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Me and Julian of Norwich’s Revelations of Divine Love ❤️‍🔥

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My real problem with the rosary (as a *really bad* Catholic) is honestly that when I repeat prayers more than a few times, they start to kinda feel empty of meaning and my mind wanders off. I understand that it's supposed to be meditative but I can't help but think, yknow, meaning what you say feels important esp re: prayers

Not to ask a silly question, but are you meditating on the mysteries as you say the prayers? Understanding what that actually meant and how to do that was probably my biggest hurdle. I won't claim that this is the right or best method, but this is what worked for me (as someone w adhd who really struggles to concentrate!)

I announce the mystery, and, while I say the Our Father, read through the description of the mystery that I have written down. Then, as I say the Hail Marys, I imagine the mystery and reflect on it. This varies massively every time - sometimes I'm really meditating on the emotion of the mystery and feeling it, sometimes it's feeling my own emotion in response to it, honestly whatever you feel like. One of my friends was advised (in reference to reading scripture but very applicable to the rosary) to try and place yourself in the mind of a person involved, trying to understand their perspective and see the events through their eyes, to give you a new perspective. I find that when I'm really deeply focused on the mystery, the prayers kind of flow out of my mouth naturally and saying them kind of immerses me in the mystery. They still hold importance, and this really shows for me the "through Mary to Jesus" - the meditative act of saying the words over and over focuses your mind on the mysteries. That importance of prayer here is in focusing your mind on the mystery. This also helps with the mind wandering, bringing it back to the mystery and the focus on that.

If this isn't what you meant at all sorry to misinterpret and please reach out again and I'll have another think!! DMs are also always open :)

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my secret addiction?

watching videos of myself playing the organ on loop

WHAT CAN I SAY

HYMNS ARE ADDICTIVE

AND THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO WATCH

ITS SO SATISFYING

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i know that as a catholic you just have to believe with what the church says but i really dont like the belief of the original sin, i feel like its such a horrible thing to believe about yourself and about other human beings too

There are actually ways of legitimately dissenting from less essential Church teachings in a way that leaves you in good standing with the Church; I'm not sure if Original Sin is one of those things, though, to be honest.

But, anon, I'm going to offer another perspective here, starting from a quote (perhaps ironically?) from my favorite heretic. One of the things that James Carroll believes is that Original Sin has been given a bad wrap. In Constantine's Sword, he says:

I referred to Augustine’s assertion of the idea that the human condition implies a perennial state of finitude, weakness, and sin, all of which will be overcome, even for the Church, only with the end of time. [...] Augustine is thus regarded as the father of a severe, flesh-hating, sin-obsessed theology, but that dark characterization misses the point of his insight. His honest admission of the universality of human woundedness is a precondition for both self-acceptance and the forgiveness of the other, which for Augustine always involved the operation of God’s grace, God’s gift. Only humans capable of confronting the moral tragedy of existence, matched to God’s offer of repairing grace, are capable of community, and community is the antidote to human woundedness. Augustine sensed that relationship as being at the heart of God, and he saw it as being at the heart of human hope, too. This is a profoundly humane vision.

I wish I had understood the spirit of this quote when I was in high school. I remember learning in my World History class that Islam teaches that all children are born good, and then the world makes them evil. And I remember my teacher asking how that compares with Christianity, and I raised my hand and said that Christianity teaches that all of us are born evil. Because I believed that at the time. And, really, the whole framing of that question was wrong and gave really simplistic representations of what Islam and Christianity teaches, but I don't think we're alone in having internalized that understanding, anon. And that's a shame.

I thin it's important to remember the worldview that the doctrine of Original Sin is actively defending us against; there was an idea, that gets called "Pelagianism" (the poor guy it got named after may not even have believed it), that said that humans were capable of being saved on their own, by their own power. Someone on this site recently asked what people's thoughts on Pelagianism were, so you can read my thoughts here. But to keep it short and sweet, I think Original Sin is an important doctrine because it saves you from the need to be perfect.

There are ways to treat Original Sin that I think are certainly unhealthy, and I think the doctrine can be a source of anxiety and fear. But I also think, very deeply, that Original Sin should be a reason why we treat ourselves and especially our neighbor with kindness and understanding. I can look at myself and say "What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate. […] For I do not do the good that I want, but I do the evil I do not want" (Romans 7:15, 19). And I can say that because I know I am ontologically wounded; that all of us have our weaknesses. That while we may still be in the moral wrong for committing a morally wrong action, our wills are compromised in a way that causes us to incline towards the comfortable and the easy rather than the good.

I wish I could go back in time and tell that class that Christianity does not teach that people are born evil. I wish I could go back and tell them that it teaches that we are born in a state of dis-integration, that we are wounded beings yearning for wholeness; alienated beings seeking everlasting belonging; beings lost in darkness, seeking the light. But I can say it now: the doctrine of Original Sin doesn't have to be an occasion to think you're depraved and without value, but it can be an invitation to come to terms with your own woundedness, because doing that (to use the words of Lutheran theologian Nancy Eiesland) "opens a space for the inflowing of grace and acceptance."

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ALSO as one of my first thoughts back before I go to sleep, I REALLY encourage all of you to pray the rosary. I started when I was definitely a protestant, and if you can find yourself okay with the Hail Mary (which, let’s look at it, isn’t as ‘bad’ as you think it is), there really isn’t anything else in it which you might find difficult. I promise it’s not as scary and ‘Catholic’ as you might think, so let’s break down the Hail Mary and go from there:

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.

Let’s look at the bits which might be tricky.

The first bit is pretty much a paraphrase from Luke, who says:

“And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!””

‭‭and

“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

The next bit which you might find tricky is ‘mother of God’, because, in my experience, that’s not terminology often used in Protestant circles. However, we have to believe that Mary is the mother of God as we must believe that Jesus is both fully God and fully man - Mary is not the mother of only the human ‘part’ (don’t mind my vaguely heresy leaning terminology, we’re trying to keep it simple!) of Jesus, otherwise we separate his divine and human natures! So, we do believe that Mary is the mother of God, as Jesus is God.

Finally, the most difficult bit ‘pray for us’. I understand that the idea of intercession can be difficult. I’d urge you here not to stress about why we’d go to Mary instead of directly to Jesus, or what’s more ‘efficient’! Instead, think of it like asking your friends to pray for you. And why would we separate God’s people in heaven and God’s people on earth?

And honestly, if you still can’t come to terms with saying the Hail Mary, swap it out! Say something else! It’s really okay. Or, try another of the rosary prayers. You don’t need a rosary to start, you can use your fingers, or your imagination, or an app!

I’m writing all this out because I really feel like I’m being called to share the rosary (because it is amazing xxx) and because it has done real wonders for my faith. I really want to share that and for even just one person to give it a chance.

LOVE TO YOU ALL I’m going to sleep!

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Sometimes I'll make a post criticising Christians and then someone will come on it and go yeah op! Christianity sucks! You Know Not To Whom You Speak

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Also the exams were okayish

HOPEFULLY I do well enough for ox but I am so grateful and excited to go to Durham if not!!! Keeping v v v busy w music work while I wait for results…

GUESS WHO IS SO BACK

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I promise I will actually start replying to dms and my inbox now xoxo

GUESS WHO IS SO BACK

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GUESS WHO IS SO BACK

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if I post on here in a month being like I didn’t get in rip know it’s because I spent five hours straight on Fortnite today with the christchurch bass scholar. So…

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i swear to god that social cue wasnt there before

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1 corinthians is such a wild ride. it's the one where "now faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love" is from but it's also the one where Paul laments over the fact that not everyone can be a based volcel for Christ like him

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have to do well in my exams so i can live in the home of the world's best comma

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everyone is trying to take your oxford comma away from you. don't give them that satisfaction, reward, or pleasure.

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dear god, please let there never be a USamerican pope. also please haunt jd vance for the rest of his days. okay thank you amen ❣️

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