Day 5!

Another glorious morning, only this time at a different hotel and with three  high school groups from other parts of the United States.  Began with a guided drive around Rome, and ending up right at the Colosseum for a tour. Being in such an old gigantic, building contracted by the hands of men was mind-blowing. For those of you that watch the History Channel, it does no justice to how massive this place really is. One amazing thing that many people are unaware of is that fact that the Colosseum is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Come again? Yes it is! This place was built for gladiators to fight, and they were considered athletes at the time, and many people strove to be one. Then they Romans began doing public executions of prisoners as a show for the audience. As Christianity became prominent, they became the prisoners, and were martyred in front of thousands of blood-thirsty Romans. 

Our Blessed Mother is the Queen of all Martyrs, so it is only appropriate that this once very dark place be dedicated to Our Lady. the Pope himself visits the Colosseum every Good Friday, in honor of the thousands who were murdered for their faith. 

Around noon we trekked to yet another Catholic Church (they are literally on every corner) to celebrate Mass. We arrived at a church called Santa Maria.... (insert long, beautiful Italian word here), planning to have Mass. This church is Father Theilo's favorite Church in the entire world, and we were able to see why. It is the only gothic style Catholic church in all of Rome, and boy was it incredible. Also this is the church that contains the body of Saint Catherine of Siena (Doctor and martyr FYI!!!). For whatever reason, they were not having Mass at the time we expected so we thought we would have to find another Church. 

Well, since God is so faithful and amazing, Father Theilo was given the opportunity to celebrate Mass for us on the MAIN ALTAR right in front of Saint Catherine. Another one of those moments when you ask yourself, or even out loud, "is this real life?" and it totally was. 

After we collected ourselves and our excitement after Mass we split up for some adventures in the city. The hotspots were the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, The Trevi Fountain, and of course gelato.

 Afterwards it was wonderful to meet up again with our brothers and sisters for dinner. We have truly grown together in ways only we and the Lord could understand, and we still have 15 more days to go. It will get harder, more tiring, and more demanding as each day passes, but having brothers and sisters along your side make it all the more feasible. We have got a lot more dying of ourselves to do and lets just say we are ready.
Dun dun dun!