It is no accident that the Chicago River flows through the heart of the city of Chicago. Before the coming of the railroads in the middle of the nineteenth century, most freight and passengers moved along waterways. Only a few blocks from Assumption is Wolf Point, where the North and South branches of the Chicago River meet. This was one of the first parts of Chicago to be settled. Aside from its historic significance, the Chicago River has had a rough life. In 1900 it had its natural flow into Lake Michigan reversed, its water dumped into an artificial canal. Well into the twentieth century its banks were lined with warehouses and factories spewing smoke, giving this area now known as River North the less prestigious name of Smokey Bottoms. It got blamed for several typhoid epidemics in the nineteenth century, and until the 1990's when a massive clean-up operation was undertaken, the water was filthy and strewn with garbage. Even today it suffers the indignity of being dyed green for St. Patrick's Day, a practice continually criticized by an organization called The Friends of the Chicago River. Today it is teeming with tour boats, water taxis, kayakers, and even the occasional citizen with a fishing pole. Still, is there something to be learned from this river that many of us cross each day?

 

Joyce Rupp is a Servite Sister, a prolific author, spiritual guide, and retreat speaker, based in Des Moines, IA She recently wrote an article about her relationship with the Des Moines River, where she had gone to meditate for several decades. While the Des Moines River has led a more genteel life than the Chicago River, I would still like to share part of her article with you:

 

"The river is an alive presence. Her energy continually moves water, changes course when she decides to or is forced into it. She teaches me about facing obstacles that cannot be removed or controlled. She's creative. If her way is blocked or thwarted, she'll carve out another path, curve a little or a lot, take a detour and keep going. She swirls around an exposed sandbar with the finesse of a skilled ballerina, easily glides over a jagged tree trunk poking a brown nose inter her waters. She's not allowing those hindrances to stall her onward flowing.

 

"The river reminds me to accept impermanence. She shows me how life is replete with transitions. No two days are the same with a river. Water today will be far downstream tomorrow. A river benefits from other watercourses expanding her contents. If I am to be fully alive, I'll welcome the presence of other people enhancing my growth .... Their contributions, like small rivulets or large creeks, nourish and influence who I become and how I go about daily interactions. Too much rain or inflow and the river overruns her boundaries. Too little input from other waterways has the opposite effect, slowing her movement and limiting healthiness. In observing this, I understand the value of maintaining a balance for my wellbeing.

 

"The greatest lesson I've learned from the Des Moines involves the necessity of yielding to a greater source ..... From her birth in southern Minnesota, the Des Moines has been intent on moving toward the sea during her route of 525 miles. Something within her senses this destination. Not long ago I stood in awe at the confluence where she joins the great Mississippi. I mused, How does she do that? How does this river readily release all she's garnered along her route? Its's obvious that once this river enters the larger waterway, she loses her particular identity by releasing her embraced contents for the sake of fuller unity.

 

"I'm touched by this union, the blessedness of giving one's life over to a larger presence. The fusion of two bodies of water becoming one and moving forward with purpose speaks to me of what spiritual growth entails. I'm on a journey taking me to where the goodness I've gathered fuses with the ocean of love .... The letting go of one river into a larger body of water serves as a metaphor for the paradox Jesus taught: "For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it" (Luke 9:24). This ancient yet ever-relevant teaching prompts me to be open to the surrendering that spiritual growth insists is essential. Like a river joining another river, this isn't a one-time event, but a daily moment by moment

movement, encouraged by that consistent longing for merging, a river determined to reach the sea."

 

Fr. Joe

 

PS Despite the amazing engineering marvel of reversing the flow of the Chicago River, researchers have discovered that some deep currents still flow east toward the Lake. The river still has its way after all.