On Your Mark. Get Set….
This is a horrible picture, but it shows the distance of St. Peter's Basilica from my room.
Things have been busy here at the seminary, but everything has been building up for the beginning of the new academic semester that will begin in mid-October. Today was the final mock italian proficiency exam in my italian class. The classes have been very beneficial, but I am just ready to take the test. It is difficult to learn a new language in two months, but I have put a lot of effort into it. The real exam will be at the Gregorian University on Monday, so please keep me in your prayers. There are four components to the exam. The first part is a computerized grammar/vocabulary exam and the oral section of the test begins. I will have to chat with the proctor for five minutes, read and translate a paragraph from an italian book, and then describe a picture that I am given. I will be spending a lot of time this weekend preparing for the test. If I do not pass at a certain proficiency level, I will need to take another 60 hours of private tutoring before I am eligible to take it again. Hopefully I will not need to resort to that though!
In addition to the Italian classes, I have registered for Theology classes at the Gregorian University and have also been getting into a more consistent work-out routine. There is an awesome track around the soccer field that I have been utilizing on a regular basis and the weight room is pretty nice. On the whole, things are going really well. The seminarians here are the most down to earth and mature young men I have ever met. Their love for God is so inspiring and I look forward to getting to know them better over the next few years.
Finally, I would like to ask for your prayers for my grandfather, George Underwood, who has been dealing with cancer for the last couple years. He is at the stage now that there is not anything more that the doctors can do. We have been so fortunate that he has been able to get through so many obstacles that have come up from his illness. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to descend upon him and give him the courage he needs at this time. Also, please pray for my grandmother, Linda, who has been by his side through his entire battle with cancer.
Being “Over There”
Things have been busy here at the college this week. All of us “New Men” have started with our second set of Italian classes in-house. While it is important to be able to speak the language of the country you are surrounded by, the more immediate reason for cramming the language into my head is for the Italian Proficiency Exam administered by the university in which I will be studying in the coming years. The language has been tough to learn, but I have put a lot of work into it. I still have a long way to go, but I am happy with how much I have learned in the last six weeks. I have about two and half weeks before the exam, so I will be studying hard until then. However, that doesn’t mean that I will not be doing anything interesting.
Tomorrow we are traveling to Assisi for a quasi-retreat that will last from Friday until Sunday. I have never been to Assisi and I am eagerly looking forward to experience the place where St. Francis and St. Clare lived, prayed, and worked. I am looking forward to having some time to relax a little. Things have been so busy here that I already feel like I am playing catch-up. Specifically with the language, I was able to spend plenty of time working on Italian outside of class, but that is not as possible now. This is the first time I have had some free time in the last four days and I thought I should at least post a little something about what has been going on here. However, after I am finished posting this, I will jump back into the books and learn some new words, practice conjugating some verbs, and remind myself that anything is possible with God’s grace.
This evening is the official Welcome Banquet at the Pontifical North American College. We will celebrate Mass at 5:30pm and then appetizers will be served in the faculty dining hall. We will then migrate out into the cortile in front of the main chapel doors and we will have dinner. I believe there are a few toasts and speeches, but it should really be a time to relax and enjoy the company of my classmates and the seminary faculty.
Many people have been asking me what it is like to be “over there.” These first weeks have been challenging because I left EVERYTHING behind. Sure, I brought some stuff with me to make my room feel like home, but I left my family, friends, and all of the little things that I used to take for granted. While I was studying Pre-Theology at Conception Seminary College, we were living in the middle of nowhere, Missouri. However, we still took advantage of our cars in order to drive to Maryville or St. Joseph in order to go out to eat at a restaurant or make a “Wal-mart run.” Now we walk just walk everywhere and even the idea of Wal-mart is a foreign to Italy (literally). Ultimately, there are many challenges with moving to a new country, but I firmly believe that God does not give us anything that we cannot handle. Even though I miss my family immensely, I know that this is part of the sacrifice I am making to God. I am giving my entire life to the Jesus Christ and placing all of my trust into Him. It is difficult to give up things that are comfortable, but I am trying to look at this experience as something that will stretch me in new ways in order to become a better priest for the people of Oklahoma City. This mindset also makes life not as stressful. I know that I am not in control, but I am ready to face the challenges and obstacles that I am (and will) encounter in the future. I have also been able to grow in prayer by praising God for all of the great things He has blessed me with, as well as thanking him for the challenges before me now. I am confident that these will be beneficial to me in the future and for the people that I hope to serve someday as a priest.
Off to Language Studies
This first week in Rome has flown by with incredible haste. However, I have been able to find many moments to pray and orient myself towards Christ. Rome is such an amazing city to live in and I am humbled to be doing so. The heat has been intense and I am, therefore, looking forward to heading up to Northern Italy tomorrow to begin my Italian Language Studies. The town I will be living in is called Verbania and is situated on Laggo Maggiore (the Great Lake). The Lake serves as the border between Italy and Switzerland in that area. I am looking forward to traveling a little bit, but my main focus is learning the Italian language so I can get something out of my classes (which are in Italian).
Today the New Men traveled north of Rome to Orvieto. It is a medieval town built upon a cliff and surrounded with a large wall and a fortress. The views were spectacular, but the most interesting part of Orvieto is the Cathedral (the Duomo). Encased within a silver reliquary is a corporal (linen cloth) which is the sign of an Eucharistic Miracle. As a priest was traveling to Rome he was doubting the true presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated host. However, as he was celebrating Mass, blood started dripping from the host and onto the corporal. From this miracle, the Pope declared the first ever feast day in honor of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). Consequently, we were able to celebrate the Mass of Corpus Christi in that chapel. The relic served as a great tool in order to enter more fully into the mystery of the Mass. It was one of the great moments in my life!
My camera is almost out of battery life, so I will try to upload pictures eventually. Hopefully I will have internet access in Verbania for the next month. If not, I will update the blog when I return in August.
