This was my first Christmas away from home but celebrating it in Rome with the Emmanuel School of Mission was a huge privilege. There was a great sense of expectancy and joy as we looked forward to the festive season in the eternal city. On the Thursday and Friday before Christmas we did street evangelisation just outside St. Peter’s Square singing carols and participating in a live crib on the streets, it was much fun being a roaming and evangelising Joseph! On Christmas Eve we did Compassion Service – reaching out to the poor and those in need on the streets bringing them tea, coffee, sandwiches & cookies and wishing them a Happy Christmas. We had Vigil Mass for Christmas at the Centro San Lorenzo (International Centre for Youth at Vatican) followed by a time for social and chat before heading to the Christmas Midnight Mass at Saint Peter’s Basicila singing carols on our way. It was very special to be in St. Peter’s for this Mass and to be so close to the Holy Father. On Christmas Day we had morning praise and Mass at the Centro San Lorenzo before going to Saint Peter’s Square for the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing from Pope Benedict. It was beautiful to reflect on being a missonary in the eternal city for Christmas as the sun descended on the square and we returned to the school for lunch. A Christmas tradition from home I did manage to keep up was my Christmas day run. In the evening we had Adoration and Rosary followed by our Christmas dinner with entertainment provided by the students. Even Santa came (with a small gift from a fellow student who was praying for me during Advent) which will help keep me motivated to follow my exercise routine this New Year!
Directly after Christmas we spent six days in Paray le Monial in France at the the Fraternity Retreat of the Emmanuel Community. It was my first time there and what a beautiful place of pilgrimage it is. Paray le Monial is the origin of the devotion of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (from 1673-1675 Jesus appeared to a young nun named Margaret-Mary from the Visitation Monastery, showing her “this heart which has loved men so much” – this was authenticated by her Jesuit spiritual director Fr Claude la Colombière). While there I visited and prayed at St. John’s Chapel of Adoration, the Apparitions Chapel where the relics of Saint Margaret-Mary lie, and the Colombiere Chapel containing the relics of Saint-Claude. Each day we had midday Mass and evening Vespers with a number of Bishops and the priests of the Emmanuel Community at the Sacred Heart Basilica. There was a great atmosphere of unity, peace and joy as those attending from many countries listened to talks from main speaker Fr Nicolas Buttet (founder and Moderator of the Eucharistein Fraternity, Switzerland) and presentations and testimonies from members of the Emmanuel Community. The periods of silence and the time of Adoration in the Basicila on New Year’s Eve welcoming in the New Year were particular highlights for me.
I am now one third way through the school year at the Emmanuel School of Mission. Time is going so fast! I feel I am learning alot and desire to persevere and trust in God’s will and the plan that He has for me. It has been a great privilege to live together in community with my sisters and brothers from all over the world, I have grown so much though the community life we all share. I greatly appreciate all the support that I have received from my sponsors in Ireland and all those who are praying for me, enabling me to be a missonary at ESM Rome this year. All are in my prayers as well as the Church in Ireland and the International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin in June of this year. Finally, ESM are organising an Easter Tridium retreat at the heart of the Church in Rome from April 5-8, it is open to anyone who wishes to really enter into the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ, see the ESM website for more information and to register (closing date 28 February). Happy New Year everyone and God bless!
