Posted on April 15, 2024

Holy Week and Easter are the pinnacle of the Church year, and spending them in Rome is always a deeply moving experience. To ascend the Scala Sancta, the Holy Stairs which Christ ascended when he was sentenced by Pontius PIlate, to be able to stop by the church of Santa Prassede and venerate the pillar where Christ was scourged, to walk the Ponte Sant’Angelo, the Bridge where one admires Bernini’s sculpted angels holding the instruments of Christ’s Passion– all of these helped us pilgrims in Rome enter more deeply into the Triduum. The highlight for me, however, was visiting the altars of repose at twelve churches before heading home at just about midnight the night of Holy Thursday. I would highly recommend being in Rome on Holy Thursday, when so many of the most beautiful churches are open in the silence of the night. It moves the heart!

Being in Rome, particularly during significant times of the Church year, brings to mind the beginning passage from 1 John:

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.

This is the goal of pilgrimage: to see sacred places with our eyes, to touch them with our hands, and so make our faith ignite in our hearts. This is one of the many reasons I am so passionate about what I do– pilgrimage is not about collecting photos and travel anecdotes, wonderful as that may be,– it is about deepening a relationship with our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. And he is risen indeed!

-Vincenzo