The heart of the Church

This entire trip John and I have been reading St. Paul's letters to the various Christian Communities we are visiting along the way.  Rome is no different.  Today we began to read together St. Paul's letter to the Romans which scholars think he wrote from Corinth (one of our previous stops). St. Paul came to Rome after having been ship-wrecked on Malta and then spending the winter there.  

What jumped out at me the most was St. Paul's approach to Sin and Grace in Roman's chapter 6 and 7.  St. Paul argues that there is a battle between Sin and Grace in the life of a Christian.  As we get older, we stop looking at sin as a "speeding ticket" and start looking at it as a "lost opportunity for grace".  Temptation is the battlefield of our salvation.  As we mature we understand that our predilection for sin (concupiscence) is a weakness that we need to invite Christ into so that He can conquer sin in our life through the power of His cross.  This is the slow and gradual path to holiness - a continual surrender of the parts of my life that are enslaved to sin to the love of Christ poured out by His blood on the Cross.  The more we are able to surrender to God, the more we are able to live a life of grace - it is ours to surrender but Christ's to sanctify - this is what it means to be an adopted son of God.

My visit to St. Peter's today fit hand in glove with my reading of St. Paul's letter to the Romans.  Once we were able to get through security (short commute but a long wait) we had the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then attended Mass (in Italian) behind the main Altar in front of the "Holy Spirit" window and the Bernini's chair of St. Peter - which is an amazing work of art all by itself.  I was most struck by the use of clouds of incense rising up from and surrounding the Altar - which evoke this image of living prayer rising up to God from the Church.

The entire experience of visiting St. Peters was a culmination of this trip - to finally come to Rome, and to be able to receive the grace of God in forgiveness and then His living presence in the Eucharist was a deeply touching moment.  I am grateful for the opportunity to journey with my brother into the heart of the Church (both physically and sacramentally).