Since my Japanese skills are rotting away from lack of use, I've decided to hijack my much-neglected Vox account to blog about my life in my own broken Japanese. My vocab is limited to a few ranges of topics, so there'll probably be errors when I venture outside of those ranges. If you feel the need to critique or otherwise pick apart my Japanese, please state beforehand why you are qualified to do so; i.e. why should I trust you over Babelfish? =-p I'm only going to use kanji I've already learned, so yeah, kanji-wise this will probably be written around a small child's reading level. Oh well. I may or may not go through the trouble of retyping in roomanji for readers who understand Japanese but are on a computer that doesn't have the proper fonts installed. Unless Vox embedds them, I guess...
So we'll see how this goes, ne?
After working a long, hard summer at Cedar Point, I'm back home. Trying to find full-time employment with my virtually useless CIS major and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology. Great. My student loans come out of deferment in November, so I have to have some means of paying them by then. Not as much of my Cedar Point income is going to be able to go towards that as I would have liked, as my computer decided to die on me, and I can't exactly type a resumé without one.
As far as Cedar Point itself, made friends and psudo-enemies (you can only feud so much with a person when you have to see them every dang day.) Made one good friend who I really hope to keep contact with, but we'll see how it goes.
It was nice going to Mass in my home parish again insomuch as I was dang glad to have a kneeler again and I missed singing the Gloria. In the Masses in Hotel Breakers, we just recited it.
So now begins another phase of my life. We'll see how it goes, ne? If God doesn't have my back, I'm sunk, but seeing as how He's held my sorry hide in existance for 24 years, I think I'll survive.
God bless!
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...but I'm going to reproduce here a post today in The New Liturgical Movement's blog. The text is so sparse that I can't really paraphrase at all. XD I did some formatting to match my aesthetic preference, but that was it. The font I used for the credo itself may not be installed on all systems. It wasn't on mine, so I copied Michelle's fonts folder off of her computer. =-P (C:\WINDOWS\Fonts on most Windows PCs. Well, on XP; Bill Gates only knows where it is on Vista! XD)
This was cross-posted to my LJ and Blogger accounts.
The Athanasian Creed
Traditionally, on today's Feast of the Holy Trinity, the Athanasian Creed is read. This isn't just a creed; it's a thorough catechesis on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. The text follows.
Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.
But the Catholic faith is this, that we venerate one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in oneness; neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance; for there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit; but the divine nature of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, their glory is equal, their majesty is coeternal.
Of such a nature as the Father is, so is the Son, so also is the Holy Spirit; the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated; the Father is infinite, the Son is infinite, and the Holy Spirit is infinite; the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal; and nevertheless there are not three eternals but one eternal; just as there are not three uncreated beings, nor three infinite beings, but one uncreated, and one infinite; similarly the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit is almighty; and yet there are not three almightys but one almighty; thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and nevertheless there are not three gods, but there is one God; so the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord; and yet there are not three lords, but there is one Lord; because just as we are compelled by Christian truth to confess singly each one person as God, and also Lord, so we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there are three gods or three Lords.
The Father was not made, nor created, nor begotten by anyone. The Son is from the Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, not made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
There is, therefore, one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits; and in this Trinity there is nothing first or later, nothing greater or less, but all three Persons are coeternal and coequal with one another, so that in every respect, as has already been said above, both unity in Trinity, and Trinity in unity must be venerated. Therefore, let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.
But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believes also the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Accordingly, it is the right faith, that we believe and confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God is God and man. He is God begotten of the substance of the Father before time, and He is man born of the substance of His mother in time: perfect God, perfect man, consisting of a rational soul and a human body, equal to the Father according to His Godhead, less than the Father according to humanity.
Although he is God and man, yet He is not two, but He is one Christ; one however, not by the conversion of the Divinity into a human body, but by the assumption of humanity in the Godhead; one absolutely not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For just as the rational soul and body are one man, so God and man are one Christ.
He suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, on the third day arose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead; at His coming all men have to arise again with their bodies and will render an account of their own deeds: and those who have done good, will go into life everlasting, but those who have done evil, into eternal fire.
This is the Catholic faith; unless every one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved. Amen.
The comments to the original post, linked above, contain some good links to the original Latin and an older English translation. I like this one, though, (it's also in my missal, but this post saved me having to type it out =-P ) because it's extremely straightforward, plain, easy to understand.
I close the post with the paragraph on this from my missal (the Daily Roman Missal put out by the Midwest Theological Union, with the Imprimatur of the head of my Archdiocese, Cardinal George):
Taking its name from St. Athanasius (+373), even though it is no longer attributed to him, this prayer enumerates the essential doctrines of Christianity, especially the mysteries of the Holy Trinity. St Teresa of Avila [a Carmelite nun and a great mystic of the Church, probably best known for her reform of her order and her writing The Interior Castle,] recounts a meditation on this creed as follows: "Once, when I was reciting the Quicumque vult, I was shown so clearly how it was possible for there to be One God alone and Three Persons, that it caused me both amazement and much comfort. It was of the greatest help in teaching me to know more of the greatness of God and of his marvels." (Life of St. Theresa of Jesus, 39.36)
I apologize for any typos I made in that that spell-check didn't catch; this still isn't bad for me typing without looking at either the keyboard or the screen! XD
How many TVs do you have in your house?
During the school year, my sister and I have our own TVs in our dorms, and I have a TV tuner for my laptop as well, leaving 3 TVs in active duity for the family members at home. When my sister and I come home, her TV is put in the lving room, my TV and computer-TV-tuner stay unused until I return to my dorm.
Most of the time, though, I just stream EWTN over the DSL line, so I don't use a TV much anyway. =-p
In 5 words or less, who are you?
Submitted by dejablu503.
Roman Catholic
What's the infamous story people tell about you?
Submitted by Cherney.
None. I'm too cautious. :-p
Show us you craziest or funniest self portrait.
Submitted by djgk.