bottled sunshine: Rome Sweet Home

I was planning to write about the experience in Madrid first (after the Santiago trip). However, my friend is going to Rome in January, so I promised her to write about Rome as quickly as possible. Here is the first part of the write-up!

Day 1

We arrived on 30^th September and we were amazed that the hotel where we stayed was so close to St Peter’s Basilica. First thing we did was to shower because we had not showered for 22 hours (we slept over at Barcelona airport during the transit). We also washed our clothes and we hang the clothes at the balcony, oops!

We had our first Italian lunch at a small café nearby. I doubted myself whether I could finish the pizza because it was so huge!! And yes, I managed to finish the pizza. Hahaha. It costs only 6.50 Euro with coke! We were so excited to enter St. Peter’s Basilica. The queue was long but it moved very fast. We also said a Creed outside the Basilica. From the middle of St. Peter’s Square, we could see Pope’s apartment and the statue of Our Lady outside that wall. Apparently that statue was only recently added during Pope John Paul II’s time. One of the youth told the Holy Father that St Peter’s square was incomplete without Our Lady. There are statues of many saints, but not Our Lady’s. Pope John Paul II agreed and Don Alvaro asked people that he knows to start designing it without waiting for instructions, so it could be used when the Pope needs it. And it’s true. One of the designs was approved by the Pope and stood there till now.

View from our hotel

The obelisks in Rome were gifts from Egypt. One of them is in the middle of St. Peter's Square

One of our friends in our group, who lived in Rome for 3 years before, explained to us about how just like other basilicas, this basilica was built above smaller church. Similar with Cathedral of Santiago, when they found the body of St. Peter, they also found many other people were buried around St. Peter. This is the characteristics of the first Christians. They want to be buried near the holy people.

After we passed the security screening (we just need to put our bags in the X-ray), we saw the Bronze Gate. My friend later on went there to get tickets for us for the audience with Pope Francis (the one held every Wednesday).

Bronze Gate, where we asked for the ticket for audience with the Pope

Once we entered the Basilica, we could see the beautiful sunlight that went through the windows and ceiling. It could be captured even using a normal camera. The floor was made in mosaic style and one of our group who studied fine arts explained that the statues at the ceiling was not made not in the correct proportions so that when we looked at them from our level, they looked in the correct proportions.

We also saw the huge statues of two angels for the holy water. Our friend always mistakenly called them ‘the two babies’. Hahaha.

Do you see the sun ray?

My head was tired of looking up, but it's worthwhile!

Below the altar was the body of St John Paul II

This one is the comparison of sizes of various Basilicas in the world!

St Josemaria Escriva, the founder of Opus Dei, saint of ordinary life!

These are the two angels that are always called as 'babies' by my friend

The Pieta by Michaelangelo!

The altar where the Papal Chair was located was exactly above the tomb of St. Peter. Unfortunately we couldn’t go down because there was a Mass at the area where the entrance to the tomb was. Behind the Papal Chair was the stain glass with a dove, a representation of the Holy Spirit, which was mistakenly thought as clock by my friend. Hahahaha.

We also saw a wall with the list of Popes starting from St. Peter. It was really amazing to witness the continuity of the Catholic Church and this is an affirmation that this Church is not merely a social or human institution. The people have ‘problems’, faults, sins, but the Church is still here and God fulfilled the promise of ‘the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’!

We spent quite some time just walking inside the Basilica. We also prayed in front of the body of St John Paul II.

St Peter's Basilica view in the evening

Enjoying our first gelato!!

Day 2

Audience with Pope Francis!!!

The queue was really really really horrible, but all of us got seats. Our friends also told us to run to where we saw babies because there’s a chance that Pope Francis will stop and bless the babies =P Anyway, we didn’t reach that close, but we were happy to see the Holy Father were much closer than in TV :p We were climbing the chairs and screamed, “Holy Father! Holy Father!” Once we saw him went to our side, my two friends and I raaaaaaaaaaaaaannnn and we could see him quite close. I think around 2 meters away? I don’t mind that I don’t have good photo of him, but to really see him was such a relief. I think this craziness is really different with craziness over celebrity. Even though we screamed, we climbed the chairs, we ran after him, it’s a feeling that is definitely different because it has helped me to pray more to the Church and the Holy Father. It’s a feeling of small kids that don’t see the father after let’s say an overseas trip? I grow up in a totally ‘remote’ areas from Rome, and in Indonesia, we’ve always been a minority. I only heard about the Pope or saw him on TV. At that moment, he’s so real and close! I also met many people who also loves the Pope. It was really an encouraging experience.

He gave a homily about charism and the importance of using the charism for others and God because it’s a gift from God. At the end, I took out all the religious articles that I bought the day before to get them blessed by the Pope ^^

The best photo that I took!

My friend who was really good in drawing (while we were waiting for the audience to start)

After the audience, we went to Colosseum. We just looked at it from outside because there’s nothing much inside. Our friends explained how Colosseum was built in such manner that a large number of audience can go in and out easily. My friend also reminded us of a story of St Therese of Lisieux who went into a part that was actually restricted and kissed the soil as the first Christians were martyred there.

There again I was reminded on how many people have died for the faith in Rome.

Colosseum, it is mainly for entertainment. One of the 'entertainment' that time was the killing of many of the first Christians

Afterwards we went to the Church of the Holy Cross of Jerusalem (Santa Croce in Gerusalemme). There we saw the relics related to the Passion of Our Lord: nails that were used to nail Jesus to the cross, the thorns from the crown, part of finger of St. Thomas who wanted to touch the wound of Jesus before he believed that it’s Jesus who resurrected, and the copy of the Holy Shraud which was used to wrap the body of Jesus (the original was in Turin).

When I saw these things, it was a real reminder how Jesus that I talk to every day is a real person. A real God and a real man and his sacrifice is not a joke. His sacrifice is real.

On the same day, I also went to Basilica of St Mary Maggiore and Archbasilica of St John Lateran.
Unfortunately I can't really remember which photos are the interior of which churches :( Sorry! (Except one photo that I managed to match with wikipedia =P)