What do I miss about England? Well, when I lived on the Isle of Wight in England I would go to Mont St Michel on retreat. I’d take the night ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo and then hitchhike along the coast to the Abbey.
What a fantastic place! At the time there was a small religious community living in the old monastic buildings, and if you were on retreat you would stay right up in the old Abbot’s lodgings right in the ancient monastery. All stone walled rooms, tiny narrow stone circular staircases, all stairs and dark corners and a hidden oratory high in the top story of the old monastery. During the day the Abbey church would be thronged with tourists, then at noon they closed it down for Mass, and at the end of the day you went into the church for Vespers and were allowed to have free access to the cloister and old refectory. Then silent supper with the community–a book being read in French, and simple, wholesome French food too good to be true.
While there you were simply and literally half way to heaven. Built up in the sky, with nothing but the sea around you, the views were spectacular, and you were cut off from this earth and this place and this time. You were suddenly back in the Middle Ages with nothing modern to distract, and nothing to do but pray. The sea in the distance spoke of the vast and timeless Lord, and the sky winging with birds was blue with the promise of eternity.
If anyplace is thronged with angels it is Mont St Michel.
So let me get this straight, Father: what you most miss about England is France?
LOL. I didn’t say this was what I missed MOST about England, but being in the South of England meant that I could get over to France a heck of a lot more easily than from South Carolina
I too stayed there when the Benedictines were running it. What you say is so true. Right back to the Middle Ages. What a beautiful set of days those were. A peace and serenity and atmosphere of holiness pervade the place, especially once the tide starts to roll in. Thanks for the reminder.
A couple of years ago, I was living and studying in France at La Rochelle and agreed to go with some other foreign students on a road trip whose goal was Mont St Michel. I had never heard of the place before. However, as we approached it, and the monastery rose out of the horizon like something out of a fantasy novel, it was truly breathtaking. The atmosphere of the place, too, is unlike anywhere else in the world. I was Protestant at the time and so didn’t fully grasp what it was about the place that was so special, but some spiritual realities you can feel, even if you don’t really understand them or can’t articulate them. A thoroughly unique and blessed place.Are there still monks there? It would be a great tragedy if Mont St Michel became merely a relic.
Father, I hope you or someone is cataloging images of the world’s greatest churches so we can incorporate them at St. Mary’s if we are fortunate enough to be able to build one of our own someday. May we be spared from the blandness of modern design.