It is now mid-February and time for the half-term report from the Emmanuel School of Mission in Rome! Although we have moved into Spring, the winter which we thought had somehow escaped us here has suddenly arrived to the amazement of everyone! It is so strange to be experiencing bitter cold conditions here after the mainly warm, mild and dry weather of the autumn and winter months. The heavy snowfall of early February is the most that Rome has experienced in twenty years! Of course it is more like Irish weather – which I am well used to, but it is still interesting to observe how the snow has disrupted transport and other services here in the midst of the traditional carnival season. The carnival season is a time of fun, festivities and celebration preceeding Lent which brings theatre, music and colour to the streets and squares of the city.
The inclement weather hasn’t curtailed our programme at ESM too much though, just offering us the opportunity for more creativivity, for example replacing street evangelisation with internet evangelisation and outdoor sport with indoor aerobics! Overall it has been somewhat of a fun experience especially for those students from warmer climates who had never seen snow before! In the classroom we have continued our study of theology with Patristics (study of Fathers of the Church), the Sacraments, the Holy Trinity and Sacred Scripture. We really are privileged to have such excllent teachers, most who work in the Vatican and a favourite part of class for me is the lively discussions we frequently have. Since the New Year break we have been busy working on our course work. Assisted by our tutors we have concluded work on our first semester assignment and are now working on researching and presenting our discussion group topics. Apart from the mainstream classes we have also had many talks and presentations on topics such as the Spiritual Combat, fatherhood and Internet evangelisation.
We recently participated in an international colloquium organised by the Emmanuel Community in Rome (January 26th-28th). We were responsible for organising the liturgy for the conference which was titled “Charity, Justice and Peace: a Challenge for Evangelisation”. The 3 day event consisted of a series of key note speeches and short testimonies considering some of the broader dimensions of evangelisation and the new missionary challenges in the fields of work, economics, politics, ethics, and ecology. We were invited to think about how we can apply the Social Doctrine of the Church and Pope Benedict XVI’s Caritas et Veritate in these areas with excellent reflections by keynote speakers including Dr Michael Naughton, University of St Thomas, Minnesota; Prof. Pierre-Yves Gomez, Ecole de Management, Lyon and John Deighan, Catholic Parliamentary Office, Bishops Conference of Scotland. Bishop Luis Azcona Hermoso of Marajo, Brazil who suffered great persecution for the sake of the Gospel also gave a powerful testimony and homily in the course of the weekend. Trying to put it all into practice we went out in the nightlife district of Campo dei Fiori along with some of the other attendees of the conference on the Friday night for street evangelization. We left the colloquium with the exhortation that we, Catholics must commit ourselves and believe that we can achieve something because whatever happens, the victory has already been won by Christ. The challenges are there, so let us ask the Lord for the courage and the joy to do it. Our society needs witnesses of hope, light and love who are willing to give all to the point of martyrdom for the coming of Christ in our world.
During our time at ESM we are privilged to go on field trips with experienced guides, taking in the important parts of Church history in Rome. We visited the principal basilicas during our pilgrimage of the seven churches in November. Recently we also visited the Dominican Basilicas of San Clemente & Santa Maria Sopra Minerva (where the tomb of Saint Catherine of Siena is) and the Jesuit Churches of Saint Ignatio & the Gesu (mother Church of the Jesuits containing the tomb of Saint Ignatius and St Francis Xavier). Our latest field trip was to the Basilica of Saint Agnes, outside the walls – a few days before her feastday of January 21st. Here we learned about the life of Agnes, a Roman martyr from the early 4th century who was known for her consecrated virginity, devoting her life to Christ and proclaiming Him as her only spouse. We heard about the centuries-old tradition of the blessing of the lambs by the Pope on her feastday, (the wool from the lambs is then used for the making of the Pallium presented by the Holy Father to the newly-appointed metropolitan archbishops each year on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul in June). We also visited the catacombs of Priscilla. The Catacombs are ancient underground burial grounds which give a fascinating insight into early Christian Rome. There are about sixty catacombs around the city, however only a small number are open to visit. The Catacombs at Priscilla are of particular significance because of the great number of martyrs buried there and the biblical stories from the Old and New Testament depicted in some of the tombs really express the great faith in the salvation won for us by Christ that those early martyrs had.
Community life at the school has continued to be very enriching for me. Although challenging at times, I personally find it purifying as I really feel it allows God to mould me into the person He wants me to be. As the motto of the school goes, it is only when we “give all” that we can “get more”. I have found that means giving all in prayer, in evangelisation and in serving the others in the community, especially in the simple things. Being part of ESM offers a great opportunity to learn and serve. Here, the main way we serve each other is through the weekly services:- kitchen duties, daily & weekly cleaning, meal service, preparing the liturgy and through our own individual services which help sustain community life. We do all these tasks in small groups and I can see how they have helped me to grow concretely as a person, challenging me to be more charitable to my sisters and brothers in community at every opportunity, and also to live in the present using the gifts that the Lord has given me.
It is such a privilege to live with young people from 13 different countries, an experience I’m unlikely to have again so it is definitely a time for “living in the moment!” It is great to experience such universality here, at the heart of the Church and I am learning even more about the international mission of the school through our Cultural Evenings which we have recently begun. These are evenings hosted by the students to present their own country, culture & food and are a great part of the social life at the ESM! So far we have had French, Dutch and German celebrations and I’m eagerly looking forward to presenting “Irish night”of course! We also recently hosted a thoroughly enjoyable evening with the Deacons from St. Paul’s Seminary, Minnesota who were spending some time in Rome.
One of my favourite aspects of the school is the spiritual life. We have guided retreat days, daily adoration praise & Mass together, lectio divina, all night adoration every month, regular retreats and time for personal prayer and reflection. Our last school retreat just before Christmas “Outpouring of the Holy Spirit” was a particularly blessed time for me and I’m really looking forward to the remaining retreats including the silent lectio divina retreat in Lazio and the Vocations retreat in Namur, Belgium.
Shortly we are going to Paray le Monial in France, (the place of pilgrimage to the Sacred Heart of Jesus where Jesus showed His heart burning with love to Saint Margaret Mary) and where the Emmanuel Community frequently gather in pilgrimage. While in Paray we will attend a Winter Forum (February 25th-26th) at which hundreds of young people from many different countries around Europe will be present, and we will also spend a few days in retreat along with the other Emmanuel Schools of Mission from Paray and Altotting in Germany. The forum will be a lively event consisting of praise, adoration, talks, workshops and sharing & testimonies from young people about their faith. I am already looking forward to some of the workshops which will include discussions on virtual friendship on social networks and reflections on the lives of the saints (including St. Mary Margaret and St. Claude la Colombière), examining how they lived true friendship with themselves and with others.
We are also preparing for the forthcoming Easter Tridium Retreat that we are organising here in Rome (April 5th – 8th). It will be a large international gathering and is open to everyone! The theme of the retreat is “By his wounds you have been healed!” (1 Peter 2:24) and throughout the four days there will be beautiful liturgies including Chrism Mass and Easter Mass with the Pope, Way of the Cross in St. Peter’s Square on Good Friday, Reconciliation, Adoration, music and time for reflection. It would be great to meet some young people from Ireland there! If you would like to join us and really enter into the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ at the heart of the Church you would be most welcome – just visit the ESM website for all the details (bookings must be made by February 29th).
It is really hard to believe that I am now midway through the school year here at the Emmanuel School of Mission. It has been such an enriching experience so far! Trusting God has much more to teach me in the months ahead and I’m already looking forward to returning to Ireland with the school for parish missions and city evangelisation in Dublin at the time of the International Eucharistic Congress in June. Ciao for now!
