Homily: Feast, St. Luke, Evangelist

I didn't actually preach this homily today, since the celebrant decided to preach, which is certainly fine with me. But since I had prepared a homily for St. Luke's feast day, I thought I might as well post it here.

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Readings: 2 Tim 4:10-17b; Psalm 145; Luke 10:1-9  

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Today we celebrate the feast of St. Luke, evangelist and companion of Paul – author of the Gospel that bears his name and also the author of Acts of the Apostles. Of all those early Christians, those we read about in the Gospels and in Acts, Luke is the one I’d most enjoy meeting and spending some time with.

He was a physician – “beloved physician” Paul calls him – and therefore like Paul an educated man – something that’s evident by the quality of his writing. Most scholars believe he was a Greek and a Gentile, but whatever his background, it’s apparent Luke was in the first wave of Gentile converts to the Faith. 

His Gospel was aimed at the Gentiles, those unfamiliar with Jewish Law and custom. In other words, he wrote for folks like you and me, so his approach is quite different from the other Synoptic gospels. For one thing, he rarely quotes the Old Testament, and never refers to Jesus with the Hebrew title of Rabbi, but always with the Greek title of Master. Unlike Matthew, Luke doesn’t trace Jesus’ genealogy from Abraham (the founder of the Jewish race) but from Adam (the ‘founder’ of the human race). 

Luke gives women a more prominent place in his Gospel. The nativity and infancy story, much more extensive in Luke’s Gospel, is told from Mary's point of view. And it’s through Luke that we know about Elizabeth, Anna, the widow of Naim, and the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet.

Luke also gives us some of the most beautiful parables, for example, the Prodigal Son; and only Luke relates the parable about the non-Jew, the Good Samaritan. Without Luke we wouldn’t have the road to Emmaus or those three great canticles -- Mary’s Magnificat, Zechariah’s Benedictus, and Simeon’s Nunc Dimittis – canticles we pray every day in the Liturgy of the Hours. But what I like most about Luke’s Gospel is the emphasis he places on prayer and praise, and the mercy and goodness of God. He describes Jesus praying at all key moments of his life.

What sort of man was Luke? Well, in today’s first reading we get a glimpse of the real Luke. Writing to Timothy, Paul describes how he’s been abandoned by co-workers and friends except for two key companions.

Onesiphores, had traveled far and found Paul, seemingly without help from the Christians in Rome. And Luke who had remained with Paul, endured the imprisonment with him and cared for him. It would seem Luke’s friendship was important to Paul. Cut off from his own community, perhaps unappreciated by the Roman Christians, Paul faced certain execution, and was unable to move about and preach the Good News. We sense his loneliness. 

Luke, trying to complete his texts, found himself attending to Paul who was probably held in some sort of house confinement or possibly even imprisoned. We can only imagine what this friendship might have cost Luke personally. He probably wondered whether he’d also be caught up in Rome’s campaign to destroy the Christian message. But his loving care remained authentic, and he stayed beside his friend.

True friendship is a uniquely human experience and is often most clearly shown by the small acts of care and attention one person shows for his or her friend. It’s also a simple thing, something in which even a child can participate. And yet it has a divine element as well. Listen, again, to these words from today’s psalm: 

“Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your Kingdom” [Ps 145:12].

Yes, the compassion and love that are the signs of friendship are also signs of the Kingdom of God, signs of God’s grace. Knowledge of the Kingdom is made possible by experiencing the quality of love that a friend bestows.

The Gospel, too, invites this insight. Friendship brings a Spirit of Peace with it; and where the Spirit of Peace is found, one discovers true hospitality. It is, then, in the heart of true friendship that the lost, the lonely, the abandoned, the imprisoned, the hurting, and the broken find encouragement and are made whole and healthy and strong again.

Saint Luke is the patron of physicians, not just because he was one himself, but because he was a healer of the both the heart and the soul. He was a true friend to Paul, who no doubt was in great need of consolation. 

But St. Luke is also recognized as a friend of the poor and the outcast, because he recorded how Jesus took pains to care for the least, the most rejected, the impoverished. At the Last Supper, Jesus set the example for all of us saying, “I call you friends,” because a friend will lay down his life for the other.

Luke, recognizing the divine character of this most human of relationships, followed the Lord’s example. Perhaps, then, we should honor St. Luke as the patron saint of friendship.

Homily: Saturday, 7th Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 28:16-20,30-31; Ps 11; Jn 21:20-25

My! Today's readings sure give us a lot on which to reflect, to pray, and to preach; so, I decided just to turn it over to the Holy Spirit and ask for His help.

You see, today’s readings complete the Easter season by presenting us with the final verses of both the Acts of the Apostles and John's Gospel. In a sense they sum up all that’s gone before.

Luke began and ended his Gospel in Jerusalem, and it's in that city, too, where he began his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts we follow Paul on his journeys through the Greek-speaking world, as he establishes local churches and calls people to Christ while moving inexorably toward his destination, toward Rome – in one sense, the new Jerusalem.

In today's reading we encounter Paul in the final days of his ministry. Imprisoned in Rome, he awaits execution at the hands of Nero, the emperor who will also take the life of Peter. And it's there, in Rome, Luke tells us, that Paul "with complete assurance and without hindrance proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ" [Acts 28:31]. Yes, Paul remains the true disciple as he completes his earthly journey of faith.

Our journey of discipleship is much the same – one of discovery, and praise, and wonder, and stumbling, and prophecy fulfilled – a journey filled with a lifetime of experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Like Paul, we, too, sometimes encounter obstacles or outright barriers, or simply head off in the wrong direction, only to be called back by the Holy Spirit. Just like Paul, we need to rest along the way and regain our strength, for discipleship is no easy road. Jesus knows this, for He experienced it too. He knows our weaknesses, all those little pieces of us that crave attention, all that call us away from Him. And so, He comes to us again and again, giving us a taste of that which awaits us.

How did Paul put it to the Jews who visited him in Rome, and to us? We share in the hope of Israel, a hope fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection [See Acts 28:20]. Keep the faith, Paul says, don’t let all the stuff of our lives distract us from the eternal.

Peter, too, learned and preached this. But as John’s Gospel comes to a close, we find Peter just beginning his formation as a disciple. Filled with questions, Peter still awaits the fulness of the Holy Spirit. In his heart Peter knows he’s been given a very special task – “Feed my lambs…feed my sheep” [Jn 21:15,17] – and no doubt he fears all it will bring.

Suspecting Jesus has given him the hardest road to travel, he points to young John, the fair-haired boy, the one whom Jesus loved, and asks, “What about him?” Peter is so devilishly human, isn’t he? He’s so much like you and me, so worried about himself, always comparing himself to others, unaware that God doesn’t compare, that God sees each of us exactly as we are.

Jesus tells Peter this, in effect saying: “Look, Peter, don’t worry about John, or my plans for him. It’s really none of your business. Just do the work I’ve given you.” And to ensure Peter understands, he adds, “You follow me!” [Jn 21:22]

How often are we just like Peter, so caught up in what others are doing that we neglect the work God has given us.

What is God calling you to do – not next week or next month – but what’s His will for you today, right now? Life is a gift, brothers and sisters, and it can end at any moment.  If we take each of those moments that God gives us, and simply follow Him, always doing His will in all those seemingly little things, one moment to the next, He will lead us to the big things.

Even though we’re struggling and broken and torn and sinful, God continues to call us to the work He has for us. He calls us in the moment, in the little things of our lives, in the things He knows we can handle.

This is what Divine Mercy is really all about: it’s about God’s love bringing us back to Him, repeatedly, one tiny piece at a time.

And discipleship? It’s nothing complicated, just a total offering of self, an offering of all those pieces, an offering that God willingly accepts. Through His love, His mercy, and the working of the Holy Spirit, He makes us whole again so we can do our part to complete Christ’s mission on earth.

Yes, indeed, we tend to complicate things, but Jesus keeps it simple: Just follow me!

St. Jerome - History Repeating?

St. Jerome was born in Dalmatia around the year 340. Twenty years later he traveled to Rome where he was baptized. In Rome and in Trier, Germany he studied under some of the Church’s most eminent scholars. But Jerome was as much mystic as he was scholar. He went to the Holy Land, spent over five years in the desert engaged in prayer, penance, and study, finally settling in Bethlehem. There he lived and worked in a cave believed to be the birthplace of Jesus. He died in Bethlehem in the year 420, and his body is buried in Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major.

Jerome, along with St. Augustine, became one of the great scholars of his time. Augustine even declared , “What Jerome is ignorant of, no mortal has ever known.” Jerome was fluent in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and also Chaldaic, the common language spoken throughout much of the ancient Middle East. These skills provided him with the linguistic foundation that enabled him to achieve what most believe to be his greatest accomplishment, the translation of the entire Bible into Latin. This “Vulgate” translation was for centuries the only version of Sacred Scripture used by the Church.  

St. Jerome's Cave in Bethlehem

St. Jerome also lived during some very trying times as he witnessed the beginnings of the fall of the Roman Empire. Indeed, the Visigoths under Alaric actually sacked the city of Rome in the early days of the fifth century. Greatly disturbed by what the barbarians were doing to his world, Jerome made the following observations in the year 406, describing the devastation experienced throughout the Empire:

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"Nations innumerable and most savage have invaded all Gaul. The Whole region between the Alps and the Pyrenees, the ocean and the Rhine, has been devastated by the Quadi, the Vandals, the Sarmati, the Alani, the Gepidae, the hostile Heruli, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Alemanni, and the Pahnonians.

Oh wretched Empire! Mayence [Mainz, Germany], formerly so noble a city, has been taken and ruined, and in the church many thousands of men have been massacred. Worms [Germany] has been destroyed after a long siege. Rheims, that powerful city, Amiens, Arras, Speyer [Germany], Strasburg, - all have seen their citizens led away captive into Germany. Aquitaine and the provinces of Lyons and Narbonne, all save a few towns, have been depopulated; and these the sword threatens without, while hunger ravages within.

I cannot speak without tears of Toulouse, which the merits of the holy Bishop Exuperius have prevailed so far to save from destruction. Spain, even, is in daily terror lest it perish, remembering the invasion of the Cimbri; and whatsoever the other provinces have suffered once, they continue to suffer in their fear.

I will keep silence concerning the rest, lest I seem to despair of the mercy of God. For a long time, from the Black Sea to the Julian Alps, those things which are ours have not been ours; and for thirty years, since the Danube boundary was broken, war has been waged in the very midst of the Roman Empire. Our tears are dried by old age. Except a few old men, all were born in captivity and siege, and do not desire the liberty they never knew.

Who could believe this? How could the whole tale be worthily told? How Rome has fought within her own bosom not for glory, but for preservation - nay, how she has not even fought, but with gold and all her precious things has ransomed her life...

Who could believe that Rome, built upon the conquest of the whole world, would fall to the ground? That the mother herself would become the tomb of her peoples? That all the regions of the East, of Africa and Egypt, once ruled by the queenly city, would be filled with troops of slaves and handmaidens? That to-day holy Bethlehem should shelter men and women of noble birth, who once abounded in wealth and are now beggars?

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St. Jerome’s words remind me of what a modern classical scholar, Dr. Victor Davis Hanson, recently said about our own nation and the many threats, both exterior and interior. it faces -- challenges that mirror those faced by fifth-century Rome.

“Every nation that has survived has had borders that were defensible and clear, and the idea that they have their own space to inculcate their language or traditions or customs, then enhance their constitution. Without that, it’s just short of a migratory, 5th century A.D. Rome where people come across the Danube River and destroy the nation-state…Identity politics is another natural human pathology where we identify by our superficial appearance, and when we start to do that we regress to something like the former Yugoslavia or Rwanda. And that trajectory will be our future unless we stop it and realize that we’re a very rare multiracial democracy that’s given up — each of us — our primary identities as race or [ethnicity] and have absorbed, instead, the idea of Americanism…Tribalism — we could use that word — is now endemic, and everybody is trying to find a tribal affiliation. It’s a search to find a cache, because if you are oppressed or a victim — victimized — then you feel that you have certain rights to compensation, or reparatory action from the government.”

Victor Davis Hanson

By the way, Dr. Hanson’s many books are all worth reading, and offer us remarkable insights into the similarities and differences between ancient and modern times. I’ve been reading him for years and have learned much from his words. Here’s a link to a brief article he wrote in 2013 in which he addresses the likely decline of America, a decline driven largely by governmental policies that attempt to redistribute wealth:  The Decline of America

One comment from the article is especially telling, and seems prophetically to point ahead eight years to our current situation:

“Given our unsustainable national debt — nearly $17 trillion and climbing — America is said to be in decline, although we face no devastating plague, nuclear holocaust, or shortage of oil or food.”

Okay, we haven’t suffered a nuclear attack — at least, not yet — but huge debt, plagues, and shortages certainly abound.

Pray for our nation and our world: “Come, Lord Jesus!” [Rev 22:20]

German Bishops: Paganism and Schism

Did you hear the latest out of Germany? A Synod of German bishops and lay leaders of the Catholic Church, perhaps predictably, voted overwhelmingly (168 to 28) to approve the blessing by Catholic clergy of what the synod calls “same-sex partnerships.” This vote was in response to a Vatican decree that explicitly prohibited such blessings. Of the 196 who voted at the synod, I don’t know how many were bishops. I believe there are 27 German dioceses, but there are certainly a greater number of bishops. But even so, this vote is a definite step toward schism. I find it especially troubling that the synod apparently believes, unlike Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, that truth is determined by majority vote. I certainly cannot confirm my suspicions, but I wonder how many of the voters are active homosexuals. 

To read a more detailed discussion of the synod’s vote, see the coverage by CATHOLICVOTE.ORG. There you will also learn that the synod went even further on related issues:

Friday’s statement included not only the approval of blessings for homosexual couples, but also advocacy for “more tolerance for contraception and masturbation,” Rocca reported. The statement amounts to “an appeal to the pope, acknowledging that many of its proposals ‘essentially fall within the teaching competence of the Bishop of Rome and can therefore not be undertaken by the Church in Germany.’”

The vote, of course, is openly heretical, since it contradicts 2,000 years of Church teaching. In a very real sense it returns us to the pagan world faced by the apostles as they fulfilled Jesus’ command to preach the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and beyond. In those days homosexuality and the sexual abuse of women and slaves was for many a way of life, especially among the upper classes. But St. Paul didn’t hesitate to challenge the zeitgeist by preaching the Gospel teaching that marriage between a man and a woman is a sacramental and sacred bond and that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful. The difference today is that members of the Church in Germany are siding and sinning with the pagans while denying the truth of the Gospel. 

Where this will lead, I cannot say. But one hopes the Holy Father will be firm in repudiating the conclusions of the German synod. We shall see. I find myself thinking again of the words that a German theologian, Joseph Ratzinger, wrote in 1970, long before he became Pope Benedict XVI:

"From the crisis of today, the Church of tomorrow will emerge. She will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes, so will she lose many of her social privileges…she will be seen more as a voluntary society, entered only by free decision…Undoubtedly she will discover new forms of ministry and will ordain to the priesthood approved Christians who pursue some profession…Alongside this, the full-time ministerial priesthood will be indispensable as formerly. But…the Church will find her essence afresh and with full conviction in that which was always at her center: faith in the triune God, in Jesus Chris, the Son of God made man, in the presence of the Spirit until the end of the world…

"The Church will be a more spiritual Church, not presuming upon a political mandate, flirting as little with the Left as with the Right. It will be hard going for the Church, for the process of crystallization and clarification will cost her much valuable energy. It will make her poor and cause her to be the Church of the meek. The process will be all the more arduous, for sectarian narrow-mindedness and well as pompous self-will will have to be shed…But when the trial of this sifting is past, a great power will flow from a more spiritualized and simplified Church. Men in a totally planned world will find themselves unspeakably lonely. If they have completely lost sight of God, they will feel the whole horror of their poverty. Then they will discover the little flock of believers as something wholly new. They will discover it as a hope that is meant for them, an answer for which they have always been searching in secret."

Pope  Benedict’s view of the future Church is probably close to what we can expect in the years to come. Prepare your children and your grandchildren because they will have to live through it.

A Book By a Great American

I am proud to say that in all my years as a Massachusetts resident I never voted for former Senator John Kerry. And I certainly didn't vote for him when he ran for president, a race that, thankfully, he lost. Why did he fail? I've always believed one key reason was the public exposure of his less than honorable service during and after the Vietnam conflict. And this exposure was largely due to John O'Neill who formed the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth to counter the steady stream of untruths told by Kerry after his return from Vietnam. The future senator and Secretary of State told many a whopper about his supposed heroics, but far worse he lied about the honorable service of the truly heroic men who served in Vietnam and fought the Viet Cong in the Mekong Delta. Our nation owes a debt of gratitude to John O'Neill for making the truth known.

John Kerry with Jane Fonda

John O'Neill and I are Naval Academy classmates -- Class of 1967 -- which for me is a true honor. My own service in Vietnam doesn't compare to that of John and his fellow warriors in the Brown Water Navy. As a Navy helicopter pilot I flew some search and rescue missions, mostly off the coast of Vietnam, but John and his crews were truly in the thick of things. Yes, indeed, we owe them a lot. It's just so sad that politicians of both parties failed in their responsibility to those whom they sent into harm's way by losing a most honorable and winnable conflict.

Brown Water Navy

But that's all behind us now...well, mostly. And John, too, has turned to other things. In fact, he has written a book, and a wonderful book it is!   

I've long been fascinated by the story of the excavations that uncovered the tomb of St. Peter beneath the Vatican Basilica that bears his name. Over 30 years ago I read John Walsh's book, The Bones of St. Peter. But that earlier book only whetted my appetite to know more.

Remains of St. Peter's Tomb

And then 10 years ago, Diane and I, on one of our trips to Rome, managed to get tickets for the tour of the tombs beneath St. Peter's Basilica. Called the Scavi Tour, it's limited to about a dozen people and includes the tomb of St. Peter and the necropolis uncovered during the excavations. It was a fascinating experience and the highlight of our visit. I even posted a brief description of the tour on this blog: Click here. (Should you not be able to visit Rome and take the tour, you can still experience the virtual tour online. Click here.) And yet, even after that up-close-and-personal visit, I still wanted to know more about the history of the excavations. 

John O'Neill's book, The Fisherman's Tomb: The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Search, has answered all my questions. It's tells the captivating and true story of the search for St. Peter's tomb, a search necessarily conducted in secrecy since it began in the midst of World War II when Hitler's Wehrmacht occupied Rome. It's an exciting story with a remarkable cast of characters: Pope Pius XII, one of my heroes; Margherita Guarducci, a remarkable archaeologist and epigrapher, a woman you will never forget; and a Texas oilman who secretly funded the entire project. John O'Neill has given us a real page-turner. I sat down, opened the book, and began to read. I couldn't put it down until I finished hours later. Get the book. You'll love it!

I actually have to buy another because a friend grabbed my copy the other day and has yet to return it.

Statues in the Lateran, Iconoclasts, and Islam

Constantine at the Lateran

The first time Dear Diane and I traveled to Rome, during the Holy Year of 2000, the first church we entered happened to be what is commonly called the "Basilica of St. John Lateran" or simply "The Lateran." It's full, official name is quite a mouthful: the "Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and the Evangelist in the Lateran." I suspect the basilica's office receptionist uses one of the abbreviated versions when she answers the phone. The Lateran, though, probably deserves an especially long name; after all, it's the first church built for public worship in Rome, and perhaps in all of Christendom; hence, it is the mother of all churches. The original structure was built by the Emperor Constantine (306-337) in the early 4th century on land donated to Pope Miltiades (311-314). The archbasilica was officially dedicated by Pope Sylvester I in 324.

Lateran Facade

The Lateran, and not St. Peter's Basilica, is the pope's cathedral church, something many Catholics don't realize. As the cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, it is also the home of the pope's cathedra, or cathedral seat. The Lateran, therefore, takes precedence over the other three major papal basilicas of Rome: St. Peter's, St. Mary Major, and St. Paul Outside the Walls. 

Of course, the current church is very different from the church built by Constantine. Over the centuries fires and earthquakes, barbarians and wars, decay and neglect, renewal and reconstruction, and dramatic shifts in artistic expression all brought about major changes and gave us the church we see today. Anyway, I digress...

Statue of St. Peter in the Lateran

On that first visit back in 2000, I was almost knocked off my feet by the statues that line both sides of the Lateran's nave, statues of the twelve Apostles, each standing in its own niche and each larger than life. Indeed, these marvelous Baroque statues seemed almost alive, and as I moved toward the high altar from one Apostle to the next I realized how much I liked -- no, how much I needed -- a church filled with statues and other works of art. It suddenly dawned on me why I had never felt at home in those minimalist churches built back in the 1970s, buildings that tried to imitate so many bare-bones Protestant churches. To me they more closely resemble barns than churches. 

Minimalist Catholic (Cistercian) Chapel

The Baroque churches of Rome are in no way minimalist. They were constructed or renovated in a style that broke away from the classical, elegant styles of the Renaissance. In a sense they broke all the architectural rules and presented the world with an in-your-face richness designed to display the deep and varied theology of the Catholic Church. Patriarchs and prophets, archangels and cherubim, the Virgin and the Apostles, martyrs and saints, popes and bishops, friars and monks  -- all come alive and all point to Jesus Christ, leading the faithful more deeply into the church and to the altar on which the Eucharistic sacrifice is offered. It's enough to take your breath away. And I think that's exactly what the Jesuits hoped to achieve when they supported the spread of Baroque architecture in the Church. One need only visit the 16th-century Gesu, the mother church of the Society of Jesus where the Church Triumphant is on obvious display. When I first entered this church, I could do nothing but stand there agape in a vain attempt to take it all in. I simply did not know where to start, and so I didn't. I just sat down and let it fill me.

The Gesu (Jesuit Mother Church) in Rome

I give thanks to those many early popes who strongly resisted the iconoclasm of the Byzantine Empire, a movement influenced in part by the Muslims in the Middle East. In those dark days virtually all the worldly power was in the East, but the popes remained in Rome in the chair of Peter. Some, like Gregory VII and Innocent III, were powerful and influential, protecting the eternal Church from kingdoms doomed to disappear. Many others were weak, but even they resisted the attempts to strip the Church of its beauty, to make religious art something other than religious. 

Even today, some Protestant Christians still consider any religious images to be nothing more than idolatry. (A few years ago, in nearby Wildwood, Florida, a young lady working in a grocery store called me an "idol worshiper" because Catholic churches contain statues. Not particularly good public relations, but I gave her a pass.) And certain elements in Islam -- e.g., the Islamic State, the Taliban, and the religious leadership in Saudi Arabia -- have spent much effort destroying ancient historic structures, shrines, and other religious sites.

St. John Damascene, one of the last of the Early Church Fathers, lived his entire life under Muslim rule and wrote extensively against the iconoclasts. He saw iconoclasm as something indeed evil:

“Does anyone who has divine knowledge and spiritual understanding not recognize that [iconoclasm] is a ruse of the devil? For he does not want his defeat and shame to be spread abroad, nor the glory of God and his saints to be recorded.”

Yes, we can all thank the popes and saints like St. John Damascene for holding the line against the iconoclasts and allowing art to thrive in the Church. Without it, we would be much poorer and certainly much duller.

Fr. Barron on Garry Wills

Garry Willa

Garry Wills, one of those professional non-Catholic Catholics who likes nothing about the Church and so wants to change every aspect of it, has written another book: Why Priests? A Failed Tradition. This time he takes on the Catholic priesthood and while doing so hammers away at Sacred Scripture, 2,000 years of Tradition, and even the divinity of Christ. Unless at some point he undergoes a conversion -- and nothing is impossible with God -- Wills will no doubt eventually leave the Church. I suspect he's already left it, but just doesn't know it.

I was handed a copy of the book a few days ago and it was so bad, so riddled with error, I couldn't put it down. I had intended to offer my thoughts on the book here in this blog, but then I came across a video review by one of my favorite priests, Fr. Robert Barron. His comments are far more penetrating than anything I could offer. If you take 15 minutes and watch the video, you can save yourself the cost of the book.

As a brief postscript, I just noticed that this is my 1,000th post since beginning this blog back in 2008. I'm not sure if that's at all meaningful. I suspect not.

And while I'm focused on Fr. Barron, here's his first video report from Rome. Interesting stuff...

Ancient Underground Rome

Over the years the city of Rome has been making an increasing number of its unique archaeological sites accessible to visitors. The latest site to be opened includes the underground tunnels beneath the ruins of the Caracalla baths. These tunnels, built in the third century A.D., are remarkably large, about 20 feet high, and extend for well over a mile under the city. (See the photo below.) They were used largely by slaves who moved about beneath the baths maintaining the ovens that heated the water for the baths. You can read more here.

Rome is a city with an almost inexhaustible number of fascinating places to visit. We've made four visits during the past decade and have barely scratched the surface. Now we have another interesting site to take in under the surface. Below is a brief video describing the tunnels...

Caesar's Fatal Steps

One of the more interesting, if not particularly important, Roman archaeological mysteries has been the identification of the exact spot where Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March in 44 B.C. Anyone who's been to Rome and taken in some of the ancient archaeological sites has likely stood on Via Arenula and looked across Torre Argentina and seen the remains of several temples. Behind them is the Theater of Pompey and its famous curia, used for political meetings. It was also chosen as the site of one particularly fatal political meeting that resulted in Caesar's murder by his rival senators. Today the area is perhaps equally famous for its many cats who inhabit the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary where they are protected from felinophobics who might want to do to them what Brutus did to Caesar.

My photo of Torre Argentina (2005) Click and look for cats.

Like many ancient Roman sites, over the centuries Torre Argentina with it temples and theater have been plundered of most of their stones and columns, so for archaeologists there hasn't been very much to work with. As a result, there has never been any solid archaeological evidence pointing to the exact spot where the assassination took place...at least, until now.

Because they're always digging in Rome these busy archaeologists keep uncovering interesting stuff. It seems a team recently unearthed what they believe to be a memorial structure at the base of the curia. This structure -- ten feet wide and over six feet tall -- was apparently built by Augustus to mark the site of Caesar's death. Many ancient texts point to this location and several mention that after the assassination a chapel was built there as a memorial.

Recent photo of the location of Caesar's Assassination

So now, when you visit Rome, you can satisfy your curiosity, along with any morbid inclinations you might have, and gaze on the actual spot where Julius Caesar was stabbed by Brutus and his pals.

If you want to read more, click here.

Rome, Catholicism and the Papacy

Taylor Marshall, a former Episcopal priest and now a Catholic, has written several wonderful books, chief among them The Crucified Rabbi: Judaism and the Origins of Catholic Christianity. He has just written another, soon to be published, which focuses on the the question of why Rome and not Jerusalem is the center of the Catholic Church.

This morning I came across a video of a recent interview with Dr. Marshall in which he addresses this very subject. Although it's almost an hour long, it's well worth listening to. I have included it below...

Dr. Marshall's blog, Canterbury Tales, is also worth a frequent check.

Photographic Fun

As some readers of this blog know, I'm an amateur (very amateur) photographer. It is a hobby I truly enjoy, and for a couple of reasons. First of all, photography permits me to capture and relive unique places, things, and moments in time. I simply enjoy preserving at least a glimpse of those things in our world that I find especially interesting and surprisingly beautiful. Photography allows me to stop time and enjoy these things again and again.

But photography also offers a kind of unexpected revelation, a surprising disclosure of detail or symmetry or color or light or contrast or beauty that was not fully grasped when the photo was taken. In other words, I especially enjoy being surprised by a photograph, when it seems to capture a moment and scene so differently or so much more completely than the reality I experienced when I took the photo.

Dad and his Leica in Germany

As with many of my traits and likes and dislikes, I seem to have inherited this interest in photography from my father. Like me, he always had a camera close by and the results of his six decades of picture taking are stacked on shelves here in my study -- thousands upon thousands of 35mm slides that I have been sorting through and scanning a few at a time for several years now. Of course, all of his photos were taken during the days of film, before the advent of digital photography. My goal, then, is to digitize his photographs and pass them on to his descendants. I'm especially interested in preserving the many photos he took at the end of World War II and during the subsequent occupation of Germany.

Dad always had the latest and greatest when it came to the things he enjoyed. He seemed to believe that one should never approach true interests hesitantly, but should jump in enthusiastically. I'm sure he would have loved digital photography and the tremendous freedom it offers the photographer. And, yes, I know there are still purists out there who use only film, but as digital technology continues to improve, I expect most will eventually make the transition.

For those of you who do no more than take occasional snapshots with your cell phone or point-and-shoot digital camera, I will give you a simple example of the capabilities of digital photography.

This afternoon, while going through some photos I took on a trip to Italy in 2010, I came across a picture taken of a portion of Siena's Piazza del Campo, one of the great medieval squares of Europe. The Campo is a large, oddly shaped square in the center of Siena in which the Palio, the city's famous annual horse races, are held. As Diane and I strolled along the edge of the piazza trying to choose a restaurant for lunch, I took a few photographs. I especially like one of these photos which depicts some of the locals and tourists enjoying the beautiful sunny afternoon following a rainy morning. Using Photoshop software, I gave the photo an "artsy" brush-stroke look, and printed it on my wide-format printer as an 11x14 color print. I will eventually print it in an even larger format on "canvas paper" to enhance the effect of a painting rather than a photograph. The doctored photo is below. Click on the image to enlarge it and you will better see what can be done quite simply with digital photography.

Siena's Piazza del Campo on a sunny afternoon

I also played with another photo taken on an earlier trip to Italy. This one is of a church in the Borgo district of Rome, adjacent to the Vatican. The Church, Santa Maria in Traspontina, has a beautiful old bell tower which I photographed. I thought the photo would be more dramatic in black and white so I used software to convert it and then printed it as a large 12x18 inch print. (See below)

Santa Maria in Traspontina (Rome)

A Forgotten Archangel?

In my role as a deacon, I assisted at a vigil Mass yesterday evening, and am left with a quiet Sunday at home with dear Diane. Since I was not scheduled to preach, I have no homily to share with you, although I suppose you can, if you care to, read my homily from this same 4th Sunday of Advent, Year B, from December 2008. Here's the link: 4th Sunday of Advent.

Anyway, I thought I might touch on a subject that attracted my interest this past week. I came across the below video news clip from Rome Reports about a being whom I had encountered in my reading only rarely: the archangel Uriel. The video highlights a book on Uriel written by Fr. Marcello Stanzione. I believe the book is available only in Italian.

According to Fr. Stanzione, Jewish tradition, as well as the Coptic and some other Christian churches, include Uriel, along with Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, among the archangels. Uriel appears in apocryphal Gospels and, although not officially included among the archangels by the Catholic Church, he apparently is venerated by many Christians and Jews. There is, however, a strong Catholic connection to Uriel. In the 16th century a Sicilian priest, Antonio Lo Duca, experienced a vision of martyrs and angels, including Uriel, that encouraged him to recommend the construction of a church in Rome. The resulting church, sponsored by Pope Pius IV and designed by Michelangelo, is the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs. I visited the church once a few years ago. Here's a photo of the church's exterior and another a painting in the church of the traditional seven archangels as mentioned in the Book of Tobit (Tobit 12:15).

Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and Martyrs

If you would like to know more, check out the church's website. Here's the page describing the basilica's unusual history: The Basilica of Saint Mary of The Angels and Martyrs

Photos of Romans

I enjoy taking candid photos of people I encounter while traveling. And for some reason that I haven't fully worked out, I prefer these photos in black and white rather than color. Perhaps with color photos the eye is drawn more to the color than to the actual subject of the photograph. But there might well be other reasons. As I say, I haven't quite worked it out.

Earlier today I uploaded a dozen or so of these photos to my flickr.com page. They were taken in Rome and and few other cities in Italy. Should you feel the urge, you can view them in a slideshow by clicking here. I've included a few of my favorites below. You can view a larger version of each if you click on the photo.

Tired pilgrim in St. Peter's Square after a papal audience

Roman lovers oblivious to all else in the Borgo district

Four nuns hurrying across an empty Piazza Montecitorio in the early morning

Roman teens chatting and waiting for a bus in central Rome

Pilgrims (Diane on right) resting along Via della Conciliazione near the Vatican

Young boy playing at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome

Budget Tourism in Rome: The Omnia Card and more

It's become increasingly more expensive to travel these days, especially if you're heading to Europe. The dollar has been hovering around 0.7 € making already high prices for hotels, food, and rental cars even higher. Airfares have increased too, driven upward by soaring fuel costs and all those additional fees for everything from checked luggage to pillows and soft drinks.

And then there's the added psychological barriers to travel erected by our favorite bureaucracy, TSA. For an organization that has never caught a single terrorist, they have certainly made what was once a rather pleasant experience unimaginably unpleasant. But, of course, they are bureaucrats, and bureaucrats are instinctively lacking in vision and common sense.

I remember reading some time ago about a young lieutenant in the Royal Marines during World War One. When the bureaucrats in London sent his troops the wrong caliber ammunition and the wrong clothing (summer uniforms for the winter months) he complained loudly. The response? "You must be in error. We don't make mistakes." The lieutenant's comment, which I will never forgot, was priceless: "Alas, no insecticide has ever been discovered for the parasites of bureaucracy." It would seem that some things haven't changed much in 100 years.

OK...I got that out of my system...

International travel has certainly changed since those halcyon days back in the 1950s when my parents would fly to Europe accompanied by their travel bible, Europe on 5 Dollars a Day, published in 1957 by Arthur Frommer. And, believe me, as my father proved on many such trips, the title was no joke. As you can see above, a reprinted version of the book is available today, presumably marketed either to complete masochists or to time-travelers who have stumbled on a convenient wormhole to the 1950s. Today, even if you stay at a reasonable, rather basic hotel and eat out only infrequently, you would still probably spend $150- $200 a day in Rome, and even that would be real challenge.

Diane and I were hoping to return to Rome once again this year, but after emptying our pockets we decided we had insufficient funds for the trip. Maybe next year, unless we go instead to the UK with some old and dear friends -- something else that seems to be under discussion.

What got me started on this was an article about something called an "Omnia Card", apparently developed to make visiting the key sites in Rome less expensive and slightly more convenient. Briefly, the card is a cooperative effort by the Vatican and the city of Rome that allows the tourist and pilgrim to pay one fee for a card that provides entry to a wide range of the most popular Vatican and Roman attractions. Good for three days the card also gives the holder free public transportation, no-wait access, and will include audio-guides at many of the sites. Although the €85 ($120) cost for an adult might seem a bit steep, it provides a substantial savings in both money and time. It sounds like a great idea, and I can see no real downside as long as you plan your days well to make maximum use of the card. For details, click here: Rome's Omnia Card.

If the faltering (collapsing?) economy is giving you second thoughts about making a pilgrimage to Rome, you might consider a little cost-saving advice from someone who has made several trips in recent years:

Once you decide how long you plan to stay, book your flight first. Unless you plan to stay in a 4-star hotel, flying will probably be your biggest expense. Take your time and search online for deals. If, like us, you're retired, you have the advantage of being able to travel on off-peak times and can save hundreds of dollars. Use an alert service like that provided by kayak.com to inform you of good deals to your chosen destination. Most travel sites offer such alerts, so go ahead and select several. Once you find a flight that fits your schedule and your budget, go ahead and book it; otherwise you'll end up conducting a never-ending search that will probably end up costing you more. Just be aware that low-cost flights usually (but not always) involve one or more stops or change of planes, adding hours to the overall trip.

Decide what's important to you in a hotel. For me, it's location, a comfortable bed, a breakfast included in the room rate, and free Wi-Fi; and so in my search for a hotel I look for these amenities. I suggest beginning your search by checking multiple third-party sites such as hotels.com, booking.com, or getaroom.com.

In Rome, a hotel's location often means the difference between a pleasant and a tiring visit. If you are too far from the places you intend to visit (e.g., the Vatican or the ancient city's center), you will end up spending far too much time traveling on subways or buses. Rome is a great city for walking, full of wonderful surprises you would otherwise miss, so I recommend looking for a hotel within walking distance of most of the places you hope to see. Once you've narrowed your hotel selection to a few candidates, use Google Earth (especially its street view feature) to get a sense of distance and the sort of neighborhood in which each hotel is located.

Read the hotel reviews left on the booking websites by other travelers. They can prevent you from making a mistake. Just don't be overly influenced by the one bad review in the midst of fifty good ones. Some people simply cannot be pleased. I also recommend visiting the websites of the hotels you are considering, since a hotel's own website usually offers far more information than you'll find on a third-party booking site.

A day or two after booking your hotel -- even if you book it through a third-party site -- send the hotel an email or call them. Let them know when you'll arrive, mention any special needs you might have, and ask about the room they plan to assign you. On our last trip I was able to convince the hotel to move us to a much larger, nicer room with no increase in rate. Politeness, friendliness and a few phrases in Italian often work wonders.

Avoid Roman taxis. They're expensive. Use the city's buses or subways, or even better, walk. Walking is also great exercise. On our last trip we walked everywhere for 12 days. We ate too much and drank too much wonderful Italian wine; and yet neither of us gained a pound. We also slept soundly every night.

If your hotel offers a complimentary breakfast, take advantage of it. You can then have a late lunch as your main meal at a much lower cost than an evening meal. Before returning to your hotel, stop by a local grocery store, pick up some bread, cheese, prosciutto, wine, and anything else that looks tasty and enjoy a nice, light, romantic meal in your room. You might also try a self-catered picnic lunch in one of Rome's many parks. The Romans do it, why not you? It's also nice to splurge once or twice during your visit and enjoy a special dinner at one of Rome's many excellent restaurants.

Visit the websites of all the places you want to visit. You can schedule your visit and arrange tickets, etc. well in advance of your trip. Of course if you purchase the Omnia Card mentioned above, you just might be able to do much of this from its website. I suggest making your first full day a light day since you might need some extra time to adjust to the time-change and to reset your sleeping habits after a long flight.

Orvieto Duomo

Depending on the length of your stay, consider arranging your own one-day excursions to some nearby sites. For example, you can take a train to Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, and spend the day seeing how the ancients lived. It's a lot closer than Pompei and just as interesting. To arrange transportation to Ostia, check out the website of European travel expert Rick Steves.

Another short (one-hour) train ride will take you to Orvieto, a beautiful medieval walled city perched atop an Umbrian hill. You can visit Orvieto's breathtaking 14th-century cathedral built to celebrate a Eucharistic miracle and then roam through the nearby archaeological museum filled with artifacts from the city's ancient Etruscan past. Arrive early and just enjoy strolling through the streets and alleyways of this remarkable little city famous for its painted ceramic pottery. And be sure to buy a few bottles of Orvieto's excellent white wine to enjoy after your return to Rome. Here's a link to the Eurorail website where you can check schedules and fares from Rome to Oriveto: Eurorail.

It's still possible to visit Rome and not have to take out a second mortgage. And if you decide to make the trip, Buona fortuna!