#Use it. Do not forsake it and let it rust. It is our means of communication

[marishistoricalyappery]

One of the things that captivates me about the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike is the quantity and quality of the alternative media that was produced. See, because the Miners were contending with the whole force of the Thatcher government at the time, with newspapers and police intimidation bludgeoning their activity and intentions, they sought to create their own means of representation. This took form in pamphlets, posters, placards, badges, ceramics, banners, many of which were made independently and in an amateurish way. This art does not typically denote the refinement of graphic design elements. Rather, the art is a spontaneous and immediate expression of statements, means of communication, that needed to be voiced because no other outlet would enable it and other outlets would misrepresent it.

This art was birthed out of necessity to communicate cause in a manner that was easily legible, accessible, and achieved any means possible. The art, in a way, is a form of guerrilla propaganda. There is a profound aspect of class war to the Strike that I don’t think is paid anywhere near enough of the recognition that it deserves, rather it’s sometimes swept under the rug. The strike was a response to a sustained effort to destroy society* in the definition of it being a collective of people who share experiences. The shared experience, so it became, that enabled this collective solidarity among the Miners and the Support Groups was that of oppression and a sustained effort to break them.

Strike Art championed resilience, conviction, and solidarity.

*This is referencing Margaret Thatcher’s notorious statement in which she claimed, ‘There is no such thing as society.’ While she claimed that it was taken out of context, the outcome of the policies that were carried out in her time and as part of her legacy certainly reflect the meaning that people took from the statement, especially the destructive intentions she had; one needs only to refer to the language used in media publications and by Thatcher herself, delegitimising and vilifying the strikers by infamously referring to them as ‘The Enemy Within’. This was no doubt to sew divisions between communities, to spur on feelings of uncertainty and fear, and to justify the brutality with which the Strikes were quashed, and with which strikers were treated. Why would anyone be troubled by the implementation of brutal policing to quash the enemy? This is why it was essential that the Strikers had their own voice. Art was the means to have a voice.

[scribeforchrist-blog]

Being Content In God

MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK

=========================

+ John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God

=========================

VERSE OF THE DAY

========================

+ Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

=========================

SUBJECT: : Being Content In God

=========================

** SAY THIS BEFORE YOU READ; HERE’S SOME CHRISTIAN TRUTHS **

I AM SEEKING GOD DAY AND NIGHT

I AM KEEPING MYSELF FREE FROM MONEY

I AM BEAUTIFULLY, WONDERFULLY MADE

I AM FREE

********************************

THOUGHTS:

=======================

 There's so much in the world we can have. There's so much to buy; so many different things are coming out, and we talked a few weeks ago about being content. Still, we all find it hard to be content in a world that offers all these new things. Some of us have never had anything so expensive, and some of us have, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want more.

      Still, some of us realize that having less is better, and some of us haven't caught that idea of having less because we feel that if we have less, I'm poor, and that’s not true. That means you know the value of your time, and you know the value of what this stuff means, which is nothing. I have never been without anything, and I remember that one time briefly in my life when I needed help, no one wouldn’t help me. No one cared to, so I had to struggle by myself.

    I wasn’t a Christian at the time, but I felt and knew I needed him, but I was too stubborn to ask. I was too stubborn to go to him because I knew if I went to him, I couldn’t play this back-and-forth game with him; my dad said, Lui, don’t play games with God if you for him walk that line if your not for him, don’t do it. I always lived my life like that, but what I learned from not having those things I thought I needed ,that I didn’t need them that even in that part of my life, I realized he was there.

  God is going to be there for us. Regardless, some of us refuse to let him in; even though we DON’T let him in, we are still God's children. Some of us feel I have all these treasures, and I have all these things. Why do I need him???

 Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

   The word tells us not to lay our treasures on earth because things here will be destroyed or stolen. I used to have this violin. I spent $5,000 on it was #12 in the world. I named him Allan and bought this costly bow made of horsehair. I stopped playing, and my parent packed it up in a bin. And one day I went to get it out because I wanted to play with it, the bow was broken because it’s a type of bug that will get on the hairs of the bow and will destroy it and I forgot about that, that expensive bow is gone now I must get it restrung.

  Do you see, no matter what I did to protect it from blocking those bugs or trying to block anything from harming it, the things of this earth still got to it, and that’s what the lord is telling us today; it doesn’t matter how much you protect the things here, it doesn’t matter if you have security stand outside your house, or you put something in a safe to keep it from robbers it don’t matter what we do it still won’t last.

   Proverbs 11:4 Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.

  The Lord is telling us today that riches won't do us any good in the day of wrath, it won't save us from hell, it won't help us with God, he doesn’t care what we have in our account. We must leave our riches behind and allow righteousness to save us from death. Walking a life free from the pride of life and the lust of the flesh is what we must do to enter heaven. We must live a life worthy of him and not what we want to do.

  Nothing will save us from what will happen, but God can protect us; he’s the only one who can keep us from spending eternity in hell; he’s the only one who can comfort us through our sorrow. He’s the only one who can give us what we need, but we shouldn’t expect wealth from God. We should expect , compassion, mercy, and grace because that’s what we need most of all; it would be nice to have a large sum of money, but where is your heart right now if we die? Where will we go?

  Ecclesiastes 5:10 Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This, too, is meaningless.

  Even if we have everything and all the money in the world, we won’t be content, look at famous movie stars; they aren’t happy they are just rich, and we have seen time and time again they are just happy not filled with joy they are just miserable and they are happy for a moment not for a life time what we can get from God can fill us with so much joy for a lifetime but if we think for one minute that money can save us, we are wrong.

 ***Today, we learned that we need God to save us and that Jesus' blood, which he shed in Calvary, is all we need. What saves us is believing in Jesus and knowing he loves us so much. The Holy Spirit wants us to understand that we can’t protect ourselves from the things in this life, but we can save ourselves by giving our lives to God.

   The enemy wants us to think we need everything to live and that money makes us happy and sure it will buy things we want, but that’s about it, but the things we buy can’t save us from hell, nor can they change us, and complete us ,when we see people that are about money and that’s all they talk about they have issues with this, and this is what we should avoid doing is becoming people that are about money because money can come and go but God love stays forever . ©Seer~ Prophetess Lee

========================

PRAYER

========================

Heavenly Father, we thank you for everything; we ask you to give us your love and strength; help us not look for money to complete us but look for you and your grace and mercy. Father, please remove the spirit of mammon away from our lives; help us to focus on you and not anything else; lord, forgive us of the sins we have done; help us to seek you day and night; lord, we love you and thank you. In Jesus' Name, amen

========================

REFERENCES

========================

+ Proverbs 13:11 Wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whoever gathers little by little will increase it.

 

+ Luke 12:15 He told them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

 

+ 1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

========================

FURTHER READINGS

=========================

Proverbs 29

2 Timothy 3

Acts 3

Genesis 50

=========================

[what-the--curtains]

Playlist - Chapter 1

1. Pressing Flowers - The Civil Wars (Waiting at the Beach)

I got a secret that I might tell, It'll give me away

Soak up the color of the midday sun, While the ocean sings

You and I, Well we're just pressing flowers. They're dying, but they're ours

2. Puddle - Weaves (Talking with Shri)

I traveled across my emotions to find out what's right

We sat on that bed and discover our virtues inside

3. Down by the River - Milky Chance (Walking to the Reaping)

Down by the river I was drawn by your grace. Into depths of oblivion and to the lovers' place

I was sucked in a puddle full of tears and unwise. Dark doings, now I know that we've paid unlike

4. Swinging Party - Lorde (Volunteering/walking to stage)

Here it's never ending, Can't remember when it started

Water all around, I never learned how to swim now

If being afraid is a crime, we hang side by side. At the swingin' party down the line

6. Up with the Birds - Coldplay (Seeing Shri on the gate)

Might have to go, where they don't know my name Float all over the world, just to see her again But I won't show or fear any pain Even though all my armour, might rust in the rain

5. Sloom - Of Monsters and Men (Goodbyes)

To be asked to take this plunge, to forgive and forget And be the better man, to be a better man, to be a better man

So make all your last demands for I will forsake you And I'll meet your eyes for the very first time, for the very last

So love me mother, and love me father, and love my brother as well

7. Scotland - The Lumineers (On the train)

They all need something to hold on to, they all mean well Pay your respects to society giving me hell

You could never feel my story, It's all you know

I will not fold, She's in control

8. Glory and Gore - Lorde (Ceremonies/Careers)

Now we're in the ring, and we're coming for blood

Glory and gore go hand in hand, that's why we're makin' headlines

Delicate in every way but one (the swordplay). God knows we like archaic kinds of fun (the old ways)

You could try and take us. But we're the gladiators

We'll always win at this, I don't ever think about death. It's alright if you do, it's fine

"Secretly you love this, do you even wanna go free?" Let me in the ring, I'll show you what that big word means

9. Lakehouse - Of Monsters and Men (Staring over the Capitol)

Oh, I miss the comfort of this house

[wisdomrays]

In Order Not to Feel Remorse When It Is Too Late

QUESTION: It is stated in the Qur’an that wrongdoers will feel remorse on the Day of Judgment: “On that Day, the wrongdoer will bite at his hands, saying (with remorse), ‘Oh, would that I had taken a way in the company of the Messenger. Oh, woe is me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so for a friend!’” (al-Furqan 25:27–28). What kind of mistakes is this remorse related to? What are the points to be careful about in this world, in order not to feel remorse in the next one?

ANSWER: The verse begins by referring to “that day,” a dreadful one, and then describes how a wrongdoer will bite at his hands in remorse on such a day of grimace and grief. “Biting at one’s fingers” is an idiom in Arabic and it describes a state of remorse in deep feelings of woe, grief, and yearning.

Then the wrongdoer will express his deep regret for not having followed the way of the Prophet: “Oh, would that I had taken a way in the company of the Messenger.” His regret, however, is not limited with that; he will further express his remorse by saying, “Oh, woe is me! Would that I had not taken so-and-so for a friend!” That is, “I wish I had not fallen in with such and such wrongdoers and unbelievers and sided with them. I wish I had not followed in the footsteps of evildoers and transgressors and thus taken the wrong way!” However, saying “I wish” in the next world will not help at all. On the contrary, it will double the remorse. In other words, as it will only mean wasting one’s breath, it will only add to the suffering. Just as those words can be uttered in the Hereafter, they might be uttered when the dying person’s soul comes up to the throat as he is about to leave this world for the intermediate life of the grave, the first step toward the eternal afterlife. No matter when they are uttered it is definite, however, that these words express deep remorse by somebody who blatantly wasted the great chances that they had.

The greatest kind of regret

Even though there are many sins and wrongs that will burn people within and make them say “How I wish” with a deep sorrow, the foremost of them is unbelief, because the entire universe proclaims God—letter by letter, word by word, phrase by phrase… When somebody leaves aside all biases, gives a fair ear to creation, and tries to read this universe like a book of wisdom, they will discover that everything in the universe points to the Almighty Creator. Owing to this evident truth, the great scholar Imam Maturidi stated that even the peoples who did not have a Messenger from God to guide them are responsible for knowing Him. Nevertheless, even if such people cannot know God Almighty in detail with His Attributes and Names within the framework of a Divine teaching, they can come to the conclusion that this splendid universe has a Creator. Umar ibn al-Khattab’s uncle Zayd voiced this thought before the advent of Islam: “I know that there is a Creator, but I do not know what am I supposed to do. If only I knew what He wishes me to do, so that I could exert myself to carry it out.” In short, the greatest “I wish…” to make one seized with remorse is to give one’s last breath as being devoid of faith.

Forsaking faith after having found guidance is another grave sin to make one grimly say “I wish…” in the next world. There is a thin veil between belief and unbelief and there is always the risk of finding oneself on the other side with the slightest move. For this reason, we believers ask from God for guidance to the Straight Path forty times in total through the five Prayers we offer every day. And then by stating “to the path of those whom You have favored,” we wish to be on the path of the rightly guided ones. As stated in another verse (an-Nisa 4:69), those whom God has favored are the Prophets, truthful (siddiq) ones, martyrs, and righteous (salih) ones. This is the wish we repeat forty times a day. Right after that, we seek refuge in His greatness and mercy and ask for being saved from deviating "to the path of those who have incurred His wrath and of those who are astray." It is nothing but a delusion to be confident for having found right guidance and to see oneself immune to a possible fall or deception by Satan. Nobody has a guarantee to keep on the righteous path until they give their last breath. People who feel confident at this issue put their own faith in danger. A man who does not worry about his end is a man to be worried about his end. For this reason, one must shake with the fear of straying to unbelief after having found guidance and be constantly vigilant about it. A believer should constantly implore God not to leave him or her alone with his or her carnal soul and seek refuge in Him against whisperings and goading of devils. Faith is an invaluable treasure that makes one eligible for Paradise, gains the good pleasure of God, and lets one witness Divine Beauty. There are jinn and human devils lying in wait to steal it. What befalls believers is to treasure their faith, protect it against attacks, and being constantly alert in this respect.

The weaknesses that can make one sink into the ground

As love of status or fame is such a virus, fear is no less powerful. The same goes for greed, racism, egotism, laziness, and love of comfort. Given that each one has the potential to bring a believer down, having all of these does not make one just fall, but rather makes one sink deep into the ground. Even a person within the circle of faith is under the constant risk of being overtaken by them. For instance, love of fame can easily mar the essence of the good deeds a person does in the name of serving faith. Another person can present distinguished works and secretly wish to become famous, which eventually makes him sink deep into the ground. In addition, giving in to such negative feelings invites other types of negativities as well. For example, if love of fame seizes a person, you cannot know what further sins it will cause that person to commit. All of these are possible dangers within a circle of faith, and they will cause grim remorse in the next world. One who lays personal claim on the success granted by God, as a result of failing to adopt the principles of sincerity as guidelines, will say, “I wish I had not fouled up all of those good deeds for the sake of worldly appreciation and applause; I wish I had not set sail to the void for the sake of nothing! I wish I had not be taken by deadly currents…” They will agonize in useless woes and laments of perpetual remorse. Grimly, their wail will be to no avail; on the contrary, it will only double the suffering of their misfortune.

Shields to protect from feelings of remorse in vain

For this reason, believers should act sensibly in this world. On the one hand, they should count being saved from unbelief as the greatest favor of God; on the other hand, they should shun from the alleys that may cost them their faith. The Messenger of God stated that every sin leaves a dark spot on the heart, which can cover the entire heart in time (unless removed through repentance). Every dark spot forming on the heart is an invitation to another one. In the Qur’an, God Almighty refers to the hearts contaminated and darkened with evil: “…By no means! But what they themselves have earned has rusted upon their hearts (and prevents them from perceiving the truth)” (al-Mutaffifin 83:14). If people do not remove sins darkening the heart through repentance and asking forgiveness, God Almighty will seal up their hearts: “God has set a seal upon their hearts…” (al-Baqarah 2:7) and “…a seal has been set upon their hearts” (at-Tawbah 9:87). These hearts become unable to receive anything from the pure message descended from heavens, and they end up continually saying “How I wish…” in the next world. In order not to fall into the grip of useless remorse, what needs to be done here is trying to carry out the responsibilities of servanthood to God without any flaws, in a balance of fear and hope. Realizing this depends on a heart in awe of God. The Messenger of God referred to a certain man and stated that if his heart had been in awe of God, so would have been his body parts. Awe of God in a believer’s heart will be reflected in the behaviors of that person; in time, even the body parts of that believer begin to shake with the awe of God—so much so that this shaking can be perceived by some in the iris of their eyes. On the one hand, a believer doubles up on feeling the greatness of God; on the other hand, if he or she trusts the immensity of His mercy and leads a life of such sensitivity and balance, this will be a means of deliverance from woes and regrets in the next world.

If we make mention of Him everywhere we go and make our gatherings blessed with His name, and make our time gain a depth uncontainable by dimensions, then we put a stop to so many negativities that might make us feel regret in the other world.

[jwilsonmajorone2020]

Catullus Poem 64

Pines once sprung from Pelion's peak floated, it is said, through liquid billows of Neptune to the flowing Phasis and the Aeetaean territory, when the picked youth, the vigour of Argive manhood seeking to carry away the Golden Fleece from Colchis, dared to skim over salt seas in a swift-sailing ship, sweeping the blue-green ocean with paddles shaped from fir-wood. That goddess who guards the castles in topmost parts of the towns herself fashioned the car, scudding with lightest of winds, uniting the interweaved pines unto the curving keel. That goddess first instructed untaught Amphitrite with sailing. Scarce had it split with its stem the windy waves, and the billow vexed with oars had whitened into foam, when arose from the swirl of the hoary eddies the faces of sea-dwelling Nereids wondering at the marvel. And then on that propitious day mortal eyes gazed on sea-nymphs with naked bodies bare to the breasts outstanding from the foamy swirl. Then it is said Peleus burned with desire for Thetis, then Thetis despised not mortal marriage, then Thetis' sire himself sanctioned her joining to Peleus. O heroes, born in the time of joyfuller ages, hail! sprung from the gods, good progeny of mothers, hail! and may you be favourably inclined. I'll address you often in my song, you too I'll approach, Peleus, pillar of Thessaly, so increased in importance by your fortunate wedding-torches, to whom Jupiter himself, the sire of the gods himself, yielded up his beloved. Did not Thetis embrace you, she most winsome of Nereids born? Did not Tethys consent that you should lead home her grandchild, and Oceanus too, whose waters enfold the total globe? When in full course of time the longed-for day had dawned, all Thessaly assembled and thronged his home, a gladsome company overspreading the halls: they bear gifts to the fore, and their joy in their faces they show. Scyros remains a desert, they leave Phthiotic Tempe, Crannon's homes, and the fortressed walls of Larissa; at Pharsalia they gather, beneath Pharsalian roofs they throng. None tills the soil, the heifers' necks grow softened, the trailing vine is not cleansed by the curved rake-prongs, nor does the bull tear up the clods with the prone-bending plowblade, nor does the sickle prune the shade of the spreading tree-branches, squalid rust steals over the neglected plows.

But this mansion, throughout its innermost recesses of opulent royalty, glitters with gleaming gold and with silver. Ivory makes white the seats; goblets glint on the boards; the whole house delights in the splendour of royal treasure. Placed in the midst of the mansion is the bridal bed of the goddess, made glossy with Indian tusks and covered with purple, tinted with the shell-fish's rosy dye. This tapestry embroidered with figures of men of ancient time portrays with admirable art the heroes' valour. For looking forth from Dia's beach, resounding with crashing of breakers, Ariadne watches Theseus moving from sight with his swift fleet, her heart swelling with raging passion, and she does not yet believe she sees what she sees, as, newly-awakened from her deceptive sleep, she perceives herself, deserted and woeful, on the lonely shore. But the heedless youth, flying away, beats the waves with his oars, leaving his perjured vows to the gusty gales. In the dim distance from amidst the sea-weed, the daughter of Minos with sorrowful eyes, like a stone-carved Bacchante, gazes afar, alas! gazes after him, heaving with great waves of grief. No longer does the fragile fillet bind her yellow locks, no more with light veil is her hidden bosom covered, no more with rounded zone the milky breasts are clasped; fallen down from her body everything is scattered here and there, and the salt waves toy with them in front of her very feet. But neither on fillet nor floating veil, but on you, Theseus, in their stead, was she musing: on you she bent her heart, her thoughts, her love-lorn mind. Ah, woeful one, with sorrows unending distraught, Erycina sows thorny cares deep in your bosom, since that time when Theseus fierce in his vigor set out from the curved bay of Piraeus, and gained the Gortynian roofs of the iniquitous ruler.

For it is said that once, constrained by the cruelest plague to expiate the slaughter of Androgeos, Cecropia used to give both chosen youths and the pick of the unmarried maidens as a feast to the Minotaur. When thus his strait walls with ills were vexed, Theseus with free will preferred to yield up his body for adored Athens rather than such Cecropian corpses be carried to Crete unobsequied. And therefore borne in a speedy craft by favouring breezes, he came to the imperious Minos and his superb seat. Instantly with longing glance the royal virgin saw him, she whom the chaste couch breathing out sweetest of scents cradled in her mother's tender enfoldings, like the myrtle which the rivers of Eurotas produce, or the many-tinted blooms opening with the springtide's breezes, she bent not her flashing eyes away from him, until the flame spread through her whole body, and burned into her innermost marrow. Ah, hard of heart, urging with misery to madness, O holy boy, who mingles men's cares and their joys, and you queen of Golgos and of foliaged Idalium, on what waves did you heave the mind-kindled maid, sighing often for the golden-haired guest! What dreads she bore in her swooning soul! How often did she grow sallower in sheen than gold! When craving to contend against the savage monster, Theseus faced death or the palm of praise.

Then gifts to the gods not unpleasing, not idly given, with promise from tight-closed lips did she address her vows. For as an oak waving its boughs on Taurus' top, or a coniferous pine with sweating stem, is uprooted by savage storm, twisting its trunk with its blast (dragged from its roots prone it falls afar, breaking all in the line of its fall) so did Theseus fling down the conquered body of the brute, tossing its horns in vain towards the skies. Thence backwards he retraced his steps amidst great laud, guiding his errant footsteps by means of a tenuous thread, lest when coming out from tortuous labyrinthines his efforts be frustrated by unobservant wandering. But why, turned aside from my first story, should I recount more, how the daughter fleeing her father's face, her sister's embrace, and even her mother's, who despairingly bemoaned her lost daughter, preferred to all these the sweet love of Theseus; or how borne by their boat to the spumy shores of Dia she came; or how her husband with unmemoried breast forsaking her, left her bound in the shadows of sleep? And oft, so it is said, with her heart burning with fury she poured out clarion cries from depths of her bosom, then sadly scaled the rugged mounts, whence she could cast her glance over the vast seething ocean, then ran into the opposing billows of the heaving sea, raising from her bared legs her clinging raiment, and in uttermost plight of woe with tear-stained face and chilly sobs she spoke thus:—

“Is it thus, O perfidious, when dragged from my motherland's shores, is it thus, O false Theseus, that you leave me on this desolate strand? thus do you depart unmindful of slighted godheads, bearing home your perjured vows? Was no thought able to bend the intent of your ruthless mind? had you no clemency there, that your pitiless bowels might show me compassion? But these were not the promises you gave me idly of old, this was not what you bade me hope for, but the blithe bride-bed, hymenaeal happiness: all empty air, blown away by the breezes. Now, now, let no woman give credence to man's oath, let none hope for faithful vows from mankind; for while their eager desire strives for its end, nothing fear they to swear, nothing of promises forbear they: but instantly their lusting thoughts are satiate with lewdness, nothing of speech they remember, nothing of perjuries care. In truth I snatched you from the midst of the whirlpool of death, preferring to suffer the loss of a brother rather than fail your need in the supreme hour, O ingrate. For which I shall be a gift as prey to be rent by wild beasts and the carrion-fowl, nor dead shall I be placed in the earth, covered with funeral mound. What lioness bore you beneath lonely crag? What sea conceived and spued you from its foamy crest? What Syrtis, what grasping Scylla, what vast Charybdis? O you repayer with such rewards for your sweet life! If it was not your heart's wish to yoke with me, through holding in horror the dread decrees of my stern sire, yet you could have led me to your home, where as your handmaid I might have served you with cheerful service, laving your snowy feet with clear water, or spreading the purple coverlet over your couch. Yet why, distraught with woe, do I vainly lament to the unknowing winds, which unfurnished with sense, can neither hear uttered complaints nor can return them? For now he has sped away into the midst of the seas, nor does any mortal appear along this desolate seaboard. Thus with overweening scorn bitter Fate in my extreme hour even grudges ears to my complaints. All-powerful Jupiter! would that in old time the Cecropian ships had not touched at the Gnossan shores, nor that the false mariner, bearing the direful ransom to the unquelled bull, had bound his ropes to Crete, nor that yonder wretch hiding ruthless designs beneath sweet seemings had reposed as a guest in our halls! For whither may I flee? in what hope, O lost one, take refuge? Shall I climb the Idomenean crags? but the truculent sea stretching far off with its whirlings of waters separates us. Dare I hope for help from my father, whom I deserted to follow a youth besprinkled with my brother's blood? Can I crave comfort from the care of a faithful husband, who is fleeing with yielding oars, encurving amidst whirling waters? If I turn from the beach there is no roof in this tenantless island, no way shows a passage, circled by waves of the sea; no way of flight, no hope; all denotes dumbness, desolation, and death. Nevertheless my eyes shall not be dimmed in death, nor my senses secede from my spent frame, until I have besought from the gods a just penalty for my betrayal, and implored the faith of the celestials with my last breath. Wherefore you requiters of men's deeds with avenging pains, O Eumenides, whose front enwreathed with serpent-locks blazons the wrath exhaled from your bosom, come here, here, listen to my complaint, which I, sad wretch, am urged to outpour from my innermost marrow, helpless, burning, and blind with frenzied fury. And since in truth they spring from the very depths of my heart, be unwilling to allow my agony to pass unheeded, but with such mind as Theseus forsook me, with like mind, O goddesses, may he bring evil on himself and on his kin.”

After she had poured forth these words from her grief-laden bosom, distractedly clamouring for requital against his heartless deeds, the celestial ruler assented with almighty nod, at whose motion the earth and the shuddering waters quaked, and the world of glittering stars quivered. But Theseus, self-blinded with mental mist, let slip from forgetful breast all those injunctions which until then he had held firmly in mind, nor bore aloft sweet signals to his sad sire, showing himself safe when in sight of Erectheus' haven. For it is said that before, when Aegeus entrusted his son to the winds, on leaving the walls of the chaste goddess's city, he gave these commands to the youth with his parting embrace:

“O my only son, far dearer to me than long life, lately restored to me at extreme end of my years, O son whom I am forced to send off to a doubtful hazard, since my ill fate and your ardent valour snatch you from me unwilling, whose dim eyes are not yet sated with my son's dear form: nor gladly and with joyous breast do I send you, nor will I suffer you to bear signs of helpful fortune, but first from my breast many a complaint will I express, sullying my grey hairs with dust and ashes, and then will I hang dusky sails to the swaying mast, so that our sorrow and burning of mind are shown by rusty-dark Iberian canvas. Yet if the dweller on holy Itone, who deigns to defend our race and Erectheus' dwellings, grant you to besprinkle your right hand in the bull's blood, then see that in very truth these commandments deep-stored in your heart's memory do flourish, nor any time deface them. As soon as your eyes shall see our cliffs, lower their gloomy clothing from every yard, and let the twisted cordage bear aloft snowy sails, where resplendent shall shine bright topmast spars, so that, immediately discerning, I may know with gladness and lightness of heart that in prosperous hour you are returned to my face.”

These charges, at first held in constant mind, from Theseus slipped away as clouds are impelled by the breath of the winds from the ethereal peak of a snow-clad mount. But as his father sought the castle's turrets as watchplace, dimming his anxious eyes with continual weeping, when first he spied the discoloured canvas, flung himself headlong from the top of the crags, believing Theseus lost by harsh fate. Thus as he entered the grief-stricken house, his paternal roof, Theseus savage with slaughter met with like grief as that which with unmemoried mind he had dealt to Minos' daughter: while she gazed with grieving at his disappearing keel, turned over a tumult of cares in her wounded spirit.

But on another part [of the tapestry] swift hastened the flushed Iacchus with his train of Satyrs and Nisa-begot Sileni, seeking you, Ariadne, and aflame with love for you. ... These scattered all around, an inspired band, rushed madly with mind all distraught, ranting “Euhoe,” with tossing of heads “Euhoe.” Some with womanish hands shook thyrsi with wreath-covered points; some tossed limbs of a rended steer; some girded themselves with writhed snakes; some enacted obscure orgies with deep chests, orgies of which the profane vainly crave a hearing; others beat the tambours with outstretched palms, or from the burnished brass provoked shrill tinklings, blew raucous-sounding blasts from many horns, and the barbarous pipe droned forth horrible song. With luxury of such figures was the coverlet adorned, enwrapping the bed with its mantling embrace.

After the Thessalian youth were sated with the desire of gazing, they began to give way to the sacred gods. Hence, as with his morning's breath brushing the still sea Zephyrus makes the sloping billows uprise, when Aurora mounts beneath the threshold of the wandering sun, and the waves move forth slowly at first with the breeze's gentle motion (plashing with the sound as of low laughter), but after, as the wind swells, more and more frequent they crowd and gleam in the purple light as they float away,—so quitting the royal vestibule the folk left, each to his home with steps wandering hither and thither.

After their departure, Chiron came, chief from the summit of Pelion, the bearer of sylvan spoil: for whatever the fields bear, what the Thessalian land on its high hills breeds, and what flowers the fecund air of warm Favonius begets near the running streams, these did he bear enwreathed into blended garlands wherewith the house rippled with laughter, caressed by the grateful odor.

Speedily Penios stands present, for a time leaving his verdant Tempe, Tempe whose overhanging trees encircle, to the Dorian choirs, damsels Magnesian, to frequent; nor empty-handed,—for he has borne here lofty beeches uprooted and the tall laurel with straight stem, nor lacks he the nodding plane and the lithe sister of flame-wrapt Phaethon and the aerial cypress. These wreathed in line did he place around the palace so that the vestibule might grow green sheltered with soft fronds.

After him follows Prometheus of inventive mind, bearing diminishing traces of his ancient punishment, which once he had suffered, with his limbs confined by chains hanging from the rugged Scythian crags. Then came the sire of gods from heaven with his holy consort and offspring, leaving you alone, Phoebus, with your twin-sister the fosterer of the mountains of Idrus: for equally with yourself did your sister disdain Peleus nor was she willing to honour the wedding torches of Thetis. After they had reclined their snow-white forms along the seats, tables were loaded on high with food of various kinds.

In the meantime with shaking bodies and infirm gesture the Parcae began to intone their truth-naming chant. Their trembling frames were enwrapped around with white garments, encircled with a purple border at their heels, snowy fillets bound each aged brow, and their hands pursued their never-ending toil, as of custom. The left hand bore the distaff enwrapped in soft wool, the right hand lightly withdrawing the threads with upturned fingers shaped them, then twisting them with the prone thumb it turned the balanced spindle with well-polished whirl. And then with a pluck of their tooth the work was always made even, and the bitten wool-shreds adhered to their dried lips, which shreds at first had stood out from the fine thread. And in front of their feet wicker baskets of osier twigs took charge of the soft white woolly fleece. These, with clear-sounding voice, as they combed out the wool, out-poured fates of such kind in sacred song, in song which no age yet to come could tax with untruth.

“O with great virtues augmenting your exceeding honour, mainstay of Emathia, most famous in your issue, receive what the sisters make known to you on this happy day, a truth-naming oracle! But run, you spindles, drawing the thread which the fates follow, run, spindles! “Now Hesperus will come to you bearing what is longed for by bridegrooms, with that fortunate star will your bride come, who steeps your soul with the sway of softening love, and prepares with you to conjoin in languorous slumber, spreading her smooth arms beneath your sinewy neck. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “No house ever yet enclosed such loves, no love bound lovers with such pact, as abides with Thetis, as is the concord of Peleus. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “To you will Achilles be born, a stranger to fear, to his foes known not by his back, but by his strong breast, who, often the victor in the uncertain struggle of the foot-race, will outrun the fire-fleet footsteps of the speedy doe. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “None in war with him may compare as a hero, when the Phrygian streams trickle with Trojan blood, and when besieging the walls of Troy with a long, drawn-out warfare perjured Pelops' third heir lays that city waste. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “Often will mothers attest over funeral-rites of their sons his glorious acts and illustrious deeds, when the white locks from their heads are unloosed amid ashes, and they bruise their discoloured breasts with feeble fists. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “For as the reaper, plucking off the dense wheat-ears before their time, mows the harvest yellowed beneath ardent sun, so will he cast prostrate the corpses of Troy's sons with grim swords. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “His great valour will be attested by Scamander's wave, which ever pours itself into the swift Hellespont, narrowing its course with slaughtered heaps of corpses he shall make tepid its deep stream by mingling warm blood with the water. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “And finally she will be a witness: the captive-maid handed to death, when the heaped-up tomb of earth built in lofty mound receives the snowy limbs of the stricken virgin. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “For instantly fortune will give the means to the war-worn Greeks to break Neptune's stone bonds of the Dardanian city, the tall tomb shall be made dank with Polyxena's blood, who as the victim succumbing beneath two-edged sword, with yielding knees shall fall forward a headless corpse. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “Come then! Conjoin in the longed-for delights of your love. Let the bridegroom receive his goddess in felicitous compact; let the bride be given to her eager husband. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles! “Neither will the nurse returning with morning light succeed in circling her neck with last night's thread. [Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles!], nor need her solicitous mother fear that sad discord will cause a parted bed for her daughter, nor need she cease to hope for dear grandchildren. Run, drawing the thread, run, spindles!”

With such soothsaying songs of yore did the Parcae chant from divine breast the felicitous fate of Peleus. For previously the heaven-dwellers used to visit the chaste homes of heroes and to show themselves in mortal assembly when their worship had not yet been scorned. Often the father of the gods, resting in his glorious temple, when on the festal days his annual rites appeared, gazed on a hundred bulls strewn prone on the earth. Often wandering Liber on topmost summit of Parnassus led his howling Thyiads with loosely tossed locks, when the Delphians tumultuously trooping from the whole of their city joyously acclaimed the god with smoking altars. Often in lethal strife of war, Mavors, or swift Triton's queen, or the Rhamnusian virgin, in person did exhort armed bodies of men. But after the earth was infected with heinous crime, and each one banished justice from their grasping mind, and brothers steeped their hands in fraternal blood, the son ceased grieving over departed parents, the sire craved for the funeral rites of his first-born that freely he might take of the flower of unwedded step-mother, the unholy mother, lying under her unknowing son, did not fear to sully her household gods with dishonor: everything licit and lawless commingled with mad infamy turned away from us the just-seeing mind of the gods. Wherefore neither do they deign to appear at such assemblies, nor will they permit themselves to be met in the daylight.

Catullus. The Carmina of Gaius Valerius Catullus. Leonard C. Smithers. London. Smithers. 1894.

[violettranslations]

Chignon Soldier (シニヨンの兵隊)

トリッキーにはサープラス 見かけるストーリー 意味深に微笑み 砕けるファーレン 熱い砂漠を裸足で駆けて 水分も油分も吸い取られるな I happen to catch sight of a story with a surplus of trickiness. I smile at its hidden meaning—a crumbling fallen. Running barefoot through the scorching desert is taking away all the water and oil in me. 空にはいつもの甘美な光 此方の気持ちも分からん能天気 自分のプライドを押し通すも つまらぬ止まらぬプライドなんですわ That same mellow light that brightens the sky can’t parse what I’m feeling, either. I’m carefree as ever. Stubbornly pushing through with your own pride— what a boring, incessant pride that is. 「ねえどうして？貴方 人口的な愛もないの？」 “Wait, why? Don’t you at least have love for the people you’re fighting for?” High? High? High? High? Twei? Twei? Twei? Twei? Cry? Cry? Cry? Cry? 盲目的なイデオロギーが High? High? High? High? Twei? Twei? Twei? Twei? Cry? Cry? Cry? Cry? A blind ideology— 僕の声を聞かせて 架空のシナリオしたためたいな 彼方のあの先に浮かぶ焔 「弔えばいい」なんて 救いも見ない型に集まれば 僕の声を聞かせて 土偶みたいに冷たくなった あの子の髪に結ばれた愛を そう 捧げればいいのに I’ll make you hear my voice. I kinda want to write up a fictitious scenario. Flames flicker over in the distance. “Let yourself mourn,” you say— if we gather in such a way that no salvation is to be seen, then— I’ll make you hear my voice. That girl has grown cold like a clay doll. Yes, if only you would offer up the love bound up in her hair... 生まれた街を破壊する大砲 ただただ手をこまねいて見ていた 止まらぬ涙が拭えない 君の手を借りるしかないんだ Artillery destroys the town I was born in. I could do nothing but sit back and watch. I can’t wipe away my flowing tears. I have no choice but to take the hand you offer me. 「報復の旗をあげろ」叫んだ 大人になって人の命を… それが母への「償い」だと 信じてやまないだけだ “Raise the flag of retaliation!” I cried. I’ve become an adult just so that, to the lives of humans, I can... That is your “atonement” to your mother. I will simply never stop believing that. 倒れる仲間を救おうとした君に 「奴は終わり」と引き止めていた ああ、そうか あの頃からもう 元に戻れぬシナリオなんだ I held you back as you tried to save our fallen comrades, telling you, “they’re done for.” Ah, yes, ever since then, our scenario could never return to how it used to be. ああどうして 消えて 錆びたままだ 声無しで こんなの アスファルトにも似てるや Ah, why am I disappearing? I’m all rusted. Voiceless, I even start to resemble this asphalt. 天は僕ら見捨て こうやって 鳴り止まないサイレンだ そんなことばかりで 銃声聞いて さあ見返してやろう 駆け抜ける僕 頭を撃ち抜かれてた君の背中も忘れてしまえ The heavens forsake us. And like this, the sirens blare endlessly. Surrounded by all of it, a gunshot resounds, now, I’ll show them—I run right through it. I’ll forget even the sight of your back, a hole shot through your head. 僕の声を聞かせて 架空のシナリオしたためたいな 彼方のあの先に浮かぶ焔 「弔えばいい」なんて 救いも見ない型に集まれば 僕の声を聞かせて 土偶みたいに冷たくなった あの子の髪に結ばれたシニヨン そう 捧げればいいのに I’ll make you hear my voice. I kinda want to write up a fictitious scenario. Flames flicker over in the distance. “Let yourself mourn,” you say— if we gather in such a way that no salvation is to be seen, then— I’ll make you hear my voice. That girl has grown cold like a clay doll. Yes, if only you would offer up the chignon bound up in her hair... 僕の声を聞かせて 架空の幸せしたためたいな I’ll make you hear my voice. I kinda want to write up a fictitious happiness. *Many thanks to Kagamine_Neko for proofreading and offering corrections to the first draft of this translation!

[live4thelord-blog1]

Blessing or Woe: You Decide. A Homily for the 6th Sunday of the Year

Msgr. Charles Pope • February 16, 2019 • 0 Comments

Fra Angelico, Convent of San Marco (1445)

The Gospel passage this Sunday is Luke’s version of the Beatitudes. Being paradoxical, they are difficult to understand. We do not usually refer to the poor as blessed, but rather the well off; we do not typically call those who mourn blessed, but rather the joyful.

The word “beatitude” itself means “supreme blessedness.” In ancient Greek, makarios (blessed) referred to a deep, serene, and stable happiness largely unaffected by external matters. It also corresponds to the Hebrew word asher, which is more of an exclamation.

Each beatitude could easily be translated to begin in this way: “O, the blessedness of ….” Such a translation emphasizes that something is being described and experienced rather than prescribed.

So, it is critical to understand that beatitude is not something we achieve; rather, it is something we receive. The Beatitudes declare an objective reality as the result of a divine act. The use of the indicative mood in the passage should be taken seriously; we should not turn it into an imperative. In other words, as noted, the Beatitudes are more descriptions than prescriptions. Jesus is not simply saying that we should be poor or meek and then God will bless us. Rather, He is saying that this is what the transformed human person is like; this is what happens to us when He lives His life in us and transforms us; this is what our life is like when His grace and the power of His cross bring about in us a greater meekness and poverty of spirit—we will experience being blessed.

This helps to explain the paradox of some of the Beatitudes. We are still blessed even when we are poor, or mourning, or persecuted. Further, we are confirmed in blessedness by such realities because they serve as reminders that we are not at home in this world; God and His kingdom are our preoccupation and the source of our true beatitude.

In Luke’s version of the Beatitudes there are also woes described for those who reject the Lord’s offer. Let’s pair them up and consider them together, seeing the choice the Lord presents in each case: blessing or woe.

Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.

Who are the poor? They are those who, by God’s grace, have their true treasure in Heaven rather than on earth. They are poor to this world but rich to God. They have learned to depend on Him and are not obsessed with the passing riches of this world.

All of us are dependent on God, but we may not realize it. The poor in spirit are those who have come to peace in the knowledge that they depend on God for every beat of their heart, for every good thing they have. Humans strongly resist any such sense of dependence or lack of control. Many people strive to acquire wealth, power, and possessions in order to create the illusion that they are in control—they are not. Ultimately this whole system will fail; it is a recipe for frustration and unhappiness.

Further, control is like an addictive drug. The more we get, the more we need in order to feel less anxious. Our modern age illustrates this. Consider, for example, modern medicine, through which we can control things we never could before. Are all our fears gone as a result? No. Humans have never lived so long nor been so healthy, yet we have never been so anxious about our health. Our medicine cabinets are filled with prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, but we still worry! Control is an illusion, an addiction all its own. In the end, it seems we can never have enough of it to feel sufficiently “safe.”

How blessed are those who delight in depending on God, who realize that every beat of their heart is His gift and that everything they have is from Him and belongs to Him! They are blessed because they are free from the countless fears that flow from an endless quest for illusory control.

But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

It’s nice to be rich, but if that’s all you live for, that’s all you’ll get. When it’s over it’s over, and then comes the judgment. Paradoxically, the only way to retain riches is to give them away or use them in serving others. Jesus instructs,

Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also will be (Matt 6:20).

St. Paul says,

Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share, treasuring up for themselves a firm foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life (1 Tim 6:17-19).

If we hoard wealth when others are in need or use our wealth in unjust ways, we may enjoy comforts in this world, but a stern judgment awaits. Live with the final judgment in mind; share and be generous. Jesus warns of woe that will come to those who resist his grace to be generous.

Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.

All of us hunger physically, but the important thing is to hunger for God and the things waiting for us in Heaven. Many people hunger for anything but God—wealth, power, popularity, the latest fad.

It is in our hunger that we make room for God. It is then that we seek Him.

How blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the righteousness and justice of God and the values of His Kingdom! God will satisfy them with the joy of living under His law and they will rejoice to see the wisdom of His ways. They hunger for God’s Word and devour it when they find it. They rejoice to see God put sin to death in them and bring about virtue. They are excited and satisfied at what God is doing in their life. They are blessed indeed.

But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.

If we are filled with the things of this world, there is no room for God. Worldly things can only satisfy temporarily; being finite they cannot fill the infinite longing we have. We were made to know and love God; He alone can satisfy our longing. If we refuse this true food and true drink (see John 6:55), which is Christ Himself in the Eucharist, there awaits only a longing that will one day be permanent if we reject the Lord to the end. The Lord warns of woe to those who resist His gift to feed them with His Body and Blood and fill their minds with His Word.

Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.

Who are those who weep? First, they are those who are not obsessed with emotional happiness and who accept sorrow as a part of life. Their sorrow is not about merely worldly things. They weep because they delight in the Kingdom of Heaven yet see the awful state of most of God’s people. They see so many who do not know God nor why they were created. They see people willfully locked in sin and darkness. They see still others who are victims of the sins of injustice and oppression. Because of these things they weep, mourn, and pray. This beatitude is the basis of intercessory prayer and deepening love for sinners. Because we mourn, we pray for the world.

Again, the object of this beatitude is rooted in the Kingdom of God and its values, not the passing values of this world. If our car gets scratched or the stock market goes down and we may mourn, but that’s not the subject of this beatitude.

How blessed are those who mourn over what really matters and who pray! They will laugh in the sense that God will console, strengthen, and encourage them. He will cause their mourning to bear fruit in prayer and action for others. To mourn in this way is to be blessed. It is a grief that “hurts so good,” because we know that it brings abundant blessings for the world as it intensifies our prayer and our own commitment to God and His Kingdom.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.

Rejoicing with the world is like celebrating on the Titanic before it hits the iceberg. The ride is wonderful for a while but then comes the cold and unforgiving depths. Too many in our world live frivolous lives. They “major in the minors.” They call good or no big deal what God calls sin; they even celebrate it and praise it. Jesus says, woe to them. While there are things to enjoy in this world, there is also much to lament. Sin and injustice, moral darkness, and confusion are nothing to celebrate. The Lord warns of woe to those who do not let Him transform their hearts so that they grieve over sin and darkness.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

In life we are going to suffer, so it might as well be for something decent and noble. How blessed are those who, because they love God and His kingdom, are hated by this world! At least they share a common lot with Jesus. They know that only false prophets are loved by all. There is a paradoxical serenity that comes from this sort of persecution because it is a sign that we are no longer of this world, that the world has lost its hold on us and thus hates us (Jn 15:19). Forsaking this world and being hated by it, they are blessed, because the Kingdom of God is theirs in abundance.

Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

If the world is cheering for you, you’re playing on the wrong team, the losing team. The “world” is the set of philosophies, power structures, and inclinations at odds with the teachings and truths of God. A friend of the world becomes an enemy of God (James 4:4). Jesus says,

If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well (Jn 15:18-20).

Jesus warns of woe to those who pitch their tents in this world. It is passing away as are all those who seek its friendship. Jesus warns of the woe that comes from being too friendly with a lost and sinful world.

In all these ways, the Lord paints a kind of picture for us of the transformed human person. He shows us what happens to us as He lives His life in us.

Decisions have consequences. Depending on our choice to let God work in our life or not, there is either blessing or woe. Choose the blessings, dear brethren, choose the blessings.

[alexofasinfulnature]

You wonder

You think you are just another? Another scar upon my arm that I would like to forget. My actions may not show my heart. How it misses and thinks of you. I know what I must do though. I don't know if you will see this. Apart of me hopes you'll understand ignorance is bliss. Should you choose to read the responsibility lies with you. I care a great deal more than I want to share. What I am doing is not fair. It is for your happiness though that I forsake my desire to mend what has been broken again. Your vows mean little to me. Do you not see? I knew you would break your promise. Let us just reminisce in the past. Perhaps we were not meant to last. If this is so just go. Go to a place where nothing, but smiles lay. Of this I always pray. I am here though. You're name is still in my phone just so you know. If you're ever in need, call. I will always catch you if you fall. Till then though focus on the love you desire. Forget me so he won't be angry. Do what you must. Our friendship won't rust. It never has. No hatred between us, nor animosity. What you write I will always see. No bitterness. No need to ask forgiveness.