Strength for the Journey: What Fortitude, Church-a-thon, and Holy Wednesday have in common (Lenten Virtues Part 2)

Holy Wednesday - April 4, 2012

You're probably asking what the Church-a-thon has to do with Holy Week let alone the virtue of fortitude. One reflection from the pilgrimage sums it all up? I've always wondered why Christ got up from a fall while carrying the cross.

Why not just die lying there? Getting up doesn't seem to make things any better. He just has to prolong his agony. Yet, he was a man on a mission - a mission of love. He wouldn't rest until he had given all he had.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. John 13:1

Fortitude is a virtue that can be considered a kind of firmness of spirit that allows us to pursue and obtain a difficult goal even when it's dangerous. But it's also a gift of the Holy Spirit that gives us strength in practicing virtue, rids us of mediocrity, makes us courageous before enemies and obstacles, enables us to suffer with patience and joy, and gives us heroism in the great things and the small things.

We need fortitude whether it be a pilgrimage to thirty Churches, our daily cross, the pilgrimage of our lives, or an incredibly difficult sacrifice like Christ made on the cross.

3 simple steps to forming fortitude

1) Fulfill your duties with perfection no matter how difficult.
2) Rather than asking God to take away your cross, ask for the strength to carry it.
3) Voluntarily and faithfully practice self-denial to become more like Christ.


No back to the Church-a-thon and how I formed just a little more fortitude while praying for all of you!

5:10: Waking up... late.
Beep, beep, beep! The obnoxious noise finally ended as I hit the snooze button. Wait, we're already late. We're supposed to leave in 10 minutes. There is no way that is going to happen!



5:40: Church number 1, Our Lady of Guadalupe
Br. Drew and I meet in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe to pray our morning prayers and start our daily meditation as we walk to Mass.

6:20: Wondering if we'll make it to Mass.
We're just approaching St. Peter's, and Mass is a long way off at St. Mary Major's. Our meditative pace has to be adjusted.

7:05: Church number 2, Saint Mary Major
We walk into the Basilica. "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." We might not be on our schedule, but God has everything timed. We are just in time for Mass.

7:50: Breakfast 
We sit down to a quick breakfast of coffee and croissants as we map out the final details of our pilgrimage! I have to admit that we kind of miss the American tradition of bacon, eggs, sausages, pancakes... But wait, this is a pilgrimage!


8:35: Church number 3, Holy Cross in Jerusalem
A great way to start the day, we head to the Church that houses possibly the biggest collection of relics from Christ's passion with pieces of the wood of the cross, the sign from the cross, nails, and more. St. Helen, Constantine's mother brought these back form Jerusalem.

8:50: Church number 4, Sacred Heart
We happen on this small Church while on our way to the next one. Before we leave, we meet religious sisters from Brasil, Chile, and Connecticut, USA.

9:35: Church number 5, Scala Santa
We are hoping to do the way of the cross on our knees while going up the steps of the Praetorium also brought back by St. Helen.


9:45: Church number 6, St. John Lateran
The pope's Cathedral, and the mother Church of the World.

10:00: Church number 7, Holy Mary in Domnica at the Navicella

10:10: Church number 8, St. Stephen in the Round

10:20: Church number 9, Basilica of St. John and Paul
Another Basilica built on top of the house of two Roman soldiers martyred under the Emperor Julian.

10:35: Church number 10, Missionaries of Charity
Thanks be to God that Br. Drew is along. He recognizes the convent of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity. It happens to be the one that Mother Theresa always stayed at when she visited Rome. We have the chance to pray at her bedside and in the chapel for all our intentions.

Though we do have a problem of conscience - does the chapel count as a Church?

11:10: Church number 11, Four Crowned Martyrs

11:35: Church number 12, St. Clement
A beautiful Church in three layers. A first century house and pagan temple are underneath a fourth century basilica. All of this underlies the beautiful structure that has been standing since the twelfth century. We don't have time to go down into the excavations, but we do have time for a prayer inspired by the beautiful mosaics.

11:50: Church number 13, St. Peter in Chains
One of Br. Drew's favorites, this Church contains chains from the imprisonment of Sts. Peter and Paul that miraculously fused together.

 

12:05: Church number 14, Holy Mary on the Hill
Not an exceptionally famous church, but a beautiful sanctuary dedicated to our Lady, we decide to pray our midday examen of conscience here.

12:25: Church number 15, St. Vitalis
Okay, I admit it. I never heard of this Church until we visit it on the Church-a-thon. We aren't disappointed, however, with the fourth century basilica dedicated to St. Vitalis, his wife, and two children - all three saints as well!

12:45: Lunch and a break
Most churches in Rome are closed between about 12 and 4, so we take some time to have lunch and get ready for the afternoon. At this point, my feet are beginning to feel the length of the journey, and the novelty has worn off.

Pilgrimage is not about feeling good or humanly enjoying it all. It's walking the path that Christ has marked out for us with fidelity, trust, joy, and in good company.

14:40: Church number 16, St. Mary of the Angels and Martyrs
We are doubly lucky to find this beautiful Church and open on the typical lunch break.

15:10: Church number 17, St. Charles at the Four Fountains

15:35: Church number 18, St. Andrew on the Quirinal Hill
My favorite church in Rome after St. Peter's. It's the relatively small Jesuit novitiate church. St. Stanislaus Kostka lived their as a Jesuit novice until he died at the young age of 17. We were able to visit the room where he died.

16:05: Church number 19, Immaculate Conception Basilica and Capuchin Crypt
Sometimes better known as the bone church. It is a large Basilica run by the Capuchin monks, and the crypt contains the skeletons of hundreds of monks.

Why no pictures? The Church was under construction, and the crypt is not exactly a Hollywood photo set. It's actually somewhat gruesome though it does offer a deep reflection on our own lives and mortality if we reflect and pray about it.

16:15: Church number 20, Holy Trinity on the Hill
The beautiful Church overlooking the Spanish steps that I think should be the real attraction. I still can't quite figure out what is so great about that staircase.

16:30: Church number 21, Sts. Ambrose and Charles
I have never been here either, but we have the chance to pray before the relics of St. Charles Borromeo!

16:45: Church number 22, St. Lawrence in Lucina
One of the many famous Churches dedicated to St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr. When they crucified him by roasting him alive, he is alleged to have said, "turn me over ... I'm done on this side". That's fortitude!

16:50: Church number 23, St. Mary Magdalene
A beautiful reflection on Christ's passion and cross. St. Mary Magdalene was one of the only one's to stay with him the whole time.

16:55: Church number 24, Pantheon
An amazing monument, but above all an amazing Church dedicated to Mary and the martyrs.

17:05: Church number 25, St. Eustace
A famous general under Hadrian, St. Eustace converted with his family to Christianity after a vision of the cross between the antlers of a stag on a hunting expedition. He was executed when he refused to offer sacrifice to the Roman gods.

17:15: Church number 26, Saint Mary Above Minerva
Another one of my favorites that houses the body of St. Catherine of Siena.

17:30: Church number 27, St. Ignatius
Another favorite Church in Rome, we have a chance to pray before monuments to other young Jesuit saints like St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. Robert Bellarmine. We also admire the beautiful dome that is not a dome but a painting.

17:45: Church number 28, St. Louis of the French
Time is running short, but we have to visit this Church. We go straight to the chapel furthest up on the left. Caravaggio has painted three masterpieces to depict the vocation of St. Matthew. We arrive just in time to hear a French man explain them to his two children. Too bad that I don't speak French.

18:00: Church number 29, St. Augustine
Both Br. Drew and I say a special prayer at the statue of our Lady of Childbirth. I say a prayer for my brother and his wife, who are just recently married and also in anticipation for my sister and her husband, who are about to get married. Nieces and nephews are always fun - just hope my brother and sister are ready for the power of prayer.

18:10: Church number 30, Saint Agnes in Agony
We enter into this Church located right on Piazza Navona, and are just in time for an organ concert. We hear some beautiful music, but it is a little bit harder to say a prayer.

18:20: Church number 31, Holy Infant Jesus
Another small Church that I have not heard of. We happen to come in while a Gospel choir is practicing. We can't understand the language, but the spirit is unmistakable.

18:25: Church number 32, Chiesa Nuova
We finally arrive to the last must-visit-Church on Br. Drew's list. It is officially called Our Lady in the Little Valley as I just found out. It was rebuilt by St. Philip Neri. We only have time for a few prayers before we rush off to our final and most important stop.

18:45: Church number 33, St. Peter's Basilica
We finally arrive to the Vatican Basilica fifteen minutes before it closes. We go say hello to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and then to the tomb of Peter, or as close as we can get. It seems like every time I come, another part is blocked off.

Getting the picture this quite an adventure. We ask at least three people to take our picture, trying to find a good one, and in the meantime take the picture of at least five others.

19:50: Back to Church number 1, Our Lady of Guadalupe
We're back where we started, a little weary and ready for bed. What a great opportunity to prepare ourselves for Christ's passion, death, and resurrection by seeing the witness of so many saints, artists, and simple men and women expressed in 32 (or 33) Churches.

We prayed for your intentions and will continue to do so during these last days of Lent and Easter. Please say one for us!