What do we know about Lent, and why do we celebrate it in the first place? HISTORY Since the earliest times of the Church, there is evidence of some kind of Lenten preparation for Easter, but Lent only became more regularized after the legalization of Christianity in A.D. 313. The Council of Nicea (325), in its disciplinary canons, noted that [...]
A diapause is an indefinite period of time of suspended development in insects, invertebrate, or mammalian embryos, during seasons of unfavourable environmental conditions. The term "diapause" was coined by a German entomologist in 1893 to describe such a period of temporary limbo during the embryonic development of insects. He observed that insects had two cycles of rotation in their egg [...]
The year 2020 marks the centenary (100th anniversary) of the birth of St. John Paul II. He was born Karol Józef Wojtyła on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, and as a youth growing up in Nazi-occupied Poland, studied for the priesthood in secret, and was ordained a priest in 1946. He was no stranger to suffering and persecution. After [...]
In today’s Gospel one of the Pharisees, “an expert of the law” ventured to test Jesus as to which was the most important law. The Jews were governed by the Mosaic Law which comprised the Ten Commandments and more than 600 auxiliary and additional rules for living. It was more in the Pharisees' interest to defeat Jesus rather than to [...]
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leaded Joseph likes a flock. My God, lead Maria to make her mind , keep the job and changes, to a new department. Help her Lord as she had harder her heart. Many year she had not been to church, thou that dwells between the cherubim, shine forth. Before Ephraim and Benjamin [...]
God is both refuge and strength for us, a help always ready in trouble; So we shall not fear though deadlines are too many, KPIs are impossible to meet, God’s love for us is a surety when we are obedient, thankful and have a contrite heart, Bad bosses come and go, a job lost opens the door to a better [...]
I remember that a few years back, when I was still an undergraduate, I received the news that a teacher who had taught me at Junior College had passed on. I had briefly bumped into her at the university's library just a couple of months shortly prior and in our brief conversation, I understood that she was in the midst [...]
I lift up my eyes to the mountains from where shall come my help As I embark on new journey with Lord Thoughts of fear and insecurities are squashed As my help comes from the Lord, maker of heaven and earth Slipping into old habits and old life of sin, no way! Will he let my foot slip the one [...]
We learn from the first reading that the Persian king, Cyrus was called by name and anointed by the Lord to subdue nations before him with a mission to free the Jewish exiles from captivity in Babylon. Similarly, by virtue of our baptism, we are called by name and anointed as priest, prophet and king and thus commissioned with a [...]
Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29) We are called to respond, not to react to the words of others. As human beings, we have the tendency to react according to how [...]