Good Bye Bernardi

This morning, I leave the gates of the Bernardi House for the last time.  After four months of amazing adventures, incredible experiences, and many new friendships, it is time to leave this house for good.  And it is a very bittersweet parting.  These past couple of weeks have been challenging for a number of different reasons, so it is definitely nice to be getting out of community life and have a bit more relaxed of a pace.  But at the same time, it is very sad to be leaving the people who have become some of my best friends over these past 4 months.  The Lord has really blessed all of us during our time in Rome and He has changed our hearts during this powerful encounter with His Church in Rome.  Fr. Justin, one of the house chaplains, preached at Mass on Monday that we have changed because of this semester.  Do we recognize a lot of the changes?  Not at all.  But the way we pray, the way we look at the Church, the way we talk about the saints, the way we love those around us, has all been formed by this experience in Rome and we cannot let the graces we received here die.  Because so often during the semester, the question ran through my head, Why me?  Why do I get to experience all of this?  I mean, when you think about it objectively, I have had some of the greatest experiences of my life during the past 4 months, with the Resignation of Pope Benedict and the Election of Pope Francis easily at the forefront.  And so the question is Why?  And to be honest, I wish that I could give you a quick and easy answer right now.  But the reality is that I have no idea.  I just have to trust that the Lord wants to use these experiences to both form me into a better man and to reach souls one day as I minister to the good people of God in the Diocese of Joliet.  I am being called to share what I have received with whomever can benefit from it, both in the stories I recount from my semester here and the witness I hope to share by the life I live.  So as I move across Rome for a couple of days with Bishop Conlon at the NAC, it is definitely a sad day, but also a day of great excitement.   And that is because this is where the real adventure begins.  Was this semester incredible?  Absolutely.  But the best part will be coming back to share everything I have received and to fulfill Christ's desire to "set the world ablaze."  So please pray for safe travels for everyone and in two short weeks, I will be returning to the great state of Illinois!

Sts. Peter and Paul - Pray for Us!    

Time is Winding Down

Well as the title says, my time in Rome is quickly coming to an end.  Every day, there seems to be a new "last thing" that we do, whether it is our last seminarian formation night with Fr. Carola, our last community night at Bernardi, or my last visit to some churches, it is slowly becoming very real that I will be leaving Rome soon.  And I definitely have mixed feelings about all of it. Am I looking forward to traveling after the semester and getting back home?  Absolutely.  But at the same time, it will be sad to leave both the city of Rome and the community here at Bernardi.  And even though I could complain for hours about the "Roman way of life," I feel like part of my heart will always be here in Rome.  So it will be sad leaving, but I know that part of my heart will always remain in the heart of the Church, so I know that it will be OK.  And what is so awesome about this semester is that it has been an intense encounter with Jesus Christ and His Church.  But when you stop and think about it, we still have Christ back home in the Eucharist and we are still part of the Universal Church when I walk 2 blocks to Mass at St. Walter's.  So while I am leaving a very concrete experience of the Church, nothing is really changing.  I still encounter the same person of Christ in prayer and I still love the same Church.  I am just doing it in a different place, and in that different place, they speak a language that I speak, so I can't be too disappointed.  But after living here in Rome for 4 months, I know that I will be back.  When exactly, I have no idea, but I know that I will be back in this marvelous city to walk the streets the saints walked and encounter the Universal Church in an incredible way.

One part of leaving that will be difficult will be leaving the community.  After living in a community of 34 awesome people for 4 months, it will be strange going back and not being with them much anymore, especially during the summer.  But I am very grateful for all of the friendships I have formed and for all of the ways that the people in the house have called me to be a better man this semester.  I want to say something specifically about the women in the house, because sometimes when people here that I am living in a foreign city in the same house as 14 beautiful Catholic women, they wonder if a seminarian can actually be formed for the priesthood in that environment.  But living with the women has been an incredible gift because they have really taught me what it means to love.  And really, a priests job, aside from administering the sacraments, is to love anyone who is in front of him.  In our moral theology class, our professor, who happens to be the Papal Theologian, talked about a woman's capacity to love and how she teaches others around her to love as well.  And that is something that I have really appreciated this semester, learning to love freely and selflessly.  The women are all incredible and very holy and have only helped me grow in my desire for the priesthood.  Their constant witness of prayer and service have really called me on to holiness this semester and I am very grateful for the opportunity to grow in my friendship with all of them.

So as the semester comes to a close, I cannot really say how much I will be posting the next few weeks.  I think that most of the places we will be staying will have WiFi, so hopefully, I will keep all of you updated.  Please continue to pray for all of us as we finish up here in Rome and know of my prayers for all of you.

Bernardi Spring 2013!

Ordinations

Yesterday, Bishop R. Daniel Conlon ordained 5 priests at St. Raymond Nonnatus Cathedral in Joliet.  While I wish that I was there, I was definitely thinking about the ordination and praying for them all day yesterday. An ordination Mass is an absolutely beautiful liturgy, where the men being ordained priests physically lay down their lives for the Church.  The Joliet Ordinations are easily my favorite Mass of the whole year and I really wish that I could have been there to see these great men get ordained.  The Mass itself is very moving and it is just incredible to see the joy in the men being ordained as they finally are becoming the priests that the Lord has called them to be.  When these men were baptized, God placed the desire for the priesthood in their hearts, and after years of prayer, studies, and formation, they can finally fulfill that desire, acting in the Person of Christ as they administer the sacraments and bring people to the Holy Catholic Church.  It is an incredible gift and I am so happy for the five men ordained yesterday.  Please remember to pray for all of them: Fr. Michael Pawlowicz, Fr. John Lovitsch, Fr. David Mowry, Fr. Marcin Michalak, and Fr. Marek Herbut.  These men will serve as priests for the Diocese of Joliet for many years to come and it has been a great joy of mine to call these men my seminarian brothers for the past three years and I look forward to the day that I can be counted as one of their priestly brothers.  

In other related news, today marks a very special day in my own pursuit of the priesthood.  That is right, 5 years from today, if everything goes according to plan, I will be getting ordained as a priest.  And while you may be thinking to yourself, Really Jim?  Five Years?  You're excited that something is five years away?  And the answer to that question is absolutely yes.  And there are quite a few reasons for that.  First, five years is a lot better than the eight years that I had at the beginning of seminary formation.  Second, I can now count the number of years left in formation on one hand.  And lastly, the number just keeps on getting lower.   While I still have tons to learn, knowing that I am doing what the Lord has created me to do brings me great joy and fulfillment.

And the last piece of exciting news is that today is Ryan Adorjan's Birthday!  So I would just like to take this opportunity to wish Ryan a very happy 21st birthday.  He has been a great travel buddy this semester and I look forward to seeing him in a few weeks while we enjoy a cold one at his favorite place in the world, Chili's!  So Happy Birthday Ryan and here he is with our good Totus Tuus friend, Miss Anna Dlesk!

   

Guests at Bernardi

This week, we were privileged to host two very important guests at the Bernardi house for our Community Nights.  Wednesday night, His Eminence Cardinal Burke celebrated Mass and has dinner with us.  Cardinal Burke, originally from a dairy farm in Wisconsin, was previously the Bishop of LaCrosse, Wisconsin and the Archbishop of St. Louis.  Now he serves as the Prefect to the Apostolic Signatura, which means that he is basically the Chief Justice of the Catholic Supreme Court.  This means that the only way that this man could possibly be promoted is to be elevated to Pope.  So the moral of the story is that Cardinal Burke is a pretty big deal.  One of Cardinal Burke's biggest passions is good liturgy, so it was great to have him celebrate Mass for us.  He realizes that the Mass isn't about the people, it is about giving praise to God.  Because God has given us the Mass so that we can worship Him, so we have to take the Mass seriously.  It isn't something that we just have to go to or go to because we see our friends, we go to Mass to give praise and honor to God and so that He can feed us with His Son in the Eucharist.  So having a man so dedicated to liturgy made the experience of Mass much more reverent and prayerful.  It was great to have him prayer with us and I was very impressed with his dedication to his role as a Cardinal in the Church.  It was very inspiring to see this man and know that the Church is in good hands for years to come.   Here is a picture of His Eminence.          

On Tuesday though, we had an amazing time with our guest.  I even got to eat dinner at his table.  But before I tell you who it is, I will give you a clue.  It was one of the two men in the picture below.......  

Although it would have been absolutely surreal to have Pope Emeritus Benedict here, we were still very privileged to welcome to our house Monsignor Guido Marini, the Papal Master of Ceremonies, for Mass and dinner Tuesday night.  Monsignor Marini is the Pope's MC, which basically means that he is the greatest altar server of all time.  Originally from Genoa in northern Italy, he has served as MC to the Pope sine 2007.  So anytime you would watch a Papal Litrugy on EWTN (wait, am I the only one who does that?) he is the one who is always next to the Pope.  Being able to talk to him (through the translation of our chaplain Fr. Carola), we were able to hear some awesome stories about his unique relationship with the Pope.  From what he told us, he actually knew that Pope Benedict was resigning a couple of weeks before the announcement.  But my favorite story from Monsignor was about Pope Francis.  Two days after his election, while Monsignor was back at his apartment resting in the afternoon (they do that here in Italy), his phone rang.  He answered it casually, saying "Pronto."  The voice on the other end mumbled "Monsignore Marini" and then he realized.  Pope Francis had just called him.  2 days after the election.  And Monsignor told Pope Francis that the Holy Father had never called him directly before.  And what did Pope Francis say in response?   "Well this must be a pretty special day.  You should write that down in your spiritual journal."  And after chatting a bit, the conversation ended.  And what happened the next day?  The Pope called him again.  And he told him to write it down in the spiritual journal again.  How cool is that?  Being with a man who knows the Holy Father in such an intimate way.  He traveled all around the world with Pope Benedict and was on the balcony when Pope Francis was introduced to the world.  That night still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it, but to be up on the balcony with the Pope as he is presented to the world for the first time would just be incredible.  And not only was Monsignor Marini cool, he is a holy man.  He knows Jesus Christ.  He has a deep relationship with Him.  And when someone asked him what advice he had for seminarians, he said "Time is short.  Grow in friendship with the Lord, fall in love with the Church, dedicate yourself to formation.  But to reiterate, time is short." Talk about motivation.  So having Monsignor Marini here was a true gift and it was so cool to be able to pray with him and listen to just a few of his many incredible stories about his service to the Church and specifically, his service to the Holy Father. 

As our semester winds down, I ask that you pray that we may finish strongly, especially when it comes to academics.  It will be tough because while we want to savor these last 2 weeks in Rome, we still have to study for finals.  So even though the end is in sight, it will be a challenging couple of weeks ahead.  So some prayers for the house would be greatly appreciated by all.    

Sts. Peter and Paul - Pray for Us!  

The Amazing Gift of the Priesthood

So I saw this article on New Advent (my favorite Catholic News source) today, and I thought that I would share it with all of you.  While it is a sad story, it is incredibly beautiful.  Talk about the amazing gift of the priesthood and the need for good priests in the world.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/ohio-priest-dies-of-cancer-two-days-after-ordination/

How cool is is that he was able to receive this gift and end his life as a priest of Jesus Christ.   Please pray for the repose of the soul of Father Carroll and for more good and holy priests to serve the Catholic Church.

"How can I repay the Lord for His goodness to me?  The cup of salvation I will raise and call upon the Lord's name." Psalm 116

Home Sweet Home

While I still have just over a month left in Europe, I do admit that I am looking forward to getting back home.    Living in Rome has been an incredible experience and I am very grateful for the time I have had over here, but it is getting to that time that I am really missing some of the things of America.  I even know that I still have a lot more to see, both in Rome and during my two weeks here after the semester (I'll be headed to France and Ireland).  But I have been thinking about these things a lot, so I thought that I would come up with a list of the things from home that I miss the most over here.

5- White Sox Baseball While I do know that they have been playing rather poorly as of late, I cannot wait to get down to the Cell for a couple of games this summer.  Nothing says America like a couple hot dogs and watching baseball at the park.  Here in Rome, it is very hard to find places that show the games and with the time difference, you have to find afternoon games if you even want a shot of the pubs having it.  (That is, of course, assuming that they will show baseball over the beloved soccer match).  But I definitely miss White Sox baseball over here, not even considering how bad they are this season.  And even if the team is playing as bad as the Cubs, this only means that ticket prices will be lower on StubHub.

4 - Chicago Food I love Italian food.  Pizza and pasta.  I could eat it all day.  But the thing is that nothing compares to some good Chicago food.  Getting some Portillo's Hot Dogs, a nice and juicy cheeseburger, Lou Malnati's Deep Dish, or even a big American Breakfast are some of the things that I dream about over here.  I cannot wait to get back to America to get some of the tasty goodness that is Chicago food.  Am I denying the awesomeness of Italian food here?  Absolutely not.  It's spectacular.  But I just cannot wait to get back to America for some good American food.

3 - St. John Vianney Seminary/Diocese of Joliet - Being away from SJV for a whole semester has been rather challenging.  While I do live with 11 other SJV guys over here, it is sad knowing that I may not see some of the guys from back at the seminary ever again.  They are my brothers and it is strange knowing that they could be moving on to different things after this semester.  And I definitely miss being in the Diocese of Joliet.  I love the parishes, the priests, and the people, and I wish that I could be back with all of them.  Also, as I am sure I will mention in a couple weeks, I will thoroughly miss not being at the Joliet Ordinations this year.  It is my favorite Mass of the whole year, and I wish I could be there to see 5 awesome guys be ordained priests.  And most notably, I miss my Joliet brothers at SJV.  They are some of my best friends and it has been tough not being around them for this long.

2 - The languages of English and Spanish While I have picked up some very basic Italian, I am looking forward to the day that I can converse with strangers with ease and not have to think intensely just to order some food at a restaurant.  So while I speak English everyday and all my classes are in English, it will be nice to just walk around and here English spoken.  And in regards to Spanish, as you may or may not know, I am almost fluent in Spanish.  At least, I was, before coming to Italy.  My Spanish has nosedived and it really saddens me that I am not as good as I was when I left.  Now, when I try to think in Spanish, random Italian phrases come to mind and it is just killing me.  And any time I do hear Spanish here, it is Spanish Spanish, not Mexican Spanish.  And while it may be more beautiful, Mexican Spanish is what is in my heart.  And my skill with the language is a pure gift from God, especially considering the number of Hispanics that need priests in Joliet, so I will thoroughly enjoy getting to Spanish Mass back in Joliet this summer.

1 - Family and Friends - Of course, this has to be number 1.  And am I doing this just because I know that the people reading this probably fall into this category?  Absolutely not.  Not having a Facebook, I have no idea what they have been up to and it has been challenging.  So I am really looking forward to just spending some solid time with all of them when I get back.  While I love all the people here at Bernardi with me, I cannot wait to hang out with a lot of my friends and my family and catch up when we get back.

So this is my list of things I miss.  And I definitely miss these things.  But at the same time, I know that it is the Lord's will for me to be here for this long, so I know that He still has more in store for me.  This means that while it may be fun to sit around and day dream about home, I need to be present and open to the people around me and the movements of the Lord.  So please continue to pray for me and all of my hosuemates as we finish off our semester well.

Sts. Peter and Paul - Pray for us! 

House Trip to Capri and Friends in Rome

This weekend, our house was privileged to take a trip to the beautiful island of Capri.  Thanos, the program manager, takes the group every semester on a trip that suits the personality of the group as a whole.  And because we have such an awesome house, he went all out, taking us on "the biggest trip he has ever planned."  Friday morning, we were on the bus at 5:50, heading south to Naples so that we could catch the ferry to Capri.  Arriving in Naples, we made it on board moments before we pushed off heading towards Capri.  The island itself is absolutely gorgeous.  Full of beautiful cliffs and surrounded by incredibly blue water, the setting was marvelous.  The island, though, would not necessarily be my first vacation destination.  There were a ton of Americans there and it was rather tourist-y.  Also, it was strange not having anything of religious significance in a place that I was traveling to.  Being the seminarian I am, I tend to go to places that, while they may be beautiful, also have some religious significance.  Capri was a bit lacking in that regard.  Despite the fact that I probably would not have chosen to go there, we still had a great time.  When we first go to the island, we took a boat tour around the island.  The boat tour, which was the equivalent of a "Hollywood stars" tour in LA, was neat, but I lost interest with it like halfway around the island.  I just don't really care about which famous Italian designer lives where or where the most romantic spot on the island is.  After the tour, we ate lunch in town and had quite a bit of free time.  So during the free time, a large group of us took a ski-lift up to the top of the mountain and see the views, and let me tell you, it was amazing.  Riding up the mountain was very peaceful and I even saw some mountain goats.  While my battery died on the way up, the views were spectacular.  The day ended with a super tasty limoncello smoothie (Capri is famous for their limoncello), which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I had a very fun time in Capri and was glad I was able to head down there for the day.        

Capri

Ryan and Max on the ski-lift to the top of the mountain!

Now, I have here another typical Ryan picture, but I think that this one will require a bit more explanation.  Ryan is here on the boat ride with Dr. Rota, the St. Thomas professor that came over with us from Minnesota.  And let me tell you about Dr. Rota.  The first thing that needs to be said is that Dr. Rota is the man.  He is super smart, an awesome teacher, and is a great man to have in the house.  He also, is the proud new father of Elizabeth Irene Rota, who was born here in Rome like 8 days ago.  Ya, we have a baby in the house.  (The girls are super excited.)  But anyways, it is a blessing to have such a solid man both teaching us about the faith and just living an authentically joyful Christian life.  Having his whole family here has been a ton of fun and he has really helped make the semester as great as it has been.  And as I was pulling Ryan out of my backpack (he wasn't behaving, so I stuck him in there...), Dr. Rota asked me about Ryan and immediately volunteered to take the picture.  I was so excited.  So here is Ryan with the one and only, Dr. Rota.      

On Saturday and Sunday, two of my good friends from St. Francis, Steph Sheehan and Katie Slavin, were in Rome and I was able to spend quite a bit of time with them.  While it was a fiasco trying to find them at first without cell phones or a reliable internet connection, we eventually met up and I had a really good time.  Being able to share all of the things I have learned with them was just great.  Because it is one thing to tell someone a story about what it was like when Pope Francis was elected.  But it is another thing to stand in St. Peter's Square and be like "Ya, that's where the smoke came out and that's where I was when Francis was introduced to the world."  And too, with this blog, I feel like a lot of people know what I have been up to, but I have no idea what they have been doing.  So it was great to just be able to talk to them about their semesters and what they have been up to.  I think I showed them a good Roman time, seeing a good number of the big sights.  One of the highlights was going to my favorite gelato shop, The Old Bridge.  Located right across the street from the Vatican, it was here that I celebrated the Lord's Resurrection after the Easter Vigil, and this is where they hung out with Ryan.  Overall, I had a very good weekend with them and being able to share what I have been up was very cool.  It made me realize what an incredible gift it is to live in Rome and the the fact that I have been able to call it home for the past 3 months is just mind-blowing.  The Lord continues to be very good to me and I cannot thank Him enough.  

Sts. Peter and Paul - Pray for us!

What Up Ryan?

So I know that a lot of you have been wondering how our good friend Ryan has been doing.  And for those of you who may not know, I think I should probably re-explain what I am exactly doing with Mr. Adorjan here in Rome.  Last semester, Ryan brought one of my freshman year seminarian baseball cards to Charlotte  NC for a weekend so that I could "see" everything that he got to see.  And while I appreciated the trip, I thought that it would be so much better to bring an enlarged version of his baseball card to Rome and have him travel around with me this semester.  And it has been quite a bit of fun to have Ryan here for all of the excitement of Rome.  So I have some good pictures of what we have been doing here in the Italy to share with all of you.

In our first Ryan sighting, it looks like he has taken on the ancient Greek practice of wearing a toga.  Why he chose to do something Greek in Rome is really quite concerning, but alas, he seems to be enjoying himself.  Also, it appears that he has been working on one of his formation goals, and that is exercise.  I mean, look at  his "rock hard" abs.  (I apologize for all terrible puns).

Ryan also came along on our road trip, and here he is chilling with a gold statue of Padre Pio.  (Not to mention Max Behna, Viunce Fernandez, Justin Wiltse, and myself).  While he did scare off some of the locals, I think that he really enjoyed his time in San Giovanni Rotunda.  Rumor is that he even levitated, following the example of Pio, but we have no visual proof to back any of this up.       

Here is Ryan at the beach in Mattinata.  While he did appear terrified to enter the chilly water, his laminated head did a few drops of water on him.  Also, there was a sign warning of danger, showing a rather graphic image of a man falling on his head.  The area around it was rather rocky and one could possibly fall in, but the severity of the fall would be very hard to replicate.  Now Ryan, lacking most athletic capacities, did end up falling and was upside down for a while.  Too bad he didn't see the sign.  Mike did help him get right side up again.  

Lastly, we have a very shocking picture to show you.  Below, you will find Ryan and Justin in the middle of a cactus-like bush.  There were these cacti things growing all over, but they didn't really have thorns/pricks/whatever they are.  Lacking much knowledge in the field of botany, we just called them cacti for the entire trip.  And what is so shocking about this picture is that both Justin and Ryan are outside.  I just cannot believe that this historic event, where both of them were breathing the open air, was captured by my camera.  

So as the semester winds down, I am sure that Ryan will still have a few more adventures over here.