Note: This is Part 4 on my miniseries on how I ended up in Rome, the Eternal City. Check out the introduction, my stop in California and New York and New Jersey.

July 2023 opened with my arrival in Boston on a red-eye flight from Los Angeles. I returned to St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in the Back Bay as a staging ground for the next jump to Rome.

Here are insights:

• A bit nostalgic: That was my answer to Fr. Sean Morris, OMV, the rector of Our Lady of Grace Seminary, when he asked me how it felt to be at the seminary again. Everything was so familiar: the church, the refectory, the library, the classroom, the bedrooms. But it’s different because I’m a fully professed religious brother and priest. The priests and brothers at the dinner table are my equals. Yet this month, I sensed the first time how empty the seminary is without the seminarians. I had spent a summer there to work on my master’s thesis. But Br. Jorge and Br. Jonathon were also there, so there was a tiny seminarian community. With no students, there was a week when I was the only person residing in one wing of the building.
• The speedy Italian visa: I heard stories about the difficulties in obtaining an Italian visa. I already struggled to find an early appointment at the Italian consulate. But the day of the appointment was unusual. People are called up in 10-minute blocks. A woman was called ahead of me but never came up. So I was called next. I signed and submitted the documents and answered a few questions. My appointment was done. Two days later, my passport arrived in the self-addressed envelope. There was the visa attached inside. When I saw the visa, I realized that I was really going to Italy. An Oblate priest commented: “The Blessed Virgin Mary wants you in Italy.”
• St. Francis Chapel: Every day but Tuesday, I worked a shift at the St. Francis Chapel at the Prudential Center until additional Oblates can arrive later that month. I celebrated a Mass or two and heard Confession most times. On Sundays, I helped at the bookstore. The Lord amazes me when I began to understand why a particular penitent comes to me: maybe a piece of advice or a prayer.

Before I knew it, everything came to a close. My last day at the chapel was on Thursday, July 21, 2023. The next day, I flew back to California for Fr. Jay-Ar’s priestly ordination. I was joyful in seeing a classmate being ordained and laying my hands on his head in priestly brotherhood.

Here is the video of Fr. Jay-Ar’s priestly ordination on Saturday, July 22, 2023, at St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens.

Although Fr. Jay-Ar had the limelight, I couldn’t escape from giving first blessings. A walk back to the church after the ordination turned into a crawl as people asked for my blessing. Then Sunday, people learned that such blessing had a plenary indulgence attached to it. Another line awaited me. (Actually, the plenary indulgence comes at the First Mass for the newly ordained and the lay faithful. The graces from a first blessing haven’t been specified.)

After another red-eye to Boston, I paused to pray for a day and then packed for two days. Late Wednesday evening, July 26, 2023, I boarded a flight to Barcelona on my way to Rome.

Thus, my fourth bounce begins.

God bless.