"Mary" Christmas!

Enjoy this beautiful painting by Morgan Weistling entitled "Kissing the Face of God."

Merry Christmas to you all!

Christmas!

Tonight we celebrate the birth, not of an idea, but of a Child; the advent, not of a theory, but of a Reality; the manifestation, not of a new myth, but of an historical Fact. Open wide your hearts to Christ, tonight and always! Merry Christmas Eve to all!

Seeing the Christ in Xmas

Is the use of "Xmas" a plot to erase Christ from Christmas? Doesn't look like it!

The Ancient Greek Computer

This is astounding. In 1901 archaeologists discovered a complex device in an ancient shipwreck (dating to about 100 BC) off the coast of the Greek Island Antikythera. The purpose of the fittingly named "Antikythera Mechanism," however, remained a mystery until 2006, when--via advanced x-ray technology--scientists were able to determine that the complex system of gears had been used to calculate and predict the dates of solar eclipses(!).

If the idea of Ancient Greek Computers isn't enough to make you giddy, my fellow geeks, then this certainly will: Using 1500 LEGO Technic blocks, Apple Software Engineer (and my new hero) Andrew Carol has built a working replica of the Antikythera Mechanism.

I command you, my small but devoted band of readers, to watch the following video, all the while marveling at the ingenuity of the Ancient Greeks and squealing with delight as the mechanism is resurrected by those little plastic blocks that we all KNEW were well-worth playing with.

On Prayer

“No real definition of prayer can be given, for it is a mysterious life with God, a participation in the center of his being and in his divine, triune love. Certainly those forms which are furthest from the center are, in their isolation, also the most clearly delineated; thus they are to some extent amenable to description and definition. In order to understand the real nature of prayer, however, one must begin with that prayer in which man is most perfectly joined to God, i.e., full contemplation, wherein he is completely conformed to the will of God by God himself, wherein God places man in the state which he desires for him, wherein man has become an untarnished mirror of the divine will, a clear response to divine revelation. At this point the word of God has become so powerful that it requires no other words for its expression. God reveals, and man no longer needs to translate what has been revealed into alien images; he is absorbed in being part of what belongs to God. Just as a child at play, completely caught up in what he is doing, must first build a bridge from his world to the outside world if he has to explain his game to the uninitiated, so it is with the person who has been perfected in prayer when he is called upon to explain to others what he does.” – Adrienn von Speyr

Same-Sex Marriage?

First of all, I realize that I haven't posted in a while. For that, I apologize. But schooling, as you know, comes first, and--as of late-- it's been taking all of my energies to simply be a good student.

That said, I found this video and thought it was well-worth sharing. One of the most common rejoinders from advocates of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage has been something like: "If marriage is so fundamental and sacred an institution, and is so concerned with the welfare of the child, why is divorce allowed/so easy?" I have always agreed with the frustration and pain expressed in this very question--and it's a good point. If advocates of traditional marriage are consistent, no-fault divorce ought to be one of their primary opponents, if not the primary opponent.

Despite the plague of typos and misspellings in the video, this presentation by Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse (a former Yale professor) is a good watch.

Same Sex Marriage: Why Not? from Carson Weber on Vimeo.

Hmm...

Terrifying? Yes. A surprise? Not really.

*Le sigh*