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Land of Nod

Upon a Midnight Not So Clear, Some Wise Men from the East Appear

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on December 21, 2011 · 18 comments

Wise Men from the East, East of Eden, the Gifts of the Magi, Birth of Christ, gold frankincense myrrh, Fr. Gordon J. MacRae, These Stone Walls, Saint Matthew, Christmas in prison, Magi, Herod, Bethlehem, midrash, Father Georges Lemaitre, aggadah, Jewish Christians, Balaam, Old Testament, Infancy Narrative, Saint Luke, Annunciation, John the Baptist, Ark of the Covenant, Zoroaster, fall of man, Adam and Eve, Land of Nod, Star of Bethlehem, Blessed John Henry Newman

. . . But this morning, my Japanese friend, Koji, stopped by with some coffee he brewed using an old sock. (Trust me, you don’t want the gory details!). Koji handed me a cup – it’s pretty good, actually – and asked, “What can you tell me about the Magi?” That was odd because I’ve been thinking of writing about the Magi for Christmas. I told Koji I’ll let him read this post when finished. Maybe he’ll bring me more coffee made with that old sock of his. Lord, give me the strength to bear my blessings! Anyway, there’s no better place to begin the Magi story than St. Matthew’s own words: . . .

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Saint Gabriel the Archangel: When the Dawn from On High Broke Upon Us

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on December 8, 2010 · 9 comments

Saint Gabriel the archangel, the Archangel Gabriel, the Gospel of Saint Luke, Mary Theotokos, the Ark of the Covenant, East of Eden, Fr. Gordon J. MacRae, Rev. Gordon MacRae, These Stone Walls, Archangel Gabriel, Theotokos, Ark of the Covenant, A Day Without Yesterday, Father Georges LeMaitre, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, science religion debate, Angelic Justice, Saint Michael the Archangel, Scales of Hesed, Jack Bauer, Caprica, Michael Landon, Victor French, Highway to Heaven, Della Reese, Roma Downey, touched By an Angel, spiritual battle, angels of Scripture, Angel of the Annunciation, theological symbolism, Nativity Story of Saint Luke's Gospel, birth of Christ, Book of Daniel, Book of Truth, Talmud, rabbinic teaching, three angels who appeared to Abraham, Christian apocalyptic, Prince of Fire, Leviathan, Jewish folklore, Adam and Eve, Garden of Eden, rabbinic Judaism, Shema, Ha-Mapil, Word Among Us, Louise Perotta, East of Eden, Book of Tobit, Archangel Raphael, Michael Gabriel Raphael Uriel, Celestial Throne, Land of Nod, fall of man, John Steinbeck, Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, Tree of Life, Cain and Abel, Saint Matthew, Star of Bethlehem, Presence of God, Annunciation, Zechariah, Salvation History, Holy of Holies, virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, House of David, hail Mary full of grace, census fidelium, doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, God-Bearer, Triune God, Old Covenant, 0 Come, 0 Come Emmanuel, Veni Emmanuel

. . . I’ve always felt great sympathy for Zechariah. I imagined him having to make an urgent visit to the Temple men’s room after this, followed by the shock of being unable to intone the Temple prayers. Zechariah was accustomed to great deference from people of faith, and now he is scared speechless. I, too, would have asked for proof. For a cynic, and especially a sometimes arrogant one, good news is not easily taken at face value. . . .

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Pentecost in the Year of the Priest: Spirit of Truth, Wisdom, and Understanding

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on May 19, 2010 · 4 comments

Cardinal Avery Dulles, Catholic feast days, catholic priest, Council of Nicea, Deuteronomy, due process for priests, East of Eden, Easter, Father Clarence Murphy, First Things, Fr Gordon MacRae, Holy Spirit, Kill the Priest, Land of Nod, Orthodox Church, Passover, Pentecost, Richard John Neuhaus, Ryan A. MacDonald, Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Shavuot, Sinai Covenant, Sukkot, the Long Lent, These Stone Walls, torah, TSW, vernal equinox, Year of the Priest, priests, pentecost, catholic priest, prison life, stone walls, cease, jewish feasts, division, prison cell, the year, the priest, christianity, easter, shavuot, liturgical year, mass, orthodox church

. . . Up to that point, I had no idea of a blog’s potential. They didn’t exist when I came to prison nearly sixteen years ago. I read about them, and heard them mentioned on the news, but I had no idea how blogs worked. I remember sitting in my cell last May, knowing that I made a commitment with a deadline, but I had no idea what to write. I thought of my first night in prison, of that maddening, foot stomping chant that went on for hours. So I wrote . . .

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In the Land of Nod, East of Eden

by Fr. Gordon J. MacRae on February 10, 2010 · 12 comments

prisoners, family life, gordon macrae, eden, east, falsely accused, new hampshire, prison, adam and eve, torah, christian mythology, bible, religion, plymouth, massachusetts, cain and abel, book of genesis, land of nod, curse and mark of cain, squanto, east of eden, plymouth, massachusetts, Catholic Distance University, East of Eden, Fall of Man, HobbyCraft, Land of Nod, Mayflower, Mike Herrick, New Hampshire, Pew Study, Pilgrims, Pornchai Moontri, Scott Chretien, Squanto

. . . Many of the younger prisoners are just lost. There’s a clear correlation between their presence here and the systemic breakdown of family – especially fatherhood – in our culture. There is an alarming number of young prisoners here who have had either abusive fathers or none at all. There is a direct and demonstrable correlation between the breakdown of family and the marked increase in prisoners in our society. . . . Anyone who is not alarmed by this statistic doesn’t understand the relationship between religious values, family life, crime, and the abandonment of young people to wander east of Eden. Among young men now in the New Hampshire prison system, the recidivism rate is a staggering 57 percent. . . .

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