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inconspicious-random-thoughts · 7 months

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During Vaggie and Charlie's visit to Heaven, I don't think there was anything indicating that the city had a beach or anything like an ocean like where we saw Lilith at the end of S1. Granted, we didn't explore ALL of Heaven, obviously, but it still makes me wonder. Is Lilith really staying in Heaven? I wonder if maybe she's actually being housed on Earth, or specifically in Eden, Adam's former domain on Earth. 'Cuz Lute didn't say that Lilith was staying in Heaven as part of her deal with Adam. What do you think?

I love being asked about things Hazbin related. Thank you! Sorry it took a week for me to answer, I been legit sick for a a solid month now from a cold. The lingering coughing hasn't been dreadful but the pure exhaustion I feel (While working too) just left me completely drained. I wanted to answer you while Im feeling at least moderately alive.

Before the question I didn't really put too much thought about Lilith location. I took it as point blank, Lute approached Lilith is lounging in Heaven.

I do like the idea of it being Eden but I am force to lean on the end scene is Heaven for a number of reasons.

From the same universe, Helluvah Boss, it basically a big no-no to go on Earth. On certain beings are allowed (or meant to, it get bypassed) to travel on Earth. I sincerely doubt an exterminator Angel or ANY sinner would be able to free move between realms to Earth. Sinners, had their chance on Earth, there's no return. Exterminators have a very specific purpose, so I doubt they would be granted any access as well.

If we look pass that however, and Eden has some cloaking and impassable shield surrounded it in a way to preserve it from further intreation of humans, similar but not really to a pocket dimension .....maaaaybe. Maybe Lilith gets a pass as she was created and made to be there. I can low key seeing being a gilded cage to keep her in resulting in a deal that was made.

But I'm incline its an unexplored off screen Heaven the viewer didn't get to see. Heaven is meant to cater eternal happiness reward for the pure souls. Some souls really love the beach so there's got to be some beaches for those souls to find eternal peace in.

-I personally dislike the beach unless its at night. My Irish heritage fair skin cant handle the direct sunlight with no natural shade to retreat in.

The main evidence its Heaven in my opinion is the skyline. It's the same we see when meeting St. Peter. The same pastel coloring and mainly the beams of arching light that look structural-?

Granted, if the 'structural' beams of light are a way to cloak from human eyes or just Heavenly dimension, it isn't a stretch that they may surround Eden too. I really like the Eden idea....its like full circle thing, Everything started in Eden so it be fun that it gets more involvement. I don't think that's the case, but I hope it is despite that.

Now, the question is, was it Lilith that Lute was truly speaking to. That lies the question. I keep flip flopping if its Eve or if it is in fact Lilith. It isn't too far fetched that Eve would be near idental, taking over Lilith role as Adam wife. Eve would be very motivated to make a deal to be heaven when being tricked into performing the first sin, making her a sinner. Eve actually playing the role as Adam wife, I can see Adam took pity on her and plead her case. Or even hide her himself in what you you guess, Eden. It would be perfect. As Lute put it, "Adam dead, your deal is done." Which can be taken in multiple ways including that Lilith had a deal wanting Adam dead. But to fit in this scenario, it was Adams deal with her. Not Heavens. 'Lilith' didn't really react to Lute as she spoke, sitting still and listening. We we saw her face she was rather impassive. She only shown reaction-displeasure when Lute said the name Lilith. The way Lute said Lilith seemed a little too empshised. Which may be for the audience if they somehow missed all the Lilith portrayed to realized the new character is. OR its Lute putting emphasis to alert Eve on the upcoming role she needs to play to continue her deal with Lute.

I'm still undecided if its Lilith or Eve. The necklace in the end threw me off. I didn't know why by I way hyper focused on it on my first watch from some reason. I guess my subconscious realized Lilith is always shown to wear pearls (I need to rewatch it to see all the portraits have the pearls or the black diamond necklace. It seem the show purposely wouldn't let us see her hands to determine if there was a wedding ring or not.

The whole ending scene really threw things in the air.

I find Eve lack involvement in the universe so far very suspicious. I think she will be a very key figure coming up. I also think Adam will be revive as a sinner and still play a major role.

The whole lack of Lilith and Eve (and Roo which I believe is the big bad and Alastor contractor)whereabouts is suspicious and its going to hit us hard. Adam is involved in it. I fairly certain he the one that proposed the idea of exterminations. Like, why was Heaven so concern about an uprising? WHO brought that idea to their heads?Seriously, that been bothering me ALOT. I'm positive the first man was manipulated to mull on that idea and nudge to bring that proposal to Sera after something happening in Hell that was orchestrated to make it look like unrest and uprising in Heaven eyes.

The same group of people (Eve, Adam, Lilith, Alastor {Lucifer and Charlie, Heaven involved being puppeted}) is basically trying to puppeteer each other trying to pull the strings, as much as they try gain control, but in reality they are just playing right into Roo plan.

I am so rambling, because that's what I do. I need to rewatch the series to confirm some of these thoughts with clues. I'm sure there many plot holes what I rambled so far. I'm usually multitasking when I rewatch so I forget to look for my little clues.

If the ending scene is in fact Lilith, I am certain she didn't leave to willingly but is some type of hostage to an agreement. I think Lucifer knows whats up too. (His wife in Heaven! Ha!) He seem way to tentative and hesitant speaking to Charlie on the phone about meeting up with Heaven while looking at the family portrait. As in, He was backed into a corner and basically had to agree with Heaven in a newer deal that they kept Lilith hostage (but she be taken care of, promise! where Heaven!) but Charlie can remain with him. He to nervous to have another meeting that involved his daughter who kept in the dark about the deal that caused Lilith absence.

Never once we hear that Lilith is "Missing, gone, divorced" Especially from Lucifer. Just that Heaven took everything from him and Charlie all he had left.

Side note, I love how everything Lucifer said in episode 5 came true. He was right about Heaven not listening. In a smaller easier to miss part. In "More than Anything." he sange "In the end, I won't lose it all again, you are the only thing worth fighting for." He kept that promise by showing up to save Charlie in battle and fighting for her.

The only time Lilith absence is Charlie saying "She off doing something important I'm sure." (Fulfilling a corherced bargain to insure Charlie safety perhaps?)

She did mention that her dad and mom split. But that can be her assumption or something Lucifer said to explain things easier to a much younger Charlie and he already blamed himself for failing Lilith and having her absent in their lives. Or maybe Lucifer said and meant it literally"Your mother is separated from us." but young Charlie just took "separated" as in Lilith marriage with Lucifer. And Lucifer just rolled with it. But Lucifer still clearly love Lilith with still having that ring on his finger and I think Lilith is still in love with Lucifer. They are just literally separated by realms not in marriage.

I think I rambled way more then what you asked for. Ha! apologies I hope its somewhat coherent and not jumbled like they are in my brain and was at least found interesting.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel headcanon #hazbin theory #hazbin thoughts #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin lucifer #hazbin eden #hazbin eve #hazbin hotel eve #hazbin hotel lilith #hazbin lilith #lilith morningstar #lucifer hazbin hotel #lucifer morningstar #hazbin adam #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin first humans #hazbin heaven

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orthodoxydaily · 2 years

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Saints&Reading: Monday, February 20, 2023

february 20_february 6

VENERABLE MASTRIDIA of JERUSALEM, WOMAN ASCETIC ofTHE DESERT (ca. 580)

“Mastridia lived in Jerusalem where she led an austere life of asceticism. A certain young man fell in love with her and began to annoy her. To save herself and this young man from sin, Mastridia took a small basket of moistened berries and retreated into the wilderness. She spent seventeen years in the wilderness and during the entire time, by the power of God, neither did she lace berries, which she brought, nor did her clothing wear out. Mastridia died peacefully about the year 580 A.D.”

SAINT PARTHENIUS, BISHOP OF LAMPSACUS (4th c.)

Parthenius was the son of a deacon from the town of Melitopolis. As a child, he remembered well the words of the Gospel and endeavored to fulfill them. He settled near a lake, where he fished. He then sold the fish and distributed the money to the poor. By God's providence, he was chosen as Bishop of Lampsacus. He cleansed the town of paganism, closed the idolatrous temples, built many churches, and strengthened the believers in the Faith. Through prayer, he healed every illness and was particularly powerful over evil spirits. On one occasion, when he wanted to cast out an evil spirit from an insane man, the evil spirit begged him not to do so. Parthenius said to him: "I will give you another man whom you can enter, and in him, you can dwell." The evil spirit asked him: "Who is this man?" "I am that man," replied the saint. "Enter and dwell in me!" Upon hearing this, the evil spirit fled as though burned by fire, crying out: "How can I enter into the house of God?" St. Parthenius lived a long time and through his work manifested an abundant love for God and man. Parthenius entered into the eternal rest of Christ in the fourth century.

Source, all texts: Serbian orthodox Church Western American Diocese. From the Prologue

LUKE 19:29-40; 22:7-39

29 And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet, that He sent two of His disciples, 30 saying, "Go into the village opposite you, where as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Loose it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, 'Why are you loosing it?' thus you shall say to him, 'Because the Lord has need of it.' 32 So those who were sent went their way and found it just as He had said to them. 33 But as they were loosing the colt, the owners of it said to them, "Why are you loosing the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord has need of him." 35 Then they brought him to Jesus. And they threw their own clothes on the colt, and they set Jesus on him. 36 And as He went, many spread their clothes on the road. 37 Then, as He was now drawing near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen, 38 saying: " 'Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the LORD!' Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" 39 And some of the Pharisees called to Him from the crowd, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." 40 But He answered and said to them, "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out."

7 Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed. 8 And He sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat." 9 So they said to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare?" 10 And He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water; follow him into the house which he enters. 11 Then you shall say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?" ' 12 Then he will show you a large, furnished upper room; there make ready. 13 So they went and found it just as He had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. 14 When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. 15 Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; 16 for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. 17 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; 18 for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. 19 And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." 20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. 21 But behold, the hand of My betrayer is with Me on the table. 22 And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! 23 Then they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this thing. 24 Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. 25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.' 26 But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. 27 For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. 28 But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. 29 And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. 32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren. 33 But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death." 34 Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me." 35 And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?" So they said, "Nothing." 36 Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. 37 For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me: 'And He was numbered with the transgressors.' For the things concerning Me have an end. 38 So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords." And He said to them, "It is enough." 39

Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him.

3 JOHN 1:1-14

1 The Elder, To the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth: 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. 3 For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. 5 Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, 6 who have borne witness of your love before the church. If you send them forward on their journey in a manner worthy of God, you will do well, 7 because they went forth for His name's sake, taking nothing from the Gentiles. 8 We, therefore, ought to receive such that we may become fellow workers for the truth. 9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us. 10 Therefore, if I come, I will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does not receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting them out of the church. 11 Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius has a good testimony from all and the truth itself. And we also bear witness, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 had many things to write, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink; 14 but I hope to see you shortly, and we shall speak face to face. Peace to you. Our friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

#orthodoxy #orthodoxchristianity #easternorthodoxchurch #originofchristianity #spirituality #holyscriptures #bible #gospel

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lawrenceop · 4 years

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HOMILY for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Num 21:4-9; Phil 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

These are trying times, and new restrictions on social gatherings that come into force today, not without some confusion, will continue to try our patience. Coming to church can seem to offer very little respite, as we are told to wear face coverings, told where to stand for Communion, told not to sing, and so on. When will things return to normal? When will the comfort of the familiar be restored to us? Therefore, faced with these trials and uncertainties, and more to come, no doubt, the opening line of the first reading today is very striking: “On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience”.

The word ‘patience’, in fact, comes from the Latin ‘pati’, meaning ‘to suffer’. To be patient, therefore, implies being able to endure suffering; to be able to face the wilderness of life, with all its trials and difficulties, and to suffer them with good grace. Indeed, in the wilderness of Zin, Moses and his people also have to endure sickness and death. But even tragedy, illness, and death, it seems, can be endured patiently with good grace. But how, we ask? Often in the face of these profound human sufferings, people ask: How can a good God allow this? Why do we have to suffer? Where is God in all this? And so, in the wilderness of Man’s suffering and pain, many people have lost patience with God.

And yet, God gives an answer that is paradoxical and unexpected; an answer that is, perhaps, not the one people have been looking for. For God instructs Moses: “Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live”. Now, the fiery serpent had been the cause of death to the people of Israel. Hence it is a symbol of death. So, God asks Moses to place the very symbol of death on a pole, and then anyone who is bitten, that means, anyone who has suffered sickness and even potential death shall, in fact, be saved and shall live! In other words, God promises to transform death into life; he promises that the very thing that looks like death and destruction will in fact bring life. Isn’t this a paradox? Isn’t this rather incredible? But if God is God of the living, if God is Life and Being itself, if God made all that is out of nothing, then God can transform even the emptiness of death into life. Only God, the living God, can do such a thing. Do we believe this?

St John, therefore, points to the dead man raised up on a cross, a symbol and sign of a humiliating and excruciating death. There is the Son of Man, come down from heaven, in order to be lifted up on the cross, just “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert.” God sent his Son, and is present in the person of Jesus Christ, to share our human condition and sufferings, so as to transform all human suffering and death, and to overcome the snakebite of sin which would have led humanity to perish in hell. God our Saviour, therefore, is raised up on the Cross to save us from sin, from all that is evil, and from eternal damnation. So, like the people in the wilderness of Zin, we are called to look at Christ Crucified, to look on the Cross with faith so that we can be saved and live. For here is the Son of God subjected to suffering, shame, and death itself. All that we have to endure as human beings, the snakebites of our human condition, are all inflicted on the God-Man on the Cross. As the Lord God said to Moses: “If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live”, so, if any of us is bitten by pain and suffering; bitten by the trials and irritations and grind of daily life; if any person is bitten by cancer and diabetes and other mortal diseases; or bitten by mortality and lie dying, or, indeed, bitten by sin and wounded by evil habits, the Lord invites us to look upon the Cross, to look on our merciful and compassionate Saviour, and he shall live. For “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life.” (Jn 3:16)

As Christian disciples, every day we’re called to take up our cross and follow Jesus. That is to say, we’re called to bear patiently with the sufferings of this life; to keep looking at the Crucified Lord, for all who look upon him shall be saved. The Cross, therefore, especially in difficult times, is our spes unica, our “only hope”. To this end, I will never forget the words of Pope Francis back in March when the global pandemic struck. Having embraced the Cross, standing alone in a rainy St Peter’s Square, the Holy Father said: “We have a hope: by his cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and no one can separate us from his redeeming love. In the midst of isolation when we are suffering from a lack of tenderness and chances to meet up, and we experience the loss of so many things, let us once again listen to the proclamation that saves us: he is risen and is living by our side. The Lord asks us from his cross to rediscover the life that awaits us, to look towards those who look to us, to strengthen, recognize and foster the grace that lives within us… By his cross we have been saved in order to embrace hope and let it strengthen and sustain all measures and all possible avenues for helping us protect ourselves and others. Embracing the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.”

May these words give us new strength and hope today so that, in our journey across the wilderness of this present time, we will not lose patience, but suffer with Christ, drawing life and salvation and every good grace from the power of Christ’s Holy Cross.

#suffering #death #redemptive suffering #cross #salvation #hope

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pamphletstoinspire · 4 years

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Solemnity Of Saint Francis of Assisi, Confessor - October 4

Today is the feast day of Saint Francis. Ora pro nobis.

Of the Value and Dignity of the Soul

The greatest care ought to be taken of the soul, for man has not many, but only one. If God had given us two souls, as He has given us two eyes, or two feet, then should one be lost or taken away, we might guard and save the other. But as we have received only one, very weak and languishing, assailed by three most powerful enemies, and exposed to the fiery darts of the world, the flesh, and the devil, it is not lawful for it to repose securely for one single day, but it must always be striving and fighting. The Apostle gives us to understand how continual this warfare must be, when he says: ‘Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.’

In war, or in a battle, some time is granted to the soldiers to refresh their bodies, to lay aside their arms, to rest from their labours, and to recruit their strength; nor are they, during severe cold, compelled to rest at night exposed to the inclemency of the season, but are allowed to pass the winter in the city. But it is different with wrestlers; for then only can they be permitted to breathe, when one being overcome and thrown to the earth, the other goes away in triumph. The strife with our enemies can never cease, the time of fighting is the whole time of our life, the end of our life will be the beginning of rest; and only after death will the demonwrestler retire, after having endeavoured most strenuously to conquer us in death. Let us, therefore, most earnestly beseech Our Lord to protect us by His grace, and, in the midst of so many dangers, mercifully to defend us from our enemies. Nothing, alas! is more vile than the price for which we sell our precious souls. On the slightest occasion we cast it into hell, and for the smallest and most insignificant reward we deprive it of the inestimable treasure of Divine grace.

Saint Francis, the son of a merchant of Assisi (Pietro Bernardone and his French wife Pica Bourlemount), was born in the year 1182. While his father was on a business trip in France, Pica gave birth to a boy whom she called John – a good religious name – but Pietro on returning called him Francesco – in his appreciation of all things French – and it stuck.

by Father Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

St. Francis, the great founder of the order which bears his name, a man endowed with heavenly wisdom and especial gifts, and who, on account of his fervent love to the Almighty, is called the Seraphic, was born at Assisium in Umbria, and in a stable to which, by the advice of an unknown beggar, his mother had been carried to be relieved of the pains she suffered. His father was a wealthy merchant, and he destined Francis to follow the same occupation. Although the child was bright and cheerful, he never associated with evil companions, in order to keep his innocence unspotted. To the poor he was ever extremely compassionate, having made the resolution to dismiss none without alms. One day, when he was overwhelmed with business, a beggar asked for some money to buy bread. Francis, in his hurry, refused it, but no sooner had the man gone, than he remembered his resolution, and running after the beggar, gave him a rich alms and vowed never again to refuse any one who asked him: and this vow he faithfully kept.

Hence, when one day he met a poor man in the street, he gave him his new clothes and clothed himself in the rags of the beggar. At another time, while he was taking a ride, a leper came to him begging; Francis dismounted, took a piece of money and gave it to the poor man. When the latter stretched out his hand, deformed and emaciated by the terrible disease, Francis took it into his own and kissed it most tenderly. When he had remounted, he turned to look for the leper, but could no where perceive any sign of him; from which he supposed that either an angel or Christ Himself had appeared in that shape; the thought of which filled his heart with great comfort, and, at the same time, animated him to still greater liberality. After this event, he began to wean his heart more and more from all temporal things, sought solitude and became more fervent in his prayers. He begged the Almighty most earnestly to favor him with the grace to know how he should serve Him henceforth as his Lord and Master. During this prayer, Christ appeared to him, hanging on the cross and covered with wounds. This vision filled the heart of St. Francis with such devotion to our beloved Saviour, that he could never think of His passion, or look upon a crucifix without shedding tears.

After several miraculous events, by which the Almighty gradually manifested to St. Francis His will, it happened that, one day, when he assisted at Mass, he heard in the Gospel the words of Christ: “Do not possess gold or silver, or money in your purse ; nor script for your journey, nor two coats, nor shoes, nor a staff.” (Matt, x.) At these words, the holy man felt his mind illuminated and his heart stirred with deep emotion. It seemed as if God said to him that this was the rule by which he was henceforth to regulate his life ; and immediately giving his money to the poor, he put off his shoes, clothed himself in a rough penitential garment, which he girded about him with a knotted cord, and determined to lead henceforth an apostolic life. Going among the people, he began to exhort them to penance with such force and zeal, that he not only converted many sinners, but also drew several pious men to offer themselves as disciples in his austere manner of living, and as co-operators in his holy work.

When the number of these had reached twelve, St. Francis sent them into different villages and hamlets to preach penance after his example. Instead of money, he gave them the verse of the Psalm: “Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He will nourish thee.” As greater numbers came daily, who desired to be his disciples, he gave them certain regulations. Pope Innocent III. confirmed these regulations in 1209, at which time St. Francis and his companions most solemnly made their profession of the three vows of religion. This was the beginning of the celebrated Seraphic Order, which, divided into several branches, has worked, and still continues to work so well for the honor of God and the salvation of souls. When the Order had thus been confirmed, the holy founder went with his disciples to Assisium, where he made his dwelling in a small lonely cottage, that stood near the little Church of Portiuncula. At this place, where the Blessed Virgin was especially honored, St. Francis passed much time in praver and fasting. He lived on alms, and sent his disciples into the surrounding country to exhort the people to penance and to teach them to lead a Christian life. The Benedictines, to whom the above mentioned church and the ground near it belonged, gave both to St. Francis, that he might build there the first house for his Order.

The greatest care of the Saint was bestowed upon his disciples and spiritual children, whose number daily increased. He endeavored to lead them in the path of virtue, and to make of them useful members, that they might work for the salvation of men; and to effect this more thoroughly, he tried to be an example to them. Penance, which he and others of his order preached, he practised most austerely on his own person. He very seldom partook of food that was cooked, and when he did so, he strewed ashes over it, or destroyed its taste with water. Besides the usual forty days’ fast, he observed another fast of the same length, after the festival of the three holy Kings. The same he did from the feast of the holy Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, until the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. To these he added another forty days’ fast in honor of the holy Archangel St. Michael and all the Angels. At night, he slept, on the bare floor; a stone or a piece of wood served him for a pillow. He scourged himself almost daily to blood, and exercised himself in all possible bodily mortifications. The cause of this rigor towards himself was not only to do penance for his former sins, but also to prevent himself from falling into others, and to keep his purity unspotted. Hence, when the evil spirit tortured him with unclean thoughts, he cast himself into the snow, and remained in it until he was almost frozen.

His humility was not less than his mortification. He would not allow any one to praise him. “Praise no one,” said he, “who does not stand securely. No one should be praised, until we see how he ends.” And again: “No one is more or less than he is in the eyes of the Almighty.” One day, a pious brother of the Order asked the Saint, what he thought of himself. The Saint answered: ” I think that there is no greater sinner upon earth than I am.” When the brother asked how he could say so with truth, he replied: ” If as many mercies had been bestowed upon the most wicked of all men, as have been bestowed upon me, I do not doubt that he would have been more grateful and more pious than I.” His humility made him refuse the priesthood, as he deemed himself unworthy of it. He greatly honored the priests, saying: “If I should meet an angel and a priest, I would first kiss the hand of the priest and then duly honor the Angel; because I owe him the greatest veneration who holds the most holy body of Christ in his hands and administers the same to others.”

What shall we say of the poverty which the Saint chose and most warmly recommended to his followers? What of his love of God and man What of his devotion to the passion of Christ, to the divine Mother and the Saints? What of his other virtues, of which the examples are so numerous, that this whole work would hardly suffice to relate them? He refused, after his conversion, to possess anything as his own, and rejoiced when he had to suffer want. During his prayers, he was frequently transported out of himself, by the intensity of his devotion, and could say nothing but, “My God and my all!” Only to name the most High, filled his heart with such burning love that his whole countenance seemed to be on fire. Charity towards men actuated him to nurse the sick most tenderly, to aid the poor to the best of his ability, to comfort the sad, and to be all to all. His wish to convert the infidels and to give his life for Christ’s sake, moved him to repair to Syria and Egypt, where he preached fearlessly before the Sultan of Babylon the truths of Christianity, saying that they should kindle a great fire and he would go into it in order to prove the truth of the Christian faith.

His devotion to the Passion of Christ was so great, that God would recompense it with a miracle until then never heard of. When St. Francis, two years before his death, kept, according to his custom, the forty days’ fast in honor of St. Michael, on Mount Alverno, he fell into ecstasy on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, and saw that a shining Seraph came down from heaven towards him. The Angel had six wings, and between these appeared the crucified Saviour with His five holy wounds. At the same moment, the Saint perceived in his side and on his hands and feet, bleeding wounds, like those which the Saviour bore. These wounds or Stigmata remained until the death of St. Francis, and although he endeavored to hide them, he could not prevent their being sometimes seen during his life and many times after his death. The Saint suffered great pain in these wounds, which was a source of great joy to him, as he hoped that this would make him more conformable to his Saviour. Two years later, the Saint became mortally sick, and knowing the hour of his death, he requested to be carried into the little Church of Portiuncula, where, after having received the holy Sacraments, he lay down on the ground, and gave up his soul to his Creator.

Before he expired, he exhorted his disciples to follow punctually the rules of the Order, blessed them, and among other things said: “Remain always in the fear of God. Happy are those who persevere to the end in the good which they have begun. I am now on my way to the Lord, and will commend you to His favor.” He then told them to read to him the passion of Christ from the Gospel of St. John. After this, he began to recite the 141st Psalm, and when he had reached the words: ” Bring my soul out of prison. The just wait for me till thou reward me,” he ended his holy life. This took place in the year of our Lord 1226. Long before while bitterly weeping over his sins, he had received the divine assurance that they were forgiven. In the same manner, it had also been revealed to him that he would go to heaven. Although this gave him great consolation, he did not mitigate the severity of his penances, nor cease to repent of his sins, as he said: ” If I had only once committed a small sin, I would think it sufficient cause for weeping as long as I live.” Many books have been written about the life of this Saint and to relate the many and great miracles which he wrought both whilst he lived on earth and, after his death, by his intercession in heaven.

Francis had acquired land and set up a hermitage on Mount Verna. While praying there during a forty day fast in preparation for Michaelmas, he had a vision on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross 1224, where he received the stigmata or the five wounds of Christ.

Suffering from the wounds as well as from an eye disease, for which he received treatment but to no avail, he returned to the Portiuncula where he spent the last days of his life and died on the evening of 3 October 1226, singing Psalm 141. One legend says that on his death bed Francis thanked his donkey for carrying and helping him throughout his life, and that his donkey wept.

In 1228 Francis was pronounced a saint by Pope Gregory IX, who as Cardinal Ugolino di Conti had been his friend and protector of the order.

SAINT FRANCIS From “The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi,” 1476

At the time when St Francis was living in the city of Gubbio, a large wolf appeared in the neighbourhood, so terrible and so fierce, that he not only devoured other animals, but made a prey of men also; and since he often approached the town, all the people were in great alarm, and used to go about armed, as if going to battle. Notwithstanding these precautions, if any of the inhabitants ever met him alone, he was sure to be devoured, as all defence was useless: and, through fear of the wolf, they dared not go beyond the city walls.

St Francis, feeling great compassion for the people of Gubbio, resolved to go and meet the wolf, though all advised him not to do so. Making the sign of the holy cross, and putting all his confidence in God, he went forth from the city, taking his brethren with him; but these fearing to go any further, St Francis bent his steps alone toward the spot where the wolf was known to be, while many people followed at a distance, and witnessed the miracle.

The wolf, seeing all this multitude, ran towards St Francis with his jaws wide open. As he approached, the saint, making the sign of the cross, cried out: “Come hither, brother wolf; I command thee, in the name of Christ, neither to harm me nor anybody else.”

Marvellous to tell, no sooner had St Francis made the sign of the cross, than the terrible wolf, closing his jaws, stopped running, and coming up to St Francis, lay down at his feet as meekly as a lamb. And the saint thus addressed him: “Brother wolf, thou hast done much evil in this land, destroying and killing the creatures of God without his permission; yea, not animals only hast thou destroyed, but thou hast even dared to devour men, made after the image of God; for which thing thou art worthy of being hanged like a robber and a murderer. All men cry out against thee, the dogs pursue thee, and all the inhabitants of this city are thy enemies; but I will make peace between them and thee, O brother wolf, is so be thou no more offend them, and they shall forgive thee all thy past offences, and neither men nor dogs shall pursue thee any more.”

Having listened to these words, the wolf bowed his head, and, by the movements of his body, his tail, and his eyes, made signs that he agreed to what St Francis said. On this St Francis added: “As thou art willing to make this peace, I promise thee that thou shalt be fed every day by the inhabitants of this land so long as thou shalt live among them; thou shalt no longer suffer hunger, as it is hunger which has made thee do so much evil; but if I obtain all this for thee, thou must promise, on thy side, never again to attack any animal or any human being; dost thou make this promise?”

Then the wolf, bowing his head, made a sign that he consented.

Said St Francis again: “Brother wolf, wilt thou pledge thy faith that I may trust to this thy promise?” and putting out his hand he received the pledge of the wolf; for the latter lifted up his paw and placed it familiarly in the hand of St Francis, giving him thereby the only pledge which was in his power.

Then said St Francis, addressing him again: “Brother wolf, I command thee, in the name of Christ, to follow me immediately, without hesitation or doubting, that we may go together to ratify this peace which we have concluded in the name of God”; and the wolf, obeying him, walked by his side as meekly as a lamb, to the great astonishment of all the people.

Now, the news of this most wonderful miracle spreading quickly through the town, all the inhabitants, both men and women, small and great, young and old, flocked to the market-place to see St Francis and the wolf. All the people being assembled, the saint got up to preach, saying, amongst other things, how for our sins God permits such calamities, and how much greater and more dangerous are the flames of hell, which last for ever, than the rage of a wolf, which can kill the body only; and how much we ought to dread the jaws of hell, if the jaws of so small an animal as a wolf can make a whole city tremble through fear.

The sermon being ended, St Francis added these words: “Listen my brethren: the wolf who is here before you has promised and pledged his faith that he consents to make peace with you all, and no more to offend you in aught, and you must promise to give him each day his necessary food; to which, if you consent, I promise in his name that he will most faithfully observe the compact.”

Then all the people promised with one voice to feed the wolf to the end of his days; and St Francis, addressing the latter, said again: “And thou, brother wolf, dost thou promise to keep the compact, and never again to offend either man or beast, or any other creature?” And the wolf knelt down, bowing his head, and, by the motions of his tail and of his ears, endeavoured to show that he was willing, so far s was in his power, to hold to the compact.

Then St Francis continued: “Brother wolf, as thou gavest me a pledge of this thy promise when we were outside the town, so now I will that thou renew it in the sight of all this people, and assure me that I have done well to promise in thy name”; and the wolf lifting up his paw placed it in the hand of St Francis.

Now this event caused great joy in all the people, and a great devotion towards St Francis, both because of the novelty of the miracle, and because of the peace which had been concluded with the wolf; and they lifted up their voices to heaven, praising and blessing God, who had sent them St Francis, through whose merits they had been delivered from such a savage beast.

The wolf lived two years at Gubbio; he went familiarly from door to door without harming anyone, and all the people received him courteously, feeding him with great pleasure, and no dog barked at him as he went about.

At last, after two years, he died of old age, and the people of Gubbio mourned his loss greatly; for when they saw him going about so gently amongst them all, he reminded them of the virtue and sanctity of St Francis.

#st francis of assisi

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docholligay · 4 years

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The Intercession of St. Raphael 5: To Walk in The Way He Has Commanded

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“What the hell, dude!”

Seiya hissed into her ear, sitting next to her outside of Father Anthony’s office, the velvet of the chair coverings worn where a thousand girls before them had sat, waiting for judgment. Haruka did not react, just stared down at her hands, rubbing her thumb over the back of her palm. It was early, and Father Anthony was likely making them wait because he had no desire to be up himself--it was simply designed as a further punishment for the both of them.

Both Haruka and Seiya had taken their usual route of forcing femininity as hard as possible when brought for punishment. Seiya looked nearly demure in her lace-trimmed blouse, her hair pinned back with delicate gold clips, her legs crossed neatly under her pastel blue skirt, gently flared out at the knee. Haruka had little casual clothing anyhow, none of which she had devoted to being ladylike, and so she wore her uniform, pressed by Mako this morning, the peter pan blouse selected, accented by a pink ribbon in her hair from Usagi.

“I said,” Seiya stared hard at her. “What the hell, dude? I thought we agreed we don’t want to end up here, again, with Father fucking Anthony.”

Haruka sighed and flopped back in the chair, forgetting her urge to be ladylike, staring out the window and wishing she could fly away into the clouds. “I’m sorry.”

Seiya sat back, somehow more taken aback by Haruka’s genuine apology than the fact that Haruka had hit her in the first place.

It took her a moment to recover. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Haruka kept staring out the window, barely registering the quiet miracle of she and Seiya having a civil conversation, “I got into a fight with Mina last night.”

In the way of most stories people tell, this was not entirely true, nor entirely false.

Haruka would have told you she finally unleashed after years of small jokes that barbed at her, that even she could only take so much, that Mina had been cruel, and that Mina herself had offered no defense for her action, for the way she had manipulated Haruka’s feelings for a joke. She would have edited her choked-back tears, and the way she had stormed out of their shared room and slept on the floor of the small chapel where she had spoken with Michiru just a few weeks previously. She would never had said that the chapel had once seemed a cathedral to her, when Michiru touched her hand, incense woven into the woodwork and surrounding her, as if she’d been blessed, but that now it was just a small and dingy place where she buried herself into the tattered carpet, at least kind enough to absorb her errant tears.

Mina would have told you that Haruka exploded at her when she had touched her shoulder in concern, that she could not have said a word if she had wanted to, that Haruka made no sense and she had no idea what she was even talking about, that she thought Haruka must be drunk or on drugs on something to explain her erratic behavior. She would have edited out her hurt, that she had never seen Haruka so angry with her, that she was confused and scared and worried, that she had looked for Haruka for hours before going to bed, slipping a note under her pillow and hoping she’d come home, that it hurt more deeply than any argument she had with any lover.

Seiya gave an awkward shrug. “Sucks, fighting with your girl.”

“It’s not like that. I’ve known her since I was eight, Kou, she’s like my sister.”

“Yeah, I got one of those too.” Seiya recovered, finally, and waved her hands over at Haruka. “So why the fuck did you hit me?”

Haruka wanted to pour the sourness out of her soul, wanted to cleanse the rotted hurt from her heart, to lay it tenderly within the soft love of forgiveness, but all she could see is Mary looking down on her with shame, the backs of the saints turned to her, and she could not hear the reassuring whispers of love and gentleness, only the fierce anger of men who had used the words of the saints as a weapon.

And so she choked out, “Because I’m stupid.”

“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know how to treat you when you’re like this. Maybe you should just hit me again. I can deal with that.”

Haruka buried her head in her hands, her legs spread, and groaned heavily.

“Ladies.” The voice was cold and commanding, and Haruka immediately remembered that she was supposed to be very demure, and sat up straight, crossing her ankles.

“Good morning, Father Anthony.” It was in perfect concert.

He beckoned them with his hand. “Into my office. Now.”

They half-scrambled, not wanting to be any more of Father Anthony’s personal annoyances than they already were--he has a hard man, and his distaste for children was only surpassed by his dislike of teenagers, to say nothing of ones who wore their hair too short, wore pants too often, and walked too heavy.

They sat down on the plush chairs in his office, the room smelling of tobacco and a light mist of flowers. The colors were dark and imposing, the entire place giving off the air of judgement that he doubtless craved.

“I hope you are pleased that this is how we all have to spend our weekend.” He sat down at his desk and glowered at the two of them.

Seiya and Haruka looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes, wondering if they were meant to respond.

The answer was, luckily, no, and so Father Anthony continued:

“From the report of several bystanders, I have it on good authority that you were the one to throw the first punch, Miss Tenoh, and I am very curious as to why you thought that a good idea.” His voice was dripping with condescension, and Haruka felt anger and shame in a glorious duet that burned hot on her skin.

Haruka did not know how to begin to explain, even to someone who held her in good faith, and certainly not to the man who held her in contempt. That she had been hurt, and sad, and all of it had built up in her, in the way things do, and she tried to stop herself when it happened, but she was just so angry, and her feelings so tender.

“Haruka, answer me.” He gazed over the desk at her, his eyes boring into her soul, looking for every crack and chip.

Haruka fidgeted uncomfortably, looking up at Father Anthony through her bangs, narrowly obscuring his gaze, a weak confessional panel between them.

“I saw her with...a boy...that I liked. I was jealous. I thought he might like me. It was stupid. I’m not the kind of girl any gi--guy might fall for.” She bowed her head, staring at the floor. “My friends told me he liked me because they thought it would be funny.”

Father Anthony seemed a strange mix of surprised and appeased. Seiya looked over at her, and even out of the corner of her eye, Haruka could see her rising compassion. It only made her feel more ashamed, that she was an object of pity in Seiya’s eyes, and she shrugged.

“Sorry I hit you.”

“Envy is among the ugliest sins, Haruka.” Father Anthony boomed over the desk.

“I know.”

He pushed himself out from the desk and drew his hands behind his back thoughtfully, strutting about the large oak-paneled office.

“And, in addition to that, to strike against your Sister in Christ over desires of the flesh.”

You don’t know the half of it, Father. You have no idea how much trouble I should be in.

“Haruka, your continued presence at this school is representative of Holy Mother Church's commitment to the poor and the unwanted,” she winced at the word, but Father Anthony was not so much as looking at her, “and it is a privilege for you. If we were forced to tell the state that you belong better in--”

“It was my fault, Father.” Both Haruka and Father Anthony’s heads snapped to look at her. “I knew Haruka liked...that boy, and I bragged about it in front of her. I caused my sister to stumble.”

He frowned deeply, and it was difficult to tell whether he was more disappointed that Seiya had done such a thing or that his speech threatening Haruka’s home of nearly ten years had been interrupted. The children who paid were not subject to nearly the same discussions, and the Kou family had enough put into the school that a light slap on the wrist was most of what he could manage.

“50 Hail Marys, Miss Kou, and my personal admonition that it would be wise not to stoke the anger in others. One day you may meet with someone whose bite outshines their bark.”

Seiya grinned. “Well, this shiner doesn’t feel great.”

He frowned heavily at her, and she sat back up straight and folded her hands in her lap.

“Miss Tenoh, it would do you well to reflect on the sort of company you keep, if your story is to be believed.”

“Trust me, Father, I am.” She spat the words, thinking of Mina, and how she and Rei must have giggled over Haruka’s hurt and pain.

“I cannot ignore that you were the one moved to violence, whatever Miss Kou might have said. 50 Hail Marys and a loss of your commissary privileges for one month.”

Haruka burst. She had worked so hard for the small amount of pocket change that she had, and she delighted in the times she picked up a candy bar, or some soda, or any of the small pleasures allotted to her. “Are you kidding me?! Father Anthony, that’s not fair, I--”

“You are fortunate, Miss Tenoh, that I do not remove you from the track team, for all it seems to fire up your blood.”

Haruka stopped immediately, her face grave, and bit her lip.

“Yes, I thought as much. Temper, Miss Tenoh. I am told it causes you grief, and you should reflect on your lack of control, don’t you agree?” He looked down his nose at her. “Hm?”

“Yes, Father Anthony.” She took a deep breath. “Thank you for advising me.”

He looked down at the paper on his desk and waved his hand. “You may go.”

Seiya and Haruka stood up as quickly as they could without seeming as if they were rushing out in an unladylike way, and went to gather their belongings, Seiya’s leather satchel sitting next to Haruka’s tattered green bag.

“Thank you.” The words were bitter in her mouth as she scooped to pick up her bag.

“Don’t mention it.”

“Why did you--”

“When I say, don’t mention it, I mean, tell no one, I’ll deny it, and never talk to me about it again.” Seiya picked up her bag and turned back toward Haruka. “Father Anthony’s a dick.”

Haruka nodded her assent, and they wordlessly walked down the hall to the back stairs.

“Let me give you some advice. Michiru’s hot, but she’s a Kaioh. She’s mean, and she’s crazy, and she could probably have you killed if she wanted to. Nobody likes her, the only friend she has is Rei, and probably only because Senator Hino needs to be up the Kaiohs’ ass for political reasons. There’s tons of girls in this school, Haruka.”

Haruka’s mouth was open to defend Michiru before she realized she had done it, but she stopped herself and closed it, remembering that Seiya had done her a great and unexpected favor, and she could, at least, sit for a moment and listen to what she had to say.

“I mean, do what you want,” Seiya waved her hand dismissively, “I’m not gonna cover your ass again, but I’ve gone to school with her since I started going to school, and trust me on this one. Her whole family’s creepy.”

Haruka nodded. “Okay.”

Seiya sighed at the non-committal nature of it all, turned on her heel, and headed back to the dorm hall.

Haruka looked out at the campus, the green beginning to grey under a quickly-darkening sky, the raindrops heavy in the bottom of the clouds, begging to burst forth. She walked toward the tree at the end of the field--the day after the St. Stephen’s dance was almost always quiet, and the coming rain had only stilled the normally busy hum of the girls’ school even further.

Which was fine with Haruka--she didn’t want to go back to her room, but she didn’t want to see anyone, either. What she really wished, most desperately, was that her suggestion of a punching bag in the gym center had been taken up, but Father Anthony had called it ‘completely inappropriate for young ladies.’

A punching bag was inappropriate, but that flower arranging was still a part of Home Ec was a vital skill.

She touched her chest for reassurance, and then remembered the lost medal. When it rained it poured, it supposed, though the slight misting drizzle of the day seemed to deny her even this. She looked back up at the clouds. They looked so heavy, she could tell there was a torrent inside of them just waiting to be free, to break out and rain down on the land, covering it. BUt it was restrained, held back to this sad drizzle.

She thought about walking the few miles up the road to St. Stephen’s, to ask about the medal, but though, considering her recent bent into lawlessness in the eyes of Father Anthony, this might not be the widest choice.

Instead, she shuffled slowly across the field, the wool coat provided for them just barely hitting her hip. She was as ill-fit and wrong for it as for everything else in this place. She sighed heavily and leaned against the tree at the other end, looked up at the pattern of grey between the fading green of the leaves.

She understood them, she thought, slowly dying as she tried to cling to something that didn’t want her anymore.

Glad to see you’re still being as dramatic as humanly possible, Heathcliff, she could hear Mina say.

Mina. The rage boiled in her again, how Mina could do something so cruel. That, in itself, she supposed, was not the greatest surprise--she had been known to strike back at people aggressively when they got in her way, or had done something she considered something a slight. No, the great surprise was that Mina could have done something like that to her.

It had been years since they both came to this place, stuffed together in the back of a station wagon, a social worker assuring them that this was a marvelous opportunity, that Mother Mary’s was a brilliant and exceptional learning institution, (and this Haruka would have happily concurred with, were she not so certain that such things were essentially wasted on her), that they should be happy and grateful. Mina, young as she was, had still seemed rather unaffected by the whole thing, as happy in one place as another so long as there was something to be fiddled with, a person to be teased, a rule to be exploited.

Haruka, on the other hand, had been crushed, feeling the dream of her having a family set aside. Her grandmother had died only a year prior, and her mother had seemed wholly disinterested in raising her. She had a vision of someone coming and telling her they wanted her to be their new daughter, and pictured birthdays and Christmases overflowing with the warm smells of home.

But she was not the sort of doll anyone selected from the shelf, she thought, gangly and boyish, never the honor student.

Mina had patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she winked, “you’ll be okay.”

She could not possibly have known such a thing, but she played it off with such confidence that Haruka believed her instantly.

“Yeah?” She had furrowed her brow, trying to look tough, in a move that would become very familiar to her. “I’m not scared.”

“No one said you were.” Mina sassed back.

Haruka had crossed her arms and slumped down in the seat. “I never wanted a stupid family or anything anyway.”

“Good, ‘cause you’re not getting one.”

Haruka shot her a look, then, with all the insult her child’s face could offer.

She had shrugged. “Just being honest,” she extended her hand, “Call me Mina.”

“Haruka.” She shook her hand, feeling very adult in the moment.

Mina had been wrong, when she’d said that, Haruka reflected, sliding down the tree and sitting at its roots. It was true that no one had ever wanted to adopt them--Haruka had given up the idea later than most, but she eventually got it through hr thick skull--but they had become a family to each other, and as Usagi and Mako had come along, they had been worked into the fabric as well, making some sort of quilt of useless and throwaway patches.

It had always worked for Haruka, on some level, just having Mina to care about her, but she could not square Mina’s betrayal with the rest of their lives.

Mina had sat by her as she trembled and shook from the chicken pox last year, only teasing her later as the only human being capable of being in a boarding school and waiting til she was 15 to catch it. They’d discussed a dozen hurts and fears and Haruka had even seen Mina cry, which she considered no small sight. She didn’t like being mad at Mina. She hated it.

But she would never get over what Mina had done to her, not now, not ever. She balled her fists and bit her lip.

Temper, Miss Tenoh.

Had anyone ever had the idea that Joan had decided to leave France because she was simply so sad, and so hurt, by what was happening, that all she could was react with any army? Likely not--that wasn’t the way saints thought, God had told her to do it, not the burn in the belly of her soul, but Haruka longed to tell someone what it felt like. To know that someone understood what it was to have that aching hurt down inside, to want to lash out like a rattlesnake, but of course, Haruka only ever bit herself in the end.

“Haruka, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Jesus Christ, I’ve been worried sick, you flipped the fuck out last night, and I didn’t see you at breakfast this morning, if this is some kind of lesbian dramatics that’s fine but for fuck’s sake, keep me in the loop.”

She didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

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mybeautifulchristianjourney · 5 years

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He Gave Himself For Our Sins

by Martin Luther

Paul sticks to his theme. He never loses sight of the purpose of his epistle. He does not say, "Who received our works," but "who gave." Gave what? Not gold, or silver, or paschal lambs, or an angel, but Himself. What for? Not for a crown, or a kingdom, or our goodness, but for our sins. These words are like so many thunderclaps of protest from heaven against every kind and type of self-merit. Underscore these words, for they are full of comfort for sore consciences.

How may we obtain remission of our sins? Paul answers: "The man who is named Jesus Christ and the Son of God gave himself for our sins." The heavy artillery of these words explodes papacy, works, merits, superstitions. For if our sins could be removed by our own efforts, what need was there for the Son of God to be given for them? Since Christ was given for our sins it stands to reason that they cannot be put away by our own efforts.

This sentence also defines our sins as great, so great, in fact, that the whole world could not make amends for a single sin. The greatness of the ransom, Christ, the Son of God, indicates this. The vicious character of sin is brought out by the words "who gave himself for our sins." So vicious is sin that only the sacrifice of Christ could atone for sin. When we reflect that the one little word "sin" embraces the whole kingdom of Satan, and that it includes everything that is horrible, we have reason to tremble. But we are careless. We make light of sin. We think that by some little work or merit we can dismiss sin.

This passage, then, bears out the fact that all men are sold under sin. Sin is an exacting despot who can be vanquished by no created power, but by the sovereign power of Jesus Christ alone.

All this is of wonderful comfort to a conscience troubled by the enormity of sin. Sin cannot harm those who believe in Christ, because He has overcome sin by His death. Armed with this conviction, we are enlightened and may pass judgment upon the papists, monks, nuns, priests, Mohammedans, Anabaptists, and all who trust in their own merits, as wicked and destructive sects that rob God and Christ of the honor that belongs to them alone.

Note especially the pronoun "our" and its significance. You will readily grant that Christ gave Himself for the sins of Peter, Paul, and others who were worthy of such grace. But feeling low, you find it hard to believe that Christ gave Himself for your sins. Our feelings shy at a personal application of the pronoun "our," and we refuse to have anything to do with God until we have made ourselves worthy by good deeds.

This attitude springs from a false conception of sin, the conception that sin is a small matter, easily taken care of by good works; that we must present ourselves unto 18God with a good conscience; that we must feel no sin before we may feel that Christ was given for our sins.

This attitude is universal and particularly developed in those who consider themselves better than others. Such readily confess that they are frequent sinners, but they regard their sins as of no such importance that they cannot easily be dissolved by some good action, or that they may not appear before the tribunal of Christ and demand the reward of eternal life for their righteousness. Meantime they pretend great humility and acknowledge a certain degree of sinfulness for which they soulfully join in the publican's prayer, "God be merciful to me a sinner." But the real significance and comfort of the words "for our sins" is lost upon them.

The genius of Christianity takes the words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins" as true and efficacious. We are not to look upon our sins as insignificant trifles. On the other hand, we are not to regard them as so terrible that we must despair. Learn to believe that Christ was given, not for picayune and imaginary transgressions, but for mountainous sins; not for one or two, but for all; not for sins that can be discarded, but for sins that are stubbornly ingrained.

Practice this knowledge and fortify yourself against despair, particularly in the last hour, when the memory of past sins assails the conscience. Say with confidence: "Christ, the Son of God, was given not for the righteous, but for sinners. If I had no sin I should not need Christ. No, Satan, you cannot delude me into thinking I am holy. The truth is, I am all sin. My sins are not imaginary transgressions, but sins against the first table, unbelief, doubt, despair, contempt, hatred, ignorance of God, ingratitude towards Him, misuse of His name, neglect of His Word, etc.; and sins against the second table, dishonor of parents, disobedience of government, coveting of another's possessions, etc. Granted that I have not committed murder, adultery, theft, and similar sins in deed, nevertheless 19I have committed them in the heart, and therefore I am a transgressor of all the commandments of God.

"Because my transgressions are multiplied and my own efforts at self-justification rather a hindrance than a furtherance, therefore Christ the Son of God gave Himself into death for my sins." To believe this is to have eternal life.

Let us equip ourselves against the accusations of Satan with this and similar passages of Holy Scripture. If he says, "Thou shalt be damned", you tell him: "No, for I fly to Christ who gave Himself for my sins. In accusing me of being a damnable sinner, you are cutting your own throat, Satan. You are reminding me of God's fatherly goodness toward me, that He so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. In calling me a sinner, Satan, you really comfort me above measure." With such heavenly cunning we are to meet the devil's craft and put from us the memory of sin.

St. Paul also presents a true picture of Christ as the virgin-born Son of God, delivered into death for our sins. To entertain a true conception of Christ is important, for the devil describes Christ as an exacting and cruel judge who condemns and punishes men. Tell him that his definition of Christ is wrong, that Christ has given Himself for our sins, that by His sacrifice He has taken away the sins of the whole world.

Make ample use of this pronoun "our." Be assured that Christ has canceled the sins, not of certain persons only, but your sins. Do not permit yourself to be robbed of this lovely conception of Christ. Christ is no Moses, no law-giver, no tyrant, but the Mediator for sins, the Giver of grace and life.

We know this. Yet in the actual conflict with the devil, when he scares us with the Law, when he frightens us with the very person of the Mediator, when he misquotes the words of Christ, and distorts for us our Savior, we so easily lose sight of our sweet High-Priest.

For this reason I am so anxious for you to gain a true picture of Christ out of the words of Paul "who gave himself for our sins." Obviously, Christ is no judge to condemn us, for He gave Himself for our sins. He does not trample the fallen but raises them. He comforts the broken-hearted. Otherwise Paul should lie when he writes "who gave himself for our sins."

I do not bother my head with speculations about the nature of God. I simply attach myself to the human Christ, and I find joy and peace, and the wisdom of God in Him. These are not new truths. I am repeating what the apostles and all teachers of God have taught long ago. Would to God we could impregnate our hearts with these truths.

#He Gave Himself For Our Sins #Martin Luther #devotional reading #Jesus Christ #Son of God #atoning sacrifice #death #resurrection #salvation

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austincitylimitlessworld · 6 years

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Party Monster: Seth Green’s Best Performance Ever?

Ah, Seth Green. He won us over in Woody Allen’s and as part of the ensemble cast of young actors in part one of 1990s Stephen King’s IT. He followed that up as the voice of Chris Griffin in Family Guy, and maintains a cult audience in his own created Robot Chicken. However, the role that stands out most for me is that of real-life celebutante turned author James Clark, more commonly known by his club kids name James St. James.

As any consumer of good camp film knows, the art is in the performance. Since the Renaissance’s Commedia del’Arte, character driven stories are vital to farce. The situation holds second place. This is particularly true when the events of a camp movie are derived from real life events. And in this particular piece of farcical comedy, the actor who holds the attention of the camera by his beauty, his timing, and his clear glee in portraying one of the first people ever known to be famous simply for being famous is Green.

Our first evidence of this is showcased in a scene which takes place in such a mundane backdrop as a donut shop. Of course, for those of us who lived through the 80s know, nothing was never “mundane” in a world filled with neon colors, pop-culture references, and for some, designer drugs.

In this scene St. James meets the now infamous Michael Alig, and the differences in their backgrounds are immediately transparent. St. James comes from money. He is a trust fund baby. He displays a haughty attitude and has grown up learning what any socially upward child would. In contrast, Alig comes from a single-parent lower-middle-class household. Upon arriving in New York, he craves acceptance and knowledge of things only a trust fund baby can impart to him. Alig has been observing St. James from afar and in this scene boldly approaches him. At first St.

James is put-off by this “wannabe” and tries to dismiss him. But Alig's pleading eventually causes him to haughtily stop him by putting his well-manicured, ringed hand in Alig’s face and proclaiming:

“’The Road of excess leads to the place of wisdom’ William Blake.”

Here he shows how St. James’s arrogance and smugness is sought after by a fresh-faced newbie like Alig. Yet somehow he makes his churlness charming. I found myself almost wanting to know St. James through Green’s performance—at least on some ultimate plane of reality where in real life I would have been put off by his attitude as my upbringing was closer to Alig’s than St. James’s. That is a performance.

As the scene continues, and St. James is marginally won over by Alig’s hunger and flattery, he teaches Alig the art of working a room. This is told as a sort of “time-lapse”; a sped up version on what would require an hour and a half to two hours. Here Green’s flamboyance is revved up as he escorts Alig around the room, tutoring him on glib greetings to the other diners as if the donut shop has become a swank soirée and the patrons themselves fabulous party guests of the upper echelon variety. While Culkin does a competent job of portraying Alig, the focus is clearly on Green as St. James. This is not surprising as the film is based on St. James’s book and indeed no doubt St. James’s view of himself as the center—or should be rightful center—of this tell-all. The film is, after all, based on St. James’s own sensationalistic memoir “Disco Bloodbath” which came out in 1999. Credit also goes surely in no small part to the two lead actors’ careers up to this point. While Culkin had taken a nine year break from acting for personal and professional reasons, Green had been working steadily, slowly introducing himself into more adult roles over the course of those same nine years.

Green also portrays St. James as the sort of Yoda of the club kid set. He dispenses advice to newcomers throughout the film. In the donut shop he counsels Alig not to take heroin and to avoid Peter Gatien (played here by a somber Dylan McDermott). By the time a Christmastime in Brooklyn scene rolls around, we see that Alig has ignored him on both counts. Not only is he working for Gatien as a club promoter, but he has become a heroin addict.

Feeling ignored by his protégé, and infatuated with Alig’s D.J. junkie boyfriend Keoke, he rises from a tense conversation between himself, Alig, and Gatien at the kitchen table and seductively saunters into the bedroom where Keoke sits on the bed, feverishly sifting through his vinyl records in an effort to come up with the perfect playlist for Alig’s upcoming event. His countenance is both obscenely open and inscrutable as he leers at a hapless Keoke, guiding him on “How to be a D.J. Superstar”. He is at once coy, sly, and coquettish. All his jealousy lies just below the surface, but we are never sure if it is actually based on an infatuation with Keoke, envy over being usurped by this start-up neophyte, or both. Whatever it is, we get the sense that St. James is biding his time, poised like a cobra, until he can strike Alig at the first serious opportunity.

His disdain for Culkin’s Alig continues to be illustrated when the group starts guest starring on the talk show circuit. In front of other club kids in the Manhattan audience, Green takes the lead answering John Stamos’s Phil Donahue-like local talk show host “What is a club kid?”

Here he is dressed as a troll, which is 21st century ironic as from St. James’s point of view; the real “troll” in this story is Alig. After St. James gives an artificially nearly life-affirming answer: “It’s all about self-expression…it doesn’t’ matter what you look like. If you have a hunchback, just throw a little glitter on it honey and go dancing.” When Culkin’s Alig crowds in on his answer, venom dripping from his every word and proclaiming that St. James is indeed a troll and exposes St. James’s long history of drug abuse, St. James contemptuously asserts that “I am the original!” He is clearly butt-hurt and you know that the “sins” of his rival are mounting. When the talk show host then turns the tables on Alig by revealing Alig introducing his own mother to E (ecstasy), we know that Alig’s downfall is coming, even though the actual comeuppance is still a ways away within the world of the movie.

Soon enough, the group travels from New York to Dallas, promoting their lifestyle. What grabs the attention in this scene perhaps more than any other is Green’s costume design. It can only be described as a cross between an extraterrestrial and a sea squid. On a lesser talented actor, this ensemble would merely be laughable, but because Green has chiseled out a character we can against our better judgment if not love, at least be captivated by, we go with it. Here we meet the drug salad making Brooke and her giggly friend Gitsy. Culkin invites them to come to New York, which they seem thrilled with, but Green intervenes, admonishing Alig for luring kids from the middle of the country into New York City and then abandoning them to their own hideous fates. What he says reads on paper as altruistic, but Green’s line-reading is dripping with disdain for Culkin’s character:

“Oh honey, he says that to everyone. Some of them actually do move to New York, the poor things. No job, nowhere to stay. Then in the twink of an eye, they are homeless crack addicts prostituting themselves on the streets for a buffalo nickel.”

We continue to feel the tension build to the climax, which we know the outcome of whether we’ve been a party to events as they happened or only been brought to its knowledge later.

The film ends where it began, on a close-up of Green being interviewed at his new home in Los Angeles. The culmination of the love/hate relationship between St. James and Align is about to come to its jagged end. As the camera pans back from St. James plugging his new book, the phone suddenly rings. It’s Michael. And here in Green’s delivery we see all the envy and hatred St. James has been carrying for years against Alig. With prickly near-glee, Green informs Culkin that not only was he the one who got Michael arrested, but then twists the knife of betrayal further as he lets it drop that Gitsy—Michael’s beard/girlfriend has died of a drug overdose.

It is a tribute to Green’s acting that even though we are meant to identify with him throughout the course of the movie, we somehow don’t feel some sort of elation at the bomb he drops on Alig. Instead we feel disdain for both the protagonists so that even though we were lured into their world for a little while we are ripped back into reality that in this playing field there really is no one to root for.

Instead the rivalry goes meta as Alig says to St. James “you saved my life” and St. James shoots back without missing a beat that he’s going to have to hang up because Alig is trying to turn this into an after-school special and get the last word in with everyone ending up liking him. “And it’s my movie!”

And with that he does hang up on Alig, proving to us that it is indeed his movie, as the film begins and ends on Green’s face. Because of this, it is Green’s image we are left with, and he stands out in a way he hasn’t in any of his ensemble work. In both the story of the movie and the story within the story as promoter of the book promotion, he is the narrator. Because of this, and his almost silent-era movie physicality, I will remember him from this film longer than in anything else I’ve seen him in.

#party monster 2003 #seth green #james st. james #michael alig #maculey culkin #film review #film critique #camp film

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dailyaudiobible · 5 years

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06/05/2019 DAB Transcript

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25, Acts 3:1-26, Psalms 123:1-4, Proverbs 16:21-23

Today is the 5th day of June. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is great to be here with you as we cross through the middle of our week and set our gaze on the back half of the week and moving toward the weekend. It’s great to be here with you as we’re moving into this new month and as we’re moving into the book of Acts in our New Testament reading. We’ll also be coming to a conclusion today, we've been working our way through the books of Samuel, right? So, first Samuel led us through kingship and the appointments or the coronation of King Saul and we watched his life and then we saw the intertwining of David's life with Saul's life and then we spent our time in second Samuel reading of David's reign. Today we will be concluding the book of second Samuel, which will lead us into the books of Kings beginning tomorrow. So, we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week. Second Samuel chapter 23 verse 24 through 24 verse 25.

Commentary:

Alright. So, as we moved through the Gospels, right, since the beginning of the year we've been spending our time in the Gospels and we gave our attention to the stories of Jesus ministry. It was easy to become accustomed to Jesus doing something miraculous or His words being penetrating and His ways being different, but as we read through the book of Acts today, we witnessed something pretty astounding. So, Peter and John visited the temple for worship and they encountered a lame man begging for donations by the beautiful gate. And this is not an unusual thing. It's not even an unusual thing in this day and age, but what happened next was unusual. Peter said, “I don't have any silver or gols…like…I don’t have any money to give you, but I will give you what I have. In the name of Jesus get up and walk.” And they help the guy get up and he walked. This happened in the temple complex, right? So, it definitely drew a crowd. But this is the first instance in the Scriptures in the New Testament of a miraculous incurrence happening after Jesus ascension. And, so, what makes his profound is that Jesus was physically absent, but the Holy Spirit was completely present. So, the work of Christ, the ministry that Jesus had been doing was continuing just like He promised it would. Obviously, this is a man who was healed was overjoyed and obviously people who’d been passing by the beautiful gate knew who this guy was. And, so, they’re watching him walk around and a crowd assembles, and Peter speaks. He shares the Good News again and he says he says something unbelievable. At least, the implications are unbelievable to me. Peter said to the people who were marveling at a man who would been lame walking. He said, “what is so surprising about this?” That's a pretty fair question for all of us in our faith. Peter and John didn't have anything that we have not been given including the power of the Holy Spirit. Things were happening just like Jesus said they would. The apostles were just simply being Christlike in this situation right, the same kind of thing Jesus would have done. They were just doing what Jesus told them and us to do before He left. And, so, Peter used the opportunity of this miraculous event to share the Good News. It just makes us wonder, right? So, we’ve turned the page and now we’re in the book of Acts. So, now we’re in the church era. And even though were reading about the beginning of the church era we’re still in it. Like, this is our story. And, so, what would it look like if we actually embraced as a reality the power of Jesus within us. What if we stopped reading the book of Acts, or any of these stories as metaphors, or as guidance for how to manage our sin better. What if we understood that this is just what happened that these are examples of what's supposed to be normal. Maybe there’s a whole lot more wholeness available to us. Maybe there's a lot more wholeness available to the world and we’re just diminishing it like it's some sort of life lesson as opposed to life reality. So, as we continue this journey through the book of Acts let's kind of put that in the front of our min. As we’re reading the stories of how everything formed let's continue to ask ourselves what's so surprising about this. And maybe we can begin to dream of what life could look like if we became Christlike in this world.

Prayer:

Father, we invite You into that. We’re reading some pretty dramatic stories of what happened immediately after You departed as people began to coalesce around the message and began to devote themselves to community, to one another, and to what You taught, and we see that Your ministry continued forward, even though You were physically absent. Nothing slowed down. Actually, it seems like things accelerated and began to spread all over the world. So, it forces us to ask ourselves, “why are we settling for anything less? Why are we staying week when You've made us strong? So, as we continue through the book of Acts we will continue to think, “what is so surprising about this?” And Father, we ask that we can begin to see that in our own lives, we can begin to see Your work in everything big and small things and may we take that attitude, “what is so surprising?” Of course this would happen. This is what happens when the presence of God is here. This is what happens when the Holy Spirit moves. What is so surprising about this? Help us Father see a new normal, the normal of the kingdom that we are here to reveal. Come Holy Spirit we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, where you find out what's going on around here. And the big news that's going on around here right now is that registration is open for the global campfire Family Reunion happening Labor Day weekend August 31st through September 2nd this year. We did a Family Reunion last year. It was a really spectacular time together. We realized that even though that we were just starting this that there was a lot of people that wanted to come that didn't get to come because we didn't have space. We found some more room, even better place than last year and we’re excited to just kinda bring everybody together here in the rolling hills of Tennessee. Those of you who want to come kinda step out of the Internet and just be together for a few days. It's…if you've never been to a Daily Audio Bible event, it’s hard to describe…just the warmth…like everybody's on the same page so nobody's really a stranger. And we never…even when we’re traveling, we never really say goodbye to anybody. We just say, “until we meet again.” Like, it's a beautiful thing. So, I hope you can come at the end of the summer and stay on site. We got his great place, great! It’s right on the lake. There's all kinds of stuff to do. A great place to just kinda come and camp out, hang out together for a couple of days. You can check out all the details at dailyaudiobible.com in the Initiatives section. Just look for family reunion 2019 and that will answer all of your questions. And, so, hope to see. Definitetly space is beginning to fill in. So, we are super super, super excited to see you over Labor Day weekend here in the rolling hills of Tennessee.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you, thank you, thank you, as we move in the summer. Thank you for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.

And that is it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hi family, this is Viola from Maryland, I hope you’re all doing well. Brian and Jill, God bless you. I pray that God will continue to provide for your ministry in the name of Jesus. I want to pray for Emmanuelle, yeah, I think it’s a manual. Emmanuelle, I’m praying for your marriage. I pray…you had called talking about how your wife has left you and that she once had faith. Lord, I’m praying that you will step into that situation in the name Jesus. I pray that You will touch hearts of God, that you will heal the marriage and the marriages of those of the DAB family that are going through that similar thing right now. Father, I pray that you will address oh God Lord even the walk of Satan in those marriages in the name of Jesus. Oh God I pray that there will be reconciliation Lord that there’ll be removed hardness of hearts oh God in Jesus name. Oh, Desperate my sister, I heard your prayer request and I’m praying for you and your son. And my sister, nothing, nothing is a mistake with God. Definitely you bringing just your son into the world is not a mistake and don’t feel guilty. God will provide. He is the one that promised to provide. You are not his provider. And, so, Lord I’m praying that you will touch oh God this situation, that you will provide for Desperate’s son in the name of Jesus, that you will give him oh God a job that would __ that would just blow his mind in the name of Jesus. Give him Oh Lord God wisdom to know how to __ in Jesus name. And I pray that you would calm Desparate’s heat and just let her know that you are there for her in Jesus name. Jane, I’m praying for your son Joshua from New York. I pray Lord that you will arrest this young man’s heart in the name of Jesus, that he will hunger and thirst after you…

Hi, I’m a new Daily Audio Bible listener my name is Shelly and I live in Cheyenne Wyoming. And first of all I wanted to say thank you to John from Bethlehem Pennsylvania, the one who transcribes the prayer requests because I probably wouldn’t have called in except when he said that people get prayed for every day. And I thought, “well how are gonna know if I don’t call?” So, I decided I would take the courage to call. I’m calling for my friend Victoria who is a single mom of a precious little four-month old baby boy. His name is Kayden and he has to have surgery on Friday, June 7th. He was born with some abnormalities and he has to have a procedure that’s called an aortaplasty. They have to like readjust things and stitch things and basically what happens is his lungs tend to collapse when his breathing and he has some other problems but he’s going down to Denver Children’s Hospital for the surgery on Friday and the head of the cardiothoracic department is going to be doing the surgery. It’s the intricate and she’s been through so much. She’s a single mom and this is her only little guy and he’s precious. And if you all could please pray for complete and total healing, that the doctors would have wisdom and skill and that there would be no issues. I would really appreciate it. And thank you all so much for your continued prayer and all that you do Brian on a daily basis. I love Daily Audio Bible and tell everyone about it when I see them. So, God bless you all and thank you.

Much Afraid, this is Mrs. Valiant, it was so great to hear your voice today. I love this story. This prayer is for us and anyone else who heeds His Word. Heavenly Father You know my great unfitness for service, my present deadness, my inability to do anything for Your glory, my distressing coldness of heart. Prayers have been uttered from a prayerless heart. My best services are filthy rags. Not a day of my life has passed that has not proved me guilty in Your site. Blessed Jesus though my sins rise to heaven Your goodness soars above them. Let me find cover in Your healing wounds. My unrighteousness weighs me down to hell, but Your righteousness lifts me to Your throne. I am weak, ignorant, unprofitable. I’m at a loss to know what You would have me do. We turn again with showers of converting grace to a poor gospel abusing sinner. Help my soul to breathe after holiness, after a constant hunger and thirst for Jesus, after growth and grace more abundantly today. Oh Lord I’m ready to sink because I fall short of my desire. Help me hold out a little longer for I cannot lift my soul to You with Your goodness not bringing me nearer. Help me be watchful and tender so not to offend my blessed friend in thought and behavior. Holy Spirit, I confide in You and I lean on You at all times. Assist and lead me. Let all my distress and apprehension prove to be Christ’s school. Make a fit for greater service by teaching me the great lesson of humility in the name of Jesus. God bless you Much Afraid. I’m praying for you.

Hi, my name is Eugene. I just want to thank this group of Saints. I’ve been a backslider for so long and God finally delivered me completely. I’ve __ a church, sinned, and now that He’s delivered me it’s hard to find people that truly has forgiven me for some of the lifestyle I had. I had a terrible drug addiction. I went through divorce and just one day out of the sky blue, God let me find this group of saints, the Audio Bible and I really needed this and I just want to thank God for you. I want to thank God for people sharing like they do, just to know that God is truly love and He never gives up on you in He always has somebody there for you. So, thank you for this group so much and I’ll continue to pray for others as I ask you to pray for me. Thank you. God bless you.

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etstrunkblog-blog · 6 years

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the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee-10 Feb. 2019Mercy vs. Virtue Text: Luke 18:9-14 & Psalm 97:10 [KJV] The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican (or the Pharisee and the Tax Collector) is a parable of Jesus that appears in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 18:9-14 a Pharisee, obsessed by his own virtue, is contrasted with a tax collector who humbly asks God for mercy (see Psalms 23 & 138). This parable demonstrates the need to pray humbly. It immediately follows the Parable of the Unjust Judge, which is also about prayer. Virtue (Latin: virtus, Ancient Greek: ἀρετή "arete")is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting collective and individual greatness. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards. Doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. The opposite of virtue is vice (see Luke 5:1-11).The four classic cardinal virtues in Christianity are temperance, prudence, courage, and justice. Christianity derives the three theological virtues of faith, hope and love (charity) from 1 Corinthians. Together these make up the seven virtues. Buddhism's four brahmavihara ("Divine States") can be regarded as virtues in the European sense. The Japanese Bushidō code is characterized by up to ten virtues, including rectitude, courage, and benevolence.On the other hand, Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced-, merces, from Latin, "price paid, wages", from merc-, merxi "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts.The concept of a merciful God appears in various religions, including Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.Performing acts of mercy as a component of religious beliefs is also emphasized through actions such as the giving of alms, and care for the sick and Works of Mercy (see 1 Chronicles 14:8-17).In the social and legal context, mercy may refer both to compassionate behavior on the part of those in power (e.g. mercy shown by a judge toward a convict), or on the part of a humanitarian third party, e.g., a mission of mercy aiming to treat war victim. Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship, typically a deity, through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity, or a deified ancestor. More generally, prayer can also have the purpose of thanksgiving or praise, and in comparative religion is closely associated with more abstract forms of meditation and with charms or spells.Prayer can take a variety of forms: it can be part of a set liturgy or ritual, and it can be performed alone or in groups. Prayer may take the form of a hymn, incantation,formal creedal statement, or a spontaneous utterance in the praying person.Today, most major religions involve prayer in one way or another; some ritualize the act, requiring a strict sequence of actions or placing a restriction on who is permitted to pray, while others teach that prayer may be practiced spontaneously by anyone at any time.We read in Psalm 119:103-105, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Psalm 1:4 says, "The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." And we read in Romans 8:6, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (see also 8:28-39)." And in Romans 6:23 we read, "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." St. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 4:9-15, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. For therefore we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe. These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all (see also Galatians 5:22-6:2)" Jesus said in Matthew 11:27-30, "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." We read in Luke 19:1-10, "And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost". And in Luke 21:8-19 we read, "And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls" . And finally in Luke 24:1-12, "Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass". Before I close, just let me give everyone a few reminders: Be Reminded of the Light to Guide the Journey, Remember Your Call and Election, Remember the Truths, Remember the Power of the Lord, and Remember the Light Shining in Dark Places. As 2 Peter 1:10-20 reads, " Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me. Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." And now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, keep our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ our Lord.

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woodworkingpastor · 4 years

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Our wallet and our soul -- Luke 16:19-31 -- Sunday, March 14, 2021 -- Fourth Sunday of Lent

A German Shepherd, a Doberman, and a cat each die. As it happens, all three animals arrive at God’s throne at the same time, where God asks what they believe.

The German shepherd says, “I believe in discipline, training, and loyalty to my master.” “Good,” says God, “You may sit down on my right side.” Turning to the Doberman, God asks, “What do you believe in?” to which the Doberman replies, “I believe in the love, care, and protection of my master.” “Wonderful,” says God. “You may sit to my left.”

Then God looks at the cat and asks, “And what do you believe in?” The cat answers, “I believe you’re in my chair.”

We tell a lot of stories about heaven that don’t teach us much. The stories often involve meeting St. Peter at the Pearly Gates or our floating around on clouds strumming harps of gold. I suspect we know those stories aren’t true. But believe it or not, they do have something in common with the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, because it turns out that this parable doesn’t teach us all that much about heaven or hell, either. It does, however, “unteach” us quite a few things! If we listen closely, we’ll see that this parable teaches us much more about life on earth than it does about life in heaven or hell.

Who is listening?

To understand the parable, we need to see how Luke includes it in his larger story of Jesus. There is an important lesson of Biblical interpretation that is worth repeating here: to understand what the Gospel writers want to communicate, it is often helpful to look at what comes before and after the passage. When we do that here, we see that this parable comes at the end of a section that begins in Luke 15, where Luke tells us:

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:1-2).

The three parables about finding lost things in Luke 15 is one of the more famous and favorite chapters in the New Testament. I’ve often found myself at the end of the Parable of the Prodigal Son—with the father pleading with his older son to come in and join the celebration—wishing that Jesus had kept talking for a while, because however joyous that celebration was, we all know that the family was in serious need of counseling. Coming home was the cause for a grand celebration; being a family again was going to take some work.

But when we get to the end of Luke 15, we need to keep reading, because Jesus does give us what we’re looking for, just not in the way we might expect. The answer is found in Luke 16’s emphasis on the connection between our wallet and our soul, stories and teachings that are some of the most uncomfortable in Scripture. After talking about the grace that welcomes scandal-causing sons to be welcomed back home, Jesus tells us about what life back home will look like. Just when we think that celebrating someone’s salvation is the end of the story, Jesus tells us that there is more.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

That’s what makes me say that the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus isn’t a parable about life after death; it is a parable about life before death.

We need to see the great contrasts in this parable:

The rich man is anonymous; the poor man has a name. Life normally works in the opposite direction; we know about the so-called “rich and famous,” but what are the names of the people who stand at intersections asking for money? Lazarus is one of the most dehumanized characters in all of Jesus’ parables.

The rich man has a nice home; Lazarus lays at the gate outside the rich man’s home. The Greek is much more descriptive: we could say that Lazarus was either “thrown” or “dropped” there, almost like you might drop off a dog.

The rich man is dressed (covered?) in purple and fine linen; Lazarus is covered with sores.

The rich man feasted daily; Lazarus longed for crumbs.

The dogs who licked Lazarus’ wounds might have belonged to the rich man; did they eat the table scraps Lazarus longed for before they came and licked Lazarus’ sores?

The rich man died and was buried; Lazarus died and was carried away by angels (suggesting that he was never buried?)

The rich man experienced comfort in life and agony in death; Lazarus experienced agony in life and comfort in death.

The rich man was separated from Lazarus by a gate in life and a chasm in death; Lazarus was at Abraham’s bosom in death (the seat of honor?)

The rich man could control many things in life but nothing in his death.

Last Sunday we talked about apophenia, the tendency to see patterns where there are none. But in this parable, our job is absolutely to connect the dots. The contrasts in this parable point us to the reason why the rich man is in torment while Lazarus is in paradise:

The rich man was so consumed by all the accoutrements of his position in life—the fine clothes, good food, nice house, many friends—that he missed his chance to alleviate Lazarus’ great suffering. His faith should have led him to open his wallet and help a man who was suffering only a gate away. But it didn’t, and now it is too late.

Even in Hades, the rich man still doesn’t get it. Lazarus still isn’t a human being with agency of his own to the rich man; he is someone to order around.

“Send Lazarus to bring me water; I’m dying of thirst” (Luke 16:24, paraphrased)

The rich man still hasn’t learned his lesson that his many blessings in life ought to have been used to bring relief to people like Lazarus. Jesus leaves us with the inescapable conclusion that the rich man’s salvation is connected to what he didn’t do, not what he did or didn’t believe. His salvation is tied to his wallet.

If this makes us uncomfortable, then good. We should sit with tha discomfort, not run away from it. We need to avoid the temptation to go scampering off to other passages of Scripture to find pictures of salvation that are easier on our conscience.

We might be tempted to run back to Luke 15 and look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In his pride and arrogance, the young man had ruined everything. He’d done great damage to his relationships at home; he’d lost all of his money (and with it, all of his “friends”) and was left hungering for the garbage he was feeding the pigs. His only option is to go home with his hat in hand and beg to be a servant. But, wonder of wonders, his father welcomes him back.

This is Gospel truth!! We can and we should proclaim God’s grace in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We could then have Carol come and lead us in singing, Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling…calling O sinner, come home. We would discover that the Holy Spirit still moves in people’s lives, convicting people of sin and moving people to repentance. People would respond to the Gospel, and it would be our turn to throw a party!

Or we might be tempted to look forward in the Gospels to John 3:16-17,

For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

This, too, is Gospel truth!! We can proclaim this truth and Carol could come and lead us in singing, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see. People could feel the power of the Holy Spirit inviting them to leave their guilt and shame at the foot of the cross and rise up in newness of life and all would be well.

Every bit of that is Gospel truth, but so is Jesus’ message here, that the way we treat the Lazarus’ of the world—the people who have no agency to act on their own, the people whom we might even suspect have less than the image of God in them—is a determining factor of our eternal life.

If the most vulnerable among us are disposable then we have departed from the way of Jesus and we are the ones who need to repent. In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, Jesus makes no overt statement about doctrine; he says nothing about belief. The only issue in the parable, the one that all the clues point to, is that the rich man had every opportunity to alleviate Lazarus’ great suffering and he did nothing about it. He knew enough about Lazarus’ situation to know his name, but he was not moved to open his wallet and provide for his care.

We Brethren understand this kind of thinking. When revival meetings became popular in the 1800’s, Brethren were initially suspicious of them. They were not suspicious of salvation. Instead, church leaders were concerned that people would get excited about a “Luke 15 understanding of grace” and rush into an emotional decision of salvation and never arrive at a “Luke 16 understanding of grace” and never count the cost of what it means to love their neighbor as themselves! But that’s exactly what Jesus is pointing us to. The parable of the Prodigal Son teaches us what it means to love and be loved by God, while the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus teaches us what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

Brothers and sisters, where is Lazarus? How does our love of God move us with compassion to alleviate his suffering?

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gospelmusic · 4 years

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Catholic Daily Reading + Reflection, 6 December 2020: Conversion And The New World - Make Straight The Paths Of The Lord

Readings at Mass for Sunday December 6, 2020

Second Sunday of Advent Year B Vestment: Violet Today’s Rosary: The Glorious Mystery Theme of the Sunday: Conversion and New World. In the first reading, the prophet invites the people of Israel, exiled in Babylon, to prepare to welcome the Lord who is coming to free them. Their slavery is about to end. God will save them, but on their part, they must welcome this liberation, cross the desert and begin a new life in a new land. The Gospel continues this same theme. Another prophet invites Israel to conversion so that the Messiah may manifest himself and a new world may begin. The second reading tells us that when we speak of the coming of the Lord we should not merely be looking for a date for the end of the world, but rather we must welcome the Lord who comes to create a new world.

Entrance Antiphon cf.Is30:19.30

O people of Zion, behold, the Lord will come to save the nations, and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard in the joy of your heart.

Collect

Almighty and merciful God, may no earthly undertaking hinder those who set out in haste to meet your Son, but may our learning of heavenly wisdom gain us admittance to his company. Who lives and reigns with you ……..

FIRST READING

“Prepare the way of the Lord.” A reading from the Book of Isaiah ( Isaiah 40: 1-5.9-11) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps85:9aband10.11-12.13-14(R.8)

R/. Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and grant us your salvation. I will hear what the Lord God speaks; He speaks of peace for his people and his faithful, His salvation is near for those who fear him, And his glory will dwell in our land. R. Merciful love and faithfulness have met; justice and peace have kissed. Faithfulness shall spring from the earth, and justice look down from heaven. R. Also the LORD will bestow his bounty, and our earth shall yield its increase. Justice will march before him, And guide his steps on the way. R.

SECOND READING

“We wait for new heavens and a new earth.”

A reading from the second Letter of Saint Peter (2 Peter 3:8-14)

Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burnt up. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait. For new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you wait for these, be zealous to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. The word of the Lord.

ALLELUIA Luke 3:4.6

Alleluia. Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight; all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia.

GOSPEL

“Make straight the paths of the Lord.” A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mark I: 1-8) The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who shall prepare your way; the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, and had a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” The Gospel of the Lord.

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

Prepare a way for the Lord PRIEST: My brothers and sisters, God our Father is always faithful to his promises, and he has promised us through Jesus Christ, that there will be a new kingdom. Let us pray in this season of preparation, to make ourselves ready for that kingdom. READER: For God’s Church, the Bride of Christ, (Pause) May she prepare herself, through her leaders and people, by holiness of life, in prayer and fasting, for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. (Pause) We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer we pray Oh Lord. For the rulers of the countries in our world, (pause) may they promote justice for everyone, seek truth in all difficult negotiations and work for peace and love among the nations (pause) We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer we pray Oh Lord. For those who find the burden of life almost too hard to bear, (pause) may they be consoled by the Lord who speaks to their hearts his Gospel message of hope and love. Pause We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer we pray Oh Lord. For the salvation of the world, and for those who have not yet heard God’s saving word, (pause) may we, like John the Baptist, prepare a way for the Lord into their minds and hearts Pause We pray to the Lord, Lord hear our prayer we pray Oh Lord. PRIEST: In silence, we ask God to answer our petition for our needs. Father, you have prepared a place for us in your kingdom. May we also prepare a place for you In every aspect of our daily lives. Through Christ our Lord Amen

Today's Reflection

While the people of Israel were in exile in Babylon, Isaiah came with a message of hope and restoration. The instruction to make the path in the wilderness straight and to level up all the valleys would be meaningful to the people since the route between Babylon and Jerusalem is full of rough and crooked paths, hills and valleys. So, if the promised journey to restoration would be a smooth one, these hazards needs to be taken care of. Yet, Isaiah was pointing to something more than physical deserts, the wilderness and the valleys. He was talking about their spiritual state. We need to make ourselves clean so that when the Lord comes, we shall be ready to accept him. Remember that we do not know when the Lord would come. Hence, St Peter encourages us to stop calculating the dates and concentrate more on living good lives. The best way to wait for the Lord is by living holy lives. Assuming the second coming happens now, would you be found ready? (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Personal Devotional,

MY SPIRITUAL CHECK-UP IN ADVENT Thank you for checking-in, today for your Spiritual Cheek-up. There is no better time than now to have a spiritual cheek-up for our souls as we prepare for the coming of Our Lord this Advent Season. The idea behind this exercise is to re-examine ourselves, and make amends with God and put ourselves alright with Him. When you go through this, remember it is designed to expose grey areas in our souls. This SPIRITUAL CHECK-UP IS ABSOLUTELY FREE unlike your medical cheek-up. This exercise will be within the four Sundays of Advent, kindly avail yourself and your family of this opportunity. USE THE FOLLOWING LISTS AS GUIDE TO EXAMINE YOUR LIFE BEFORE THE LORD. Please, take each one slowly and meditate on it carefully. LYING - "Any designed form of deception for selfish reasons". If you design to make an impression contrary to the naked truth, you have lied. Have you been deceitful? (Rev. 21:8) SLANDER - Speaking evil of someone. You do not have to lie to slander. Have you talked about someone behind their back in a way you would not be willing to before their face? Malicious gossip - telling the truth with intent to hurt or injure is slander. Are you guilty of backbiting or criticism? (Matt. 7:1-5; I Cor. 5:12; Col.3:8; Matt. 5:21-24) CENSORIOUSNESS - Have you spoken about others without love? Did you judge, think or say the worst thing about a person in a situation you knew? (Jn. 7:24; I Cor.4:1-7; Gal. 6:1) Action Test MEDICATION OR SURGERY NEEDED? Note that, "If we confess our sins, He is FAITHFUL and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."(1 Jn. 1:9) Will you go to your gracious and loving Father as a little child and humbly ask His forgiveness? The LORD is merciful and gracious...He has not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities; “For as the heaven is above the earth, so great is His mercy towards them that fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us." (Ps. 103:12) Let Us Pray (Please go down on your kneels and pray for forgiveness) "Oh God, You know my foolishness, and my sin is not concealed from You...please pardon my iniquity, for it is great...If you, Lord, would mark iniquities, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared." (Ps. 69:5; 25:11; 130:3-4) look with pity on me, your humble servant, and have mercy in Jesus name. Mary my dearest mother pray to Jesus for me.

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keywestlou · 4 years

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TRUMP THE TOUGHIE

Trump is losing it. The numbers seem to be stagnant against him. Each day his anger becomes more pronounced.

The man is argumentative and aggressive. He knows he is losing it. He is falling apart because of it.

Biden on he other hand remains relatively quiet. Subdued. He looks Presidential and acts Presidential. The same cannot be said of Donald.

Which man will be more attractive to American voters?

To me the answer is obvious. To many others obvious also. Those are the ones who have decided to vote for Trump or are leaning towards doing so.

Corporate America loves Trump. Why not? While the pandemic has been destroying much of America economically, Wall Street profits have soared.

It is a false economy when not all benefit. A nation cannot continue to survive where not everyone sits at the table.

Coronavirus keeps hitting America every day. Surges occurring in many States. Last wednesday, the number of new coronavirus cases in one day reached almost 60,000. Deaths on the rise in more than 20 States.

No end to the pandemic in sight.

An example of the rich getting richer. Morgan Stanley an example. In the 3 month quarter July through September the company reaped $2.7 billion in profits. A 25 percent raise from the same time last year.

Goldman Sachs did even better. Its quarterly profit was $3.7 billion.

These people are not waiting in food lines. These people can pay their bills.

I was rereading portions of COLLUSION: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Trump Win. Written by Luke Harding, published in 2017.

Came across an interesting passage I wish to share with you: “For Putin, lying was an operational KGB tactic. Russia’s twenty first century postmodern media strategy borrowed something from Lenin’s relativist ideas. The actual truth was unimportant. What was important was the Kremlin’s ‘sovereign’ version of it. This was energetically disseminated inside Russia and increasingly abroad via Russia Today (later, RT) and other state news platforms.”

When will it end? Is nothing sacred anymore? Pedophilia is a black mark the Catholic Church will have to live with till the end of time. It will remain a constant as the Inquisition has.

The incident about to be described hopefully a solitary incident. It will not be remembered long, but the act as wrong and sacriligious as pedophilia.

The place a small catholic Church in Paul River, Louisiana. The Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Its pastor a 38 year old priest.

The time this year.

The pastor engaged in sexual acts with 2 female parishioners on teh Church’s altar. What could be more disgusting!

The 3 have been arrested and charged with violation of a Louisiana obscenity statute.

The Church relatively small. Some 380 members. The congregation obviously upset, disturbed, etc. This sort of thing does not happen in a Catholic Church and involve a Catholic priest.

Archbishop Greg Almond traveled to the Church on two consecutive sundays. During the second visit, hew celebrated mass and reconsecrated the Church and its new altar.

The altar used was obviously contaminated. It was destroyed by fire. The new altar was Fromm a Catholic Church which closed the year before.

The Archbishop spoke words which he hoped would be helpful to the parishioners. He described what had occurred as “obscene. He was “shocked and angered.” He referred to the occurrence as “demonic.”. Claimed it was “sinful and totally unacceptable.”

What more can be said about an occurrence which is just not supposed to happen.

The priest was removed from his duties and prohibited from being a practicing Catholic priest forever. What happened with the criminal charges, I was not able to ascertain.

The informal Fantasy Fest was to have begun this past weekend. I am sure it did. However, I do not know what happened. I am self quarantined. I telephoned many local friends as to what occurred.

No one could tell me. They were either self quarantined also, or did not waste their time attending the bogus Fantasy Fest being spearheaded by some swinger groups.

The Citizen was devoid of any information, except for a brief comment in today’s Citizens’ Voice section: “Dear tourists that are still planning a Fantasy Fest event: go home! You are not welcome.”

Spells out the position of locals. Except of course for the bars, restaurants and hotels. Their greed is manifesting itself during the crisis.

Tonight Tuesday talk with Key West Lou. Nine my time. Lots for me to rant and rave about. A quick moving half hour. Join me. www.blogtalkradio.com/key-west-lou.

Enjoy your day!

TRUMP THE TOUGHIE was originally published on Key West Lou

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years

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A Padre Pio Inspirational Story

Padre Pio – A Friend Forever – Part II

In the life of holiness, there are moments of profound obscurity when one must be buried like the seed that falls to the ground to die. . . When many years ago, a poor sick friar, Padre Pio, came to the monastery of Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, he came only to make contact with God and to live in His presence. It is written in the Gospel, “You do not light a lantern to put it under a bushel.” And Jesus did not light a little lantern in Padre Pio, he kindled a bright sun, which was to give so much light, so much warmth to the whole world. — Father Peter Tartaglia ________

Carlo Campanini, the famous comedian and actor, met Padre Pio for the first time in 1939. Carlo had learned a little about Padre Pio from his friend, Mario. They were both working for a theater company at the time.

When Carlo and Mario knocked on the monastery door at Our Lady of Grace in San Giovanni Rotondo, they were greeted by Brother Gerardo. When they told the Brother that they were interested in speaking to Padre Pio, he told them that since it was Holy Week, it would be impossible. He explained that Padre Pio always suffered from the wounds of the stigmata, but his sufferings intensified during Holy Week. No one was allowed to visit him at that time. Carlo tried to convince Brother Gerardo to make an exception to the rule. He said that he and Mario had been looking forward to meeting Padre Pio with great anticipation. They had used their time off from work to make the trip from Bari. However, Brother Gerardo would not change his mind.

Instead of leaving, Carlo and Mario decided to stay at the monastery for a while. They walked around the grounds and made a visit to the little church that was connected to the monastery. They hoped that if they waited long enough, they might run into Padre Pio.

In order to pass the time, Carlo and Mario were cracking jokes and laughing as was their habit. It did not occur to them that it was disrespectful for them to be talking so loudly in a sacred place. Suddenly, one of the Capuchins came out of the church and complained about the noise they were making. The Capuchin happened to be Padre Pio. At once, Carlo noticed the strong odor of carbolic acid in the air. It was so strong that it caused his throat to constrict.

Many people noticed the fragrance of flowers or perfume around Padre Pio but when a strong odor of carbolic acid or sulfur or disinfectant was present when Padre Pio greeted someone, it usually indicated that the person in question needed to change his life. That happened to be true in Carlo’s case. At the time of his first visit to San Giovanni Rotondo, he was living a life that was very far from God.

Padre Pio asked Carlo and his companion to state their business. “We are two poor stage actors,” Carlo said. “We are all poor,” Padre Pio replied. “But why have you come to the monastery?” “We have come here to make our confession,” Carlo answered. Padre Pio told them both to prepare themselves and he would hear their confession after Mass the following day. As Carlo looked at Padre Pio, a certain fear gripped his heart and he began to tremble. He felt that his whole life was laid bare to Padre Pio.

The next morning, Carlo and Mario were present at Padre Pio’s Mass. It was the longest Mass that Carlo had ever attended in his life. He was out of practice, for one thing. Kneeling on the hard stone floor of the church caused him to feel severe pain in his knees. It was almost more than he could bear. He felt a great sense of relief when the Mass was finally over.

At the time of Carlo’s visit to Padre Pio, his greatest anxiety was that his work caused him to be separated from his children. He and his wife were always on the road, traveling from one city to another. Their children were living with one of their relatives. Carlo wanted to ask Padre Pio to pray that he could find work that would enable his family to be reunited. If it meant that he had to leave his acting career, he was prepared to do so. However, when he made his confession to Padre Pio, he could not bring himself to ask Padre Pio for anything. At the end of the confession, Padre Pio gave Carlo absolution, but before he did so, he made him promise to change his life. Carlo gave his word that he would make the necessary changes.

After visiting Padre Pio, Carlo returned to Bari and then moved to Rome. He found steady work in Rome that made it possible for his family to be reunited. It was a dream come true. He knew that Padre Pio had answered the secret prayer of his heart, the prayer that he had not been able to verbalize. Working as an actor exposed Carlo to innumerable temptations, temptations that he could not always resist. He felt guilty about his immoral lifestyle but did not have the will to make the necessary changes. Padre Pio had asked Carlo to amend his life, but he had not done so. For that reason, he did not want to return to San Giovanni Rotondo to see Padre Pio.

When Carlo won a leading role in a very successful film, his acting career began to soar. His photograph could be seen on the cover of numerous magazines and his name frequently appeared in the newspapers. People recognized him when he went out in public. He was offered starring roles in one movie after another and was making more money than he had ever dreamed of. But fame and fortune did not bring him the happiness he longed for. Spiritually, Carlo was in a dark place. He was depressed most of the time and was haunted by a feeling of emptiness. His life had lost its meaning and its joy. He longed for peace of mind and peace of soul and prayed to God for assistance.

One day, Carlo’s wife told him that the parish priest had spoken to her and suggested that their home be consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. They had even set the date. The priest wanted them all to receive Holy Communion on the day that their home was consecrated. That posed a big problem for Carlo. He would have to go to confession before he could receive Holy Communion. He dreaded the thought of it because he had many serious sins on his conscience. The embarrassment regarding what he would have to reveal in the confessional was very hard to think about. He did not know if he had the courage to go through with it. Carlo had not been to Mass or confession in a long time.

Carlo knew that it was important to his wife to have their home consecrated. He also knew that if he made a sincere confession, he would be obliged to change his life. He did not feel that he was ready to do that. He kept postponing the confession. Several times he went to church and stood in the confessional line but then lost his courage and left just before his turn came. He began to make one excuse after another to his wife. He finally told her that he was sorry but he would not be able to be there on the day the priest was coming to consecrate their home.

One day, Carlo made a visit to the parish of St. Anthony. He looked at the confessional line and knew that he would never have the time to wait in such a long line. “Please come to the front and take my place in line,” a stranger said to him. Carlo was surprised but he took the man’s place in line. Finally, he made a sincere and heartfelt confession and felt blessed to receive the grace of absolution. Carlo and his family were all together when their home was consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on January 8, 1950. With great joy in his heart, Carlo was able to receive Holy Communion on that day with all the members of his family. He wanted to tell Padre Pio about the wonderful changes in his life and decided to make a trip to San Giovanni Rotondo to see him. He had nothing to fear now. He had already confessed the sins of his past and he would never have to do so again.

In San Giovanni Rotondo, Carlo waited in line to make his confession to Padre Pio. In the confessional, Padre Pio told Carlo to kneel down and to begin his confession from the year 1936 forward. Carlo’s heart sank. He explained to Padre Pio that he had been to confession just two days before and had already confessed the serious sins of past years. But for some reason, it did not seem to matter to Padre Pio. He told Carlo for a second time, “Begin your confession from 1936. I know that you feel ashamed for the things that you have done in the past. You would rather that I did not know about them. But whether I know of them or not is of no importance. What matters most is that you have offended God by your sins. For some reason, that thought does not bother you.”

Carlo began his confession as instructed, but he kept his head lowered. Padre Pio called him a coward and said, “I want you to look at me as you confess your sins.” Carlo did so. After Carlo finished his confession, Padre Pio told him that he wanted him to once again make a promise to change his life. Carlo gave him his word that he would do so. This time he truly meant it. Finally, Padre Pio pronounced the words of absolution. He gave Carlo a Rosary and told him to pray it as often as he could. He promised Carlo that he would always be near to assist him in any difficulty. Before Carlo left the confessional, Padre Pio embraced him.

From that moment forward, Carlo’s life underwent a complete transformation. There was a great peace in his heart as well as a desire to lead a good Christian life. The next morning, Carlo was able to attend Padre Pio’s Mass. When he received Holy Communion from Padre Pio, it felt like a hot ember had been placed on his tongue. He felt the burning sensation in his mouth for several hours.

Before Carlo left San Giovanni Rotondo, he asked Padre Pio for his continued prayers. Carlo was aware that in some sense, his spiritual life would always be an uphill climb. He told Padre Pio that he was afraid of the temptations that he knew he would encounter once he returned home. Padre Pio said that it was good to be afraid of temptations, and that one should always have a certain fear of them. He advised Carlo to stay away from all the dark forces and satanic influences of the world. Padre Pio assured him of his spiritual support.

It was very evident that Padre Pio’s spiritual support was with Carlo through the ensuing years. Carlo attended Mass and received Holy Communion every day upon Padre Pio’s recommendation. With his work schedule, it was very difficult to do, but he always found a way to do it. He also turned down many starring roles in films. He was acting upon Padre Pio’s advice to never take a part in a movie that had immoral content. Padre Pio had explained to Carlo that the people who made such movies would have to answer to God for their actions. That included everyone from the producers to the actors to the carpenters who built the sets to the people who sold the tickets.

Padre Pio also warned Carlo never to tell off-color jokes or use bad language. If a movie script had even one vulgar word in it, Carlo would not consider being a part of the project. Movie directors and producers could not understand why Carlo was passing up such lucrative job opportunities. When they asked him for an explanation, he simply told them that he was a spiritual son of Padre Pio and that Padre Pio set a very high standard.

Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have forfeited all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ. — Philippians 3:7-9 ________

In the summer of 1963, Antonio Ardillo became incapacitated by a stroke which paralyzed the right side of his body. When Antonio’s good friend Anna Rossi heard the news, she rushed to the hospital to visit him. Antonio showed her his arm and his leg, paralyzed and motionless. Anna felt very sorry for Antonio. She wondered what the future would hold since he supported his wife and children by working as a hairdresser and the family depended on him.

Anna told Antonio that as soon as he regained his strength, she and her husband would take him to the monastery church of Our Lady of Grace to seek Padre Pio’s intercession for his complete healing. Antonio was very happy to agree to the plan. Somewhere along the way his faith had grown cold and he had stopped attending Mass. He had not been inside the doors of a church for a long, long time. Nevertheless, he looked forward to the day when he could make the trip to see Padre Pio. After two weeks in the hospital, Antonio’s condition improved so much that he was released. The only sign left of his illness was a slight limp when he walked.

Anna and her husband along with Antonio and his son were soon able to make the trip to San Giovanni Rotondo. They attended Padre Pio’s Mass and were fortunate to be able to find seats in the front row. From time to time during the Mass, they became aware of a beautiful perfume, like a gentle breeze, that seemed to fill every corner of the church. Several times during the Mass, Padre Pio stared at Anna and Antonio. Anna had been praying, not only for a physical healing for Antonio, but also for a spiritual healing, so that his faith would be restored.

After the Mass, Antonio went to the booking office and signed up for confession. He had time to examine his conscience and to prepare himself for the encounter with Padre Pio. Finally, his turn came. He had only been able to say a few words in the confessional before Padre Pio stopped him. “You do not go to church on Sunday,” Padre Pio said. “But my profession obliges me to work on Sundays,” Antonio replied. “I also have to work on the Holy Days and Solemn Feast Days of the Church.” “But that is not acceptable,” Padre Pio replied. “Sunday is the Lord’s day and it must be kept holy. I will not be able to absolve you.” Antonio’s confession was over before it had hardly begun.

Antonio returned to his home full of sadness and disappointment. He had wanted Padre Pio’s absolution but had not received it. He decided to follow the advice of the holy priest. When he stopped working on Sundays, he felt the financial loss. Nevertheless, he was still able to provide for all of his family’s needs. He returned to the practice of his faith and felt a great peace in his heart. He never again missed Sunday Mass. The next time Antonio visited San Giovanni Rotondo, Padre Pio greeted him affectionately and appeared to be genuinely happy to see him. He comforted Antonio and spoke to him lovingly and at the end of the confession, gave him the absolution he had longed for. Antonio’s heart was filled with great and indescribable joy.

Antonio was a changed man. His wife, his children, and all who knew him could see the difference. He told Anna that he was happy that he still had the slight limp when he walked, the only sign of the stroke. It was a reminder to him of how Padre Pio had come into his life when he needed him the most, and set him on the right path. ________

In the beginning of the year 2000, I had a very strong desire to travel to Padre Pio’s shrine in San Giovanni Rotondo. The desire to make the trip was in my thoughts constantly so I finally made plans to go at the end of October of that year. I still did not understand why I was feeling such a strong pull to go there. In early September of the same year, my grandson was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma stage four cancer. It was a very aggressive form of cancer with no known cure. He was three and a half years old at the time. We were totally devastated with this news. My grandson was living in England. I live in Dublin, Ireland. I flew to England to help look after his older sister and to be with the family. I contacted Cathy Kelly, who runs the Padre Pio Information Centre, in Victoria, London, and she very kindly allowed me to take the mitten of Padre Pio to my grandson in the hospital. I gave Cathy my passport as good faith with the understanding that she would return it to me when I returned the mitten. We had the mitten resting on my grandson’s head all night, and I was begging Padre Pio to save this child.

My grandson had surgery at the Royal Marsden Cancer Hospital in London. A cancerous tumor which was the size of a golf ball was removed from his brain and he was given only four months to live. He was also given chemotherapy and radiation to his brain and spine. The doctor said that if he was to survive, he would have stunted growth as a side effect of this therapy. But the doctor did not believe that he could survive.

The following day, when I returned the mitten to Cathy Kelly’s office, I was totally overcome with a very strong fragrance of beautiful roses, which seemed to last for ages. I was emotional and crying and wondering what was it was all about. Cathy said that it was a sign that Padre Pio had heard my prayer. I understood then that Padre Pio would look after this child.

Now I had a reason to get to San Giovanni Rotondo, and while there I was up at the chapel door at 5 am when it opened and stayed at the tomb of Padre Pio until 8 am, talking to him and praying and begging him to heal our grandchild. I told Padre Pio that if our grandson recovered, I would do something for him. I really did not know at that time how I would help Padre Pio but I would find a way.

When I returned from San Giovanni Rotondo, I started the Padre Pio Devotions in Malahide, Dublin, as I had promised Padre Pio that I would do something for him. At first we held the devotions in the Carmelite Monastery in Seapark, Malahide but after six years we had to move to a bigger church because of the large crowds who attended. We are now at the Sacred Heart Church, Seabury, Malahide, Dublin. We meet on the first Friday of every month.

We have an organist and choir, and we start with Eucharistic Adoration, followed by Mass celebrated by Fr. Angelus, a Capuchin Priest, who blesses the people after Mass with a mitten of Padre Pio. We always have a packed Church, with 300 to 400 people in attendance, and Fr. Angelus tells us lovely stories of Padre Pio during his homily. Last September, the members of our Prayer Group bought a beautiful statue of Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo. It was shipped to Dublin for our Padre Pio Devotions which have been going now for fourteen years.

Every year in September, I organize a pilgrimage to Italy. I have been doing this yearly for the past fourteen years. During our trips, we have visited Rome, Assisi, Cascia, the Holy House of Loreto, Lanciano, to see the first Eucharistic Miracle, Mount St. Angelo, where St. Michael the Archangel appeared, San Giovanni Rotondo, and more. We usually have a group of around 50 people each year. In San Giovanni Rotondo, we visit all places associated with Padre Pio, his cell, his old tomb, the beautiful new tomb where his body can be seen, the friary, the hospital, and the English office, where we see a video of Padre Pio and get a blessing with some of his relics. We also visit Manopello, the shrine of the Holy Face.

Our grandson is nineteen years old now and is 5ft. 11 inches tall and is in very good health. We are forever grateful to Padre Pio for this favor and for so many other favors given to our Prayer Group members over the years. It is amazing how Padre Pio gets hold of you in so many ways and gets you working for him. He got hold of me at first when I had the strong desire to visit San Giovanni Rotondo, even before I knew that my grandson was ill. I never dreamed I would organize the Padre Pio Devotions in Dublin or the pilgrimages to Italy but I really love to do this. Padre Pio makes you work hard for him. He is our great friend!— Noreen Handley ________

We must relearn our devotion to the Cross. It seems too passive to us, too pessimistic, too sentimental - but if we have not been devoted to the Cross of Jesus in our lifetime, how will we endure our own Cross when the time comes for it to be laid upon us? A friend of mine, who depended for years on kidney dialysis and who realized that his life was slipping away from him moment by moment, once told me that as a child, and later as an adult, he had a special devotion to the Way of the Cross and had often prayed it. When he heard the frightening diagnosis of his illness, he was at first stunned; then suddenly the thought came to him: What you have prayed so often has now become a reality in your life; now you can really accompany Jesus; you have been joined to him by his Way of the Cross. In this way, my friend recovered his serenity, which thereafter illuminated his countenance to the end of his days. — Pope Benedict XVI

#padre pio

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pope-francis-quotes · 4 years

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19th April >> (@ZenitEnglish By Deborah Castellano Lubov) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis’ Homily on 20th Anniversary of Divine Mercy Sunday (Full Text). ‘The Lord waited for Thomas. Mercy does not abandon those who stay behind’.

Here is the full text of the Pope’s Homily at the Mass on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, 2020, the 20th anniversary of the day’s institution by Pope St. John Paul II and of St. Faustina’s canonization, provided by the Vatican:

Last Sunday we celebrated the Lord’s resurrection; today we witness the resurrection of his disciple. It has already been a week, a week since the disciples had seen the Risen Lord, but in spite of this, they remained fearful, cringing behind “closed doors” (Jn 20:26), unable even to convince Thomas, the only one absent, of the resurrection. What does Jesus do in the face of this timorous lack of belief? He returns and, standing in the same place, “in the midst” of the disciples, he repeats his greeting: “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19, 26). He starts all over. The resurrection of his disciple begins here, from this faithful and patient mercy, from the discovery that God never tires of reaching out to lift us up when we fall. He wants us to see him, not as a taskmaster with whom we have to settle accounts, but as our Father who always raises us up. In life we go forward tentatively, uncertainly, like a toddler who takes a few steps and falls; a few steps more and falls again, yet each time his father puts him back on his feet. The hand that always puts us back on our feet is mercy: God knows that without mercy we will remain on the ground, that in order to keep walking, we need to be put back on our feet.

You may object: “But I keep falling!”. The Lord knows this and he is always ready to raise you up. He does not want us to keep thinking about our failings; rather, he wants us to look to him. For when we fall, he sees children needing to be put back on their feet; in our failings he sees children in need of his merciful love. Today, in this church that has become a shrine of mercy in Rome, and on this Sunday that Saint John Paul II dedicated to Divine Mercy twenty years ago, we confidently welcome this message. Jesus said to Saint Faustina: “I am love and mercy itself; there is no human misery that could measure up to my mercy” (Diary, 14 September 1937). At one time, the Saint, with satisfaction, told Jesus that she had offered him all of her life and all that she had. But Jesus’ answer stunned her: “You have not offered me the thing is truly yours”. What had that holy nun kept for herself? Jesus said to her with kindness: “My daughter, give me your failings” (10 October 1937). We too can ask ourselves: “Have I given my failings to the Lord? Have I let him see me fall so that he can raise me up?” Or is there something I still keep inside me? A sin, a regret from the past, a wound that I have inside, a grudge against someone, an idea about a particular person… The Lord waits for us to offer him our failings so that he can help us experience his mercy.

Let us go back to the disciples. They had abandoned the Lord at his Passion and felt guilty. But meeting them, Jesus did not give a long sermon. To them, who were wounded within, he shows his own wounds. Thomas can now touch them and know of Jesus’ love and how much Jesus had suffered for him, even though he had abandoned him. In those wounds, he touches with his hands God’s tender closeness. Thomas arrived late, but once he received mercy, he overtook the other disciples: he believed not only in the resurrection, but in the boundless love of God. And he makes the most simple and beautiful profession of faith: “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28). Here is the resurrection of the disciple: it is accomplished when his frail and wounded humanity enters into that of Jesus. There, every doubt is resolved; there, God becomes my God; there, we begin to accept ourselves and to love life as it is.

Dear brothers and sisters, in the time of trial that we are presently undergoing, we too, like Thomas, with our fears and our doubts, have experienced our frailty. We need the Lord, who sees beyond that frailty an irrepressible beauty. With him we rediscover how precious we are even in our vulnerability. We discover that we are like beautiful crystals, fragile and at the same time precious. And if, like crystal, we are transparent before him, his light – the light of mercy – will shine in us and through us in the world. As the Letter of Peter said, this is a reason for being “filled with joy, though now for a little while you may have to suffer various trials” (1 Pt 1:6).

On this feast of Divine Mercy, the most beautiful message comes from Thomas, the disciple who arrived late; he was the only one missing. But the Lord waited for Thomas. Mercy does not abandon those who stay behind. Now, while we are looking forward to a slow and arduous recovery from the pandemic, there is a danger that we will forget those who are left behind. The risk is that we may then be struck by an even worse virus, that of selfish indifference. A virus spread by the thought that life is better if it is better for me, and that everything will be fine if it is fine for me. It begins there and ends up selecting one person over another, discarding the poor, and sacrificing those left behind on the altar of progress. The present pandemic, however, reminds us that there are no differences or borders between those who suffer. We are all frail, all equal, all precious. May we be profoundly shaken by what is happening all around us: the time has come to eliminate inequalities, to heal the injustice that is undermining the health of the entire human family! Let us learn from the early Christian community described in the Acts of the Apostles. It received mercy and lived with mercy: “All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need” (Acts 2:44-45). This is not some ideology: it is Christianity.

In that community, after the resurrection of Jesus, only one was left behind and the others waited for him. Today the opposite seems to be the case: a small part of the human family has moved ahead, while the majority has remained behind. Each of us could say: “These are complex problems, it is not my job to take care of the needy, others have to be concerned with it!”. Saint Faustina, after meeting Jesus, wrote: “In a soul that is suffering we should see Jesus on the cross, not a parasite and a burden… [Lord] you give us the chance to practise deeds of mercy, and we practise making judgements” (Diary, 6 September 1937). Yet she herself complained one day to Jesus that, in being merciful, one is thought to be naive. She said, “Lord, they often abuse my goodness”. And Jesus replied: “Never mind, don’t let it bother you, just be merciful to everyone always” (24 December 1937). To everyone: let us not think only of our interests, our vested interests. Let us welcome this time of trial as an opportunity to prepare for our collective future. Because without an all-embracing vision, there will be no future for anyone.

Today the simple and disarming love of Jesus revives the heart of his disciple. Like the apostle Thomas, let us accept mercy, the salvation of the world. And let us show mercy to those who are most vulnerable; for only in this way will we build a new world.

19th APRIL 2020 11:30PAPAL TEXTS

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blouisparadise · 7 years

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Here’s a collection of amazing friends to lovers fics that are all bottom Louis/top Harry. These fics are in order from shortest to longest. Enjoy!

1) Lagrangian Point | Explicit | 4055 words

They find each other again the night of Valentine's Day.

2) Just Like Live Wires | 5427 words

Harry climbs into Louis’ bed when he’s cold. Louis pines.

3) There’s Magic In This Life | 7326 words

Harry comes out to the band as bisexual on a Tuesday.

4) Read You Like A Book | Explicit | 8089 words

Louis realises Harry can read his mind. He'll do anything to make Harry admit it. Set during the North American leg of the WWA tour.

5) Makes Perfect | Explicit | 8610 words

"What if you practiced on like, a mannequin?" Louis presses. "Or one of those blow up sex dolls? Or even just like, I don't know, a pillow or something. Whatever it'd fit around."

Harry tilts his head thoughtfully, curls catching the light so entrancingly that Louis finds himself reaching up to push his fingers through them. "It's different, though, innit? When it's a real person. A pillow won't snog me."

"Why should it?" says Louis. "You can't even take its bra off."

6) To Be A Fool | 9156 words

Harry’s perception of Louis begins to change.

7) Come A Little Closer | 9867 words

Louis puts on lingerie. It’s not, like, a thing.

8) Gnossiene | Explicit | 11276 words

Note: This fic is locked and can only be read by AO3 users.

Louis sets a challenge for himself; it gets a bit out of hand.

9) Won’t See It Coming Til It’s Already Gone | 12631 words

“Tell me that this is a fake,” Peter says, slapping a handful of papers against Louis’ chest. He says something else, something loud and demanding, barely even pausing for a breath, but Louis doesn’t hear it. All he hears is the sound of his own breathing, the sound of his own heartbeat.

Because this - this looks like a marriage certificate.

For a minute, everything stills, quiets. Louis drags his eyes up, meets Harry’s gaze, fixed on him.

Then the noise is back, shouting voices clamoring to be heard over each other, and Harry is still staring at him.

The ring that Louis hadn’t been able to stop noticing in the loo weighs heavily on his hand. His left hand.

10) No Bleeding Hearts | 12651 words

“I’m going to come out,” Louis says abruptly. His grip on the controller is tight, knuckles whitening. He doesn’t look at Harry when he says it.

“What?” Harry says. Louis sucks in a breath through his teeth.

“When we re-negotiate our contracts. I’m going to come out.” Harry fumbles with the controller and manages to set it down on coffee table without cracking it in half.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Harry says. Louis is still pointedly not looking at him.

“I’m not having this argument with you again, Harry,” Louis tells him. He leans forward and deposits his own controller on the table beside Harry’s before standing up. “I’m gonna go to the hotel.”

11) Ain’t No Telling Who’s In Charge Here | 14562 words

The thing about Louis’ and Harry’s dynamic is that while Louis is the instigator of 99% of the foolishness, Harry will always come back at him with something ten times dirtier than whatever Louis had thought up. Of course, Louis can’t let that go, so he does something else, so Harry has to do something else, and then it’s a vicious cycle that continues until one of them makes a plea for a truce.

It’s like that even when they’re at home. Sometimes it’s like that especially while they’re at home, because Louis gets bored easily and Harry is just such an easy target. The point is that the kind of foolishness that Louis is known for doesn’t stop when the cameras stop rolling, so when Louis lets himself into Harry’s bedroom at 5:30 in the morning to annoy Harry into waking up before he goes for a run is completely normal and to be expected.

Except that it turns out not to be so normal.

12) With Love Comes Strange Currencies | Explicit | 16508 words

They're accidentally mated and dealing with it rather badly.

13) Carried Away Like Butterflies | 17234 words

It was probably a huge mistake for Louis to let his former One Night Stand move into his spare room, especially when said One Night Stand doesn’t seem to remember him.

14) Monsters At Home | Explicit | 21566 words

High School!AU. Everyone's eyes are on Harry, the beautiful, charming new student. Harry's only got eyes for the school golden boy: football captain Louis Tomlinson, whose homophobic father complicates matters a bit.

15) Fumbling in the Dark | Explicit | 21599 words

Louis is straight, Harry is not. They still shag a lot.

16) Indestructible | 24243 words

“Hi,” Harry murmurs, and Louis hiccups out a sob.

“Hi,” he manages, still clutching onto Harry’s shoulders. Harry’s fingers drift across Louis’ cheeks, and there’s something off about Harry’s expression, but Louis can’t figure out what it is.

“I’m okay,” Harry says, and Louis is going to say something to that, even if he doesn’t know what, except Harry’s kissing him.

Louis freezes.

17) The Same Ground | Explicit | 27286 words

What if the one that got away came back?

18) Always Come Back To You | 28682 words

“I’ll do it,” Harry offers brightly. No one even blinks. “I’ll do it?”

Louis sighs irritably. “Shut up,” he orders, tossing a pillow in the general direction of Harry’s face. This is a terrible time for jokes, especially Harry’s lame, old people ones.

Not that it was an old people joke. Just that most of the time Harry’s jokes consist of knock-knocks or terrible puns. The type of jokes old people like, Louis’ pretty sure. His nan always finds them hilarious when Harry tells her one.

Harry bats the pillow out of the air without even blinking. “Be reasonable, Lou,” he says in his most reasonable voice.

Louis is perfectly reasonable, thank you very much, and he’s also frustrated and upset and tired and he really wants to punch something. Maybe he should have held on to that pillow a little longer.

“You’re not gonna fucking do it,” he snaps. “That’s the last thing I need.”

19) (Your Heartbeat) Rang True Inside My Bones | 32945 words

Harry goes as Louis’ date for a weekend wedding. He ends up taking the role a bit too seriously.

20) The New Romantics | 36100 words

After being blindsided and dumped by his boyfriend Isaac, Louis does the only thing he can do: wallow and mope. But when Harry tells Louis that karma’s going to get Isaac eventually, Louis decides karma isn’t moving fast enough. He takes matters into his own hands, and if he has to drag Harry into his schemes and seduction plans, then so be it.

21) Runner On Third | 39639 words

The AU where Louis and Harry were best friends growing up, but lost touch after Harry moved away. Ten years later, Harry has moved back to town, but he and Louis don’t pick up where they left off.

22) Roots | 43233 words

There aren’t many things that make Harry Styles nervous. He’s spent the past couple of years on and off various stages, filled with screaming fans, all chanting his name, loud and adoring. He’s done countless interviews, some even on live, national television, never faltering over his words, answers meticulously planned out, smooth and steady. He’s signed countless autographs, taken just as many photos, and even when he sat in his label’s studio, waiting to see how high up on the charts his single made it, he didn’t feel uneasy or uncomfortable. It’s all been unbelievably fun. No, there aren’t many things that make Harry Styles nervous.

Enter Louis Tomlinson.

23) Tangled Up In You | 45152 words

“What did you get me, then?!” Niall must hear the tinge of hysteria in his voice, because he’s pulling himself together, trying to stop himself from laughing.

There’s still a big grin on his face, though, when he says, “I got you a professional cuddler.”

A professional…what. “What?”

24) A Promise Lives Within You Now | 45925 words

A Lord of the Rings-inspired Middle Earth AU. Louis is an Elven prince, next in line to become King of Mirkwood, and Harry is the orphaned Human boy who grows up alongside him. They fall in love, but Louis’s obligations to the throne, Harry’s mortality, and impending war threaten to tear them apart.

25) Something In The World Today | Explicit | 48027 words

It shouldn’t be a surprise, the first time that Louis drops to his knees in front of Harry. It shouldn’t be, because it’s been something that Louis has needed for a long time. It shouldn’t be, because he’s been crawling out of his skin for weeks on end. It shouldn’t be, because Harry always makes him feel better. It shouldn’t be, because he’s needed this even when he didn’t know that he needed it.

Somehow, it still is.

26) I Carry Your Heart With Me (I Carry It In My Heart) | 55844 words

Harry thinks he has good reasons for avoiding relationships. Meeting Louis puts those reasons to the test.

27) Amazing Sin | Explicit | 56034 words

The story of Louis ‘Steal Your Man’ Tomlinson.

28) Somethin’ Bout You | Explicit | 59855 words

Of all the government agents in the world, Louis had to go and land the most charming one.

29) Tug-Of-War | 63000 words

Louis’ husband dies suddenly and he is left with nothing. Well, not really nothing. He has Harry. And a St. Bernard puppy named Link, whom his late husband left behind for him. Louis takes care of Link and Harry takes care of Louis. Everything is okay until suddenly, it isn’t.

30) Waiting On You | 76575 words

“Vampires,” Louis says with disgust, glaring over at the vampire who is noisily slurping from the woman’s neck nearby.

Zayn gives the neat fang marks on Louis’ neck a meaningful look.

“Can’t live with them, can’t live without them,” Louis finishes, ignoring Zayn when he rolls his eyes.

Louis takes a long sip of his milkshake, presses his fingers against the marks on his neck, and definitely doesn’t think about the vampire who left them there.

31) Pinkies Never Lie | 83616 words

AU in which Louis hates his job and loves Harry, Harry just wants a distraction, everyone else wants them to get their shit together, and Louis learns the hard way that new beginnings are only possible when something ends.

32) Your Name is Tattooed on My Heart | Explicit | 86809 words

Note: This fic has mentions of top Louis.

Louis is ready to find the love of his life, but first he has to stop falling for the punk rocker next door.

33) Here In The Afterglow | 88649 words

1970’s AU. In a tiny town in Idaho, Louis’ life is changed forever by the arrival of a curious stranger.

34) Never Be | 117552 words

The one where Harry Styles moves to Connecticut from England for nine months as a part of a study abroad program, and he just so happens to move in with Louis Tomlinson and family.

Check out our other fic rec lists by category here and by title here.

#fic recs #blp fic recs #blp #friends to lovers #larry

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