So, it turns out today is a holiday. Well, not a holiday so much as a Holy Day, but regardless my liturgical calendar has been offset since my arrival so I had no idea that today is the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Thus, I arose at a still way-too-early hour to go to the 11:30 mass. I headed out at 11:15 and was surprised to find a) a giant image covering the pavement next to the fountain and in front of the church, a dove and flowers made out of herbs and petals (look at the pictures when they go up, there's no way I can actually explain it in words!); and b) the church itself, which had been practically empty last Sunday, completely packed. Standing room only, with extra folding chairs scattered about - and this was with 15 minutes to spare?!
A quick commentary about mass in Italy: a big part of it is really the social aspect. You go to mass not just for the religious experience here, but to see everyone in your town. It's a very communal, interactive event.
So as testament to this fact, all the people around me were walking around greeting each other but I didn't know anyone so I was just kinda standing there trying to figure out what was going on. It didn't help that I couldn't see anything going on at the altar because a) I was in the back of the church, and b) I'm short. But fortunately I could hear, and the first thing I heard was the priest telling the congregation to share with each other the sign of peace. I shook the hands of those around me, but I was alarmed - HOW had I managed to *miss* the mass that I had come to 15 minutes early?!
Another commentary about mass in Italy: it's kinda really unorganized. When people go up for communion, it's literally a free-for-all. There's no system, no order to the procession, you just throw yourself into the line and do your thing.
So as a testament to this fact, all the people around me were walking around the back of the church, talking, basically just hanging around and not paying attention to anything going on at the altar, as if it wasn't a religious service. I was becoming more confused by the minute but then people started streaming down the center aisle so I figured it was time for communion and even though I hadn't been there for the whole mass I figured I should still receive the Eucharist, so I headed over to join the "line," if you can call it that. The problem is that I get really nervous about angering people by cutting them off in the "line" even though there really *is* no organized line. Sigh. But it turned out that wouldn't be an issue today because they weren't actually going up for communion, they were just joining the procession that, as I somewhat understood the priest explain, was going to go from that church to another church, where the service would conclude. So I ran over to one of the chapels with candles and statues and prayed quickly, then ran to join in the procession, grabbing the paper with all the responsorial songs on it as I went.
By the time I made it out, the procession was already a little bit away; there were hundreds of people following this tent-like thing covered in a gorgeous cloth, under which the clergy walked carrying the Eucharist. Several altar servers or brothers or some sort of religious people were positioned intermittently along the edge of the crowd holding speakers for everyone to hear the readings. I got sidetracked by a group of little children playing in the herb/petal dove scene, throwing the petals up in the air and rolling around in it and it was all so cute and meraviglioso that I decided to sprint the 50 feet back to the hotel to grab my camera before catching up to the procession.
After that and a few photos I rejoined the procession and just continued becoming more and more amazed by how incredible the whole thing was. Literally HUNDREDS, possibly even over a thousand, of people all walking through the streets of Perugia together, singing praises to God and listening to scripture readings. (WHY DOESN'T THIS HAPPEN IN AMERICA?!) I had no idea what church we were going to, but we passed alllll the way down Corso Vannucci (the main street off which is my hotel), past Piazza Italia, and started our way down the winding, sloping road that leads toward the park that I read at with Rachel and Hannah. People came out of their homes and shopowners out of their shops to watch the festivities, and when we passed through Piazza Italia there was a row of police/military-like uniformed people standing out front with the flags of Italy and the region. I felt like the quintessential awestruck tourist who just kept gaping at everything going on and snapped a million photos, but at least I knew some of the songs (the Latin ones though, not the Italian, strange as that sounds. They sang Ubi Caritas, Dad! Was there a sale at CVS?! Hehe.) so hopefully I fit in at least a little bit.
The procession was just gorgeous. The cloth covering the Body and Blood was beautiful - cream colored with red/pink flowers. There were also several groups of nuns and brothers marching, and it's rare to see them in America these days so that was a happy surprise.
Finally, the procession arrived at its destination, the church of San Domenico, the exterior of which was also sprinkled with flower petals. We all entered and took seats, and the priests gave a final blessing - as well as a very sincere thank you to all of Perugia for coming out in such force to show a love for Jesus and for the Catholic faith. It was a really touching little speech of appreciation, and afterward I stuck around to check out all the chapels and pray in them for a little bit (partially, I will admit, to confess my guilt at missing the actual mass!). I lit candles for my loved ones, so everyone who is reading this can consider him/herself blessed and prayed for! :)
I'm still on this super happy cloud 9 just because that was such a cool experience and I love being in a country where, in some way or another, religion is always present. It's really special for me, especially because I feel like in America it is considered more of something that we should keep private and personal and not be too open about. I love being able to walk down a random street and look up to see a statue of the Madonna and Christ child draped in fresh rose petals, or go into a shop and see a crucifix displayed in a place of prominence on the wall, or join in a beautiful procession of hundreds and hundreds of people singing glory to God. It's a wonderful thing, and something I feel truly blessed to have been able to experience today and throughout my time in Italy. I definitely feel my faith being strengthened through the constant reminders of God I come across in daily life here - the positive aspects of this trip never seem to cease! Grazie a Dio :)
Con pace e amore, (with peace and love),
Michelina
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento