I started the day by going for a run along the river. I stopped in a church along the way, the church of Divine Mercy. I had gone to mass there a few weeks ago, but stood outside, and I wanted to actually go in the church. It's right by St. Peter's, so I saw that along my run, too. Time #1 of seeing St. Peter's that day.
For the rest of the morning and early afternoon, I cleaned up my desk and did a little last minute packing. I took a break to go sit by the Pantheon for a while and soak in some sun and some Rome, and also Pino made us a ton of pasta for lunch.
At 3, I went to mass at S. Maria Sopra Minerva. It was the feast of St. Catherine of Siena, and she's buried in that church. Most of her, anyway...her head is in Siena. But anyway, that mass was organized by the Angelicum, and so in English! That meant that my last Italian mass had been the day before, but even so, this was a really good last mass. St. Catherine is a doctor of the Church and one of the patron saints of Italy. She had a great love for the Church in general, and wasn't shy about telling the Pope when to straighten out, like that he needed to go back and live in Rome again. It seemed fitting to celebrate her feast on my last day in Italy. After mass, I got to pray right next to her tomb, and I asked for her prayers that I could keep loving the Church just as much as she did, even when I was back in America...because of course it's the same Church.
After mass, I got to spend some time with my friend Christopher. I went with him to buy an Italian breviary from a nearby store, and then we walked to Old Bridge, one of our favorite gelato places. It's up by the Vatican...so time #2 of seeing St. Peter's. And actually, on my way back, I saw something I'd never seen in Rome before--St. Peter's Square was full of cars! It looked like a parking lot. There were several tour buses, and people walking around in suits and ties, too. Never quite figured that one out...
Anyway, after that I went to dinner with a bunch of the archies at one of our favorite restaurants. We all got our favorite kinds of pasta (lots of "favorites" happened that day). After dinner, we ended up walking back to Old Bridge (I didn't get anything this time around), and sat in St. Peter's for awhile. Time #3 for the day. I think that was a record:-)
By that time, it was about 11 pm. We spent awhile just walking around the city, and stopped in a couple of our favorite Irish pubs. I went back to the hotel and took a short nap, and got up in time to walk to the Campidoglio to watch the sun rise over the Forum. It was beautiful! And the through struck me that that same scene has been happening for thousands of years, literally. And it will continue to, each and every morning, even when I'm not there to see it. I guess it's comforting to know that Rome isn't going anywhere. Someday, if I get the chance to go back, it'll be there. But I didn't want to spend too much time already wishing I were coming back, and instead tried to just be thankful for all the time I've already had.
Arrivederci, Roma!
After sunrise, we had one last cappuccino, got on the bus, and went to the airport...and about 20 hours of traveling later, I was home in St. Louis!
Best part of coming home: seeing my family right away, of course. Second best part: the sign my mom made for me that said "Benvenuto a Homa!"
I'm not done yet processing and reflecting on the year...perhaps I'll post more of my musings throughout the summer. For now, I'm actually getting ready to do a bit more traveling--I'm flying out to Colorado for a week to attend the Augustine Institute College Student Summit! Life goes on:-)
