Friday, April 28, 2006

As the sun sets over a glorious scenic view. . .

. . .let me apologise for not posting something sooner.

Right now, I am in Lake Placid, in upstate New York in the Adirondack Mountains. The sun is just beginning to set, as I sit here, look out the window, and see the glorious view of Mirror Lake with the mountains as a wonderful backdrop.

I'll post pix of my trip later.


N.B: Please remember in your prayers: a friend of mine is undergoing major surgery on May 5th.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

On St Louis-Marie de Montfort

Yes, I know his feast day is not until April 28th, but I thought I should put this up now anyway.

When I went on my own Tour de France in 2002, one place I visited was St Laurent-sur-Sevres.

This is the village in the Vendee region where the saint is buried; it is a minor basilica, and was also visited by Pope John Paul II, who, as we all know, was a devotee of De Montfort and his True Devotion.

There is, as far as I am aware, no bus service to the village, so you can take the train to Cholet, a good-sized town seven miles to the north, and get a taxi from there. I believe there is one hotel in St Laurent, though it was full when I got to the area, so I stayed Saturday night in Cholet, and got a taxi to St Laurent for 1030 Mass.

At the time, I was using just a simple, cheap single-use disposable camera, so the photos are not good. Apologies!

Here is the basilica from the bridge:




Here is the tomb of the saint:



And here is the stained glass window over the main entrance. Each of the five vertical parts of the window represents the various religious orders and lay movements which the saint either founded or inspired:

I admire this man. . .

. . .who features in this news story which happened today.

Even though his girlfriend became blind and brain damaged in an accident, he stood by her and married her last year.

I have no connection with anybody involved, and I have no knowledge of the accident, and I assume that there was no guarantee, when they got married, that the court proceedings would conclude in their favour.

But I can think of some men who, faced with this situation, would have dumped the girlfriend.

Two phrases come to my mind: the first is that love is not an emotion, but an act.

And the second: "My yoke is easy and my burden light". You might think it is going to be a heavy cross for him to bear looking after his wife, but I have a feeling that, sometimes, what seems to us to be a cross, to someone else could be regarded as a blessing.