Pray, Shop, Eat

At the kind invitation of some parishioners today, I joined them on a little pilgrimage to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Benoît-du-Lac, found among the Eastern Townships of nearby Québec.  We were well on our way along the three hour drive when I realized I'd forgotten my camera (doh!), but there are some lovely shots of the place to be found online.

Despite a wrong turn (or two or three), we arrived for the 11:00am Mass in the abbey church, which was chanted beautifully (in French and Latin) by the monks.  Then we make the obligatory visit to the monastery store which, in addition to religious articles, features the abbey's own cheeses and ciders.  I must declare: this is the absolute best Catholic gift shop in the entire world!  (And I've seen more than my fair share of Catholic gift shops!)  After a delightful lunch in the nearby town of Magog (and one more wrong turn), we made our way back here to Malone.  Lovely place, lovely day...