I’m still recovering from one of the busiest months in recent memory—busy in the best of ways, though.

I spent Labor Day week with family down the shore:

It was good to spend time relaxing together as a family. Before returning to work, I went on a beautiful retreat at Villa Maria Guadalupe:

I was also part of the music team for this retreat, and I really enjoyed playing. I was back in New York for less than a week before departing again for the Midwest:

I introduced my NYC friends to the wonder that is Notre Dame and converted them into Irish fans:

It was great to be back on campus. We wandered around and visited my favorite, familiar places:

It was great to visit with good friends, and to be back in a place that will always feel like home:

Gameday weather was beautiful, and luckily the game went well for us!

We drove back to Chicago on Sunday afternoon for our flight home, and we had some time to stop by the shore of Lake Michigan, which was beautiful:

Over the course of the following week, I went to trivia night with my friends because the $20 gift certificate we’d won the last time we went there was about to expire. Then over the course of the night we won $80 more in gift certificates. So I guess we’ll be going back?

And then at the end of that week, Pope Francis arrived in New York! I wrote my reflections on his visit here. It was great to see how excited everyone was to welcome the pope. On Thursday night, the St. Patrick’s Vespers service was livestreamed at Our Lady of Good Counsel. I arrived late, but when I got there Matt Maher was giving a concert, which was awesome:

Having Pope Francis in New York City was an incredible experience to cap off the month of September!