Icon

For some reason, today I decided to visit a website I came across while I was taking classes at Emmanuel School of Religion. This icon, Christ Pantocrator, is one of my favorites. They used to think that it was painted in the 13th century, but now it is dated to the late 6th or early 7th century. It hangs in the Monastery of St. Catherine in Egypt at the foot of Mount Musa (or, as some call it, Mt. Sinai). The cool thing about this icon is that it represents two different natures of Christ. On the left side, it represents the Prince of Peace and risen King of Glory, but on the right side it shows the suffering servant that was beaten and crucified. It truly is amazing the things that can be communicated and taught through icons. Have a look at this presentation of Christ Pantocrator by Embody, a British web design company.

Home at last

Well, after spending a couple of hours almost every day this past week looking for apartments, we found one tonight. I still have a hard time fathoming how much it costs up here for an apartment when we had a mortgage in Tennessee that was three or four times less than our rent up here. Granted, jobs do pay better up here, but the cost of living is a kicker. Tonight was such a relief to finally know where I will be sleeping in a month. It's never fun to have that kind of thing hanging over your head.
On top of all these moving expenses (security deposit, finder's fee for the real estate agent, truck rental, etc.) I have had so much to shell out for dental expenses. I never realized how good I had it with dental insurance. Health insurance is great, but I think dental might even be better at this point. Dental offices have no concept of "paying in installments." If it wasn't for family I might've had to take my pliers and just pull the nasty thing out myself just so I can go to the grocery store or buy gas so we can get to work. I just wanted to give credit where credit is due - thanks for the help. We'd be lost without you!

Chesterton's genius

What amazes me so much about G.K. Chesterton is his ability to write on almost any topic, both authoritatively and at the drop of a hat. He has long been one of my favorite authors of fiction, philosophy, theology, and essays. Today, for the first time I began to read one of his biographies. Suzy and I were at the bookstore (cheap date) and I came across a book of his by Ignatius Press that has his short bios of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi.
As soon as he converted to Catholicism in 1922, he was asked to write succinct portrait of St. Francis. Within a few short months he produced one of the most authoritative sketches of the saint's life. At that time he mentioned he would like to do the same with St. Thomas. The problem is that Aquinas was much more prolific and much harder to grasp. Being the genius he was, the task was apparently not too difficult - he wrote it in a couple of months, dictating the whole thing to his secretary.
The fact that he could do this so quickly amazes me, but what is of greater interest is the character of the two saints. They couldn't be more opposite in their way of approaching theology and the spiritual life, though they have the same goal - to transform the world for Christ. Chesterton writes that the nineteenth century clinged to Francis precisely because it had neglected romance and that the twentieth century was looking to Aquinas because it had neglected reason. Then he states one of the most profound things I've read in a while:

The saint is a medicine because he(she) is an antidote. Indeed that is why the saint is often the martyr...he(she) will generally be found restoring the world to sanity by exaggerating whatever the world neglects, which is by no means the same in every age. Yet each generation seeks its saint by instinct; and he(she) is not what the people want, but rather what the people need.

This really hit me for some reason. Partly because the church I was brought up in didn't really teach much about saints, so I just don't think that way - it is something that I have had to learn. Needless to say, I'll have to give it some thought before I can submit who I think the saint should be for this century.

Dentists can be nice...

Growing up, I always liked my dentist. I understood that people didn't like to have their teeth drilled, scraped, and pulled - but my dentist was great. Then I moved. For the first few years in college, I always went back to see Dr. Owens when I was at home. Then I got married and things became a little more complicated - like dental insurance. In Tennessee, Suzy had a great job with unbelievable health and dental coverage for both of us, so we went back to the dentist. Needless to say, I needed some work. He did a decent job I thought, then I went to the dentist up here in NY. They told me he really didn't do so well, so I got to have a root canal. The endodontist I was sent to is quite possibly the most thoughtful doctor of any kind I have ever visited. Since I was in so much pain, he came in an hour early on Saturday just for the procedure. He also scheduled a check-up for me on Friday after he will have been at the hospital all day - just so I don't have to be there on Suzy's birthday. And the real kicker - he called last night to see how I was doing! He has completely worked around my schedule and helped out in so many ways (even a little discount). Who says dentists are scary?

A different kind of canal

The only kind of canals I like are in Venice, but later this week I get to take a ride down the root canal. Of course this would happen after I no longer have dental insurance (or health insurance for that matter). The irony is that last year when my dentist gave me a filling in the same tooth, he debated on giving me a root canal then. I asked him to do what it would take to fix it, but he was confident that the filling would be enough. My new dentist was a little upset when I told him I had the filling last year and said the root canal should have been a no brainer, but I don't think he's half as upset as me. After looking at the X-ray, he said, "you're probably experiencing a little bit of pain, right?" I think that rolling around in the bed all night, finally getting up at 5 because I was tired of laying in bed qualifies as "a little bit." To top it all off I almost OD'd on Anbisol this morning, not realizing that the recommended usage is up to four times a day (I was hitting it about every fifteen minutes - for four hours). So the dentist gave me a script for Vicotin and said I might get a little drowsy, especially since I haven't had much to eat - mostly liquid food. I haven't felt this weird in a long time - dizzy, tingly, and extremely sleepy.......