Rome Day 2 Sunday

L to R: Eden Wolf, Dan Devine, Annette Corbett, Grace Wilson, Rebecca Wunderlick, Jeff Pomeisl,

Corey Tufford(those that went to Honduras know him), Ben Cahill, Teresa, and Jessica Kozlowski

As I said previously, I did not go to the Vatican, but that was the only thing I wanted to see the whole trip. Today was the day that I was able to see Mother Church. I got off the metro with some students and was praying the rosary. I knew we were walking to the Vatican, but I did not know where exactly it was. As I was praying the fourth glorious mystery, I stepped into the arms of Mother Church. There I was, surrounded by the saints, angels, and our Lord.

This is what I've been living for and thinking about since I was a little girl. Reflecting on when I was a child, I used to line up my dolls and play monopoly when there was no one to play with. It was my dolls and me, and God that would play monopoly. No joke. And I knew He did lots of other things, so I would tell Him when it was His turn. What I'm getting at is even as a child, even though it was a very much imperfect desire and still is, I would try to think of God as a whole, and when I was older and understood the Church, the Church as a whole. There I was standing in the Vatican, in the arms of Mother Church, seeing what I had known about, but never thinking that a small town country girl would be given this opportunity. Standing where so many other pilgrims had traveled - many alone on foot- to go where they knew the truth was, and knew the importance of it.

I finally made it home. I thought I had known what God's plan was for me, but as you know, being in Europe was the farthest from my mind. It was not even an option. Little Annette doesn't do things like that. But God is so much bigger and wanted me to see His Church. When I become a catechist in a year, He wants me to know His Church and the truth so that is way I am able to evangelize and catechize like apostles and St. Peter, whose sarcophagus is under the altar in St. Peter Basilica. "Upon this rock I will build my Church."

So I finished my rosary and was then able to look at the Vatican. Statues of saints surrounded the top of the Vatican. St. Peter's Basilica is enormous.