Catholic Teens - June 28, 2005

On Tue, 28 Jun 2005 10:25:01 -0500, pwxsevere wrote
> Hey All--
>
> I hope this finds you enjoying your summer vacation!
>
> It's been a whirlwind so far for me. Getting married, graduating
> with a master's degree in theology, and going to Rome for our
> honeymoon. What a beautiful blessing this has all been!
>
> And it is a joy to find one's vocation!
>
> I want to talk a bit about Rome. We were able to stay at a convent
> across the street from St. Peter's Basilica. Many convents will
> host pilgrims to Rome. We couldn't believe how close we were! We
> were able to see Pope Benedict and get within about 15 feet of him.
> As I mentioned, if you go to Rome within 2 months of your wedding,
> you can sit in a special section for the Pope's general audience.
> There were 35,000 people there, and we were closer then almost all
> of them :-) And Pope Benedict gave a special blessing to all of us
newlyweds.
>
> Because of how close we were to St. Peter's Basilica, we were able
> to visit the Church nearly every day. We saw the tomb and bones of
> St. Peter. We prayed at the tomb of Pope John Paul II.
>
> We were able to pray at the tomb of St. Paul as well. We attended
> Mass in the Collosseum(remember the movie "Gladiator"?) The
> Colosseum, of course, was the place were so many Christians were
> martyred. The Mass was in Italian and there were about 10 of us
> there. Awesome!
>
> We also went to the Church of the Holy Stairs and crawled up the
> stairs on our knees in prayer. In the 300's, St. Helen went to
> Jerusalem and brought back the stairs that Jesus walked up to be
> judged and sentenced by Pilate. They built a church in Rome with
> the stairs in it. And people go there to pray, going up the stairs
> on their knees, recalling Jesus' own walking up those stairs to be
> sentenced to death.
>
> Patty and I were in Rome for a week, and it was an utterly
> phenomenal experience. There is so much to see. It really is the
> center of the Catholic Church. And I hope all of you get the chance
> to go there someday.
>
> May God continue to bless you all!
> Phil Lawson
>
> "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may
> live as you wish." --Mother Teresa

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you
wish." --Mother Teresa