It was another quiet day; the Domincans gone and me standing at the altar as principal celebrant of the Mass. I wanted it to be a quiet day so I could take the lectionary and the sacramentary and first get my bearings. The layout of the book is not identical to the English versions. So to get a visual of the prayers, their location on the pages and placement of the individual sections of the Mass, I took the books from the sacristy after petit dejeuner and brought them to my room to study. The priests do not often give a homily on a weekday of ordinary time. They usually only preach on feasts. I debated whether to follow this practice - basically to chicken out or not. About an hour before Mass, as I was reflecting on the the scripture, I decided to go for it. But there was not much time. I decided to write my thoughts quickly and hit the translate key in Google. I actually did formulate some thoughts in French as I was reading the scripture in French. Google translate differed quite a bit. And besides, I have no printer with me. So I had to write out the French text long hand. That was what really took up the time. So thats the story of my first homily in French in about 18 years. I posted the English and French in the previous post.
At Mass, there were the 4 sisters and about 8 laypeople from the local community, and some of the lay staff of the hotelerie. I had asked Sister Natalia about music. I did not know from memory all the chants they use. I could have read the musical notation quite easily but I did not want to juggle three books in the sanctuary. Sister asked me if I liked the guitar at Mass. This is the sister I'm teaching piano. Of course, I was very happy to let her take care of the music. She plays guitar very well, not just strumming, but picking melodies too. And she has the most beautiful, clear voice that really rang out in the lively acoustics of the the chapel. All in all, I think a good liturgical experience.
As I was leaving the chapel, an elderly monsieur and his wife greeted me and said, "Vous n'etes pas d'ici." If you guessed that it means, "You're not from around here", you are right. But we had a nice conversation. Of course the whole American-speaking-French story had to be told again. He was really fascinated because he has family who emmigrated to Canada years ago from the Bayeux region of Normandy, just as my ancestors did. And he was the first person around here for whom I did not have to repeat my family name. It was the first time that anyone recognized it as a Normand name. Gives me hope that I might really discover something in my genealogical research I hope to do in June.
Attending Mass and joining us for dejeuner was a Sister of Charity. She is spending several days of rest here. She works in a cite in Marseille, what we might call a ghetto. She says the word ghetto is used often in the French laguage to describe exactly what we all know a ghetto is. But in the ministry in this community, they choose to not use ghetto because of all the negative conotations. She says you can't build community when the very identity of the place presumes poverty and violence. She had spent 30 years working in Thailand. She taught me something I never knew. When the British left the colony in what was then called Laos, the people chose to call their newly independent nation Thailand, which mean "Thai" = free and "land".
Sister and Antoine really connected. Antoine's father's company had worked for years from Thailand. When sister learned Antoine's family name, she lit up and asked about his father's name. It turns out she worked very closely with Antoine's father who was a great supporter of the mission where Sister worked. Any questions about where Antoine's vocation comes from? It was amazing watching a new relationship develop before my eyes. I suspect these two will stay connected.
Today started as a very foggy day. The cliffs were entirely obscurred early this morning, and remained a bit hazy all day. It seems that I have only tomorrow to make it to the summit of the cliff, about 300 meters above the grotto. Antoine was there yesterday and said the trail is still quite icy. this is what has kept me from going to the summit until now. I have decided that if I don't make it this week, it will be a priority on my return to Provence in the spring.
The rest of the day after Mass was a bit lazy. I napped, spent some time answering emails, did some online personal finances, and spent a little while with Monseigneur Rey's book. This book is turning out to be slow going. His book starts out with some simple language, but as he develops his ideas more fully, the French is becoming more complex and more subtle. It is taking longer to read. I have to have the computer on to check the online dictionary. What I'm learning is rewarding. I need to be taking notes as I read. The margins are not big enough.
I gave Sister Natalia her piano lesson this evening after dinner.
Going to Skype my mother now and then call it a day.
