The Right Reasons

 A Benedictine monk told the story of a young monk asking his spiritual director if his reasons for becoming a monk were shallow, or just plain dumb.   The elder monk said that your reasons for becoming a monk don't really count, compared to the reasons why you stay.

I like this.  I also think the same saying could apply to marriage.  

Improbability

 You have no idea how much I wanted Louise Penny's latest novel to be good.  Her nineteenth mystery finally arrived.  The Grey Wolf continued with the same Three Pines/Quebec/Canadian setting, the familiar characters, the tense suspense was there, the thrill, the fast pace, the heart stopping drama, but the clues, I found unbelievable.

I found myself saying, "Oh c'mon!", numerous times.  How could scraps of paper mean anything? Traveling from one country to another so easily, happen?  

Then I remembered that I always think that of Sherlock Holmes, yet I still enjoyed them.  And I do enjoy Louise Penny's writing.

What sealed the improbability of the clues was the behavior of the monks.  Since I'm Catholic, I know that monks take vows of stability.  The Dominican friars don't, since they work outside their priory; but Gilbertines and Carthusians take a "vow of stability" to NEVER leave their monasteries.  Maybe they could get special permission in extraordinary cases, but not as easily as the monks in The Grey Wolf, to hop from country to country.

The most egregious abnormality was the Confession. The priest who asked a non-ordained brother to hear Confessions for him is a ridiculous scenario. That would never happen, unless the priest was drunk, or on drugs, or had a gun to his head.  A brother without the faculties to hear Confessions would never assent to do that, either, unless he was drunk, or on drugs, or had a gun to his head. Their souls would be in serious jeopardy.  Besides, what was the sin?  No sin was committed.  The deed hadn't been done yet.  There was nothing to absolve.  Just thinking or planning bad things is just venial.  

I think Louise Penny should have had the scenario of Spiritual Direction, instead of Confession.  That's confidential, also.  Brothers, sisters, and trained lay people, can give spiritual direction. Definitely, that's believable.  

There's one other Catholic thing, Penny got wrong.  Catholics should be buried in consecrated ground, not have their ashes spread on a rock.  An abbot would certainly know that.  

It may seem that I didn't enjoy the book.  I did.  Authors often get the Catholic stuff wrong.  And Louise Penny is a wee-bit anti-Catholic, but it really doesn't bother me because I love Armand and all the other characters in Three Pines.  I hope the series doesn't end with Armand dying.  I want him to retire and continue to solve crimes.  He could be chief inspector emeritus.  

Beautiful Music is a Mystery

 Louise Penny's novel, The Beautiful Mystery is very well researched.  I gather that Louis Penny is not Catholic, yet her knowledge of monastic life and Dominicans adds great authenticity to her tale.

The monks are Gilbertines, an order that disappeared from sight around the 1300's.  In the novel, their monastery is on an island in Canada--very isolated.  They were very specialized in singing chants.  To raise money, they released a CD.  The monks got the money they needed.  Also, however, came the fame, which they didn't want. This cause the monks to be divided.  There were those who wanted to do more CDs and those that resisted.  The conflict led to the murder of the choir director.

This is where Chief Inspector Gamache and Inspector Jean-Guy Beauvoir, come in.  They track down the murderer.  Additionally, is the story line of Gamache's boss and Jean-Guy's drug addiction.  The book actually ends with Jean-Guy abusing drugs--again and angry at Gamache.  Now I know Jean-Guy eventually married Gamache's daughter, so Jean-Guy and Gamache must come together again, somehow.  I've just got to get the next book. to find out.  Louise Penny is clever, isn't she?

The murder mystery is interesting.  I'm not a music person, myself.  But since I've read this novel, I'm listening to Gregorian chant and trying to appreciate it.  Appreciating chant would have given me a taste of the mystery's theme.  If I loved chant, I would have understood the monks better.  But murder?  Well, music is said to tame the savage beast.  Chant is said to be conversing with God.  

A Dominican even enters the scene from 400 years ago.  No, he's not 400 years old, but the Inquisition had been looking for the Gilbertines since they disappeared from sight.  Their fame brought them to the attention of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (Inquisition).  400 years!! Now you know why the Dominicans are called "hounds of the Lord." But I don't think the Gilbertines need fear the Dominicans, this friar fell in love with their chant, as he helped solved the murder.  He's the one who understood the ancient markings on the scroll, the murdered monk was clasping in his dying hands.

This novel had all the elements that I love: religion, murder in a monastery, monks, Dominicans, cops, and tension between employers and employees.  And it leaves the characters hanging just enough for me to order the next book in the Gamache series.  

Retreat Day Three

Wednesday was a new day. Alleluia! Praise God. I woke up pain free. The stomach ache was gone. And! On my way to Lauds, I saw one of my fellow retreatants go in the visitor's chapel, and not in the cloister, where we were told to go. I followed her to tell her that she was going in the wrong place. But! She told me that we didn't have to go into the cloister with the monks; we can go in the visitor's chapel, which is better.

Way, way, way...much, much, much better. The visitor's chapel is adjacent to the altar; so close you feel like you are concelebrating. The priest comes to us to give Communion.

THERE'S NO GAUNTLET OF MONKS TO PARADE THROUGH!

Praise be to God! God is good, all the time!

What a wonderful start to a wondrous day!

After breakfast, I walked. The trouble with St. Joseph's Abbey is that it's on top of a hill, a very steep hill. This means that wherever you walk will involve coming back uphill. I did it. I walked all week. Sometimes when I felt the pressure in my shins I wondered if I was getting shin splints. And sometimes walking up those hills I had to stop because I didn't have my inhaler with me, but I did it. All week I did it.

There's a lake on the property. Today, I walked to the left of the lake thinking of walking around it. The weather was perfect. 80 degrees and I'm walking in the cool woods, it doesn't get much better than that. I passed the hermit's hut. It's abandoned. I was appreciating all the sights and sounds, when I heard some thrashing through the woods. I saw bright blue. It was one of the ladies on retreat with me.

We greeted each other and sat down to talk. Every "silent retreat" should have a session like this. Her name is Kate and she's the mother to a young family. May God bless her and her loved ones. She was telling me about herself and happened to say that she can't take criticism.

She can't take criticism! She happened to be sitting next to me in the stalls when that old crosspatch monk signaled me to take off my baseball cap. I reminded her of that incident and then I told her how it bothered me all day, resulting in severe acid reflex.

We hashed it through. The whys, wherefores, and no wonder he's a monk--the old fart. She had me laughing over the whole episode. Kate was good for me. Thank you, Jesus. You know what we decided was behind the monk's request?

He was a Yankees fan. I was wearing a Red Sox baseball cap.

Seriously, the monk was across the room. He saw a person, 5'7" tall, wearing a sweatshirt, pants, sneakers, and a baseball cap. Get the picture.

He thought I was a man.

The simple solution is the fact, I bet. There, end of the story! I put the entire occurrence to bed. Thank you, Kate. God speed, and may He always be your strength and consolation.

I continued my walk in peace. I went as far as I could go before I was stopped by a small waterfall. I sat down on a rock and prayed my Rosary.

The mosquitoes found me. Here are some pictures I took during my walk.

One more thought: on my way to my cell, after Compline, I heard AQ's voice. I followed it. There he was sitting in his office. Finally, I got my hug and greeting. He apologized for being so absent these last couple of days but the abbot was using him to transport the monks to doctor's appointments. We made an appointment for Thursday, after Compline.

I went to bed much happier than last night and had a peaceful rest.