Always winter but never Christmas… the spell of the White Witch in Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia has a prescient quality for us here in New England where the incessant battery of snow, snow, and more snow is testing the patience of even the most ardent lover of the white wonder. Here, for those of you in warmer climes, are some of the best things seen and heard from my camera in the past several weeks.
Charles Krupa / AP
My phone rang this morning at 6:00am. “Such a strange time for anyone to be calling. It could not possibly be a salesman.” Caller ID said, “City of Boston,” and when I answered it, the robo-call voice on the other end spoke of a city-wide advisory to stay indoors while police were in hot pursuit of a suspect who was roaming the streets, extremely armed and dangerous. Now, it is one thing to hear of such tales from browsing too many conspiracy theorists’ websites late into the night. It is another thing entirely to get an official alert from city hall bright and early on a Friday morning. I immediately vowed not to make the same prayer-less mistake that I made earlier in the week when given similarly perilous news. In the wee hours of the morning, before most of my family even thought about arising, I said an Akathist prayer to the Tsar-Martyr Nicholas of Russia and followed it up with the Akathist prayers to the Mother of God that I spoke about in an earlier post. Continue reading
Several years ago after the Virginia Tech Massacre, I wrote an article for our parish newsletter entitled Peace-keepers of Another Kind: Monks of 4th Century Antioch. Given the recent heroic efforts of the first responders at Monday’s Boston Marathon Bombing, I was reminded of this article, and thought it might be time to resurrect its contents for publication in this blog. I hope you agree that it is as timely today as when I first ran it six years ago.
What does it take to restore peace to a city or country once overrun with violence and civil strife? This question is central in considering recent events both at home with shootings at Virginia Tech and abroad with the attempts of our military to quell sectarian violence in Iraq. A show of force by the ruling authority can help, but it is only part of the solution to what is a much greater spiritual problem, and often an excessive show of force may even make matters worse.
In fourth century Antioch, a crisis broke in the city when a group of citizens who disapproved of the Roman Emperor’s new taxes rebelled by desecrating his statue placed in the center of the city as a sign of his authority. They toppled the statue, tied it to the back of a horse, and dragged it through the city streets. In this ancient empire, any action taken against the Emperor’s image was considered a direct assault on the Emperor himself. These rebels started a riot and placed the whole city under the suspicion of the crown. Magistrates and troops were dispensed at once from Constantinople and rumors ran wild about who was to blame to the extent that all kinds of important public officials and common citizens fled for their lives to “undisclosed locations” around Antioch. Continue reading
I first heard of the tragedy that struck our fair city in the form of an email call for urgent prayer. And being the prayer warrior that I am… [ahem] well, no, you guessed it. Instead of instantly falling on my knees to almighty God and begging the protection and supplication of his saints and angels, I instead worried and hunted on the internet for information when information was least readily available.
I had been just four blocks away from the blast site with my three young children only several hours before the incident. We enjoyed a lovely morning of carousel and swan boat riding and were contemplating a trip into the spectator crowds around the marathon when a wiser notion [nudge from a guardian angel?] steered us underground on the metro and back towards home. Continue reading
I don’t usually use this blog to advertise upcoming events, but I thought that since some of my subscribers might be local to Quebec, it would be good to hear in advance about an opportunity our little Boston Byzantine Choir of St. Mary Orthodox Church in Cambridge has had to go international (well, okay, just across the border to Canada, but French Canada at least). Announcing a Lenten musical pilgrimage concert entitled From Adam to Christ: A Story of Rebellion to Redemption featuring our own choir and the parish choir of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church of Montreal. The concert will take place in two weeks on the Saturday before the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt, April 20, 7:00 pm, at St. George’s, so if you are local, plan on swinging by to hear some extraordinary and otherworldly music. Click on the flier pictured left for more detailed information and stay tuned for at least one blog post from me in retrospect of the event. I can’t imagine visiting a world class city like Montreal and not having something to say about it!
Through a series of rather fortunate and providential events, I have been asked to speak at the upcoming American Chesterton Society’s National Convention. Yes, you will see little old me if you scroll down past the doctors, professors, and journalists and get to the very bottom. My first thought was, “Whew, dead last, right before everyone goes home, so maybe only the real die-hards will be left to love me no matter what I say.” But then I see that I speak right before Mass and a closing banquet. So much for winging it. Continue reading
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Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. We had the words of the unofficial creed of the US postal service in mind as we mounted sleds … Continue reading
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Nothing stirs up breathless anticipation here in New England like a coming storm. It all starts with the weatherman [ahem, I mean weather-person… this is still the northeast], that fore-runner and prophet of a time which shall bring “glad tidings … Continue reading
Much has been abuzz in the media lately about the latest Pew Forum Religious survey reporting that those who have no religious affiliation are greatly on the rise in America and actually threaten to reduce the Protestant majority to under 50%. Continue reading
Just finished updating myself on the recent tragedy at the Sandy Hook School in Newtown, CT last Friday. This story is very close to me not only as a parent, but also as a teacher. I want to know what I can do now to prevent such a future tragedy from occurring again. What powerful posture of defense can I take to ensure the safety of my own children and of the innocents given over to my care during the school day?
Combing the excellent coverage given to the event by the New York Times, I was most struck by the courageous and quick response given voluntarily by one of the fathers of the many young victims:
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