Music Video

My rendition of Shawn McDonald's All I Need. Enjoy. LOL. :D



Credits:
Johnny (guitar)
Patrick (backup vocals)
Meity (choreographer)
Carmel (videographer)

Video shot @ Port Dickson, near La Salle House (?)

What's worse than shit?

Me: Shit lah... [grumbles under breath]

Holy Holly: *GASP* Cel don't use the "S" word!

Me: What..? It's not like the "F" word...

Holy Holly: Yes... but why don't you use other words such as "shucks"?

Me: Shucks? You know where that word comes from right?

Holy Holly: Err... no? Isn't it meaningless?

Me: Well, it's worse than saying "shit" ... it's actually a combination of "shit" and "f..."

...

Holy Holly: WHAT?! No it can't be. OK, I am not listening to you. [Closes ears] La~ la~ la~ la~

Me: ROFL!

Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, Penang

NOW ONLINE // CLICK HERE

The Soldier with the Cut-off Ear

My sheep - yes, that's what I call my friends at cell group - are really funny, the following is a discussion we had following a question on the incarnational principle (i.e. the concept following the principle that God became man, in Jesus Christ):

Person A: Jesus carried through the incarnational principle by using everyday objects to conduct his miracles, for example, Jesus healed the blind man with mud made with spit. He could have easily clicked his fingers and say: "Be healed!" but he chose to take the trouble just to make his point.

Person B: Just like a illusionist who asks the audience to blow his fist to add to the dramatic effect! LOL.

Person C: Hey, but when Jesus healed the soldier with the cut-off ear he just attached it without drama lah!

[The group takes a moment to think for a while]

Person C: Oh... I know why already ... Because what happened to the soldier was an emergency lah. As for the blind man, he was blind all his life, so it wouldn't make much of a difference to be blind a little longer.

[Cell group LOL!]

The Hierarchy of Truths

An interesting discussion on the hierarchy of truths happened at cell group today:

PERSON A: Well, basically the hierarchy of truths was employed by the Catholic Church to categorize truths that are important for our salvation (e.g. the necessity of Jesus' death on the Cross for our salvation) and truths that are less important for our salvation (e.g. Purgatory) ... Besides if all truths were to be equally important our Protestant brethren would be counted as unsaved by us Catholics since there are truths that we subscribe to but they do not.

PERSON B: That just seems like a cop out to me - just to include our Protestant brethren. I mean, if it's true, it should all be equally true.

PERSON A: No, it's not a cop out and yes, it is all equally true, it's just that some truths are more central to our salvation than others but that doesn't mean it cannot/does not contribute to our salvation. Think about it this way, the truths we embrace are like parts of a car which needs to be assembled together in order to function as intended.

PERSON B: Since you have used this analogy. Let's take the "wheels" of the car as the truths that are central for our salvation and the the "cushions" as truths concerning Mary - without which we could still arrive at our destination (i.e. Heaven) since the "wheels" are what we need. (HAHA!)

PERSON A: Yes, true... but think about it. It wouldn't be comfortable to drive without "cushions" (i.e. Mary) right? Also the car would be able to arrive at the destination even without "wipers" (i.e. the saints) BUT only on bright and shiny days would the journey be smooth, how about during stormy days? [Starting to get a little carried away] And not to mention stormy days are often dark and cloudy, if you do not have your "headlights" (e.g. the Eucharist) how would be able to arrive at your destination safely? And also if ...

The rest of the cell group: -_-" / LOL / ROFL / ^o^

Madonna and Child

- Image obtained from a postcard (all the way from Taiwan!) from dearest Brother Alberto -

A Chinese depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Child Jesus - I am amazed at how much acculturation the Catholic Church in China has gone through in Taiwan.

One word: WOW.

Promo Poster

A prototype (hence the - "??") of the upcoming poster for HELP CSS. Suggestions for improvements?

Or is it already perfect?

LOL. :)

---

Update @ 10.18pm! Revised and finalised poster :)

What is ours?

Many times when we lose something or someone we have the tendency to blame God and ask "Why?" - as if He owes us an explanation of some sort. Thus we fail to realize that the good things which we lost never really belonged to us in the first place. The truth is the whole world and what's in it belongs to Him (Psalm 50:12)

Job showed a profound understanding of this truth in the midst of his suffering with the following statement: "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" (Job 1:21) The story of Job illustrates that if God allows suffering on a blameless man like Job, what less we who so often transgress against the Lord can expect? Of course there are occasions that God intervenes to alleviate suffering, which we call miracles. But when He does not, that is life, where pain and suffering is part and parcel of.

As I am writing this I am burdened with sore throat + cough and various worries; one of which was as a result of (being "forced to") taking up five "heavy-weight" subjects (Principles of Sociology, History of Western Civilization I, World Religions, Physics and Cognitive & Biological Psychology) this semester - God help me cope!

Come to think about it, the challenges that I am facing right now can be an opportunity for me to see the hand of God working in my life, He did say: "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9) How can I say that my achievements are from God when I am all self-sufficient? It is when I finally pulled through the seemingly impossible that I am able to confidently acknowledge that it was God who had done it for me. And once again I am humbled by the realization that EVERYTHING that I have ever achieved and owned does not belong to me but to God alone.

Four days late - Happy New Year anyway!

... here are my (obligatory) new year's resolutions:

1. Maintain a CGPA of 3.5 and above
   Currently I am at 3.48 which is rather good I think, but of course I would prefer to have higher grade point averages - who doesn't?
   
   
2. Read at least THREE books a month
   It's manageable considering I did manage to read three books (An Exorcist Tells His Story, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Christ the Lord) last month. *Beams!*
   
   
3. Sculpt great looking abs
   Though I might not get six-packs but I do hope to get better looking abs by the end of 2007 ;)
   
   
4. Go to gym at least 5 times a week
   OK - I am not going for BodyPump / weight-training for 5 days in a row. More cardio to burn off excess body fat (especially when I plan to drink one mug of milk everyday for protein) Step-machines - here I come!
   
   
5. Be punctual
   Father OC once said the following with a grin: "Celestine, one of these days you will be late for your own funeral." Mental note to self: 12.00pm means 12.00pm NOT 12.15pm.
   
   
6. Morning Prayer (Lauds) & Night Prayer (Complines) Everyday
   Catholic set prayers rock! Period.
   
   
7. Read the Bible cover to cover beginning from the New Testament
   I've done this before (from Genesis) but I stopped at one of the Pauline letters. Now I am doing it again - I need perseverance, pray for me people!

For those of you who are interested to know how you can make and keep your New Year's resolutions CLICK HERE [via Lifehacker]

All the best!

Signing off.