Pretoria Catholic

We ate dinner at the dining table on the 1st of December when suddenly the electricity tripped. The house plunged into darkness, and this stillness took hold of the nearby suburbs. The silence was soon disturbed by the sound of roaring generators from our neighbours. The power remained out for 12 days, tripped once more, and then restored a day later, so essentially 13 days without electricity.  Darkness as we took an evening walk, 6 December 2021 No electricity for almost two weeks makes you aware of how dependent our lives are on power. Dry ice helped keep items cool in the fridge for two days but was an expensive solution. Food needed to be transferred to a cooler box with fresh ice every second day to keep it cool. Hot running water to wash dishes or bathe little babies was unavailable. So the old-school way of heating pots of water on gas resurfaced. We needed to buy oil lamps to have some candlelight to light the darkness in the evening. The WiFi router was a nice ornamental ...

It is almost a year since my first blog, and I cannot believe how quickly the year has passed. We now enter the Advent Season and await the coming of the infant Jesus. The most beautiful season in the Church calendar is upon us. There is no better time to reflect on some hidden lessons the Holy Family has to teach us.  Nativity scene under our Christmas tree, 30 November 2021 In Luke's gospel, Joseph took his pregnant wife, Mary, and travelled about 130 km from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be enrolled for the census. We know enough to realise that St. Joseph was not particularly well off and probably did not own a donkey or cart to make the journey a little easier. So imagine your pregnant wife, with swollen feet, a sore back, and uncomfortable under the weight of carrying the tiny infant in her womb, setting off to travel on foot to the next town.  Bethlehem was full as travellers were coming in from different places and would have been packed with people bumping past each other,...

One of the benefits of working from home is that my guardian Angel has fewer dangers from which to protect me. Before the pandemic, I left the office after 5:30 pm. I took the usual walk through the Pretoria CBD arcades, walking about 1 km in total to reach the public car parking.  Bruce Lee, Hong Kong 2017 About 30 meters toward the end of the arcade, it opens up into a wide passage that leads to Church Square. Unaware as I exited the first arcade, a man waiting for me ran into me abruptly to knock me off my feet and sought to grab my cellphone from my pocket.  My senses became hyper-aware and immediately averted the fall. I instantaneously swung the lunch bag I was carrying striking the man across the face. He came at me a second time filled with intent, and once again, I swung the bag at him, hoping he would stay away, and my lunch bag handle broke off on one side. Now furious and frustrated, he charged me a third time with a broken lunch bag dangling in my hand like those ...

I write this blog holding our second son, Leo, cradled in my left arm and typing with my right hand. He lies, so content nestled into my arms as he catches a nap without a worry in the world. I gaze at him every now and then to admire the wonderful gift of our little baby, who only ten months ago was merely a tiny seed growing in the womb of his Mommy.  Noah meets Leo for the first time, 30 August 2021 No one can take away the heart-warming feeling of holding the gift of a child from God. Not even all the strange comments one receives from being open to the possibility of life a year after Noah was born. I find the times we live in quite odd. On the one hand, we are expected to understand people's choices around gender or be tolerant of pro-abortion decisions. However, it seems the tolerance of families open to children is somehow shameful!  We have received remarks from strangers, including a nurse and waiter making it seem as if the conception of Leo was an irresponsible sex...

Forecasting is often regarded as both an art and a science. Science in the sense that econometric techniques help create equations that predict the future, but an art in the sense that "judgement" needs to be imposed on a model that cannot always be explained by an equation. So forecasting is the business of predicting the uncertain future. Forecasts help decision-makers (in my case, the government) to make informed decisions around fiscal planning today that will influence the future. There is no such thing as a "good" forecast when predicting the future, as the future is uncertain.  Holy Family Art by Cassandra Joel  A key driver of an objective forecast is based on the quality of the assumptions. An assumption is defined as "something accepted as true" and can be regarded as a fact or statement. Obviously, poor or weak assumptions can be hopelessly wrong and far from the truth!  Outside of the world of forecasting, we would lose track of how many assump...

The one thing I find most frustrating is poor instruction guides, or it could be that I simply overcomplicate things?! I recently assembled a bookcase for my son's room. The diagram that accompanied the product was not very helpful. I spent a good half-hour figuring out the missing steps. The bookcase is simple and relatively easy to assemble. Still, the shelves are designed to fit together abstractly so that each frame has a different shape. That is where it gets tricky to get the structure to fit together as an off-centre cross.  Bookcase fully assembled Each shelf fits into the other using a dual support system: a set of dowel pins and screws. When the bookcase is assembled, the dowel pins are hidden, strengthen, and support the bond between the planks of wood. These dowel pins keep the structure aligned and ensure a tight fit. The bond between the shelves is strengthened by those tiny dowel pins, yet it is not visible to the eye once assembled.  I am convinced the action o...

A week ago, I took a short trip with my family to Hazyview, Mpumalanga, in the east of South Africa. South Africa offers such diverse and beautiful landscapes. We visited the majestic Mac Mac Falls, drove the scenic route of the Panorama, climbed to the top of the lookout of God's Window, and visited the Kruger National Park. The area is home to tree plantations that stretch for hundreds of kilometers. The trees form beautiful tree canopies that can be seen as you drive along the road. The trees are planted in perfect rows creating organised forests. When the trees reach full maturity, they are cut back into logs for transporting for further manufacturing. The area is then burnt, and after some time, new trees are planted to recreate a new canopy of trees for future harvesting.  Road en route to God's Window, 14 June 2021 These trees serve an essential purpose over their lifetime. They will provide shelter to various forms of animal and insect life. They will absorb tons of car...

On the 11th of May, my wife and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. I still remember our sacrament of matrimony so clearly. Some of my friends took wagers on how soon I would cry after seeing my beautiful bride. Well, before Cassandra reached the end of the aisle, my eyes were filled with tears. The ceremony was surreal as if time had temporarily paused and everyone around us vanished. It felt like we were alone with God at that moment.  11 May 2019 - Nazareth House Pretoria When God created the earth, he did so with a purpose in mind. Nothing God creates has no meaning, which is evident in nature. From the beginning of creation, God has written the story of love deep within our hearts. He plays a love song that guides us to our heavenly home. That home is the wedding feast of the marriage of the Lamb. Therefore, borrowing a catchy phrase from Christopher West, if we were to summarise the entire Bible in five words, it would be "God wants to marry us!". 1. "So G...

Monte Casino Bird Sanctuary, 24 April 2021 Two months ago, walking on the edge of a tennis court, I found a series of spider webs. I spent some time trying to get some good shots for my blog post on sanctifying my work like a spider . It was late afternoon, around 5 pm, when I heard in the adjacent hedge the sound of running water. I stopped and thought that were no nearby water pipes, so where could the sound be coming from?  The sound became more distinct and appeared to be approaching closer and moving swiftly through the dead leaves. My eye caught something moving that was thicker than a garden hose and about a meter and a half in length. My initial thought was a snake, and I took one step closer to examine and take a shot (suspense…). As I did that, the head of a highly venomous snouted cobra revealed itself. Thinking I was safe inside the tennis court, I pursued a step further to get a better image. Suddenly the cobra raised its head and flared its wide hood indicating that I...