Hard to believe that we are already immersed in the drama of Holy Week! Lent always seems to go by so quickly, especially here in Rome, where the daily station church pilgrimages keep us moving from one place to another! It was a blessing to revisit those ancient and baroque churches once again, and to see the beautiful dedication of so many English-speaking pilgrims and students who also chose to take part in that wonderful tradition of celebrating Mass in a different Roman church every week!
I could never get tired of these early-morning walks!
San Lorenzo in Panisperna, the place where St. Lawrence was martyred by the Romans.
Additionally, there have been some big moments related to ordination plans! Just a couple of weeks ago, my classmates and I were given the green light to write our official petitions for Holy Orders, addressed to our individual bishops! It was quite a surreal experience being able to write about my desire for ordination, and my confirmation that I am, indeed, choosing this path freely, and out of a love for God and His Church. It really struck me that this commitment which I want to make will encompass the rest of my life! God is very good to me, and it is so amazing to think that He has called me to serve Him in this way.
Over the course of the next several weeks, my classmates and I will be having our formal faculty evaluations, a 45-minute long meeting in which we sit down with all 8 priests on the seminary's external formation faculty for a conversation about our own readiness of Sacred Orders, and our freedom in making this choice. It's after that meeting that the faculty then sends on their official recommendation to the seminarian's bishop! So, it's a pretty big deal. But we're all looking forward to these "evals", because it's never burdensome to speak about that deep longing which we have had on our hearts for so long, namely, the longing for the priesthood! Please keep all of us in your prayers as we go forward in this process.
Finally, I would like to share with you something that several of us at the NAC were recently spending a great deal of time on: our annual spring play! This year, we performed a stage rendition of G.K. Chesterton's novel The Man Who Was Thursday. I had read the book a couple years back and, despite the very Chesterton-esque obscurity of some of the main themes, had enjoyed it a great deal. So I was pleasantly surprised when we found out that we'd be performing it this year! The play certainly retained some of its Chesterton-esque obscurity, which left us all scratching our heads a little bit when it was all said and done. But it was also very entertaining, especially in that we were all playing some pretty ridiculous characters! For my part, I played a fairly angsty anarchist poet named Julian Gregory, who, while having some comical lines and mannerisms, is essentially the principal villain of the play. I had to get pretty angry at times! (Not to mention the fact that my hair had to be dyed bright, bright red...) Digging deep into Gregory's irate, accusatory emotions was certainly not an easy task, but I was so humbled by the way the character was received by the audience! I think people appreciated seeing me in that sort of a role, and they seemed to be able to understand the character a lot too. The whole experience truly opened me up to that great wonder of theater which Pope St. John Paul II loved so much, both before and after he became a priest. Through the magic of theater, it really is possible to raise people's minds and hearts to God!
I'll share some photos from the play:
(These are all credit to PNAC photography, and can be accessed via the PNAC photostream here:https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnac/albums/72157678694945154)
I hope and pray that you and your loved ones have a blessed Holy Week! Please keep me in your prayers, and be assured of mine as well. God love you!
-Colin Jones
