holy, holy, holy lord, god of power and might

While I am not religious, I appreciate the community a church provides, as well as the respite and relief it offers when thinking about death. I feel lucky enough to have grown up going to a church that actually mirrored some of the churches we visited - no not my childhood Episcopalian church, my grandparent's Irish Catholic church we went to every Christmas Eve. It was assumed that my husband and I would not want to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve in Rome (which promptly began at 9:30 p.m. - go figure), but it was something we were both very interested in experiencing. Although we were unable to go inside, we stood outside St. Peter's Basilica in St. Peter's Square. Hello holy! In all honesty it was one of my favorite parts of our trip. We watched the pope and all his little helpers on television screens set-up around the square. The square was a sight in itself, though I imagine the interior of St. Peter's isn't anything to be looked over, but we were outside and not inside. There were statues of saints lining the top of the basilica, as well as all the buildings around it. It was eerily gorgeous and hauntingly breathtaking. We didn't stay for the entire service - much too long - but we were able to experience mass by the pope and really enjoyed it (even though we couldn't understand a word he was saying, yes it was in Italian). It was a beautiful and very meaningful ending to our Christmas Eve.