Travels: November 2007 Archives

I left the Monastery of Notre-Dame d'Orient in Laval-Roquecezière this morning at 5:00. At the moment I am sitting in the airport waiting for my light to Toulouse. Here are a few photos taken during my stay at Notre-Dame d'Orient. The statue of Our Lady is atop a mountain peak from which one can see both the Alps and the Pyrenees.

Tomorrow I will go to the Casa San Francesco in Carsoli (Aquila) to preach a retreat to the Benedettine Riparatrici del Santo Volto Please pray for me during this ministry.

This was the view from my window this morning, shortly after I got up. The Jura mountain region tends to be cold on these early November mornings. I am told that tomorrow, in the Aveyron, the temperature will be exceedingly mild.

Thursday evening I received I call from Mère Marie-Anne du Sacré Coeur, the prioress of the monastery of Craon, asking if I would consider going to serve a monastery in the Aveyron that would, otherwise, be without a priest and without Holy Mass for a fortnight. The monastery is attached to an ancient sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin Mary called Notre Dame d'Orient. The origin of this title of the Blessed Virgin is the phrase, Virgo auriens — the Virgin who gives heed — which came to be translated as Notre Dame d'Orient. Here are two photos of Notre Dame d'Orient. I will leave Nans-sous-Sainte-Anne early Sunday morning. You can imagine my delight at being asked to serve in a sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin!