Journal of My Experiences
Mass at Sacre Coeur Basilica
This morning we were blessed with the opportunity to have Mass in a crypt below Sacre Coeur Basilica. It was a very glorious church on the top of the Mount of Martyrs where St. Denis is said to have died. The church was the most beautiful of all I had seen. There was a large mosaic in the front of the church with the sacred Heart. Also, this church has had perpetual adoration for the last 125 years!!! It was a great place and I felt so acutely the Lord�s mercy and love for sinners while here. I wish I could share in such love.
We began our Mass in the Crypt. The crypt contained some very odd looking relics of different bishops from the diocese. It also had huge monuments to some bishops. The monuments were the likeness of the bishops in a prayerful pose with this sweet pious look on their face. They were huge, at least as big as the high altar, if not bigger.
Andrew and Myself were asked to serve. I gave my camera to Rachael, one of our nurses. I asked her to take a few pictures. She was snapping them throughout the entire Mass! I had a play by play, almost 50 pictures! Fr. Mark preached about WYD and how God wants to use us to bring about his plan of salvation. We continued with the Mass, for the Feast of St. Bartholomew. (This is my favorite reading in the office of readings St. John Chrysostom speaks of how Christianity must be true since simple men of no education were able to convince the whole world. This had to be the work of God!).
Afterwards an English nun who was part of the congregation that operated the place spoke to us. She spoke of the blessings of WYD, how important it was, and encouraged us to read the Pope�s speeches, to reflect on them etc. It was a very good speech, but it took her a long time to start talking about the actual church.
We spent a little time exploring the glorious church, and prayed briefly before the Blessed Sacrament. In this church I felt a great sense of the love of the Sacred Heart for sinners. It was an important experience for me. I pray that I may imitate such love.
The Louvre
John, Steph and myself set off for the Louvre. We walked most of the way. In the Louvre, which did not have a long line up, we checked our bags and got our maps. We began with some of the clich�, famous pieces such as the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. We also looked at a lot of Ancient Greek statues. They were VERY impressive. The artwork was so exact, and to imagine that they stayed in such good shape after so many hundreds of years. Next we went to see Italian paintings. There was one that covered the entire wall � the Wedding Feast of Cana. We also saw a painting of St. Thomas standing on Averroes with the statement �Vere Hic est Lume Ecclesiae� � �Truly this is a light of the church�. (�Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas� by Benozzo Gozzoli 1471) My favorite painting however were: First, one called �Vere Pieta� or �The true Pieta� It was very different than any other painting of the pieta I had seen. It lacked the sentimental or sugary tones of some of the others. It had some famished looking faces, a very �grey looking Christ� and entirely pale characters. It was very chilling. Another was called �Rest on the Flight to Egypt� In it, Joseph looks entirely conked out on the side, while our Lady breastfeeds the child Jesus. The position of Joseph really fascinated me and impressed me � totally wiped out. It was good. I also took a good picture of a very colorful painting of Holy Mass taking place. (�Mass of St. John of Matha� Juan Carreno de Meranda. 1866)
After spending a while in the Louvre, we looked at the Map and decided we wanted to see �The Medieval Louvre� expecting to find medieval art and artifacts. It took us almost 45 minutes to find it. We were sorely disappointed. It consisted of the foundations of the original Louvre � a medieval palace. All that was there were bricks upon bricks. Quite unfortunate.
St. Germain D'Aurerois
This disappointment caused us to give up at the Louvre. We next stopped in at St. Germain D�Aurerois, which we mistook for St. Germain De Pres. (The later is supposedly the oldest church in Paris. By a closer look at the map when I arrived home I realized the church we saw was in a totally different location). Nevertheless it was an impressive building. It had that kinda �I�m so old that I�m falling apart� look to it. It had some very nice stain glass windows of which I took pictures. A pleasant and inspiring stop. I just read however, that the bells in this church were used to signal the Bloody St. Bartholomew�s Day Massacre in 1572. Apparently, in the midst of religious wars, King Charles� sister was to marry a protestant Henri de Navarre � the idea was to bring the two sides together. However, at the wedding, the King ordered the murder of all the Protestant nobles who had come for the wedding. Three thousand were killed that day. An infamous tale � and to think � we were in that Church on the day of the anniversary of this horrible event. May our prayers be for Christian unity!
All along I wanted really bad to travel to the Sorbonne and to check out some of the used bookstores. Unfortunately, I could find no other people interested. It seems, however, for the best, because my research says that the buildings are closed off for the public.
Nevertheless, we were able to shop at some bookstores along the Seine River. It was a sort of flea market along the river. I was able to buy a eighteenth century French breviary. What a catch for only 13 Euro. A marvelous souvenir, if I do say so myself. When we let the man know that we were from Canada, he expressed his love for our Country with great affection. This was true even though we did not speak French. �J�Aime Canada, Beacoup, Beacoup, Beacoup,�..� What a kind man.
We had to travel back to the hotel, where we had our closing supper. Some final announcements and thank-yous were made to Brian, Fr. Mark, our guides and our bus drivers. A touching evening to end an intense trip.
Evening in Paris
Yet, the trip was not over yet. A group of us tried to make our way into Paris, led by Kate, a chaperone from the Burlington group. This was again a comedy of errors, as it took almost half an hour to compile what became a motley crew of about 13 people. We were also somewhat short with each other having lived together for so many days. On our way into the subway, a man jumped the meters. We were all asked to produce our tickets. Andrew Bourque had thrown his away. He was cornered by the officials and not allowed to leave until he had paid a fine of 45 euros � a very unfortunate event. Then we spent over an hour hopping from train to train trying to navigate through the labyrinth that is called the Paris Transit system.
We eventually made it to our goal, the Eiffel tower. It was all lit up fancy for the night and we got some very impressive pictures. Since we had had difficulties travelling with such a large group, so some wanted to break off and do their own thing. Once again, I was asked by the girls to join them so that they would have a guy.
We went and sat on the grass in the park in front of the Eiffel tower. I think we wanted just to chill after the stress of the previous events. We met some Australian guys who were backpacking around, who we later saw again in the train station. They were quite kind. After this we went to a caf� for some crepes. I order a �Grand Marnier� Crepe. It was a scam. Just a pancake smothered in booze. Give me a pancake or give me booze, but don�t mix the two together.
We then returned to the transit to try and get ourselves home. When a shady character started to talk to us, we pretended that I was the girls� chaperone to try and dissuade him. It didn�t really have much of an effect. Once back I had a lot of packing to do, and did not sleep till quite late that evening.
This article may be copied for personal use , as long as the author is acknowledged.