Statue at Loublande, where Claire Ferchaud beheld His Sacred Heart.
Last year I did a very personal little notice looking back at the most important posts from the first year.
And I thought I would do the same this year.
There do seem to be numerous people discovering this site, looking over past pages. For which attention I am grateful.
Still a mass of nearly 200 webpages now exists at this site. And perhaps exercises like the following can help certain folk distinguish the more important from the less.
So without much further ado, I am simply going to devote this burst to a list – with some additional comments.
French Fragments – A Cryptic Travelogue
I will begin by emphasising something very personal.
Over the last summer, Providence decreed that we would spend two months travelling in a van through France.
We were able to visit places like Lourdes and the Vendée, where peasants and nobility mounted a Counter Revolution against the French Revolution to protect the Church, to protect the Tradition …
And just at the edge of the Vendée, we saw the little village of Loublande, where Claire Ferchaud once beheld His Sacred Heart.
I have been very, very deeply marked by this pilgrimage.
The results in my soul will effect my the course of my life in a profound way and I know the future direction of this site.
I am neither ready nor competent to bring all this to the fore in an explicit way yet. But for anyone who may be interested in the future of this webproject, much can be gleaned in a travelogue I presented.
I will also add that since the original travelogue series debuted, I have filled these entries with illustrations, including photos that we took on this journey through France.
Thus, the series now has a very visual dimension, which it did not have before.
The series may be cryptic, but the combination of words and now images may yet express something not only very personally important for Kim and myself, but for what this whole site is about.
The first installment of this series can be found here.
Nobody Told Me …
This is a fairly succinct entry that I felt particularly happy with. It sums up in a relatively brief way, much that we are concerned with here.
Cor Jesus Sacratissimum – Extract from the Opening Chapter
Less brief, less succinct is the best part of the opening chapter of the book I hope to publish before long.
It offers a much more detailed treatment of many of the themes of this site. And it is in our Articles section here.
Valentin Tomberg, Catholic Tradition and the Counter-Revolution
That being said, the book extract does not say much (explicitly at least) about another major theme of this site. This is the legacy of Valentin Tomberg. And this last year I began a series, which you can find by starting here.
Book Review: The Life of St Margaret Mary Alacoque
The book reviews at this site usually function as more than simply reviews.
They are often lengthy, personal and dealing with themes relevant to the site as a whole.
This I think is the most important one recently: Book Review: The Life of St Margaret Mary Alacoque by Emile Bougaud
Book Review: The Tragic Tale of Claire Ferchaud and the Great War
This one it must be said, is less key to the site as a whole. But after my life changing visit to the tomb of Claire Ferchaud, it assumes a very personal importance to me …
From Roger Buck. Click to buy from Amazon worldwide!
Kim’s Writings
My beloved has written far less this last year – a situation she plans to rectify in the coming year.
Of her few entries, I would direct people first of all to this post on the spirituality of the Sacred Heart – Partaking in His Fatal Sadness (here).
And also: To Suffer Liturgical Abuse and not to Fume in Anger.
I will close on a very personal note …
Looking on this last year of my life personally …
Looking back at this Providential journey through the remnants of the extinguished civilisation that was Catholic France.
Looking to the cultural alternatives still present in Catholic Ireland and Spain well into the twentieth century …
Looking into, confronting the experience in my most intimate prayers, dreams, reflections, dear Reader …
I feel more deeply clear than ever, that this site must point ever more vividly not simply to Catholic Tradition, the liturgy and so forth.
But to these Catholic cultures like France, Ireland, Spain once were.
Providence arranged for me to spend lengthy time in each of these.
Providence which had a reason …
The critique of the world dominant Anglo-American materialistic civilisation at this site may grate on some ears – particularly perhaps my fellow Anglo-American brethren. (For I am English by parentage and American by birth and upbringing – an Englishman from Los Angeles …).
But Providence and the angels arranged that my life see such very different Roads Not Taken by our consumerist globalism.
I must try communicate that which was given by Providence and my most intimate prayer …
It is for that reason that many photos and other illustrations have now been added not merely to the French Travelogue, but nearly all the near 200 back pages at this site.
God be with you, dear Reader.
