Spoon Feeding the little one

Well it was good to go to Mass and to pray, that was one of the main things

I planned to accomplish on the trip, to say my prayers and go to Mass in

a bunch of different churches. It is one of the only things on the trip that I

have some control over, and that actually will happen. Well it was off to my

teachers house and deal with the folks there.

I wandered in and started talking to the ladies at the place, they weren't to

impressed by some American coming in and telling them I was going to

rebuild my teachers study so I could pray to his Teacher, our Lord Jesus

Christ. I said the reason I was here was because I was told in August that

it would be a "September to remember", and that I wouldn't like it. The

woman was very resolute that Nostradamus did not predict the 9/11

incident. But there was a copy of his book on the counter and I opened it

to Quatrain 2.79 and she was quiet because she could read the words in the

first two lines;

                        The beard frizzled and black through aircraft

                        subdues the nation cruel and proud.

I'll explain the verse more in the chapter 9/11. I explained to them that his

book was just one piece in the puzzle and that there were pieces left all

over the world. It is my job with the help of my teacher and the others,

to collect the pieces and put it together and teach it to whoever will listen.

Eventually though it will be known to all, if they like it or not.

So I was done with Salon for now and it was off to Lourdes, which I had

missed on the last trip in 99. It was nice to get back into some mountains,

which reminded me of back home. It was a nice time of the year to visit, not

a lot of people and the weather was nice, warmer than back home. I spent

the night in a small town just off the freeway and a 1/2 an hour from Lourdes.

While unwinding from the day, I pulled out some books I had bought at the

Nostradamus museum, one was a copy of the 1568 edition of Les Propheties

by my teacher. I have a copy of it but I wanted to cross reference the 2 books

to make sure. Then while looking at a booklet on Provence, the region, similar

to a state or county in the U.S., where Salon is located I came across a

huge discovery. The pamphlet listed the towns in the area and little tidbits

of information about them. There is a large area of undeveloped land that is

a river delta that lies between 2 arms of the Rhone. There a boat came ashore

one day and seven people got off. One was the Virgin Mary's sister Mary

Jacob, Mary Salome, Martha, Maximin, Sidoine, Sara and Mary Magdalene.

I had to read the passage several times, I had come across the path of Mary

Magdalene after the Gospels. She had disappeared, but now here she was in

Provence just 60 km away from Salon. As I have stated earlier that Nostradamus

is a descendant of her's, and I am a descendant of my teacher, and that his

teacher was the Father of her child before He ascended into Heaven. I didn't

have the time on this trip to research this farther to see if I can find out any

more about her and what she did after she got to Provence.

Well I headed down the road to Lourdes the next morning to see the place, I

had seen a movie as a child about St. Bernadette but didn't remember much,

except the attitudes of some of the self righteous and the politicians. Just

happened to be a tour group of pilgrims from California there with some priests

from Kentucky who had a Mass at the Cathedral in the afternoon while I was

there so I was able to go to a service in English, a change from the last 10

days.

The story of St. Bernadette is a good one for understanding our Father.

Where He once again uses a small child and the Virgin Mary to stay

connected with His children. She was a very poor frail little girl who was

very blessed. When she was 14 she had her first vision of the Virgin Mary

at the grotto, though at the time she didn't know who she was. It wasn't until

the 16th vision that the lady told Bernadette her name, "the Immaculate

Conception". She kept repeating the name over and over on the way to the

parish priest's house to tell him, because she didn't know what it meant. Of

course she was told that she was the Virgin Mary.

 Now there have been many miracles at Lourdes that are well documented

and I would recommend anyone interested to go to the Library and check out

a book on the subject. Saint Bernadette was a frail woman and after the

visions she became a nun, Sr. Marie Bernard. She took St Bernard for her

patron saint because he was a glutton for punishment for the Lord, she died

at the age of 35.

Well it is time to head up and over the Pyrenees and across Spain, the drive

was scenic as I used the last of the daylight to get over the pass. I sure was

glad it was fall and there wasn't much traffic because this was the narrowest

road I've been on with a shear drop off on one side and hairpin turns. I've

driven a lot of roads in Montana but this one made them seem tame. Finally

got over the top and saw a sign for livestock like we have in parts of the west,

and a little further on down the line there they were, plodding along in the road.

Made it to a small town and got a room for the night before the big drive. A

new language, but the universal one worked well, point, plastic, and gracious,

thank you.

Now for a long day of driving across Spain to the coast and Santiago where

the Apostle James is entombed. I was wishing I had brought some CD's now

since the car did have a player, but oh well, next time. While I was taking in

the sights of northern Spain I started asking questions about some of what I

had come here to find out. The first was the coronation at Reims and Aix,

personally I would like to take a pass on that whole deal, but that would not

be what They want or what would be the best for you. While I was in Reims

there was a little prodding to go see a museum where robes and crowns and

other stuff from the other coronations are kept. The only thing I was interested

in seeing was some of the old statues from the cathedral that had been taken

there. I'll talk more about the Qautrain (4.86) on this subject later. I was also

wondering about the crown, as I have no desire to have one of those jewel

encrusted things put on my head. Then there was the matter of clothing, with

less than no desire to wear a robe, other than right after the anointing and for

as short a time as possible. He wasn't saying much, They were just listening

and slowly spoon feeding information as the miles rolled away.

There was some talk about where I was going after Santiago, which was

Coimbra to try and touch base with Sr. Lucia at a Carmelite convent. While

he was leading me on I was trying not to get my hopes up as I knew she

was in hiding, and for those of you who don't know what a Carmelite

convent is like, well the only one I had been to was in Minnesota, where

an aunt of mine lived for awhile. It was like a prison, it had a tall solid metal

fence around it so you couldn't see in. Then when you got inside we would

wait by a steel turret until the upper half spun around like a revolving door to

see her sitting behind bars. I could never figure out what they thought we would

do, steal her or something. After that it would be off to Fatima to pray and

check the place out and go to mass.

 I waved at Pamplona as I passed, there was a large black bull sign on top

of a hill I thought was for the running of the bulls but they are all over the

place, probably almost 10 meters high and 20 meters long, and they aren't

steers. Had one small problem on this drive at a town where I stopped for lunch,

at a U.S. fast food place I ordered a number 3 and she brought me 3 of them,

turned a few heads in that place but I had a good laugh and brought the

extra with me for the rest of the drive. It was dark by the time I got to

Santiago and of course I didn't have a map of the city but I spied the steeple

and took an exit and wandered around the very busy streets until I bumped into

a Hotel so I pulled up onto the sidewalk like the car in front of me and asked the

rates. It was a good deal for a nice room next to the old section of town, so I

ditched the car in a garage and wandered around.

 Went to mass the next morning at the Cathedral and said my morning prayers

there, and saw the tomb of the Apostle James. The kneelers in Europe

don't have any padding so by the end of the hour or so that it takes to say my

prayers the knees are getting a little sore. That seems to be one of the themes

of this trip is pain, for the night sessions are very painful on the knees, shoulders

and my thigh. The memory of all those practices for sports are coming in

handing as I deal with it.

 The stay was nice but it was time to move south to one of my main objectives,

trying to touch base with Sr. Lucia and visiting Fatima. So I wonder what the

Portuguese word for "thank you" is.

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