Frederica is in the car today with two friends and struck up a conversation with one of them about her trip to Rome. They had so much to talk about, it is divided into two parts with part 1 today and part 2 next week.

Their number and identity is not clear but their intention was unmistakable: to worship the newborn King.

So what about this star in the east? How important is it that we insist it be a real astronomical star?

Don't miss this rich and inspiring reading by Frederica of the entire Nativity Kontakion written by St. Romanos the Melodist and translated by Fr. Ephrem Lash. It was taken from the book On the Life of Christ: Kontakia, published in 1994.

Frederica previewed the new movie starring John Cusack, Grace is Gone, and offers this analysis.

Frederica likes the new Disney movie, Enchanted, and provides an enchanting review for our AFR listeners.

The poor in many other countries often rely on skills handed down to them by their ancestors. But what about the poor in America?

Why do some people feel that "converts" to Orthodoxy are so obnoxious? Today Frederica reflects on the practices of some Orthodox Christians compared with the path to spiritual healing that Orthodoxy represents.

Frederica is in the fourth floor apartment of a friend who recently came to Orthodoxy from the Mennonite church and participated in an excursion to the Middle East with a group intent on apologizing to Eastern faiths for the Crusades.

We are strolling with Frederica through a cemetery on the campus of the seminary she attended several years ago.