The Dominican Sisters of Bethany were to meet us at the train station on Friday, June 1, 2012. But the road to the train station is under construction--a car could not get through. So we had to take this little train; it was so cute--a mini bullet train. It was very crowded and when we got in the train, many of the male passengers stood up and gave us their seats. The French are so polite! Sister Renata was explaining in French, to a man who had given up his seat, why our group was traveling. I could visibly see everyone in the train turn their heads to listen to her.
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| Sister Sara carries letters. Sister Pia Elizabeth carries paper roses. |
After a short ride we arrived at our stop. The first sight, and a very welcome one at that, was a Dominican sister, in habit, welcoming us with open arms. Deo Gratias! It was Sister Sara Bohmer,op, the Prioress General of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany in Venlo. Imagine, a Prioress General meeting us!
We all hugged and kissed and followed Sister Sara to an awaiting van. As we approached, another Prioress General pops out of the van! It was Sister Pia Elizabeth,op, the Prioress General of the Dominican Sisters of Bethany in Mont. God is too good!
Now, we all traveled to
Foyer de Charite Roche D'Or. Pilgrimage-Day One has some pix.
The place is beautiful. We all had our own rooms with a bath. The one thing that surprised me was that they don't have any screens on the windows. I guess in Europe they don't. Don't they have mosquitoes? The supper and all the meals were so exquisitely delicious! It's part of their charism to be hospitable. That's how they show Christian love.
All their food and flowers were from their own gardens. Each table had a bouquet of beautiful cut flowers. There was one other group with us. They were from Catholic French TV. They were there to film the beatification. You can watch what they did on
You Tube.
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| Flower Bouquet |
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Annunciation
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| Sister Pauline smelling the flowers. |
I did not sleep well that first night. The pillows were strange: one was a bolster pillow and the other was in the shape of a large square--it took up half the bed. I read and journaled and napped now and again and again, for the rest of the night. I guess I was just too excited to sleep.
