Walden Pond

Today we had our day of recollection for September and instead of going to a retreat center or staying at the shrine, we went to spend a day in the woods and on the beaches at Walden Pond. The weather was great- ~70 degrees and mostly sunny- and the park was not too crowded before mid-afternoon, so it was the perfect time to be there and see the earliest autumn colors.  

Our meditation was on the prayer of Christ- his prayer, his teaching on prayer, his hearing our prayer, and how we join his prayer.

The most profound portion of my meditation was how Jesus receives and responds to every prayer of faith, whether aloud (Jairus, Bartholomaeus, the Canaanite woman, St. Dismas) or silent (the woman with the hemorrhage, the friends of the paralytic, the repentant prostitute).

I also recommend to anyone spending some time reflecting on a section about the prayer of Mary from CCC 2617 : "this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God's, because he is wholly ours" (cf. Song of Songs 2:16) and CCC 2618: Mary's intercession at the wedding in Cana "is the sign of another feast- that of the wedding of the Lamb where he gives his body and blood at the request of the Church, his Bride." Further explication about why the Magnificat of the Theotokos must also be our song gave me much to consider about growth in the virtue of humility.

I also read the full interview of Pope Francis recently released by Jesuit publications and really appreciated some of the insights into spiritual and apostolic life. Some of the Pope's personal insights really spoke to areas of growth in my life, particularly his points about magnanimity ("That means being able to do the little things of every day with a big heart open to God and to others"), discernment ("an instrument of struggle in order to know the Lord and follow him more closely"), and theodicy ("God has revealed himself as history, not as a compendium of abstract truths;" "God is always first and makes the first move"), among many other insights ("The vow of chastity must be a vow of fruitfulness;" "We must always consider the person... it is necessary to accompany them with mercy").  

 

 We passed through Concord and Lexington on our way back to Boston. Unfortunately we did not have time to stop and see the Minutemen Memorial or Lexington Common, but that might happen on another weekend some time this fall.

Le Visite au Quebec

Sorry it has taken so long, but I have finally sorted through most of my pictures from the Thanksgiving trip to Montreal and Quebec and selected some of the best to post.

St. Joseph's Oratory was the first place we visited. It is a massive basilica complex on the main hill in Montreal. You don't get a good sense of scale from this picture, but it is a gigantic structure.

St. Frere Andre is the Holy Cross brother who founded the Oratory. The lower part of the basilica contains his tomb and a second sanctuary that overlooks the city.  

The St. Lawrence- as the trip-long joke on Fr. Guy went, "It's not a river, it's a 'fleuve'"- a special designation for a sea-draining river and also fun to say.

St. Francis Xavier Mission Church in Trois-Riviers, halfway between Montreal and Quebec, contains the remains of St. Kateri Tekahkwitha.

Everything was bilingual in French and Mohawk in the church. It was one of my favorites among the many churches we visited. It is just a simple old mission church, but still very ornate and beautiful.

We also visited the grave of Fr. Braux, one of the Montreal Oblates, near Trois-Riviers.

We stayed in a lakeside chalet owned by a religious community near Quebec. It was very beautiful and it snowed our last night there, but unfortunately those pictures didn't get saved. I taught a couple of the guys Monopoly and managed to play on a French board.

We approached Quebec by the royal entrance- a ferry ride up to the gates of the Old City- which offered a spectacular view of the area, especially the Chateau Frontenac.

L'Eglise des Victoires- the Church of the Victories, names for two important battles won against the British in the sixteenth century, is one of the most famous landmarks.

Rue de le Petit Champlain is a famous shopping area in the Old City seen here from the top of the hill.

The hotel lobby in the Chateau Frontenac.

The Rose Room, where Roosevelt, Churchill, and McKenzie (the Canadian PM not even the Canadians could remember) met during WW II.

The cathedral basilica of Notre-Dame de Quebec.

The tomb of Bl. Francois de Leval, the first bishop of Quebec, is to the right of the sanctuary.

The windows were light, almost pastelle colors- different from any I had seen before.

The remains of my tarte de canard (duck pie)- I forgot to take the picture before eating it.

Ste. Anne de Beaupre is huge mariners' church north of Quebec City. The current structure was completed in the 1950s. 

                  
 The exterior is undoubtably much more picturesque when the gardens are blooming or there is snow, but the structures are still very impressive: the fountain is about 30 feet tall and  all the exterior doors are solid bronze.

The back of the church has racks with hundreds of crutches and canes (as did the crypt at St. Joseph's Oratory) left by people who have been miraculously healed.

The reliquary containing the forearm of Bonne Ste. Anne

The crypt church is much simpler than the basilica and has many airbrush paintings that have been recently added.

       

Triptych depicting St. Anselm, St. Bernard, the Holy Family, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose.

At night, beacons at the top of the spires are visible almost all the way to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Sampling the wares at a local microbrewery in Beaupre.