Saint Agustine

Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430), bishop and Doctor of the Church is best known for his Confessions (401), his autobiographical account of his conversion. The term augustinianism evolved from his writings that had a profound influence on the church.
Augustine was born at Tagaste (now Nigeria) in North Africa on 13 November, 354. His father, Patricius, while holding an official position in the city remained a pagan until converting on his deathbed. His mother, Saint Monica, was a devout Christian. She had had Augustine signed with the cross and enrolled among the catechumens but unable to secure his baptism. Her grief was great when young Augustine fell gravely ill and agreed to be baptised only to withdraw his consent upon recovery, denouncing the Christian faith.
At the encouragement of Monica, his extensive religious education started in the schools of Tagaste (an important part of the Roman Empire) and Madaura until he was sixteen. He was off to Carthage next in 370, but soon fell to the pleasures and excesses of the half pagan city’s theatres, licentiousness and decadent socialising with fellow students. After a time he confessed to Monica that he had been living in sin with a woman with whom he had a son in 372, Adeodatus, (which means Gift of God).
Still a student, and with a newfound desire to focus yet again on exploration of his faith, in 373 Augustine became a confirmed Manichaean, much against his mother’s wishes. He was enticed by its promise of free philosophy which attracted his intellectual interest in the natural sciences. It did not however erase his moral turmoil of finding his faith. His intellect having attained full maturity, he returned to Tagaste then Carthage to teach rhetoric, being very popular among his students. Now in his thirties, his spiritual journey led him away from Manichaeism after nine years because of disagreement with its cosmology and a disenchanting meeting with the celebrated Manichaean bishop, Faustus of Mileve.
Passing through yet another period of spiritual struggle, Augustine went to Italy in 383, studying Neo-platonic philosophy. Enthralled by his kindness and generous spirit, he became a pupil of Ambrose. At the age of thirty-three, the epiphany and clarity of purpose which Augustine had sought for so long finally came to him in Milan in 386 through a vast stream of tears as he lay prostrate under a fig tree. He was baptised by Ambrose in 387 much to the eternal delight of his mother, “..nothing is far from God.” The next event in his life leads to some of the most profound and exquisite writings on love and grief; the death of his mother Monica.
Surrounded by friends, Augustine now returned to his native Tagaste where he devoted himself to the rule in a quasi-monastic life to prayer and studying sacred letters and to finding harmony between the philosophical questions that plagued his mind and his faith in Christianity. He was ordained as priest in 391.
For the next five years Augustine’s priestly life was fruitful, consisting of administration of church business, tending to the poor, preaching and writing and acting as judge for civil and ecclesiastical cases, always the defender of truth and a compassionate shepherd of souls. At the age of forty-two he then became coadjutor-bishop of Hippo. From 396 till his death in 439, he ruled the diocese alone. At that point the Roman Empire was in disintegration, and at the time of his death the Vandals where at the gates of Hippo. 28 August, 430, in the seventy-sixth year of his age Augustine succumbed to a fatal illness. His relics were translated from Sardinia to Pavia by Luitprand, King of the Lombards. Saint Augustine is often depicted as one of the Four Latin Doctors in many paintings, frescoes and stained glass throughout the world. “Unhappy is the soul enslaved by the love of anything that is mortal.” Saint Augustine. The cult of Augustine formed swiftly and was widespread. His feast is celebrated on 28 August.
Saint Augustine’s books, essays and letters of Christian Revelation are probably more influential in the history of thought than any other Christian writer since St. Paul, namely his Confessions, sermons on the Gospel and the Epistle of John, the The Trinity (400-416) and what he finished late in life, the The City of God (426), writings that deal with the opposition between Christianity and the `world' and represents the first Christian philosophy of history. He also wrote of the controversies with Manicheans, Pelagians, and Donatists which helped lead to his ideas on Creation, Grace, the Sacraments and the Church. There is a massive collection of his writings and they also include: Soliloquies (386-387), On Grace and Free Will. (426) Retractions (426-427) and Letters (386-430).

What´s Wrong With Our Planet

Our planet is surrounded by a layer that is the atmosphere, whose function is to catch a few rays of the sun and keep them inside the planet to retain a temperature 15 degrees Celsius, otherwise the rays of the sun and our planet escape drop to a temperature of -18 ° Celsius, this is known as greenhouse gases and is carried by the water steam , CO2, methane and others. In an adequate share, greenhouse gases fulfill their promise, but if they increase their focus the sun's rays can not escape, and the temperature rises with fatal consequences.

Greenhouse gases are increasing because of three main factors: the burning of fossil fuels, destruction of forests that absorb carbon dioxide and the increase in population. Everything is a vicious circle, the world's population increases, so there is a greater demand for food, water and natural resources, trees absorb a large percentage of carbon dioxide, but now they are destroying forests and jungles, the constant demands human results in the third vicious circle: obsolete technologies, human beings still using plants to coal-fired generating energy, this translates into 2500 million tons of carbon dioxide a year that was driven out into the environment; excessive use the car generates 1500 million tons of carbon dioxide that are going direct to the atmosphere.

Global warming brings a wealth of disastrous consequences, to get caught larger number of rays of the sun, the temperature rises, this causes droughts, water shortages and fires, too, though paradoxically, global warming produces more rainfall and floods severe, this is because the rays of the sun rising ocean temperatures, and this causes more evaporation and precipitation, but also when a hurricane comes in contact with warmer waters, is when the unimaginable happens. The increase in temperature causes also that the poles were thawed and consequently more fresh water enters the sea, this raises the level of the oceans, causing widespread flooding ... the problem is serious: if sea levels rise 6 meters, with locations it would devastate as Florida, San Francisco, Holland, Beijing, Shanghai, Calcutta, Bangladesh, Veracruz ... among others.

We can continue deluding ourselves, we continue to think there's still time to change, but that's not true we must begin to act now, this is where we can help our planet by using energy-saving light bulbs, switching off electrical appliances instead of leaving them suspended, reducing consumption of heating and air conditioning, if you can, buying a car with electric motor, while maintaining the well-inflated tires of the car, the car sharing, walking or using bicycles, using less hot water to bathe, wash clothes in cold water or tibia, recycling: separating trash, planting a tree in order ... a number of ways that do not require a lot of science, because it is from home that begins the change. We are destroying our planet, this wonderful world that has given us ... we are still in time, but we have to change our way of thinking and begin to act now ....
What can we do differently?, Beyond what is real and raw, there are things that teaches us and makes us think to change what we do not like. The more people become aware, the better will be our home. What kind of world we are leaving behind those who come to ours? Think of our children, nephews, friends, grandchildren ... it is time to worry about our future.

The best story of my childhood

From my childhood I have actually many stories, many anecdotes and many memories. Stories that made me laugh, stories that made me mourn, but without a doubt my childhood was one of the best periods of my life. It was a stage at which everything was beautiful, it was a stage of naivety, games, to be in the streets playing with my friends. I remember I always wanted the latest toys , the most beautiful Barbie, in addition it was also because those were my friends, telling my mom every day the last Barbie that came out. Now that I remember it, it’s very funny, and without thinking twice I would love to have this story repeating itself, where bad things yet didn’t exist, and where you couldn’t be too irresponsible.

The story that I remember best, or maybe even the best story that happened to me in my childhood was when we went on tour to Santa Marta in a holiday and we were staying in a hotel, consisting of many huts. By that time I was 10 years old and my brother 11, and in the hotel were also hosted some friends of my mom and her children. The first day we arrived we were at the reception, and it was really funny because while expecting that the receptionist ended her call, they were next to us and we were surprised to see them and salute, then we are again at lunchtime and the children of my mom's friend Claudia Marcela and Juan Carlos told us my brother and me, after lunch we were in the pool, we told them that well and that we would be there at 3:30 pm, But before my mom and her friend had said it would go to a museum in the town, then the plan was deferred pool in the afternoon we go out together to the museum, when we arrived at the museum, Claudia, Juan Carlos, my brother and I we went by a different path to that of others, we find a big door and go there, everything was dark when we entered, as was fourth reserve and the worst thing was that we close the door and could only open on the outside we were very frightened and Juan Carlos and my brother started to review everything that had had skeletons, dolls, I do not agree that other things had but we were so frightened that we did not know what to do, then we heard by the speakers of the museum that our moms us were looking for, Duran trapped as two hours in that room, the last thing we did was hit the door to see if anyone could hear us, until a museum employee heard the screams and alerted the people and when we opened the door, my mom was very scared, my mom's friend also was very funny and yet we are scared by two hours fixtures in the fourth of a museum, when we got to the hotel, we were told not to return them away from somewhere else .

The City Where I Live

The city where I live is Santa Fe de Bogota, is a big city, with approximately 10´000.000 people with a variety of cultures, because living people from all sides of colombia and even the world. This great city has many places to offer to residents and also to tourists, so that their stay here be a pleasant.
In 1538, when the conquistador Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada founded the city gave the name of Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza. However, one year later, in 1539, during the legal foundation of the city, the name is changed to that of SantaFe or Santa Fe.
The name Bogotá was not an official during the colonial era, but its use became common by the need to distinguish this from other cities Santafé with the same name, Bogota being the indigenous name of the region. During this period was called Bogota to the current population of Funza.
Is the capital of colombia, which is divided into 20 localities, and it's the capital of cundinamarca state. It is located in the center of the country in the area known as Sabana de Bogota, which in turn is part of the altiplano cundiboyacense,.
As the nation's capital, hosts the highest-ranking bodies of the executive branch (Casa de Narino), legislative (Congress) and judicial (Supreme Court, Constitutional Court and Council of State). On the economic front is highlighted as an important economic and industrial center.
The city is also the most important cultural center of Colombia and one of the main of Latin America . The important cultural offerings is represented in the large number of museums, theaters and libraries, some of them being the most important in the country. In addition, hosts major festivals broad background and recognition nationally and internationally. It also highlights the academic activity, since some of the most important Colombian universities are located in the city. It should be noted that UNESCO awarded the city the title of World Book Capital for 2007.
The city of Bogotá is the third largest city in terms of economic and cultural development of the South America, after: Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires and the fourth of the entire Latin America after Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Bogota has made very positive socio-economic data in recent years.
Bogotá has different and varied activities for recreation and culture, where they can make family plans, friends plans where they can visit, museums, parks and many more attractions that the city has. Likewise development that this city offers, the daily growth and the significant job opportunities to be found, ease of transport as it has a varied availability of transport.
The city of Bogota to have an extension so large in its territory, also affront problems, such as caring for some streets and destitute all these problems can be solved by paying more attention and devote money and time to resolve them.