Well It's April

 Happy Easter folks! What is the probability of my birthday coinciding with Easter Sunday?

Fifty-six years... how old is that? It feels I'm just beginning. So that's 56, but technically I'm closer to 56.75 because life begins at conception, so 9 months has to be added, but of course determining that date is uncertain. I've been here on earth for relatively negligible time, or 4.121 × 10^-7% of the age of the universe (that's 0.0000004121%).

In Easter we celebrate the triumphant resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, proving all what he uttered previously, and without it, there's no sense believing in God. Without Easter, there's no Christmas. And this is in the midst of the world's unbelief; there's a growing number of atheists and they're making it into a religion. Their atheism is no longer passive, ridiculing true religion at the drop of a hat.

As members of the body of Christ, Catholics (Christians in general) have the duty to remain truthful and repel attacks from the devil (many may point to the atheist themselves as culprits, but we believe it is part of an invisible and never-ending spiritual war between good and evil). Because they don't believe the scriptures, we have to study philosophy, theology or even psychology, or perhaps science in general. They are fond of quantum mechanics, saying it makes God irrelevant.

As we argue with the world, we shouldn't forget about doing everything for love. It's counterproductive to fight the human enemy... we have no enemies!

If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1 Cor 13:1ff NABRE)

As Catholics we have to be sure what we believe in, for we can't be soldiers otherwise. God understands our predicament and he gives us graces and courage for the task. When I was a medical student, I was besieged by doubts and perhaps God sees my struggles... not just the huge medical or scientific subject matter (no real time to study), but spiritual, religious or otherwise. I can't seem to tell the story (I want to relate the details but I don't know how to start), but I had a supernatural experience, and it's nothing short of a miracle. Many things remain the same, but the experience put God's stamp... game over. If only all people meditate and look deeply into the soul (yes there is such thing as a soul), they will find the answer. We just remain as little children, and God our Father will take care of the rest.

"May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance (Jude 2 NABRE)."

Social Equilibrium

A myriad things happened since my last entry in 2019; there's no time to start writing. Perhaps today is a good point—Easter season. It doesn't mean this nasty SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is over, but perhaps we can hold its horns and fight it. We're confronted with major changes in which all competing influences meet, and eventually find equilibrium. Change meets resistance, and resistance pains. And in time there's balance.

These are trying times. Quarantine became a byword fast, and  people are commanded to wear face masks and shields, and practice physical distancing of > 1 meter. We're thrown into a war where the enemy is invisible, much like the Predator. And in war, no one is an atheist.

Regardless of religion, ideology or ethnicity, we're all brothers and sisters. Contrary to what extremists say, Christians and Muslims, e.g., don't mutually exclude each other, and this extends to all people even to those who don't have any beliefs. In this regard, the Catechism states:

the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind. [Dogmatic Constitution on the Church: Lumen Gentium 16 (CCC 841)]

On the other hand, Muslims agree that Jews and Christians of good will are also rewarded by God in heaven (cf. Quran 2.62, 215). Even with our own non-negotiables, we ought to tolerate or preferably love each other.

"May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance (Jude 2 NABRE)."