Reflections of a beloved son

The first day of the Lunar New Year was on Saturday, January 25, 2020.  It is the Year of the Rat.  Traditionally festivities go on for about two weeks.  So instead of an Octave, we celebrate 14 days!  My family (immediate and extended) family and I had a wonderful, delicious, and fun time at dinner last night.  We had a ten course meal - ten being an auspicious number, the number of perfection.  We were also in a private room (though a bit small) with a TV and a karaoke machine.  My aunts and uncles sang old time favorite Chinese songs and my sisters, cousins, and I relived our younger days with songs like "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys and "My Heart Will Go On" by Celine Dion. It was a great evening of family.  Despite the savory taste of the menu or the nostalgic tune of old songs, they did not make the evening great.  It was the " being together"  that made it a wonderful night.  It is times like that that puts thin...

" The wind blows where it wills, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit " (Jn. 3:8).  From the commentaries, the ancient Christian writers point to this verse as the freedom of the Son and the Holy Spirit, and that the will of the Spirit is one with the Father.  I'd like to look at this from a slightly different perspective which St. John Chrysostom alludes in his homily. Just because you do not and cannot see the wind it does not mean it does not exist.  Furthermore, it does not mean that you do not know or do not believe that it exists.  As Chrysostom said, "If then you do not complain when you cannot see this body (the wind) and you still believe, why, when you hear of 'the Spirit,' do you hesitate and demand such exact accounts?" We should not need to "see" God to know that He exists.  Like the events that happened in history - some of...