The name of my host and guide, very well versed in the subtleties and secrets of this Kingdom of Far Far Away, who helped me immensely to grasp its mystery and appreciate its beauty and diverse cultural, social, historical and artistic aspects, means 'Peace' in Greek, and this is exactly what I feel this morning after returning from the pilgrimage to that inexplicably breathtaking Kingdom... and I am very grateful to my guide for such a wonderful gift of facilitating this unique pilgrimage and making it such a wonderful, diverse experience, which memories and fruit will last for very very long time...
The first goal of our pilgrimage was paying a visit to Grandma of Jesus, Saint Anne. The magnificent shrine of Grandma of Our Lord, located in Sainte-Anne de Beaupre, in the vicinity of the City of Quebec, is one of the major pilgrimage holy sites in Canada, and rightly so! I do not want to describe what I experienced there and what I felt and what my intentions were, it is simply impossible, but I wish to share with you a few pictures I took yesterday to evoke in you sacred longing to visit personally this beautiful place and feel the warmth of welcoming look of our Grandma as she accepts everyone and understands everything we carry in our hearts and pour in front of her as we kneel at the feet of her statue in the basilica...
Interestingly, in the lower part of the basilica, called Blue Basilica, which in fact is called a chapel of Immaculate Conception, there is the only copy of Michelangelo Pieta from St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican existing outside the Vatican. The only copy of Pieta, right there at Sainte Anne de Beaupre!
Then in the oustide little church at the feel of a hill, there is a copy of the Scala Sancta - a flight of 28 wooden steps, which marble original is close to the Basilica of St. John of Lateran in Rome, which was taken allegedly from the palace of the Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem where Jesus was taken for the judgement...
We prayed in silence in the Basilica, we followed the Stations of the Way of the Cross on the slope of the adjacent hill from the Laurentian mountains, covered by a thick blanket of red, gold, yellow and brown maple leaves...
We climbed the Scala Sancta... we wrote a letter to Our Grandma...
We participated in the Holy Mass which immersed me in the Ocean of Divine Mercy with a warm touch of the presence of my Grandma, Saint Anne, who knows how to convince her Grandson, Jesus Christ, to help us in our needs...
I was surprised and amused to see that right after the final blessing of the main celebrant, two attendants came up to the railing with big boxes of apples, dividing them to each participant! That was something I have never seen in my life!
I took my apple, put in my pocket and ate it when I was in the old town of Quebec city, coming back in mind and heart to Saint Anne de Beaupre...
Then the second pilgrimage began - a pilgrimage to the heart and soul of Quebec province... First, the Ile d'Orleans - a very core of this amazing Kingdom of Far Far Away... The bridge, leading to the island, is worth a separate post... then the island itself, as if time has stopped here...like a fairytale...with its beautiful cottages, gardens, trees, paths... Seeing is believing. No matter how I try to describe its beauty and uniqueness, it will only be a failure and pure injustice done to its magic...
Then, after leaving the Ile d'Orleans, a short hop to Quebec City. A world in itself... The city setup is like several Polish cities and town in one collage - Krakow, Przemysl, Zamosc, Gdansk, Poznan... Narrow streets, musicians playing their music, some of which is local... painters displaying their art on walls of houses... variety of shops, art galleries, auberges (restaurants), mixture of locals and tourists with a distinctive majority of them being Americans (USA, I mean)... Great architecture, interesting levels of lower and upper town... old and new side by side... old fortifications and government building, including a massive structure of the Quebec Parliament (nice touch of appreciation to the Natives - with a central sculpture in front of the main door being that of North American natives - Indians, as we call them by mistake)... I liked the city instantly as the old town ambiance reminds me always my city - Krakow... so I felt at home right from the start...
On our way back to Montreal from Quebec our beautiful and sunny autumn day of pilgrimage to the Kingdom of Far Far Away was extra rewarded by a spectacular sunset. We started our journey with the first rays of the rising sun, then we ended with warm rays of the sunset... This reminded us of the Sun of Justice and Love, Jesus Christ whom we met in the Living Word and the Euchrist in the Shrine of His Grandmother and who was with us all the way, as we gathered in that small agile blue vehicle as a tiniest Small Christian Community gathered in His Name. And He was with us all the time...
At the same time we saw the sign in heaven reminding us that the Evil One is never far away either, as my host and guide noticed pointing to a weird configuration of the clouds shaping up in a form of a witch riding a broom (as these figures are very popular in Polish stories of witches and evil forces)...
Thank you so much, my Angel of Peace, for your kindness, deep knowledge of the Kingdom of Far Far Away and for your patience and time you spent for me. Without you, I am sure, I would not be able to see the beauty of Quebec - both spiritual and natural...
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