….I think so…

After the high drama of Thursday night and Friday morning, watching The Storm make its way east and north, I finally decided that it definitely looked like it was going more north than east, my Chicago Contacts were assuring me that all was well, and an eye on various Chicago webcams revealed the same, I packed up and headed out. I didn’t encounter a bit of snow until I actually got to Chicago. The traffic was of course, stacked up coming out of town, but I was going in, so I simply waved.

I only made one wrong turn – for some reason I kept going when I was supposed to veer, or veered when I was supposed to go straight and found myself sitting at the gates of Chinatown. Or, as Joseph calls it, "China." He has a cheap plastic sword we got for him there a year or so ago and if asked, he will tell you quite seriously, that he got it in China. Maybe he’s just jealous of Myles.

Not a problem, since I knew where I was, and where I was going was just a bit further up the Kennedy. So back on the Kennedy, up to exit 48, a left, another left and there it is, rising massively in front of me, Saint Mary of the Angels.

My oldest son has been making noises about moving to Chicago. I am not so sure because I am worried about the cost of living as well as about his Southern self adjusting to Chicago winters. But I officially give him permission if he can make St. Mary of the Angels his parish.

I mean, what I saw of it in my what…3 hours there and a survey of the bulletin looked great. It’s staffed by Opus Dei priests – the only Opus Dei-staffed parish in the country. The church is enormous, beautiful Romanesque, and when I walked up to the room where they told me I was speaking, the sound I heard was of a small schola practicing Regina Coeli for, I presumed, the Mass that was about to begin in 15 minutes, a Mass to launch an Immaculate Conception novena, a Mass at which there looked to be a few hundred in attendance.

And a very nice group of young adults in attendance at my talk, a group that grew as Mass ended. Not all were St. Mary’s parishioners – several mentioned St. John Cantius, and one young couple from the ICK parish down in the Woodlawn neighborhood  – hi guys! Also in attendance, I’m pleased to say,  was, much to my surprise, Matt Abbott! It was a real pleasure to meet everyone and really terrific to see such a lot of Catholic Energy warming up a chilly night.

Then it was off to find the Daughters of St. Paul. Well, I knew where the bookstore was, and have been there several times of course, and it’s not like Michigan Avenue is hard to find – and oh, isn’t it marvelous to see a city bustling with lights and life at 10 o’clock at night! –  but the trick was to find the back door. Right turns this time, down an alley, find the door, ring the bell, feeling guilty for being 30 minutes later than I’d said. Sister Susan was waiting, and she opened their little garage door to let me park.

There are three floors above the main bookstore level – one for the kitchen and dining area, the next for the conference room, guest rooms and a small chapel (there’s another chapel in the bookstore, of course), and the next for the Daughters.

The Advent Retreat seemed to go well today – my basic framework was to structure the three session around the three chapters about the Marian prayers from The Words We Pray. With liberal sprinklings of other musings scattered throughout. A really lovely group of women, all so engaged and committed. I had a good writer-chat with scribe Jen Cullterton Johnson who was in attendance, and was glad to meet Fr. Matthew Gamber of St. Paul of the Cross, who led us in Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction.

Being an INFP is rough sometimes, because everything in you absolutely rebels against planning things. But when you’re giving 4 talks in the course of 19 hours, you really should. And I do, but I do like to be led by my sense of the group, a group I don’t meet until, well…I meet it. I also have a deep conviction that if I end up in front of a group, there’s a reason God has put me there, and for me and my personality, the way it seems to work out best for me to discern and be in service to that reason is if my "planning" consists of a general point I want to make, 3 or 4 stories I want to make sure I include, a quote or two, with big spaces in between all of it so I can try to "listen" as I speak and respond to what I hear. If that makes any sense. Other people do it differently. For them, the best way is to plan a more detailed presentation and stick to it. If I were doing an in-service or something more information-oriented, I’d do that too. Probably. But for these kinds of talks, this intuitive way seems to work, even though right before I begin, I do look down at my 3 little points, consider the hour I’ve been given, and think, ‘What have I done?"

So thanks to the hospitable folks at both places, and the usual props for Chicago which, despite being er…bracing…continues to intrigue.