Rome Sweet Home, Indeed

I’m a little behind in my posting for the week, but I think I have a pretty good excuse–jet lag.  You see, I’ve been to the Motherland.

Our Motherland… Rome, Italy… for a celebration of the last ten years of our marriage.   To say we are still reeling from the overwhelming grandiosity of our time in Rome and especially our Mother Church, St. Peter’s, is a complete understatement.  It was my first time there, my husband’s second, and we were both blown away by its awesomeness.

St. Peter’s, specifically, is an awe-inspiring place of beauty, grandeur, and finery like I never expected.  When I thought I had seen it all, we’d turn another corner and find more.  New chapels, graves, artwork seemed to seep out of the masonry.  Reconciliation was held all day, every day (talk about spoiling parents of four who usually have the darndest time getting to church at 4pm on a Saturday afternoon!!!)  Daily Mass was so easy to access and enjoy.  The Pope even prayed an Angelus for us (okay, and for thousands of other people) from his sky-high window overlooking St. Peter’s square.  We had just arrived to Rome and it was as if the Holy Father planned this just for our visit.  We felt so special being Catholic.

As I return to the whirlwind of Advent, I feel challenged to cherish my Catholic faith and the Sacraments even more. We are embarking on a new era in the wording of the Liturgy and rather that scoff at the change, I am excited to return to an even closer interpretation of the original Mass. I feel more motivated to get to confession–maybe I can make it a weekly commitment? How blessed I feel to have been renewed by the source of all things Catholic.

If you can ever make it to Rome, please pay a visit to St. Peter’s as I know you will.  But if you can’t get there, let me assure you that as Catholics we’re part of something really grand and wonderful. And for me, knowing that is blissfully sweet.