The second installment for 'The Rome Series,' highlighting reflections from my recent trip to Rome, Italy.
As I worshipped in Rome at Santo Spirito in Sassia, the beauty of the Church struck me. There I was, thousands of miles from home, still worshipping with the same words, with the same liturgy, surrounded with Christian brothers and sisters from many countries. Even when I stepped into a daily mass said entirely in Italian on a small street in Bracciano, a town about an hour north of Rome, I could still understand. This is the best illustration of the universality of the Church, and indicates a universal continuity of truth within it.
“A Church which is family is also able to show the closeness and love of a father ... a Church of children who see themselves as brothers and sisters, will never end up considering anyone simply as a burden, a problem, an expense, a concern or a risk. Other persons are essentially a gift, and always remain so, even when they walk different paths. The Church is an open house, far from outward pomp, hospitable in the simplicity of her members. … This Church can indeed light up the darkness felt by so many men and women. She can credibly point them towards the goal and walk at their side, precisely because she herself first experienced what it is to be endlessly reborn in the merciful heart of the Father.”
The meal has this same universality and connectedness. Food brings people together, bonds families and creates community. When we eat and drink of our Lord, as He instructed us, truly all of this meets in grand universality. We commune as the Body of Christ while consuming the Body of Christ. Let us no longer focus on what divides us, but relish and celebrate what connects us.
+Saturari,
Amanda