July 4/17, 2013
Feast of the Royal Martyrs: Tsar-Martyr Nicholas, Tsaritsa-Martyr Alexandra, the Royal Crown Prince Alexis, the Grand-Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and those martyred with them.

On this family feast day of ours, I thought it fitting to share a few words of what the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas has meant to me personally. His heavenly intercessions have brought me from spiritual rags to heavenly riches and now I owe every breath to his pleading for me and my family before the throne of God.

For starters, he brought me a car when I was a struggling school teacher and asked him for transportation. It was not much of a car. Barely got me from point A to point B, but my 1986 Honda Civic was sufficient to bring me to meet someone who I eventually married. It contained a small thread from one of the Tsar’s ermine coronation robes, a kind of relic of the saint given to me by my monastic friends. So I called it “The Tsar’s Car” to dignify its otherwise humble existence. And the woman I eventually married didn’t care much for guys with nice cars, anyway.

Thank God she didn’t, for Harold (it’s more common nickname) died on one of my trips to see my beloved fiance. Like a whole burnt offering, it had brought me to the door of the marriage chapel, then went on to whatever place God has reserved for dearly loved internal combustion engines. Glory to God for the intercessions of his saints, through whom He always gives not what our sinful hearts desire (a ferrari), but food that is sufficient for our being.