Christmas

Our celebration of the birth of Christ was wonderful. Obviously it was difficult not being with our families, but we had a very blessed time here with our ESM family.

We decided to stay at the Domus (the hotel where the School is run) over the last few days because we knew that there would be a few late nights and early mornings. It allowed us to get more involved in the celebrations.

On Christmas Eve we all went to the Centro San Lorenzo. This is the International Youth Centre which was set up by Pope John Paul II as a place of welcome for young pilgrims. It has been entrusted to the Emmanuel Community. We had the Mass of Emmanuel - the first of the Christmas Masses. This was followed by a party. Then we made our way to St Peter's Square to sing carols in front of the life-size nativity. Many people gathered around to watch and to join in. This was amazing because it was dark and cold and raining. It sounded really good though, and the students loved it.


Christmas Eve in St Peter's Square

At 10:00pm the students tried to get into the Basilica for the midnight Mass. Normally we would be given tickets for this, but unfortunately this year we couldn't get any. Miraculously, they managed to get inside without tickets. Two of our students were chosen to do readings for the Mass: Adela from Nicaragua, and Monika from Germany. It made us so proud.

Kev and I didn't try and get into the Basilica. We went back to the Domus to watch the Mass on the television, while enjoying extra-special hot chocolate (more like chocolate mousse) and limoncello. After this I went to bed but Kev stayed up until after 2:00am to speak with his family in Australia.

I got up at 6:00am the following morning to skype my family, but Skype wasn't working. I went to the candle-lit Dawn Mass at 6:30am. I kept trying to skype but it was down all day.

In the evening we had our main Christmas celebration. The students did a great job decorating the dining room and preparing fantastic food.


Dining Room at the ESM


Hele and Kev

Since the beginning of Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) we have been praying for our own personal 'Advent Angel" (everyone's name was put in a hat). We prayed for this person every day and left notes and small gifts for them throughout Advent. It was done in secret so on Christmas Night we had to try and guess who our Advent Angel was. We also received a gift from this person.

This was done in between the many courses and was coordinated by Matthieu who took it upon himself to dress up as Santa for the night. We certainly have some keen students this year!

The students also gave each of the Team members a beautiful gift - an icon and a card which they all wrote on. Their words were extremely kind and loving. We are very blessed indeed.


Fr Benoit, Fr Martin, Chidi, Santa, Hele & Kev

After dinner, the entertainment began. The students and priests had prepared many items for a talent show. It was hilarious. They are such a funny bunch. After about one hour, the dancing started and continued until well into the night. I went to bed after midnight though - getting old you know!

This morning I was finally able to skype my fam. It was nice to see them and chat with them. I miss you fam!

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Tomorrow morning we will take the students to Paray Le Monial in France for a retreat with the Emmanuel Community. I look forward to the rest/prayer time, but also to catching up with some of our friends from Australia and other parts of the world.

As we approach 2011, I have been thinking about all that we have done this year. Apart from working tremendously hard here in Rome, we have also visited many many places. Here is a list of those places, starting with Melbourne which is where we were living until February 7th this year:

Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Lismore/Gold Coast, Australia
Manila, Philippines
Rome, Italy
Vienna, Austria
Dublin, Ireland
Paris, France
Dundee, Scotland
Ljubljana, Slovenia
Altotting, Germany
Paray Le Monial, France
Chiemsee, Germany
London, England (just Hele)
Minneapolis, U.S.A. (just Hele)
Altotting, Germany (just Kev)
London, England,
and tomorrow: Paray Le Monial, France

So it has been a very busy year, but a wonderful one. It is amazing how much God has blessed us since we made ourselves available to serve him full-time on mission.

Thank you for following the blog this year, and for leaving 'interesting' comments. We appreciate it so much!!

We hope you had a Merry Christmas, and we wish you all the best for the new year.