Hit the ground running

Last Friday was a day for meeting up with friends and for some sightseeing.

Thanks to the miracles of modern communication, meeting up with friends took place on the steps of the monument at Piazza Venezia.  Tourists who congregate at this place might just be lucky enough to witness the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.

If not, there is still lots to keep you busy: this is the perfect place for people watchers who enjoy just sitting back and watching the people pass by.  This is a place for gathering, for meeting, for planning, for doing what the locals do as often as they can.

From the Piazza, it's really a short hop to other famous sites in Rome such as the Colloseum, one of ancient Rome's most noted works of architecture.  The Colloseum itself has a story to tell, as does almost every building in Rome, and these stories stretch back across centuries, telling stories of lives lived and lost, wars won and lost.  This is the place where winners have vanquished and where history is still being made, one day at a time.

As we entered the building, I couldn't help thinking that this is the place where every year, the Holy Father gathers with the people of Rome to pray the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.  This is the place where we remember the Christians of the early church who suffered and died at the hands of the Romans, who persecuted them because of their adherence to the Way, the new-found religion that dared to challenge the might of the Empire.

All around the Colloseum, and indeed all around the city, there were signs hanging from the light posts, proclaiming the virtues of the Servant of God, John Paul II.  This pope was a master at using the power of speech to reach the souls of his listeners.  He had the knack of using words to win followers, not unlike what I picture it must have been like for listeners who first heard the words and stories recounted by a teacher on the shores of Galilee.

Beneath the image of the Holy Father holding a smiling child, the saying reads: Io vi ho circato.  Voi siete venuti da me, e per questo vi ringrazio.  These words proclaimed to the waiting crowds in Saint Peter's Square just a few nights before his death were meant to speak candidly as he had always done with the youth who were the joy of his life.  Literally, the phrase translates as I have looked for you.  You have come to me, and for this I thank you.  It was as though the Holy Father was summing up his pontificate, his entire life, spent travelling across the globe in search of all the faithful, especially the downtrodden, and was finally realizing the impact he had had on so many souls as they in turn gathered outside his bedroom window to express their support, even in his time of suffering.