Pasqua con il papa

Being in Italy and it being Easter time, I naturally headed to Rome, where 184 of my fellow Notre Dame Domers waited for me. Or rather, waited for the pope. I believe I have made up for every time I was ever late to a liturgical celebration or ever will be late for one, as I spent at least two hours every day waiting for them in Rome. But it was worth it!

On Thursday we headed to the papal cathedral of Saint John Lateran, where Pope Benedict XVI was celebrating the Mass of the Last Supper. While we weren’t able to snag seats and thus had to sit in the side section of the church where you couldn’t hear anything and could see even less, it was a wonderful place to be. I realized how lucky I am to be able to understand the pope when he preaches and decided that maybe my Italian language skills will have some practical use, after all. Communion was mayhem, however. The Eucharistic ministers were mobbed in the aisles and they had to turn in circles to distribute the hosts to the eager hands pushing and pulling their way through the crowd to grab one.

On Good Friday we went to the church Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, which was built on dirt brought back from the Holy Land. It houses many relics of the Passion, including Jesus' cross, the nails that held him to it, and the thorns that pierced his head. Then, at around three o'clock, we stood in line at the Scala Santa, the steps of Pilate's house that Jesus walked up on his way to the trial. There is a plenary indulgence if you ascend this staircase on a Friday in Lent, but you must go on your knees. (Note: Both of these places are very close to Saint John Lateran, for those of you who want to put them on your future Roma itinerary.) That evening we headed to the Colosseum, where the pope presided over the Stations of the Cross for the massive throngs of people, spread out over the surrounding hills.

Holy Saturday, as Pope Benedict put it, is a day of silence. The highlight was going to the Easter Vigil in the Vatican that evening. The line outside stretched all the way around the square, and when they finally began letting people into Saint Peter's, they were sprinting to the doors. The Mass was beautiful. They did the lighting and the music just as it should be done, although I was surprised that they only read five of the readings. I took notes during the homily so I could fill in my friends on what il papa said. Fast forward to the end, when we ran to get giant amounts of early Easter morning gelatooooooooo!

Easter morning found me at the Vatican again, because you can't get too much Mass! This time, however, I was with my Aunt Theresa, Uncle Mark, and my cousin Laura. That was awesome, as was the Mass and the marching band that came by. What wasn't so awesome was the freezing cold rain that only let up (miraculously) during the consecration and distribution of Communion. My umbrella was crushed in the Eucharist stampede, but I believe it perished for a worthy cause. Another disturbing thing was that there weren't enough hosts for the congregation. There was probably enough for only about thirty percent of the people present. After the Mass the pope wished us a happy Easter in about thirty different languages.

Buona Pasqua!

Signed,

the Sengenblogger