Another beautiful day

Well everyone, it's 8:28 in the evening. (I'm not wearing my watch, Don. That's the time it says on my computer.) Night prayer is at 9:00PM. The monastery is very quiet tonight. Padre Luciano and Padre Angelo left mid-morning. I have Padre Angelo's contact information. After I get to Rome, I hope to connect with him again in the Parma region. As a hermit, Padre Luciano has no digital contact information. But he assures me that if I come to visit, Padre Angelo will notify him. Padre Angelo will also be visiting in the US next year - friends in New York City and in Toronto. I extended an invitation to visit East Freetown.

Tonight, I dined alone here for the first time. There is another young man in his mid 20's who is at prayer everyday, but he is not dining in the pilgrim's hall. Unless he is a guest of the Dominicans, I don't know where he is taking his meals. He's very quiet and had not resonded beyond bonjour and bonne nuit. People come and go here very quickly. I know that at petit dejeuner tomorrow morning, I will probably be alone again because at dinner tonight, the table was already set for 1 for the morning meal.

M. Garde e-mailed me today and confirmed our outing to the Cistercian Monastery of Thoronet for tomorrow. (I bet you can Google this and get pictures before I take any and post them.) It's also a good thing that our outing got moved to Wednesday. Wednesday is the day the Dominicans take off. They all hike up to the residence at the Grotto on the mountain for their day of recreation. There will be no one at the retreat center or the monastery. I would be alone in the whole place.

Today I slept in. I started with some sinus problems yesterday and with some medication, I slept very well. Tonight that seems to have cleared. My room keeps the heat very well for some reason. All other places in the building are quite chilly. Even the chapel. Some of the Domincans wear scarves around their necks over the Mass vestments. I could see my breath in the sacristy today.



La Sainte-Baume - East end



It was a beautiful day. I read in my warm room all morning. And I posted the Day 3 of the Novena. After Mass and lunch I went out for a walk - about hour and half. Here are a couple of pictures I took. The sun was very bright and warm,  although the air temperature did not melt much of the snow. After the walk, I went into the hall to practice piano for an hour or so. 



Today's feast was the Conversion of St. Paul. The prayers of the Liturgy of the hours and Mass are mostly chanted. Tonight at Vespers, there were six Dominicans and 4 part harmony. In the small chapel with the three shallow domes on the ceiling, stone walls and tile floors, the acoustics are beautiful. Their prayer books include all the harmony so I can read with them and supply some of the parts. Its very inspiring.



Valley of Nans les Pins



And speaking of prayers, the call to worship is ringing. Time for prayers. I'll be back later.

Back after Compline.

I think today is really the first day of real quiet inside. For the first week, it was travel - three locations in the first three nights. The first couple of nights at the monastery I was not sleeping well. That has improved. Today was the first day of a real pattern of prayer, solitude, and comfort with interior space - no outside concerns, worrying about how things are going to work out. I'm getting used to the routine. The prayer times are the only constant,  (Well, of course meal times too.) At the monastery, these are really connected. Prayer and community

I am also becoming very comfortable with the concelebration here. The fathers have been calling me up to pray portions of the Eucharistic Prayer. Today, I had to read the second list of saints in the 1st Eucharitic Prayer. My French is good, but some of these names are tough. The last time I celebrated a Mass in French was 17 years ago - and it was daily Mass. So I never used the 1st Eucharistic Prayer. I think I did ok. Today, I was the last one to receive from the cup. They signaled me to bring the cup down to the sisters. It may not seem like a big thing. And many of you would agree that I am generally comfortable in a sanctuary setting. But this is like being an overnight visitor to someone else's home. There is a concern about not disrupting the established patterns of a family's life. And so, concelebrating Mass is not always as easy as it seems. Every parish has a different sanctuary. Getting the lay of the land is not always automatic.



Hilltop Ruins - Trying to find out what they are.

 Some of the priests who are here on retreat will celebrate Mass alone in the main chapel or in the Domincan's small convent chapel. And while it is certainly valid practice according to the teaching of the church, it just seems to me that celebrating a Mass totally alone, which I have only done twice in my life, has seemed really empty to me. Some of my brother priests would say, of course you have the community of saints and it is really the work of Christ anyway. Intellectually I totally agree with that theology.  But Eucharist is also the joining of the earthly communion with the heavenly communion. And I alone am not the earthly community. When alone, I would rather enter into other kinds of prayer. While here, the Dominican Fathers are very gracious. I will continue to concelebrate every day.

It will be an earlier to bed tonight.

Bonne nuit, all.