Just came across this: Philly officials are giving condoms to anyone who applies and says they are between the ages of 11 and 19...you can apply anonymously and without parental knowledge. "To help prevent the spread of STD's." Sickening garbage!
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/13/philadelphia-condom-campaign-targets-kids-young-11/
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
March 1-3
I'm so sorry that I haven't blogged in a long time, I've been very busy. I want to share an amazing weekend I had two weeks ago.
On Friday March 1 I decided to go to Presanctified Liturgy at Fr. Ed Hughes (who is awesome!)'s church (St. George) in Lawrence MA (about an hour away) (http://www.stgeorgelawrence.org/). He starts Orthros, Ninth Hour and Typica at 7:30 am and Presanctified Liturgy at 9. I decided I wanted to get there at 7:30 but by the time I woke up it was 6:30 so I ran to the T, frantically looking at the map and getting off at North Station, as Fr. Ed had previously instructed me. On the T and at North Station I called Fr. Ed at church and told him I would be taking the 8:04 train (I had missed the 7:35 train by almost ten minutes :( ) to Lawrence from North Station, which got me there at 9:04, and apologized for being late.
Fr. Ed has a parish that doesn't come to weekday services, so after finishing Typica, he and Maria (a Hispanic Orthodox lady who comes to everything) came and picked me up at the train station which is across the river from the church. He just told me today (two weeks later) that he was fully vested and had pulled a black robe-ish thing over him in the car and that's why we started so fast when we got back to church. I cracked up when he told me! We probably started Presanctified around 9:30. We meandered our way through the service, flipping among different books and styles of music, and doing a variety of Spanish and English, with a little Greek and Arabic.
By the time we were all done in church (cleaning up and everything) it was about 11:15 , Fr. Ed decided he wanted to feed me and I told him if I caught the 12:14 train I'd be back to school by 2:00 when the cafeteria closes, and I'd eat there. But he wouldn't hear it. He insisted on taking me to his favorite Chinese buffet, where I had eaten another time when I had gone with some other guys. I hurriedly finished my second plate around 12:00 and we rushed to the train station through traffic. I had foolishly put $20 on my charlie ticket for the T on the way to church, and spent the other $6.75 on the train ride there, so I had $2 and needed $6.75. Fr. Ed also had no cash on him.
We saw the train pull up but I needed to buy a ticket and didn't have cash. I didn't have time to go in the ticket office with my debit card. We watched the train pull away.
The next train wasn't till 2:54, so Fr. Ed decided to take me one town south to try to catch the train there at 1:20. When we got there we realized that there was no ticket office and I needed to buy a ticket on board - with cash that I didn't have. Again, we watched the train pull up and pull away.
So, having an hour and a half, we went back to church. Fr. Ed got out the Akathist books that he would use that night and we hung out a little bit and chatted (he is awesome to chat with!). Then we went and picked up his daughter from school and she ran in and got a $20 (apparently they only had $20s and a $50) so I took that, and Fr. Ed took me to the train station. We sat in the car and chatted some more. Around 2:50 I got his blessing and went and waited for the train, and came back to school.
My ride back to school was late but a family was passing by and picked me up spontaneously and brought me back to school...I called my ride who was in traffic and told him never mind but thank you. I was a little late for Salutations that night (5:00) because I had to finish filling out my class registration for next semester. I did that, turned it in at the registrar, and went to church.
Saturday morning Seraphim and I decided to go to Divine Liturgy. The earliest train got there at 9:38, and Liturgy was supposed to start at 9:00. We figured no one was coming but were in a bind...if we didn't go and Fr. Ed planned on starting on time, he couldn't do Liturgy (Orthodox priests can't do Liturgy by themselves), but if he planned to start late and waited for us, and people showed up, their Liturgy would start late. I called him at 7:00 when I woke up and said what should we do? He said to come, and if anybody showed up he would take care of them ;)
I woke up Seraphim and we booked it to the T. We took the T to North Station and got the train at 8:45. We got to Lawrence at 9:38, got picked up by Fr. Ed, and went to church. We started Liturgy around 10:10. I chanted a lot of cool arrangements from memory and from several books, and we did all the litanies. Seraphim served in the Altar. It was awesome!
After Liturgy I read the Prayers of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion while Father consumed. When I was done reading, Father started showing us his collection of relics. He has many on the Altar and many at home. Among the ones on the Altar was St. Seraphim of Sarov. It was the second relic of St. Seraphim that Seraphim had ever seen and he was ecstatic! He asked Father how he got all these relics and Father responded that they are like trading cards...even if you can get your hands on a Roman Catholic relic, you get it so that you can use it to trade in the future ;)
Seraphim offered (half in jest) to give Fr. Ed a cross from Guatemala that was blessed on the relics of St. Theonas, if he would give him part of the relic of St. Seraphim. Father opened up the relic case and took out the relic that was in wax with tape all around it, and said it was hard to see where in this square of tape and wax the relic actually was, so he couldn't divide it. Then he closed the box and set it aside. I knew what was going on but Seraphim didn't catch on until ten or so minutes later when we were ready to leave and Fr. Ed put the box in his hand. It was such a blessing to Seraphim to have a relic of his saint, and Father had two so it was not too big of a loss for him. Seraphim hid the cross in the Altar because Father refused to take it ;)
We took the train back...I read while Seraphim slept. I think we called someone who picked us up from the T. That night I went to Vigil (Vespers and Matins) at Holy Resurrection, and it was awesome. Fr. Patrick was away so Fr. Michael served. Back at school we did Compline with the Akathist to St. Seraphim, (sung Russian melody), and the Paraklesis to St. Seraphim out of a Greek St. Seraphim prayer book, in the chapel in front of the new relic!
On Sunday Josh, Anthony and I went to St. George in Worcester to see Joanna and Myriam, two of our friends from the CrossRoad alumni retreat a couple weeks before. Liturgy was great - Fr. Milad is awesome, and the organ wasn't overpowering - and we went out to lunch with Joanna and her family and realized that we all knew a ton of the same people!
That afternoon around 3 or 4, I took a walk in JP with Irene and chin beard man, and randomly found a children's book about St. Gerasimos of the Jordan, in this bookstore that was going out of business. Then I "rescued" an icon of the raising of Lazarus from the goodwill store. It was from Holy Transfiguration Monastery down the road, and it was probably listed at $20 or so. I got it for $10, I believe. It was a good deal.
I had an amazing weekend and wanted to share all about it :)))
On Friday March 1 I decided to go to Presanctified Liturgy at Fr. Ed Hughes (who is awesome!)'s church (St. George) in Lawrence MA (about an hour away) (http://www.stgeorgelawrence.org/). He starts Orthros, Ninth Hour and Typica at 7:30 am and Presanctified Liturgy at 9. I decided I wanted to get there at 7:30 but by the time I woke up it was 6:30 so I ran to the T, frantically looking at the map and getting off at North Station, as Fr. Ed had previously instructed me. On the T and at North Station I called Fr. Ed at church and told him I would be taking the 8:04 train (I had missed the 7:35 train by almost ten minutes :( ) to Lawrence from North Station, which got me there at 9:04, and apologized for being late.
Fr. Ed has a parish that doesn't come to weekday services, so after finishing Typica, he and Maria (a Hispanic Orthodox lady who comes to everything) came and picked me up at the train station which is across the river from the church. He just told me today (two weeks later) that he was fully vested and had pulled a black robe-ish thing over him in the car and that's why we started so fast when we got back to church. I cracked up when he told me! We probably started Presanctified around 9:30. We meandered our way through the service, flipping among different books and styles of music, and doing a variety of Spanish and English, with a little Greek and Arabic.
By the time we were all done in church (cleaning up and everything) it was about 11:15 , Fr. Ed decided he wanted to feed me and I told him if I caught the 12:14 train I'd be back to school by 2:00 when the cafeteria closes, and I'd eat there. But he wouldn't hear it. He insisted on taking me to his favorite Chinese buffet, where I had eaten another time when I had gone with some other guys. I hurriedly finished my second plate around 12:00 and we rushed to the train station through traffic. I had foolishly put $20 on my charlie ticket for the T on the way to church, and spent the other $6.75 on the train ride there, so I had $2 and needed $6.75. Fr. Ed also had no cash on him.
We saw the train pull up but I needed to buy a ticket and didn't have cash. I didn't have time to go in the ticket office with my debit card. We watched the train pull away.
The next train wasn't till 2:54, so Fr. Ed decided to take me one town south to try to catch the train there at 1:20. When we got there we realized that there was no ticket office and I needed to buy a ticket on board - with cash that I didn't have. Again, we watched the train pull up and pull away.
So, having an hour and a half, we went back to church. Fr. Ed got out the Akathist books that he would use that night and we hung out a little bit and chatted (he is awesome to chat with!). Then we went and picked up his daughter from school and she ran in and got a $20 (apparently they only had $20s and a $50) so I took that, and Fr. Ed took me to the train station. We sat in the car and chatted some more. Around 2:50 I got his blessing and went and waited for the train, and came back to school.
My ride back to school was late but a family was passing by and picked me up spontaneously and brought me back to school...I called my ride who was in traffic and told him never mind but thank you. I was a little late for Salutations that night (5:00) because I had to finish filling out my class registration for next semester. I did that, turned it in at the registrar, and went to church.
Saturday morning Seraphim and I decided to go to Divine Liturgy. The earliest train got there at 9:38, and Liturgy was supposed to start at 9:00. We figured no one was coming but were in a bind...if we didn't go and Fr. Ed planned on starting on time, he couldn't do Liturgy (Orthodox priests can't do Liturgy by themselves), but if he planned to start late and waited for us, and people showed up, their Liturgy would start late. I called him at 7:00 when I woke up and said what should we do? He said to come, and if anybody showed up he would take care of them ;)
I woke up Seraphim and we booked it to the T. We took the T to North Station and got the train at 8:45. We got to Lawrence at 9:38, got picked up by Fr. Ed, and went to church. We started Liturgy around 10:10. I chanted a lot of cool arrangements from memory and from several books, and we did all the litanies. Seraphim served in the Altar. It was awesome!
After Liturgy I read the Prayers of Thanksgiving for Holy Communion while Father consumed. When I was done reading, Father started showing us his collection of relics. He has many on the Altar and many at home. Among the ones on the Altar was St. Seraphim of Sarov. It was the second relic of St. Seraphim that Seraphim had ever seen and he was ecstatic! He asked Father how he got all these relics and Father responded that they are like trading cards...even if you can get your hands on a Roman Catholic relic, you get it so that you can use it to trade in the future ;)
Seraphim offered (half in jest) to give Fr. Ed a cross from Guatemala that was blessed on the relics of St. Theonas, if he would give him part of the relic of St. Seraphim. Father opened up the relic case and took out the relic that was in wax with tape all around it, and said it was hard to see where in this square of tape and wax the relic actually was, so he couldn't divide it. Then he closed the box and set it aside. I knew what was going on but Seraphim didn't catch on until ten or so minutes later when we were ready to leave and Fr. Ed put the box in his hand. It was such a blessing to Seraphim to have a relic of his saint, and Father had two so it was not too big of a loss for him. Seraphim hid the cross in the Altar because Father refused to take it ;)
We took the train back...I read while Seraphim slept. I think we called someone who picked us up from the T. That night I went to Vigil (Vespers and Matins) at Holy Resurrection, and it was awesome. Fr. Patrick was away so Fr. Michael served. Back at school we did Compline with the Akathist to St. Seraphim, (sung Russian melody), and the Paraklesis to St. Seraphim out of a Greek St. Seraphim prayer book, in the chapel in front of the new relic!
On Sunday Josh, Anthony and I went to St. George in Worcester to see Joanna and Myriam, two of our friends from the CrossRoad alumni retreat a couple weeks before. Liturgy was great - Fr. Milad is awesome, and the organ wasn't overpowering - and we went out to lunch with Joanna and her family and realized that we all knew a ton of the same people!
That afternoon around 3 or 4, I took a walk in JP with Irene and chin beard man, and randomly found a children's book about St. Gerasimos of the Jordan, in this bookstore that was going out of business. Then I "rescued" an icon of the raising of Lazarus from the goodwill store. It was from Holy Transfiguration Monastery down the road, and it was probably listed at $20 or so. I got it for $10, I believe. It was a good deal.
I had an amazing weekend and wanted to share all about it :)))
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