THE MIRACLE OF BEING FAR AWAY FROM HOME ON THE HOLIDAYS.

There are no such things as miracles, but I'll take the idea that good things can still happen though we might not yet understand how or why.

Several years ago, I stood in the doorway of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and watched the snow fall silently in the entrance to that sacred site on a very dark and holy night. The mumbled prayers of many pilgrims rose behind me, along with the occasional ringing bell, and the soft scuffling of priests and acolytes taking up their posit…