HAUNTED BY THE HOLY GHOST

Metropolitan Kallistos address Orthodox Unity in Detroit

Last Tuesday, my daughter, Hero, my husband and I were fortunate enough to be in attendance to hear Metropolitan Kallistos address.

This Summary from Orthodox Christian Laity site captures some of the experience, but make sure you listen for yourself at Ancient Faith Radio via OCL's website.

 

Orthodox crowd jams church to hear Metropolitan Kallistos address Orthodox Unity in Detroit - St. Andrew House - Center for Orthodox Christian Studies
February 23, 2008

from:Orthodox Christian Laity (OCL)

The brilliance of Orthodoxy was in full array in Troy Michigan Tuesday evening as Metropolitan KALLISTOS made his first visit to Detroit to discuss the FUTURE OF ORTHODOXY in the UNITED STATES. The visit was hosted by St. Andrew House - Center for Orthodox Christian Studies.

In what was undoubtedly the most successful Pan Orthodox event ever held in this city, more than 500 people jammed into St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Troy, Michigan to hear the presentation.

The setting was the beautiful Byzantine sanctuary of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Troy Michigan, under the pastoral care of Fr. Joseph Antypas. The event had to be moved into the sanctuary when it became apparent that the original setup in the church hall would not suffice.

"...we must say the catholicity and universality of the church are more valuable, more fundamental than our national, ethnic, and cultural identity..." His Eminence told the assembled group. "...if the basis of the Church’s existence is life in the Eucharist, it means that the church is organized on a territorial, and not on an ethnic principle...", he continued.

"...we need to be clear about our priorities - the catholicity and universality of the Church…are much much more precious than our national or ethnic identity...." said the hierarch.

Comments overhead during the evening included, "That man is the reason I am Orthodox," said Bill Nowling, from Brighton Michigan. "I saw him 20 years ago in Grand Rapids, what a blessing to have him come here," said another man. "For many of us, this will be a once in a lifetime event," said a young Coptic man.

The diversity of the crowd reminded one of the multifaceted and ancient traditions of the Eastern Church. Armenians, Copts, Greeks, Romanians, Russians, Lebanese, Syrians, along with Anglican converts to the faith had come from all across the Midwest, Ontario and even Florida to listen to the world renowned author and bishop.

Archbishop Nathaniel of Detroit, president of St. Andrew House, began the evening by reviewing the mission of St. Andrew House as a proponent for Orthodox Unity. "The Church in America was a united Church in the early 1900's under the Russian Diocese of America," said His Eminence, "It was only after the Russian Revolution, which cut off support of the American Church, that the various ethnic jurisdictions began to spring up in America," he continued.

The benediction given by the two hierarchs at the conclusion of the evening still rings in my ears. "Through the prayers of St. Andrew the First called, and the Great Martyr St. George..." said Metropolitan Kallistos.

Following that final prayer, and under the leadership of Archbishop Nathaniel, the building erupted in the hymn of "Lord...Bless thy People" - followed by "Many Years" which was led by Subdeacon Robert Mitchell (spontaneously). The majesty of those two hymns, at the end of such a spectacular evening, still send shivers down my spine.

What a blessing for the entire Orthodox community of Detroit!!!

For a complete recording of the evening, visit the home page of this website, www.orthodoxdetroit.com.  Recordings of the event were made possible by a continuing partnership between Ancient Faith Radio www.ancientfaith.com and St. Andrew House.

Finally, sincere thanks go to Mr. Michael Jaharis, chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, without whose intervention this visit would have NEVER taken place. Our entire board of directors is certainly indebted to you.

Best Regards,
Dean Calvert

As We Gather Losses, We also grow in Love

First Gestures          

Among the first we learn is good-bye,

your tiny wrist between Dad's forefinger

and thumb forced to wave bye-bye to Mom,

whose hand sails brightly behind a windshield.

Then it's done to make us follow:

in a crowded mall, a woman waves, "Bye,

we're leaving," and her son stands firm

sobbing, until at last he runs after her,

among shoppers drifting like sharks

who must drag their great hulks

underwater, even in sleep, or drown.

Living, we cover vast territories;

imagine your life drawn on a map--

a scribble on the town where you grew up,

each bus trip traced between school

and home, or a clean line across the sea

to a place you flew once. Think of the time

and things we accumulate, all the while growing

more conscious of losing and leaving. Aging,

our bodies collect wrinkles and scars

for each place the world would not give

under our weight. Our thoughts get laced

with strange aches, sweet as the final chord

that hangs in a guitar's blond torso.

Think how a particular ridge of hills

from a summer of your childhood grows

in significance, or one hour of light--

late afternoon, say, when thick sun flings

the shadow of Virginia creeper vines

across the wall of a tiny, white room

where a girl makes love for the first time.

Its leaves tremble like small hands

against the screen while she weeps

in the arms of her bewildered lover.

She's too young to see that as we gather

losses, we may also grow in love;

as in passion, the body shudders

and clutches what it must release.

From Eve's Striptease by Julia Kasdorf. Copyright © 1998 by Julia Kasdorf. All rights are controlled by the University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, PA 15261. Used by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press. All rights reserved.

PHOTO BENEVOLENT

BY

Siobhan Gorry

Image Profile in the National Catholic Reporter

Image Profile in the National Catholic Reporter   

Last week, the National Catholic Reporter published a piece profiling Image journal and its editor, Gregory Wolfe. The piece, written by Erin Ryan and entitled “A Bridge Between Religion and the Arts,” highlights how Image came to be—beginning with Wolfe’s transformation from what he calls “a conservative ‘culture warrior’” to a Christian humanist whose love of art began to undermine his previous “tendencies toward... ideological politics.” The article also explores the role that Wolfe’s conversion to Catholicism played in his vision for a new journal that saw art, like the Incarnation, as something that “brings together those two poles of human and divine, justice and mercy, all these different tensions in which we live.” Read the article to find out why Wolfe does not believe that our modern culture is going to hell in a hand basket… and for a glimpse into the vision behind the founding of a journal that has, over the last twenty years, grown beyond a handsome print journal into a flourishing suite of programs.

Click here to read the article.

WHY DON'T I LISTEN TO MY WORLDLY WISE DAUGHTERS MORE OFTEN.....

Mom.....

Winning an argument (or thinking you have won an argument) on the internet is like winning a medal in the "special olympics"......it may make you feel good, but....

Sorry guys

I LOOK AT YOU

RETURNING HOME 

    I want to tell you a

    gentlest thing. Like light

    to you. Like old faces

    being fed a good memory

    from inside themselves.

    Like eyes that do not

    watch but slowly meet

    across a room in which

    everyone is, and no one

    need hurry to what he is

    sure of. I want to say

    before we run out of

    rooms and everyone

    that I am slowest,

    surest, gentlest, too,

    across whatever room

   I look at you.

INSPIRED BY A POEM BY A FAVORITE POET  OVER AT EARL'DONALD'S BLOG

I POST ANOTHER OF JOHN CIARDI'S LUMINOUS LOVE POEMS

photo by redkatsnakes

UNFAITHFUL

Marriage is nothing more
than shared incompleteness
utterance to the groaning of all creation
with distant strains of the rest
the closing cadence of Salvation
Peace lived before it's time
but we have shifted modes
a half step up,
or was it down
we sing the same song
but our melody is undone

reignited the longing
that cannot be quenched
taking it upon ourselves
to bind and loose
disturb the fragile rest
misplace the cadence
unfinished the song

The last augment has been made
and the fight lost and won
surrendered and conquered
no victor, no heroes, no homeland
just refugees
and silence; that we call peace

we have been undone
each of us wants to ask
but courage seems like cruelty
and love forbids the question
though our names are carved
into each other's heart

this is how we remain one
imperfect, but one

Do you ever wonder if one of us will turn
grow cold, grow soft, grow tired
enough to ask, dare ask, dare answer
yes
Am I Eve or Mary

The world is without form
that I can recognize
gravity has shifted
I struggle to stand alone, to stand at all
I fall when you are not looking
I hide the bruises with a false pride
and the false pride covers layers
fear, anger, betrayal
and sadness that grows toward despair
My joy, my confidence shattered
and, I fear, my sanity

 The world has split in two

I have been unfaithful
but I don't know to whom
All I want is Him
but all I think of is you
He listens to my bone dry prayers
You wipe away the tears
He fills the emptiness of my soul
Yet it is you I reach for in the dark
trying, trying to feel whole
what have I done
have I given more than was asked?
or taken more than was deserved?

It seemed good.....to me
Was it Eve’s sin all over again
or is this an echo of  the Virgin Eden
The Dark Perfection of Adam before Eve
with secret sighs in the loneliness of the night
longing, aching for.....what?
Was God not enough for Adam?
I’ve heard whispers, rumors
incomplete completeness
imperfect perfection
possessing all, but able to have more
Perfect love that has not learned to love enough
and refuses to rest until......

my whole world aches
and you ache, too
I long to rest in that completeness again
to  wake without the emptiness
that haunts each sunrise
Was God jealous?
loved better than we love

what was the one needful thing
held out to us
that we could not obtain together?

so we live in the “little while”

with vows to keep
new and old

till death do us part
has been turned on it's head
the golden bowl will shatter
the silver cord will break
things will be restored

death or mercy, will bind us together, once more

 

PHOTO: lost melody BY TimKruskampo

 

FAITHFUL

                                                                                          

                                                                                    

And I will cause all her mirth to cease, her solemnities, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her festival times. And I will destroy her vines, and her fig trees, of which she said: These are my rewards, which my lovers have given me: and I will make her as a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour her.

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, to whom she burnt incense, and decked herself out with her earrings, and with her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the Lord. Therefore, behold I will allure her, and will lead her into the wilderness: and I will speak to her heart.

And I will give her vine-dressers out of the same place, and the valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there according to the days of her youth, and according to the days of her coming up out of the land of Egypt.And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord, That she shall call me: My husband, and she shall call me no more Baali. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.

Hosea 2

Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible

PHOTO:Flickr-cevizliekmek

So How's the writing going. mom?

 

Epitaph for a Poet

 

Here lies Richard.

He tried to improve on silence.

—Lola Haskins

photo by

kattenmeisje, Queen of the Pussycats

UNSAID

So much of what we live goes on inside–

The diaries of grief, the tongue-tied aches

Of unacknowledged love are no less real

For having passed unsaid. What we conceal

Is always more than what we dare confide.

Think of the letters that we write our dead.

Dana Gioia

photo by Niika

Candlemass

Candlemass, originally uploaded by Siobhan Gorry.