It was built for pagans to worship all their gods, and it still feels that way." So, it is pretty awkward, just that everything is in a circle and the side altars go around in circles instead of straight down the chuch. Not to mention, there were so many TOURISTS there! Way way way more than any church we've been to. It's hard to pray when hundreds of people are laughing, yelling, using selfie sticks, in a place you consider sacred. But it was still an amazing beautiful church built for the Greater Glory of God.

After the Pantheon, we went to Santa Maria sopra Minerva, which is just a few blocks from the Pantheon. St. Catherine of Sienna is buried under the high altar there, the church is gorgeous. There were some Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa's order of nuns, praying there too, we loved seeing them. After Santa Maria sopra Minerva, we went to San Andrea, where St. Stanislaus Kostka, the patron of Strake Jesuit, is buried. Stanislaus was a Jesuit novice who died very young. We were able to venerate his relics too. It was very powerful asking him for intercession in my ministry at Strake Jesuit, a place paced under his patronage.

Finally, after San Andrea, we went to our last stop, Santa Maria Maggiore, one of the four major Basilicas in Rome (the others being St. Peter's, John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls). Inside the crypt of Santa Maria Maggiore is a piece of the real manger Jesus was born in, brought to Rome by St. Helena, who was the mother of Constantine, Emperor of Rome. This crypt chapel of the manger is the same chapel where St. Ignatius said his first Mass as a priest. St. Ignatius waited almost a year after being ordained to celebrate his first Mass, so that it could be in this chapel on Christmas, because he had a strong devotion to the Nativity. We get to have Mass there tomorrow morning! We are beyond surprised we managed to reserve the chapel for tomorrow, and can't wait for it tomorrow.

This basically concludes our day. There were many stops today, lots of walking around, at least 14 miles according to our phones. It was a great day, seeing the sun again, and seeing so many amazing churches built for the greater Glory of God. We only have two full days left, but I know they will be filled with grace and blessings from God Almighty and from our Mother in Heaven. Thank you for praying for us. We pray for our friends, family, and donors every day. More updates to come!