Mass Above the Clouds

 

Asher Kaufman, age 18, set out on June 28 for a yearlong trip to help spread the Children's Rosary in Europe and Africa. He has been spending the month of July at La Salette Shrine in the Alps. He grew up helping the Children's Rosary and participating in it. He now is helping to spread the Children's Rosary to more parishes and schools. He is also discerning a vocation to the priesthood. He has been sharing dispatches from the trip. 

On Wednesday morning, some of the volunteers decided to climb up to the summit of Mt. Gargas, which reaches 2,208 meters high, next to La Salette Shrine for Mass at dawn. We left the Shrine at 4:30 am. It was my first time reaching the very top of the mountain, and the view on the way up was quite splendid. One can see from the pictures that we were above cloud level, and it was cold with a strong wind. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, a T-shirt, a sweater, and a winter coat, and I was still quite cold. 

La Salette Shrine was visible far below, and I really felt like this was probably the closest thing people had to being in a plane before the twentieth century. We had Mass, which was quite nice, although the pall and corporal very nearly blew away more than once. 

Not all of the volunteers went on this hike, but I daresay those who did consider themselves quite blessed for the experience.