Chronicle of Monday 27 July

Dear parents, brothers and sisters, friends, pets 🐶 and penitents who have been faithfully reading these chronicles for two weeks now (you’re so brave! 🏅).

Today the alarm went off at three in the morning ⏰, the hour when even the cockerels are asleep 🐓💤, so we could cover twenty-six kilometres through the Normandy countryside, where Asterix and Obelix fought against the Romans. The scenery is picture-postcard 🌿: dirt tracks winding through thick vegetation and views of the river that take your breath away 😍.

The Gel brothers, under the wise direction of Gerard Fernández, our very own Getafix, made a secret potion ⚗️ from Norman tobacco and magic herbs to defeat laziness. And it certainly worked: not even the Romans could have stopped us! 💪 (These pilgrims are crazy!, Obelix would say 🤪.)

Miriam took the lead with our priest, walking at such a dizzying speed 🚀 that the wind could barely catch her. We suspect she also tried the potion... 🤫 The rest of us went at a more human pace, singing 🎶 and chatting, talking about everything, things divine and human.

We arrived so early that by half past eleven we were already there. The prize? A glorious nap before lunch 😴. And lunch, as always, was exquisite 🍽️: the cooks are rising to the occasion and the food here is wonderful. We miss lots of things from home... but the food, honestly, isn’t one of them 😜.

At four, those of us who wanted to went to the church for two hours of Eucharistic adoration 🙏. There we were able to rest in the Lord, not only physically, but spiritually too.

At six we had the meditation, in which we were encouraged to dream big, to want to live a life of self-giving and to be saints by giving ourselves to others in the little things, remembering those words of St Josemaría: “Dream and you will fall short.” We reflected on how St Thérèse wanted every vocation, and her vocation could be summed up in one: love ❤️. The heart of the Church is love, and we want to give our hearts to the Lord.

After the meditation we had Mass (in French), presided over by Father Denis, a really friendly priest from Ghana 🇬🇭 who has been here for six years, because the shortage of vocations in France means that many priests spend long periods exercising their ministry in a country that is mission territory.

His testimony was beautiful, and at the get-together he told us a bit about his life, we sang together 🎤 (he joined in with his own songs too!) and we laughed a lot 😂. Special mention for Gerard, who did a top-notch job as translator: all he needs now is the UN earpiece 🎧.

After the get-together, one last song and off to bed 🛌, as tomorrow the alarm goes off at half past four. Yes, you read that right: an hour and a half later than usual! A real luxury, almost a holiday 🏖️. The stage is short and some nuns are waiting for us who are really looking forward to us spending the day with them 🌹.

Good night, families 🌙. Tomorrow, more and better! ✨