Thursday, February 10, 2011

Final Words

http://www.mychurchevents.com/calendar/calendar.aspx?ci=G1F0L6K5L6H2O9L6I3My last New Orleans talk is this evening; it will be a very condensed introduction to the Liturgy of the Hours. (You can join us live at 6:30 Central Time, but you will have to provide your own coffee and cookies when refreshments are served.)
Yesterday, Sr Agnes, Mom and I drove over to Slidell for an evening talk on Eucharistic Adoration at St. Margaret Mary parish. It was a rather harrowing drive in rush-hour traffic during a torrential rain--and the ride home was even worse. (Imagine crossing a span of a couple of miles with only your headlights and those little street-surface reflectors to mark the lanes, knowing that the inky darkness on either side was the lake that had sent that very bridge floating away during Hurricane Katrina.) But the parish itself was spectacular.
The 6:30 evening Mass was just ending in the "chapel" (the size of a small church, the adoration chapel probably seats at least 150). After my talk, the teens would have their Eucharistic praise and worship hour. The homeschool families have a children's holy hour every Friday morning.
I gave my talk about Eucharistic Spirituality in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and the people were extremely receptive. St. Margaret Mary's was the first parish in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to begin perpetual (24/7) Eucharistic adoration. (Mom's parish, St. Clement of Rome, was second. That was about 25 years ago.) That means there are a minimum of 168 people committed to making a weekly holy hour at an appointed time (though many people sign up for one hour per month, and many parishes try to have two adorers per hour). You can only imagine the kind of spiritual energy this generates in a parish, and St. Margaret Mary's was a good example of that (take a look at their events calendar for February!).
After tonight's session (in the book center), it's time for me to start packing up my stuff. Chicago awaits! (Will the sun shine there?)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Will the sun shine in Chicago? Perhaps, but New Orleans will be overcast for many many days. :(

Anonymous said...

Possibly, but it will be overcast in New Orleans for many moons

Anonymous said...

You did a great job with explaining the liturgy of the hours.

K T Cat said...

I checked out the calendar. Holy mackeral, that's a lot of activity!

Anonymous said...

The sun is definitely shining and your choir in Chicago definitely misses you! Come back soon!

Anonymous said...

when you mentioned the word mackerel, the cat's ears stood at attention

Anonymous said...

How special it must make you feel for the Chicago choir to miss you. The feeling is no doubt mutual.
Wanna bet that New Orleans misses you more?