Photo taken by Mother Theresa Christe, September 14, 2017, Solemnity of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Domus Romana Sacerdotalis, Vatican City.
Why Rome? This was my second trip to Rome in 2017. This time I accompanied two Marian sisters on a pilgrimage to the Eternal City, first to attend the events associated with the 10th anniversary of Summorum Pontificul, and secondly to visit the four major patriarchal Basilicas, the goal of every pilgrim.
This is not the first time I participated in the grand procession from a local church to the Basilica of St. Peter. People in front of me and behind, to the right and to the left come from a variety of countries and speak many different languages. In many cases normal conversation is difficult, yet we share a common belief and a love for beauty and tradition that transcends any of the differences
In Rome I am able to walk where the saints walked. And because of Summorum Pontificum I am able to celebrate the Mass the saints celebrated. In 2012, when learning to celebrate the EF, I spent two weeks in Rome on Vacation, and there I was able to celebrate the EF every day for those two weeks. Rome is where I solidified my learning and fell in love with the Extraordinary Form.
In the house where I stay there are many priests saying mass at the same time, so there is a spirit of silence that descends upon the chapel. This silence allows for the search for God. And the precision and repetition of the liturgical forms takes a hold of me and conforms me to the liturgy and not the other way around. And the fact that this liturgy is celebrated in the same place where St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Philip Neri, St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Gaspar del Bufalo lived, walked and died is a grace that calls me to follow them and their example ever more closely in my daily life. The world is in a dangerous habit of forgetting God. It is here that we are directed toward God alone.
This is not the first time I participated in the grand procession from a local church to the Basilica of St. Peter. People in front of me and behind, to the right and to the left come from a variety of countries and speak many different languages. In many cases normal conversation is difficult, yet we share a common belief and a love for beauty and tradition that transcends any of the differences
In Rome I am able to walk where the saints walked. And because of Summorum Pontificum I am able to celebrate the Mass the saints celebrated. In 2012, when learning to celebrate the EF, I spent two weeks in Rome on Vacation, and there I was able to celebrate the EF every day for those two weeks. Rome is where I solidified my learning and fell in love with the Extraordinary Form.
In the house where I stay there are many priests saying mass at the same time, so there is a spirit of silence that descends upon the chapel. This silence allows for the search for God. And the precision and repetition of the liturgical forms takes a hold of me and conforms me to the liturgy and not the other way around. And the fact that this liturgy is celebrated in the same place where St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Philip Neri, St. Robert Bellarmine and St. Gaspar del Bufalo lived, walked and died is a grace that calls me to follow them and their example ever more closely in my daily life. The world is in a dangerous habit of forgetting God. It is here that we are directed toward God alone.
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