God becomes an infant baby for us. What a gift!

Today is my mom’s birthday, which she acknowledges is almost always the day when everyone has to go back to work.  After mass at Saint Joseph’s [www.washingtonsquarecatholic.org] one long-time parishioner explained how she took down all of her Christmas decorations, even the wreath on her door.  With Christmas trees strewn about the streets many people seem to concur that Christmas is over.  But they are wrong.  Okay, I must admit that I didn’t really know either, although I would have guessed the Feast of the Epiphany;  and after checking with a priest friend that is the official end of the Christmas season.  For all the Roman Catholics out there the Feast of the Epiphany is on January 8th which means the Christmas party “ain’t over yet.”  Merry Christmas everybody!

I am trying to get back in an NYC photo groove  after Christmas and New Year’s in New England.  Driving back last night from Connecticut I felt like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone.  The city felt as foreign as a completely different universe.  Today I went out on the winding, West Village streets with camera in hand.  I know that I have a million creative projects that I should be working on, but with many of the city’s dwellers still recovering from the weekend it was fun to just take some snaps.

A Short Prayer on the Eve of Advent:

Thank-you God for the great gift of Life. Of blessing me with the grace of encountering the Beauty of your Creation. As I enter the Season of Advent may your Spirit guide me to use my talents to give praise to you, My Creator. I am sorry for the sins I have committed against you and against Life. Enkindle the fire of joy in my soul anew and make of it a fitting and true Temple for You.

Immaculee Ilibagiza and Douglas Dewey

On October 4^th I had the honor of listening to Immaculee, a survivor of the Rwandan Genocide.

If you are interested in hearing her story and how she came to forgive the killers of her family I suggest that you listen to what she has to say.  The following link is a recording of the event: http://www.nymlf.org/audio/Immaculee.mp3 (Copy and paste the above link. Apologies for the inconvenience!)

Also here are two more powerful stories dealing with the Rwandan Genocide.  The first is a short clip about forgiveness and the second is a full-length feature film about how the Genocide unfolded.

Emmanuel’s Story: http://vimeo.com/22001048

Shooting Dogs: http://youtu.be/EaXnip5DNRI

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day. For those of you who do not know, he is the man who tried to assassinate the King of England back in 1605.