112623

 

Triple Mass day!

EUCHARISTIC MINI-PROCESSION!!
Oh man the new little chapel-room is SO SWEET. It's small and simple and very plain, intimate and powerful in its resulting absolute focus on the Host.
People kept coming in & out for the dedication day, even just spending a minute in prayer, but it was so moving to see the flow of people, all these visitors to the Servant King.

The Carlos Acutis Eucharistic Miracle exhibition CHANGED MY LIFE MAN. I kid you not i had NEVER EVEN HEARD OF 98% OF THESE AND THEY'RE ALL EARTHSHAKING.
There were also literally like 100 different posterboards, haha. Ten lanes! I got through three before I realized it was 1pm, so I immediately brought up Carlos's actual original website on my phone to read at solemn leisure.
But OH MAN THE DNA TESTING???? THE INCORRUPT HOSTS OVER DECADES?? THE FACT THAT IT'S NOT JUST LITERAL CARDIAC TISSUE BUT IT HAS ACTUAL WHITE BLOOD CELLS THAT DIE UNLESS THEY'RE IN A LIVING BODY?????? THE ONE HOST THAT WAS CONFIRMED BLEEDING FROM THE INSIDE????
THE REAL PRESENCE IS SCIENTIFICALLY VERIFIABLE AND THAT LITERALLY CHANGES ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.

3PM BK. WORTH IT.
Managed to get it down in only 140m, which is a record setter. Thank God too because we were REALLY RUSHED FOR TIME

Evening =
Brain so overwhelmed it somehow ended up "zoning out" against the kitchen sink looking up online articles about Inside Out 2??
Our brain is surprisingly fixated on this sequel. I think because it's so Systemesque. Also we are inexplicably super fond of Anxiety already? I pondered this and it's her EXPRESSION-- she is "capable of painful depth" and that is SO IMPORTANT TO US; we cannot have ANY Outspacers OR Nousfoni anchor in if they aren't capable of suffering heartbreak. That's the bottom line. And I'm not saying Anxiety is either thusly capable in canon OR that she's even Outspacer eligible-- it's at least 6 months too early to tell either way. But we still feel undeniably & instantly drawn to her, because her face is so different from Sadness and Fear. She's worried, to the potential point of a foxhunt. Fear gets scared, absolutely, but he's more active about it-- he's notably practical. His GOAL is RESOLVING the issue. He manages a basic survival response that resolves quickly in-canon, and although that data is logged for future safety, he doesn't fret over it. He doesn't agonize over "what if we hadn't survived"? Anxiety does by definition. Sorrow gets morose and reflective even, but her emotion is too "pure" and clear? Sadness is vital, she's a sweetheart, but just sadness doesn't cut it for us, resonance-wise. We're admittedly too morbid. We're absolutely feminine in this regard. We NEED the "soul drama" that the "subtler" emotions herald, because they come from deep places and they are VERY internally focused. Anxiety can be debilitating, we know this firsthand. That emotion can be legit hell. But in and of itself, it is a mutation of care. Stripped down, anxiety is an expression of extreme vulnerability, a sign that something important to us is at risk and we are helpless. Anxiety can thus be a powerful door to faith & trust, to honesty & empathy, even to opening one's heart and taking down one's walls... but only if we recognize her as she truly is-- a protective, caring emotion at heart-- and talk to her as a friend.
Oh boy. This is getting very headspacey. That's a good thing. But it's also putting down orange Linkstrings WAY TOO EARLY KIDDO

------‐--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basilica homily rough notes =

"The idol-worship of Race, Class, & Nation is a destructive force in the world, and can only be conquered by acknowledging the Kingship of Jesus over all things, His Authority as Victor over sin & death, and the dependence of all Creation on God-- and by loving God above all things."
1) Oh wow, that IS idolatry! It's putting ethnic, genetic, social, & personal identity in a position of authoritative rule over our behaviors, opinions, and beliefs!!! "I'm POC, so my opinion is..." "I'm American, so I believe..." "I'm a doctor/ teacher/ artist/ musician/ etc., so I must act like..." you get the picture. All those things should be SUBSERVIENT TO CHRIST. We should ALL say, "I am a Christian, so my beliefs, words, actions, opinions, goals, choices, etc. are ALL defined SOLELY BY CHRIST and are ALL oriented TOWARDS HIM."
2) Christ isn't just King over humanity. He's the King of the UNIVERSE!! He rules over every created thing-- over animals, plants, planets, soundwaves, electromagnetic radiation, laws of physics, etc. It's ALL subject to Him. And yes, that includes your sexuality, skin color, ancestry, and actual brainmatter, to say the very least.
3) By acknowledging actively that Jesus HAS won over death & sin-- definitively, perfectly, & eternally-- we affirm the ultimate inevitable failure of all evil, its etiolated impotence before the Son, Who-- as God AND Conqueror-- has TOTAL AUTHORITY OVER THEM ALL. This faithful awareness empowers us to resist temptation, and to battle against the devil's lies, because we draw our strength from Christ's Kingly Victory, a Victory that negates Satan's propaganda and so strips sin of its deceitful allure.
3.5) A brief reminder of Hebrews 2:8, and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. We still exist in linear time. We may not "see" this eternal victory in our temporal circumstances. But we have faith in it as FACT, and that gives us HOPE, to wait in patient trust for its fulfillment in time, knowing that the war has already been won and the final triumph cannot be reversed or stopped or even postponed. If we feel we are "still waiting," take heart; this time, too, is part of the plan.
4) Christ is King AND Creator. Literally EVERYTHING EXISTS BY AND FOR HIM. If God stopped thinking about you for a nanosecond you would cease to exist entirely. That's putting it simply. Everything that exists also "depends on God" for PURPOSE, for FUNCTION, for LIFE ITSELF. We cannot create DNA, or put breath into a body, or spark consciousness. We cannot write, edit, or erase natural laws (although many now do try). We cannot even fathom WHY things are how they are, especially in constant connection with all other things. All of that is God's jurisdiction alone. It's a simple fact, but it contains infinite detail.
5) We cannot acknowledge Christ as King, Conqueror, Authority, Creator, or anything else-- even AS Christ, even AS Lord and God-- if we do not love Him. And that love must be WORTHY of those titles. If we don't love God, in Christ, above all other things in the cosmos, including our own existence, then we don't love Him AS God, and we will end up worshipping created idols instead.


"Jesus is not only the center of the Church year, or the Church Herself, but He is the goal & center of all our lives here on earth, and He will be the center of our lives in heaven."
This is actually a potently succinct response to "why can't everyone just go to heaven?" Because heaven isn't about you. Heaven is about GOD. Strikingly, heaven is very immediately and directly about JESUS, Who is God Incarnate, able to interact with us in a body like ours-- God with a Face we can see, God with Hands we can hold, God with a Heart that loves us with a Love unique in all the cosmos-- God able to understand EXPERIENTIALLY our wounds and sorrows and struggles.
But I'm off topic. God became Incarnate so He could save us by His Death AND His Life. He is the "center of our lives" NOT as an interest or hobby or fandom or career. He is the "goal of our lives" NOT as an achievement to unlock or a status to earn or an aspiration to realize. Jesus is NOT AN INTANGIBLE CONCEPT. HE IS NOT AN IDEA OR A TITLE OR A DREAM. JESUS IS A LIVING PERSON.
Think about how that changes everything. The goal of your existence is a Person. The center of your life, the focal point of everything you do and say and think and feel, is a Person. And not just any Person-- this Person created you, paid your moral debt by dying in your stead, gives His own Body as Food for you to give you His Undying Life, and to unite you to Himself in purest love... the list goes on forever really. He is, honestly, infinitely deserving of being lived for, because everything He does is done with Divinely Perfect Love and because HE IS GOD. That's truly the bottom line.
Still, it's so easy to claim "my life is all about God" or "Jesus is my everything" and yet... we still aren't seeing Him as our absolute center, as our all-encompassing goal. Jesus, in His Person, NEEDS to be a higher priority than breathing. That doesn't mean "doing everything for Jesus," it means doing everything IN JESUS. It means uniting yourself to Him as part of His Mystical Body, as part of the Church, as your Bridegroom, as Your God.
I'm really rambling now. I need to pause here. It's too profound. I'm not the one to be speaking about this, i have no authority.
...

"In the end, God will judge us according to our reaction to human need... not on some vague sentimental feeling, but on what we actually did or did not do. It's twofold, and they go hand in hand... Our judgment will be based solely on charity. Charity is the norm by which all of our lives will be measured."
That one word changes everything: our reaction. That's all the depths behind "what we actually did". Before we decidedly act in response, we immediately react. And that says a LOT about the state of our heart.
When you encounter human need, what's your genuine reaction? Don't justify or explain it away. It doesn't matter in this context how you ultimately do choose to respond. Right now, you need to be clearly, bluntly honest about your instinct. You NEED to know what you're working with, or fighting against. HAS Christ gotten down that far into your psyche yet? Are you keeping Him out? You need to know this.
...