Sunday, February 10, 2013

Countryside of Assisi

In front of Assisi

This has been a full and exciting week!  In fact, I am just returning from a weekend trip to Assisi!  We went to all the sights - the Basilica of St. Francis, the Basilica of St. Mary of of the Angels, the Porziuncola (St. Francis' favorite spot, and sort of headquarters), Rivotorto (where the Franciscan order began), the Basilica of St. Clare, the Church of Santa Maria Maddalena (where he met the leper), San Damiano, the paternal home of St. Francis, the birthplace of St. Francis, and, my personal favorite, the Hermitage (a cave in the mountain where St. Francis would retreat to pray).  Many would not consider it a relaxing weekend, since we were rushing from one place to the next.  But I came away from it feeling like I had just finished a retreat!  It was fantastic!  In fact, I was disappointed when we had to leave to come back to Rome; I loved the peace of the countryside, and of course I loved the mountains!  It even snowed as we hiked up to the Hermitage - quite a lot too!  Plus, we had all of Assisi to ourselves, it was beautiful!  We even got to participate in Vespers at the Hermitage, and a candlelight procession and Rosary at the Porziuncola!  It was extra special because they recently found the remains of five of St. Francis' companions (recently as in December 20, 2012), so we were among the first to see them!  I cannot even begin to describe how much I love Assisi, and it was extra special coming from a Franciscan college, so much more meaningful!

Part of our group in front of St. Francis' birthplace.

But that is only part of my week!  Earlier this week my internships got underway.  The exciting part was that one Thursday for the Aleteia internship I got to participate in their Moment with Mary project for the Year of Faith.  Part of what I'm doing involves working through their communications network to help share the joy of the Rosary - so if any of you have inspirational rosary messages or quotes send them my way!  But the best part of the internship is that we actually get to participate in saying the Rosary at St. Peter's!  This week I actually got to lead one of the decades!  What they try to do is have each decade led in a different language (the responses are all in Latin to emphasize the universality of the Church).  However, the group that day was only capable of doing four languages.  It just so happens that I know the Rosary prayers in Slovak, and so I was able to lead the Rosary before all of St. Peter's!  It was great!  Hopefully another good week to come!