Pilgrimage - Day Seven

St. Dominic & Faith

'Till death do us part

View from my room.

Cross in my room.

This day, June 6, 2012 is a blur.  The night seemed endless.  I tossed and turned all night.  The room is very nice, quiet, and the view--spectacular!  But I was so tired and groggy all day, I stuck around the hotel and just became acclimated to the place.  This statue is near their reception desk.  I napped here and there, all day.  I did my laundry in their laundry room.   There's a washer but no dryer.  So my underwear is hanging all over my room. I attended Lauds, Terce, Sext, Evening Prayer, and Compline.  I also found the Adoration Chapel and spent time with Jesus.  These Dominican Sisters of Bethany are contemplatives and have Adoration 24/7.

Tree Trunk Tabernacle

Adoration

 I read a lot.  My room has a little book that explains the hotel, St. Niklausen, and the sisters.  Here are some quotes:

St. Dominic wanted his fellow brethren to study, to preach, to live in community, to be themselves living symbols of God's mercy, and to be sensitive to any kind of poverty diminishing man's humanity.


The Dominican Sisters of Bethanien are rooted in the tender mercy of God.  The Eucharist and liturgical prayer, contemplation and adoration, are the very core of their lives.


Bethanien is a place where differences of origin, social standing, education, or abilities, are regarded as irrelevant.  What counts for us is simply to say "YES" to one another.


Father Lataste - Founder of our Community
In 1864, a young Dominican priest was giving a retreat in a women's prison.  As a result of his preaching, 400 imprisoned women discovered God's tenderness which offers new chances to anyone at all times. 
    Praying before Jesus, Bread of Life, the inspiration to create a new community came to Father Lataste -- a community of forgiveness, adoration and sisterly love.

Mary Magdalene --  Patroness of our Congregation
Do you believe that God loved Mary Magdalene less because she had sinned?   Father Lataste


Mary Magdalene --  Witness to the Resurrection of Christ


She believed in love.  Touched by Christ's compassion she discarded her dark past and focused her passionate love on Jesus, her Liberator.

Pilgrimage--Day Six

We took 5 trains, a bus, and then we walked, in order to get to St. Niklausen, OW, Switzerland, from Besancon, France.

The first thing I noticed, after the spectacular vista, was the smell of manure.  Sister Renata inhaled and said, "Ah, the smell of Swiss air!"

You get use to it.

You really do.

That sound of cow bells is ever constant.  But like, the smell, you get use to it.  You don't even notice it, anymore.

As soon as I got to my room, I fell on my bed and slept until the next morning.