Buon Anno!

Pax Christi vobiscum! Come Holy Spirit!

Happy New Year or Buon Anno, as they say over here in Italia! I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas Season and are ready for an epiphany, the Epiphany to be exact, this Sunday. I also hope your new year is full of life...and not just credit card debt from the Christmas rush.

Well, I have to say that New Years over here was truly a blessing in just about every sense of the word...come to think of it, I can only come up with one sense. But still, it was awesome. First, my family was here, which made my Rome away from home more like home. It was great to see my family and share my experiences over here with them. In fact, I shared with them all the restaurants I had been wanting to visit but could never afford....

They arrived on Christmas Eve, and like true troopers (truepers?), they managed to go to Midnight Mass with the Pope the same day they arrived. Talk about jet lag. I had them on a Coffee IV and they still couldn't stay awake. They made it though.

Then, after a week filled with Churches, good food, and me still being taller than my youngest brother Kevin, we rang in the New Year on the roof of the North American College. There we were able to witness, in stereo (where available), a full bombardment of fireworks that would have made any pyrotechnician light up. It was the one time that I've seen that many Italians do something on time or even early (some started before midnight). Amazing. Italians: "you can learn all there is to know about them in a month, and after a 100 years, they can still surprise you" (Gandalf to Froddo in The Lord of the Rings). (Just kidding of course.)

I digress. After my family walked home that morning (only because there were no taxis...honestly), I went to bed trying to get what rest I could before the big day. Yes, that is correct, God blessed me with the grace of getting to serve Holy Mass for the Holy Father. At 10 o'clock that morning, while most parties were just beginning to die down back in the States, I walked out from the Sacristy of St. Peter's, about 10 feet behind the Holy Father, the Successor of St. Peter, Pope Benedict XVI. It was like walking in a dream. And as we rounded the high altar and reached the back, I was handed his crozier--which is the bishop's staff (for lack of a better term). This crozier, however, was the same one used by Pope John Paul II, which he took with him all over the world. I was utterly speechless (which I guess was good since Mass isn't a good time to be talking).

There's more: after the consecration, where the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ (See John 6:55 - "For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink."), they led all of us servers around to the front of the altar, where we waited to receive Holy Communion from Pope Benedict himself! As if it's not a big enough blessing to receive God, I was graced to receive Him from the Rock of the Church, the Pope!

To summarize: God wants to bless us abundantly! If I have learned anything at all, it is this: following God is not always easy, but it is the best and only real way to live, because God loves to give. And we cannot see all ends, but God can--and everything He lines up is not only for our good but for the good of so many others. So I dare you, this new year, try a resolution that you will not only keep, but that is actually worth keeping: offer each day (only one at a time) to God, and see where He takes you. Just say, "God, I offer you this day." If you do this, you will find that the year of our Lord, 2008, is a year unlike any other you have ever experienced.

Although, now that I've begun my year with an unbeatable experience, I suppose it's all downhill from here....but then, God always has something up His sleeve...I mean those have got to be some huge sleeves.

Well, I love you all and am praying for you. Please pray for us seminarians. Remember, God is good, and He loves you more than you know! Peace be with you in this New Year!