New Program for Fun

Programming the android platform has its ups and downs.  Unfortunately the first three apps I did are there forever now despite the fact that I cannot find the certificate for them.  Oh well :)  The next app will be an ecclesiastical latin training app for declensions conjugations and other things.

Current State of the Latin Program

I have been working on this program to aid in the memorizing of Latin prayers and have been enjoying working on it.  Lately I have been a little occupied so I have not been working on it quite as much but intend to eventually have all of the common prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours (benedictus, nunc dimittis and magnificat for example).  Perhaps I shall do all of the psalms as well. 

Another Argument Against Sola Scriptura

This morning I noticed something I hadn't caught before in the exchange between Satan and Christ during his temptation in the desert.  For the most part it is a sparing between Satan and Christ about various things where both use quotations from the Scripture to argue their points.  However, one part is very interesting apologetically.


Luke 4:2-13

2 For the space of forty days; and was tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 And the devil said to him: If thou be the Son of God, say to this stone that it be made bread. 4 And Jesus answered him: It is written, that Man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word of God. 5 And the devil led him into a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time; 6 And he said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them. 7 If thou therefore wilt adore before me, all shall be thine. 8 And Jesus answering said to him: It is written: Thou shalt adore the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and he said to him: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself from hence. 10 For it is written, that He hath given his angels charge over thee, that they keep thee. 11 And that in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering, said to him: It is said: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 13 And all the temptation being ended, the devil departed from him for a time.

This can be tied to Deuteronomy 6:18 and does seem to be a quote from there but Our Lord did not say IT IS WRITTEN he said IT IS SAID.  The most interesting thing to me is that when he made mention of this one the discussion ended.

Chris

The State of Devotion Today

One of the things that has been bothering me for some time is that devotion in the Church has been sliding since before I became Catholic.   Gum chewing at Mass, wearing tank tops and shorts (I am guilty of jeans and I admit I am not the best dresser but shorts???).  Additionally I have seen men wearing ball caps at Mass.  That is the highest sort of disrespect.  There are barely any women wearing head coverings.

Some of the lack of devotion seems to be coming from the American bishops which is especially distressing.  Despite the pope saying that we should kneel and receive communion on the tongue (right here!!! http://www.tldm.org/News12/PopePrefersCommunionOnTongueSaysVaticanLiturgist.htm)  yet the American bishops have forbidden people to kneel while receiving communion (http://www.tldm.org/news5/kneeling.htm).  Some priests even refuse to give communion to people who prefer to receive on the tongue. http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=365483. 

So who to follow the local bishops or the Pope in this regard?

Musings on The Nature of Truth

Truth is something that everyone values.  Almost everyone wants to know and believe the  truth.  The real disagreement comes in when people begin arguing about what the truth is.  For me it is an absolute property, but when it comes to various people truth tends to be in the eyes of the beholder.

One example would be the Catholic Faith itself.   All who positively believe in the church believes in it because they believe that it is true.  G.K. Chesterton said "The trouble with giving a reason for why one believes in the Catholic Faith is that there are 10,000 reasons, all of the amounting to the same thing...because it is true." (more of a paraphrase I didn't look it up)  But when you look at fundamentalists or atheists they tend to hold to what they believe out of the same motivation.

But how can we know what the truth is?  Science can lead us into some truth, but it can also lead us into error.  Also science leads us into truths about material reality.  The most important things to us are hardly material at all.  What would we do without love, ambition, imagination, and especially faith?  None of these things are material but it can be argued that they are that which makes truth important to begin with. 

Chapel Veils

One of the traditions that I encountered later in my Catholic Life was that of chapel veils.  Most Catholics in most parts of the world who are women wear veils to Mass.  It is a beautiful tradition and I find it a real shame I didn't even know about it until about three years ago.  How did we come to the place where a universal Christian tradition is nearly extinct in our Church?

The Saint Michael Chaplet in Latin and English

Here a while back I translated the Saint Michael Chaplet into Latin because I liked the prayer and wanted to pray it in Latin.  It isn't really fair for me to say I translated it alone the folks at fisheaters helped out a bunch by making suggestions and critiquing the translation.

If you have a Kindle, Android Phone, or i-Phone you can get this translation easily enough here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chaplet-Saint-Michael-English-ebook/dp/B001ECQJUI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=books&qid=1298355122&sr=8-2-spell