On our fourth full day in Rome, we visited the Vatican Museums, with a guided tour by Fr. Graham. Although it was somewhat crowded (this is still the Italian holiday season, and there are lots of Italians who have come to Rome to see the sights!) we were able to spend time with Michelangelo's Pieta, and to be immersed in the richness of the Vatican collection.

St. Peter's and the Vatican Museum

Okay, so today we toured the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's. They were so big and overwhelming that my neck hurts from looking up. Nothing a goodnight's rest won't cure!
At the Vatican Museum, we left the hotel around 8:20. There was a line about 1/3 mile long just to get in the front door. It went fairly quickly (thank the Man Upstairs), and we got in after about 30 minutes. Then we booked it to the Sistine Chapel. It wasn't too packed when we arrived so we had time to look around. It said no pictures or talking...so of course there were pictures being taken and talking going on. Ah, we did our best to appreciate what we could get.
For our assignment, we were asked to find five representations of the Crucifixon, the Baptism, or the Last Supper. I picked the Baptism of Christ and found, on my own, a total of three representations (guess I picked the hardest, either that or I was looking through closed eyelids). One was on the wall while going down the stairs. It was very small and done in orange and blue. It was done in a geometric style. John the Baptist is pouring one single stream of water from is palm onto Jesus. It is stunning even though it is small in size. Another representation was in statue form. About a foot tall, it has just John and Jesus, John holding a small plate over Jesus's head. The third one I found was in the Sistine Chapel. It was at the left as soon as I walked in. It fit in with the depictions around it quite nicely.
At the Museum, we saw a painting with a man being crucified head down. At first we didn't know who it was. Later, at St. Peter's we found out from Father Graham that it was St. Peter. He didn't feel worthy enough to be crucified like Jesus. Sometimes, that's how I feel here. Some things I don't do because I don't feel like I am worthy enough. Some people say that is crazy, but now I can say, "Look at what St. Peter said! He didn't think he was worthy either!" It gives me a security blanket.
So, it was an exciting day. Tomorrow we depart for Subiaco, Assisi and Florence. Will write when we are back!
Nina

The Pope Speaks to Rome's University Students

Excerpts from Pope Benedict's visit for Christmas with the students of Rome's universities:

I know that for many of you, university students of Rome, it is now a custom ... to go on a special pilgrimage to Assisi, and that many of you took part in the recent one.

Well, were not St Francis and St Clare both "conquered" by the Eucharistic Mystery? In the Eucharist they experienced the love of God, that same love which, in the Incarnation, impelled the Creator of the world to make himself little, indeed, the smallest one and the servant of all.

Dear young people, as you prepare for Holy Christmas, may you nourish the same sentiments as these great Saints, so beloved by the Italian People. Like them, fix your gaze on the Child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger (cf. Lk 2:7,12,16).

Learn from the Virgin Mary, the first person to contemplate the humanity of the Incarnate Word, the humanity of Divine Wisdom. In the Baby Jesus, with whom she had infinite and silent conversations, she recognized the human Face of God, so that the mysterious Wisdom of the Son was impressed on the Mother's mind and heart.

So it was that Mary became the "Seat of Wisdom", and with this title is venerated in particular by the Roman Academic Community.

Vatican Museums Evangelize with Art

The Vatican Museums have the following inscription placed on the main door: "Ad augendum Urbis splendorem et asserendam religionis veritatem" (To promote the splendor of the city of Rome and affirm the truth of the Christian religion). Closing the year-long celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Vatican Museums - one of the first places we will visit - Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed this view.

Museums -- though keeping in mind the changed social conditions -- can become places of artistic mediation, links of relationship between the past, the present and the future, crossroads of men and women of several continents, in addition to sources of research and forges of cultural and spiritual enrichment.

Remarking on the "enormous number of people who visit them each day" (which is why we are scheduled to arrive very early so as not to stand in line forever), the Pope said that,

through the different works exhibited, [the museums] offer visitors an eloquent testimony of the continuous intertwining that exists between the divine and human in life and in the history of nations.

We do not usually think of art and museums as sources of evangelization -- yet our pilgrimage and opportunity for reflection may achieve exactly that effect.