“Children, it is the last hour;
and just as you heard that the antichrist was coming,
so now many antichrists have appeared.
Thus we know this is the last hour.”
1 John 2:18
I read these words today at the noon mass. As the clock ticks closer to midnight we are approaching the last hour of 2013. While it is not an original idea, I would like to take stock of this past year, and to begin preparing for the new one.
Where to begin? For starters, I highly recommend a book by Heather King. It’s called, “Redeemed,” and I am about halfway through. I will let her words do the talking:
“We need modern-day prophets and saints of every stripe: poets, painters, architects, musicians, teachers, waiters and waitresses, loan officers, child-care wokers, contemplatives– “priests” of all kinds, any kind, who are excited about what they’ve found, who give the impression they’re onto something and, in their possibly quiet way, are busting to tell about it.”
2013 saw the closure of a beloved institution: Dance New Amsterdam. Since coming to New York, I have taken many dance classes there. I always had fun in the beginners and slow-intermediate classes. Thankfully, classes taught by the same awesome teachers can be found using this new website, called Dance ‘n Tell
In 2013, I attended a good number of theater productions and I enjoyed all of them: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Snow Geese, Once, Tribes, Not by Bread Alone, and Witness.
I also tried my own hand at theater with a part in The Play’s the Thing.
Looking ahead to 2014 I can’t help, but wonder what will be the significant moments, political or otherwise. Here are a few that I am anticipating will be important:
January 1, 2014 Bill de Blasio will be sworn in as New York City’s next mayor. How will the city change under his tenure?
January 22, 2014 Peace talks to be held in Geneva, Switzerland to try to bring the conflict in Syria to an end.
January 22, 2014 The March for Life in Washington, D.C.
February 7-23, 2014 The Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia. I am a big fan, and if someone offered me a ticket to go photograph the Games I would be there in a second. There are a number of political issues related to the host nation, and I imagine a few of them will come out into the open: security issues, freedom of speech and expression, and Cold-War mentalities.
March, 2014 Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Israel. Christian communities are not faring too well in post-Saddam Iraq and in the rebel-held territories of Syria. Hopefully the Pope can be a voice for peace in a devastated region.
November 4, 2014 Mid-term elections. With increasing frustration over “Obamacare” it’s not clear if the American people are trending to the left or the right of center. These elections should be a good indicator.
There are other key issues to keep an eye on as well:
The National Debt. While the stock market continues to perform remarkably well the United States government does not seem to have a handle on its never-ending spending binge.
The conflict in South Sudan between former allies seems to be a welcome invitation for Sudan’s henchman-in-chief, Omar Bashir to cause even more trouble.
The conflict in the Central African Republic threatens to turn even more violent.
Egypt, and whether a post-Muslim Brotherhood political structure will last.
Israel, and whether it will enter into a wider conflict with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah to its north in Lebanon.
Japan and China. After continuing to tussle over a pile of rocks the hope is that this will not turn into a wider conflict.
For my part, I hope for peace.
