Ciao a tutti! Come state?

Midterms are finally over! I have an 8-page paper hanging over my head, but the worst of it is through! Since midterms, I decided to vacation right here in Florence for a solo spring break. Being one of the only students from my program to stay back, I had a lot of time to just enjoy, soak up all the views, breathe, and really spend time falling even more deeply in love with my beautiful home city. I even got to see Michelangelo’s “David,” write about him for Flo’N The Go, a local travel publication, and I caught a glorious view of the sun setting on the Arno. (Had I not accidently locked my keys in the house… there’s know way I would have seen this!) Check it out!

It’s unbelievable that the semester is already halfway through, but I’ve sure made the most of it and been blessed profoundly throughout this experience. Since I’ve been here, I’ve found my friends, my Florence family, and I’ve found my home!

Home

Where’s that, you ask? The Parish of Santi Apostoli’s English speaking community, of course! So, (“allora,”) what is it about Santi Apostoli that I call home?

Well,  Santi Apostoli is a small little community in the heart (“cuore”) of Florence’s historical center (“centro storico”). It can be found right down the street from the Ponte Vecchio and around the corner in a humble, homey city square called Piazza del Limbo. The tiny, Romanesque church (“chiesa”) is a nice change from the massive (although they are gorgeous) Basilicas that adorn Florence. Santi Apostoli is a very, very small church. I would almost compare it to the size of a chapel rather than a church. Another extra special thing about Santi Apostoli is the community that gathers there! It’s amazing how many young, enthusiastic Catholics gather together.

Shocking first impressions

When I first got to Florence, I was shocked by the emptiness at Sunday Italian Mass in the large Basilicas. Once I started attending the daily Italian Masses in the little side chapel at the Basilica di Santa Croce, I found a small, lovely, little community, and the whole room was filled! Everyone is so gracious and I love communicating with them in our broken English and Italian. Now this felt a bit better, but it wasn’t the only thing that God had in store for me!

Since then, I found out that there is an English Mass at the Duomo on Saturdays at 5 p.m.. So, I started attending this Mass! Every time I go to this Saturday vigil, I meet a friend without fail! The first time, I met a girl named Lauren. She approached me afterwards and just said a simple “Hi!” because she recognized me from Santa Croce. I immediately recognized her too, and I just knew deep inside my heart that we were going to be friends. Lauren was the one who first introduced me to the Santi Apostoli English speaking community. She told me about it the same evening we met, and the Santi Apostoli community has transformed my whole world ever since.

An answered prayer… plus some!

Earlier this semester, I had prayed for a Catholic friend. I had all these dreams of visiting places of religious significance! I mean, we’re in Italy for crying out loud! It only seemed right! But, seeing as I come from a largely secular University and then arrived at another University that is largely secular, I didn’t know anyone interested in these things. Not only did God bless me with one friend, but he gave me an entire community! And then again, not only did God bless me with an entire community, but the very next week, when I attended the English Mass at the Duomo on Saturday evening, I met another friend. Her name is Mary Clare.

Now Mary Clare and I got to talking, and I discovered that she studies in Rome and was visiting Florence for the weekend. Mary Clare also goes to a secular University, and we both found out that we desired to travel to places of religious significance. We are now currently planning a trip to visit Lisieux, France, the home of Saint Therese of Lisieux, one of my favorite saints. While we’re in France, we intend to visit Paris, and see the Eiffel Tower as well! Since then, Mary Clare met a friend from Brazil named Jessica who’ll also be joining us! God is so good!!!

Santi Apostoli transforming my world

This week at Upper Room, Kate Capato introduce us to Theology of the Body. Now what’s this Upper Room all about? Well, Upper Room is a youth group that meets on Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m. right after 6:30 p.m. Mass, Adoration, and a free dinner at Santi Apostoli. It was inspired by

I did not take this photo! Just including it for reference.

Something that really struck me was when she analyzed Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” with us. She pointed out that even when God created Adam, He had Eve in mind too. Eve was never an after thought. Can you see her? She’s underneath God’s left arm. See? Right there! Also, that big red cape behind God, Eve, and the angels? What does the shape look like to you? Exactly! It’s the shape of a brain. And the way that God and Adam are reaching out for one another… God’s arm is straight and steadily reaching out so far for Adam. Meanwhile, Adam’s hand is slouchy and kinda, sorta reaching out, but not quite as intentionally as God’s. Kate reminded us that everything God does is absolutely intentional.

Now, Theology of the Body is really neat because it’s the study of how the body speaks of the divine. Men and women were created intentionally, and we were created exactly the way that we are for a profound purpose.

I did not take this photo! Just posting it for reference!

Kate also showed us Da Vinci’s work of “The Vitruvian Man,” and spoke about how the circle symbolizes the divine, and the square symbolizes the human. She pointed out that the center of the circle is the navel of the man, and the center of the square is the man’s genitals. This points to the fact that human beings are created for communion with one another and communion with God. The navel at the divine center shows that we come from human relationship, and the genitals being at the human center show that we are created to be in union with one another with beautiful and good desires.

Anyway, these artists, they were so so so profound! And, I’m so honored to be living here in Tuscany in the middle of where it was all born.