Day 4- Pope Francis
The Pontiff’s Pilgrimage on Earth passed yesterday. As part of my Pilgrimage I stopped following what’s going on in the World. My only connections to home are text strings, calls with Carla, daily Emails with my dad and this blog. I learned of his passing from my college buddy Mark who briefly mentioned a prayer for Pope Francis in a college buddy text string. It was buried amongst pictures of beers, sunsets, gourmet foods, grandchildren ………. Pope Francis did his best to bring the Church into the twenty-first century. More needs to come. The Church is run by humans. All humans are sinners so the Church has had its share over the centuries. I believe Pope Francis left the Church in better shape than when he found it.
It’s fitting I am staying in a monastery, right after Easter and the Pope’s passing. I went to Vespers tonight. Three men of God sang prayers and verses at an ornate altar with a high arch above. It sounded beautiful even though I had no idea what they were saying. I just came back from another set of prayers in the church- again such beautiful singing. The service ended with the priest calling me to the altar to give me a Pilgrim’s blessing. I was the only Pilgrim in the church. I told him I was from the States and he read the English version of the blessing. It was awesome. Tomorrow I will go to Mass before I head out. Very spiritual day for me.
When I booked my stay at the monastery their web site said they had their own beer. Awesome, a monastery with a brewery! As I toiled with the terrain, I found inspiration and strength in thinking about which beers I will try. Start with an ale or lager (or both) and then have a bock or a stout with dinner. When I arrived I asked where the brewery was. The brother laughed and said they just sell bottles of monastery beer but it’s contract brew. Nothing on tap. Only one style. I didn’t bother. The only positive- fantasizing about the nonexistent beer helped me power through some tough climbs.
I did not take many pictures today. The internet is spotty here, no WiFi either so no photos from today have synched to this IPad. You can see a few in the video below. I changed the viewing time from 2 to 6 seconds- just trying to slow down the speed of life.