An Attic

The Cross exemplifies every virtue

2012-01-29T00:33:00.000+08:00

Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.

It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.

If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake.

If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore his cross and despised the shame.

If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.

If you seek an example of obedience, follow him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.

If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross he was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink.

Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches, because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honours, for he experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest.
In the Office of Readings.

In Memory of All the Children Lost to, and all the Women Wounded by, the Lie

2012-01-24T02:02:00.001+08:00

Via Mark Shea.

And the Red Cardigan says:

In fact, a simple definition of abortion might read as follows: an act which directly and intentionally kills an innocent human being at any point between conception and the completion of birth. "Pro-choice" people will rarely define abortion this way, though, preferring to leave the "innocent human being" part out of the equation. The human being in question doesn't count because she is small and totally dependent on her mother for a period of no more than nine months. Why, say "pro-choice" people, should any woman have to put up with nine whole months' worth of the inconveniences of pregnancy just to give another human being the chance to continue to live and to be?

It's so tragically sad that women have become convinced that children are the enemy, that children are impossible, that a child will end their freedom or autonomy or happiness. Children give so, so much more than they ask for in return; any parent will tell you this. But abortion has been sold to women because some people think that women, in order to be free, must be like men: capable of meaningless sexual exploits complete with the ability to walk away from any responsibilities or consequences of their actions.

Let them say that I walked with giants.

2012-01-24T01:03:00.000+08:00

'If they ever tell my story let them say that I walked with giants. Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die. Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.'

Life and liberty are never in conflict

2012-01-22T00:56:00.000+08:00

'Claiming to protect the freedom of one individual can never be an excuse to take the life of another. Life and liberty are never in conflict. Life and inconvenience can be.... No one in this body can challenge me on my defence of personal choice...but I do not accept the notion that choice means the right to take the life of a human being. That's a mockery of the English language and truth. Let me hear no more of choice as an excuse to kill. Please with due respect, pick another, less offensive, word.'

Eloquently and passionately said, by a man who is probably the most consistent and earnest defender of personal choice in the US today.

They booed the Golden Rule...

2012-01-20T01:34:00.002+08:00

the most basic and universal tenet of morality?

Swanee River

2012-01-18T10:58:00.002+08:00

Via Teresa Thia.

:)

Mendel!

2012-01-18T00:14:00.000+08:00

This is just brilliant! Thanks to my friends Andrew and Jean.

Later on the world was awed, at
What he learned from those pods.
But back then no one hurrahed
Gregor Mendel but his God.

Lyrics here.

What is philosophy?

2012-01-16T23:54:00.001+08:00

Philosophy, as quest for wisdom, is quest for universal knowledge of the whole. The quest would not be necessary if such knowledge were immediately were available. The absence of knowledge of the whole does not mean, however, that man do not have thoughts about the whole: philosophy is necessarily preceded by opinions about the whole. It is, therefore, the attempt to replace opinions about the whole by knowledge of the whole.... Quest for knowledge of "all things" means quest for knowledge of God, the world, and man - or rather quest for knowledge of the natures of all things: the natures in their totality are "the whole".

Philosophy is essentially not possession of the truth, but quest for the truth. The distinctive trait of the philosopher is that 'he knows that he knows nothing," and that his insight into our ignorance concerning the most important things induces him to strive with all his power for knowledge. He would cease to be a philosopher by evading the questions concerning these things or by disregarding them because they cannot be answered. It may be that as regards the possible answers, the pros and cons will always be in a more or less even balance, and therefore that philosophy will never go beyond the stage of discussion or disputation and will never reach the stage of decision. This would not make philosophy futile. For the clear grasp of a fundamental question requires understanding of the nature of the subject matter with which the question is concerned. Genuine knowledge of a fundamental question, thorough understanding of it, is better than blindness to it, or indifference to it, be that indifference or blindness accompanied by knowledge of the answers to a vast number of peripheral or ephemeral questions or not. Minimum quod potest haberi de cognitione rerum altissimarum desiderabilius est quam certissima cognitio quae habetur de minibus rebus.* (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, qu i, a. 5)

- Leo Strauss, What is Political Philosophy? And Other Studies, p. 10.

* 'The slenderest knowledge that may be obtained of the highest things is more desirable than the most certain knowledge obtained of lesser things.'

Philosopher in Meditation, 1632, Rembrandt van Rijn, Louvre.

This blog's first Chuck Norris joke

2012-01-16T23:30:00.000+08:00

Jon Stewart warns Iran

2012-01-15T22:08:00.000+08:00

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Beautiful and mysterious

2012-01-14T22:49:00.000+08:00

Makes one think about communication and language...

Go Ron Paul!

2012-01-12T00:05:00.000+08:00

I'm not sold on some of his ideas. But here's a man who's not just an empty suit, who speaks from the heart and not from the teleprompter - a good and decent man I think. All the best Ron Paul! Be dangerous to the status quo on both sides of the political divide.

He's quite a prophet too. Listen carefully to his predictions:

And of course such people are spurned by the establishment:

Man is an exception, whatever else he is.

2012-01-10T10:44:00.000+08:00

The real difficulty which confronts everybody, and which especially confronts doctors, is that the extraordinary position of man in the physical universe makes it practically impossible to treat him in either one direction or the other in a purely physical way. Man is an exception, whatever else he is. If he is not the image of God, then he is a disease of the dust. If it is not true that a divine being fell, then we can only say that one of the animals went entirely off its head. In neither case can we really argue very much from the body of man simply considered as the body of an innocent and healthy animal. His body has got too much mixed up with his soul, as we see in the supreme instance of sex. It may be worth while uttering the warning to wealthy philanthropists and idealists that this argument from the animal should not be thoughtlessly used, even against the atrocious evils of excess; it is an argument that proves too little or too much.

Doubtless, it is unnatural to be drunk. But then in a real sense it is unnatural to be human. Doubtless, the intemperate workman wastes his tissues in drinking; but no one knows how much the sober workman wastes his tissues by working. No one knows how much the wealthy philanthropist wastes his tissues by talking; or, in much rarer conditions, by thinking. All the human things are more dangerous than anything that affects the beasts - sex, poetry, property, religion. The real case against drunkenness is not that it calls up the beast, but that it calls up the Devil. It does not call up the beast, and if it did it would not matter much, as a rule; the beast is a harmless and rather amiable creature, as anybody can see by watching cattle. There is nothing bestial about intoxication; and certainly there is nothing intoxicating or even particularly lively about beasts. Man is always something worse or something better than an animal; and a mere argument from animal perfection never touches him at all. Thus, in sex no animal is either chivalrous or obscene. And thus no animal ever invented anything so bad as drunkenness - or so good as drink.

- Read the rest of Chesterton's great essay, 'Wine When it is Red', here.

It's still Christmas, so...

2012-01-07T00:57:00.000+08:00

The Epiphany Proclamation

2012-01-05T23:05:00.001+08:00

Another beautiful reason to love the Catholic Church. I just discovered this year.

From New Liturgical Movement (I hope they don't mind me borrowing a large chunk, but I must save this):

Epiphany is the last principal feast before the beginning of the Easter cycle. In this day, the Roman Pontifical (Pars III. De Publicatione festorum Mobilium in Epiphania Domini) gives the how to publish the date of Easter and of the main movable feasts of the year, in cathedrals and other principal churches.

HISTORY

This tradition dates back to the early days of the Church. The Patriarch of Alexandria, in which town were the most skilled astronomers of Christianity, had the mission to send the date of the Paschal solemnity to other Eastern Patriarchs and to the Roman Pontif, who shall then inform the metropolitans of the West.

The Council of Nicaea is said to have formalized the practice, as a consequence of the that everyone, everywhere should celebrate it on one and the same day. Although there is no mention of the fixing of the date of Easter in the canons of the Council of Nicaea which have been preserved, we know that the issue was discussed and decided by the council with three texts: a letter of Emperor Constantine, a synodal letter to the Church of Alexandria, and a letter written by St. Athanasius in 369 to bishops of Africa. In the fifth century, Cyril of Alexandria is said to have written in an Easter letter: "The Ecumenical Council voted unanimously that the Church of Alexandria, because of its illustrious astronomers, should report annually to the Church of Rome the date of Easter, and Rome would be communicated to other churches." However, it is not certain that this passage refers to the first Council of Nicaea.

Soon, the bishops took the practice to publish annually, on January 6, an Epistola festalis, a pastoral letter in which were announced the dates of Easter and movable feasts of the current year.

Many Fathers of the early Church speak of the announcement of the date of Easter on the feast of the Epiphany. The Fourth Council of Orleans in 541 and that of Auxerre in 578 are good witnesses of this use in Gaul, and broadly, in the West. In the old Parisian Breviary, at the end of the office of a prime, a canon from decisions of the holy councils used to be read on Sundays & holidays. Here's the one for the Epiphany:

The Council, guided by the inspiration of a God full of goodness for men, ruled that the priests will celebrate at the same time the holy Easter, and that every year on the day of Epiphany the people in the church will be informed of this solemn feast... Let the priests before the Epiphany send deputies to the bishop to be informed by him of the beginning of Lent, and to be able to instruct the faithful upon that on the day of Epiphany.

-- Fourth Council of Orleans, in the year 541, c. 1, and Council of Auxerre, held under St Aunaire, in the year 578, c. 2.

The Roman rite has a formula (the "Noveritis") quite developed for this announce: to the proclamation of the date of Easter is also added those of Septuagesima, Ash Wednesday, the diocesan synod, Ascension, Pentecost and First Sunday of Advent. The Roman recitative uses the same tune as the Exultet of the Easter Vigil, which gives a taste of the Easter joy to this publication of the date of Easter.

Here's last year's proclamation:

And the text, via a blog named Tending the Temple:

Dear brothers and sisters,
the glory of the Lord has shone upon us,
and shall ever be manifest among us,
until the day of his return.
Through the rhythms of times and seasons
let us celebrate the mysteries of salvation.
Let us recall the year's culmination,
the Easter Triduum of the Lord:
his last supper, his crucifixion, his burial,
and his rising celebrated
between the evening of the twenty-first day of April
and the evening of the twenty-third day of April,
Easter Sunday being on the twenty-fourth day of April.

Each Easter -- as on each Sunday --
the Holy Church makes present the great and saving deed
by which Christ has for ever conquered sin and death.
From Easter are reckoned all the days we keep holy.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent,
will occur on the ninth day of March.
The Ascension of the Lord will be commemorated on the second day of June.
Pentecost, joyful conclusion of the season of Easter,
will be celebrated on the twelfth day of June.
And, this year the First Sunday of Advent will be
on the twenty-seventh day of November.
Likewise the pilgrim Church proclaims the passover of Christ
in the feasts of the holy Mother of God,
in the feasts of the Apostles and Saints,
and in the commemoration of the faithful departed.
To Jesus Christ, who was, who is, and who is to come,
Lord of time and history,
be endless praise, for ever and ever.
Amen.

And a very beautiful Latin version at NLM.

How cool - the astronomy, the hierarchy and the communication. And the tune - that of the Easter Exultet - giving a foretaste of the Easter celebration.

Aaah. Just glorious :)

Mitre: Holy Mother of God

2012-01-02T17:57:00.001+08:00

Getty Images

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T00:43:00.000+08:00

I've made resolution - and one of my resolutions is to keep a diary. I've written my thoughts and resolutions over the last few days and they're in my diary now. I pray I can work on these areas and slowly grow - because God knows I have so many areas in which to improve.

One Day You Will

2011-12-31T18:20:00.000+08:00

Look with hope, and renewed energy, to the New Year!

Via Fr Joe

New Years' Eve

2011-12-31T17:16:00.000+08:00

It's been a different Christmas season this year. Christmas has been quiet all my life. In Oman it's just the 4 of us, we aren't the type to have grand celebrations, and Christmas in Oman is (at least it used to be when we were growing up - things are getting more commercialized in Oman too) a private affair. It's not even a public holiday.

But this year Christmas day was even more silent. Just my sister and me in our big flat (the rest of the housemates had gone home). But it was good. My project for the last few days before Christmas - the nativity scene - really helped me on Christmas day and since to remember the Baby Jesus, to talk with him, to love him.

And now it's the last day of 2011. And I'm down with a pretty bad toothache. Thankfully the pain is easing now, but it was quite bad last night.

The last week flew past. Just like the year itself. And it's been an odd year. Not sure what 2012 holds. New experiences, new things to deal with and to learn, of that I'm certain.

I'm determined to keep a diary to organize my days and maybe even to note down some thoughts. I've even been uncharacteristically good (or at least better than usual) at examine myself a bit, trying to figure out where I need to improve. So here's to the new year, to the resolutions, to the work and the friends. I shall trust in God - he has been immensely patient with me over the last year, and I could see his saving help many times - when I didn't deserve it.

Goodbye 2011!

Radical Evil

2011-12-30T12:44:00.002+08:00

Hitchens' definition of radical evil generated by totalitarianism: "You do more violence, more cruelty that you absolutely have to stay in power. You've already made your point, you've done everything you need to do to make people realise that you're in power. But you somehow can't stop. There has to be a special appetite, there must be prisons for rape, there must be special mass graves just for children, there must be the desire to see how far you can go and even if you know that this would in the end bring you retribution it's worth it in some sense for its own sake..."

What is your profession?

2011-12-30T12:11:00.000+08:00

I'm preparing for my classes on ancient Greek political philosophy and was randomly looking at some clips from the movie 300.

The comments on this one are hilarious :D

The clips does sum up what made the Spartans such legendary warriors.

Happy Christmas, Holy Father!

2011-12-26T01:53:00.000+08:00

Teresa, 82 years old now, remembers how young Joseph Ratzinger would dash out of his family’s house and press his nose against the window of the shop across the road.

“He was looking at a teddy bear. He wanted it so much that he would stand there gazing at it,” Teresa said. “He was only two years old. I was a little older, but I wanted that teddy too. “Then I remember that one day Joseph was in floods of tears. The teddy bear had gone from the window. I cried too!

“But what we didn’t know was that his mother had bought him it for Christmas. I had to settle for a doll.”

Teresa was three years older than Joseph, who was born in the small Bavarian town of Marktl-am-Inn on April 16, 1927, an Easter Saturday. His father, Joseph senior, was the local policeman and his mother, Maria, a cook.

The little boy who got the teddy bear he so dearly wanted grew up to become archbishop of Munich and then held one of the most senior posts in the Vatican before, three days after his 78th birthday, he was elected pope following the death of John Paul II.

(Original Link (AFP) http://www.sawfnews.com/lifestyle/20688.aspx)

Via uCatholic .

Getty Images

Stay strong Holy Father! I'd love to attend a Midnight Mass celebrated by you.

Et verbum caro factum est

2011-12-26T01:29:00.000+08:00

The Eighth day before the first of January, eighth day of the lunar month
Innumerable ages having passed since the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created Heaven and earth and formed man in his own image;
many more centuries after the flood, when the Most High placed his rainbow in the heavens as a sign of the covenant and of peace;
from the migration of Abraham, our father in faith, from Ur of the Chaldeans, twenty-one centuries;
from the exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt, led by Moses, thirteen centuries;
from the anointing of David as King, about one thousand years;
in the sixty-fifth week according to Daniel’s prophecy;
in the year of the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
from the founding of the city of Rome,seven hundred and fifty-two years;
in the rule of Caesar Octavian Augustus, the forty-second year;
the whole world being at peace:

Jesus Christ, eternal God, the eternal Father’s Son,
being pleased by His coming to consecrate the world,
by the Holy Spirit conceived,
nine months having passed since His conception,
in Bethlehem of Judah was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh.

Translation: Musica Sacra

John Singleton Copley, The Nativity

What a beautiful proclamation! What good news! God enters this world of man, at a very particular time in history. The Child in that simple manger was Lord and God.

Happy Christmas to you all!

The Biblical exegisis of a ten year old

2011-12-19T10:27:00.001+08:00

He is cheapening Christianity.

The casting of lots doesn't mean that Jesus was wearing exorbitant clothes. Our Lord's robe was perhaps made by His Mother - well-made surely, but where's the evidence that it was expensive?

And that's one devious explanation of 'the Son of Man has no place to rest his head.'

This is what personal interpretation of Scripture leads to?

Bog sie rodzi

2011-12-15T11:02:00.000+08:00

Read Pope John Paul's talk based on this Christmas carol here:

"God is born, man's might is amazed: the Lord of heaven empties himself! The fire subsides, the splendour is veiled, the Infinite is encompassed..

With these words the poet presented the mystery of the Incarnation of God's Son, using contrasts to express what is essential to the mystery: in assuming human nature, the infinite God at the same time assumed the limitations of a creature. And he continues:
"The Infinite is encompassed. Scorned, yet clothed with glory, the mortal King of the ages!".

And lastly the Christmas carol uses St. John's words:
"And the Word was made flesh and came to dwell amongst us".

Thus the Christmas verses have translated into musical language what is found in the readings of the three Holy Masses of Christmas, at midnight, at dawn and during the day.

2. As I think of these expressions of popular piety, I remember all the other Christmas carols whose musical and theological wealth is enormous. I remember the Polish churches where the sound of the sublime melodies re echoes, full of joy and sometimes full of melancholy, touching in tone and content, telling of the profound truths connected with the event and mystery of the birth of God's Son. I remember Nowa Huta, where at midnight on Christmas Eve I used to celebrate the "Mass of the Shepherds", or at Bienczyce, or at Mistrzejowice, or at Wzgorza Krzeslawickie, when we had to struggle to have churches built. Then the Christmas carols were the particular sign of unity of the people who came as in Bethlehem, to Christ who "had found no room". Those same people wanted to invite Jesus into their hearts, into their communities and into their daily lives. These Christmas carols not only belong to our history; in a certain sense, they form our national and Christian history. They are many and of considerable spiritual-richness. From the oldest to those of today, from the liturgical to the popular. I remember, for example, the so-called Christmas carol of the mountain people which we so love to hear: O little one, little one.

We must not lose this treasure. That is why, as I break the Christmas wafer with you, I hope that all of you, dear compatriots, whether in our homeland or here in Rome or anywhere in the world, may sing these Christmas carols, meditating on what they say, on their content, and that in them you may discover the truth about the love of God who became man for us.

In the mass media age, the one skill we need

2011-12-14T14:52:00.003+08:00

As the virtual age warps along at the speed of Google, technology advances, and our collective databases store an increasingly staggering amount of information, there is one skill needed for effective evangelism and ministry—perhaps now more than ever.

Is it social media savvy? Knowledge of HTML? A mastery of SEO?

Nope.

It is knowing how to be with another human being. It is learning to be present.

Read the rest here.

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

2011-12-14T14:50:00.000+08:00

Chuck Cape has some great Christmas piano music.

Christmas Bells

2011-12-14T11:36:00.001+08:00

I HEARD the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

From CMR:
What Henry Wadsworth Longfellow composed was a lament. A lament for all that was wrong with the world and Longfellow was well acquainted with that.

It was the Civil War and tragedy and loss were the order of the day. Longfellow would not be immune. Hostilities in the war had just broken out and Longfellow had just lost his wife. She did not die in the war but in an equally tragic and horrible way. Frances, a good mother, was sealing envelopes with locks of her children's hair as keepsakes. She was sealing the envelopes with wax from a hot candle. Nobody really knows how, but she accidentally set herself on fire. Henry put out the flames but it was too late. She lingered through the night, but perished the next day. Such a loss would be hard on anyone.

Not too long after this, his son, afraid of telling his father in person for fear he would stop him, informed his father by letter that he had joined the Union army. Longfellow was devastated. Within months Henry got word that his beloved son had been very badly wounded at the Battle of New Hope Church.

To Longfellow the world seemed almost bereft of hope. Almost. On Christmas day 1864, he sat down and composed "Christmas Bells." In it he showed that even in our darkest hour, the light of Christ continues to shine. There is always hope.

Queen Elizabeth II at the Vatican

2011-12-13T23:09:00.000+08:00

Following protocol in her manner of dressing.

Photo via J.P. Sonnen.

Such an elegant woman.

Christ is Born

2011-12-13T22:20:00.000+08:00

It is "He", Christ who is born today
See Him crying in the manger
King of Heaven Son of God
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

There He lies there with the lam'kin
Only swaddle for his garment
With his Holy Mother Mary
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Glory, Glory, Almighty God!
And on Earth,
Peace to All Men
Hear the joyful angels singing
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

He is born, let us adore Him
Christ the Lord King of Kings
Prince of Peace for
All the Universe
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

[ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/christ-is-born-lyrics-perry-como.html ]

Words and music by Domenico Bartolucci and Ray Charles.

Domenico Bartolucci was director of the Sistine Chapel Choir and was recently created a cardinal by Pope Benedict. Here's the original Latin of this hymn:

A ray of hope flickers in the sky

2011-12-13T00:52:00.000+08:00

When that Child is born.

What else do you need?

2011-12-12T23:59:00.000+08:00

"Am I not here who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Am I not your fountain of life? Are you not in the folds of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? Is there anything else that you need?"

- Our Lady of Guadalupe to St Juan Diego.

Christmas glee

2011-12-12T22:59:00.002+08:00

Gläns över sjö och strand

2011-12-12T11:47:00.000+08:00

A beautiful Swedish Christmas song.

This one, by ABBA's Anni-Frid Lyngstad, has English captions:

John Patrick Foley (1935 - 2011)

2011-12-12T02:34:00.000+08:00

Cardinal John Patrick Foley, Grand Master Emeritus of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and former President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, died this morning at the age of 76, says Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Archbishop of Philadelphia, in a statement released Sunday.

Cardinal Foley was ordained a priest on May 19, 1962, an Archbishop on May 8, 1984 and elevated to the College of Cardinals on November 24, 2007. He died at Villa St. Joseph in Darby, Delaware County early this morning. Funeral arrangements are pending.

"I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Cardinal John Foley," said Chaput. "Cardinal Foley was a man of great apostolic energy. Anyone who met him was immediately aware of his intense love for the Church and his zeal for communicating the Gospel. By the sheer force of his personality, he drew people to the faith and to himself. I was pleased that he was able to come home during the final months of his life. No matter where he lived or how he served the Church over the years, he always considered Philadelphia his home."
...

For 25 years, beginning in 1984, then-Archbishop Foley provided commentary for American television viewers of the Christmas Midnight Mass from Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome. His last appearance on NBC-TV's national broadcast of this Mass was in December 2009.

On June 17, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI named him Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, which lends spiritual and financial support to the Catholic Church in the Holy Land and helps maintain Christian shrines in that region.

Pope Benedict XVI elevated then-Archbishop John P. Foley to the Cardinalate at a Consistory in Saint Peter's Basilica on November 24, 2007 and named him Cardinal-Deacon of the Church of San Sebastiano al Palatino in Rome. He was the seventh priest ordained for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to be elevated to the College of Cardinals.

The entire article is here. I have listened to Cardinal Foley's commentary many times when I watched the Christmas and Easter Masses at Sts Peter and Paul on EWTN.

John Patrick Foley

1935 - 2011

Requistat en Pace,

Starry, starry night

2011-12-12T00:20:00.000+08:00

Rejoice!

2011-12-11T18:47:00.000+08:00

Latin	Translation
Gaudete, gaudete! Christus est natus Ex Maria virgine: Gaudete!	Rejoice! Rejoice! Christ is born Of the Virgin Mary; Rejoice!
Tempus adest gratiae, Hoc quod optabamus Carmina laetitiae Devote redamus.	The time of grace has come For which we have prayed Let us devoutly sing Songs of joy.
Deus homo factus est Natura mirante, Mundus renovatus est A Christo regnante.	God is made man, While nature wonders The world is renewed By Christ the King.
Ezechielis porta Clausa pertransitur Unde Lux est orta Salus invenitur.	The closed gate of Ezekiel Has been passed through From where the light has risen [the East], Salvation is found.
Ergo nostra contio Psallat iam in lustro, Benedicat Domino Salus Regi nostro.	Therefore let our assembly sing praises now At this time of purification Let it bless the Lord: Greetings to our King.
	(from the New Oxford Book of Carols, 1992)

Three beautiful wishes

2011-12-10T12:10:00.000+08:00

Vatican City, Dec 9, 2011 / 07:10 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI revealed his three Christmas wishes for this year, just before remotely switching on the lights of the world’s largest Christmas tree.

“When we look at it our eyes are lifted up, raised toward the sky, toward the world of God,” said Pope Benedict from his papal apartment as he spoke via video link to the people of the Italian town of Gubbio in Umbria on the evening of Dec 7.

Their tree is over 2,000 feet tall and consists of hundreds of tiny light bulbs. The enormous display sits on the slopes of nearby Mount Ingino.

“My first wish,” he said, “is that our gaze, that of our minds and our hearts, rest not only on the horizon of this world, on its material things, but that it in some way, like this tree that tends upward, be directed toward God.”

He said that “God never forgets us, but he also asks that we don't forget him.”

The Pope’s second wish was that everyone remember that we “need a light to illumine the path of our lives and to give us hope, especially in this time in which we feel so greatly the weight of difficulties, of problems, of suffering, and it seems that we are enshrouded in a veil of darkness.”

The light that “truly illuminate our hearts” and give us “firm and sure hope” can only be found in “the Child whom we contemplate on Christmas, in a poor and humble manger, because He is the Lord who draws near to each of us and asks that we receive Him anew,” he said.

“My final wish,” concluded the Pope, “is that each of us contributes something of that light to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighborhoods, towns and cities.”

Pope Benedict also reflected on the season of Christmas and prayed that everybody will be a “light for those who are at our sides” so that we overcome our selfishness which so often “closes our hearts and leads us to think only of ourselves.”

He urged everyone to “pay greater attention to others, that we may love them more” during the Christmas season. “Any small gesture of goodness,” he said, “is like one of the lights of this great tree: together with other lights it illuminates the darkness of the night, even of the darkest night.”

The Pope then touched a computer tablet device and remotely illuminated Gubbio’s Christmas tree.

Photo: Reuters

Delivered from all stain

2011-12-09T01:35:00.000+08:00

“Yeah, right” is the way the more irenic of my Evangelical friends react to the Immaculate Conception, the feast day of which (a holy day of obligation) we celebrate on Wednesday. A few will go so far as to say something like “Whatever floats your boat,” while others react with something like horror or disgust. Very few, in my experience, have a very good idea of the dogma to which they're reacting.

“It says that Mary doesn't need to be saved,” Evangelical friends with doctorates in theology from elite universities have told me, which is, you know, and I do hate to say this, kind of dumb. I can easily understand their believing the dogma made up out of thin air, but even then they should realize that what is made up is a statement about the way Jesus saved his own mother.

So it may be useful here to explain the teaching in first week of “Mary 101” form. At least everyone will know where they stand. I thought of this when reading some of the bitter and cutting responses to David Hart's lovely reflection on holiness, “The Abbot and Aunt Susie,” and feeling like saying, in the tones of a mother whose children are trapped inside on a rainy day, “Why can't you just play nice?”

The word “Immaculate” doesn’t simply mean “perfectly clean,” as we tend to think from its use in real estate ads, but “unstained.” The doctrine emphasizes Mary’s freedom from moral corruption—not, and this is the crucial point, what she is in herself but what she is by the grace of God. Issued by Pope Pius IX in the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854, the definition declares that

the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.

She is, he wrote, “far above all the angels and all the saints so wondrously did God endow her with the abundance of all heavenly gifts poured from the treasury of his divinity.” Because God did this for her—because God did it—Mary, “ever absolutely free of all stain of sin, all fair and perfect, would possess that fullness of holy innocence and sanctity.”

Read the rest here.

Dedication to the Immaculate Conception

2011-12-09T01:33:00.000+08:00

Most Holy Trinity, you let Mary share beforehand in the salvation Christ would bring by his death, and kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Our Father in Heaven, who chose Mary as the fairest of your daughters; Holy Spirit, who chose Mary as your spouse; God the Son, who chose Mary as your worthy Mother. In union with Mary, we adore your majesty and acknowledge your supreme, eternal dominion and authority. In the presence of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and with heaven and earth as our witness, we prostrate ourselves at your feet, O Mary, Our Lady.

Most Holy Virgin Mary, we acknowledge you as our Mother, as the Immaculate Conception, living tabernacle of the Divinity, as Queen of angels and of men, as Mother of the Church, and as refuge of the afflicted. That is why, small and weak that we are, we wish to dedicate ourselves to you, and also our families, our works, our future, and all that pertains to us and is in us, and which God, in his immeasurable goodness, has entrusted to us for our good use. We want everything in us and around to belong to you and to share in your motherly blessings

(pause for a moment of silence)

Mary, be our Mother; sanctify us, purify us, correct us, guide us, pray for us, and protect us. Accept the prayers of our dedication to you. Holy Mary, our hope, seat of wisdom, Mother of fair love: through your powerful intercession make this prayer also pleasing to your Son Jesus Christ. Extinguish in us all self-love, which prevents your Divine Son, King and Sovereign Priest, from reigning in and around us. Help us, so that after holy life here on earth, we may have the happiness of praising the Blessed Trinity with you for ever and ever.

Amen

Lindsey Stirling - Silent Night

2011-12-08T01:58:00.000+08:00

She's a very lively performer. Very nice.

The Christmassy feeling has been ebbing a bit these few days, mostly due to boredom, frustration and disappointment that my work is progressing slowly. But Christmas isn't about feelings. And tomorrow's a beautiful beautiful feast day. :)

Must get back to my Advent preparation for Christmas. Must prepare something nice for Baby Jesus on Christmas day.

Remember him?

2011-12-06T00:57:00.000+08:00

What does English sound like?

2011-12-05T23:34:00.000+08:00

I've often wondered what English sounded like to someone who did not understand it.

I can mimic Chinese, Arabic, etc - makes noises that sound a bit like those languages but which mean nothing. But I can't do that with English and Sinhalese.

Especially when it comes to English, I just cannot imagine what it sounds like to someone who does not know the language. Why? It's because I understand the language and the meaning overpowers the raw sound. But why that happens I don't know.

Anyway, I came across this video yesterday. Here's what English sounds like. It's almost understandable. You can almost understand the words too - maybe because you can guess the context. Interesting isn't it?

Read a bit more here.

What modern speech owes to Shakespeare

2011-12-05T00:12:00.000+08:00

From Teresa.

This is Christmas :)

2011-12-02T23:56:00.002+08:00

Good job, Coca-Cola. This is beautiful.

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

2011-12-02T23:55:00.000+08:00

This is a gem!

Via CMR.

Now I feel like having sushi

2011-12-02T23:50:00.000+08:00

Sublime

2011-11-30T13:13:00.001+08:00

"The two sides of 'true' art are beauty, which lifts the soul, and the sublime, which shatters the ego." - Joseph Campbell

Here are four examples of true art:

(Via Brigitta)

(Via Brigitta)

Another version of the last hymn:

It literally captures your soul and carries it on a soaring journey of faith. Aaah. Thank you to the Catholic Church for inspiring, producing and protecting true art.

Sinhala Christmas

2011-11-30T01:11:00.000+08:00

The second song is very common in church.

In Bethlehem Town:

A Long Time Ago in Bethlehem (Mary's Boy Child):

On Reality TV

2011-11-29T16:22:00.000+08:00

'What is this world coming to? People are eating bugs and rats on a stupid television show [referring to Survivor]. I swear to God, you know TV has become nothing but the petri dish where this country grows its idiots. Don't people have better things to do with their time than to debase themselves coast to coast.'

- Dr. John Becker :D

Run!

2011-11-29T02:03:00.001+08:00

One more prayer! These Advent prayers are beautiful. Thank God for the revised translation!

The Collect from the First Sunday of Advent:
Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God,
the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ
with righteous deeds at his coming,
so that, gathered at his right hand,
they may be worthy to possess the heavenly Kingdom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reins with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen

So real and powerful and tangible? Let us run forth to meet the approaching Lord!

To walk amid passing things

2011-11-29T01:59:00.001+08:00

Today's concluding prayer struck me. It's beautiful in phrasing and in the image it paints in the mind.

May these mysteries, O Lord,
in which we have participated,
profit us, we pray,
for even now, as we walk amid passing things,
you teach us by them to love the things of heaven
and hold fast to what endures.

(Compare that with the old version, by the way:
Father,
may our communion
teach us to love heaven.
May its promise and hope
guide our way on earth.)

The accidents (the external, physical features) of the Eucharist are both so perishable, so mundane - yet what we love is no longer bread and wine but Christ, our Lord, our eternal joy.

Fr Joseph at Holy Cross said a couple of beautiful things at today's homily which was based on a favourite Gospel passage - the faith of the centurion who wanted his servant healed. Father told us that a possible theme for this season and even this year could be taken from the words of the centurion. 'Only say the word'. Just give me your orders Lord. Tell me to come, and I will come; to go and I will go.

We should pray for such docility to our Lord's wishes!

Father ended by telling us to be determined to give Jesus everything he wants this Christmas; and what he wants is the gift of our hearts.

So yes, Baby Jesus, I'd like to give this heart of mine to you, to do as you please. :)

This is pretty cool

2011-11-29T00:33:00.002+08:00

See Amid The Winter's Snow

2011-11-28T00:01:00.000+08:00

This is glorious. I've been waiting for several months to post this! :D

Words: Edward Caswall, 1858
Music: "Humility," John Goss, 1871

1. See amid the winter's snow,
Born for us on earth below,
See the tender Lamb appears,
Promised from eternal years.

Chorus
Hail, thou ever-blessed morn!
Hail, redemption's happy dawn!
Sing through all Jerusalem,
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

2. Lo, within a manger lies
He who built the starry skies;
He, who throned in height sublime
Sits amid the cherubim.

3. Say, ye holy shepherds, say
What your joyful news today;
Wherefore have ye left your sheep
On the lonely mountain steep?

4. "As we watched at dead of night,
Lo, we saw a wondrous light;1
Angels singing peace on earth
Told us of the Saviour's birth".

5. Sacred infant, all divine,
What a tender love was Thine,
Thus to come from highest bliss
Down to such a world as this.

6. Teach, O teach us , Holy Child,
By Thy Face so meek and mild,
Teach us to resemble Thee,
In Thy Sweet humility!

Another version:

Shudder. It's so beautiful! Some of these Christmas songs convey so wonderfully the anticipation - the centuries of waiting, the outburst of joy, the triumph, the magic, and even the wintry atmosphere. Aaah. Christmas!

We Long to See You

2011-11-27T23:37:00.001+08:00

We long to see You so,
To see the newly born,
We long for Christmas morn,
The sense of time runs slow.

O come, O come, O come,
Our Saviour dear to be.
O come, O come, O come,
We have no King but Thee.

We long to see You so,
To see the angel's glory,
To hear their midnight story
And with the Shepherds go.

We long to see You so,
To print our kisses sweet,
Upon your little feet
While tears of love shall flow.

Here's the first of my Christmas songs this season. :)

Such a simple little hymn, but it's brimming with joyful impatience and tender love isn't it? The choir sang this at the 11am Mass at St Joseph's Church (BT) today. It was my first time hearing it. During the past few weeks there was a bit of this ennui, the joyful feeling of Christmas hadn't yet caught on. I looked at the Orchard decorations rather cynically - oh great, they're up already - they'll look so old and tired by the time it's really Christmas.

But thank God, and thanks to a couple of meditations at Opus Dei, a homily by Fr Cary, a chat with Fr Joe Lopez, some prayers and resolutions, I'm able to start Advent in anticipation and hope.

A blessed Advent to anyone who might happen to be reading this! May hope reign in you, and may you be agents, stars, of hope for others too this lovely, magical season. 'Let us learn from her, the Woman of Advent, how to live our daily actions with a new spirit, with the feeling of profound expectation that only the coming of God can fulfil.' (Pope Benedict, 28 November, 2010).

Two excellent pieces by Mark Shea

2011-11-22T01:12:00.000+08:00

[W]hen a poor person at an OWS protest says, “I am an imcompetent sponge who expects you to pay my debts for school” people (rightly) heap contempt on him. When a giant corporate CEO says, “I am an incompetent sponge who drove my company into the ground and now expects a bailout and a golden parachute of $37,000,000” we give it to him and point to the OWS ninny as the real problem....

The reverence, pity, tenderness and compassion American culture has for the immensely powerful and corrupt is one of the strangest spectacles of our civic life. It is one thing to see rich corps funding their own agitprop in their defense. It is quite another to see the massive amount of Stockholm Syndrome from people defending such corporations while they are in the very act of having their pockets picked by bailouts. Where Christian culture once taught us to lavish special concern on the alien, the orphan and the widow, we have very successfully instituted a culture that burns with weepy solicitude for the wealthy, arrogant, and grasping. We retain our sense of sin (and rightly so) when a thug knocks over a 7-11. But we somehow can’t seem to hold on to it when immensely powerful and rich people rob us of billions as a reward for being Too Big to Fail....

Read the entire post here.

One more:

One thing that doesn’t help the growth of the People’s Democratic National Security State of Heaven is when goonish behavior by the police gets documented in a striking photo that goes viral such as this one of an 84 year old woman after she was pepper sprayed:

To be sure, some stalwart defenders of ridiculous police state tactics against harmless people will continue to make excuses for this in my comboxes, but the mayor and the cops here realize they have a big public relations turd on their hands and are back-pedaling, not trying to float the ridiculous claim that an 84 year old woman was such a threat that she needed to be pepper sprayed. She was as much a threat as the 86 year old disabled and bed-ridden woman whom police tased (twice) after standing on her oxygen hose, and whose grandson was then arrested for protesting. She was as much a threat as the 10 year the cops tased for not going to bed. Or the injured kid with a broken back who was tased 19 times.

Again, read the entire post here.
A real voice of reasonableness and sanity Mark is.

Dino

2011-11-21T10:08:00.002+08:00

Denver Museum of Science "Dino" from Smoke & Mirrors on Vimeo.

Via Mark Shea.

Oooh

2011-11-17T21:38:00.000+08:00

And a bit of Glee too

2011-11-14T15:50:00.000+08:00

"O Re Piya / Rolling in the Deep"

2011-11-14T14:23:00.000+08:00

Via Shankar

If I died tomorrow

2011-11-13T00:55:00.001+08:00

I had an interesting introduction to the band Dream Theatre at the Opus Dei house today. Here's one of their 'softer' songs.

Meaningful lyrics.

I may never find all the answers
I may never understand why
I may never prove
What I know to be true
But I know that I still have to try

If I die tomorrow
I'd be all right
Because I believe
That after we're gone
The spirit carries on

Beautiful Afghanistan

2011-11-07T01:23:00.000+08:00

Afghanistan – touch down in flight from Augustin Pictures on Vimeo.

What an excellent video! Vimeo's just great.

What do the saints offer us?

2011-11-02T01:42:00.003+08:00

A canticle of hope:

- to those who have been raised up... but have fallen once more;
- to those who have promised gold and all sorts of treasures... but have taken back their word out of weakness;
- to those who have been running swiftly... but have come to a halt;
- to blunderers like us who, after having shed the scales from our souls, have splattered ourselves with mud;
- to those who have already gone to Confession, but have to go back again;
- to those who have "put on" Christ, but discovered a rip in the linings of our heart;
- and to those of us, who...have seen their world of money, comfort, caprice, friends, joys and ambitions tumble around them.

Do not be afraid of the howling winds. The sun will shine again. Jesus comes. Trust him. Go out to meet him.

~ Jesus Urteaga, The Defects of the Saints

Once: Falling Slowly

2011-10-31T23:43:00.000+08:00

I must find time to write a bit about the movie. But until then, this is the song that has been playing in my head all day:

Falling Slowly from mohinder suresh on Vimeo.

I like rainy nights

2011-10-29T01:13:00.000+08:00

Especially when I'm inside a bus and it's raining gently outside. Things look tranquil and clean. And the warm golden of the street lamps reflecting off the wet roads somehow makes me feel happy and peaceful. Perhaps it reminds me of Christmas somehow. Maybe Christmas lights?

Nearer my God to Thee

2011-10-27T00:00:00.000+08:00

Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee!
E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.

May it be so!

Leviathan!

2011-10-23T15:32:00.000+08:00

What a sight! I'm amazed at the prey and the predators both.

These huge schools of fish remind me of another wondrous phenomenon:

Creation is just amazing.

Old school!

2011-10-18T15:01:00.002+08:00

Haha. What a scrawn kid Bill Gates used to be.

Reverence

2011-10-18T14:47:00.000+08:00

Photo credit; Piotrek Photos, Via Crescat.

Look at the deep devotion and reverence on the pope's face. Wow.

So true...

2011-10-16T20:26:00.002+08:00

Snigger

Before Hitler

2011-10-12T13:46:00.000+08:00

Today, the Führer is universally recognized as the embodiment of evil and the most convenient example of a truly terrible human being. Before World War II, who was the rhetorical worst person in history?

The Pharoah. In the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, many Americans and Europeans had a firmer grasp of the bible than of the history of genocidal dictators. Orators in search of a universal symbol for evil typically turned to figures like Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, or, most frequently, the Pharaoh of Exodus, who chose to endure 10 plagues rather than let the Hebrew people go. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine wrote: “No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775 [the date of the Lexington massacre], but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened, sullen tempered Pharaoh of England for ever.” In the run-up to the Civil War, abolitionists regularly referred to slaveholders as modern-day Pharaohs. Even after VE Day, Pharaoh continued to pop up in the speeches of social reformers like Martin Luther King Jr.

Read the rest here. It's a short but interesting article.

Sure on this Shining Night

2011-10-11T11:52:00.001+08:00

Via Brigitta.

Sure on this shining night
Of star made shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
The late year lies down the north.
All is healed, all is health.
High summer holds the earth.
Hearts all whole.
Sure on this shining night
I weep for wonder wand'ring far alone
Of shadows on the stars.

- James Agee

Help us, O Loving Mother

2011-10-09T00:58:00.000+08:00

I love this statue of Mother Mary at our parish church in Sri Lanka. I'd like to pray in front of it now.

She's so beautiful. And gentle.

I haven't spent a lot of time in Sri Lanka, but when I was there for 8 months as a young boy with my mother and sister, we used to pray in front of it after every Mass we attended. And when I was there for an year in 2004-2005, I did the same.

On the whole, I love the churches in Sri Lanka - they are always peaceful and dignified.

Abandonment

2011-10-09T00:43:00.000+08:00

My God! may I hate sin, and unite myself to You, taking the Holy Cross into my arms, so that I, in my turn, may fulfil your most lovable Will.... stripped of every earthly attachment, with no other goal but your glory.... generously, not keeping anything back, offering myself with you in a perfect holocaust.

- St Josemaria Escriva, The Way of the Cross: Ninth Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time

Peter Schipperheyn, 1955, Jesus carries the Cross

Always And Forever

2011-10-06T23:26:00.002+08:00

Eponyms

2011-10-01T14:21:00.002+08:00

Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun from NPR on Vimeo.

Laughing With

2011-09-27T16:30:00.001+08:00

With audacious curiousity and simplicity, Spektor plunges into the heart of the taboo that Americans paradoxically fear most and dread least; that which they simultaneously refuse to discuss in the public sphere but, if polls are any indication, have settled for themselves privately and with certitude: the existence and nature of God.

The sorrowful chords and opening lines of "Laughing With" call to mind the great problem of evil, which posits that an all-good and all-powerful creator that evidently tolerates great evils cannot be all-good or all-powerful, by definition. Yet, in an original and startling move, Spektor considers the problem from our perspective, not God's, and not after the disasters we encounter in life occur, but before they do. Both believers and non-believers, Spektor reminds us, tend to treat God rather neutrally when our lives are comfortable. Yet, this sensitive Jewish emigrant from Soviet Russia knows well that for a man or woman who loses everything they have and love, "and they don't know what for," God is no laughing matter, whether he's there or not.

Yet, through the prism of the problem of evil, Spektor, with a soaring and playful falsetto and a supreme sense of irony, sings in the chorus about just how funny God is, not in and of Himself, but again in how his creation talks about Him. To laugh off God at cocktail parties and peddle an anthropomorphized genie whose only real function is wish-granting is what is truly laughable. And, as evidenced in the change in preposition in the title, it's something Spektor feels we can do "with" God, not in spite of him. In this way, Spektor has brilliantly attributed a common source to the two issues at hand; laughing off God comes from an addiction to ignorance and self-concern, but so do many great evils of the world that stop that laughter dead in its tracks.

Read the rest of this reflection at 'By Way of Beauty', and check out the rest of blog which examines art and culture.

Via another great blog I was just introduced to (thanks Brigitta): A Catholic UNapologist.

Another beautiful photo!

2011-09-27T11:35:00.000+08:00

Photograph by Maruf Hossain. Also via NG.

Boy with Balloons

2011-09-27T11:30:00.000+08:00

Photograph by Kamala Kannan, via National Geographic.

Very good, isn't it? ' Keep your eyes open and notice what’s all around you—the primary subject may not actually make the most interesting photo.'

The Emerald Isle

2011-09-26T15:45:00.001+08:00

Gimme hope, Jo'anna

2011-09-23T17:25:00.003+08:00

I heard this on the radio recently. Catchy song and a lyrics that are full of meaning. Have a listen. :)

Well Jo'anna she runs a country
She runs in Durban and the Transvaal
She makes a few of her people happy, oh
She don't care about the rest at all
She's got a system they call apartheid
It keeps a brother in a subjection
But maybe pressure can make Jo'anna see
How everybody could a live as one

[chorus:]
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
'Fore the morning come
Gimme hope, Jo'anna
Hope, Jo'anna
Hope before the morning come

I hear she make all the golden money
To buy new weapons, any shape of guns
While every mother in black Soweto fears
The killing of another son
Sneakin' across all the neighbours' borders
Now and again having little fun
She doesn't care if the fun and games she play
Is dang'rous to ev'ryone

[chorus]

She's got supporters in high up places
Who turn their heads to the city sun
Jo'anna give them the fancy money
Oh to tempt anyone who'd come
She even knows how to swing opinion
In every magazine and the journals
For every bad move that this Jo'anna makes
They got a good explanation

[chorus]

Even the preacher who works for Jesus
The Archbishop who's a peaceful man
Together say that the freedom fighters
Will overcome the very strong
I wanna know if you're blind Jo'anna
If you wanna hear the sound of drums
Can't you see that the tide is turning
Oh don't make me wait till the morning come

[chorus]

Pocketful of Sunshine

2011-09-16T16:27:00.000+08:00

2001-2011

2011-09-11T23:42:00.001+08:00

I remember a classmate of mine telling me to switch on the TV on the evening of September 11 2001. What scenes. The next day we talked about it at school. I have the Time and Newsweek magazines on the attacks.

I'm watching the Pope's visit to Ground Zero. Listen to the beautiful prayer. And watch the people who get to greet the Pope. How moving it is to see them genuflect before the Pope.

O God of love, compassion, and healing,
look on us, people of many different faiths
and traditions,
who gather today at this site,
the scene of incredible violence and pain.
We ask you in your goodness
to give eternal light and peace
to all who died here—
the heroic first-responders:
our fire fighters, police officers,
emergency service workers, and
Port Authority personnel,
along with all the innocent men and women
who were victims of this tragedy
simply because their work or service
brought them here on September 11, 2001.

We ask you, in your compassion
to bring healing to those
who, because of their presence here that day,
suffer from injuries and illness.
Heal, too, the pain of still-grieving families
and all who lost loved ones in this tragedy.
Give them strength to continue their lives
with courage and hope.

We are mindful as well
of those who suffered death, injury, and loss
on the same day at the Pentagon and in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Our hearts are one with theirs
as our prayer embraces their pain and suffering.

God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost here
may not have been lost in vain.

Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope,
and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.

Pope Benedict XVI
Prayer at Ground Zero
New York, 20 April 2008

A nice list :)

2011-09-08T15:39:00.000+08:00

I love the Creed

2011-09-08T00:07:00.000+08:00

It's one of my favourite parts of the Mass. And the new translation is even better.

These are words that literally are reverberating from the earliest days of the Church into our times, our ears.When I utter these words - credo, I believe - I unite myself to men and women of all ages in the greatest formula of faith ever. I believe in one God. I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, who became incarnate, died and rose; he will come again to judge. I believe in the Holy Spirit and his action throughout history. I believe in the one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church and one baptism. I look forward to eternity.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
At the words that follow up to and including and became man, all bow.
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Confitemini Domino

2011-09-07T15:55:00.000+08:00

My favourite Taize chant - with some very beautiful artwork.

Praise ye the Lord, for He is good.

JMJ

2011-08-28T21:25:00.000+08:00

The music from the closing Mass of WYD (Or JMJ in Spanish) is very good. Have a listen:

The theme song:

And a moving video:

Brigitta meets the Holy Father

2011-08-22T22:45:00.002+08:00

My lucky friend! :)

How often do you get to see a friend live on TV?

The Pope and his youth at the vigil

2011-08-22T15:10:00.001+08:00

"Young people, thank you for your joy! Thank you for your resistance! Your strength is greater than the rain!...Dear young people, together we have experienced an adventure. Firm in the faith in Christ, you have resisted the rain. Before leaving I want to tell all of you good night. Rest well. Thank you for the sacrifice you are making. And which I don't doubt you will offer generously to the Lord. We'll see each other tomorrow, God willing. I await you all. I thank you all for the marvelous example that you've given. Just like tonight, with Christ you will always be able to take on the tests of life. Don't forget that. Thank you to all!"

This pope understand the youth, and appreciates him. And they love him for that.

Benedict XVI didn't leave his post and continued to smile, as hundreds of thousands began chanting, "These are the youth of the Pope." Despite attempts to cover the Holy Father with umbrellas, his clothes and the text of his speech were drenched.

Source: Zenit

The Pope was "struck" by the young people's enthusiasm, he explained.

Even if the vigil had not been able to follow the program that had been planned, the Jesuit priest observed that it provided an occasion to give "a further message, because the way of dealing with this difficulty demonstrated enthusiasm, decision, the desire of the young people present to continue – without losing the least courage -- their celebration of faith."

The Pope, Father Lombardi added, "was absolutely one with them in being absolutely decided to continue, to be present."

"During the storm he was asked twice whether he thought that he should leave and instead said: ‘No, I am staying. We are staying.'"

It was evident that Benedict XVI was "very struck by this enthusiasm and this participation by the young people."

For the Vatican spokesman, one of the most intense moments was during eucharistic adoration: "Yesterday evening -- with the storm that naturally brought a little confusion in some moments -- it was perhaps hard to expect recollection and such complete participation and so quickly in the moment of the prayer of adoration."
"It seemed to me, instead," Father Lombardi said, "that this was one of the most extraordinary aspects of yesterday evening's vigil."

Source: Zenit

Christ the Redeemer

2011-08-22T00:53:00.000+08:00

A glorious photograph.

By iko

Via First Things.

God willing I can go to Brazil for World Youth Day next time. I really feel sad I missed it this year. Especially when dear friends were there. I followed several of the events - they're moving, they're grand!

Caro Papa Benedetto! Let's see you strong and healthy at the next WYD! You see how the youth love you! You and the One you serve and point to.We need you.

Getty Images. Via Day Life

I submitted my thesis today

2011-08-20T00:58:00.002+08:00

and the last few days - and the fact that I made the deadline - have been quite miraculous. Now for some sleep.

Planted and built up in Christ

2011-08-19T09:06:00.002+08:00

What an exciting atmosphere at Cibeles Square. The youth of the world were there to see their Holy Father. And my friend got to kiss his ring! :)

AP

Bir Tawil

2011-08-12T00:26:00.001+08:00

Bir Tawil is a very peculiar area. Located south of Egypt and north of Sudan, it is a trapezoid of land (about 2060 km²) wanted by neither Egypt nor by Sudan. In fact, both countries want to award it to the other. This, however, is not due to a unique case of goodness.

Egypt would like to leave the boundaries as they were drawn in 1899, which would make Bir Tawil Sudanese territory. This would leave Hala'ib triangle, a more extensive piece of land which has rich soil, in its own possession.

Sudan, however, wants to honor the boundary lines drawn on the treaties of 1902, which would achieve the same thing in its favor: Hala'ib for Sudan and Bir Tawil for Egypt.

Neither nation is interested in Bir Tawil simply because there is nothing there. Land within the borders of Bir Tawil is mostly sand or dry mountains. A well had once been built inside Bir Tawil (the name means "water well" in Arabic), but no one is sure where it went or what happened to it.

Source.

Quite Interesting isn't it? Heard it on QI. :)

The Month of the Immaculate Heart

2011-08-08T16:49:00.002+08:00

DAILY OFFERING TO THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and suffering of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sins, the reunion of all Christians; I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. AMEN.

What has happened to British Politics?

2011-08-07T23:40:00.000+08:00

This is the Leader of the Opposition? Mindlessly repeating exactly the same set of words over and over again?

Via Damien Thompson who wonders if Ed Miliband is feeling OK

Consensus

2011-07-19T01:43:00.002+08:00

I like David Mitchell's rants!

‘The prayer of both was heard…’

2011-07-15T10:41:00.001+08:00

From Tobit Chapter 3:

Then in my grief I wept, and I prayed in anguish, saying,

“Righteous art thou, O Lord; all thy deeds and all they ways are mercy and truth, and thou dost render true and righteous judgment for ever.
Remember me and look favorably upon me; do not punish me for my sins and for my unwitting offences and those which my fathers committed before thee.
For they disobeyed thy commandments, and thou gavest us over to plunder, captivity, and death; thou madest us a byword of reproach in all the nations among which we have been dispersed.
And now thy many judgments are true in exacting penalty from me for my sins and those of my fathers, because we did not keep thy commandments. For we did not walk in truth before thee.
And now deal with me according to thy pleasure; command my spirit to be taken up, that I may depart and become dust. For it is better for me to die than to live, because I have heard false reproaches, and great is the sorrow within me. Command that I now be released from my distress to go to the eternal abode; do not turn thy face away from me.”

On the same day, at Ecbatana in Media, it also happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, was reproached by her father’s maids, because she had been given to seven husbands, and the evil demon Asmodeus had slain each of them before he had been with her as his wife. So the maids said to her, “Do you not know that you strangle your husbands? You already have had seven and have had no benefit from any of them.
Why do you beat us? If they are dead, go with them! May we never see a son or daughter of yours!”

When she heard these things she was deeply grieved, even to the thought of hanging herself. But she said, “I am the only child of my father; if I do this, it will be a disgrace to him, and I shall bring his old age down in sorrow to the grave.

So she prayed by her window and said, “Blessed art thou, O Lord my God, and blessed is thy holy and honored name for ever. May all thy works praise thee for ever.
And now, O Lord, I have turned my eyes and my face toward thee.
Command that I be released from the earth and that I hear reproach no more.
Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am innocent of any sin with man,
and that I did not stain my name or the name of my father in the land of my captivity. I am my father’s only child, and he has no child to be his heir, no near kinsman or kinsman’s son for whom I should keep myself as wife. Already seven husbands of mine are dead. Why should I live? But if it be not pleasing to thee to take my life, command that respect be shown to me and pity be taken upon me, and that I hear reproach no more.”

The prayer of both was heard in the presence of the glory of the great God.

And Raphael was sent to heal the two of them: to scale away the white films of Tobit’s eyes; to give Sarah the daughter of Raguel in marriage to Tobias the son of Tobit, and to bind Asmodeus the evil demon, because Tobias was entitled to possess her. At that very moment Tobit returned and entered his house and Sarah the daughter of Raguel came down from her upper room.

And the wonderful events of the story of Tobit and Tobias, Raphael and Sarah unfold from here. It's beautiful and comforting isn't it, how the prayer of two people at the end of their tether, desperate and sorrowful, reached God's ear and God set in motion events that did not answer their prayers exactly, but gave they greater joy and blessing that they dared ask for?

Our wills and our plans are so puny and mediocre. Let's always trust God's providence. He always gives us what is good for us. And try to be glad when things don't go the way we planned or expected, because, if that's the case, and we're sincerely trying to love God and love His will, nothing but the best is being stored up for us - in this world and in the next.

Thomas Shahan

2011-07-13T00:16:00.000+08:00

I hate insects. But this, via Shankar, is just so awesome.

Aren't these works of art? Check out more of Thomas Shahan's photos on his flikr album. They're breathtaking. And visit his website too.

Here's a video of him in action.

A lesson to be learned

2011-07-12T13:36:00.000+08:00

For I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.

- Philippians 4: 11-13

Seeing our good Father God in the worst misfortunes

2011-07-12T11:11:00.000+08:00

And I am writing also for you, my good friend, and for all like you who have suffered, alone and in silence, when their longed-for child was born...but born blind. Yes, I do fully understand the sorrow you pour out to me in your letter. Please regard this book as my reply. I fully understand how sad you are...but I do not pity you, I will not pity you. The Lord has treated you as one of his strong and healthy children because he is not afraid of seeing you weep, although, as you admit in your letter, 'sometimes the cross becomes very heavy.' Let me tell you of Saint Teresa: 'Those whom God loves well, he leads by ways strewn with toil, and the more he loves them the greater the toil.'

As a christian and as a friend I can promise you that your Father God relied and is relying on that blind son of yours to do great things, perhaps to being the Light to the eyes of many men on earth. Do not think me heartless: indeed I have a very soft heart, and I am weeping with you in your misfortune, believe me. But I must tell you, as a christian, as a friend and as a priest, that your child's blindness is something good. I will help you to use all means possible, human and supernatural, to cure him. And I will celebrate it with you if some day he recovers his sight. But if God, our good Father God, decided that his eyes are to be opened only when he reaches heaven, then I will help you to give thanks because 'for those who love God everything is for the good' (Roma 8, 28).

- Jesus Urteaga, God and Children (1965), 16-17.