asymptotes

How could we prepare for Christmas? Below are two short answers I gave to some high school students. 1. Christmas is all about the birth of Christ. As is usual in a birthday celebration you are attending, you prepare a gift. The best gift you could give to Christ is to go to confession. On the first Christmas, Christ was born in a manger. Each succeeding Christmas, you have to allow him to be born in your soul. You do that through confession. 2. When you attend a birthday celebration, you usually greet the celebrant. We have to do the same this Christmas. You have to greet- talk! with Jesus- in prayer. Then talk with the people close to Him- Mary and Joseph. Ask them how they prepared for the first Christmas. Resources How to go to Confession Contains video and downloadable guide Chesterton on Christmas Quotations from GK Chesterton from The Everlasting Man "The hands that had made the sun and stars were too small to reach the huge heads of the cattle. Upon th...

It was in Areopagus that St.Paul boldly engaged the intellectuals of the known world. Taking the cue from a naive religious manifestation of the Greeks (putting up an altar to an Unknown God), he explains why this aspiration actually find its fulfillment in Christ and the Gospels.  Since then, Areopagus has been seen as the  field in which a Christian boldly engages in dialogue with the thinkers of the world, in defense of the truth and the Gospels. St.Paul's speech happened some 2000 years ago. We are now in the digital age; new media has become the new Areopagus. It was no less than John Paul II who saw modern media as the new Areopagus "where Christian ideas needed to be explained and defended anew." This is one of my motivation for putting up this blog.  And while I'm at it, I may as well try to do it as well as I could: getting new ideas, looking at things from different perspectives, learning by interacting with other bloggers.  These are th...

Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings are now household names thanks to the huge success of Jackson's film adaptation of the Trilogy.   The Hobbit will soon follow, as Jackson finishes another film trilogy adaptation for it. However The Silmarillion , the book which provides the backdrop for the stories of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit remains out of reach for many people, even among Tolkien fans. One of the main reasons given is that The Silmarillion is a difficult book to read. I think I agree with that claim, although I would also add that the enjoyment I got from The Silmarillion surpasses that which I got from The Lord of the Rings (LotR) . I read LotR before Silmarillion .  I almost gave up reading LotR... twice. But once I got to the Mines of Moria chapter, I couldn't let go of the book.  I am already a Tolkien fan when I started reading the Silmarillion , so perhaps that eased out a bit the effort of reading a "difficult book". But th...

Es curioso cómo nos parece heroica y admirable cuando uno se disciplina a su cuerpo con el fin de ser un buen atleta o un buen soldado, y sin embargo nos parece absurdo cuando se nos dice que tenemos que disciplinar a nuestro cuerpo con el fin de ser un buen cristiano . Es curioso cómo nos parece justo y necesario que una persona pague por sus ofensas, y sin embargo nos parece una locura , cuando se nos dice que tenemos que expiar por nuestras ofensas contra Dios . Es curioso cómo nos parece romántica y poética , cuando un amante humano sufre con y por el bien de su Bienamado, y sin embargo nos parece estúpido cuando se nos dice que tenemos que sufrir con Cristo. [ 1] E l sufrimiento es presente en los tres casos antes mencionados , pero no es lo que se busca , sino  dominio ,   expiación , union . El dominio sobre las pasiones , la expiación por nuestros pecados, y unión con Cristo : estas son algunas motivos por las...

“ Then I knelt, too, and prayed: 'O God, if there is a God, forgive him his sins, if there is such a thing as sin.'  ” - Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited “ I am assailed by the worst temptations of atheism. ” - St. Therese of Lisieux, from her diary “ Even the very wise cannot see all ends. ” - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings “ May the odds be ever in your favor. ” - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games First, a disclaimer. This essay will not directly tackle the question of whether or not God exists. The reader is referred to a more profound and entertaining discussion on this topic by Dr. Peter Kreeft , a popular contemporary philosopher and speaker. Instead, this essay will consider God’s existence from the point of view of chance and consequence. I shall begin by relating a personal experience. A year ago, I received a series of anti-rabies shots for a cat bite. I was peacefully relaxing in a beach hut when I accidentally stepped on a c...

I heard that there's a new town in Camiguin. It  definitely fits the new Philippine tourism slogan: I'm glad you visited this post. Tengkyu, Camiguin.