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Bonsoir once again (tomorrow it will be Buenos  Dias … off to Spain in
the morning!):

We have been longing for Mass and missing the Eucharist we arose  early, foregoing breakfast (I made a pot of coffee as we got ready), and headed to the Grotto for the Mass For The Infirm.  This has been a  very difficult trip this year as far as Masses go.  There is not a lack of Churches around, for every little village we pass through has a Church.  There are just not enough Priests to Celebrate Masses on a daily basis.

We headed to the Grotto, rushing a little since we thought we were  going to be late.  I decided to take a short-cut on our walk and it  didn’t turn out very well, since we had to climb up a hill and then walk down flights of stairs to get to St. Joseph’s Gate at the Basilica.

Huffing and puffing from our quick walk, we entered the Grotto area  and avery, very long caravan of carts/wheelchairs carrying the infirm were stillprocessing in.  Susan was off on the Mass time by 15  minutes so we had time to spare.

We love attending the Mass for the Infirm when we are in  Lourdes.  It is amost humbling experience to see so many who are  suffering and who comehere to Lourdes with “hope of healing).  It  makes us so very grateful since our “pain du jours” do not even come  close to the suffering we see all around us here.

Mass at the Grotto, as always, was spiritually rewarding.  It  was celebrated in Spanish (I didn’t know that until Susan just told me  … I’m so confused with languages!).  We brought our daily “cheat  sheet” so, at least, we had the Reading of the Day, the Psalm & the  Gospel to read for the day.

During the Homily, Susan and I always split up your list of Special Intentions that we carry and we read each one to Our Blessed Mother and  offer them up to Her intercession.  It usually takes each of us  10-15 minutes to quietly read our half of your Special Intentions.   This morning we finished well in time to listen to the remainder of the 30 MINUTE HOMILY the Priest gave (he made Father Tom look GREAT! …  LOL).

When it was time for Communion, we had the opportunity to receive  Our Lordin the actual front of the Grotto and underneath Our Lady’s  Statue.  It was very special to both of us.

Before the Final Blessing, some Special Prayers (we think as it was in Spanish) and we awaited the Final Blessing, after which we all sang the Ave Maria (I think that was in Spanish, too … I’ll have to ask  Susan  ).

We are cheating a little this year at Lourdes because we are  sending you some photos from previous trips here.  Most of you have  been “traveling” with us for many years now so you have seen them.   For those who have not, wewanted to send some photos from our previous pilgrimages to Lourdes so that those of you who have never been to  Lourdes can see the inside of the Basilica and the different Shrines on  the three levels.

We were thirsty after Mass and had not brought a water bottle with us, so we stopped at the Holy Water Fountain to refresh ourselves by hand and drinkfrom the Fountain.  We walked to our favorite restaurant,  planning to have an early lunch/dinner but they were not opening until  Noon.  We didn’t want to wait for half an hour so we decided to  come back for dinner this evening.

We returned to our hotel for a little cheese & pate’ to hold us  over and we each took a short “power nap” because today will run  late.  Susan’s “battery was on low” so her power nap took a little  longer than mine.  I got up and finished yesterday’s Trip Report to  all of you.

Now, we are really caught up because in our next venture to the  Basilica,
we’ll have to find more things to share with you … we are  now in “present
time” with our Trip  Reports.

In our down time I marked up the map for our first 11 days (photo  enclosed).  We have traveled almost 1200 miles on 30 gal. of gas that  is around $5 a gal.  This is a far cry from the $9 we paid on our last  trip. We have been in and out of 8 B&B’s and 2 hotels’ have been to 20  shrines and had a few bottles of wine, And you wonder why we look so  tired.  Spain will be different:  for the 11 nights we are there, only 3  hotels and 3 B&B’s. and a lot less miles and shrines.

We went back to the Grotto at 5 so we could do the stations of the cross and go to Eucharistic Adoration and confession.  Unfortunately,  Susan mis-caculated the time as 5 hours difference from home instead of 6, and we missed it all.  I had to get some ammo at the bank, so we walked  into town and on the way back stopped for dinner at a Restaustarant where we ate with Fr. Yves in 2009.  The food was still as good and we enjoyed a night away from the sandwhich routine. We never thought we would eat it all but we did and headed back to the Grotto for the 9 PM Rosary procession.  We wanted to collect some water, leave another copy of all of your intentions under the Grotto of Our Lady and light a candle.  We did this with  great success.

At the Grotto they were taking the very infirm into it and helping  them touch the rocks and the water that constantly flows lightly from under the site of the apparition.  Again very humbleing to watch the faith of these people who don’t seem to have a chaqnce of survival.  We were  more upset than they were, they seemed to be at total peace and trust with  Our Lord.

We gathered for the procession behind all the infirmed.  We usually are in the very end, but we felt like being close to them tonight.  We offered up our prayers for them and for you, for nothing  is impossible for God.

On the way to the Grotto, the streets were empty.  They must have  all been hiding behind trees, because when the Procession began, it was PACKED which was a great thing.  We love Praying our Rosary during the RosaryProcession at Lourdes with so many people sharing in the Prayers of  the Rosary … I am sure She loves it too.

When we finished the Rosary Procession, it was finally dark and we  began
to head back to our hotel for the evening.  I did notice at the Grotto that there were a lot of people who were not Praying aloud and/or  they had left early which was sad … possibly an “early bird special in  town”?  I think we Prayed for them as well for them to have wasted an evening not giving Praise to our God and to our Blessed Mother for a short  period of time.  It
makes us very sad.

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped for our second beer since we  have been on our “journey”.  We sat at our cafe table on the street and said “hello” to people as they, too, returned to their rooms.  This is  one of only two places (Fatima being the second) that we stay out past dark  to Pray … it was about 10:30 P.M. when we reached our room.

As tired as we were, Susan worked on some real estate business while I  worked on our Trip Report.  Then she joined me and began typing to save  time.  I was dictating as I laid on our bed (which was very  dangerous) but I
survived.

It is almost midnight and we have lots to do in the A.M.before heading out toward Zaragoza, Spain and some very wonderful places we will be visiting and meeting up with friends and/or new friends …from our previous pilgrimages.

I would like to leave you with this very special Hymn of Lourdes:

Ave, Ave, Ave Maria!
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria!

Oh Mary, Our Mother, We come to this place,
Where you, who are sinless, appeared “Full of  Grace”.

As Bernadette waited, there came to her sight,
A radiant Lady … surrounded by light.

She gave her a message … “Let Penance Be Done,
and Pray that all sinners, May turn to My Son.”

“Come here in Procession, to Praise God and sing,
to Wash in these Waters, and Drink at this Spring”.

She asked that a Chapel be built in this place,
that all be encouraged to Pray for God’s Grace.

The Lady responded, when asked for Her name:
“Conceived Without Sin Is The Title I Claim”!

Love Susan & Tom
Palm Beach Gardens, FL  33418 (USA)
E-Mail: TSMelillo13@aol.com

Bonjour;

I awoke this morning to the bells from the church at around  7:30 AM. I let Susan sleep and went down stairs figuring everyone was  up.  Bob was on the computer and he also let BeBe sleep in.  He  gave me coffee and out to the patio we went where we solved the problems of  the world. (at least in our minds)

BeBe finally came out so we started to make some noise hoping to rouse  Susan.  It didn’t work so I went up to shower and pack and make a lot  of noise.  Susan got the hint and she also showered and we went down for coffee. We had a great conversation again filled with some  laughter and had a lite bite of cheese and fresh bread for breakfast.  Not being hungry, we opted out of having eggs and ham.  That was tough, but for the Brown Scapular penance, we don’t eat meat on Wed and Sat. More  cheese tonight.

We loaded the car and had to prepare ourselves to say good-bye to our  newfriends.  There were hugs, kisses and a few tears and promises to  keep intouch and return on our next trip.  We put them on the e-mail  list and already received mail from them.  I think the logo B&B came from them. B(ob)&B(eBe).

We made our way thru the narrow mountain roads towards Garaison and  were cutting it close as to whether they would be closed or not. The views  from here were great and they would only get better when we approached  Lourdes.

Garaison was closed when we arrived, but you can walk the grounds and  visitthe apparition site and get water from the Miraculous spring.  As  we entered the grounds we met a man who after finding out we were American took us to the Sacristy to meet the Priest. He was very welcoming and  allowed us toview the Sacristy.  The woman in there then took us to  the site of theapparition and departed so we could be alone.

This was a holy place, you could feel the peace and calm as it came overyou when you entered it.  We lit our candle and went up to the seats andprayed our rosary with all the intentions out as we offered them up in ourprayers.
Before leaving we walked the grounds made a pit stop.  Susan used  the Men’s Room by mistake and a guy tried to open her door … oops!   We hopped in the car and were off to Lourdes, via the mountain roads of  course. We wereonly an hour away, and just before our hotel there was a  supermarket, so we stopped and re-loaded.  Our wine cellar had  been depleted, too, at Bob & BeBe’s!

We checked in and had to change rooms.  The first room was real small  and the second wasn’t what we booked either, but were pilgrims and we  settled for it without causing any trouble.  We dropped the bags and  headed off to the Grotto at Lourdes and a potential Mass. We love this  place and it feels had if we have never left when we are here.

Below there is a great explanation on Lourdes and puts it’s meaning and being into a new light for us as  we are sure it will for you. Please read especially those of you who are  suffering.

We were shocked by how empty the town was  This our 5th trip and  we never saw so few people. We had no trouble walking down the busiest  streets.

Out of luck for Mass, we visited Our  Lady in the Grotto and said a few prayers and walked the grounds for a few minutes before returning to our hotel. We figured we would relax and  maybe make the 9 PM rosary procession.  It was a good thought, but we were so tired we were in bed before the procession ended.

At the hotel we worked.   I worked on the past day’s report and Susan handled some real estate business that we had to  address.  We had a little
cheese, fruit, tomatoes, and sardines with  some fresh bread and that was it.

Au Revoir

O Mary, conceived without  sin,
pray for us who have recourse to  thee,
and for those who do not have recourse to  thee,
especially the enemies of the  Church
and those recommended to  thee,
Amen.

Love

Susan &  Tom

Bon  Soir:

We we were caught up on e-mails until today and now we are 2 days  behind, but that you will understand later in the report.

We got up and had a light breakfast and said our good byes to Jo and  Roy and headed to Vals, France and the Chappelle Notre Dame Du Val D’Amour.  I could sit here and try to describe this Church, but a picture is worth a thousand words, and this holds true for our next unscheduled stop in Montradit, France, to a road side church which was built by the local priest one rock at a time.  It was a special place and the story is also below.

The drive to both place was uneventful for me but poor Susan was  slightlyterrified on a couple of the back roads through the mountains, that were hardly big enough for 1 car. When we travel these roads we hardly ever see any cars, as was the case today, but the blind turns tend to make you a  little cautious.

Vals was very unique and secluded in a small town in the hills.  We actually ran into some British folk and shared a few laughs.  We  didn’t stay to pray because it was very cold and we only had 5 layers of  shirts and coats on, not to mention the bat that was flying around….unbeknownst to Susan…..or she would have flown out of there.  We said the  Rosary on the way to our next stop.

Montardit was a different story, this little church mesmerized  us.  It was so unique and you could tell it was built with a lot  of love and 33 years of hard labor.  We spent some time here, praying and leaving our intentions

We sat out front at one of the picnic tables and enjoyed half of the rest of that sandwich I made the night  before.  We were going to save some for tonight if we got hungry at our next B&B  (read on, and you will see that was not going to be a problem).

More mountain roads and tremendous views and some white nuckles later we arrived in Forgaron, France.  For the most part this is a one street  town of good roads.  All the other off streets are so small that even I wouldn’t  go on them.  It was close to 3:00 p.m..

Not being shy, I asked the first person I saw, who was standing in  the drive of this beautiful house, if he knew of B&B Fouargon.  He broadly smiled and said “you’re here, I’m Bob”.  Bob said to park  right on the street and I guess I looked a little concerned, so he offered his  spot in the drive.  I asked if it was safe and  he laughed saying that the only 4 people passed him were already home and the  road ended.  I pulled close to the curb and bushes and had to start over as we all laughed since Susan couldn’t get out of the car. I said  hello to BeBe, Bob’s wife when she came out. I knew her name from the e-mails as we corresponded before our trip. I did cancel once and rebooked as we changed our plans and routes to give us more time to  relax. We were glad we did and they were taking bets if we were coming  or not.

Bob and BeBe helped with the luggage into the house and we started to talk about our journey and their beautiful house.  He offered us a  drink so they had wine and I had a Courvoissier VSOP  that I saw  on the shelf and laughingly he said to BeBe, I told you to hide that  bottle.

We went and sat on their back patio sheltered from the wind and  the fun began.  We all clicked as if we had known each other for years and started laughing so hard at the stories we told each other it hurt.

Having finished our wine we went in to go to our room and  He said  that we should use the living room or dining room  for our computers,  so Bob and I only had 2 bags to carry up … 3 flights of stairs  … Bob was “NO DUMMY”.

We came back down after a few minutes and I hooked Susan up to the computer. She spent all of 5 minutes and Bob and BeBe invited us to have  dinner with them.  That sandwhich was still in the car, and it could stay there for a home cooked meal.  Bob opened up another bottle  of wine and back to the patio we went. From that point on and  throughout we had a fun and enjoyable evening, we never stopped  laughing.

I don’t know what time we started dinner, but it was dark out when we sat for the 2nd course, so it had to be close to 10:00.  We got thru  the first course of Coquille St. Jacques in a puff pastry along side a one with goat cheese and a small salad.  I thought that was it when he had  said light supper and we were almost full.  Back to the patio we  went.

After dark we went back in and  BeBe next brought a cream of carrot soupthat was just as delicious as the first course.(S)  Little did we know thatthere was  more to come but I think we all had faded and just shared a little cheese to help finish off the 6th bottle of wine.  It was a perfect a perfect day except for the lack of peanuts. LOL

As the church bells rang 11 PM and we were all exhausted, not from the wine, but the laughter….. well, the wine helped. So we hugged and  kissed each other good night and went to bed.  Susan just hopped in to  bed clothes and all and was out in seconds.  I managed to get  my jammies on and crashed right behind her.

Au Revoir

We fly to thy patronage, O holy  Mother of God;
Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but  deliver us always from
all dangers,
O glorious and blessed  Virgin.
Amen.

Love

Tom & Susan

Bon Jour

Today was the first day we hadn’t set the alarm and we got up around 8:30. We ran down to breakfast not wanting to miss it.  Jo and Roy had a large array of breads, pastries,fruit, cereal, cheese, butter and jams.  After juice and some coffee we ate only a little.  Just knowing food was available did the trick.  Today is another holiday and everything is again closed but we may get lucky and find a lone restaurant open.

This was great, our first 2 day stay. We didn’t have to load the car and unload later at another destination. Our plan was to visit our first shrine whenever we got there for Susan had e-mailed and found out they didn’t close at 12. We headed out at 10:45 and was at the shrine by 11:15. On  the way we saw a supermarket that was open and planned to stop on the way  back.

There were people coming out of the shrine and we weren’t alone as morepeople arrived.  This was a very old church with several separate  naves.

The statue of our Lady was in the chapel of the Blessed Mother in a niche carved out of the stone. She had a glass front and a steel grate over it  so no one could get to her.  She was stolen once and found 2 years later  in an antique shop far away. Almost like when she was first found and moved and kept returning on her own to the place where this church now stands.

Everyone left, so Susan sat at the intention book and wrote as much as shecould since it was the last page. We left the pages of all the intentions out in front of Our Mother and said our Rosary for all of you, another peaceful experience.

On the way out we walked down the old stone road that was built by the Romans to the well of the Miraculous spring.  The spring had a grate cove  tokeep animals out of it and Susan with head in the niche was trying to figure out how to get the bottle thru the grate.  I said lit it up and she did andit came up so she filled the bottle and blessed herself and I dove in and did the same. Many cures have been attributed to this water and we will add it to our concoction of holy waters from Miraculous springs we have  collected from all over Europe and Turkey.  We are up to 18.

On the way back we just made it to the supermarket.  They closed at 1:00 andin 10 minutes we scurried around and put together a new sandwhich. Thefresh bread was totally anniliated so we had to get store bread.   That’s a real bummer in France!
On the way back I detoured up the mountain to the Rennes-le-Chateau, a very small town with an old church, castle and shops and homes that have been added over the years.

Susan was not a happy camper.  This was a very narrow road with no side rails and sharp high turns.  I was careful since it was a little hairy and all I think Sue said all the way up was remind me not to talk to you later.
LOL

We we got to the top her first words were “Thanks Roy”, our host for he was the one who told us about it.  It is a cute little mountain-top  village that, for hundreds of years, was used by the locals as a shelter against invading armies since they could not get up there so it was easy to  defend.

The aura of this place came when a Priest, back in 1885, arrived in the village and created a magnificent estate which remains there today. It includes the Magdala Tower.  He also renovated the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene.

The enigmatic Priest lived a high life and spent a fortune.  It was rumored that he had found a treasure.

There were also rumors that this is the place where Mary Magdalene was buried.  Many books have been written about the area … the most famous  being Dan Brown’s Divinci Code which he drew inspiration for his book from  this legend.

I dragged Susan into the car and strapped her in for the descent … much against her will.  She wasn’t bad going down, though … only a few ooohs and aaaaahs.

Returning to our B&B around 3:00 P.M., we parked and walked a short  way to the local Village Church which had some lovely side Chapels.  It  is sad that there are so many beautiful small Churches in France where Jesus  ispresent, but Masses are rarely held because of the lack of Priests … this was one of those Churches.

Taking our food goodies with us, we went up to our room, locked the door, put on our jammies and spent the rest of the day catching up on Trip Reports,  E-Mails, etc.  I made us a “small” sandwich for dinner.

We retired at about 7:30 P.M. for a long night of sleep  (hopefully).

P.S.  The leftover sand will be our late lunch tomorrow.

Au Revoir

We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother  of God;
Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always  from
all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin.
Amen.

Love and Hugs

Susan and Tom

MELILLO – SATURDAY, MAY 23 – VILLEFRANCHE DE ROUERGUE,  FRANCE

As always, I begin with our evening pre-retiring  story:
Before I hopped into bed last light, I took a couple of photos of our Host & Hostess as they walked around their property evaluating plants, the gardens and the grounds.  You could just see and feel the love they have for their home … and  for each other.   It was a great way to end the  day.

Got up in the morning and we went downstairs for coffee and a quick “smoke”.  We greeted our hosts and they  invited us into their “Gathering Room” (which Susan named “The Club Room”  and they loved it!).  It is actually a room attached to  their garage under the house.  It is set up  with a table and chairs, lights for the evenings and shades to be drawn to hide the other areas of the garage.  A very comfortable and welcoming  “social center” to say.  It appears that this is also a  retreat for them during the day … or to visit with guests over wine and  cheese in the evenings.  We enjoyed a great conversation  with both of them over what was probably a full pot of coffee. But I still  wanted coffee with breakfast, I hoped we were not on rations!

We went back upstairs to shower and finish  packing as Ina went off to prepare our breakfast.  We came down to a lovely dining room and a table set with all sorts  of “goodies” for breakfast and a full pot of coffee. (I’m getting used to  being wired) I think we have had a croissant for breakfast every morning since we arrived in Europe.  But today was different … Ina & Kees treated us with fried  eggs, prosciutto (jambon), other meats and cheeses.  Being the “pro’s” that we are, we both made ourselves a wonderful  “Egg Croissant” SANDWHICH … absolutely delicious! Wired up we went back upstairs to finish packing and  took some time for some photo ops with Kees, Ina & Bo … bidding  farewell and hating to leave.  We are most grateful to them for  making our time at their Bed & Breakfast so enjoyable and  memorable.  Kees asked that we add them to our email address for our Daily Trip Reports during our “personal pilgrimage” and we  have done so … welcome to the van Der Sandt’s. By the way … did I tell you that I loved this  bed and shower?

We headed out toward our next stop …  Villafranche-de-Rouergue, France … to Notre Dame de Treize Pierres les  Clerksde Saint Viatuer (the Path of the 13 Stones) where a beautiful story is told about Our Lady and the Apostleshelping some workmen get across a  river in the area by laying 13 stones so that they could cross over the  waters with theirs carts and their oxen.  Of course, the purpose of the workmen’s efforts was because they wanted to build a Chapel to Our Lady which still stands today and we were Blessed to visit.

On our way to Villafrance-de-Rouergue, we wanted  to stop to stretch our legs and for Susan to remove her fingernails  from the car’s leather arm-rests that she was trying to hide from me as I  had my “fun” through the mountain “S-Turns”.  We saw a road sign on the side of the road that said “Notre Dame de  Quezac”.   The two of us, within seconds, said … this is a Shrine that the Sisters and Priest at Notre Dame L’Hermitage in Noiretalble hadtold us about.   This was not on our “radar” for  our trip … we had also learned that it is a pilgrim stop for those walking  the “Way of Saint James on the Road to  Compestello”.  I made a quick right turn, not knowing if we had  a long ride ahead of us and not knowing anything about the  Shrine.   Within less than one minute, the Shrine was  directly in front of us on the left … we pulled into the empty parking  spaces and entered the grounds … there was absolutely no one around. I was  wondering if they had a toilet?

The Church of Quexac was beautiful and gave us  another opportunity to visit a Sacred Statue of Our Blessed Mother and Jesus which are so prevalent inFrance especially this  area. The finding of Sacred Statues, I believe is  one of the catalysts that has led so many people to the Chapels, Churches and Cathedrals that have the honor of Our Lady’s  grace and presence in the form of these mysterious statues.  They have been Prayed in by so many believers.  We have seen “ex-votos”(testimonial plaques) adorning walls, chapels, Sanctuaries …. Just incredible! Unfortunately today the believers  are few. We couldn’t leave this Shrine without praying, so we  decided that this was the perfect place in front of the Mother and Child  statue to pray therosary for all you intentions. Our voices echoed  through out the church and a peace fell upon us.  We lit a candle as  usual in thanks to our Mother and Savior for listening to our  request.

We continued on our journey to  Villefranchise du Rougere  and the Chapel of the 13 Stones. The story  is below and a quick read. When we arrived it was closed as we had figured  since everything closes from 12 to 2, so we decided to find our B&B  and see if we could check in. No problem except for the flight of stairs I  had to go up to find the owner.  She, Jane, said the room was  ready and wanted me to go up another flight of stairs to see the room.  I said let me get some luggage first (my legs were killing me  and I didn’t want to up and down 2x without something in hand).and by the way let me get my  wife.

I figured we could do this in  3 trips, but dangerous  Dave the husbandappeared and grabbed the 2  biggest pieces of luggage and was in our room with them before I locked  the car. Jane also appeared and grabbed some more luggage.  I gave  Susan some and I made it to our room with the wine and food in hand  without losing a breath.

We went into town to the Chapel of the  Penentinents, not realizing it was a museum of sorts. As we paid to  go in the woman at the desk, found out we wanted to visit the  chapel of the 13 stones that was always closed exceptby appointment,  she called the caretaker and made an appointment for us for 5 PM.

Pretty good except that this guy couldn’t  speak a word of English and his exuberance for his job was so overwhelming  that he spent 40 minutes telling us the story of the chapel and of the frescoes on the walls in french…….and I think I said “oui” 50 times.  Thank God we understood the depictions. I tried to tip him but he  wouldn’t take it so I said donation and that was it.  We bid him  farewell and returned to our B&B in desperate need of a glass of  wine.

We had a bite to eat and sent out a report  and crashed into that lovely
KING size bed.  Morning came to  soon.

Au Revoir

God Bless you all

Love Susan and Tom
Our Lady of  Quezac

Click here for the story of Our Lady of Quezac

Bon Soir from France:

Well, another bad night for the Internet and E-Mail last night … but I’m  getting ahead of myself.

I did want to tell you about one of the photos I sent you with the last e-mail. The sun had come out when we got out of the car for the second  time at Paray-Le Monial near the Chapel of the Apparitions.  While we were walking to the Chapel, for some reason I looked up at the Sun and saw a  Rainbow Ring around the Sun in a perfect circle.  The inner part of the  ring just didn’t look natural to me.  I immediately pointed it out to Susan  and she saw the same thing and said … get photos!  I was able to stare at  the Sun and Rainbow Ring for a couple of seconds and I saw what I thought looked like a Cross.

I immediately snapped a few pictures. I found out,  just today from a friend, that this phenomena was on the French News the next  day.  They can’t explain the occurrence but said that it is something very  rare.  (Just thought I would share with you)

Okay … to get back on track.  We made our way to Noiretable, France and “The Queen GPS” brought us directly to the main Church in the center  of town. Unfortunately, (which is not rare), it was the wrong  Church.  Susan went over to the Office of Tourism and got a map from  them.

Unfortunately, the girl did not speak English so she could not help  us but gave us some literature in English.  We walked back over to the  main Church and entered.  Only a few people were in there, apparently  planning some sort of Mass.  I walked up to them to try to get some  information while Susan sat in a pew looking at the literature she had just  received.  As I was trying to communicate via “universal language” to find  the location of the Marian Shrine,Susan found it on her map and said … “Ask  them … “L’Ermitage”!.  Immediately one of the girls knew what we  were asking and motioned for us to come outside so that she could point us in  the right direction.   We thanked her and headed back out.

I hadn’t driven 100 yards down the street when we saw a sign for Notre Dame L’Ermitage.  We made the turn and from that point on, the driving path was well marked.  We drove up, up and away … heading further up the mountain.  I loved those “S Turns” … (I now call them the “Susan-Turns” because she claws her fingernails into the leather of the “Beamer”.)  We  got to the very, very top of the end of the mountain and there was the Monastery  of Notre Dame L’Ermitage (another Shrine maintained by the LaSalette  Religious.

We were trying to make the 11:30 A.M. Mass that we had hoped to  attend.  Time was getting very short.  We parked the car and headed  quickly toward the Religious Store nearby to try to find out where Mass might be  taking place, since it appeared the Shrine was not open at the time.  The  Sister inside tried to point us in the right direction (in French) … something  about going around and around.  We thanked her (pretending like we knew we understood) and purchased some small mementos for our “At Home Shrine).

We walked to an area we thought Sister had described and saw a door that  appeared to be to a Monastery Residence.  Feeling brave, we opened the door  and walked into a lobby-type area.  I began to walk up a few stairs thinking that might be the Church when a Sister came out a side door at the foot  of the staircase.  We are not sure if she scared us or we scared her.   The three of us just stared at each other for a few brief seconds and Susan said  “Mesa????”.  She was quiet for a moment and repeated … “MESA????” and we shook our heads yes.  She motioned for us to follow her and opened a door and motioned for us to walk in.  It was a very small Chapel with only about  8 Religious Sisters sitting on various chairs and a Priest quietly seated in a  chair behind the Altar.

It was so quiet in this small Chapel and we thought Mass was about to begin when Father stood up to begin the Prayers of the Faithful … We had
missed the  Readings and Gospel Acclamation.  OOPS!  (Not to mention that we were the only non-Religious in this small Chapel!).  We quickly realized that we were in the Sisters’ Private Chapel for their Daily Mass with theMonastery  Priest!

We followed along with the remainder of the Mass as if we knew exactly what we were doing.  At the time of Communion, we followed the lead of the Sister who had welcomed us into their Chapel. When Susan approached Father to receive Communion, there was a delay as he retrieved the Host from his Ciboria.  After Susan had received and began to walk away, she realized  that Father had placed FOUR HOSTS in her hand for consumption … perhaps he  knew how many days we had not received the Eucharist since our departure from home?  It was a Blessing for her.

As Communion was concluding, we were both Praying and began to look around the small and intimate Chapel.  All of a sudden we both saw it … The Original Statue of Our Lady of Notre Dame L’Hermitage … she was right there on  the right side of the Altar.  In plain sight and looking over all of us in  the Chapel.  It was a serene moment for the two of us.

After the Final Blessing and as Father departed the Chapel, the Sisters  began a Litany of Prayers while addressing the Statue of Our Lady.  They  followed the Prayers with another Litany they SANG AS IF ANGELS to Our Lady …it was beautiful and surreal.

We were ready to leave after Mass when Father came out of the Sacristy and  directly towards us (he must have seen that “T” (“Tourist”) on our  foreheads.  He wanted to know where we were from.  He had a broad  smile and said he was Italian, French and from Madagascar (quite a  combination).  As he was speaking with Susan, one of the Sisters … the  one who had met us in the hallway and brought us into the Chapel, came up and,  through “universallanguage”, invited us to share lunch with all of them.   Shocked, we graciously accepted (never say “no” to a Sister who is staring  directly at you).  We were able to understand that we had about 20 minutes  to explore before dining with them.  Father guided us to the door, gave us  the European double cheek kiss, let us out and locked the door behind us.

There was a beautiful “monument type” structure outside the Monastery with a Cross high atop.  We walked up to the very top and, as we were taking  photos, we heard whistles and turned to see Sister and Father on a balcony of the Monastery beckoning us that lunch was ready.  We waved and began to  descend.  We made our way back to the door Father had locked behind us …and it was still locked!  We tried to knock lightly … then harder …  then with our fists … knowing that the Sisters and Fathers were waiting to eat their lunch but there was no answer.  We tried to tap on the windows too, on what we thought was their dining room … no luck.

Finally, we decided that it was time to give us and we began to head back to our car. All of a sudden, Sister appeared from another completely different area of the grounds, did her whistle again and beckoned us to follow her to the complete opposite end of the grounds (duh … we didn’t quite get that interpretation!)

Sister gestured for us to be seated at one of two tables with Father, two
other guests, Sister and another Sister while the other Nuns were at the
next  table.  We feasted on a delicious carrot salad followed by an incredible stewed pork dish in a sauce, potatoes and breads … followed by a selection of  cheeses, fruits and desserts.  Oh, yeah … and carafes of regional red  wine which kept being refilled.

The room was filled with laughter as they all attempted to communicate with us in English … each trying to “out-do” the other with “What Is Your Name?”  … “Sank You” … “Have A Good Day” … “Where Are You From” … “Do You Have  Children”.  As we answered, they had no clue what we were saying.  The  laughter that filled the room was beautiful.

We did manage to learn that the Sister who had become our “Angel of the  Day” was “Sister Marie Paul” … because of her love for Saint John Paul Deux… we renamed her to Sister Marie Paul Deux and she loved it!  I sat next to a young and vivacious Nun … who we learned was from Madagascar … Sister  Susiac which she said means “Sister Flower”!  She was a riot and we learned  that she was the “Chef” at the Monastery.  I quickly informed her that I do  all the cooking in our home.  Susan shook her head and put up her hands as  if to say … “he always has to do that to me!”.  The room filled with laughter.

With this great meal and time spent nearing an end, it was almost 2:00 P.M.  It was time for the Sisters to open the Shrine and get back to work  … (Father probably had time for a quick nap after such a great lunch),   We bid our farewells with a lot of hugs and kisses, requests from the Sisters for our Prayers for them (and theirs for us), a beautiful Blessing from Father Jean for our journey and this great experience was at its end.

Having had our fill of meat, when we got back to the car, I let the  “chicken out” (LOL) … (for those of you who actually read our e-mails).

We then wanted to walk to the original spot of the Apparitions and the “Source of Water” where there is said to be a Fountain and “Ex-Votos”, but the sign indicated that it was a 1-1/2 hour walk to the Source each way.  It  was bitterly cold and windy and I figured that if we took on the task, the  Sisters just might find us frozen to death along the path in a few days … so  we decided to depart.

We made our way to the next hotel in Clermont-Ferrand and checked in.   I decided that we should go into the city to find the Basilica of Our Lady of  the Port where many miracles have taken place.  So we turned on “The Queen GPS” and muddled our way through the busy city.  Not being able to Find Notre Dame Du Port with “The Queen”, we had her guide us to the Cathedrale of  Clermont-Fermond and we found a parking lot and began our walk,

We found the Cathedrale of Our Lady of the Assumption which was quite spectacular even from the outside with its twin spires. But I really wanted to get to Notre Dame de Port which was our goal so we headed out on our  quest.  We had entered the Sacristy of the Cathedrale (Ed … see photos of  the Sacristy … just for you!) … We spoke to either the Sacristan or the Priest to ask for directions.  The “universal hand signals” began and we  didn’t want to look like dummies so we acted as if we understood and hoped wecould figure out the hand signals once outside.

Walking and walking and walking, we could not find N-D De Port so we went back to our car in the parking lot.  Still determined, I drove around and
around Clermont-Ferrand with determination but no luck. I finally saw a religious tower amid the buildings, so we parked the car once again and began another walk-a-thon.  It was getting bitterly cold and windy but I was going to find this Shrine.  Between the two of us, we approached at least a dozen people to try to get directions.  Most had no clue what we were  asking and the others were trying to give us directions back to the  Cathedrale.  With great frustration, we gave up … called it quits and  drove back to our hotel.

Disappointed, we returned to the hotel knowing that we were tired but still wanting to get the Trip Report done … re-pack and figure out clothes for tomorrow, etc., etc. … That is when the fun started (or not so fun!).

The Internet Wi-Fi at the hotel would not allow both of us to be on our separate AOL E-Mail Accounts … for some reason, the hotel was trying to block  AOL and re-direct us to their local site (spam and spyware being updated now  very often).

So, exhausted, I climbed in to bed and get to sleep … oh … my  mistake!  I was already in bed dictating this e-mail for Susan to type …  LOL!

Au Revoir … tomorrow’s report is an exhilarating day with two Cathedral friends that we met up with in France and shared 5 glorious hours at a Shrine and spending time together.

God Bless Each And Every One Of You.

On an ending note, today we received two very sad emails at our final destination.  A dear friend from our Cathedral, Rick Dolan, has passed away after a tough struggle with cancer.  A long time Priest friend from  St. Anselm in London, England, Father Damien, passed away and we just learned of  his death.  We met Father Damien while in LaSalette, France many years ago  and have stayed in touch over the years … hoping that one day our paths would  cross again … Rest in peace, Rick and Father Damien.

Love and cherish those you have while they are with you.  God  Bless.

May  God bless all of you … Always!
OUR LADY OF THE HERMITAGE … LASALETTE  SHRINE