作者: 老大
十月是聖毋玫瑰月。二零一五年十月四日的主日下午，正準備從家裡開車去St. Clare Church 參加三點的恭念玫瑰経和中文彌撒時，忽然發現我們唯一的車子發動不了。這部車子是第一次發生這種情況。我打開了電池的小蓋子，發現電池內的水乾了，於是加了一杯飲用水，車子還是發不動，因而放棄了開車去St. Clare Church的念頭，改為到對面的復活教堂參加下午五點半的英文彌撒。
在這常年期第二十七主日的福音中，本堂神父 Fr. Bob在講解聖瑪谷福音第十章2~16節時，特別提到，“這樣他們不再是兩個人，而是一體了。所以天主所結合的，人是不可拆散的。”彌撒結束降福前，神父問：十月份是結婚週年的人 請站起來，我們兩個人和一位婦人一起站起來了。神父隨即又問我們是幾週年？我倆同聲回答說：五十五週年，大家都齊聲叫: “WOW！”，而另一位婦人則說十五年。於是神父要大家舉手並祝福我們。我們覺得很感恩。感謝天主，第二天早上，車子竟然又可以發動了。
十月十日我們飛到了東部的New Jersey去參加預先定好的遊輪。船往北走，経過五個港口，最後靠加拿大的魁北克兩天。船快到魁北克前的Charlottetown時，船長宣布因為風浪大，海峽狹窄，要放棄停靠Charlottetown港口，攺停Saguenay河口，在海上觀看河口山頂上的Notre Dame-Du-Saguenay 聖母態像。當我們聼了船長很慎重的提到聖母，又常聼說加拿大的蒙特利有北美最大、最有名氣的古老天主教堂；如聖母教堂Basilica Notre Dame de Montreal和安德聖若瑟教堂Andre St. Joseph of Montreal，我們開始有了去蒙特利朝聖的念頭。
於是我們決定立刻行動，更改行程，要把十月二十一日離船日由魁北克搭乘火車直往尼加拉大瀑布住三夜的行程，更攺為十月二十日離船，由魁北克搭火車往蒙特利住一夜，然後於十月二十一日由蒙特利搭乘火車往尼加拉大瀑布。這個更改牽涉到預訂由魁北克到蒙特利的火車票和旅館。船上的網路很不穏定，而且在匆忙之中更改非常困難，航行中的電話也一直打不通。我們開始在自己房間內的電話旁大聲祈禱，祈求聖母媽媽轉求仁慈的天主讓我們這一趟有去蒙特利朝聖的機會。祈禱之後電話仍然打不通，於是再度回到電腦室查看電郵，感謝天主，VIARAIL鐵路局回信說按照電郵內的指示填寫回覆即可。果然我們順利的訂到了十二點四十五分出發的火車。感謝天主，此次朝聖之旅有了希望。正在此時船長宣布聖母態像已經在眼前。我們立刻乘電梯到甲板上，這時已經有很多人在觀看，但見遠處青翠的山頂上，肅立著一尊白色的聖母態像，她站立在河口的最高處，環視四周，保護着所有岀入旳船隻。我們不約而同的一起恭唸玫瑰經並啍唱讚美詩。第二天早上我們還有時間在魁北克的街上景點觀光一番，快到中午才上火車站。在這三個小時的車程中我們繼續唸玫瑰經並祈禱，也祈求天主能夠繼續幫助我們，讓我們今晚有合適的旅館住，並且可以順利的到蒙特利朝聖。到達蒙特利火車站時已經是下午四時，天也漸漸黑了，心裡著實有點擔心，趕緊找到一個角落的公用電話，打通了網路定旅館的服務部，這位小姐非常熱心，了解我們的困難之後，安慰我們說：不必擔心，必會解決問題。在這免費電話中，她在網上查地圖和旅館名單，折騰了四十分鐘，終於為我們訂好了位於聖母堂和聖若瑟堂之間的平價旅館。感謝天主，我們如釋重負，立即搭計程車趕往旅館放下行李，又立刻趕往安德聖若瑟教堂。這座教堂坐落在一個山坵上，整個山都是屬於這座教堂的範圍，包括各修院、學校、醫院和附堂等，是十九世紀初由一位很有信德，敬禮聖若瑟的安德修士（現已被祝聖為真福）所發起募捐建造，因為當時的小堂裡有連續治癒病人的奇蹟。又據說當時當地的工人由於敬奉聖若瑟為工人的主保和典範，而化解了勞資之間的紛爭並使社會繁榮。我們乘了三段很長的梯式電梯才到逹大堂。這時在這宏偉而壯麗的聖堂內，也許因為是晚餐時間，只有七、八個人在祈禱。我倆一起唸了歡喜、光明、痛苦和榮福等四串玫瑰經之後便為所有生病、痛苦和負重擔的人們祈禱；虔誠的祈求聖若瑟轉求慈悲的天主，俯聼我們的祈禱意向。
第二天一早，我們趕往聖母教堂，一起跪下來唸玫瑰經並祈禱。這座可以容納三千人的古老而荘嚴的大教堂位於市中心，所以外來的信友和觀光客很多。大堂後面有一個美麗華貴的附堂，裏面沒有苦像和十字架，只有鴿子形象的聖神和天使等的雕像；據堂內的嚮導說：這是專為結婚慶典設計的聖堂，希望結婚是喜樂的結合，而不是背負苦架走苦路。於是我們很虔誠地祈禱，祈求慈悲的天主賞賜給所有即將結婚的年輕男女都能有幸福美滿而不負苦架的婚姻。
中午，趕到火車站上車，一路上看見的是綿綿相連的農田牧塲和五色繽紛充滿秋色的森林，加拿大堪稱是農業大國，世界糧倉。我們於晚上九時左右抵達尼加拉大瀑布的旅館。從二十二層樓高的房間可以正面觀賞瀑布的全景，我們日看夜看，也走出旅館近前看，邊看邊讚美天主，真是百看不厭。我們是如此形容當時的感覺：“大江之水天上來，氣勢磅礴震山河；天主化工多奇妙，一柱彩虹冲雲霄”。
非常感謝聖母媽媽一路的陪伴和助佑。也感謝、讚美天主和聖母媽媽恩賜給我們這一趟充滿玫瑰芬芳的旅程。 (編註：由於篇幅所限，本文英文版，請參閱SJCCM網頁。)
A Journey with the Aroma of Roses: Robert Huang
October is the month of the Roses for the Holy Mother.
At about 2:30 p.m.on Sundayafternoon, October 4, 2015, as we were getting ready to go to St. Claire’s Church for the rosary prayer and Chinese-language Mass, we found ourselves not able to get the car started. It was the first time that it had happened to that car.
I opened the lid of the battery and found the water level to be low. I added a cup of drinking water, but it didn’t help. So, we gave up our attempt to go to St. Claire’s and decided to walk to the Resurrection Church across the street.
During this 27thSunday of the scheduled English-language Mass, Fr. Bob specifically pointed out In his homily on the Gospel of Mark 10: 2-16, “….., So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore for what God has joined together, no human being shall separate.”
Before the blessing at the end of the holy Mass, Fr. Bob asked, “Those who have an anniversary in October, please stand up.” We and a lady stood up. Fr. Bob then asked us how many years we’ve been married. My wife and I answered together, “55 years”. All the people in the church echoed, “WOW!”. The other lady replied, “15 years”. Fr. Bob, then, asked everyone to raise their right hands and bless our anniversary. We felt very blessed with our Lord’s amazing grace. Thanks to God, our car was able to start the following day without further fixing.
On October 10th, we flew to New Jersey to join our previously booked cruise. The ship sailed north passing five ports before arriving for a two-night stay at the destination port in Quebec.
Prior to arriving in Quebec, the captain announced that due to the rough waves and narrow channel, the ship would not berth at Charlottetown near Prince Edward Island, but instead, would slowly sail the ship to the mouth of Saguenay River, where we could view the statue Notre-Dame-Du-Saguenay standing on the top of the hill.
When we heard the captain mentioned Notre Dame, it reminded us about the large and famous churches in Montreal we often heard about, such as the Basilica Notre Dame de Montreal and Andre St. Joseph of Montreal. We then started planning to add Montreal, a city in the province of Quebec, to this pilgrimage trip. Our original plan was to disembark onOctober 21st, and take a train from Quebec to Niagara Falls for a three-night stay. We changed to disembark the ship one day early, onOctober 20th, took a train to Montreal for a one-night stay, and then took a train on October 21st to Niagara Falls.
This involved changing the reservations of train tickets and hotels. The Internet and phone connection on the ship were intermittent while we were in a rush to change. We started our fervent prayer in our stateroom, asking our Holy Mother, as our intercession, to ask our graceful Lord to help us to be able to go Montreal for a pilgrimage on this trip. After our prayer, the phone still could not reach the other party, but when we went to check our e-mail in the Internet room, we received a reply from Via Rail that our request for a change of train tickets was accepted for a 12:45 p.m. departure. Thanks be to God that the trip for a pilgrimage in Montreal became feasible.
In the meantime, we heard an announcement from the captain that the statue of Notre Dame was in sight, and we took the elevator to the top of the ship right away. There were quite a few people there, viewing and photographing the scenery. We saw a tall, white statue of our Holy Mother standing on the top of a green hill; she stood on the highest point, watching over the sea and the river to protect all the vessels sailing in and out. We synchronized our praying of the rosary with the humming of songs of praise.
On the following morning, we had time to do some sightseeing in Quebec before we went to the train station at noon. In the three-hour train ride to Montreal, we continued praying the rosary and other prayers, in which we also asked our Lord to help us find a suitable hotel for the night and to facilitate our trip in this pilgrimage to Montreal.
It was already 4:00 p.m. when we arrived at the Montreal train station, and we felt a little worried about the booking of the hotel. We found a public phone at the corner of the train station and called the service department of the Internet booking site. The lady on the phone was very nice. She comforted us after she understood our problem and told us not to worry that the problem would be solved soon. In the 40-minute conversation on the phone, she found and booked a good-priced hotel located between the Basilica Notre Dame de Montreal and Andre St. Joseph of Montreal.
Thank God. We were so relieved and immediately took a taxi to the hotel, unloaded our luggage and rushed to Andre St. Joseph of Montreal. The church is located on a hill, the entire hill belongs to the church which includes a seminary, school, hospital, chapels, etc. It was fundraised and built by Andre, the seminarian who recently had been canonized as St. Andre Bassett.
When the church was still a small chapel, a series of illness-curing miracles occurred. Furthermore, it was said that during the construction, the workers respected St. Joseph as their advocate and model, they dissolved the conflict between the labor and the employer. As a result, the city became more prosperous.
We took three separate rides of escalators to reach the main church. Because it was dinner time, only seven or eight people were praying in the church. We started praying together all four mysteries of the rosary: the Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious Mysteries, for all those who were sick, in suffering and burden. We asked our merciful Lord to hear our intentions through the intercession of St. Joseph.
Early the next morning, we rushed to the Basilica Notre Dame. We kneeled and prayed the rosary, and again we prayed for the same intention as we did the day before at Andre St. Joseph of Montreal. This historical and spectacular church, located at the city center, has a capacity of 3,000 seats. It attracts a lot of tourists and the faithful.
Behind the main church, there is a beautiful and splendid auxiliary chapel with no cross or sorrowful statue, but only the Holy Spirit dove and statues of angels. According to the tour guide, this chapel is specifically designed for wedding celebrations, wishing the marriage to be a joyful union, not a burdened journey with the cross. We prayed that the Lord grant all to-be-married young couples to have marriages of happiness and harmony without burden.
At noon, we boarded the train at the station. On the way from Monterey to Niagara Falls, all we could see were endless farm fields, and the colorful foliage of autumn. Canada is truly a great country of agriculture and the granary of the world.
It was almost 9:00 p.m. when we arrived at our hotel at Niagara Falls. From the 22nd floor of our hotel room, we were able to see the whole front of the Falls. We viewed it day and night; we also walked closer to the Falls. We were never tired of such view; it is a wonderful creation of God. The following lyrics, that we hummed to, describe our feeling of the Falls:
“What a great water that comes from heaven. Its fearsome impact shakes the whole. How mystic is the creativity of the Lord. An arch of rainbow hangs over the cloud.”
We are grateful to our Holy Mother for escorting and helping us along the way. We also thank and praise the Lord and His Holy Mother for granting us a journey with the aroma of roses.