Postcards from Rome

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of visiting Rome as a part of the Campus Ministry Holy Week Pilgrimage. Between my semester in Paris and my upcoming summer internship in Dublin, I’ll have been  in Europe for close to seven months by the time I come home, which means I’ve just about reached the half way point of my travels in Europe. This made it a wonderful opportunity to take a pause from my life in Paris to explore a new country and reflect on two very important journeys: Jesus’s and my own.

Jesus’s Journey

Holy Week is one of those opportunities we have to enter deeply into Jesus’s journey, and specifically into his journey to the cross and back again to life. It is a chance to try to understand Jesus’s pain, sorrow, and suffering. But suffering is painful, so it is often  much easier to ignore it than it is to feel it.. This is something I have been all too guilty of in the past. Entering into this pilgrimage, it was important for me to try to deeply experience Holy Week, particularly the painful parts. Luckily, this pilgrimage did not hold back when it came to entering into the agony of the passion. This came in different forms- in the real physical pain of praying the 28 Scala Sancta (Holy Stairs) on my knees, walking an average of 10 miles a day, and waiting for 6 hours in the rain and cold for Easter Mass at the Vatican. Through these moments, despite my discomfort, I was continuously reminded of the  suffering Jesus had to endure. There were also many opportunities to emotionally enter into the suffering, including a heartbreaking Good Friday service at Trinita dei Monti. These experiences weren’t easy, but that is the point of Holy Week, it isn’t supposed to be easy. It is supposed to be painful, frightening, and unsettling. It is only from this place of darkness that we can fully embrace the light that is Jesus’s resurrection. We attended the Easter Vigil at the Venerable English Council and as  Easter Vigils go, it began in darkness. When we at last reached the resurrection, the church was illuminated, revealing a beautiful chapel, my jaw literally dropping. The miracle of the resurrection seemed more powerful and awe-inspiring than it ever had before. This pilgrimage was amazing in that it really allowed each pilgrim to immerse themselves in Jesus’s journey understanding and feeling the sorrow and joy that comes with it.

My Own Journey

As I near the end of my junior year, the imminence of my upcoming senior year is beginning to weigh upon me. With so many decisions about next semester just arriving or still up in the air, I was deeply in need of some time to reflect, pray, and listen to what God has planned for me in the upcoming year. The first night we took a walking pilgrimage from church to church throughout Rome, stopping for adoration in each one. This was an amazing experience to continuously reencounter Jesus in different and beautiful spaces. It was here that I was really able to step back and ask God what I was looking for and where to find  the places I needed strength in my life. The following day, we visited more churches throughout Rome including St. John Lateran, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Sant’ Alfonso, and St. Mary Major. It was through my silent prayer in these churches that I had even more time to really pray and ask God to lead me to find the strength and fulfillment I was looking for in my final year. I still don’t know what my future holds, but through prayer I have found peace in the idea of uncertainty, and I am realizing that when I allow my own story to be written by God, it can only end where I am supposed to be. Finding peace in my own journey was such an important part of this pilgrimage.

These past few days in Rome have been amazing. It was also a chance to reconnect with friends from Notre Dame who I haven’t seen in months, a chance to see the beautiful city that is Rome, and a chance to eat some of the most amazing food in the world. The weekend finished with Mass at the Vatican, in which I got to be less than 10 feet from Pope Francis. It was truly a time in my life I will never forget. Now, I am just about to head back to Paris and continue my adventure there. I am so grateful for this chance that Holy Week offered me, to explore the sorrow and joy, in both my journey, and in Jesus’s.