a priest's musings on the journey

Just two hours before the time of his execution, the US Supreme Court, meeting in an emergency session, issued a stay for Troy Anthony Davis. They had agreed earlier to hear his case next week, and yet the State of Georgia was still going to kill him tonight. Thanks be to God for this last minute move. They may have saved the life of an innocent man.

Troy Anthony Davis is scheduled to be murdered by the State of Georgia tommorrow at 7 PM. It is abhorrant to execute a person for crimes in any case, but especially so when there are questions concerning guilt. Go to Amnesty International's website to find more information about how to write to the Georgia Board of Pardon and Paroles and ask that Davis be given clemency.

Offer a prayer for Troy and his friends and family.

God have mercy on all of us.

see it here.

(pics and photos of the House Blessing and Dedication of the Prince of Peace Chapel can be found there as well)

A birthday present from Luiz.

The Glykophilousa icon, also known as Sweet Kissing or Lovingkindness is my favorite image of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the infant Christ. It was in fact the first icon I ever purchased, and my home is filled with different "Sweet Kissing" images. Not only do I find great serenity and tranquility in the scene itself- a mother caressing her child and being embraced by her child in return- but I find comfort in contemplating the faces of the Theotokos and Our Lord. I often see her pensive, forlorned visage and wonder, "does she somehow know what his fate will be?" "Is she trying to hold him close in an effort to protect him from his destiny?" When I see her in this icon, I see the face of a mother who is about to lose her child, and is relishing the last moments of tenderness before he is taken away from her. He looks as if he has been frightened and has ran into his mother's arms for safety. Perhaps I am reading in the part of the Story that I already know; perhaps I am reading into their Story parts of my own Story in an effort to find comfort and strength to live into my own plot. In any case, it is a beatiful, tender image with which I often pray, and from which I often receive many graces.