Munich airport chapel

If you are ever traveling and find yourself needing to attend mass at the Munich International Aiport, here is some information.

The chapel is located in terminal 1, 2nd floor. It is called Christophorus Kapelle.

In August 2006, the mass times were 6pm Saturday (vigil), 9:30am and 10:30 am, as far as I can tell.







The chapel is ultra-modern looking, like many of the newly built churches in the area. But it has a real (albeit small) pipe organ and an organist. Trying to follow along was rather difficult, especially because they skipped the Credo.

[I can't figure out how to make the pictures show up correctly..

Brian Sykes

A genetist from Oxford has many books out on human evolution, and unfortunately tries to tread in sociology without much success. I recently read "Adam's Curse" and "Seven Daughters of Eve", stories of tracking down our maternal and paternal ancestry using mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome. Couple questions arise in my mind:
1. Humans have 46 chromosomes - did we already lose a pair (compared to our ape brethren who have 48), because we exhausted and destroyed the function of one sex chromosome already?
2. Sykes' hypothesis based on genetics on homosexuality is that at least homosexual males are more helpful with raising his sisters... I don't see how...
3. If a man has an older brother, this person is more likely to have homosexual orientation. The biochemical argument sounds plausible, but can we really separate the effects of the environment?
4. If these theories are true, how do we see them in the light of the Theology of the Body? Did Adam not have to deal with the decaying Y-chromosome before the fall? Where the Y-chromosome and the mitochondrial DNA at peace?

Contemplating...

Walt Whitman - Prayer of Columbus

So I bought a Thomas Hampson album of the poetry of Walt Whitman. Being an international opera star, his voice is quite range-y, and there was one song set by Robert Strassburg called "Prayer of Columbus" which is enscribed in marble in a DC metro station according to Wikipedia
It has A4 in it, which is quite high, but then again, I would not expect any less from Mr. Hampson. One day I'd like to be able to sing it, because musically it is very strong. But then today, I read the text more carefully. Wow, it is some powerful text, all the more I want to learn to sing it. (maybe in a lower key..). The text is of lifelong struggles, but the "urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will" all come from "Thee, O God." Obviously Christopher Columbus was no ordinary man, but this text is so very inspiring for me, who read it while sitting on the couch and relaxing. I guess that Walt Whitman understood the boiling energy, the inspiration, the heart following the lead of the Holy Spirit, but not just in Columbus, but in all persons. Ah, my words fail to describe the energy these words stir up in my heart.

I would like to get this song sung at my funeral, although I don't know if I can really live up to the text - it is a song of living that "urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will" that come from "Thee, O God" but I don't know if I have done so ..

Wow.

Mad Mel Gibson - Signs and Contradictions

My response to the article:

http://www.godspy.com/culture/Mel-Gibson-Signs-and-Contradictions-by-Debra-Murphy.cfm

Debra Murphy is very astute: she notes the "under-the-radar" critique of current culture of death in the movie Apocalypto, which is something I did not pick up until she mentioned it. Even if the movie showed the sacrifice of children, I don't think I would have noticed. The word of God seem to have the effect of overtaking cultures that have human sacrifice - in Canaan, when the Israelites arrived - and in central America, as the movie shows; hopefully, it will do so in modern societies. As for Mel Gibson's inner demons, Mel is the one who must deal with them - with our prayers. But most of all, let us pray that he does not drink and drive. The world/Hollywood's reaction to Mel may arise from the fact that they (Hollywood) does not like someone who fights their inner demons - they probably don't like virtue, because truth hurts.