"It Is Good That We Are Here!"

We arrived a bit late to our accommodations at Maria Mater Ecclesiae. Such is the case of travel plans. However, we did arrive, thanks be to God. It was as though a weight was lifted or at the very least lofted about temporarily. Things are going to forgotten and items perhaps misplaced, lost, or even damaged, but it is truly a blessing after a day of traveling to be greeted to to the image of Our Lady under the bright blue skies of Rome with their puffy bright clouds.

The atrium further along the beautiful grounds leads one to prayer, even when busy—such as arriving for a special pilgrimage. Some rested and others went forth, but I feel a very special patronage of Our Lady that will put me, God willing, at ease for the hiccups to come along the way.

The weather remains a blessing: temperate with cool breezes that loft through the building, which likely date to the early 1960s. All of it contributes to the calming peace in the center of the busy city of Rome.

We even have this blessing here at the Seminary... A beautiful place to pray as pilgrims on the Way.

We will keep all of you in our prayers; Mass shall begin shortly. My thoughts and prayers are with you and all that we have met along the way. Sending a gentle breeze, a prayer, and a smile from Rome. All the best, friends!

The Eternal City!

We've made it! ROME!

After what felt like a puddle jump breeze of 2 hours, we've landed in Rome. For the fly in from Amsterdam, I began to read "John Paul II: The Story of My Life." I had to stop and pause at this section:

"The date set for Father Karol's departure for Rome was November 15, 1946. There he remained for nearly two years, deepening his theological studies.

When the date arrived, I boarded the train with great excitement. With me was Stanislaw Starowieysjki, a younger colleague who had been sent to take his whole course of theological studies in Rome. For the first time I was leaving the borders of my homeland."

Buòna sera, Roma! Grazie!

The Marking of a Remarkable Time

My thoughts turn to Europe... and how precarious and precious every connection is, turning us from an insularity to a global reach in our daily work—the calling of others to Christ and to see beyond ourselves. These things and their machinations do play great roles within our lives as individuals and as community.

Retracing thoughts and childhood, I can see clearly the markers our Lord has placed, and the desire for the travel to come kindles this appreciation even more. My thoughts and concerns stretch to this area, in its individuality of touchstones in my life. That of England, the Netherlands, Rome, and Germany—namely, Munich.

If one wishes to learn about history, start by investigating the stubs one has in one's life. Not only will it broaden horizons, but it will allow one to appreciate the culture of a place one hasn't yet experienced. It also makes for good writing and perhaps the beginnings of good storytelling.

Perhaps this blog of these most compelling times, for me at least, will help to give light to a world so troubled and to find further the Gaze of the One Who Is. I go on pilgrimage not expecting some mountaintop experience or awe-inspiring result, for in reality I am more anxious I might forget something. Rather, I go in search of His will. I go to search, to look in the small things where He has placed my heart.

I have put off travel to do good, though imperfectly. I go on pilgrimage to see where He is and to inform myself more of where He is back in the Ordinary, to see where He has placed my heart.

I am off in now just hours to pray for my spouse, my beloved, the one He is preparing for me and I for her. There is a great desire to pull away the layers that have grown over my heart these hectic three years but to not grow hesitant in the upcoming thirtieth. There is a ring, a fear that any delay is a resignation. It is not.

He is refining me... He is refining my heart for the furnace of His love... of the love I wish to give... but I cannot give what I do not have. That is why I go on pilgrimage... to find again the desire to love more purely.

Pray for me, and I will pray for you. Will you?