This just in: foot washing is uncomfortable. Two nights ago Catholic churches of the Roman Rite and certain other Christian denominations commemorated the Last Supper with a ritual that includes washing the feet of twelve members of the community. It is done once a year, and it is usually moderately clumsy and awkward. All theContinue reading >>
My heart broke loose on the wind
In the 1200s St Dominic preached against the Albigensian heresy. That’s not the lede I expected to write about my recent trip to the symphony, but all of my reflections on the premiere of Lieberson’s Songs of Love and Sorrow led me back to a lesson I’d taught on Dominic earlier that day. Composed asContinue reading >>
What I do is me, for that I came.
Even for someone as prone to tears as I am, I know I have finished a good biography if I cry at the end when the subject dies. The last book that moved me like that was Christophe Wolfe’s biography of J. S. Bach, and it goes without saying that I knew what was comingContinue reading >>
Seasons
A few years ago I spent three weeks in Malibu at the beginning of the summer. I returned refreshed to a Boston that had suffered a brutal heat wave in my absence, and was often asked how the weather was. Although I’d never needed a hat or gloves, and I’d never sweat through my clothes,Continue reading >>
Funerals, Media, and God’s People
My first inclination was to keep commentary on the Kennedy funeral to a minimum, mostly because it just seems tacky to Monday morning quarterback a Mass of Christian Burial. But I have spent the last few days surrounded by church types who all have an opinion, plus I am under strict orders to post tonight,Continue reading >>
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