Back from Lent and Easter!

This week marks a return to the "normal daily schedule" at the North American College. Lent is over, so there the station churches have finished up for the year. Holy week was beautiful. The post-Easter travels to Fatima have lefted me refreshed, both bodily and spiritually - I am now ready for the final push to the end of the year - to finish my STB degree at the Angelicum, and return home in June.

The refectory is all set for the 2010 Rector's Dinner!

This week is also marked by the annual Rector's Dinner. This is the yearly fundraising dinner for the North American College. It also presents us, seminarians, to offer our gratitude to the generous benefactors of the college, who provide the material possibilities for us to be formed in the heart of Rome - in the heart of the Church.

Fresco painting of the Conversion of St. Paul in the Cappella Paolina in the Apostolic Palace. Painted by Michelangelo in 1545

Connected with this dinner is also the Papal Foundation's annual trip to Rome. This foundation provides the Holy Father with much of the funding for his works of social charity. We cannot forget that the Holy Father and the Vatican is the largest charitable organization in the world. These people make that possible. Part of their trip includes their daily Mass. I was very honored to be asked to serve for their Mass today in the Pauline Chapel (Cappella Paolina) in the Palace of the Pope.

Thislittle chapel is decored with two massive fresco paintings by Michelangelo, and has recently been restored. What a treat! It is just a beautiful chapel, and after Mass the servers and choir, all seminarians from the North American College were invited to join the Papal Foundation for their tour of the Sistine Chapel and part of the Pope's Palace.

On the left: Archbishop DiNoia, the celebrant of today's Mass

In additional treat of being invited to serve for this Mass was that Archbishop DiNoia was the celebrant and gave the Foundation a brief talk after the Mass. Archbishop DiNoia gave the college a great lecture on preaching to young adults last year, and he has been to the college a number of times - including celebrating the Easter Vigil for us.

The Archbishop's talk was a short word about liturgy and the new translation of the prayers for Mass. He remarked that every religious tradition has "a sacred language" for their acts of worship. The Hindi uses Sanskrit. The Muslims use Arabic. The Jews use Hebrew. And up until 1970, Catholics only used Latin as their "sacred language." So allowing Mass to be celebrated in English was (and still is) quite a "new thing." So we are still learning how we should be doing it, and we have learned much more since 1970 about theology, and translating, so that is why we need a new translation of the prayers of the Mass.