For Boston

Lord,
Yesterday, we witnessed a great tragedy at the Boston Marathon.
We saw the images of the explosion, the blood, the injury.
We stood in still, silent shock.

Today, we fall to our knees and reach out to You.

In Thanksgiving for everyday heroes,
for first responders,
for those who ran toward the explosions,
for those who fashioned makeshift tourniquets,
for those who saved lives.

In pain for Martin Richard, dead at 8 years old,
for Krystle Campbell,
for the as-of-yet unidentified third victim,
for those injured, physically, emotionally, and spiritually,
for our own emotional and spiritual damage as witnesses,
caused by the cruelty of another.

In need for peace,
for patience,
for understanding,
for the ability to find forgiveness within ourselves.

Today we fall to our knees and pray to You without direction, without words, but with open hearts for the healing of humanity in the wake of this tragedy.

I grew up in Boston, and my family is still located in the area. I am feeling very thankful today that my brother and his girlfriend were visiting my mother in the suburbs, and that my father was at work and not taking a break to hop across the river and watch the end of the marathon. I am incredibly grateful to have heard from friends and acquaintances alike who were running the marathon, assuring us that they were out of harm’s way.

Yesterday was a very difficult today. So is today. So will tomorrow be. But even as we bow our heads in continued prayer for the healing of humanity, the prevention of evil, and the execution of God’s will, we pick ourselves up and carry forward.

Day 2: Genesis 16-30

May God give to you
of the dew of the heavens
And of the fertility of the earth
abundance of grain and wine.
May peoples serve you
and nations bow down to you;
Be master of your brothers,
and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
and blessed be those who bless you.
~ Genesis 27:28-29

Today’s chapters cover Abraham’s long life, as well as the lives of Isaac and Jacob. We see the birth of Abraham’s children, their growing up, marrying, and the births of their children, as well as how each found success and prosperity.

Included in this are a few particular stories, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the substitution of Leah for Rachel at Jacob’s wedding, and the testing of Abraham by God’s command to sacrifice Isaac. I noted, in particular, the story of Jacob stealing is brother Esau’s blessing, which is quoted above from Genesis 27. This is predicted before the birth of the twins, when Sarah cries out to God during her tumultuous pregnancy and He responds:

Day 1: Genesis 1-15

For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
~ Genesis 4:19

Today’s reading was the first 15 chapters of Genesis, which covers a lot of biblical time. From the Creation story, which we just experienced over Easter, to God’s covenant with Abram. In between, we read such notable stories as Noah’s ark as well as some of the less repeated stories, like the Tower of Babel. In additional to all of the good old fashioned “Bible Stories”, we also saw a lot of the oft-dreaded “begats”, lists of lineage indicating how certain major players, like Abram, were related to others, like Noah and Adam.

90-Day Bible Study Challenge

It’s time to take up a challenge!

The New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament is unveiled in the New.
- St. Augustine

I have had an increasing feeling over the past couple years that Catholics don’t study the Bible enough. We hear the readings at Mass on Sunday, some of us go daily and hear those as well, but not nearly so many of us actually get our Bible out and read it. Myself included.

So I’ve decided to challenge myself to a cover-to-cover reading of the New American Bible in 90 days. Every day, I will post here with a couple of passages from the reading that spoke to me and a brief reflection. This entry will serve as a table of contents or guide, each day I will edit it so that the listing below links to that day’s post.

A Call Or A Calling?

Thanks to my car having BlueTooth and my aversion to driving “alone”, I call my mother a lot. I would call her regardless, because she’s my mother and you keep in touch with people who have done awesome things for you like give you life and raise you right. But lately, I call her almost daily, usually on my drive home from work. We talk about anything and everything. Sometimes we talk about plans for future visits, since I recently moved back into a reasonable visiting radius, and other times we talk about what’s going on in our lives or the lives of our family.

Let me give you a little background about my mother. When I was a teenager, she worked in a religious goods store, now she’s a Business Manager at a local Catholic church. Growing up, my mother was my religious education teacher about every other year (the other years, she taught my brother’s class). I know all of her tricks, and when my brother and I were both done with religious education and she picked the years she liked best and started teaching them again, I continued to stay on as her assistant while I was still in the area.

My parents were always advocates of education extending beyond the classroom and living up to their responsibilities as our primary educators. We were a roadtrip family, making two cross-country moves by car during my childhood, and a large number of other trips to visit family every year. We rarely listened to the radio on these trips because my parents considered this prime family time and a great opportunity for education. My mother used to sit in the passenger seat and read to us from an educational book series by E.D. Hirsch, that is until I took over for her and read from the back seat, eventually replacing the grade-specific information of E.D. Hirsch with the fantasies of J.K. Rowling. During one of the two moves, my brother and I spent an extended time out of school (a month or so) and my mother stepped in with the things she could teach best: handwriting and language roots. My brother was in first grade, I was in fifth, so she worked on his print and my cursive, and we both studies Greek and Latin roots for the duration of our time out of school. I still attribute her with the fact that my cursive is neater than my print (especially since many of my peers don’t use cursive anymore at all, and most people younger than me don’t even know how to use it beyond signing their name) and with my SAT literature scores.