Disaster and Detachment!

Tragedy has struck, and she has struck with relentless force. These last few days I've been painstakingly recording each detail of my pilgrimage into blog posts, which I was patiently awaiting the arrival of wifi to post. I eventually ran out of patience and decided to upload via mobile data...big mistake. I fell asleep last night during the upload, and awoke to find over 2000 words of blog post completely gone. They had simply ceased to exist. 

This cut me deep, and I spent the first hours of this morning in a state of lament. But when I arrived in Assisi, the home of St. Francis, my joy quickly surpassed my sorrow, and I decided upon a solution. Rather than spend several hours trying to recap what I lost, I've decided to simply post pictures of the pilgrimage highlights so far, with small commentaries next to each. That way I can catch you up to where I'm at, while not eating into the time which could be spent entering more deeply into the spirit of pilgrimage.

Let's begin with my arrival in Rome!

(Saturday 16th July)

Our first moments in Rome. Fr Stephen and I took this photo in the airport while we waited for missing bags to appear on the carousel. Most of our group's bags went mysteriously missing for about 25 minutes, the current theory is that the Italian baggage handlers were having a quick smoko. 

 

Fr Philip, Stephen, Ansalom and myself as we enter St. Peter's square for the first time. It was so early in the morning that we were basically the only pilgrimage group, apart from a few stray nuns.

 

This is a panorama I took of the square. You can see the colonnades designed by Bernini, which are meant to portray the arms of Mother Church stretching out to embrace the human race. The obelisk in the centre was moved there in the first century by the Emperor. Originally it was 100 metres to the right, in Nero's circus, and is said to have stood witness to the heroic martyrdom of thousands of Christians.

 

This is the man himself, St. Peter! He may be the prince of the apostles (as the inscription says), but that won't stop seagulls from pooing on his head.

 

While in St. Peter's Basilica, our own Bishop Peter was able to arrange for his eminence Cardinal George Pell to celebrate Mass for us. He gave a beautiful homily about opening our hearts to the will of Christ in our lives. This really struck a chord with regards to my own spiritual discernment. I was also greatly moved when I prayed before the tomb of St. Peter; the man who loved Jesus so intimately and personally, but like us, fell many times along the way.

 

My first real glimpse of the Colosseum. What this picture doesn't capture is the man dressed as Roman soldier trying to pull tips while swinging a foam sword in one hand, and holding a cigarette in the other. Still, an amazing sight to behold.

 

This is me, being super sneaky, and taking a photo where I probably shouldn't. If you look close enough, I won't have to tell you where it was snapped. By far the greatest collection of human genius I have ever witnessed.

 

The Official Vatican Diocesan Cathedral, St. John Lateran. For the sake of scale, each of those statues are roughly 17 feet tall. The Romans are said to brag by saying, "we even have the saints living in our skies."

(Sunday 17th July)

 

Another sneaky pocket photo taken on the fly. This is a corridor in what are known as the San Domitilla Catacombs. They are said to be one of the largest network of Catacombs in Rome, having over 17kms of tunnels under the city, and once the home of over 150,000 Christian tombs. We had the privilege of celebrating Mass down there, and praying for the souls of the dead.

 

Here's a close up shot of my good mate Paul outside the walls. A truly magnificent Church dedicated to a man of endless zeal, a true inspiration to all of us wishing to turn from our old way of life and follow Jesus' will until the end.

 

This is me adopting the pagan practice of making a wish at the Trevi Fountain. If you look close enough you can see the coin sailing through the air towards the water. Ironically enough, my wish was for the conversion of souls.

Sitting by a fountain outside the Basilica of Our Lady in Trastevere with the two men who served as my spiritual directors (Fr. Philip and Fr. Stephen), and were instrumental and encouraging me along the path to priesthood.

(Monday18th July)

 

Outside the Basilica of St. Francis. This was the Church erected just outside the main city of Assisi. It is constructed upon, and encloses a tiny Church inside built by St. Francis himself.

 

A beautiful statue of St. Francis and a dove outside the Basilica of St. Claire. We even had opportunity to visit the shrine containing his resting place, where I had the opportunity to ask for his intercession for my family, parish, and friends.

 

A quick snap while roaming the incredible streets of Assisi. I would have to say Assisi is my favourite city so far. While Rome has history and magnitude, the simple beauty and spiritual atmosphere of Assisi takes the cake.

 

The room in which I sit now, struggling to get my internet to work just long enough to upload this post.

I hope these few pictures (chosen from hundreds) have given you some sense of the packed days I've been having, and the wonders I've experienced while on pilgrimage. I would be happy to respond to any questions and fill in any details on request. But this little update is the best I can do given the difficult circumstances. I look forward to sharing with you in more depth the events of the following days.

Tomorrow's agenda: Sienna and Padua. Bring it on St. Catherine and Anthony!

Peace and blessings.

Sam.