So it's 2:30pm. Has my prayer been answered?
I had a presentation to give today, and I was remarkably calm about it. I mean a tiny bit nervous, but I was going to give this talk about a month ago, and I felt very scared.
Talk went well. Met with another developer about my current project, and it is going as well as could be expected here, ie SNAFU, but I'm working on it.
Work is going well. Nothing else to report.
Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Do prayers work?
So, as a man trying to be a good catholic, I believe Jesus, in the bible where he says "Ask anything in my name and you will receive it"
I have recently ( for the last few years, on and off ) been considering changing careers, working out what to do in life. I have been praying for it on and off. I decided to get a bit more serious, using a Novena. A novena is a prayer asking for something that you say for a given amount of times. eg usually you pray something for 9 days in a row, or 9 weeks in a row.
So I started 9 days ago. I have prayed the prayer every day. So today I get my answer.... right?
I am chronicling my day to see how it goes. Perhaps I am trying to see signs and signals where there are none. I look to see.
Wake up a little earlier than usual. Breakfast normal, start to walk to work.. Should I feel any different. I don't. Tired though. I get to the tube, will something happen to me? Will I decide that I hate the commute through busy London and just leave, like friends have done, like the guy in Office Space, like Douglas in Falling Down? I don't. I get off the tube, reading a newspaper. Will something in here tell me what to do? I notice a nice picture of a minor celebrity. Maybe I can draw her. I would like to draw and be artistic. Maybe that's my calling. To be a great artist. I decide to chronicle my day. Maybe I will be a great writer? I read Kreeft's work on Pascal on the tube.
I get to work. It starts normally. Will I be fired today? I have a presentation to give. My eyesight has been getting poor recently. Am I dying. Is that why I'm not excited about things to do in this life... is it nearing it's earthly completion?
So, it's 9:30 in the morning. A normal start to a normal London day. I'll report back later.
"I believe Lord, help thou my unbelief."
I have recently ( for the last few years, on and off ) been considering changing careers, working out what to do in life. I have been praying for it on and off. I decided to get a bit more serious, using a Novena. A novena is a prayer asking for something that you say for a given amount of times. eg usually you pray something for 9 days in a row, or 9 weeks in a row.
So I started 9 days ago. I have prayed the prayer every day. So today I get my answer.... right?
I am chronicling my day to see how it goes. Perhaps I am trying to see signs and signals where there are none. I look to see.
Wake up a little earlier than usual. Breakfast normal, start to walk to work.. Should I feel any different. I don't. Tired though. I get to the tube, will something happen to me? Will I decide that I hate the commute through busy London and just leave, like friends have done, like the guy in Office Space, like Douglas in Falling Down? I don't. I get off the tube, reading a newspaper. Will something in here tell me what to do? I notice a nice picture of a minor celebrity. Maybe I can draw her. I would like to draw and be artistic. Maybe that's my calling. To be a great artist. I decide to chronicle my day. Maybe I will be a great writer? I read Kreeft's work on Pascal on the tube.
I get to work. It starts normally. Will I be fired today? I have a presentation to give. My eyesight has been getting poor recently. Am I dying. Is that why I'm not excited about things to do in this life... is it nearing it's earthly completion?
So, it's 9:30 in the morning. A normal start to a normal London day. I'll report back later.
"I believe Lord, help thou my unbelief."
Friday, 11 April 2008
Prayer before Study by St Thomas Aquinas
O ineffable Creator,
Who, out of the treasure of Thy wisdom,
hast ordained three hierarchies of Angels,
and placed them in wonderful order above the heavens,
and hast most wisely distributed the parts of the world;
Thou, Who are called the true fountain of light and wisdom,
and the highest beginning,
vouchsafe to pour upon the darkness of my understanding,
in which I was born,
the double beam of Thy brightness,
removing from me all darkness of sin and ignorance.
Thou, Who makest eloquent the tongue of the dumb,
instruct my tongue,
and pour on my lips the grace of Thy blessing.
Give me quickness of understanding,
capacity of retaining,
subtlety of interpreting,
facility in learning,
and copious grace of speaking.
Guide my going in,
direct my going forward,
accomplish my going forth;
through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Where are the people?
from www.demographicwinter.com
Can demographic winter be countered by governments encouraging people to have more children?
Answer:
This is being tried in Western Europe and Russia. The Russian Federation pays families a bonus of 250,000 rubles (the equivalent of $9,200) for every child after the first – in a nation where the average monthly wage is only $330. It’s not working.
Couples decide to have children for all kinds of reasons – religious, emotional, cultural, etc. Money doesn’t seem to be one of them, although money concerns are sometimes cited as a reason for having fewer children.
Can demographic winter be countered by governments encouraging people to have more children?
Answer:
This is being tried in Western Europe and Russia. The Russian Federation pays families a bonus of 250,000 rubles (the equivalent of $9,200) for every child after the first – in a nation where the average monthly wage is only $330. It’s not working.
Couples decide to have children for all kinds of reasons – religious, emotional, cultural, etc. Money doesn’t seem to be one of them, although money concerns are sometimes cited as a reason for having fewer children.
Planned Parenthood, abortion provided sets $1billion profit
Planned Parenthood--
America's largest abortion business pulled in a $1.017 billion in income.
According to LifeNews.com, Planned Parenthood's web site boasted their achievement, saying it "highlights
our advancement in providing and protecting trusted health care services and medically accurate sexuality
education."
No doubt, the more than $300 million received from taxpayers helped bolster their profits and solidify their position as the number one abortion business in the world. ( from Grassfire.net )
America's largest abortion business pulled in a $1.017 billion in income.
According to LifeNews.com, Planned Parenthood's web site boasted their achievement, saying it "highlights
our advancement in providing and protecting trusted health care services and medically accurate sexuality
education."
No doubt, the more than $300 million received from taxpayers helped bolster their profits and solidify their position as the number one abortion business in the world. ( from Grassfire.net )
Wednesday, 2 April 2008
April 1 2008 > Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes
April 1 2008 > Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes
Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes
Published: March 31, 2008
For the first time in history, Muslims now outnumber Catholics and are now the world's biggest single religious denomination, figures published by L'Osservatore Romano reveal.
Times Online reports that in an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.
Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed that "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.
The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.
However, Christians of all denominations still comprise 33 per cent of the world population.
"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," Monsignor Formenti said.
Noting the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, Monsignor Formenti added that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, a Guardian report adds.
He described Africa as a grand resource for the Church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".
As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number. France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise".
The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin.
Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".
Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.
SOURCE
Islam overtakes Catholicism as world's largest religion (Times Online, 31/3/08)
Muslims displace Catholics at the top (The Guardian, 31/3/08)
OTHER STORIES
Vatican: convert who slammed Islam doesn't express pope's views (International Herald Tribune, 31/3/08)
http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=6435
Muslims overtake Catholics in denomination stakes
Published: March 31, 2008
For the first time in history, Muslims now outnumber Catholics and are now the world's biggest single religious denomination, figures published by L'Osservatore Romano reveal.
Times Online reports that in an interview with the paper Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, compilier of the Annuario Pontificio, the Vatican yearbook, said "For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us." He said that figures for 2006 showed that Catholics accounted for 17.4 per cent of the world population while Muslims accounted for 19.2 per cent.
Asked for an explanation Monsignor Formenti observed that "While Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer". He said the figure for the Muslim global population was derived from data submitted to the United Nations by Muslim countries.
The Vatican puts the number of Catholics in the world at 1.13 billion people, while the figure for Muslims is estimated at around 1.3 billion.
However, Christians of all denominations still comprise 33 per cent of the world population.
"Latin America remains the stronghold for Catholicism, while the American continent as a whole has 49.8% of the world's total," Monsignor Formenti said.
Noting the decline in numbers of Catholic priests, Monsignor Formenti added that the number of Catholic priests was on the rebound, particularly in Asia, a Guardian report adds.
He described Africa as a grand resource for the Church, while Europe and North America were struggling. The number of nuns was undergoing a "drastic reduction".
As for the enrolment of seminarians, Guadalajara in Mexico had the largest number. France, the Netherlands and Belgium were bottom of the league, while Italy was seeing a "small, very small reprise".
The figures were released as both the Vatican and Muslim leaders sought to pursue a recently initiated Muslim-Catholic dialogue despite tensions over Pope Benedict XVI's high profile baptism at Easter of Magdi Allam, a converted Italian Muslim journalist of Egyptian origin.
Vatican spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, said the opinions of Mr Allam, an outspoken critic of Islam as inherently violent and repressive, were not in any way "the official expression of the positions of the Pope or the Holy See".
Rome has Europe's largest mosque, opened in 1995 and paid for by Muslim countries, mainly by Saudi Arabia, which at present bans Christian worship but is reported to be considering allowing the construction of a church on Saudi soil as part of negotiations for the establishment of diplomatic relations.
In a provocative short story entitled "The Last Christmas" (L'Ultimo Natale) the popular Italian writer Valerio Massimo Manfredi imagines a future in which Islam has become the dominant religion in Italy, with the Pope obliged to leave St Peter's and make way for an Imam.
SOURCE
Islam overtakes Catholicism as world's largest religion (Times Online, 31/3/08)
Muslims displace Catholics at the top (The Guardian, 31/3/08)
OTHER STORIES
Vatican: convert who slammed Islam doesn't express pope's views (International Herald Tribune, 31/3/08)
http://www.cathnews.com
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