Germany/Ireland — Sept. 06, 2010

I said good bye to my hosts Monday morning, left Rothenburg at about 10:40 a.m., and arrived at the airport in Frankfurt at about 1:00 p.m. I'm still amazed at how quickly I was able to go between Frankfurt and Rothenburg. Maybe it's because the autobahn has been improved to avoid the traffic jam I always used to hit at Aschaffenburg. Maybe it's because I didn't stop along the way or take any secondary roads.

When I checked in, I was surprised to learn that I was flying business class to Dublin. It had originally been booked that way, but I hadn't noticed. The rest of the trip was economy class. The business class lounge was pleasant: free coffee, snacks, beer, wine, newspapers (and I had just bought one before going there!). But the best thing was on the plane: more room. There were two seats on each side instead of three. That extra space makes things very much more comfortable. I'm not sure if I'll go to Europe or Japan again, but if I do, and if I can afford it, I'm definitely going to go business class. Of course, the longer the flight, the more difference it makes (and probably the more it costs); but my travel tip for the day is: for long flights, go business if you can afford it.

I arrived at Dublin about 5:15 p.m., got my rental car, and was on my way by 6:00. On the approach to the motorway, there were lanes for Belfast, Dublin, and All Other. Of course, I took the All Other, but quickly left because it seemed to be headed to the southwest, and my destination, Monaghan, was north. After a short while I realized that I was getting nowhere fast and had no idea how to get to Monaghan from the spot where I was. A check of the map confirmed that I wanted highway N2 and I needed to get back on the motorway. So that's what I did. But during my useless side trip at one point I hit the curb with the left front tire so hard that I thought I'd better stop and check for damage. Thankfully, there was none.

Before I got to Ireland, I had thought that the danger in having to drive on the left would be a tendency  to move over to the right. But that only happened in parking lots and driveways. On the road the problem was not knowing how much space to leave on the left. Let's say x represents the driver's position and – the passenger's, | the side of the road, and . the center. When you drive on the right, the situation is:  |  .x–|  but when you're on the left it's:  |–x.  | . It's easy enough to keep to your side of the road, but judging the space you need to leave on the left is the hard part, because you've got to allow for the passenger side, which you're not used to.

Well, it was raining fairly heavily (the remnants of Hurricane Earl), which cut down on the view, but the highway was good and well marked. The roundabouts, which some people seem to think are a problem, actually were helpful. They prevented any tendency to drift into the wrong lane when making a turn. So I arrived in Monagahn Town without any trouble. But I didn't know exactly how to find Ashleigh House, the B+B where I was staying. Fortunately, I had just enough memory of the map of the town to guess that when I came to the roundabout, I should go right. I did so and then just kept going as the road curved slowly around to the right. Presently, there was Ashleigh House on the left side of the road. Even though I wasn't completely sure I was still on the right road, it wasn't pure luck. I had studied the map enough to be able to guess correctly that I should keep going through town until I got to the roundabout (although a  right turn  a block sooner would also have worked) and to make an educated guess about how to proceed from the roundabout.

So at 8:00 p.m., about 11 hours after leaving Rothenburg (2 flying, 4 in airports, and 5 on the road), I was in Monaghan, having successfully driven on the left for the first time in my 50 years of driving, and ready to explore one of my ancestral homelands.

July 11, 2009 — St. Benedict, Patron of Europe

St. Benedict lived from about 480 to 547 and is considered the founder of Western monasticism. He founded several monasteries, the last and most important of which is Monte Cassino, which the allies bombed heavily during WWII because they thought that the Germans were using it. He wrote a Rule for monks and monasteries, drawing on earlier rules from the Eastern Mediterranean area. This rule, considered highly practical and moderate in its requirements, came to be adopted by many subsequent monasteries. And as the monasteries were the principal places in Europe where the learning of classical antiquity was preserved and transmitted during the Middle Ages, Pope Paul VI proclaimed him patron saint of Europe in 1964.

Here a couple of excerpts from an address by Pope Benedict XVI at his weekly audience of April 9, 2008. The Pope took the name Benedict because of his belief in the continuing importance of the work of the saint for today's world.

Today, I would like to speak about Benedict, the Founder of Western Monasticism and also the Patron of my Pontificate. I begin with words that St Gregory the Great wrote about St Benedict: "The man of God who shone on this earth among so many miracles was just as brilliant in the eloquent exposition of his teaching" (cf. Dialogues II, 36). The great Pope wrote these words in 592 A.D. The holy monk, who had died barely 50 years earlier, lived on in people's memories and especially in the flourishing religious Order he had founded. St Benedict of Norcia, with his life and his work, had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture. The most important source on Benedict's life is the second book of St Gregory the Great's Dialogues.

The Abbot must be at the same time a tender father and a strict teacher (cf. 2, 24), a true educator. Inflexible against vices, he is nevertheless called above all to imitate the tenderness of the Good Shepherd (27, 8), to "serve rather than to rule" (64, 8) in order "to show them all what is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words" and "illustrate the divine precepts by his example" (2, 12). To be able to decide responsibly, the Abbot must also be a person who listens to "the brethren's views" (3, 2), because "the Lord often reveals to the youngest what is best" (3, 3). This provision makes a Rule written almost 15 centuries ago surprisingly modern! A man with public responsibility even in small circles must always be a man who can listen and learn from what he hears.

Benedict describes the Rule he wrote as "minimal, just an initial outline" (cf. 73, 8); in fact, however, he offers useful guidelines not only for monks but for all who seek guidance on their journey toward God. For its moderation, humanity and sober discernment between the essential and the secondary in spiritual life, his Rule has retained its illuminating power even to today. By proclaiming St Benedict Patron of Europe on 24 October 1964, Paul VI intended to recognize the marvellous work the Saint achieved with his Rule for the formation of the civilization and culture of Europe. Having recently emerged from a century that was deeply wounded by two World Wars and the collapse of the great ideologies, now revealed as tragic utopias, Europe today is in search of its own identity. Of course, in order to create new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical instruments are important, but it is also necessary to awaken an ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise a new Europe cannot be built. Without this vital sap, man is exposed to the danger of succumbing to the ancient temptation of seeking to redeem himself by himself - a utopia which in different ways, in 20th-century Europe, as Pope John Paul II pointed out, has caused "a regression without precedent in the tormented history of humanity" (Address to the Pontifical Council for Culture, 12 January 1990). Today, in seeking true progress, let us also listen to the Rule of St Benedict as a guiding light on our journey. The great monk is still a true master at whose school we can learn to become proficient in true humanism.

His feast was generally observed for centuries on March 21, believed to be the date of his death. But since that date always falls within Lent and is thus unsuitable for great festivities, the date was changed to July 11, which had long been a secondary feast day of the saint. (Some monastic and local calendars may still use the March date, but the Roman calendar, followed by most of the Roman Catholic churches, has July 11.) Christians may wish to pray on this day for the "ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent" which the Pope speaks of as necessary for the building of "a new Europe."