Monday Musing

Holy Week is here – how was your Palm Sunday? I kept this community in prayer as I spent many hours at my home parish of St. Edward the Confessor. We have much to ponder as we enter Holy Week.

I got a note from Father Jerry yesterday, as he described his experience of serving at mass in St. Peter’s Square. He said:

“The Vatican was amazing this morning.  Perfectly organized, about 100,000 people – so they say.  It was daunting to walk down the sea of people for communion.”

Let us enter this Holy Week with prayer and hope in our hearts. We all must die, we all will rise. That is our faith and our life in and with Christ our Lord.

Prayers and blessings to one and all who visit these pages, from near and far. You are a gift to our community, no matter who or where you are.

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(these photos are not from Father Jerry!)

Monday Musing

Santa Sabina

One of the elements of Father Jerry’s sabbatical experience at the Pontifical North American College is The Roman Station Liturgy. This is not the Stations of the Cross, but rather, an ancient tradition of the Church, dating back to the late 2nd or early 3rd century. A more structured approach was adopted by the 5th century, but over time, the practice had diminished. Since 1975, the PNAC, where Father Jerry is studying, has coordinated masses at these sites in English during Lent.

The Station Churches in history were very much about how the Church stood and journeyed together in public and in Lent in particular. What a beautiful image this is! Like the Stations of the Cross, like our beautiful liturgy, we journey together as we live the Gospel.  We are called to live this way, to be united in Christ; in these splintered times, this offers a lot of food for thought. Everything that we do and how we live as Catholics should be about how we restore the integrity of the Body of Christ.

I have many photos that Father Jerry has sent to me and I am going to sort them out this week and start posting them more frequently. (Last week found me more than a little behind!)

However, today I am thinking about how we stand together as Church and how we are Church in the world, how we restore the Body of Christ. Today’s Gospel from Matthew contains one of the most oft-quoted passages of Scripture. All things that are easy to say and so very hard to do. Like most things…

Update from Rome

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Father Jerry has sent me so many photos from Rome, I have to find a chunk of time to organize and post them all!  I will share a few in this post.

He is doing really well and is deep into his sabbatical, with a lot of study. He and his brother priests have also found a little time to do some exploring in Rome, seeing many different churches.

You will find a letter from Father Jerry in the bulletin this coming weekend!

 

Rome at Night

Father Jerry sent this photo of Rome at night. That is Trevi Fountain, a very beautiful place! In Rome, what isn’t beautiful?

News from Rome

Father Jerry and I had a brief Skype chat today. He truly does not have a lot of free time and it violates the spirit of sabbatical to be in too much contact with us, but I was grateful for 3-4 minutes of catching up, real time.

He said that it is snowing in Rome, the first time in many years! That photo was taken from his room.  He was walking home from the Vatican and it was raining. He had gone up the wrong hill; he could see his room, but there was nothing but a big wall preventing his entry. He walked and walked and finally got himself to where he was, first in a lot of rain and then in the snow! Finally he got himself home and sent me this photo. (Here is a link to one news article about this unusual weather.)

Rome really seems to suit him and he sounded very happy and peaceful. For the two seconds of video that worked, he looked great.

He sends his every prayer this way and has remembered us all in prayers and when he offers mass. Today he and the other sabbatical priests celebrated mass at the Tomb of St. Peter. That sounds so amazing. Please keep Father Jerry and all the priests in your prayers! This next photo was taken during Vespers at the St. Peter’s with the Holy Father.

 

Monday Musing or Monday Confusing?

I forgot to post a Monday Musing today! I was sick on Saturday and slept most of the day. It did occur to me on Sunday that I needed to do this, but it did not happen. This morning- well I did not think about it as it is usually done! What is wrong with me? I am confused!

In any case, I came to work and found this beautiful picture from Father Jerry – it is the chapel where he is living in Rome, at Casa O’Toole.

Thus our confusing musing is simply this photo!

 

Father Jerry Travels to Rome (#FJIR – more about what that means in the post!)

Father Jerry has made it to Rome. Apparently it is about 62 degrees and sunny… not so here! He can see the Vatican from his room! For the next three months he will be on sabbatical. Father will be attending The Institute for Continuing Theological Education at the Pontifical North American College and he will be there until May. His time will also include a side trip to the Holy Land – what an experience!

I am posting this video about the sabbatical program. It is a little long, but it gives us a feel for where he is and what he is doing. In the meantime, I have started a Twitter hashtag that I will use for updates about Father Jerry on Twitter. (We have a parish twitter feed @ImmacConcGlenv, so if you are on Twitter, follow us.) The hashtag is #FJIR, for Father Jerry in Rome.  A word about Twitter, until recently, even I – the social media person that I am – disliked it and misunderstood it. I can say this – if you just want to sign up to follow the parish and keep up with Father, then do so. Don’t stress about having to understand too much or having to tweet. Just a thought – and all are welcome there and at our parish Facebook page as well.

Please remember to keep Father Jerry in your prayers and know that he has brought all of our intentions to Rome with him.  Feel free to leave comments for him here and I will make sure that he gets to see them!

Back to work – ciao!

A Preview of the ICTE Program from North American College on Vimeo.