Good morning, and I'm sorry I'm a couple of minutes late. I know your time is very valuable, and I appreciate you standing by. It's always great to have an opportunity and sit down to talk with you and about what's going on in the Pacific, or in the Indo-Asia Pacific, my particular air of responsibility. It's been a while since I've been here in Washington, and a lot has happened during that time. We assisted the Philippine government as they dealt with the aftermath of a super typhoon. The Operation Damian and the Joint Task Force that was led by Lieutenant General Whistler, they did an excellent job. It was a multinational operation, and there was a quick transition in that operation to the Armed Forces of the Philippine, and ultimately to the government of the Philippines to be able to continue that recovery. But the effort was, I think, quite successful, and it demonstrates the overall value of working together on HADR-related training and initiatives so that we can respond more quickly and more effectively in these types of things and types of events. And I think it paid big dividends to the things we've been doing in this AOR. As you know, about 80%, I'm told, of all natural disasters happen within that area of responsibility that I look at every day. So being able to respond in that way was a good sign, I think, of our alliances, of our partnerships, and the multilateral training that we're doing together. I also traveled to Thailand, to the Vietnam. We've all been seeing the political unrest in Thailand. But it's important, I think, to highlight that the Thai military has responded favorably in support of their government, a democracy that's working through these challenges. My time talking with both the government and the military leadership highlighted their efforts to maintain peaceful democratic processes, and we hope them all the best. The trip to Vietnam marked the first time that a PAKOM commander has visited there since both of our nations, the president, signed the Comprehensive Partnership here in DC in July of 2012. And we're working closely with the Vietnamese military, and we're looking for opportunities to expand and grow our partnerships and work together, especially when it comes to humanitarian and disaster relief operations. It was clear to me that despite our histories as two countries that we share together, that we today and today will always share many common interests. Maintaining peace and security in the region is foremost in their minds as well as in ours. In fact, the second PAKOM sponsored disaster management center opened Vietnam while I was traveling in country, which is indicative of the type of things that we're doing together. And finally, before I take your questions, I'd like to mention my remarks to the Navy's surface warrior convention, the SNA convention that I spoke at last week. As you may or may not know, I'm a surface warrior as well. I have many years of experience in almost every location around the globe. So it's important to me that at forums such as that, that I address the Navy's future surface warrior leaders, hear them and understand what their concerns are, as well as industry that supports them. Because they will ultimately have to buy, man, train, and equip not only the current force we have, but the force of the future.  The comments I made were not about America's rebalance to the Asia Pacific because that is well on track. We're making the progress from the PAKOM commander's perspective. We are doing the things that we have committed and said we would do to the rebalance. But my comments were about the growing sophistication and the capabilities of today's weapons systems and our changing relative dominance with those systems. The rapid technological advancement of warfare capabilities and the proliferation of these capabilities across the globe will challenge us in the future. And we have to continue to address that. We must also ensure that we invest in the proper mix of defensive and offensive capabilities for our ships. And that's who I was talking to were people that man and equip ships. And that the capabilities that they have are both lethal and dominant when required. And they must continue to strive for that. So with that, I'll stop and take your questions. Associate President, Bill, you want to start us off? Sure. I'm getting to that last point that you made. So you do not think that the U.S. is losing seeding ground or losing ground in its dominance in the Pacific to China? And can you speak a bit about your comments on weapons systems? What weapons systems do you think that China is developing more quickly in the United States at this point? Well, China is only one weapon developer in the world. There's many weapons developers. In fact, I've said over time that the end of Asia Pacific is the most militarized region in the world and where there are, because of growth of economies, because of they have money to invest, because of growing defense requirements by countries, they are all in many ways pursuing the militarization. I mean, they're buying weapons and they're buying 21st century weapons. They are not the same weapons systems that we dealt with 30 years ago. They're in this age. And so when we talk about U.S. relative dominance, maybe the right way to look at this would be after World War II, throughout most of the world, we built a U.S. military that was unequaled in technology. And over time, we've contributed our own selves to the development of militaries and development of defense capabilities for peaceful purposes. And we have moved those technologies to other partners and to allies. And so it only stands to reason that our relative dominance in those technologies and those weapons systems will have diminished over time. That's not something to be afraid of. It's just to be pragmatic about it. And so as we look forward to a world that will continue to have defense challenges and we continue to buy, build and procure systems, we have to think carefully about the types of systems and where we make the most investments so that we maintain the type of edge that military leadership in this country have endured for the last few decades. So it's not just about any one particular country. Admiral, I wonder if you can take us back to that incident between the calipans and the Chinese ship, how long ago it was, weeks ago. Tell us exactly what happened there. How dangerous was that situation? Now, we're likely to see more situations like that, as tensions increase in the East China, South China Sea, between China and the U.S. and also Japan. Yes, well, the incident was widely reported. And I think that it was commented on by the leadership here in the Pentagon as well as by me. And in fact, there was a demars that was sent, that we sent formally to, and the demarses are, those are not, those are fairly routine globally when we want to communicate to someone that we've been really concerned about something that has happened. So in this case, there was an interaction in the international waters, in international airspace that we routinely operate in, and that the Chinese were conducting what they claimed to be carrier operations that they believe had been properly notified. Those notification procedures were a question. And I don't think that the people that were on the calipans, in fact, I'm sure were not aware of any notification of that. At any point in time was the situation dangerous. I wasn't on the bridge of the ship, so I can't tell you how the CEO felt about it. I would probably characterize it as more as unnecessary and probably more and unprofessional. But we have to understand, I think, as we look at this part of the world and we look at the growing number of navies that are operating and the growing number of security concerns that are in this region, we have to expect that militaries are going to have to encounter and operate around each other. And in this case, we have to expect that the U.S. and the Chinese navies are going to interact with each other. So this just highlights to both of us, to both the PLA and to the U.S. military, that we have to do better at being able to communicate with each other in a way that allows us to not lead to miscalculation that won't be productive in the security environment. And so we will continue to talk about this. In fact, we're having, we've had defense officials in Beijing the last two days and I'm sure that they have talked about this. We have a mechanism in place with the Chinese where we meet routinely to talk about maritime incidents is how we interact with each other. So will we see more of these in the future? We will interact more with each other in the future. My hope is that we will learn to interact, continue to learn and to progress in the professionalism that we exhibit towards each other. This is the best way forward. Unprofessional, do you mean unprofessional in the part of that Chinese skipper or just a general sense of unprofessionalness on the part of the Chinese Navy? Well, I don't know if it's unprofessional or whether it was a lack of experience. I mean, one of the things that I were, that I've told my leadership and my sea captains is that when we're operating this area, I mean, first we talk to each other on bridge to bridge telephone, right? Radio telephones to work this out. And we speak in English and other countries don't. They speak, they're speaking, or they speak in English, but they're not speaking in their native language. And so there's an extra calculation you have to figure into what someone's trying to tell you when they're speaking the second or third language that they speak and you're speaking in your primary language. And so we have to take this into consideration to make sure that we have looked at all aspects of this. In the end, the US military, my forces in the Pacific AOR will operate freely in international waters, international airspace. That's the bottom line. We'll operate there. We'll operate professionally and we'll operate peacefully for the purpose of peace. And that's the message to all the militaries that are operating in that region. Thank you. India is going for a massive modernization effort for our forces. One of the complaints which I hear from the Indian defense expert is that the US is not willing to share one of the latest technologies equipment which India wants for defending its country, defending its borders. Do you have to say anything on it? And where do you see India's role in your Asia Pacific Rebalance Strategy? Well, if you go back to the defense guidance or the strategy that was signed out by President Obama, one of the things that I'm directed to do is, as the US government is and the military side is to develop a long-term strategic relationship with India. And we're moving in that direction. And one of the cornerstones of that long-term key relationship is to learn how we go forward or to go figure out how we go forward in many of our procurement areas where we share a similar interest and we share similar capabilities. How do we partner together in those? The systems are different and the Indian government and military recognize that their procurement system is different than our procurement system and that we're working through how to streamline those differences or to make those differences not so apparent so that we can move forward with some of the key technologies and key capabilities that we want to develop. And so I think the road ahead is a good road. I don't think we have a plan, but it will take time. And the second part, what role do you see for India's Rebalance Strategy? Well, I think in the long run, certainly the Indian Ocean and India's role in security and the peaceful Indian Ocean is critical. And we welcome that role. And so to the degree that India chooses to take on that role and to participate with us and with other partners in global security with a central focus on the Indian Ocean, this is a good thing. Admiral, I have a question with regard to those sailors who participated in the disaster relief operation off the coast of Japan three years ago. The Congress directed DOD to conduct research about possible, you know, radiation dose for those sailors. Do you have any specific plan how to conduct these research yet? I'm gonna have to refer you to the Department of the Navy for that. Even though I'm sitting here as an Admiral and these forces were in the command of Paycom at that time that we're looking at this issue, I would refer you to the Department of the Navy. I think they have an ongoing investigation to look at what are the things that need to be looked at with a timeline of how you get to resolution. But my guess is that they'll give you an answer that tells you they have a plan and that they're in execution to look at it. Let's go to Paul. Admiral, possibly from the US News and World Report, going back to China for a second, about a year ago in the wake of China testing their new aircraft carrier, you had said that you didn't fault the Chinese Navy for expanding that it was their responsibility to fit into the global security environment. With all that's happened in China this past year, I wonder if you can give us an update on how you feel about their behavior and whether they're on a path to actually fit into that. Well, certainly as I look globally at China, I think there are some positive aspects of how they're using their military forces in a productive way. They participated in Operation Damian in the Philippines. They provided disaster relief. They're operating, I think, more frequently in multilateral exercises that are being done throughout the region. And as we've talked about, they're planning to come to a rampact, so that's still well on track. If you go into the Gulf of Aden, they're operating further away from home and participating in the security in those particular regions. So I think in that context, and by the way, our relationship, I think our bilateral relationship has been, I would give it a passing grade for the last year. And I would say that because we have been able to continue our mill-to-mill dialogue, our mill-to-mill relationships, and our mill-to-mill exercises together, even though there has been churn in the region, particularly in the local region that's close to China. Now, in regard to their activities in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, I think it's yet to be determined about how that will play out. Ultimately, China needs to be a regional leader. Their military needs to be a regional leader. It needs to coexist in that part of the world with our allies and with our militaries. And we need to work together for the mutual security. But I think they're going to have to work hard to get through some of the issues that territorial disputes they're having with their neighbors. And we don't take sides on the territorial disputes, but we do expect them to be done peacefully. And I think they have to think carefully about the introduction of things like aid diseases like they did in the past and how they go forward with that in the future. And to be open and have a dialogue with people before they do it. Thank you very much. I have two questions. In next month, in the United States and South Korea, we'll take a drill for the key reserve military exercises. North Korea has been asked for this exercise to stop. What is the United States position about that? Well, we don't plan to stop the exercises. The exercises are part of the alliance, a cornerstone of how we train and maintain the alliance. So as long as the people and the government of South Korea and the people and the government of the United States of America want this alliance and there's a threat that appears to continue in North Korea, then this exercises will go on. It shouldn't be alarming. It's not a change. We do these every year. And we're going to continue to do them as long as the risk on the Korea Peninsula persists. One question. Do sudden change in North Korea, South Korea and the United States have any specific plan to do that? I didn't understand the question. Sudden change in North Korea in case of a sudden change in North Korea. In case of a sudden change? You know, we've been doing, as you know, when the officials in South Korea will tell you the same is that we do, as a alliance, have done for years, detail planning for many different types of scenarios of what might unfold on the Korea Peninsula. And one of those would be a rapidly changing situation that would require a stabilization of the Peninsula. So that planning is ongoing. We'll continue to be refined this year and next year and as long as the possibility for provocation or possibility for war on the Peninsula exists. Louis. Sir, on the rebalance to Asia, do you foresee any new deployments that would underwrite that strategy? What we seem to have seen really is the replacement or the rotation of assets with the same capabilities as far. Anything new in mind? Yes, well, I mean, I think if you kind of start from the top of the Asia, northeast Asia, first this year, the Japanese and the U.S. will look at the defense review, which hasn't been done since the 90s. And we will look at what that means for the alliance of the future and what the laydown of forces should be. So that's one thing. The second thing is that we appear to be moving in a positive direction on the Fatima replacement facility in Okinawa, where the landfill was signed and we very much appreciate the support of the Japanese government in moving that forward. And once that happens and that facility is built, that will allow us then the realignment of the marine forces throughout the Asia Pacific in accordance with what you refer to as a DPRI plan that has been briefed to y'all, I think, widely. It will allow them some to relocate to Guam and ultimately some to relocate to Hawaii. And then there's the initiative with the Marines and the Air Force that we are pursuing with our Australian partners as well. So that's kind of on the land domain. We're also looking at the infrastructure that we have together with our allies over in each of our alliance countries to ensure that our shared infrastructure or the infrastructure that they have and that we would partner with them to use is set for the 21st century. So on top of that, we have the additional deployment of LCSs, the first one that we sent, I think kind of on an early timeline, has finished and that deployment has been, I think, overall successful. And that will follow in the number of months once the LCSs are in place into deployments of up to three or four out of Singapore at any particular time. So these are just kind of on the periphery. We're also, I've also asked each of the services to go look at each of my components, service components, to look at how do you maximize the force that we have in being today as it rebalances to the Asia Pacific. So we have initiatives in the Marine Corps. We have initiatives in the Navy, which means LCSs and additional submarines. And I think that long-term we would be looking at the possibility of foreign deploying more maritime assets throughout the theater. Well, the Army, which is kind of new to the Asia Pacific in the last couple of decades, is looking at opportunities of how do you take an Army that is coming after out of Afghanistan and has been in coin operations for the last, basically two decades, and to put them in the Asia Pacific in a meaningful way that allows them to partner with our allies and with our partners and our growing strategic partners in a meaningful way and have them available for crisis-responsive necessary. So there's concepts like Pacific Pathways are being talked about. They're concepts at this point in time, but overall I'm supportive of these initiatives. So we have a lot going on. We've also looked around the edges of things that we do that maybe don't get quite so much splash, but we've looked at maybe re-inlining some resources to the Asia Pacific Center, which is a great venue for us to bring in our partners and our allies, military and civilian leadership to talk about our shared security interests. So that's kind of a nutshell, a few things we're doing, but the plan is on course. Yeah, just on two fronts. On the Korean peninsula, what was behind the decision to increase the number of forces there with that armored unit? And then I have a question about you trying to see it. Yeah, well, the decision to do the rotational armor unit there was not prompted by any particular change in the tactical or strategic environment on the peninsula. It was looked at from a army component perspective is how do you best maintain the capability on the peninsula in the century we're in with the resources that we have in a way that would be most effective support for General Skapperadi and his CFC team there. So it got played out like it was a big strategic move, but in reality, it was just part of the pre-planned decision we'd made in the alliance to make sure we had the most capable forces on the peninsula in the way that we're reflective of the way we rotate, we're increasingly rotating and using forces in this century. And then on these trying to see how would you assess the current state of tensions between Japan and China? How much of a risk is there that a miscalculation of some kind of incident could trigger a conflict? Well, I am concerned. I would say that I think there's any time you have two large powers, two large economic powers, two large military powers that have a disagreement that they're not talking to each other about that has no clear diplomatic end state in sight, that the risk calculation can grow because you will have, in this case, you have primarily maritime security forces that are in and around those contested islands. But those are, in many cases, those are young naval officers or young civilian mariners who are out there gonna making those decisions. So we have to continue to encourage restraint. We have to continue to encourage professionalism. And we have to continue to hope that there will be diplomatic dialogue and a solution to this because it's not productive for the region and it needs to be ultimately resolved. Yes, sir. Thank you very much. For a question about the East China Sea, have you talked to your Chinese counterpart about the ADIZ? How did they respond? Did you send another round of military flights to this area? Thank you. Yeah, the question of where we have, we talked to the Chinese about the ADIZ, the answer to that is yes. The question is, did we know about it before they established it? We're not directly notified. And we certainly were not, the fact that they established an ADIZ, I think is less concerned to me than the way that it was done. It would have been better if it had been announced and had been discussed with the neighbors and with the partners in the region. And it had some caveats inside of the way they established that we fundamentally don't agree with and will not acknowledge. So our operations have not changed. And we will continue to operate in international airspace and do our operations just as we do around anywhere else in the world, not just in this part of the world. Admiral Collin-Clarke, Breaking Defense. Did the Chinese test a hypersonic vehicle and how would you assess the strategic impact of such a test? Well, I didn't see the test, but I'm told that they tested it and you all reported it pretty widely. So I believe there's credibility in your reporting. The Chinese, as other nations, are pursuing hyperglide, hypersonic technologies. And so the fact that they are testing, I think this is just one of many, as I talked about earlier in my remarks, this is just one of many highly technical militarized systems that, whether the Chinese are developing or we're developing them or Europeans are developing, that will continue to complicate the security environment with high technology systems. And we will have to figure them into the calculation of how we're going to maintain a peaceful security environment in the future. I think we have time for one more question, sir. Hi, Bagan Moranian from Defense News. Good to see you again, sir. Two-part question. First, are you convinced that the Chinese, in the event of an incident, whether it's an incident between Japan and China, for example, or between us in the future, Calvin's incident that ends up somewhat more sporty, that they're actually going to answer the phone and they have the crisis response mechanisms in place because one of your predecessors, going back about 12 years ago, found nobody was really answering the telephone when something really bad happened? And I have one follow-up question after that. Well, I think you'd have to ask the Chinese on the PRC if they're going to answer the phone or not. What do you call, do they answer the phone now? Yeah, I would say that both in the region and in our mill-to-mill relationship that we need to move forward to allow that type of direct dialogue in crisis situations. We've said this on many occasions. I know that Chairman Densey, Secretary Hagel, and at that level that there are an occasional attempt and opportunities to have dialogue at that level. And would that work at the time of a crisis? We would hope it would work. But internal to the PAKOM AOR, I don't have the ability to pick up the phone and talk directly to a PLA or PLA Navy admiral or general at the time of a crisis. And we need to work on that. So we've talked about it, but things take time. The other question is, it seems as though we repeatedly are surprised when things like the aid has happened. Are we, on our part and with our allies, doing enough to imagine what next is coming out of Beijing and figure where we need to be collectively so that it's a little bit more of a joined up response because there has been a little bit of criticism in how the response was? Are we doing enough to think ahead as to what, frankly, if you look out there, Beijing is fairly logically and consistently trying to achieve over the long term? Well, I guess if we keep you surprised, we're probably not doing enough. But we're working at it. I don't think we were necessarily surprised by the aid is, as you I think that's a mischaracterization. I think we anticipated that there could have been. I mean, that there were some signals, at least in some open press, that there might have been an opportunity for an aid is to be established. I think we were a little bit surprised by the way it was announced and the manner it was, how fast it was sprung on the region. And the fact that it was an aid is that it just kind of was directed at one central issue, not just the general defense of someone's territorial airspace. Sir, I think we reached our time. I don't know if you want to make one more. I'll take one more. Since I was late, that's a. Yes, sir. Thank you. You were so worried about the North Korea and their unexpected behavior. So how do you evaluate their WM, the capability, and their young leader? Well, I think that the young leader is, for me, is very difficult to determine. In fact, unpredictable, I believe, is the best way I would say. I think that his behavior, at least the way it's reported and the way we see it in senses, makes you would make me wonder whether or not he is always in the rational decision-making mode or not. And this is a problem. It is a problem because of the continued nuclearization of the country, the continued pursuit of missile technologies, which threaten not only the peninsula but threaten the region, and eventually now will threaten the globe if it's not constrained. So in the end, we must demand the total denuclearization of North Korea. It's in the interest of not only South Korea and the United States, but of all the people in the region, and now in the best interest of everybody in the world. So the way ahead with the new leader there is not clear to me. But I think that it is a potentially very dangerous place. Thank you very much.


In the 1950s and 60s, taxpayers poured billions into new road construction. In the 70s and 80s, the system aged, while the size, vehicle weight and volume of traffic grew. The latest figures available indicate highway maintenance costs local and state governments $20 billion a year. That amounts to about one-third the total highway program cost. Experts also predict maintenance costs will double in the next eight to ten years. Why? There are two major reasons. First, maintenance work covers an ever-increasing range of activities. Besides repairing pavement, removing snow and ice, painting, mowing and sweeping, there are rest areas, size, lighting, sophisticated electronic equipment, guard rails, barriers and more. And the number of devices and equipment keeps increasing as traffic volume increases. Second, while the traffic volume is increasing, the system is aging. The volume increases further compounded by a rapid growth of goods being moved by trucks. What's more, greater volume and more trucks means greater danger and a need for nearly fail-safe highway maintenance operations. The result? Higher maintenance costs and greater hazards for maintenance workers. To address this growing problem, in 1987, Congress created the Strategic Highway Research Program, or SHARP. The purpose of the SHARP research, of course, is to help state governments and city governments and county governments perform a better job with the tax dollars they have available. And we are losing a lot of national productivity because of delays in traffic and because of hazardous problems that may exist on the roadway, from potholes to resurfacing projects, etc. We need to get in and get out quicker than we ever have in the past. And we need to do a better job than we have. We need to know that when we fix a road, it will stay fixed. But we do know that it ought to be possible to measure in a meaningful way the effectiveness of different surfacing techniques. The same is true of ways of preventing injury to work crews. We started almost day one saying this exercise, this high visibility, high cost, short term exercise has to have products. And so we believe that there will be improved methodologies for paving roads, for repairing bridges, for winter maintenance, things that people care about and that cost an awful lot of money. It was the top managers that we must do research in these areas. We need these results. It's those same top managers that will see that those results are going to be implemented out there. The SHARP research program was created by Chief Administrative Officers to better equip each state with the ability to solve today's problems and especially tomorrow's problems. That's the importance of SHARP. We funded this program with all the states as partners. They are the owners. And as they start using these innovations in the programs in the 50 states, they will be really managing for the future. SHARP's highway operations research covers two major areas, maintenance cost effectiveness and snow and ice control. Long after the SHARP research in these areas is complete, the results will live on as new products and procedures that will bring us cost savings and greater public satisfaction. How will we reduce costs? By improving safety and productivity. For example, SHARP is testing more than 20 prototype safety devices such as barriers, lights and signs. Barriers often need to be deployed quickly, but existing barriers are heavy and require extensive equipment and manpower to move. A hollow, lightweight plastic barrier may solve the problem. Water or sand is added at the site to provide the needed mass. It may save time, money and improve safety. Too many maintenance workers on foot are injured each year by out of control vehicles entering the work zone. A new personal protection trailer may provide an enclosed, protected maintenance area. Many other workers could be saved injury if they had some advance warning. Ultrasonic or infrared detectors could sense a vehicle entering a work zone. Then a siren would provide workers 4 to 7 seconds to clear the area. Other maintenance workers are injured in moving maintenance areas. A moving taper may provide the answer. It's a snake-like series of 20-foot trailers hitched together and towed by a maintenance vehicle. Snowplow operators and motorists are sometimes involved in accidents because they fail to see the edge of a plow blade. Such accidents might be avoided with electroluminescent light strips mounted on the outer edges of a snowplow blade. A substantial number of serious accidents involve motorists who collide with the rear of slow-moving maintenance vehicles. An interesting safety-related optical illusion may provide a solution. The verging lights of increasing size mounted on the rear of a vehicle will make drivers feel they are approaching the vehicle faster than they actually are. They should slow sooner and avoid rear-end collisions. Improved maintenance equipment using automation could increase safety and productivity dramatically. It might also reduce costs and stretch existing maintenance forces. As a result, traditionally labor-intensive activities would be streamlined. Faster, longer-lasting repairs are a key to greater productivity. Several sharp researchers are investigating new high-tech materials. These include a rapid-curing polyurethane-based substance that can be dispersed through pneumatic equipment and is ready for traffic in 10 minutes. And are ready to use premixed cold patch designed for wet or dry pavement and hot or sub-freezing temperatures. It's ideal for winter use. The familiar advertising slogan You Can Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later describes the challenge facing maintenance engineers. They decide the when, what, and how of applying proper maintenance treatments to help prolong the life of the pavement. Six techniques are being tested. Thin overlays, chip sealing, slurry sealing, crack sealing, joint sealing, and under sealing. Findings will indicate the best fix for a given pavement condition to extend pavement life and minimize costs. Application methods are also being studied. The result will be a comprehensive manual with guidelines on each technique, when each application is most advantageous, and descriptions on how to perform the technique. A Preventive Maintenance Bible for Pavements Winter brings its own set of expenses. One of Sharp's main goals is to find ways to reduce the use of de-icing chemicals. That means developing new, more efficient snow plows, plows that will move more snow faster at less fuel cost and with better visibility to reduce accidents. Sharp is studying the mechanics of the snow plow and how it actually displaces snow. They will devise an optimum design based on considerations such as how the snow compresses ahead of the plow, the shape of the plow, and energy needed to throw the snow clear of the roadway. A newly designed plow will mean more efficient use of energy and less re-handling of snow. Best of all would be to keep snow off the road in the first place. Snow fences have been around a long time. Sharp researchers are studying exactly how they work. The result will be improved guidelines for their use. Increased use of snow fences as a passive snow control method may mean improved safety through better visibility and safer road surfaces. They may also reduce the costs associated with mechanical snow removal. Other researchers using a controlled environment are developing evaluation procedures for de-icing chemicals. The result will be environmentally safer, more efficient use of chemicals. They are also working to understand the ice substrate bond well enough to find better ways of breaking that bond. In many ways, the elements that affect cost savings also affect public satisfaction. Better signs, warning devices, and other safety advances will reduce accidents that cause injuries to drivers or create backups. Faster setting, cold patching, and sealing materials will improve workforce efficiency and minimize repair times. All of these improvements will mean reduced congestion. Longer lasting materials for construction as well as repair will mean fewer repair jobs overall. If we can reduce the use of chemicals, we protect our drinking water and the environment in general. New storm monitoring methods and equipment may provide more precise predictions, so we'll know which roads to treat first and in what manner. Remote sensors and processing units will send continuous data to control centers. Using this real-time, local data along with National Weather Service information, highway agencies will be able to better deal with snow and ice. Sharp is developing guidelines for the use of sensors, road weather information systems, and more. As you can see, Sharp's goal is to help highway agencies manage the future. There are many more projects. The United States, Canada, and other countries are cooperating in this highly focused effort. And as the products reach the users in each highway agency, we're sure to see cost savings and increased public satisfaction. It's a big effort, but the potential payoffs are worth it.


Good evening everyone. It's so a pleasure to be here tonight and to share this lovely, really lovely restaurant and it's my first time to do a talk in a restaurant environment. I just think it's so relaxed, it's so nice we should do this more in the future. So I'm so glad to share with you about my project, which is a silver shoppers, and how we can use design to improve the supermarket service for older customers. Okay, quickly about, you know, go through about background and research in mastologies and some of the key findings of our shopping stories. Okay, so I say we all know about, you know, the world is aging. By 2050, the number of people classified as old in the world could rise over 2 billion and this show you about from 1991 to 2031 about the increase of aging across the different areas of the UK. And if you look at the China, which is the biggest aging society in the world and this map show you about the aging growth between 1982 to 2010 and the map show the darker color shows the more percentage of the older people which is classified as over 60 years old. And when we put the UK and China together and you can see for the UK is by the, same by the 2050 for the people who are aged over 65 in the UK will be around 24%. And in China is 26%. So you can see it's really global trend of aging. So as we know, when people getting older and due to the different generations the current older people are different comparing with the previous older generations. For the current generations they become more healthier and also they have more economic power and they're willing to spend more for shopping, especially for grocery shopping. And at the same time from the human factor perspective they all experience different kind of, you know, limitations or the difficulties of limitations in the kind of hearing or moving mobility issues or the flexibility of the fingers or the kind of cognations and the different types of human factors. And also comparing with the younger shoppers, they do have a relatively higher loyalty to the stores. So if they like to, for example, if they like to go to witchholes they're more likely to stay with witchholes for their grocery shopping. They might not go to Sandsbury's or Tesco's. And also they prefer more about high quality food than before and that might be relevant because they have a kind of more manager's stand for shopping. At the same time some researchers mentioned about they like to do a joint buying decisions. So sometimes they go shopping with their friends or with their families so they like to make a kind of group decision about what to buy. So because of these differences lots of researchers suggest about the retailers must take age into consideration when providing a product or services to this ageing generation. So therefore it is important to continually updating of knowledge of what are the required and what are the amat needs from this group of people. So for this research we aim to investigate the older customers shopping experience and in order to identify what are the challenges and the difficulties they face and how design can be used to improve the supermarket environment and the service for this customer segmentation. So the key kind of element we focus on are what are their shopping experience so what are the currently they're facing during their shopping journey and then how we can use inclusive design so which means we're providing a design solution not only satisfy the older generation but also would be useful to the younger generation as well. And so based on this research aim we've had this kind of long journey we had this project since back to 2013 so we start from literature review and based on some first groups we try to understand what are the kind of issues and the older shopper face from the old customers and also from the retailers perspective by using first groups and based on the result from first groups we designed an ethnographic user study which we ask the older participants to do some diaries so because we want to know not only about their in-store shopping we want to understand what are the big pictures behind their shopping behaviour so for example you might have exact the same store setting provide exact the same service or products however if the store is located in an area in the city centre have very good communication about services or if you have exact the same store but in an area which they have no bus services so for the second case only the older people who have access to the car they can go to the store but for the people who don't have access to a car they might not be able to go to that shop and also we find out lots of people they combine their shopping journey with their journey to their GP appointments or they go to the post office or on the way or on the way back from the church so we try to understand the big picture out of their kind of traditionally understand about shopping journey which more focus on the in-store so from our research we are kind of start our observation from their home how they prepare for their shopping and how they go for shopping and how they do their shopping in a supermarket store and once they've done that how they go home and how they put back their shopping stuff into the fridge or into the cupboard so that is our definition of a shopping journey and so for the user study we've asked them to write some diaries to record about what are their daily routines or what are the activities they do and then we also ask them to do some shopping inspection cars and so we give them some like weekly based tasks for example we want them to focus on the shopping trolley or the shelf in this week and we give them three cards we ask them about firstly what are the issues and secondly and how to improve these issues we name that as a kind of list card so list issues second card we name that as a traymate so we'll ask a question about if you will be the manager of this store how you will improve the issues of trolley design and then third card we call it as a score card so we give them some questions and we ask them to rank about for example how do you think the size of the trolley if you're really satisfied give five stars and if you're not satisfied give one star and we have those cars examples in the corner so if you're interested you can have a look about those diary cars and the inspection cars apart from the cars recording about the shopping experience we also video observe the way of how they do shopping so we're wearing a very small GoPro camera on the chest and we follow the whole shopping journey from home to store and then back to home so from that we can see lots of their kind of motions about how they do shop exactly and after the observation we interview them and we try to understand what are the kind of logic behind it for example if they are standing in front of the shelf for two minutes and we want to know what they were thinking at the moment and we want to know about whether they are calculating the price or whether they are searching any of the items so based on those user study we develop our questionnaires and we launch our questionnaires in the UK and China and we got the preliminary results we have some posters there to show you the key findings if you're interested you can have a look and then based on all of those research results we've encouraged the design students from Qinghua University in China and Brunel University in the UK to design some new ideas which can be applied to improve the supermarket service and environment we also have those posters so do have a look so that's the whole methodology so sampling so this map shows the ageing of the UK in 2014 where we planned for our user study so in the UK we have the ANIC, we have SureSpirit and the Western Dot Set as our research site because that has a relatively higher percentage of older people and in China we have Nanjing, we have Chengdu and we have Qingdao as the three regions for our research and this is a kind of participant engagement process start from recruitment, we do the diary we do the observation and the interview and then by the end we collect everything from them and we give them a hundred pound reward which is the shopping voucher from our industrial partners so because we don't have much time tonight I just want to quickly show you some of the key findings from our project website so this website is one of our previous exhibition which we were a part of the London Design Festival 2017 the exhibition just finished by the end of September so I've got the magic finger here if I go to the link I think Silvia is helping me to do the magic if I go to the exhibition showcase the second one if I go to the methodology and the key findings and if I go to the second poster so here are some of the results from our questionnaire that shows about from the UK we have 237 responses and from China we have 303 responses if we move down to the page and from the gender part you can see in the UK we have relatively less of the male participants and in China we have relatively higher so we assume that in China the older gentlemen are more likely to enjoy or join the shopping activity than the UK and if we move down so this poster just shows about some background of our participant between the UK and China and the interest to one is for example here the question asked do you have a computer or tablet at home and in the UK that is really a very surprise result it shows about 65% of the participants from the UK they say yes and they use a computer or tablet the previous literature is almost like 20% or 30% older people they do use a technology such as a computer or tablet but this is a really surprising result and in China 25% people say yes they use it but from the China side the interesting one is the second one they say yes I do have one but I don't use them so in China 52% just over half of them say I do have a computer but I don't use them so which shows they do have the economic power to have one but there must be some reasons to stop them to use them or it might be their children purchase for them or it might be the children use them for online shopping so that's kind of some very interesting result so I'll just give you some examples every information is online and we do also have the posters over there I'm also happy to show you more detail to explain to you during the break time so if we go back to the showcase and if we go to the solution and the products so in here we displayed all the new ideas and product concepts from the design students and for example this is the vending freezer example so this is kind of a response to the problem about when older people they say when they open the freezer there's always cold air come to them and also when you open it and you might just close it and when you start searching you might just open it try to not put it back and close it but when the warm air get into you got kind of frocked about the glasses so you can't see it at all so you might have to open it and clean it and then close it again because you don't want to have all the cold air all the time so you clean it, you close it, you search again so in order to simplify that kind of very interesting maybe it's good for exercise but not good for shopping so the students suggest about this vending machine freezer if you move down a little bit so with this kind of a vending freezer a customer can just push the trolley down into the middle of here and they just need to choose which product they want and the product will automatically drop down into the trolley so that's one of the solutions so I'll end my presentation here but I'm really really happy to discuss with you about more details during the break


Thank you Father Dave and thank you for coming out and coming to this retreat to refresh yourself so you could be be a blessing to to all those you serve and Father Dave makes a sound like like they had to twist my arm or something like that to make time for this conference but it is such a delight for me I never turned down the opportunity to be able to talk to priests because I love the priesthood and was myself a Protestant pastor for a number of years love the ministry of preaching and I know that you fathers are out on the front line and anything I could possibly do to give some encouragement to you that are fighting and slogging it out in spiritual battle day by day on behalf of the church militant I want to be able to do that and to be part of the encouragement process so it's real delight for me to to be with you this morning and we've got a great topic we're gonna be talking about Jesus as the face of the Father let's begin in prayer in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen Heavenly Spirit fall down in us now Heavenly Father send the Spirit to anoint our hearts and to anoint to these words and to open our eyes and our hearts that our hearts may burn as those men who walked on the road to Emmaus as you broke open the scriptures to them help us to see what it means that the Son is the face of the Father and help us to to assimilate that and to let it grow and shape who we are as men who seek after your heart we ask this through Christ our Lord and the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit amen so I'd like to begin this morning hopefully you have the handout and our main text is going to be from John 14 during the last supper discourse and our Lord said to the 12 let not your hearts be troubled believe in God believe also in me in my father's house or many rooms if it were not so what I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you and when I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am you may be also and you know the way where I am going and Thomas said to him Lord we don't know where you're going how can we know the way she has said to him I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but by me if you had known me you would have known my father also hence forth you know him and have seen him Philip said to him Lord show us the Father and we shall be satisfied Jesus said to him have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me Philip he who has seen me has seen the Father how can you say show us the Father it's from this text and other similar that we often speak of our Lord as being the face of the Father as he says he who has seen me has seen the Father and Pope Emeritus Benedict reflected on this passage on on the idea of Jesus as face of the Father in several of his audiences which you can find if you just Google Benedict the 16th face of the Father you find a two or three audiences in which he reflected on this profound theme this text has a lot of meaning to me because of my personal history with one of my best friends in the course of my life a very close friend from high school in fact in high school of course I was a Protestant my father was a Navy chaplain but one of my closest friends was Catholic and a devout Catholic Lector and stayed faithful to to the moral teaching of the church did not use bad language fasted during Lent the whole the whole Catholic lifestyle even in a very secular environment in Hawaii as we were growing up unfortunately after high school we went our separate ways and different things happened to me and different things happened to him about 15 years later I ended up coming into the Catholic Church while I was at the University of Notre Dame and one of the first things I wanted to do was get back in contact with my good friend from earlier in my life and give him the good news that I had seen the light and I come over and so I tracked him down and sent a message and oh my goodness when I got the reply it was very cool and I thought in a sense of you know at arms distance I thought oh something has happened and sure enough in those intervening 15 years I came into the church and he went out and we had various discussions and at one point we were exchanging letters back and forth and talking about the faith and he wrote to me and he said he quoted this verse I am the way the truth life no one comes to the father but by me and he said I reject the salvation offered by Jesus Christ because it is exclusive it excludes other people right it's too arrogant and of course that hit me pretty hard right it's one of two times in my life where I've witnessed a person a friend up close explicitly reject our Lord and it's a very disturbing experience but I'm grateful for this his response caused me to think about this text and to really ask the question is Jesus arrogant because he says I am the way to the father is Jesus arrogant because he says he has seen me has seen the father is that just a pride trip is that kind of a religious chauvinism that you and I you know go around and saying our our leader is better than your leader our leader knows the true way and you guys all have false ways you know that just a matter of our own hubris but after years of pondering this it began to come to me why it's not because let's look closely at what our Lord says he does not say I am the way to God in some general sense or he has seen me has seen God but I am the way to the father and there's a distinction because our Lord is the only founder of a world religion who teaches us that God is father now that strikes a lot of people are strange in America because we just assume that say Islam is some kind of modification like Christianity it's like basically like Christianity except they got five laws instead of the Ten Commandments and so on you know this is what my plumber told me when he was working on my house he graduated from another Catholic University which will remain nameless and so we're talking about religious like oh yeah you know 12 years of Catholic school I went to such and such university from a different religious order that shall remain nameless and he says oh yeah the Muslims are just like us you know we got the Ten Commandments they've got the five pillars of Islam blah blah blah right so we assume that all these other religions they're all teaching the way to the father no no so let's talk about the founders of other world religions Muhammad does not teach that God is a father in fact it's dogma in Islam that God is not a father and God has no children outright rejection of the revelation of the father Buddha to many American surprise was not even a theist he was an agnostic about the existence of God for him the existence of God was not the main matter of concern for the for the Buddha the matter of concern was to liberate your soul from the cycles of reincarnation and so he taught a path of virtue and temperance and mortification etc that would enable you to break the cycles of reincarnation but as to whether there was a God or not that was a matter that he never came down firmly on you know subsequently you know centuries and centuries later Buddha got virtually divinized by some of his followers but that's not what he taught and we could go on and on you know Confucius Confucius didn't really set up a religion and he too was an agnostic about God loud to founder of Taoism in China another big world religion at least in China God is just kind of a force like in Star Wars you know and you die and you get back absorbed back into the force and it's like that for many Eastern religions which some of which are kind of polytheistic on the front end and pantheistic on the back end so by the time you sort it all out God is just this force so it's surprising I was actually surprised went through checking out getting books and checking out the world our Lord is the one the only one the only founder of a faith who claims not just that God is like a father you get that in a few but that he is father so that's what our faith offers our faith offers to the world the way to God as father not the way to break the cycles of incarnation not the way to submit to Allah the master of the universe but the way to God as father that is the good news that's why it is good news to find that the basis of all reality is one who loved you so much that he sent his son for your salvation not somebody else not creating a demigod not sending an angel not showing you some path that did not involve sacrifice for himself but loved you so much he sent his son for your salvation that is the offer of Christianity so when you line up the world religions in the in the marketplace okay we're selling different fruit if you want the apples of Allah they're down there if you want the kumquats of Buddhism they're down there we're selling bananas booth in the whole marketplace selling bananas if you're the only one selling bananas it's not arrogant to say I'm the only banana vendor the way to bananas that's not arrogance it's just a statement of fact that religion offers you this that religion offers you that if that's what you're into go but if you want the way to the father that's what we're selling if you want the way to the father the only way to the father is through Jesus Christ can I get an amen thank you can I get another one more for the toilet Trinity thank you the only way to the father is through Jesus Christ not arrogance it's a statement of fact our Lord is the only one who teaches that God is a father some other religions might say that there's a father like God but not a God who sent his son as a sacrifice for our sins not a God who is simply like a father but is father a God who is the essence of fatherhood from which human fatherhood is just kind of like a rough approximation that is unique not Allah not Vishnu not Brahman none of those are the father and so this is how Jesus shows us the face of the father when we see Jesus for who he really is the son sent from the father who loves us then we begin to understand the heart of the father you know we look at the cross and it's very common to say we look at the cross and we see the love of Jesus on the cross we see the love of Jesus in the crucifix but you know what also in the cross and in the crucifix we see the love of the father and I wish that was stated more commonly I wish we taught that more the love of the father because you know what a lot of our kids in CCD and whatnot you know what they're thinking I think like Jesus loves us but the father was mad you know the father wanted to zap us you know what Jesus said no no no zap me the father zapped him and said what kind of notion of God is that what kind of understanding the nature that's not how it was okay we almost have we almost have a perverse notion of what divine fatherhood is it's it's only a psychopathic father okay that delights in harming his son for a true father no look for a true father okay a true father would rather suffer than watch his son undergo suffering and we've not let that percolate adequately in in our spiritual psyche two of my sons were born with double cleft upper palate condition that basically meant they came forth from the womb without a roof on on their mouth and then a kind of profound bisection of the upper jaw and for that condition you have to have surgery fairly quickly within six months to start doing repair on the lip and then after a year you do work on the palate and so I've been through this with two sons going in with a six month old son and you're gonna put them under for surgery and the problem is since they're six months you can't communicate to them what's going on you can't explain to them that this is for their ultimate good or that everything's gonna be okay so when you give the child over to the nurse and the child is looking at you what's going on you know you're waving bye bye to your baby and in goes your son into the OR right and then you wait and I was a little bit better prepared for this the second time but the first time when I was taken back post-operative and saw my son for the first time it white as a sheet with with the stitching and on the face and yeah the poor little baby boy there I started to get light in I started to go down and nurses run up grab my arm you help me down into a chair I would have much rather gone into the OR myself sign me up right now okay well mr. Berger will let you take the surgery and said yep I'll do that thank you no problem okay much rather than watch the son go through that now we don't want to be pat your passion is right we know it's a it's it's a formal heresy to say the father suffered on the cross but it's a divine mystery something that John Paul II explored what is this mystery of the suffering the father because there's language that suggests grief in the heart of the father and in the Bible and so this is a great mystery to us but in the gift of Christ on the cross behind that scene we have insight into the heart of the father who was willing to make a greater sacrifice than self sacrifice the sacrifice to see his only beloved son be rejected suffer curse suffer re suffer punishment on behalf of the sins of his adopted children that fathers and brothers is a profound mystery when we gaze on the cross we see the heart of the love of the father in a way that cannot be comprehended also in the face of Christ on the cross we come to a knowledge of who God is without the coming of Christ we wouldn't we would know a lot of what God is okay but we would not know who God is looking on our sheets here St. Paul tells us what can be known about God through natural reason without revelation right Romans 120 famous verse ever since the creation the world his invisible nature namely his eternal power in deity has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made so they are without excuse and St. Paul goes on to enumerate the sins of humanity so St. Paul insists by natural reason by looking at the sky and the universe we could come to a knowledge of what God is you know eternally powerful omniscient omnipresent but that's a description okay that's not a face that's a description like the police out in Steubenville looking for me right looking for a suspect Caucasian 170 pounds blonde blue that might be enough for them to find me in about 15 other guys but that's a far cry from a face right so looking upon creation looking at natural reason it gives us you know a dispatcher description of what divinity we're looking for looking for a suspect omniscient omnipresent omnipotent but it doesn't give us a face does it and we want more than just a description we want a face see it there's one good thing about the German language which I had to study in college German language makes a distinction between ways of knowing so if you know a subject matter that's Wissen Wissen schaft that's science Wissen schaft that's scientific so all my Bible scholarship from the Germans was Wissen schaft can have it anyway that's visit if you know a person that's Kennan so you'd never say I ich weiß a Joe no you'd say ich weiß a theology you know I know theology but if you know Joe then I can a Joe okay this is personal knowledge right and from nature we can get Wissen about God but Kennan about God personal knowledge that comes through Jesus Christ and in the scriptures Jesus Christ is the one who gives us the face of God that goes with the name of God and you know to really know someone you need to know both their name and their face don't you you know this is the real this is the real problem for me the first five years of teaching here for like a 04 to 09 I can remember all of my students you know they come in and there is like they're all engraved on my heart the sixth year in the fall I walked into class I looked at 60 new freshmen and PBS one survey of Old Testament and I could almost physically feel a little spring go in my brain I in the brain who like files things said I quit I can do this anymore you're on your own now and I just have not been able to keep up since I can't keep faces straight I see students that look like former students Sarah no Christie no and stuff like that so I can't I have such trouble keeping the and I'm sure you experience this I'm sure you try to learn all your parishioners names and and periodically hi father you know I remember you when you confirmed me or baptized yeah you wouldn't remember when you baptized I don't remember something about you like oh who is this and you're real kind and they walk away and as you walk it back to your car like oh that's so we all experience that you need to know the name and the face well when you go into the Old Testament very interesting you find out that in the Old Testament God revealed his name you're Moses XS 314 God said to Moses we know this this is the passage of the burning brush and Moses saying what name shall I give to tell them about the God who sent me God says Moses said tell them I am who am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you and so what's revealed to us here is the name of God and I think it's appropriate you know this this is very much like in the Greek tradition the one necessary being the one whose essence is his existence the one who necessarily exists who lives in the eternal now neither future nor past who was and is and is to come as St. John writes in Revelation expanding on the idea of I am who am so this is the name of God but the face of God is not revealed in the Old Testament Moses wanted to see the face in Exodus 33 verse 18 after making intercession after making a kind of Christ like intercession in fact to the to the father for the people of Israel in which Moses even goes to the point of offering his life on behalf of Israel but the Lord declines and then Moses says to the Lord I pray these show me thy glory and he said I will make all my goodness past before you and will proclaim before you my name the Lord and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy but he said you cannot see my face for man shall not see me and live and the Lord said behold there's a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by then I will take away my hand and you shall see my back but my face shall not be seen and that's the closest anyone in the Old Testament comes to seeing God oh yeah you know you'll read in the book of Judges or in some of the prophets where you know somebody will see the angel of Lord and they will say I have seen God or they'll see God in a vision but we have to read the Old Testament according to the tradition which comes down to us from from Judaism before us and in the tradition of church and standing on Exodus 33 the Jewish tradition unanimously held these other purported sightings of God that we have in various places the Old Testament these were visionary these were mediated okay in various ways through an angel through a mental vision but Moses came the closest and he only saw God's back which we don't know what that means but it means in some way saw God's presence without seeing it directly and that's as close as anyone gets see communion with God in the garden out of an eve walked with the father in the cool of the day and presumably could gaze on his face but through our sin in the garden thereafter in the Old Testament the face was withdrawn and so we could say the drama of most of scripture is the journey of man back to see the face of God and David one of the great saints of scripture he articulates this desire to see God's face the direct view of God is song 27 8 thou has said seek my face my heart says to the thy face Lord do I seek and again Psalm 42 I'm missing verse 2 on the handout but you're familiar with it as a heart longs for flowing streams so longs my soul for thee oh God my soul thirsts for God for the living God when shall I come and behold the face of God so David on behalf of all the saints of the Old Testament expresses this desire to see God's face and yet the face of God remained hidden in these times hidden as we see in the tabernacle because in the tabernacle proper which was a tent divided into two sections there was a curtain that divided the holy place from the Holy of Holies and the direct presence of God remained enthroned above the wings of the cherubim above the Ark in the Holy of Holies and there was no source of light it was utter darkness behind the curtain in front of the curtain in the holy place there was light with the lamp stand and on the other side the showbread the twelve loaves of bread laid out on a golden table and in the holy place there was light and there was an altar of incense which represented the prayers of the people and the priests could enter there and make intercession and burn incense upon the altar but there was no light when you went behind the curtain and so even though the divine presence was there nothing could be seen and that was symbolic of the reservation of the full revelation of God in the Old Testament now as far as entrance into the Holy Holies went only once a year did the high priest go back into the Holy of Holies and that was on the holiest day of the liturgical calendar the day of atonement Yom Kippur and on that day the high priest would go back in behind the curtain into the utter darkness and their sprinkle blood upon the mercy seat for his own sins for the sins of the priestly house his brother priests and for the sins of the whole people and then when he would exit the Holy of Holies and the holy holy place he would walk out in later times this was within the temple walk out into the temple courts and there from a raised platform he would pronounce the priestly blessing for number six which are so familiar this is our Old Testament reading on January 1st so many times we've heard this proclaimed in the liturgy but this is the priestly blessing the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron and his sons that show you bless the people of Israel you shall say to them the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace thus they shall place my name upon the people and I will bless them the Lord says so the name is proclaimed because the name had been revealed in the Old Testament and the name was placed on the people in fact by the time of our Lord this ceremony on the day of Atonement was the only time of the year when anyone in Israel would phonetically pronounce the name of the Lord and every time that they heard the name of the Lord pronounced they had prostrate so here pronouncing the thousands gathered in temple courts drop from which we get the practice of reverencing the bow of the head etc at the holy name of our Lord but any event by time our Lord this is the only time when the name was pronounced but look in addition to place it to the mention of the name there is also the mention of the face twice in verse 25 the Lord make his face shine upon you and in verse 26 lift up his countenance upon you now I don't know why they translated differently in English but in the Hebrew in both cases it's the face the Lord lift up his face upon you is literally what verse 26 says but here in these verses is expressed as a wish may the Lord do this for you but the face is not revealed in the old covenant it is the coming of Christ then that is the answer to this prayer for blessing uttered by the high priest on the day of Atonement every year and we can see such a profound prophetic aspect to that after having made Atonement with the blood of bowls and goats which cannot wash away sin the high priest would exit and bless the people with essentially a prayer that at some point God would make his face to shine upon them and that happens when the one who can make Atonement comes and shows his face and St. John is so excited about it that he writes about it at the beginning of his gospel no one has ever seen God everybody knows what that is that's a put down on Moses Moses you're pretty good man but sorry never saw him saw the Promised Land never saw God no has ever seen God but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he has made him known this is great stuff and that's why when you read through the introduction to the Gospel of John there's all this seeing that goes on as the first disciples are being called they ask him Rabbi where do you stay in verse 39 he says them come in see they came and saw where he was staying they stay with him that day for was about the 10th hour Nathaniel said to him later in that same chapter can anything good come out of Nazareth Nazareth Phillips says to him come and see Nathaniel comes Gia speaks to him here is an Israelite in whom is no guile etc and he says you are the king of Israel and Gia answered him because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree do you believe you shall see greater things than these truly truly I say to you you will see heaven opened so in the Gospel of John the Apostle at the end of his life is still so excited about the coming of Jesus in which we can see the face of God and our desires from old from the old covenant can finally be satisfied that he writes in all this seeing all through his gospel culminating of course in the climax of the passage we read at the beginning Gia said to him have I been with you so long and yet you do not know me Philip Philip might probably felt pretty bad at this point I'll sit around the last supper and nobody really wants to ask any questions but you know Philip screws up the courage he's gonna ask I don't really know where you're going don't you know me Philip I've been taking classes for three years and apparently haven't gotten the basics down James is snickering over there I know better Philip I don't ask questions anyway for Philip but I'm glad he asked the question because he gives the Lord opportunity to teach us do you said how I've been with you so long and yet you do not know me Philip he who has seen me has seen the father how can you say show us the father so at last the cry of David the cry of Moses is answered in the face of Christ now what is this what does this mean is this mean that just looking at Jesus you had instantaneous knowledge of the mystery God obviously not because our Lord in his physical body walked all around Israel many people looked at him and completely did not get the message so even when our Lord is speaking at the last supper he has seen me has seen the father to truly see the father required something more amen something more than simply physical sight even there required faith you know sometimes people and I have students like this they think oh if I could have just been back in the times when our Lord was walking around Israel you know then it would have been easy to believe not necessarily he didn't look like God he had no form or comeliness that we should be drawn to him right there were challenges to faith when the Lord was walking among us how can that man who can be scarred who can be wounded and couldn't experience hunger etc and says challenging things that we don't always understand how can he be God that's pretty tough to believe actually in millennia of hindsight and reflection there's in some ways we have greater clarity and there's there's some motives for easier belief now we've had a chance to ponder but it's always been an act of faith and to see the father in the face of Jesus has always required something more than physical sight but our Lord proclaimed the last supper he who sees me has seen the father but what does that what does that do for us now okay because he's ascended like oh that was nice the cry of the man of the Old Testament was answered for 33 years and now we're back to square one right so how do we see the face of the father now well you know it's interesting the way that we see the face of the father through the face of Christ was actually prefigured already in the Old Testament because as I said the divine presence remained in the obscurity the darkness of the holy of holies but in the holy place there was light that light was provided by the lampstand the the seven flames of the menorah and of course we know that in the New Testament the flaming fire of the menorah becomes a symbol of holy spirit and that Pentecost from the tongues of flame come down I mean this is my speculation okay I think God was making a menorah out of the apostles 12 candlesticks okay or the Holy Spirit illuminating the divine presence but in the light of the Holy Spirit which operates with our faith what were you able to see in the holy place able to see the bread of the presence in my old King James and I was growing up that's all we use when I was growing up was good enough for St. Paul it's good enough for us King James old school Protestant tradition we use King James they call it the show the shoe bread okay but in Hebrew it's the lechem hapanim okay let me write that down you can go back and use this your money's worth out of the conference lechem hapanim bread of the face the bread of the presence was the bread of God's face what bread in which we can see the face of God why 12 loaves of it it's the mystical body of Israel as people and in the light of the flame of the Holy Spirit you were able to see the bread of the presence of God oh that's interesting I wonder where this is going let me point something out interesting in John 14 on the front of front of our outline in verse 8 Philip says to him Lord show us the father and we shall be satiated there's only one other place in the Gospel of John where this particular Greek word for satisfaction is used I guess John 6 I heard it yes that's right the feeding of the 5,000 and what is the context by the way for this discourse where Jesus is talking about seeing his face instituting the Eucharist all right and so it's in Christ who leaves his presence with us in the Holy Eucharist that we continue to see his face and through him the face of the father and not only John points that out but as we all know that famous passage in Luke 24 walking on the road to Emmaus he comes along beside them and they're still in the old covenant he hides his face from them right they don't recognize him so the the old covenant status has not yet been released for them so they walk along and he breaks open the Scriptures to them as they walk you know as a prototype of the mass the liturgy of the word proceeding the liturgy of the Eucharist which is coming and he breaks open the Scriptures and as we find out later their hearts burned within them right charismatic heartburn hearts burn within him as he's breaking open the word because as he's breaking up on the word he's helping them to make the transition from the old to the new and then evening comes and he makes like he's going on they say no stay with us the day is long progressed bring him into the home they sit down at the meal he takes bread he breaks he blesses using words from the institution narrative and as we read here in Luke 24 30 when he was at table with them he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him the bread of the face and then he vanished out of their sight why does the operation cease why does it what does he vanish from their sight when the bread is broken of course because the bread of the face has now been given to him his presence will remain with them forever in the holy Eucharist and so it is for us at every celebration of mass it always strikes me what are we commanded to do at the high point of mass what are we commanded to do behold gaze always strikes me this is the answer to the cry of the human heart behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and behind the Lamb of God we see the heart in the face of the father who loved us so much to give up that lamb son which struck him to his very heart that is the beauty that is the beauty of the mass why does Jesus leave his presence to us as bread I think there's there could be great fruit for meditation on this why is bread the face of God in the new covenant again we know it's not just physical sight many look at the physical Eucharist and are not converted and are not persuaded I think they sit long enough to get a sunburn and come around but but many see the Eucharist it's so it took and it takes eyes of faith but let's remember it always has taken eyes of faith even when our Lord was president is in his physical body during the 33 years always taken faith but what does it mean that God leaves his face to us in bread so let's think about the nature of bread what is bread well it's people food animals don't eat bread they don't make bread so bread is a very particular kind of substance it's a substance made for human nourishment and there's profound meditation in that we do not live by bread alone but every word that comes forth from the mouth of God it's God who gives himself to us as nourishment bread is the most fundamental food in most cultures so God gives himself to us as our fundamental source of life bread doesn't kill you you can't be stabbed by bread okay be pretty hard to kill anybody by beating them over the head with bread you know the only way you can die of bread by refusing to eat it so that tells us something about the nature of God okay where does death come from death comes from turning away from him turning away from the free offer the free offer of life and you know as I was meditating on bread in preparation to talk it occurred to me you know bread is very approachable bread is very non-threatening they never make horror movies about bread you're watching and the heroin here's a thump in the closet she gets up of course she's gonna investigate right starts walking across the room reach you for the knob of the closet it's a lot for we bread never have movies like that they make movies about killer tomatoes personally if I find broccoli intimidating but that's not even going to zucchini but but bread it is so approachable the welcoming heart of the father okay the father from whom no sin can exclude us sin is self-exclusion sin is refusal to come and to be nourished but the father loves us so much the father has provided everything for our nourishment there's a humility about bread as well you know it's not a wedding cake it's not filet mignon it's not great poop on it's not yeah crème brûlée so there's a humility which speaks to us about the humility of Christ which reveals to us something profound again about the nature of God the heart of the father so we can make our own meditation this is something that we can do in prayer and think why is it in the providence of God that he reveals himself through the face of bread but but fathers and brothers this this day let us understand that there is only one way to the father and that's no arrogant statement because nobody else even claims it it's not even being sold by any other booth the one way to the father is through Christ he showed us the face not only the name but the face the character the love the virtues the nature so we don't just have a description but we understand the person we don't just listen but we can who God is we enter into communion with him and he has not left us without his face but in the mass that we will celebrate in a few moments at this conference we are gonna be commanded yet once again to behold the face of God in his sacramental presence may God grant us the grace to see the face of the father through Christ's Eucharistic presence which will remain till we see him face to face in glory amen in the name of the Father and the Son the Holy Spirit amen


In my youth, I briefly dabbled with Ocarina of Time. I want to believe that due to the difficulty of the game I gave up early, instead choosing to watch my brother play. As I got older, I always had a faint memory of two moments in the game, the master sword and young Link's home. But there was some sort of magic about the lore and the land of Hyrule that I had always remembered, which had me wanting to fully explore the game for all that it was. That alongside its incessant praise being hailed as one of the best games of all time. So about a month ago, I bought Nintendo 64 and booted up Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, my very first Zelda game for the first time, technically. From the second I started it, simply hearing Epona's majestic galloping and the enchanting opening chorus from the title theme, I knew this game was going to be a journey. Ocarina of Time really instilled a sense of a classic adventure into me, following a hero's journey who needs to save his world from corruption. The lore of Hyrule felt rich and I particularly enjoyed the mythos surrounding the Triforce and the Six Sages, and the theme of Time really stuck with me. Ocarina of Time follows the hero of this series, Link. As young Link recedes his call to action by the great Deku Tree, a cursed and dying tree who was cursed by Ganondorf, the big bad of the game, the Deku Tree tells Link that he must fulfill his destiny and save Hyrule, and first he must visit Princess Zelda. He is given the quest to find the spiritual stones, which are the keys to the Sacred Realm, where the Triforce is stored. The Triforce is able to grant any wish, and it is made up of three values that embody the three Golden Goddesses, Din, Nehru, and Farore, power, wisdom, and courage. An individual needs the three spiritual stones, the Master Sword, as well as the Song of Time with the Ocarina of Time to enter the Sacred Realm. So Link ventures around Hyrule, visiting Kakariko Village, Goron City, and Zoro's Domain, and Link makes many friends along the way. For me, the game's narrative really found its footing when Link finally reached the Master Sword. As he pulled the artifact from the pedestal of Time, the young Hylian finds out that he is not of age to wield the sword, so he instead gets put to sleep, and awake in seven years later, when he can become the hero of Time. The catch is that when Link entered the Temple of Time, Ganondorf entered the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf followed him, as he had retrieved all of the items, Ganondorf slipped into the Sacred Realm and touched the Triforce, however in order to harness its full abilities, one must have a balance of courage, wisdom, and power. Because Ganondorf didn't have this balance, the Triforce then broke into three pieces. Ganondorf wielded the Triforce of Power, the quality he possessed the most of, and the other two remaining pieces were of course the Triforce of Wisdom and the Triforce of Courage. The Triforce recognized his heart and transformed the land of Hyrule into a land of darkness, as it was his heart's desire, and I will forever be a sucker for time-skips, so watching member-chirred Link awaken was so much fun to see, and with him, a new mystical hero emerged alongside him, by the name of Sheik, who would quickly become my favorite character. Now with Hyrule shrouded in darkness, it is up to Link to harness the power of the Six Sages and to defeat Ganondorf. In this time, Link visits the Forest Temple to awaken Saria, the Fire Temple to awaken Darunia, the Water Temple for Princess Ruto, and finally Impa and Naboru, who are the keepers of the Shadow and Spirit Temples. And Rauru, who woke Link up, was the Sage of Light. As Link finished awakening all the Sages, the Seventh Sage emerges as none other than Sheik, who was actually Princess Zelda in disguise. She was not only the leader of the Sages, but Princess Zelda also wields the Triforce of Wisdom, and Link wields the final Triforce, the Triforce of Courage. Zelda as Sheik quickly became my favorite character. The three things that drew me to Sheik were her character design, her theme, and her wisdom. The design was similar to Impa's, as they were both Sheikas, but her mysteriousness represented by her covered up and stealthy design so gravitated me towards her. Second was Sheik's theme. The soft yet imposing harp-like sound on the entry was so calming in a game that is chaotic in nature. The game made it known that when Sheik's theme plays, there is a sense of safety and serenity in it. It was like a sigh of relief. And finally, Sheik had some of the most insightful and powerful lines of the game, which truly showed Zelda's wisdom in full effect. Moving back to the story, however, once Sheik revealed herself as Zelda, she then gets found and captured by Ganondorf. And Link must journey to the Baron Hyrule Castle to defeat Ganondorf, save Zelda, and to save Hyrule. Link defeats Ganondorf, and then with the aid of Zelda, defeats Ganondorf's transformed self, the entity Ganon. With the help of the six sages, they seal Ganon away, and Zelda returns Link back to his younger self in his own time. And at the end of the game, young Link would meet Zelda once again in Hyrule Castle. And I don't know why, but I expected the game to let me free roam around Hyrule, but instead the game gets grayed out with the end of this enchanting story emblazoned in the middle of the screen. Ocarina of Time was a story about coming of age and a story about courage. Link was only a little boy when he received the quest to save Hyrule, where he immediately had to push his childhood and his innocence to the side and assemble the courage to face many dangerous challenges, to save a land that was as foreign to him as it was to the players. Though, because that sense of danger didn't feel urgent, this allowed me to appreciate the different areas I was in. But as Link aged, his quest became more pressing as the world turned into darkness. Many of the good times and friends he had made in his younger days weren't there waiting for his future. So in that sense, Ocarina of Time was a bittersweet story. Its affiliation with Time makes me truly value the days that Hyrule wasn't yet lost. And with the game mechanic of being able to jump back and forth when Time really highlighted this. After spending a long time with the older Link, being able to go back to the Temple of Time to turn back to Link's younger self resonated with me. Because in that time, I went back to Lon Lon Ranch to see Malon and her father, Goron City and Zora's domain were populated and the market was full of life. And with that, introduces one of the thought-provoking quotes made by Sheik. The flow of time is cruel. Its speed seems different for each person, but no one can change it. A thing that doesn't change with Time is a memory of younger days. In adult Link's land, it is plagued by Ganondorf's malice. Malon is imprisoned in Lon Lon Ranch. Both Goron City and Zora's domain are empty. Link's friends back home in the Kokiri Forest can't even recognize him. The market is a barren wasteland and the princess is missing. And I remember after Link's awakening, being eager to go and see how everyone has grown and changed. And to find these places desolate and empty was sad. But that memory still exists with Link. And while he can always go back and relive it, he can never change his past. But that good memory can never be changed for exactly that purpose. It is meant to be there as a stagnant memory and a reminder that his future can be changed, that he can never forget those times. Through hard trials with adult Link, he is able to find his former friends who have grown in their own right. Particularly Princess Ruto, the once bratty princess in her old age has now changed. And to that, Sheik says the following. Time passes, people move. Like a river's flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition. Young love will become deep affection. The clear water's surface reflects growth. Time has changed not only the world as Link knows it, but the people inside it too. Link's ambition was unwavering, but those around him have grown nonetheless. Ruto has now become guided and her love that she had for Link seven years prior was now even stronger. And this quote by Sheik accurately and elegantly described the flow of time. And the final Sheik quote I will look at is before she plays the bolero of fire. It is something that grows over time. A true friendship. A feeling in the heart that becomes even stronger through time. The passion of friendship will soon blossom into a righteous power. And through it, you'll know which way to go. Ocarina of Time is a lonely game. It's the lone hero running around trying to save Hyrule. While he definitely has a lot of help, you spend the majority of the game in silence and in solitude while accompanying you with a beautiful soundtrack. Though you are alone, Link is always being pointed in the right direction by friends. And that becomes even stronger the further you delve into the game. They are important. From Saria to Zelda, Impa, Darunia, Malin, Aboru, Soran and so forth, Link is never truly alone. When he is able to remember the passion of all the people that he's helped or have helped him, they become his strength. And finally, I want to look at the soundtrack. Ocarina of Time has one of the best video game soundtracks I have ever heard. It has a unique quality that I still can't put my finger on, that has stuck with me ever since I played it. As this being my true introduction to the series, this portion of the game elevated it from great to unforgettable. The music alone was able to breathe so much life into a game, into a story without speech. From the second the game was booted with the title theme, every village, every dungeon, every location had its own sound. And that sound told a unique story. Lon Lon Ranch's theme was the story of Malin, her father, and Ipona. The Lost Woods and its timeless melody sets up the woods' unpredictability. Sora's Domain's theme gives the serenity and coolness of water. The Latin touch of the Gerudo Valley theme gave them culture and style. Not only were these songs appropriate for their location, they're simply beautiful songs. Every time I hear the Great Fairy fountain theme, I remember the magic of Hyrule, and how I felt taking Link into such a unique space with such unique properties. And the one theme that I think is now etched into my brain is Zelda's lullaby. A true lullaby that I can now safely associate with the series as a whole, a lullaby that brings feelings of safety and the calm elegance of a royal family all in one. As told by Vincent E. Rhone, the harmony of the lullabies is a fitting, deliciously unassuming tribute to the complexity of the princess. The addition of the ocarina makes it clear that in the land of Hyrule, music has special properties. All of these serenades, allergies, and boleros, as well as an instrument that can help control time, help further elevate and display the power of music in this land. And by having the player not only learn, but actually play these melodies, help keep these songs in your mind and as the game ends, closer to your heart. This story of adventure and discovery is etched even into the gameplay. The endless puzzles, treasures, and attention to detail grant fulfillment to the players after completing a dungeon like Jabu Jabu's belly or the tedious water temple. It is that same feeling of accomplishment I felt when I saved Hyrule. The design of the game had both simplicity and innovation, which brings much of its critical acclaim. It was the first of its kind in many aspects of game design, camera function, level design, and even world design. Narratively, Ocarina of Time is a coming of age story. A story of growth, destiny, friendship, and Link's unique relationship with time and with growing up. We all grow up, and Ocarina of Time was a different kind of adventure. For the kids of the 80s and 90s, I see the importance of this game. It carries so much life and light. At times this game is loud and at times quiet, all when necessary. Ocarina of Time was an inspiration, inspiring kids to be like Link, the hero of time. To understand that journeys will take time, and that time works differently for each of us. To some, time is gentle and to some it is forceful. Those kids would soon find out that memories of their younger days in the land of Hyrule will never be forgotten. Most of all, I think this game inspired these kids to have courage. For those who are courageous are the ones who succeed. Like Link, courage is silent. It is not spoken, rather it is an action that we must consciously perform every single