After the lovely 3 months of vacation, the regular seminary
schedule started in the first week of Oct. It began with the annual retreat for
5 days and by the 2nd week of Oct classes at the university also
began. I was back to the grind, and this year it was to be more challenging
with the 3 classical languages of Hebrew, Greek and Latin together. As time
progressed, I got a hang of it and all went well.
As for the formation at the seminary everything was focused
towards proclaiming the Word of God because at the end of the year we as a
batch were to receive the ministry of Lector.
Feasts and Gatherings
Since we are a community represented by members from 35
different countries, and the common system that we follow being very Italian,
members from particular regions are encouraged to organize on a regular basis,
celebrations or get-togethers to fan the patriotic spirit and to feel a little
bit like home. So I am part of the Indian community and the African community
(because I officially represent the diocese of Cape Coast in Ghana). These
gatherings are held almost four times a year and it’s an opportunity for
seminarians to unwind by cooking their native food, singing and dancing to
local beats and having good fellowship.
Cricket
There is a big rivalry between our seminary and the ‘Mater
Ecclesia seminary’ to win a traditional cricket match that is played at least
once every year. Our seminary had always been on the losing side for the past
10 years, but this year, we built a good team and beat them royally. This
victory after such a long time called for much celebration.
Community visits
Since our community is headquartered here in Rome and our
founders along with 2 sisters reside here, we meet up on and off, mostly for a
meal, some celebration of an anniversary or birthday, and at times for
discussions on community.
Pope John Paul II’s
beatification
This was the big event that we witnessed this year on 1st
May, 2010. As soon as the Vatican officially announced the date earlier in the
year, within a couple of hours all rooms, flights and trains were completely
booked. The Vatican and the authorities of Rome started preparing for about
500,000 pilgrims touching down in the city for the celebration. As the day
approached there was an excitement in the air. The Vatican had organized many
events in different parts of the city to control the crowd from hastening into
St.Peters square. The whole place was cordoned off, and access to the square
was to open at 2am for the 10am celebration.
Mass groups of people camped out
on the streets leading to the square. Being so close to the St. Peters some of
us thought that we could get up at 5 am and find our way to the square through
some side alleys, unfortunately we couldn’t get anywhere near, so we came back
and watched the proceedings from our campus. The Eucharistic celebration was a
very meaningful and solemn event, and at the time of the Beatification when the
portrait of Pope John Paul II was unveiled, most of us were moved with such
great emotion, that some who were present in the square recalled that almost
everyone were in tears. He was a Pope who captured the hearts of the people by
his Holiness, Boldness, Simplicity and Authenticity. He was the one who greatly
inspired my call to the priesthood too.
Academic year end
Another year was almost coming to an end. This year I was
conferred with the ministry of a Lector, being able to proclaim the Word of
God. With all the celebrations getting over it was time for end year exams
again. This time too, I faired quite well and was looking forward to the
oncoming summer holidays because I had been making some big plans.
THE BIG SUMMER BREAK
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| with Luisa and Mario whose home i stayed in. |
Trent: In the first month of July I visited some of my
relatives in Trent and did my pastoral work in a parish under a lovely, dynamic
priest and helped out with a summer camp for kids held at a camp up in the
mountains about 40 miles away. This was the city where the great Church Council
– ‘The Council of Trent’ was held from 1545-1563 to respond to the protestant
reformation that just began. The palace and the cathedral are of much
importance even today.
For the rest of the first month I went visiting the people
that I had met the previous year in the other 2 parishes and my relatives in
Padova. I also took the opportunity to stay at an elderly couples place with
whom I became good friends during my visit to one of the parishes the previous
year. It was a lovely experience of Italian hospitality and culture.
The grand pilgrimage
It was one of my dreams to visit the places of St. Ignatius
of Loyola - a saint whose life and works have been a great inspiration to me. I
had read his biography, done many Ignatian retreats, done a brief form of the “Spiritual
exercises”, studied under the Jesuits for 5 years and had been guided
Spiritually by a Jesuit for many years, hence all the more this trip was of
great importance. With this dream in mind I began the planning and as time
progressed, more and more places just kept adding in, that made the pilgrimage
all the more meaningful, fulfilling and exciting.
The Ignatian Places and the Holy Family Cathedral.
I began the pilgrimage on 31 July 2011, first heading to
Barcelona in Spain, a city that St Ignatius passed by during one of his
journeys and where his sword that he surrendered as a symbol of his dedication
to the Lord presently is in exhibit. Being in Barcelona I also visited the
architectural marvel of the modern era, a church dedicated to the Holy Family,
that had begun construction 114 years ago and will take another 14 years to
complete. The Holy Father had consecrated this church during his visit to
Barcelona earlier this year. Its called the Church of the “Sagrada Familia”.
From Barcelona I went to ‘Montserrat’ the shrine of the
Black Madonna where St. Igantius offered his sword at the foot of the statue of
the Black Madonna. The Montserrat mountains are a set of huge rocky mountains
which can be accessed only by a cable car or a funicular. From here I went to the neighboring town to
the cave at ‘Manresa’ where he wrote ‘The Spiritual Exercises’ - which has been
instrumental in thousands of people coming to a very profound personal
encounter with Jesus, including many from royal families. The next Ignatian
destination was the town of Loyola in the North of Spain, where Igantius’ home
was. There is a huge Cathedral built at the side of his home. The central place
is the Chapel of encounter, where while recovering from injury at war, he read
the Bible and a book on the Life of Saints and encountered Jesus in a very
personal way that made him radically change his life in completely surrender to
the Lords will.
The walk of St. James
My next destination was to the city of Porto in Portugal
from where I began the ‘walk of St. James’. This walk is one of the most famous
pilgrimages by foot, where thousands of people from all over the world do this
pilgrimage, following the missionary footsteps of one of Jesus’ beloved
disciples – St. James. There are many routes starting off from Germany, France,
Portugal and different parts of Spain all heading to the North Western tip of
Spain to the city of Campostella where lies the tomb of St. James in the
Cathedral.
The Pilgrimages is well organized by the civil authorities all along
the way. The way is marked by yellow arrows at every little turn or junction.
At every town there is a pilgrim centre that offers lodging for one night at a
very subsidized cost. One can begin the pilgrimage at any point, at the first
pilgrim centre that one stops at, a pilgrim receives a ‘Pilgrims passport’
which authorizes entry to all further pilgrim centers. The Pilgrims passport
needs to be stamped at different points, some people are very enthusiastic about
collecting more stamps on their passport, hence every church, shop, restaurant,
café’ and lodge will gladly offer to stamp your passport. On reaching
Campostella, you can submit your Pilgrims Passport to the Pilgrims office and
if you have done a minimum of 100 kms by foot or 200 kms by cycle or on
horseback you will receive an official pilgrim certificate written in Latin. On
reaching the Basilica, one stands in a long queue to hug the statue of St.
James, to demonstrate ones love for Jesus like the beloved disciple did and to
promise to be a missionary like St.James to carry the good news to the people.
After hugging the statue one visits the tomb of the Apostle to pray and ask for
his intercession. At 1pm and 7pm, there are special masses for Pilgrims where
the intentions of each of the pilgrims are offered and as a sign of the
offering up of these intentions to God, at the end of Mass a huge ‘Thurible’ is
suspended in front of the altar and swung from one end of the Cathedral to the
other. It is a real sight to watch. Later in the evening, for different
language groups there are small meetings organized for people to understand the
real significance of the pilgrimage and to realize that our life here on earth
is just a pilgrimage. In the summer months there is an average of 1000 people
completing their pilgrimage each day.
On reaching Campostella I attended a Charismatic Youth Conference - Firebrandz jointly organized by my community for youth coming from
different countries. This conference is a forerunner to the World Youth Day.
Here I was joined by a group of youth from Bangalore, India whom I had been
with during my time in Bangalore. The other major groups were from Brazil,
Spain, UK and Korea.
Fatima, Salamanca,
Avila
After the conference I continued on my pilgrimage along with
the groups from India and Brazil to Fatima in Portugal. Fatima is one of the
most famous Marian shrines where our lady appeared to 3 shepherd children, on
the 13th of every month from May to October in the year 1917, with
the message to pray for the conversion of souls by believing and surrendering
to Jesus.
We then proceeded to Salamanca which has one of the oldest
Universities and is a place where St.Ignatius studied. It’s a very historic
city, with beautiful medieval architecture. From Salamanca we proceeded to
Avila, the place of one of the Doctors of the Chruch and one of the greatest
mistics St. Teresa of Avila. Her writings such as “Interior Castle” and “Way of
Pefection” are very inspiring.
World Youth Day
From Avila we all headed to Madrid to the World Youth Day (WYD).
Its one of the largest youth gatherings organized by the Vatican along with the
local Church and Government authorities. It’s a five day event, where the city
virtually stops to play host to millions of pilgrims who gather together as one
church to proclaim Jesus. Participants are put up in homes, churches,
communities, schools, universities, gymnasiums and sports complexes. The first
3 mornings are a time for Catechesis in churches based on the theme “To be
rooted and built up in Christ” and in the afternoons there are hundreds of
programs organized in different parts of the city where people can choose from
to attend, ranging from Gospel concerts, theatre, discussions, prayer,
presentations, testimonies and much more.
On Thursday, the whole youth and the
city stops to welcome the Pope. On Friday, the major event is the re-enactment
of the Stations of the Cross and on Saturday everyone starts journeying to a
common place to spend the night in prayer with the Pope and sleep over under
the stars to participate in the Sunday morning final mass celebrated by the
Holy Father.
For me this was the 3rd WYD, the thing that I
witnessed in each of them is the energy, the Joy, the spirit of being one, the intense
times of prayer together and the mind boggling numbers of Youth. All these make
it an awe-inspiring experience that also makes me feel proud and thankful for
being a Catholic. This WYD in particular I was moved by the programs at the
Love and Life Centre – an Indoor Stadium hired by the English Speaking
Community with a great thrust from the US. The quality and the choice of
programs were innovative, intense and captivating. The next moment to remember
was the night vigil with the Holy Father and 2 million pilgrims. We were struck
by a sudden storm which seemed like was going to ruin the whole proceedings but
about half an hour later everything just settled and there was a deep silence
with thousands on their knees just adoring the Eucharistic Lord. These are the
moments worth living for.
France
After the WYD I continued on my Pilgrim journey to France
and visited Lourdes, another famous Marian shrine and Ars the place of St. John
Mary Vianney. This was my second visit to Lourdes. This shrine has a special
place in my heart because the feast at Lourdes is celebrated on my birthday. The
miracles that keep happening each day, the sincere and humble faith with which
thousands of pilgrims visit this place, and the pristine surroundings makes
this a very special place.
Ars a little town in central France was quite difficult to
reach. Having reached the closest railway station and having just missed the
bus which goes to this place only twice a day, I thought of finding a map and
walking the 8 kms to the shrine.
The staff at the station was very cordial and
was trying their best to find a map. To make things worse only one woman spoke
a little bit of English and I tried in vain with my little knowledge of French.
They couldn’t find a map so they suggested that I take a taxi and that they would
call one for me. I was worried about how
much it would cost because I was already travelling on a shoe string budget. I
was shocked when the taxi arrived...
It was a Merc! When I asked the driver how
much it would cost, he could not understand. The lady from the station had to
come to find out and let me know, I don’t know what the lady told the driver
but thankfully he came at a very reasonable price.
The place was much quieter than I thought; I spent the whole
day there having sufficient time for prayer and going around the little village
to see the works that the saint had accomplished. I got to also see a
documentary about the saint’s life which was very inspiring and set in my heart
a lot of virtues to aspire and work towards. It was a fitting end to the month’s
long pilgrimage and I got back to Rome on the 28th of August.
Visit to India
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| My Lovely Family |
For the final month of my vacation I was able to go to India
to visit family, community and friends. I had much more time this visit, but
still it just flew past. I started by visiting my family in Chennai and then
together we travelled to Cochin for the house warming of my Mothers new home.
She moved permanently from Coonoor my birthplace in the Nilgiris to Cochin to
be more in touch with the bigger family and our roots. I followed up by
visiting almost all the homes of my brothers and sisters with short stints in
each city or town. Soon did the days pass by and I found myself back in Rome on
the 4th of Oct to begin the final year of my theology studies.
The New Academic Year
Its just flying past, it seems like I have just finished the
summer vacation but one semester is almost completed, exams are knocking and
soon I will come to know whether I will continue with higher studies or get
ordained in the coming year. Please keep me in your prayers that Gods Will may
be done and that I may continue to be in humble service to Gods plan.
Amen :-)
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