Not Sait by Jesus Sunday

Why the Church Has all those Dogmas and Doctrines

From something by G.K. Chesterton, but it is a great reasoning on why the Catholic church does what She does. I also like it because it is familial. I might borrow this when I get to the morality lessons with my students.

The Catholic Church "is the only continuous intelligent institution that has been thinking about thinking for two thousand years. Its experience covers nearly all experiences; and especially nearly all errors. The Church makes itself responsible for warning her people against all the blind alleys and dead ends and roads that lead to destruction. She dogmatically defends humanity from its worst foes, from those devouring monsters of the old mistakes. There is no other corporate mind in the world that is on the watch to prevent minds from going wrong. The policeman comes too late, when he tries to prevent men from going wrong. The doctor too comes too late, for he only comes to lock up a madman, not to advise a sane man on how not to go mad."

Classroom Decorations

Something I made tonight that I plan on hanging in my classroom. The original is about 28'' by 21''. If you want the larger version, just email me. I also put the quote in the active voice.

Not Said By Jesus Sunday

[soapbox] The phrase "Let us agree to disagree" has always bothered me. Mostly because the two parties never solve anything and it is has become the politically correct way of saying "Your argument is irrational. You are unintelligent. I choose not to listen to you and your opinions." In other words, this line of thinking tries to side step objective truth and concrete realities on certain issues.[/soapbox]

Video Games Linked to Depression

I love playing video games, even though I no longer have the time.  I still enjoy from time to time picking up the controller and killing a few zombies.  But take warning, killing too many Zombies might just be unhealthy.

 

From the Article:

The average gamer is 35, overweight, and more likely to be depressed, says a new study conducted by researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study, which was carried out in the Seattle-Tacoma area, found that gamers reported "lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status, and to mental-health concerns."

Garden Temptations

With artistic inspiration from Gary Larson

Nun on the Run

When Saint Paul wrote about running the good race, Sister Mary Elizabeth of Religious Teachers Fillippini took the Apostle's advice literally. At 60 years old, Sister Mary Elizabeth donned her black and white habit and hit the pavement in hopes to raise awareness for the AIDS orphans in Africa when she tried to run the 100 mile marathon in Key Largo, Florida this past May. Though midway through the race she was forced to to stop her run due to health and heat issues, but her goal was accomplished.

Why does she run in a habit? "Everyone looks at the nun in her habit!" The sister says. And when people ask why she is running in her habit, which I can only assume is a good number, she uses it as an opportunity to tell people that she is running for the children. Moreover, she adds "It takes more than endurance to run 40 mines -- it takes purpose. Mine is helping orphans."

This past July she was part of the support crew for ultra-marathon runner Lisa Smith-Batchen in the infamous 810 miles race across the Death Valley in the Death Valley 810. Lisa Smith-Batchen was able to raise over half a million dollars for the good sister's orphans, of which 100% of the proceeds went to the orphans in Africa.

Student or Teacher

I met my 8th grade students today. In my last class of the day, I learned of a local celebrity that I will be teaching this year. I'm not really sure what I'm going to be doing with him. He is already set to take sophomore math and science classes and is only in 8th grade at a school that produced 35 National Merit Semifinalists last year (class of 2009), which placed the high school in the top 30 high schools in the US.

I think I'm going to have to be doing some serious praying this year.

Mot Said By Jesus Sunday

Divine and HUMAN

I often times find myself wondering, "What were the saints really like?" I ask such things because the only experience I truly have of the saints are their writings and the holy images of said saints. So as I result, I sometimes have a view of the saints being separated from the people still here on Earth: very pie in the sky. Granted the goal of the spiritual life and the sacraments is the deitification of humanity the other half the story cannot be ignored. Yet, how exactly does one who is not in Heaven relate to a saint who is in Heaven?

I do not know exactly how to relate, but I take comfort in knowing that all the saints who have walked on this green ground, the same green ground upon which I walk, were also human. They had bodies and that means they had to deal with the same bodily thing that I deal with also: blisters from walking/running too much, bad gas after too much of certain kinds of foods, indigestion, heart ache/break, hunger, cold, the stink that comes along with 3 days of travel with no showers, etc and the list can go on till being blue in the face.

Perhaps I will never know what the saints were really like, but maybe, just maybe, there is still hope for a sinner like me and you.