WHAT I DID ON MY WINTER VACATION

If you followed my posts on Facebook, you probably think all I did in Assisi and Rome was eat! That’s not true, and I want to share some of the spiritual highlights of my retreat (really!).

     To start, I was able to concelebrate Mass in 10 different churches/chapels in the course of my stay. Some of them are especially memorable encounters.
     I found a group of Americans in Assisi who had booked a chapel for Mass, and I was able to bail in. They were from St Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and their tour leader was a Benedictine named Fr Max. It turns out he knows a former classmate of mine from Notre Dame days who joined the Benedictines! He (my friend) is suffering from the advanced stages of ALS, but Fr Max told me he’s an inspiration to the community.
Of course, Evening Prayer/Adoration in San Damiano is always a highlight for me in Assisi. And being able to do Morning Prayer (by myself) in the chapel where the San Damiano crucifix is enshrined was also a blessing.
I concelebrated Sunday Mass in a Carmelite church just up from St Peter’s—Santa Maria in Traspontina. The deacon was from India, the principle celebrant was from Congo, I was from the US, and the schola of singers were from Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Ghana. Now THAT’S the Catholic Church!
I was deeply touched in San Paolo fuori le Mura—the other concelebrating priest was in his upper 80s, in a power wheelchair (his legs no longer work). He was given a hand-held microphone because he couldn’t get up the steps into the sanctuary proper, but this way he could still take his part in the Eucharistic Prayer. It was very moving.
One of the most beautiful “side chapels” in Santa Maria Maggiore is the one on the left, the so-called “Borghese Chapel.” I had the chance to concelebrate there with one of the canons (official clergy of the basilica) and a very old priest, whose vestments were as old as he was (probably his ordination vestments). They were both very kind, and the canon had kind words to say about the seminarians at the North American College (my alma mater)—about the quality of their liturgical music and the fervor of making Mass at all of the “Station churches” in the early mornings of Lent. The old priest spoke very well—in fact, he gave 4 really good homilies!! Italian preachers do tend to go on…
I wanted to concelebrate Mass in St Peter’s, and while I was waiting a couple of elderly folks came into the sacristy—they turned out to be a priest and deacon from Pennsylvania, leading a group of women (average age—80!). By luck a couple of young priests from England (Birmingham and Newcastle/Hexham) joined us. They were all delightful.
I had other “chance encounters”—with a woman after Mass at the Cathedral in Assisi, with a woman who owned/operated a trattoria in Assisi I’d never eaten in before (but will again!), with another American group in the hotel I was using, from Colorado (the priest was from Congo!), and with my dear, dear friend Lory, who’s husband, Roberto, died at the end of November. These connections, planned and “serendipitous,” also add joy to the journey.
I had a good time, and yes—I ate well. But my pilgrimage was anchored in prayer and Eucharist; that’s what a retreat should be. And that’s what I did on my “winter vacation”!                          -Fr. David