True Devotion

I'm so very excited in many ways to have returned to school. I was in a bit of a rough spot there for a while, and I'm very thankful for others, because I find myself to be rather destructive when I'm going solo.

The good news is, I'm back into the swing of things and I'm hunting for a job again. Also, I'm glad to be back together with the bible study group at King's, and I've actually decided to start a new group that will study more Marian doctrine since our bible study is protestant, and, quite frankly, I really want to delve into the good stuff and not pussyfoot around on all this "halfway there" theology. (No offense to protestants, I love you guys, but there's just such a wealth of knowledge in the Catholic Church and I'm mighty hungry!)

So our new group (which I definitely won't put in conflict with the previous bible study) will essentially be reading over St. Louis de Montfort's book, "True Devotion", which explains how to have a rightly ordered and wholly good devotion to Mary, and consequently, to Christ as well. It's fantastic and I can't wait to go over it with my friends because it'll bring us closer together, bring us all closer to Mary and thus closer to Christ, and it will keep me out of trouble and force me to do something active and useful outside of class.

I also find it neat because this will be the first thing I've ever completely organized and run by myself and instigated by myself (well, inspired by the Holy Spirit of course, I just mean there was no one else pushing for it or trying to convince me to do it). So this'll be a learning experience for me too.

And um... why might you all care about this random piece of my life? I really don't know... I'm just excited and writing about it... you're the one reading it!

Trinity - Family

I got into a bit of a debate lately with people who don't actually debate, but ignore the previously discussed information and continue to declare their correctness in the matter. Kind of like children saying, "nuh-uh!" and feeling satisfied that this is proof enough.

So I thought I'd share with you all a little bit about the Trinity, because I've been reading up more about it lately, and well, it's just so cool!!!

Okay, so God is three persons, but one God, right? What do these terms mean? A person is the individual substance (essence) of a rational nature. Okay well actually that's a bit of an insufficient explanation because it breaks down in some fundamental ways (I still need to learn more) But it'll do for now, since I'm speaking very simply. A human, for example, happens to be a type of being that is a person.
What is a being? Well anything that exists as a whole, essentially. A human, for instance, is a being, a dog is a being, a rock is a being, etc...

God is also a being. But has 3 persons. If it sounds like this makes no sense, consider that we know of beings that have no persons, such as a rock, and a being that has one person, such as people, and so we know beings and persons are not synonymous.

Furthermore, the Trinity (God) is a family, in and of Himself. This is how it can be that God is love itself. Think about it... how can God be love, unless He has someone to love? Because we surely didn't always exist, and so if God created us out of love, He could not have created us so that He MAY love, because that would make Him dependent on our existence for His essence.
So God is, in the 3 persons, the Lover, the Beloved, and the Fruit of that love. (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). That's why we are created in God's image! When we come together as a family, the parents are the lover and beloved, and the two become "ONE FLESH" (see Genesis 2:24, echoed also in Matthew 19:5, Ephesians 5:31, etc..) from which is produced a new life that came from the love of the couple—the child also physically made up partially of the parents. So the three, in the family, are reflecting one being, yet they are 3 persons!!! Doesn't that set your heart on fire???

...oh, and also, for those of you who may be at all like my so-called "debators", God does NOT have a sexual relationship with Himself. I thought it was a given that our families are a REFLECTION of God, but not a replication. *cough cough*

What have YOU been up to all year?

Well I can't believe it... thus far I've spent the majority of the year 2007 driving to pick up pizza and writing in my blog! And in 2007 they put bacon STRIPS on the Hawaiian pizza! What's going on? 2007 is a creepy year thus far!

Mastering Space & Time... 2nd Trial

It's that time of year again! It's Steve's New Year's party where we're totally going to attempt to master both time and space. We were fairly successful in our previous attempt, but I gotta say, to all of you who keep backing out from my party, you're missing out on some seriously monumental stuff.

Ha ha... ah yes. So if any of you out there are thinking how awesome it would be to come party down in Steve's parent's abode, just give me a call or an email and you're more than welcome to join us. Good times most seriously will be had. We even might break out into a mad round of haikus! Woah woah, okay I don't want to spoil it!

So, those of you coming to Mass with us, be at Immaculate Conception Parish by 5pm for the New Year's Eve (Feast of Mary, Mother of God) Mass (what better way to kick things off?) And we'll be back at my place at about 6:30... so for those of you coming after Mass, please have eaten beforehand. That would spare me the need to get food for all.. but for those of you coming to Mass, we'll work out some sort of dinner thing.

remember... GOOD TIMES!?

...on the Feast of Stephen

It's the Feast of St. Stephen! My saint's day!

all of you, go now and read Acts 6:9 to the end of chapter 7.
be filled with love and awe at the incredible witness of this saint. God bless you all!

Incarnation - Crucifixion

What incredible mysteries of God's love, what an unfathomable gift and grace:

Think for a moment how phenomenal Christmas truly is.

First, out of great love, God creates us in His image. Out of Himself, He creates individual beings, separate people, to come together and meet in the family, to reflect the family that IS the Trinity. He who is relationally within Himself as Father, Mother and Child, creates individuals who are separate, to come together as "one flesh" (husband and wife) to give birth out of their love, who is then "flesh of my flesh". When we meet as family, we are closer to reflecting God than ever, while on earth. This alone is such a beautiful gift.

Second, out of great love, the Infinite, the Creator of everything, the Almighty, He who IS... He chooses to become like us. He chooses to make Himself one of us! We are naught but his creations! We are the ones who betray Him, who turn our backs to Him, who receive His love and then turn around and go about our days as though we don't need the One who is the very reason we exist and continue to exist. We're like a baby that says, "nuts to you, mom, I'm gonna get my own milk" as we lay there flailing and crying and thinking that when mom gives us the milk anyway that we're the ones who made it happen. God made himself one of us! Of course, He became one of us in all things but that disobedience. God chose to become a helpless child though... He chose to be obedient to His earthly parents, who are HIS creation! He made himself so low, that He took upon our flesh, our limitations. He was subject to time, to aging, to the struggles and hardships we go through. I cannot begin to describe how incredible this gift alone can be. Recalling that He is God, that He is infinite, perfect, omnipotent, existing outside of time, all these things, and yet His love is so great that He chose to take on our humanity from the very beginning of childhood, right into manhood, and continues to bear that humanity even now, resurrected. What a gift! For God to do this is already an infinite sacrifice. This was His first crucifixion. And what love there is in this sacrifice of the Incarnation.

Third, out of great love, as though it was not enough to share our life, hardships, and all things human (except sin), He gives His life in the crucifixion, dying for our sin so we may be born into new life in Him. Phenomenal how God is born like us so that in dying, we may be born like Him.

Merry Christmas.

The Mystery of Christ's Incarnation

As we are preparing for Christmas Eve Mass, we told little Katherine (3 years old) that baby Jesus will be at Church. Excited she exclaims, "Jesus will be there?" to which we replied, "yes, isn't that great!?" and matter of factly she responded, "it is great... yet mysterious".

She's 3. I have no idea what that was about.