The Cup

A familiar test to determine whether you're an optimist or pessimist is to look at a glass containing water.

Is the glass half full? Or half empty?

Half full? Optimist.  Half empty? Pessimist.

We understand that the optimist views life from a positive perspective, whereas the pessimist views life from a negative perspective.

But I'm an engineer...so the cup is neither half-full or half-empty--it is twice as big as it needs to be, haha!  I digress...

I've been reading Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton.  He's a Catholic writer and apologist.  Very smart and learned man.  He has an essay in Orthodoxy where he reflects on the optimist and pessimist and how does the Christian fit into either or identify with either.  And he makes the case that the Christian is neither optimist or pessimist.  While I won't go into a lengthy blog post examining his arguments and literary style because I'm not in English IV AP anymore...I just wanted to share a thought that popped in my head regarding optimism, pessimism, and Christianity.

You see, the Christian doesn't view the cup as half-full or half-empty.  I think the Christian views the cup as necessitating it to be empty before it can be full.  But when the cup is full, it must be emptied again.  Just thinking back to Jesus' last hours as one example...He completely emptied Himself so that our lives may be full in Him.  When we truly love as God calls us to love, we have to completely empty ourselves in order that we may be fulfilled.

And I just realized...the cup shouldn't be stagnant.  The cup has to be completely empty before it is completely filled.  The cup has to be completely filled in order to be completely emptied.  The Christian is neither optimist nor pessimist for he or she knows that the life will have its ebb and flow of emptiness and fulfillment.

Haha, if that makes any sense whatsoever to you...

Hmm, this is worth reflecting on some more.

What do you think?

Faith. Hope. Charity. Engineering cups.
- JD

Kind of Impressive

Behold, the Ark of the Covenant!

...the cake version.

So, apparently this is a groom's cake.  Kind of impressive.  Because it looks more real than tasty.  And I always appreciate creative groom's cake at wedding receptions, and this is cool.

Now, I doubt anyone died when they touched (edit: ate) this cake because it didn't contain The Law...it probably contained The Chocolate or The Vanilla.

Because I'm Catholic, it's easy to draw the parallels between the real Old Ark of the Covenant , the real New Ark of the Covenant, and the real Cake Ark of the Covenant.  The Old Ark contained the tablets of which God inscribed His commandments and instructed Moses and his followers to erect a very holy box to hold The Law (see Exodus and onwards).  And then there's Mary, Mother of God, who is considered as the New Ark of the Covenant because she carried within her The Fulfillment of the Law--Jesus.  And Jesus' Body is consumable because we need it for life (see John 6).  And now there's this Cake Ark of the Covenant, which contains the Law That One Must At Least Have One Bite. Or something.

Haha anyway, bravo to the cake artist/baker--this is impressive.  Though personally, I'd feel bad/awkward for taking a bite into it...

Faith. Hope. Charity. Biblical cakes.
- JR

[gizmodo.com; pictures from Gosling Photography]

Rosarium Oro

For two years now, I've led a decade of the Rosary at a Youth 2000 retreat in my motherland's native tongue: Tagalog (Filipino).

Both times were nerve racking because I don't speak it fluently, and here I am reciting it for a thousand high school students. But I take comfort knowing that the Filipinos-per-square-foot number was relatively low at both Youth 2000s so I felt a little less embarrassed, haha.

I remember a year ago, I really wanted to learn the Rosary prayers in Tagalog because I thought it would be cool, and that it would help me learn Tagalog a little more. I almost had the Hail Mary memorized!

But there was one distinct time last year where I prayed the entire Rosary in Tagalog. With my cheat sheet of course. I found myself engaged in some heated apologetics discussions on Facebook and felt compelled to pray a Rosary for courage and peace. But I decided to do it in Tagalog...

Praying the Rosary in a completely different language is cool. It really helps you focus on the meaning of what you're praying. I think whenever I pray the Rosary in English, I tend to go through it without much thought and reflection on the Our Fathers and Hail Marys because I'm so used to them in English. While still focusing in the Mysteries, of course.

Though, I think it's only fruitful to pray it after getting used to the prayers in whatever language, otherwise you become too fixated on pronunciation and whatnot and that would make it harder to focus on the Mysteries.

And the other cool thing is... it's a neat thing to know that since our faith is universal, there are Catholics around the world praying the Rosary in their native tongue, but the goal is the same no matter what: to reflect on the life of Jesus through Mary.

Awesome.

Next goal: Rosary in Latin.

And here's a good website for the Rosary in different languages.
http://www.rosary-center.org/rosaryprayers.htm

Faith. Hope. Charity. Pater noster.
- JR