Jam - Monday and Tuesday, 11-12 June 2012

Mixing it up!

With the rising of the Monday sun, I spend some time writing, because I shall have to troop over to the Vatican, or near it for the conference.  I grab a late breakfast, or an early lunch and make my way across the Ponte Sisto, and walk up the Trastevere side up to the Burgo Santo Spiritu, aside the Bernini columns and to the Residenza, where the conference will be held.  It's a slow start and my introverted side is in full gallop.  Slowly I meet fellow priests from the UK, North America and from Australia.  There is small talk and water out on the terrace.

The sessions begin at three and there is a wonderful series of Bible Studies on Paul and Romans by Dr. Paula Gooder.  She has a unique perspective and I shall want to read more of her work.  After Evening Prayer all 90 of troop over to a small restaurant across the street, where the food is quite good, and the conversation difficult due to noise.  After desert I make my good-byes and walk back to Campo.

On Tuesday we begin the day with Eucharist, celebrated by the Autralians.  That is followed by more Bible Study, however, the main event of the day is a trip to Ostia antic, the ancient port city of Rome.  I took Anna there in 2000, and was anxious to go back.  Many call it Pompeii in a part - it's so lush around the ruins.  We take a bus by the airport and then to the site.  It is a lot of walking, but such delights to see, especially if you are into ruins (which I totally am).  The capitol, above is wonderful, and across the corso is the forum with wonderful temples and baths.  There is a stop for lunch and drinks (it is very hot).

When we see the interior workings of the heated rooms at the baths, see the picture to the right, I am reminded of a comment I heard from an American woman on the Palatine the other day.  "The were really a horrible people," she said, but I guess that they did have their inventive side."  What a simplistic view of this culture that was laid out before us today.  Marvelous buildings, warehouses, offices, tenements, bakeries, plumbing and theaters all spoke to a vibrant and diverse culture.  A horrible people, indeed!

We walk past a Jewish synagogue, a Mithraum, and more temples than you can shake a stick at.  There is one nymphaeum that was turned into a Christian church at one point.  Such a jam of institutions.  50,000 people lived here, managing the traffic of trade that entered and left ancient Rome.

My fellow tourists are surprised by the mosaics, which are all black stone set into white.  The example from another set of baths is pictured below, but in the office area of the port, there was a mosaic in front of each office which indicated the enterprise inside.

We make our way back to the buses.  There is more to see back in Rome.

As we enter Rome we go to visit the Abbey of Tre Fontone.   This is a cult site centered on the execution of St. Paul, and consists of three Churches, on abbatial where the monks (Trappists) are singing evening prayer, and one the site of imprisonment (what happened to the Mamartine?) and the third the site of the execution (the head bounced three times).  

My camera has used up all its juice, so I am left camera-less at St. Peter's and Paul's outside the Walls.  Decimated by a huge fire in the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, it was rebuilt, and is a shadow of its ancient self.  The new church is overblown, although there are a couple of interesting features, the ciborium over the altar, and the paschal candle stand, which both seemed to have survived the fire (although Lizette and I are not certain about the ciborium).  There is an "ecumenical" Evensong with the Benedictines, although we don't get to meet them.  It is accompanied by a wheezing organ that needs a great deal of love.  

Upon return, Lizette and I decide to walk to Trastevere to have dinner.  It's a long walk, but there is a delightful conversation.  Along the way we pass St. Egidio Church which was home to the St. Egidio Community.  Started as a protest to the closure of their church, the people of this parish began lay-led services coupled with a social outreach (feeding programs, pro bono legal work, and the like).  The group is now so large that they meet for Evening Prayer at Santa Maria in Trastevere.  We go in for the last few moments of their praying, and the church is packed.  

I don't remember what I had for dinner, but I do remember a rich conversation, and a side conversation with some young people from Chile, who were studying in Germany. Lizette shared our half bottle of wine with them.  I put Lizette into a cab, and I walked across the Ponte Sisto to return home.  What a day.