My Personal Discovery at St. Peter’s
While in Rome this past Sunday, I woke up especially early in order to attend mass at St. Peter’s Basilica. I was raised Catholic, but have recently had doubts if the religion fits my beliefs. However, being in Vatican City, I felt it was essential to go. My friends and I arrived two hours early in an attempt to get seats, but to our surprise, there was no line.
The mass was being held outside in the dome that surrounds the Basilica. Immediately after passing through security, my eyes filled with tears. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going on in that very moment, but I knew I was emotionally overwhelmed. I did not expect to get nearly that emotional, let alone thirty seconds after walking through security.
I’ve struggled with finding my connection with God through The Roman Catholic Church, and often find myself feeling the closest to him outside of church. However, seeing the thousands of people who were present for mass that day was truthfully restoring; it was honestly overpowering. I was reminded that, as humans, we spend so much of our time trying to gain control over something that is so incredibly out of our control. In the end, the power and control we spend so much time chasing ultimately rests in the hands of God or a higher power. We are servants to this “higher power”, and by servants I mean we should do to others what we want to be done to us; our actions should be done with good intentions, and not out of guilt etc. Karma or that “higher power” is in control of our afterlife, which is dependent on how we spend our time on earth.
I was still shaky and in tears once we got to our seats. I was taking in the fact that I was on such holy ground, a place where many important figures once stood and so many historic events took place. All physical feelings that I had prior to walking into The Basilica, like my sore feet and the minor stomachache I had from all the mozzarella the night prior, weren’t even apparent; I had forgotten all about them. I wasn’t supposed to be anywhere else in that moment, but outside the breathtaking Basilica. People of all different cultures surrounded me, people who didn’t speak my language, and people from countries I hadn’t ever heard of. Despite all these differences, I still felt such a strong connection.
As if this experience alone wasn’t enough, I received The Holy Communion at the Basilica during The Eucharistic Feast. Pope Francis also put on the last portion of the mass and blessed the entire crowd. I honestly had no idea what to expect walking into The Basilica, but what I took away was far more than I could have ever envisioned. Going to mass at the Basilica was an encounter of a lifetime — one everyone should experience if possible.
