Easter
/Happy Easter! This year Easter was truly a blessing. We knew we would be in Rome on Easter & that the place to attend church would be St. Peter’s Basilica, but beyond that we have no clue what to do. The plan is to wake up at 4:30 to catch the 5:30 bus and stand inline until Mass. We sleep until 6 (last night we went to bed at 2:30 after traveling to Rome). We hurriedly gather our stuff & get ready. Standing at the bus stop I see a group who look dressed up and ask if they are going to the Vatican. Turns out they are, and can show us the way. Oh, and by the way they also have spare tickets to give us. So they show us the way and provide us with entry. I was about to pay for the tickets, however they are free, placeholders for reservations. We get great seats in the first group of chairs, right side, near the back guardrail because if the Pope goes through the crowd he goes by the guardrail, as our new friends explained (though he didn’t, we were prepared). The entire service is in Latin (I though no one spoke it anymore?) but translations are provided. The service is beautiful, the weather perfect. The Pope leads, speaking most. One Bible reading is in Latin, the other in English. I am not sure why the switch. Each of the prayers is in a different language, most likely to symbolize unity within the Catholic Church. The number of people in the square is a astounding (100,000). With the Mass in Latin and the blessing in Italian, it was difficult to understand much while there. Research on the internet has proved informative, but not surprising. Afterward we walked around Rome taking in the beautiful Easter weather. This has been an exquisite Easter, and if we had been a few minutes early or late to the bus stop, the entire day would have been vastly different. (magis pictura)
