Reflection by: Bernard
Home Sweet Rome – Day 1 – ROME
#sequelachristi2025
I have been looking forward to my trip to Rome, and there was one particular book that stood out to me: Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism by Scott Hahn and Kimberly Hahn. Both authors are outstanding Catholic apologists, and in this book they recount in their own words the incredible spiritual journey that led them to embrace Catholicism. As a convert myself, from Protestantism to Catholicism, their stories moved me deeply and gave me something I could personally relate to.
For my graduation trip, I spent two and a half months helping at a vineyard in the small town of Conegliano in exchange for food and accommodation. During that time, I also visited several Italian cities such as Pisa, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Verona and Padua. Back then I was a free thinker, so I experienced those cities through a different lens. Interestingly, Rome was the one city I did not visit, and now I feel that God may have been saving it for me to see as a Catholic. It even feels as though I am returning to Rome.
The first place we visited was the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, which marks the burial site of the Apostle Paul. We know Paul as a well known convert, once a persecutor of Christians who, after his dramatic conversion, became a devoted apostle of Jesus and went on to evangelize throughout the world.
