Lent is well on its way to being half over. I have practiced everything I've been called to practice during lent---prayer, fasting and alms giving. What I've come to realize though is this---I need to be practicing these things daily for the rest of my life! Well, that's a no brainer if you are a follower of Christ.
Nevertheless, I have continued trying even harder during this season of lent. And folks, let me tell you, this gal feels so much more saintly since I've observed Lent. Not! I know that sounded a little adolescent, but I'm trying to convey a truth here. What I really want to share is the revelation that I'm feeling down right wretched. I can't live up to the calling. I'm falling short. I suck at Lent.
And I'm crying out with St. Paul in his letter to the Romans beginning in chapter 7, "who on God's green earth is going to rescue me?" Read it here in this new translation, The Voice. By the way, I love Bible Gateway. This site host over 100 translations of Scripture.
This whole concept of sin and grace has seized me this Lent. I know this culture doesn't like the word "sin." We like words like "disorder" or "illness" or "disease," But I like the word "sin." I see "sin" as brokenness. "Sin" says we are flawed. Here's why I like the all encompassing concept of sin. Sin is the problem, but God is the solution. Our creator knows "sin." That's phenomenal! Because when "disease" is the problem, "science" is the solution. And we can't deny that science will forever fall short. That sounds pessimistic doesn't it? Well, I'm a realist, and from my years of observation, "science" ain't never been able to change the human heart!
Don't get me wrong, I don't deny illness. And those of us precious souls who suffer, I have compassion. I thank God for his gifts of science. But again, science isn't going to fix mankind. Even our Pope, our beautiful leader recognizes it.
Pope Francis! Oh Pope Francis! Everybody seems to like him. Well, maybe not everybody, but this gal does. Ya know, I was thinking that maybe Pope Francis is full of joy because he has accepted God's gift of grace.
Consider his requests to us, "pray for me," and "I am a sinner." Check this out, please check it out! Whatever your faith...if you just want an intellectual experience, check it out. Did I say check it out? You won't be disappointed. In fact, you'll be changed a little. This is one of Fr. Robert Barron's best videos.Fr. Robert Barron on Pope Francis. It is truly a must see.
I'm going to close this blog with another one of my serious ponderings. I thought, "ya know... Jesus gathered twelve apostles. He lost one to 'sin.' So roughly one out of twelve people at the Vatican, church, government... the world--- is going to be evil, right? That's 1/12th." "Wrong," said a still small voice. "It's one out of twelve people who are going to reject my grace and never ask for forgiveness and never receive the gift...and stop trying to follow me."
That's it. We keep trying, I'm not sure who said it, but it sounds real good, "The saints are the sinners who keep trying." So let's never stop praying, never stop asking for the 70x7 forgiveness God offers, and never stop listening and receiving. Why and how did Judas miss that? As for Lent, I'll just keep practicing, and maybe by day 40, I will have created a habit.
Last night, I watched CNN's Finding Jesus. You can watch last night's episode at CNN. I was very impressed with the presentation, and although I despise obnoxious commercial breaks, I stuck around for the show.
The image on the Shroud has always been a part of my everyday life because I was raised Catholic and there was never a shortage of Catholic literature or imagery in my home, consequently, I took it for granted.
But about 30 years ago, around the age of 20, I read a book about the Shroud of Turin, and I was convinced it was authentic. (For the life of me though, I cannot remember who wrote the book). However, a multitude of books exists if you want to learn more about the shroud.
By the way, I love ordering books online, and my favorite book dealer is Alibris. They can find rare and out of print books for you. So if you are interested in reading about the Shroud of Turin, or another title, take a peek at the many great deals sold at the online store Alibris.
This relic has probably been studied more than any other relic in the world, and rightly so, it could be the image of our savior, and the first known photograph, or at least it appears to be a photograph. And on last night's episode, CNN's Finding Jesus, the producers demonstrate just how it could have been done using a camera obscura and light.
For me, a skeptic by nature, it is the real image of Christ, but I'm not here to try to convince anyone. When it comes to evangelizing, I'll share my faith, but I'll always revert to Jesus own words when sharing the gospel or anything related.
In the 20th chapter of the gospel of John, vs. 29, "... Jesus [said], 'Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' Another favorite quote used by my mother during my most unbelieving years is by St. Thomas Aquinas: "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible".
But back to the Shroud of Turin---let's look at the image on the shroud. It has bugged scientists for years. Even the most distinguished scientists can't figure out how the image got there, but they do feel certain that it was created by light in a photographic way. And that in itself is awe-inspiring.
The history of the Shroud of Turin is down right captivating, especially for me as a photographer. I'm all too familiar with light sensitive materials used in the photographic process, and as an aside, I love asides, I would love to introduce you to the process, so please allow me to slip this cool site, Making a photograph, from the Smithsonian institute's National portrait gallery, into this blog.
Alrighty, back to the Shroud and it's mysterious photographic properties. A concept that really enticed me in my youth was from the book about the Shroud that I read years ago. The author presented the fact that some scientists who have studied the shroud have introduced the cool notion of the similarities between the shroud image and the permanent shadows made when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during WWII in 1945. Google it some time, it's very interesting.
Both permanent images needed bursts of brilliant light to create the representations. I like to imagine the big bang as the same energy and burst of light as God's Holy Spirit spoke the universe into existence.
That same energy, God's brilliant and Holy light---was used to raise Jesus from the dead, and it left the permanent image of his brutally tortured body on the burial cloth---the shroud of Turin.
Now Man, Jesus torturers, scripture tells us, is made in the image of God. But Man, who certainly seems evil by default---we Catholics call that original sin---sometimes uses his God given intelligence for the bad---hence war and destruction. Why is that? There are lots of paradoxes in the history of man. Perhaps I'll discuss that in another blog. Until then, I'll continue to be utterly fascinated by the Shroud of Turin.
What's all this hype about blogging? What is blogging anyway? Would I enjoy blogging? These were questions I had asked myself after reading many interesting blogs and then feeling inspired to jump on board.
This is my first blog---a blog about blogging. So here we go. Personally, I enjoy expressing myself in writing, so I'm sure I'll enjoy blogging. I'm learning as I go, and hopefully my blog will inspire you to learn to blog too. I will have a lot to learn, so here goes.
To answer the questions I began with--- let's define blogging. A quick look at Wikipedia says that the word "blog" comes from the the words "web" and "log." I love wikipedia by the way. It's always a good place to begin gathering information, and for now, it's free. You might want to help support this massive online encyclopedia.
Now what? Just log into the web and start writing? Well, not exactly; however, it's not that complex since we already do this on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter etc.... But remember, blogging is a bit different. It's more creative in my opinion, and it's a place to share, hopefully, valuable and/or interesting information publicly.
The first thing I did was--- you guessed it! Google it. And let me tell ya, there are many tutorials out there on blogging. Try it. But here's the first thing I learned about blogging. Ya gotta have something to write about. At first it seems a bit difficult, but it's not really. Everyone has a hobby, even if it's just sitting and thinking. You could write a blog on the importance of taking time to just sit and think, and you wouldn't have to go far to find resources. Ancient philosophers have already written quite a bit on the subject.
I have decided that I am passionate about two things. I like a lot of things, but I'm passionate about only a couple of things.
God, in the Roman Catholic tradition,
and photography--- traditional and digital. It's an interesting notion too---since for me, both have to do with light. So that is what I am going to be regularly writing about, or rather blogging about. But for now, lets continue learning about the world of blogging.
The second thing I learned when researching blogging is to have a site to blog on. Easy, so easy. This one is free, like many other great things Google has to offer. You've probably already got a Google account, Google drive, Google docs, Gmail (email), Google+ etc.... And if you don't want to blog here, just Google the other million sites that host bloggers. And what's really exciting is that you can make a lot of money blogging.
Now moving on to the next step---creating a pen name. I guess I could keep my real name, but that's no fun. Google blog site is great at helping! They guide you through the entire process. And again, if you have a facebook, you can have a blog site. With some practice, we should get good at blogging.
Think of your blog site as your very own magazine, or newsletter, or public journal.... Yes, I googled "blog titles" too. The title portion of Google blogging is self explanatory, but always feel free to use the wonderful world of Youtube, which by the way, also belongs to--- yes--- you guessed it--- Google. You won't be disappointed in the magnitude of blogging tutorials on Youtube. Hey, here's an aside---I read a headline that asked if Google was dumbing us down? Probably, but that's an article for someone else.
Moving right along. I chose SaltyLight as a pen name. It seemed fitting for the topics I am going to write about. Christians are called to be, metaphorically speaking, salt and light, so it's kind of a play on those words. I also enjoy photography as Lightwriter Photography if you are interested in my work.
A quick look at Wikipedia, and we can learn the etymology of words. I've always been entertained by words. In fact, "The word 'photography' comes from the greek, literally translated as "writing with light" or "drawing with light." So there ya have it. My very first blog. Until next time, happy writing, I mean web logging, I mean blogging.
