We are not supposed to like the French.They don't like us very much and I hear that tourists run into rude Frenchmen all the time. I have a different view which I will be glad to share as I open my French Advent Calendar for today. Ah, verbena body lotion. So sweet.
No one, not one person who saw Notre Dame burning last year was not moved to great compassion for the people who offer that holy, startling edifice to the world. I read comments on Facebook, tales of visits that have never been forgotten. My own visit, several years ago was transcendent. In the midst of the noise of shuffling feet and clicking Japanese cameras, I sat and gazed at the rose colored window and for 20 minutes, I was in God's presence. I felt Him, there, that day. And somehow in the 21st century it burned.
My daughter,daughter-in-law, granddaughter and I all went to Paris last June and the people we encountered were kind and patient as we tried to offer our broken French. A waiter who saw us weeping at our table over the imminent death of a dear friend, brought flutes of champagne for each of us and placed them down quietly, kindly and walked away.
In Nice, the year before, I met a French boy, Clement. John and I were sitting one evening after dinner on a bench facing the Mediterranean Sea. Along came this little boy of about 4 years, blonde hair, blue eyes and a sweet smile. He hopped up on the bench and sat next to me. His mother was on her cell on the walk behind us. He smiled as I tried my stale French. Bateau? Chien? I would point and he would smile.Clement was not afraid of strangers and exuded a sweet peace, happy to be just were he was, wanting nothing else. I loved that child, little Clement. .He captured my heart in a half hour, this French boy.
And finally, my Advent companion, who I admit to not liking very much, this nun of Lisieux, Therese. I have never been able to relate to her words, her youth, her spoiled childhood but as it is in things of the spirit, eventually I come around. I finally get her. She says, "do small things with great love." I am now,thanks to her, trying. I will give an example of a small thing that shines like stars in our often cold Universe. Someone comes for spiritual direction.After the session, she walked our chilly neighborhood and then sat on the porch. My husband noticed and brought her a cup of hot tea with honey on the tray and a spoon.Later, she tells how that warmed her body and soul.
I see these small things, flutes, smiles, tea and I feel joy knowing there are places where such things happen.
1 comment:
...Vive La France!
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