Author: Richard Chonak

I never heard of this German pop duo “Riviera” before, but their a cappella rendition of the folk song Maria durch ein Dornwald ging (“Mary walked through a thorny wood”) is very sweet.
[Update: Here’s an English lyric I made up, for those of you who aren’t polygons:]

Once Mary walked through thorny wood, Kyrie eleison;
Where seven year no leaf had stood; O Jesus, O Mary.
What bore she under her heart-beat? Kyrie eleison;
‘Twas Jesus Christ, our Lord most sweet; O Jesus, O Mary.
And as they wandered on that morn, Kyrie eleison;
A rose sprang up from every thorn; O Jesus, O Mary.

For something completely different: Victor Lams sends up the pseudo folk-song “Lord of the Dance” in the style of a ’70s TV theme (“Shaker Funk”). I’ll listen to that while meditating on this “icon” (thanks, Fr. Sibley).

The grandson of Protestant theologian Francis Schaeffer follows his Christian vocation in an unexpected direction:
ABC: John Schaeffer’s decision to enlist as a Marine after high school baffled his family and community. He was the product of a New England prep school, a young athlete and poet from a family of intellectuals.
“To the outside world, I was somewhat embarrassed,” his father, Frank, tells ABCNEWS. “When a kid joins the military, you know, the idea is, ‘Oh, that’s for the working class. That’s for people who couldn’t make it in school. That’s for someone who wants benefits.'”
John’s unorthodox decision profoundly changed the way he and his father thought about each other, about family, community and even their country. Together they wrote a book, Keeping Faith, recounting their journey.

Unlike the other services the Marines did nothing to sweeten the pill. When Genie, looking concerned and somewhat drawn, turned to one and asked, “But when he’s done with the Marines, I mean, what will he have?” The recruiter replied, ” ‘Have,’ ma’am? I don’t understand you.”
“I meant what will he, uh, get out of it?”
The recruiter sat up a little straighter and his cheeks flushed. “He’ll be a United States Marine, ma’am!”

According to Father [Denis] Como [S.J.], “every day I spend time with these refugees, celebrating Mass for them, trying to explain why the U.S.A. that says their leader is evil to his people, won’t let this same people [emigrate to] the U.S.A.”
“So here I am, without a big printed-out plan of tasks, just ready to walk with these people and listen and make them laugh by yelling out quaint Iraqi phrases,” he states.
Ministering to this community is often emotionally draining, admits Father Como. “I spend time, and lots of prayers, trying to find ways of helping these Iraqis face the fact that they are a ‘people in-between’”.
“My toughest moment is when I am celebrating the Chaldean Mass, facing the people so crowded in the church that they come a foot from the altar, and hearing them sing so loud and from their guts that I could cry aloud,” he says.

From the Byzantine Akathist Hymn:
NINTH CHANT
Priest: O Mother of God, we see the best of speakers become as mute as fish in your regard, for they could not explain how you could give birth while remaining a virgin. As for us, while marvelling at the mystery, we cry out to you with faith:
Hail, O Container of God’s Wisdom;
hail, O Treasury of His Providence!
Hail, O Reproof of Foolish Philosophers;
hail, O Confusion of Speechless Wise Men!
Hail, for you perplexed the inquisitive minds;
hail, for you dried up the inventors of myths!
Hail, for you ripped the Athenians’ meshes;
hail, for you filled the Fishermen’s nets!
Hail, O Retriever from the Abyss of Ignorance;
hail, O Lamplight of Knowledge to Many!
Hail, O Ship for Those Who Seek Salvation;
hail, O Harbor for the Sailors of Life!
Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
Resp.: Hail, O Bride and Maiden ever-pure!
KONTAKION
P.: Desiring to save the world, the Creator of All came down to it of His own will. Being at the same time our Shepherd and our God, He appeared among us, a human like us. And so the like called upon the Like, and as God He heard: Alleluia!
R: Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
[Those Byzantine folks are allowed to use the A-word during Lent.]

Maggie Gallagher sums up why the UN is not (and probably cannot be) the moral voice of the international community:

We stopped short at the Kuwaiti border last time because that is what the United Nations wanted us to do. U.N. mandates are not concerned about the fate of the Iraqi people. Once the aggression against Kuwait was repelled, the United Nations was satisfied. Bush the elder knew that pushing forward to Baghdad would have sparked international outrage, as this war has.
The United Nations is a collection of states, not a creation of the people. It reflects above all the interests of those in power, which means the right to stay, unmolested, in power. The United Nations exists to protect borders of existing states — the good, the bad and the very, very ugly.