#God's Perspective

[momentsbeforemass]

Love one another

“This I command you: love one another.”

That’s how today’s Gospel ends, with this commandment from Jesus.

Think of all of the things that God has commanded throughout history. Things like building an ark, leaving everything and going somewhere you’ve never been, offering sacrifices, etc.

Next to them, “love one another” sounds pretty easy. Until you actually try to do it.

Because there are two people who are going to make this difficult, who are going to make it hard for us to love one another. The people we’re trying to love. And us.

The people we’re trying to love won’t make this easy. Because they’re people. And people do stupid, horrible, unloveable things. All. The Time.

And yet, we’re called to love them. Without exception. Not just when they make it easy, but without exception. Even when they’re at their most unloveable.

Which is something that you and I can never do (not for long) without God’s help. If we’re smart, we won’t even try to do it on our own.

But when it comes to loving one another, you and I are an even bigger problem. Mainly for two reasons.

First, because we don’t know where to start. It would be nice if Jesus gave us some details. Maybe even a plan. But no. We just get told to do it.  

That’s actually enough. Because we don’t need an elaborate program (“5 easy steps to loving one another”).

As St. Frances de Sales (today’s saint) tells us, “you learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working; and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”

And there’s the other reason. Knowing that it’s going to be trial and error, knowing that we’re going to make mistakes learning how to love? That sets us up to “what-if” ourselves, to second guess ourselves, to endlessly critique our first faltering steps. To the point that we just stop even trying.

The reason this happens? It happens when I trust the least reliable person in the world to give me advice on how I’m doing. It happens when I listen to me, the one person who can never give me an objective perspective on me.

This is absolutely the wrong perspective for me. Why?

Because I didn’t command me to do this. God did.

Which means that I have no business judging the quality of my performance. God alone determines whether it’s good enough. God sets the standard.

Which sounds even worse, until you find out what God’s standard really is.

“God takes pleasure in your smallest steps. And like a good Father who holds His child by the hand, He will accommodate His steps to yours and will be content to go no faster than you. Why do you worry?” – St. Francis de Sales

Today’s Readings

[gotham-crow]

Edit: ooc post

My drafts are a mess cause, like, it's writing that I've put a lot of thought and effort into, but also totally only stuff I've already retconed in my own mind

Which I could take back cause it's all in my own mind

But I fully can't the little fuckers in my head have free will for some reason, and it's fucking with my plans

[just-gingerkat]

Thinking about how The Murderbot Diaries is a character that is completly and fully character driven to the point where the very writing and book format is revolved around it.

The first book is short, concise. It skips a bunch of scenes over the course of many weeks. It focuses purely on what Murderbot thinks is important and worth focusing on. Thats why the majority of the book is dedicated to its thought process, its complaints, or it's fear. It skips over "meaningful" scenes because it doesn't find them important. Like most of the conversations, like it helping Volescu. It doesn't care. It does care when it feels uncomfortable and wants to be left alone. It does care when its scared and something big might happen. It does care about Mensah which is why the few scenes that are more meaningful are with Mensah and then back to narration.

The books get longer and longer as they go on, showing how as Murderbots journey continues so does its ability to care. More intimate moments, more admitting to us that it's afraid, it doesn't want this, it does want this. It begins to describe and pay attention more and more to whats going on around it and it grows to decide what it wants and it's all so beautifully conveyed through writing.

Even The Company was such a clever and subtle way of telling us something. Because everything in the books centers on how Murderbot thinks. Murderbot would never aknowledge its feelings towards The Company and therefore we never knew of it until someone pointed it out. And that too is development because now Murderbot cares enough to let us know. To let itself know. It still shuts down, draws away in its own thoughts. But each book gets longer and longer with less time between them because Murderbot is slowly learning to pay attention, and interact, and aknowledge the present moment. Its learning to care

[sevenspoonfulsofsugar]

thinking of the ending of conclave (2024) and those lingering shots on the papal vestments. the future and the foundation of the church, he who sits on the throne and is the face of it, wears white.

and the last shot of the movie. and those lingering shots on the women below. the future and the foundation of the church, they who maintain it without being lauded for it, wear white.

[xnzlian]

[doydoune]

names names names (3-4/4)

(1-2/4)

bonus

[mayasaura]

Was thinking about this line because Harrow what the actual fuck are you talking about, and I realised something.

Not only does Harrow really for real not know that Gideon loves her—in the bullshit context of their lives, this is a reasonable misunderstanding for her to have.

What has Harrow known Gideon's life goals to be since they were children? Hint: There are at least two Harrow is fully aware of.

The first is to be wanted. As much as Gideon hates and wants to escape the Ninth, she also paradoxically craves their acceptance. They're the only community she's ever known. Harrow plays on that desire from the very beginning, mostly by kind of .... well, okay, by negging her about it. Ironically appealing to her sense of loyalty and duty to her house when they both know Gideon never even had that bridge to burn. That kind of thing.

Whether or not she's right, Harrow sincerely believes that acceptance to still be important to Gideon. First flower of my house, the greatest cavalier we have ever produced. You are our triumph. The best of all of us. When Harrow has only seconds left to make amends, she not only banks hard into praising Gideon, she frames it to unambiguously offer Gideon the acceptance she's always been conspicuously denied. Assuring her of her value not just as a person or as a cavalier, but as one of their house, one of their people.

The second thing Harrow knows is that Gideon wants to join the Cohort. Easy, everybody knows that. She's only been telling everyone with ears (and then some) since she was eight years old. It's the bait Harrow dangled to entice her into this mess. She wants to be a hero, to do great deeds like in the comic books. She wants to be a soldier.

Against the backdrop of all that context, Gideon's dying declaration "for the Ninth" starts to sound a hell of a lot more like "for Queen and country." Especially when you remember that Harrow is still the sovereign ruler of the Ninth. From Harrow's vantage point, Gideon could easily be playing the heroic underdog in a war movie. The soldier no one believed in until she threw herself on a grenade to save her squad. The knight errant who proved her chivalry by giving her life in service to her king.

From that perspective, Harrow's line to Ortus makes sense. She's following through on her promise of acceptance, defending Gideon's loyalty to the first Ninth face she sees. She's playing out Gideon's war hero fantasy, where Gideon's act of heroism proved them all wrong about her. In which case Ortus's response, "You are the most worthy heroes the Ninth House could muster. I truly believe that," flows very naturally as a reply. He understands what Harrow is trying to say, and affirms it.

It's not a hero's burial in the Anastasian, but it's the closest thing Harrow has the power to give her. And it's a fucking reasonable interpretation of Gideon's actions that doesn't touch on her feelings for Harrow at all. Fuck me.

[hashtagarting]

Oh, stardust . . .

[lyss-butterscotch]

The required lace redesign after I drew hornet silksong

[kacievvbbbb]

I think a major point that the live action completely misses and honestly a lot of people haven’t brought up. Is that in the original Nani WANTS Lilo around. Yes because Liko needs her and no one else understands Lilo like she does. But also because Nani needs Lilo just as much as Lilo needs her. Lilo was just as much all Nani had left same as Lilo. And to just not acknowledge that. To pretend like Nani stayed with Liko just out of some grander sense of responsibility and it’s “what she’s supposed to do” is to throw away their sisterhood.

The whole live action is Lilo talking about how smart and kind and amazing Nani is and how she has all these dreams and how she was really good at all these things until Lilo. Not once does it seem like Nani is even interested in Lilo or her hobbies outside of her responsibly to look after her as her older sister. She doesn’t care that Lilo’s been kicked out of hula class even tho Lilo in the OG loves hula, she immediately wants to take stitch back to the pound and then goes on a whole tirade about how you can’t let Lilo “trick” you into doing all these things, she doesn’t care when Lilo tries to show her the Elvis CD trick, She not there surfing with Lilo cause it’s an enjoyable pastime and something she loves and wants to share with her sister she’s there because it’s her new job.

Through out the movie Nani is part of the people that make Lilo feel ostracized which is completely antithetical to the original movie where Nani is fighting so hard to make the world a place Lilo feels accepted in.

So no the movie didn’t need to be a one to one remake of the original but it shouldn’t be a completely different movie either because then what’s the fucking point!!!

In this version I’m not even convinced that Nani actually LIKES Lilo.

And honestly the film doesn’t try and convince you that she should. Lilo is indistinguishable from any other movie child that is either a bundle of destructive chaos or just a mini adult both played for jokes.

[momentsbeforemass]

Drop the filter

Frank was a friend, and the pastor of a small Baptist church.

God made Frank with deep compassion for others. Zero fashion sense. And absolutely no filter.

If Frank thought it, he said it.

We used to have lunch when he was in town. One time he told me about regularly bumping into a Catholic bishop back home. It turns out the two of them made hospital visits on a similar schedule.

Frank had never known a stranger. Since he didn’t know much about Catholic stuff, he just called the bishop “pastor.” Every time their paths crossed at the hospital, Frank smiled and said “Hi, pastor.”

Frank told me that the first few times, the bishop was uncertain how to respond to him. But Frank just kept smiling and saying “Hi, pastor.” And as Frank became part of the bishop’s normal, the bishop warmed up to him and started smiling and saying “hi” back.

Until one day, the bishop wasn’t smiling.

So Frank asked if he was okay. The bishop stopped, and basically unraveled.

Frank told me that what came tumbling out of the bishop was an account of all of the different ways that people dealt with him. To some he was a manager, to others a fundraiser, to some an obstacle to overcome, to others a way to get what they wanted. The bishop went on until, on the verge of tears, he told Frank that he couldn’t remember the last time someone asked if he was okay.

I’m sure that passersby thought they were seeing a kindly bishop praying for an odd little man in an odd shirt and tie. But what was really going on, was exactly the opposite.

Today, take time to be a Frank.

Notice people. But notice them from God’s perspective – look past their outsides. Notice what’s going on, on their insides.

And when the Holy Spirit moves you to speak with them, to pray for them, to love them.

Drop the filter.

Today’s Readings

[hinamie]

green

[formulanni]

This season’s repeat winners!!!!

Tag list: @st-leclerc @rubywingsracing @saviour-of-lord @three-days-time @the-wall-is-my-goal @albonoooo @ch3rubd0lls @brawngp2009 @korolrezni-nikolai

[hazeleyed-fay]

i feel like im in a weird demographic when it comes to the percy jackson live action series because of the age i was when i read them. cause i read the lightning thief for the first time when i was in single digits, so percy being twelve seemed appropriately grown up. and then as i got further into the series and into heroes of olympus, percy got older with me, and was always kinda broadly my age or a little older. so like, the movie cast was too old when that happened, because they were way older than me. but now the series cast is actual twelve year olds (or so) and they are so obviously just little babies that im now forced to confront the fact that uhhh percy was in fact a fuckin child when all this started??? exCUSE ME???

[klance-daydreams]

PLEASE read where the apple falls by @jupiters-junipers!!! you will actually just never be the same. like ever.

[deconstructthesoup]

Elves being all out-of-touch and dismayed at the short lifespans of mortals is all well and good

But I truly think something was rewired in my brain when I first heard Sandralynn's "when you've got centuries staring you down" speech in Fantasy High: Sophomore Year, and I need more elves in fiction who have that mindset