Greetings from Rome
Greetings from Rome!
I thought the best way to introduce myself would be to post a letter I wrote recently to some 1st grade students at St. Mary's in Tracy:
May 2, 2007
To the 1st grade class of St. Mary’s in Tracy,
Greetings from Rome and Happy Easter! I received the beautiful Christmas cards that you made—thank you so much for them! Please forgive me for my late response! I hope that school has not let out for the summer yet and that you get a chance to receive this letter, so that you know that I am very thankful that you thought of me and made me the cards!
The weather has been very beautiful in Rome, like it has been in Minnesota the past couple weeks. It is sunny and clear, and the city is filling up with many tourists and pilgrims who come to see Rome for its 2000-year-old ruins, its wonderful pasta and gelato (Italian ice cream!), or to see the Pope and visit some of the spectacular churches that have been built here in this city since Sts. Peter and Paul were both martyred. I am currently studying at the “Pontifical North American College,” which is the United State’s seminary here in Rome. If you don’t know, a seminary is place where men go to study to become priests.
There are nearly 200 other men here who are studying to be parish priests back in the United States. The seminarians here are a very diverse group! Some have lived in the city for their whole lives. Others grew up on farms like I did. (Just a mile down the road from where your teacher, Mrs. Drake, grew up!!) Some of the guys are excellent athletes, while others are concert pianists or talented artists. Some are loud and love to be the center of attention. Others are very soft-spoken and are much better at listening than they are at speaking. Some are very young, having just graduated from college. Others are older and were lawyers or businessmen or teachers before they decided that God was calling them to be priests. But what unites all of the seminarians here is our love for Jesus and our desire to do whatever it is that He wants us to do!
From the time that I was very young I wanted to be a priest. My mom tells me that I used to line up all of my stuffed animals, read to them from the Gospel, and then “feed” them crackers and grape juice. But because their mouths were sewn shut I had to chew and swallow for them!!
I think that I wanted to be a priest when I was young because I loved to go to Mass and to watch the priest at the altar. I wanted to wear those vestments—I thought the priest looked like a king!—and to pray those prayers and to hold the bread and the cup of wine in my hands as they change into the real Body and Blood of Christ. Now, my reason is different. Surely I am very excited to say Mass and to hear confessions in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to do the Anointing of the Sick. This is how Jesus comes to be with us today! But the very simple reason that I want to be a priest is because I love Jesus very much and I love people very much, and I want to be Jesus for other people—to help them to believe in His love for them through me.
Maybe God is calling some of you young men to be priests, and maybe He is calling some of you young women to be sisters. Whatever God is calling you to do when you grow up, I hope that you try to do whatever God wants you to, because this is how you will be happy in life!
Please be extra good for your teacher Mrs. Drake today and for the rest of the school year. She is a friend of mine—actually I’ve known her since she was your age!, and I bet she is a very good teacher.
God bless you and have a great summer! Please pray for me, and I will pray for you too.
In Christ, Matt Wiering
To the 1st grade class of St. Mary’s in Tracy,
Greetings from Rome and Happy Easter! I received the beautiful Christmas cards that you made—thank you so much for them! Please forgive me for my late response! I hope that school has not let out for the summer yet and that you get a chance to receive this letter, so that you know that I am very thankful that you thought of me and made me the cards!
The weather has been very beautiful in Rome, like it has been in Minnesota the past couple weeks. It is sunny and clear, and the city is filling up with many tourists and pilgrims who come to see Rome for its 2000-year-old ruins, its wonderful pasta and gelato (Italian ice cream!), or to see the Pope and visit some of the spectacular churches that have been built here in this city since Sts. Peter and Paul were both martyred. I am currently studying at the “Pontifical North American College,” which is the United State’s seminary here in Rome. If you don’t know, a seminary is place where men go to study to become priests.
There are nearly 200 other men here who are studying to be parish priests back in the United States. The seminarians here are a very diverse group! Some have lived in the city for their whole lives. Others grew up on farms like I did. (Just a mile down the road from where your teacher, Mrs. Drake, grew up!!) Some of the guys are excellent athletes, while others are concert pianists or talented artists. Some are loud and love to be the center of attention. Others are very soft-spoken and are much better at listening than they are at speaking. Some are very young, having just graduated from college. Others are older and were lawyers or businessmen or teachers before they decided that God was calling them to be priests. But what unites all of the seminarians here is our love for Jesus and our desire to do whatever it is that He wants us to do!
From the time that I was very young I wanted to be a priest. My mom tells me that I used to line up all of my stuffed animals, read to them from the Gospel, and then “feed” them crackers and grape juice. But because their mouths were sewn shut I had to chew and swallow for them!!
I think that I wanted to be a priest when I was young because I loved to go to Mass and to watch the priest at the altar. I wanted to wear those vestments—I thought the priest looked like a king!—and to pray those prayers and to hold the bread and the cup of wine in my hands as they change into the real Body and Blood of Christ. Now, my reason is different. Surely I am very excited to say Mass and to hear confessions in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and to do the Anointing of the Sick. This is how Jesus comes to be with us today! But the very simple reason that I want to be a priest is because I love Jesus very much and I love people very much, and I want to be Jesus for other people—to help them to believe in His love for them through me.
Maybe God is calling some of you young men to be priests, and maybe He is calling some of you young women to be sisters. Whatever God is calling you to do when you grow up, I hope that you try to do whatever God wants you to, because this is how you will be happy in life!
Please be extra good for your teacher Mrs. Drake today and for the rest of the school year. She is a friend of mine—actually I’ve known her since she was your age!, and I bet she is a very good teacher.
God bless you and have a great summer! Please pray for me, and I will pray for you too.
In Christ, Matt Wiering
So this gives you a little of everything: my current life as a seminarian in Rome and on God's call for my life. And no, I am not advocating responding to the letters of little kids five months after you get them.
More to come in the future...
Photo Courtesy of http://www.rome.info/link/.
