This is shockingly contrary to the mind of the world, which demands comfort & consolation, rejecting & punishing those who offend. But Christ carried a cross to His unjust death with total love, forgiving His murderers, enduring unbearable pain out of sheer compassion for those same souls who spit at Him. He knew that the Cross could be their salvation, too, if only they would carry it with Him.

That is why we bless our persecutors and pray for their genuine reward from heaven. Without them, we could not fully join Christ in Calvary. Without them, we could not practice Godlike mercy. They are unexpected and unintended blessings, and when we realize and give thanks for this, even the most bitter offenses are transmuted into a source of Christian joy. This is the beautiful power of the Cross.
-----------------------------

Every cent we sacrifice for Christ and His Church is invested in grace a thousandfold. Even if we live in poverty for our entire earthly life, if we still give even that to God, we shall be rich in eternity– rich not in dollars, but in divine blessings.

God will provide for every need– but never for greed. Rest assured that even if you currently only have two cents in your pocket, if you dedicate your use of that tiny sum to His glory, He will see to it that He is glorified in you. Again, whether that be through gracious abundance after suffering or through abundant grace amidst suffering, only God can choose. But He will carry you. Take comfort in His fidelity.

“I do not despise anyone; even if he is only one, he is a human being, the living creature for which God cares. Even if he is a slave, I may not despise him; I am not interested in his class, but his virtue; not his condition of master or slave, but his soul. Even if he is only one, he is a human being, for whom the heaven was stretched out, the sun appears, the moon changes, the air was poured out, the springs gush forth, the sea was spread out, the prophets were sent, the law was given– and why should I mention all these?– for whom the only-begotten Son of God became man. My Master was slain and poured out His blood for man. Shall I despise him? What pardon would I have? Do you not hear that the Lord conversed with the Samaritan woman, and spent many words? He did not despise her because she was a Samaritan, but because she had a soul, He cared for her. He did not neglect her because she was a harlot, but because she was going to be saved and had showed faith, she often benefitted from His concerns.”

— On Wealth and Poverty, Saint John Chrysostom (via earlychristianity)

Every Christian must, through Christ, see every human being in this same charitable light. We do not love a person because of our fond opinion or preference or any personal reason. We love them because Christ loved them. We love them because Christ died to save them, just as much as He died to save you and me. And this is the most powerful truth standing opposed to our selfishness, for where we may judge and ignore and neglect and condemn– again all for personal reasons– Christ cares for every soul regardless, unconditionally, and He embraces and kisses them, and He tends their wounds and feeds them and gives them a home where they are forgiven and supported and healed and loved… simply because they exist, because all the beauty of Creation was designed with them in mind, because Christ Himself spoke their very soul into being, with the ultimate goal of bringing them into Heaven with Him forever. That is Christ’s mission. That is the Gospel. That is how we must live our everyday lives, because it is everyday life that brings us closer to heaven, or further from it… it all hinges on how much we love like Christ.

All those things we judge others on– race, gender, looks, opinions, politics, moods, etc.– they are all temporal, fleeting, empty in the end. Even sin– perhaps, hopefully, especially sin– has no inherent permanence, as it can be totally washed away in the Blood of Christ. In the end, all that remains is the soul. God loves every single one totally, no matter what external decorations it wore on this earth. Do we?

    "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

   
"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

spacekrakens:

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!"

"The correct definition of a good Catholic is a Catholic who takes the salvation of his soul seriously."
- Ven. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen

"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

“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

“...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.

“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.

leitharstjarna:

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!

traumacatholic:

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!!

“…what higher, more exalted, and more compelling goal can there be than to know God?”

— J.I. Packer

What other true and honorable knowledge is there, but that of God? What other knowledge lasts for all eternity, and is not reliant on faltering human thought to discover? What other knowledge is worth seeking above all other things? There is none. Truly, we need to prioritize our holy role as students of Our Lord, and spend dedicated, devoted time every day learning more about Him.

Pray, read your Bible, read the Catechism and other holy books, and go to Mass. There is no loftier, lovelier goal in this life. Know God as deeply as you can now– this will make the hope and joy of heaven’s knowledge all the sweeter.

Q: What hath God done for you?
A: God hath made me, He keepeth me, and He can save me.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.

God has, literally, done everything for me. I wouldn’t exist without Him. He knit me together in my mother’s womb, He knew my name before I could breathe, He had me in mind before the stars were formed. He created me and everything and everyone that I love and treasure in this life… but He is my truest love and treasure, because He loved and treasured me first. He put that love into my heart by loving me and by being Love and making me to share that love with Him. It’s all too magnificent for my little heart to comprehend, but I will think about it forever, and rejoice in it.

God made me, He keeps me made– He teaches and guides and disciplines and corrects me– He protects my body and soul, my mind and heart, He counts every eyelash and blood cell and breath. He loves me more than I can ever imagine… so how could I ever imagine I could be forgotten or lost? Never, never, not to the One Who Loves. I tremble that in my weakness I can get lost, but I find undying hope in knowing– knowing!– that my Good Shepherd will seek me out, this feeble frightened lamb, and carry me warmly home, safe on His shoulders, singing.

God can save me from anything. God can save me from everything. I need only trust in that Truth. I need only to believe in Him, in What and Who He Is. And when I remember that He Is Love– when I see His Love, proven forever on the Cross– oh, I do, I do believe. I can be saved, and by Love, by God– by grace, merciful grace– I will be.

"Thank You, Jesus, for never leaving my side no matter what I go through."

I think we all need to be regularly reminded of this. It’s such a simple yet staggering truth.

No matter what we go through– inside or outside, joy and sorrow, laughter and pain, beauty and terror– Jesus is with is. He Incarnated so that He could be with us, in all of the situations and circumstances of being human. There will never be a moment in your life in which Christ is not there with you. You are never alone, even when you feel you are, fear you are, or wish you were out of shame. Christ is there, steadfast and sincere, His Heart overflowing with love for you, no matter what. He is with you, always… and not even death can change that.

Thank You, Jesus, for staying with us. Thank You for loving us so much that You even want to stay, even when we’re at our worst. Thank You, Jesus, for You.

spacekrakens: I need some prayers today, ive cried like twice today even in math class and im scared im gonna break down in my next class
 

Oh sweetheart I am praying for you. God sees your tears and He cries with you; Christ shares your suffering and is holding your heart safe even if you cannot feel it through the pain. I pray that He continues to uphold you through whatever is causing you this great distress– and that He also blesses you with healing through both tears and joy at the right times. It’s all important. But cling to Him now, when you feel weak and fragile and scared. He will be your shelter, He will give you strength, He will help you breathe. Trust in His gentle and tender love for You. God bless you. 🙏💙

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

Saint Dismas is arguably my most beloved Patron Saint. Everything about his story speaks so strongly to my heart, in the most powerfully bittersweet ways. He means a lot to me– as does the hope that Christ has given another poor sinner like me, through him. Lord, remember us! 🙏

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

“To give life to someone is the greatest of all gifts. To save a life is the next. Who gave life to Jesus? It was Mary. Who saved his life? It was Joseph. Ask St. Paul who persecuted him. Saint Peter who denied him. Ask all the saints who put him to death. But if we ask, “Who saved his life?” Be silent, patriarchs, be silent, prophets, be silent, apostles, confessors and martyrs. Let St. Joseph speak, for this honor is his alone; he alone is the savior of his Savior.”

— Blessed William Joseph Chaminade

We tend to overlook this stunning fact because Saint Joseph never sought recognition or praise for his humbly heroic actions– He acted solely out of Holy obedience and love. But it is for that very reason that his actions truly do merit the highest praise and recognition! Saint Joseph, who gave your whole life in silent love for our Savior, may your name as his father be forever blessed!

alwaysabeautifullife:

Good morning time to talk about Dad (St. Joseph) again

-is cool

-powerful

-he’s my dad now
 

I’m doing the 33-day consecration to Saint Joseph and it is honestly life-changing. He is such a holy, loving, powerful, blessed man! My love for him as a saint and as my spiritual father is deepening daily, and I am so grateful.

So yes– Saint Joseph is, indeed, the coolest dad. 💛

em>

"When the Enemy of your souls whispers, “You have lost all, you cannot be saved,” answer him: “I do not despair of my salvation, for I have a compassionate and long-suffering God. And this conviction upholds me in my belief that He who commanded that we forgive our fellow man for his transgressions against us even seven times seventy - that He, by the same token, will forgive the sins of all who with their whole souls turn to Him.”"
-The Evergetinos

I forget this simple yet powerful truth so often: that Our Lord commanded us to forgive others so graciously, and that He also forgave those who crucified Him even as He died– and that in both cases, there was no apparent contrition or even awareness of wrongdoing. So why do we despair? Do we so easily and wrongly assume our God is as cruel as we are, so unwilling to pardon offenses, so unable to let go of grudges and old wounds? Do we, in hating ourselves for our weaknesses and failures, assume that God would inevitably hate us too? Do we so quickly forget that His Ways are infinitely more righteous and Holy than ours? And do we even more tragically forget that such righteousness and holiness includes compassion, gentleness, longsuffering, and mercy?

Do not despair. When you feel hopelessly crushed by the weight of your sins, look to the Cross– Christ carried that weight for you and still does, out of purest Love. Look to Him and find hope in the profound meaning of His Pierced Heart– that eternal spring of deepest mercy. As long as you sincerely lay your own heart bare before Him, confessing your sins, He will wash them away with the utmost loving care. Do not be afraid. No matter how lost you feel, Jesus waits to give you all the grace you need.

"A brother, possessed by sadness and melancholy, went to an Elder and asked him: “What am I to do? My thoughts present me with the idea that perhaps in vain I denied the world, and that I cannot be saved.” Pensively, the Elder answered him as follows: “My child, even if we do not succeed in reaching the promised land, it is better that we should give our carcasses to the desert than return to the Egypt of fearful enslavement” (Number 14:29-33)."
-Evergetinos, Volume I, Hypothesis I

God is in the desert; He is not in the hedonism and pagan idolatry of Egypt. The desert is brutal and frightening and harsh, true, but God is there in that golden suffering– purifying your heart, mind, and body to become holy! Yes, it is far better to die in the desert struggle than to rot in the corrupted city, for if we do not reach the Promised Land in this life, we shall still have the hope of reaching it in the afterlife, by the loving mercy of God, Who we have so striven to pursue and imitate here. It is tempting to return to the alleged comforts of the world, but remember– all that is ephemeral and subject to death. It is only through dying to this death that we will recieve true life and rest with God. Your sacrifice for Him is never in vain. Keep this truth in your heart when the trials are fierce; God is trustworthy, and there is always hope in Him.

"Another brother asked the same Elder: “Father, to what does the Prophet refer when he says, ‘there is no salvation for him in his God” (Psalm 3:3)?“ The elder gave the following response to the brother’s inquiry: “He is referring to thoughts of despair, which the demons place before the sinner, saying: ‘Neither now nor hereafter is it possible for God to save you.’ With such counsel they try to cast the sinner into despair. But a person must contrast these thoughts with the words of Holy Scripture: ‘Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He shall pluck my feet out of the snare’ (Psalm 24:15).”
-The Evergetinos

Psalm 3 continues as the Elder says= “Many say to my soul: ‘There is no salvation for him in his God.’ But Thou, O Lord, art my protector, my glory, and the lifter up of my head… Salvation is of the Lord: and Thy blessing is upon Thy people.”

The demons do indeed quote Scripture, but they never quote the truth of it. They leave out the wholeness, the context, the heart. Ironically, the best way to refute them is to prayerfully go straight TO Scripture and read the entirety of what they are misrepresenting. In any case, you are now safe in the Word of God, a sure and unfailing weapon against all falsehood and despair.

“Do not enter into dialogue with temptation. Allow me to repeat it: have the courage to run away and the moral strength not to dally with your weakness or wonder how far you can go. Break off, with no concessions!”

— St. Josemaría Escrivá: Furrow, n. 137

The serpent is smarter than you. Admit this with fearful humility; admit your weakness and crush your proud desire to test or try it. Flee immediately to Christ, like a child who knows that he has no strength of his own and needs his Father’s help! There is true courage in this– only a fool speaks to the snake, whose only goal is to poison him.

I have a very pressing question about mortal sin.

What, exactly, is it? I’ve been struggling with the concept for a while especially the thought that someone could actively choose to offend God. Is such a choice possible if one fears God?

My personal terror and struggle is that, although I desperately wish it were false, I have been diagnosed with mental illness, and even without those I know my thoughts and perceptions are not in line with those of a normal person. The compulsions, addictions, & delusions I battle daily result in repeated sins that I weep nightly about and yet feel genuinely powerless to stop as a result of intense dissociation and/or obsessive fear despite pain. The compunction is choking.

My priest has told me that, because of my mental illness, I have a hindered sense of agency? But I don’t understand what this means. I don’t know how this affects the fact that I DO sin horribly, constantly, against my true will. I just… do things, screaming inside all the while to stop, terrified because I don’t know how. It’s awful. But it’s still sin.

I don’t pray enough. I hear angels and devils and Mary and Jesus constantly but I don’t pray enough. What counts as prayer? I keep hiding my face because I can’t stop sinning and I’m so afraid. But if I prayed more I’m sure it would stop. Can I sacrifice my will to God? Can he override the fearful abusive cycles? I don’t feel like I have power to choose but I factually do and that’s mortal sin. I hate it.

I love God. I adore God. The very thought of making Jesus hurt or sad or angry terrifies me to the core and leaves me shaking and sobbing and, too often, incapacitated. I know I’m still going to end up sinning. And how am I supposed to explain that? I don’t want to get out of bed because life is studded with moral landmines and I’m tired of how filthy my conscience has become. Existentially horrified, yes, but also tired. I feel like I’ll never achieve a state of grace for longer than five minutes. How am I supposed to function?

I typically don’t talk about these things on this blog. But I haven’t been to confession in weeks because I am so mortified, and frankly I don’t know WHAT to confess anymore. There’s too much and it’s all so tangled. I feel like EVERY sin I commit is mortal because I KNOW I’m not living up to proper Christian behavior. My very life is a scandal. It’s unbearable. I can’t even seem to understand how to feel sorry anymore, even though I know I don’t want to sin. What’s the difference? AM I sorry? I can’t tell, and it’s killing me.

Advice, questions, criticism, and prayers all help. Be honest please. My soul needs truth. Thank you so so much.

"It is commonly in a somewhat cynical sense that men have said “Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall not be disappointed.” It was in a holy, happy and enthusiastic sense that Saint Francis said, “Blessed is he that expecteth nothing, for he shall enjoy everything.”"

St. Francis of Assisi, G.K. Chesterton

God owes us nothing– everything is a gift from Him, even every breath.

When we humbly view all of life as a gift from God– graceful, undeserved, generous– then, truly, our only “expectation” and our only desire is to see God’s Will being done whether in poverty or prosperity… and it will be done! Therefore we are never disappointed, and we are always rejoicing in gratitude for His ever-Good dispensation.

"They ask what cruel kind of God could have demanded sacrifice and self-denial. They will have lost the clue to all that lovers have meant by ‘love’ and will not understand that it was because the thing was not demanded that it was done."

Saint Francis of Assisi, G.K. Chesterton

You cannot love without wanting to give yourself away completely– and that requires sacrifice and self-denial. We see this in every genuine human relationship, most notably in motherhood and fatherhood, including the equally genuine courtship that leads up to marriage, rejoices in it, and endures for decades within it.

Outside of marital love, we have the saints, who love God with the same ardent exclusivity and intimacy, and whose love then spills out onto all of humanity. And truly even the married are called to be saints, for how can anyone love without first knowing what love IS– God Himself? We MUST know God and His Love for us before we can feel and express the same. Therefore we must know Jesus Christ, God become Man, Who sanctified human love and gave us all a perfect example of it, Who promised His Spirit to grace us with that same blessed capacity for it. Through Him, With Him, In Him, we can love.

God IS Love. Christ IS God. That profound fact alone is enough loving reflection for eternity itself.

inhallowedground: I’m a rather morose Catholic (I enjoy intensity, gravitas, silence) but whenever the choir at church busted out “Lord of the Dance” !!!!

Same here, but gosh that song still makes me weep, especially when it hits verse four:

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone;
But I am the dance, and I still go on:

It’s definitely upbeat but the message is so achingly triumphant! Honestly it’s a beautiful anchor for holy meditation. Just… thinking on Jesus– Lord of the cosmic Dance, Singer of the undying Song, Joy unending and infinite Love– rejected and hated and spited and bleeding and dying and yet still dancing, singing, smiling, loving. Divinity pure and untouched, united perfectly with humanity bruised and broken, embracing it, encompassing it, and teaching us how to dance despite the darkness too.

I’m a cantor and I frequently get choked up when I sing truths such as these during mass. It’s inevitable. There’s too much love and beauty not to.

Catholicism is full of gorgeous paradox like that and so much of it expresses itself perfectly through our hymns; I love it so.

“We are not saved by obedience, for obedience is the result of salvation! We are saved by faith because faith leads us to obey! Faith is weakness clinging to strength and becoming strong through so doing.”

— Charles Spurgeon

And the undercurrent of our faith, and therefore also our obedience, is charity… Love for God. Without love, our actions– however outwardly pious– are lacking in honest grace.

Love anchors faith, inspires obedience, and ignites courage. In love, we have the strength we need to rely solely on the strength of God, Who loves us first, and Whose Love IS the root of our salvation.

“Do not say, after spending a long time in prayer, that nothing has been gained; for you have already gained something. And what higher good is there than to cling to the Lord and persevere in unceasing union with Him?”

- St. John Climacus

Prayer is communion with God. Even if you don’t “feel” or “hear” anything in response, take heart, for that is not the point. Prayer itself is gain, for it is an expression of love, trust, and faith in God. It expresses our reliance on His Mercy and Generosity, His Patience and Kindness. It glorifies Him as the Source and Summit of our life. Prayer is about God! We are blessed, privileged indeed, to be able to pray to Him at all, and to know that He hears and listens with genuine attention and compassion.

So do cling to the Lord in prayer, like a child who loves to honor his loving parents, who loves to write them letters, who loves to talk to them about anything and everything. Persevere in this unceasing act of intimate affection, of filial praise, of joyous communication. This gift of prayer is truly a blessing to us. Pray always! Stay close to God, and He will in turn stay close to you… as close as you pull Him to your adoring heart.

God is gain. If we have Him, we have everything.

Persevere in loving prayer. This is joy.

604: once again truly need your prayers guys, sorry im asking so much lately but if you really could spare a minute to put everything down and pray for me i would be so grateful

Praying for you with great compassion in my heart. 🙏 God hears you and He sees you, you are always in His thoughts, He loves you immeasurably especially when you feel the most hopeless. His mercy endures forever. You are precious to Him, He created You on purpose and with joy. However weak you feel, He will be your strength. He will guide you through life until you come home to Him at the end. No matter what shadows menace, He holds you close. Your soul is safe in His profound protection. Trust this! It is amazing, but it is true. He is in control and all His purposes are good. You can rest in His Heart knowing this.

Many prayers for you dear friend. We are grateful you exist. ❤

"You must bear the spiritual infirmities of your brother gladly, and without annoyance. For when someone is physically ill, we are not only not annoyed with him, but we are exemplary in our care for him; we should also set an example in cases of spiritual illness."
-St. Moses of Optina

Love your “enemy”– for he is pitiably sick, and prayerful love in action is the best medicine you can offer him.

So love always. Love everyone. Love in everything you do and say and think and feel. You never know what responding capacity for love you will help bloom in another soul.
 

"Pay attention to my gaze. You know that you never leave my sight. If only you could see how I gaze on you, with such love, tenderness, and desire! This gaze, attentive to your innermost choices, ever-benevolent, encouraging, is always ready to sustain and help you! But hear this! You must encounter my loving gaze in faith, desire it in hope, and cherish it in love."
- Jesus, to Fr. Gaston Courtois

Pay attention to Him with everything you are. Nothing else matters.
Do not let His Love go unrequited!!

 

"Grace me with the vision of your face, O Word, with the enjoyment of your ineffable beauty. Allow me to contemplate and find my delight in your vision—ineffable vision, invisible vision, awesome vision . . . the reflection of your divine glory, which allows itself to be seen as a simple light, a light most sweet."
-St. Symeon the New Theologian
 

How inexpressibly blessed we are to be able to look upon Our Lord while here on earth-- while we are still yet miserable sinners! Do we realize how amazing of a privileged grace this is? Do we take advantage of this glimpse of Heaven as it is so freely given? What bliss! What mercy! What love!

Pause and let it sink in: we have the opportunity to contemplate the Face of God, and to not die from it. How lukewarm we have been in our response to such overwhelming mercy and love. We should run to adore Christ Present in the Most Blessed Sacrament. We should prioritize this above all else. But Jesus instead waits in nearly empty churches for us-- for you. He looks at the empty pews and seeks YOUR face, specifically. He loves you. He waits for you. Why do we forget this? Has the weight of that truth ever really pierced our hearts?

Lord, call us still. Call us back to You. Let us still enjoy this profound grace-- the grace to see Your Face, and there find all beauty and truth and glory and sweetness-- the full exultation of heaven veiled in that simple white Host.

Pray Saint Symeon's prayer with all your soul. Say every word with sincerity. Seek the grace to imitate and truly feel that same ardent devotion.

Heaven is the incomparable joy of the Beatific Vision. If the expectation of that honestly fills our hearts with longing love, we should rejoice at this foretaste here on earth, and seek to participate in it whenever possible.

Thanks be to God for every moment of it all!
 

Do any fellow Catholics here have further advice on how I can help her with this struggle? In any case, do pray that her heart and mind (and mine) may be opened more to see the work of God in all things, and to participate wholeheartedly in that work. Thank you. 🙏❤

Let yourself fail, and try again.

pixy-el-returnth: Yes, ever since I’ve been mentally praying, reading saints and biblical quotes and writings, my tarot readings recently are *unreal*. The gift of prophecy is a real thing.

"Whoever like me has lost grace let him wrestle manfully with evil spirits. Know that you yourself are to blame: you fell into pride and vanity, and the Lord in His mercy is showing you what it means to be in the Holy Spirit and what it means to wage war against evil spirits. Thus the soul learns by experience the harm that comes of pride, and so shuns vainglory and the praises of man, and evil thoughts."
-St. Silouan the Athonite
 

God is never to blame! But He shows His Justice and Mercy both in letting us experience the consequences of our sin, for we learn its terror firsthand, so as to flee from it all the more readily in the future, by help of His grace, which He will return compassionately to those who humbly and contritely seek His Face after every battle.

Sin is our own fault. But the war against the devil continues nevertheless until death. Do not lose hope! Return to the Lord with all your heart! Christ is the ultimate victor. He will sustain your feeble soul to the end.

“Mankind must join a sort of resistance movement. What will become of our world if it does not look for intervals of silence? Interior rest and harmony can flow only from silence. Without it, life does not exist. The greatest mysteries of the world are born and unfold in silence. How does nature develop? In the greatest silence. A tree grows in silence, and springs of water flow at first in the silence of the ground. The sun that rises over the earth in its splendor and grandeur warms us in silence. What is extraordinary is always silent. In his mother’s womb, an infant grows in silence... God is silence, and this divine silence dwells within a human being. By living with the silent God, and in Him, we ourselves become silent. Nothing will more readily make us discover God than this silence inscribed at the heart of our being. I am not afraid to state that to be a child of God is to be a child of silence.”
~Cardinal Robert Sarah

Deep and simple truths, disastrously overlooked and forgotten. Silence is truly the “language of God.”
My priest told me this week: keep your tongue from all idle talk! Speak only to edify others, and let your silence bring both your own soul and the souls of others into intimate communion with God! The less we talk, the more we pray… the more we pray, the more we love Him… the more we love Him, the more our lives will conform to His Holy Will. So we truly become His Children.

"Acknowledge the graces you have received and those I have granted through you. But also thank me, in faith, for all your humiliations, limitations, and sufferings—physical and moral. You will not grasp the full meaning of them except in eternity, where your heart will beat with admiration for my gentle divine pedagogy. Thank me, too, for all those men and women—brothers and sisters known or unknown, remembered or not—whom I gave you as fellow travelers. By their prayers linked to mine, by their moral and spiritual assistance, they have helped you a great deal. I am the one who, at the right time, gave them to you."
- Jesus, to Gaston Courtois

Everything in our lives comes from God– there are no exceptions, for all is subject to His Omnipotence and His Omniscience. So give thanks in every circumstance. He is Sovereign over it all. Trust in this always.

We also forget: graces granted to others through us; the hidden sanctification in bearing our humiliations and limitations; our unknown fellow travelers in Christ who help us in anonymity. Reflect on all of this deeply, and be grateful, for the mysterious glory of God shines through every facet of it.

alexmonacella: Wake us to Your presence, Lord, that we might not waste our times of trial. What would you teach us today in our trials, Lord? Make us receptive! Help us see your victory and compassion rather than look for easy answers to our troubles. So make us expectant, Lord, and patient. Amen.

Every moment is a gift from God, meant to bring us closer to Him in love. Our trials, united to the Cross of Christ, are indeed great blessings that we must never waste. God, open our eyes and our hearts that we may never seek to escape our sufferings, but that we may instead embrace them through your Son, and so humbly and obediently learn to know and adore You all the more completely!

alexmonacella: Lord, if we are to be afraid of anything, let it be the fear of not committing ourselves fully to you. Let us fear that the day will pass without our having lightened the load of another. Let us fear that someone will come looking for you and find only us. Amen.

“If you want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it.”

— - Mother Teresa

Our faith– our religion– requires daily devoted effort. It can be arduous work, but God will give us all the oil of grace we need, if only we ask for it, and put it to proper use. Pray, and persevere!

“Fear not that thy life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.”

— Bl. John Cardinal Henry Newman

Death is before us all daily. Has your life yet sincerely began? Have you died to sin; do you live in Christ? Ask yourself this every moment– you are not guaranteed tomorrow!

“You can’t go to heaven hating somebody. Forgive now. Be compassionate now. Be patient now. Be grateful now. Love Jesus and Mary now. Accept God’s will now.”

— Mother Angelica

A true Catholic lives in the “now”– for we know we are never guaranteed a tomorrow. We must love and serve God right now, not only because our time is short, but also because postponing our acts of love is honestly unthinkable! Why would you ever wait to praise and obey and adore your beloved God? Why would you ever wait to feed the hungry, care for the sick, comfort the afflicted, and forgive the injurious?

Heaven is always just a heartbeat away… but so is hell. Don’t waste the time God gave you. Use every breath for good. Live for God now!

cassianus: “Why are vigil lamps lit before icons? One reason is that in order to teach us that just as the vigil lamp cannot be lit without our hand, so too, our heart, our inward vigil lamp, cannot be lit without the holy fire of God’s grace, even if it were to be filled with all the virtues. All these virtues of ours are, after all, like combustible material, but the fire which ignites them proceeds from God.”

This is a beautifully simple and powerful illustration of the fact that “without God we can do nothing,” and that only cooperative humility gains and utilizes grace. The proud, who try to light their own fire, and resist all submission, will fail, for God is the only Light and we must be meekly open to His Will, to the work of His Hand illuminating our hearts, in order to shine at all… and yet, it is still our responsibility to furnish our hearts with virtue, to fill our lamps with good fuel, so that when God’s fire comes to us, we will be able to hold it within us, and let it burn all the more ardently!

thelefthandbonch-deactivated202: If we don’t teach the concept of Hell, there is no point to ever sharing Jesus. We teach Jesus saves but if we aren’t saying what Jesus is saving us from, we create a pointless Gospel... There is a consequence to not repenting of our sins, accepting Christ as savior, and loving God. That consequence is repeated by Jesus again and again in the Gospels. It is a key part of the Gospels.

catholicismandpharmacy: this is what i was getting at when i was explaining why balthasar’s theory is so toxic; it is not possible to separate the love for God and the fear of His wrath while still maintaining true Christianity

The entire point of Jesus's Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection was to reconcile us to God by making an infinitely sufficient atonement for our sins-- by which we are damned to die by the very nature of sin-- so we can, through faith in His Life and Death and the purposes of such, also die to sin and therefore live in Him unto eternal life, which we can ONLY access through His atoning sacrifice on our behalf.

The wages of sin is death. The rejection of Christ is self-annihilatory. Hell exists, and it's where all those who deny God and His Son must inevitably go BECAUSE they have spurned the ONLY Way into Heaven.

God loves us enough to die for us, but that truth is united with the fact that He only HAD to die for us because if He didn't, we would be dead in our sins and doomed to eternal damnation-- doomed to hell. God hates sin so much, that His love for us prompted His Self-sacrifice on our behalf. Again, His Wrath is just as divine as His Love, and in this vital respect the two are inseparably connected.

writhe: me, every second of my life: but is it meaningful? but is it meaningful? but is it meaningful?

Do everything for the love and glory of God, and even your most seemingly insignificant actions will become infused with heavenly merit and purpose. Charity gives life an eternal meaning that no earthly thing can ever diminish.

...Thank you. Lord have mercy on me a sinner. But if He is calling me, then please Lord, turn up the volume, and give me the grace to return home... me, your poor prodigal daughter.


...I do forget that His love is beyond what my self-loathing (which is quite a lot of noise) can ever comprehend, and that His Presence is constant even if my poor senses cannot perceive Him.

"A person should have a firm personality that is not swept along in the direction of the world. A little fish is capable of resisting the current and swimming against it because it has life, where is a great block of timber, which is hundreds of times bigger than the fish, can be washed away with the current, since it has no will. So, have a strong personality, and this will help you to repent. The apostle says: “Do not be conformed to this world“ (Rom. 12:2)."
-Pope Shenouda III

spiritualinspiration: Are you believing God for something that seems to be taking a long time? In the natural, you may have every reason to give up on what God has placed in your heart. At times, you may be tempted to get discouraged, but remember, God knows exactly where you are. He knows the desires He’s placed within you. He knows even the hidden dreams — what the scripture calls the secret petitions of your heart. Those are the things that you haven’t told anyone about. Maybe you thought they would never work out, or you’ve buried them because they didn’t happen on your timetable. But God still has a way to bring them to pass.

Be encouraged today because God is working behind the scenes on your behalf. Delight yourself in Him — find joy in serving Him and make your heart moldable in His hands. Don’t settle for mediocrity because God knows what’s in you, and His plan is to finish the work He began in you when you delight yourself in Him!
 

I prayed to God for deliverance for an abusive situation for ten years. Ten years! And I told no one BUT Him, either, out of great fear. So I felt very alone, very unsure, doubting often whether or not God even heard me. But then, completely out of the blue one day, God DID get me out, and when He did, it was in a way and at a time that ensured I would never end up in that situation again. But that would have been impossible at any other point prior. I didn’t know that while I was praying. But He heard me. And He was going to answer me. I just never considered that there wasn’t a “proper time”, expecting an immediate response. God doesn’t always do that! But He hears, and He knows, and He acts, behind the scenes for years to make sure everything turns out for our highest good.

And so I remind myself of that a lot. I was absolutely tempted to discouragement and despair during that awful decade. But I knew that God couldn’t possibly want such a vicious situation to persist in the life of someone who sincerely loved Him, however feebly. And He didn’t. But the waiting was for my highest good, too.

Perhaps this is a different application of this faith message than was originally intended. But it’s just as powerful and true. Don’t settle for anything less than a God-saturated life! If something is holding you back from your full Christian potential, pray for deliverance! Pray fervently and constantly! If God doesn’t seem to answer right away– if He doesn’t seem to answer for years– keep praying with unflinching trust in Him anyway! Your faith is what allows Him to work in His time, in your life. Trust in His Goodness, which cannot fail. Trust in His Faithfulness, which endures forever. And trust in His Love, which embraces us always, even in our darkest days. Your Father hears your prayers. Rest in that, if nothing else. He hears you, and He loves you.

“We often confuse unconditional love with unconditional approval. God loves us without conditions but does not approve of every human behavior. God doesn’t approve of betrayal, violence, hatred, suspicion, and all other expressions of evil, because they all contradict the love God wants to instill in the human heart. Evil is the absence of God’s love. Evil does not belong to God.

God’s unconditional love means that God continues to love us even when we say or think evil things. God continues to wait for us as a loving parent waits for the return of a lost child. It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do. That truth will help us to return to God’s ever-present love.”

- Henri Nouwen

This is an extremely vital distinction that many people tend to miss– and in doing so, we damage both our relationship with God, and with our fellow struggling sinners on earth. Loving someone does not require approval of their poor life choices. Love means we see the value of their soul beyond those evils, and we wait for the healing and freedom of that soul, for its return to the state of pure love it was created both for and by. If we erroneously think that we can’t love if we don’t approve, we lose our ability to help the lost return home, and our own conscience will begin to decay. Furthermore, we will completely misunderstand the nature of God!

So remember this powerful distinction. God loves us, always, but He still hates the sins we commit. He disapproves of our poor choices, and rightly so, but He still loves us with an unwavering and ardent love… and He will never stop waiting for us to come home to Him, the Father watching for His prodigal children from the road, His arms and heart ever open to receive us with tearful joy.

"We have, it must be admitted, a use for anger excellently implanted in us for which alone it is useful and profitable for us to admit it, namely, when we are indignant and rage against the lustful emotions of our heart, and are vexed that the things which we are ashamed to do or say before men have risen up in the lurking places of our heart, as we tremble at the presence of the angels, and of God Himself, who pervades all things everywhere, and fear with the utmost dread the eye of Him from whom the secrets of our hearts cannot possibly be hid."

- From Book 8 of the Institutes by Saint John Cassian
 

 

I feel it is important to reiterate that this sole holy use of anger is internal, and does not rage outwards– and it is sparked by the fear and love of God, not by devilish self-destructive hatred! To loathe sin and be ashamed of it is good and desirable; to loathe ourselves is not, for Christ loves us and does not want our destruction. He died to redeem us, so live in that hope, and let your love for Him kindle the righteous anger against those sins that pierce His Merciful Heart with such sorrow!

"There are times when we prefer the miracle over the miracle worker. God calls this idolatry, and He discouraged it by refusing to provide miracles on demand (Jer. 2:11-13). Sometimes the greatest act of faith is not to ask for a miracle. One of the most amazing statements of faith in the Old Testament came from Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as they faced the fiery furnace because of their obedience to God. They expressed true faith when they assured king Nebuchadnezzar: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18). They were confident in God’s ability to deliver them, but they trusted Him so completely that they did not ask to be spared.
Does your faith need miracles to sustain it? Or do you trust God so totally that you can say, “But if not, I will still trust the Lord!?”"

- Blackaby Devotional Ministries

In these troubling times, as we struggle with fear on a daily basis, it is so important to remember that human emotions are not wrong– God gave them to us, as He gave us all things: with the purpose to glorify Him. This is key. Fear happens naturally as a response to percieved threats and suffering, fear of death and disease and danger. Truly fear itself can therefore be very virtuous, as in fear of sin and its spiritual danger! But it is incomplete, imperfect. Fear is only step one, but if we use it rightfully, leading us closer to God, then step two is love!

In all things we must trust in God. Even if we are afraid, and rightfully so from a natural standpoint, we can and must still surrender our circumstances to trust in God. We love Him and He loves us, and when we remember this, the very thought of fear evaporates, and we are like a child comforted in its Father’s arms. Even if we die, we fear not, we trust in God! He is in control of all things and He knows what we are going through. He is with you, He stays with you always.

We start and complete: “God, I am afraid of what might happen… but I know that whatever WILL happen is YOUR holy will, and You love me so much that Your will is the best possible outcome for me, whatever it may be. So I trust in You. I surrender to Your direction and care. My life I give into your hands.”

And the fear sees you are perfectly safe in God, no longer in any danger, your soul invincible even if your body fades, and so… fear disappears.

"Grumbling is caused by misery and it can be put aside by doxology (giving praise). Grumbling begets grumbling and doxology begets doxology. when someone doesn’t grumble over a problem troubling him, but rather praises God, then the devil gets frustrated and goes off to someone else who grumbles, in order to cause everything to go even worse for him. You see, the more one grumbles, the more one falls into ruin.
Sometimes the devil deceives us and makes us unable to be pleased with anything; however, one can celebrate all things in a spiritual manner, with doxology, and secure God’s constant blessing."

+ St. Paisios of Mt. Athos, Elder Paisios of Mount Athos Spiritual Councils IV: Family Life

Lately, I have been making a strong effort to do this, especially when I am scared, sick, or otherwise distraught. I will effectively pray, “God, I don’t understand Your reasons for doing or allowing this, but I trust You, and I know that Your Purposes are always Good. I accept Your Will in this situation and I pray for the grace to cooperate with it in wholehearted surrender and trust.” And then I will do my utmost to just let it go, even if I am literally in tears from emotional and/or physical turmoil. God led me to this place in time, space, and circumstance for His Reasons and I am determined to put all my faith and hope in His Love during whatever may happen here.

It is the only reason I’ve been surviving lately, and it’s also the indomitable cause of a genuine joy in me that is rooted deeper than any sorrow or pain, however sharply real those experiences still are. Even if I cannot be pleased with my present place– truly one should not be “pleased” by disease or poverty or dissension– I can and will be grateful for God’s Hand in it nevertheless, for He knows far better than I, and He is still Good.

Sometimes we suffer bad things just to scrub sin out of our lives and draw– or drag– us closer to God; I know this contritely firsthand. Sometimes we suffer bad things at the hands of the world because we are opposed to it in our adherence to Christ. And sometimes we may be so afflicted we can’t tell why we’re suffering, only that we’re crushed under its weight. But Jesus’s Cross and Death were both gifts from the Father, too.

Praise God for everything, at all times, and just lean into that in your life. Let that radical faith transform you, even if your outward circumstances stay the same. God knows, God sees, God chastises, God upends, and God loves, all the time, no exceptions. Praise be to God!!

Keep Christ at the center of your focus.
Keep Christ at the center of your focus.
Keep Christ at the center of your focus.

No exceptions– in everything you do, from the common to the critical, and at all times, from the mundane to the magnificent… keep Christ at the center of your focus! Whether in joy or agony, sickness or prosperity, anxiety or comfort… fix your heart and mind on Him, from Whom and for Whom it all exists. Only by doing this will you find fulfillment and purpose and peace.

“What we are apt to call interruptions are God’s way of introducing us to a new knowledge of Himself.”

— Oswald Chambers

Calling something an “interruption” means that it has broken into our ego’s schedule– it has stopped us in the process of pursuing our current plans. But nothing interrupts God or His plans, therefore if we follow His Hand we will never be “interrupted” because every sudden shift will also be something we lean into in surrender to Him. And so it follows that if we are currently irked by interruptions, God is indeed sharply showing us that we’re not looking to Him as strongly as we should be. Pause, humble yourself, and look at where He is leading you now. Accept it and follow Him. In this way of surrendering our schedule to God, we will absolutely learn more about Him, in His leading of our lives.

"It is better to limp along the way than stride along off the way. For a man who limps along the way, even if he only makes slow progress, comes to the end of the way; but one who is off the way, the more quickly he runs, the further away is he from his goal."

-Saint Thomas Aquinas

Even slow progress in holiness is progress– but do start slow, or pride may run you off the tracks!

Always be prudent, even in faith. This is a vital heart-check and hope both. I may be limping, but golly it sure is making me careful– and it also means that every successful step comes with that much more gratitude, because I know how easily I can fall.

“By afflictions, God is purifying and deepening our faith and our holiness, weaning us off the world, so that we will be fit for and worthy of the kingdom.⁠”

— John Piper

A prayer my church says with the Joyful Mysteries is: “Teach us, dear Mother, to be detached from the things of the world and from all things that can hinder our union with Jesus. Let us love poverty, privations and inconveniences just as you did.” And I think about that every day. The less of the world is in our lives, the more room we have for God. So it is with every deprivation we experience. We can only lack material things. We will always have God– and He is everything we can and will ever need. So rejoice in your afflictions, for they serve a holier purpose than what the world can see. Our Lord was crowned with thorns, after all, but He’s still The King.

““A verse must be read often, and re-read and read again before the wondrous message of love and power that God has put into begins to appear. Words must be turned over and over in the mind before their full force and beauty takes possession of us. One must look a long time at the great masterpieces of art to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning, and so one must look a long time at the great verses of the Bible to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning.””
- R.A. Torrey

No infant learns to walk or talk on their first try. We, too, as children of God, constantly being reborn into the new life of Christ, must repeatedly revisit the Example and Ideal in order to more perfectly understand and incorporate His Teachings. And as we mature in faith, not only will our appreciation grow, but so will our comprehension both deepen and sweeten. God’s beauty increases in our eyes with time, as long as our gazex remains fixed lovingly upon Him. So be patient and persevere in your reading and re-reading of your beloved Bible, for it is full of eternal treasure, and will reveal its bounty only to those who sincerely and diligently seek it.

apenitentialprayer: There’s apparently an Orthodox tradition that claims that, no matter how successful he was in converting people to Christianity, and no matter how humble and saintly a man he grew into, even after becoming Pope of Rome, Saint Peter would weep every time he heard the crowing of a rooster. Father Spyridon Bailey says we must take this example and “see ourselves as beginners in the spiritual journey, and always, always continue to see ourselves til our last breath as beginners in the spiritual journey. The minute we imagine we are humble, or virtuous, or dare we think saintly, we must take it as a sign that we are deluded.” There is never a moment where we don’t need our repentance and God’s forgiveness.

This genuinely has me in tears.

Saint Peter, pray for us, the sheep of your beloved Lord’s flock, which He entrusted into your paternal care. May we be blessed with the same grace of sincere contrition and humility, that same total admission of weakness and need of God… even if it means God must send us our own rooster to drive the point home.

May we love Christ enough to let our hearts break for Him.

Trust Him. His power is infinite. There is always hope.

How to live a life of perfect peace:
1. Trust in God.
2. Keep your mind fixed on Him.
3. Acknowledge God's power.

Remember, these are not passive steps. Trust, focus, and acknowledgement are all ardently active and frequently require engaging in spiritual warfare against the world & the devil.

But, even then, a heart fixed on God will indeed be in perfect peace. No matter what we may endure or encounter, God is our strength and our song, and by His loving protection, we can rest in Him, who “even the winds and the waves obey” [Matthew 8:27]!

“We have time and prayer backwards. We think time determines prayer, but prayer determines time. We think our lack of time is the cause of our lack of prayer, but our lack of prayer is the cause of our lack of time. 

When a little boy offered Christ five loaves and two fishes, he multiplied them miraculously. He does the same with our time, but only if we offer it to him in prayer. This is literally miraculous, yet I know it happens from repeated experience. Every day that I say I am too busy to pray, I seem to have no time, accomplish little, and feel frazzled and enslaved by time. Every day that I say I’m too busy not to pray, every time I offer some time-loaves and life-fishes to Christ, he miraculously multiplies them and I share his conquest of time. I have no idea how he does it, I know that he does it, time after time.”

- Peter Kreeft, Time

If we’re “too busy to pray,” we’re just running away from Life Himself, and we are inevitably going to burn out all our time until we give up and return to Him. Stopping to sincerely pray in the midst of a packed schedule reminds our hearts of the One Who Is beyond all temporal existence, and For Whom it all ultimately exists. Busyness feels a lot less busy when you keep it in proper perspective– juxtaposed against the Big Picture! This is because Prayer reconnects us with Eternity. When we give our limitations to a Limitless God, miracles can and do indeed happen. But you have to stop and give first– especially if it seems an impossible task! That’s what miracles are all about, after all.

"In no way should you allow yourself to be frivolous with regard to prayer. Persuade yourself that such an attitude toward prayer is an offense, the most serious criminal offense. Consider prayer as your first priority in life, and keep it in your heart as such. Then set about it as your primary task, not something that is by-the-way."

 

-St. Theophan the Recluse

Prayer is our direct connection to God– our Creator and Savior and Purpose– during our short time in this suffering world. Without Him we are nothing, all is empty and fruitless and broken. With Him, we have Him– we have true love and hope and life, all which, outside of Him, are unattainable. Prayer connects us to life in the midst of death. Prayer gives us light in the deepest dark. Prayer opens the doors to God when we are being crushed by devils. In the biggest picture, prayer is more important than breathing. All else utterly pales in comparison.

“One of the most fascinating myths is that of the Minotaur…The Minotaur was half bull, half huge & powerful man. The various mythic adventures about him and how Theseus defeated him are of secondary interest. What interests me is the symbolism of the myth. The Bull-Man is just what it looks like– a frighteningly powerful beast from hell. Like a bull he is powerful, unpredictable, hot blooded and stubborn. Not only immensely powerful, but the Minotaur is hidden– locked in the underground labyrinth beneath the palace of the king. The palace of the king is beautiful, respectable, wealthy, powerful and pleasurable. The palace contains all that seems attractive and delightful about life, but locked in a labyrinth beneath the palace lurks the Minotaur… and notice that the Minotaur dwells below the palace of the King who is named Minos. “Taur” means “bull” so the minotaur is the dark and bestial shadow side of the king himself. Minotaur stands for the underground evil– the lurking, potent force in the subterranean passageways of our lives. Beneath the shining successful surface of the palaces we create for ourselves, the Minotaur roams and roars. What is this monster in our lives? It is the stubborn, unpredictable, chthonic urges rumbling below like a dormant volcano. This beast roams at will within the labyrinth of our underground lives. It is there that our kinship with Cain wanders about seeking whom he may devour. Without redemption, the Minotaur dwells beneath our silken palaces and our shining exteriors. [But] out of the darkness of the labyrinth the man speaks. To defeat this underground monster of the dark we need the courage and cunning of Theseus whose name reminds us of “Jesus” which means “Savior”. The Minotaur is all that is secret, dark and deep… we should be gathering our courage to face the foe, and it is Christ the True King who comes to enter into that subterranean realm to do battle and defeat him once and for all.”

— Father Dwight Longenecker
 

"But destruction can also pave the way for creation," they say. That is the ironic point here. The Minotaur destroys the false palaces, yet it too in its violent rage is self-destructive and doomed. The Minotaur can tear down but it cannot build. The kings can build but they have no foundation but catacombs. Ultimately all such false things will annihilate themselves, and it is only in our willingness to see them fall that we can be re-created by Christ– the Only Source of True Life, the Only One Who has risen from the dead, and the only True Foundation on which anything can be built.

Let Jesus in to storm their hollow castles and empty the tombs. Let Him defeat the proud kings and wicked monsters. Then you will be reborn in His Victory over both death and decadence, to a new life in God.

“A Catholic may sin and sin as badly as anyone else; but no genuine Catholic ever denies he is a sinner. A Catholic wants his sins forgiven, not excused or sublimated.”

— Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

A Catholic lays his soul bare before God and all, because only then– in absolutely raw honesty– can every last corner of his heart be scrubbed clean by Christ’s mercy.

I do not want my sins excused, because I do not want to sin at all! I want my sins pointed out, chastised, corrected, and forgiven. Something in me is broken when I sin, so I desperately seek to fix it– not deny it! Lord have mercy on me, a sinner… if I do not admit this terrible illness in truth, I will never receive the mercy that can heal it.

“A Christian is not his own master, since all his time belongs to God.”

— St. Ignatius of Antioch (via averosamystica)

Remember this daily. Are you spending your time, which was given to you by God, for His sake? He gives you so much; are you grateful and using it well, or are you wasting this precious gift? One day He will not give you any more time, and you will have to give a full account of your spending! Keep this in mind, and honor the moments you have been entrusted with!

I think about this quote almost every day; it’s effectively inscribed in my heart. Honestly all Christian souls should hold this same sentiment with as much courage and fortitude as they can muster, and should ask the Holy Spirit for increased grace to hold ever the more truly to it as we grow in holiness until our inevitable, and hopefully blessed, deaths.

Apparently, Saint Joan said this after receiving a mortal wound, and some soldiers wanted to heal her with pagan charms. She refused with the quote above, adding that “if to her could be applied a remedy without sin, she was very willing to be cured”. Mind, she sought life not for her own sake, but for the sake of continuing her mission from God, which she indeed lived to complete, praying before every action and weeping for the souls of those who died in the sieges, friends and enemies both.

She has been one of my patron saints since early childhood, a holy woman who others inexplicably but consistently associated with me. In time her life has proven to hold many notable similarities to and lessons for mine, and I am deeply humbled and honored to call her one of my most specially beloved patron saints. Dear Saint Joan, pray for us!

otiumetbellum:

The danger of peace and decadence lies in the ability of temporal pleasure to cause man to forget about the war that is forever waged within himself.

This is the reason why are called the Church Militant– We seek Christ’s peace, not that of the world, and His peace is rooted in hope of heaven with Him– for our true and complete triumph comes only after death, when we are reunited with Christ our Victor! Until then, it’s war against the devil, the flesh, and the world, and we can only achieve that through Him, Who is opposed to all such temporal temptations! So remember from Whom an to Where you are called, hold to this holy hope, do not despair, and endure until the very end as a soldier of God.

“The human soul has still greater need of the ideal than of the real. It is by the real that we exist; it is by the ideal that we live.”

— Victor Hugo
 

What is real now is only imperfect. What is ideal is what exists in God– the true full potential of Creation, and its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, which we see the first realized glimpse of in the Resurrection of Jesus. We too are called to be part of this divine ideal, as we are also part of the real that He glorified as man, for we alone as reasoning souls are able to perceive this blessed hope, let alone participate in it through faith. Therefore, whereas all other creatures only exist, it is our sacred responsibility as humans to live, to strive ever upwards, and to carry all of Creation with us, in the salvific strength of our perfect Savior.

“Beauty attached to God is sacrament, cut off from God it becomes an idol.”

— Frithjof Schuon
 

God is the Source and Cause of beauty. If we fail to recognize Him in it, then we effectively admire earthly beauty as its own cause– turning it into a false god. This misattribution is the essence of all idolatry.

"Religious experience is bigger than religion. That is to say, God himself is “outside the box.” While we have our doctrines and dogmas and traditions and theology, God is greater than all our explanations and there is more in heaven and earth than our neat little answers can contain."

Fr. Dwight Longenecker

modern-day-distributist: I don’t disagree, but people usually only say that sort of thing right before they go full heresy mode.
 

Honestly that’s what concerns me about most of the reblogs here. It’s a humbling truth that can sadly be taken far out of the proper context.

Nevertheless, in a beautiful sort of irony, Fr. Longenecker said this in an article discussing how Catholicism’s history of the miraculous is still entirely valid even if the formal religion has no outright inclusion of such things. And even then, God is greater than BOTH wondrous miracles and religious comprehension. But even so, God EXISTS, not as some vague and unknowable pantheistic “force,” but as GOD, the Creator of All, Who we see reflected in all and Who we do strive to know and worship and serve to the best of our humble human ability… but Who is inevitably bigger than our brains can fathom, and the experience of Him, beyond theory and study and dogma, will always shatter our notions and knowledge in some way… because it will both fulfill and surpass them in a way that can never be confined in systematic theology.

Religious experience DOES NOT invalidate religion. Personal religious experience, in truth, must always be evaluated in light Of religion, as our own feelings are prone to skewed objectivism and may not be legitimate outside of our own imaginations, as it were. But honest religious experience is “bigger than” religion in that it is not obligated to occur within the bounds of any formal faith practice– for indeed, such practices grow and are enriched over time BY religious experience. Consider Abraham, Moses, Jesus Himself! They and so many more experienced their religion in ways that their religious practice hadn’t fully been able to include prior. And Jesus Christ is honestly the BEST example of this: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (Matthew 5:17)

If you are quoting this in an attempt to elevate the supposed validity of your own objective experiences above the time-tested validity of subjective religion, you have grossly misunderstood the essence of the quote itself. But if you reblog this as a humble admission that even your own experiences cannot and will not ever fully comprehend God– and that He may indeed reveal Himself to you or others in ways that confound and baffle all your previous individual notions– then you’re on the right track.

A rule of thumb: in discussing God & religion, if you are speaking from a sense of pride or superiority, you’re no longer discussing God, but yourself. God is bigger than you, and that is what this quote is about. You are not your experiences. They happen TO you. And the One who gives those experiences cannot be held in any finite box, no matter how sturdy and solid the box is. It’s just too limited– not in “size,” but in what it’s able to hold. Think of it this way: can you fill a box with the color of a sunrise? Or the sound of a river in springtime? Those things are real and beautiful and true, but they can’t be fully described or comprehended outside of direct experience. In this sense, Religion is a painting, a photo, an orchestra, a book– all gorgeous and grand ways of more fully expounding such experiences, but never able to encompass the totality of what it holds in honest part. Nothing is invalidated or denied. You just need both to properly get it– and even then, God is bigger than it all.

"What if" = Fear
"Even if" = Faith

It’s only hubris if you’re trusting in yourself– that’s the literal opposite of faith.

And faith is not without inquiry. The point is that, even in the face of a trillion hypotheses, God Is Still Good. Fear only asks “what if?” But faith responds TO fear with an infinitely joyful “even if.” What if the worst occurs? What if this cannot be fixed? What if I die? Even if all this and more happens, God Is Still Good, and He is STILL in charge of everything, orchestrating it all to reach His ultimate ends– “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

Hubris denies fear. Faith soothes it. Inquiry is actually stifled by pride, which seeks to shut up any negative possibilities, thus leaving fear in hiding until failure or disaster inevitably occurs, which pride cannot admit. But eventually fear will become the loudest voice, like a panicked child desperate for comfort… and that’s when faith must step in and embrace it. Yes, things are scary. Yes, things are painful. Yes, you may not see any light at the end of the tunnel. But have faith. Do not be afraid. God Is Still Good. And this adamantine assurance will carry you through every question and crisis both, until at the end of it all, fear ceases forever and peace reigns with joy.

“The revulsion towards and violent detachment from nature leads to its desecration, to the destruction of the organic conception of the world as a cosmos, as an order of forms reflecting a higher meaning, as the ‘visible manifestation of the invisible’ - a conception (of Indo-European origin) which is an integral part of the Classical view of the world and which also lies at the basis of various forms of knowledge of a different sort compared to profane, modern science.”

— Julius Evola, The Bow and the Club
 

Such revulsion and detachment ultimately stems from pride, a self-idolatry that inherently opposes the humbling reality of a greater whole, of a cosmos that is defined by “us and them” instead of “me.” All of Creation is God’s Creation, blooming from His Heart, an ineffably grand painting that inevitably bears the signature brushstrokes of its Painter. But pride hates to be a painted thing, especially just one among trillions, and so it begins to detest the work of art itself, denying its Cause and Purpose, and instead attempts to make a painting within a painting– not as a joyously innocent imitation of the art around it, as one who acknowledges their proper place in the cosmic whole could do– but as a staggeringly arrogant and futile effort to replace the canvas itself, proclaiming itself as the true functional backdrop of all things, despite not having any hand in the matter even then. But such con artists manipulate, and mutilate, and make every effort to usurp and appropriate power from the Creation they have come to begrudge so bitterly. They desecrate because to admit sacredness means admitting ones own inherent mortal failure to achieve it. They ignore the higher because they can be kings of the lower, but only servants of what is above. They think themselves greater than nature, from “other things,” but in the end, all this achieves for them is a lonely death, ironically surrounded by a universe that only ever wanted to embrace them again as God’s Child… but they said no.

“…unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish.”

— The Gospel According to Saint Luke, cap. xiii, verse 3 (via egosvmqvisvm)

There are no exceptions, to both justice and mercy… yet there are conditions. We are condemned to the first by our pride and ignorance, and only faithful penance can free us to receive the second. God will have mercy on us only if we humble ourselves enough to genuinely admit our desperate need of it.

“Even in trifling matters the depths of one’s heart can be seen.”

— Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Remember this. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.” (Luke 16:10)

The heart is the fountain of all our deeds. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45)

Make sure yours is anchored to Christ, and humbly obedient to Him, because left alone, the heart is pulled violently to and fro by wicked things, and it will become corrupt by constantly acquiescing to their whims. The waters of our soul become dirtied terrifyingly easily. Furthermore, our very nature is sinful because sin is disobedience, and from birth, our fallen pride sadly disposes us to commit such. Only Jesus can change this, and so we must die with Him to be recreated in Him. Only then will our hearts be renewed, more and more day by day, until our inner depths are washed clean and clear.

momentsbeforemass:

“We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road.” – C.S. Lewis

After the Resurrection, there’s a strange exchange between Jesus and Peter. We see it in today’s Gospel. Jesus asks Peter, “do you love me?” Peter says yes.

Just like you’d expect.

Jesus repeats the question. Peter gives the same answer.

But Peter knows that something’s off.

Jesus repeats the question again. Now, it’s not a friendly question.

Peter is distressed. Because he sees where Jesus is going. This is a call-back to Peter’s most shameful moment. To Peter’s betrayal of Jesus.

On the night before the Crucifixion. When Peter, the one who bragged about being with Jesus to the end, ended up denying even knowing Jesus. Three times.

This is Peter’s reboot. It’s progress. But progress that doesn’t ignore what Peter did.

It’s the only kind of progress that can last. One that begins by turning back. To deal with what went wrong.

Before Peter can be filled with the Holy Spirit. Before Peter can live up to the new name that Jesus gave him. Before Peter can be who God made him to be. Before Peter can make any progress.

Peter has to turn back. Peter has to deal with what went wrong. Peter has to get right with Jesus.

The Gospel is showing us a universal truth. When things go wrong. Especially when we’re the reason why they went wrong. We can’t just ignore what happened, what we did. And try to keep on going like it was nothing.

It’s not healthy. And the longer we avoid it, the worse it will get.

We’ll never make any real progress towards being who God made us to be, without first turning back, without dealing with it.

Without that re-grounding in God, there can be no progress. Not for Peter. Not for any of us.

It’s simple. It’s not easy. But God will give you the courage to do it. If you have the humility to ask.

Turn back. Deal with it. Get right with God.

Then get ready to see real progress.

Go. God is waiting for you with open arms.

 

The only kind of progress that lasts begins with turning back, to deal with what went wrong. Especially when we’re the reason why they went wrong, we can’t just ignore what happened. We must get right with God and each other.

This hit me like a truck, especially since I honestly JUST received the grace TO do this in a broken friendship, two years of prayer later. But by God’s mercy, in response to my contrition and confession, He set things as right as they could be, and I am profoundly grateful… and profoundly humbled.

Turn back and deal with it. Remember the prodigal son. God is always there waiting to mend whatever you give Him… but you must first admit why it’s broken. Don’t be afraid though. God loves to fix things. And once He does, you will be able to move forwards in joyful gratitude, to a more whole and holy future.

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” (Proverbs 19:21)
Today I challenge you to pray that God reveals His plan for your life to you.

"The seditious mob [at the U.S. Capital] was motivated... by an unholy amalgamation of white supremacy and Christianity."

Humility demands that we actively and constantly acknowledge this. Our emotions, guesses, reasonings, perceptions, and imaginations are constantly falling short of truth, inevitably so. We are wrong and mistaken in our judgements so often it’s honestly laughable– and yet, we stubbornly (and fearfully) insist that “we know what we’re doing.” We really don’t, though. Only God does. And that’s the biggest relief, the most profound reassurance, the deepest peace– the fact that God cannot make mistakes.

So loosen your tight grip on life. Stop hypermanaging the details, stop insisting on your way or the highway. Stop being afraid of failure, and instead surrender every choice to your Father in heaven, who will never fail. Lean on Him like a trusting child, and He will carry you through it all.

Advertising tries to stimulate our sensuous desires, converting luxuries into necessities, but it only intensifies man’s inner misery. The business world is bent on creating hungers which its wares never satisfy, and thus it adds to the frustrations and broken minds of our times.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Lift Up Your Heart

The only way out of the beartrap of sensuality is to make up our minds, solemnly and honorably, to desire God alone. If we constantly check our cravings with this pledge, being brutally honest in our motives, then the Spirit will give us the grace to break the chains of luxury– sometimes link by link, but breaking free nevertheless.

Inner misery comes from one thing: seeking happiness in anything other than Christ. Once we humbly realize and admit this– and it does take serious humility to endure that shock of acknowledging our own corrupted desires and decisions– we can turn our hungering hearts to Him at last, all the more fully day by day, and finally experience the true and real joy in God that He’s wanted us to have all along.

Take a hard look at your life right now. Are you feeling hungry, miserable, unsatisfied, unfulfilled? When you feel that pang of luxury and want, turn to God. Remember that this life is temporary and only God is eternal. Look to the roots of your desperate clinging and ask yourself: what is it you truly want? It’s not things, it’s a feeling– the feeling of finally being happy, satisfied, fulfilled, at peace. But you haven’t yet truly acknowledged the fact that this world, being ruled by death, cannot ever give you those things. It’s a scary truth, yes… but only until you remember that God IS those Good Things, and will give them to the heart of those that turn to Him alone as the Source and Giver of them.

No matter what you may be desiring in life right now, God is greater, better, and more beautiful. God is ultimate fulfillment. Turn to Him!

“The crisis of nothingness is a summons to the everything which is God.”

— Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Three to Get Married

The raw experience of nothingness– of a sudden collapse into poverty, a scourge of disease, a loss of property, a death of a loved one– such a brutal and absolute encounter with emptiness and the utter inability of this world to satisfy the soul, let alone survive for long in its inevitable ephemerality… this awakens us to the truth. It’s a hard, sudden, shocking awakening, flinging us headlong into the abrupt acknowledgment of Light, only fully knowable now because we have been dragged from such depths of darkness. When we have honestly found ourselves at rock bottom, scrabbling at the dusty walls of a coal cellar, desperate to breathe now that the air is so thin– our tolerance of terror has been exhausted; we can no longer bear the awful weight of nothingness, the paradoxically crushing burden of now knowing, firsthand, that the way of the world is ultimately naught– then we helplessly turn our eyes upwards, desperate for a glimmer of something real, something untarnishable, something other than the fleeting pleasures and phenomena of the physical world. And of course Satan will do his darndest to lie to us in the most grandiose ways during this time, offering floodlights and banquets and golden decorations for our tomb, but none of it ever relieves that hollow feeling, that starvation for something more in a cosmic sense.

God is everything. God is the only “something,” the only real and beautiful and eternal thing. And no matter how long we may have been drowning in “nothing,” crushed under its terrible gravity, the moment we sincerely reach up to God He will take our hand and lift us higher. But how can we reach something– Someone– we do not acknowledge, let alone even know is there? Well, that’s the ironic beauty of it all. Falling into the debasing gutter of emptiness can slingshot us into the yearning for God’s boundless heavens better than anything else. God allows it for that very reason.

Are you currently in a crisis of nothingness? Are you experiencing, right now, the jarring and absolute revelation of just how fleeting the things of this world are? Are your finances failing, is your health declining, are your friends and family leaving, is your life falling apart? Then run to God, the only True and Lasting One, an impregnable stronghold, the very Source of all the peace and hope and light and life that your heart so desperately seeks and needs.

It is only through understanding what nothingness is, that we are able to know What nothingness isn’t.

“The Church is not a continuous phenomenon through history, rather, it is something that has been through a thousand Resurrections after a thousand crucifixions. The bell is always sounding for its execution which, by some great power of God, is everlastingly postponed.”

— Archbishop Fulton Sheen, Three to Get Married

I feel that, as God exists outside of time and therefore the Crucifixion and Resurrection are always occurring in a very real sense… it is only fitting that, as Christ’s Body, the Church in time would share in that perpetual dying and rising, always growing closer to God despite all odds, always both hanging on the Cross and rising from the tomb.

It’s something to meditate upon for sure.

heartcrymissionary:

My only resolution for this New Year - God is my first priority. I’ve run after people and I desired things. I’ve given importance to each and everything except God. And I’ve learned my lessons. Nothing is permanent and even though I got what I wanted, I’m not happy and there’s always a void or dissatisfaction. I can feel it in my heart that only God can satisfy my soul but I was pretty reluctant to obey him. But, God works in mysterious ways. He let me wander so that I personally experience the difference and now I’m the Prodigal Son who came back to his father. My God didn’t push me and he accepted me just the way I am. His Love is True. His Grace is so Deep. If you’re going through this phase, now is the time to start over. Come to Jesus. Start a New Life. Be Blessed. #ToNewBeginnings

I can echo this prayer so exactly it hurts… but what a paradoxically blissful pain it is, to now realize– quite powerfully– the truth that God is all I ever needed or will need.

No one is guaranteed tomorrow; every moment alive comes from God’s tender mercies. Therefore let us use every one of those moments for His glory, without procrastination, excuse, or timidity!

Let 2020 be the year that you, too, come fully home to God, that you begin to choose Him and His Truth over all else, that you seek Him first with no exceptions or excuses. Let 2020 be the first year of your new life in Christ, living in the unshakable joy of His Presence and spurning the empty entertainment of this fleeting world.

It’s never too late, as long as we are breathing, to return to God. He is always waiting for us with open arms and loving heart.
 

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." (2 Timothy 4:3)

That time is now.

Furthermore, it’s disturbing how thoroughly those false teachers and itching ears can utterly blind a soul to the fact that they’re living in a “comfortable hell”– lounging in front of the TV while the world burns around them, as it were.

The pain of “enduring sound teaching” is a divine ache, a growing pain, an indication of pruning and healing and breaking out of chains. It’s like a child avoiding a vaccination because they’re afraid of the needle & pinch– understandable, true, but ultimately foolish and dangerous, for without that brief pain, they are at serious risk of suffering far greater pain, perhaps even death, as a result of disease.

Either you endure the blessed ache of conversion, or you numb yourself to the demands of holiness and end up burning later.

Do you want heaven, even if it hurts to get there, or would you rather just have your comfy chair and happy lies in hell?

Sweet Jesus, talking
   his melancholy madness,
     stood up in the boat
       and the sea lay down,

silky and sorry.
   So everybody was saved
      that night.
         But you know how it is

when something
    different crosses
       the threshold -- the uncles
          mutter together,

the women walk away,
   the young brother begins
      to sharpen his knife.
         Nobody knows what the soul is.

It comes and goes
   like the wind over the water --
      sometimes, for days,
        you don't think of it.

 Maybe, after the sermon,
   after the multitude was fed,
     one or two of them felt
       the soul slip forth

like a tremor of pure sunlight
   before exhaustion,
      that wants to swallow everything,
         gripped their bones and left them

miserable and sleepy,
    as they are now, forgetting
       how the wind tore at the sails
          before he rose and talked to it --

tender and luminous and demanding
   as he always was --
      a thousand times more frightening
         than the killer storm.

The fear of God is wrapped up in the realization of Who and What God IS. To have seen that ageless and irresistible power manifest in Jesus– to see the wild terror of nature utterly collapse in obedience to Him– would have made any witness acutely aware of not only His divinity, but also of their own frailty, and the greater reality that encompassed them both.

Remembering Jesus makes it impossible to forget one’s soul– makes it impossible to ignore the truth of sin and mercy and judgment and life after death. Such a recollection can be honestly frightening, to a soul that has been asleep… and so the very reality of Jesus is indeed frightening as well.

The utter majesty of God is a thousand times more frightening than anything. And maybe no human ever can or will know what the soul is. But when we look at Jesus, we become so powerfully aware of both these things. And perhaps, the fact that such a being loves us, is frightening only in its initial incomprehensibility.

It’s this gorgeously dramatic paradox. The very God who both stirs up and silences the hurricanes and tidal waves of our lives, is the same God who yearns to wrap us in His arms with boundless love, even if it takes a typhoon to get us there.

But fear of God is rooted in reverence, and that reverence blooms into love, when we listen to Jesus tell us that this unfathomably great God is Our Father, through Him. This, too, carries a hugely fearful responsibility at first… which, like all else, melts away into love as we humbly admit our childlike helplessness before Him, and run to Him as such.

Devotion to Mary is simply giving her permission to form us into an image of Christ.

The simplicity of this profundity just floored me.

Mary, as our mother, then becomes to us who she literally only was to Jesus Christ. Calling her “mother” then puts us in the position OF her beloved Son, our Savior… and so she will joyfully raise us AS such.

It’s a staggering, humbling honor, a huge responsibility, and an unfathomable grace, to be able to not only grow closer to Christ in this way, but also to have such an opportunity of special intimacy with Him, under His mother’s care, her eyes recognizing Him in us and lovingly forming us into an ever-truer likeness of Him.

Mary was, and is, the mother of Christ. If we love Him, then devotion to her should follow suit.

thesolarsystems:

Do you have an angry/aggressive alter?

I’m here to tell you that that is absolutely okay! You have every right to be angry with what has happened to you. It makes sense for an alter to hold on to anger. It makes sense for an alter to hold on to aggression that you were not able to express.
It’s so important to show your angry/aggressive alters love. It can be scary, and it can be difficult. But they will be so grateful that you showed them love in a world that they thought was so cruel.
- River (a previously aggressive alter, who is still angry sometimes, but very grateful for my system members who have showed me love and acceptance)

#jay's post #the damaged ones #the furious ones
#we all have to do this. including me. #we can't just talk about lights we have to BE lights #we aren't taking tangible enough ACTION on this point #not yet anyway #and a lot of that inaction is being caused BY SOCIALS who are AFRAID OF BEING PART OF A SYSTEM #so they won't let us do anything #good or bad #because they are terrified #and we need to prove to those socials that we love them and will treat them with compassion and understanding #we need to talk about this
#but yeah that one girl who is embarrassed by any and all shows of love? #she feels filthy and wrong and is scared that all such shows are abusive and false #therefore we have to gently but notably show her somehow that such painful feelings are not true #help her to accept hope
#and that angry one who we all know as '???' who is ALWAYS screaming at or about something #has admitted herself that it's all anchored in gut-deep agony and sorrow and helpless fear #and it just explodes into rage through her
#but nousfoni like them need love shown to them so desperately #and i mean REAL love #not the stuff falsely passed off as love #showy and conditional and manipulative and cloying and terrifying #THAT IS NOT LOVE. #so this is definitely a delicate process #but it can be done #and #i need it too. #i do hold trauma through this bloodline

#hey socials read this #most of our inner-locked folks actually hold VITAL roles #and all of you who get too much dysphoria to front #you don't have to force through that to be valid so please remember this #and to all of those who simply have no need or want to front #that's totally fine too #the inside world is just as important as the outside one #and you are needed right where you are
 

bpdvoiid: i hate that my first reaction to stress is always Time To Die™ like ok calm down edgelord


#we need to talk about this #this is actually a trauma-rooted response for us #our triggers for stress are the sorts of things that either #made us feel like we weren't WORTH living #or made us terrified to survive to see the consequences OF that stressor #so the kneejerk reaction is to die from utter despair #different colors but the same lack of hope #learning not to respond to this reaction with 'calm down edgelord' btw because that's invalidating whatever hurt part of us DOES want to die #because they cannot see another option #the scary side of the system #the damaged ones #the lost ones

The myth that persecutors/avengers/angry protectors/etc are inherently “bad alters”/”evil alters” needs to stop. I used to believe this and I ended up being openly hostile to several alters (in my system and in others) who are children, trauma survivors who have not yet learned that the world is not as violent as they think it is, or that they can find comfort. If you’re able to safely do so, please try to teach these violent or self-destructive alters that they don’t need to be destructive anymore. It won’t heal them overnight, but please consider that they’ve likely been through the worst of whatever the system has experienced, and try to be patient and welcoming.



#VITALLY IMPORTANT #we need to talk about this #we need to do this #the damaged ones #razor #overload #the lost ones #we've always been very heartbroken hearing about 'littles' in other systems because all our kids are traumatized #none of them can relate to the easygoing vibe typically associated with childhood #they look for comfort in those things but it doesn't stay #also it just hit me that all of our most violent alters are stuck around ages 13-17 it seems #no adults #which makes sense because the system 'woke up' for good in 2008 #but yeah #this is hugely important #the scary side of the system
 

#underground #lanterns #geometry #plants #cisterns #headspace locations #this has such a momentous vibe to it #meditation mission starters #i am SO INTRIGUED by the presence of PLANTS AND LANTERNS in a place that looks like the entrance to the freaking tar rooms #and that white square just speaks volumes

❝ Faith and fear both demand you believe in something you cannot see. You choose! ❞

- Bob Proctor



#food for thought #quote #this is a very interesting thought #this is also very relevant to those in our system who think they're singlets #but know very well that there are 'voices' both in and outside their head so to speak #i want them to know this #you can have faith in the spectrum #or you can ignore us and live in fear of the floating liars #please choose the spectrum #you're welcome here

Tbh I experience being androgyne as being something so masculine and feminine that it has transcended masculinity and femininity and become some mixed up magical rainbow type thing but maybe that’s just me


#feeling this so hard lately #i like this concept #all our life we have been a diehard androgyne when you really boil it down #we identify as nonbinary but we do deeply value the binary genders as far as their traditional characteristics are concerned in polarity #we could NEVER be just one or the other #we were always both to such an extreme that we became neither #essentially #and we're really learning to love that again unashamedly #we've spent too long trying to force ourselves into boxes out of fear #no more #time to be a mixed up magical rainbow type thing once again #because that's never changed on the inside after all



#snow #stars #sunrise #pentagape #laurie's post #kid THIS is what you need to keep constantly in mind and heart #this feeling #you know what i mean #whatever it takes #stay who you are in these moments #because that's what life feels like #and you know what i mean by that too

#words #stars #laurie #infinitii #laurie's post #dead serious i'm butting in here JUST to post this inspirational pic #because it matters #it MATTERS #this goes out to ALL the trauma-holders in our system #even if you aren't aware you are one #binge girl i'm looking at you kid #we need to talk #but you're trying REALLY HARD and i am so bloody proud of you #don't give up #you're worth the fight too #yes you. #keep on truckin kid #and of course jay this goes out to you too #as always #you're worth every drop of blood i've ever spilled #and countless more #don't ever forget that #ever #live up to it #like you always do #and things'll work out #i guarantee it

Given the right environment everything heals. Your body heals. Your heart heals. The mind heals. Wounds heal. Your soul repairs itself.


#ENVIRONMENT IS SO IMPORTANT #if the external environment cannot be changed then at least make your inner one as beautiful as possible #we need to talk about this #remember this #system healing #there's still hope

look at what our dashboard just did.

#waldorf #to all the earthly cores #this actually helps a LOT #thanks usagi #don't ever underestimate the power of creative visualization like this #i don't care if you legit have to wear a tiara #if it helps you live as your best self then you rock that tiara #and wear it with honor #sailor moon

Being a good person is a choice. Don’t let people fool you into believing that truly good people never have bad thoughts, are never tempted by the easier path, by the low road, never mess up or act out selfishly. Never believe a person can be good without making a conscious effort.

Every single time you do something good, you’ve made a decision to make the world a little brighter.

Goodness is not an inherent trait, it is a choice. Keep making it! I see you, I’m proud of you, and I’m rooting for you!

“Goodness is not an inherent trait” is jarring to read at first, but in light of this statement, it makes sense.

The human struggle with temptations, with intrusive thoughts, with selfish wants, with less than gentle words and actions… it’s a basic part of life. It’s a war we all must fight, day in and day out.
But those shadows are not who we are. The battle is. If goodness isn’t an inherent trait, neither is evil. Those are both labels given to patterns of behavior. To “become good,” sometimes one must trudge through years of “bad.” That doesn’t make them a “bad person.” It just means they are fighting!
It ALL comes down to choice, little choices, one after another. Every decision we make is a penny in the bank– it is up to us to decide which fortune we want to build upon. Will we increase the light in the world, or will we increase the gloom? And we can change at any time… for better or for worse, there and back again.

That’s the terror and thrill of life. That’s the painful joy of it.

It’s always a conscious effort to be “good,” but that’s what makes it so meaningful– that consciousness. That is the factor that TRULY shows who we are at heart– what do we consciously choose to do? Even if we slip up, which we all will, in what directions do our hearts stalwartly point nevertheless? Who, in the deepest parts of our souls, do we sincerely want to be?
Those are the conscious choices that we must act upon, no matter how difficult the opposition may be, no matter how many times we have fallen before. The story is not over. You are writing it. Even if you cannot change your circumstances, your spirit is indomitable. Hold to that.

I see you, too, and I am cheering for you.
Just by having that sincere desire to shine ever brighter, you are already beginning to do so.
With all meaning intended– keep up the good work!


#food for thought #i'm in an inspirational mood today #here's hoping this helps whoever needs it right now #i have faith in all of you #jay's post

#heck yes #laurie's post #josephina's post #i think all protectors can get behind this one #words #truth #this is the virtuous side of destruction #and i absolutely love it #it's not brutal or violent #but it's unflinching and razor sharp #truth destroys not with malice but with a blazing sort of love #knowing that only truth remains in the end and therefore truth must be protected at all costs #there's a lot of untruth in this life #but it cannot last by its very definition #burn it to the ground #and let roses bloom in those ashes #this is what we live for

#ashen #this goes out to ALL the trauma-holders in our system #let us help you with this please #it's too much to feel alone #that's why we exist after all #roses #ribbons #words #system healing

❝ I like to make people a little uncomfortable. It encourages them to examine who they are and why they think the way they do. ❞

- Sally Mann


#WORDS TO LIVE BY #quote #slowly but steadily and joyously learning how to live this on a daily basis #we've been so used to forcing ourselves to be as innocuous and mild as possible #but those virtues taken to extremes become vices #and it is an inherent part of our nature to make people a little uncomfortable #so to speak #this quote sums up exactly why #there's a great deal of wisdom required to pull off this lifestyle #you cannot be brash about it #you have to be fiercely compassionate #you have to be aware of the effect you will have on people #and refuse to tolerate ignorance and irresponsibility #while still respecting the fact that some people may not yet be READY to question their thoughts about certain things #and that's just where they are right now #so you have to be gentle but ruthless about it #a lovely paradox #think of life like a snowglobe #it's the loveliest when you shake it up a little #jay's post

#jay's post #matthew 10:16 #i think about this a lot #a priest once recommended that i take that verse as my motto too #be as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves #be gentle and kind and guileless #but also be shrewd and prudent and cunning #the two are NOT mutually exclusive #there is a very powerful virtue in their unity #that edge is VITAL to spiritual integrity #we all got WAY too soft for a while #but even angels carry swords dude #and i miss this righteous fire in my heart #i'm gonna keep it there #snakes #doves #i need to write about this #system spirituality

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


@ 08:04 PM


FAITHSTUFF


My faith really suffered until I realized that Jesus isn't just "some holy guy"-- he's God incarnate. He is fully human, yes, but he's also fully divine, and not in the 'modernist' interpretation of the phrase


(dedication to Mary, childhood fears and confusions, etc. talk about great developments in understanding of faith lately.)


★ faith "depressing" because its become too much ritual obligation and NO LOVE?
We're so freaked out over "following the rules" that we're obsessed with the possibility of breaking them and therefore ALL our attention is on WRONGDOING. This is not good.
When someone tells you over and over, "do not steal," then even if you don't steal, that command is going to worm into your head and you'll start to panic in every occasion that stealing is even possible. You will see only opportunity for sin, and with that dread hanging over you, you will feel almost expected to sin. "Do not steal," they said, and so your head is filled with fear and knowledge of theft, even if you were never inclined to do so before. Do you see what I mean?
On the contrary, before we started this religious bent, we didn't think about that stuff at all because we were too busy thinking about love, and how best to take care of ourself and others. We didn't steal because we wanted to be just, we wanted to be fair, and we were concerned about doing GOOD.
This is a bit tricky to iterate but the point is, our current situation of Law-focused paranoia is actually making us a bad person. And we're miserable. We're out of touch with life. We've forgotten how to be a person, we've forgotten how to interact with people, we feel cut off from nature and creation, we spend all our time ritually praying and never feeling any closer to God for it, begging for forgiveness and yet feeling eternally damned to hell, suffocating in our own filthy and loathsome self-perception.


Deep in my heart of hearts even I am good because I believe that anything created by God is inherently good, deep down just the same.


(unfinished)

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


@ 10:49 PM