Posted on 04/05/2012 5:17:05 AM PDT by NYer
.- Scott and Kimberly Hahn have been Catholic for over two decades, but this is the first Holy Week they have ever spent in Rome.
“This experience has been for us overwhelming, and yet the best is yet to come – Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil. I mean, we’re just standing on tip-toes feeling like kids in a candy store. Like how good can it get?” Scott said to CNA on April 3.
The Hahns are in Rome this week with their three youngest sons, 20-year-old Jeremiah, 17-year-old Joseph and 12-year-old David. This morning they attended Pope Benedict XVI’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
“It is always amazing to be here in Rome; to hear all of the languages and see all of the peoples that the Gospel has gone to and realize that this is not an American thing, it’s not even a European thing …God has been at work over the centuries calling all kinds of people to him.”
Kimberly said she is always particularly moved “to hear old Italian men and young German children all singing to the Holy Father with the same sort of love I have for him.”
Since being received into the Church in 1986, Dr. Scott Hahn has become one of the most popular Catholic speakers and teachers worldwide. His wife Kimberly became a Catholic four years later. The Hahns later recounted their conversions in the co-authored international best-seller “Rome Sweet Home.” The couple has been married for 33 years and has six children and, very soon, six grandchildren.
The Hahns first visited Rome 20 years ago and had the chance to meet Pope John Paul II.
But the visit occurred at a hard time for the family as it came only one month after the death of Scott’s father.
“To be able to share from my heart the sorrow that I felt for my natural father but to look into the eyes of my spiritual father,” said Scott in reference to Pope John Paul, “and to hear him say ‘I’m sorry, I will pray for him’” was a bittersweet experience.
The encounter made Scott realize that as a Catholic he now enjoyed “the spiritual fatherhood of God through Christ to Peter and to all of his successors down through the ages which unites us worldwide as this Catholic, as this international, universal family of God.”
This is why, he explained, “Rome sweet home is not just the title of a book but the description of my own life experience.”
Kimberly said that the family enjoyed the chance to pray at the tomb of Blessed John Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica and “to be in St. Peters Square where the Holy Father was shot,” which is “a place I love to touch and be close to him there.”
Scott said that other favorite Roman sites for the family include the catacombs where the martyrs of the early Church were buried and “where you find out about how people paid a price a long time ago.” He suggested that “we too may end up having to pay a price” as we “may end up in a post-Christian pagan environment that is as resistant or hostile as theirs.”
Kimberly also loves Rome’s churches since “you just go a short distance and you find another magnificent church” where “even the little side chapels are more beautiful than most American churches.” She hopes that Americans visiting Rome will “catch a vision as to what a Catholic church should look like physically.”
Any opportunity to visit the Pontifical North American College seminary is also “very special” to Kimberly because “these are young men in training who will come back to the States as priests.”
“That experience of the Universal Church has been so powerful,” Kimberly said, summing up their Rome visit so far. “I really can hardly imagine what the Easter Triduum is going to be like, but I’m also really looking forward to that.”
"Then both Peter and Paul were led away from the presence of Nero. And Paul was beheaded on the Ostesian road.
And Peter, having come to the cross, said: Since my Lord Jesus Christ, who came down from the heaven upon the earth, was raised upon the cross upright, and He has deigned to call to heaven me, who am of the earth, my cross ought to be fixed head down most, so as to direct my feet towards heaven; for I am not worthy to be crucified like my Lord. Then, having reversed the cross, they nailed his feet up.
And the multitude was assembled reviling Cæsar, and wishing to kill him. But Peter restrained them, saying: A few days ago, being exhorted by the brethren, I was going away; and my Lord Jesus Christ met me, and having adored Him, I said, Lord, whither are You going? And He said to me, I am going to Rome to be crucified.
And I said to Him, Lord, were You not crucified once for all? And the Lord answering, said, I saw you fleeing from death, and I wish to be crucified instead of you. And I said, Lord, I go; I fulfil Your command. And He said to me, Fear not, for I am with you. On this account, then, children, do not hinder my going; for already my feet are going on the road to heaven. Do not grieve, therefore, but rather rejoice with me, for today I receive the fruit of my labours. And thus speaking, he said: I thank You, good Shepherd, that the sheep which You have entrusted to me, sympathize with me; I ask, then, that with me they may have a part in Your kingdom. And having thus spoken, he gave up the ghost."
Besides, we all know that where the Church (the Body of Christ) is, there is Christ!
Scott Hahn joined the Catholic Church a few years before my husband and I did. (We have more children, though.) His interpretations are always interesting, although sometimes I prefer another way of looking at a passage.
From Catholic Answers:
Saul of Tarsus was born a Jew, "circumcised on the eight day, of the race of Israel, or the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrew parentage, in observance of the law a Pharisee" (Phil 3:5). The Hebrew name given him by his parents was Saul, but, because his father was a Roman citizen (and therefore Saul inherited Roman citizenship), Saul also had the Latin name Paul (Acts 16:37, 22:25-28), the custom of dual names being common in those days. Since he grew up in a strict Pharisee environment, the name Saul was by far the more appropriate name to go by. But after his conversion Saul determined to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, so he dusted off his Roman name and became known as Paul, a name Gentiles were accustomed to.
For me too.
“The Lamb’s Supper” moved my heart to understand the Mass and the Eucharist in a way I had never done before.
They are a great gift to the Church from the Lord, who sends us what we need when we need it.
Praise God.
I wonder if he was named Saul after King Saul, the standout success (practically the only one!) of the tribe of Benjamin. Were boys in the tribe of Judah ever named “Saul,” in that time period?
A Salvadoran family in our congregation recently named their son “Saulo.” Family name, attachment to King Saul (I think he got an undeserved bad press), thinking of St. Paul but already had a “Pablo”? I didn’t ask ;-).
-—She hopes that Americans visiting Rome will “catch a vision as to what a Catholic church should look like physically.”-—
Amen! Fortunately, the tide appears to be turning.
It’s best that we forget modern churches, and speak of them no longer.
I found this about King Saul and Saul of Tarsus Compared
Published Date:
May 11, 2006
While doing a study on the life of the apostle Paul, I began to wonder if he was actually named Saul after the 1st king of Israel. I began to make comparisons between the two and found several things that they had in common. The name Saul means "desired" while the name Paul means "little".
It's interesting to think that Paul started off as Saul, or the one to be desired, but when God got a hold of him, he became Paul the little one. Sounds like the words of John the Baptist when he said of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30 Andrew Ray
http://www.learnthebible.org/king-saul-and-saul-of-tarsus-compared.html
My church does the Stations in English and Spanish every week since we have such a mixture of the two languages. The responses of the people in the two languages can seem like cacophonous at times.
Some of the people don’t mind the two together and some don’t like it wishing that we could hold separate services for each language.
I am one who really likes the bi-lingual because it I think of the Tower of Babel when language became a barrier to people wishing to exalt themselves rather than God.
But, when we are together in this prayer, though our languages are different, we are in fact speaking in one voice our love of Jesus. There is no barrier because of the languages, in fact we are united in the way Christ wished us to be.
How interesting! Thank you for finding and posting that.
1Co 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
1Co 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
1Co 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
And we decline/reject your so called Tradition because the scriptures alone contradict it so often...Scripture says Paul saw Jesus...
So Paul was failing as an evangelist and Peter had to rescue him??? Where is a face palm picture when I need one???
So when did this 'tradition' start??? And who passed it on to your religion??? Which one of the earliest church fathers wrote about it???
I totally agree with you.
The inordinate regard all to often given to other people is, in my opinion, a serious error.
Father Corapi, Father Euteneuer and others illustrate this all too painfully.
FReepers who give disproportionate attention to the Hahns and others are recklessly setting them up for a fall. It’s shameful.
Ping to 31.
Those who TRUELY love the Hahns just might take heed.
But it was pretty nice of those Romans to let Peter (who incidentally headed out of town like the Road Runner when Jesus was crucifide) decide how he was to be killed...
But that's a discussion for another day. Suffice to say that it is the major difference between Catholics and Bible Christians. Scripture was closed with the death of the Apostle John; I believe we agree on that.
The Church continues in history, and others have written; what else has been written may not carry the same weight as scripture, but that does not mean it's untrue or that it did not happen.
I’m having trouble finding shurdwould’s Scriptural account in my Bible. If you find it, please let me know, Iscool. It could be epic. or not...
uh, what scriptural account are you referring to?
I’m talking about your post 21. Sorry I didn’t reference it.
The first line clearly says:
While not in the canon of Scripture, the Acts of Peter is a source of much of the history of Peter and Paul in Rome.
In other words, it's not in your bible.
Thanks for posting this story...
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