I was expecting to meet friends in Rome, BUT I wasn't expecting all that happened yesterday. Due to how MUCH happened, I will make a short a sweet list, which will allow you to get the idea.
Yesterday Miriam invited me for some coffee in the dining room and asked me if I would like to go say the rosary with her at 'Chiesa di Santa Maria sopra Minerva'. I, of course, said yes.
I find out when we get there that this is the church where the remains of St. Catherine of Siena are burried.
We say the rosary and I meet the first in the series of some pretty wonderful people, Monica.
Miriam and I go to eat gelato and I invite her to go see 'Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia' .
We walk all around the city looking inside windows of stores that have products that are wayyy to expensive and talk about how we could feed Ghana with the price we would pray for one dress in the window.
We then go to a gallery, which is kind of like a mall, where I proceeded to drink the most amazing cappucino I have ever had in my life ( I wasn't aware REAL cappuccino was supposed to taste THAT good...), and we talked about our lives and compared our pasts and how we got to the point in which we are now.
We visited 'Chiesa dellla Madonna del Pozzo', which that, my friends, is a whole other miracle that happened in and of itself.
Miriam invited me to go see the monks of the Basilica of St. Paul chant the 'compieta', which, do you really think I was going to say, 'No.'?
She mentions we have to go on her moped because it is far away.
I get to see all of Rome on the back of a moped, which let me just say, was INCREDIBLE....but only because she is a good driver...
First, we go to mass with some Franciscan priests and brothers and I get to meet a few of her friends.
At the end of mass, we talked to a priest, with whom I sang some of 'Un Bel Di Vedremo' (He said that if he had been a woman, his calling would have been to be an opera singer and sing that aria...)
Then, this is the most incredible part, we went to visit, 'Le Tre Fontane' (The Three Fountains)which is right next to the Basilica of St. Paul and where St. Paul was executed. I can not explain what it was like to be there. Maybe it is the fact that I love St. Paul's writings. BUT without even really knowing what it was at first, you could just feel it in the air. I have never been to such a holy place. I can't even explain it.
We went inside the church which is truly ancient in all senses of the words to pray and to hear the monks chant the compieta. Hearing chant on disc is NOTHING like hearing it done by incredibly holy people, in an incredibly holy place, who are also beautiful musicians.
Four of us went to a Chinese restaurant on the outskirts of Rome, where we sat and joked and laughed at Sabrina (one of the girls I met) remarks, because everything you said, she was somehow related to it...'I studied at such and such a school.....AHHH MY BANK IS RIGHT NEXT DOOR!.....I like this restaurant...IT'S OWNED BY MY FRIEND!!' We had such a good time.
Miriam and I stopped on the way back to the house at a church where there is perpetual adoration. Perfect way to finish the day.
We realized once we got into the church that it was already past curfew, and so we practically said 'Hi!' and 'Goodbye!' to Jesus at the same time.
We got to the house and were reprimanded by one of the sisters who sternly reminded us that on Fridays the curfew is still 10:30 and that it only changes to 11:30 on Saturday.
She forgave us...a little bit...when we explained we were just doing lots of Catholic things, which was the Truth!
So I went back to my room and really pondered all that had happened that day. That I got to Rome a week before, without anyone, only a friend of a friend. And that little by little I have begun to notice all that has been put around me. That I am surrounded by incredible things. That I have met some of the most incredible people, and it just seemed like we have known each other for ever and were just waiting to meet . And that I, together with these people, have been able to experience some of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced in my life. These are no coincidences. This is the calm after the storm, my friends, and I now know that it is in Rome where I am going to learn much more than I ever thought possible.
I love you, and as always, you are constantly in my prayers.
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