31 October 2013
Thought of the day
The Church must get her internal worship correct before trying to transform the universe. But this in of itself is not enough, but it's the point where one has to start before any other thing.
30 October 2013
Thought of the day
You know, the association with the demonic and halloween may not be so bad. Hell does exist, and one CAN indeed go there.
29 October 2013
Thought of the day
Healthy inquisitiveness should lead to a deepening of Faith, not a destruction of it.
28 October 2013
27 October 2013
My letter to women to help make your lives easier
Dear women:
Here's some helpful advice....or rather, constructive criticisms...of which I'm afraid must be pointed out...
1. It is not necessary for emotions felt to correspond to an action...
Put in better words, the male species has the ability to compartmentalize things (for better or for worse). For example: a guy can say that he loves a person with all his heart, mind and soul, absolutely mean it with his everything, and yet at the same time fully block you from speaking to him. The fact that he decides to block you does not mean that he did not love you, or did not care about you, or even let you go...The guy often times still feels x, y or z towards you...the guy just knows how to hide this so it can't be found...blocking is one of the ways that this occurs...If a guy decides to "ignore" you for a few days, let him cool his head...chances are he's avoiding speaking because he does not wish to take your head off with his wrath. One thing to be warned of though, especially if the person is a quiet soul by his own nature, that even more silence means he's REALLY pissed off, and there's nothing that you can say or do to fix his wrath at this point, let it run its course and then he'll speak.
2. perpetual testing...will eventually piss a guy off...
You know the whole "If you love me you'll do *insert thing here*" bit, that is seriously annoying. In this situation, a response is trying to be forced, envoking emotion, or something. A person loves freely with their whole heart and soul, this means that they shouldn't constantly having to "prove" their love to you through forced actions. Let those things come naturally and without force. Guys do like to be challenged, but not in a way that makes them feel inferior if they don't do what is requested of them.
Another thing while I'm on this topic: The whole reverse psychology thing, doesn't work, especially with a person who tries to piece the puzzle together before you finish it. Sometimes that person will purposely play the game just to see something. You see the person who figures it out, knows you're doing something to force a response. Eventually, the person will take your words and flip them n you, and then proceed to upscale what happened....For example, unfriend that person that you love on facebook, that person will then respond by going even further than you did.
3. Don't say anything you don't wish to be taken literally
Guys are VERY linear thinkers...even when they've "figured out" the woman. It is their natural tendency to think linearly...So, if you say "leave me alone" enough times...eventually, that's exactly what they'll do, and then make it really horrible so that you'll remember that forever....as mentioned reverse psychology doesn't work after enough times....Once or twice sure, thrice, no way in hell..
4. Don't even joke about doing things with another person...
Especially when that person has been cheated on. It's rather painful for that person that has experienced that. That's screwed up...Playing with fire does get one burned :)...
5. The none of your business philosophy...
Really means none of your business....and not that someone's trying to hide something. If a person doesn't seek attention, that's probably a good thing....
More ranting later...
Pax vobis
Here's some helpful advice....or rather, constructive criticisms...of which I'm afraid must be pointed out...
1. It is not necessary for emotions felt to correspond to an action...
Put in better words, the male species has the ability to compartmentalize things (for better or for worse). For example: a guy can say that he loves a person with all his heart, mind and soul, absolutely mean it with his everything, and yet at the same time fully block you from speaking to him. The fact that he decides to block you does not mean that he did not love you, or did not care about you, or even let you go...The guy often times still feels x, y or z towards you...the guy just knows how to hide this so it can't be found...blocking is one of the ways that this occurs...If a guy decides to "ignore" you for a few days, let him cool his head...chances are he's avoiding speaking because he does not wish to take your head off with his wrath. One thing to be warned of though, especially if the person is a quiet soul by his own nature, that even more silence means he's REALLY pissed off, and there's nothing that you can say or do to fix his wrath at this point, let it run its course and then he'll speak.
2. perpetual testing...will eventually piss a guy off...
You know the whole "If you love me you'll do *insert thing here*" bit, that is seriously annoying. In this situation, a response is trying to be forced, envoking emotion, or something. A person loves freely with their whole heart and soul, this means that they shouldn't constantly having to "prove" their love to you through forced actions. Let those things come naturally and without force. Guys do like to be challenged, but not in a way that makes them feel inferior if they don't do what is requested of them.
Another thing while I'm on this topic: The whole reverse psychology thing, doesn't work, especially with a person who tries to piece the puzzle together before you finish it. Sometimes that person will purposely play the game just to see something. You see the person who figures it out, knows you're doing something to force a response. Eventually, the person will take your words and flip them n you, and then proceed to upscale what happened....For example, unfriend that person that you love on facebook, that person will then respond by going even further than you did.
3. Don't say anything you don't wish to be taken literally
Guys are VERY linear thinkers...even when they've "figured out" the woman. It is their natural tendency to think linearly...So, if you say "leave me alone" enough times...eventually, that's exactly what they'll do, and then make it really horrible so that you'll remember that forever....as mentioned reverse psychology doesn't work after enough times....Once or twice sure, thrice, no way in hell..
4. Don't even joke about doing things with another person...
Especially when that person has been cheated on. It's rather painful for that person that has experienced that. That's screwed up...Playing with fire does get one burned :)...
5. The none of your business philosophy...
Really means none of your business....and not that someone's trying to hide something. If a person doesn't seek attention, that's probably a good thing....
More ranting later...
Pax vobis
Thought of the day
The person who is slow to anger does so for your sanity. That person knows that when they reach the breaking point, they will upscale things to a point beyond return. Poke a person enough times with a stick and they'll eventually snap.
26 October 2013
Thought of the day
If one wishes to play games, that's fine, but I'm competitive, and seek to destroy :)
25 October 2013
Thought of the day
We are not guided by the Holy Spirit in the way that some think. Every action, thought, word and deed is not guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. And for the majority of us, this is a good thing
21 October 2013
Thought of the day
Faith in of itself is a work...to say Faith in the Trinity is "easy" is flat out lying.
20 October 2013
Thought of the day
"I didn't learn this during undergrad" should be the very reason one SHOULD teach this to undergrads. The point is to make students successful, not suffer through misery just because one is not able to overcome one's undergraduate experience.
19 October 2013
Our Holy Father on ideology...reportedly
Pope Francis is at it again...I got this from Fr. Z's blog...who stole a piece from here
1. As a teacher, I agree with the axiom that, we're supposed to teach students how to think, not what to think. That said, one can not understand how to approach a problem, if one does not have a clear understanding of definitions and laws from which to form a thinking process. Hence I do not agree that the Holy Father is doing the same thing as a teacher.
Eg: When I teach Newton's Laws of motion, in particular the 2nd Law of motion. I do 3 things:
1. State the law
2. show the consequences, conditions, etc.
3. Give them a chance to come to a conclusion
From the above, they have the opportunity to be able to apply and think for themselves in various situations. It is important for students to understand what they are doing, before they attempt to apply it. Without guidance people become lost and very frustrated. To extend this to what has been going on, this is the frustration when people do not say what they mean in the first place. The ambiguity leaves everyone very frustrated and no direction as to where to go with the comments that are mentioned.
2. Most certainly everything that we do as Catholics should come from our love for Our Lord, however, that said, that is the perfect, the ideal so to speak, the fact that we follow the laws even if it's from a sense of justice or obedience as well as rigidity shouldn't be so condemned as people are trying. The perfect should never be an enemy of the good, insofar as we're capable. It is of course one thing to criticize when one has the ability to follow the law and forcefully refuses....Hence why the Liturgical abuse by the Holy Father on Holy Thursday was such a big deal...The law explicitly states "men" are to have their feet washed (viri). There was a means to have that law followed at a prison (the women could have been excluded), yet the law was willingly disobeyed. It doesn't matter if it was a pastoral situation or what not. (Had the feet been washed outside of Mass, again, it wouldn't have been an issue...as there is no law on this practice outside of Mass)...Some might call that rigidity, but hey the laws are there for a reason are they not? If one doesn't like it, change the law...seeing since the foot washing is not a matter of Divine Precept, it can surely be changed. But following the law out of the fact that the law is x is not evil or horrible in of itself.
3. People may very well be repulsed by how we approach x, y or z, but since when is their interpretation of our approach of our concern? We do not control what others think, they are their own individual, (for better or for worse). The only thing that is within our power is correcting errors where they are perceived. (For example, we Catholics do not worship the Saints, or Force is not defined as mass times acceleration). We can't force them to accept the correction of the error when we point this error out. They are free once they've heard the correction to accept it, or reject it (again, for better or for worse). Errors do not have rights, most certainly, but we do not coerce people into correction, we point them in the right direction. They still have to make the decision. Those that reject the Truth, don't reject the Truth because they don't know, or it "wasn't presented lovingly enough," they reject it because of their own free will, that God has granted us with. As the old saying goes, one can lead a horse to water, but one can't make it drink.
4. While it is most certainly possible for an intellectual idolatry to form, where one relies too much on their intellect rather than faith, does not mean that everyone will fall to this trap or form. We have intellects for a reason folks, we should use them, and there are things that are beyond capability of reason (Faith in the Trinity for example) and those thing that are beyond our reason, we need to be able to recognize and act accordingly. Prayers can certainly become habitual, but isn't habitual a good thing in the sense that one has engrained in one's memory prayers...even if the "feeling" is absent. The grace of consolation will not always be present when praying, or even feeling when we pray. Emotion and feelings are not necessary to pray...otherwise I'm sure the vast majority of us are screwed. I get little to no emotion from Mass/Divine Liturgy, and most certainly not when chanting various prayers. ...while there certainly is a difference between saying prayers and praying..."who are we to judge" when this is the case? Again, emotion is not a guarantee in the life of a Christian...
We need to pray for Our Holy Father...Pax Vobis
Here is something that the Pope said:
Anyone have an idea of what's going on? I most certainly don't...nor am I going to try to interpret this...however, I am going to say this:It is, he said, “the image of those Christians who have the key in their hand, but take it away, without opening the door,” and who “keep the door closed.”Asking those present how a Christian is able to fall into this attitude, the Pope reflected that “The faith passes, so to speak, through a distiller and becomes ideology. Andideology does not beckon (people).”Noting that it is a “lack of Christian witness does this,” he stressed that “when this Christian is a priest, a bishop or a Pope it is worse.”“When a Christian becomes a disciple of ideology,” urged the Pope, “he has lost the faith: he is no longer a disciple of Jesus, he is a disciple of this attitude of thought,” and “the knowledge of Jesus is transformed into an ideological and also moralistic knowledge.”“Ideology frightens, ideology chases away the people,” he stressed, stating that it is because of this that many are distanced from the Church.“It is a serious illness, this Christian ideology. It is an illness, but it is not new,” he said, recalling how the Apostle John alludes to this mentality in his first letter.Pope Francis then emphasized that the attitude of those who lose their faith in preference of personal ideologies is “rigid, moralistic, ethical, but without kindness.”“But why is it that a Christian can become like this? Just one thing: this Christian does not pray. And if there is no prayer, you always close the door.”“The key that opens the door to the faith,” the Pope noted, “is prayer,” and “when a Christian does not pray, this happens. And his witness is an arrogant witness.”The Christian who does not pray, urged the Pope, is “arrogant, is proud, is sure of himself. He is not humble. He seeks his own advancement…when a Christian prays, he is not far from the faith; he speaks with Jesus.”When we pray, the Pope reflected, Jesus tells us to “go into your room and pray to the Father in secret, heart to heart,” because “It is one thing to pray, and another thing to say prayers.”Those who do not pray abandon the faith, stressed the Pope, and allow it to become a “moralistic, casuistic ideology, without Jesus.”
1. As a teacher, I agree with the axiom that, we're supposed to teach students how to think, not what to think. That said, one can not understand how to approach a problem, if one does not have a clear understanding of definitions and laws from which to form a thinking process. Hence I do not agree that the Holy Father is doing the same thing as a teacher.
Eg: When I teach Newton's Laws of motion, in particular the 2nd Law of motion. I do 3 things:
1. State the law
2. show the consequences, conditions, etc.
3. Give them a chance to come to a conclusion
From the above, they have the opportunity to be able to apply and think for themselves in various situations. It is important for students to understand what they are doing, before they attempt to apply it. Without guidance people become lost and very frustrated. To extend this to what has been going on, this is the frustration when people do not say what they mean in the first place. The ambiguity leaves everyone very frustrated and no direction as to where to go with the comments that are mentioned.
2. Most certainly everything that we do as Catholics should come from our love for Our Lord, however, that said, that is the perfect, the ideal so to speak, the fact that we follow the laws even if it's from a sense of justice or obedience as well as rigidity shouldn't be so condemned as people are trying. The perfect should never be an enemy of the good, insofar as we're capable. It is of course one thing to criticize when one has the ability to follow the law and forcefully refuses....Hence why the Liturgical abuse by the Holy Father on Holy Thursday was such a big deal...The law explicitly states "men" are to have their feet washed (viri). There was a means to have that law followed at a prison (the women could have been excluded), yet the law was willingly disobeyed. It doesn't matter if it was a pastoral situation or what not. (Had the feet been washed outside of Mass, again, it wouldn't have been an issue...as there is no law on this practice outside of Mass)...Some might call that rigidity, but hey the laws are there for a reason are they not? If one doesn't like it, change the law...seeing since the foot washing is not a matter of Divine Precept, it can surely be changed. But following the law out of the fact that the law is x is not evil or horrible in of itself.
3. People may very well be repulsed by how we approach x, y or z, but since when is their interpretation of our approach of our concern? We do not control what others think, they are their own individual, (for better or for worse). The only thing that is within our power is correcting errors where they are perceived. (For example, we Catholics do not worship the Saints, or Force is not defined as mass times acceleration). We can't force them to accept the correction of the error when we point this error out. They are free once they've heard the correction to accept it, or reject it (again, for better or for worse). Errors do not have rights, most certainly, but we do not coerce people into correction, we point them in the right direction. They still have to make the decision. Those that reject the Truth, don't reject the Truth because they don't know, or it "wasn't presented lovingly enough," they reject it because of their own free will, that God has granted us with. As the old saying goes, one can lead a horse to water, but one can't make it drink.
4. While it is most certainly possible for an intellectual idolatry to form, where one relies too much on their intellect rather than faith, does not mean that everyone will fall to this trap or form. We have intellects for a reason folks, we should use them, and there are things that are beyond capability of reason (Faith in the Trinity for example) and those thing that are beyond our reason, we need to be able to recognize and act accordingly. Prayers can certainly become habitual, but isn't habitual a good thing in the sense that one has engrained in one's memory prayers...even if the "feeling" is absent. The grace of consolation will not always be present when praying, or even feeling when we pray. Emotion and feelings are not necessary to pray...otherwise I'm sure the vast majority of us are screwed. I get little to no emotion from Mass/Divine Liturgy, and most certainly not when chanting various prayers. ...while there certainly is a difference between saying prayers and praying..."who are we to judge" when this is the case? Again, emotion is not a guarantee in the life of a Christian...
We need to pray for Our Holy Father...Pax Vobis
17 October 2013
Thought of the day
This vortex has said what I've thought of the phrase "personal relationship with Jesus" over many years.
16 October 2013
Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me
Today is all about me....me me me me and me....and since it's my birthday...
Watch my kitty
Watch my kitty
15 October 2013
Thought of the day
One is supposed to do their job correctly, it doesn't need to be acknowledged every time.
14 October 2013
Introducing Tatyana Thérèse
Mondays are horrible...and so I introduce to you to my new kitty Tatyana Thérèse.
12 October 2013
Thought of the day
Dogmas are to help us know who Jesus is. If one wishes to evangelize the world, one must know who Jesus is. This Faith that we have is not a natural Faith, the revelation of God as Trinity is a supernatural Faith. Dogmas are precisely to assist us in teaching who Jesus is. They are not "non-essential", useless, or "too many rules". Jesus is God is not enough, and something that is beyond the human capability of reason.
11 October 2013
Thought of the day
It is better to think twice and speak once rather than speak more often than one should.
10 October 2013
Thought of the day
Pray, pray, pray for the Holy Father, pray, pray pray, did I mention pray for him?
09 October 2013
07 October 2013
Thought of the day
Public displays of faith often bring more souls to Christ than imposition of words
06 October 2013
Thought of the day
Blessed are we who do not see yet believe. May our Faith be strong in spite of the volition of the world that we lose our Faith.
05 October 2013
Thought of the day
If cloning were a moral activity, I'd need about 5 to get all the things I wish to get done to be done....Perhaps I should relax, but time does not allow for that.
02 October 2013
01 October 2013
De-centralization of the Church...it won't work
Rumor has it that Pope Francis wishes to de-centralize the Church and make it so that the Church is less "Vatican-centric" so to speak...I'm going to go out on a major limb and say it's not going to work...
Vatican II was trying to attempt to restore the proper sense of collegiality amongst the Bishops' and the Pope, alas, there was a bit of a problem in implementation....the appointment of liberal Bishops'
Really collegiality would work nearly perfectly, if all of the Bishops' of the world were of the same mind, accord and shared the same exact Faith....problem is that they don't, so it won't work...
Let's be honest about the whole situation, although our unity comes from Christ, the source of all unity, many of our Bishops' do not share the same Faith, or even the same mindset...we need only look at how various Bishops' wish to apply Church Law on various situations for example of this:
Now of course this is a problem when sinners run the local churches, imperfect Bishops running a perfect Church.
One thing that I've noticed is a lack of public statements from Rome on the issues of the day. The only thing positive I have to say about this, is perhaps this is code for Bishops' to do their job so that Rome doesn't have to. (As it should be)....
If the Bishops' had been teaching, governing and sanctifying as they should have been, this whole attempt to de-centralize the Church wouldn't be such a bad idea. Indeed we're not supposed to place our trust in princes, our trust should be in Christ Jesus alone...but with these crop of Bishops' how in the world would the de-centralization of the Church be a good thing? Need we remember the Winnipeg statement from the Canadian Bishops...or our very own Bishops' here in the US supporting every big government agenda item/DNC talking points....we all know that this would be a bad idea.
The reform that needs to take place isn't Rome per se, but rather, first and foremost the interior formation of the Church (i.e. her Liturgy) and the Bishops first and foremost doing their job...and laxity in the Faith no longer be accepted and un punished...Bad Bishops were slowly being deposed under Benedict XVI...who knows what we'll see under the emancipated one...
The Holy Spirit is indeed in charge....but also the Holy Spirit is logos, reason, order as well, with the situation in the western church, the real solution is to start cleaning house....
Kyrie eleison
Vatican II was trying to attempt to restore the proper sense of collegiality amongst the Bishops' and the Pope, alas, there was a bit of a problem in implementation....the appointment of liberal Bishops'
Really collegiality would work nearly perfectly, if all of the Bishops' of the world were of the same mind, accord and shared the same exact Faith....problem is that they don't, so it won't work...
Let's be honest about the whole situation, although our unity comes from Christ, the source of all unity, many of our Bishops' do not share the same Faith, or even the same mindset...we need only look at how various Bishops' wish to apply Church Law on various situations for example of this:
Now of course this is a problem when sinners run the local churches, imperfect Bishops running a perfect Church.
One thing that I've noticed is a lack of public statements from Rome on the issues of the day. The only thing positive I have to say about this, is perhaps this is code for Bishops' to do their job so that Rome doesn't have to. (As it should be)....
If the Bishops' had been teaching, governing and sanctifying as they should have been, this whole attempt to de-centralize the Church wouldn't be such a bad idea. Indeed we're not supposed to place our trust in princes, our trust should be in Christ Jesus alone...but with these crop of Bishops' how in the world would the de-centralization of the Church be a good thing? Need we remember the Winnipeg statement from the Canadian Bishops...or our very own Bishops' here in the US supporting every big government agenda item/DNC talking points....we all know that this would be a bad idea.
The reform that needs to take place isn't Rome per se, but rather, first and foremost the interior formation of the Church (i.e. her Liturgy) and the Bishops first and foremost doing their job...and laxity in the Faith no longer be accepted and un punished...Bad Bishops were slowly being deposed under Benedict XVI...who knows what we'll see under the emancipated one...
The Holy Spirit is indeed in charge....but also the Holy Spirit is logos, reason, order as well, with the situation in the western church, the real solution is to start cleaning house....
Kyrie eleison
Happy Feast day to the Patroness of the Blog...and Thought of the day
"What a comfort it is, this way of love! You may stumble on it, you may fail to correspond with grace given, but always love knows how to make the best of everything; whatever offends our Lord is burnt up in its fire, and nothing is left but a humble, absorbing peace deep down in the heart." --St Therese
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