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!