Dear 1036: Falltime Festivities Back on the Block

Dearly Beloved 1036 Clarence,

Autumn brings cooler weather, changing leaf colors, and opportunities for celebration.

For one, October is Eric's birthday month, and one memory I have of him is how much he enjoyed tuning into WMBI after school listening to Adventures in Odyssey on the radio from Focus on the Family in Colorado.  I would often be present having a snack and I'd catch parts of or full episodes.  There were also Adventures in Odyssey videos we'd watch.  All of the content had great stories that enlightened us about spiritual truths.

Even with cooler temperatures, there's still opportunity to get outside, including falltime block parties.

Last year, as plans were coming together, organizing the taco stand for dinner fell to Mom.  Taco Mucho set up its stand in front of our house, like in the photo below.

One of my neighbors was kind enough to invite me back to the block for this year's block party.  The customary continental-style breakfast was set up in front of you, 1036.

Later, it was time for a chili buffet dinner, just like I recall from years past, as is shown in the photo below.  I was glad to be back among the neighbors and talk with the new family.

At one point, when I was near you, I heard the front screen door open, and the sound brought back a flood of memories, stirring my soul, and making my heart leap.

Somehow, a single, commonplace sound reminded me of how much I love you, I love you, I love you.

With gladness and gratitude, I declare that you shall indeed never fade into the background, but remain deeply in my heart.

We are ever connected: All my relations.

God's blessings,

Paul

Thanks be to God! Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, O Lord, for the gift of the house on Clarence you offered our family.

18 Years of the Continued Movement of the Spirit

When I was confirmed on October 15, 2005, I was fully aware of the importance of the moment.  The past 18 years have been an opportunity for me to realize the importance even more.

Upon completing my initiation into the Roman Catholic Church, I was sent forth into a new way of life, into a new mission.  The Holy Spirit has constantly been on the move to help me realize the nature of this mission.

One incredible way I've come to understand this idea of being sent on mission is at World Youth Day.  I had an incredible experience at the 2019 event in Panama.  I had strongly considered going to the WYD 2023 gathering in Portugal, but opted to participate in my Great Aunt Carmen's 90-year birthday celebration instead.  Still wanting to engage with WYD, I embraced the opportunity to participate in a WYD event at Lewis University in Romeoville, IL, back on August 5.  During the day-long event, I had the chance to spend time in prayer and attend presentations that helped me think more about the mission of faith.

The WYD 2023 theme focused on how Mary, upon hearing the news from the angel that she would bear the Son of God, went in haste to visit her cousin Elizabeth.  As I pondered this story, I came to realize we've all been given Good News, a realization of God's presence in our lives.  And we're sent to share it with others.

There was so much power in the words Pope Francis spoke in his welcome message, "You are not here by accident. The Lord has called you, not only in these days, but from the very beginning of your days. He called you by name."

It was so fitting that WYD 2023 concluded on the Feast of the Transfiguration, because WYD, by its nature, is a glorious mountaintop experience. Like with any Mass, we're sent forth into the rest of our lives in the plains to live out that experience, fully grounded in the glory of God, while seeking to realize it in all aspects of our lives.

The legacy of Pope St. John Paul II, whose feast day is October 22, the anniversary of his installation as Pope, continues to empower people, including the young people who he especially wanted to minister to with the establishment of World Youth Day.  I realize that this event has had great power throughout the years, especially when I read about the 1993 event in Denver.  Apparently, violence in the area diminished during the days-long gathering.  It all speaks to the idea that Pope St. John Paul II emphasized especially in Theology of the Body, that we are all called to the vocation to love God by loving others.

My Confirmation anniversary this year returns full circle in the sense that the readings for this weekend's Sunday Mass have cycled back to those that were proclaimed at my Confirmation Mass.  So I ponder anew what it means to be chosen by God, bearing His image, and a title and anointing He has given me as the Holy Spirit has made the Paschal Mystery a reality in me.  In the spirit of those powerful words in teh final verse of the Gospel passage from Matthew 22, I am called to give back to God the gift of who He created and chose me to be so that I may declare with my life that there is none like Him.

Cross at the World Youth Day gathering at Lewis University, with displays for various saints

10 for 10 Years for me at the National Shrine

While traveling back from South Carolina on this day 10 years ago, I visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (BNSIC).  I first became aware of this basilica shrine while talking with a ValpU professor who has studied architecture, including sacred spaces.

Over the past 10 years, the BNSIC has become my favorite place to visit outside the Chicago area.

As I celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Kairos experience I had of visiting there for the first time, I share 10 aspects of the space that resonate with me.

1. the Chapel of La Señora de Guadalupe

2. The Pentecost scene

3. the Trinity Dome

4. The display of Papal items

5. Universal Call to Holiness artwork

6. Our Lady Mother of Africa Chapel, with the artwork that displays how Africans have progressed through history from slavery to the realization of goals in the Civil Rights Movement

7. Our Lady of Lebanon Chapel, recognizing the Eastern Catholic Churches

8. Thou Art the Glory of Jerusalem words displayed above the main front doors

9. The Hall of American Saints outside the lower-level Crypt Church sanctuary, with statues including St. Mother Katharine Drexel, St. Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, and St. Kateri Tekakwitha

10. Attending Vespers in person and through the online livestream has been an enriching, transcendent experience.

As I continue to think back to that first visit and others, I'm sure more aspects of the BNSIC will come to mind, and I look forward to continued visits since I anticipate making regular visits to Washington, D.C.

While it is the largest church in the Western Hemisphere, the side chapels and oratories help facilitate encounters with God in intimate settings through various cultural representations of the Blessed Mother.  And that aspect has helped me appreciate its beauty, just as much as the magnificent liturgies and the grand Upper Church with its artwork.

This place also resonates with me as a shrine dedicated to the Patroness Saint of the United States.  May she continue interceding for the USA so that we may live virtuously and freely.

Blessed be God!

A fellow visitor photographed me as I pose in front of the BNSIC back in May 2023, in the 10th anniversary year of my first visit there.