Lights, Camera, Action!

The Pieta in the Vatican

(2/25) 5:45 bright and early wakeup!  Today we were heading to the daily station church, San Clemente to celebrate mass with Fr. Carolla who was concelebrating. (Station Churches are daily masses that are offered every morning during Lent all around Rome.  It's a great way to see the different churches of Rome, and as a lenten sacrifice--each one is about 45min-hour walk away and they all begin at 7am).  Even though it was cold and raining/thundering the whole hour walk there, there was a beauty about all 34 of us trudging through the quiet streets of Rome to go to mass.  Father wanted us to put together a "Bernardi Choir" and sing at the mass.  Well, we had about 2 practices and still had no idea exactly what we were singing, but we trusted the Lord and decided that as long as we were giving praise to him, all would be well.  The church was stone but had a beautiful atmosphere.  The Holy Spirit came through because we received positive feedback about the singing, hooray!  After mass we gathered and chatted about how we hadn't studied for the test we were about to have later that morning....right as our professor Dr. Lev strutted past behind us...woops!  Feeling guilty we walked to the Ang and hit the books.  We were being tested on the catacombs, the Scavi tour and the construction of churches.  Interesting, but alot of info!  After a couple of hours we got the wonderful notification that the test was cancelled because the camera crew needed to film our class at St. Peters.  This film crew has been following us around all week: To our classes, our rooms, dinner, day trips, walks, etc. to show a "day in the life of a Bernardi student" to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Catholic Studies program video next fall.  We excitedly boarded the bus to St. Peters where Dr. Lev was going to give us a tour.  Unfortunately, a few of the students fell prey to scammers.  A few men dressed as policemen boarded the bus and demanded to see their tickets.  The crowded bus had made it impossible for the students to scan their tickets, and the "policemen" instead of believing them and their ticket, fined them right there on the spot.  The fact that the men didn't give them a receipt was a clear sign (unclear to us) that they were not real policemen.  It was a big disappointment that they got taken advantage of, but we are now more aware.
    Dr. Lev's tour of St. Peters was absolutely incredible!  She explained the history and spiritual/theological motivation behind the main pieces of art in the Vatican, including the famous Pieta and the Altar Canopy.  It gave me such a greater appreciation of the incredible spiritual motivations behind each of these works, and the incredible creative and visual capacity the artists had in being able to capture these mysteries in a work of art. After the tour I was exhausted and hungry.  We headed back 45 minute to the Ang for the remainder of our long day of classes.  I met up with my new friend, Sister Rosi, before my "God and the Poets" class at 5:30.  I had met her a week before in the garden of the Ang.  She sat down next to me and made sure I had enough to eat (which she still continues to do).  sister Rosi is from India and is here studying for her final year of spirituality under the order of St. Anne's.  She speaks little English but she calls me her friend and wants to write to me.  I consider her my dear friend as well.  She knows all of the good orange and lemon trees in the garden and she makes the seminarians climb up the trees and pick the ripe ones for her.  She is soft-spoken and smiles all of the time.  You can feel the peace with which she lives her live and the joy and playfulness with which she gives.  I brought her Peanut Butter because there is none in Italy for her to try, and she gave me crackers (aka, perfect Nutella dippers!)
   Before heading back to Bernardi at 7:30pm, my small group of girls from formation went out to dinner at L'Anchettos and devoured their hot spaghetti and discussed the topic for the week: Our temperaments and love languages.  On the way home I bought a watch since mine broke, attended night prayer, and went to bed after the long day!