A present from God himself

Friday, July 2, 2010

* Ana Rodriguez Soto - The Archdiocese of Miami

BLOGGER PROFILE

It was an incredible journey that ended incredibly: with 250 of Archbishop Thomas Wenski's closest friends sitting in the Sistine Chapel, first to pray, then to listen as one of the world's experts revealed its glories from the perspective of art and history.

It was Michelangelo who taught me to love God in this room, said art historian Elizabeth Lev, professor of art history at Duquesne University's Italian campus.

Her passionate talk after evening prayer July 1, the last day of the pilgrimage, made Michelangelo's masterwork come alive in a totally moving way. And it moved her as well, she said, as she had visited the Sistine Chapel thousands of times over the years but had never had the opportunity to pray inside it.

This just doesn't happen, she said. Honestly, I m quite moved.

Our Roman tour guide had told us as much earlier in the day: I have never heard of people going to the Sistine Chapel to pray. It's the private chapel of the Holy Father. It's really, really a gift, she said, something very special.

Indeed, there was Archbishop Wenski wearing a stole that had once belonged to Pope John Paul II. There we were singing Amazing Grace and Salve Regina underneath the masterful frescoes of Michelangelo.

Normally, people squish through the Sistine Chapel, a wall-to-wall mass of bodies shuffling forward while trying to look up, as guards shush them to be quiet and warn them no photos.

We had the Sistine Chapel all to ourselves. We had plenty of room to sit on the floor, take pictures and stare up or even lie down to get a better view as Lev described each panel and how Michelangelo, thinking like a sculptor, had rendered the invisible visible in his frescoes of the creation of the world and the Last Judgment.

If you re fortunate enough in a lifetime to experience it, it s a present from God himself, said Barbara Scerbo, a parishioner from St. Pius X Parish in Fort Lauderdale. There are no words to really describe the feeling. I was reduced to tears in the Sistine Chapel. I thought, Why me, Lord? Why have I been blessed to be here?

I guess he knows the answer, she added. All I can say is thank you.

Ellie Lawrence of Nativity Parish in Longwood* put it this way as she sat down on the bus that would take us back to the hotel for the final time of this pilgrimage: I feel like I've died and gone to heaven.

There is so much more we did and saw, so many Masses in so many churches, a homily each day from Archbishop Wenski, and his thanks as well, repeated like a prayer at the end of every day way too much to cover in these brief blogs. I have merely hit the highlights, tried to tell the story that struck me the most each day. I will have more coverage and pictures in the next print edition of the Florida Catholic. Look for it in your parishes toward the end of July.

Daniel So and I also will be posting all the best photos on www.dotphoto.com, so that you (and those who went on this pilgrimage) can look through them and purchase the ones you like best. We will make an announcement online and in print when they are posted and let you know how to access them.

In the meantime, I can only say, Ciao, Roma. Thank you for letting me refresh my faith amid your churches and stroll through history on your cobblestone streets. Eternally yours, Ana.

*Her parish is in Longwood, not Hollywood, Fla. (corrected July 2)