Here I Come!

USA, here I come!!! 

Generosity And Warmth

I've been having a wonderful time here in Iceland.  One night I saw the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights, glowing and flickering.  And I've seen some beautiful landscape here, including volcanoes, geysers, and lava rock.  I also visited Gulfoss, the waterfall.  It was flowing strongly despite how much of it is frozen in this currently frigid wintry weather.  

But honestly while I've been here in Iceland, I've most enjoyed spending time with The Missionaries Of Charity.  I didn't know that they were here in Iceland before I got here.  I first saw them here during Mass at the Roman Catholic Church.  Then I wasn't consciously looking for their hospitality center as I was walking up the street and walking right up to their welcome house.  

Sister Jan Marie ushered me inside and gave me food and drink.  I so appreciated her generosity and warmth and attentiveness as we spoke about the sisters' work and what I'm going to do next in my life.  

Messiah

In Horsham here in the U.K., I heard Handel's "Messiah" performed live tonight! Beautiful and inspiring! 

Silence And Solitude

Hello from Belmont Abbey, where I'm here for a week, here in Hereford, in western England, in the UK.  I've been enjoying the silence and the solitude, which have been very conducive to prayer and meditation.  

Great Comfort

On the 2nd of November, I caught a flight from Vienna to Dublin.  I spent the evening of 2 November in Dublin.  The next morning I took the train west to Limerick, where I caught a taxi to Glenstal Abbey.  I stayed at Glenstal Abbey for a couple of days.  It was there that I first experienced monks chanting the Divine Office live.  I had not imagined the Beatitudes being chanted before I heard the Glenstal monks chanting them, which I greatly enjoyed.  I find great comfort in the chanting of the Divine Office.  I appreciate the frequent reminder in the Divine Office of the eternal nature of God.  

On The Prowl

I found it rather appropriate this evening here in Vienna that a woman on the subway with her face made up like a cat got off at a stop whose first word is "Rat." 

Quiet And Serenity

I was glad not only to get to go inside Tyn Church in the Old Town Square here in Prague today, but I was also glad to get to sit down in one of the pews.  They were asking people to be silent in the church, so there was a relative atmosphere of quiet and serenity, and a relative lack of disturbance and distractions in the church.