Our Little Way to France

Carter and I have an ardent desire to go on {European} pilgrimages.  Since this dream is not plausible at this moment in our lives, we had the idea to have our own pilgrimage at home. Our destination? France, of course!

At dawn we began our pilgrimage Office of Readings commemorating the life of St. Norbert.

 {A French Bishop }

Surely, one cannot have a pilgrimage without walking, so we took a glorious botany hike to soak in God's creation and work up an appetite for coffee and crepes! Sadly, we did not find the red poppy or the yellow flag iris of the French landscape, however, we did spot a deer!

  

The next part of our pilgrimage was focused on prayer, almsgiving, and fasting.  We attended St. Vincent de Paul Parish {named for the French saint and featuring French architecture} for morning Mass, where we gave alms, and then attended Adoration.  

St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, Omaha

Felicity with the Child Jesus

Upon heading home, we read up on some of the many of French saints from the Lives of the Saints, including : St. Vincent de Paul, St. Joan of Arc, St. Bernard of Clairveux, St. Martin de Tours.

The bulk of our day was devoted to reading St. Therese of Lisieux's Story of a Soul. Carter and I took turns reading aloud while we fasted from lunch. We got about 100 pages into it, but I have since finished it in my spare time. I have so many thoughts on this wonderful book, but I'll just say that it was stunning and I feel like I have made a true friend of my Confirmation saint!

The Queen of France holding her court!

After some prayer and silent time, we made our French feast! This is the recipe we made; it's from the region of France where St. Therese lived.  Although, we made it with normal sausage, not blood sausage (ewww) like the recipe calls for.  It was delicious and fun to cook as a couple! We renamed the dish Pom Pom de Terre {Apple-Potato; literally "Apple-Apple of the Ground"}! And we feasted with some vin of course!

After one more visit to St. Vincent de Paul for confession, we discussed and reflected on The Little Flower's work over wine and brie and chocolate.

We then had some fun watching Les Miserables and reading Felicity a fairytale or two by the French writer, Charles Perrault. The night ended with Compline...or so we thought, until we looked outside and saw fireworks!!!!!

It was a much needed day away from the world, which is just what our little family needed! We are hoping to be "pilgrims" in another country soon!