This is my King
I was going to wait until the Feast of Christ the King to post this, but it’s just too good to sit on until November! So, to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension…
"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
I was going to wait until the Feast of Christ the King to post this, but it’s just too good to sit on until November! So, to celebrate the Feast of the Ascension…
Last month I read an article about Professor Steven Hawking in which he was quoted as saying:
“I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail. There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark”
Well, that’s nice… As intelligent and qualified as you are to answer questions about black holes and quantum gravity, I’m afraid Professor Hawking, this is a philosophical question. It was for this reason, after reading the article, my Facebook status quickly became:
“Hey Stephen, do want to hear my thoughts on String Theory?”
Professor Hawking has recently been increasingly vocal over the question of God. I was originally going to write a longer post about Professor Hawking’s recent assertions, but then I remembered that Fr. Barron had produced a superb video where he addressed some of these issues:
In honour of the Rapture that didn’t happen last week…
This is really mean!
One of my friends commented that there’s not a whole lot of “me” on this blog, so today I’m cheating and rehashing something which I posted on Facebook two years ago…
It was a craze that went around Facebook where you wrote twenty-five random facts about yourself in a Note and then tagged a load of friends who then had to do the same. Rinse and repeat.
The content of my Facebook Note was as follows:
Man, this was difficult! It was particularly hard coming up with things that people may not know about me but that I’m also comfortable with putting into the public domain!
I think this “25 Random Facts” thing has been the best thing in Facebook to date – I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone else’s, so here goes…
1. I was a bit of a handful in Primary School – I became very familiar with the Headmaster’s office, having usually been sent there for getting into fights. I wasn’t at all academic then either.
2. I hated school up until the age of 16. After that, it just got better and better…
3. I was a very arty child (drawing, poetry etc) until about the age of twelve when I swapped my soul for an Amiga 600 with 1MB of RAM…
4. I have a scar by my right elbow from a moped accident in France when I was fifteen. I’m really proud of it. Chicks dig scars.
5. I’ve been a Christian all my life, but at the age of twenty I had a major renewal in my faith. I couldn’t imagine life otherwise.
6. I love chick-flicks. There, I said it.
UPDATE: If you know me, this really isn’t news… 😉
This is one of my favourite prayers:
Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled.
My Lord, fill it.
I am weak in the faith; strengthen me.
I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor.
I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether.
O Lord, help me.
Strengthen my faith and trust in you.
In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have.
I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor.
I am a sinner; you are upright.
With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness.
Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen
This was written by Martin Luther.
I think I’ll give him this one… 🙂
Today I’d like to look at one of the most misunderstood doctrines of the Catholic Faith: Purgatory.
I’m not going to try and give a thorough theological treatment of this doctrine; others infinitely more qualified than I have done that. Rather, I would just like to offer a few thoughts that have helped me in my own acceptance and understanding of this teaching.
The doctrine of Purgatory is something that a lot of non-Catholics struggle with, yet in an odd twist, it was actually one of the first Catholic doctrines I came to hold during my return journey to the Catholic Church. I came to believe in it because it’s a doctrine that is beautiful, Scriptural and profoundly logical.
Unfortunately, it’s also one of those doctrines which is often poorly understood. For example, I’ve come across Catholics and ex-Catholics who were under the impression that Purgatory is basically Hell, or that Hell is still a possibility for those in Purgatory. The Catholic Catechism denies both of these ideas, saying:
“[Purgatory is a] purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven… [It is experienced by those]…who die in God’s grace and friendship, but [who are] still imperfectly purified… This final purification of the elect…is entirely different from the punishment of the damned”
– CCC 1030-1031
The common objection you hear from non-Catholics is “But ‘purgatory’ isn’t even mentioned the Bible!” And they’re right. The word “purgatory” does not exist in the Bible, but then again, neither does “Trinity” nor “Hypostatic Union”, yet all mainstream Christians believe in both of these doctrines. A simple word-search is not enough to understand this teaching…
A short post today…
A while ago there was this girl who was…well, she was pretty amazing…I was kinda nuts about her…
One evening I went to a Young Adult Diocesan event and was all all set to ask her out. Before I could speak to her that evening, the speaker got up and began his talk. During his presentation he gave a definition of “love” that I had never heard before:
“Love….is seeking the good of ‘the other’, in preference to your own, even at the expense of your own happiness”