Today, we had the opportunity to either attend mass at St. Mary Major Basilica, or we could take the morning to rest. My body decided that I needed the rest, and so therefore I did not make it to mass this morning at St. Mary Major. I took the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy my morning without any rush.

Once I woke up, I went to mass at a local church, and then returned Sant’Anselmo. From there I went with David Whiteford to the Coliseum. If anyone saw my picture today from the coliseum (picture at left), I echo what I wrote before: it is truly a masterpiece of architecture, yet you can see and feel how destructive the Romans were. I took the opportunity to pray for all the past and present martyrs of the church. Listening to the audio tour, I became disturbed when they denied that any Christians were martyred for the faith within the Coliseum. It blatantly said that this notion is foolish and has no substance in history. This experience reminded me how the church is still under attack even to this day. We must continue to press forward in prayer and the new evangelization so as to better educate people people of the church and the world around us.

After our visit to the Coliseum, I was very hungry. After a recommendation from Monsignor Ricardo, we went to lunch at Ristorante Abruzzi. I enjoyed another fine meal at this restaurant and even finished the meal with a nice Sambuca Verde.

Today was a very light today, which is good to prepare me for tomorrow when we visit Assisi. After lunch, David and I visited the Trevi fountain. This is definitely a tourist trap, and I really didn’t want to stay for very long. At the end of our afternoon, we returned Sant’Anselmo for a short siesta. On our way back to Sant’Anselmo, I noticed the church of Saint Andrew. I had been looking for this church earlier in the week, and just by happenstance, we were walking right by it! I felt as though I should go in, and I am really glad I did! It was a beautiful church with a spectacular image of Saint Andrew. We ended our day with dinner at another local restaurant.

I feel like I probably should have just written a blog about the food that Iate this week. I’ve eaten so much and enjoyed every bit of it. I did not do this because I did not want to tempt you to curse my name when you look at this blog and the pictures I am posting! Now I know that none of you would do that, would you?

As I said before, our group will spend the entire day in Assisi, Italy. I look forward to being so close to St. Francis of Assisi.

As always, continue to pray for me as I pray for you.