"The Greatest of these is Love: Why?"
Seriously? You're making me justify St. Paul's conclusions?
Just kidding; I enjoy the intellectual stimulation.
There are a number of reasons why Love is a greater virtue than Faith or Hope. For one thing, Faith and Hope are both temporary virtues: we won't have either in Heaven, because both depend on things unknown. Faith is "the belief in things not seen," the divinely-inspired step extension beyond the intellect. Hope is the expectation of God's goodness; the trust in what God will do in the future. But in Heaven we will see God face-to-face, so there will be no need of Faith, and we will experience all bliss, so there will be no Hope. But there will still be Love, and indeed the fulness of Love. Faith and Hope will both have served their purpose, but Love will only just be getting started.
Another reason is the fact that Love, more than the other two, deals with the will; the core of our being. Faith and Hope both deal more with the intellect and only are tangenitally attached to the will. Love, however, is entirely an act of the will and so has the greater effect on our souls.
Finally, Love is the virtue of God, while Faith and Hope are virtues given by God. This is related to the first point, but when we are acting out of Faith we are not being like God, since God has no Faith since He is all knowing and no Hope since all time is present to Him. To Love, however, is to be like God; to live in His life. Therefore, since Love is more God-like, Love is greater.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
On Writing
Yesterday I had to make a very hard decision and basically scrap all the work I've been doing on my current writing project, The Chronicles of Hendricks. The reason for this is that I realized the set up I had just wasn't working as well as it should, that I was taking far too long to get to the important things like monsters and mad scientists, and that an alternate set-up that I had been mulling over for a while would simply fit the story better.
So, two or three months worth of work go down the drain, and I start over for the...fourth time? I'm not sure at this point.
But no complaints; it was the right thing to do. I'm planning on leaving Hendricks to ferment for a while: I need to work out how the new set-up will work and what other scenes/elements/characters I might need to drop to make it flow. Meanwhile, I'll be taking another crack at Lepus, which also went through a major story-change which, I think, makes the whole thing much more interesting (and gives me more room to spread out and add more story elements).
One thing I'm learning is that no writing is wasted; yes, all the work I did on Hendricks is getting scrapped, but I learned a lot from it. The characters - particularly the heroine - are a lot more developed now and have started taking on their own little quirks and personalities. I have a better sense of where the story is going and how it will unfold than I did, and I also have a better sense of what doesn't work and things I need to avoid going forward.
I'm having a lot of fun so far planning out the next draft of Lepus; hopefully I'll be able to crank it out faster than the previous draft. Stay tuned for more updates!
So, two or three months worth of work go down the drain, and I start over for the...fourth time? I'm not sure at this point.
But no complaints; it was the right thing to do. I'm planning on leaving Hendricks to ferment for a while: I need to work out how the new set-up will work and what other scenes/elements/characters I might need to drop to make it flow. Meanwhile, I'll be taking another crack at Lepus, which also went through a major story-change which, I think, makes the whole thing much more interesting (and gives me more room to spread out and add more story elements).
One thing I'm learning is that no writing is wasted; yes, all the work I did on Hendricks is getting scrapped, but I learned a lot from it. The characters - particularly the heroine - are a lot more developed now and have started taking on their own little quirks and personalities. I have a better sense of where the story is going and how it will unfold than I did, and I also have a better sense of what doesn't work and things I need to avoid going forward.
I'm having a lot of fun so far planning out the next draft of Lepus; hopefully I'll be able to crank it out faster than the previous draft. Stay tuned for more updates!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Day 8: Favorite Day
What was your favorite day this year and why?
I'm taking this to mean 'this past year,' since this year is less than a month old.
I'd say my favorite day was, if I remember correctly, Nov. 10th. In any case, that's the one that springs immediately to mind. The day started out with Mass, after which I met my dear friend AnnMarie and we went to brunch, where we spent a good couple hours talking politics. I don't know about you, but I love talking politics with someone who a). is well informed, b). shares most of my views, and c). is luminously beautiful.
After we parted, I went to the dojo for some semi-one-on-one training with a couple of black belts, where I spent an hour and a half or so working with sais. Then, having had a fine and interesting work out, I went to my parent's house to hang out with my best friend Tim for a few hours.
This day stands out as being both active, but not overwhelming: there was a lot going on, but I enjoyed all of it and I finished up feeling like I had really accomplished something. Of course, I always like hanging out with Tim, and any day I get to see AnnMarie automatically jumps a grade, so combine both of those with Mass, serious-though-not-strenuous intellectual stimulation, and a solid, though not overwhelming workout and what you have is a very good day indeed.
I'm taking this to mean 'this past year,' since this year is less than a month old.
I'd say my favorite day was, if I remember correctly, Nov. 10th. In any case, that's the one that springs immediately to mind. The day started out with Mass, after which I met my dear friend AnnMarie and we went to brunch, where we spent a good couple hours talking politics. I don't know about you, but I love talking politics with someone who a). is well informed, b). shares most of my views, and c). is luminously beautiful.
After we parted, I went to the dojo for some semi-one-on-one training with a couple of black belts, where I spent an hour and a half or so working with sais. Then, having had a fine and interesting work out, I went to my parent's house to hang out with my best friend Tim for a few hours.
This day stands out as being both active, but not overwhelming: there was a lot going on, but I enjoyed all of it and I finished up feeling like I had really accomplished something. Of course, I always like hanging out with Tim, and any day I get to see AnnMarie automatically jumps a grade, so combine both of those with Mass, serious-though-not-strenuous intellectual stimulation, and a solid, though not overwhelming workout and what you have is a very good day indeed.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
New Year's Resolutions:
1. Blog more often!
Self explanatory.
2. Read the Entire Bible:
I tried this once before and got bogged down in Sirach. So, this year I'm taking another crack at it!
3. Spend less time on the Computer
Slightly at odds with number 1, but I honestly waste far too much time on the computer and I'd like to change that: read, write, exercise, draw, play violin, and just do all the many non-computer-required things there are to do.
4. Develop a Writing Routine
I've made some progress with this, but there's definite room for improvement.
5. Become Conversational in Italian
Yeah, I need to step up the language studies a lot.
6. [REDACTED]
A private one; I'll let you know if I actually accomplish it.
Self explanatory.
2. Read the Entire Bible:
I tried this once before and got bogged down in Sirach. So, this year I'm taking another crack at it!
3. Spend less time on the Computer
Slightly at odds with number 1, but I honestly waste far too much time on the computer and I'd like to change that: read, write, exercise, draw, play violin, and just do all the many non-computer-required things there are to do.
4. Develop a Writing Routine
I've made some progress with this, but there's definite room for improvement.
5. Become Conversational in Italian
Yeah, I need to step up the language studies a lot.
6. [REDACTED]
A private one; I'll let you know if I actually accomplish it.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
On my New Blog
So far I am having an absolute blast with my new blog, The Catholic Nerd. For one thing, it feels like this is the kind of writing I've always wanted to do, but haven't had the opportunity to (been too wrapped up in trying to sound professional and serious). For another, I get to do things like equate the atheistic version of God to a cross between Superman and Jason Voorhees, complete with picture.
Speaking of pictures, the only real problem I've run into so far is the fact that I keep having to delay posts until I can find and/or make the right illustrations. This has necessitated my re-installing Photoshop on my old laptop and spending a little too much time messing around in Garry's Mod. It also means that I generally have to wait until I get home to publish them, since I can't make the pictures at work. Like I could have posted my recent piece on atheism today, but I decided that I really needed a Time's Square ad from an uptight spinster to illustrate my point properly, and so I must delay.
I've got big plans for this blog. I'm hoping to make something really unique and wonderful out of it. Stay tuned!
Speaking of pictures, the only real problem I've run into so far is the fact that I keep having to delay posts until I can find and/or make the right illustrations. This has necessitated my re-installing Photoshop on my old laptop and spending a little too much time messing around in Garry's Mod. It also means that I generally have to wait until I get home to publish them, since I can't make the pictures at work. Like I could have posted my recent piece on atheism today, but I decided that I really needed a Time's Square ad from an uptight spinster to illustrate my point properly, and so I must delay.
I've got big plans for this blog. I'm hoping to make something really unique and wonderful out of it. Stay tuned!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Work Complaints
I've come to the conclusion that I don't much like my job. The pay's good, and all (though I confess I have an irrational dislike for benefits packages brought on by three years of dying a little inside everytime I hear the word 'healthcare'), and the environment is generally pretty quiet, and as long as I get my work done no one minds if I write or blog at work.
Okay, put like that, I have pretty much nothing to complain about, job-wise. Except for the insane uselessness of the accounts payable people. I mean, do they ever even read my e-mails? Cause if they do, they certainly don't act like it. One day I'm going to test them by writing the most incredibly insulting e-mail my twisted mind can create, and then when they complain I'll just say "Oh, so you do read my e-mails! So why do you never pay the phone bill like I ask you to, you..."
But I digress.
I suppose my real problem with my job is that I honestly don't care about it much. I have no interest in cars except as a means of transportation, and even less in car parts like wipers and lighting. I have even less in...whatever it is I actually work with. Numbers, and papers and that bloody SAP program and vendors who somehow keep managing to lose the numbers off of the purchase orders that they'd like to get paid for now. Then they start furiously complaining that they aren't getting paid soon enough when I tell them the PO is marked for payment next month and they yell at me for that, then I have to inform them that the company only pays twice a month, so it'll be another week and then the payment date falls on a weekend so...
There I go again.
It's not the fact of the problems; I know there'll be problems everywhere I work. It's the fact that these are such ridiculous and dull problems. They're the kind of problems that makes one think "what am I doing with my life?!" and then return to that fantasy of going down south and opening up a rattlesnake sanctuary (yes, I have seriously considered that. Rattlesnakes need protection too, you know!).
In any case, I am now firmly convinced that my future does not lie in the corporate world (or at least, not in administration). I will probably work here for at least another year or two, but I'll be looking for a way out. In the meantime, I thank God I have a good, steady job that isn't actively odious and that gives me time to write things like this.
Okay, put like that, I have pretty much nothing to complain about, job-wise. Except for the insane uselessness of the accounts payable people. I mean, do they ever even read my e-mails? Cause if they do, they certainly don't act like it. One day I'm going to test them by writing the most incredibly insulting e-mail my twisted mind can create, and then when they complain I'll just say "Oh, so you do read my e-mails! So why do you never pay the phone bill like I ask you to, you..."
But I digress.
I suppose my real problem with my job is that I honestly don't care about it much. I have no interest in cars except as a means of transportation, and even less in car parts like wipers and lighting. I have even less in...whatever it is I actually work with. Numbers, and papers and that bloody SAP program and vendors who somehow keep managing to lose the numbers off of the purchase orders that they'd like to get paid for now. Then they start furiously complaining that they aren't getting paid soon enough when I tell them the PO is marked for payment next month and they yell at me for that, then I have to inform them that the company only pays twice a month, so it'll be another week and then the payment date falls on a weekend so...
There I go again.
It's not the fact of the problems; I know there'll be problems everywhere I work. It's the fact that these are such ridiculous and dull problems. They're the kind of problems that makes one think "what am I doing with my life?!" and then return to that fantasy of going down south and opening up a rattlesnake sanctuary (yes, I have seriously considered that. Rattlesnakes need protection too, you know!).
In any case, I am now firmly convinced that my future does not lie in the corporate world (or at least, not in administration). I will probably work here for at least another year or two, but I'll be looking for a way out. In the meantime, I thank God I have a good, steady job that isn't actively odious and that gives me time to write things like this.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Day 7: Manhood Pt. 2
"What men in my life exemplify the qualities listed in Day 6?"
I've been fortunate enough to know a number of great exemplars of manliness in my own life. In the interest in space, however, I'm going to confine myself to three who particularly stand out:
My Father: The best example of manhood I know is my father, who exemplifies the qualities of strength channeled through duty. My father has always been there for us all while we were growing up. He never failed to tell us that he loved us, or to make it known that he would always support us.
My College Latin/Honors Teacher, Prof. Smith: Probably the finest scholar I ever knew, Prof. Smith was a large, white-bearded man who could control a class effortlessly while simultaneously dropping a classical philosophy of education as the uncovering of reality. I'd say I learned more from him in two years than in my entire prior education.
My Brother-in-Law, Seth: My brother-in-law is an excellent example of Catholic manhood. He works as a mason (the job, not the secret society), plays guitar, and farms with my sister, their beautiful daughter, their dog, and a dozen or so chickens. Together they comprise the best example I know of a truly Catholic lifestyle.
P.S. I'm sorry this one took so long; I'm generally not very comfortable talking about people I know so directly online. I'll try to blog more regularly in the future.
I've been fortunate enough to know a number of great exemplars of manliness in my own life. In the interest in space, however, I'm going to confine myself to three who particularly stand out:
My Father: The best example of manhood I know is my father, who exemplifies the qualities of strength channeled through duty. My father has always been there for us all while we were growing up. He never failed to tell us that he loved us, or to make it known that he would always support us.
My College Latin/Honors Teacher, Prof. Smith: Probably the finest scholar I ever knew, Prof. Smith was a large, white-bearded man who could control a class effortlessly while simultaneously dropping a classical philosophy of education as the uncovering of reality. I'd say I learned more from him in two years than in my entire prior education.
My Brother-in-Law, Seth: My brother-in-law is an excellent example of Catholic manhood. He works as a mason (the job, not the secret society), plays guitar, and farms with my sister, their beautiful daughter, their dog, and a dozen or so chickens. Together they comprise the best example I know of a truly Catholic lifestyle.
P.S. I'm sorry this one took so long; I'm generally not very comfortable talking about people I know so directly online. I'll try to blog more regularly in the future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)