作者: 老大
十月是圣毋玫瑰月。二零一五年十月四日的主日下午，正准备从家里开车去St. Clare Church 参加三点的恭念玫瑰経和中文弥撒时，忽然发现我们唯一的车子发动不了。这部车子是第一次发生这种情况。我打开了电池的小盖子，发现电池内的水干了，于是加了一杯饮用水，车子还是发不动，因而放弃了开车去St. Clare Church的念头，改为到对面的復活教堂参加下午五点半的英文弥撒。
在这常年期第二十七主日的福音中，本堂神父 Fr. Bob在讲解圣玛谷福音第十章2~16节时，特别提到，“这样他们不再是两个人，而是一体了。所以天主所结合的，人是不可拆散的。”弥撒结束降福前，神父问：十月份是结婚周年的人 请站起来，我们两个人和一位妇人一起站起来了。神父随即又问我们是几周年？我俩同声回答说：五十五周年，大家都齐声叫: “WOW！”，而另一位妇人则说十五年。于是神父要大家举手并祝福我们。我们觉得很感恩。感谢天主，第二天早上，车子竟然又可以发动了。
十月十日我们飞到了东部的New Jersey去参加预先定好的游轮。船往北走，経过五个港口，最后靠加拿大的魁北克两天。船快到魁北克前的Charlottetown时，船长宣布因为风浪大，海峡狭窄，要放弃停靠Charlottetown港口，攺停Saguenay河口，在海上观看河口山顶上的Notre Dame-Du-Saguenay 圣母态像。当我们聼了船长很慎重的提到圣母，又常聼说加拿大的蒙特利有北美最大、最有名气的古老天主教堂；如圣母教堂Basilica Notre Dame de Montreal和安德圣若瑟教堂Andre St. Joseph of Montreal，我们开始有了去蒙特利朝圣的念头。
于是我们决定立刻行动，更改行程，要把十月二十一日离船日由魁北克搭乘火车直往尼加拉大瀑布住三夜的行程，更攺为十月二十日离船，由魁北克搭火车往蒙特利住一夜，然后于十月二十一日由蒙特利搭乘火车往尼加拉大瀑布。这个更改牵涉到预订由魁北克到蒙特利的火车票和旅馆。船上的网路很不穏定，而且在匆忙之中更改非常困难，航行中的电话也一直打不通。我们开始在自己房间内的电话旁大声祈祷，祈求圣母妈妈转求仁慈的天主让我们这一趟有去蒙特利朝圣的机会。祈祷之后电话仍然打不通，于是再度回到电脑室查看电邮，感谢天主，VIARAIL铁路局回信说按照电邮内的指示填写回覆即可。果然我们顺利的订到了十二点四十五分出发的火车。感谢天主，此次朝圣之旅有了希望。正在此时船长宣布圣母态像已经在眼前。我们立刻乘电梯到甲板上，这时已经有很多人在观看，但见远处青翠的山顶上，肃立着一尊白色的圣母态像，她站立在河口的最高处，环视四周，保护着所有岀入旳船只。我们不约而同的一起恭唸玫瑰经并啍唱赞美诗。第二天早上我们还有时间在魁北克的街上景点观光一番，快到中午才上火车站。在这三个小时的车程中我们继续唸玫瑰经并祈祷，也祈求天主能够继续帮助我们，让我们今晚有合适的旅馆住，并且可以顺利的到蒙特利朝圣。到达蒙特利火车站时已经是下午四时，天也渐渐黑了，心里着实有点担心，赶紧找到一个角落的公用电话，打通了网路定旅馆的服务部，这位小姐非常热心，了解我们的困难之后，安慰我们说：不必担心，必会解决问题。在这免费电话中，她在网上查地图和旅馆名单，折腾了四十分钟，终于为我们订好了位于圣母堂和圣若瑟堂之间的平价旅馆。感谢天主，我们如释重负，立即搭计程车赶往旅馆放下行李，又立刻赶往安德圣若瑟教堂。这座教堂坐落在一个山坵上，整个山都是属于这座教堂的范围，包括各修院、学校、医院和附堂等，是十九世纪初由一位很有信德，敬礼圣若瑟的安德修士（现已被祝圣为真福）所发起募捐建造，因为当时的小堂里有连续治癒病人的奇蹟。又据说当时当地的工人由于敬奉圣若瑟为工人的主保和典范，而化解了劳资之间的纷争并使社会繁荣。我们乘了三段很长的梯式电梯才到逹大堂。这时在这宏伟而壮丽的圣堂内，也许因为是晚餐时间，只有七、八个人在祈祷。我俩一起唸了欢喜、光明、痛苦和荣福等四串玫瑰经之后便为所有生病、痛苦和负重担的人们祈祷；虔诚的祈求圣若瑟转求慈悲的天主，俯聼我们的祈祷意向。
第二天一早，我们赶往圣母教堂，一起跪下来唸玫瑰经并祈祷。这座可以容纳三千人的古老而荘严的大教堂位于市中心，所以外来的信友和观光客很多。大堂后面有一个美丽华贵的附堂，里面没有苦像和十字架，只有鸽子形象的圣神和天使等的雕像；据堂内的嚮导说：这是专为结婚庆典设计的圣堂，希望结婚是喜乐的结合，而不是背负苦架走苦路。于是我们很虔诚地祈祷，祈求慈悲的天主赏赐给所有即将结婚的年轻男女都能有幸福美满而不负苦架的婚姻。
中午，赶到火车站上车，一路上看见的是绵绵相连的农田牧塲和五色缤纷充满秋色的森林，加拿大堪称是农业大国，世界粮仓。我们于晚上九时左右抵达尼加拉大瀑布的旅馆。从二十二层楼高的房间可以正面观赏瀑布的全景，我们日看夜看，也走出旅馆近前看，边看边赞美天主，真是百看不厌。我们是如此形容当时的感觉：“大江之水天上来，气势磅礴震山河；天主化工多奇妙，一柱彩虹冲云霄”。
非常感谢圣母妈妈一路的陪伴和助佑。也感谢、赞美天主和圣母妈妈恩赐给我们这一趟充满玫瑰芬芳的旅程。 (编注：由于篇幅所限，本文英文版，请参阅SJCCM网页。)
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.