January 30, 2008
Well, no cleats in San Sal that worked out for me to buy. Very sad. I did reveal some photos, and I took Francisco with me as a guide to some new places. I also broke down and treated him to a cultural experience at McDonalds… a rarity indeed because it’s SOOOO expensive here. Its 5 dollars for a Big Mac combo here, that’s 5 hours of internet time!
Anyways, not much else to report as of late. My fever has pretty much disappeared, but the faint headache is still on its way out. Weird. I’ve spent the last few days of recovery enjoying the Journey Home Network downloads (part of the Coming Home Network). I have tried to catch up on the Brothers Karamazov as well, but the headache kept that limited. Although I’ve only got about 100 pages left!
“Young man, be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education. Remember too, every day, and whenever you can, repeat to yourself, “Lord, have mercy on all who appear before Thee to-day.” For every hour and every moment thousands of men leave life on this earth, and their souls appear before God. And how many of them depart in solitude, unknown, sad, dejected, that no one mourns for them or even knows whether they have lived or not. And behold, from the other end of the earth perhaps, your prayer for their rest will rise up to God though you knew them not nor they you. How touching it must be to a soul standing in dread before the Lord to feel at that instant that, for him too, there is one to pray, that there is a fellow creature left on earth to love him too. And God will look on you both more graciously, for if you have had so much pity on him, how much more will He have pity Who is infinitely more loving and merciful than you. And He will forgive him for your sake.”
The Brothers Karamazov, Book Six, The Russian Monk, p. 293
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Dia de my boy De Sales
January 24, 2008
An interesting historical primary document from the beginning of the Counter Reformation (id say)
Following on the heels of Saint Sebastian, the epitome of the active will, today is celebrated his counterpart of the elevated intellect on my birthday of all days, one of my favorite writers in the past 2000 years……Saint Francis de Sales. He was a young priest sent to the southern region of France in the latter 16th century, I believe, to try and counter the influence of Calvinism there which had converted nearly the entire population. For years he tried to get people to listen to him, much less donate food for him to survive while he was there, but he roamed without much of anything other than his two books. He later then had the idea of writing pamphlets and leaving them under the doors of houses on certain topics. Soon after his success with some families took off and by the end of his life, it is said that the entire region had reverted back to the universal faith, some number greater than 50,000. Not bad for starting with just a few dozen Catholic families. These pamphlets were later gathered into a single book, under the name Controversies. He also has another one that’s not too shabby.
Oh yeah, I would also like to apologize for my leaving out a word in one of the comments on the discussion about faith a few posts ago. I left out the word ‘not’, when I said, “and let it be known that I do agree with the analogy of us being a dunghill covered by snow.” Oops, the devil is working overtime lately.
Speaking of the devil, man I’ve had a fever and headache the past few days, and it peaked the night of my bday when well… it was a long night. Hopefully it’s out of my system today. Some say that it’s from the powder from the roads here, that’s seems to be a popular reason for sickness this time of year. Oh well.
It wont fit.
Let’s see what else. There were some interesting conversations last night after dinner. I think it all started when I brought the Iliad and the Odyssey over to show their kids the size of the actual stories….they are reading excerpts right now in school of them. Later the topic of encyclicals came up and I told him that I had found a Spanish copy of Benedict’s first one “God is Love” here in the house if he wanted to read it… he’s always sad that I don’t have anything in Spanish that he can read too…haha. The access to that kind of stuff is somewhat non-existent here, for so many reasons. From there, we were all around a bucket of some kind of beans and we were peeling them and talking about random things. Francisco, one of the kids who I would say is the least religious in the family, I think he basically just doesn’t see its use, so after Don Raul asked his usual history or religious questions, I asked Francisco the question that Edward asked earlier in the comments to see how he would respond. If God is all powerful, can he create a rock so big that he can’t lift it. He laughed and without skipping a beat said, “While I think its kind of obvious that if he can create it, he can pick it up.” Which I know only answers part of the question, but I was happy to accept that part, because my Spanish wasn’t good enough to fully express what I wanted at the moment haha. After we discussed Pascal’s Wager for a few minutes, to which Don Raul really enjoyed, laughing for a while at the end. The final story that came up while stripping beans, was a discussion between Don Raul and his wife Dona Amalia about some person in the Bible, and whether they were the same person or different because they had the same name.
I think Im hurting.
I couldn’t help but lead in to the subject by using the Mary situation. I told them that many Protestants believe that Mary had more children than just Jesus. Dona Amalia’s first response was ‘ahhhh whatever’ (a liberal translation). So I had to explain that they take it from a few certain verses in the Bible where we have in our English translation as Mary being the mother of James and Joses (Joseph) as well (Mark 6:3). But I told her (who thought that the person of discussion was the same) that she has to be careful at times when thinking people with same names are the same person. Using the Mary situation, I pointed to the fact that at the crucifixion of Christ it says that Mary and John were at the base of the cross, and that a separate Mary, the mother of James and Joses, looked on from afar with some other people (Matt 27:55-6). So just reading one verse, she might come to that conclusion, but sometimes you have to dig into Scripture a little more ;) (or more in this case in Tradition that has always supported the fact that Mary had no other seed…..check out one example in St. Jerome’s late fourth century rebuttal On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary against Helvidius, you can find the complete transcript of the ancient document here… http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm)
As far as the birthday goes, I was writing grants with Don Mauricio all morning, even though the temperature came back and I became somewhat useless haha. I rested during the day and took some drugs and felt better and then went to dinner with the Lopez family. They had made chicken tamales and then we had sweet bread and coffee. It was fun, they told jokes and took pics with my camera etc. I ended up going to bed early at 930 after reading some more Fyodor, but was back up again by 1030 :)
Don Raul cracks me up in the background.
Saturday I’m planning on going to the capital with Francisco to check out some rumors of cleats that can fit me in the capital. As well as Saturday morning talking with the fam through the internet. Hoorah.
Dante has an interesting allusion in Paradiso.
“On earth my body[John the Evangelist] now is earth and shall
be there together with the rest until
our number equals the eternal purpose.
Only those two lights [Jesus and .....see 4th Catholic/Lutheran Commandment and 5th others] that ascended wear
their double garment [body and soul] in this blessed cloister[heaven].
And carry this report back to your world [earth].”
Dante, Canto XXV, Paradiso
Please someone ask why I say Catholic fourth commandment. Ok fine, Ill share, actually Wikipedia had a very informative article on the subject with some decent sources. I guess this is also reflected in our minor differences in the ending of the Our Father.
January 25, 2008Just wanted to write this to congratulate Ansley on her package arriving on my birthday, that’s impressive timing. Once again, she came through with the Reese’s. Very Nice. This quotes for you, letter to follow.
“God whispers in your soul and speaks to your mind. Sometimes when you don't have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at you. It's your choice: Listen to the whisper, or wait for the brick.”
Unknown.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Dia de San Sebastian
January 20, 2008
Holler to my boy Sebastian today. Coming up on my bday is the feast day of the other bastion of faith that I enjoy.
The past few days have been fun and busy and each day a different new thingy. I really wanted to say that word for some reason….thingy. Haha. Anyways, yeah lets see…. ummm… well the little basin that keeps my water for bathing someone how leaked all the water out in an hour. It was actually somewhat impressive…I saw it half full, and an hour later, ha, no more. Some of it is leaking the room, but most of it I think is outside. So I’ve been looking for some kind of caulking here in the town, but not any luck, I could do a little cement mix, but Don Raul told me they tried it like three times and its still eventually leaking. So I don’t know what I’m going to do, I might have to go to the capital or Zacate soon to get this sucker working.
Hmmm… oh yea, I went to the inauguration of a basketball/soccer court that one of the volunteers got built…I had to get up at 4…grrrrr. We got to play a game against a San Vicente team and it was awesome to get my hands on a basketball. We had 10 volunteers to play so we had one team play one quarter and on and off. It was really fun, although we eventually lost 30-24 in the last minute. Our team was hilarious though, one guy fouled out on the honor system in only two quarters :)
The New Court
I left early after the dedication by the priest and the games and food, and went to San Vicente to pay my light bill and get some other work done. I took the bus to Zacate to take mine to San Pedro, but I arrived 7 minutes late, with only one bus that remained in the terminal… to San Salvador the capital. Wonderful. I had to call and tell them I wasn’t going to make the meeting that night, and had to stay the night in the capital at our cheap volunteer hostile. 3 dollars! We had planned to start painting at the 7 the next morning at the medical dispensary, so I got up at 4 again to catch the first bus, yeah it left at 630am….haha. Eventually I got back and we enjoyed painting all day. Fun stuff, but what a cluster.
I will eat you.
“When facing a difficult task act as though it is impossible to fail.If you're going after Moby Dick, take along the tartar sauce.”
(Notice on a chalkboard in an East Greenwich, R.I. deli.)
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Random Stories
January 14, 2008
After I went to the soccer game at 12, that was fun, although they are still getting on me for not being able to play…however the biggest size I’ve come across here is 11. The search continues.
Then the marathon of meetings continued starting with the medical group, then the ADESCO, and ending with the Water Committee. My Spanish was suffering by the end needless to say, I was in need of some serious good music. That seems to the remedy for burned out brains.
Today (Monday), I made some more documents for random Church groups and then a grant request for the streets here with Don Mauricio. I got to meet up with the Mayor later and set up a date for our meeting, and then later a meeting in town with municipal ADESCO. Then the bus left me so I got walk back in the dark, fun stuff. It was actually kind of fun, the moon was out and all.
Let’s see, oh yes, I continue to botch my Spanish in quite a funny way during the nights. Haha, so I was at the dinner table outside with the three teenage girls (well one is 20) joking around after dinner one night, when I was going to begin a joke with “I am going to leave my brush here to…..” (it was a hair joke) and in Spanish I said “Voy a dejar mi peine aquí para…” For some reason my brain threw in peine for brush, which is actually comb. But they don’t use it at all, and all they heard was ‘pene’…..or penis. HA. As soon as I said it I realized my mistake, but all three went crazy laughing, but I played it ignorant… that is easier forgiven than slip ups :) Oh well, you win some you lose some, and then some days it rains. I’m used to awkward situations by now in this country.
Oh yeah! I saw the coolest thing during lunch, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet. But, one of the dogs had attacked a little chicken that was running and we thought he had killed it. Don Raul grabbed it and they started to pour water down its throat until they got some response and with a little bit of patting it came back a little bit. Then the kids put it under a tin barrel thing and started banging on the barrel… eventually it came back more and more. The next day it was running around and having a good time…. Craziness.
So, I just finished listening to Dr. Scott Hahn’s (one of the leading apologetic writers of our day) conversion story, wow…(without internet I am becoming quite familiar with the contents of my computer haha). What a nerd though….he makes ole Francis Beckwith, ex-president of the Evangelical Theologian Society, look like a neophyte convert. I’ve heard of people reading their way into Catholicism, but that’s insanity. Although, he did used to be a Presbyterian pastor ;) much love much love. But his story is amazing in that he did it amidst an environment of theologians, and after founding anti-catholic groups etc. Then years later all those people involved with that, and with him, had come to ‘want in’…as he calls it, or become Catholic. I highly suggest his story to anyone bored (or interested) enough to listen to it. You can get it offline, or if not, I’ll send it to you. (this guy’s family recently had to buy a new house to fit all of his books…ha!)
Holla back Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
“Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is.”
January 17, 2008
Babies, Babies, Babies. Man, they are just in a whole different world here. Of course, the only thing I really have to compare to this is primarily the infancy of Elija, and a little bit of Jonah, but still it is light and day here and there. I know you are asking …how? (especially Cari :) Well, mainly I guess what strikes me is the fact that you have to be quiet while they are sleeping. I mean, the twins next door, around like 6 months or something, I mean they sleep out in the hammocks during the day with two crazy kids running around being kids, and a little tienda right beside them. They chill on a mattress on the ground when they aren’t eating or sleeping in the hammock. At night or during the day while they are napping, they have the radio blasting… and the kids… sounds asleep. I mean, I would bump into a table or something at Cari and Hagar’s and I mean, my life was almost taken right then for fear of waking up a kid. Anyways, it’s a funny parallel. Although, I’ve yet to see like in Spain the ladies with kids out at parks at 2am and sometimes with strollers. HHmm…. Well I don’t like in the city though, so I guess it’s possible here too.
I’m pumping through The Brothers Karamazov right now, trying to get as far as possible before it’s length and philosophy set its will against me. It’s actually going quickly, although also thick at some points. The atheist arguments are actually a lot of new ones that are sometimes hard to assimilate, but it’s all good so far. My favorite comment so far was from the atheist kid, “At the second or third lesson the boy suddenly grinned. “What’s that for?” asked Grigory, looking at him threateningly from under his spectacles. “Oh, nothing. God created light on the first day, and the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:3-5, 14-19). Where did the light come from on the first day?” It reminds me of a story of a non-denominational Christian who told a friend of mine that the dinosaurs skeletons were put on earth to test the faith of Christians…..or the look on the face of my counterpart’s wife when after some show that had dinosaurs, she looked at me and said, “you know they say those things used to exist, but I don’t know how!” An array of actions showing the difficulty in knowing how to interpret Scripture in compliance with science. If my knowledge serves me right, I think it was a Jesuit that came up with the Big Bang theory :) but don’t hold me to that haha.
Also, this note if for John, I finished listening to all the podcasts of the adult ed classes at PoP. Not too shabby there guy.
Oh yeah, so here’s a quick story for you….to bring up the wife of the counterpart again. She was sitting beside her seeming brand new refrigerator and after a commercial on the tele, she started telling me a story. See, they have these little bullion packets for chicken and beef that they use ALL the time in cooking here. Apparently in the past, they had some contest raffle thing by this company where you had to send it these packets, and they would draw one out every once in a while (I think 10 in total), and the prize was like 7 appliances. The lady came on one day while the wife was watching and said it was amazing that all the winners had been from the department of La Paz. At that point, she told me that she got down off her chair, on her knees, and prayed that she knew God had the power to do whatever he wanted, and that if it was his will (haha), that she knew he could help one of his children with this prize. In that moment, she lifted her head, saw the name come out of the bag on one of the 4 channels of their television, and what do ya know….. they called her name. She told me she just sat there and cried for a while on the floor. She didn’t keep them all, but the fridge still stands as a reminder for her. Most people can’t afford the energy bill for the stoves and stuff. Craziness eh?
That story is almost as good as the fact that every time I bite down on something super hard in dishes with meat, they are like… ahhh no problem, its just the bones from the grinder from when we ground the meat. Oh well…. When all my teeth fall out I’m sure that fact will make me feel better. :)
Finally, I would just like to announce that there is a man in my community, who looks just like Speedy Gonzalez. I don’t say that in a mean way, but I mean, really. He’s got the hat and garb and mustache and all, but he does need the red scarf.
An excerpt of a chapter long argument on Church jurisdiction in Russia, that was in reality really going on at the time:
“Yes, but you know, in reality it is so now,” said the elder suddenly, and all turned to him at once. “If it were not for the Church of Christ there would be nothing to restrain the criminal from evil doing, no real chastisement for it afterwards; none, that is, but the mechanical punishment spoken of just now, which in the majority of cases only embitters the heart; and not the real punishment, the only effectual one, the only deterrent and softening one, which lies in the recognition of sin by conscience.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, p. 66 (part 2 chap 5…. This position is later challenged by the atheist kid)
Yeeehaaaaa...William, one of the twins
Oh man, what a day (Sunday). The ever time changing pickup came early this morning, so I almost missed my ride to the Mass, so that was a good start. Once getting there though, I spent time before hand taking pictures of all the broke up parts for the grant application. After, I met with the Padre who had brought in a sub for that Mass, he came out of his little room where he lives in PJs and squinty eyes and a crackly voice and I couldn’t help but crack up. I hope I didn’t catch whatever he has, however, he did gift me a sweet agenda book when all I had to write on was some ripped up pieces of paper. Apparently someone gifted the parish some nice leather bound ones that I am now mooching on….sweeeeeet….haha. Anyways, I met with some a municipal committee that he hooked me up with to help out with the grant, so that’s all good.After I went to the soccer game at 12, that was fun, although they are still getting on me for not being able to play…however the biggest size I’ve come across here is 11. The search continues.
Then the marathon of meetings continued starting with the medical group, then the ADESCO, and ending with the Water Committee. My Spanish was suffering by the end needless to say, I was in need of some serious good music. That seems to the remedy for burned out brains.
Today (Monday), I made some more documents for random Church groups and then a grant request for the streets here with Don Mauricio. I got to meet up with the Mayor later and set up a date for our meeting, and then later a meeting in town with municipal ADESCO. Then the bus left me so I got walk back in the dark, fun stuff. It was actually kind of fun, the moon was out and all.
Let’s see, oh yes, I continue to botch my Spanish in quite a funny way during the nights. Haha, so I was at the dinner table outside with the three teenage girls (well one is 20) joking around after dinner one night, when I was going to begin a joke with “I am going to leave my brush here to…..” (it was a hair joke) and in Spanish I said “Voy a dejar mi peine aquí para…” For some reason my brain threw in peine for brush, which is actually comb. But they don’t use it at all, and all they heard was ‘pene’…..or penis. HA. As soon as I said it I realized my mistake, but all three went crazy laughing, but I played it ignorant… that is easier forgiven than slip ups :) Oh well, you win some you lose some, and then some days it rains. I’m used to awkward situations by now in this country.
Oh yeah! I saw the coolest thing during lunch, I don’t think I’ve mentioned this yet. But, one of the dogs had attacked a little chicken that was running and we thought he had killed it. Don Raul grabbed it and they started to pour water down its throat until they got some response and with a little bit of patting it came back a little bit. Then the kids put it under a tin barrel thing and started banging on the barrel… eventually it came back more and more. The next day it was running around and having a good time…. Craziness.
Reviving the Chicken
I finished the book on Simón Bolívar a few days ago, haha, I would say he’s the most successful general for losing as many times as he did. He stuck in there though and now he’s one of the most popular, if not the most popular, historical figures in Panama and below. He did have some interesting predictions about the US as well….although…. none of them were positive haha. Now I’ve started the Brothers Karamazov, but to be honest I am somewhat intimidated by its supposed content and size. I say that because Crime and Punishment was a doosy back in the day and people hail this as Dostoevsky’s greatest work. Anyways, we’ll see in about 700 pages.So, I just finished listening to Dr. Scott Hahn’s (one of the leading apologetic writers of our day) conversion story, wow…(without internet I am becoming quite familiar with the contents of my computer haha). What a nerd though….he makes ole Francis Beckwith, ex-president of the Evangelical Theologian Society, look like a neophyte convert. I’ve heard of people reading their way into Catholicism, but that’s insanity. Although, he did used to be a Presbyterian pastor ;) much love much love. But his story is amazing in that he did it amidst an environment of theologians, and after founding anti-catholic groups etc. Then years later all those people involved with that, and with him, had come to ‘want in’…as he calls it, or become Catholic. I highly suggest his story to anyone bored (or interested) enough to listen to it. You can get it offline, or if not, I’ll send it to you. (this guy’s family recently had to buy a new house to fit all of his books…ha!)
Knocking the sense back into it
Calling all Catholics (that would be a good book title)….reeeeeeadddddd about your faith, primarily in the Bible, secondarily about those who came before us (esp their apologetics), and thirdly about what the Magisterium has laid out for us based on these two. Its good stuff and like triangulating your position on a map. The first point is the most important, and gives you the basic sense of where you are, but to find the exact position, you need two other points, other than that one, to be in accordance with you, as to be ever accurate of where you are and where you should be.Holla back Archbishop Fulton Sheen:
“Not 100 in the United States hate the Roman Catholic Church, but millions hate what they mistakenly think the Roman Catholic Church is.”
January 17, 2008
Babies, Babies, Babies. Man, they are just in a whole different world here. Of course, the only thing I really have to compare to this is primarily the infancy of Elija, and a little bit of Jonah, but still it is light and day here and there. I know you are asking …how? (especially Cari :) Well, mainly I guess what strikes me is the fact that you have to be quiet while they are sleeping. I mean, the twins next door, around like 6 months or something, I mean they sleep out in the hammocks during the day with two crazy kids running around being kids, and a little tienda right beside them. They chill on a mattress on the ground when they aren’t eating or sleeping in the hammock. At night or during the day while they are napping, they have the radio blasting… and the kids… sounds asleep. I mean, I would bump into a table or something at Cari and Hagar’s and I mean, my life was almost taken right then for fear of waking up a kid. Anyways, it’s a funny parallel. Although, I’ve yet to see like in Spain the ladies with kids out at parks at 2am and sometimes with strollers. HHmm…. Well I don’t like in the city though, so I guess it’s possible here too.
I’m pumping through The Brothers Karamazov right now, trying to get as far as possible before it’s length and philosophy set its will against me. It’s actually going quickly, although also thick at some points. The atheist arguments are actually a lot of new ones that are sometimes hard to assimilate, but it’s all good so far. My favorite comment so far was from the atheist kid, “At the second or third lesson the boy suddenly grinned. “What’s that for?” asked Grigory, looking at him threateningly from under his spectacles. “Oh, nothing. God created light on the first day, and the sun, moon, and stars on the fourth day (Genesis 1:3-5, 14-19). Where did the light come from on the first day?” It reminds me of a story of a non-denominational Christian who told a friend of mine that the dinosaurs skeletons were put on earth to test the faith of Christians…..or the look on the face of my counterpart’s wife when after some show that had dinosaurs, she looked at me and said, “you know they say those things used to exist, but I don’t know how!” An array of actions showing the difficulty in knowing how to interpret Scripture in compliance with science. If my knowledge serves me right, I think it was a Jesuit that came up with the Big Bang theory :) but don’t hold me to that haha.
Also, this note if for John, I finished listening to all the podcasts of the adult ed classes at PoP. Not too shabby there guy.
Oh yeah, so here’s a quick story for you….to bring up the wife of the counterpart again. She was sitting beside her seeming brand new refrigerator and after a commercial on the tele, she started telling me a story. See, they have these little bullion packets for chicken and beef that they use ALL the time in cooking here. Apparently in the past, they had some contest raffle thing by this company where you had to send it these packets, and they would draw one out every once in a while (I think 10 in total), and the prize was like 7 appliances. The lady came on one day while the wife was watching and said it was amazing that all the winners had been from the department of La Paz. At that point, she told me that she got down off her chair, on her knees, and prayed that she knew God had the power to do whatever he wanted, and that if it was his will (haha), that she knew he could help one of his children with this prize. In that moment, she lifted her head, saw the name come out of the bag on one of the 4 channels of their television, and what do ya know….. they called her name. She told me she just sat there and cried for a while on the floor. She didn’t keep them all, but the fridge still stands as a reminder for her. Most people can’t afford the energy bill for the stoves and stuff. Craziness eh?
That story is almost as good as the fact that every time I bite down on something super hard in dishes with meat, they are like… ahhh no problem, its just the bones from the grinder from when we ground the meat. Oh well…. When all my teeth fall out I’m sure that fact will make me feel better. :)
Finally, I would just like to announce that there is a man in my community, who looks just like Speedy Gonzalez. I don’t say that in a mean way, but I mean, really. He’s got the hat and garb and mustache and all, but he does need the red scarf.
An excerpt of a chapter long argument on Church jurisdiction in Russia, that was in reality really going on at the time:
“Yes, but you know, in reality it is so now,” said the elder suddenly, and all turned to him at once. “If it were not for the Church of Christ there would be nothing to restrain the criminal from evil doing, no real chastisement for it afterwards; none, that is, but the mechanical punishment spoken of just now, which in the majority of cases only embitters the heart; and not the real punishment, the only effectual one, the only deterrent and softening one, which lies in the recognition of sin by conscience.”
Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov, p. 66 (part 2 chap 5…. This position is later challenged by the atheist kid)
Monday, January 14, 2008
War of the Worlds
January 12, 2008
Happy Birthday Uncle Jerry!!!
At least I’m pretty sure it’s his birthday. I get the numbers off my phone so, so much for calling him haha. Oh yeah and by the way Daddy, just found out that Don Raul is the same age as you, just a few months older I think. Cool beans.
Well the past few days have been nice, its actually gotten cloudy for a few days here and a little cooler. I actually have a little bit of a scratchy throat, although I think I that it came from everyone having it at the neighbors.
There was a small war that took place the past week, I can’t remember if I had mentioned it or not. For the past week I kept finding ants in my bed at night for some reason, and I would have to kill all of them before going to sleep, but I always got bit during the night. So finally I took an evening to get my battle on. I had the shirt and hat backwards with the headlamp on and my broom and my lighter. I pulled the bed out and hang the bug net up and find the source. Where the pila (water basin) is slowly leaking in from the outside in the corner of my room, the ants had build a nice large base of operations. In addition though, I found 4 or 5 HUGE spiders that were chillin back there in the dark on the other end of the bed…..I’m not sure what kind they were, but I decided I would feel better I were the only living thing on or around my bed. The spiders were the first to go, but before I could airlift the bodies out, the ants were all over two of them. I tried burning them all up, which had worked in the past, but my lighter thing ran out of juice. At this point, the kids came in and offered some kind of poison in a white powder from their house, which I ended up using and it worked really well. Later that day I finished the battle with a nice sweeping out of the entire room. There has been peace ever since J
I’ve been working on an embassy grant this week that I just got wind of for the church building in San Pedro, and I have to meet with Father Tino tomorrow after Mass, but before my bus leaves haha. We’ve only got a week before I have to go to the capital to turn it in…figures. I’ve also finished my letter to the bishop in the US, and its Spanish translation for distribution, so hopefully I can get that going as well for help with the church and the creation of my partnership system. At least that’s my goal, to set up parish partners between US parishes and Latin parishes for all kinds of help….but that’s for later, its in the works right now.
I laughed last night, Don Raul, who is always full of funny questions on US culture and religion, when I was leaving asked me to explain the “work of the 70” in accordance with Church History. I had no idea what he was talking about at first, and he claimed to not know much more, just from a brief comment in some Bible class that was going on in the town. That narrowed it down for me though on the Bible class, and I guessed it must be the Septuagint. So instead of leaving, I sat back down, and in what they dubbed story time, haha, I told the story of the rise of the Greek language, that it was different from Hebrew haha, and how the Old Testament was affected by it, etc, with interspersed questions, to the best of my Spanish ability. Jose, the kid told me that we have to have story time every night, haha. Crazy family. The culture here cracks me up in that they are clueless on world issues and the history of their belief (which we usually claim as a strong point of Catholicism and its doctrine), and only have the Bible to work with, yet they go crazy in it and still are raging Catholics.
Oh well, such is life. I forgot the pics... next time i come i shall bring.
Happy Birthday Uncle Jerry!!!
At least I’m pretty sure it’s his birthday. I get the numbers off my phone so, so much for calling him haha. Oh yeah and by the way Daddy, just found out that Don Raul is the same age as you, just a few months older I think. Cool beans.
Well the past few days have been nice, its actually gotten cloudy for a few days here and a little cooler. I actually have a little bit of a scratchy throat, although I think I that it came from everyone having it at the neighbors.
There was a small war that took place the past week, I can’t remember if I had mentioned it or not. For the past week I kept finding ants in my bed at night for some reason, and I would have to kill all of them before going to sleep, but I always got bit during the night. So finally I took an evening to get my battle on. I had the shirt and hat backwards with the headlamp on and my broom and my lighter. I pulled the bed out and hang the bug net up and find the source. Where the pila (water basin) is slowly leaking in from the outside in the corner of my room, the ants had build a nice large base of operations. In addition though, I found 4 or 5 HUGE spiders that were chillin back there in the dark on the other end of the bed…..I’m not sure what kind they were, but I decided I would feel better I were the only living thing on or around my bed. The spiders were the first to go, but before I could airlift the bodies out, the ants were all over two of them. I tried burning them all up, which had worked in the past, but my lighter thing ran out of juice. At this point, the kids came in and offered some kind of poison in a white powder from their house, which I ended up using and it worked really well. Later that day I finished the battle with a nice sweeping out of the entire room. There has been peace ever since J
I’ve been working on an embassy grant this week that I just got wind of for the church building in San Pedro, and I have to meet with Father Tino tomorrow after Mass, but before my bus leaves haha. We’ve only got a week before I have to go to the capital to turn it in…figures. I’ve also finished my letter to the bishop in the US, and its Spanish translation for distribution, so hopefully I can get that going as well for help with the church and the creation of my partnership system. At least that’s my goal, to set up parish partners between US parishes and Latin parishes for all kinds of help….but that’s for later, its in the works right now.
I laughed last night, Don Raul, who is always full of funny questions on US culture and religion, when I was leaving asked me to explain the “work of the 70” in accordance with Church History. I had no idea what he was talking about at first, and he claimed to not know much more, just from a brief comment in some Bible class that was going on in the town. That narrowed it down for me though on the Bible class, and I guessed it must be the Septuagint. So instead of leaving, I sat back down, and in what they dubbed story time, haha, I told the story of the rise of the Greek language, that it was different from Hebrew haha, and how the Old Testament was affected by it, etc, with interspersed questions, to the best of my Spanish ability. Jose, the kid told me that we have to have story time every night, haha. Crazy family. The culture here cracks me up in that they are clueless on world issues and the history of their belief (which we usually claim as a strong point of Catholicism and its doctrine), and only have the Bible to work with, yet they go crazy in it and still are raging Catholics.
Oh well, such is life. I forgot the pics... next time i come i shall bring.
“The greatest sounds on Earth are often heard in silence.”
-anonymous
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Papa Williams Birthday
January 5, 2008
The capital was cool. I got to see some volunteers and hang out some….as well as to develop the pics for the fam here from the wedding. Oh yeah, I also saw Alien vs. Predator 2 here, it was that or National Treasure 2, which I knew would be decent, but there’s just something about a Predator. However, this one was much worse than the first one.
The final fun part was the trip was that a wonderfully ridiculous scenario came up while in Metro Centro, one of San Sal’s malls. A fellow volunteer and I were coming out of the supermarket, when we heard a bunch of laughing and loud talking which is almost always the first sign of Americans. It was, and we eventually got into a convo at the door of why in the world they were here. Mission Trip!!!! Yaaaaaaaa. We are off to bring Christianity to Latin America! Oh wait. Ha….sorry couldn’t help that, naaa they do a lot of good support bringing resources into the areas. But it’s not worth the other cost. Anyways, they wanted us to meet the rest of their group, so we tagged along to the food court to meet them. The first guy I met was their pastor, and it kind of split into two groups describing what we do and our experience so far. They are part of Calvary Chapel Church, he said it was nondenominational.
Anyways, it was good convo for a while, my group was the pastor and a few kids aged 18-20, when an older, I take it leader girl (maybe wife?), came up and listened for a few mins, while they asked if I had visited their church here yet…d’oh! I had tried to avoid it the whole time so as to not make conversation awkward, but it seems like whenever I avoid these things they just end up happening anyways, real funny God. Anyways, so I had to tell them I was Catholic, and from that point, the pastor kind of stepped away and turned slightly the other way, and the lady actually stood up, pushed her chair in and with another girl came up and asked me if I knew Jesus, and then after my answer, asked then how I thought I was going to get to heaven. HA, can you believe that? I was sensing everyone now preparing to leave behind me, so I responded with a quick, here’s the kicker, Catholic Catechism textbook answer, and they just slumped back and looked at me. I had to ask them if that was the right answer to get a response and they were like, actually yes that’s about it. Then the younger girl actually said to me, “well it’s not about giving a right answer.” At that point, I wondered how many of them even had a clue what Catholics believed. I kind of didn’t know what to say to that, and they were leaving so I didn’t bring up our differences, so I just smiled and turned around and said goodbye to the pastor and he told me to look him up online, Pastor Rob, Calvary Chapel, Philadelphia. I might have to do that :)
It’s just that it ticks me off that people consider these lands a fairground of lost sheep ready to come to ‘real’ Christianity….as if Catholicism has never heard of Jesus. That’s the impression I get from all these people here, and it actually makes me really angry, and to my knowledge, that doesn’t happen often. After listening to Greg’s talk from Seacoast that Mother sent, I guess that means I need to do something about it huh? ;) that was for you Mother. No, but in all seriousness, that subject here for me is very frustrating, that these groups come to these places with thoughts in mind, but rarely with any idea of what Catholics teach, never having even looked at a Catechism, or other reputable source. Not that I claim to be anywhere knowledgeable enough of other creeds, but were I to go and ‘evangelize’ another part of the world, I, well personally would probably go apenuts to know everything about them and their history, but at least just know their basics from their writers and sources.
Oh yeah, and get this, in describing his church he was like…and yeah we are more conservative in a lot of ways compared to other denominations, like Pentecostals and those branches are all more emotionally base, but we are different. ‘We are just straight up Scripture’…. If I had a nickel for every time a group used this as their excuse/reason for being different in doctrine….haha. But this was unique in a Protestant group saying another one wasn’t as much in Scripture as much as them. I wonder what my Pentecostal pastor brother of my boss is going to say to this…he is going to eat this up (did I mention that guy sent me a book he’s writing thru email?). Maybe if I create a little Bible war down here, then all the little groups will run each other off, and maybe the leftovers will realize that the answer might have been under their nose the whole time. Then again, maybe all the lazy Catholics would become the collateral damage and the whole thing would backfire :O
Finally, I forgot to mention this earlier. “El Norte” is what they call the winds that come in around this time of year. Definitely woke up yesterday morning when the winds ripped off the metal roof on my back porch. Sweeet. I put it all back together as best I could, but I let Don Raul know and he had the kids fix it by the time I got back tonight haha. I don’t think it would have supported my weight to get up there and do it.
I leave you with a skit that was performed by some PCVs, and then sent out the lyrics… here is an excerpt of it. They sang these words to the song….Total Eclipse of the Heart:
“…And I need a latrine tonight
And I need it more than ever
And a solid poop would be alright
And the amoebas would be gone forever
And I’ll only have dengue to fight
And I’ll be unhealthy here forever
I can make it to the end of my time
I’m living in El Salvador on a few dimes
I shouldn’t take that bus or walk through that park
I’m living in a country where no one goes out after dark
I am going to die tonight
What am I doing with my life
My death is going to start tonight
Once upon a time I was living with lights
But now I only bathe in the dark
This water’s f-ing cold,
But I knew it all from the start
Once upon a time I was falling asleep
But now I only hear roosters and barks
Nothing I can say
And I need it more than ever
And a solid poop would be alright
And the amoebas would be gone forever
And I’ll only have dengue to fight
And I’ll be unhealthy here forever
I can make it to the end of my time
I’m living in El Salvador on a few dimes
I shouldn’t take that bus or walk through that park
I’m living in a country where no one goes out after dark
I am going to die tonight
What am I doing with my life
My death is going to start tonight
Once upon a time I was living with lights
But now I only bathe in the dark
This water’s f-ing cold,
But I knew it all from the start
Once upon a time I was falling asleep
But now I only hear roosters and barks
Nothing I can say
Cause I knew it all from the start”
January 7, 2008
Happy Birthday Papa Williams!
A nice spread.
Although I’m sure you are at work, I hope you go out and have a nice meal tonight. Wahoo!I made banana pancakes, chocolate ‘chip’, pancakes, and normal pancakes to celebrate your birthday here for dinner. Although, not everyone was here, it was still fun. The kids even helped make the batters at my house as well. Although, after I made all the pancakes there at their house, she surprised me with a large bowl of apples and strawberries as their contribution to celebrating my father’s birthday….tear. They say happy birthday Daddy… haha. It was a good time, they also made a new milk drink too which was realllly good. I’ve only ever seen milk (normally powdered) mixed with cinnamon sticks. But this time, she took a large quantity of milk and put Café Listo packets (coffee powder) in there and mixed it all together, and it was stellar. Put it on the list.
I look like something off the Hills Have Eyes, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Some more of the fam learned my real name last night, they were having some fun with it. They also had a nice prayer session for the Epiphany in their room with their manger scene, but now its graduated from infant to child Jesus, haha. Who knows what’s going to happen on the feast of his Baptism this Sunday! Haha. Also apparently they pray like that every night, and I’ve been invited to that, however that might be a little much for me….I can take all these people praying all the time ;) Anyways, there was one part that kind of stuck in my mind last night. Towards the end of the rosary, there is like a part build in for each person’s intentions, etc, and here people all do it out loud, it’s kind of….evangelical I guess, would be how they would describe it in America. But in this fam, the parents are the only ones that pray out loud, and you hear whispers from the bowed heads of the kids….sometimes haha. Don Raul was sitting behind me though, and while trying to decipher to two of them at the same time (it was great practice), I caught a single train of thought from his prayers. Thank you God for letting us “subsist”….not survive, which is a different word, although similar, but this verb is more along the lines of subsist. It was kind of weird how that one word is what framed my whole memory of that time. The fact that he was thanking God for having the things to live to the next day, is just a very different prayer than I was used to hearing in the US. It called into question of ‘why’ for me of being thankful for just ‘subsisting.’ It has to have something higher attached to it as a goal, so as not to lead into despair. This country is full of stories that have gone the opposite direction than this family.
Hows my apron?...they got a kick out of that when they found it for me
Also, I watched Blood Diamond last night, from the collection of the neighbors son’s bootleg dvds. Wow, sad. How many of you ladies want a big juicy diamond for engagement now? Haha.
Party on.
Second Lecture Worldwide for Catholics on the feast of the Epiphany: Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6Lectura de la carta del apóstol san Pablo a los Efesios:
“Hermanos: Habéis oído hablar de la distribución de la gracia de Dios que se me ha dado a favor vuestro. Ya que se me dio a conocer por revelación el misterio, que no había sido manifestado a los hombres en otros tiempos, como ha sido revelado ahora por el Espíritu a sus santos apóstoles y profetas: que también los gentiles son coherederos, miembros del mismo cuerpo y partícipes de la promesa en Jesucristo, por el Evangelio.”
Brothers: you have heard of the distribution of the grace of God that has given me your favor. He revealed the mystery to me that hadn’t been manifest to men in other times, like he has revealed now through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets: that also the gentiles are coinheritors, members of the same body and participants in the promise in Jesus Christ, through the Gospel.
January 9, 2008
Well, the ADESCO had their meeting to list out the projects they would like to focus on this year. So the past day or two I’ve been preparing for that on today, my internet day, hoorah. It looks like this year will be focused on:
1) Water piping…. The water that is brought in from here is a ways away and apparently has some weird trajectories that make it hard for the water to reach all parts of the pueblo. Another problem is that the pipes are mixed between 3 and 4 inch PVC so obviously at times all the water coming from a 4 inch pipe won’t fit into a 3 inch one. Finally, many areas appear to be failing to keep all the water inside the pipes haha…..sooo there are a lot of houses that at time go close to a month without water from the pipes. Luckily we have some springs here in the community that people can make their way to.
2) Roads…. There are many parts of the roads here that either aren’t wide enough to let the orange trucks come in and leave (among other trucks), or that aren’t cobblestoned so that the road doesn’t wash away in the rainy season. The Municipality is going to cobblestone the parts of the main road that aren’t starting in February, but that still leaves the messed up parts that are partly stoned, and all the side roads that aren’t. There are also other problems, but I’m still working on understanding them exactly in Spanish haha.
3) Medical program….medicines and money to pay the two nurses.
4) Community House…. They have already repaired half of the roof, but they need the lamina to repair the second half. Also, it is in need of some painting haha. Finally, they want more chairs so that it can accommodate all the meetings and events they have in the community.
These are the main things for La Comunidad, but then there is the Scholarship program in the town, and the school here in the cantón that is interested and doing “different” things. They also need a new fence around the school….I forgot about that. I still have to talk to the mayor as well to see if he’s got anything as well. And the Reconstruction of the church. Anyways, I’ve arranged all the NGO’s (non-governmental organizations) and some governmental, and their contacts, and I’m going to send out some mass emails today to get some info. So, hopefully I have some positive responses from those, or at least some responses…haha.
Things are starting to pick up here a little, so wahoo. I’m working my way through Simón Bolivar still, it’s going slower than I thought, but I’ll give it another week before it’s over.
“Yo Iré”
I will go.
From the nun’s truck when they visited.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Official Start of House Visits
January 3, 2008
I’ve officially started my house visits. It’s kind of cool, much easier than it would be in the States, I guess its because people really don’t have an “inside” of their house here haha. People here are really nice here though, especially once they realize I’m not an outside gringo haha. Although, it also helped that the power was out for 12 hours today, haha, people had to talk to me. Anyways, it was good, they all like to talk about the same things as other Salvadorans, so that made it easier for me to talk because I know those Spanish words haha.
It was fun having the power out today, but unfortunately it came on right before I got back to my house after dinner. I actually bought some candles waiting on this to happen during the windy season. It’s crazy, the wind here is ridiculous this week. Ripping off roofs, taking down power lines, there were four fallen banana trees crossing the walk to the latrine this morning. I also need to tie down some of the metal on my roof… it smacks up and down all night with an obnoxiously loud sound. Also, I spent about an hour this evening filling the spaces around my two ‘windows’ near my desk with newspaper to try and keep all the crud from blowing in (and that so the kid next door can’t yell at me through the cracks :)
I got a Christmas package from the parents today, and some other little things yesterday, so that was good, I got some snack food now….haha.
I started the Simon Bolivar book today, although, I’ve had to review my Latin America History class notes on the computer to get a footing on what the background was.
Going to the capital tomorrow…wahoo.
Here we have Dante being quizzed on his faith by St. Peter near the end:
“On hearing that light breathe, ‘Good Christian, speak,
Show yourself clearly: what is faith?’….
Then I: ‘So may the Grace that grants to me
to make confession to the Chief Centurion [Peter]
permit my thoughts to find their fit expression’;
and followed, ‘Father, as the truthful pen
of your dear brother [Paul] wrote—that brother who,
with you, set Rome upon the righteous road—
faith is the substance of the things we hope for
and is the evidence of things not seen;….”
Canto XXIV, Paradiso
This definition of faith is a little different from what people consider it today, yet its better. When the word faith remained undivided, but with two natures. Ha, ironic.
I’ve officially started my house visits. It’s kind of cool, much easier than it would be in the States, I guess its because people really don’t have an “inside” of their house here haha. People here are really nice here though, especially once they realize I’m not an outside gringo haha. Although, it also helped that the power was out for 12 hours today, haha, people had to talk to me. Anyways, it was good, they all like to talk about the same things as other Salvadorans, so that made it easier for me to talk because I know those Spanish words haha.
It was fun having the power out today, but unfortunately it came on right before I got back to my house after dinner. I actually bought some candles waiting on this to happen during the windy season. It’s crazy, the wind here is ridiculous this week. Ripping off roofs, taking down power lines, there were four fallen banana trees crossing the walk to the latrine this morning. I also need to tie down some of the metal on my roof… it smacks up and down all night with an obnoxiously loud sound. Also, I spent about an hour this evening filling the spaces around my two ‘windows’ near my desk with newspaper to try and keep all the crud from blowing in (and that so the kid next door can’t yell at me through the cracks :)
I got a Christmas package from the parents today, and some other little things yesterday, so that was good, I got some snack food now….haha.
I started the Simon Bolivar book today, although, I’ve had to review my Latin America History class notes on the computer to get a footing on what the background was.
Going to the capital tomorrow…wahoo.
Here we have Dante being quizzed on his faith by St. Peter near the end:
“On hearing that light breathe, ‘Good Christian, speak,
Show yourself clearly: what is faith?’….
Then I: ‘So may the Grace that grants to me
to make confession to the Chief Centurion [Peter]
permit my thoughts to find their fit expression’;
and followed, ‘Father, as the truthful pen
of your dear brother [Paul] wrote—that brother who,
with you, set Rome upon the righteous road—
faith is the substance of the things we hope for
and is the evidence of things not seen;….”
Canto XXIV, Paradiso
This definition of faith is a little different from what people consider it today, yet its better. When the word faith remained undivided, but with two natures. Ha, ironic.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Dante's Divine Comedy! (This will bore most of you)
January 2, 2008
The end of the Divine Comedy!
I figured I would take a few minutes and devote an entry to a very surprisingly, very good set of books that were very different from anything I had ever read. Anyone who gets bored by talking about books, I would go ahead and skip this entry :)
I’ll start with the problems. There were two problems that persisted in the books that I took notice of….one for Dante, and one for me. First, Dante seemed to have a problem throughout the books with the fact that the Church (to which I will reference one large C Church as he does) never could say that it was possible for non-Christian souls to enter his levels of Purgatory or Heaven….he portrayed even the best of them as having to remain in Limbo, the highest level of Hell for lack of belief. He did bend the rules here and there, as his guide was Virgil throughout Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, as well as a select few others that were either prayed for by earthly souls, or in one case of a Trojan warrior, given a preview of Redemption so as to be saved through that belief….part of the commentary says this:
“In reward for his love of justice, God, in His unfathomable Will and infinite grace, has made him an astonishing exception to the law that, in pagan times, no one could be saved.”
….haha crazy stuff. Nowadays, and I’m not 100 percent positive on this, I think the Catechism says that the Sacraments are basically definite passageways of God’s Grace, but just comes out and says that God is not limited or confined to the them. Therefore, if someone living as a Moslem in the remote area of Vietnam never comes to hear of a Christ, yet was a pious soul etc., all we can do is pray that God’s grace work there, but there is no guarantee of salvation, nor of condemnation. Usually the rule is, if you don’t know the specifics, make a general statement and move on :). Now, that might just be me talking out of my butt, but I feel like I’ve read something like that before…if not, it sounds good haha.
Now, my problem. So, reading the Inferno was first, and there were different levels of Hell, depending on the degree of sin attached to the soul at his time of death, of course this is all chosen by Dante, but he basically bases it on the offenses against the nature of things….usually broken up into the sins against God, against yourself, and against others…..a mirror of the triadic reality if I’m not mistaken….in our lives we mirror the Trinity in our relationship with God above, within ourselves, and to others (the image of Christ within us relating to God the Father, us understanding the image of Christ we have within ourselves, and then coming from those two springs a love towards others….a mirror of the HS). Anyways, I digress. In Purgatorio, there were also levels, portrayed as a mountain, in which the soul could only climb during the day (the light of the Sun was a parallel to God’s Grace, without it, nothing is possible). Each level was devoted to one of the seven deadly sins, and the scars that the particular sin had made on the soul were worked out on those levels. All that I understood. In Paradiso though, there also exist levels. In Paradiso, Dante experiences the same questions when he comes to the first level, where he meets those religious who had broken their vows due to violence of others, of no act of their own…an example, being of a nun who was kidnapped from a convent and forced to marry a political figure. Dante poses this question to the soul:
Which brings me to the last parts…. The parts I enjoyed. Dante did a really good job of including throughout all the books, especially the last two, that the human is just not capable of comprehending all of this stuff, that as much of our faith is, we know things exist, but just not able to understand the fullness of how….hence, the mysteries of faith. For example, to my knowledge, the Church has never proclaimed anything about Purgatory….just that there is some necessity for some sort of purification before entering heaven where nothing unclean shall enter. It could happen in the snap of a finger, could be a long process, only God knows, but as C.S. Lewis says in Letter to Malcolm, our soul’s should beg for it before entering the final rest. The same mysteries reside on the topics of the Eucharist and Salvation, and all we do is grasp the parts that Grace (the sunlight, in the Divine Comedy) allows us to…as Peter did in his profession of faith.
Finally, I also enjoyed how he chided pretty much everyone in all three books, from Popes to Emperors, to politicians, lay people, etc. You find some of each in each level. I find it funny that he blames the Holy Roman Emperors for the chaos that is Italy and Europe for lack of keeping order as is their job… as well as chides them for leaving temporal power in the hands of the Popes during this time. He then turns around and blasts the latest Popes for letting that temporal power corrupt the curia in Rome…their jobs are as spiritual shepherds, not temporal senators. He also hit on the fact that this temporal corruption had caused them to disregard their duty to call another crusade and take back the Holy Land. That kind of goes against the whole negative notion we give to the Crusades nowadays.
The last thing he pushes throughout the last two books is the fact that no matter the person, no matter who it is, always has the choice to repent, up until the last seconds of their life….so we should not pass judgment, in the Hell or Heaven sense. He uses the example of someone who had been excommunicated, but was found in Purgatorio. The use of excommunication is to protect the Church, and guard the deposit (when used correctly). It also serves as a warning to the person that if they continue in a certain manner, they are endangering their soul when they stand before God in judgment. If they continue, and die, then we assume they are sizzling, but no one knows their final thoughts. This was the case with Manfred?, I think, in Purgatorio, and the commentary relates that Dante is reminding the Church to pray for these people anyways (or at least be not quick to condemn), in the case that they did have a conversion in the end.
Oh yeah, and pretty much the theme of all three books….prayer. Those in Hell wish that prayer could help them, those in Purgatory all chase Dante down so that people might pray for them, and Dante is soliciting prayers while in Paradise.
It was a good time reading them, it makes things realer, even if it is just his possible interpretation of things. (haha, yes realer is a word) I will say though, these kinds of books are the great thing about history….especially Church History, in that we have so many PRIMARY sources. If you want to know about Greek History, you can read a summary by some contemporary author, but after read the accounts of Livy (well more Latin), or Socrates, or Thucydides, or Homer or countless other authors from that time. If you want to know about Church History, you can read general stuff by contemporary authors, but by all means read Against Heresies by Irenaeus, read letters of Justin Martyr, Ignatius and Clement, read the writings of Jerome, Cyril, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, councils…and read them in their entirety. That’s where you’ll find the good stuff, and less bits and pieces that the authors have picked through to support a point.
Mary was hit and miss throughout the books, but she came in heavy in the last few chapters of Paradiso when Dante reach the highest parts of heaven.
The end of the Divine Comedy!
I figured I would take a few minutes and devote an entry to a very surprisingly, very good set of books that were very different from anything I had ever read. Anyone who gets bored by talking about books, I would go ahead and skip this entry :)
I’ll start with the problems. There were two problems that persisted in the books that I took notice of….one for Dante, and one for me. First, Dante seemed to have a problem throughout the books with the fact that the Church (to which I will reference one large C Church as he does) never could say that it was possible for non-Christian souls to enter his levels of Purgatory or Heaven….he portrayed even the best of them as having to remain in Limbo, the highest level of Hell for lack of belief. He did bend the rules here and there, as his guide was Virgil throughout Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, as well as a select few others that were either prayed for by earthly souls, or in one case of a Trojan warrior, given a preview of Redemption so as to be saved through that belief….part of the commentary says this:
“In reward for his love of justice, God, in His unfathomable Will and infinite grace, has made him an astonishing exception to the law that, in pagan times, no one could be saved.”
….haha crazy stuff. Nowadays, and I’m not 100 percent positive on this, I think the Catechism says that the Sacraments are basically definite passageways of God’s Grace, but just comes out and says that God is not limited or confined to the them. Therefore, if someone living as a Moslem in the remote area of Vietnam never comes to hear of a Christ, yet was a pious soul etc., all we can do is pray that God’s grace work there, but there is no guarantee of salvation, nor of condemnation. Usually the rule is, if you don’t know the specifics, make a general statement and move on :). Now, that might just be me talking out of my butt, but I feel like I’ve read something like that before…if not, it sounds good haha.
Now, my problem. So, reading the Inferno was first, and there were different levels of Hell, depending on the degree of sin attached to the soul at his time of death, of course this is all chosen by Dante, but he basically bases it on the offenses against the nature of things….usually broken up into the sins against God, against yourself, and against others…..a mirror of the triadic reality if I’m not mistaken….in our lives we mirror the Trinity in our relationship with God above, within ourselves, and to others (the image of Christ within us relating to God the Father, us understanding the image of Christ we have within ourselves, and then coming from those two springs a love towards others….a mirror of the HS). Anyways, I digress. In Purgatorio, there were also levels, portrayed as a mountain, in which the soul could only climb during the day (the light of the Sun was a parallel to God’s Grace, without it, nothing is possible). Each level was devoted to one of the seven deadly sins, and the scars that the particular sin had made on the soul were worked out on those levels. All that I understood. In Paradiso though, there also exist levels. In Paradiso, Dante experiences the same questions when he comes to the first level, where he meets those religious who had broken their vows due to violence of others, of no act of their own…an example, being of a nun who was kidnapped from a convent and forced to marry a political figure. Dante poses this question to the soul:
“But tell me: though you’re happy here, do you
desire a higher place in order to
see more and to be still more close to Him?”
Together with her fellow shades she smiled
at first; then she replied to me with such
gladness, like one who burns with love’s first flame:
“Brother, the power of love appeases our
will so—we only long for what we have;
we do not thirst for greater blessedness.
Should we desire a higher sphere than ours,
then our desires would be discordant with
the will of Him who has assigned us here,
but you’ll see no such discord in these spheres;
to live in love is—here—necessity,
if you think on love’s nature carefully.
The essence of this blessed life consists
in keeping to the boundaries of God’s will,
through which our wills become on single will;
so that, as we are ranged from step to step
throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills
that which will please the King whose will is rule.”
desire a higher place in order to
see more and to be still more close to Him?”
Together with her fellow shades she smiled
at first; then she replied to me with such
gladness, like one who burns with love’s first flame:
“Brother, the power of love appeases our
will so—we only long for what we have;
we do not thirst for greater blessedness.
Should we desire a higher sphere than ours,
then our desires would be discordant with
the will of Him who has assigned us here,
but you’ll see no such discord in these spheres;
to live in love is—here—necessity,
if you think on love’s nature carefully.
The essence of this blessed life consists
in keeping to the boundaries of God’s will,
through which our wills become on single will;
so that, as we are ranged from step to step
throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills
that which will please the King whose will is rule.”
Paradiso, Canto III
His guide, then tempers their statement, with her own:
“These are the questions that, within your will,
Press equally for answer; therefore, I
Shall treat the most insidious question first.
Neither the Seraph closest unto God,
Nor Moses, Samuel, nor either John—
Whichever one you will—nor Mary has,
I say, their place in any other heaven
Than that which houses those souls you just saw,
Nor will their blessedness last any longer.
But all those souls grace the Empyrean;
And each of them has gentle life—though some
Sense the Eternal Spirit more, some less.
They showed themselves to you here not because
This is their sphere, but as a sign for you
That in the Empyrean their place is lowest.
Such signs are suited to your mind, since from
The sense only can it apprehend
What then becomes fit for the intellect.
And this is why the Bible condescends
To human powers, assigning feet and hands
To God, but meaning something else instead.
And Gabriel and Michael and the angel
Who healed the eyes of Tobit are portrayed
By Holy Church with human visages.”
His guide, then tempers their statement, with her own:
“These are the questions that, within your will,
Press equally for answer; therefore, I
Shall treat the most insidious question first.
Neither the Seraph closest unto God,
Nor Moses, Samuel, nor either John—
Whichever one you will—nor Mary has,
I say, their place in any other heaven
Than that which houses those souls you just saw,
Nor will their blessedness last any longer.
But all those souls grace the Empyrean;
And each of them has gentle life—though some
Sense the Eternal Spirit more, some less.
They showed themselves to you here not because
This is their sphere, but as a sign for you
That in the Empyrean their place is lowest.
Such signs are suited to your mind, since from
The sense only can it apprehend
What then becomes fit for the intellect.
And this is why the Bible condescends
To human powers, assigning feet and hands
To God, but meaning something else instead.
And Gabriel and Michael and the angel
Who healed the eyes of Tobit are portrayed
By Holy Church with human visages.”
Paradiso, Canto IV
The commentary of these lines does a good job explaining this part:
“Line 28…the Seraph…the highest angel in the highest order of angels, the Seraphim, who are closest to God (Par. XXVIII, 99). The souls whom Dante has seen in the Moon live eternally in the same Heaven (the Empyrean) as the angels, the greatest Jewish prophets, and the greatest Christian saints (including both St. Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist). They are in the Moon now only for the benefit of the living Dante,so that his human senses can perceive that theirs is the lowest degree of bliss. Each soul in Paradise is perfectly happy, according to its individual capacity to receive and enjoy the vision of God.”
I kind of think of the whole system he presents here as gauges of wire that you would use for your entertainment center. From the socket, the same amount of energy is always being pumped out, but each gauge can be completely filled, but each one has a different capacity….yet all together as part of the same system. I guess the reason he presents as to why we have different gauges/capacities are the temporal effects of sin on our soul (intellect and will)…..with a little bit of well that’s just the way it’s going to be…haha.The commentary of these lines does a good job explaining this part:
“Line 28…the Seraph…the highest angel in the highest order of angels, the Seraphim, who are closest to God (Par. XXVIII, 99). The souls whom Dante has seen in the Moon live eternally in the same Heaven (the Empyrean) as the angels, the greatest Jewish prophets, and the greatest Christian saints (including both St. Johns, the Baptist and the Evangelist). They are in the Moon now only for the benefit of the living Dante,so that his human senses can perceive that theirs is the lowest degree of bliss. Each soul in Paradise is perfectly happy, according to its individual capacity to receive and enjoy the vision of God.”
Which brings me to the last parts…. The parts I enjoyed. Dante did a really good job of including throughout all the books, especially the last two, that the human is just not capable of comprehending all of this stuff, that as much of our faith is, we know things exist, but just not able to understand the fullness of how….hence, the mysteries of faith. For example, to my knowledge, the Church has never proclaimed anything about Purgatory….just that there is some necessity for some sort of purification before entering heaven where nothing unclean shall enter. It could happen in the snap of a finger, could be a long process, only God knows, but as C.S. Lewis says in Letter to Malcolm, our soul’s should beg for it before entering the final rest. The same mysteries reside on the topics of the Eucharist and Salvation, and all we do is grasp the parts that Grace (the sunlight, in the Divine Comedy) allows us to…as Peter did in his profession of faith.
Finally, I also enjoyed how he chided pretty much everyone in all three books, from Popes to Emperors, to politicians, lay people, etc. You find some of each in each level. I find it funny that he blames the Holy Roman Emperors for the chaos that is Italy and Europe for lack of keeping order as is their job… as well as chides them for leaving temporal power in the hands of the Popes during this time. He then turns around and blasts the latest Popes for letting that temporal power corrupt the curia in Rome…their jobs are as spiritual shepherds, not temporal senators. He also hit on the fact that this temporal corruption had caused them to disregard their duty to call another crusade and take back the Holy Land. That kind of goes against the whole negative notion we give to the Crusades nowadays.
The last thing he pushes throughout the last two books is the fact that no matter the person, no matter who it is, always has the choice to repent, up until the last seconds of their life….so we should not pass judgment, in the Hell or Heaven sense. He uses the example of someone who had been excommunicated, but was found in Purgatorio. The use of excommunication is to protect the Church, and guard the deposit (when used correctly). It also serves as a warning to the person that if they continue in a certain manner, they are endangering their soul when they stand before God in judgment. If they continue, and die, then we assume they are sizzling, but no one knows their final thoughts. This was the case with Manfred?, I think, in Purgatorio, and the commentary relates that Dante is reminding the Church to pray for these people anyways (or at least be not quick to condemn), in the case that they did have a conversion in the end.
Oh yeah, and pretty much the theme of all three books….prayer. Those in Hell wish that prayer could help them, those in Purgatory all chase Dante down so that people might pray for them, and Dante is soliciting prayers while in Paradise.
It was a good time reading them, it makes things realer, even if it is just his possible interpretation of things. (haha, yes realer is a word) I will say though, these kinds of books are the great thing about history….especially Church History, in that we have so many PRIMARY sources. If you want to know about Greek History, you can read a summary by some contemporary author, but after read the accounts of Livy (well more Latin), or Socrates, or Thucydides, or Homer or countless other authors from that time. If you want to know about Church History, you can read general stuff by contemporary authors, but by all means read Against Heresies by Irenaeus, read letters of Justin Martyr, Ignatius and Clement, read the writings of Jerome, Cyril, Chrysostom, Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, councils…and read them in their entirety. That’s where you’ll find the good stuff, and less bits and pieces that the authors have picked through to support a point.
Mary was hit and miss throughout the books, but she came in heavy in the last few chapters of Paradiso when Dante reach the highest parts of heaven.
End of Canto XXXII, Paradiso: St. Bernard talking of Mary to Dante:
“‘But lest you now fall back when, even as
You move your wings, you think that you advance,
Imploring grace, through prayer you must beseech
Grace from that one who has the power to help you;
And do you follow me with your affection—
So many my words and your heart share one way.’
And he began this holy supplication:”
Canto XXXIII, Paradiso
“‘Virgin mother, daughter of your Son,
More humble and sublime than any creature,
Fixed goal decreed from all eternity,
You are the one who gave to human nature
So much nobility that its Creator
Did not disdain His being made its creature.
That love whose warmth allowed this flower to bloom
Within the everlasting peace—was love
Rekindled in your womb; for us above,
You are the noonday torch of charity,
And there below, on earth, among the mortals, you are a living spring of hope. Lady,
You are so high, you can so intercede,
That he who would have grace but does not seek
Your aid, may long to fly but has no wings….
And I, who never burned for my own vision
More than I burn for his, do offer you
All of my prayers—and pray that they may not
Fall short—that, with your prayers, you may disperse
All of the clouds of his mortality
So that the Highest Joy be his to see….
May your protection curb his mortal passions.
See Beatrice—how many saints with her!
They join my prayers! They clasp their hands to you!’
[now Dante speaks] The eyes that are revered and loved by God,
Now fixed upon the supplicant, showed us
How welcome such devotions are to her;
Then her eyes turned to the Eternal Light—
There, do not think that any creature’s eye
can find its way as clearly as her sight.
And I, who now was nearing Him who is
The end of all desires, as I ought,
Lifted my longing to its ardent limit.
Bernard was signaling—he smiled—to me
To turn my eyes on high; but I, already
Was doing what he wanted me to do,
Because my sight, becoming pure, was able
To penetrate the ray of Light more deeply—
That Light, sublime, which in Itself is true.
From that point on, what I could see was greater
Than speech can show: at such a sight, it fails—
And memory fails when faced with such excess….”
“‘But lest you now fall back when, even as
You move your wings, you think that you advance,
Imploring grace, through prayer you must beseech
Grace from that one who has the power to help you;
And do you follow me with your affection—
So many my words and your heart share one way.’
And he began this holy supplication:”
Canto XXXIII, Paradiso
“‘Virgin mother, daughter of your Son,
More humble and sublime than any creature,
Fixed goal decreed from all eternity,
You are the one who gave to human nature
So much nobility that its Creator
Did not disdain His being made its creature.
That love whose warmth allowed this flower to bloom
Within the everlasting peace—was love
Rekindled in your womb; for us above,
You are the noonday torch of charity,
And there below, on earth, among the mortals, you are a living spring of hope. Lady,
You are so high, you can so intercede,
That he who would have grace but does not seek
Your aid, may long to fly but has no wings….
And I, who never burned for my own vision
More than I burn for his, do offer you
All of my prayers—and pray that they may not
Fall short—that, with your prayers, you may disperse
All of the clouds of his mortality
So that the Highest Joy be his to see….
May your protection curb his mortal passions.
See Beatrice—how many saints with her!
They join my prayers! They clasp their hands to you!’
[now Dante speaks] The eyes that are revered and loved by God,
Now fixed upon the supplicant, showed us
How welcome such devotions are to her;
Then her eyes turned to the Eternal Light—
There, do not think that any creature’s eye
can find its way as clearly as her sight.
And I, who now was nearing Him who is
The end of all desires, as I ought,
Lifted my longing to its ardent limit.
Bernard was signaling—he smiled—to me
To turn my eyes on high; but I, already
Was doing what he wanted me to do,
Because my sight, becoming pure, was able
To penetrate the ray of Light more deeply—
That Light, sublime, which in Itself is true.
From that point on, what I could see was greater
Than speech can show: at such a sight, it fails—
And memory fails when faced with such excess….”
Happy New Year!
December 30, 2007
Happy Birthday Elija! 4yrs, craziness.
Not that he’s going to be reading this or anything, but it’s the thought that counts right? Haha. My first little nephew, ah. Anyways, sorry Cari about the call today. It cut me off because I ran out of money on my phone apparently. Oops, the only house he that recharges the phones was out of saldo (what they call the balance on your prepaid phone), so I had no way really of calling back. Such is life.
January 1, 2008
Happy New Year People! I hope everyone had a wonderfully enjoyable time ushering in another year of awesomeness (that encompasses the good and the bad).
Here has been pretty nice during the holidays. Lots of Masses, but thats cool….its the Christmas season. There was Mass on Christmas day, then that Sunday for Mass of the Sacred Family, then today for Jan. 1 and the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, and then the Epiphany which luckily falls on a Sunday this year so one less Mass haha! Just kidding of course, its always a cool experience, although today was the last day of the dude from Colombia visiting.
They call the day before New Year’s day, straight up 31 (and Christmas Eve 24). It was nice, I hung out with the fam during the day, then chilled in the hammock and washed clothes and dishes during the afternoon, with a little bit of reading on the side. Before heading over, as has become my tradition on special days here, I made a dessert to bring to the evening events haha. This time it was flan and chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding was left by Aaron, but I found the stuff for the flan in the supermarket when I went to refill in the capital of the department on Sunday. As is 31 custom, they get things started later on, and people are spread out all of the houses on the street visiting other family members, and later in the night some of the guys go missing while they are drinking “troika”….apparently the liquor of choice here. It’s the first time I’ve run into to any local families and alcohol so it was a good learning experience to see how that works. I didn’t get to try any of it though. Sad….I would like to have compared it with the stuff from the states. I don’t know if its sugar based or what….I’d imagine so though.
Anyways, so as I’ve come to realize Pan Rellenos is the big thing here on holidays for food. That’s the sub sandwich like thing with chicken (with bone) and lettuce, tomato, cucumber. Very tasty. Everybody hung out blow up “cuetes” …fireworks… and dancing…til about midnight, when all of a sudden I think every household in the municipality began to set off there m80 on steroid fireworks about 3 mins before midnight. It was crazy, they are much for colors here, just the bang for their buck. Actually the big ones here, which they call “morteros”…not like our mortars, are only 20 cents. They are basically a crapton of gunpowder put in the middle of wrapped up newspaper, with a fuse…haha. Its all good.
At midnight, every one gives each family a hug wishing them happy new year….then they fire off more cuetes and eat more pan rellenas…..how awesome is that…..fooooooood.
Although, right now I’m drinking hot powdered milk with cinnamon sticks, and I made the peanut butter, banana, and honey (substituted for molasses) mix to quickly get rid of some more bananas that are maturing way too quick in my house. I tried a new type of banana today though, oh so good. Add it to the list.
Today, there were only two exciting things…..well three. First, the Masses were packed!....craziness. Second, the Jehovah Witnesses invaded! I was watching the video of the wedding with some of the kids after lunch, and when I came out one of the kids gave me a leaflet and then ran off, and I saw Don Raul sprawled out in a hammock, shirt off, both hands on his belly, quoting Scripture to two well dressed ladies…..HA. I wish someone else could have saw that (by the way, just found out he has no top teeth, not sure about the bottom). He called me over as I was leaving to come listen to them “discuss the Word of God”. I listened, and these two were actually really nice, they just kept bringing up the fact that the world could end any day, but never really would address any of the touchy issues. After they left, I told him he was too nice, and he said that yeah, but these ladies were nicer than the ones that normally come…. “repugnant towards Catholicism” I think is how he phrased some of the evanglizers that come every once in a while. I left somewhat quickly, thinking maybe they hadn’t got to my house yet, but they all walked on by, I think they were finishing up. When I got back later for dinner, Don Raul and Dona Amalia were discussing a book they had left when they passed by a second time as a group…..it was called “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”….MAN (HOMBRE) being in the biggest letters. He was laughing when he showed it to me, because I had told him to ask about the Trinity if they came back. Oh well, fun times with the crazies.
Its frustrating and comical at the same time for me, when it comes to these house to house evangelizers. I say that for two reasons. Its frustrating to me, because these well intentioned (sometimes, I think) people come in search of Catholic households with a primary and secondary goal. Primarily, I’d say most come to bring the basic message of repentance (immediate) because the world could end soon. The secondary goal is usually to show how most of what you Catholics believe is unbiblical and hogwash (therefore immediate repentance is required haha). The secondary goal though is usually where the discussion ends up though, because I can’t think of a Catholic household that wouldn’t agree with the primary goal….preparedness and perseverance have always been key teachings. The second however, haha, obvious problems. The frustrating part though, is that they are just trying to break to bonds the families have to the Catholic Church. Most don’t believe their church holds all correct teachings, but that they are better than Babylon reborn. There isn’t a real conversion to anything, just a breaking away from something (hence, the moral dilemma of the world today). And then comes the second reason…and I find it comical. The community I have been posted into, I can only say from Him who has the greatest sense of humor, is nearly 100% Catholic, and unlike most in the US, actually very well organized and well read on the Bible. Its actually the opposite of the US….there we have many people who are familiar with the history of the Church, and the concatenation of teachings from the beginning, but who are very weak when it comes to the Bible. These people actually quote Scripture to these people off the streets the whole time, but really have no idea of things outside of the Bible, mainly because of the economic situation they live in, access to these kinds of things are basically nonexistent.
Whew. On that note….awesome news. I finished Dante’s Divine Comedy. It took me about a month to read a little under 800 pages (250 pages of it was endnotes though hah). I know right, ouch. It’s thick stuff at times. I would highly recommend it though. It brings the whole responsibility of one’s actions into a whole new light, how they affect your soul, and how that all works itself out after death. I’m going to save that whole thing for the next entry though.
PS…my phone came back on this morning in celebration of the New Year….hoorah.
Rock on. This book has so many good quotes, but…. More than one just bores people… d’oh!
Happy Birthday Elija! 4yrs, craziness.
Not that he’s going to be reading this or anything, but it’s the thought that counts right? Haha. My first little nephew, ah. Anyways, sorry Cari about the call today. It cut me off because I ran out of money on my phone apparently. Oops, the only house he that recharges the phones was out of saldo (what they call the balance on your prepaid phone), so I had no way really of calling back. Such is life.
I didn't take any pics of the holidays, so here's a new one of coffee drying. Eat your heart out Megan.
Got in bed last night, to a lovely family of ants that were chilling there. Jerks. Some were conglomerated around a box of tissues I had near the head of the bed from the night before when I had one of those lovely sneezing frenzies during the night. That came from my table, so maybe something had spilled or was on the bottom or something…whatever it was, it was an annoying mess. On that note, I’m pretty sure I have a bat that is living in my room at night. I always hear a bird flying around at night right before I fall asleep, but I’m too lazy to do anything about it. Don Raul and I were talking about it today…he told me I needed to kill it soon before it pooped all over my bed haha. Little does he know PC sends us out with mosquito nets that double as pooper scoopers.
Random pic of the front of the church building in town
Today was overall pretty good. I made banana pancakes this morning with blended bananas straight off the tree mixed in the batter…not too shabby. Went to Mass, where I was cracking up at the culture here….in a good way though. They had another guest priest, that make Colombia, Honduras, US and some other place in the last three Sundays for at least one of the Masses. What was funny, was that the guy was harping on the family as one of the most important Christian mechanisms etc etc, and then started to wail on the homosexual marriage deal, as has been popular in the past few weeks. He said, “I mean, there are men who actually want to marry other men, and women the same….I mean imagine that.” Then people kind of looked at each other and giggled as if….haha, that’s obviously craziness. I can’t but laugh in those moments, and be like… ha, little do they know that kind of stuff has already been breaking denominations apart in the US for a while….not to mention the public in general. Apparently though, there has been a council of the Central and South American bishops in Brazil in the not too distant past that has really put this ministerial level of the Church here in Latin America in gear, they are pushing quite a few agendas pretty hard.
Random pic of my wall.
Lets see, what else…. Oh yeah, I had cow stomach/foot soup today for lunch…. I know right!...it actually wasn’t terrible, but then for dinner they had pupusas, and I ate….well….more than I should have. AFTER though, Don Raul and his older daughters’ husbands invited me out to hunt ‘mapache’ and ‘cosuco.’ For a while during the night. Apparently cosuco is like armadillo, but mapache is supposedly like a dog, but lower to the ground and likes to climb trees. They love to eat it here. It was fun, we climbed all around the ridge… well really I had no idea where I was, but I followed along and acted like I wasn’t picking too many mandarins to eat. We didn’t find any though.
Tomorrow is another big day here, lots of family time here tomorrow for New Year’s Eve night.
I think they do hugs here instead of kisses. Palabra.
Beatrice speaking to Dante while exploring the First Heaven on what she considers God’s greatest gift in Canto V of Paradiso:
“The greatest gift the magnanimity
Of God, as He created, gave, the gift
Most suited to His goodness, gift that He
Most prizes, was the freedom of the will;
Those beings that have intellect—all these
And none but these—received and do receive
This gift: thus you may draw, as consequence,
The high worth of a vow, when what is pledged
With your consent encounters God’s consent;
For when a pact is drawn between a man
And God, then through free will, a man gives up
What I have called his treasure, his free will.”
Of God, as He created, gave, the gift
Most suited to His goodness, gift that He
Most prizes, was the freedom of the will;
Those beings that have intellect—all these
And none but these—received and do receive
This gift: thus you may draw, as consequence,
The high worth of a vow, when what is pledged
With your consent encounters God’s consent;
For when a pact is drawn between a man
And God, then through free will, a man gives up
What I have called his treasure, his free will.”
January 1, 2008
Happy New Year People! I hope everyone had a wonderfully enjoyable time ushering in another year of awesomeness (that encompasses the good and the bad).
Here has been pretty nice during the holidays. Lots of Masses, but thats cool….its the Christmas season. There was Mass on Christmas day, then that Sunday for Mass of the Sacred Family, then today for Jan. 1 and the feast of Mary, the Mother of God, and then the Epiphany which luckily falls on a Sunday this year so one less Mass haha! Just kidding of course, its always a cool experience, although today was the last day of the dude from Colombia visiting.
They call the day before New Year’s day, straight up 31 (and Christmas Eve 24). It was nice, I hung out with the fam during the day, then chilled in the hammock and washed clothes and dishes during the afternoon, with a little bit of reading on the side. Before heading over, as has become my tradition on special days here, I made a dessert to bring to the evening events haha. This time it was flan and chocolate pudding. The chocolate pudding was left by Aaron, but I found the stuff for the flan in the supermarket when I went to refill in the capital of the department on Sunday. As is 31 custom, they get things started later on, and people are spread out all of the houses on the street visiting other family members, and later in the night some of the guys go missing while they are drinking “troika”….apparently the liquor of choice here. It’s the first time I’ve run into to any local families and alcohol so it was a good learning experience to see how that works. I didn’t get to try any of it though. Sad….I would like to have compared it with the stuff from the states. I don’t know if its sugar based or what….I’d imagine so though.
Anyways, so as I’ve come to realize Pan Rellenos is the big thing here on holidays for food. That’s the sub sandwich like thing with chicken (with bone) and lettuce, tomato, cucumber. Very tasty. Everybody hung out blow up “cuetes” …fireworks… and dancing…til about midnight, when all of a sudden I think every household in the municipality began to set off there m80 on steroid fireworks about 3 mins before midnight. It was crazy, they are much for colors here, just the bang for their buck. Actually the big ones here, which they call “morteros”…not like our mortars, are only 20 cents. They are basically a crapton of gunpowder put in the middle of wrapped up newspaper, with a fuse…haha. Its all good.
At midnight, every one gives each family a hug wishing them happy new year….then they fire off more cuetes and eat more pan rellenas…..how awesome is that…..fooooooood.
Although, right now I’m drinking hot powdered milk with cinnamon sticks, and I made the peanut butter, banana, and honey (substituted for molasses) mix to quickly get rid of some more bananas that are maturing way too quick in my house. I tried a new type of banana today though, oh so good. Add it to the list.
Today, there were only two exciting things…..well three. First, the Masses were packed!....craziness. Second, the Jehovah Witnesses invaded! I was watching the video of the wedding with some of the kids after lunch, and when I came out one of the kids gave me a leaflet and then ran off, and I saw Don Raul sprawled out in a hammock, shirt off, both hands on his belly, quoting Scripture to two well dressed ladies…..HA. I wish someone else could have saw that (by the way, just found out he has no top teeth, not sure about the bottom). He called me over as I was leaving to come listen to them “discuss the Word of God”. I listened, and these two were actually really nice, they just kept bringing up the fact that the world could end any day, but never really would address any of the touchy issues. After they left, I told him he was too nice, and he said that yeah, but these ladies were nicer than the ones that normally come…. “repugnant towards Catholicism” I think is how he phrased some of the evanglizers that come every once in a while. I left somewhat quickly, thinking maybe they hadn’t got to my house yet, but they all walked on by, I think they were finishing up. When I got back later for dinner, Don Raul and Dona Amalia were discussing a book they had left when they passed by a second time as a group…..it was called “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”….MAN (HOMBRE) being in the biggest letters. He was laughing when he showed it to me, because I had told him to ask about the Trinity if they came back. Oh well, fun times with the crazies.
Its frustrating and comical at the same time for me, when it comes to these house to house evangelizers. I say that for two reasons. Its frustrating to me, because these well intentioned (sometimes, I think) people come in search of Catholic households with a primary and secondary goal. Primarily, I’d say most come to bring the basic message of repentance (immediate) because the world could end soon. The secondary goal is usually to show how most of what you Catholics believe is unbiblical and hogwash (therefore immediate repentance is required haha). The secondary goal though is usually where the discussion ends up though, because I can’t think of a Catholic household that wouldn’t agree with the primary goal….preparedness and perseverance have always been key teachings. The second however, haha, obvious problems. The frustrating part though, is that they are just trying to break to bonds the families have to the Catholic Church. Most don’t believe their church holds all correct teachings, but that they are better than Babylon reborn. There isn’t a real conversion to anything, just a breaking away from something (hence, the moral dilemma of the world today). And then comes the second reason…and I find it comical. The community I have been posted into, I can only say from Him who has the greatest sense of humor, is nearly 100% Catholic, and unlike most in the US, actually very well organized and well read on the Bible. Its actually the opposite of the US….there we have many people who are familiar with the history of the Church, and the concatenation of teachings from the beginning, but who are very weak when it comes to the Bible. These people actually quote Scripture to these people off the streets the whole time, but really have no idea of things outside of the Bible, mainly because of the economic situation they live in, access to these kinds of things are basically nonexistent.
Whew. On that note….awesome news. I finished Dante’s Divine Comedy. It took me about a month to read a little under 800 pages (250 pages of it was endnotes though hah). I know right, ouch. It’s thick stuff at times. I would highly recommend it though. It brings the whole responsibility of one’s actions into a whole new light, how they affect your soul, and how that all works itself out after death. I’m going to save that whole thing for the next entry though.
PS…my phone came back on this morning in celebration of the New Year….hoorah.
Rock on. This book has so many good quotes, but…. More than one just bores people… d’oh!
“Christians, proceed with greater gravity:
Do not be like a feather at each wind,
Nor think that all immersions wash you clean.
You have both Testaments, the Old and New,
You have the shepherd of the Church to guide you;
You need no more than this for your salvation.
If evil greed would summon you elsewhere,
Be men, and not like sheep gone mad, so that
The Jew who lives among you not deride you!
Do not act like the foolish, wanton lamb
That leaves its mother’s milk and, heedless, wants
To war against—and harm—its very self!”
Do not be like a feather at each wind,
Nor think that all immersions wash you clean.
You have both Testaments, the Old and New,
You have the shepherd of the Church to guide you;
You need no more than this for your salvation.
If evil greed would summon you elsewhere,
Be men, and not like sheep gone mad, so that
The Jew who lives among you not deride you!
Do not act like the foolish, wanton lamb
That leaves its mother’s milk and, heedless, wants
To war against—and harm—its very self!”
Dante’s Paradiso, Canto V, p. 400
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)