So, I didn’t make a post last week—I’ve been a bit sick for the past 9-10 days and it slipped my mind in between Nyquil and Dayquil pills.  But, after some time of prayer and thinking I’ve decided that I am going to give this a break for the time being anyway so that I can focus on other obligations here at the seminary—such as classes, Italian, prayer, etc.

I know that this wasn’t a huge time commitment but it was enough to be just one more thing I had to do each week…and as such I don’t think the quality of what I wrote, when I did write, was good enough to warrant keeping this running.

So, for now, I am going to take a break from blogging.  If I decide to start up again I will be sure to let you know.  But, until then, thanks for your prayers and for reading.

God bless,

Scott

I am not quite sure what to write this evening and so I thought that it’d be best to simply cut-and-paste some words that I have spent much time thinking about over these past few years.  I hope that if they are new you will consider them for the first time and if they are old may you be reminded of the great truths that they contain.

Scott

I. THE LIFE OF MAN – TO KNOW AND LOVE GOD

1 God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of

sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own

blessed life. For this reason, at every time and in every place, God

draws close to man. He calls man to seek him, to know him, to love

him with all his strength. He calls together all men, scattered and

divided by sin, into the unity of his family, the Church. To accomplish

this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as

Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men

to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs

of his blessed life.

2 So that this call should resound throughout the world,

Christ sent forth the apostles he had chosen, commissioning them

to proclaim the gospel: “Go therefore and make disciples of all

nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have

commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close

of the age.”4 Strengthened by this mission, the apostles “went forth and

preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and

confirmed the message by the signs that attended it.”5

3 Those who with God’s help have welcomed Christ’s call

and freely responded to it are urged on by love of Christ to

proclaim the Good News everywhere in the world. This treasure,

received from the apostles, has been faithfully guarded by their

successors. All Christ’s faithful are called to hand it on from generation

to generation, by professing the faith, by living it in fraternal

sharing, and by celebrating it in liturgy and prayer.6

—The Catechism of the Catholic Church

I hope that this past week has been blessed for each of you.  It was a fairly good week here in Rome—things have finally settled down a bit and routine is setting in now that the Diaconate ordinations are over and there is nothing more to get “oriented” to.

Now that I actually have a routine, I thought that a few of you might be interested to see what life looks like here at the NAC.  Here is a “typical” schedule:

• 5:30am – Wake up, shower, get dressed.

• 6:15am- Morning Prayer and Mass

• 7:00am – Breakfast

• 7:45 to 8:15am – Depart for school (it takes anywhere between 15 to 45 minutes to walk to our respective universities)

Then, at Santa Croce, our class schedule is:

• 8:45 to 9:30am – Class

• 9:30 to 9:45am – Break

• 9:45 to 10:30am – Class

• 10:30 to 10:45am – Break

• 10:45 to 11:30am – Class

• 11:30 to 11:45am – Break

• 11:45 to 12:30pm – Class

(I’m quite grateful for the fact that after 45 minutes of Italian intensity we get a 15 minute break to breathe!)

• 12:30 to 1:15pm – Walk back to the NAC

• 1:15 to 2:00pm – Pranzo (aka Lunch)

• 2:00 to 5:45pm – Homework, exercise, errands, etc.

• 5:45 to 6:45pm – Holy hour of prayer

• 6:45 to 7:00pm – Evening Prayer

• 7:00 to 7:30pm – Cena (aka Dinner)

• 7:30 to 10:00pm – Usually more homework, laundry, etc., as well as a little bit of a chance to catch up with the other men in the house.

• 10:00pm (at the latest!) – Night Prayer and then bed

As you can see, then, we have a pretty busy schedule.  And yet, compared to many people, including some of you, who have children, I’m willing to bet that our schedule doesn’t always compare in terms of busyness.  But, it still takes some getting used to…especially those early mornings (as many of you know, I am not and never have been a morning person).  I suppose that this is just another area for growth over these next few years!

There’s not much on tap for this coming week out of the ordinary.  I’m thankful for that.

Please keep me in your prayers if you remember that Italian continues to come along and that I enjoy my classes more (especially Latin, which is being taught in Italian!).

God bless,

Scott

So, in keeping with tradition (small t-tradition for you Catholics), this post is a bit late.  But, it’s been quite the week and even if it had not been I doubt that you’d expect anything different from me by now!

Early last week Bishop Morlino and many priests and friends from Wisconsin came to Rome in preparation for the diaconate ordination which took place in St. Peter’s Basilica on Thursday morning.  It was great having them come—after a few months out of the state, not to mention the country, it was a sight for sore eyes to see so many friendly and familiar faces.

Besides their visit, however, last week also marked the beginning of classes for me at Santa Croce.  All I can say after 7 days of them now is that it is going to be a long and steep road ahead.  Most of the theology classes are manageable—that is to say, I don’t think that they will be completely incomprehensible to me, but today I had Latin in Italian.  Trying to learn one language that you don’t know from another that you sort of/don’t really know is a treat.  I pray that the Lord continues to give me patience and perseverance because I will need both this semester.

As for the ordination, it was beautiful.  St. Peter’s was wonderful, as always, but particularly so because of the fact that the tourists were restrained from walking all over the place during Mass.

Greg and Dave both looked great and afterward it was great being able to meet their friends and families who had come for the great celebration.  It was equally wonderful being able to enjoy dinner with all of these lovely folk later that night in honor of this great day.

Although I wasn’t able to get pictures of either of these two I borrowed a few from another classmate of mine which I have posted below just to give you a glimpse of what it looked like.  Enjoy!

Archbishop Carlson of St. Louis

A Great View towards the Altar

Some of the New Deacons (thanks to Simon Carian for all of the photos)

God said to Elijah the prophet:

‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.’  And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.  And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave  (1 Kings, 19:11-13, RSV).

This Scripture passage is often quoted in connection with silent retreats and for good reason.  It clearly reminds us that if we are to hear God’s voice we must be willing to move past the distractions and noise which constantly seek to consume our time and energy, and in a word, us.  But, as we all know, this willingness on our part is not always easy to come by.  Sometimes, I think, we like the noise precisely because it distracts us.  Perhaps we are fearful of hearing God speak to us like He did to Elijah?  What if God really does love me?  What if God really does have a plan for my life?  What if God really is calling me to turn from false gods that I have made and turn to Him who is the fullness of Truth and Love?

Anyway, the retreat proved to be a wonderful time and silence played a large role in this.  In particular, I am thankful for the fact that during it a few things that I have been “wrestling” with for these past few months finally came together in such a way that I can move on.  Without delving into too many of the details (which would probably bore you), a few “philosophical” problems have plagued me for awhile, but through a few good reads (thank you St. Thomas Aquinas!) and some time for silent, thoughtful reflection I found the answers which I have been searching for.  Thank you to those of who said a prayer for me.

Tomorrow I begin classes at Santa Croce.  I am a bit excited and a bit nervous.  I know that my Italian is still rather poor and it’ll take some time to get used to everything.  But, with the Lord’s help and that of my fluent classmates I think that things will work out.

The real exciting news, however, is the fact that this week is ordination week.  Already many guests have arrived here in Rome and at the NAC and in the next few days even more will be coming.  Dave Carrano and Greg Ihm, two classmates of mine from Madison, will be ordained to the diaconate on Thursday morning (this is the step right before being ordained a priest for those of you who may not know).  To celebrate this occasion many priests from the diocese of Madison are coming to visit as well as Bishop Morlino.  It’ll be nice to see real, living Wisconsinites!  And, of course, it’ll be great to see Dave and Greg ordained in St. Peter’s Basilica.  Hopefully I can get a few good pictures for next week!

After this week I expect that things will begin to slow down and routine will set in.  I am looking forward to this.  There is something nice about having a routine, especially when one has not had one for some time now.  But, this is not to say that I won’t enjoy all of the organized disorder of this week while it lasts.

I hope that all is well for each of you who are taking the time to read this.  Know of my prayers for you.

Scott

I am leaving for retreat right now for the next week.  I was thinking about posting a few mundane reflections from my past week of Italian studies but I think that it’d be better to wait until next Sunday and post some longer reflections about the past few weeks after spending some time thinking and praying these next few days.

So, I promise a good post next Sunday.  Please keep me and my classmates in your prayers this week—that our retreat would be relaxing and spiritually renewing.

Thanks for your prayers!

Scott

I have always been a bit of a procrastinator.  I can remember being in elementary school and knowing that I had a book report due in 2 weeks and yet waiting until two days before it was due to begin reading the book.  Then, I still had to write the report!

I know that I need to grow in this area, and hopefully over the next four years I will make some progress (unless of course I put this off!).  I already have nightmares that, God willing, upon ordination my parishioners will find notes in the first few Sunday bulletins saying something to the effect of “Sorry, but my bulletin comments weren’t ready by the time that we needed to get this bulletin to the printer.  But, if you stop by the parish sometime later this week I’ll be more than happy to give you a copy…of my reflections from 3 weeks ago which I have just finished.”  Somehow, I don’t think that most people would be too forgiving with their priest doing this.

So, please pray that I might grow in this area, especially by 2013.

On a different note, this week marks the last week of “official” Italian language school.  Granted, my theology classes, which begin in 2 weeks, will be in Italian and so in one sense Italian school is just beginning for me, but nevertheless it will be nice to end the 4-hour long Italian grammar marathon classes.

Just to recap, for the past 3 weeks all of us new men have had Italian classes each morning from 8:30am to 1:00pm, with a 30-minute coffee break/nap dividing the two 2-hour long sessions.  Although my teacher has been wonderful to learn from it is still difficult to do anything for 4 hours, yet alone foreign grammar drills.  So, as you can probably imagine, I am quite grateful that the finish line is in sight.

The other challenge that I have found with learning Italian over these past 7 weeks is the fact that many of the things that we must discuss (at the request of the textbooks or the programs) in order to learn it are often things that I am not the most interested in.  I am ready to start learning theology and some more philosophy—subjects that touch upon the deepest questions about our humanity, existence, God, the world, etc.  These things interest me.  Headlines about George Clooney or stories about 40-year-old Italian men who live at home with their mothers and don’t do their laundry aren’t exactly topics that I want to exert much mental energy discussing.

And so, although I realize that perhaps this is a necessary evil in learning a new language (it seems that you do have to learn the basics before you can start talking about the essence of the human person or some other technical philosophical/theological topic) I still don’t like it.  Perhaps someday I can re-write an Italian language program for English speakers with bypasses some of these mundane topics.  But, I suppose that means that I must first learn Italian well.  But, seeing how I am thinking about putting that off for awhile…

A few more unrelated notes:

1.  Once again I don’t have any pictures.  I thought about taking a few just to put on here, but I didn’t want to turn my blog into an Italian tourism blog.  So, I thought that I’d just wait until I have some actual ones.  I hope that you don’t mind.  If you do, I’m sorry!

2.  Diaconate ordinations are quickly approaching.  Please keep Dave Carrano and Greg Ihm in your prayers as they prepare for this joyous occasion.

3.  With these ordinations many people from Madison and the state will be coming to Roma.  I really look forward to seeing a lot of good friends, especially because they have promised to bring over some ever-elusive American exports—i.e., peanut butter, Gatorade, etc.

4.  The other night I went for a walk with a classmate in front of St. Peter’s Basilica at night.  It’s absolutely beautiful.  I still can’t get over the fact that the Vatican is in my backyard.  The Lord’s generosity cannot be outdone!

5.  Lastly, we had an American feast this past Saturday night: fried chicken, loaded baked potatoes, baked beans, Coke, banana splits, etc..  It’s amazing how something so simple as a meal without pasta can warm the an American seminarian’s heart.  I have never been so thankful to the Lord for fried chicken in my entire life. 

With my prayers,

Scott

On Monday we had the annual 1st-year men vs. 2nd-year men softball game.  Perhaps somewhat surprisingly (against the odds one might say), the 1st-year men put on a softball clinic.  The combination of good hitting, shrewd base-running, and solid pitching helped us defeat the old men 13 or 14 to 3 (I can’t remember the exact score).  After the 2nd-year men scored 3 runs in the first inning they were held scoreless the rest of the game and never even threatened to come back.

The only downside to the game was the fact that one of the guys on the 1st-year team injured his leg after a collison near first base.  Although the injury doesn’t look to be too serious please remember to keep Matt in your prayers.  Considering the fact that one must walk everywhere in Rome it is never good to hear that a guy has a leg injury.

On a side note: During the 5th inning stretch (analagous to the 7th inning stretch), one of the 2nd-year men who claims to be the fastest man in the seminary challenged any of the first-year men who were willing to a race.  Apparently Alex (the 2nd-year man) had never been beaten before, but just like his softball playing brothers he ended up losing to one of the first-year men, an Australian.  Congratulations Michael Gallacher!

On Wednesday night another big event took place for us 1st-year men as we were invited over to the Casa Santa Maria—a graduate house where priests live who are working on graduate level studies in Rome—for dinner.  As some of you may know, this is the very place where Madison’s own, Fr. Tait Schroeder, lives, although he was not there on Wednesday evening.  The faculty at the Casa were very gracious in hosting us as they invited us to pray evening prayer with them and enjoy a dinner that reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner back in the States.

Yesterday (Saturday) the seminary took a trip to the beach.  Although I am not the biggest fan of beaches, especially since I am not a good swimmer, it was a nevertheless a good chance to spend one last day enjoying the summer sun before the daily routine of post-Orientation life sets in.  After a few hours of sunburn and volleyball we returned to the seminary and found all of the other guys returning to the NAC (3rd and 4th year were not required to be here until last night).  Much to my delight the rest of the Madison men were back as well as a few friends from other parts of the state.  I must say, the seminary sure is crowded once 200+ men live here all at once.

That’s all I have for now.  I wish I had  pictures to share but there wasn’t much to look at this week (except the softball game, but I thought that I should spare my 2nd-year brothers the pain of having to re-live that experience again  through images).

Until next time,

God bless,

Scott

As such, I was grateful for the opportunity to go to Assisi this weekend with all of my classmates for some rest and sightseeing.  Upon arriving, however, I realized that I was more eager to do the former and so I actually did very little sightseeing while in Assisi.  Instead, I spent most of the past few days leisurely reading and sitting in view of the beautiful Italian scenery, thanking God that we live in such a beautiful world.

 

A view from Assisi

I did manage, however, to visit a few of the different “sights”, including the hermitage where St. Francis would go when city-life became too much for him to handle.  We actually had Mass there on Saturday with one of the priests from the seminary who just happens to be a Capuchin Franciscan.

The most interesting thing about the hermitage, in my humble opinion, was the area where St. Francis slept.  It was located in a little room and is quite bare (as you can see below).

 

St. Francis' Hermitage Bed (note the lack of a mattress)

Considering these sleeping quarters I don’t think that I will ever complain about mine again! 

One curious fact about Assisi is that it seems to have turned into a gigantic “Catholic Wall Drug” over the years—everywhere you go they sell tacky knick-knacks of St. Francis, St. Clare, and others.  It seems that the very thing that St. Francis stood up to protest 800 years ago—the pursuit of excessive materialism to the neglect of love, truth, and peace—is once again predominant in the area, only this time the people are using Francis’ name and image to market their goods.  But, I suppose that this is the plight of fallen humanity—quickly forgetting God and turning our hearts to His created goods instead.

Anyway, I think that things will continue to slow down this week.  We have a softball game tomorrow to celebrate Labor Day which should be a good time but other than that I don’t think that much else is going on besides Italian— which reminds me that I need to finish my homework for tomorrow yet!

So, as they say here in Italy, “Arrivederci!”

This past Monday was our last full day in northern Italy.  To celebrate the end of our Verbania language studies all of us seminarians and a few of our teachers took a trip to the small city of Arona, which is located on the southern coast of Lago Maggiore.  Arona is a rather well-known tourist spot along the lake and its primary claim to fame is a massive statue of St. Charles Borromeo (whose Feast Day just happens to be on my birthday and who also just happens to be the Patron Saint of Seminarians), who was born there.  Over the years the statue has been turned into a well-documented tourist attraction (EVERY tourist book mentions it!) and many people visit it so as to climb inside the saint’s head—for a few Euro you can rent a hardhat and off you go.  Seeing how I wasn’t sure as to whether I would ever get to Arona again I figured that I couldn’t pass up such an opportunity.

I’m standing inside of the head.

 

This is the view that one sees through the statue's eye hole. For the rest of the day the joke was "Now we know what it looks like to see the world through the eyes of a saint." Bad seminarian humor.

The next day we left Verbania and headed back to Rome and its heat.  After a five hour train ride (this was the fast train!) we arrived in Rome on Tuesday night and tried to get some sleep so that we would be ready for the start of Orientation on Wednesday.

On Thursday it was the Feast Day honoring St. Monica, the holy mother of St. Augustine, who spent many hours of her life praying to God and weeping for her son’s moral and religious conversion over 1500 years ago (If you have never read Augustine’s Confessions I highly recommend that you do so, or if you prefer an easier read try The Restless Flame, by Louis De Wohl).  One of the traditions at the NAC is to visit the Church of Sant’ Agostino on this day and to pray for our own mothers and all the mothers of the world in front of the tomb of St. Monica.  In particular, we pray, through her intercession, that all mothers would continue to know or come to know the infinite love of God the Father, the One who gave to them that great gift of motherhood (without which none of us would be here), and that they would have the courage and fortitude to respond to His love by pursuing lives of holiness and gratitude.  I was especially fond of this opportunity because I have grown to love St. Augustine over the past few years and without St. Monica his life would have been drastically different.  [St. Monica, please continue to pray for all mothers and their sons!]

As if all of this wasn’t enough, on Friday we had Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the tomb of St. Peter.  I could write an entire post on this but I will save this one for another time just because it is so amazing.

Finally, on Sunday all of us first-year seminarians at the NAC attended the Angelus with Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo.  The Holy Father spoke about St. Monica and her witness to the God who is Truth and Love and the role of the family in fostering a loving community where children learn to love God.  After he finished his reflection he greeted all of us seminarians from the NAC with the following words:

May your time here at Castel Gandolfo and in Rome deepen your integral understanding of our faith and strengthen in you the desire to be consistent in word and deed, following the heart and mind of our Lord. Upon each of you present and your families, I invoke God’s blessing of peace and joy!

After this, all of us NAC-ers sang a song to the Holy Father (We really should have practiced more!  On the video below skip ahead to the 10:30 mark to watch our less-than-stellar performance.) and then we had a tour of the Papal gardens, which are beautiful.  Within the gardens we saw where Pope John Paul II used to swim and pray and where Pope Benedict feeds his fish each afternoon when he stays at Castel Gandolfo.

 

The Swiss Guard waits for the Holy Father to begin. They sure do have great uniforms.

 

I'm standing in front of the gardens.

 

We all pray where Pope John Paul II did and where Pope Benedict XVI does and where he feeds his fish.

There is so much more that I could write, but just as St. John ended his Gospel by saying, “there are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written” I too will end this post because I do not think that the whole world could contain the blogposts that could be written about this past week.

With my prayers and love,

Scott