Trip to Assisi

Someone once said, ‘A seminary must be super boring; all you do is study and pray...’ To which I would respond with a grammatically incorrect but concretely refuting question, ‘What...???’ For although prayer and study are strong pillars in the priestly formation of our College, so too is the fraternity lived in the joy of the Gospel. So, on Saturday, 21 February, after the final exams for the first semester of this academic year, we shared a comforting pilgrimage to Assisi, the city of the patron saint of the ‘Common Home’. We had the opportunity to visit and pray at the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels, where the Porziuncola and the cell where Saint Francis died are located. Afterwards, we celebrated Holy Mass at the Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi, where his mortal remains are kept... We visited the crypt where the mortal remains of St. Clare of Assisi, sister and friend in Christ of St. Francis, are located, and likewise the Shrine of the Expoliation, where the body of the recently canonised ‘cyber apostle’ Carlo Acutis, who is so dear to young people, is located. This pilgrimage has truly been an opportunity to understand that holiness lived in fraternity is not something from 1000 or 2000 years ago, but something current that fills hearts with true and authentic joy. I think my old friend has been convinced that seminaries are not boring at all...