Relief! ...And a Little Trip

Ahh...sweet respite!

For a couple of days at least...  As indicated in my last post, I finished my last test on Wednesday...success!  I still haven't received all of grades back yet, but I feel confident that I, at the very least, passed.  The ones that I have gotten back are good.  So from Wednesday to Sunday I have been relaxing, tying up loose ends, and getting ready for the next semester that starts tomorrow.

On Friday I went with my community of 20 guys to San Giovanni Rotondo on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina.  It was a 5 hour bus ride across the Italian peninsula in rainy, nasty weather though in the end it ended up being totally worth it.

After arriving, we went to Mass right next to Padre Pio's tomb, had a bite of lunch, and were given a tour of the churches.  There were actually 3 churches:  one very small that was the original monastery church, one newer built in the 1950's after pilgrims started to come to see Padre Pio, and one massive church that seats 6,500 people.  There weren't many pilgrims besides us, it being a Friday, but the tour guide told us that there are around 6 million people who come every year!

Basilica of Padre Pio

The tour guide told us this story:  Once, St. Anthony of Padua had a vision of heaven.  As he was wandering around, he realized that St. Francis of Assisi was missing (Padre Pio was a Franciscan, if you were wondering how the story connected.) so he asked Jesus:  "How is it that Francis isn't here?  Of all the people on earth, Francis should be here!"  And Jesus replied: "He is here.  He was so near to me on earth that now, in heaven, he is as close as possible to me." And, at that, he showed St. Anthony the wound in his side from the soldier's lance, and in it Anthony saw St. Francis.  The guide then went on to explain that this was the reason that Padre Pio's body is entombed within the foundation of the church that bears his name with a tiny hole shaped like the wound in Christ's side.  If you look in the picture below you can see the little, red, wound-shaped hole behind the altar, right above the people's heads: that is Padre Pio's body.

Crypt Church with Padre Pio's body:  see it?...below the Crucifix?

A close up

Along with his tomb, we also got to see the confessional where he spent up to 14 hours a day hearing confessions.

Confessional

The only close-up photo of his hands with the stigmata

After the very thorough and delightful tour, we loaded up the bus in the rain and headed home.  The one thing that I was sad about from the day was that all the Friars were on retreat for the week so it wasn't possible to go to confession :(  I had really been looking forward to it, hoping that some of Padre Pio's honesty and giftedness in the confessional had been handed down to his brothers.  But it was not to be...maybe next time!

 Now, after a two day rest, I am heading to bed tired but ready for a new semester...bring it on!

LAMENTATION AND WOE!!

OK, so it’s not THAT bad over here…

There is a strange phenomenon in the European university system:  Classes for the first semester finish AFTER CHRISTMAS at the end of January which is followed by a THREE WEEK exam session. :-/  They really know how to drag out a painful event!

And that event is exactly what I am in the middle of right now.  For the last three weeks I have been sitting at my desk reading, writing notes, talking to myself to help remember what I wrote, and wishing that this coming Wednesday would get here already!  Our exams (except one this year) are all oral; they last ten minutes, and in those ten minutes, your grade for the entire class is determined.  So hours of preparation and memorization go into a ten minute encounter during which only one or two questions are asked out of the 20-30 that you studied for.  And then you walk out beat-down and depressed because you start remembering things that could’ve been said but all-around glad that it’s over with…all to sit down at the desk to prepare for the next one, two or three days away. 

However, there is a certain feeling of satisfaction that goes with devoting three full weeks to understanding the material and committing it to memory, like you really got something out of the semester.  What’s more, there is a lot of community building that happens right now:  guys will knock on your door and make you take a break for some coffee and more time is spent at the dinner table just because you don’t want to go back and study!  Despite all the tension and stress, this is a beautiful time.

I, for my part, have only one more test to go!  It is for a class on biblical exegesis of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) and will be on Wednesday.  I LOVE the material (much more interesting than Latin and Greek!) and I am in the midst of 5 days to devote to only that topic…and I will need them.  And although the second semester will be starting next Monday, our community will be taking a trip this Friday to visit the monastery and tomb of St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina as a sort of reward.  I’ll be praying for you! J

I will let you know how it the semester ends up and how our pilgrimage went soon!