Ca$h Money
Here we are beginning the 2nd week of full classes. I’m beginning to find routine and rhythm, both of life at Bernardi, and studies at the Angelicum. We’ve had a recent cold spell, and this morning’s walk to class was quite chilly. Almost as though we’re back in St. Paul! It’s getting close to dinner time, as I write this. It’s interesting to observe how all of us have adjusted to the later dinner time of Italy. Restaurants here don’t typically open til 8pm, and our community dinners start between 7 and 8. Back home, I’m ready for dinner at 5, and if I haven’t eaten by 6:30, I’m absolutely famished. Yet here I am, quite content to wait for stew and potatoes at 7:30 tonight. Which reminds me, some very excellent students this semester have come up with a Tuesday night dinner event, known as Ca$h Money. Ca$h Money is the loose abbreviation for Casual Community Night, in which interested parties throw in a few bucks for a very chill meal, put on by students, cooked by students. Last week some 20 plus of us enjoyed some excellent pasta and chicken, and afterward several of us concluded the evening with a viewing of Gladiator. The irony is that Ca$h Money saves us all money, and we have a great meal, and wonderful fellowship. Who doesn’t want cash money, anyway?
I have a brief story to share, before I head down for stew and potatoes. Last Saturday afternoon we were over at the Vatican to pray the rosary for Africa with the Holy Father. It was beautiful to pray with Benedict XVI with and for Africa. Afterwards, led by Fr. Carola, we prayed vespers in the piazza. As we prayed, I looked up to St. Peter’s, towering over us all, and was struck both by the universality of the Church as well as her unity, her vastness as well as her nearness. The community that is being begun here at Bernardi, among the 30 students, 14 of whom are seminarians, is special. Fr. Carola has spoken about the uniqueness of our situation here, that we are able to live under the same roof as Jesus (we have a chapel downstairs), and how this Christocentricity (my word) is in fact the foundation and glue of our community. We are not 30 study abroad students who happen to be in the same house and same class, we are 30 students called to live, study, pray and recreate together, being formed by and helping form each other in this semester in Rome. This all kind of washed over me again as we prayed vespers. Community has its challenges, but I think I can say that the challenge of community life here at Bernardi is one that we are all glad to take up. I’ll end on that note. I can hear and smell the signs that dinner is very close. Better get down there. Salve.
