Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Austria...

...and a glorious weekend visit to friends. A beautiful wedding, a candlelit Abbey on a warm summer evening, a radiant bride and beaming groom, speeches, delicious food, sachertorte, flowers, hugs, and fun...

And, earlier, a memorable gathering at the Haus am Sonntagberg, which is now to be a Foyer de Charite. Sonntagberg is a magnificent place, a beautiful baroque church on top of a mountain, with this lovely house alongside, which has been lovingly restored by Joseph Doblhoff, who this weekend handed it over to the Foyers. A glorious place for a retreat - the wide sweep of the panoramic views, the sense of space and of being near to God... to mark the handing over of the house to the Foyers, there was a Mass celebrated by the local Bishop, and a lovely lunch...

We stayed for some days with friends nearby...a barbeque in their garden beneath the great sweep of the mountains, a splash in a local river...and a wonderful local Corpus Christi procession with band, and First Communicants in white dresses throwing flowers before the Blessed Sacrament, and candles and flowers in the windows of all the houses along the way...and this was only one of many local processions taking place in honour of the Feast...and a visit to the great monastery at Seitenstetten and the fabulous nearby garden - which has a maze forming a living Rosary ( sets of ten pink rose bushes, then a green bush for the Our Father, all leading to a central Cross...)

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