Pope Benedict!

This past week we celebrated the sesquicentennial (thats 150th for you in Duluth) anniversary of the Pontifical North American College. There were hundreds of priests and thirty or so bishops, all alumni of the college, who were in town for the reunion. Because of this great anniversary Pope Benedict invited the whole college, alumni priests, faculty, and seminarians, in for a private audience.

He came in from the back of the room to our applause and shook everyone's hand who was on the right side as he walked to the front. I couldn't believe that he was going to take that much time to shake everyone's hand who was on the aisle. It took a lot of time for him to do that, but I think he realized how much it meant to each and everyone of us. When he got to his chair we all sang "Ad moltos Annos," which means "may you live for many years." He then sat down and our Rector, Msgr. Checcio addressed him on behalf of the college.

Sidenote: Msgr. Checcio is a good friend of Brad Childress, the vikings coach. So he gets weekly updates on the team. So although from Philadelphia, Msgr. has invited all the Vikings fans for a pre-game tailgate party this evening, the game starts at 7pm Roman time. Go Vikes!

After, Msgr.'s address, Pope Benedict addressed the college. He thanked the college for their work over the years in forming over 5,000 priests and exhorted us to continue to grow in virtue, fidelity to the Church, and pastoral zeal.

Pope Benedict then headed to the back of the room, this time shaking everyone's hand on the left side (facing the front). This is when I was able to shake his hand. I can remember when he was walking in. I thank God for these pictures, because it happened so fast. I grabbed his hand, looked into his eyes, I said, "God bless you," I kissed his ring, and the next thing I knew, he was past me.

Catholics may kiss the pope's ring as a sign of respect, a sign of respect for the authority he holds as the Vicar of Christ and the successor of Peter. Non-Catholics usually just shake his hand.

Also, he gave us his apostolic blessing. But he mentioned how he wished to bless all our families and friends as well! That's YOU!

If this is the first time you have seen these pics, its because you aren't on facebook! Not to name names, Dad, Melissa!

Buon Natale e Boun Anno!

in front of an old castle in Ghent, Belgium

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I just recently returned from Belgium and northern Italy. We started Christmas break on the 18th and we will resume classes on the 7th (so I have a few days yet to finish a paper). It has been a remarkable break. On Friday evening of the 18th myself and four other seminarians hopped on a night train to northern Italy. We spent the night in our ski attire (snow pants, gloves, hats, jackets and all) because the heat had gone out in our car. The train stopped a number of times throughout the night to see if they could fix the problem. They were unable to and at 5am we were awoken to an Italian lady giving an earful to the TrenItalia employee for the lack of heat and delay all the stops had caused. So an hour or two later at our next stop, the TrenItalia manager took everyone in our car to a local cafe and bought everyone a cornetto (sort of like a croissant) and a cappuccino. Honestly, it made the whole night of intermittent sleep worth it.

We spent six days total in the Dolomites, a section of the Alps. We stayed in a small skiing town called Santa Christina in the region of Trento. It is part of Italy that used to be part of Austria, but is now Italy since its annexation after World War I. So both Italian and German are common there, with German being the most common. We spent four entire days actually skiing which was just enough for me. It wasn't that I was real sore since I had spent the weeks leading up to the trip doing squats (it had been awhile) and other lower body exercises entirely for that reason. It was that I was getting a little too confident on those skis and another day may have allowed me to try some things I probably shouldn't have.

We returned Christmas Eve to Rome and on our third try with our third type of ticket we were able to gain entrance to St. Peter's Bassilica for "Midnight" mass (it is in quotes for a reason, mass was at 10pm!). I'm sure you have all heard about the pope being knocked over and want to her my eyewitness account of the event...I'm sorry to disappoint you but I didn't see a thing. Mass started, the lights went up, the organ started to play, the choir began to sing and all the people stood up. Everything seemed fine until maybe the second verse, then there was a scream, some "ooohs" and deep gasps, and the choir and organ stopped. I was sitting in the people's choir which is directly behind the main alter, so couldn't see a thing. But a few minutes later I heard a little clapping, the music started up again, the procession resumed, Pope Benedict came around the altar, went up and kissed it and went on with mass as if nothing had happened. Now we didn't hear any reports or details on what had happened that evening. It was only when I went home and checked the news did I find out that the pope had been knocked to the ground, and at that time there was still no video of the actual tackle. It was only the following morning that I saw what exactly took place. The wild thing is, I would have never assumed that the pope was even touched much less pulled to the ground. He celebrated mass like he always had, in a prayerful, focused manner.

A few days later I flew up to Louvain, Belgium. There is an American seminary there and we have relationship with them that we can go there, eat and stay for free, and they can come here and do the same. So I spent the week leading up to New Years and the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God in Belgium. The coolest thing is that the seminary is only four blocks from the body of St. Damien of Molokai who was just canonized this fall at St. Peter's where I was in attendance. It was good to spend some time there in quiet prayer. Please take a minute to get to know him, he was a remarkable man. There is a movie that we watched of him that was really good called Molokai. We took one day trip outside of Louvain. This was to Ghent, Belgium. They have a number of beautiful churches, but the most famous thing there is an altar piece down by the Van Eyke brothers called "The Adoration of the Lamb". It was marvelous especially with the audio guide that allows you to see all the meaning behind the piece. I pray everyday that artists can come to the forefront and do great art like was done in those times.

The Adoration of the Lamb

Anyways I returned from Belgium New Year's night and NAC feels more and more like home now. This is my home, at least for the foreseeable future.

Something that I have been thinking about and praying about recently is patience.

Sidenote, when we used to pray a decade of the rosary as a family, my dad would pray for "patience" but we would always joke that he has plenty of "patients" already because he is so busy. That was just a good memory that came to mind.

But I think we all want to do big, great things. God calls us to do big, great things. Whether that be getting married, getting a job, having kids, making a team, getting a degree, etc. And we are impatient, wanting things to happen now. For myself, being in the seminary is somewhat monotonous, prayer, study, formation, etc. I get anxious, I feel as if I'm not doing much yet. I want to be a saint to bring Christ to people, give them that same hope and peace I have.

But it gives me reassurance to reflect on the lives of saints, and even Christ himself. The saints really only did their real big, saintly stuff when the opportunity arose. They weren't always doing what we attribute to them. For example, St. Damien of Molokai, it was only is last 16 years that he was at Molokai. Mother Theresa, she wasn't always a Missionary of Charity sister. St. Francis Xavier, he wasn't born in the far east it was only after some time that he went there and baptized thousands. And Jesus himself, it was only his last three years that are considered his public life. There was much time of preparation and perseverance before the call, before the opportunity arose for these Holy men and women.

So while we are waiting for that next big opportunity in life, whatever that may be, lets be prepared so that when it comes we are able to respond in the most complete way possible. For the man or woman waiting for that perfect someone to come by, really strive for virtue so you can be the best self gift to the other. For the one who is waiting for the job offer, or some other career opportunity, study, practice good self-discipline now as far as eating, sleeping, drinking, etc. so you are ready to hit the ground running. For myself its a time of study, lots of it, prayer, self-discipline, becoming more comfortable preaching in front of people. I would describe it as an active patience, a time of preparation for the time when God will call us to that particular vocation he wants of us. So lets realize that we can't always do great, big things, be content with being in preparation, but our time will come, and we must be ready for it!

Congratulations to Megan and Dad! They win free Lake Superior floats! for posting comments following my last post. (this is just ice water, my old hockey coach Larry Trachsel used to say that to us when we had a team meal at perkins)

"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankf