I recently discovered that this year marks the hundredth anniversary of the R train. This line was added to the New York City Subway System on January 13, 1916.

The R is the train that takes me to work every day and brings me home every night. When I first arrived in NYC several years ago, one of the things that struck me the most was the humanity in the subway. I remember the first day I took the R train, I was surprised and moved to be surrounded by people from all religions, races, ages, and cultures. Today, if you asked me what is the coolest thing in NYC (in terms of most impacting on my life), I’d still say the people I bump into in the subway every day.

I feel this way, because the subway car is a place where it is easy to understand that these people are my brothers and sisters. I can almost feel their desires, their struggles, their fears or successes, because we share the same longing for happiness, we have the same heart. The subway is the place where it is easy to pray the litany Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam. Father Giussani said that if we offer our sincere prayer for the happiness of the person who is next to us on the bus, or on the train, we will never lose that relationship, even if we won’t ever see them again.

He also said that if we were able to say Veni Sancte Spiritus, Veni per Mariam 300 times a day, the world would change.

Ah, commuting by subway, it gives me the opportunity to read (and observe) a lot. So, I’m very grateful that the R train exists, because every day it helps me to renew the most important question in my life: “Who R You?”