Friday in Rome

I got up bright and early to have breakfast at the convent with my new friends. Father Patrick and Mary had to leave today, so we decided to take in a few sites before they got off on the train at 2 pm or 1400 as they say here in Europe.

Thankfully they love to see churches too and they are almost like guides. Everywhere I went they could tell me the history of the church, the sites to look for, the famous painting that is in the corner, or the martyr that was buried here and their story. Many of the churches had some relic from ancient times and they would tell me as fact. "This is a sliver of wood from the cross of Jesus". " This is wood from Jesus' crib" "this is a piece of the wood from the cross of the thief who died next to Jesus" " this is a thorn from Jesus' crown" Of course in my logical mind I had to ask "how do they know?" Well no matter if it truly is or not, the reminder and looking at all these things reminded me over and over of what Savior did for us and the cost of what the Martyrs paid. The wealthy roman girl only 30 years old, (because she was Roman they cut off her head instead of it being a long painful death) . The thousands and thousands of Christians buried in the catacombs. The cost of choosing to be a Christian was so great.

Some of the cathedrals we saw are just magnificent and extremely beautiful. A great tourist attraction, But some of them you walk in a feel a presence of God and a longing to kneel and pray. I was thankful my friends were of the same heart and I never felt rushed because they also liked to pray in each church.