Corpus Christi

June 3, was the feast of Corpus Christi.  Not the one in Texas, but the one in the Tabernacle. 
On this day, there was supposed to be an outdoor Mass at St John Latteran followed by an Eucharistic procession to St Mary Major, which is just down the street. 

Unfortunately, about an hour before Mass was scheduled to begin it started raining very hard, so Mass was moved inside the Basilica. 

Since there is obviously less room inside than outside, a lot of people were waiting trying to get into Mass.  Many people were trying to convince the guards to let them in, using all sorts of stories.  A lady near me told them that her husband and children were inside, and was granted allowed to enter Mass.

I tried to convince them to let me in, since I was alone, and wouldnt take up much room.  This stategy did not work.  There were some Sisters of Charity near me, also hoping to attend Mass inside the basilica.
As soon as the guard walked away for a minute, I knew my I had my chance, so I opened the gate, and told the sisters to go, and I followed them. We didnt get seats, but found a spot pretty close to the front of the church. Once we dried off a bit from being out in the rain, it was a very nice experience and a beautiful Mass with the Pope.  

Since it was still raining when Mass ended, we did about half an hour of Eucharistic Adoration, and then Benny (thats what I call him) had Benediction.  (I dont feel like looking up links for all of those things, right now, but for my Non Catholic readers, if you are confused by any of those terms, or events, let me know and I will explain). 

I did not take a lot of pictures, cause my view was blocked by some pillars, but I did get one ok pic.

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Rewind

I am going to try to catch up a bit and blog on some of the stuff since I blogged, which was a long time ago..

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John XXIII Chapel

Several of the new friends that I met several weeks ago are seminarians. (Of course they are.) One in particular is a student at the North American College (which is the American seminary in Rome, where inexplicably, some Australian students also study). Two weeks ago I was among several people invited to the NAC to visit the John XXIII chapel – the bowling alley. Pope Blessed John XXIII was gifted a bowling alley, that he didn't have a use for, so he promptly re-gifted it to his neighbors at the NAC. Going to this bowling alley was like a step back into the 1950s. The furniture is all plastic and 1950s modern sea foam green, with ash trays built in.

I had not been bowling in a long time (because Maryclaire will never go with me) but I am proud to say that I did not come in last place during the game.

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Shocked but not suprised

I came to Rome looking for adventure, and I have certainly had more than a few so far. My most recent adventure, was quite ... exciting.


The family that I had been with is totally crazy (growing “herbs” in the closet, screaming profanity inches from the children's faces, type of crazy). I have enough material for not just a book, but a series of books on living with a crazy family overseas. Lets say that if this was happening in the States I would have called CPS 6564604985608 times. Though the situation I was in was less than ideal, I was happy to be there to show the children love and consistency, and to model to the parents more effective ways to communicate with their precious kids. Even when it was hard (and often it was very painful to see the way the children are treated) I wanted to be their Miss Honey . (A Matilda reference).

Unfortunately that was not in the cards. Through a series of events (mostly just receiving a text message on a Saturday afternoon) I found myself in need of a place to live in the Eternal City. I'm not going to lie, I was in total shock (though I cannot say I was surprised, the craziest things happen in my life, so even the unexpected is not really surprising any more.)

After receiving the fateful text message (and oddly, having very little face to face conversation following) I set out on a mission. I placed ads on an English speaking website, and I prayed. A lot. I made my Mom pray too. My awesome friends prayed for me, and the situation.

I started getting responses from my ads, some were obviously scams ala Craig's List, but some were very promising. I set up a lot of meetings and talked to a lot of people, and I kept praying my guts out.
Then this week I met with a family that I had been talking and emailing with for a few days (the first time they emailed me was when I just got home from Mass on the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus) after talking with them, and playing with their kids (ages 6 and 8) for a few hours, I knew this was a great fit, and they asked me to move in – the next day!


Though my heart is aching for the children that I left and the situation they are in, I am so happy to be away from their crazy parents. The new family that I am staying with is Catholic (they have a parish they go to each Sunday, and their kids are in Catechism classes) I know that doesn't automatically mean they are awesome people, but it does mean we have something huge in common. It means that they are trying to be good people, and do the right thing. It means that they understand something fundamental to who I am. I am SO thankful for this new situation. I am sure that there will be hard times, here too but I will be ok. I always am.

If you think of it, please say a prayer for the “C” family that I left, and their children “M” and “J”. It is a heartbreaking place, the kids need so much more than what they are being offered. The whole family is in desperate need of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (aren't we all).

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Adventures

Sorry for the lack of posting here.  I have been having some huge Chesterton type adventures (See the side bar if you dont know what I am talking about).  Soon I will update you all.  If you know my life in the past few years you will be shocked, but not surprised.

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