Shout Out to OLQWYM

a.k.a Our Lady Queen of the World Youth Ministry. They reaffirmed their buoyant coolness by showing up to Youth 2000 two weeks ago--and then followed it up by getting a blog started! They will not allow the bar to lowered as you see they're preparing for World Youth Day, Sydney!

Final-y

Today was my final in Hebrew! I've been taking intensive Greek and Hebrew this semester: a way to jump start Biblical studies. A full militia was recruited to pray for a good outcome--and the prayers came through! A true thanks to everyone who lifted up prayers! Don't forget: Greek is in a week!

Anagni On Anon

By the way, Father David has a great write-up of our January Anagni trip on his blog. Included in his post is an outstanding photo of myself engaged in my superlative phototaking skills . . .

Amongst the 200,000

A friend spotted my photo on a blog post from the other day, chronicling the massive student gathering at Saint Peter's on Sunday. It was tons of fun to be out on the Piazza: a great gathering, tons of people, and splendid weather.

Never Get Bored 'Cuz We Can Go Boarding!

So since it was a new year, we decided to start it off right--by snowboarding in Switzerland . . .

I took the train up to Luzern, where I met up with my nephew-in-law Luke to make our train to Engelberg.











Luzern is Swiss for 'very picturesque'.













Notice the Swiss flag to the left--I kept thinking, wow, there's a lot of First Aid stations in this country!


As our train took us higher and higher into the Alps, we realized we'd come to the right place.















It was dark by the time we arrived, but you could still sense the grandeur of the Medieval cloister we were staying in.


















The Central Courtyard.


Morning confirmed we were in an idyllic setting.










The view from my window.



Priorities being priorities, over the next few days we investigated the surrounding slopes.

You could go up very high.









One of the lower gondolas--you can't quite make out the lodge at the top of the ridge in the background.



Up high you could see far.










Which was epic.
















Needless to say, we were very cheered by the opportunity--












We're going to have to come back here . . .
















The Benedictines were outstanding in their hospitality. We joined them in their daily liturgies (the first was before six in the a.m.!) and meals--which were eaten in silence with a reader (reading in German, as were the prayers). Saturday night they had a symphony (Beethoven's 3rd) in their beautiful baroque chapel, and since we had the inside track, Luke and I were able to enjoy the entire performance from the organ loft. Sunday was Epiphany, so we had an extraordinary dinner with the prior and the other guests of the monastery. We had a printed menu, so Luke and I were trying to decipher the German, and we asked one of the monks what 'kanguru' meant, and he said, 'the animal' . . . and I had always thought they were from Australia, not Austria . . .

Great way to start the year!

Anagni (pronounced: very cool place to be)

As promised!

Anagni Expedition, Part II of II.

After we came up from the amazing crypt one of the church caretakers walked us through the small museum of the cathedral. Amazingly to me this cathedral had had a historic connection to England, particularly right after the death of St. Thomas Becket. So a number of his relics were found here.












Including his miter.



It's tough to make out, but two bishops are represented on the front. The one on the right is Nicholas, but I can't make out the text for the bishop on the left . . .












You can see the crosier he's holding.


In the 1300's England sent a cope to the cathedral of Anagni because of the attachment to Becket--still in beautiful condition, it depicts scenes from the life of Mary:















The Apostle's gathering at the end of Mary's life.




A little more worn from being touched by pilgrims:














Mary's Assumption into Heaven.




And finally, Mary's coronation:















Notice the angel ducking from the clouds to put the crown on her head . . .



It's so rare for fabrics to last for so many centuries, so to find a beautiful vestment from England in this quiet corner of Italy was a real surprise!

Among the many other treasures was this breviary: used to pray morning and evening prayers, it is open here to the first prayers of the day, and shows the creation of Eve opposite the Annunciation--a fascinating contraposition.













Following the cathedral we had an outstanding lunch at a small local eatery. We walked the town, which situated on a hilltop, has some splendid vistas.












A stalwart crew.


Being under an hour from Rome, it was a great weekend getaway!





















A final look at the cathedral.

Y2Kplus!

For more photos of our Youth 2000 retreat in Redding and a great storyboard, go to Pat's blog--he and his wife Liz were team leaders for the incredible event!

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Now and Forever!

Youth 2000 Redding!

Cecilia has some great photos from the Youth 2000 retreat this weekend at her blog--which is also tracking her preparation for mission work in Honduras! It sounds like it was a great retreat--with both the friars and sisters from the CFR's in NYC!

God is Good!

All the Time!

Back at It!

Wow! It is pouring rain here today--the heaviest showers I've seen since arriving here! Good weather for being indoors and studying--which is what the status of the house is as finals are only two weeks away. The semester system here gives you a two week break for Christmas, and then you return to finish the fall semester. We'll see how much I remember from last year!

Since I'm in the intensive language program this semester, I only have two finals: Greek and Hebrew. For the guys here who have eight finals, that can seem pretty meager, but our language teachers have ensured we get our money's worth. I'll be trying to squeeze in every last bit of review in these finals days of classes.

Keep me in your prayers!

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