Metamorphosis (Formerly Bible Catholic)

Mi última blog. Voy a regresar a los EEUU en menos de 24 horas. Voy a seguir para mantener a los amigos que he hecho en mis pensamientos y oraciones. Hoy me reuniré con mi profesora de español para revisar ... ¡todo!

Hoy es mi último sábado de Guatemala. Esta mañana otros dos estudiantes y yo vamos a hacer algo de senderismo y observación de aves. Voy a tratar de usar más de tiempo presente en la conversación de hoy. ¡Es difícil! Today is my last Saturday in Guatemala. This morning two other students and I are going to do some hiking and bird watching. I will try to use more than the present tense in conversing today. It's hard!

I could stay in Antigua another month--easily. It's a nice little city. An easy place to live if you have the financial means-a few dollars goes a long way here. Much harder for the Guatemalans who work very hard for ever Quetzal they earn, which is worth 1/7th of a dollar. It's also an easy city within which to be a Priest. Most folks here love Priests. They treat us very well. It is refreshing to see crowded churches and full adoration chapels. Podría quedarme en Antigua otro mes - fácilmente. Es una pequeña ciudad agradable. Un lugar fácil para vivir si usted tiene los medios financieros. Unos pocos dólares compra mucho aquí. Es mucho más difícil para los guatemaltecos que trabajan muy duro para siempre Quetzal que ganan, que vale 1/7 de un dólar. También es una ciudad fácil de ser un sacerdote. La mayoría de la gente aquí les encanta Sacerdotes. Nos tratan muy bien. Es refrescante ver capillas e iglesias llenas de personas todas las horas cada día.

Estoy en el punto medio de mi segunda semana en Guatemala. Guatemala es un país hermoso con un montón de grandes personas y la historia natural. El español está saliendo bien. Yo estoy hablando más que cuando llegué por primera vez. Además, mi vocabulario y la gramática se ha expandido. Las personas son casi, sin excepción, agradables. Es muy fácil hablar con extraños en Antigua. La mayoría son pacientes con lento aprendizaje como yo. La comida es muy fresca aquí. Hay muchas fincas circa de Antigua, aunque también muchas pobres. La vida silvestre aquí es diferente y bastante abundante. Es notable la cantidad de vegetación, en la ciudad y granjas y bosques tambien. ¡Otra noticia en uno o dos diás! I am at the halfway point of my second week in Guatemala. Guatemala is a beautiful country with a lot of great people and natural history. The Spanish is coming along well. Albeit slowly. But I am definitely speaking more than when I first arrived. Also, my vocabulary and grammar has expan...

        In one of his most controversial paragraphs, Pope Francis writes, "A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system...even if a scientifically determinable cause cannot be assigned to each particular phenomenon."        It's necessary to pause right there for a moment. The Pope stated, "a scientifically determinable cause" for every particular instance of identifiable climate change cannot be determined. Therefore, it would be erroneous to argue that Pope Francis is endorsing every proposed political solution to perceived climate change. Pope Francis does clearly say that humanity is "called to recognize the need for  changes of lifestyle, production and consumption , in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it." (No. 23, emphasis added)         But  rather than taking sides...

        Pope Francis has been wrongly characterized by some as a luddite or a socialist. But Francis is neither of these things. Francis does not see capitalism itself as the problem but rather, unbridled capitalism. It is this raw form of capitalism which exploits people and societies for fleeting economic gains that the pope excoriates. (No. 51-52, 106, 128) According to Francis, there is a widespread delusion "of infinite or unlimited growth, which proves so attractive to economists, financiers and experts in technology. It is based on the lie that there is an infinite supply of the earth’s goods, and this leads to the planet being squeezed dry beyond every limit." (No. 106)         Francis does not see science and technology as the problem, but rather a kind of scientism, the refusal to admit there are other ways of arriving at truth--i.e. religion and philosophy--to the realm of fantasy, as a problem. Pope Francis refers to the dangers of ...

Fue una muy buena primera semana. Estudié duro. Concelebré dos Misas. Tuve un examen completo de este viernes con base en el material de la primera semana. Y yo pasé. Acabo de empezar mi segunda semana en Antigua este fin de semana. Que hice? Después de un largo concelebré Misa con una gran multitud de esta mañana, me decidí a estudiar español en la calle. Así que por cerca de cinco horas me puse mi minúscula española a la prueba. Hablando con la gente común. La gente en Antigua, Guatemala son en su mayoría bastante agradable. Hablan español relativamente despacio y con claridad. Y son muy educados. Ahora estoy listo para estudiar un poco más. It was a very good first week. I studied hard. I concelebrated two Masses. I had a comprehensive exam on Friday based upon the first week's material. And I passed.  I just began my second week in Antigua this weekend. What did I do? After I concelebrated a lengthy Mass with a standing-room only crowd this morning, I decided to study S...

      In my previous reflection on Pope Francis' encyclical about caring for the planet earth as our common home, I focused upon the importance of the Genesis accounts of Creation to the Pope's thesis.  Fundamental truths that transcend the literary forms of the first few chapters of Genesis include: Human beings are comprised of the same matter as the earth. Our mortal fates are intertwined with the fate of the earth: "we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters," the Pope writes. God proclaimed the universe He created, including every human being, as "very good." (Gen 1:31) Moreover, every man and woman is created out of love and made in God’s image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26).  And because of this, the Biblical truth is that every human being has "immense dignity" and is "not just something, but someone."               We ascertain the value, beauty, and dignity of Creation fro...

Yo estoy cansado. Hoy, yo completé mi cuarto día de clases. Mañana es un examen. Gramática. Es imposible aprender un idioma sin gramática. Créeme. ¡ Yo tengo que estudiar! I'm tired. My sixth day in Guatemala and my fourth day of classes. And I have an exam tomorrow morning.  Note: It's impossible to learn a language without grammar.  I have to study.

Tercer día de instrucción Español. Cientos de verbos y conjugaciones para memorizar. Siete horas por día en el aula. Por lo menos dos horas al día las tereas. Me duele el cerebro. Third day of Spanish classes. I have hundreds of verbs and conjugation tables to memorize. Seven hours per day in the classroom and at least two hours per day of homework. My brain hurts.