This made me feel very Christmassy :)

December 4, 2008. Five years ago!

Faith and Reason Series: The Bible & Evolution

'Religions do make claims about the universe - the same kinds of claims that scientists make, except they're usually false.'

'Evolution is God's redundancy notice, his pink slip.'

- Richard Dawkins

Is Christianity incompatible with the theory of Evolution? Is there no need, no place for God, now that science can explain our origins?

Pope John Paul II once said that
'…evolution [is] more than a hypothesis…. The convergence in the results of these independent studies—which wasneither planned nor sought—constitutes in itself a significant argument in favor of the theory.'

Was this a change of position and an accommodation to facts of science that no longer could be ignored?

Find out more about Christianity and the theory of evolution, and also about how Catholics understand the origins, authorship and purpose of Scripture at this latest installment of the "Faith and Reason" series.

When? Tue, 28 Aug, 7-9pm
Where? Central Library Theatrette 2

Speakers:
Dr Patrick Gilligan, PhD Molecular and Cell Biology
Fr Jose Lopez, M.A. English and English Literature, PhD Philosophy

RSVP: tinyurl.com/BibleandEvolution

Come and eat!

It was really fun preparing the meals and hosting our friends who helped us man the Legion booth at Matriculation Fair. :)

Talk: Fides et Ratio (Faith and Reason)

On the economy - "economic policy cannot be guided by a profit-driven mentality alone"...

On the environment - "If you want to cultivate Peace, protect Creation"...

On population control - "population is proving to be an asset, not a factor that contributes to poverty"...

- Pope Benedict XVI

Have you wondered...

Why should the Church be 'meddling' with secular issues? Why hasn't she learn something after Galileo Galilei's incident? Can the Church be reasonable in these secular issues (i.e Can Faith and Reason be compatible)?

If you answered "Yes"...

You are invited to the first of a series of talks: "Fides et Ratio" (Faith and Reason)
(We sincerely apologize that this event is opened for NUS STUDENTS AND STAFF ONLY)

When??? Thursday, 15 March, 7-9pm

Where??? Central Library Theatrette 1

How??? RSVP Here!

Speaker 1: Dr. Mark Nowacki
Dr. Nowacki is a is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Singapore Management University. His research interests includes philosophy of science, philosophy of religion and metaphysics. In this talk, he will explore some of the reasons as to why Faith and Reason - the basis on which the Church engages worldly issues, are not only inseparable but should also be exercise together.

Speaker 2: Dr. Jose Chan Martinez
Dr. Martinez is a research fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Currently, he has been a keen interest in graphene and its properties. With his training as a physicist, Dr. Martinez would share about Galileo Galilei's findings and what was in conflict with the Church.

Please contact us for more information: nuslegionofmary@gmail.com
Do invite your friends too!! http://www.facebook.com/events/139393126183750/

Just a Random Thought of my Mind

Have you ever asked yourself why religion is so important?
Have you ever asked why all civilizations in this world sustain their own so called religion?
In fact religions motored most if not all early developments. Ask yourself why some important milestones of civilizations occurred when religions are reconsidered or introduced. I am not going to go deeper but it is easily observed that architecture, arts and philosophy are the fruits of religion.

Then I am to invite your imagination. A society of great number of peoples existed in a random area. You can say that the civilization is "barbaric" (donot raise an image of cannibals sort of animal but rather uncivilized people). What sort of Deus ex machina can unearth order out of them?

Well, you can say politics, laws, philosophies, ethics, cultures ,etc. But as far as things I have learned, religion is the best mean. I am not saying that it works to all of them. But consider, fear and hope are the best weapon of controlling people.

Does that answer why religions are present in every culture?
I will not say so, but rather religion is more towards a necessity of a society to proceed to be counted among great civilizations.

That once drifted me from my faith. First, religion can be forged by some immensely smart guys. Secondly, what worked for people in the past -or rather, early stage of a society- may not what works best for our age. Third, there are so many religions using miracles as their tools, why should the Israelite's be so special?

I will not share my answer for the first and the second one for the time being, this will be too lengthy a passage. But I must say that I found most of these things myself by a simple method: go somewhere quiet, sit or lie down comfortably and comtemplate about those stuffs.
Prayer can be a mean to do that (I should not write this thing, but hey, we cannot simply encourage people who has already their faith shaken to pray. Faith ultimately is a gift).

Then it brings me to the third point.
If I am working on a presumption that Jesus is only one of great founders of religion ,why do I find Catholic so special?
The answer jumped into my mind in an astonishingly simple word. Perfection.

What is so perfect?
Think and observe, what kind of religion have a better story (I am not trying to humiliate other religion, please dont get me wrong on these)
Why does Christian becomes almost one third of world's population (which means that almost half of the world worship the same God YHWH)? Simply opus homini?
Who has simple yet complex, easy yet difficult, happy yet not so happy teachings, demanding yet not demanding teaching?
Who offers a highest value or forms of morality?
Then who has a very well rounded teaching based on examples.

What do I mean by well rounded?
Ok, universality is one of the things I admire about my God. He has a way to reach people.
Men are born interested in different areas. Some like arts, some do not attracted to arts at all. Likewise, some people prefer hard examples. Some appeal to miracles and mystical or supernatural stuff. Some like sophisticated stuffs and adore train of reasoning. Some found themselves interested in prediction or even intervention of the veiled future. Some are attracted to beauty of things (like literary stuff).

Where on earth can I find all those things? Nowhere else but the gospel. People in the past liked to see miracles, that's what they had. Our Lord divulged some of his foresight in the gospel. Then, the beauty of things (I must say that bible are beautiful as a literature). And when the society grows more mature, they prefer to use their logic. That was where all great philosophers emerged and there were the place of doctors of the church. Great church mystics, prophets and even our Lord's own experience provide the answer to those who dwell in mystical domain. After grew weary with complex stuff, pragmatic way of thinking arose. Some demand proofs.
They like to ask : where are the hard facts, where are the proofs?
I will say that God Himself, saints, and prophets is the answer.

That is how great God is. In the end, ultimately it is about a love to God, Jesus Himself, no matter from whence you approach Him. Eventually, all complex analysis and philosphies converges into one, communion with Himself.

God knew this. We were in his mind before everything else. He provides for all of us. He just want us to love Him, no matter how we discover our love. You cannot blame nor discourage people for being rational and critical, likewise you cannot depreciate simple-minded and pragmatics.

Questa veritamenti opus Dei
"That really is the work of God"


(Most of things here are not elaborated, I can say each statement may cost pages to reason, sorry for that)

We Long to See You

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 you all! May hope reign in us, and may we 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).

Refreshed!!!

I've realized that this blog hasn't been updated for a looooonggg time, so let me share a simple story of our Legion meeting last Tuesday.

Two days ago I actually felt very tired of studying (it's exam period in NUS). 7pm is our meeting time and initially I thought I wouldn't have energy to smile a lot during meeting. Hahaha. It was just so tiring to read various human rights convention on that day for my module preparation.

However, it's amazing how Mother Mary works during meeting. She works through each member in a unique way. Honestly, we haven't put FRESH flowers on the altar for a looooonngggg time. Eugene brought flowers on Tuesday and it was two stalks of yellow chrystanthemum(?). So pretty!!! You can smell the fresh aroma of the flowers (and the leaves) even during rosary. This simple thing apparently has brought different atmosphere to the meeting.

Then, the meeting goes on. Every meeting is always unique. Different members share different stories of the apostolic work that they have done for the whole week. It's always interesting and we can learn a lot from each other's report.

So yeah...after the meeting on Tuesday, I felt SUPER-REFRESHED! Hehehe.

Thank you, Mother Mary!! :):)
See you all next Tuesday and thanks for the support during exams!! Yeay:):)

Battling for souls

From the Legion Handbook:

"We must understand what the warfare is. It is being fought not simply to enlarge the Church, but to bring souls into union with Christ. It is that strangest of wars which is fought for the enemy, not against him. Even the term 'enemy' must not be allowed to mislead.

Every unbeliever is, as every Catholic is, a being with an immortal spirit, made in the image of God, for whom Christ died. However violently hostile to the Church or to Christ he may be, our aim is to convert him, not simply to defeat him. We must never forget that the devil wants his soul in hell as he wants ours, and we must fight the devil for him. We may be forced to oppose a man to prevent his endangering souls; but always we want to win him for his own soul's salvation. It is in the power of the Holy Spirit (sic) that we must fight, and he is the Love of the Father and the Son; in so far as the Church's soldiers fight in hatred, they are fighting against him."

- F. J. Sheed: Theology for Beginners

We must recover the urgent concern for souls - for each individual, priceless soul - that the saints of old display.

How to plant seeds of faith with strangers

When having a conversation with someone who is ignorant or hostile to Catholic teaching, a reasoned, gentle defense is most effective

You are sitting at your son’s soccer game, enjoying the crisp weather and your boy’s joy for the game. Then you hear someone nearby say “Catholic Church,” then “divorce”; suddenly the hair on your neck stands on end and your body tenses.

You realize that two parents next to you are criticizing the Church; they notice you looking at them and ask, “What do you think?”

Now that we live in a post-Christian world, every one of us encounters situations like this. The Catholic Church teaches certain precepts that are simply unacceptable — antithetical, even — to the modern ethos. Standing by those precepts, we open ourselves to criticism and even attack. Furthermore — and sadly — there are scandals surrounding some Church figures that open Catholics up for easy condemnation.

Be prepared

So what are Catholics to do? How do we respond? What are our obligations in these situations?
In a time of persecution in a deeply pagan culture, our first pope, St. Peter, wrote to his fellow Christians, “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pt 3:15, RSV). This is an oft-quoted Scripture passage, especially among evangelists and apologists, but not quoted as frequently are St. Peter’s next words, “yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pt 3:15b, RSV).

Thus we have the guidelines laid out for how we are to react when our faith is challenged or defamed:
◗ Be prepared to make a defense.
◗ Do so with gentleness and reverence.

So, how do we go about following St. Peter’s command?

Read the rest here.

To be or not to be

To be or not to be , that is the question:
Whether it is nobler to lead a life of total seclusion
a shield of oneself against waves of avarice and desperation
and thence sustaining a complete ignorance and desolate action
or to take arms against an unending secular abyss
to preach, to impart, to negate and hence remnant of no debris

To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether it is subtler a prayer of solution
to which it is conferred to single libation
a singular soul consoled to deep resolution
or to stand up shining before the tumultuous bodies
foundations to shift, believes to steer, winner of countless follies

To be or not to be, that is the question:
Whether it is more decent of a propagation
marching in a horde of splendid devotion
composing thousands of salvation tales under Her protection
or to tread in solitude, calling but to aids unseen
to bear, to grow,craving for great triumphs in between



--Inspired by W.Shakespeare's Hamlet--