Advent Begins December 1

Be Vigilant: Daily Meditations for Advent

These brief daily meditations will help you focus on the spiritual side of Christmas. Author Michael Dubruiel died in February 2009. His wife, Amy Welborn, prepared these meditations for publication.

From a reader review:

This is my fourth year to go through this Advent devotional, and it has been truly a blessing to me and contributed to my Advent experience. The devotionals correlate with the USCCB daily readings, so it is best to read the readings and then read the devotional for the day. I myself am not Catholic, but I still get great insight out of these passages, and I can see that the author was a true follower of Christ and loved Christmas. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an Advent devotional. The book was free when I purchased it three years ago, but 99c is still a great value for this!

Scavi Tour

From Michael Dubruiel in 2006


If you've been on the "scavi" tour underneath St. Peter's you know that it ends up here, at the Clementine Chapel.This chapel is directly behind the "confessio" and is also called "St. Peter's Chapel" since it is very close to where the bones of St. Peter are located. On my early morning visit to St. Peter's this morning it happened that Mass was being celebrated here in the Clementine Chapel in English by five American priests. I joined them.
At the end of the Mass several of the priests introduced themselves, the celebrant was from Baltimore and was also a Knight of Malta, another priest on hearing that I was from Indiana mentioned that he also was in fact a Holy Cross priest from Notre Dame. Several others were pointing under the altar and making references to the "scavi" tour (which I hadn't taken as yet, but in fact would be taking later this same morning).
Leaving the Clementine Chapel, I made my way around the semicircular series of chapels and stopped at the Polish one (after all I am half Polish). Here I prayed the office for the day, as well as said prayers for my Polish relatives both living and deceased. I could hear Mass being celebrated in Polish in near the tomb of Pope John Paul II, and I made my way towards his tomb to pray the mysteries of the rosary that he will forever be known for--the Luminious Mysteries prayed on Thursdays.
Behind me in the chapel that is between the tombs of the popes, the Mass in Polish was concluding and a Polish bishop with several Polish priests came around and the security guard stationed at the tomb of Pope John Paul II removed the rope that keeps pilgrims from approaching the actual grave. The bishop and priests went in and knelt at the head of the tomb and said a few prayers. One of the priests took a camera and stepped back to take a picture of the bishop praying at the tomb. Then they left and the people behind me pushed me forward and we were within the niche and I found myself kneeling at the head of the tomb with my hands and the rosary resting on slab that covers the Pope's resting place. I was in the middle of the Fourth Luminous Mystery, "The Transfiguration" and as always I prayed the petition of St. Peter that I might always be able to discern "Lord, it is good that we are here."
I said a special prayer of petition for several people who entered my mind at that moment. One was for the husband of Johnnette Benkovic, another was for the brother of Bishop Robert Baker, the third was for the souls of my Polish relatives: great grandparents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousin. I then arose to make room so that other Polish pilgrims could enter.
Returning back to the apartment, we had to move quickly to go back to St. Peter's so that Katie and Amy could take the scavi tour, I would take the tour right after them (children aren't allowed for obvious reasons). We left Amy and Katie at the Swiss Guards and then Joseph and Michael on my back went into the Vatican bookstore (I bought a Vatican phone book and some holy cards), then into the Vatican post office, then out of St. Peter's to the many gift shops that surround the area. I also had to find something that Joseph would eat for breakfast, no easy task I might add. We bought water and I think M & M's (a breakfast he enjoyed). We walked in a number of gift shops and bookstores, buying nothing. The women in the stores tried to get Michael the baby to wave, smile, make sounds etc. while I tried to keep Joseph from picking up ceramic and glass objects. Finally it was time to trade off both baby and four year old which we did at the Swiss Guard station and I made my way to the Scavi Office.
We had worried that our tours were scheduled too tight but it turned out there was plenty of time between tours. It also turned out that later when I was doing my imitation of the tour guide (who was excellent) that we had the same one. I've often found that if someone is really, really good that my mind is like a camera and I can imitate not only what they said, but how they said and what they were doing as they said it.
Anyway I waited outside of the office with a large group that included one "loud" American who was smoking and pontificating (what else do you do when you are in Rome?) about how they weren't able to do the tour at the time I was doing it but that Father somebody might be able to change that (I hoped that he was wrong and thankfully he was...btw the same guy by himself showed up at the Scholars Pub for Amy's TOT, never found who he was or where he was from though).
The Scavi tour isn't advertised and you can't sign up for it when you are in Rome, you have to do it before (several weeks before). So it isn't crowded, I think there were maybe six or seven people on my tour. It was also the one thing that a number of people who've been to Rome said was a must. What it is, is a tour of the ancient Roman graves that were discovered under St. Peter's when Pope Pius XII began an archealogical dig to find out if Peter was in fact buried here. The necropolis is impressive enough (those walking in the crypt of St. Peter's where there are countless Pope's buried probably for the most part are unaware that below them is another graveyard even more ancient). The tour takes you through these graves and also explains the history of the churches built on this spot. It all culminates once you leave the graves and come to the spot where tradition says Peter's bones were buried and then suspense--the bones weren't found where they were expected. Then a walk into the Clementine Chapel (the same chapel pictured above and where I had been to Mass earlier that morning)...the tour guide mentioned that Pope Benedict XVI had said Mass in this chapel eight days ago. Then into another room with a glass floor and glass wall. The bones of Peter were discovered wrapped in royal purple cloth in a tomb built by Constantine under the altar of the first church. What was missing? His feet, the rationale that when Peter was crucified upside down that those who removed his body just cut his feet off in order to remove him from the cross.
The whole trip was very moving and highly educational. A few seconds later we were deposited at the tomb of Pope John Paul II again.Scavi Tour

Visiting Rome

From Michael Dubruiel in 2006


I had bought an alarm clock about four days into our trip to insure that I would get up and make it over to St. Peter's in the morning when it opened up. On Saturday morning I was up bright and early and made it over to be one of the first in line. "The line" was for us commoners, there were always people and priests already in St. Peter's that obviously entered from another place, another "gate" if you would.
This morning I headed right for the grottoes as they had become my favorite places to pray the morning office and attend Mass if possible. I passed a number of Masses being said already in several of the chapels, none in English. Then I arrived at the Clementine and there was a small group following me there: several older Italian women, two priest vested in purple and a cardinal. They went into the Clementine Chapel--so I followed them in, when the cardinal turned around to begin the Mass I recognized him right away, it was Cardinal Ruini, the vicar of Rome (in some way the de facto bishop of Rome). I decided to stay. The Mass was said in Italian and I could follow most of it, even make out the Gospel reading and that it was the Feast of St. Casmir (a saintly king of Poland). I was struck by the humility of the cardinal who when he preached kept his eyes closed for almost the entire homily. He mentioned Pope John Paul (I presume in connection with the day's feast). It was a very reverential and spiritual Mass. At the conclusion the cardinal accompanied by the two priests paused and the tomb of Pope Pius XII (in a direct line with the Clementine Chapel and said a short prayer, then they went out the way we had come in, I went in the other direction. When I emerged at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, I found that Cardinal Ruini along with the other two priests were there on their knees. Cardinal Ruini with hand to his eyes seemed be sobbing. They stayed there for some time before getting up and exiting the grottoes. I stood with the group that always seems to be present there,praying the rosary.
This morning the Basilica was even less crowded than usual for this time of the morning and I found that there was no Mass being said at the Chair of Peter, so I settled into one of the pews to pray the office. I think I had reached the First Reading in the Office of Readings when a Basilica aid told me that I couldn't pray there (this is only for Mass). I tried to protest, but he spoke no English and I decided to go to the Blessed Sacrament chapel. On my way I stopped at the tomb of Blessed John XXIII and sat in a pew there. When I finished, since there was no Mass being said I went up and prayed close to the glass tomb and peered in at the face of Blessed John, I was somewhat still marveling at the face of St. Joseph Maria Tomasi who has a visible beard on his face even though he's been lying in rest since 1713. Blessed John had on beard (I guess the pope's have better razors).
Back at the apartment, Amy was waiting on another filming apointment which was suppose to happen at 9:00 a.m this time at our apartment. It was 9:15 when we decided to go (given that we were down to our final two full days in Rome). We had reached the end of the Borgo Pio when the film crew spotted us from the Porta San Ann. They took Amy from us and we resorted to visiting gift shops and then going into the Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri (said a prayer for my sister Ann)(the link will tell you this church--the parish church of Vatican City isn't open to the public--I went into it at least five times while I was there and it seemed very open to me), just in Vatican City and saying a few prayers. When we came out Amy was heading back to us--we made our way to the tram, and then to the Metro for another heavy day of pilgrimage stops.

Touring Rome

From Michael Dubruiel in 2006

I was up bright and early on Tuesday morning and made my way with my breviary (a book containing the liturgy of the hours) to St. Peter's Basilica. I passed through security and made my way into the Church and found a priest offering Mass in English at the altar of Pope St. Leo the Great's tomb. I joined another man (who I do not think spoke English). We stood, knelt and received Holy Communion and the priest asked where I was from as he left with the chalice to return to the sacristy.
Next I went down the spiral stairs near the statue of Saint Andrew the Apostle to descend into the crypt and pray at the tomb of Pope John Paul II, as well as the tomb of the Apostle Peter (I usually prayed the rosary during this time). In the early morning there were few people in these spots, most were conected with groups saying mass at the different chapels. I then went up the same stairs and sat in one of the pews in front of the tomb of Blessed John XXIII and prayed the office for the day.
As I made my way back to the apartment, I made a usual stop for some expresso and to pick up some pastries to bring back for the others to have for breakfast. This morning I went into a different shop on the Borgo Pio. As soon as I entered there was the priest whose Mass I had attended earlier that morning. He was a Dominican and he told me that he taught at the Angelicum. He invited me to join him, but I told him that I was sure the family was probably waiting on me back at the apartment so I really should be going (at this point I didn't get his name, although I think he told me that he was originally from Missouri--I would meet him again).
I brought back the appreciated pastries by Katie and the baby, but rejected by Joseph who is an incredibly picky eater (he feasted on butter cookies bought the day before). Then we set out for the Gesu, a church we hadn't been able to find the day before in the rain, thankfully today the sun was shining brightly!
We stopped in at a couple of souvenir shops on our way to the bus stop and also into the Carmelite Church on the Via del Conciliazione Santa Maria in Traspontina, I said a short prayer before the altar of St. Barbara for my mother (would have another chance when we visited a church dedicate to the Saint later in the day. We ran into Sussana Pinto of Rome Reports who also writes for Our Sunday Visitor, she was there to attend Mass. Something that caught my attention in this church was a "liturgical calendar" that was kind of like a time clock. Here is a blury picture of it (I apologize but somehow my camera settings got messed up and I haven't learned to review them--well I have now, but hadn't then). We headed out to catch the Express bus.
The Gesu was exactly where it was supposed to be and one street over from where we had been searching for it the day before in the rain. But it is amazing how much easier it is to read a map, find the right street in the sunshine. Joseph gave a Euro to the beggar at the door (something by this time encouraged him to do, both as a form of almsgiving for our pilgrimage and to help him overcome youthful greed). Inside the Church, something truly amazing that a photo does not even begin to capture, but I'll post one that I found online of the Triumph of the Holy Name of Jesus (IHS)...what you don't pick up in the photo that is startlingly evidend in person is the 3-D quality of the ceiling; the heretics falling off to the side literally look like they are plunging down toward you--an absolutely fascinating image that one could spend hours meditating on. In In some ways you can kind of capture that in this photo, because the images descending look indistinct, sort of like you need 3-D glasses to focus the picture properly, but in reality you don't and this is an amazing catechetical lesson that what we see isn't always really what it is. We prayed at the tomb of St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier and took in the beauty of this church, one of my favorites!
Next we made our way to Largo Argentina near where Julius Caesar was murdered, where there are the ruins of pagan temples not made into churches and an investation of cats that are well taken care of by the local populace.
After a short viewing we made our way toward Campo de Fiori, which unlike the picture in the link, is actually quite crowded with vendors selling everything from fruits and vegetables to Bob Marley t-shirts. Perhaps the latter can be attribed to the spirit of Giordano Bruno who was burned at the stake here for declaring that there was no center of the universe--there obviously were as many individuals who thought that they were the center of the universe back then as there are today and unfortunately poor Giordano was as guilty of this sin as anyone.
Ahh but I'm getting ahead of myself, first we came upon a church. One of the non stop pleasures of a walk in Rome are the hundreds of churches that don't make the tour books, that you walk in and find to be three times as larges as the back home parish church and filled with art that would make the art museum back home world class.
Here we came upon San Carlo ai Cantinari a church that boasts the third largest dome in Rome next to St. Peter's and another church that we will visit in a second. "Carlo" is the Italian rendering of Charles, just as Karol is the Polish rendering of Charles--the Charles in this case being St. Charles Borromeo (Karol Wojtla's patron saint...really in English the Pope's name was Charles). Like all churches in Rome, fascinating.
While Amy, Katie and Joseph stopped for a snack, the baby and I paid a visit to my mother's patron Church, Santa Barbara dei Librai (St. Barbara of the books). I think I picked up a holy card at this church, but I've yet been able to find it (I still haven't unpacked).
Arriving at Campo de Fiori, I went and sat with the baby near the statue of Giordanno (I wonder if he inspired the frozen pizza of the same name). Amy bartered with a few merchants to buy some bloody oranges (not there real name but a description of the fruit covered with an orange peel, but blood red fruit inside--very appropriate in a plazza formerly dedicated to public executions).
Spying the dramatic twisted spiral roof of Sant' Ivo alla Sapienza we headed in that direction but ended up in Piazza Navona again. This time we made our way to Sant' Andrea della Valle, which has the second largest dome in Rome and which Charlie Collins said had the best incorupt saint--Saint Joseph Mary Tomasi, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1986. Here are blurry pictures of both as well as Amy watching Michael walk toward me:


Here Amy and I tried to make a few phone calls with none of our intended callers answering the phone. I went into Sant' Agnese in Agone and took this picture of the skull of St. Agnes in a reliquary. This church was built on the site of an ancient brothel (Rome is filled with examples of how Christ conquers all)! The size of St. Agnes' skull bothered me--it was no bigger than a very small infant, the porter told me that it wasn't the entire skull but just part of it. If you look at the gold box you'll notice a little opening, that is where the skull of St. Agnes is.
Saint Frances of Rome (whose feast was a few days ago, was baptized here).
Meanwhile outside in Piazza Navona all kinds of frivolity was going on, including some sort of political rally. Italians will probably recognize these folks, but they were lost on us.It was then on to the Pantheon for a return visit (I posted the picture on the original Pantheon post) but here is one from inside and another from a short stop at St. Catherine's church again, this time in the sunshine it was possible to take some photos by the obelisk at least of the bottom of it:

Rome Tours

From February 2006, by Michael Dubruiel

I arose early on Sunday and set out to St. Peter's by myself to arrive there when the church opened to the public at 7:00 A.M.. This was to become my daily ritual while I was in Rome and led to a number of unique experiences. Saint Peter's in the early morning is quite different from the way one experiences it later in the day. First, it is easy to enter with there usually being no line at the security check point. Secondly, much of what is closed to the public later in the day is open at this time of the morning. With each visit, I was to discover more and more of the Church.

This first morning I walked into the Church for the second time and was still trying to orient myself to it. I stood before Michaelangelo's Pieta by myself (later in the day you are lucky if you can get anywhere near the front of the glass panel). I walked down the center of the church and looked at the inscriptions showing where other large churches of the world would end in comparison to this Basilica.

Then I encountered an image from the past. Priests vested in green, all with their backs to me at the many side altars were offering Mass in the new rite in the old way. As I would walk by a different language would greet me. French at this altar, Italian here, German here, Spanish here and English at yet another altar. On this Sunday morning a large group of was gathering to process to one of the altars (I think it was the altar of Pope St. Leo the Great)--these were the Heralds of the Gospel. Present in the procession were both the male and female members and their beautiful chanting filled St. Peter's that early morning.

Since I was planning on attending mass later with the family, I did not participate in any of the Masses that morning but settled into the Blessed Sacrament chapel and prayed the office and the rosary. But on subsequent mornings I was to have some great experiences in early morning St. Peter's.

On the way back to rouse the family, I stopped in at a coffee bar to pick up some pastries and to have an expresso. I ordered un caffe and was met with the familiar response "Americano or expresso?" always giving me the sense that however I was asking it was a dead giveaway that I wasn't Italian. In fact throughout my time in Rome people would address me before I opened my mouth in English, as an American--so I must look like a typical American.

After the pastry consumption it was back to St. Peter's square to meet up with Charleston, South Carolina seminarian Jeffrey Kirby who is in Rome attending the North American College. Through my friend the Bishop of Charleston we had arranged for Jeffrey to give us tour of St. Peter's and he did a marvelous job of filling in the blanks that my first two unattended visits had already raised.

One question I had involved St. Peter's square. Is there a marker where Pope John Paul II was shot? Jeff informed us that in fact one pavement stone had originally been removed after the incident because it contained a drop of blood from the Pontiff and it had been replaced with a red porphyry stone. He pointed to the general direction where this stone was in the square but it would be until Friday before I would actually see it.

After Jeffrey's excellent tour we went back to the apartment for a few minutes, before heading back to St. Peter's square for Pope Benedict's Angelus. There were some Polish nuns in front of us and after the Pope's address I greeted one of them in Polish saying in "Praised be Jesus Christ!" She responded in great enthusiasm and started talk rapidly in Polish to which I had to tell her that I had pretty much exhuasted my Polish in that one phrase.

A short walk out of the square and we attended Sunday Mass in Italian at Santo Spiritu, a Church that seemed to have a special designation as a "Divine Mercy" church.

Visiting Rome

From February 2006, by Michael Dubruiel

On Saturday, February 25th we arrived in Rome. Our landlord was waiting for us at our apartment and did a quick run through of how everything in the ample dwelling functioned. One thing he forgot to tell us was how to operate the satelite television (which turned out to be a blessing for us).

Anxious to see St. Peter's we left our suitcases and headed in that direction, only two blocks away. My first thought as we stepped into the square was that it looked small. Its not small by any stretch of the imagination but it looks small in person. This was something that I experienced time and time again within St. Peter's and is a testament to how well the architects of this structure mastered proportionalism. Things are gigantic, but appear intimate.

Another surprise was the long line to enter the Church. It seemed like it would take hours to enter, but I said to everyone we didn't come here just to stand in the sqaure. We got in line and within a few minutes were near the front of the line. It moved quickly.

Walking into the church we were stopped (we actually had walked into the wrong entrance, I figured this out after the first day), it turned out we were in the line for the crypt where Pope John Paul II was recently buried. They were only letting a certian number of people go down at a time, so we waited a few minutes and looked at the Holy Year doors.

Finally we made our way into the crypt. We went through several rooms before arriving where the pope's are buried. We passed a niche where Pope Paul VI rests, Pope John Paul I's tomb is in the hall. There was a crowd around the spot where Pope John Paul II rests. I would visit this spot everyday of my time in Rome and pray for many who came to mind--it seemed quite natural to do so. Flowers were scattered on the tomb, some pictures, some prayer requests. A guard moved everyone along, motioning to a space against the wall if someone wished to remain there in prayer.
Just past the tomb of John Paul is the center of St. Peter's--the tomb of the Apostle in the Confessio. I'm not sure if most of those walking through the Basilica understood this--most seemed to walk by without giving a glance behind the glass wall. The path took us right past other tombs and eventually outside of the church. We were a little (actually a lot) confused because we hadn't actually gone into the Basilica yet.
We went back up the stairs toward the front and through the central doors and this time entered the largest Church in the world. It looks so familar, yet to see it all at one time gave me a different view of the common site. The bodies of incorrupt popes under the many altars, the massive papal monuments that seem to jut out from the walls. It almost seemed to be too much!
Midway down the nave to the right was a curtianed room. Guards stopped the casual tourists from entering a space that a sign marked as being for prayer. With the baby strapped to my back, I went in. The others, I supposed were scared off by the guard and the sign.

Inside a number of people were praying before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in a monstrance. I gave thanks to God for a safe trip and that our feet had finally settled here in the center of his Church. My rambling went on when Michael (the baby) who had been very quiet spoke.

He said a word that I'd never heard him say before "Christ". It was very clear, and simple, and he only spoke it once. I said a few more prayers and he was silent, then I left the Chapel, emerging back into the nave of St. Peter's.

It was then that I started to wonder about his little confession of faith, made in Rome in the large church dedicated to St. Peter who had once been asked by Jesus, "Who do men say that I am?"..."Some say Elijah, some say John the Baptist,"..."But you, who do you say that I am?"..."You are the Christ!"

Peter's confession on the lips of my 15 month old son in the presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, so began my time in Rome.

Free Catholic Book

When we look back over our lives, we often find that every

event is intricately interwoven with another, and then another,

with bright spots of serendipity when we “just happened” to be

in the right spot at the right time at key moments. This realization

will deepen the mystery that is life; regardless how long or

short our life, our mission and purpose is God’s. If he seems slow

to respond, look to the cross of Christ, which illumines even the

lag time between the promise and the fulfillment.

-The Power of the Cross by Michael Dubruiel