Is The Church of Today Praying for The Parousia? The Holy Spirit- Inspired Plea for The Second Coming of Christ in The Liturgy

Does the contemporary Church pray for the parousia? The article takes into account the contemporary liturgical texts. According to the words of Apocalypsis, the Holy Spirit inspires the joyful prayer for the parousia. That’s why this prayer, if actually present, can be treated as the source of light on the intrinsic activity of the Holy Spirit in the Church. In the Missal and Divine Office many texts concerning the final coming of Lord can be found. Predominantly in advent, claims like: “Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus” are to be heard. Does it mean that the Church really requests the God to accomplish the story of this world? It seams difficult to distinguish, especially in the eucharistic worship, between the liturgical retrospection, the prayer for sacramental coming of our Lord here and now, His very presence in our history and the claim for eschatological fulfillment. Apart from this, we find numerous prayers for help, in order that we could prepare ourselves for the events next to parousia, that is for the Last Judgement and resurrection. The Church also humily asks the Lord Jesus and God the Father for overcoming the death, merciful judgement, for the final justice, for the elimination of every evil and resurrection in glory for the believers. But can we say that the voice of the Church – the Bride missing the final presence of the Saviour, is to be heard in contemporary liturgical worship? Theologians, like e.g. Joseph Ratzinger, suppose, we cannot dare to express this prayer nowadays as the author of “Didache” did. However, wherever even in timid form appears the prayer for parousia, we hear in it the joyful claim of the Holy Spirit who encourages the Church to desire the full presence of the Lord, the unique divine justice and to wait for the eternal fulfillment in the community of resurrection.Dr IZABELLA SMENTEK – doktor teologii dogmatycznej. Doktorat na Papieskim Wydziale Teologicznym w Warszawie nt. "Eschatyczność Kościoła w ujęciu modeli eklezjologicznych kard. Avery Dullesa". Publikacje w „Warszawskich Studiach Teologicznych” i innych periodykach naukowych. Autorka książki "Eschatologia trynitarna. Prawda o Trójcy Świętej jako punkt wyjścia eschatologii" (2012).Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawie13/217120

Structural optimization using FEA tools

A structural surface prototype with varying structural properties that has been adapted to its specific loading requirements has been designed using finite element analysis tools in Grasshopper for Rhino. The goal of this project is to design a method for reducing the amount of material required to achieve an acceptable structural strength. This is done to reduce construction costs and provide the capability to form surfaces that existing construction materials are incapable of. This research involved the analysis of carbon fiber\u27s material performance using finite element methods to guide decision making regarding the prototype\u27s construction. This digital prototype shows the potential applications and formability properties using the optimization method explored. A proof of concept pedestrian bridge constructed of fiber-reinforced polymer in a non-traditional form is presented

Light-responsive facade prototype

Research into improving building energy performance has the potential to create new and innovative architectural products. Through developing green architectural technologies aimed at increasing energy efficiency architects and engineers must overcome the financial architectural and engineering challenges of their implementation. A prototype facade design was designed to respond to sunlight intensity as part of a study on similar facade schemes

Faith is hope. Theological implications of Spe Salvi encyclical

The article discusses the problem of hope, its foundation, subject and ecclesiastical aspect, as it was presented in Benedict XVI’s encyclical. Hope is not an ‘appendix’ to the Gospel message, but is a sign of Christianity. It is based on the conviction of God’s being almighty and the experience of meeting with Him, which results in trust without limits. The Holy Father defines hope through faith. He recalls the Letter to the Hebrews , where these terms occur interchangeably. The subject of hope is eternal life. A believer does not expect to gain the state of happiness for himself, but, above all, the Person of Christ. The Church has been formed as people who live in the hope and this dependence is mutual. One hope puts the Church together and the Church strengthens it and conveys to its members. Christian hope is not the product of human longings and imaginations. It begins and lasts through of the Holy Spirit, who can be called its Initiator. It is the Holy Spirit who makes human hope reach heaven. Man who lives with hope, lives in a different way. He does not care for things and matters that are unnecessary, defined by the Bible as hyparchonta. He is even not afraid of death. Hope guarantees spiritual liberty. It leads to perseverance, the apocalyptic hypomone. Christian liberty, along with fidelity and perseverance also brings hope to the world. It frees from fear and despair and the paralysing feeling of hopelessness. Phenomenology teaches about the relevance of Christian hope to an individual. Lack of a goal is contrary to humanity; when imposed, it turns against man and destroys him. The Pope’s encyclical provokes to reflection on the following selected themes: hope as a sign of Christianity; the Holy Spirit – the Initiator and the Giver of hope; the hope of immortality or resurrection? The ecclesiastical aspect of Christian hope; the dignity and responsibility of man saved in hope.Papieski Wydział Teologiczny w Warszawi

Calculation of single-beam two-photon absorption rate of lanthanides: effective operator method and perturbative expansion

Perturbative contributions to single-beam two-photon transition rates may be divided into two types. The first, involving low-energy intermediate states, require a high-order perturbation treatment, or an exact diagonalization. The other, involving high energy intermediate states, only require a low-order perturbation treatment. We show how to partition the effective transition operator into two terms, corresponding to these two types, in such a way that a many-body perturbation expansion may be generated that obeys the linked cluster theorem and has a simple diagrammatic representation.Comment: 11 preprint page

Sum Rules for Multi-Photon Spectroscopy of Ions in Finite Symmetry

Models describing one- and two-photon transitions for ions in crystalline environments are unified and extended to the case of parity-allowed and parity- forbidden p-photon transitions. The number of independent parameters for characterizing the polarization dependence is shown to depend on an ensemble of properties and rules which combine symmetry considerations and physical models.Comment: 16 pages, Tex fil

Targeting the histone methyltransferase G9a activates imprinted genes and improves survival of a mouse model of Prader–Willi syndrome

Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is an imprinting disorder caused by a deficiency of paternally expressed gene(s) in the 15q11–q13 chromosomal region. The regulation of imprinted gene expression in this region is coordinated by an imprinting center (PWS-IC). In individuals with PWS, genes responsible for PWS on the maternal chromosome are present, but repressed epigenetically, which provides an opportunity for the use of epigenetic therapy to restore expression from the maternal copies of PWS-associated genes. Through a high-content screen (HCS) of >9,000 small molecules, we discovered that UNC0638 and UNC0642—two selective inhibitors of euchromatic histone lysine N-methyltransferase-2 (EHMT2, also known as G9a)—activated the maternal (m) copy of candidate genes underlying PWS, including the SnoRNA cluster SNORD116, in cells from humans with PWS and also from a mouse model of PWS carrying a paternal (p) deletion from small nuclear ribonucleoprotein N (Snrpn (S)) to ubiquitin protein ligase E3A (Ube3a (U)) (mouse model referred to hereafter as m+/pΔS−U). Both UNC0642 and UNC0638 caused a selective reduction of the dimethylation of histone H3 lysine 9 (H3K9me2) at PWS-IC, without changing DNA methylation, when analyzed by bisulfite genomic sequencing. This indicates that histone modification is essential for the imprinting of candidate genes underlying PWS. UNC0642 displayed therapeutic effects in the PWS mouse model by improving the survival and the growth of m+/pΔS−U newborn pups. This study provides the first proof of principle for an epigenetics-based therapy for PWS

Pierre-Jean Mariette, le connaisseur d’estampes

Pour les historiens des maîtres anciens de la gravure, Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) est le connaisseur par excellence. Né en 1694, au sein d’une prestigieuse dynastie de marchands parisiens d’estampes, Mariette continua l’entreprise familiale, vendant des livres et des gravures à toute l’Europe, jusqu’en 1750, lorsqu’il se retira de son commerce. Tout au long de sa vie, il a réuni de nombreuses notes sur les estampes et les graveurs, indispensables aux chercheurs sur les estampes, que l’o..