Finding God everywhere
ROME — Over the winter, seminarians from the Diocese of Charlotte who are studying in Rome combined their studies for the priesthood with experiencing Christ in the Holy Land, in various sites around Europe and Asia, and in special Lenten rituals.
Elijah Buerkle, John Harrison, Gabriel Lugo and Ronan Ostendorf are students at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, studying theology and other topics in Italian and English.
Harrison, Lugo and Ostendorf also took an important step on their journey to the priesthood on March 1, when they were instituted as acolytes at a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, adjunct secretary of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Evangelization, at the college’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.
As acolytes, the men took on duties of attending to the altar, assisting the deacon and priest at Mass, and distributing Holy Communion as an extraordinary minister.
The winter months offered them chances to reflect on their vocations and to deepen their faith through experiences.
Finding God in the mountains
Harrison hiked through the Apennine mountains in the north of Italy, first with his brothers, Father Matthew Harrison and Joseph Harrison, and later with Buerkle and Ostendorf.
“Every direction I looked was a new view of the snowy mountains and foggy valleys, and yet it was all surrounded by a deep silence and tranquility,” he said.
He also took a ski trip with friends in northern Italy. On the train trip up, one of his friends recalled his grandfather saying, “I see the hand of God in the mountains.” That resonated deeply with Harrison.
He said people can find meaning in reflecting on God’s great love in creating not just humanity, but the Earth and all its beauty, referring to the Scripture passage: “For as high as the heavens are above the Earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him” (Psalms 103:11).
Pilgrimages and dawn walks
Buerkle, who started his studies in Rome last fall, is getting accustomed to seminary life and feels he has gotten his “Roman sea-legs.”
Highlights of his past few months were pilgrimages over Christmas break to the Holy Land, Venice and Ephesus, Turkey.
At Ephesus, he joined Ostendorf and Lugo to visit and attend Mass at the house of St. John the Evangelist and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In Venice, a visit to the Basilica of St. Mark, where St. Mark is buried, was special.
“I was especially grateful to be able to make this pilgrimage because my home parish is St. Mark’s in Huntersville, and I was able to spend some time in prayer at St. Mark’s tomb asking for his intercession for our parish,” he said.
Since Lent began, Buerkle has enjoyed participating in an old tradition in which Romans begin their mornings before dawn by walking across the city for Mass at the day’s designated “Station Church.”
“It is a lot of walking, but it has been a wonderful way to enter into the spirit of Lent,” Buerkle said.
Enjoying Rome with family
Lugo jumped from the winter break into an extended final exam period, an experience he said was challenging but meaningful because of the material.
“I spent a couple of long study days preparing for a Christology exam in particular, and it was time well spent,” Lugo said. “It is information that helps me now to better know and love Jesus and will help me to be a better preacher and pastor.”
After that exam, Lugo welcomed family from the U.S. who visited for several days. They took a tour of the Roman Colosseum and Forum, his first time inside the ruins.
“Hearing the stories and seeing the marks of history, both of Rome’s rise and fall, gave more meaning to the places I see on a regular basis and made me more grateful to be studying here,” he said.
A swim in the sea of Galilee
While on pilgrimage in the Holy Land, Ostendorf ushered in 2026 by taking a swim in the Sea of Galilee on Jan. 1, which is both New Year’s Day and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
“Literally being submerged in the environment in which Jesus walked and talked and taught was a particular grace,” he said. “It hits home that Jesus was a real flesh-and-blood man.”
The pilgrimage brought Christ’s life into physical focus for him, he said, because of the experience of realizing “Jesus walked on this water, died on this hill, etc.”
He reflected on how the disciples must have felt when they realized they were sharing their daily lives with a man who was also the Son of God.
“It’s easier to understand how dumbfounded and awestruck they were with fathomless joy when they finally started realizing, in their bones, that they had walked with God Himself,” he said.
“That’s why Peter threw himself into the water when John told him who was on the shore. When you know Him, it’s hard not to throw yourself at Him, even if there’s a sea in the way.”
— Christina Lee Knauss
