Mission Accomplished!

Image via Wikipedia

"Congratulations, you have done well..."

Those were the words that greeted me when one of my professors came out from the classroom after deliberating together for about 5 minutes on my lectio that Friday afternoon. They were words of great consolation after a gruelling hour and a half of presentation which was followed by some questionings later by three professors who were assessing me.

With that, I officially completed my entire Spirituality course (2 years in all) at the Pontifical University of St Thomas of Aquinas (also more commonly known as the Angelicum). It had been quite a journey and now this had ended and thankfully, it ended on a bright note!

Now I am free from all forms of studies (at least till I get back to S'pore) and savouring the mood that comes after finishing the exams. The whole body and mind now just seem to wind down a lot after the past weeks of adrenaline and stress-filled activity, that I feel exhausted, both mentally and physically.

However, it wasn't all that bad as I could still stay a little up-and-about during this night, earlier, to do some packing of my stuff which I am sending back by airfreight later. In the midst of it all, the feeling of satisfaction after finishing something as important as a licentiate studies like this, continues to pervade my senses. I thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement during this while and my sojourn here in Rome. And I also know that I really, really would not be able to accomplish all this if not, in the final analysis, for the very grace of God...

Related articles by Zemanta

• St. Thomas Aquinas' biblical commentaries on five Pauline letters now online (vivificat1.blogspot.com)
• The Vatican claims Darwin's theory of evolution is compatible with Christianity (telegraph.co.uk)

Just Waiting...

After a quick scan over the past entries of the past weeks or so, it is apparent to me that most of them center around the topic of finishing my course here in Rome and to look towards the coming day when I will finally leave this place for Singapore.

Being in a place like Rome where the word inefficient and stupidity is its definitive emblem, heading back to a place like Singapore, where everything works, evokes a great sense of relief and the realization that much have been take for granted back there. You don't really know what you are really missing till you leave your own country, even if for a while. However, that doesn't mean that I did not gain anything worthwhile from my tour of duty in Rome.

One, is my further deepening and appreciation of my faith and of the Church that stands today. I don't mean the buildings and grand views of the Vatican and the churches here. I mean the truth, beauty and goodness that permeates our Catholic faith in its power to transform and transcend all that we know of, in preparing us to encounter the Divine. This is, of course, coming from my studies here in Spirituality and its related courses at the Angelicum, where I have been studying for a good part of my two-year stay here.

Second, I have gained much insight into the lives of the people from other countries through the presence of the various priests here in this Collegio, priests that come from Africa, Asia, Oceania, South America and Eastern Europe. A little of their culture and mindset can be gleaned from this interaction especially during games, Collegio formal functions, get-togethers and even at Masses which we celebrate daily. Indeed, it is a potpourri of faces and skin color that heightens the sight to the variety and types of nationalities that are living under one roof of this Collegio.

Lastly, I have learned to be a little more patience with the world with all its nonsense, and after staying here in Rome for awhile, I think ... nay... believe, I can survive anywhere else!

So, while the days get closer to the departure date, I am not shedding any crocodile tears over Rome, for I will gladly bid it a happy, relief and vociferous Arriverdeci!

(pic - street portrait painter, taken in Florence)

First Week!

I survived the first week at the Angelicum....

Most of my lessons were in the afternoon and it was the usual mad rush to clamber aboard the crowded bus, squeezing through all those passengers and making sure that no item of mine goes missing after I get down.

The place of study is itself quite a historical place with many interesting anecdotes. The late 'great' John Paul II himself studied here when he was doing his doctorate, oh, a long, long time ago. At one of my Spirituality class, one professor actually took JPII's actual thesis on John of the Cross to highlight an interesting point about the saint's spiritual life! Soon, those papers may well be put up as possible relics!

The Angelicum is situated in the middle of a town area where there are many Roman ruins, one of which is the famous Colosseum. I may just take a short walk there after one of my classes and check out the sight. But the tourists, oh, them tourists! They are all over the place and adding in the traffic, you can get a big super headache after five minutes of walking around! The jostling, pushing, stepping, etc. are all part of the experiences here.

My class have a collection of students from all over the world: Indonesia, India, Africa, USA, UK, just to name a few. Enough to make your head spin! As long as I get through the day in one piece, I am grateful! :-)

(pictures courtesy of Fiona He)

Consolidating...

I can now afford to take a little time out to consolidate my current situation thus far...

The weather outside is a little warm with the sun shining, though rather weakly through the clouds that continue to pervade the skies. The nights are a little cooler though and the stars can be seen quite sharp as they begin their run in the night.

I have successfuly completed my registration and gotten all my courses approved and done up for the academic year 2007-08. I went to the Angelicum last Monday. The whole exercise took almost 3/4 of the day and after that I was in a total daze! :-P I don't begin my classes till after 8 or 9 October. Till then I have some time to settle into the College a little bit more. The opportunity also allows me to look at what textbooks I need to buy. That means a trip down to the Vatican area where the Daughters of St Paul's are, which I plan to do so the coming week ahead. I may also drop in again to the University to get use to the bus routes there and back. I may explore the surrounding area and see else they have to offer besides the place of studies...

Yesterday, to complete the College's oeirntation program, the V Rector and our SD took us, newbies, on a little pilgrimage to 3 basilicas and one catacomb site. We spend almost the whole day exploring those fascinating places and, in the midst of them all, we almost lost a fellow priest when he couldn't arrive at our bus in time as we unknowingly left without him at one of our stops. We managed to realize our missing priest and returned to retrieve him safely. :-D We went to the Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls, the Basilica of St Mary Major and the Basilica of John Baptist and Evangelist. Earlier we went to the Catacombs of St Callisto, one of the 27 catacombs site outside the periphery of Rome. This particular one had a total stretch of 20 km to explore! But we only went through just about 2 km of it with our guide that formed as part of the tour.

For now, I am thankful for the free time available!

I Passed!

I shall take a loooong *sigh* of relief now!...

With a short and simple ceremony at the University for Foreigners, Perugia, our batch of priests received our certificates for completing the language course that we had been struggling with for the past two and a half months. :-) I passed lah! I am happy to have survive these past period here and to have come out of all this intact! Along the way, I have lost a great amount of grey cells and memory and age seems to have been slowly creeping up on me. :-P I am not able to remember things and hold information well...

Nonetheless, I have overcome one hurdle and now another beckons. We shall be leaving for Rome on Monday morning and there I shall need to start preparing to enter the Angelicum University for my REAL studies that I was sent for! :-) My consolation here would be that my course is all in English... :-D

For now, I am just relaxing around while I still can. Tomorrow (Sunday), however, our group will make a trip to Narni. More on that later... ;-)