tumblr faithposting: june 2021
Jun. 30th, 2021 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
prismaticbleed
"Because many Christians are more eager to acquire much learning than to live in God’s purpose for their life they often go astray, and bear little or no fruit."
-Albert Finch
Faith without works is dead– so is knowledge without application. You could memorize the Bible, the Catechism, even the Summa Theologica– none of it will do you any good by itself. Oh yes, that knowledge is important, but all that knowledge is just inert data, unless it penetrates your heart, and is reflected in the way you live and think and speak.
Furthermore, a thirst for knowledge, for the sake of learning alone, is pride. It will suffocate your soul. But if you are eager to follow Christ, even moreover than to just read about Him, then all the learning you may then do will be fueled by love and the desire to better serve Him Whom you love. Basically, are you reading the Bible because you want to impress others with memorized verses, or because you yearn to know your God and Savior better?
Are you learning about the faith because you are ‘just curious,’ because you fear educational inferiority, or because you think it will sanctify you? Examine your heart. It is only when you become unafraid of the blessed “book ignorance” of the Apostles that you will be graced with the true knowledge of God that their love and following of Him taught!
"Isn’t it incredible how man, blinded by his self-efforts, can turn something so beautiful, like spending quality time with Jesus, into a work?"
-Albert Finch
This is so sadly true. If you’re trying to get something out of your relationship with God, other than God, then it’s not a relationship to you– it’s a project, a game, a job. Remember, Christ chose you. Your entire salvation is His doing. Humbly rest and rejoice in that, and in loving gratitude, just be with Him. If you have Jesus, you have everything you need. He’ll take care of the rest.
It would have been my brother’s birthday today, and my mom having a really difficult time with grief tonight, please pray for peace for her
Praying for all of you. 🙏
A small but real comfort: his soul is alive and he still loves you, too. Remember and rejoice that you have memories with him, even while you grieve– for grief is born from love inexpressible– and hold to your hearts thr blessed hope that you shall meet again in the end. God loves you all, and holds your lives and afterlives safely in His hands.
Eternal rest grant unto her brother’s soul, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.
jurakan: The media be like, “The Catholic Church is so hypocritical for expecting Joe Biden to follow the beliefs he professes to believe in every Sunday!” Look, I don’t know how to put this more plainly: a man who will not keep his promises to God will not keep his oaths to us.
angeltreasure: He needs to change his ways and go to Confession. He says it’s a private matter but it’s not! Not when my country loves to ‘“police the world”’ so naturally this whole thing is going to blow up as other countries watch us and laugh. We need to pray for him.
We absolutely need to pray for him.
Furthermore, it’s never a private matter when scandal against the Body of Christ in His Church. Catholicism is a community of faith, a community of saints born from contrite sinners. If Biden fails to recognize that his actions and inactions are globally reflecting on the Church he has been baptized into, then he fails to recognize that Christ-relationship aspect of it– and that is fatal.
As members of Christ’s Body on earth, it is our holy responsibility to keep each other accountable to God. We are all on equal footing before Him. Politician or peasant, we are all subject to Divine Justice… and Divine Mercy. Pray for our president.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Treasure the lives of all those you know, even in passing. Love them, care for them, listen to them, help them. Tomorrow, they may be gone. What will you miss about them? Yes, you will miss them, even your most distant acquaintance– it is inevitable, for all human hearts are connected, and the loss of any and every one is felt. Think upon this. Do you appreciate the presence of their lives in theirs? Do you care for them? Do you love them? Because there is so much to love, in every one of them.
Kiss your children. Hug your parents. Visit your grandparents. Call a friend. Write to an old pal. Chat with the people at work. Strike up a conversation with a stranger. Love people. Life is so short, so precious. Treat every soul you know like a precious jewel, which you rejoice to look at, for every glance shows some new beauty before unnoticed. One day they will be gone, taken back to God, and all you will have on earth are your memories of them– hopefully, with them, too. Go, make some blessed memories, for yourself and others, today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------This is a story of kindness perpetuated, but it concludes with a tremulous hope. Consider this! Are you anyone’s repeat customer? Do you care about the workers at the places where you shop and eat? Do you know any of their names? Do you want to know their stories, their hopes and dreams? If you knew they were struggling to make ends meet, would you be a little extra kind, compassionate, generous? Do you thank them for their indispensable role in allowing you to have the conveniences you rely on? They are people, beloved people, and they continue to exist once they are off the time clock. They are your neighbors; they could be your friends. Do you love them as such?
Take time today, this week, to be lovingly brave and act on this, if you haven’t ever before. Say hello, smile, say thank you, maybe even make some small talk. Yes, it is an investment, yes it is a commitment to a relationship, however small. But you will bring a little more love, a little more hope, a little more joy into someone’s life, someone who may feel utterly ignored, unappreciated, and unimportant. Have compassion on your neighbor.
And remember– heaven is all about relationship. It is a community of saints, a collective unity of holy love and friendship. If you forsake human connections now, how do you expect to handle heaven? Christ commanded us to love each other, friend and foe alike. This story is a simple yet true illustration of what that looks like.
Every tiny act of kindness and compassion makes a difference. Every single one. You may never see the full effects of it– you may not see any effects at all– but God does. God is Love and He will unfailingly deliver and perpetuate all love. So give a little love, no matter how little; it’s still love, and like the widow’s penny, it carries a precious worth inestimable.
"Here now is the shortest and easiest way to salvation: Be obedient and sober, do not find fault, and keep mind and heart from evil thoughts. Think that all men are good and beloved of the Lord. For such humility the grace of the Holy Spirit will dwell in you, and cause you to exclaim, “How merciful is the Lord!""
-St. Silouan the Athonite
This is the very mindset of Heaven, in which the mercy and tenderness of God permeates all our thoughts and actions. It is so beautifully simple, for all it requires is Love!
"The Holy Spirit teaches us to love our enemies, so that the soul pities them as if they were her own children. There are people who desire the destruction, the torment in hell-fire of their enemies, or the enemies of the Church. They think like this because they have not learned divine love from the Holy Spirit, for he who has learned the love of God will shed tears for the whole world.
You say that So-and-so is an evil-doer and may he burn in hell fire. But I ask you — supposing God were to give you a fair place in paradise, and you saw burning in the fire the man on whom you had wished the tortures of hell, even then would you really not feel pity for him, whoever he might be, an enemy of the Church even? Or is it that you have a heart of steel? But there is no place for steel in paradise. Paradise has need of humility and the love of Christ, which pities all men. The grace of God is not in the man who does not love his enemies."
~St Silouan the Athonite
Love your “enemies” as if they were your own children. Be just so merciful, tender, and longsuffering with them, as a mother is towards a lost child! Are not all souls, in fact, God’s children, even if they refuse to recognize it? Their Creator is still Our God, Who loves them most sincerely with a Heart that aches for their safe return home. How could we, knowing this, not share in that same compassion for all?
There is no place for steel in Paradise. If your heart is not willing to melt for others, regardless of their offenses towards you, then you do not yet understand how God loves… you do not yet understand the power of the Cross.
"God is long-suffering and merciful to you: this you experience many times every day. Be long-suffering and merciful to your brethren, also fulfilling the words of the Apostle, who thus speaks of love before everything: “Love suffereth long, and is kind.” You desire that the Lord should rejoice you by His love, rejoice on your part the hearts of others by your tender love and kindness."
- St. John of Kronstadt
This is such beautiful way to phrase that golden rule– may your tender love and kindness cause the hearts of all you meet to rejoice, just as your heart rejoices in God’s merciful love towards you.
"Lead those I entrust to you in the ways of simple love, love dedicated to my divine tenderness. If people had more trust in me and treated me with respectful but profound affection, how much more would they feel helped and at the same time loved. I am in the innermost being of each one of them, but how little they care for me or for my presence, my desires, and my contributions. I am he who gives and who wishes to give always more, but it is necessary that I be desired and relied on."
-Fr. Gaston Courtois
To be helped, we must admit we need help, we must want to be helped, we must be grateful for the help, and we must love the one who helps us. All of this springs from humility, simplicity of heart, and purity of desire.
Think of how much Jesus helps you, always! Reflect on what He has done to save and deliver you in the past, what He does to correct and guide you on the present, and what hope and joy He continues to give you for the future. He never stops giving, because He loves you tenderly, and knows you need His help. Are we so proud that we resist this love? Are we grateful, like an affectionate child, or do we resent needing help? Take time to sincerely thank Jesus for His unfailing help today, to align our desires and priorities with His, and to reverently love Him in every moment– for He is there, within us always, our dearest friend and ever-present salvation in trouble.
"Imagine yourself seriously indisposed, and that I, who love you tenderly, call to see you. After saying a few words of sympathy and consolation, I should certainly look at you with compassion and, through love of you, make your sufferings my own. Thus when we meditate on the Passion of Christ, seeing Him in such affliction, we ought to compassionate Him, and then to remain looking upon Him in so great torments, and, through compassionate love, make His sufferings our own."
-St. Paul of the Cross
True compassion is to suffer with. This intimacy can only truly occur in silence. Yes, kind and gentle words are not without merit, but true consolation is of the heart, not the mouth. When we are able to simply be with Christ in His Most Sorrowful Passion, not seeking anything for ourselves through speech or actions– and especially not seeking a conclusion to the encounter– but desiring only to join Him in His pain, indefinitely even, for the sake of pure love… this is compassion, and this is how Christ loves us.
"When we receive the Eucharist, we become living tabernacles. God has entered our hearts!"
I think about this every Sunday and it just floors me. It’s enough to make you fall on your knees before the Host! …But then, what do you do afterwards? How do you conduct yourself when you walk out of the Church building? Do you forget Who is within you, literally, right then? Do not forget! Let Him shine through you! Do not put Him to shame. You have been graced with a taste of Heaven– now, with all grateful humble joy, bring that grace to others!
"The correct definition of a good Catholic is a Catholic who takes the salvation of his soul seriously."
- Ven. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
There’s nothing more serious! Yes, our salvation should be the primary focus of our every action, especially the mundane ones. We’re always serving either God or the devil. What end do your decisions aim towards? Are your choices oriented steadfastly towards salvation? If not, where can you make a holy change today?
"Be increasingly available; be confident. I have brought you along decidedly difficult roads but I have never abandoned you, and I am at your service in my own way for achieving the grand and beautiful design of love that we have fashioned from all eternity. I told you that you would suffer a lot—but that I would be near you, within you—and that, sustained by my grace, you would never suffer beyond your strength."
-Jesus, to Fr. Gaston Courtois
There is a deep truth here, a shockingly joyous truth– that, when we suffer for Christ, He is near us; He is within us! If we remember this, we will embrace all our sufferings as graces from God, for they are all blessed opportunities of love.
“The passions are uprooted and turned to flight by constant occupation of the mind with God. This is a sword that puts them to death. Whoever always thinks about God drives the demons away from himself.”
- Saint Isaac of Nineveh, Eighth Ascetical Homily
Your mind will wander. This is inevitable with our fallen nature. Do not lose heart! Continually return to God. This persevering devotion will bear good fruit by grace just as inevitably.
In these twisted & troubled times, such a steadfast devotion to and fear of God is more important than ever. Our loyalty is tested daily.
“In Advent… we relearn the lessons of the first covenant: that we cannot make God, however we long for him; that we must be surprised, ambushed and carried off by God.”— Rowan Williams, A Ray of Darkness
Oh goodness I love this. God is the One Who must make the first move, as it were; He loved us first, after all.
That’s the strange and sweet thought of Advent– oh we do long for Him now, yes, but even when we were totally lost in sin, absolutely imprisoned, we were dearly loved by Him, and He longed to free us… but, we were helpless, powerless, confused, and despairing. We had nothing but the bleariest hope that ‘there has to be something more.’ So our merciful God did, and does, this: He bursts into our dark lives, breaks the fetters, and carries us off like a bride. That’s grace! It hits you like a whirlwind of roses, beautiful and terrible and completely unexpected. The devil is confounded, we are astounded, and no one can stop it. If your heart is at all open to it, if you have only the tiniest crack to let the light in, believe me, God will pour grace in by the tankful. Yes, it is only when He comes and gives us that grace of love that we can return it– without Him, we are useless, impotent, empty– but what lover would ever leave their beloved so alone? God jumps at the chance to lavish love upon us. Give Him the tiniest glance and He will sing about it. Grace is divine generosity and we cannot fathom that magnitude of unconditional compassion… but when it hits, it’s an ambush for sure. We cannot make God do it; that would not be love! Anything freely given cannot be forced. So we must wait, and hope, and trust, and this is Advent’s very heart– listening for love at the door.
“[H]oliness is not the denial but the acceptance of being creatures.”— Rowan Williams, Creation, Creativity, Creatureliness: the Wisdom of Finite Existence
We cannot be holy if we are proud. The humility that accompanies this total submission to God’s sovereignty is the only door through which His grace can enter and change us, to make us holy. We cannot do that ourselves. We are only clay– He is the Potter.
When we accept and freely admit our status as feeble creatures, then we also admit that we have been Created, and therefore Our Creator can and will do whatever He wills with us… thanks be to Him, that very will is to make us holy.
“The Advent tension is a way of learning again that God is God: that between even our deepest and holiest longing and the reality of God is a gap which only grace can cross; otherwise we are alone again, incommunicado, our signals and symbols bounced back to us off the glassy walls of the universe.”-Rowan Williams, A Ray of Darkness
I feel this daily. Yes, I adore God, my heart yearns for Him, but He is God and I am a worm, a miserable sinner. That is an absolutely unbridgable gap– objectively so! No amount of tears or signs on my part can change that. “Come Lord Jesus” is all I can plead, a perpetual Advent cry from the snow of my soul. Where is the fire for the candles? It is in heaven. God has it. God must bring it to me, or I will die. This is Christmas, shockingly, gorgeously– God Himself has bridged the gap, has crossed the abyss, has descended from celestial heights just to kiss my tearful face. Christ is the Incarnate Tenderness of God, the ONLY connection between here and there, our sole and sweetest hope. God must come to us. There is no other way to meet Him. THAT is grace, and oh how He lavishes it on us poor wretches. Look to the Cross. Look to the cradle in the cave. Look at the Child, and feel His gentle warmth, that glow of compassion. When we forget Him by sin, Advent comes again. This is our life, our struggle, in this world… but the wreath is still shining. God still reaches down to light it for us. It’s all up to Him. And He is Good, and He is Trustworthy, and He is Love. Therein lies my Advent. Yes, I can never reach God– but when I cry, He hears me, and when I cannot find Him, He will seek me out. That is grace. So I shall wait for Him in the snow, and follow His star. It is all I can do… Grace will meet me there, at the gap I long to cross. Hope does not disappoint.
“...In spite of appearances, God and the world belong together. There is no place where the love of God can’t go. And that is unbearably hard to believe.”— Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, in “A Ray of Darkness” (via intrinsicallydisordered)
Paradoxically, it is only hard to believe if we forget that our God is a suffering God, a loving Father Who meets His children directly in their distress. In the most decrepit, war-torn, diseased, corrupted, ignorant, sin-wracked parts of the world and the human heart, God is there, poignantly there, because He needs to be there– He wants to be there. God’s Presence in those places is, quite literally, What allows them to persist. Suffering might also persist, but when God is acknowledged there nevertheless, it becomes a seed-ground for the most powerful mercy, charity, and justice to be proven.
God created this world. That is a fact, one that cannot be revoked, no matter how damage this world has been subjected to since. This world belongs to Him, as do we, and we are forever beloved to Him. We belong together. He is, inevitably, always with us. And that is the deepest comfort.
Saint Francis in Meditation, 1606, Caravaggio
There is so much intimacy in this. The simplicity and silence of the scene is touching, a glimpse into a private prayer, and the tiny details say so much. Everything is a quiet brown, warmed by candlelight, humble and guileless… I love that his Bible is propped open on a skull, and the beloved Crucifix is balanced between those worn pages, a little lopsided… and Saint Francis’s expression, brow furrowed with emotion, head resting on folded hands in deep thought. It’s such a natural pose but it’s not at all casual; I can feel the prayer in it, the absolute attentiveness of his soul.
God bless Caravaggio, this is gorgeous.
“But realize, every “you shall not” in the Bible is a promise of God’s protection. He is not preventing you from enjoying life; rather, He is saving you—keeping you from destroying yourself. Every command in His Word is an expression of divine love to you, His beloved child… . Adam and Eve didn’t understand this and the world is still paying for it. Don’t you make the same mistake.”— Charles Stanley
Honestly, if God said “you shall not eat fly agaric mushrooms” or “you shall not put your fingers in an electric outlet” would you still disobey “just in case He’s hiding something from you?” Pride is going to kill us. When are we going to just trust God? Don’t we understand the nature of correction? If someone is blindly walking off a cliff, wouldn’t you shove them out of the way to solid ground? God is protecting us from our feeble human ignorance and stupidity– and I say this with humility and affection, for I personally am very stupid and ignorant, and if God didn’t love me so much I’d have tripped headlong over the Grim Reaper’s toes years ago. God loves us. God knows we don’t know the right thing to do on our own– no child does! We can’t reason out morality because our ego gets in the way. We are lost and we need help and if we would just trust our loving Father and admit our frightened weakness He would sweep us up to safety in His arms in a heartbeat.
Honestly this simple sad truth always makes me tear up so bad. Every command of God is just a different translation of “I love you.” Why don’t we believe that? Why don’t we listen to Him? Why do we think we’re missing out and run away, when our Father is really just saving the most beautiful stuff for later, when we are grown up enough to truly appreciate it? There’s nothing outside but snakes and thorns. God’s enemies want to kill you. God wants you safe. He has warned us. But somehow, we get duped. A devil offers us a fruit and the taste makes us forget it’s poison. God rescues us, chides us, and we associate our guilty pain with His discipline instead and blame Him rather than the devil at fault. Why do we keep making that same mistake? Why do we harden our hearts and pretend nothing is wrong when we sin? Why do we reject the gentle yoke? Do we not understand love?
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
See, that doesn’t even count as “drag” anymore– unless you’re referring to the “old serpent,” pun gravely intended. That man is outright dressing up as a demon. No one is thinking that he is a woman– that’s obviously not his intent. He’s actively mangling femininity into a disturbing caricature, turning woman into goddess into devil. Satan is mocking Eve to this day, through people like this. Satan is turning femininity into a hideous parody and we ignorant sinners are praising it. But hey, pride is the devil’s trademark. It rots everything it touches. There is nothing beautiful or feminine in that crazed costume whatsoever. It’s an atrocity. I genuinely fear for the poor children who are being forcibly fed sugar-coated propaganda from a literal nightmare.
Seriously, pray for these people. This is spiritual warfare and they are glamour-blinded prisoners, doomed to die if they are not rescued. Their souls are very sick. Pray to The Woman who crushed the serpent– Our Lady, the Virgin Mary– to heal femininity in our world, to restore the truth and beauty God intended to every woman, and to heal the hearts of all men who do such scandalous things as this!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------insertcringename: A gay man, talking to a class of children: “Hi, I have a boyfriend. I like to hold hands with him, kiss and maybe one day we’d like to get married, just like your parents are. This is not something to be afraid of, and I hope you all grow up to be respectful people who doesn’t hate and attack people for being different.” Some of you: “oMg whY is tHiS PErsoN tAlKINg aBOut diRTy seX WiTh mY kiDS???!!??!!”
Gay people aren’t inherently more sexual than straight people, no. That isn’t the statement being made. The point is that the LGBTQ+ community has and does actively associate with deviant sexual behavior, sexual promiscuity, and mental illness. Just look at this website. This is not a criticism of individuals– this is a well-deserved condemnation of the evils of the LGBTQ+ movement.
I, personally, hold zero hatred for gay/trans folks, and actively denounce all violence and discrimination against them as people. The gay man in genuine love who just wants to spend his life with his partner is no threat to our children. The movement associated with his sexual preference is– notably in the surreptitious morally-relative adjustments they persistently attempt to make in the psyches of children.
As a Catholic, I staunchly believe in sexuality as being sacred, and only valid when chastely expressed within the sacrament of marriage, between a biological man and woman, for the sake of childbearing via conjugal love. Marriage and family are deeply important to my faith and I will defend them to the utmost.
This is where the hidden danger comes in. A gay man in love does not intend to undermine the sacred teaching of the church on this subject, but his innocent misunderstanding of what marriage is will nevertheless achieve the same end. This also goes for LGBTQ+ views on sex in general: in practice, in purpose, and in one’s biological relation to it. The more our societal views on sex are subtly twisted to a hypercasual, entertainment-based, self-serving model as opposed to one anchored in formal reverence and self-sacrifice for the sake of a family, the more our society as a whole will morally deteriorate until we are left confused and hollow at the expense of compromising our integrity.
Difference isn’t the issue. The matter in which the LGBTQ+ mindset differs is. And while I will always respect human persons, regardless of sexual orientation, I will not and cannot respect the beast of “pride” that attempts to use such folks as puppets for its own self-gratification. That’s what is corrupting our children through the media. But unless people stand up against it in these sneaking atrocities, it will swallow up the identities of SSA individuals everywhere in its glut of rainbow-stained hedonism.
That’s why they think you’re talking about “dirty sex” whenever you mention homosexuality. They recognize the ravenous wolf when they see even a friendly pup, so to speak. They don’t know that there is a difference between the two– between the movement and the man. Those who fear it, will fear you. Those who hate it, will hate you. That is wrong, yes, but they don’t understand. Not yet. Until people in general are able to differentiate between the fact of someone helplessly experiencing same-sex attraction and the optional but fatal choice to identify with the now-toxic subculture based on making that inclination into a proudly sexual obsession, they will assume that they are the same.
That thing is the enemy. Not you.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(in response to a website selling jewelry referring to Catholic female saints as "goddesses":)
“Religion isn’t just a cute necklace you vibe with.” Amen. Religion is a matter of life and death, of morals and priorities and values, of how you treat humankind and creation and time and responsibility. Religion must inundate everything in your existence, and if it doesn’t, you’re treating it like a toy instead of the solemn way of life that it is. And this, this ridiculous marketing of religion for fashion and kitschy “inspiration” is outrageously crass.
The general neopagan idea seems, to me, to be that “women are goddesses” in general; there is a frustrating and shocking inability to see women as both subservient and yet heroic. The very idea that a women could be successful, strong, inspiring, etc. and yet still be submissive, meek, and feminine, is alien to them. Hence the disturbing pseudo-worship we are now frequently seeing for such figures as RGB and Kamala Harris, and the childish abuse of such words as “fierce,” “fearless,” “independent,” “wild & free,” etc. as if female virtue was based on the traits of an attack animal. There’s also the pervasive worship of intelligence, seen in the growing hypertrust in science and disdain for simplicity, as well as the hidden fear of having to ask someone else for help. Can’t do that and be a “goddess,” now can you?
To this company, and many people in our modern society, “a strong woman cannot be submissive to a masculine God” and therefore, she is now hailed as the god(dess) instead– but in a solitary role of power, rejecting all masculine divinity as “unnecessary” or even a hindrance. This modern goddess worship is a frightening, antichrist, misandric erasure of God Himself. “Who is your inner goddess” is a garbage phrase that seeks to foment this satanic ego-worship. It’s blatant self-idolatry, not just heresy. “Non serviam,” in essence. Yet ironically, like Satan himself, they are still ignorantly imitating the very God they rebelled against– the women are trying to claim masculinity as their own, and the devil is trying to recreate everything in his own image. In trying to usurp God, they only prove His necessity to existence, and His sovereignty over it. They want His job, but humans are worse than devils in that they refuse to admit He has it– let alone that He even exists.
Worst of all, this labeling of not only female saints but The Blessed Virgin herself as “goddesses” specifically attacks the Christian God by denying the fact that His Power is made manifest in their love and humble obedience to Him. Again, rejecting the virtue of submissiveness to God. But this flat-out undermines the Incarnation, by not only refusing to grant any power to God as Father, but by also so idolizing the female that she is seen as not needing a Savior– especially not a male one. Heck, I’d say that Jesus’s profound humility and submissiveness are also seen as ironic threats to this goddess mindset, because deep down they cannot deny that there true power lies, and real Truth, and it starkly reveals the hollow pride of their stolen thrones. Mary is Queen of Heaven because of her Son and because she was unflinchingly submissive and faithful to God despite all agony and hardship. She had no power, influence, or accolades on earth! That’s not what her Queenship is about! She is forever Our Mother, Our Mediatrix, who incessantly prays for us and helps us in our needs. She seeks no glory; she seeks no reward other than God Himself. THAT is true feminine power– “Behold, I am the handmaid of the LORD; may it be done to me according to thy word.” We don’t worship Mary, and she would reject the very attempt. Seeing her idolized here is so ignorant and offensive, it’s actually disgusting.
This genuinely angers me so much, but that means I need to pray hardcore for these folks and plead Luke 23:34. We need to admonish, instruct, and forgive these terribly lost and confused souls. God can convert even them, as He converted even us.
“Be satisfied with the living conditions you now have. And do not be prompt to show your learning or skill. Hold back your remarks, No, it isn’t so-and-so, but so-and-so. Contradict nobody and do not get into arguments; let the other person always be right. Never set your own will above that of your neighbour. This teaches you the difficult art of submission, and along with it, humility. Humility is indispensable.”— Way of the Ascetics
This is terrifically counter-cultural. To not demand any privilege, to forsake luxury, to reject entitlement, to avoid publicity and recognition and acclaim… it’s the exact opposite of what we see in the media, in politics, and sadly even in our own homes. To place the good of others always above your own requires much grace; this virtue is not of man, unachievable by human effort alone. Man can mimic virtue, true, but pride will render those same actions worthless and repugnant before God. Pride can keep its mouth shut if it means people will praise it as a result, but it is still seeking to “win,” to be greater than others. Pride sees others not as people, but as opponents, as rivals, as servants, as adorers, even as fools. Pride cannot honor others. Pride cannot serve others. Pride cannot forgive others, or show mercy, or sacrifice. Only humility is capable of that, for humility is the crown of Christ, Who Is Love.
Yes, a simple holy gratitude fosters humility, when we remember that all we have is God’s gift, and we deserve nothing in and of ourselves. This applies to possessions as well as talents. But holding one’s tongue in check, refraining from commentary, remarks, arguments, willfulness, and attention, requires a deeper sense of one’s littleness and unworthiness before God– a sense that, without the grace of charity, will be manipulated by the devil into further twisted pride through self-loathing. No, only love can inspire virtuous behavior. Love for God is what moves us to obey Him– to submit to Him with quiet, trusting joy, knowing He does Good for us at all times. And this same love of God, overflowing to our fellow man, will make our tongue naturally gentle and kind, with no effort but transformative grace. The meek heart sees all men as fellow children of God, as beloved siblings by the Father’s Love, and such a soul cannot help but love them in return– a true and tender love, seeking always to do them good, always to show them gentle mercy.
Have faith in God’s Fidelity & Goodness; He will work this change in you for His glory and honor, if you would only ask Him with sincerity.
Blessed are the meek!
Anonymous asked,
"You know that Ada Limón poem where she’s like “i can’t help it i love the way men love”? my dad recently confessed to me that he became a shoemaker because they buried my grandma shoeless"
---"When the plane went down in San Francisco,
I thought of my friend M. He’s obsessed with plane crashes.
He memorizes the wrecked metal details,
the clear cool skies cut by black scars of smoke.
Once, while driving, he told me about all the crashes:
The one in blue Kentucky, in yellow Iowa.
It was almost a year before I learned
his brother was a pilot.
I can’t help it,
I love the way men love."
- Ada Limón, “Accident Report In The Tall, Tall Weeds”
Oh, how even death cannot stop love– and all the depths of grief serve to strengthen its roots to bloom. To turn loss into light, to transform sight through suffering, so that every glimpse of the grave becomes instead a fiercely tender testament to the indomitability of compassion…!
The love of a man is a love that cannot break, that never quits, that persists even secretly into eternity. There is a strength in his heart that carries thousands in fond fidelity. When a man loves, he loves with all his powers, and by his silent yet solid service to it, he will reflect the ardor of God to the aching world.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The powerful simplicity of this image really emphasizes the significance of that Most Blessed Sacrament. We recieve the very Bread of Angels-- We recieve Christ Himself, from His Own Hands! It's enough to, fittingly, bring one to their knees in awe.
What deep reverence this inspires. May we all treasure and contemplate this sacred mystery with ever deeper love and humble gratitude.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What stunningly intricate fabric work!! All the painstaking detail really hits home the glory and beauty of the Blessed Sacrament; the sheer careful effort carries a gravity that emphasizes the sanctity of its object. I especially love the thread-incense from the thuribles, and the subtle seraphim spaced like radiant light around the Host.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can you imagine what cathedrals would have been like if the medievals had access to neon lighting?
Some Vietnamese churches give a glimpse of what it might’ve been like:
I am wholeheartedly here for this aesthetic, oh my goodness! Talk about a Light in the darkness, for sure!
Honestly though, why don’t we incorporate more modern artistic technology into our religious spaces? Human culture is so creatively beautiful, a reflection of the infinite imagination of God, and Christ, in becoming man, embraced and blessed that creativity too. So why not bring that part of us to the altar as well?
This is honestly why I love, so much, seeing individuals creating devotional works of art– their faith and love is overflowing into a natural and unique expression of holy adoration, something that cannot be mass-produced or automated, something truly beautiful. It’s like the legends of Christmas, with the little drummer boy being the most well-known. We offer our individuality, not to destroy it, but to sanctify it– to use it to serve God instead of ourselves.
Let’s put neon in our churches– if we are moved to do so as honest worship, not just for style. That’s the key here. It’s totally fine to give God all the glitter you’ve got as long as you’re doing it for His glory, not yours. If it doesn’t move the soul into deeper love of the Lord, then even all the neon in the world won’t mean a thing. Beauty is of God, so let’s direct it all back to Him!
"Humility facilitates a person’s encounter with God and sheds fresh clarity on all life’s daily problems. I truly become the center of your life at such a moment. You act, you write, you speak, and you pray for me. It is no longer you who live, it is I who live within you. I become your all, and you find me in all those with whom you come in contact. Your welcome is then more compassionate; your word is more the bearer of my thought; your writings are much more the faithful expression of my mind. Yet for this to happen, how much you must detach yourself from your ego!"
-Jesus, to Fr. Gaston Courtois
Humility is, the more I see it, a way of living in devoted love– you become so saturated with adoration of God that you don’t even think of your self-will anymore; everything you do, think, feel, and say is soaked through with the color of Christ. “He becomes your All,” but joyfully so, not begrudgingly or ruefully. Does the soul in love ever complain about doting on their beloved? Never. It is because that love insists on expressing itself perpetually; no one forces or coerces it. Love just loves, and when you are in love, you want it to take over your life, pushing your selfish impulses gently aside, and making all your choices focused on that tenderness and happy service instead. Even when it hurts– especially when it hurts, for love proves itself most powerfully in trial!
This is how we must love Christ. This is how we are to become humble. You cannot “make yourself” humble. God’s grace will accomplish that feat, in crucifying your ego and uniting you with Jesus’s own self-sacrificial death unto true life. Only then, truly, can you live for Him, in Him, through Him, with Him, because your heart’s gaze will be fixed on Him alone. Like the poet and the lover, you will see Christ in all, and sing of Him in all, and serve Him in all.
"My degree of radiance in a soul depends on how intimately I am present. But I am always there insofar as I find in the heart of a person my meekness and my humility. In the measure with which you renounce all superiority, you enable me to grow within you. This, as you know, is the secret of all true spiritual fruitfulness in the domain of the unseen. Ask me to be as humble as I want you to be, without pretense but with utter simplicity."
- Jesus, to Fr. Gaston Courtois
You cannot have an intimate, loving relationship with someone whom you deem as lesser than yourself. You may protest that you do not treat Christ as such, but do you truly? How often do you put your own desires ahead of His? How often do you forsake time with Him in order to do your own thing? How often do you disdain or treat lightly His Commandments and teachings? This is no way to treat your Beloved! The subtle slights and distractions are the worst, for they rot all sincerity out of your interactions. The only cure for such encroaching doom is, indeed, humility. Only within that queen of virtues can true ardor, fidelity, and tenderness flourish. When you humbly treat another as deserving of greater merit and attention than yourself, you are not doing so out of shame or idolatry, for true humility requires charity. Humility simply loves so fiercely and gently that the soul graced with it joyfully lavishes their attention, time, and service to the beloved, seeking their highest good and yearning to love them more fully. Superiority cannot feel such a motivation, for it demands that others treat them as such! Not so the humble heart, which thrives on self-giving and communion, and asks nothing but the grace to serve more, giving no thought to any other ‘reward’ but charity itself. That is simplicity of heart, and in that purity, we can see God.
This is how Christ lives. This is how Christ loves. Humility is His royal crown. Meekness is His robe of honor. When your heart meets Him there, in that lowly yet sweet place– a secret, quiet place– it is able to embrace Him as Beloved, without self-interest or hesitation. The more you know Him, the more you can imitate Him; then you can love Him all the more, and serve Him, and bear fruit for Him. But it all starts with the grace of humility– to put your self aside, especially in simple things, for the sake of simple love. Thus you grow closer to Him constantly, and so tenderly, as that humble love begins to inundate all the tiny aspects of your life.
Christ is the Bridegroom of your soul. Do you live that way? Do you invite Him into your daily life? Do you have that humility and guileless openness to Him yet? Do you have the meekness to turn to Him in all things, and seek to do His will with all gentle submission? Do you do all of this with fidelity in love? That is what will illuminate your life with His Light– the closer you let Him hold you, the longer you embrace Him, the brighter His radiance will shine in you.
This is all so ironically difficult to put into words. Truly the simplicity of it is proven in that. When you love Christ, the tender sweetness of it– of Him– makes humility blossom. Live in Him, live with Him, live for Him, love Him!
If you’re seeing this, please take a moment to pray for yourself and your own mental health. May God comfort you in your misery, may He steady you in your anxieties, and may He strengthen you.
You are allowed to pray for yourself, remember. If you struggle with that, I do recommend praying some of the Psalms to get your heart into the first-person mode of prayer, as well as to tune more fully into the wholeness of your emotions– sadness, frustration, confusion, joy, wonder, love. Your heart will then naturally sing out on its own, now that it has heard what the music is like.
In your most dire needs, pray for faith, pray for mercy, pray for grace. Even if all you can muster is the name of Jesus, that is His name you are calling, and like any beloved one, He will come running to meet you.
God hears you, even if He doesn’t respond in a way you can hear. Trust in Him. Sometimes the most sincere and loving response cannot be heard– an embrace, a hidden kind act, a look of deepest compassion. He will steady and strengthen you, even if He does not remove the suffering. He carries that cross with You and for You. Lean on Him, and He will be an unfailing comfort even in the face of your greatest trials. Pray for this! He will give it. He loves you.
"Let them take courage who are humbled by their passions. For even if they fall into every pit and are caught in every snare, when they attain health they will become healers, luminaries, beacons and guides to all, teaching about the forms of every sickness and through their own experience saving those who are about to fall."
- St. John Climacus
As someone who carries a heavy cross of mental & physical illness, this gives me such profound comfort it moves me to sobs. It really is an awful struggle, a humiliating war, but I know that God sees me and loves me and will never abandon me. Like Joseph in the empty well, like David in the lion’s den, like Job in his devastation– these trials are given to me from the Hand of God as part of His holy and salvific plan for not just me, but all of His people. If I hold strong to faith in Him, if I persevere in prayer and draw ever closer to Christ despite all obstacles, I trust that He will give me health through Christ, and the trials I have endured will now become teachings OF God’s utter Faithfulness and purposes in the most excruciating circumstances. This is the sight given to the blind, the light to those in darkness, for I too am currently blind and shadowed and frightened and in pain. But I have a fierce fire of hope in my soul, the burning love of God the Holy Spirit, Who cannot disappoint and Who will guide me through this dark vale of tears into the greenest pastures I could ever dream of. And once He has led me there, once He has navigated me safely through the pitfalls, then I will become His servant to show others the way through, too. That is my uncrushable hope. And so I will carry this cross up this hill until, with my Jesus, I finally die to death and rise in new blessed life– through Him, with Him, for Him.
Take courage, dear heart! The tomb is empty!
tomicscomics: HOW you say matters more than WHAT you say. …Right?
Terribly relevant to the world we live in, and the curse of moral relativism, is the disturbing fact that language matters, and abuse of words is a direct affront to The Incarnate Word– Christ Jesus, Who Is Truth, and Who Created all things By His Word. In horrible contrast, the devil is a liar, The Liar, always was and is and will be, and in his hatred for God he really enjoys twisting language until the Truth is unintelligible. Political correctness, euphemisms, slang, even misused wordplay are all symptoms of this grossly cowardly offense. If you have to conceal or costume the roots of something with your words, you’re playing the devil’s game. God does not mince words or deny reality. Your words cannot change His facts, although you might bury them deep. They’re still alive, though, and when they are revealed, there will be awful consequences. After all, you can joke about murder all you want– someone is still ending up dead.
tomicscomics: We live in a society.
Oof, this is way too reflective of the state of the world lately, and not just in politics. I have sadly seen this very mindset running rampant online, especially in mental health circles, and it is lethal! Whenever we shift blame, responsibility, choice, or power onto someone else, we turn a blind eye to our own involvement– and trust me, nothing is ever a one-person affair. We all have an effect, at all times, on the people & resultant culture around us. We need to be humble enough to admit that our influence is not always a good one, even if we have no ill will. Our sins are actually contagious– you can and will spread their symptoms without actively meaning to. But you must expose yourself to it in order to catch it, and that is always your own decision! If you aren’t guarding your heart, that sinful stuff all around you will find a careless eye, an uncaring ear, or an open wound, and take root. It then festers and molds inside of our hearts, and if it’s not addressed properly, it will spread like a cancer to affect every part of us… and blaming someone else for “making you sick,” denying that you are ill, or claiming helplessness will only kill you faster, spiritually. There is a cure, but the only cure is humility & confession– admitting that you’re sick, understanding how and why, realizing that you are responsible for and seeking help from the Physician Of Souls, Christ Jesus!
In short? Don’t let pride suffocate you. Moral relativism is saying that a tickle in your throat and lung cancer cause the same cough, and it’s not a problem. Have some candy, that’ll fix it! Not so. You need to be sharply honest and discerning about the state of your soul. Your decisions matter. Your choices have consequences. You don’t get to dictate the morality of what you do, any more than you can pick what symptoms you get from a disease. So think about the spiritual environment you are putting yourself in! What are you exposing your heart to? What contaminants are you breathing & touching? Refusing to look at your hands and heart means that you’ll never see the sores and scabs adding up there. And refusing to admit that you can get sick is just toxic foolishness. Think about how you use your free will– God gave you a conscience and a brain, after all!
Knowing that the water is filthy but drinking it anyway because someone told you to is both your faults. They chose to tell you, and you chose to obey. Free will is always extant. Use it courageously. Be humble, sincere, & responsible, not a proud yet cowardly liar! Learn to stand up for the moral good. Claiming victimhood does not absolve you. Your eternal life depends on it!
tomicscomics: It’s about sending a message.
Sometimes God’s messages really are that blunt– and goofy! “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down,” after all. But honestly… God absolutely has a sense of humor, but He also tells it to us straight. He will never sugarcoat the Truth, although He might still give it to us anxiety-prone humans in a way that makes it more palatable. Just look at Jesus’s parables!
I like to think that angels delight in having some harmless holy fun, too– Lord knows their job is arduous enough!
tomicscomics: 06/04/2020
This is the sweetest thing… and it tugs at my heart for the depths that very sweetness reveals. How often do we, like Saint Joseph, marvel at the simple yet spectacular fact of the Incarnation? How often does it really hit us that God became a little boy? He went through the entire endearingly clumsy process of learning and growing, completely dependent on His parents, pure and ingenuous and so, so small! What meekness, what love– for the Creator of All to become a tiny toddler, willingly and tenderly, wanting with all His Heart to be with us in such a gentle and intimate way.
Jesus is God become man, yes, and that is grand enough– but in that very same truth, let us never forget that first He had to be a young man– a child– a baby. A boy. What a thought!
"We could name each individual raindrop and then mourn its loss when it reaches the sea, but we understand that the water was neither lost nor diminished by rejoining the vastness from which it came."
We all die one day, yes, but have you forgotten– we were all also born? From whence did we come? God is the one Who put us here, Who knits together our tiny bodies and breathed our life into us. But these blessed vessels are finite, and one day the path will loop back around to His doorstep where we began. We will be embraced once more in the arms of the Father Who loves us.
Remember this carefully! Do we lose ourselves here? We are not raindrops! We are individual souls, and sacredly so! God has not formed us so painstakingly only to smush us back into primordial clay. Souls don’t get recycled. Bodies don’t get erased, even if they do temporarily lose their structural coherence when we leave them. But atoms persist, and relationships, and purpose. Life is neither perfunctory nor accidental. It is also not stopped by death– only changed. We arrive here, and we leave here, for a reason, and nothing is lost, and nothing is forgotten.
Death is truly a bittersweet sorrow, for the pain of loss is s temporary one, wrapped in mysterious hope. Your dearly departed have only passed from here to there, and unlike the raindrop swallowed up in sea, you will see them again– entire, beloved, and alive.
Crucifixion and Pietà, Polish folk art woodcuts, circa 1831.
I’ve never before seen a Pietà where Mary and Jesus are crowned! That speaks volumes. In that moment of profound suffering, where the Mother held her Child in agony, in death, in apparent despair– even so, He had just conquered death itself, BY dying– and in her unwavering yet severely tested faith, she shared in the first foretaste of that victory. In that beautifully heart-rending moment, we see, with our own hearts, not a vision of doom, but one of utmost love and hope. In the Pietà, Christ has still won, and Mary is now essentially the Queen of His nascent Kingdom, having been given charge of His now Cross-saved people [John 19:26].
Christ Jesus is victorious, despite everything. Glory be to God!
"Always remember that despite how people treat you or make you feel, there’s an entire heavenly court who want nothing more for you than your good. In heaven are saints who, if they could, would come back to earth and do penance just to have you in heaven with them."
-Nichola Regina
This is 1000% true. That is how deeply and powerfully and sincerely you are loved by Heaven– by God the Trinity, by His Mother, by His angels, by His Saints. Yes, all of them love you. Yes, you. Tonight, right now, just as you are, in your struggles and sadness and pain and fears and even your sin. They love you. They want you to be with them in Heaven, healed and joyous and embraced in that love forever. They would leave that paradise and suffer all your agonies for you of it meant you would be delivered safely to God… and Jesus Christ, God Himself, did do that.
No human, no devil, nothing on earth, nothing in hell, nothing in all of Creation can ever alter this fact. You are loved by Heaven as a permanently indisputable fact. And when you feel most alone and unworthy, that love holds you all the more tenderly to its heart, to the very Heart of God.
Please, remember this always. Anchor your joy in it. Never lose hope. Have faith in it. If you open your heart to recieve it, I promise you, it will guide you through even the darkest nights, straight to heaven.
Painting at the ceiling of the chapel in Mergozzo (Italy).
This art is gorgeous in and of itself, but I dearly love the subtle deeper truth– Behold, the Lamb of God, in the image of the humble, pure and innocent child, but also in the Word Spoken through Scripture read in reverence, in the ever-blooming joy flourishing in all growing things through that same Voice, and– most clearly yet most mysteriously– in the infinite and eternal paradox of the Cross, the Divine death of Self-giving Love which brought true and holy Life to those who were living in mortal emptiness.
The Word of God, the Life of God, is so close to us, all the time, in such simple and profound ways… but do we behold Him? Do we recognize His reflection in creation, His recollection in the Gospel? Do we truly grasp that reality yet unfathomable– that God is with us? For so He Is, now and until the end of all ages. Behold!
"The psychological trials of dwellers in the last times will equal the physical trials of the martyrs. But in order to face these trials we must be living in a different world."
-Fr. Seraphim Rose
I think about this so often. It’s a harrowing yet steeling truth that is more visibly relevant now than ever.
Remember that key endnote: you must be living in a different world than the secular one you must inevitably travel through. Yes, your body dwells here physically, but keep your heart & mind unstained and separate! Fix your thoughts on God, and no matter what surrounds you, your soul will be set strongly in a higher place.
“I am the servant of the Lord. I will what God wills, when He wills it, as He wills it, because He wills it.”— Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Oh this is beautiful. Powerful, absolutely, and yet so beautiful! I could, and would love to, prayerfully meditate on this for a while.
This is why Mary is so lovable. What a heart she has!!
