How Saint Joseph Ruled in Rome

Volume XX, Number 8 – August 12, 2016

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

Aside from praying with you and your 60,000 fellow readers at the conclusion, this message is only about the surprising spiritual dynamic which manifested during my one-day pilgrimage to hand-carry your intentions to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. I think you'll like it. (Very soon I will return to your inbox with my second annual "Everything But the Kitchen Sink" CatholiCity Message.)

Your Intentions Literally on My Back
Before leaving for the long flight I carefully packed what must have been 20,000 of your petitions printed on double-sided paper in the tiniest imaginable font and then touched that precious stack to my first class relics of Saints Joseph, Jude, Anthony, Therese of Lisieux, Francis Xavier, Maximilian Kolbe, as well as to my well-worn Relic of the True Cross. Then I sealed the yellow envelope (as seen in the photo below) and carefully buried it deeply into my only piece of luggage—a backpack (because I wasn't about to lug a suitcase around the Holy City!). It was the only copy because your electronic submissions were quickly deleted. I also packed 250 Latin inscription Miraculous Medals remaining from our Christmas appeal.

I admit I got a bit of a thrill from literally carrying your intentions on my back. I took great solace from knowing that so many of you were going to be praying with me and making your own local co-pilgrimages to churches and shrines on July 14th.

Saint Joseph Takes the Lead
The flight, of course, sucked. Virtually no sleep for me. That was a good thing in light of my mission; I was not on a tourist trip. Recall how I invited any CatholiCity Citizens who happened to be in Rome to join me? Paul and Carol Quist, on their own pilgrimage from Edmonton, Canada, greeted me at the train station in Rome. I had been in touch with them by email. After big hugs all around we decided to get expressos (yes, plural) into me so I could keep my eyes open.

Turtle and Hare Fell in Love
As you can see from the photo, Carol (the blonde) is flat-out pretty. Girlish and quick to smile, in person she gives the overwhelming impression of just having been fired out of a Happiness-Energy Cannon. Paul, almost as big as I am, perfectly complements his bride with his soothingly calm demeanor—you would never guess he was suffering constant pain from back issues and fibromyalgia. He walks with a plodding, paradoxically deceptively fast pace. Both had converted from Lutheranism a decade ago (in large part after discovering the beauty of the Theology of the Body—thank you Pope Saint John Paul the Second the Great!). In fact, the Quists' decision to convert led to Paul resigning from a cushy, relatively good-paying job as a Lutheran pastor. All these years later he and Carol work together in family ministry at a Catholic parish.

Still in Rome Termini Station, we of course first talked about our children. Yet within ten minutes of meeting in person for the first time, in the corner of that frenetic, filthy train station coffee shop, the surprise theme of the pilgrimage quickly took shape when I told Paul and Carol how much I love that the patron of Canada is Saint Joseph and how my spiritual journey has been inspired by my saintly friends from Canada. In fact, it was a Canadian who gave me the honor of caring for the first class relic of Saint Joseph which I touched to your intentions. (I have also been a frequent visitor to the Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and once made a last-minute, mind-bending pilgrimage to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec on her feast day—a long cool story for another day.)

Inspired, and noting how Saint Joseph's wife, Immaculate Mary, is the patroness of the United States, and, how I was the American representing the "Mary" Foundation, I asked Paul, as Canada's representative of Joseph, if I could submit myself to his husbandly care and authority for the rest of the day. Carol thought this a really cool idea. He generously agreed...

...and from that moment on, Paul led our little spiritual family, with near heavenly perfection, throughout the rest of that lovely hot summer day in Rome. Maybe I'm just not a good enough writer to convey how liberating it was to have such a virtuous man take over and deftly bear the responsibility of carrying your petitions to the Tomb of Saint Peter, but I gotta tell ya, there are tears in my eyes now as I type these words. I even transferred the precious Petitions Envelope to Mr. Quist, our Saint Joseph for the day. Essentially, my job was done. All I did from then on was cooperate and follow his lead.

I am not at all embarrassed to have taken the role of the feminine; after all, you and I and every member of the Catholic Church comprise his Bride of Christ. Besides, I know that obedience brings more grace (all the saints attest!) and I was focused on maximizing just that so your intentions would be answered. I obeyed Paul in freedom.

On Our Knees Before Saint Peter
Soon we walked to Vatican City and passed through security (the young male volunteer did not bother to look at the x-ray of my backpack because he was chatting up a pretty girl—ah, Italia!) and strolled right through into St. Peter's Basilica. I'll spare you a detailed description of Saint Peter's except to say that it exists on a scale so large as to defy comprehension when you are physically present. It provides volume enough to easily fit large cathedrals inside. On a random wall you might see a two-story-high inset marble statue of a pope or saint surrounded by enormous angels but these holy artworks do not appear large—everything "fits" to the scale, including the massive outside piazza you've seen on television.

Once inside we met up with the Quists' peaceful friend, Faith Maier of Vancouver. Thousands of tourists and pilgrims were milling around. In true Italian style, the directions and signs were haphazard and typically useless, although there were dozens of helpful volunteer ushers. Paul led us to Mass in one of the many side sanctuaries. As it turned out, the only Mass available was taking place in the Sanctuary of Saint Joseph! You know the theme by now. We received Holy Communion for your intentions and after Mass I prostrated myself (that is, got down completely flat on my stomach with my head on the floor) before the altar and tabernacle for a few minutes, Jesus inside me, fervently praying for your intentions to be granted. Faith happily accepted the honor of carrying the heavy package of Miraculous Medals.

After Mass Paul led us to the tomb directly below the main altar (where no photography is allowed) to the ornately but tastefully decorated burial crypt where Saint Peter's bones are venerated. (His bones were discovered last century—a wondrous story.) I found a photo for you online.

There are over 100 tombs below the basilica holding 91 popes and others. The most recent pope buried there is John Paul II. I stopped to place my hand on his sarcophagus and asked him to intercede for you.

Oddly, very few people pray in this burial site of popes. The ceiling is very low. As hundreds of people filed by, Paul got down on his knees on the marble a mere step or two away from the glass doors protecting the inner sanctum of the Tomb of Saint Peter, his remains easily in our view just a few more strides in front of us. I knelt next to Paul, then Carol beside me, then Faith. Before us we carefully placed on the floor the envelope with your intentions and the Miraculous Medals. Because it was a Thursday, Paul then led us in the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary, followed by a Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the prayer at the end of this message for all CatholiCity benefactors. We concluded with the ninth of a nine-day novena prayer for your intentions to our beloved North American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha, on her feast day.

As we prayed out loud some of the tourists and fellow pilgrims stopped, either in surprise, or perhaps shock (if they were not Catholics) to see this family of Saint Joseph praying a Rosary with utter stillness, strong voices, and the serenity that comes only with the gift of grace. Some even got on their knees beside us or behind us and joined in for a few Hail Marys or a decade.

Paul instructed me to lead the fourth Luminous Mystery, the Transfiguration, which is my favorite. I barely noticed the pain in my knees. You were in my heart. I felt the peace of grace. I was grateful to have been asked to lead the mystery wherein Peter was so blunt, and in his usual way, exuded a kind of goofy sincerity before being interrupted by God the Father:

There Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" (Matthew 17)

Listen to Him. Yup, got it. We should all listen to Jesus. You should.

A Completely Cool Permanent Resting Place
After praying there was one more task left in order to complete the pilgrimage. Just a few feet to the left of Peter's tomb, right up against yet another marble wall there stood a beautiful, large bronze donations box that was shaped like a pillar and was nearly the height of a podium. It probably weighed four hundred pounds. Paul, Faith, and Carol stood around me for cover as I casually slipped your intentions behind it, jammed against the wall at the base, completely out of sight. From what I observed about Italian maintenance standards, I suspect they will remain there well past when all of us have passed from this earth.

Saint Peter cannot ignore them now.

Okay, So I Did One Touristy Thing
We left the crypt and Faith found an American priest who blessed the Miraculous Medals near the main altar of the basilica. We went out in the sun, took this photo in front of the Statue of St. Peter in the Piazza, then walked to the Pantheon where we enjoyed a laughter-filled three-hour lunch of beer and pizza at an outdoor restaurant in the Piazza della Rotunda while facing the ancient structure (and now a completely restored Catholic Shrine). I was babbling on and spent, but quite at ease.

After a little gelato for desert, my Saint Joseph of Canada and his two Mary Maidens took me to the train station, where, defying all laws of physics, the irrepressible Carol romped around us with the grace of a ballerina and the joy of a little girl until she found the right lane for me to catch a train to Naples. A navy buddy from Ohio put me up for a couple of nights there before the flight back to Cleveland. In "Napoli," the city from where all my mother's forebears emigrated, I was just Bud again, no longer a stand-in Mary. The flight home, of course, sucked, but that was a good thing considering my mission.

Do You Want a Miraculous Medals Blessed at St. Peters?
On a first-come first-serve basis, I want to share these unique medals with you. Make an online donation in any amount and ask for your medals in the Comment Box (let's say, er, one to five medals per person so you can give them as conversion-gifts to friends and relatives) and I'll make sure they get to you lickety-split.

Let's Pray!
As promised, I'll be back soon with a more traditionally strange and quirky CatholiCity Message, but let us all join together, tens of thousands of us, for the intentions of the Rome pilgrimage, beginning in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit...

Dear Lord, I ask You to provide for the spiritual and temporal needs, conversion and sanctification, healing, perfect health, long life, and freedom from all evil for all Mary Foundation benefactors, great and small, past, present, and future, especially those who have asked us to pray for them today, for their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren and their future spouses, for their family and friends–send them superabundant graces, conversions, and miracles. Continue to send the Mary Foundation generous benefactors and your angels and grace from heaven to guide, govern, and protect our decisions, families, locations, workers, projects, and finances. Amen.

Thanks for reading this Rome Diary. Thanks for praying with me, today, and during the pilgrimage. Thanks for being a part of our work and a part of my life. As always, let me know what's on your mind by hitting reply. For all I know, you may have already had an intention granted. You gotta tell me about it!

You. Guys. Are. The. Best!

With Joseph, Mary, and Jesus,

Bud Macfarlane
Founder and Executive Director