Going Home
Every year I visit my family back home in Chicago. For the last twenty-two years we have been doing this. Some things have not changed. We still go and get a Chicago pizza, and take the kids to the Renaissance Fair over the border in Wisconsin. I like to drive by my old house and High School in Lockport, IL and go shopping in the old houses in Geneva.
But this year we did something different. I visited Marquette University in Milwaukee where my nephew will be starting school in about a week. He proudly showed us where he was going to spend the next four years. On campus we discovered a chapel from France that dated in the 1400's which was brought to America stone by stone. Now if that wasn't interesting enough it also happened to date from St. Joan of Arc's time. There is a nich in the wall which has a special stone. The Joan of Arc Stone. This stone use to hold a statue of Mary. Legend has it that St. Joan (1412-1431) kissed the stone after praying and the stone still remains colder to this day than the other stones.
Believe it or not the chapel was closed for the day just before we arrived. I was not able to go inside. However I still felt very strongly the specialness of this place. There was a plain wooden bench under a window on the opposite side of the tiny chapel from the front door. I sat with my sister and tried to quite my mind and meditate. My sister and I had been squabbling earlier that day, and I kept thinking that there is no place for that kind of thing here. We held hands and said we were sorry.
It was an amazing place, and I can only imagine what it would be like to go inside. Here is the link to the St. Joan of Arc Chapel.
But this year we did something different. I visited Marquette University in Milwaukee where my nephew will be starting school in about a week. He proudly showed us where he was going to spend the next four years. On campus we discovered a chapel from France that dated in the 1400's which was brought to America stone by stone. Now if that wasn't interesting enough it also happened to date from St. Joan of Arc's time. There is a nich in the wall which has a special stone. The Joan of Arc Stone. This stone use to hold a statue of Mary. Legend has it that St. Joan (1412-1431) kissed the stone after praying and the stone still remains colder to this day than the other stones.
Believe it or not the chapel was closed for the day just before we arrived. I was not able to go inside. However I still felt very strongly the specialness of this place. There was a plain wooden bench under a window on the opposite side of the tiny chapel from the front door. I sat with my sister and tried to quite my mind and meditate. My sister and I had been squabbling earlier that day, and I kept thinking that there is no place for that kind of thing here. We held hands and said we were sorry.
It was an amazing place, and I can only imagine what it would be like to go inside. Here is the link to the St. Joan of Arc Chapel.
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