For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
(Psalm 91:11)

My husband and I recently returned from a vacation in one of our favorite countries, Austria. I like to plan our “independent travel” and had done so for this trip. We stayed in four different cities in Austria and made day trips out of these to sites of interest to us. One such site was Schloss Hof in Marchegg, Austria. While researching for the trip, I had discovered that a 2006 renovation of Prince Eugene’s summer palace with his five-tier 1725 formal gardens and fountains and manor farm with displays and demonstrations was one of the newer tourist sites of interest. Thus, going there became of our day trips during our stay in Vienna.

The tiny village of Marchegg is the last Austrian town on the Austrian/Slovakian border. It has a downtown consisting of a one-room train station with no inside access for travelers, a one-room bank, and a tiny bar café. We would use our railpass to take us from Vienna to the village and from there – according to the attraction’s website -- a shuttle bus would take us to the schloss. I printed out the train schedules for going and returning. As is my custom, I printed the train schedules for several return journeys so that we could stay as long as we wished without worrying about missing trains with the last schedule for late afternoon train. These schedules listed the names for each stop along the journey and are a real help in tracing a journey to a new location.

We arrived in Marchegg without difficulty. We waited outside the train station where the shuttle bus was due to arrive – according to the website -- in 15 minutes. After a half hour, we thought we had best try to check what time it would arrive. The only person around was a woman cleaning the toilets outside the station. She informed us that she spoke only German and Slovak. With our limited German, we tried to get information from her. She decided we needed an English speaking person and took us to the bank. There a teller who spoke very good English didn’t know anything about the shuttle bus, but he left his post (with his cash drawer wide open) to walk us to the café. There, a woman who spoke a little English told us that the shuttle bus had quit running on September 1st and that Schloss Hof was about seven miles away. The village had neither taxi service nor bus service. Seeing our disappointment, she volunteered to drive us to Schloss Hof and said her fellow worker would be able to manage the café during that time. My cautious husband shocked me by saying that would be wonderful!

So, into the lady’s car we climbed with me wondering how we would get back to the train station. We can easily walk five miles but I doubted we would be able to do so after exploring the palace and gardens. As the car pulled out of the parking lot, the radio was playing and the lyrics were “I believe in angels” from the ABBA song, I Have a Dream. We certainly had experienced some angels in Marchegg. The drive to the schloss involved mainly beltway, fast-traffic, no-walking-area roads and she kept turning off one onto another. I quickly determined it was not possible for us to safely walk back to the station even if we could find our way. She dropped us at the entrance to the schloss and didn’t want to accept payment but we convinced her that she needed to be reimbursed for her trouble. She accepted our money and then pulled away to return to her job in Marchegg.

At the entrance to the schloss, we tried to explain our problem. The cashier spoke little English but called her supervisor who spoke a little more English. At first they were trying to find a way to get us into Slovakia and then take a bus back to Vienna. But thanks to the marvels of the Internet, they found a train that would take us from Marchegg to Vienna – a train later than any I had researched. The cashier, who lived in Marchegg, would drive us there if we would wait until the schloss closed for the day. We could see that spending more time at the schloss than planned would not be a problem. The site was better than we had imagined. And, we didn’t really have another option. Thus, we had met our second set of angels. After the schloss closed, the cashier drove us back to the train station in Marchegg where the train for Vienna was nearly ready to depart. She too was very hesitant to except money from us but finally did.

We hopped on board the train and began our trip back to Vienna. At first there were no problems as the stops on my printout matched the reverse of those we encountered on our way to Marchegg. Then, there were a couple stops that didn’t match. With my limited German, I asked a fellow traveler if this train was headed to Vienna. His stated that it was not. At one of the prior stops, we were supposed to have changed trains to get the train headed for Vienna – our angels had not managed to get that information across to us. So, at the very next stop, we disembarked at a place even smaller than the stop in Marchegg. It had only a three-sided hut and nothing else. Two other travelers also got off the train. I quickly read the train schedule posted at the hut, but could not find a train going back to where we could catch the train going to Vienna -- until the next day!

Fortunately, the other two people had stopped to have a conversation and they spoke English. They quickly agreed that the last train for the day had gone a couple of hours earlier. The man whipped out his phone and tried to find us a way to get back to Vienna. He found that we could take a bus to another village and there board a train for Vienna. I asked where we could find the bus stop. The lady said it was very complicated but she would walk us there. She did, and all the remaining connections went well – our 3rd set of angels.

I believe in angels!

Lord, thank you for the angels you send to help people in trouble. Thank you for giving me times to be your angel of mercy. Give me a push when I don’t recognize these incidences. Amen

Contributed by Nancy
Monday October 7, 2013
Liturgical Year C: Week 45
Liturgical Color: Green
Sunday Gospel reading: Proper 22
Twenth Sunday after Pentecost