Vocations meeting - Castelgondolfo pt.3

Some more photos from our time in Rome.

I got fortunate with the light coming through the stained glass for this shot in the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

Mass in St. John Lateran.

Myself and Bro. Samson at a crowded Trevi Fountain.

At the heart of it all... St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican.

The stunning cupola of St. Peter's.

An awe-inspiring church and monument to our history, but churches such as St. Peter's and Notre Dame Cathedral in Rome have become for many people just a box to tick on their way around the most popular tourist sites in the world. I would dearly love to go into St. Peter's when it is empty, just to pray, or at least attend a Mass during which tourists are not allowed to circulate. The latter does happen to a certain degree in Notre Dame. Maybe too in St. Peter's. But during a too rapid one-day tour around Rome, my visit to St. Peter's felt strangely hollow (it doesn't help that I really do not like crowds!).

However, our trips to the church of St. Ignatius Loyola (see pt.2 of these blog entries about our Vocations Meetings) and the Basilica of St. Paul-Outside-The-Walls (see my next and final post on the meetings) did allow me to experience a sense of spiritual connection to God of the type I was hoping my visit to Rome would give me. I would dearly love to revisit these churches to attend celebrations there at some point in the future.