Day three in
05 September 2012
Israel Day 3: Duty & Rest
04 September 2012
Israel Day 2: Jerusalem
On day two, we embarked on a fantastic tour set up by MWR (our Morale, Welfare, and Recreation folks) that brought three coach buses full of sailors (between two ships that were in port) to Jerusalem. My same awesome liberty group all embarked one of the buses, and were blessed with the back row! J The drive was over an hour and a half to the
Monette told us all the stories of
The bus first brought us up to the
Next, we proceeded to the
Next, it was time for lunch. We traveled to the Ramat Rachel Hotel, just outside of Jerusalem and overlooking Bethlehem (quite a nice view!) and enjoyed a great middle eastern lunch and lots of water. (have I mentioned it was really hot??) Unfortunately, the view of
We disembarked the bus just outside of the Dung Gate, which is the closest gate of the
Then began our trek in the streets and alleys of the
Our wandering through the streets finally brought us to the holiest site in the city for Christians—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Within this church are the sites of the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a little square outside the main entry to the church. As you walk in, directly in front of you is a beautiful mosaic of our Lord’s last moments, and before you is a large stone said to be the stone where Jesus’ body lay as it was prepared for burial. To the right and up some steep steps is the chapel of the site of the crucifixion,
We exited the
18 August 2012
Israel Day 1: THE Mount Carmel
As if it wasn’t amazing enough to have our first port visit in
That being said, can you guess where I went first? After mooring the ship and getting things squared away, we were given liberty around midday. My same group from Rome and I headed out to see the city, stopped for some great pictures overlooking the Mediterranean from atop Mount Carmel, and headed first to Stella Maris Monastery, home of the Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. It’s a beautiful site, including mosaics, paintings, and marble inlays, depicting the great moments and saints of the Carmelite Order. It was quite funny to see things written in English, Hebrew, Arabic, and Latin, all around the basilica! The altar is built over the site of the cave of the prophet Elijah, with a big statue of Our Lady holding the scapular behind the altar. It was perfect for them to choose Our Lady, Star of the Sea as their patroness—the view of the sea is stunning from the front of the basilica! Prayed for all you little Carmelites out there, (especially you, Maria!) and got myself a new scapular—from the source! J
Next, we took a cable car down the mountain, for more great views of
13 August 2012
Italy Day 4: To the Monastery!
I arose on day 4 just a few hours after getting back to the ship (at 2:13am, remember?!) and though still tired, my spirits were high. Today was the day for our community relations project (aka COMREL); ships often set up a COMREL project during a port visit to foster goodwill with the local community and allow sailors an opportunity to give back (and an alternative to going out and drinking). Our command Chaplain set up a great opportunity to visit the Abbey of San Vincenzo, a Benedictine Monastery in central
We left at 8am with about 20 sailors and had a nice drive through the country and into the hills of the
The Abbey was founded in 703 A.D. by three Beneventan monks, who built the monastery on the ruins of a 5th century Roman oratory dedicated to the Spanish martyr
After the warm introduction and history lesson, we got to work! A few sailors manned the weed-eaters and cleared out a brush area. Another group assisted with hay bailing; another with the herb garden; a few to help sand down and re-stain the siding to a part of the house. The weather was incredible; much cooler up in the mountains compared to the coast! A few of the monastery’s dogs wandered around and served as immediate friends to our sailors. I ended up sitting down with Mother Miriam and having a wonderful talk with her. I shared a bit of my story and she shared hers. She entered the Benedictines at the age of 18 (in the 1950s!), after breaking off an engagement with a fine young man. Religious life had been in her mind and heart, and she finally had to just make a choice. She did, and said she has never looked back, and feels freer than she could have ever dreamed. God is so good to me, to put these events and people in my life! He certainly knows what He is doing. And, it is great to have a new friend in
The day was sadly over too quickly. Our sailors had a great time and loved the opportunity to serve and experience the nuns and the monastery. Mother kept thanking us, assuring us that we were now a part of their history. Beautiful!
If any of you are interested in the Benedictine way of life, this is a place you want to check out! They also have opportunities for guests to spend a week of retreat, accommodating up to a small family in their guest house. They will also host longer stays for young women who are discerning their next step in life, by entering into the Benedictine life of prayer and work as a means to aid in discernment.
After getting back to the ship, I was assigned to the shore patrol for the evening. Having my first chance to explore
Italy Day 3: Running through Rome
Day two in
We enjoyed a simple Italian breakfast at the hotel and headed out to The Vatican. Good morning, St. Peter’s Square! By the time we crossed the square, the line was already formed for the
One of my friends and I scurried along, though, making our way out of the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museum to get to our Scavi tour, which started at 11:30am. We got to access what seemed like an “exclusive” section of
We met back up with the rest of the group and hopped on the Metro to the Coliseum. A few headed inside to take the tour—I was content with taking photos from the outside, as I was determined to make it to Mass at some point during my Rome visit! So a friend and I wandered towards St. John Lateran. Along the way, we unexpectedly stumbled across the Basilica of San Clemente, run by Irish Dominican Friars. I quickly realized that I’d seen the beautiful mosaic above the altar there before—it had been featured in Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism,” in the episode about the Mystical Body of Christ. The mosaic shows an elaborate series of vines and roots expanding out from the base of a crucifix, with different saints pictured at the various ends of the vines. A very cool and random discovery! Anyway, we made it to St. John Lateran, home of the seat of the Bishop of Rome, and made it to the evening daily Mass—in Italiano! Have I mentioned lately that I love being Catholic? I can go anywhere in the world and hear the same Mass readings and experience the same Mass; language is no barrier for the unity of the Mystical Body of Christ!
Hungry to enjoy our last meal in
As we sat there at the restaurant, I kept looking at my watch, and started to get a little nervous about how fast time was going by. We still needed to go back to our hotel near St. Peter’s to get our bags, get to Roma Termini, get on a train back to Naples, and make in on the ship, all by 2am. It was already 8pm and we hadn’t nearly finished our meal. My friends all comforted me, as we sort of recalled seeing the train schedule and believed there to be a train from
Arriving at Roma Termini around 10:50pm, we ran to the ticket machine only to find out that the next train to
10 August 2012
Italy Day 2: Rome Sweet Home
After turning over the duty responsibilities early in the morning, a few of my closest friends on the ship and I headed off to Napoli Centrale train station to start our Roman pilgrimage. We were a bit confused on how to get out tickets and maneuver ourselves at the station, but we finally figured it out and hopped aboard the Frecciarossa Italian fast train, traveling at 300 km/h and getting us to
Arriving at Roma Termini, we stopped for a café (a much-needed jolt of caffeine!) and got on the Metro to St. Peter’s Square to get to our hotel. We began walking south, seeing souvenir stores full of religious articles, getting approached by tour salesman left and right, and as we passed through the colonnades, I took in my first real experience of St. Peter’s Square. My heart skipped a beat—I couldn’t believe I was here. I’d spent my life seeing pictures and video of this place, so it felt familiar—but in no way did that prepare me for the reality of actually being there, standing in the Square on a very hot Roman day, taking in a deep breath of awe as I was finally “home.” I looked around and couldn’t even say a word. And this was only the beginning!
Continuing south, we checked into our hotel, a religious guest house run by the Trinitarian Fathers called Casa per Ferie at
My particularly memorable visits were before the statue of St. Philip Neri (for you, Fr. Baker!), Blessed John XXIII,
Exhausted and seeking a treat, we deemed it time for a water and gelato break, which was well-enjoyed by all. Flavor? Tiramisu, of course. The gang was not sure what to do next, now that we’d met our first priority of St. Peter’s, so I mentioned my next priority of going to St. Cecilia at Trastevere. We went by way of the Tiber, first walking down the Via della Conciliazione to Castel San Angelo (great memorial to St. Catherine of
The trek back to our hotel was a bit daunting, because I got us lost—okay, maybe just “turned around.” What I thought would be a “more direct route” back towards The Vatican proved to be a bit confusing, as we made our way through neighborhoods and up and back down a huge hill. (I don’t even know what it was called!) Though my temperament was causing me to stress about getting us turned around, my friends were totally at peace and enjoying the journey. It’s not a pilgrimage without things like this! And, as I discovered upon getting back to the hotel, it’s not a pilgrimage without a massive amount of blisters--I think it’s time to retire my old Chacos!
Starving and ready for a nice meal and good wine, one of my friends intended on leading us to Piazza Navona for a dinner spot. We didn’t make it there before our hunger took control, and we stopped at a restaurant called Sangallo in an off-the-beaten-path area, certainly somewhere near Piazza Navona. We went with the 8-course meal, chef’s choice, with wine pairings. Three hours and lots of laughs later, we had full bellies and made our way home. Walking back, we stopped by St. Peter’s Square for the nighttime view—once again, stunning. Blame it on the experiences of the day or blame it on the wine (probably both!), but a protestant among our group began asking some of those questions that you can only start to ask yourself after seeing a place like The Vatican for the first time, as we sat there in the early hours of the new day at St. Peter’s Square. Praise God! We made it back to our hotel and after an amazing shower, fell asleep easily after a day well-lived.
Italy Day 1: On Duty
I pulled the ship into
That first day in port I was on duty, preventing me from exploring the little Italian town, so I had to look longingly at the hillside of
06 August 2012
My time in Italy...coming soon!
Though I’m almost still in disbelief that it wasn’t all a dream, I have quite a bit to post about our recent port visit to
And a quote for the day: “I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world and its pleasures.” ~
29 July 2012
Mass in Spain...sort of!
Our first port stop has come and gone! We made a BSF (brief stop for fuel) in
Fr. Jerome Dillon, CDR, USN, was our visiting priest—he is a diocesan priest from
Other great point of
Finally, in light of being in
28 July 2012
Mass in Spain...sort of!
Our first port stop has come and gone! We made a BSF (brief stop for fuel) in
Fr. Jerome Dillon, CDR, USN, was our visiting priest—he is a diocesan priest from
Other great point of
Finally, in light of being in