Philosophy of Logic, God, and Narnia.

This is going to be a semi-quick blog because I still have a discussion thing to write for my Philosophy of Logic course which is due in like... 8 hours. It's something I can do in a couple of minutes but I want to get it done early.

I just finished my third and fourth Philosophy of Logic quizzes/exercises. My professor lets us re-take them twice if we get them wrong the first time. I've gotten a couple answers wrong... on purpose. There are some answers that I don't agree with, i.e. "Only things that are material exist. Therefore, God does not exist." (Friedrich Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific). For this particular quote, the answer is that the statement is correct, well, according to the test answer and the quiz's objective. I obviously don't agree, though I can see how it would be the "correct" answer, so my answer was that the statement was an assumption (inductive vs. deductive for you Philosophy buffs). I got the answer wrong and then had to go back and fix it to the "correct" answer it. Maybe next time I'll just leave it like it is, even if it's a borderline grade and thus getting me a lower grade. Like I said, I understand how some people would argue that Friedrich would be correct but, though we can't see God, we can see what He's created therefore we know He exists. Unfortunately, I can't say that because it's a multiple choice quiz and no essay portion. We'll see what I do next time.

One thing that made me smile was when I saw a Chronicles of Narnia reference in the fourth quiz/exercise. Well, to be precise, it was a quote from Professor Kirke (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe book): "There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn't tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad... we must assume (ed.: conclude, on test) that she is telling the truth." I got the answer correct. lol. I love little unexpected surprises like that. :D

OH!!! Quick novel/screenplay update: it's going well. I've been finding time to work on it despite my crazy schedule. To give you a hint of the mood/tempo of the scenes I'm currently working on... listen to the song "Outside" and "Strange and Beautiful" by Aqualung. Specifically, look at the lyrics. That's all I'm saying. :D

Alright, well, I've got to get back to work. I need to finish my work (for the week) for Philosophy of Logic and then finish my History of World Religions work early so I can hopefully take a carefree road trip tomorrow. Sorry the blog was a bit academic but, what can I do? I'm immersing myself into all my courses. :D

'Til next time, thanks for reading and God Bless. :D
.

Class Surprise: Saints; Personal Message from Pope Benedict XVI.

I'd been nervous about my English (British) Literature course since the minute I knew I would be taking it. Honestly, it's the only course I've been really wigging out over. I don't know why. I know the professor well (she's the BEST professor I've ever had). I was nervous in class; not to the point of anxiety or a panic attack but pretty nervous. I was taking down notes to distract myself when I heard her (my prof.) mention St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine of Canterbury... which just grabbed my attention. See, she was giving us a little bit of a History lesson so we could understand the whole Anglo-Saxon/Norman thing better (trust me, you don't want me to go into that. lol). So she mentioned them and I got very excited... and was even going to correct her about them being Roman Catholic but someone beat me to it. After that, we viewed paintings of the Madonna (the Blessed Virgin Mary... and on her birthday no less!) from the Medieval and Renaissance periods to make one of her points more clear. By that time, the class seemed to go by really fast and I was sad to see it end. I'm now less nervous about the class. Whoo! Who knew that the mention of either saint or of Our Blessed Mother would erase all my nerves in a nanosecond? :D I'm happy now and look forward to class... even if I still haven't finish Beowulf. lol.

I wanted to post a blog about the Blessed Virgin yesterday for her birthday but I was so exhausted. I had such a heavy day that I just got home, jumped on my bed and stayed there until I felted better. In fact, I'm still feeling icky but hopefully it's just the stress. Oy. This is when I'll be asking St. Joseph of Cupertino and St. Dymphna for their intercessions but the stress is big. I am optimistic though. :D *whispers* In any case, please say a little prayer that my anxiety doesn't act up because of the heavy load.

Oh, and before I forget, it was WONDERFUL to wake up yesterday to a personal message from Pope Benedict XVI! All of us who are registered on www.xt3.com (think facebook but Catholic and safe for all ages) received a message from His Holiness in our own inbox. It was awesome, especially for someone like me who was wigging out. lol. If you haven't registered on the site, you can and I believe you can still receive that message that we all got from the Pope. So, what are you waiting for? Go sign up or go check your inbox if you're already a member! :D

Alright, well, I have to go completely my things for Philosophy class because it's due tonight... and then I have to go finish reading Beowulf (have I mentioned that enough times yet? lol) and the intro to Medieval lit in the book before tomorrow morning so... I gotta go. Let the headaches begin! lol.

Hope everyone's having a good start of week. :D Until next time, thanks for reading and God Bless!

P.S. I added some links to the Aquinas and More store in case you ever need something from one of the saints mentioned on this blog. I've always found what I needed at this online store. :D
.

Missing Mass; Prayer Updates: St. Timothy, St. Dymphna, & St. Martha.

I feel very childish today. Why? Because I cried when I found out I wasn't going to make it to Mass. Mom comforted me (as she always does) saying that things happen for a reason and that God knew that I wanted to be in Mass but couldn't.

See, I had my Oceanography class today. I'm taking a fast paced 8-week Oceanography course that meets once a week on Sundays. I had already planned on leaving early so I could make it to my usual Mass (last English Mass at my parish). Luckily, the professor let us out an hour early since it was the first meeting. I was excited because it meant we would be able to make it to Mass. We stopped at a Target on the way to kill a little bit of time. BIG mistake. When it came time to leave for the parish the car failed to start. Dad took some time trying to find a gas can and then to walk to the gas station. By this time, it was about 15-20 minutes into the Mass. I still had hope we could rush there and at least make half of it. Dad comes back with the gas and then... the car STILL won't start. He then decided to ask people if they would give a jump start to the car's battery in case that was a problem. Quite a few people said no until a woman took pity on us and brought her truck to help. I'm glad we had the jumper cables or else it might've been even more difficult to find help. We finally left the Target parking lot around the time the Mass would've ended. I ended up in tears on the way home.

So, as you can see, it was a pain and it wasn't like I didn't want to go to Mass, I just couldn't because of the car stalling. This is something I always do -- the tearing up. I always get really sad when I can't make it to Mass. *sigh* I'm even MORE bummed out than usual because I had dedicated the Mass as a thanks to Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Timothy for their intercessions. (Though I will keep why I gave to Our Lady to myself. That's between her and I. :D)

For those of you who have read my blog long enough, you know how I suffered from an intestinal virus (which I got around the time I started traveling) a few months ago. It took about 2 months for it to completely leave my system. It totally threw my digestive system out of whack. I started asking St. Timothy for his intercession (since he is the patron saint of digestive and intestinal problems) and it started getting better. Thankfully, I'm back to normal now and my way of saying "Thank you" to St. Timothy was the Mass. Oh, and while I'm publicly saying thanks to St. Timothy (WHOO!) I want to update some of you on other miracles other saints have done recently.

To further prove how amazing St. Dymphna is (my anxiety is virtually gone now!), I have yet another miracle she's done for someone else. A few months ago, in May, I wrote about the husband of a friend/co-worker of my mother's (Roadtrips, Relationships, Tests, and Prayers Everywhere -- second to last paragraph). Remember how I mentioned he was suicidal? Well, they kept tabs on him and he actually DID read the prayer daily. It seems to have really helped him! He's back to his old self, pre-suicide attempts! It made me SO happy to hear that and I hope that others will see that prayer works! Depression, anxiety, panic disorder, etc; just pray for her intercession and St. Dympnha will help you out. :D

Also, St. Martha has helped my mom out a lot lately at work. Mom said both times she's asked St. Martha for her intercession, it seems like either the time has flown or like there wasn't much heavy labor work to do in the first place.

You can always go straight to Christ and ask him for help or you can find the saint that's the patron of a particular thing and ask them for their intercession. Either way, prayer works... and boy, does it! :D

Alright, well, I have to go read/finish "Beowulf" for my English Lit class tomorrow. Oy, I don't even want to think about how long the day will be. lol. :D I hope everyone had a nice weekend! :D

As always, thanks for reading and God Bless.
.

The Rose of St. Jude Thaddeus

Almost two weeks ago dad got 3 roses from the rose bush in front of our home. He put two in front of a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe that's in his room and one in front of the statues of St. Jude Thaddeus that are in my room. All three were placed in their own water, in the exact same type of glasses, etc. What's odd, in an amazing way, is that the roses that were placed in front of Our Lady wilted within a few days. The rose that's in front of St. Jude has not wilted that much. Really, almost not at all. We don't know why it's lasted so long but we're amazed that it has. I took a picture of it with my camera phone since my digital camera needs batteries (which I still need to get). Oh, and the rose looks better in person than it does in that picture.

We haven't done anything to the rose. It, like the roses that were placed in front of Our Lady, were kept inside with the air conditioner on (we have a central AC so the air's distributed equally throughout the house). Nothing's been added to the tap water that was used. It's definitely weird, in a good way, though. I still have a few days to go in a novena I'm saying to St. Jude as well. I started a novena before we noticed the rose's staying power, though. I don't know what's up but I just thought I'd share this little story with y'all. Maybe it's St. Jude's way of letting me know he's listening to me? If so, man, what an awesome patron saint! :D He's already done so much for me; never lets a prayer go unanswered. :D

Hmm... I wonder if the pink roses I left in front of the Our Lady statue at our parish, last Sunday, have wilted yet. They probably have. *sad sigh*. I'll find out when I go to Mass on Sunday! :D

Alright, well, I have to go read the "argument" section of my Philosophy textbook and then read "Beowulf" for my English Lit course (trying to get everything done a.s.a.p. so I can enjoy the weekend). That is all for now.

'Til next time, thanks for reading and God Bless.
.

Come On, It's a Joke!

While I wait for my Philosophy professor to e-mail me back, I'll share this joke someone posted on the Roman Catholic (Global) facebook group.

--------------------------------------------
An atheist was walking through the woods.
'What majestic trees'!
'What powerful rivers'!
'What beautiful animals'!
He said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.
He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.
At that instant the Atheist cried out, 'Oh my God!'

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. 'You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident.' 'Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer'?
The atheist looked directly into the light, 'It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian'?

"Very Well," said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

"Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."
---------------

Badda-ching! I can't help but laugh at this joke. lol.

And, that's all. Really. I still have to keep an eye out for what I need to do in my courses so I can try and do them as early as possible. :D

Hope everyone had a great weekend! 'Til next time, thanks for reading and God Bless!
.