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)."

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.