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!