Photo: Vermont In October

To see photos of Vermont in early October, please click on the link below:

Pics of Weston Priory, the Vermont Country Store, and the Vermont woods

Weekend at the Priory

Though the weekend was soggy, everything else about it was perfect. I joined a few friends at a house in Weston, Vermont so we may pray at the Priory and spend time hanging out with one another. A little sunshine and more time would have made the time together ideal.

Weston Priory is a congregation of Benedictine Brothers whose ministry is song and social justice. The brothers have produced many CD's over the years - beginning with their musical adaptations since Vatican II. The brothers sing for their worship but many congregants know the tunes well and participate often (and sometimes loudly.) The music is like chant, and while one can harmonize, the beauty is in singing together as in one voice.

The brothers keep the office beginning with 5:30 a.m. prayer, 5:00 p.m. vespers, and 8:00 a.m. compline. Services and Masses are held at other times of the day depending upon the day. The Sunday Masses are packed throughout the year, and especially at this time of year with all the leaf-peepers who are touring the area.

Six of us shared a house (plus a Jesuit who spend a few hours with us) so we could spend time in conversation with one another. Ignatius favored the use of conversation because it means "turning one's heart towards one another" and this is what we did. Two other Jesuits besides me showed up. The conversations were rich and constant - and for an introvert like me, one could always retire to one's bedroom for a nap, some quiet, or uninterrupted reading.

The women were fascinating in their crafts. One was making a floor rug with great ease; another crocheted a baby's blanket; a third made some amazingly complex quilts that she sells for $200.00 each; and a fourth led us in a Halloween and Thanksgiving card-making expedition. It was great fun. We had tons of food. We fought over who would take home the left-overs.

The foliage is a week away from its peak. The fog in the mountains made it mystical and photography-ready. Some of the bridges and dams are torn apart from Hurricane Irene, but the roads are passable. It is apparent there is much work to do to restore it to its intended purpose.

The trip to the original Vermont Country Store was terrific. The smell of bacon being cooked at the entrance to the story entices a person to come in and buy some expensive home cooking or nostalgic goods. Samples of cheese, sausages, dips, and chocolates help people buy unique foods that will delight any home and hearth. It is always great fun to walk through the store and think of good times in the past.

I'll come back for sure.

Jesuits' 400 years in Canada

Register Marks Jesuits' 400 Years in Canada
TORONTO, SEPT. 27, 2011 (Zenit.org).

The national Catholic newspaper of Canada has published a 36-page homage to the Jesuits as they mark 400 years in Canada.

 According to Jim O'Leary, the editor, "More so than any other religious order, the Jesuits not only witnessed the birth of Canada, they shaped significant parts of its history."

The Jesuits arrived in Canada in 1611, at Port Royal in Acadia on the shores of the Bay of Fundy. "Over the decades that followed, the Jesuits moved steadily inland and, while fulfilling their mission as evangelists, they also became explorers, cartographers, educators, chroniclers and pastors,"

O'Leary noted. The Register paid for an additional 14,000 copies of the tribute to be delivered to elementary schools, as O'Leary explained that "the story of the Jesuit martyrs is an important part of the Canadian education curriculum."

 --- --- --- On the Net: To view the supplement online, go to: www.catholicregister.org/jesuits

Photo: Minuteman National Park

To see photos of the birthplace of the American Revolution, please click on the link below:

Pics of Concord and Lexington

Minuteman National Park

The Minuteman National Park in Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts is a favorite historical site for me. I fondly cherish the memories of a trip to this park as one of my most meaningful elementary school class trips. As I visited again, I could relive the inspiration of my youth to be the best patriot possible. I am moved to re-read “April Morning” by Howard Fast and “Johnny Tremain”. I feel once again the stirrings to be filled with noble virtue as the men and women who fought for and formed our country. I still wonder in admiration of those rustic times that formed the beginning of our country.

I first visited the Old North Bridge in Concord where the “shot heard ‘round the world” was fired. It is a small wooden bridge over the Concord River where the British first encountered the rag-tap colonial militia. The minutemen were a rather-well trained group of men who tended their farms and were ready at a moment’s notice to come to the aid of their countrymen. No one knows which side fired the first shot, but it set the forces of aggression upon one another irrevocably. More colonists died than the British. It seems clear that the British were not intent upon entering into conflict, but as event escalated it became inevitable. A gravesite of British soldiers is located next to the Minuteman Monument (erected by Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Lincoln Memorial) at the Bridge.

The Buttrick House and the remains of Barrett’s Farm are nearby the battleground. The Buttrick site is turned into a gift shop and visitor’s center.

The Old Manse sits nearby the North Bridge. This is famous for the birth of the Transcendental movement in the States. Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts established a literary presence in the area; a new school of thought arose from the spiritual writings of the poets and authors who gathered there. Walden Pond is only a few miles away.

The Battle Road stretches for three miles from the Wayside to Fiske Hill. The British retreated to Boston under pursuit from the American colonial militias that assembled from nearby towns. The colonists engaged in guerilla warfare against a well-tuned traditionalist Royal British army that was used to fighting in European theatres. The British suffered severe losses en route to Boston where the HMS Somerset provided artillery protection against the militia expeditions.

Dawes, Revere, and Prescott left Boston by horseback to inform the neighboring towns of the British advance. At 1:30 a.m. on April 19, 1775, the British patrol stops the three. Revere is captured, but Dawes flees back to Lexington while Prescott escapes to continue to Concord and beyond. The spot of Revere’s capture is prominent. The expedition arrived at 7 a.m. on April 19^th.

A dozen preserved houses line the Battle Road, such as Jacob Whittmore and Captain William Smith’s houses. The Hartwell Tavern is well-preserved. Samuel Hartwell was a fairly well-off colonist who had a tavern in his house and was a well-know stop along the way. Information about the British plans was disseminated from his tavern. Today, the house has re-enactments of skirmishes and men and women in colonial attire will provide visitors with knowledge of the events of 1775.

The Orchard House and The Wayside gained fame in the 1800’s through Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Margaret Sidney (Five Little Peppers.) The Wayside was an important sanctuary for former slaves as they travelled north through the underground railroad.

The park today preserves many of these sites along a pedestrian and bike trail. The paths are well groomed and feel spacious. New England style stone walls line the pathways that showcase fields that have been in continuous use since the 1600’s.

I feel refreshed. I like getting in touch with this part of our history. I’m sure I have a romanticized notion of it, but that is O.K. It is what I need right now. I will certainly return here in a few weeks when the autumn colors are their most vibrant. I’m sure it will be spectacular. 

Wake Up

A great start

God nudged me this morning. "Get up. Get up," said God, "Go to your window and see this morning's sunrise. It is just for you."

Behold. It was awesome. I was like one of those apparitions of Mary as she radiates from the sun or it could have been the angel Gabriel as he appeared to Mary in the Annunciation painting that hangs in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Just incredible.

My photos don't do the image justice at all. I wish I ran downstairs and went outside to take the photos. Then the window glass would not have obscured the fine details.

It got better. When I went to make my decaffeinated coffee to stimulate me, the chef asked if I would like him to make eggs with ham for me. I said yes. He was so happy. I was pleased. He also made some black olive bread that was very fragrant in the wee hours of the morning. And I ate slowly just so I could savor, not only the delicate tastes of breakfast, but the goodness God was showing me this morning. God is being generous to me. God is answering my requests from last night and my morning prayer.

And it is not even 8 a.m.