Revelation 21

I have vivid memories of years past when all sorts of firecrackers are heard at this time of year, the more explosive, the better.  Even when martial law was operative then when firecrackers were prohibited, the noise continued unabated.  But it's so quiet nowadays.  Times change, perhaps millennials aren't as interested as the generation X.  Nevertheless, I prefer the peace and quiet of a serene meditation of life as it is, and life henceforth through the cycling of a new revolution of our planet around her star.  Incidentally the church year starts about a month earlier than the calendar year.

Such noisy tradition was introduced by the early Chinese settlers as a way of driving away bad luck and bad spirits from the place accompanying the new year.  There is this focus on the destruction of the old and building of the new.

About the end of the physical earth or perhaps the universe, when will it all end?  It's anybody's guess, maybe 1 year, 80 years, 1 billion years, 4 billion, or perhaps 10¹⁰¹²⁰, or even 10¹⁰¹⁰⁵⁶ years!  The last two figures may very well be synonymous with forever.  The former relates to the final energy state of the universe, while the latter points to a time when quantum tunneling could have generated new universes.  Science provides for the concept of destruction and renewal that comes at new year.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

"And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling of God is with men.  He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.'

"And he who sat upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'  Also he said, 'Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.'

"And he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Α and the Ω, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment.  He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.  But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.'" (vv 1-8 RSV)

As a short digression, I'm using this GNOME password manager called Revelation (0.4.14), adopting the last book of the bible for its name, also called the Apocalypse.  The Revelation of St. John reveals many secrets in the eschatology that it might be useful to read it, but be aware of the ubiquitous symbolism in the book that the unstable will likely misinterpret.

Bible

We are a unique species on this planet, intelligent and discerning, of limitless mind but so restricted physically, sharing the biosphere, following its cycles and mysteries.  Our lifetime is not enough to fully understand the things going on around us, the abstract and the concrete.  We see the beauty of the universe's design, rightly concluding that there must be a God in the back end.  But then there are those who object, needing clearer evidence.  In the end, we are responsible for what we believe in, but we must at least know individually.  We must believe in the lasting, in the really significant, in the bottom line.

Finding the truth is the beginning, but not the end.  Faith must then follow inevitably, whether it's about science or religion.  Hope then follows the train, perhaps to experience now what is expected, perhaps as a further push to our faith.  But then that is all useless unless it ripens to love, sustaining all of us.  Many times we hear deep inside the abyss, "what's the purpose of our existence?", or "everything is meaningless..."  Well the answer is love... love is the answer.  Spend your lifetime contemplating this reality.

Emerging from the oral traditions of early Christianity, one remarkable product is the canon of the holy scriptures or the bible.  Unknown writers put down these unwritten accounts (largly eyewitness) about this enigmatic figure—Jesus of Nazareth—son of man and Son of God!  It's understandable that many don't believe him as it demands a great leap of faith.  The presence of the Church for 2000 years is proof it is true, but this is not so for others.  The occasional (or not so occasional) scandals do not help at all, although believers are mortified by such evil, even happening in holy spaces.  As an aside, parents must teach their young children to report all inappropriate behavior targeting them, and do something about it (go to the civil authorities directly and possibly provide audio or video evidence, even by-passing the ecclesiastical authorities).  Talking about the incident years later may be explosive but more damage has been done at that point.  Individually, people experience God's presence somewhere, sometime, somehow, even something miraculous or unexplainable.  Such experiences are oftentimes not believed anyway.

While on facebook, I encountered a link about important bible verses that Catholics should know.  There are fifteen but I included another one at the beginning because it's reflected above.  All the passages are taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE).

1. "Faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love." (1 Cor 13:13)
2. "Be still and know that I am God!" (Ps 46:11)
3. "The LORD is my strength and my shield, in whom my heart trusts." (Ps 28:7)
4. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." (Jn 3:16)
5. “Give thanks to the LORD for he is good, his mercy endures forever!” (Ps 107:1)
6. "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (Jn 14:6)
7. "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear?  The LORD is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid?" (Ps 27:1)
8. "I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me." (Phil 4:13)
9. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control." (Gal 5:22f)
10. “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Lk 10:27)
11. "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior." (Lk 1:46f)
12. "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." (Jn 6:35)
13. "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God." (Phil 4:6)
14. "As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (Joshua 24:15)
15. "Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love." (1 Jn 4:8)
16. "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Mt 7:7)

So why not read the entire 35,529 verses of the Bible?

Hidden Hand

We are all seated around the quintessential poker game of life, and God is the dealer.  He doesn't control the card distribution, but he knows what each player has.  The winner is not the best hand but the one who makes the best hand relative to his initial one.

But what would you do if you got a very bad hand?  Would you curse the dealer?  We must do what we must to improve out lot, and not lose any hope, no matter how hopeless.  We have to look for that one chess move to extricate ourselves.

Before anyone gets so depressed from profound self-pity, it might be appropriate to watch Nick Vujicic's video above.  With this backdrop, all these troubles seem insignificant!  His smile and humor are so contagious you might suppose he's normal.

As Christians, we believe miracles do happen everyday.  If we just open our eyes, such are evident, from the subtle to the spectacular and inexplicable!  While we may be waiting for that rarely-granted prayed-for miracle, we should constantly thank the almighty for all graces and blessings that come.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13.7 RSV).