Where does the time go? Has it really been 4 months since I last posted? Wait, don't answer that....
So after a summer of running around and never sitting down--except to eat burgers, beef and/or chicken enchiladas, steak, bacon, filet mignon, and Burger Patty-O's (beef brand cereal--goes great with milk), let's just say that I had to blow the dust off of my keyboard after a bit of a hiatus.
And since I didn't have a clue what the word hiatus really meant, I thought I'd blow the dust off of my Merriam Webster Dictionary and give it a look:
main entry: hi-a-tus
Pronunciation: \hī-ˈā-təs\
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, from hiare to yawn
Date: 1563
1 : a break in or as if in a material object; gap
2 : an interruption in time or continuity; break
3 : a period of time in which a seminarian forgets his responsibilities towards his home country by failing to update them on the current state of his affairs; especially if said seminarian has been spending time in Rome; woeful-neglect-of-duty-deserving-of-scorn-by-all-(former)-readers
I didn't know that synonyms could have that many hyphens. I also promptly shut my Merriam Webster Dictionary...and threw dust back on it.
So here I am, and I have a few stories to share, most of them from the last 72 hours. So let's get to it.
Well on Thursday afternoon, I thought I'd go take a little time in prayer down at the Tomb of John Paul II underneath St. Peter's. I just don't get over there as often as I should for living so close to him, so I thought I'd take the opportunity since I had some free time.
I went in and knelt behind the roped-off-section available for those who wish to pray there. There was also a red velvet rope immediately in front of the Tomb itself. So I was a little ways back from the Tomb. See the picture to get a better idea:
As I was praying there, I thought, "Wouldn't it be awesome to have my rosary touched to the Tomb of John Paul II?" Not long after that thought passed through my mind, I witnessed a man approaching the guard who stands by the tomb ("No foto") and whispering something to him. The guard then took something from the man's hand, stepped over the red rope, and touched it to John Paul's tomb. I immediately thought, "It is possible."
Not wishing to cause a commotion, I decided to wait so that a line of people (I'm picturing an Italian "line" here, folks) did not ask him to do the same thing. And while I waited I looked at the Tomb some more, and I noticed the following dates: 16 - X - 1978 --- 2 - IV - 2005. Then I thought, "John Paul wasn't born in 1978...Oh! that was when he was elected Pope." I ran the date through my head again, "The 16th of the 10th month...the 10th month...hey, that's October." Quick glance at my watch: "TH 10/15"
"Hey, that's this month," I thought. "And the 16th...that's tomorrow. I'm here on the eve of the 31st Anniversary of John Paul II's election to be Pope! Awesome!" It hit me like a ton of bricks. I had no idea that I would be coming down there on that date. I just hadn't thought about it.
After this realization, and a bit more time in prayer, I finally noticed the crowds had died down--at least enough to prevent the guard from telling me that a bunch of other people would want to do the same thing if I had my rosary touched to the tomb. So, gathering all the manly courage that I often exhibit in the humblest manner, I approached the guard and said, "Scusi, could you touch this to the tomb for me?"
His response: "Non posso perche..." ("I can't because...then I would have to do that for everyone else...)
My eyes communicated my response: "Yeah right. I just saw you do it, fratello."
Realizing my incredulity, he looked around and noticed one of his superiors walking up just at that moment. He turned back to me, saying, "Chiede lui." ("Ask him.")
So I asked his superior if I could touch my rosary to the tomb, and he looked at me half a sec, and then said, "Si." And he promptly walked over to the red rope and lifted the rope, allowing me to kneel directly in front of the tomb and touch the rosary to it myself.
...
Seriously, I could not (and still can't) believe what was happening. That was the greatest gift I could have received. God is so good! And it came at such a great moment. Praise Him! As many of you probably know, John Paul II is my personal hero, and he's a big reason why I'm on this path (or I should say, God has really worked through him to get me to consider and respond to the call to the priesthood). So that was such a blessing, and I wanted to share that with y'all.
I will have to fill you in on the other story soon. (I promise it will be before February 19, 2010.)
May God bless you with His grace and His peace, and thank you for your patience!
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