Defend Us In Battle

I spent much of the feast of the holy Archangels on "pilgrimage" in the city of Montréal.  Traveling with Fr. Martin Cline, we spent some time in prayer at Saint Joseph's Oratory atop Mount Royal, visiting Brother André Bessette (whose canonization I was privileged to attend just over a year ago).  After a delicious dinner at Le Pois Penché, we reached the true goal of our journey: the Bell Centre, to watch the Montréal Canadiens take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in a preseason game.

Not a bad view, eh?  It somehow seemed fitting to mark the memorial of mighty Saint Michael by watching strong men in helmets and pads swinging sticks in each other's general direction.  Of course, the Canadiens could have used a divine defender--maybe even a multitude of the heavenly host: they lost 4-0.

But we had a great time nonetheless, and recalled that we were keeping up a venerable tradition of priests from the Diocese of Ogdensburg rooting for the Habs.  It seems that one of them--a predecessor of Fr. Cline in his current post--was once treated by his parishioners to a mock funeral down main street, complete with a jersey-draped casket, when his beloved Canadiens narrowly lost the Stanley Cup.  Let's hope for a better ending this year.  Saint Michel, priez pour nous!