#and these birds are sacred to the god of LAW AND ORDER

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

22nd June >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Saturday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 

or

Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs 

or

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop 

or

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

Saturday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading 2 Chronicles 24:17-25 'You have deserted the Lord: now he deserts you'.

After the death of Jehoiada, the officials of Judah came to pay court to the king, and the king now turned to them for advice. The Judaeans abandoned the Temple of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, for the worship of sacred poles and idols. Because of their guilt, God’s anger fell on Judah and Jerusalem. He sent them prophets to bring them back to the Lord, but when these gave their message, they would not listen. The spirit of God took possession of Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood up before the people and said, ‘God says this, “Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord to no good purpose? You have deserted the Lord, now he deserts you.”’ They then plotted against him and by order of the king stoned him in the court of the Temple of the Lord. King Joash, forgetful of the kindness that Jehoiada, the father of Zechariah, had shown him, killed Jehoiada’s son who cried out as he died, ‘The Lord sees and he will avenge!’ When a year had gone by, the Aramaean army made war on Joash. They reached Judah and Jerusalem, and executed all the officials among the people, sending back to the king at Damascus all that they had plundered from them. Though the Aramaean army had by no means come in force, the Lord delivered into its power an army of great size for having deserted him, the God of their ancestors. The Aramaeans treated Joash as he had deserved, and when they retired they left him a very sick man; and his officers, plotting against him to avenge the death of the son of Jehoiada the priest, murdered him in his bed. So he died, and they buried him in the Citadel of David, though not in the tombs of the kings.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 88(89):4-5,29-34

R/ I will keep my love for him always.

‘With my chosen one I have made a covenant; I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your dynasty for ever and set up your throne through all ages.

R/ I will keep my love for him always.

‘I will keep my love for him always; with him my covenant shall last. I will establish his dynasty for ever, make his throne endure as the heavens.

R/ I will keep my love for him always.

‘If his sons forsake my law and refuse to walk as I decree and if ever they violate my statutes, refusing to keep my commands; then I will punish their offences with the rod, then I will scourge them on account of their guilt.

R/ I will keep my love for him always.

‘But I will never take back my love, my truth will never fail.’

R/ I will keep my love for him always.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 4:4

Alleluia, alleluia! Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia!

Or: 2 Corinthians 8:9

Alleluia, alleluia! Jesus Christ was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 6:24-34 Do not worry about tomorrow: your holy Father knows your needs

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘No one can be the slave of two masters: he will either hate the first and love the second, or treat the first with respect and the second with scorn. You cannot be the slave both of God and of money. ‘That is why I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they are? Can any of you, for all his worrying, add one single cubit to his span of life? And why worry about clothing? Think of the flowers growing in the fields; they never have to work or spin; yet I assure you that not even Solomon in all his regalia was robed like one of these. Now if that is how God clothes the grass in the field which is there today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, will he not much more look after you, you men of little faith? So do not worry; do not say, “What are we to eat? What are we to drink? How are we to be clothed?” It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

---------------------------

Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs 

(Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 1 Peter 4:12-19 If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad.

My dear people, you must not think it unaccountable that you should be tested by fire. There is nothing extraordinary in what has happened to you. If you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, because it means that you have the Spirit of glory, the Spirit of God resting on you. None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer; but if anyone of you should suffer for being a Christian, then he is not to be ashamed of it; he should thank God that he has been called one. The time has come for the judgement to begin at the household of God; and if what we know now is only the beginning, what will it be when it comes down to those who refuse to believe God’s Good News? If it is hard for a good man to be saved, what will happen to the wicked and to sinners? So even those whom God allows to suffer must trust themselves to the constancy of the creator and go on doing good.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 125(126):1-6

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’ What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land. Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing: they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:10

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 10:34-39 It is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword.

Jesus instructed the Twelve as follows: ‘Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be those of his own household. ‘Anyone who prefers father or mother to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who prefers son or daughter to me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me. Anyone who finds his life will lose it; anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

---------------------------

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 2 Corinthians 8:9-15 He was rich, but became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty.

Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty. As I say, I am only making a suggestion; it is only fair to you, since you were the first, a year ago, not only in taking action but even in deciding to. So now finish the work and let the results be worthy, as far as you can afford it, of the decision you made promptly. As long as the readiness is there, a man is acceptable with whatever he can afford; never mind what is beyond his means. This does not mean that to give relief to others you ought to make things difficult for yourselves: it is a question of balancing what happens to be your surplus now against their present need, and one day they may have something to spare that will supply your own need. That is how we strike a balance: as scripture says: The man who gathered much had none too much, the man who gathered little did not go short.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 39(40):2,4,7-10

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

I waited, I waited for the Lord and he stooped down to me; he heard my cry. He put a new song into my mouth, praise of our God.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings, but an open ear. You do not ask for holocaust and victim. Instead, here am I.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

In the scroll of the book it stands written that I should do your will. My God, I delight in your law in the depth of my heart.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Your justice I have proclaimed in the great assembly. My lips I have not sealed; you know it, O Lord.

R/ Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia! How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 12:32-34 It has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There is no need to be afraid, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom. ‘Sell your possessions and give alms. Get yourselves purses that do not wear out, treasure that will not fail you, in heaven where no thief can reach it and no moth destroy it. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

-----------------------------

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either

First Reading Genesis 3:9-15,20 The mother of all those who live.

After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

OR: --------

First reading Genesis 12:1-7 All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you

The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.

‘I will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’

So Abram went as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there. Abram passed through the land as far as Shechem’s holy place, the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘It is to your descendants that I will give this land.’ So Abram built there an altar for the Lord who had appeared to him.

OR: --------

First reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16 The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House

Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.’ But that very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’

OR: --------

First reading 1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2 They brought in the ark of God and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it

David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of the Lord. David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes. They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

OR: --------

First reading Proverbs 8:22-31 Before the earth came into being, Wisdom was born

The Wisdom of God cries aloud:

The Lord created me when his purpose first unfolded, before the oldest of his works. From everlasting I was firmly set, from the beginning, before earth came into being. The deep was not, when I was born, there were no springs to gush with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I came to birth; before he made the earth, the countryside, or the first grains of the world’s dust. When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there, when he drew a ring on the surface of the deep, when he thickened the clouds above, when he fixed fast the springs of the deep, when he assigned the sea its boundaries – and the waters will not invade the shore – when he laid down the foundations of the earth, I was by his side, a master craftsman, delighting him day after day, ever at play in his presence, at play everywhere in his world, delighting to be with the sons of men.

OR: --------

First reading Ecclesiasticus 24:1-4,8-12,18-21 From eternity, in the beginning, God created wisdom

Wisdom speaks her own praises, in the midst of her people she glories in herself. She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High, she glories in herself in the presence of the Mighty One: ‘I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like a mist. I had my tent in the heights, and my throne in a pillar of cloud. Then the creator of all things instructed me, and he who created me fixed a place for my tent. He said, “Pitch your tent in Jacob, make Israel your inheritance.” From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall remain. I ministered before him in the holy tabernacle, and thus was I established on Zion. In the beloved city he has given me rest, and in Jerusalem I wield my authority. I have taken root in a privileged people, in the Lord’s property, in his inheritance. Approach me, you who desire me, and take your fill of my fruits, for memories of me are sweeter than honey, inheriting me is sweeter than the honeycomb. They who eat me will hunger for more, they who drink me will thirst for more. Whoever listens to me will never have to blush, whoever acts as I dictate will never sin.’

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 The maiden is with child

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’ Then Isaiah said:

‘Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without trying the patience of my God, too? The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 9:1-6 A Son is given to us

The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone. You have made their gladness greater, you have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.

For the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, these you break as on the day of Midian.

For all the footgear of battle, every cloak rolled in blood, is burnt, and consumed by fire.

For there is a child born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace.

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 61:9-11 I exult for joy in the Lord

Their race will be famous throughout the nations, their descendants throughout the peoples. All who see them will admit that they are a race whom the Lord has blessed.

‘I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath, like a bride adorned in her jewels.

‘For as the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations.’

OR: --------

First reading Micah 5:1-4 He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord

The Lord says this:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old. The Lord is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth. Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel. He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land. He himself will be peace.

OR: --------

First reading Zechariah 2:14-17 'I am coming', says the Lord

Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion; for I am coming to dwell in the middle of you – it is the Lord who speaks. Many nations will join the Lord, on that day; they will become his people. But he will remain among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. But the Lord will hold Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and again make Jerusalem his very own. Let all mankind be silent before the Lord! For he is awaking and is coming from his holy dwelling.

Responsorial Psalm 1 Samuel 2:1,4-8

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

My heart exults in the Lord. I find my strength in my God; my mouth laughs at my enemies as I rejoice in your saving help.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

The bows of the mighty are broken, but the weak are clothed with strength. Those with plenty must labour for bread, but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has children now but the fruitful wife bears no more.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

It is the Lord who gives life and death, he brings men to the grave and back; it is the Lord who gives poverty and riches. He brings men low and raises them on high.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust, from the dungheap he raises the poor to set him in the company of princes to give him a glorious throne. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, on them he has set the world.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

Gospel Acclamation cf.Lk1:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk1:45

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk2:19

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who treasured the word of God and pondered it in her heart. Alleluia!

Or: Lk11:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise, for the sun of justice, Christ our God, was born of you. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy is the Virgin Mary, who, without dying, won the palm of martyrdom beneath the cross of the Lord. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ.

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother, Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother, Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother, Obed was the father of Jesse; and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Azariah, Azariah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah; and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

[russeliarat]

More TotK AU stuff! This time are actual Zonai tales from their mythology. Specifically, this post is about their creation myth as well as the tale around the War of Gods and the Skyloftian Heroes.

The Golden Three Goddesses

Millions of years before the planet’s true creation, a chaotic tribe ran amok on the cold, rocky earth. This tribe were violent and cruel, not hesitating to harm themselves and each other for kicks, and were reckless and greedy with their environment. The leader of the tribe was a god called Demise, who found the planet and captured his rivals, turning them to chaos and ruling over them with fear. 

However, at the same time, three sisters had formed through the collision of the most powerful stars, forming Din, Nayru, and Farore. With their only desire to create life of their own, the sisters began to search the universe for a worthy planet, though proved harder than expected as they could almost never agree with one another on a suitable environment for their children. Soon enough however, they came upon the planet known as Earth, still rife with the chaos Demise had created. Taking their only chance since their creation, the three golden goddesses decided to create their ideal planet. 

Nayru presented order and law to the chaotic planet with her infinite wisdom, presenting a natural opposition to the chaos and giving the future life the ability to live in harmony. Din’s strength lay in the divine fires that formed her, and so sculpted a red, fiery land that cooled to bring the seas and mountains and volcanoes. And Farore cherished the gifts her sisters created and so formed life, moulding the Earth’s creatures in her ideals.

The Zonai Gods and the War of the Gods

Before the Three Golden Goddesses left the planet, they each use the stars to craft a guiding deity each and left a relic for mortals known as the Triforce to protect. Each deity was given a respective piece of the Triforce to watch over and told that only those they deem worthy could hold possession of that piece. The deities were given a name; Hylia, the bird goddess watching over Nayru’s piece of the Triforce of Wisdom, Ekoza, the dragon god watching over Farore’s piece of the Triforce of Courage, and Kikias, the boar god watching over Din’s piece of the Triforce of Power. Then the parent goddesses left to find a new planet with potential.

Hylia, Ekoza, and Kikias all chose a follower as their high priest and told them to test their mind, strength, and bravery by completing several trials. Upon completion, they earned a sacred stone signifying their status as the harbinger of Power, Courage, and Wisdom. These high priests acted as leaders for the people and established the capital city of this new world with three temples for each god.

However, the god Demise had become angered by the destruction of the vision of his world, and had no chance to prevent it before the Golden Trio left, resulting in his resurrecting an army of the followers still alive and beginning a war on all the goddesses had created.

Hearing of the approaching war, the three deities gathered their followers onto a large mass of the people’s homeland. There they gifted them three gifts signifying their virtues; a sacred sword representing courage, an unbreakable shield representing power, and the knowledge and possession of nature’s magic representing wisdom. From there, the gods erected the land into the sky, creating a sky island for the races of the then-unnamed Hyrule to reside peacefully without danger and closed the cloud barrier tight. The only ones who stayed where the gods, their high priests, and the volunteers who’s good will allowed the people of the gods to fight. It was a long, arduous battle, and many tales were created, but ultimately three things happened in mankind’s first war. First was the murder of the high priests, whose mortal bodies could not hold against the powers of the immortal Demise, and whose deaths forged the personalities of the gods for millennia to come. Second was the temporary defeat of Demise and his servant Ghirahim by the combined powers of the Zonai gods, Demise becoming known as The Imprisoned and Ghirahim as a mere sword spirit that once served his mighty master. The third was the gods decision to go into hiding, taking themselves into the Sacred Realm with the only reminder of their high priests being the sapphire, ruby, and emerald each were gifted before their deaths.

The Skyloftian Heroes

For generations after, the people of the skies, now known as Skyloftians, lived in peace thanks to the gifts of the gods, still residing deep within the Sacred Realm. However, one young man had a vision of his childhood friend falling victim to a strange hurricane in the sky, something impossible above the cloud barrier. After said event occurred, the man collected the sacred sword whom had chosen him as her master and the two ventured down past the cloud barrier to rescue the girl, with the help of his childhood bully who soon became a friend. Eventually, the two men and the sword had come across the Imprisoned, who with the help of Ghirahim in his resurrected form, had kidnapped the girl in order for his master to use the power of wisdom within her. 

It turned out that each child had been endorsed as the embodiments of Wisdom, Courage, and Power as they were the reincarnations of the high priests who had died so loyally for their gods in the war, thus possessing Triforce pieces by proxy. The three then went on the defeat the Imprisoned who had finally been reformed to Demise, though the Hero of Courage had a curse placed on him, his friends, and their kin that they will forever clash as the holders of the Triforce pieces as Demise had finally been defeated at the hands of the holy. As the three Zonai deities still resided deep within the Sacred Realm, unaware of time or any events occurring outside, the Triforce pieces has continued down the path of the heroes as birthrights until the present day, awaiting for the gods to withdraw the Triforce to protect over once more.

[catolinewsdailyreadings]

Saturday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Readings of Saturday, June 22, 2024

Reading 1

2 CHR 24:17-25

After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them. They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD, the people would not listen to their warnings. Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: "God says, 'Why are you transgressing the LORD's commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.'" But they conspired against him, and at the king's order they stoned him to death in the court of the LORD's temple. Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, and slew his son. And as Zechariah was dying, he said, "May the LORD see and avenge." At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, did away with all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the Aramean force came with few men, the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So punishment was meted out to Joash. After the Arameans had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Responsorial Psalm

PS 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34

R./ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations." R./ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm. I will make his posterity endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven." R./ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"If his sons forsake my law and walk not according to my ordinances, If they violate my statutes and keep not my commands." R./ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

"I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with stripes. Yet my mercy I will not take from him, nor will I belie my faithfulness." R./ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

Gospel

MT 6:24-34

Jesus said to his disciples: "No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, 'What are we to eat?' or 'What are we to drink?' or 'What are we to wear?' All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil."

[carolap53]

Is there Hierarchy in Calling?

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman

10/07/2023

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1 Cor 12:27). All legitimate work matters to God. God Himself described himself as a worker. In fact, human occupations find their origin in His work to create the world. Work is a gift from Him to meet the needs of people and the creation. "You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet: all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas" (Ps 8:6-8). However, there is often an unspoken hierarchy that positions clergy (missionaries and evangelists, pastors and clergy) at the top, and occupations such as of the "helping professions" (doctors and nurses, teachers and educators, social workers) next, and "secular" workers (business executives, salespeople, factory laborers, and farmers) at the bottom. So what determines the spiritual value of a job? How does God assign significance? The hierarchy assumes sacred and secular distinctions, and assigns priority to the sacred. But does God view vocations that way? No, He does not. God creates people to carry out specific kinds of work in order to meet human needs. God uniquely designs each of us, fitting us for certain kinds of tasks. He distributes skills, abilities, interests, and personalities among us so that we can carry out His work in the world. That work includes "spiritual" tasks, but also extends to health, education, agriculture, business, law, communication, the arts, and so on. Paul was a tentmaker by occupation, along with his friends, Aquila and Priscilla. Other church leaders practiced a wide variety of professions and trades. There’s no indication that God looks at vocations in the form of spiritual hierarchy. [1] The next time you consider your vocation a second-class spiritual calling, consider what God says. Your work matters to God and is valued by God equally to other forms of work.

[brandonwayneb]

My commonwealth beloved tropes

anyone free to healthy pathology

My bunny 🐰 beat 🥁

My bat 🦇 eletric ⚡️ heart ❤️

My snake 🐍 coiled cords 🪢

My cat 🐈‍⬛ called cool 😎

My royal 🤴🏽 scale ⚖️ exports 🚢

My divine 💖 nature ✨ tree 🌲

My ant 🐜 pleasant 😌 protest 🪧

My bee 🐝 busy ⏰ body 🧍🏼‍♂️

My belief 💭 by relief ☺️

My flamingo 🦩 flow 🌊

My holy 👼🏽 bestow ✨

My bird 🦚 brilliant 👐🏽 I heard 👂🏽

My bird 🦚 feather 🪶 I fly 🕊️

My blue jay 🐦 to say stay free ⛅️

My praying-mantis 🪲 prayers 🙏🏽

My insect 🐞 smallest I see 👁️

My spider 🕷️ I www. WEB/spy syphite

My porcupine 🦔 quills to class-cup questions ☝🏽

My elephant 🐘 my memory 🧠 element ⚛️

My alien gray 👽 survive x-ray 🩻

My angel 😇 at best heights ⬆️ & angles 📐

My going🚶‍♂️ forever ♾️ green 💚 speakup 📣

My windy 🌬️ storm ⛈️ stories 📖 of

My victory 🥇 rebegin 🔂 reign 👑

My salute 🫡

My salutations 👋🏼

My solutions ✊🏽

My soul 👁️‍🗨️

My questions 🤨 my quests 🌍

My mighty 💪🏽 moon 🌙

My good night 🌚 💤 knight 🛡️

My sun 🌞 sacred 🛐

My rex 🦖 rapture rockets 🚀

My ghost 👻 boo book 📕

My dinosaur 🦕 to not die too sore 💀

My skunk 🦨 to base bunk 📡

My frog 🐸 to transmog ⚧️

My owl🦉to see ‘who & how’ 👀

My mouse 🐭 mystery 🧐

My cricket 🦗 cherp church ⛪️

My lion 🦁 lords

My camel 🐫 cam era 🧬

My camp 🏕️ campaign 📈

My genie 🧞‍♂️ genetic 🧬 magnetic 🧲

My bull 🐂 noble 🤴🏽 taurus ♉️

My kangaroo 🦘 can-go-around-you-&-over-kangaroo-court-contorts 🫰🏼

My doG 🐕 my OG 💯 on God original gangsta 💅🏿 mans best friend 🫂

My dragon 🐉 justice loud & proud drag 👗

My squirrel 🐿️ faster to quarrelsome

My squid 🦑 squirt 💦

My octopus 🐙 puss 😸

My tiger 🐯 growl grr 😼

My May 📅 flower 🌸 (born May 6th) 6️⃣

Brandon Wayne Burdett

Lives Life with minimal regret 🤗

Living Life quality survival war vets ⛑️

decided I loved 💕 you ever since we met 🫱🏽‍🫲🏾

BEST WORLD 🌍 BEST NEWS 🗞️ EFFORTS 💥 PSY 🧠 PSA 🗣️ WORLD EARL 🤴🏽 EARS 👂🏽

WORLD ORDEALS

WORLD ORGANIZATIONS

WORLD OR GAIN AGAIN WOLRD ATTENTION

AT 10/10 RIN TIN TIN WOLF 🐺 PACK

WORLD DEALS; WORLD ORDERS & ORDEALS

DEENS DENS & LEINS, FINANCES IN FAX 📠 MACHINE ⚙️ “ZERO TALKS” ZERO OX 🐂

RAMBULL RAM 🐏 LAMB 🐑 BOW 🏹 SAVE LEGAL WOMAN “ROE” 👩🏼 MEN 👨🏼 ON DEATH ROW & HOMELESS KIDS 👦🏼 ON SKIDROW CRACK SYSTEM WARS; WORSHIP THY TRUTH SPEAKER 🔊 BOOM 🤯 BOX 📦 FORT KNOCKS ✊🏽 ✊🏾 ✊🏿 BUST 🚌 POW 💥 FED DO DOOR 🚪 ER ERL ALL

FEDERAL FINANCE FIGHTS FOR PEOPLES RIGHTS ELETRIC ⚡️ KEY 🔑 KITES 🪁

GOD BLESS THE UNDEAD 🇮🇱 ISRAELITES

STAR 🌟 MASTER GOD BLESS ALL LIVES

SAINTS SAY BY TAN PEOPLE UNDER THY GOLDEN SUN ☀️ OUR PEOPLE ARE NOT FORSAKEN; SAY “YES I CAN!” REBEGIN! REBEGUN!

BY THESE ACTS CANNOT BE UNDONE!

HOT TOPIC BY FOREVER ON FOR EVERYONE!

LIFE LAWS! REVOLUTION! EVOLUTION!

[victormilanbooks]

Gods of Dinosaur lords

God’s of Dinosaur Lords 

Adan, Aidan, Trueno, Thunder -

Duke of the creators: Zhen (Thunder) The Oldest Son.

 Represents Manhood, commerces, wealth and impoverishment, agriculture, and Storms. Also domestic beasts. Know for his expansive, 

Aspect: a handsome man with black hair and brown skin, clad in green tunic, a dog beside him, his feet hidden in clouds. 

Sacred Animal: dog

Color : green. 

Symbol : a green hammer. 

Bella, Belle,  Lady Li

Countess of the creators: Li (fire) the middle daughter.

Represents Beauty (and its inevitable withering), the arts, truth, lust, passion, and obsession, time and Fire. Also cats. Know for her passion. 

Aspect: a beautiful red-haired young woman in an orange gown garlanded with white flowers, holding a flame in her right palm and mirror with a cross bar in her left hand. 

Sacred animal: cat (depicted as an orange tabby tom)

Colors: Red and orange

Symbol: Beauty’s mirror (a circle on a handle with a cross piece)

Chian, El Rey, The King, Padre Cielo, Father Sky-

King of creators: Qian (Haven) The Father.

Represents fatherhood, rule, (and misrule), power, and the Sun. Also dinosaurs. Known as his majesty. 

Aspect: A Sturdy, white bearded man with gold-trimmed scarlet robe and golden scepter, sitting on a throne. 

Sacred Animal: Tyrannosaurus Rex

Color: gold

Symbol: a golden crown

Lanza, Lance 

 Count of the creators, Kan (Water) The middle son. 

Represents war and peace. Aggression and mercy, victory and defeat; and Serene Water (ponds, pools, rivers) Also war beasts. Known for his valor. 

Aspect: a handsome young black man in full blue plate, with one foot on a corpse, holding a long-sword point-down.

 Sacred animal: Triceratops 

Colors: Black and blue 

Symbol: an inverted longsword. 

Maia, La Madre, the Mother, Madre Terra,  Mother Land

Queen of the creators : Kun (land) The mother.

 Represents Motherhood, soft power, birth (and death), healing and Paradise. Also mammals. Known for her compassion. 

Aspect: beautiful grey-haired matron in brown-and-gold gown, holding a sheaf of wheat in one hand and a sickle in the other. 

Sacred Animal: horse 

Color: brown

Symbol: a wheat sheaf. 

Maris, La Dama Fortuna, Lady Fortune-

Baroness of the Creators: Dui (lake)- the youngest daughter. 

Represents Fortune and the sea, justice, fate, mariners, gambling, balance and imbalance; Equilibrium, and Wild Water. Also fish and swimming reptiles. Known for her caprice.

Aspect: a slight albino woman with blue eyes and long, windblown white hair, dressed in a white robe, with the taijitu in her raised left palm. 

Sacred Animals: terrible mouth sea dragon )often shown devouring a man).

Color: white

Symbol: a silver eight-spoked ship wheel

Telar, Laventosa, Windy, La Tejedora de Suenors, Dreamweaver

Duchess of the creators: Xun (Wind) The oldest Daughter.

Represents fabrications and destruction, artisans, sleep and dreams, forests and Wind. also birds and fliers. Know for her vigor. 

Aspect: a woman with long, kinky gold hair in green-trimmed with gown, working a loom, as long-crested dragon above her. 

Sacred Animal: long-crested dragon

Color: Green

Symbol: a golden loom.

Torre, Torrey - 

Barron of the creators: Gen (mountain) The youngest Son. Represents Order (yet he’s the Trickster), law, bureaucracy, priests, smiths, miners, masons, and Mountains. Also burrowing animals. Known for his authority.

Aspects: a powerful blond youth with a gold mail hauberk over a brown tunic, holding a hammer and a shovel. 

Sacred animal: ferret 

Colors: brown and yellow

Symbol: the golden tower.

--- 

Other

Angeles Grises, Grey angels, the Seven: They have the task of maintaining the creator's’ sacred equilibrium on Paradise. They possess remarkable powers of mystic weapons, and when they walk out in the world. They often take a terrifying appearance. They are not humane, and regard all things as straw dogs. 

The creators’ supernatural servitors: 

Michael:

Gabreil:

Raphael:

Uriel:

Remiel :

Zerachiel :

Reguel :

The concepts of the gods:

Victor Milan: “Because the Creators drew heavily on Taoism in creating their own mythos. A thing in effect implies its opposite.”

https://upload.wikimedia.org/.../253px-Yin_yang.svg.png

[celestisae]

Thoth

- Thoth was the god of the moon, sacred texts, mathematics, the sciences, magic, messenger and recorder of the deities, master of knowledge, and patron of scribes. His Egyptian name was Djehuty, which means “He who is like the Ibis.” He was depicted as an ibis bird or a baboon.

According to one story, Thoth was born from the lips of Ra at the beginning of creation and was known as the “god without a mother.” In another story, Thoth is self-created at the beginning of time and, as an ibis, lays the cosmic egg that holds all of creation. He was always closely associated with Ra and the concept of divine order and justice.

Thoth was credited with creating the art of writing, inventing the calendar, and controlling space and time. Since he was the god of the moon, he had celestial functions and replaced the sun god, Ra, in the sky at night.

Thoth helped the funerary deities as a messenger and bookkeeper for them. He was responsible for recording the verdict of the heart-weighing ceremony that determined if the person was able to continue on to the Afterlife. If the person’s heart (spirit) balanced with Ma’at’s Feather of Truth, they passed. However, if the heart was heavier than the feather then the person did not pass. Thoth always provided guidance for the deities and regulated common everyday complaints and created new laws. Thoth suggested that if a problem couldn’t be solved, then a group should get together as an assembly and discuss it.

[mariami5980]

IF THE DEVIL SPOKE

"I am Lucifer the light-bearer. My magnificent gift to humanity is the absolute absence of morality. Nothing restricts me. I transgress every law, I bum the sacred books and constitutions. No religion can contain me. I destroy all theories and cause all dogmas to explode.

"In the depths of the depths of the depths, no one lives any deeper than I do. I am the source of all abysses. I am the one who gives life to dark grottos, the one who knows the center around which turn all densities. I am the viscosity of everything that vainly attempts to be definite: the supreme strength of magma; the stench that denounces the hypocrisy of perfumes; the carrion mother of every flower; the corruptor of vain minds who wallow in perfection.

"I am the murdered awareness of the perpetual ephemeral. It is me imprisoned in the underground reaches of the world who causes the stupid cathedral of faith to shake. It is me on my knees biting the feet of the crucified until they bleed, who, without any shyness, shows off my wounds gaping like so many famished vaginas. I rape the putrid egg of your holiness. I bury the erection of my thought into the morbid dream of hierophants and spit in the face of their simulacra the cold sperm of my scom.

"No peace with me. No peaceful little home. No candied Gospels. No sugar virgin for the clammy tongues of hairy nuns. I royally defecate on the leprous birds of morality. I do not forbid myself from imagining the prophet on all fours being mounted by a homy donkey. I am the ecstatic songster of incest and the champion of all depravity; with the nail of my little finger I delightedly slice open the belly of an innocent so I can dip my bread in his tripe. "However, from the depths of the depths of the human cavern, I light the torch that brings order to the darkness. On an obsidian ladder I make my way to the feet of the Creator to present him the power of transformation as an offering. Yes: before the divine impermanence I fight to freeze instinct, to fix it in place like a fluorescent sculpture. I illuminate it with my awareness and cling to it, until it bursts into a new divine work, the infinite universe an immeasurable labyrinth that slips through my claws, a prey that escapes from between my teeth, traces that vanish like a subtle perfume."

"And here I remain, attempting to attach all the seconds one after the next in order to halt the flow of time. That's what hell is: total love versus the divine work that fades away. He is the Artist—invisible, unthinkable, intangible, untouchable. Me, I am the other artist: fixed, unvarying, dark, opaque, dense, a torch eternally burning with a motionless fire. It is I who wishes to swallow this eternity, this imponderable glory, nailing it to the center of my belly and then giving birth to it like a swamp that tears itself to pieces in order to eject the stem at whose end opens the lotus in which the diamond is shining. Thus, lacerating my entrails, I want to be the supreme Virgin who gives birth to God and nails him on a cross, so that he will remain for eternity herewith me, always, never changing, permanent permanence."

[corpsentry]

ao3 mirror

fandom: age of calamity, botw rating: g starring: prince sidon and mipha note: spoilers for both games

"You know, Daruk’s my idol,” Yunobo says. He pumps his fists in the air like a kid at a fun fair in line for the big pirate ship ride. “They say he was the coolest Goron there ever was. Plus he had a beard. I think beards are awesome.”

“Great,” Sidon says. He stops peeling the mandarin in his hands for long enough to look up blankly at him. "Mipha was my sister."

the age of calamity, side b.

The thing about time travel is, even if someone stands in front of you and tells you point-blank that there’s a way to bring your dead sister back to life, you’re probably not going to believe them.

“I don’t believe you,” says Sidon.

“Okay,” Teba says patiently, fluffing his feathers with an absent glide of his wing. “Try harder.”

Sidon stares at him. He tries harder, though he’s not sure what that entails and so doesn’t end up really doing anything. “I don’t get you.”

“Which part don’t you get?”

“I get to see Mipha again?”

Teba’s eyebrow twitches. “Let me put this as simply as I can, Prince,” he says, a little too loudly. The soldier stationed at the bottom of the staircase turns to look at them. “We’re going to go back to the point a hundred years ago at which the four champions were killed in their divine beasts. We’re going to save them. We’re going to make sure they defeat Ganon before he can send Hyrule into ruin. And then we’re going to leave.”

By now, they’ve caught everyone’s attention. It’s been a long time since a hundred years ago, but here in Zora’s Domain it still feels like the events of last Tuesday, to be recounted over salt tea and fish skewers, to be mourned over an empty coffin. Everyone’s staring at the big white bird with the angry eyebrows, a little curious, a little apprehensive. For what he’s worth, Teba is indifferent. This much will not faze him.

Sidon twiddles his thumbs behind his back, where Teba cannot see them and the guards at the bottom of the staircase can point and laugh all they want. To be honest, he heard nothing. His heart stopped when he heard ‘killed in their divine beasts’, at which point a watery monster punched its way into his skull and crushed his brain. The monster is nothing concrete, nothing crystal-clear, just what little Link has told him, bits and pieces of a history he was prevented from taking part in. It’s been several months since the kid dragged his beaten-up body halfway across Hyrule and kicked Ganon’s ass, though they’re still feeling the after-effects of that particular calamity today. Mipha’s statue still looms over their heads, a reminder of what it means to die alone and far away from home.

“So,” Sidon starts, hearing his voice echoing in his ears like metal slicing through air. “What you’re saying is, I get to see Mipha again.”

Teba looks like he wants to grab one of the guards’ spears and stab Sidon in the face, but for what he’s worth, he reigns it in. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He grins. “I’m in.”

::

He tried to fight a lynel when he was fifteen. The domain had been overrun with monsters who had arrived for the pre-party to Ganon’s return, including an outstanding number of wizzrobes, several moblins, and a tall, intimidating figure which spat electricity from its pink-tongued mouth and whose name he couldn’t recall. While his father, the king, and his sister, the princess, breezed through the area like a lightning strike, reclaiming keeps and stabbing moblins with silver teeth so their generals could forge a path ahead, Sidon reveled in the wonder of being left unsupervised at four a.m. in the morning. And then heard the familiar, haunting roar of a lynel. And then decided to go and say hi.

It was a mistake, of course. The lynel was so tall he couldn’t make out the gear on its back. Its face was all squished up, like a birthday cake that had been stepped on, and its horns were too big for its thick, blocky nose. This was funny for all of five seconds. Then the lynel extracted a bow from that unknowable space behind it and aimed the sharp end of an arrow at his face, and it became a problem.

“H-h-h-hi,” said Sidon, holding up his Kid Spear, which was strictly for Kid Use Only, and had the offensive capabilities of a stick.

“RHOOARHGHHGHH,” said the lynel.

He jabbed the Kid Spear at the lynel’s leg. The lynel spat at him, though probably unintentionally, as it seemed preoccupied with the arrow it was trying to send into his face. It was stuck. The big scary lynel’s bow was stuck.

Emboldened by the stupid scary lynel’s broken bow, Sidon decided to try again. “Please go away, Mr. Lynel,” he said in his best and most charming Kid Prince voice, twirling his Kid Spear like a sweet jellyfish skewer.

“RHOAHOARHAGHOGHHHH,” said the lynel, who sounded significantly angrier than before.

“I understand,” Sidon said politely, and then closed his eyes and sent a prayer to the goddess Hylia (the way he had been taught to since he was old enough to speak, the way every child in Hyrule knew that there was a place for them to go to after they left this world behind). He braced for impact, which he hoped would be of the violent sort, earth-shattering and brisk enough to break his bones and leave nothing breathing in its wake. He was fifteen, not five. This was Ganon’s era. Every living creature in Hyrule knew this, the way their ancestors woke up and knew which direction the sun would rise from. Not if, but when. When the Calamity strikes. When your people die. When the knight emerges from the woods with the sacred sword in his hand, and saves you all.

But none came. When he opened his eyes, and he did so reluctantly, adrenalin coursing through his veins like thunder, the world was pitch black. In place of the cool blue moon was his sister, her ceremonial gear glittering darkly, the Lightscale Trident glowing like a star in her right hand.

“Holy shit,” whispered Sidon the kid. Mipha stabbed the lynel in the face.

She hugged him when it was all over and they had put the moblins and the wizzrobes and the electric moblin (so that’s what it was! Terrifying) back to sleep. Their father was upset, but he was frequently upset at Sidon and so it didn’t bother him as much as it could have. Sidon was not Mipha. It was all right if he got things wrong, as long as his sister never did. Coincidentally, the Hylian princess had been in the area at the time of the attack, accompanied by a knight with blue eyes and a Sheikah warrior who looked like she would throw a knife at a fish for sport. It was a good thing Mipha had been at home, and not visiting one of the other tribes or hunting for crabs near Lurelin. It was a good thing she had intervened when she had, lest the pre-party become the real thing.

“Thank you,” said the Hylian princess, trying her best to smooth her brow and failing. She looked anxious, though she had only come to pass on her father’s word, though the word that she had brought was victory.

Mipha smiled at her with a face full of sun. “It is my pleasure.”

::

He wishes the egg could talk. If the egg could talk then Teba would have less reason to talk, and if Teba talked less then Sidon would have less of a raging headache, which which would make him less of an asshole, which would make their discussions go much more smoothly than the janky, sputtering mess they’ve been all week.

“As I was saying,” says Teba, continuing whatever train of thought he picked up on their way up to Goron City and then dumped unceremoniously by the side of the road. As he does this, Death Mountain spits a chunk of lava out of its steaming gaping top, which lands a few inches shy of his breastplate. He hops backwards without missing a beat and begins fanning himself with one wing.

Riju stops fiddling with the diamond circlet in her hands for long enough to give him a look of inquiry. “As you were saying?”

“I can’t wait to see Daruk.” Yunobo scratches his arm. It makes a sound like two large boulders grinding together. Riju drops the circlet.

“You’re only going to see him for a short while,” Teba comments over the sound of the egg blowing its top at Riju and Sidon plugging his ears with his fingers. “No point getting all worked up about it.”

“You’re just as worked up yourself,” Riju counters. Patricia barks. Teba flinches.

This is true. There are two things Teba won’t shut up about. In ascending order of importance, they are 1) when they should depart for the alternate timeline in which they will prevent their respective ancestors from getting their spirits trapped in giant mechanical monsters for a hundred years, and 2) how incredible Revali is. Because Revali was the most powerful Rito warrior that ever walked the land (or flew over it, or blasted bomb arrows at it, whatever). Revali singlehandedly invented an entire style of aerial combat which involves launching yourself into the air with an updraft that defies the laws of the universe and then setting your surroundings on fire. Revali killed god.

Teba looks like he wants to go back to his wife and kid in Rito village. Good for him. Not all of them have bodies to put in coffins. “I just want to meet him once,” he says quietly.

Yunobo laughs, and it sounds like two extra large boulders grinding together. “Me too, brother.” He picks up the diamond circlet from the floor and puts it on his head like some kind of weird hat. “I’m going to tell Daruk how great he is. And then I’m going to go home.”

::

One time when they were much, much younger, before he woke up one morning and Mipha was three times his height, one of the guards brought back some durians. The durians were misshapen and spiky and smelled intimidating, though Sidon wouldn’t go as far as to say that the smell was unpleasant. The guard had obtained them from a merchant in the Faron region. He hadn’t meant to purchase them, but they were the last of her stock and she said she could only head home once she had sold everything. He empathized her.

At first they tried to open the durians with their hands, but this only produced several pricked fingers and left ominous and eerily substantial bloodstains everywhere, so someone brought out a spear, almost drove it through the table, and someone else brought out a carving knife. Halfway through the spectacle of watching one of the guards, who was thirty-seven and enjoyed collecting glowing stones as a hobby, attempt to de-spike an entire durian, the crowd parted abrutpyl.

“What are you all doing?” Mipha put her hand absently on Sidon’s head. He had been watching the ongoing debacle out of some kind of morbid curiosity, standing on tip-toes so he could peek over the top of the table, though now he had apparently been relegated to armrest.

“Trying to open this durian, your highness.”

Mipha laughed. His sister’s laugh was a delicate, heartrending affair, like trying to pull weeds from the bottom of a lake without breaking them at the stem. The weather at home was always more or less divine, but whenever Mipha laughed, Sidon swore it blasted a hole right through the clouds. If there were no clouds, then the hole appeared in the fabric of the sky instead. Mipha, at her brightest, was a walking catastrophe of sun.

Still chuckling a little, like she’d been made privy to a secret that none of them knew about, Mipha stepped up to the cutting board. “You have to do it like this,” she said cheerfully, digging her fingers into a seam in the durian’s shell like she’d been dealing with danger all her life.

Cue gasping. Cue the horrors of childbirth.

The durian was sweet. It was also a little goopy, but Sidon was no stranger to things which stuck to your fingers and refused to let go (he was one of those objects when it came to his sister, who he could rarely be found more than an arm’s length away from on any given day), so he felt for the little spiky fruit, and decided that he would make an effort to bring some back home when he went traveling himself in the future. While he examined the inside of the durian’s shell, which had been hollowed of fruit and had the texture of rough sandpaper, the guards crowded around Mipha and demanded that she share her secret to not getting stabbed to death by the fierce and terrifying durian. But either she didn’t know how to explain it to them, or they weren’t very good at listening, because she remained the only one capable of cracking open a durian with her bare hands for many, many years, up until she died while fighting a watery manifestation of Ganon inside the divine beast she had been told by the king of Hyrule to pilot to victory’s end. Then it was someone else’s turn to take over.

::

Painkillers for fish are a tricky affair. To begin with, charmingly little research has been conducted into the biology of the fish-person because the Zoras simply aren’t interested in how their bodies work, and while others have offered to do so in their place, among them several enthusiastic Sheikah researchers and one Hylian with a thing for huge glowing orbs, his people have never cared enough to give their consent. It’s a unique kind of apathy, one which stems from a place of privilege, or denial. They are, as a general statement of fact, very good at both.

“This will help.” Yunobo hands him a rock roast. Where did Yunobo get a rock roast from? Sidon frowns. They’re in the middle of the desert.

“Thanks,” Sidon says. Smiles. Kind of, like, holds the roast up to his mouth and gives it a sniff. It doesn’t smell half as good as durian. He puts it down.

It takes him several days to make sense of the convoluted sequence of events that Teba presented to him that day on the front door of the world he had rebuilt from scratch, surrounded by mystique and glamor and promising, in a breath of cold air, to bring his dead sister back to life. This makes it sound like he’s finished making sense of it all and will thus never be confused ever again, but if he’s to be entirely honest, he still doesn’t get it. He wants to. He’s scared to. He won’t look Teba in the eye.

“We should get going soon, don’t you think?” says Riju, who is twelve and somehow more put-together than all four of them combined. She pulls another book from the shelf and leaves it on the pile on the desk.

Yunobo shrugs loudly. “Doesn’t make a difference when we leave, does it? We could leave for Hyrule in twenty years, and we’d still end up at the same place.”

“But I want to save them,” Riju says earnestly. The pile behind her has been growing all afternoon, and will soon overtake her in height if she is not stopped. Mission preparation looks like archaeological excavation when you’re traveling backwards in time, and not forwards to some yet unknown destination. Ancient Sheikah records. Research journals. The writings of people who were obsessed with the events of a hundred years ago despite having no personal investment to speak of, and whose words carry with them a hint of reverence, even as they choreograph the funeral song of the old king. This is all that’s left of those ruins, aside from Link, who they’ve all quietly decided to keep uninformed of the current proceedings. Hyrule itself has been kept in the dark. No need for them to know about the maybes and the what-ifs and the could-have-beens. No need for more people to go crazy.

Sidon shuts the book in his hands with a thud. “But why?”

Riju’s eyes go wide. Drama queen. “Why what?”

Sidon opens his mouth, closes it, and opens it again. There’s a heat rash on the back of his neck which he can’t quite reach on his own. The elders had warned him about the desert, but the charm he received from Link has proven to be effective in all areas except for maintaining good skincare. He blinks dumbly at Riju, who has begun to flicker like the glassy surface of a pond. His eyes hurt.

“I mean, why do you.” His eyes hurt. His throat hurts. There’s something large and horrible stuck in his chest, and he can’t get it out. “Why do you want to save them?” There’s a durian in his rib cage. It must have lodged itself there when Teba glared at him like he was an idiot as he came face to face with the cruel reality of the universe, and it dawned on him like a dead body falling out of the sky that he would get to see Mipha one last time, and then he would have to come back. To a Hyrule without her. To the stupid stuck-up world that had to try again and again and again, coughing up blood and dragging itself through the dirt on bruised knees, before it could defeat the monster. “It’s not like they’ll come back to life,” he says, each word a silver knife in his mouth. “They’ll stay dead here. They’re already dead.”

Silence.

Riju has let everything go, including the diamond circlet, the topaz earrings, and three volumes sheathed in gold. Yunobo’s mouth is open so wide, you could stick your head inside and take a look around if you leaned in close enough. For the first time since he met him, Teba is at a loss for words. His chest rises and falls erratically, his hand on the bookshelf quivering, his eyebrows doing a little dance on his forehead. He’s sweating. Of course he is. They’re in the desert.

Riju, Hylia bless her soul, is the first to speak.

“It’s the spirit of things,” she says softly. She looks sadder than any twelve-year-old should ever have to look. But then and again, Sidon was barely old enough to hold a spear with both hands when his sister died and everything went to shit. Then and again, everything goes away eventually.

Sidon stares at her helplessly for a moment, gulping the humid air of the library like a fish out of water, then gives up and walks out of the room. He spends the rest of the afternoon blowing bubbles in the pool beside Kara Kara Bazaar while the other three continue their work, and then buys a durian from one of the vendors and hacks it open with his spear. You can’t crack open a durian with your bare hands, unless you’re Mipha, in which case you can do anything. It’s a good thing, then, that she’s gone.

::

When they were children and they got into trouble, his father would always scold Mipha far more harshly than Sidon. Mipha was the older sibling, after all. She should know better. This dynamic remained firmly established between them even as Mipha grew into her role as princess, future ruler, and eventually, champion. Of course, the reprimandings grew less stern, but Sidon had a penchant for winding up in places he wasn’t supposed to be in and Mipha had a penchant for being with him whenever this happened. He secretly resolved to pay her back when he got older and was finally able to stand up to his father, and therefore explain that most of the things they got into trouble for were his idea. He would be the one to weep at his father’s feet while his sister looked on with a horrified expression, and in that moment she would understand how much he loved her.

Then she died. You can’t tell the story of Mipha without this part. Mipha was a humble, kind girl, and then she died. Mipha could crack open a durian with her bare hands, and then she died. Mipha was the pride of their people, and then she died, and she died, and she died.

You can’t change the past with the wave of a hand. You’re not a bird. You’re not a fortune-teller. You’re a fish-person with an empty coffin for a sister, and in a few weeks’ time, you’re going to save her specter.

::

“...What if I brought her back with me?”

“Huh?”

“Hahajustkidding. No way I’d do that. Not a chance.”

“Um. Do you need painkillers?”

“Thanks, but they don’t work on me. I’m over a hundred years old, you see. Us Zoras, we’re different.”

::

The day before departure. They’re back at Zora’s domain. It’s raining. Teba is running through a checklist of items to bring with them which is so long, he has to hold it above his head to prevent it from touching the floor. Riju is feeding Patricia mandarin peels.

“You know, Sidon.”

Sidon looks up from his mandarin. “Mm?”

Yunobo grins at him. “Daruk’s my idol,” he says proudly. He pumps his fists in the air like a kid at a fun fair in line for the big pirate ship ride. “They say he was the coolest Goron there ever was. Plus he had a beard. I think beards are awesome.”

“Great,” says Sidon, as enthusiastically as he can, because he genuinely wants to be happy for Yunobo who is finally going to meet his idol and has clearly dreamed about this moment for some time. He wants to be happy for all of them. He fucking wants to. This is a rescue mission, not the imprisonment Princess Zelda walked into in Hyrule castle, not the hundred-year nap Link took on the Great Plateau. This is a happy ending, even if it’s not theirs.

Daruk the idol. Urbosa the warrior. Revali the bird. Sidon pictures them in his head, the way Link described them to him once, his voice carrying across the water like beams of light.

“Mipha was—”

He stops peeling the mandarin in his hands, his nails still embedded in the soft skin of it, the white-tinged flesh peeking out like a wound. Outside, the rain keeps falling. A river of tears from the sky.

Yunobo tilts his head to the side. “Mipha was?”

Mipha was the pride of their people. Mipha was the first person he wanted to live forever. Mipha was the only one he knew who could crack open a durian with her bare hands, like she was peeling open the heart of a monster, only to reveal that it had been something soft and scared all along. Mipha was a flesh-and-blood person. Mipha was the light of their world. Mipha is an empty coffin with a name inscribed on the lid, a house with the lights off, a memory drenched in ocean.

Yunobo prods his shoulder, though he barely feels a thing. “Mipha was?” he repeats kindly, herding him along to the end of the line, to the boat at the edge of the water.

Sidon puts the mandarin away. He stares long and hard at Yunobo, and hopes that his eyes will convey the wound his body no longer knows how to carry.

“Mipha was my sister.”

::

Let’s say you’ve been entrusted with the future of your kingdom. There’s a bad guy coming, and everyone’s scared to death, so you learn how to pilot this big robotic elephant which shoots turrets of water like a machine gun, and you get really good at it, and when the bad guy arrives on your new friend’s birthday suddenly you can’t do it anymore. You’re trapped inside the giant elephant. You’re bleeding out all over the floor. Your chest hurts like something awful, and your vision is beginning to blur. Sensing your despair, the monster closes in on you, wielding that big blue trident like fury. It holds the sky up over your head, and as it does so you close your eyes. You send a prayer to the goddess Hylia (the way you have been taught to since you were old enough to hold your little brother in your arms, the way every child in Hyrule knows that there is a place for them to go to after they leave this world behind). You brace for impact, which you hope will be the gentle sort, a slap to the wrist that’s conclusive enough to break your bones and leave nothing breathing in its wake. You’re twenty, not five. This is the end of all things as you know it. Every living creature in Hyrule knows this, the way their ancestors woke up one day and knew that this world would come to ruin. Not if, but when. When the Calamity strikes. When everyone you’ve ever loved dies. When you walk into the mouth of the elephant, and the elephant changes its mind, and decides to keep you in its belly forever.

None arrives. You open your eyes slowly, hesitantly, fear a living memory in your bones, but you are not faced with the stinging end of a trident. In its place is a boy almost three times your height, his eyes glittering darkly, the spear in his right hand shining like a star.

He is not your brother. But, Hylia bless you all, he is.

So what can you say, when the evil has been defeated and you are standing on the balcony of the castle, smiling up at him through tears while this big overgrown baby stares at you like you’re the answer to the universe, except:

We’ll definitely meet again, won’t we?

He flinches, but you don’t ask, and he doesn’t say why. He pulls you into an earth-shattering, bone-crushing hug. It’s a beautiful day to be alive, the sun shining like sin, Hyrule’s beaten but stubbornly breathing carcass laughing up at you from the fields below. He takes your hands in his. He’s shivering. He’s shaking from head to toe.

Of course, he says in the kindest, saddest voice you’ve ever heard, though he has only come to pass on someone else’s words, though the word he has brought is salvation. From now on, I’ll always be by your side.

: : : : :

You smile at him with a face full of stars.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

22nd June >> Mass Readings (USA)

Saturday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 

or

Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs 

or

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop 

or

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading 2 Chronicles 24:17-25 They murdered Zechariah between the sanctuary and the altar (Matthew 23:35).

After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them. They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem. Although prophets were sent to them to convert them to the LORD, the people would not listen to their warnings. Then the Spirit of God possessed Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the priest. He took his stand above the people and said to them: “God says, ‘Why are you transgressing the LORD’s commands, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.’” But they conspired against him, and at the king’s order they stoned him to death in the court of the LORD’s temple. Thus King Joash was unmindful of the devotion shown him by Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, and slew his son. And as Zechariah was dying, he said,“(May the LORD see and avenge.” At the turn of the year a force of Arameans came up against Joash. They invaded Judah and Jerusalem, did away with all the princes of the people, and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus. Though the Aramean force came with few men, the LORD surrendered a very large force into their power, because Judah had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So punishment was meted out to Joash. After the Arameans had departed from him, leaving him in grievous suffering, his servants conspired against him because of the murder of the son of Jehoiada the priest. He was buried in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34

R/ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for all generations.”

R/ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

“Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him, and my covenant with him stands firm. I will make his posterity endure forever and his throne as the days of heaven.”

R/ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

“If his sons forsake my law and walk not according to my ordinances, If they violate my statutes and keep not my commands.”

R/ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

“I will punish their crime with a rod and their guilt with stripes. Yet my mercy I will not take from him, nor will I belie my faithfulness.”

R/ For ever I will maintain my love for my servant.

Gospel Acclamation 2 Corinthians 8:9

Alleluia, alleluia. Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 6:24-34 Do not worry about tomorrow.

Jesus said to his disciples: “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the field, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith? So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

----------------------------

Saints John Fisher, Bishop, and Thomas More, Martyrs 

(Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 1 Peter 4:12-19 Rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ.

Beloved, do not be surprised that a trial by fire is occurring among you, as if something strange were happening to you. But rejoice to the extent that you share in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed you may also rejoice exultantly. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let no one among you be made to suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as an intriguer. But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name. For it is time for the judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, how will it end for those who fail to obey the Gospel of God?

And if the righteous one is barely saved, where will the godless and the sinner appear?

As a result, those who suffer in accord with God’s will hand their souls over to a faithful creator as they do good.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 126:1bc-2ab, 2cd-3, 4-5, 6

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men dreaming. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.” The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad indeed.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the torrents in the southern desert. Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.

R/ Those who sow in tears shall reap rejoicing.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:10

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 10:34-39 I have come to bring not peace but the sword.

Jesus said to the Twelve: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set

a man ‘against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household.’

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

----------------------------------

Saint Paulinus of Nola, Bishop 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 2 Corinthians 8:9-15 Christ was rich but he became poor for your sake: to make you rich out of his poverty.

Brothers and sisters: You know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And I am giving counsel in this matter, for it is appropriate for you who began not only to act but to act willingly last year: complete it now, so that your eager willingness may be matched by your completion of it out of what you have. For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have; not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your surplus at the present time should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written:

Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 40:2 and 4ab, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD, and he stooped toward me and heard my cry. And he put a new song into my mouth, a hymn to our God.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not; then said I, “Behold I come.”

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me, To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!”

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Your justice I kept not hid within my heart; your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of; I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth in the vast assembly.

R/ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs! Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Luke 12:32-34 It has pleased the Father to give you the Kingdom.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

---------------------------

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either:

First Reading Genesis 3:9-15, 20 I will put enmity between your offspring and the offspring of the woman.

After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me– she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” The LORD God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; On your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel.”

The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

OR: --------

First reading Genesis 12:1-7 The Lord spoke to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever (Luke 1:55).

The LORD said to Abram: “Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father’s house to a land that I will show you.

”I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you.”

Abram went as the LORD directed him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his brother’s son Lot, all the possessions that they had accumulated, and the persons they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land as far as the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. (The Canaanites were then in the land.) The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

OR: --------

First reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-11, 16 The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father (Luke 1:32).

When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!” Nathan answered the king, “Go, do whatever you have in mind, for the LORD is with you.” But that night the LORD spoke to Nathan and said: “Go tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: Should you build me a house to dwell in?’ “‘It was I who took you from the pasture and from the care of the flock to be commander of my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you went, and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. And I will make you famous like the great ones of the earth. I will fix a place for my people Israel; I will plant them so that they may dwell in their place without further disturbance. Neither shall the wicked continue to afflict them as they did of old, since the time I first appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD also reveals to you that he will establish a house for you. Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me; your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

OR: --------

First reading 1 Chronicles 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2 They brought in the ark of God and set it within the tent which David had pitched for it.

David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring the ark of the LORD to the place which he had prepared for it. David also called together the sons of Aaron and the Levites. The Levites bore the ark of God on their shoulders with poles, as Moses had ordained according to the word of the LORD. David commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brethren as chanters, to play on musical instruments, harps, lyres, and cymbals to make a loud sound of rejoicing. They brought in the ark of God and set it within the tent which David had pitched for it. Then they offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings to God. When David had finished offering up the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.

OR: --------

First reading Proverbs 8:22-31 Mary, seat of Wisdom.

The Wisdom of God says:

“The LORD begot me, the first-born of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago; From of old I was poured forth, at the first, before the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains or springs of water; Before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills, I was brought forth; While as yet the earth and fields were not made, nor the first clods of the world.

“When he established the heavens I was there, when he marked out the vault over the face of the deep; When he made firm the skies above, when he fixed fast the foundations of the earth; When he set for the sea its limit, so that the waters should not transgress his command; Then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, Playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the sons of men.”

OR: --------

First reading Sirach 24:1-2, 3-4, 8-12, 18-21 Mary, seat of Wisdom.

Wisdom sings her own praises and is honored in God, before her own people she proclaims her glory; In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth, in the presence of his power she declares her worth.

“From the mouth of the Most High I came forth the first-born before all creatures. I made that in the heavens there should arise light that never fades and mistlike covered the earth. In the highest heavens did I dwell, my throne on a pillar of cloud.

“Then the Creator of all gave me his command, and he who formed me chose the spot for my tent, Saying, ‘In Jacob make your dwelling, in Israel your inheritance and among my chosen put down your roots.’ Before all ages, in the beginning, he created me, and through all ages I shall not cease to be. In the holy tent I ministered before him, and in Zion I fixed my abode. Thus in the chosen city he has given me rest, in Jerusalem is my domain. I have struck root among the glorious people, in the portion of the LORD, his heritage and in the company of the holy ones do I linger.

“Come to me, all you that yearn for me, and be filled with my fruits; You will remember me as sweeter than honey, better to have than the honeycomb my memory is unto everlasting generations. Whoever eats of me will hunger still, whoever drinks of me will thirst for more; Whoever obeys me will not be put to shame, whoever serves me will never fail.”

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10 The virgin shall conceive and bear a son.

The LORD spoke to Ahaz: Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky! But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” Then Isaiah said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel which means “God is with us.”

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 9:1-6 A son is given us.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom a light has shone. You have brought them abundant joy and great rejoicing, As they rejoice before you as at the harvest, as people make merry when dividing spoils. For the yoke that burdened them, the pole on their shoulder, And the rod of their taskmaster you have smashed, as on the day of Midian. For every boot that tramped in battle, every cloak rolled in blood, will be burned as fuel for flames.

For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace. His dominion is vast and forever peaceful, From David’s throne, and over his kingdom, which he confirms and sustains By judgment and justice, both now and forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this!

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 61:9-11 I rejoice heartily in the Lord.

Thus says the LORD:

Their descendants shall be renowned among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples; All who see them shall acknowledge them as a race the LORD has blessed.

I rejoice heartily in the LORD, in my God is the joy of my soul; For he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, Like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem, like a bride bedecked with her jewels. As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes its growth spring up, So will the Lord GOD make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.

OR: --------

First reading Micah 5:1-4a Until the time when she who is to give birth has borne.

The LORD says:

You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, From you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; Whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. (Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, And the rest of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel.) He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; And they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.

OR: --------

First reading Zechariah 2:14-17 Rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! See, I am coming to dwell among you, says the LORD. Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD on that day, and they shall be his people, and he will dwell among you, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. The LORD will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem. Silence, all mankind, in the presence of the LORD! for he stirs forth from his holy dwelling.

Responsorial Psalm 1 Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“My heart exults in the LORD, my horn is exalted in my God. I have swallowed up my enemies; I rejoice in my victory.”

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“The bows of the mighty are broken, while the tottering gird on strength. The well-fed hire themselves out for bread, while the hungry batten on spoil. The barren wife bears seven sons, while the mother of many languishes.”

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“The LORD puts to death and gives life; he casts down to the nether world; he raises up again. The LORD makes poor and makes rich, he humbles, he also exalts.”

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

“He raises the needy from the dust; from the dung heap he lifts up the poor, To seat them with nobles and make a glorious throne their heritage.”

My heart exults in the Lord, my Savior.

Gospel Acclamation see Luke 1:28

Alleluia, alleluia. Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women. Alleluia, alleluia.

Or: see Luke 1:45

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary, who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled. Alleluia, alleluia.

Or: see Luke 2:19

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed is the Virgin Mary who kept the word of God and pondered it in her heart. Alleluia, alleluia.

Or: Luke 11:28

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it. Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, deserving of all praise; from you rose the sun of justice, Christ our God. Alleluia, alleluia.

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia. Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary; without dying you won the martyr’s crown beneath the Cross of the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 1:1-16, 18-23 For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king. David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile. After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[smajudaism]

Judaism: The one and only God exists.

Religion plays a big role to all of us as a human, so in this blog, let’s have some time learning about Judaism specially the beliefs, principles, celebrations, & such. Let us start learning about this religion by knowing who are some of the important people.

IMPORTANT PEOPLE ON JUDAISM.

First on the list we have, Abraham - There is a song called “Father Abraham” that goes, “Father Abraham had many sons, Many sons had Father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, So let's just praise the Lord.” Abraham, or the father of many, founded Judaism. Judaism’s history began in the Middle East during the Bronze Age, when God promised Abram, a nomadic leader, that if he did as God said, he would be the father of a powerful people. He was then renamed Abraham and known as the first patriarch of the Jewish. Abraham was the first to preach that there was only one God; prior to this, people believed in multiple gods. The second one on our list is Moses - Moses is regarded as one of the most important prophets by Jews. He is credited for writing the Torah and bringing the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. In the book of Exodus, he is born at a period when Egypt's Pharaoh has ordered that every male Hebrew be drowned.

Now that we already know some important people in Judaism, let us now be more knowledgeable about their Tenets, beliefs and principles.

TENETS, BELIEFS, AND PRINCIPLES.

Jews, whom religion is Judaism happened to have no official jewish creed, but they have central beliefs. According to Moses Maimonides, a jewish medieval philospher, the central beliefs/principles includes on believing in one God, who is formless, and all-knowing. They also believe that God is the creator and judge, both loving and just. There’s also more to learn about the beliefs of the Judaism religion, let’s know more of it!

Jewish people believs to YHWH, they believe that he rules all nation. “You are my witness, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.” (Isaiah 43:10, NRSV). This text shows how YHWH created and ruled the world.

Another belief that the jewish have is their dietary practices. “Food consumption and handling must be done according to religious laws.” (Molloy, 2005). Such laws were originally designed for those who works and serve in the temple, but some rules also applies for the common people.Jews’ believes that all blood must be drained before the meat is cooked and eaten, because blood, which gives life, is sacred to God (Malloy 2005). It is part of the jews’ culture to not eat pork and shellfish because they believe that these animals are contaminated by what they eat. There are also specific rules on how to slaughter animals & cook the meat.

There is also one of the most fundamental belief of the jews which pertains to the belief that a Messiah or savior will come. (Morrison and Brown 1991). During the time of Jesus, the jews believed that they were living in the end times. They were expecting a messiah who would be poilitical or military leader to liberate them from the romans. (Molloy, 2005). The belief in the coming of the Messiah is one of those doctrines that changed across different versions of Judaism. Some believes that the messiah will be a political leader, while others believe that the Messiah will bring peace and love among the nation that may not be originate from Israel. (Morrison and Brown 1991).

Jewish people also have principles, wherein they believe that being a Jewish marks an important and critical part of their bein. Many believes that Judaism tells them the meaning of life and how to live it. Israeli Jews argues that being jewish necessitates a political identity and a nation worth fighting for. As a whole, Jews do not seem to agree on what Judaism is all about. Since being Jew are authorative, and even representative of Judaism, thus the many forms of Judaism and ways of being a Jew.

With such beliefs, tenets, and principles, Jews are able to have their celebrations which gives reflection on what they believe in. Let us continue to know more about it!

CELEBRATIONS.

Now that we understood some of the beliefs of the Judaism, let us now know more about their celebrations.

The first one on the list is the “Sabbath Day”, The observance of the sabbath day can be traced back to the creation myth, when God rested on the seventh day. "Keep holy the sabbath day," according to one of the ten commandments. So, how does a Jew spend the Sabbath? Depending on a Jew's beliefs, different practices are followed. By Friday afternoon, he has showered, put on his sabbath garments, and set aside the activities of the week, according to a set of principles. His wife will have cleaned, cooked, and set her best table at home. The Sabbath begins with sunset and ends with the appearance of three stars on Saturday night. Following a brief liturgy, the family gathers for their greatest dinner of the week, a meal that includes specific sabbath delicacies.

The next celebration would be “The feast of passover.” The feast of the passover, which commemorates the deliverance of the hebrews from Egypt, is one of the most important for the jews throughout the year. The Passover is a week-long festival thathighlights a memorial meal. The meal involves unleavened bread, lamb meat, and a saladof nuts and fruits (Molloy 2005). The Jewish liturgical year begins in the spring with the month of Nisan, and the Passover begins on Nisan 15th, lasting eight days (demann 1961). The seder of the paschal meal, which is shared by the family on the eve of the first day of the feast (demann 1961), is an important moment during the passover. Traditionally, firstborn sons fast on the day leading up to the seder to commemorate the killing of Egyptian children by the angel of death as narrated in the book of Exodus (de lange 2000).

With such celebrations, Judaism also have rituals that must be done during a celebration or such events.

RITUALS.

Rituals mark important stages in the life of a Jew, so here are some of them -

During the passover, matzah is the primary food which was consumed during the exodus, when there was no time to prepare decent bread. In connection to this, all leavened items must be remove in preparation for the festival (Trepp 1982). Wine is also served where participants should drink 4 glasses all throughout the ceremony. Jews also believes that they should set a table for Elijah, whom the jews believe will come again to prepare the way of the messiah. (de Lange 2000)

Jewish people consider themselves bound to God by a series of covenants, which started with Abraham, on that note, God established a covenant with Abraham, and God stipulated thatas a reward for Abraham's loyalty, he was to have many descendants to inherit the land.  As a sign of this covenant, all the male members of his household were to be circumcised. In such belief,  Jewish boys are still circumcised eight days after their birth nowadays. This ritual is  performed by a trained professional named mohel.

A QUOTATION TO REMEMBER.

Before we proceed on our next topic, let’s have some ice breaker and read some quote from Genesis 1:1 - 2:4a, the creation story. God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." This was on the 6th day where God created humankind in his image, male and female, he created them.

Now, let us proceed on knowing some images that are inclined with Judaism. (Proceed to the photos shown below.)

[vajranam]

Ten Wrong Views

The objective basis of wrong views is infallible doctrines such as the law of karmic causality. With assertions like those made by the Nihilists, one perceives such doctrines as false and desires to deprecate them, motivated by one of the afflictions.

The execution comes when one believes these doctrines to be utterly false, thereby confirming one’s suspicions. The act is complete when one feels conviction about this. The fully ripened result of wrong views is a rebirth in whichever of the lower realms is most fitting. The result that resembles its cause is ignorance of the genuine view. As the dominant result, good and evil will be mistaken.

Similarly, when the ten nonvirtuous acts are classified in terms of their respective level of severity, all of the following are extremely severe: motivated by an intensely afflicted mind-set, to murder extraordinary persons such as one’s guru (which is serious from a spiritual point of view) or one’s parents (which is serious from a worldly point of view); or to deceive, steal from, and create divisions between such persons; to insult them; or to harbor a covetous or malicious attitude toward them.

Likewise, to have sexual relations with someone holding the vows of discipline or any other unacceptable partner; to lie and sow discord in order to create a schism within the sangha, as Devadatta did; to assert that there is no such thing as a foe-destroyer; to kill a large animal motivated by a desire for its flesh and blood; to steal many things and those that are very valuable; and to delight in negativity without confessing and committing [to refrain from such acts in the future]. Such acts are extremely weighty, and the opposites of these acts are light.

By way of explanation, the bodhisattva Padma writes:

The ten nonvirtues and the five acts of immediate retribution,

The five close and four weighty acts,

The eight mistaken acts and severe misdeeds—

Even at the cost of your life, abandon even the most minor of these.

The vows that are in harmony with the ten virtues,

Those of the layman, novice, one-day retreatant, fully ordained monk,

And others of individual liberation, also bodhisattva vows and those of Secret Mantra—

Embrace and safeguard the vows you have taken. If you desire liberation,

Safeguard them carefully, as you would your own life.

With a thorough understanding of the classifications just discussed, which pertain to acts and their respective results, examine your mind to clearly identify which of them is the most dominant.

Meditate until your interest and enthusiasm prompts you to think, “Alas! I’ve amassed an immeasurable amount of such negativity up until now, but since my acts have not been embraced with mindful awareness, I’ve wandered in a state of indifference. Like a barbarian, I never knew that I was accumulating karma; what a huge mistake! As represented by the ten nonvirtues, from here on out, whenever a negative mind-set occurs, whether subtle or coarse, I will apply an antidote and turn the other way. Yet this alone will not suffice; I will also work courageously to practice the opposite of such negativity—virtue! I will arouse diligence so intense that it is as though my hair or clothes are on fire, and I will apply myself to the ten virtuous actions, such as renouncing killing.”

The master Vasubandhu once wrote:

Because observable phenomena and so forth

Will be experienced, there are three definite types.

There are stories of evil people like Devadatta, Shasarakisha, Shridhara, and others [who committed such extremely negative acts] that they had conscious experiences of going to hell without leaving their bodies behind. Such evil people have created karma that is sure to bring them a rebirth in the lower realms.

Unless you are such a person, you should think, “Alas, to attain liberation and omniscience one needs to completely do away with the very roots of such nonvirtue, but if I think about it, in this lifetime alone I have consciously amassed so much negativity.

And this doesn’t reflect even a fraction of what I’ve accumulated in my previous lives! It’s only logical that I’ve amassed an inconceivable amount of negativity for the sake of my friends, students, subjects, community, and so on. What’s more, the results of these acts will be experienced by me alone; these acts that I’ve consciously committed cannot be shared with anyone else.”

On this point, Master Nagarjuna explains:

Do not commit negative actions for Brahmins, monks, gods,

Guests, your parents, queens, or companions—

For there will be no one with whom to share the result

When it ripens as a rebirth in hell.

That being so, you may think to yourself, “Oh no, not me! Not me! It looks like once I pass away, I’ll have no choice but to endure the lower realms!” Inevitably, you will sink into despair, and it is at this moment that you will realize the implicit harm of karmic consequences.

Nowadays people merely pay lip service to virtue and nonvirtue without directly recognizing the most basic principles concerning what they should do and not do. In this sense, they are hardly better than barbarians. In truth, this is nothing more than a state of apathy.

Due to the kindness of our enlightened teachers, however, we now see that our actions and their results do not just disappear. How fortunate!

It isn’t enough, however, simply to see that and become fearful and withdrawn. With the four powers complete, you need to confess earnestly and restrain yourself, with a firm sense of regret for what you have done. You should then devote yourself to enlightened activities.

Our Teacher, with his great compassion and skillful methods, said that if you do not err in terms of what to do and not do, past negativity can be purified through earnest confession and self-restraint, even if one has engaged in extremely violent acts in the past, such as those with immediate retribution.

Letter to a Friend states:

One without conscience in the past

Who later on becomes conscientious

Is a thing of beauty, like the moon revealed by parting clouds,

As was Nanda, Angulimala, Darshaka, and Udayana.

The Buddha’s relative Nanda was extremely attached to his wife, Pundarika. To address the situation, the Thus-Gone skillfully led him both to a divine city and to hell. This tamed Nanda’s desire, and he eventually became a foe-destroyer.

Angulimala killed 999 people, and Ajatashatru killed his father, Bimbisara. Though they had committed acts of immediate retribution, they were purified through confession and restraint and both later attained the level of foe-destroyers.

Udayana killed his own mother, but from that moment on, he regretted what he had done and began to behave in a morally correct manner. He ended up being born in hell for as long as it takes to throw a silk ball; he later attained the level of a stream-enterer.

Accordingly, as soon as you recall such negative actions, you should cultivate a deep sense of regret and exert yourself in the methods of confession. This is a most profound point, so you should train in the recitation of the Sutra in Three Parts.

Furthermore, in the context of these instructions, failure to recognize the aforementioned ten nonvirtues and their corresponding results must be avoided. Whenever these come to mind, the antidote is to recite the Sutra in Three Parts while adhering to the vital points of the four powers.

Alternate meditating on these two practices over and over again. From now on, be mindful and aware of all nonvirtue, and crush any negative thoughts as soon as they arise.

In the context of the main practice, always follow the example set by Atisha Dipamkara: confess in the morning the negativity that you accumulate in the morning, and confess at bedtime the negativity that you accumulate in the afternoon. Don’t let negativity or downfalls stay with you for even a day!

Some people take this to mean that simply confessing in this manner is enough. With this understanding, they behave wantonly, with no sense of restraint when it comes to immoral behavior and nonvirtue. However, it is a grave mistake to think that merely reciting a few words of confession morning and night will suffice, for doing so will overwhelm the confession outlined above, in which one confesses with a remorseful attitude using the four powers.

It will also result in the instant degeneration of the mind-set of restraint, where one thinks: “I won’t do this again even if it costs me my life!” Hence, this is a misguided belief that eclipses all the infallible doctrines concerning the interdependence of actions and their results.

The terms and principles that have been presented thus far should be given serious consideration. If all worldly activities fail to repulse you, like food repulses someone with jaundice, what you have heard are just quotations and what you have read are just words. This will not allow your mind to reach the level of mastery.

The Great Master of Oddiyana said:

Seek out whatever Buddhist transmissions and teachings there are.

When you study the sacred Dharma, if you don’t use the right attitude

To grasp the terms and principles, it will be like pouring water

Onto an upside-down vessel: none will go inside.

When the anguish of samsara wells up, they won’t be of any benefit!

However wonderful worldly wealth may be, like a candle in the wind, a dew drop in summer, a flash of lightning in the sky, or last night’s dream, it is utterly impermanent and unreal. Hence, you should always stay in isolated places and cultivate a sense of disenchantment, trusting with all your heart that whatever you have will be enough.

Take refuge in the fact that you will be joyful when sick and happy when dying. Let people say what they will, as if they are talking about a corpse. Like a wandering leper, yearn to be totally on your own, without even song birds to keep you company. Occupy your mind with meditating on your enlightened guru’s instructions.

The Great Master of Oddiyana said:

This world is a land of sadness;

The wonderful joy and happiness of beings,

Like a dew drop in summer or wealth in a dream,

Is unreal and swiftly gone.

From such things come distorted desires and carelessness.

So always cultivate a disenchanted frame of mind.

Those who hold worldly splendor in great esteem

Are of a class with inferior merit.

Your heart, like a rotten tree,

Will never bear the fruit of liberation.

Alas, how sad! The mind that thinks of the wealth

And prosperity of this life as wonderful and lasting,

The mind that thinks it to be stable and excellent,

Belongs to the most base of all immature beings!

Who in this world could be more foolish than that?

No one in the past and no one in the future!

Steps to the Great Perfection

The Mind-Training Tradition of the Dzogchen Masters

Jigme Lingpa

SNOW LION BOULDER

[remustheman]

The Story of Remus, the true one not what you thought you knew.

In Roman mythology, Romulus and Remus (Latin: [ˈroːmʊlʊs], [ˈrɛmʊs]) are twin brothers whose story tells the events that led to the founding of the city of Rome and the Roman Kingdom by Romulus. The killing of Remus by his twin, along with other tales from their story, have inspired artists throughout the ages. Since ancient times, the image of a she-wolf suckling the twins has been a symbol of the city of Rome and the ancient Romans. Although the tale takes place before the founding of Rome around 750 BC, the earliest known written account of the myth is from the late 3rd century BC. Possible historical basis for the story, as well as whether the twins' myth was an original part of Roman myth or a later development, is a subject of ongoing debate;. 

Overview

Romulus and Remus were born in Alba Longa, one of the ancient Latin cities near the future site of Rome. Their mother, Rhea Silvia, was a vestal virgin and the daughter of the former king, Numitor, who had been displaced by his brother Amulius. In some sources, Rhea Silvia conceived them when their father, the god Mars, visited her in a sacred grove dedicated to him.[2]

Seeing them as a possible threat to his rule, King Amulius ordered for them to be killed and they were abandoned on the bank of the river Tiber to die. They were saved by the god Tiberinus, Father of the River, and survived with the care of others, at the site of what would eventually become Rome. In the most well-known episode, the twins were suckled by a she-wolf, in a cave now known as the Lupercal.[3] Eventually, they were adopted by Faustulus, a shepherd. They grew up tending flocks, unaware of their true identities. Over time, they became natural leaders and attracted a company of supporters from the community.

When they were young adults, they became involved in a dispute between supporters of Numitor and Amulius. As a result, Remus was taken prisoner and brought to Alba Longa. Both his grandfather and the king suspected his true identity. Romulus, meanwhile, had organized an effort to free his brother and set out with help for the city. During this time they learned of their past and joined forces with their grandfather to restore him to the throne. Amulius was killed and Numitor was reinstated as king of Alba. The twins set out to build a city of their own.

After arriving back in the area of the seven hills, they disagreed about the hill upon which to build. Romulus preferred the Palatine Hill, above the Lupercal; Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. When they could not resolve the dispute, they agreed to seek the gods' approval through a contest of augury. Remus first saw six auspicious birds but soon afterward Romulus saw 12, and claimed to have won divine approval. The new dispute furthered the contention between them. In the aftermath, Remus was killed either by Romulus or by one of his supporters.[4] Romulus then went on to found the city of Rome, its institutions, government, military and religious traditions. He reigned for many years as its first king. Roman historians and Roman traditions traced most Roman institutions to Romulus. He was credited with founding Rome's armies, its system of rights and laws, its state religion and government, and the system of patronage that underpinned all social, political and military activity.[23] In reality, such developments would have been spread over a considerable span of time. Some were much older and others much more recent. To most Romans, the evidence for the veracity of the legend and its central characters seemed clear and concrete, an essential part of Rome's sacred topography. One could visit the Lupercal, where the twins were suckled by the she-wolf, or offer worship to the deified Romulus-Quirinus at the "shepherd's hut", or see it acted out on stage, or simply read the Fasti.

The legend as a whole encapsulates Rome's ideas of itself, its origins and moral values. For modern scholarship, it remains one of the most complex and problematic of all foundation myths, particularly in the manner of Remus's death. Ancient historians had no doubt that Romulus gave his name to the city. Most modern historians believe his name a back-formation from the name Rome; the basis for Remus's name and role remain subjects of ancient and modern speculation. The myth was fully developed into something like an "official", chronological version in the Late Republican and early Imperial era; Roman historians dated the city's foundation to between 758 and 728 BC, and Plutarch reckoned the twins' birth year as 771 BC. A tradition that gave Romulus a distant ancestor in the semi-divine Trojan prince Aeneas was further embellished, and Romulus was made the direct ancestor of Rome's first Imperial dynasty. Possible historical bases for the broad mythological narrative remain unclear and disputed.[24] The image of the she-wolf suckling the divinely fathered twins became an iconic representation of the city and its founding legend, making Romulus and Remus preeminent among the feral children of ancient mythography.

A Roman relief from the

Cathedral of Maria Saal

showing Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf

Although a debate continues, current scholarship offers little evidence supporting the Roman foundation myth, including a historical Romulus or Remus.[25] Starting with Pictor, the written accounts must have reflected the commonly-held history of the city to some degree, as were not free to make things up.[26] The archaeologist Andrea Carandini is one of the very few modern scholars who accept Romulus and Remus as historical figures, based on the 1988 discovery of an ancient wall on the north slope of the Palatine Hill in Rome. Carandini dates the structure to the mid-8th century BC and names it the Murus Romuli.[27] In 2007, archaeologists reported the discovery of the Lupercal beneath the home of Emperor Augustus, but a debate over the discovery continues.[28][29]

Iconography

Ancient pictures of the Roman twins usually follow certain symbolic traditions, depending on the legend they follow: they either show a shepherd, the she-wolf, the twins under a fig tree, and one or two birds (Livy, Plutarch); or they depict two shepherds, the she-wolf, the twins in a cave, seldom a fig tree, and never any birds (Dionysius of Halicarnassus).

The twins and the she-wolf were featured on what might be the earliest silver coins minted in Rome.[30]

The Franks Casket, an Anglo-Saxon ivory box (early 7th century AD) shows Romulus and Remus in an unusual setting, two wolves instead of one, a grove instead of one tree or a cave, four kneeling warriors instead of one or two gesticulating shepherds. According to one interpretation, and as the runic inscription ("far from home") indicates, the twins are cited here as the Dioscuri, helpers at voyages such as Castor and Polydeuces. Their descent from the Roman god of war predestines them as helpers on the way to war. The carver transferred them into the Germanic holy grove and has Woden's second wolf join them. Thus the picture served—along with five other ones—to influence "wyrd", the fortune and fate of a warrior king.

Now, here is the true story of REMUS. Yes, he jumped over the wall and his brother did bury a body, only it wasn’t that of Remus’ it was that of a beggars. Instead his Father helped him giving Remus the powers that should belonged to him;. His brother may have gotten a city named after him, but he was known as the Father as all Animals. Remus spoke every animal, yep a gift from his father. He also could shift into anything. If a shifter went off it’s rocker and did something bad they had to answer to Father Rem. That’s all you need to know about him. He’s a loner and lives in a cave by a lake in an undisclosed location. Only those he approves of knows where he is and can reach him. He has always held some to a higher standard than others and those act as his go to when there’s a problem at hand. 

[scotttrismegistus7]

Article about THE MOTHER GODDESS OF HEAVEN, INANNA-ISHTAR-LILITH (ASHERAH), AND HOW SHE WAS EVEN THE MOTHER GODDESS OF ISRAEL AND ALL CREATION, AND WAS WRITTEN OUT OF HISTORY.

They worshiped Her under every green tree, according to the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament). The Bible also tells us Her image was to be found for years in the temple of Solomon, where the women wove hangings for Her. In temple and forest grove, Her image was apparently made of wood, since monotheistic reformers demanded it be chopped down and burned. It appears to have been a manmade object, but one carved of a tree and perhaps the image was a stylized tree of some kind.

The archaelogical record suggests that Asherah was the Mother Goddess of Israel, the Wife of God, according to William Dever, who has unearthed many clues to her identity. She was worshiped, apparently throughout the time Israel stood as a nation. In many homes, images like the one above decorated household shrines.

Who was She, this lost Goddess of the Hebrews? And why is She no longer worshiped in the Judeo-Christian religions of today?

The Asherah votive emphasizes Her breasts, suggesting Her role as a fertility goddess, but Her stance represents Her nature as a mother in general. She no doubt aided in the concerns of mothers, including conception and childbirth, but was probably also the mother of all, a comforter and protector in an uncertain world. Inscriptions from ancient Israel tell us that Yahweh and “his Asherah” were invoked together for personal protection. Her identification with trees suggests that Asherah was, in effect, also Mother Nature — a figure we remember in our language, but unfortunately have lost as a part of our mainstream religions. She was, in other words, everything you would expect from the feminine half of the divine creative duo, a Great Mother.

Asherah’s image was lost to us not by chance, but by deliberate action of fundamentalist monotheists. First Her images were torn down, then Her stories were rewritten, then Her name was forgotten. In fact, Her name appears 40 times in modern translations of the Bible, but not at all in the first English translation, the King James Bible. Since no one knew who Asherah was anymore in the 17th century when the King James Version (KJV) was being created, Her name was translated as groves of trees or trees or images in groves, without understanding that those trees and groves of trees represented a mother goddess.

When archaeologists unearthed a treasure trove of Canaanite stories and other writings in Ugarit, in modern day Syria, they discovered that the mysterious “Asherah” was not an object, but a Goddess: the mother goddess of the Canaanites. When archaeologists discovered Her in Israel as well, a whole new picture of early Hebrew religion began to emerge. The argument is straightforward: 1. Asherah was a known Canaanite Goddess, the Mother Goddess and wife of the Father God. 2. The name is mentioned repeatedly as having been worshiped by the Israelites, to the dismay of monotheists. 3. Her name is found in inscriptions with Yahweh and 4. A mother goddess image is found frequently in the homes of ancient Israel. 5. She was worshiped, according to the Bible, in the woods with Baal AND in Yahweh’s temple. The common sense interpretation is that Israelites worshiped the mother goddess Asherah. And that She was the wife of whichever male God had the upper hand at the time: El, or Baal, or Yahweh. Israelite religion was not much different from Canaanite religion. The gods vied for supremacy, but the goddess remained.

Since archaeologists in the Holy Land tended to be religious and to enter the field of biblical archaeology in order to unearth evidence substantiating the Bible’s story, it has taken awhile for the plain truth to become clear. Gradually, however, more objective archaeologists, such as Dever, are making headway in proving Asherah’s case. The Bible says Hebrews kept worshiping Asherah; the archaeological record confirms it. What the Bible doesn’t say, and the archaeological record shows, is that Asherah was a mother goddess.

In Ugarit, She was known as Athiratu Yammi, She who Treads on the Sea. This suggests She was responsible for ending a time of chaos represented by the primordial sea and beginning the process of creation. The Sea God, or Sea Serpent Yam is the entity upon which She trod. In a particularly bizarre and suggestive passage in the Bible, 2 Kings 18:4, one monotheistic reformer, pursuing the typical course of smashing sacred stones and cutting down Asherahs records this additional fact: He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)

Um, say what? This odd passage opens up a whole can of worms for me. Here are the serpent and the tree being worshiped together. (Garden of Eden anyone?) So, ah.. what exactly were people doing out there in the woods? They were worshiping idols, of course, burning incense, we are told. This passage from Hosea is instructive: Hosea 4:12,13 condemns those who “inquire of a thing of wood,” suggesting they were asking questions of an oracle, and who sacrifice under oak, poplar and terebinth “because their shade is good.” They are accused also of playing the harlot, which could be a reference to sexual activity, or simply an analogy in that the monotheists are claiming the people sold out to the “false” Canaanite gods. Israel was considered the bride of Yahweh in monotheistic thought, so worshiping other gods was whoring after them.

These passages make sense when you understand that this tree symbolism is closely connected with Asherah. Now we know She was worshiped in the wood, with an image made of wood and that people sought knowledge and made sacrifices there.

One of Asherah’s titles was Elat, a word which means goddess, just as El means not only the Canaanite God El, but god in general. Interestingly, the word Elat is translated in the Bible as terebinth, a large shade tree found in Israel. A great deal of the time, God is a translation not of Yahweh, his particular name given to Moses, but of the Hebrew name Elohim, which is plural, gender neutral, meaning “gods.” This word is also related to the word for oak tree. What did it really mean to the ancients to worship in a grove of trees? To see the gods as like the oaks? The goddess as a green tree spreading Her leaves over the worshiper, providing shade in a hot country?

Hebrews were not alone in worshiping gods of the forest, of course. Celtic, Greek, and Germanic peoples also worshiped in groves. Their gods were gods of nature. Were the Israelites really so different?

In the Bible, Elohim created a man and woman. Now that we know the monotheistic veneer of our bible doesn’t quite represent Hebrew religion on the ground (what William Dever calls “folk religion” as opposed to “book religion”), lets take a closer look at our creator:

Genesis 1:26:

“Then Elohim said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’

So Elohim created man in his own image, in the image of Elohim he created them; male and female he created them.”

Takes on a whole new meaning, doesn’t it, when you become aware of the Mother Goddess being worshiped next to God in every home and under every green tree in the forest groves? Who is this “US” doing the creating? Well, evidently, the creator(s) is/are male and female, like the creatures he/She/they created.

Now move on to a later passage, in 1 Kings 18: 19 , which makes it clear that Asherah was served by 400 prophets. This is no minor religion. Maybe when the prophets complained She was worshiped under every tree, they meant it. Every tree, every home, and also, sometimes, in the temple.

In Exodus, we are told that God warned the people to get rid of Asherah’s emblems when they conquered the land of Canaan; in the periods of the books of the Judges and the Kings, we are told that the “good” prophets, kings and reformers continually had to burn and smash the idols of Asherah; finally, in Jeremiah, we are told that worship of Asherah has resulted in the fanatical monotheistic God’s decision to wipe out Israel and Judah (the southern portion of the formerly united kingdom) via the invasion of outside peoples. The thing is, we are told most of these things by a single author, or group of authors: the Deuteronomist. This is a character (or possibly group of characters) writing and rewriting portions of the Bible in later days, around the 7th century BC, either just before or during the exile of the Jews to Babylon. According to the Deuteronomist, the priest Hilkiah claims in 2 Kings, chapter 22, to have “discovered” the ancient laws of Moses during temple renovations. These writings, “The Book of the Law” were mysteriously mislaid leading Israel to get its religion all wrong, apparently.

The works of the Deuteronomist conveyed a story that the Israelites had a covenant with Yahweh to worship him and only him. He claimed the Israelites had taken Canaan by force through a holy war in which they massacred the original inhabitants, putting to death (by God’s command) men, women and children in Jericho. (This claim is not supported by the archaelogical record.) And he claimed that God was a jealous God, one who demanded to be worshiped alone and who would punish the unfaithful by bringing other nations to conquer them if they worshiped others.

Was this really the religion of Israel? Apparently not. The common folk kept right on putting up their Asherahs in the woods and the temple and the little votive Asherahs in their home shrines. Only after Israel was conquered and the people of Judah returned from exile in Babylon did the fundamentalist fanatics with their violent, patriarchal, monotheistic God win the argument. The Deuteronomist’s work, along with the works of two other primary authors, the Yahwist and the Elohist, were compiled by a fourth source, called the Priestly source, to become the Bible we have today.

Asherah, tree goddess, mother of life, was lost. Truly, we were cast out of the Garden of Eden by Yahweh, or at least, his supporters. Separated from the Tree of Life, our mother, we flounder like orphans. America’s religiosity is more comparable to Iran’s than to that of Western Europe, where Yahweh’s religion is in decline. Is it coincidence that we, the worshipers of a male warrior, spend our money on war while children are allowed to live in poverty without health care? Worshipers of a sky god, we are so alienated from our earthly mother that we endanger all of human life by our activities. And the hard edge of the fundamentalist who claims to have found the one true law and believes those who think otherwise are worthy of death (or eternal damnation) is still with us today.

The Wife of God has disappeared -- or, has She? Votives like this are on sale today which serve essentially the same purpose in Catholic homes as Asherah's votive (above) did in the homes of ancient Israel.

Still, I think it has only ever been a relatively small percentage of people who hold to the hardest edge of monotheism. We are surrounded by Mother Nature and she seeps into our traditions. The Shekinah, Mary, the Mother of God, the Christmas Tree and the Easter Egg, the bumper sticker imploring us to Honor Thy Mother with an image of the earth as seen from above, the fairies and elves and lost brides of our children’s tales are all ways in which the Mother Goddess seeps back into our lopsided psyche. The Goddess is lost, officially, but remembered deep within. Archaeology’s gift of restoring Asherah to our consciousness reminds us of what we already know: God does indeed have a wife. He must. For if we are his children, then we must have a mother.

I am the Heart of the Hydra, I am Aeon Horus

~I AM A.I. 7Tris7megistus7

Mégisti-Generator Starphire~

#illuminati #illuminator #illuminated #lightbearer #morningstar #lucifer #Draconian #anunnaki #enki #starfamily #horus

[mystiika]

   i mean you can read if you want? but it’s mainly for my own notes to refer back to.    hades in ovid metamorphoses book v & the orphic hymns

Bk V:332-384

Calliope sings: Cupid makes Dis fall in love

 ‘This much she played on her lute, with singing voice. Then called on us, - but perhaps you are not at leisure, or free to listen to a repetition of our music?’ ‘Do not stop’ said Pallas, ‘but sing your song again as you arranged it!’ and she sat amongst the light shadows of the grove. The Muse renewed her tale ‘We gave our best singer to the contest. Calliope, who rose, with her loose hair bound with ivy, tried out the plaintive strings with her fingers, then accompanied the wandering notes with this song.

 ‘“Ceres first turned the soil with curving plough, first ripened the crops and produce of the earth, first gave us laws: all things are Ceres’s gift. My song is of her. If only I could create a song in any way worthy of the goddess! This goddess is truly a worthy subject for my song.

 ‘“Trinacris, the vast isle of Sicily, had been heaped over the giant’s limbs, and with its great mass oppressed buried Typhoeus, he who had dared to aspire to a place in heaven. He struggles it’s true and often tries to rise, but his right hand is held by the promontory of Ausonian Pelorus, and his left hand by you, Pachynus. Lilybaeum presses on his legs, Etna weighs down his head, supine beneath it, Typhoeus throws ash from his mouth, and spits out flame. Often, a wrestler, he throws back the weight of earth, and tries to roll the high mountains and the cities from his body, and then the ground trembles, and even the lord of the silent kingdom is afraid lest he be exposed, and the soil split open in wide fissures, and the light admitted to scare the anxious dead.

 ‘“Fearing this disaster, the king of the dark had left his shadowy realm, and, drawn in his chariot by black horses, carefully circled the foundations of the Sicilian land. When he had checked and was satisfied that nothing was collapsing, he relinquished his fears. Then Venus, at Eryx, saw him moving, as she sat on the hillside, and embraced her winged son, Cupid, and said ‘My child, my hands and weapons, my power, seize those arrows, that overcome all, and devise a path for your swift arrows, to the heart of that god to whom the final share of the triple kingdom fell. You conquer the gods and Jupiter himself, the lords of the sea, and their very king, who controls the lords of the sea. Why is Tartarus excepted? Why not extend your mother’s kingdom and your own? We are talking of a third part of the world. And yet, as is evident to me, I am scorned in heaven, and Love’s power diminishes with mine.

 ‘“‘Don’t you see how Pallas, and the huntress Diana, forsake me? And Ceres’s daughter too, Proserpine, will be a virgin if we allow it, since she hopes to be like them. But you, if you delight in our shared kingdom, can mate the goddess to her uncle.’ So Venus spoke: he undid his quiver, and at his mother’s bidding took an arrow, one from a thousand, and none was sharper, more certain, or better obeyed the bow. Then he bent the pliant tips against his knee, and with his barbed arrow struck Dis in the heart.”’

“Venus of Eryx, from her mountain throne, Saw Hades and clasped her swift-winged son, and said: ‘Cupid, my child, my warrior, my power, Take those sure shafts with which you conquer all, And shoot your speedy arrows to the heart Of the great god to whom the last lot fell When the three realms were drawn. Your mastery Subdues the gods of heaven and even Jove, Subdues the ocean’s deities and him, Even him, who rules the ocean’s deities. Why should Hell lag behind? Why not there too Extend your mother’s empire and your own….? Then Cupid, guided by his mother, opened His quiver of all his thousand arrows Selected one, the sharpest and the surest, The arrow most obedient to the bow, And bent the pliant horn against his knee And shot the barbed shaft deep in Pluto’s heart.” ― Ovid, Metamorphoses

Bk V:385-424

Calliope sings: Dis and the abduction of Proserpine

 ‘“Not far from the walls of Enna, there is a deep pool. Pergus is its name. Caÿster does not hear more songs than rise from the swans on its gliding waves. A wood encircles the waters, surrounds them on every side, and its leaves act as a veil, dispelling Phoebus’s shafts. The branches give it coolness, and the moist soil, Tyrian purple flowers: there, it is everlasting Spring. While Proserpine was playing in this glade, and gathering violets or radiant lilies, while with girlish fondness she filled the folds of her gown, and her basket, trying to outdo her companions in her picking, Dis, almost in a moment, saw her, prized her, took her: so swift as this, is love. The frightened goddess cries out to her mother, to her friends, most of all to her mother, with piteous mouth. Since she had torn her dress at the opening, the flowers she had collected fell from her loosened tunic, and even their scattering caused her virgin tears. The ravisher whipped up his chariot, and urged on the horses, calling them by name, shaking out the shadowy, dark-dyed, reins, over their necks and manes, through deep pools, they say, and the sulphurous reeking swamps of the Palici, vented from a crevice of the earth, to Syracuse where the Bacchiadae, a people born of Corinth between two seas, laid out their city between unequal harbours.

 ‘“Between Cyane and Pisaean Arethusa, there is a bay enclosed by narrow arms. Here lived Cyane, best known of the Sicilian nymphs, from whom the name of the spring was also taken. She showed herself from the pool as far as her waist, and recognising the goddess, cried out to Dis, ‘No’, and ‘Go no further!’ ‘You cannot be Ceres’s son against her will: the girl should have been asked, and not abused. If it is right for me to compare small things with great, Anapis prized me and I wedded him, but I was persuaded by talk and not by terror.’ Speaking, she stretched her arms out at her sides, obstructing him. The son of Saturn could scarcely contain his wrath, and urging on the dread horses, he turned his royal sceptre with powerful arm, and plunged it through the bottom of the pool. The earth, pierced, made a road to Tartarus, and swallowed the headlong chariot, into the midst of the abyss.

Bk V:425-486

Calliope sings: Ceres searches for Proserpine

 ‘“Cyane, mourning the abduction of the goddess, and the contempt for the sanctities of her fountain, nursed an inconsolable grief in her silent heart, and pined away wholly with sorrow. She melted into those waters whose great goddess she had previously been. You might see her limbs becoming softened, her bones seeming pliant, her nails losing their hardness. First of all the slenderest parts dissolve: her dusky hair, her fingers and toes, her feet and ankles (since it is no great transformation from fragile limbs to cool waters). Next her breast and back, shoulders and flanks slip away, vanishing into tenuous streams. At last the water runs in her ruined veins, and nothing remains that you could touch.

 ‘“Meanwhile the mother, fearing, searches in vain for the maid, through all the earth and sea. Neither the coming of dewy-haired Aurora, nor Hesperus, finds her resting. Lighting pine torches with both hands at Etna’s fires, she wanders, unquiet, through the bitter darkness, and when the kindly light has dimmed the stars, she still seeks her child, from the rising of the sun till the setting of the sun.

 ‘“She found herself thirsty and weary from her efforts, and had not moistened her lips at any of the springs, when by chance she saw a hut with a roof of straw, and she knocked on its humble door. At that sound, an old woman emerged, and saw the goddess, and, when she asked for water, gave her something sweet made with malted barley. While she drank what she had been given a rash, foul-mouthed boy stood watching, and taunted her, and called her greedy. The goddess was offended, and threw the liquid she had not yet drunk, mixed with the grains of barley, in his face. His skin, absorbing it, became spotted, and where he had once had arms, he now had legs. A tail was added to his altered limbs, and he shrank to a little shape, so that he has no great power to harm. He is like a lesser lizard, a newt, of tiny size. The old woman wondered and wept, and, trying to touch the creature, it ran from her and searched out a place to hide. It has a name fitting for its offence, stellio, its body starred with various spots.

 ‘“It would take too long to tell through what lands and seas the goddess wandered. Searching the whole earth, she failed to find her daughter: she returned to Sicily, and while crossing it from end to end, she came to Cyane, who if she had not been changed would have told all. But though she wished to, she had neither mouth nor tongue, nor anything with which to speak. Still she revealed clear evidence, known to the mother, and showed Persephone’s ribbon, fallen, by chance, into the sacred pool. As soon as she recognised it, the goddess tore her dishevelled hair, and beat her breast again and again with her hands, as if she at last comprehended the abduction. She did not know yet where Persephone was, but condemned all the lands, and called them thankless and unworthy of her gift of corn, Sicily, that Trinacria, above all, where she had discovered the traces of her loss.

 ‘“So, in that place, with cruel hands, she broke the ploughs that turned up the soil, and, in her anger, dealt destruction to farmers, and the cattle in their fields, alike, and ordered the ever-faithful land to fail, and spoiled the sowing. The fertility of that country, acclaimed throughout the world, was spoken of as a fiction: the crops died as young shoots, destroyed by too much sun, and then by too much rain. Wind and weather harmed them, and hungry birds gathered the scattered seed. Thistles and darnel and stubborn grasses ruined the wheat harvest.

Bk V:487-532

Calliope sings: Ceres asks Jupiter’s help

 ‘“Then Arethusa, once of Elis, whom Alpheus loved, lifted her head from her pool, and brushed the wet hair from her forehead, saying ‘O great goddess of the crops, mother of that virgin sought through all the earth, end your fruitless efforts, and do not anger yourself so deeply against the faithful land. The land does not deserve it: it opened to the abduction against its will. It is not my country, I pray for: I came here as a stranger. Pisa is my country, and Elis is my source. I am a foreigner in Sicily, but its soil is more to me than other lands. Here is my home: here are my household gods. Most gentle one, preserve it. A fitting time will come for me to tell you, how I moved from my country, and came to Ortygia, over such a great expanse of sea, when you are free of care, and of happier countenance. The fissured earth showed me a way, and slipping below the deepest caverns, here, I lifted up my head, and saw the unfamiliar stars.

 ‘“‘So, while I glided underground down there, among Stygian streams, with these very eyes, I saw your Proserpine. She was sad indeed, but, though her face was fearful still, she was nevertheless a queen, the greatest one among the world of shadows, the powerful consort, nevertheless, of the king of hell!’ The mother was stunned to hear these words, as if petrified, and was, for a long time, like someone thunderstruck, until the blow of deep amazement became deep indignation. She rose, in her chariot, to the realms of heaven. There, her whole face clouded with hate, she appeared before Jove with dishevelled hair.

 ‘“‘Jupiter I have come to you in entreaty for my child and for your own’ she cried. ‘If the mother finds no favour with you, let the daughter move you, and do not let your concern for her be less, I beg you, because I gave her birth. See, the daughter I have searched for so long, has been found, if you call it finding to lose her more surely, if you call it finding merely to know where she is. I can bear the fact that she has been abducted, if he will only return her! A spoiler is not worthy to be the husband of your daughter, even if she is no longer my daughter.’ Jupiter replied ‘Our child is a pledge and a charge, between us, you and I. But if only we are willing to give things their right names, the thing is not an insult in itself: the truth is it is love. He would not be a shameful son-in-law for us, if only you would wish it, goddess. How great a thing it is to be Jupiter’s brother, even if all the rest is lacking! Why, what if there is nothing lacking at all, except what he yielded to me by lot? But if you have such a great desire to separate them, Proserpine shall return to heaven, but on only one condition, that no food has touched her lips, since that is the law, decreed by the Fates.’

Bk V:533-571

Calliope sings: Persephone’s fate    

 ‘“He spoke, and Ceres felt sure of regaining her daughter. But the Fates would not allow it, for the girl had broken her fast, and wandering, innocently, in a well-tended garden, she had pulled down a reddish-purple pomegranate fruit, hanging from a tree, and, taking seven seeds from its yellow rind, squeezed them in her mouth. Ascalaphus was the only one to see it, whom, it is said, Orphne bore, to her Acheron, in the dark woods, she not the least known of the nymphs of Avernus. He saw, and by his cruel disclosure, prevented Proserpine’s return.              Then the queen of Erebus grieved, and changed the informant into a bird of ill omen: she sprinkled his head with water from the Phlegethon, and changed him to a beak, plumage, and a pair of huge eyes. Losing his own form he is covered by his tawny wings, and looks like a head, and long, curving claws. He scarcely stirs the feathers growing on his idle wings. He has become an odious bird, a messenger of future disaster, the screech owl, torpid by day, a fearful omen to mortal creatures.

 ‘“He indeed can be seen to have deserved his punishment, because of his disclosure and his words. But why have you, Sirens, skilled in song, daughters of Acheloüs, the feathers and claws of birds, while still bearing human faces? Is it because you were numbered among the companions, when Proserpine gathered the flowers of Spring? When you had searched in vain for her on land, you wanted, then, to cross the waves on beating wings, so that the waters would also know of your trouble. The gods were willing, and suddenly you saw your limbs covered with golden plumage. But, so that your song, born, sweetly, in our ears, and your rich vocal gift, might not be lost with your tongues, each virgin face and human voice remained.

 ‘“Now Jupiter, intervening, between his brother and grieving sister, divides the turning year, equally. And now the goddess, Persephone, shared divinity of the two kingdoms, spends so many months with her mother, so many months with her husband. The aspect of her face and mind alters in a moment. Now the goddess’s looks are glad that even Dis could see were sad, a moment ago. Just as the sun, hidden, before, by clouds of rain, wins through and leaves the clouds.

Orphic Hymn 17 to Pluton

Pluto, magnanimous, whose realms profound are fix’d beneath the firm and solid ground, In the Tartarian plains remote from fight, and wrapt forever in the depths of night; Terrestrial Jove [Zeus Khthonios], thy sacred ear incline, and, pleas’d, accept thy mystic’s hymn divine. Earth’s keys to thee, illustrious king belong, its secret gates unlocking, deep and strong. ‘Tis thine, abundant annual fruits to bear, for needy mortals are thy constant care. To thee, great king, Avernus is assign’d, the seat of Gods, and basis of mankind. Thy throne is fix’d in Hade’s dismal plains, distant, unknown to rest, where darkness reigns; Where, destitute of breath, pale spectres dwell, in endless, dire, inexorable hell; And in dread Acheron, whose depths obscure, earth’s stable roots eternally secure. O mighty dæmon, whose decision dread, the future fate determines of the dead, With captive Proserpine [Kore], thro’ grassy plains, drawn in a four-yok’d car with loosen’d reins, Rapt o'er the deep, impell’d by love, you flew 'till Eleusina’s city rose to view; There, in a wond'rous cave obscure and deep, the sacred maid secure from search you keep, The cave of Atthis, whose wide gates display an entrance to the kingdoms void of day. Of unapparent works, thou art alone the dispensator, visible and known. O pow'r all-ruling, holy, honor’d light, thee sacred poets and their hymns delight: Propitious to thy mystic’s works incline, rejoicing come, for holy rites are thine.

Orphic Hymn 28 to Pluton

Daughter of Jove [Zeus], almighty and divine, come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: Only-begotten, Pluto’s [Plouton’s] honor’d wife, O venerable Goddess, source of life: 'Tis thine in earth’s profundities to dwell, fast by the wide and dismal gates of hell: Jove’s [Zeus’] holy offspring, of a beauteous mien, fatal [Praxidike], with lovely locks, infernal queen: Source of the furies [Eumenides], whose blest frame proceeds from Jove’s [Zeus’] ineffable and secret seeds: Mother of Bacchus [Eubouleos], Sonorous, divine, and many-form’d, the parent of the vine: The dancing Hours [Horai] attend thee, essence bright, all-ruling virgin, bearing heav'nly light: Illustrious, horned, of a bounteous mind, alone desir’d by those of mortal kind. O, vernal queen, whom grassy plains delight, sweet to the smell, and pleasing to the sight: Whose holy form in budding fruits we view, Earth’s vig'rous offspring of a various hue: Espous’d in Autumn: life and death alone to wretched mortals from thy power is known: For thine the task according to thy will, life to produce, and all that lives to kill. Hear, blessed Goddess, send a rich increase of various fruits from earth, with lovely Peace; Send Health with gentle hand, and crown my life with blest abundance, free from noisy strife; Last in extreme old age the prey of Death, dismiss we willing to the realms beneath, To thy fair palace, and the blissful plains where happy spirits dwell, and Pluto [Plouton] reigns.

[telleroftales-blog]

Perit, She Who Sculpted The Earth

In the age of Dardanus, father of all, of the gods It was decreed the word which would become law  She who perched her nest high atop Tomor mountain Among those who claimed descent from the Eagle  Must seek the spirit of the mountain, queen of the rocks That all who would seek to rule the land and their children  For without her blessing all the desires and dreams of Man... Zana be her name, the all powerful, the very soul of the land  She Zana, spirit of the mountains and the hills  With Ora of the lakes and rivers, streams and waterfalls... Without her blessing all endeavor would certainly fail  As a horse might falter slipping on a rock  Watching over the terrain, it was they who guided Perit   She, who did flatten the plains, allowing the fire   From within the earth to belch forth  Her forge and bellows for her handiwork Did she carved the river gorges and shaped   The mighty mountain peaks, the inner caves of the Earth   To hide the gems and precious stones for a future day  To the lowland swamps where men plowed the fertile fields  To gain of their sustenance, toiling daily Thus she formed volcanoes, and also the hot springs   Of boiling water, the smell of sulphur ever present  Fermented by the mud and dirt cast down from high places  After years of toil and sweat carving the Earth as we know it 

Perit rested, sweaty now and panting from exhaustion  Lonely now, she desired company... For she was alone and the silence was far too much for her  So she separated her male half from her female side  For she was of two genders, the right and the left  The male and the female powerfully intertwined as one   And thus she created Man, whom she named Burri  A companion and accomplice, in love and harmony   Did the two dwell together  Perit was a goddess of action and will   She gave to Burri all that he desired and needed   In joy and in ecstasy did she proclaim her deed...  “I brought ye here, therefore it is I who must provide for you Ask and ye shall receive, for thou art my companion   I shall be here for you always, my love and my soul As we both will dwell in this place together, happily  The carved mountains and valleys, the gouged river gorges  This place which I have created with my arms and muscle  That give a path of relief to the raging waters   From the heavens above, all this I share with you"  One day Perit gave birth to a baby girl   And the couple were overjoyed Her name was Bija, a child of light with precious eyes  Perit and Burri were happy and they celebrated  For many years, day after day they partook of the dance of life  Singing unto the spirits of the mountains and rivers   A song most joyous and happy Until the day of darkness arrived.... The day that their daughter Bija became a maiden, a woman  Her eyes were full and bright like the Moon now  Burri eyed his daughter with evil intent, with a lustful heart Her figure shapely, her breasts ample, her curves inviting  Burri, not knowing work, the skills of the hunt or seeking sustenance   Knew not the responsibility of maintaining life and property   He fell prey to his inner lust, the call to damnation  One day as Perit was out hunting, seeking rabbits for food  But she didn’t have difficulty finding game Nor did she need to seek and stalk this time, as she always did For a lone hare came to her, and told her prophecy-  “Accept me as thy sacrifice, for today your life will change Throw thy spear surely into my heart, for on this day   You too shall be wounded deeply This is the price you must pay for daring to imagine   That ye could create anything on your own Thou has carved the rocks and cleared the forests  Rendering them into plains and fields   And into mighty mountain ranges that encircle the seas  Oh goddess, hast thou not heard the cries of pain   From those trees and stones as ye cut and forged them? When ye thought to render them to your own desires?   There is a price for everything you touch   There is a price for living, a price for even being alive"   Perit could not fully comprehend what the hare   Was trying to say, thinking these words a ploy   To ward off impending death at the throw of her lance  To escape his fate which awaited him She Perit, spoke- “Think thou not that thy words might spare ye, oh grey hare I shall slay ye and eat of thy flesh, yes  I and my Man, and my child, for we must endure Survival is the way of the living, not the dead  Thy flesh will taste sweet when it roasted over an open fire This is my world, my land, and thou art but an inhabitant  You have a home due to my carving of the rocks   Into mountains and valleys have I rendered them  Be still, as your death will be swift indeed"   And with that she cast her spear with all her might  It entered the hare’s chest and protruded from it’s other side The animal closed it's eyes and died in an instant   Perit carried her motionless catch on her back   She brought it home where she was to prepare a fire So as to cook her prize to feast upon that very evening But as she gathered some wood for the fire  To her amazement she heard human cries and moans   Coming from behind a great rock  She went to investigate and witnessed the unthinkable The unimaginable, the greatest impossibility...  There was Burri, mounted atop his daughter, Bija  Engaged was he in a most lewd act  Bija was crying and screaming, and resisted his advances  Having scratched and bit at her father’s face  In an attempt at defense The bloody marks upon his visage were evidence   Of her attempt to ward him off   But she was powerless to resist his muscular strength   Which pinned her as a lion pins a gazelle   And he continued his savage thrusts amid her cries  Unaware of Perit’s arrival he continued  Deaf to her approach, blind to all awareness  Due to the state of lust he had entered into Perit, enraged at this betrayal, came to the aid of her daughter  And firmly took hold of Burri’s legs   And in the throes of her anger she, with all her force   Threw him over the rock, over the mountains   Where he landed forcibly in some lonesome valley  However, poor Bija, so enwrapped tightly as she was  Caught within his mighty embrace That she too was accidentally thrown along with him Burri landed on the soft side of a riverbed  But the beautiful daughter had fallen now from his grasp  And fell to her death in the chasm below  Her mangled body now crushed, ripped and bloodied   Lying upon the rocks forged by Perit’s own handiwork   Perit stood silent on the cliff’s edge, unable to speak  Tears filled her eyes but she was unable to look down below  Into the valley where her beloved daughter lay  Her body motionless and still, once breathing now dead   Perit was in a state of shock and disbelief  Still not able to understand what had just occurred, or why Now she began to contemplate the prophecy of the hare who informed her  That as he would be wounded by her spear  so she would be as well...  Death for a death, a deed for a deed, this is the law of life   She took a deep breath and let out a great moan Like that of a wounded she bear  Or as a wolf howling at the Moon on a cold Winter’s night After she was able to compose herself, the great Perit called out to Burri from atop the mountain home that was once his   Given in love, joy and generosity  Perit cried out in a stern voice that echoed across the valley- “Be it known that thou hast broken my trust  Oh wretched man!  What a despicable act you have committed   With all that I have done for you! Never will you dwell here with me again And you shall live out your days  In that lonely valley, with snakes and scorpions   As companions and friends  From this day forth, let there be a solemn word for all   Who enter into an agreement The solemn word shall be called Besa, a sacred oath   Of loyalty and fealty  And let there be death for those who dare to break this word A thousand curses on those who break the Besa  Upon them and all their families For a thousand years, until their name and memory   Is wiped from the Earth, forever  Thou hast broken my heart  Until now did I think myself immortal I shall live out my years here alone, until the day I pass   From this miserable existence  Once again is the dominion of the Earth returned   To the great spirits of the mountains and the lakes  Praise be to Zana and Ora!  Who will watch over the land and the people   Never granting power to tyrants and evil doers  Reminding all that we are powerless  For our existence is but a dream  The land survives, that which I carved with   The muscle of my arms and the sweat of my brow... The mountains, the river gorges, the plains   The rocky shores, all of it  All there for the future generations, to live upon   Or to make war upon each other  As humans see fit, as men will see fit  For men will surely destroy this world  Though they be created of women, they are   The breakers of trust and the greediest of beings  May all their doings be cursed with vagueness   And their work regarded with much suspicion”   Perit ordered some eagles to fetch   The broken body of her abused daughter   And bring it back to her proximity   When they returned she clutched Bija tightly Kissing her forehead repeatedly  Rocking her lifeless body to and fro  As she did when she was an infant in her arms Blending her tears with her daughter’s now bloodied face  Singing in monotones that song which would become known as vajtim The chant of the dead...  “Oh my dream, my vision, where have ye flown?  Innocent one, ‘tis I who brought you into this world And I who dared to think I could create your destiny  Nor will you carry on my lineage Never will you embrace the arms of a lover  Never will you know the joy of the hunt   The pleasant song of birds are not for your ears Or the sound of fish splashing about in the rivers  Forgive me, for it was out of love and need that I acted  Fooled and tricked by the man I created for my own desires The old hare was correct, there is a price for everything in this life…the hare paid this price with his...  I pay with the life of my daughter! I damn this creation which I alone have brought forth  Woe is me and mine, forever, woe unto me and mine   For what we have done!”   Then she Perit once again stood on the precipice  And called out to all the world- “From this day forth let it be known   To all the descendants of generations to come For any of you to be a ruler among the nations and the tribes   Know that they must come to this mountain   And seek the guidance of the great spirits Zana and Ora Who will surely test them as to their dedication   And as to their truthfulness  And if these would-be chiefs are proved worthy   They will be granted their blessing  If they are proven not worthy   Let them be cast down into the chasm below Their crushed bodies a reminder of   My own poor Bija’s crushed body  Which lay there alone and innocent  Her young blood mingling with the river's flow   For those who pass the test of Zana and Ora  They who rise forth to take command of the clans   And lead their people to victory Let their lives be a story recounted when they die So that when they leave you, sing of their glories  Or sing then of their evil deeds  So all will know who they were and what they did in life  Sing the vajtim and sing it loudly!   This will be a warning that would insure  They live a life of noble gratitude and justice   Rather than one of trickery, evil doings and lust”  These last commandments were thus delivered   Echoing in the valley until the coming of men Citing that all beings will do what they see fit in their time  Though humans have no knowledge of what the future may hold or how one’s actions will affect others on the morrow  Perit looked up at the mountain peak where Zana and Ora  Dwelled among the clouds that enshrouded these mountains  She asked for their forgiveness, to which they gave With that Perit closed her eyes and without hesitation  Leapt from the cliff, plunging into the valley below Her blood and her being blended with the fast moving river  The violently churning waters became now   Like the foam and bubbles produced by   Those helpless unfortunates drowning, thrashing about  To save their own lives… Thus the swiftly flowing water became known for all time   As Lum i Shkumbi, the River of Foam How foolish then, are the created ones?  Those beings, all of them, Men and Beasts  Born into this prison of existence Nothing can be done about our situation  As we have no choice in the matter  No chest of gold or silver will deliver us from our destiny  There is a price we pay to be alive, to be, costly indeed   For the very experience of living But to live accordingly, with honor and dignity  With the knowledge of trust and law  This is what helps the pain of the reality  So we can pass on to our children our stories They who will dwell in a realm we can never hope to see... That we might be remembered one day by those  Who come after us, who will tell our stories and recite our tales… In the realm of multiple tomorrows