Our Pilgrimage to Rome

3/26/2018

We feel so blessed to have been able to go on a pilgrimage to Rome during Lent with the whole family. This was a trip that was not planned at all. Last year when we made our pilgrimage to Lourdes, we had some problems with our airline tickets. We prayed about it and after much effort we were surprised when the airline gave us credits to travel again, so we picked Rome.

On our first day in Rome, we went to the Vatican. It was a rainy morning, but as soon as we reached St. Peter’s Basilica, the rain stopped and the sky turned blue. It turned out to be a wonderful day, we went to Mass at the Vatican, and prayed at the tomb of St. Peter and St. John Paul II.

Also, on the first day of our pilgrimage in Rome, we noticed that there were many homeless brothers and sisters. We felt really bad because we did not have anything with us to give them on that day. When we first started doing the “Gift of Hope” bags, we thought of doing it in every place we traveled to, but when planning our pilgrimage to Rome, we did not have a clear idea if we were going to do the “Gift of Hope” project. However, the idea became clear the first day in Rome, on our way to the Vatican, where we encountered several homeless people.

We thought to ourselves like St. Mother Teresa said,
"Each one of them is Jesus in disguise."
Read about it here:

Gift of Hope

Our second day in Rome, we went to the famous Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain. On our way there, we stopped at every church we saw. The Churches in Rome are magnificent, their decorations, architectures, and painting are exceptional. We prayed for everyone we knew at the churches we went to. Most of the churches were playing soft instrumental music which helped us to pray even more. It felt like you were in heaven, at least how we imagined it.

Our Third day in Rome, we went to the Colosseum,
where we remembered all of our brothers and sisters
who were martyred for their faith.

Later, we visited Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls

We also went to Piazza Novona and
the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II

Day 4th in Rome: We visited Castle de Santo Angelo and St John Paul II's Foundation in the Vatican. At the foundation, we met a very nice lady who told us about her work with the foundation. The foundation had previously contacted us regarding our St. John Paul doll, they wanted to buy one. so we decided to donate the one we had brought with us. It was a blessed meeting. We felt that we got more than what we gave, the lady gave us second class relics of St. John Paul II and rosaries for the whole family.