Our Lady of the Airways, Boston Logan International Airport

I've always been curious about the chapel at Boston-Logan International Airport. In Durham the old airport chapel was a small, dark space with fake stained glass. I was surprised to discover that the one at Boston-Logan is as big as a church.

 

It's hard to explain why I find this place so moving. It's partly because it reminds me of Robigus, the rust god--this narrow category, the recognition of its need for a deity. Also because we're willing to travel extreme distances for mourning, and the fact that airlines make exceptions for that kind of travel. I feel like an airport chapel must be used more often for sadness than happiness.

It's partly because airplane flights, especially the overseas, night-to-morning ones, are really an ascent into heaven, and also because they require total surrender, and I am gradually getting more and more afraid of air travel, and sometimes I am jolted awake from one of those noisy airplane-naps by a sudden terrifying awareness of how fast we're going.

Sunset on the way to Boston

Sunrise above the Hebrides, Iceland to Paris