07.31.06
Humorous “Godwink” Moment
An ABC television executive recently wrote a book on “Godwinks“, those “coincidental” moments through which God speaks, and which can gobsmack you and/or leave you tickled pink (depending on your disposition). I had one of those moments last night!
A friend (we shall call him by his online alias, “Universal”) and I (“TTM”; that’s mine) were walking back from the Legion of Mary meeting and, after stopping by to eat, we decided to visit the vid’ arcade for a few racing games (great fun). After this, we went on our separate ways home, and I stopped by the video shop to drop off some DVD’s for him. I spent a bit of time looking around for a good video while praying the rosary with my wrist rosary (you need to in a video store; there are so many perverse films with covers which could injure the soul). Anyway, that’s when I realized that I’d lost the chain rosary I was carrying on the way back from the meeting. I quickly went back to the arcade to look for it, but it had closed by then – you can imagine my disappointment (and the onset of a mild panic!). I work on the other side of the city so I had to text Universal to come and look for it the following day. So, here’s the transcript of the text messages sent back and forth [plus explanations in square brackets]:
TTM: hey i lost my rosary beads. Can u look for it at the kebab place and at time out [the arcade] for me tomorrow?
TTM: It’s in a little black pouch.
Universal: God works in very funny ways bro!
Universal: I have your rosary beads which fell under the seat of the rally game, and considering the low light levels would have stayed there for time immemorial if it weren’t that I had gone to a shop to buy something, discovered I had lost my wallet, retraced my steps to the arcade, borrowed a torch from the attendant and searched around the rally machine and initially found your rosary thinking it was my wallet, then the attendant spyed mine. Praise God!
TTM: Oh my gosh. Hah. God has a sense of humour alright.
Universal: All I can say is praise God and also *whew*
TTM: and “thank you Mary”, most probably. 
[rosary is a Marian devotion; it figures that she would hellp out here!]
Universal: Oh yes, and St Anthony who I was fervently exhorting! [St. Anthony is the patron saint of finding things]
I have to say I literally laughed out loud reading Universal’s text message. I could just picture God’s witty incorporeal smile which would be best represented with the following smilie – 
. All in all though, it was an encouraging and reaffirming encounter with a loving God (with personality!).
The Imitation of Christ
The Imitation of Christ is a famous spiritual book by Thomas à Kempis, a 15th century Augustinian monk. I found out today that it is one of the most popular Christian devotionals today, second only to the Bible.
I’ve been meaning to read this since I’ve been recommended it many times. I would get hold of a hard copy, but apparently you can download the whole book from Project Gutenburg (appropriately enough; Johann Gutenberg popularized Bibles with his printing press invention).
Luckily, the Project has granted permission to reproduce most of their books (this one included) so I shall reproduce the first two chapters of the book here (which I think are just fantastic – the second chapter is a much more lucid explanation of what I wanted to say in my post about humility):
| CHAPTER I
Of the imitation of Christ, and of contempt of the world and all its vanities He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness,(1) saith the Lord. These are the words of Christ; and they teach us how far we must imitate His life and character, if we seek true illumination, and deliverance from all blindness of heart. Let it be our most earnest study, therefore, to dwell upon the life of Jesus Christ. 2. His teaching surpasseth all teaching of holy men, and such as have His Spirit find therein the hidden manna.(2) But there are many who, though they frequently hear the Gospel, yet feel but little longing after it, because they have not the mind of Christ. He, therefore, that will fully and with true wisdom understand the words of Christ, let him strive to conform his whole life to that mind of Christ. 3. What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussion concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright; it is a good life which maketh a man dear to God. I had rather feel contrition than be skilful in the definition thereof. If thou knewest the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what should all this profit thee without the love and grace of God? Vanity of vanities, all is vanity, save to love God, and Him only to serve. That is the highest wisdom, to cast the world behind us, and to reach forward to the heavenly kingdom. 4. It is vanity then to seek after, and to trust in, the riches that shall perish. It is vanity, too, to covet honours, and to lift up ourselves on high. It is vanity to follow the desires of the flesh and be led by them, for this shall bring misery at the last. It is vanity to desire a long life, and to have little care for a good life. It is vanity to take thought only for the life which now is, and not to look forward to the things which shall be hereafter. It is vanity to love that which quickly passeth away, and not to hasten where eternal joy abideth. 5. Be ofttimes mindful of the saying,(3) The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing. Strive, therefore, to turn away thy heart from the love of the things that are seen, and to set it upon the things that are not seen. For they who follow after their own fleshly lusts, defile the conscience, and destroy the grace of God. (1) John viii. 12. (2) Revelations ii. 17. (3) Ecclesiastes i. 8. CHAPTER II Of thinking humbly of oneself There is naturally in every man a desire to know, but what profiteth knowledge without the fear of God? Better of a surety is a lowly peasant who serveth God, than a proud philosopher who watcheth the stars and neglecteth the knowledge of himself. He who knoweth himself well is vile in his own sight; neither regardeth he the praises of men. If I knew all the things that are in the world, and were not in charity, what should it help me before God, who is to judge me according to my deeds? 2. Rest from inordinate desire of knowledge, for therein is found much distraction and deceit. Those who have knowledge desire to appear learned, and to be called wise. Many things there are to know which profiteth little or nothing to the soul. And foolish out of measure is he who attendeth upon other things rather than those which serve to his soul’s health. Many words satisfy not the soul, but a good life refresheth the mind, and a pure conscience giveth great confidence towards God. 3. The greater and more complete thy knowledge, the more severely shalt thou be judged, unless thou hast lived holily. Therefore be not lifted up by any skill or knowledge that thou hast; but rather fear concerning the knowledge which is given to thee. If it seemeth to thee that thou knowest many things, and understandest them well, know also that there are many more things which thou knowest not. Be not high-minded, but rather confess thine ignorance. Why desirest thou to lift thyself above another, when there are found many more learned and more skilled in the Scripture than thou? If thou wilt know and learn anything with profit, love to be thyself unknown and to be counted for nothing. 4. That is the highest and most profitable lesson, when a man truly knoweth and judgeth lowly of himself. To account nothing of one’s self, and to think always kindly and highly of others, this is great and perfect wisdom. Even shouldest thou see thy neighbor sin openly or grievously, yet thou oughtest not to reckon thyself better than he, for thou knowest not how long thou shalt keep thine integrity. All of us are weak and frail; hold thou no man more frail than thyself. |
Headlines: Prayer, Homosexual Promiscuity
- Prayers answered – 14 murders within the first 13 days of July prompted a large scale around the clock prayer vigils in Washington D.C.; there were no murders from July 21 to 26, for the duration of the prayer vigils. Hoooray
. - Homosexuals and promiscuity – looks like homosexual "marriage" isn’t popular among gay people afterall. The number of homosexual "marriage" is declining every year after an initial burst. Sexual promiscuity and accordingly short relationships are well known; it would not be surprising if they cannot find fulfilment in relationships that are contrary to the Natural Law.
07.28.06
Saturday Topic: Moral Relativism
On Saturdays, we have a Young Professionals Fellowship, where young adults (and maybe mature students) get together and discuss all sorts of topics to do with Catholicism and related issues. The topic for this Saturday was Moral Relativism; a very pertinent topic since it penetrates the New Zealand culture. Here are the notes a friend and I wrote for this session:
| What is Moral Relativism?
It is the belief that there is no universal truth which defines morality. Moral relativism proposes that all morals are purely defined in accordance with individuals personal values, society and culture. Why are people attracted to Moral Relativism? We live in a very pluralistic culture where it seems like the most loving thing to do is to accept or at least tolerate other view-points, ideas and moral positions. At times it seems arrogant to claim to know the truth when you are simply one view-point among many. Essentially moral relativism holds tolerance to be the practice of humility, especially when opposing other ideas brings conflict and discontent. "Why can’t we just all get along?" is the catch-phrase. The world and morality is such a complex issue at times that people feel that they simply don’t have the capacity to know the moral truth, especially when presented with many differing view-points. Since there are so many to choose from, then they are no more likely to choose one moral position than another and may despair of there being any true moral position. A third reason is that people often do not like being told what is right and wrong for themselves. Having a moral relativistic position allows them to believe anything without the threat of having to conform to any "imposed" values. Are you a moral relativist? Have you ever found yourself saying something like: "well I believe it’s wrong but I can’t impose my beliefs on another person?" Or perhaps "that was wrong back in the dark ages but it’s the 21st century now, people are more enlightened!" If so, you may be a moral relativist! SHOCK HORROR. What’s wrong with moral relativism? Peter Kreeft (in his audio lecture Refutation of Moral Relativism) states that it is, "merely the most single issue of our age, for no society in all of history has ever survived without rejecting what I’m about to refute". Most relativists are unlikely to fully realise the horrific implications of their view point. Let’s think about the consequences; what does it mean to say that morality is relative? It means that there is no right or wrong, really, it’s all about opinions. Morality is relative to societies and cultures and therefore changeable; it is not to an absolute. What consequences does this philosophy produce? Taking this view to its logical extreme (extremes are good at demonstrating full implications), a good example is the recently formed Dutch political party consisting entirely of pedophiles, which exists to promote "a cut in the legal age for sexual relations from 16 to 12 and the legalisation of child pornography and sex with animals". From a relativistic point of view, it only seems immoral at the moment, not because it’s wrong per se but because it’s "the accepted morality of the time". If enough people vote the party in, and their proposals become law, that’s the new social/cultural standard, and those depravities would eventually be as socially acceptable as sex before marriage presently is. What is the Catholic position? Against this, the Church’s stance can be summed up by then Cardinal Ratzinger’s (now the present Pope Benedict XVI) statement, "Truth is not determined by a majority vote". The Church claims that there is an objective standard from which we can say "there is right and wrong". A massive propaganda campaign can manipulate the popular culture toward advocating most depraved ideologies, and we have seen this happen in Nazi Germany, but it cannot turn wrong into right. In fact, evil can only use what is good in itself and pervert it, because everyone has some idea of moral absolutes: no society or culture advocates injustice, lying, betrayal, rape, murder or genocide as good in themselves, or charity, justice and truth as evil in themselves. Evil can only use what is good, and mix it with what is not, to create what seems acceptable; the poison apple. What evidence are there for existence of an absolute? Relativistic statement that "there is no truth" contradicts itself, since if there is no truth then that statement itself cannot be true either. So absolutism turns out to be inescapable in any position. Natural Law, which is the teleological (that is, intended) order inherent in creation. Thus, things like diseases and psychological illnesses can be recognized as disorders, since these impede the design and the intended purpose of the body and mind. Similarly, moral conduct can also be evaluated from this objective basis. Homosexuality, for example, is a disorder since it violates the purposes of sexuality, which are unity and procreation, both of which are disallowed in their biological design. If moral relativism is true, debating morality would be equally as trivial and ridiculous as arguing over preference of colours: "I like this colour", "oh that’s so wrong!". |
07.27.06
Intercession
I posted a reply at the Disciples.co.nz forums recently regarding intercessory prayer, and how Christians were supposed to approach it. The understanding of how intercession works is of particular interest to me as a Catholic, since many non-Catholics see Saintly intercession (ie. asking those in heaven, such as the Blessed Virgin Mary, to pray for us) as a no-no (for various reasons we’ll discuss another time…). So, this following post covers the basics of why it is that human beings intercede for one another here on Earth, and lays the foundations for explaining Saintly intercession as well:
Intercession is defined in my dictionary (Oxford American Dictionary) as follows:
| intercession noun • the action of intervening on behalf of another : through the intercession of friends, I was able to obtain her a sinecure. • the action of saying a prayer on behalf of another person : prayers of intercession. |
Intercession is a sign of love for our neighbour; and judging from the above definition, we can intercede through action or through prayer, it seems. Let’s look at the Scriptures:
Matthew 28:19 says, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." That’s an example of a more physical intercession, whereby people are brought to God through your actions.
James 5:16 says, "Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects." (italics mine). This is an example of, well, intercessory prayers.
So, we’re all called to be intercessors – this is not surprising considering that intercession is a priestly ministry, and all Christians belong to the Royal Priesthood through Christ.
Farewell Party
We had a farewell party today for a friend of ours who’s going to Australia.
Again, it was one of those times when I felt that it’s such a privilege living with a community, and a Catholic/Christian one at that (mostly Catholic, but a couple of non-Catholic Christians too).
Being a typical Catholic party, we had various alcoholic beverages including beer, rum, and what we thought was red wine but was really beer in a wine bottle (long story). I have to say rum and coke is veery smooth. Mmmm.
Anyway, we’ll miss our friend and our controversial topics of conversation in the kitchen and/or various eating areas.
07.26.06
New Medjugorje Commission
Apparently there’ll be a new commission set up to review the alleged Marian apparitions at Medjugorje.
There’s been somewhat of a controversy over the authenticity of these apparitions, where the Virgin Mary is said to appear on the 25th of every month. The apparitions began when Mary allegedly appeared to six children some 25 years ago.
The Church is very prudent about these alleged apparitions, since something which may seem very holy could turn out to have demonic origins – "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (II Corinthians 11:14).
Fr. Peter Joseph sets out a few criteria for judgement in his article, ‘Apparitions True and False’. Notably, he warns against imprudently propagating dubious messages from alleged apparitions, and states that the local Bishop is the authority which we must obey in these matters.
Personally, I’m suspending any definite judgement on Medjugorje. I would be much more at ease contemplating on approved apparitions such as Fatima and Lourdes (which will come up as blog entries, I’m sure).
Israel and Psalms 83
According to this AOL article, some manuscripts of the Psalms dating back to 800-1000AD were excavated in Ireland last tuesday.
There are some interesting improbable coincidences to this story.
First is its sheer preservation. According to the director of the National Museum of Ireland, "This is really a miracle find…. there’s two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out. First of all, it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing".
Second is this fact: "the book was found open to a page describing, in Latin script, Psalm 83, in which God hears complaints of other nations’ attempts to wipe out the name of Israel."
Timely, isn’t it?
Psalm 83 on my RSV translation reads as follows:
| A Song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, do not keep silence; do not hold thy peace or be still, O God! For lo, thy enemies are in tumult; those who hate thee have raised their heads. They lay crafty plans against thy people; they consult together against thy protected ones. They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!" Yea, they conspire with one accord; against thee they make a covenant – the tents of Edom and the Ish’maelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Am’alek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Assyria also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot. [Selah] Do to them as thou didst to Mid’ian, as to Sis’era and Jabin at the river Kishon, who were destroyed at En-dor, who became dung for the ground. Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmun’na, who said, "Let us take possession for ourselves of the pastures of God." O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind. As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze, so do thou pursue them with thy tempest and terrify them with thy hurricane! Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O LORD. Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever; let them perish in disgrace. [ (Psalms 83:19) Let them know that thou alone, whose name is the LORD, art the Most High over all the earth. ] |
It seems the situation has not changed much for the Israelis.
07.25.06
“Joy of Discovery”
At the Tuesday Night Prayer Group, we did a Bible study session using the “Joy of Discovery” method that one of the leaders was familiar with. We studied John 6:1-14 which reads as follows:
| After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiber’i-as. And a multitude followed him, because they saw the signs which he did on those who were diseased. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign which he had done, they said, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world!” |
It’s interesting what you find studying these texts in detail. For example, only in the Gospel of John (perhaps the most mystical of the four) would you find Jesus asking the question (“how are we to buy bread?”) in this situation; the disciples take that role in the other Gospels. This is to reflect Jesus’ status as Moses’ successor, who asked similar questions to God (in the Book of Numbers, I think). This is fitting, since the miracle of multiplication of bread also fulfilled Elisha’s version of the same but in a greater scale (5000 vs. 100s).
07.24.06
Geneticist recounts journey from Atheism to Christianity
I’ve come across a couple of articles recently about one Francis Collins, the geneticist who led the Human Genome Project.
In the first article, he urges his fellow scientist skeptics to investigate the faith. Interestingly, he also objects both to literal creationism and the “intelligent design” arguments – a sentiment shared by the Director of the Vatican Observatory when he expressed similar objections a while back.
Bible is not concerned with Scientific facts (although it doesn’t stop people from finding them) – that has nothing to do with the purpose of revelation. The Bible is a library which has many genres within it (stories, historical records, and even a census!), and many stories are told in parables (as I pointed out earlier, stories can illustrate truths very powerfully, although the New Testament is mostly a historical record). This is why the Catholic Church is open to evolution. Personally, I have problems with Darwinism (most people do now), but I’m open to either evolution (which isn’t Darwinism, by the way, and it has to include God in the picture) or creationism. I’ve been reading “The Case for a Creator” by Lee Strobel and much of the Intelligent Design movement certainly appears to have some merit. Either way, it seems more and more obvious that science and faith are complimentary, much like faith and reason.
Collins also remarks, “you’re not supposed to decide something is true until you’ve looked at the data. And yet I had become an atheist without ever looking at the evidence whether God exists or not.” Apparently he converted after reading “Mere Christianity” by C. S. Lewis – yes, the author of the Narnia series – “In the very first chapter,” he said, “all my arguments about the irrationality of faith lay in ruins.”
The second four-page article is an excerpt from his book, “The Language of God”. Naturally, this one’s a bit more in-depth. In it, he gives a testimony of his journey from Atheism to Christianity and discusses the Moral Law as an argument.
