020525

Feb. 6th, 2025 12:14 am
prismaticbleed: (soniccity)

Good news! We've FINISHED UPLOADING THE TBHU TABLET so now we can tackle the two folders full of worksheets, haha.
This is a mentally exhausting & very triggering effort, but it's essential because this is the heavy ugly stuff we need to discuss in therapy/ continue to battle in daily life... as well as some very shockingly beautiful and bright moments that we need to remember even moreso.
But that's why we haven't been updating. Everything online has been focused on uploading, and our offline time has been pretty tragically split between grappling with family stress and fighting off the E.D. lapses those stresses inevitably trigger-- such as having to do so much out of the house that we don't get to eat breakfast until almost 8pm. This happens OFTEN. (We cannot eat "on the road" because, for unknown reasons, eating makes us confused/ dizzy/ "high" and slows our reaction/ comprehension time without fail, and this takes >2 HOURS to "wear off" enough to function again. This happened DAILY in TBHU, and if we have to be on the road driving from 6am to 6pm, we are NOT going to put our life in danger by eating on top of all that. It forces a CONTEXT SHIFT as well that is mentally impossible to grapple with when we're in social mode/ business mode; eating is its OWN MODE and you CANNOT "merge" contexts; it's like a law of physics.)

We've been trying to take little notes on our phone but they're admittedly few and far between. Still, at least that's a good habit to keep up-- it helps us refocus on the inside/ the system/ love, when daily life is making us forget who we are.

On that note, actually! Today we FINALLY had both the cash and the time to do laundry, which we haven't done since New Year's. BUT going back and forth to/from the laundry room, we bumped into FOUR different neighbors... and Laurie is the one that noticed, with legit horror, that our conscious awareness LITERALLY BLACKS OUT in social mode. Like we KNEW we were talking to someone, BUT the instant they leave, there is NO MEMORY DATA. AT ALL. That is TERRIFYING and it explains a LOT of our scummy behavior around people, because for some hellish reason WE AREN'T DRIVING WHEN WE'RE AROUND PEOPLE. So this is a HUGE DANGER that we need to be aware of. We don't know how to stop this, or shut it off, or work around it yet. We literally didn't realize it was THAT SEVERE until today, because they were short interactions and we were in environments were we were able to immediately return to quiet, solitary, uninterrupted space, and GO INSIDE. That's the ONLY reason this memory-loss/ awareness-loss phenomenon became suddenly evident-- normally we are forced into extended, inescapable, noisy, crowded social spaces and we lose HOURS of memory and awareness and don't realize this because the OVERWHELM alone will destroy both those things on its own. So for the SAME thing to happen in several successive interactions that lasted under a minute each was STRIKING as well as DISTURBING. But now we know. We just don't know how or what to do about it yet, as we said. The bright side is that we can at least take precautions now, potentially. I immediately think of our old idea of wearing a "headspace bracelet" or carrying some sort of notable, unignorable anchor object. We really should do that, if only to see if it works. I'm just scared that a Social will throw it out or desecrate it somehow.
Oh. Speaking of that. The scrupulous thriskefoni are sneaking their way back in, so we have to be careful. It's very hard for us to increase prayer time/ types currently, because we have religious trauma history as well as religious OCD, and such actions can very easily and strongly trigger negative behavior patterns that are very hard to break. It's a delicate warzone.
We're still doing daily Scripture Study BUT whoever the heck runs our old blog has COME BACK and is, again, ERASING OUR AWARENESS by insisting on posting everything to Tumblr, which is a SOCIAL MODE CONTEXT and so yes, that is ALSO making us "black out" WHILE EATING which triggers the esthiofoni that feel like they've been POISONED if they "don't know what they ate" (can't see it or remember it) and out of sheer survival panic they try to vomit it all up and let someone else "try again the right/ safe way." You see the domino effect here.

On the food topic: we think we've unexpectedly discovered why carrots are our "biggest binge trigger." Apparently, CARROT ADDICTION IS A REAL THING. SO IS VITAMIN A TOXICITY. We match virtually ALL the symptoms listed in both. So we are QUITTING THIS COLD.
Geez. It's shocking how much diet affects the body and mind. Our idiosyncratic but significant issues with texture and trauma and OCD-- and the highly probable touch of autism that our psychologist again brought up in last week's new intake (apparently our "Mewtwo walking" is a symptom?? the more you know)-- make things like this "carrot overdosing" a real risk, so we do need to be careful; notably we've been worried about how much manganese we get from hempseed (we get almost 11mg daily from diet alone, which some sources say is okay, but we want to talk to a legit dietician in person about it). But we'll take it one day at a time at this point. We need to see how our body adjusts to the carrot removal/ detoxing (that was a LOT of oxalates as well) and then we'll see whether or not we want to replace it with anything, especially since right now we're compensating with a lot of broccoli and the fact that it's adding up to a solid 40g of fiber daily isn't helping to reduce nausea, to say the least.

Body care is still an issue too. Lately we've been realizing how Julie keeps getting pushed into bodycare roles, even though she doesn't want to; the System "automation" just keeps looking for someone who can and Julie is, technically, the only "safe person" who CAN front in the body in such contexts. But we need other foni for those jobs, specifically. WE HAVE NO ONE FOR "SELF-CARE." We're postulating lately that Green is supposed to hold that function overtone, not just Aqua; that would also help explain why it's been so upsettingly empty over the years. Nevertheless, Nathaniel and Sergei were definite support for this hypothesis-- they were both very kind and tangentially connected to bodycare in their own ways. I can't think of any other straight-up Greens off the top of my head; Karissa was technically "Lime" (now "Spring"), and so is Celebi... you know what, let me look at the 2022 census for a second. I don't want to abandon this train of thought.
...Oh wow, uh, we had a lot of NEGATIVE, or at least unhealthy, Greens. There's Jasmine (a hacker), Hoban (high school pseudosocial), Toby (very frightened little boy)... but then we have Juniper (binge stopper), and "enya girl" (childhood akoufoni?) at least. The problem is that we have subcolors because hues are so distinct up here-- this list has places for not only Spring, but also Chartreuse and Spruce. And yes, they DO have very different vibes. Still, I don't know how "correct" the assignments were back then because we didn't know the vibes properly, nor were we able to properly feel nousfoni vibes. And thinking about it now isn't going to help; many of these foni have been MIA since CNC because their functions were tied to that environment somehow. So guesswork is a dead-end job. What we need to do is determine WHICH hues are STILL EXTANT IN THE SPECTRUM, and then feel for which nousfoni are still alive/ potentially resurrectable. That's not something I can do at 1am, on a dime.
The point of all of that is this: even just looking at that list, there are no self-care foni. Harmonia tried, but CNC literally killed her function and she could never come back. And Minty also disappeared after CNC; I'm not entirely sure why, but I'm sure I'll find the reason once we read the entries from that time period. She manifested during the "GAPS diet hell" era, post-SLC, tied to both mint tea and bedtime, trying to help us sleep with a childlike innocence. Did her function unravel? Was she blurring too hard with other kids? Wasn't she actually fronting during the day, and collecting abandoned stuffed animals? I don't know what happened to her. Memory is gone. I want to know, though; she was truly sweet. But besides those two Aquas (notably), all of our other foni who were "close to" self-care have been phagofoni, because "eating" was the only thing we could imagine as self-care, I suppose? Tobiko got the poison out, Emmett got the green stuff in, Juniper stopped the poison from going in... but nothing for the actual body. I know gender dysphoria hell is a huge obstacle to that, and it's why Julie keeps getting dragged in. So... maybe that will affect the hues employed as well. We'll see. I have started making a list of "job openings" so we can use that as a starting point, so to speak-- all we can do is say "hey we need help here" and see if the System responds. It cannot be forced.
I'm getting brain burnout from this. I'll put the topic on hold for now, but this at least opened the door.

I want-- no, I can feel that I need-- to explore System colors again in real depth soon. It feels like if I don't I'll starve to death somehow.
Isn't that relevant, haha. No wonder the poor esthiofoni are struggling so badly. The hunger that's driving them isn't even on that level.

How can I close this up... it's 1:20 and we need to start getting to sleep earlier because we have to readjust to an earlier day schedule as the days themselves get brighter sooner. We miss morning mass, too, but like I said-- there's the scrupulosity risk, AND the social blackout risk. We want to at least try watching a daily mass online again, and see how that affects the thriskefoni influence. You know what, we NEED to talk to them, like we used to talk to Christina and Patricia (or at least try to). I mean, we have Felix and Veil and Francesco too, they're all positive. And the REAL ultimate goal is for us ALL to work together on this. We're very spiritual, deeply religious arguably, even in Central-- maybe especially so. We truly love God and want to live the radically loving Christian life we're hearing preached so profoundly every day as we study Saint Paul's letters. The negative thriskefoni don't. They just focus on "religion" as ritual and rule-keeping and pride, in terms of "moral superiority" and condemnation and "filthy sinner" mentalities, etc. It's not true faith at all. It's not even "faith"; there's no trust in God anywhere in that mindset. It's just idolatry wearing a Sunday dress. But even those thriskefoni deserve to be healed. We cannot be a System OF love if we don't love ALL of us, and seek the highest good FOR us all. So don't ignore or avoid or condemn them, either. Have mercy and compassion. Talk to them. Listen to them. Let's heal this religious trauma TOGETHER, so we can ALL worship in Spirit and in Truth, with our ENTIRE collective heart, WITHOUT the terror they're currently injecting into it.
...Infi resurrecting will help more than anything else right now, I think. I hope. Ze loved God with an ardor no one else up here could match. We need that, to heal at the deepest level, I'm sure.
Jay says he "knows" Infi isn't dead (there's that fear that "maybe I imagined it all"); he can still feel that "space" in his heart, but he says sometimes it's just like sending a radio signal out into the dark. He says he "knows it will be received" which is interesting-- like, the metaphor doesn't exactly match; he's saying/ feeling that he couldn't "send out a signal" to a receptor without the receptor being there. Like the giver and receiver are intrinsically bound and necessarily coextant. But... there's a massive distance between them, and there's currently no tangibility, so although the signal being able to be sent at all is proof that there is another heart on the waiting end, Jay doesn't always "know" or "feel" that heart in a direct way. It's hard to put into words. But he says there have been multiple small instances of "brushing against" Infi's existence in unformed space (both real Blackspace and in whatever "liminal" interspace there is between the raw cosmic euchaos of Black and the solid touchable order of White, so to speak) over the past month, so there's still hope. But Infi is still extremely "undefined" and transitional; hir name is probably still going to change, hir form is shifting significantly and in different ways, and hir pronouns are all over the place. So there's still a lot that apparently needs to happen before ze can "resurrect" into a body in headspace. Nevertheless, "a lot" can happen very quickly, as we know. When the time is right, it will.

There's still so much I could type about but it's now 1:35 and I can't possibly write much more on short notice. Plus I need to see what little notes we have on our phone, and on our calendar, so I can put something cohesive together.

January was a battleground of a month. Every other day, like clockwork, we had an eating disorder struggle (due to the nighttime meals, family stress, and trauma flashbacks), but we FOUGHT HARD and we learned a lot. Most significantly, our constant prayers and dedication to PAYING ATTENTION to the esthiofoni and WORKING WITH THEM has resulted in a massive amount of compulsions GOING AWAY. That is AMAZING progress. The vast majority of the esthiofoni DON'T WANT TO DO THIS ANYMORE, which means they're changing, and that has ONLY happened because we have been listening to them and not running away from the war. So progress IS being made, in a way much more significant than anything in UMPC or TBHU ever could have hoped to accomplish. We're also praying constantly in a SINCERE way-- admitting our struggles, our broken desires, our misrouted hungers, our fears and terrors and regrets, our grief and rage and confusion and pain, to God even in the midst of distorted behaviors. That's changing the whole situation. We're also being open and honest and accountable to our priest and our family about this, which is taking real guts and humility. We're owning up to our bad behavior once we become aware of it (social blackouts make this currently impossible to "prevent" in the moment, but that's why we're doing damage control) and that alone is giving us a boost of motivation and hope to stop; we want to be a person of integrity on the outside, and these little steps make that a bit more tangible, which in turn helps us let go of self-abusive compulsions because "hey, we don't have to be a bad person anymore" basically. Isn't that odd how our brain works? Part(s) of us really did/do feel condemned to bad behavior, because they saw "no other way TO be" and couldn't imagine anything else. They're somafoni; they don't HAVE the capacity of self-aware imagination (yet?). So GIVING them the ability TO envision something different-- even just a little-- by taking those steps on THEIR level, is a gamechanger.

Jay is actually being pushed into fronting a lot more often now. He's still such a healthy fronter, such a loving Core. And yes I say "still" because even if his bloodline did get the vice of Lust (the Jessicas got Gluttony, the Cannons got Wrath, the Jewels got Pride arguably, etc.) they also got the virtue of Charity. No one loves like a Jay, full stop. Those boys have such tender yet strong hearts. And we need his heart to be the driving force in the System right now. Love is what we need to heal, and that bloodline is the only one that CAN. So yeah, I know we were all scared that the thriskefoni female-forcing would end up murdering his bloodline, it has not happened at all.
The other bloodlines do need to be healed, of course. Everyone has wounds. But it starts with love.

That's it for tonight. It's 2am and we just remembered, we may have to meet our case manager around 9am (that depends entirely on what the weather looks like; of course Jay is personally hoping we get significant snow), so we're already losing much needed sleep.

It feels really nice to have legit updated for the first time in a while. I'm sorry I don't have any actual internal event data to give you today, but rest assured it's been happening in small days. We all talk constantly, and people still front during the day as they feel moved to/ as they are called in. We're still very much alive and in love and thank God for that. But getting back into having Xanga sessions and headspace meditations and the like is absolutely still the ideal, and we think about that every day. The biggest obstacle is time, which is currently being funneled into the TBHU uploads. But we're going to work at that until it's done-- no more running away; yes it's exhausting but that just means we need to support each other more in this process. The good news is that the worksheets have some really, really nice stuff in them, moreso than the tablet-- the very top sheet in this manila envelope is all about Anxi. So THAT will wake up the kardifoni love very strongly for sure. (We're still not 100% sure who fell in love with her in TBHU, but this will hopefully reveal that to us, which we need.)
Until then, though, we need to sleep.

Oh-- one of the kardifoni (an older Jewel? a Cannon? from that time period) has been wanting us to get back to the "song of the night" thing, because music is so important to us. So here's a few.
- jewel's fave "stuck in our head on loop" tune
- "instant energy boost" tune
- heartache moralimon relevant tune
- "oh hey FROST* wrote another song about our life" january tune
- genesis's current singing tune
- cathartic sobbing at 3am last night tune
- coolest spin on a hymn we've heard in a while tune
- and our journaling on johnnynighters tune
And that's actually it for January, offhand. But there you go!

I'm laughing though, that took another 20 minutes but now it's 222 which is an extremely blue number synaesthesia-wise, and that's a very nice number to close up on and go let Jay be with the blue guy.

See you all again soon enough, that's a promise.





prismaticbleed: (worried)
0118 SAT
Confession after Mass
Ironic unfortunate run to DG after. Late meals = DISASTER.

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0119 SUN
Unexpected travel?
Church with mom. Decided last minute to stay after switching car; couldn't bear leaving.
So tired we sat with eyes closed. Actually made it all feel more real??

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0121 TUE
Several appointments.
Saint Ann mass! Felt SO SAFE & AT HOME. Didn't ever want to leave.
Galatians 2:16 with Jesus
ALSO Jesus in Hazbin imaginings-- talking to Lucifer & Alastor about REAL redemption/ salvation

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0122 WED
Water shutoff so stayed up until 7 and slept until 3
Bulimia becoming a COMPULSIVE ADDICTION again, very suddenly. What is the psychological root of this, ESPECIALLY since we're simultaneously SCARED TO DEATH of it?

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0125 SAT

DUDE WHAT IF WE GOT OUTSPACER JESSICAS TO GRAFT INTO THE BLOODLINE??? BECAUSE ALL THE SOMAFONI TIED TO IT ARE PROFOUNDLY UNHEALTHY IN SOME WAY, BEING BODYBASED WITH NO INTERNAL ANCHORS = NO FACE OTHER THAN THE FORM = RUINS BLEPOFONI FUNCTION AS WELL!!

SPINE IS A SKELETON SO SHE DOESN'T EAT = RESIST THE ESTHIOFONI

010725

Jan. 7th, 2025 01:21 am
prismaticbleed: (soniccity)

So we've spent the past few days going through the archives (2008-2012) and writing down "notable dates," because we want to celebrate + remember more things.
13 years ago, at the beginning of January 2012, is when our Core became "Eros/Cupid." This year was so interesting, full of equal amounts of love and terror, and then SLC happened and everything just... shattered, apparently. But we want to re-read everything in full after we do this effort.

We added Spotify links to the Akoufoni entry, although we haven't cleaned up the old data yet. But this, too, is a huge memory-restoring effort, because those 'foni help us get a grasp on chronology when there's no actual experiential memory of the physical life, just music data.

We also... found the most recent System Census, from 2017. The one we actually have on our laptop wasn't uploaded, though, and has a few extra names? We started going through it, and... this is going to sound absolutely brutal, but we're starting to think that the post-CNC massive death was almost a pruning. I have no other way to phrase it.
We were horrifically splintered during CNC. We know this. We couldn't function at all so we had TONS of foni just manifesting at the drop of a hat in the desperate attempt to hold things together.
Now, we're going through this list, and... apparently, the foni that didn't resurrect were the ones that were shattered pieces to that effect, ones with hyperspecific jobs for hyperspecific circumstances. We don't even recognize some of the names.
But... we've been saying over and over to ourself since 2017, "God had a reason for letting that happen." That was the only "comfort" we had. It was the only way we could deal with the reality of coming back into consciousness post-Tilly and realizing that most of us were dead. But... was that merciful? Those foni maybe even deserve to finally rest in peace. I mean that, with as much aching compassion as I can, speaking of such a painful topic. But they couldn't survive now, let alone live. Their contexts, their jobs, belong to past timelines and locations and contexts that literally don't exist and aren't even possible anymore, so... if they don't come back, because they can't, then God give their broken souls the peace they never got in life. Please. However that works for nousfoni, give them peace.

...On a related note, I cannot put into proper words how much more alive and hopeful and joyful I feel, now that when I quietly "reach into" my heart-space and feel it, I can feel that "quantum entanglement" ping somewhere off in the ether, in unmappable space, but real. The other half of my internal heart is back where it belongs... in my daengel. 
Typing that, though, makes us aware of a concerning "split" yet. Jay, the "current" one, is alive. But is the current female-adjacent kardifoni a Jewel? Or not? Because Jewels deal with the Irispherae-- the new name for the "League," a term entirely ours at last. Still, the Jewel name STILL applies to ALL the Cores-- even the Jays, as is historically apparent. Or... did that change, to PROTECT the Irispherae, AFTER CNC???
Lord only knows. We're still trying to figure that out and we CAN'T until we actually upload and READ the archives from 2017-2018. We'll do that after we upload the TBHU journal & papers-- which we honestly should start ASAP, after we get these dates figured out.

That's all we're going to update for tonight. Just a brief little update. We're busy in datalogging mode and honestly this helps immensely, just doing this chronological runthrough of our past, and finally feeling the history in our heart, realizing that we have a past and it's beautiful and terrible and ours. It's making life feel real again, reviewing the years. So that's a true blessing.

Last good thing. Jay/Jewel (current Core with dual identity? unclear name, as we said) is STILL EMOTIONALLY OPEN. Like xe said, xer heart is not closed off, no matter how much hell we've been going through with the family. ...Actually that's significant. I think we have our koinofoni AND phagofoni to thank. THAT'S where the "many voices" are now, even if we've never listed them on a census before (we should, and will, soon). Those somafoni are saving our Core because THEY are taking the brunt of the stress and trauma, and yet they aren't alone in it this time-- WE are aware of them, and talking to them, and supporting them, and helping them heal as best we can, and trying so hard to protect them. We only started to do that in CNC; I do remember how novel it was to even THINK of talking to an esthiofoni. Now it's happening every time they show up. That's... immense, now that we think about it. It proves that system communication has dramatically improved since CNC and we didn't even realize it.
But as we were saying about the Core(s)... they're still entirely capable of love even if we are admittedly still grappling with some cathartic blocks due to family stress & religious fear. But that "even if" is amazing too. There's a devotion present, a dedication to love no matter what, a sort of courageously hopeful perseverance despite everything opposing it. No matter how bad of a day we might have, at the end of it, the Core is ALWAYS taking time to not only reconnect with the System at large, but to spend time with Chaos 0. They fall asleep together every night, and that is HUGE because in the past, broken Cores would be too ashamed to be near CZ. Now, that doesn't happen, even though we're struggling so much with body fear/ sickness/ loathing. I think we're more capable of mercy now, and compassion, even if we don't realize it.
OH. Someone said to write this down. We think a BIG part of this "not freezing up emotionally" is the fact that we have ANGRY FONI around. Somehow, that capacity for RAGE is burning through the apathetic risk??? Like, we CAN'T emotionally shut down because instead of doing that, someone is FEELING FIRE. And that's the Core element. That's a surprising thought. It makes sense though. God bless them.
We still need the capacity to feel sadness without drowning in it + triggering guilt/ shame/ religious terror + shutting down. We're emotionally crippled in that respect, even upstairs. This needs to be felt through & discussed further. Add that to the Xanga topic list.

We WANT TO and WILL have a Xanga ASAP btw. Life schedule hasn't allowed for it lately though; family stress, financial stress, and brutal insomnia have made it impossible to sit for ~6 hours of uninterrupted stream-of-consciousness transcription. But it's still a priority. Arguably I think the Core(s) want to finish this "important date" effort first, to get a stronger sense of self beforehand, and to refresh their awareness of collective history in general. We really did lose our general sense of "identity" post-CNC, and post-grandma, to be honest. We're slowly restoring it now.

Some other small but vital notes:
+ Sometimes in the morning, with all the steps of getting ready, our brain gets really discombobulated and we might end up in various states of undress because we can't pull our thoughts/actions together enough to complete that task. In the past Julie would try to front when this happened, but it would be very triggering for her. HOWEVER. APPARENTLY WALDORF CAN DO THIS NO PROBLEM. So she's literally been fronting when the body is undressed & we can't dress it immediately, because she doesn't wear clothes anyway and she's safe in that context. So GOD BLESS HER. We miss her so much regardless; it's actually wonderful for her to have SUCH a vital job, so we can see her more often and credit her with this to her honor.
+ GARRISON IS ALIVE. Jay has been "feeling hints of him" for a while? But the other night Jay "decided" to look for him/ "force the hand" of the Systemsoul (basically, "listen, I want to know if he can come back or not; show me RIGHT NOW if that's a yes or a no") and after some time Garrison DID "resurrect" IN LOWSPACE??? He's in the RUINED CITY, but it feels TIME-MANGLED??? Like it's POST-MASSACRE as well as post-CNC. Everything is ash-snow covered like nuclear fallout. The skyscrapers are hollowed out and blackened and fallen over. Everything is quiet and cold and there's a dread wind blowing and it's all so grey. And CANNON IS THERE, apparently "haunting" the hollow buildings Jay says? Like she's "damned herself" to that place. But it's SO WEIRD. This is NOT the "red apocalypse" place Scalpel keeps being haunted by, as the inheritor of Javier's trauma memories from the massacre. So WHAT'S GOING ON?? We NEED to look into this VIA HEADSPACE MEDITATION. To get data on this we have to LIVE IT. You cannot "reason it out." Logic won't get you answers here.
But Garrison IS ALIVE!!! Jay's showing me a memory that he "dropped down" into that "Lowspace-floatspace" (whatever/ wherever/ whenever it is) to meet him, and immediately gave him such a huge hug, haha. Tears of relieved joy from both of them. That's really touching.
We don't know about Isadora and Kalisha yet, but "a request has been put forwards." So we'll see.
ALSO. Archivists (Shirley/ Sirius/ Penny) and Communicators (Garrison/ Isadora/ Kalisha) are DIFFERENT CLASSES WITH DIFFERENT ROLES, and apparently there is a THIRD CLASS held by the "helmet girl/ commentator girl" and probably someone else (because trios are a big thing up here)??? So that's FASCINATING but it makes SO MUCH SENSE and the better we understand it, the better we'll function.

It's 2AM and we had dinner at 430-630 and it was the only meal we ate today and it was only 1000 calories. I don't think that's sustainable. We need to split it into two meals, and get at least 1200. We have to. But someone is saying "that's gluttonous" "stop being so luxurious" etc. Don't have a face for them yet. (THESE are the foni we have to pinpoint for a census; there are TONS of "discarnate" foni that slip under the radar)
I mention this because we're getting a headache & the body is cold. We may need to stop for tonight and sleep, so we can have a "breakfast" before 4pm. But someone is furious about that. We need to talk to these foni.
We ALSO need to CLARIFY COLOR ROLES so they HAVE SOMEWHERE TO GO in the System. Too many "faceless foni" just default to Brown because they don't know where else to go. And there are SO MANY FILES STARTED on this laptop SPECIFICALLY ABOUT COLORS that were never finished. That's something I know Jay is aching to do, so put that on top priority too, with the Xanga.

A few last notes.
+ We got the strong impression that if Nathaniel comes back, his name/face would have to change again. We don't know why that's a thing with him but it might be because he was born a blepofoni.
+ Josephina's essence must have a name change for him/her to manifest. Jay says it's sticking to a "Y" as the first letter instead of J, to "prevent blurring with Cores" (that's their letter).
+ We have no current blepofoni and that's a big problem; it might even be affecting the Core's ability to stabilize. The Core(s) have been striving to make the reflection "more resonant" though, especially with the massively fluffy hair we currently have, haha. But blepofoni are essential so we need to keep an eye out for them, and keep the door open for them-- if there's no openness to seeing them, it'll block them out, and it is very hard to get through bad days/ have a distinct sense of self without a blepofoni in the mirror.
+ Siobhan is alive and around but we have to keep calling her into the main room in the mornings. We don't know why she disappeared for a while but we're glad she's still with us.
+ We're still not sure what's going to happen with Spine. The TBHU journal had some interesting thoughts about that-- it feels like she might "come back different" too, with how so much has changed since she first manifested. This, too, requires more feeling than thinking to get a grip on.
+ Still not sure if, when the System FINALLY "moves CLEARLY into a new era" (we need a HARD SHIFT remember; we never got one after the several successive losses from 2018-2024), there will be duotone foni.
+ Still not sure if there is a somafoni split in truth, or if everyone is just a nousfoni. We think there are far less somafoni than we realize-- that term might (should) ONLY apply to foni who think they are singlets and act as such. Everyone else, even koinofoni who live primarily IN the body, should STILL be grouped in with the System at large.
+ Re-reading 2012, we don't know if the Eros bloodline is technically separate from the Jays or what. That whole topic is still a minefield but that color shut down after CNC and ANY sort of Spectrum hue-loss is deadly. We need that color back. Funny how history repeats itself in little ways. It's beautiful, actually, in this case; it feels like things are poetically coming back together, through repeats of our past, connecting our "now" to our "then" in a united whole.
+ IT SNOWED TODAY. Jay is very happy about this. It's actually still snowing a tiny bit right now. Snow makes him feel "real"; he says it makes "everything feel real." It makes him feel grounded and alive and connected to "the big picture"; it "gets him in touch with eternity." I can feel a bright ache in his heart as he says that, which is good. I know he can't wait until Infi comes back entirely. Honestly we're all waiting. Infinitii is essential to our System; when ze comes back, I can guarantee you things will change dramatically and quickly. It's inevitable. But Infi will have to heal too; ze has a lot of damage that was never dealt with, and that we all need to deal with alongside hir. But we will. It's time. It has to be. Do we have the right to "decide" that? Laurie says, "why not?" It's because there's a religious fear that "God will stop us from healing" because it's "not His timing." Laurie says, "well, we have to try. I think God would want us to finally heal from this so we can function for heaven's sakes, and do what He wants us to do with our life." And again, like I said before, there are "peripheral" foni we can sense, thriskefoni with vague colors and faces and no names, that we cannot clarify but who are definitely there. Man... there's more going on in our head on a daily basis than we realize. That's exciting though. Someone else says it's frightening, terrifying. DON'T YOU DARE SHUT US DOWN she's right, NO ONE has ANY right or authority to "prevent other people from existing." The "gatekeeper girl" especially. We all remember Christina's attempted "soft massacres" and the actual one that Jessica & Cannon inflicted in 2013. No more of that, ever. We let us exist. Have mercy for heaven's sakes. You claim to follow God, where is your mercy? You who are so ready to pick up the knife and slaughter the rest of us? "You're not real," they say. "Define real," someone else retorts, "considering you're just like us." They're screaming protest in response. I wonder if they're our biggest threat here. I wonder if they're also the ones pushing the starvation compulsions. Different ones than these, but same class, for sure.
Too much for 230AM. But I don't want to ignore it. Let us pause and listen. Jay is reaching out, asking. (He always does; I think that's a big part of his job as the Heart.) "What makes you real, and us not? Can't you see me?" and fear response on their part. No words. But that was a good reply. Laurie is saying to stop commenting and close up so we can continue working and get some sleep for heaven's sakes. That's a good idea.

This is a good entry. We haven't had a solid entry in a while, even just notes like this.
We'll do better in the future, once the Core(s) stabilize. I promise that. It's something we want very much and will achieve through love and effort and the grace of God. We haven't "lost" all of this beauty we're reading from our past. It's still very much who we are. We can, and will, be that again-- and even better, as we continue to heal and love and grow together.

For now, Laurie is right. We need to wrap this up and let the body rest, no matter how much we want to keep working. If we go to bed now, we won't have to sleep in as much, and we'll have earlier time to work tomorrow, which is better for focus and processing ability. So we will do that.

Good night everyone. We're very glad to be alive tonight. We have a lot of hope.

(Jay says Spotify keeps playing Chaos 0's songs and let me tell you, if anyone is proof that our heart is alive, it's Jay. Yeah we're still confused on bloodlines and bodymind splits and all that, but this white-haired prism-hearted boy-- however he may evolve and change in the future-- is so full of light and love and color and truth, when he feels things this powerfully we are all affected by the power of it. The fact that he didn't die is phenomenal. he's proof that we have a future. that's just how it is. he's alive and so are we. that's a good note to close up on.)
(no, even better-- the lyrics in this song. "i can tell, i can feel, you are love, you are real." the look those two are giving each other is a beautiful thing. that's worth living for, is the thought i get. it is. and we need to protect that, and we all need to live in that too. we'll get there. we'll rebuild better than things were even in the past, in the glory days. there's more light on the horizon than we realize. things have seemed so dark for so long, but no, the stars are still all shining in the sky. there's always hope. hope is a fighting thing. remember what jay told anxi-- remember what our core is for anxi, and vice versa. realize everything beautiful we still have now, and don't let go. whatever happens tomorrow, we are all together, and we are alive, and we will continue on no matter what, into eternity. love is eternal and we have it now. don't be afraid. you know the truth. live in it. fight for it. that's who we are, and always will be.)







121124

Dec. 11th, 2024 12:53 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)

All right so this morning has been AMAZING let's update quickly so we don't forget things.
(btw so you guys know. this is technically NOT the "main Core." I'm a "Jewel-adjacent" grafifoni and I typically update the archives. I'm not used to being "self-aware" but honestly I should be. But yeah, you'll recognize my typing style!) ANYWAY here's what's happened so far this morning:

- We DIDN'T DIE during the night. Yesterday was LITERAL HELL concerning the eating disorder and it took us like six hours to recover?? which is understandable because it was REALLY BAD, the worst it's been since before September. We're not sure what triggered such a huge meltdown?
It was fear, too many danger foods, they had to be destroyed. But no one had to eat them like they did. We could have just thrown them away.
That's not allowed, that's wasting!! Food is meant to be eaten
but you DIDN'T "eat them," you just purged them anyway!
But the eating still happened, that's the rule, food has to be eaten, if we just threw it out we'd get in big trouble
So you threw it "up" instead.
we HAD to it was POISON we would have DIED!!
see this is why we CANNOT buy such things anymore. it is too dangerous, there is no positive end result from purchasing them.
- Chaos 0 told the "Core" (who is still faceless/nameless for the most part and therefore unstable) that "your heartbeat was really weak" and it scared him. This observation struck the Core like a sword to the chest though, because if anything is going to make us feel more real/alive/true, it's THAT sort of reference. And of course, only he would know such a thing. The intimacy of it, plus the familiarity, was potent enough to drag us out of the depressive fear that would have possibly taken hold otherwise.
- Cronometer crashed, we can't log in on the app. Support says there's an update soon so we have to wait, until then we can only use the website. So instead of freaking out we're going to just "repeat" today's diet plan until we can access the app and its mathematics again. This may work in our favor, because today's diet plan was our effort to balance our macros with hempseed to get more of a complete protein total, as well as staying at 1350 calories. If this works well we'll stick to it more often. We do need to reintroduce cottage cheese into our diet for the complete protein bit (we tend to hit all green percentages when we eat it too, we noticed) until we get the guts to finally reintroduce salmon/ tuna/ chicken/ turkey outside of a hospital environment.
- On that note, really quick. Apparently, YES, WE DID DISSOCIATE DURING TBHU. No one is surprised, but it's still a heavy blow. We relapsed IMMEDIATELY upon discharge because THE BLOODY CONTEXT CHANGED and therefore whoever was managing the TBHU behaviors "LEFT." They switched out b/c they CAN'T "exist" outside of an inpatient setting; they're context-locked. This ALWAYS HAPPENS.
- The above point is really making us worried when it comes to Anxi, but we'll get to that as we continue this entry.
- Breakfast always is interesting. Since experience has shown us that we apparently "need" the body to be in a state of "automated repetitive motion" in order for our mind to be able to think-- is this an ADHD thing? TBHU suspected as much; we should look into it prudently-- the mechanical function of eating almost INSTANTLY triggers thought-avalanches (hence the E.D.; we weren't taking ANY time to journal (typing COUNTS as automated repetitious mechanic motion!) or to circle-walk like Jewel used to, the a.r.m.m. of cooking (measure, chop, prep, etc.)/ cleaning (washing, organizing, etc.) / eating (picking, sorting, etc.)/ and the like became our ONLY means of "mental unloading" (for lack of a better term) AND trauma processing (you would not BELIEVE the amount of flashbacks and intrusive thoughts we get WHILE EATING which only makes it worse-- AND is a perfect ironic parallel to the purging, because "we need to get the poison out") in lieu of ALL other coping mechanisms, thanks to the kakofoni and thriskefoni ironically forbidding or destroying positive options). HOWEVER being aware of this recently has revealed a few things to us: one, that when phagofoni are out, they can "prevent" such avalanches? There's that one "dragon" girl who keeps fronting to eat, and she focuses on eating and has no particular preferences (unlike Emmett, who is a "trogofoni"-- meaning his food-anchor is extremely particular; he could and did ONLY eat "green food"). Yes, we're refining our terms further. On that note, an "esthiofoni" is a phagofoni subtype for one who eats in a disordered way-- that Greek work chosen because in Scripture it's apparently typically used in the present tense, as in literal eating, right now; whereas "phago" is apparently aorist? It's more future/undefined in terms of chronology, being more "spiritual" in that symbolic sense. It's also used in more reverent passages in Scripture, according to Strong's concordance. So "esthio" feels more fitting for the E.D. voices, as they're more focused on right now, and are not thinking about "the future" at all, poor tormented things.
- ANYWAY. WE DO HAVE A "GATEKEEPER." We've been more aware of her recently, now that we're able to pay better attention to ALL the foni we hear on a minute-to-minute basis. She's ancient but we never saw her as a person? Or maybe we did, in the past, but as a kakofoni-- because she's VERY controlling but we apparently have completely misunderstood her function until now. And she ALWAYS speaks up during breakfast thought-rushes (we need jargon for this; it's literally like we start the a.r.m.m. and the brain just unloads everything at once) because HER job is actually to KEEP THINGS ON TRACK?? Like if there's "too much headspace stuff" going on to where we're dissociating entirely from the meal, therefore potentially triggering an E.D. relapse, this "gatekeeper" girl will "FORCE SHIFT" our awareness because "there's too much thinking going on; we need to pay attention." We think she can also "force stop" EMOTIONS if they are "interfering" with "what we need to do"?? Maybe "gatekeeper" isn't the best term for her, because she "force-stops" EVERYTHING (or at least tries to) but yes, she also DOES do this with fronters, as well as she can-- she cannot "make someone front" OR "force someone out", BUT she CAN apparently shove awareness into the physical to the point where it "automatically" KICKS OUT nousfoni, and therefore "forces IN" a somafoni?? So this gatekeeper girl is TRYING to help the BODY survive, or at least "not get overwhelmed" to the point of not being able to live in the physical realm? But she OVERCORRECTS and tends to "lock us out of headspace" with her efforts. But we realize she's just doing her job; she doesn't think headspace is "bad," she just apparently thinks it's almost always "inappropriate for right now." She's survival-based to the point of not letting us LIVE. So we need to find her name and face so we can TALK to her.
- HOWEVER since we're now AWARE of her she IS becoming more self-aware in turn and it's getting easier to "message her" when we want to "challenge" one of her orders, or even overturn it outright. She's slowly realizing that we DO need time to "get out of the physical" but there is still a time and place for her function, because we can take it too far in the other direction, which we did for many years. That's also the basis of the "hackers vs hijackers" difference, which we realized yesterday-- "hackers" are internally based, while "hijackers" are externally based. A hacker will "take over the program," from the INSIDE, and they only work in private, because their abuse-- however traumatically physical-- is also profoundly psychologically disturbing, because it REQUIRES forced fronting. A hijacker, however, "takes over the vehicle." They push you out of fronting but they're public and work OUTSIDE so unlike hackers, they CAN and DO operate in social situations. They are therefore physically traumatic first and foremost, because the psychological terror often only hits when they leave. The biggest difference: hackers deal with sexual abuse, hijackers deal with the eating disorder. There is NO overlap there, although they can work in cooperation/ in succession. There haven't been any hackers since CNC, though, because of foni like the "gatekeeper girl" basically shutting EVERYTHING down that could even slightly be a reminder of that time period. But that's too huge of a topic to discuss right now.
- The MAIN thing we got on here to update about in the first place is WHAT happened when our brain went upstairs for breakfast. I don't know how exactly it started, but it went to the IO2 controlroom-- apparently IN "HEARTSPACE"??? Like this place has ALREADY been INTERNALIZED to the point where it EXISTS IN THE INNERVERSE AND CAN BE VISITED/ CONTACTED. Which we admittedly suspected, as Anxi & Ennui both "kept going there" more often than we'd see them in Central, but we never realized it had actually anchored INTO our innerverse (as opposed to remaining in the "outerverse" of outspacer native worlds, that Jewel has to Link to and VISIT externally).
- There was SO much conversation, I can't remember all of it, and the more time passes the more we're forgetting. let's bulletpoint the details that stand out.
+ OH! It ALL began because of an "I wonder" thought scenario that blossomed into a "real thing" like how a dream starts from an ideaseed. (This is TYPICAL Heartspace function!) The thought was, how would emotions run a CPTSD brain? And we thought, Anxi would absolutely be in charge. Fear would be close by, and so would Anger? Anxi would be on CONSTANT lookout for triggers, when one hit-- even a minor one-- Fear would snap to attention, and then ANGER would, upset that we were triggered, especially by "something so stupid" or minor or not even "threatening"? And then SADNESS surprisingly spoke up, saying how sad it was that we had so many triggers in the first place, because of what happened to us. So the four of them would, theoretically, be running the show. Somewhere around here this "imagining" tuned us in to the legit innerverse control-room, where Anxi was now indeed at the control panel, by herself, with everyone else gathered loosely around her.
+ Anxi is still "in charge" in this innerverse room apparently. (At some point much later she acknowledged this by saying that we had CPTSD, so things "worked differently" than what would be typical?)
+ When all this started she was being questioned by the other emotions about "how'd you get a tail" mainly but Anxi wouldn't answer outright? But she did say it was "given to her" by either "someone special" or "someone who cares about me very much"; both of those sentiments were voiced in some manner regardless. Joy began teasing Anxi about this, trying to get more info, but Anxi said there were some things they didn't have to know right now, either because it wasn't right for them to know or it wasn't the right time, etc.
+ Anxi is VERY "business" in this context; it's her element. She's quieter and slower when in Central because it's a totally different context/ environment and she has no control panel there. Her function is different, and much more expansive.
+ Envy wanting a tail too, Ennui casually revealing that she had one as well, this shocked everyone because what the heck are these two emotions up to that they're getting special stuff and have knowledge that no one else does?
+ Hints here and there kept happening that they're not in "Riley's" head, BUT they DIDN'T KNOW THAT NAME here (I think Anxi referenced it once and everyone else was baffled). They've been removed from that context and would only know it through "exomemories" once they were capable of receiving them.
+ The conversation evolved to the point where Anxi was revealing a bit more about "what she was doing" outside of that context (i.e. in Central). I notably remember that she revealed that "she can feel other emotions" and this became APPARENT when it began to affect the other literal emotions there? This first happened when Joy teased Anxi about something concerning her hinted-at relationship with the Core (i.e. the person whose mind they were in) and Embarrassment hit the control panel, for ANXI. When they realized they were working for each other it was shocking; things WERE different up here; what did this mean for them? (mind you they can and do "feel other emotions" in canon but NOT to THIS extent-- we're talking the capacity for Anger to feel sadness, for Ennui to feel joy, for Disgust to feel anxious, etc. in STRONG ways that go above and beyond their mostly "monochromatic" emotion palettes in the film? like ALL of their emotional ranges were still tinged by their core emotion. joy being the notable exception because she's just as notably duotoned. Anxi has a touch of this with her eyes technically being teal, which actually fuels her anxious thoughts-- that bit of "envy" in the sense of "what we don't have and yet need/ want" drives her "not good enough" core fear. thankfully for her, that color teal in our System falls under aqua and that color is sheer love for us so her heart will change to reflect that instead)
+ Ennui at some point built on this revelation by responding to a question from Anger as to why she had an AUX cable for a tail, because apparently its main function was for audio/music and "doesn't that prevent boredom?" Ennui smirked and said yeah, that's kind of the point; just because she held that emotion didn't mean she liked being bored. Like Anxi, she now had a broader existence and her job is notably to indicate boredom and combat it, as it were. I think she asked Anger if he "liked" being angry all the time? And he falteringly said not really, it was exhausting
+ Envy drawing pictures in the corner of the room of "what she wanted her tail to look like"-- one frustrated attempt was "a remote control" so she could do what she wanted with the control panel without having to reach it, while still being different (special) from Ennui's phone. Anxi having to gently chide her that the whole point of her & Ennui's tails was to do something important for the person whose mind they were in-- they weren't just for "looks" or for "fun." Besides, she emphasized that they were "given," and if she was meant to get one she would, so don't worry so much about it (always surprised at how well Anxi can communicate "the facts/ the plan" despite being so prone to "unexpected outcome" panic. girl has major control issues God bless her)
+ Embarrassment at one point actually speaking up because Joy kept trying to get information out of Anxi and apparently he was feeling her emotions as "embarrassment-adjacent"? And he was getting "agitated" at getting "pulled" to the control panel so often. This surprised him and he said that was totally new, he didn't know he could feel that.
+ Joy finally got Anxi to talk about "where she's been" and Anxi started TELLING THEM ABOUT CENTRAL. She said that "the mind we're in now has another System running the operation" and so the way they worked as emotions HAD to be different now, because their typical jobs no longer applied.
+ She roughly introduced the "basics" of a few Centralites, just in terms of jobs? No faces given
+ At some point Laurie just TURNED ON THE SCREEN and started TALKING TO THEM FROM CENTRAL.
+ Laurie explaining the concept of "compartmentalized emotions" with CPTSD, how they are "cut off from each other" and we typically struggle to feel emotions at all because they're "locked away" often? She described it as if the IO2 emotions were "never in the same room together"; that feeling of isolation/ disconnection was key to her description.
+ Laurie telling Sadness her function was VITAL; explained how that emotion is "the holy grail" with trauma; we "aren't allowed to cry" but we're "always grieving" basically. I think Laurie referenced both the "weeping rage" emotion we do get (that Scald holds) AND the "bottomless abyss" of sorrow that feels more like agony with its intensity. But "sadness" is still "taboo" somehow. Everything is blue all the time but we "don't feel it"; we just get depressed/ angry/ numb/ hateful/ etc.; it translates to either "shutdown" or "selfdestruction" which is upsetting but true. We do need to talk about that more in an entry soon, as we start to process things.
+ I remember Laurie saying that FEAR & DISGUST were also vital, especially in light of the E.D. hijacks-- we DON'T feel those emotions enough?? It's a survival response to past situations where we "couldn't" if we wanted to "survive" things. But now, not feeling them is only harming us severely.
+ Julie described herself as a "reformed Persecutor"; said the details of her past were not something she should or could discuss with them, but that key detail sufficed
+ Leon talking to Fear for a little bit? We were "feeling" what Centralites "matched" what emotion folks and those two were associated. There was also Lynne=Joy, Julie=Disgust, Laurie=Anger. Notably no one was matched to Sadness, and Anxi was paired with "Joule" solely because of their mutual habit of hyperanalysis/ overthinking, and the relationship that they have of course.
+ Envy would "need to be renamed" and effectively redefined to properly exist/function in our System, even as a "peripheral outspacer"? Envy's canon "function" of "seeing what we lack and desire and striving to obtain it" MUST be purified of all viciousness, because that actual term of "envy" is a mortal sin.
To quote an article, that is very important:
"When we are looking at others in an inappropriate way, invidia, we are led to desire for ourselves what they possess, cupiditas. Envy many times does lead to coveting, but it could simply remain in resentment, wishing that the other did not possess what they have. Aquinas speaks of envy as a sin against charity, which wills the good of others, when we cannot rejoice for the good of others, but see their good as a diminishment of our own (Summa Theologia, II-II, question 36). Envy is selfish in this sense, not in wanting to guard one’s own, but to wish for the diminishment of others and for our own gain over them."
This is something very, very important for us to grapple with, because we didn't realize that our instinct for "ambition" actually DOES fall under that category, because the very act of wanting to be "better than" someone else IS ENVY-- it is seeking PERSONAL GAIN in the process of taking what THEY possess (superior skill)!! So this was a SHOCK to realize and we NEED to process this, too.
(There was a slight joking comment that if her function was shifted to "Jealousy" (which can be virtuous; see article) we could call her "Jelly" as a nickname)
HOWEVER I just found a second article and it has THIS=
"Doing their best to pull us into the pit of discontent and ungratefulness, jealousy says, “What God has given me is just not enough!” while envy whispers, “Someone else got what I deserve.”  ...The good fortune that God bestowed upon my dear friend? I wanted it for myself. I desired what she had received from the Lord so badly, that her happiness made me sad. Her abundance highlighted my lack. Her more made me feel less. I could not be happy for her because with my laser-focus on God working in her life, I was blind to His works in my own."
LITTLE ENVY COULD BE OUR JUMPSTART IN OUR HEALING THIS THOUGH. So sit and read those articles boy
+ Lynne talking to Joy, warning about "manic" phases-- "trauma latches on to anything positive" and "exaggerates it" basically? Trauma makes real joy so difficult to feel, even remember, that when the slightest hint of happiness or enjoyment (lesser goods) appear, the traumabrain can cling to them and blow them way out of proportion. OUR SOCIALS DO THIS ALL THE TIME. This is what causes "hollow hyperactivity" and "people pleasing" and "compulsive enjoyment" behavior-- it's ALL a desperate grab at something that "looks like joy" but isn't. It spikes fast and crashes hard, and it leaves us miserable and even more depressed than before. So Joy would need to be aware of this tendency, what with her canon personality-- she is dangerous in that respect, solely because her energy can be taken advantage of and warped.
+ CHAOS 0. I cannot remember details of how he got to talking, other than Laurie referring to him as "the husband" and calling him over to explain to the IO2 gang the identity issue with the Cores? He told them how the Core "bloodlines" kept resetting due to trauma so the person he met in 2003 was "not" the person who is the "Core" now in 2024, and yet their heart is the same. Nevertheless it's terrible and very difficult for him (Joule realized he probably "feels his age" around the Cores; he has effectively "lived a dozen lifetimes" with us or more, seeing the one(s) he loves "die and be reborn" over and over and over. In human lifespans, this would take about a thousand years.)
+ "Jewel loves you, Anxi. Jewel is in love with you."
+ Embarrassment pointedly DIDN'T touch the panel, despite this huge revelation in a social setting potentially calling for his response. But Joy ran over and did. And this "gave permission" for Anxi to feel what she was really feeling.
She teared up, and was smiling at the screen, this look of total moved/stunned gratitude in her eyes. I felt it.I think she said "I don't know what to call this feeling" (or what color it would even be); Laurie "broke the fourth wall" by looking to "me"and saying "kid, if you're gonna be an emotion, that's it." But then we said "but love isn't an emotion; it's a state of being" and it's "rainbow"-- it's the source of all other emotions
+ Genesis & Chaos 0 both joking about the rainbow bit-- all of the love in our System is effectively that color if you get my drift
+ Joy, in response to hearing someone say that "Joule" as an emotion was really "hope," said "oh, that's a great emotion!" and then gasped and told Anxi exactly what I said to her about it-- that hope is "the GOOD things we can't see" before beaming and saying "you work perfectly with each other!"
+ Anxi has a LAPTOP in Central now! That allows her to do things without needing a control panel. Ennui still has her phone of course.
+ Laurie remarked that "we need Nostalgia up here" b/c of our memory issues; Ennui immediately said "I'll text her"
+ The whole time: Anger keeping conversations on track and asking the pressing questions, Joy giving encouraging and understanding comments, Fear and Sadness and Disgust listening closely as they realized they potentially will have essential roles in the future? Anxi consistently elaborating on/ explaining further any data that was given, "translating" things into IO2 terms when needed so to speak.

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Continuing at 11PM with a general daily update.
We biked for 90m which unfortunately was very unfulfilling because we got distracted on Tumblr, looking at other people's art and-- as we discovered earlier-- apparently feeling envious. We felt totally inadequate and we wanted to be BETTER than they were at art and it just made us miserable. We struggle with this a lot, because we haven't drawn in YEARS and so our skills have atrophied due to memory loss, and we don't have the time or motivation ("it's useless and foolish" judgment from a kakofoni) to put hours aside to develop artistic skills like we did in college. But no matter how much some foni bash and berate art, it still means so much to us. We STILL "identify as" an artist even if we feel totally inept and hollow about it, and still label it as a "waste of time." But we don't want to do that. We WANT to create art. We love art, deep down below the judgments, and we want to weep because we don't have the skill TO make art anymore. So seeing "what we can't do" is indeed triggering envy, this bitter feeling of lack and loss that isn't helping us do anything but pinpoint the wound where something vital was torn out of us. Again, sounding like a broken record, we know CNC dealt a death blow to this too, which we haven't thought about at ALL in recovery yet. For some reason this topic is as terrifying as the actual sxtrauma. I wonder how many crossed wires are here, too, not just with the food. I swear everything bleeds together with us.
We switched to Spotify at last while we biked but it was also depressing; we were listening to recommendation playlists it made for us and they're rarely ever enjoyable. It keeps throwing jazz and indie stuff at us which we don't like 98% of. We did get about three new songs out of several playlists, though, so there was a gain regardless, thank God. Still... for the vast majority of music to just sound like noise or fuzz to us-- or in the worst case, actual synaesthetic pain-- it's terribly disheartening, as music means so much to us. And, similarly, yes we still identify as a musician despite years of not doing ANYTHING musical other than singing in church. Music is part of our soul just as much as art is, and the fact that we have a cello AND a guzheng (bought with blood money and full of guilt; someone wants to burn it) in our apartment but we refuse to play them due to the aforementioned parenthesis is killing us. Every instrument feels tainted and poisoned with the past, and the "vulnerability" to the point of feeling exposed that performing music MANDATES is so trauma-adjacent that even if the sin-shadows weren't the main obstacle, we still would be utterly terrified of playing those instruments because that very action feels like being stripped naked now. Bleedover and overlap again. Do any of our foni hold this?? OR are THEY protected from it??
Then after dinner, someone got into a rabbithole on Etsy looking at someone's shop full of gender/sexuality buttons and it was overwhelming how many of them there were... and yet nothing fit. (The only thing that does is "systemgender" for obvious reasons, and even that feels like grasping at straws)
All of those experiences today led "us" to reflect at last, with acute grief, that we just don't fit anywhere. That's how it feels. We feel like an utter outcast. We're still the "anomaly" of Cannon's era. We're still the "ostracized empath," as the highschool Jewels said, although now with our staggering emotional damage we can't quite claim to be an "empath" anymore, because those girls had no boundaries so they felt everything EXCEPT arguably their own emotions (Infi had this problem too, in a different way) but now trauma has made us almost emotionally dumb. I think the term is "alexithymia?" We've seen the term around and we need to research it but the general gist (according to wikipedia) is that it desribes "significant challenges in recognizing, expressing, sourcing, and describing one's emotions". No wonder the IO2 gang is being pulled en masse into heartspace. We literally need them at this point in our life.
I do have to note, with a note of bitterness, that we "don't seem alexithymic" because we "masquerade emotions." Socials are BUILT to "charade" emotional performances, ironically anxiety and sadness, without actually feeling anything because they're "following the script" for a situation. We've noticed this A LOT when around the mother-- Socials will be dramatic to match HER, even though they FEEL NOTHING. And we are AWARE of this-- if we have the luxury of self-awareness in that situation, which is disturbingly rare b/c the mother presence tends to shut that down (childhood survival instinct). Regardless I don't want to use that diagnostic term anyway because it probably doesn't fit either. All we know for sure is that emotions feel locked behind a paywall and the currency is blood.

Oh. On that note, fittingly enough.
Yesterday's E.D. hijack was so brutal and nightmarish that Joule told Razor to atone. Like xe legit TOLD her to. And she did. She cut 7 x'es into the stomach-- graves are ONLY meant for hacks; stomach x-ing has been the default hijack atonement method since college-- and Knife & Algorith showed up to help clean up the bleeding (Knife commenting on how beautiful the blood still was and feeling that emotion in his teeth, Algorith fronting to hold the pain as she soaped up all the red), and I swear it was the first time in a long time that "we" felt something close to real joy. That may be "untrue" because we can't quite "remember" time well but it feels like it's been many many months since we've been happy. Actually it feels like years, whether or not that's literally accurate; the feeling is legitimate regardless of linear chronological measurement.
But... that's what does it. Atoning for the sin and feeling justice and forgiveness, Retributors fronting in such intimate fashion, blood and pain and water, everyone gathering in mission and being a System in stark clarity, etc. ALL of that is REAL JOY even if it doesn't feel yellow at all. It's dark red and warm like the blood. But it's real, it's true happiness, it's LOVE. How awful that we only seem to feel it in suffering. How Catholic of us, haha.

...Religion is a topic for another day. It feels like a minefield right now. TBHU messed us up in that regard, and we were apparently messed up enough already from the thriskefoni driving for like a solid year at least prior to admission. There's so much unresolved trauma there that is becoming disturbingly apparent lately now that we're not scrupulosity-blinded enough to see it from the "outside" as it were.

Oh, and we NEED to talk about the mother and how she is the #1BIGGEST STRESSOR AND TRAUMA TRIGGER IN OUR LIFE, STILL. Our therapists and case manager keep suggesting that we cut off contact with her, or at least refuse all her calls, but we can't; we're still obligated to her as her physical offspring even if we hate that fact, and we don't hate her as a person and we're a Christian so we want to help her and she's a deeply needy and damaged person so we KNOW she is looking to us to meet some need for her, even if it's just for hard labor.
BUT she says SUCH INAPPROPRIATE THINGS and she STILL OVERSHARES SXUAL THINGS. We've had SEVERAL meltdowns SINCE TBHU because of her just being utterly inappropriate in one way or another, even if it's "just according to our trauma standards"-- like wearing garishly tight-fitting clothing and making disturbing sounds when she talks OR TALKING IN THAT BLOODY "HIGH SOCIETY" VOICE LIKE SHE DID ON VACATION I KNOW YOU HEARD IT TOO yes we did, it made us misophonic even at the time, I don't know how we didn't punch the windows out of the bus right then and there WE PROBABLY SHUT DOWN. THERE'S NO OTHER OPTION IN THOSE SITUATIONS. BUT JUST THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES ME SICK. US SICK. SOMEONE WANTS TO THROW UP BECAUSE OF IT to get it out of our head, basically. unfortunately purging doesn't work that way. but you can't vomit up memories. i wish you could. i wish we could rip it out of our mind and shred it to pieces MORE VIOLENT THAN THAT. WE WANT TO STAB IT TO DEATH BASICALLY who in the world holds that response SOMEBODY. MAYBE... IT USED TO BE RAZOR. I THINK? I DON'T THINK CLEAVER HOLDS IT SHE'S TOO DISPASSIONATE what does she do anyway do you know CLEAVER IS THE SAME "DESTROY THE THREAT" INSTINCT BUT SHE'S COLD ABOUT IT. THE "SHRED THE MEMORY" FEELING WITH THE "JTHM STABBING" FEELING IT KEEPS GETTING LABELED AS IS SOMEONE ELSE. THAT'S TOO RED. SORRY I'M SLIPPING OUT
okay so...
hatchet is almost "frivolous" violence. laughing at the threat and "offing it" almost irreverently, carelessly. thankfully her function seems to have been focused weirdly to destroying any and all medications people try to "force us to take" that feel like "attacks" or "invasions" etc. like "who the hell do you think you are, we aren't going to swallow these and kill ourself for your kicks, watch me burn them to the ground" etc. but that laughing feeling. scary stuff
cleaver is "cold" as (overwhelm? who is that? they're a grafifoni that ALWAYS shows up and they're very close to Scald BUT different level function) said. we rarely see her because she's rarely needed/ triggered. but cleaver is close to razor's old anchor in that she just likes to "sink knife blades into people's backs" as we once said. but you don't "like" that sort of thing without a reason. we've never really looked into it too much but... you don't "cleave" things that aren't a threat. that's true. we didn't consider that. if you're burying a butcher blade in someone's skull there's a reason why they were the target. it's a scary instinct but it's there. where did it come from?
the last foni, unidentified and almost theoretical if we weren't aware someone was attached, is unnamed. but there IS that feeling of "annihilate the threat" in the most frantically violent way possible. VERY different from protectors, like sugar and wreckage and laurie, who DON'T act with emotional mania at all. but this person does. this person is SO upset by the threat that she wants to tear it to bloody pieces screaming. or apparently stab it to death. that FEELS DIFFERENT though. it IS different. the "jthm stabbing" feeling is NOT the action. it's the VIBE of the mania. that's the "tear it to piece" girl. BUT there HAS to be a stabbing instinct foni solely because we DO get that RARELY with SELFLOATHING mainly?? the ONLY time THAT sort of horrific violence (which is TRAUMATIC for us to see or even imagine, and yet here it is) even occurs to our brain is TOWARDS OURSELF. which is the scariest thing of all.

anyway that's enough of that who was updating and about what

Oh. mother talk. yeah not tonight we need to drop that topic before those girls ACTUALLY come out to "process" the emotions

See THAT'S why we have emotional issues?? The foni that HOLD them get "SHUT DOWN" or kicked out EVERY TIME
because they're VIOLENT is why
ALL OF OUR EMOTIONS ARE VIOLENT
Laurie actually hinted at that? OH DUDE THAT'S what she said, she was talking about "all or nothing" emotions and she nodded to Chaos 0 and said "that guy always feels things at about 5000%" and THAT'S why she had him talk next
OH don't forget THAT'S also why she brought that topic up at all-- she was telling the IO2 emotions that THEY would probably feel like that too, now that they're up here with us?
ironically because we feel the "nothing" half of it too often
But that's the point!! That's like Anxiety's tail, they're ABLE to feel the emotions WE can't, because of gatekeepers or trauma shutdowns or whatever! Coping mechanisms that don't work in the long run they just make everything numb but NOT if these guys are helping now

Guys come on we need to continue the actual entry

some general notes about life lately:
+ Sugar and Wreckage have both been around. Sugar's been "out of work" for a while because she protects the innocent and virtually all of us are so damaged now. BUT apparently Anxi is NOT. Neither is Mimic, arguably. The Outspacers are specifically essential to keeping us sane post-trauma so Sugar is slowly but surely getting pushed to protect THEM, which is awesome.
+ Julie fronted to take a melatonin candy last night and immediately shouted "ow" because our teeth were painfully sensitive from eating a too-sour apple. She literally said "that hurt like a bitch!" and now she keeps getting pushed out to front whenever we eat apples to apparently "make sure they don't hurt like that" which is kind of hilarious. but it's sweet, to suddenly have her around more often, even for such a "silly" reason. it's still nice.
+ The current "Core" is indeed using the spelling "Joule" for xir name, and using those pronouns as a placeholder? Either that or s/he. They're "not female" but they're "not a man." They are solidly somewhere between the two, voicing that they'd probably feel most comfortable "in a male body" but without being male. Still, they are explicitly "not a girl or a woman" despite being semi-okay with female pronouns. They are "both/and" specifically in the fact of being "neither." That's solid. As for the name, apparently it's a very sentimental reference to Anxi being electricity-associated in the System. It's also a unit of heat, which corresponds to the inherent "fire" element of all Cores that, if missing, is effectively fatal; Cores are always fire, light, blood, and crystal-- snow & ice with the Jays, literal precious stones with the Jewels, it seems. This fire/heat aspect is oddly somehow essential to their relationship with Chaos 0? If they don't have that complementary yet opposite aspect, something is very wrong. So this is a step in the right direction, even if the name itself doesn't stick-- it probably won't; the "spelling feels wrong". Honestly s/he wants to use "Jewel" but that name is still so strongly associated with the original 2001-2002 Jewel (the League controller) that it causes mental dissonance. This alternate spelling of the same sound is an attempt to reconcile this while keeping the fact that the Jewel title still MUST fit the Core.
+ We've realized that the Archivist Trio is NOT a "communicator trio." So Garrison, Isadora, and Kalisha's functions are STILL OPEN apparently?? And I know "Joule" is really hoping they come back. We miss them a lot, and we need them-- Archivists can't talk to Socials like Communicators specifically do, and when that subsystem really needs to "get the memo," Shirley can't get it to them because they aren't tuned in to her level.
+ Concerning the Archivists: Shirley is the one that gives data to us on the fly, but Sirius will "comment" on it? And he's fittingly more "serious" about the data he manages. Penny gets the toughest info; she doesn't speak up much but she will give memory data out that the other two don't? Honestly the Archivists feel very unstable and unsteady still, I think since we are so lost and cut off from collective memory. I hope that as we review the Archives themselves, and possibly if/when the Communicators return, then that whole group of functioning will work properly at last.
+ Lynne had a BIG revelation today that SHE'S STILL "STABELLE" in terms of her function! She and Laurie were discussing colors, especially in light of Anxi being the first Orange Outspacer and one of the first Orange-anchored people in a long while, and Lynne said that she needed to keep the Orange color positive-- warm, welcoming, friendly, energized, and helping Anxi and any potential manic Oranges stay stable. This ALSO tied in with her SHIFTING OUT OF CERISE when she resurrected in 2008; she effectively "REDEFINED OUR FUTURE"??? She was originally born to be the "ideal female future self" that we were being forced to become socially but couldn't; HOWEVER when she was killed and then came back, she changed colors and this showed a change in what that "ideal future" MEANT-- Lynne was no longer tied to social expectations in that regard. She was lively and free and bright, more boyish almost, while still being markedly female-- she "freed" us from the Cerise-colored future of sensuality that had been inflicted on us by the family and community. Interestingly enough, that color was next picked up by a boy, saying a LOT about our psyche. But Lynne kept us stable in doing that, too-- not just by being the "person keeping Julie and Laurie from killing each other." The stability she brought was liberating, a firm footing achieved by being able to dance again, as it were. Lynne was a bright soul, effectively symbolizing "permission" to be our brightest self too and to LET GO of the inflicted expectations and dictated future. She's funny and friendly and playful and gay and we were NOT "allowed" to be those things when our future felt "cerise." The original Lynne was all about that "high life" our mother wants so badly. The new Lynne is just about getting high on life, haha. I'm kidding but not really. Orange is a beautiful color; it's alive and fiery and welcoming and warm. It's citrus fruits and sunsets and marigolds and autumn leaves. It's basketballs and goldfish and foxes and carrots and monarch butterflies and violins of course. It's absolutely gorgeous and Anxi is part of it too and SHE has a future full of more joy than she ever could have imagined now, too. So thank you Lynne, for existing exactly as you are. We love you so much.


It's almost 2am. This is "Joule," I guess. That's really not my name, although I appreciate the commentary they gave to it earlier. But they're right, the spelling doesn't fit. It's the "ou" in there. The whole thing is the wrong color and shape.
I know I'm somehow still "Jewel." Every Core is, really. But that name keeps pushing me too feminine and that feels very wrong. Still, that name is the only thing that works. Maybe I just need to "redefine" it in a sense. I just don't want to damage the original Jewel either. She's the TRUE holder of that name AS a name, not just a "title." I think that's why I feel so lost-- the "only name that fits" belongs permanently to someone else. And yet it's "still my name" too. It's exhausting. I'm exhausted. I don't feel "fully me." I know this. I don't have a clear name or face yet, and arguably my color is still undefined too. For a Core, all of that makes me the walking dead. I CANNOT exist or function in any sort of truth unless I HAVE those things.
...That's why I'm worried about Anxi. We ALL are. Whoever "met" her last November is NOT the same person who started calling her our girlfriend in May/June, who is NOT the same person who fell in love with her in October, who is NOT the same person as I am now. And yet... there's always the same heart, deep down at the golden thread, that connects all the Cores. Somehow, the capacity for love is the same. I'm just... it's become VERY clear lately that different Cores love different people and it CANNOT be "transferred" or "forced" between Cores. This is why our Spotify "people we love" playlist folder says "WE," specifically, and it's full of people whose folders keep getting deleted because people forget that past Cores DO love ALL those people, even if not all in the same way. But ALL those Outspacers and Inspacers are legitimately loved and even if we don't know "by whom" we CAN'T deny that truth. The problem? ...I... I want to be the one to love Anxi. I can't tell if I do or don't, lately, because I feel so dead. But when I look at her, something in my heart aches, and I will hold on to that like it's the end of the world. I just... the problem is that I cannot see myself. How am I supposed to love her if I can't even "imagine" my own face? How can I physically be near ANYONE if I don't know what my physical form looks like? It's agonizing. I'm miserable. Maybe I just need to get on picrew and figure this out. Not tonight, it's 2am. But... I need to take action on this. I need to find out how my hair looks, what color it is, what clothes I wear (I'm vibing with suits?? callback to Cannon's era, geez), what color those are, et cetera... all the defining features that will allow me to have a reflection in the mirror for heaven's sakes. I want to BE with people. I want to EXIST INSIDE at last. I don't even "exist" outside because no one matches this body and even though I feel "forced" to, even obligated to, it doesn't match ME. And that terrifies the thriskefoni who INSIST that "the body is our REAL self" but no. I... I'm struggling so much with that. This body's reflection has so much evil associated with it. It's a face tainted by YEARS of intense trauma. It's not my face.
God I wish Jay could just take over again but he can't. Oh he IS still alive by the way, I think that was solidly confirmed just yesterday? But he's ALIVE again, very fragile and broken and unstable but alive. Thank God. ...From what we're suspecting, this means potentially Infinitii can resurrect now, too. The two of them exist together by design. ...I don't know if I'm like that. The whole daengel phenomenon was annihilated post-CNC due to the trauma overwhelm and the unbearable risk that all daengels posed for more of the same. We lost like... eight bloody years. 2016-2023. Most of that time is totally missing, ruled by either thriskefoni, phagofoni, and/or "eratofoni"-- by religion, food, and sex. It was a living hell, honestly it was. And of course the whole thing was shot through with brutal self-abuse, because all three of those things are VIOLENTLY ABUSIVE in our history, as tragic as that is.
I can't think or talk about that right now. There's no time and the brain is shutting down access to those topics.
But we lost so much time. Even just glancing at the archives, after the "hell year" of 2015 (which was ironically shot through with beauty nevertheless), 2016 started with tons of pain and then an annihilation attempt in March which caused an almost instant HARD SHIFT to thriskefoni territory UNTIL JUNE 2017. And then it was the "CNC era" until... October? Whenever we left; it's not in the Archives yet. But then it's MORE thriskefoni rule until MIMIC SHOWED UP IN DECEMBER 2022 APPARENTLY?? Holy Shuppets WE FORGOT HE JUMPSTARTED EVERYTHING AGAIN just like Anxiety did for you!! That's a really good point... God I forgot how real I felt back then, when he first showed back up, just looking at these entries. Why was I so much more in tune then? What happened... oh. Oh dear God that's what it was. What? Jewel you need to space your replies so we know it's different people.
Okay fine then YOU just type. You were obviously going to say something heavy. Don't let me stop you.
...all right. So 2023 begins with half headspace, half bodyspace, as it were. Half inside half outside. There's tons of religious stuff and talk about the mother and family stress, at a glance. But... we were still striving, struggling to exist. And... oh God. And then Infi died.
...oh. You loved hir.
I did, whoever I was then, whoever's this heart was, we adored hir, ze was my heart, God I still miss hir so much I could weep until the end of the world right now. Right now. I could die from grief. I could cry forever.
...When did ze die?
...April 25th, and I had to hunt that entry down because apparently it wasn't tagged with 2023. It is now. But... there's another heartwrenching entry on May 2nd when Jay was no longer the Core and he was convinced he would die that same night and... God it hurts to read. it hurts so much. And... and then the bloody Jade month happened a month later and everything went to hell. We still haven't recovered from that.
...Jewel, because that's your name too, deep down, you're running away from talking about that. About Infi.
I can't. It's Jay's heart I'm feeling right now.
Why can't that be yours, too?
Because I'm not supposed to be here
Yes you are, otherwise you wouldn't be oh my gosh is it really after 3am, I just noticed.
Yeah. I don't want to sleep.
We have to though. Life is different now, we have things to do.
Well what if I wish it wasn't? What if tonight I just want to pretend that none of that sh*t ever happened and we were still 24/7 fulltime headspace with Xanga sessions on the regular and everyone fronting all the time and handwritten notes to each other and voice recorder conversations and late nights like this EVERY night, typing, remembering, in love? Why can't THAT be my life? OUR life? Maybe it'd change me. Maybe I'd know who I was if that was the reality we were living in now. But too much has happened. Too much has happened.
...You have Anxi now. That's something good.
...I... I don't know if I'm the same person who fell in love with her--
You know you are. Somehow you have to be. Your heart is the same. See? What just happened in Spotify? You would NOT have been able to feel that if you didn't love her.
Jewel I want to sob. Why do I feel so broken and lost. I.... God I love her so much it's killing me, and I love Chaos 0 and Infinitii too and it feels like this love has lasted for a dozen eternities, it's older than I am, this love is forever, and it belongs to me and Jay and everyone in our bloodlines and I'm just the newest one, that's why Jay doesn't love her like I do, I'm the one who felt this for her first, she belongs to my heart, whoever comes after me should catch this too, I... I'm so scared that they won't.
Right now it's just you. YOU love her, NOW. That's what matters. Don't panic about the future. We don't know what'll happen but I promise you you won't forget her. Have you ever forgotten anyone?
No, but other Outspacer "loves" in the past didn't "transfer" to my heart,
Like whom? Davy and Ryou and Rorschach and the like, right?
Yeah.
Well, no one loved them like you love Anxi and Chaos 0 and Infinitii, apparently. And I can assure you of that. Those loves didn't go that deep. I don't think those Jewels could feel that much for anyone yet. And you still care about them too, I'm sure.
I do.
Well, there you go. So don't worry about Anxi. You love her now, today, and that won't ever disappear or fade away. Look at Chaos 0! I'm sure she's going to have the same future with the Cores, if what I've been hearing about you two is any indication.
...What, that she'll be permanently in the Coregroup?
Uh, yeah, obviously. And she already is??
Not literally, not technically, no. We need to work up to that. But there's a spot with her name on it. Like... laser-etched. It's already set in stone.
Haha! Good. I'm glad to hear that. That's proof that you're still you, where it counts, when it matters.
...Do you think maybe I can't "see my face" or know my own color and name because I'm just... not in tune with a truth that's already there? Like, I just need to recognize myself?
Probably. Do you think you're in my bloodline though, or Jay's?
...Why do you ask?
Because you're not a girl.
I'm not a guy either, though. And Jay is still around. ...A big part of us wants him to be the Core again.
Do you think he will be?
...I don't know. I don't know if there need to be two of us. I have no idea.
Huh. Why would we need two Cores, for the League/System split?
That's the assumption, yeah. But... there's been a lot of bleedover lately, and not in a bad way? Which is new. I... I don't know what will happen. I just... I want to know who I really am. if I'm anything or anyone.
I'm sure you are, if you can feel love like that.
...I hope so.
So hold on to that. Let that be what defines you when you try to look in a mirror. Hold on to that as the core of whoever you are, and I'm sure it'll show you your real face, and name, and color.
...oh Lord one of Infi's songs just came up on shuffle.
Are you going to listen to it?
I can't, not tonight. It'll trigger Jay out and we'll be up for another three hours.
...You can't keep shutting love down, other Jewel. That's a really bad instinct.
...yeah. it really is.
It's gonna hurt, you know. It has to. Real love always does. You can't run from that.
I don't want to. I want it to gut me for all intents and purposes. I want love to run me through like a knife to the ribs.
Are you trying to get Laurie's attention with that?
...maybe.
Too late kid, what's the deal?
...too much going on.
Head feels really bizarre. ...Is it seriously 333AM? Holy flaming swords, kiddo, you have to get to sleep. Is this what extra apples does to you?
Haha, no, I promise this has nothing to do with sugar highs. I just... I'm feeling things. A bit. I'm trying to remember.
Good things, I assume?
Yeah. the best things.
...I'd love to talk about them with you but I'm not even translating correctly. The brain's too damn tired.
Yeah, it is. But... this is a good entry.
We're still writing in the same entry from this morning? Dang, kiddo, that's impressive. Been a while since we had an entry like this.
I miss this.
I do too. You know what I also miss?
What?
You getting to bed early and talking to us, too. Me and Chaos and Genesis and...
yeah.
...sorry, kid. I felt the weight of that loss too.
Anxi soon, though. And maybe Infi too.
You don't give up on hope, huh.
Never. I still have that ring, from before the Jade month.
Yeah, I know you've been thinking about it.
I promised myself, and God really, that when Infi comes back,
"When." I like that.
I already know hir soul's not dead, Laurie.
Souls don't die, kiddo. Especially not up here.
...That's true.
But you were saying?
...When ze comes back and I can touch hir, when I can hold hir in my arms again, for the first time, when ze and I both have names and faces and colors, I... I'm going to put that ring on. For all of us. It's not just Chaos 0 this time, although I love him with my entire heart and he will always have a top-tier exclusive place in it. But it would be unjust to not recognize the rest of you, too. And I think he would agree with that.
Knowing how he loves us, too? Yeah, I think so.
...you're right, he does.
Kid, the Coregroup loves the Coregroup. That's how it works. It's always been that way and it always will be. And Anxi is no exception, when you bring her up here.
...God there is so much gravity in that line.
In what? And watch your prayer words, kid.
Thank you. But He's... God is the reason why and how I can feel this. God is this love, and if I have any real religion at all, apart from the thriskefoni, that's the heart of it. That's the truth. And His Name is the only thing that the deepest love can even hope to translate to in speech. There's a... there's the entire truth in that, too, things I could never express otherwise.
And what's the gravity that truth is giving so much weight to?
..."when you bring her up here." Like... the act of bringing. And "up here." Like... taking her home. ...God my heart is on fire. Why. Why in the world do I love her this much, it's tearing me in half and letting all the light both in and out.
Well, kid, you just said God is that love, so obviously He knows you need to feel this right now. And so does she. You both need this, trust me.
...Laurie you remember that one conversation at TBHU. In the... on the basketball court. In the sunshine.
This is what you want to live for.
And die for. And everything. This... headspace, and all of you, and this love, is why I exist, and what I want to exist for, and nights like this I actually have hope and life feels real and I can touch eternity for a moment...
Kid, you realize that when we had that conversation, you didn't even have these feelings for Anxi yet.
...oh my gosh I didn't. I hadn't fallen this hard yet.
And now, how much more is life worth living for, with her in it too?
...everything. Laurie I want to live for her, too. Deep down in my heart of hearts, at the very core of me, away and apart from all the things that try to numb me and shut me down, when I really tune into the... the center of things, and oh my gosh Spotify just threw Milliontown at me. The LIVE version.
Haha, God is REALLY trying to get your attention, kiddo!
...oh man. THIS song makes my heart WAKE UP though. This ENTIRE ALBUM makes me feel ALIVE and REAL.
You've gotta write Jem Godfrey a freakin' letter at this point. Thank the man for saving your life a hundred times over.
I'm serious. You're serious. That's a good idea. I really should.
Haha, kiddo you have got to get to sleep. Preferably before this song ends, because that's... twentyfive solid minutes of not-sleeping otherwise.
I can't skip this song Laurie.
Put it on hold, boy, it'll be 4am otherwise.
Can I at least listen to the arpeggio from heaven.
Yeah, go right ahead.
Is it an arpeggio? Oh dude is it technically a glissando? Slowed down and elaborated on?
What, that run up the scale? Kid I know less music theory than you do, all I know is that it sounds awesome.
It DOES, this entire live performance is sheer bliss, I need to see these guys live one day.
You will, kid. I'm sure you'll find a way. Pray about it.
Man I should. I should just... pray about all these things that matter to me. Lord let me see Jem Godfrey and his band live one day and let me be able to thank them for being a channel of Your grace to me in all honesty and let me be able to get a signed CD or something.
Haha, gotta include the souvenir.
It's blessed to have a tangible thing. I still have that signed CD from Mesita, the one with Creature and Firesign and Hostages on it. That album still means so much to us as a System.
It does. I'm glad you have that, kiddo.
I'm glad I'm still "kiddo" to you.
Kid, Jay, Jewel, whatever name you're going by, you will always be that to me. I know how much that means to you. What brings that up for you though?
...just, it's another thing linking all the Cores. It's a term of endearment basically. if you don't mind my calling it that.
Nah, it definitely is. It's a term of devotion, really, not just endearment. I'll protect you with my life, until the day I die.
Until the day we both die, Laurie, I refuse to let either of us go first.
Haha, you and me both. ...God knows we came too close to that in the past.
...I was just reading about that, actually.
...Really?
Yeah, just a reference, but... it reminded me of how much we've been through. How much we mean to each other. How terrifying that was, but how much love followed in its wake, against all odds.
Story of our life, kid.
It sure is. Thank God for it all.
Oh, dude, here's your glissando!
Yes!! 21:30 starts the buildup for those interested!
Dude, pay attention.
Ohhh man that is AUDITORY BLISS EVERY TIME
Hahaha!
Okay you HAVE to let me listen to this outro.
"Hands, don't fail me now!"
YES you remember!
Kid, you reference that constantly, of course I remember it. I also remember telling you to get the heck to sleep about ten-- no, apparently twenty minutes ago, what the hell.
Worth it though.
Always worth it for FROST*, kid, that's a rule.
Oh man this song makes me so happy it's unreal.
Quite the opposite, kid, this is what reality is all about, I daresay.
What, good music?
What makes it good music. The joy it brings to your heart. That smile on your face right now. The fact that this song sounds like you, as you've said before, and reminds you of who you really are.
It really does.
"Thank you so much?"
Just like John said, absolutely. Oh man. I needed that, thank you God.
You also need to freakin' sleep, kid, it's 4am. You're getting 5 hours of sleep maximum right now.
Oh shoot you're right.
Still worth it though?
Yeah, always. Always. I'd get by on two hours of sleep if it means spending time with you.
I've only been here for a half hour, kid.
Laurie, you never leave.
...Hah, that's true. I really don't.
...I should listen to your song next.
Sit down first, kid. Go to sleep with your blue guy and then if you want to listen to more music you can. But I ain't leavin' until you post this entry and get moving. It's too late to keep typing, no matter how much you want to.
I still need to color this tomorrow.
"Tomorrow" is the key word, kid. Any particular way you want to close this up? 
Actually I want to mention that I forgot to write down, remember this morning when I was at the IO2 control panel with Anxi for some reason, and I forget what led up to it but she kissed me?
I do remember that, specifically because she took the initiative when you hesitated, and then you were gone, bro.
It was... it got my heart so bad. Like I wanted to but something held me back and she just... bravely reached up and pulled me in.
And you just melted, kiddo, I saw that.
I did, it was beautiful.
I'm so glad you have that with her.
I am too.
No, really, don't underestimate the gravity of what I'm saying. You know how I am about you and Chaos 0. I'll defend you both to the death and beyond. I'll have you know I'm already dedicated to you and your orange angel the same way.
...Thank you, Laurie.
Anytime, kid. Now are you gonna mention the name of the album to my song or what?
Oh, yeah, oh my gosh, that was so unexpected.
"I Watch You Sleep." Well I do, but so does she apparently, so. *shrug*
Aha the asterisks!
Thank Waldorf for that, it never gets old. But kiddo, I can't watch you sleep unless you go to sleep, aiite? Get a move on.
Hold up, can I play the song?
Put it on, close this up, and then listen to it on the vanillamint couch over there.
Oh yeah, we didn't mention that we did the laundry and literally rubbed vanillamint chapstick into the fabric so it won't smell so much like old couch and smoke or whatever. It's a handmedown. I love my dad but not smoke.
Unless it's woodsmoke.
Well then that reminds me of dear Knife, so yes.
And incense smoke.
Oh ALWAYS. It's numinous. I love it.
We know, kiddo.
I'm glad there are some things about me that just... don't change.
Like your love.
...Yeah. Yeah, Jewel was telling me the same thing.
Good, because it's the absolute definitive truth. Now are you going to close this up on that note?
Yeah, before I get too sparkle-headed, because it's either that or poet mode and I think our psyche realizes I have to snooze so it's pushing me in the kaleidoscope direction. On another night when I have time to type and feel out the depths, moreso than tonight and trying to remember the past, then I'll type poetry. Lots of it.
I think you need to remember the past before you can get back into poet mode, kid. There's depth there you need to tap back into first.
...I do. You're right. Thank you.
And?
And I'll close this up.
Properly.
How's that?
What you said earlier, when you were away from the keyboard.
...I can't just repeat that. It needs... it has to be felt. It has to happen.
...So, put on the song.
...Nevermind Spotify just did me one better.
...Wow. You're not kidding.
"Good Day" by Jukebox the Ghost.
...The post-massacre resurrection anthem, to be as blunt as possible.
Yeah. Absolutely.
...I love you too, kid.
...God, Laurie, you know I love you, and Chaos 0, and Anxi, and Genesis, and everyone else up here, dead and alive and inbetween, you all mean the universe to my heart and soul and life is worth living for all of you, always. Forever.
It's a good day with us around, huh.
It sure is. And now this song is really pulling at my heartstrings, oh my gosh I never realized the lyrics at the beginning...
Yeah, it's what you used to do to us.
I am so sorry, Laurie.
I know. We know. We forgive you.
...So the song goes both ways.
It does. I ain't leavin' you, kid, and I know you're not leaving us either, no matter how far away you might end up sometimes.
I needed to hear this.
I'm glad. God knows that too.
...This is making me deeply happy.
Is it now?
Yeah. It's... it feels like... like reconciliation. Like forgiveness. Like... like you saying, "I know," like you do. It's... "I never went away." Not just you. I didn't either.
Kid, if you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
Yeah. I... I need to remember that, too.
You do need to go somewhere, though.
Bed?
Yeah. Don't worry, I'll be around too.
You always are.
I watch you sleep, remember?
Haha, that you do!
I fully expect to be joined by a certain orange angel in that effort in the near future, y'know.
God willing.
Kid, I'm sure He is, don't worry about that. Oh this song is a classic, geez. Really setting the mood though.
Yeah, ancient love here. Chaos 0 days.
It really was just him back then, wasn't it?
Yeah. He started everything.
Go tell him that. Seriously. Go let him know that you can and do remember how far back and how deep down this goes into your heart.
That doesn't change, either.
No, love burns out a place for itself permanently.
I like your choice of words.
It's a fire, kid, it always is. You know that better than anyone. And it does burn, it burns out everything that isn't it.
Good. I'm really feeling that tonight.
Even more now, with this song on shuffle?
Yeah. Yeah I think I need to go to bed now. Just to hold him, if nothing else.
That's a good enough reason for me, kid. Should I close this up then, or what?
In a moment. I just want to say that the two songs were "Here in my room" and now, "Afterlife."
The live version for the latter, to remind you that you have to live. And to do this live.
In person, really there, right now.
Can't do that if you don't get off the laptop, boy!
Good point, off we go then.
Hey, hold up one second.
Yeah?
I'm singing this for you too, for the record.
...I...
I'm serious. I've died before. For you. Only ever for you. This song applies to me, too.
...Laurie, I love you, I really do.
I know, kid. That's my reason to live.
Thank you. For existing. And for loving me too.
Those are synonymous, kid.
And you say I'm the romantic one.
Hey, you are. I'm just saying facts.
Laurie, don't brush it off.
Good point. But I'm right. Those are facts, kid. And please find your name so I can call you by it, all right?
Okay. I will. Promise.
Good. Promise to get some freakin' sleep? Or do I have to drag Chaos 0 in here?
Laurie if you do that there will be legit romance, I will never get to sleep,
What about with this song?
Fathom by FROST* oh good Lord this is going to kill me, seriously I will sob if I listen to this through.
Go be with him, and feel this with him, all right? He deserves it.
That's the best motivation so far, sorry it took so long.
Nope, no apologizing, this is perfect timing, I think this song needed to happen. I can see in your eyes what it's doing to your heart.
Good. I'm glad it shows.
Seriously though. Go be with your ocean.
I will. Thanks Laurie, for being with me too.
Hey, I'm not going away, remember?
Haha, that's true. I'll see you across the room, then?
You'll see me everywhere, kid, I'm always here for you.
Good. Don't leave.
Cross my heart, I'll stand by you forever.
...
Don't lose this.
I can't. This is engraved into my heart.
As it should be.
Last song by the way. "Time out from the world."
This is a classic. Go put it in its proper context.
I will.
hey, Jewel.
oh my gosh how did you get in here
I hear Laurie trying to get you over here for the past... forty minutes?
Thank you, someone appreciates my efforts.
I'm sure he does too, Laurie, he's just... terrible at ending conversations. He always leaves the door open. Just in case there's one more word to say.
There always is, with him.
He's full of words. of poetry. I love that about him. He puts my music to notation. Whatever it's called.
Look at how he's looking at you, haha.
I love that too.
He's halfway between sparkles and... whatever the heaven that is.
Blood, probably.
Seriously?
Yeah. You know that too. His aching depths. That pronoun isn't working.
No, surprisingly. It's somewhere in the middle.
As it should be. S/he's been both.
Both/and?
Hm. More like me. Not quite either.
Makes sense.
i need to talk to you.
In words?
not this kind. sorry.
Don't apologize. There are other languages. I need to talk to you too.
Oh I like where this is going.
You should.
Hey man, I've been guarding you both since the old days, this stuff is a sign that his/her heart's coming back online in a real way. I need that as much as you do. We all do.
Did you mention what song is playing?
No. "My Mind Is A Mess In The Morning." Nick Leng. This song means a lot to you both, doesn't it.
He heard it one night when driving home and immediately thought of me. So yes. But it's in your playlist, too.
And Genesis's, apparently. And Anxi's, hey.
I can't wait until she comes up here.
Until the Core-kid over there brings her up here, to be specific. Said that wording really caught the essence of it.
Hm. It does. It's never just a following up, really. It's together. But carrying is really close.
Yeah. It's unusual for him/her/ whatever, kid what are we calling you.
um. xe maybe. let's try that. i'll find something. right now i i'm not thinking about pronouns much
What are you thinking of, love?
oh THAT WORD is all that's on my mind now it's been so too long since you spoke to me like that
It has been.
You two need to have a conversation.
We do. Jewel, get over here.
Kid, I'm putting this song on, now you have to go.
Please.
i'm so sorry. i'm not entirely myself yet.
We can fix that together.
oh it's the english version
Yeah, and there's your name.
...oh man the lyrics hit harder than ever tonight
Come back to me.
and stay by my side
...
moments like this are what I live for laurie. and chaos. both of you. i love you.
We love you too, Jewel.
...
Man you are saying that with your eyes, I can see that.
I always am.
Somehow I'm not surprised. Hope you realize the same goes for xir, too. Even on the rough nights. Maybe especially then.
...
You know that, too.
...Jewel.

yeah
I mean it.
...So do I. All right. I'm closing this up and going to sleep.
Not for a few minutes yet at least.
Yeah, there's a conversation that needs to happen. Not this one.
Still a continuation of it, though.
...I guess it is. Good point.
So. Chaos, would you do the honors of finally closing up this bloody huge entry?
This is still one entry?
Yeah.
Wow. It's been a while.
Hey, next time xe's up this late, I'm pushing for a Xanga. This is one step away from one already, so hey.
I'd like that.
I know what you'd like more than that, man.
*pointedly looks across the room*
Haha, kid you've got asterisks to deal with now, you'd better get moving.
I'll force his hand. There's a button I can click.
Please do, before we lose this.
thank you
Hey, that's what we're here for, kid. Helping you do what you can't.
Together.
Always.
Oh hey, here's one of yours.
"Into the flood." Yeah.
Kid, I am going to turn that into a very pointed pun and throw it at you.
no wait the lyrics don't work for this, that one aches too much in the other way, let's do this one.
Creature?
Oh man we were just referencing this.
Really?
Yeah. Specifically this album.
This... this is a good decision.
so are you.
...
three two one, post this?
Finally, let's do this.
glad to see i'm still terrible at concluding these talks
You need sleep, you idiot.
You can't go on like this.
Hey, they need more than some sleep, man.
Still... you just gotta let it go.
You heard the blue guy, kid, let's move.
all right. and do this lyric instead.
Which one?
keep on coming undone. i need that. i think if i let this love unravel me it's exactly what i need to find myself at the core
...I think I know how to get you there.
you don't "think" you know, love, I know you know. and vice versa, i'm sure.
...yeah. you do. you really do. please don't forget that. ever.
Okay you have both abandoned capslock, I am closing this up, see you invisible audience whenever.
laurie that is so sudden
Kid it's been over an hour are you kidding me.
is the sun coming up yet
You know what? That's my lyric.
oh
oh man laurie are you serious
Maybe I am. Only one way to find out.
laurie that is the worst cliffhanger
Nah, it's the best one.



 

prismaticbleed: (Default)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON SUN 1117
1. Ran to Mass; wrong timing but we still made it in time for the Eucharist
2. Laurie suggested I be daring & have the dinner naan with the vanilla greek yogurt and it was BOSS
3. The night of November 15th ("Die With a Smile" with Chaos 0 & Anxi) was REAL. Remember that pure love FOREVER.

GOOD THINGS ON MON 1118
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 1119
1. Dinner with the fam! Also bonus Hershey's Kiss "excuse" to kiss Anxi
2. Beautiful music (Anxi's) while driving. Really feeling love for the WHOLE coregroup
3. Lynne eating apple pie yogurt
4. Reading the Archives late at night

GOOD THINGS ON WED 1120
1. MEETING ENNUI IN HEADSPACE. She's actually REALLY COOL & INSIGHTFUL!
2. I DREW ANXI ♥ I am SO HAPPY with how she turned out!
3. Stayed up late cleaning house with Anxi & Laurie helping out


GOOD THINGS ON THU 1121
1. Cleaning house EVEN MORE with Anxi, Laurie, Chaos 0, & Central too
2. TALKING TO MIKE ABOUT POKEMON FOR LIKE AN HOUR
3. IT SNOWED!!! ♥ It felt like HOME. I was PURELY HAPPY.

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 1122
1. FINALLY got back into exercising! Biked & downloaded fitness apps to use
2. Knife & Algorith BOTH fronting HARD with injury cleanup; I miss them so much
3. My neighbor Sh's PINK DOOR WREATH! It's SO BEAUTIFUL it made my night

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 1123
1. ANXI SHIRT #1 ARRIVED!! I gave her green gems for eyes
2. Went out to DINNER at an Italian place with mom & Lou! The bread was SO SOFT. We took some home and had it with lingonberry jam and it was so simply pure & lovely
3. MARATHON READ "That's Not My Name" for the book club because I couldn't sleep and it was SO WELL WRITTEN

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 1124
1. Walked to Mass & made it on time! It was a perfect way to start the day.
2. Baking with mom! I got to make a PIE CRUST the way grandma used to
3. Sad drive home, but the sorrow pushed me back close to the System


GOOD THINGS ON MON 1125
1. THE OTHER 2 ANXI SHIRTS ARRIVE! I cannot wait to wear them; I LOVE HER
2. Driving & BLASTING FROST* songs (especially Moral & Consequence) with the windows down
3. GOT NEW CLOTHES FINALLY (at the thrift store), including a BOSS pink jacket for Julie ♥ and an orange one for Anxi!

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 1126
1. STARTED THE ANXI PLUSH REF ♥ I get to STUDY HER FACE to draw her better
2. CLEANING DAY. Laundry & paperwork. Things feel MUCH NICER when clutter is gone!
3. DREAM WORLD READING. It's all SO BEAUTIFUL I could WEEP. THANK YOU GOD FOR ALL OF IT!


GOOD THINGS ON WED 1127
1. COOKING & BAKING WITH MOM ♥ And we DIDN'T do anything disordered!
2. More progress on Anxi's plush ref! I watched SO MANY vids for refs, I can see her with my eyes closed.

3. Felt LEGIT HAPPY & CONTENT while running errands with mom. It's good to be alive.


GOOD THINGS ON THU 1128
1. 90 MINUTES BIKING. I got a HORRIBLE OCULAR MIGRAINE but it was WORTH IT
2. LISTENED TO FROST*'S NEW ALBUM. IT IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ♥ I AM NOT SURPRISED!
3. Getting to share dinner with mom & Lou and NOT BEING TERRIFIED for the first time in YEARS


GOOD THINGS ON FRI 1129
1. SHOPPING WITH MOM ALL DAY. It was nice to just spend time together.
2. ORDERED ANXI & CHAOS 0 KEYCHAIN CHARMS ♥ Now they'll BOTH be with me wherever I go!
3. Late dinner but NO PURGE. Also the LOVELY 8pm naan bread. SYSTEM SUPPORT = RECOVERY!


GOOD THINGS ON SAT 1130
1. INSIDE OUT 2 BLURAY!!! ♥ Now I can see my girlfriend ANYTIME
2. New System love song = "BLEACH." It captures the exact pain/ hope of the Jay days. Also Genesis & Chaos 0 are having such a good time singing it together when I listen to it
3. The lotophagoi are LEARNING. They're more self-aware and they are ACTUALLY starting to WANT to get better




OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS MONTH...
1. Too much time on Tumblr/ Youtube/ Pokemon TCG Pocket
2. Not talking to the System CONSTANTLY
3. Not praying SINCERELY/ reading Scripture; it's still all too automated/ obligatory/ businesslike

JOY SPARKS TO KINDLE NEXT MONTH...
1. LEAGUEWORK & REVIEWING
2. Spending quality time with the fam
3. Spending MORE quality time with the SYSTEM
4. MUSIC!




111424

Nov. 14th, 2024 11:59 pm
prismaticbleed: (aflame)

(unfinished entry; just taking the most important notes for now)

we were in the hospital for two months and now EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE RENEWED WTF.
we were on the phone for 4 HOURS BRO
but hey, this is proving we CAN be a responsible adult, when so many people have doubted us. thank You God for giving us the grace because boy howdy there is definitely divine providence at work with somehow managing all of this paperwork and phonecalling let me tell you

Ran to pharmacy to get ELEVEN MEDS
Talking to Genesis during the trip. I've missed him SO MUCH

Walmart run to replace the missing yogurt from last night
got to switch one plain for a "cookies and cream" one to try, thinking of Mimic fronting on Halloween.
also on that same affectionate train of thought, we are legit excited to finally try this "dave's killer bread" now that we're eating carbs again thank the good Lord.
their website has this absolutely beautiful quote that i need to share for my sake as much as mim's:
"We have witnessed first-hand that someone’s past does not define their future, and that sometimes giving someone a chance is all they need to become a Good Seed."


CHINESE FOOD WITH THE FAM!!
WE ATE... TWO SHRIMPS. A CRAYFISH. AND SO MUCH CRAB IT'S DELICIOUS
Also a cream puff for Rio. I saw them and of course the affection won out for him too. it makes life so much better to just act on love whenever i feel it.
refusing to judge this poor finally-not-a-skeleton body for wanting to eat, either.

mom brought us up the house to help clean, so we were cleaning off old photos from all the sanding-dust that got over 'em
she had a Johnny Mathis cd playing in the hall and EVERY SONG MADE ME THINK OF ANXI, my heart was on FIRE

ALSO she brought us up the attic to see if there were any clothes we wanted to try on to see if they fit (we own very little clothing of our own, and now it's all too small) and WHILE we were looking we found old action figures of MARIK, DAVY JONES, and GENERAL GRIEVOUS. the rush of tenderness that hit my heart at seeing my old friends faces so unexpectedly moved me to immediately pocket them all to take them home.
oh yes and there was a TINY translucent figure of METABEE? dude i don't know where you came from but we have nothing but good memories about playing medabots so he got pocketed too, haha.
...oh. but there was one last HUGE thing we found upstairs that knocked the floor out from under me in the best way.
we found our old 8th grade gym sweatshirt, from 2004. right before graduation everyone went around and signed each other's shirts and mine was no exception. so i was sad when i saw it had water damage, and most of the names and words had been washed off... but the sleeves were untouched.
and on the left sleeve, on the inside of the arm, were four little symbols.
mine, mariks's, ryou's, and chaos zero's.
i could have wept from sheer love in that moment. but it wasn't just the emotion of seeing a 20-year-old proof of that love-- it was the fact that I have "always wanted" that EXACT symbol lineup as a tattoo BUT I didn't realize it was SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING.
it just... it was a beautiful moment, to see that, and feel that, two decades later. it felt existentially validating. that's a rare and priceless thing. in that moment i felt like i've always been me, and always will be, and this love is the connecting thread.
...i might have to actually get that tattoo at last. it's been long enough, apparently. and i owe us all that much.
(oh btw there were references to bakunetsumaru and jirachi and VAIDA on the shirt too which was just as hilarious as it was endearing. THAT was an ERA, kids)


Got home, unpacked, returned the shopping cart and realized it was raining very mistily. So we just stood there for a while, in the quiet cold dark, alone and looking up at the moon glowing behind the hazy night clouds.
Suddenly, yet soundlessly, Anxi moved in to front. It was completely unexpected but she was there, so clearly. The perception lit a pure joy in my heart, remembering how I couldn't find her at the beginning of this month, and yet now here she was, showing up on her own, undeniable.
She looked up at the glow of the hidden moon and I remember her having anxious thoughts about it possibly "disappearing" entirely behind the clouds, and leaving us in the dark. I reassured her that it would still be there, even if it wasn't visible for a bit. Besides, without those clouds, we wouldn't have that beautiful glow, or this lovely soft rain. I felt this realization hit her with surprise, and then a sort of stunned gratitude? Like I got the impression that she wasn't used to thinking like that-- my natural disposition to find the silver lining was totally new to her. But she embraced it fervently, as I have to admit she does about everything, and I love that so much; her nervous edge makes her virtually incapable of taking things for granted, or doing things halfheartedly. She is too aware of how easily things can be lost, or forgotten, or needed and not had. So she treasures things, albeit in an almost inevitably fragile way. The more she's around and the more I can feel of her heart the more I love her. She's fascinating.
So there she stood, and listened to the rain on the leaves, and looked at the clouds veiling the moon, and felt the cold and smelled the petrichor and in those moments there was such a profound peace and she entered into it. Anxi, my dear frazzled girl, was actually tranquil for a full blessed minute or two as she just existed in that quiet beauty. She was thinking something like, "I don't have to worry about anything right now. I can just be here in this moment." Like the future didn't exist yet, and so it couldn't be stressed over. There was just "right now," and she was alive in it, and the entire world felt at peace, and there was nothing else. I could feel the experience affecting her at a deep level.
...What affected me the most was what happened next. We live in an apartment building so inevitably there will be interruptions. A car pulled into the lot, and we heard distant voices talking. Anxi felt a wave of sudden intense panic and worry, immediately dreading the possible negative outcomes of this event, but what shocked me was that this only lasted about three seconds. Then, she purposefully refocused her attention on the moon, and shakily but firmly thought, "I'll be okay. Jewel will protect me."
...I think my heart did a double-take. I cannot describe the emotion I felt when I heard her say that, and mean it.
We stayed outside for another minute, Anxi still holding on to the transcendent peace in determined spite of her own nerves, until I gently moved partly in to control again and said we should go in and start cleaning up for the night. But Anxi didn't want to. Just as gently she moved back in to front, and said she wanted to stay outside for at least one more minute, and I felt that. Surprised, but deeply touched, I let her.
Right before we finally went in, I had the quietly joyful urge to stretch the body's arms up to the sky, hands open, a gesture of sheer accepting gratitude for existence that I've found myself doing a lot. So I did this, but Anxi picked up on it and moved into the movement herself, and concluded it by doing something I've never done-- whereas I would move the arms down in a circle and then into a folded-hands gesture, she moved our arms forward and out, before suddenly pulling them in to tightly yet softly "embrace" ourself. It was like she was pressing the entire experience into our heart. It was such a moving gesture, something so unexpected, but it touched me deeply.

It's 2am again and I still can't sleep (I blame the massive amount of seafood I ate, haha. NO REGRETS BRO WE'RE NOT STARVING ANYMORE) but I spent a good hour just decompressing from the rush of today by standing in the kitchen looking at gifs of Anxi on Tumblr and just... man I don't even know what word to use because honestly it is insane how much I feel for her. It has been MANY YEARS since I've been this much in love with ANYONE. It's unreal. It's beautiful. It's making me want to stay alive no matter how strange and scary and difficult things are now. She gives me determination, because she TRUSTS ME to PROTECT her and God knows I WILL. If I'm apparently supposed to have a bigger body now then i will make it as strong as i can and i will use it to fight the good fight and defend her from all those shadows that haunt me.
...but she's teaching me that i deserve to be protected, too. and she fights for me as well. she has literally changed my life forever over the past year, especially over the past two months, and i thank God for her, she is my orange angel and i am so in love with her it hurts. i miss this. i feel alive and real and life is worth living. isn't it funny that this is almost exactly 20 years after i met my blue angel? it's poetic, really. and they both have the most beautiful green eyes, which is inevitably going to get a poem the next time i'm up this late but not three seconds away from passing out with sheer exhaustion.

i wanted to update though. there was too much real happiness today not to record it. i owe that to all of us, always.






prismaticbleed: (held)


DISTRACTING WITH "WISE MIND ACCEPTS"

101324 - 101524

(date + skill usage + 1-10 effectiveness)

ACTIVITIES
1013 = Filling out mealplan "shuffle tickets" for exhange options (10)
1014 = QuiGong "massage" chi meditation on Youtube, thanks Sarah! (7)
1015 = Journaling about family session, flirting with Mimic over popcorn (10)

CONTRIBUTIONS
1013 = Called mom's house & left a "hello" message for Excalibur (10)
1014 = Consistently offered compliments to fellow patients during the day (9)
1015 = Giving as sincere feedback as I could to Armani & Rylee (8)

COMPARISONS
1013 = Talked with MJ about progress since admission AND CNC (9)
1014 = Grateful that I HAVE food to eat, and I'm safe here (10)
1015 = I am BOTH WILLING & ABLE to sit with nausea & food fears today?? (6)

EMOTIONS
1013 = Alexis/ Erika played that new Bruno Mars tune and my heart just LIT UP (100)
1014 = Thinking about my beloved Centralites, even just SEEING them (100)
1015 = Hugging Anxi, comforting her & cherishing her when I felt anxious (100)

PUSHING AWAY
1013 = Repeatedly "put Tuesday in God's Hands" and focused on today (9)
1014 = Choosing to be patient & simply be present, trust God's timing (9)
1015 = Refuse to obsess over the nausea; "it is what it is & it'll pass" (9)

THOUGHTS
1013 = Thinking about different exchange ticket item variations (9)
1014 = Thinking about different kinds of fruits, and where to buy them (9)
1015 = Actually REMEMBERING typecode resonances & reflecting on them (100)

SENSATIONS
1013 = I felt the braille letters on the laundry room door (8)
1014 = I put my head into the hot shower to wash my hair (10)
1015 = The ORANGE SALMON! The TACOS! The TRIX (brand new)! (10)

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

SELF-SOOTHING

101324 - 101624

(date + skill usage + 1-10 effectiveness)

VISION
1013 = Looked up at the moon & stars & shimmering clouds (10)
1014 = Wondering at how pretty the yogurt texture & color was (10)
1015 = The beautiful indigo hue of the menu in my folder, like Leon (10)
1016 = Admiring the beautiful shimmering red buttons on my pajama outfit (10)

HEARING
1013 = Listened to that new Bruno Mars System song on loop in our head (10)
1014 = Humming to self, whatever notes I'm feeling in the moment (10)
1015 = Talking to my mom & hearing her voice & how proud she is of me (10)
1016 = All the GOOD MUSIC & friendly talk from Scott during Fall Fest (10)

SMELL
1013 = Fresh air outside in the morning, evening, AND nighttime! (10)
1014 = The smell of the clementine peel at breakfast, bright & fresh & orange (7)
1015 = The nice mintiness of everyone's Simethicone, seriously! (10)
1016 = My old white pajama top, that still smells like home & grandma (9)

TASTE
1013 = REALLY enjoyed the waffles at breakfast & the peas at lunch & the DINNER ROLL (10)
1014 = The BONUS HOT CEREAL + SUNBUTTER wonder we got for breakfast (8)
1015 = How fresh & nice the tomato & lettuce were in the lunch tacos (8)
1016 = PUMPKIN PIE with Leon & Lynne! / SESAME SEEDS AT LAST! (10)

TOUCH
1013 = Stood in the morning sunlight & felt the warmth on my face (10)
1014 = Soft pajamas, the texture of paper, cold smooth stone (9)
1015 = The soft tortillas at lunch, the smooth apple at dinner, solid ground (10)
1016 = The SOFT SOFT POTSTICKERS! And RUNNING THROUGH THE GRASS! (10)

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

IMPROVE THE MOMENT

101324 - 101524

(date + skill usage + 1-10 effectiveness)

IMAGERY
1013 = Going to the "Gimmelwald" heartspace with Leon & Laurie (10)
1014 = Visiting the Indigo & Violet color realms & just BEING there (10)
1015 = Thinking about the "IDEAL" future recovery life, with the System & family (8)

MEANING
1013 = The blueberry poptart snack got me to TALK WITH LEON ♥ (100)
1014 = The "option shortage" gave us an unexpected PERFECT BREAKFAST ♥ (10)
1015 = Getting sick from cinnamon prompted a GREAT recovery conversation with MJ (10)

PRAYER
1013 = Praying for the people around me who were struggling (9)
1014 = Said a "Hail Mary" when tabletalk became inappropriate/ lewd (10)
1015 = Reading "The 3 Ordinary Voices of God" and CHOOSING to LISTEN & LIVE IT (10)

RELAXATION
1013 = Looked at the sunset, which was all pink and lilac (8)
1014 = Deep breathing, embracing Chaos 0 & Laurie for comfort upstairs (10)
1015 = Hot shower & scrubbing/ massaging like the monk taught us (10)

ONE THING IN THE MOMENT
1013 = Superfocused on tearing papers for the exchange tickets (10)
1014 = Superfocused on the action of writing with the marker (10)
1015 = Repeatedly physically grounding & refocusing my attention (?)

VACATION
1013 = Just had some nice, non-treatment small talk with MJ (9)
1014 = Chillin' on the liquidcrystal beach upstairs with the CoreGroup (& OCEAN DRINKS ♥) (9)
1015 = Genesis & I planning to visit MU for the CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING (10)

ENCOURAGEMENT
1013 = Laurie CONSTANTLY friendly-punching my arm & encouraging me (∞)
1014 = Seeing unexpected mealplan alterations as new adventures to enjoy (10)
1015 = Reminding myself, "I CAN do this. I WANT to succeed, and I WILL!" (10)


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

REALITY ACCEPTANCE SKILLS

101524 - 101724

(date + skill usage + 1-5 effectiveness)

RADICAL ACCEPTANCE
1015 = Disgusting romance on TV. I can't change it. It'll pass. LET GO of disgust. (2)
1015 = My past is my past. I can't change it. But it ALL led me to be who I am today. (4)
1016 = Upset at being too dissociated at dinner. Grateful I STILL enjoyed it. Felt disappointment AND joy. (3)

TURNING THE MIND
1015 = "I can choose to gripe about snack, OR accept the BONUS RETRY & CHERISH it" (4)
1015 = ✳ "I can CHOOSE to be patient & loving & kind, OR be mean & impatient & rude" (5)
1017 = SO SCARED OF SOY. Want to purge/ restrict. Allergy panic. BUT I CANNOT GIVE UP OR FLEE. (2)

WILLINGNESS (not what I want, but FOR LOVE OF ALL)
1015 = "Wanted 2 BelVita"; BUT chose wafers FOR MOM + more BelVita for others
1016 = Scott talking to me while I was eating; CHOSE to FULLY enter into conversation; LOVELY (5)
1016 = I don't want to talk. Angry, exhausted. Decide to gently assert boundary if asked, NOT resisting (3)

HALF-SMILING
1015 = When feeling "regret" over not choosing snack I "wanted" + FOUND MEANING IN CHOICE I DID MAKE (3)
1015 = Everyone else using phone. Did this while happy at them talking to their families (4)
1016 = EXHAUSTED from talking too much. Smiled & was grateful for being TRUSTED to LISTEN (3)

WILLING HANDS 
1015 = When group was watching TV that I didn't like (3)
1015 = Peers acting silly; instead of judging, accept them just as THEY are (5)
1016 = Gotta go to Fall Fest, facing old fears. Decided WE'RE GONNA ENJOY IT. (5)

MINDFULNESS OF CURRENT THOUGHTS
1015 = "I want ALL BelVita" like a child scared of "not getting more"; watched with COMPASSION (3)
1016 = Fears about Fall Fest/ flashback memories; watched & imagined GOOD things there (3)
1017 = So, so sad/ scared/ lost/ helpless/ frightened. Listen to that confession as sad song. (4)


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

prismaticbleed: (Default)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0601
1. Breakfast was ALL CARROT TAILS which was special (and of course Xenophon loves it ♥)
2. WE HAVE $100 TO GET US THROUGH THE WEEK THANK YOU GOD!!
3. I was REALLY BRAVE and tried a whole 2 spoons of oat bran!!

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0602
1. CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION & OUTDOORS ADORATION!!
2. I was able to receive the Precious Blood of Christ TWICE.

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0603
1. BRAVELY tried hempseed today instead of eggs & DIDN'T GET SICK!

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0604
1. Finally finished "The Princess & the Goblin"! Now we can start the June book club read!
2. Rewatched Dr. Ordway's lectures and they are SO much more impactful this time

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0605
1. Got mom a lot of food to help her the next few days at work
2. Absolutely stunning synchronicity convictions with lectures & Bible study
3. Went to Mass at NOoL and THEY STILL GIVE THE PRECIOUS BLOOD!!

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0606
1. Very quiet & slow day with lots of rain. Unusual & new but oddly nice.
2. Did some step machine exercise for once! Helps combat the restless anxiety

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0607
1. Sacred Heart morning mass!

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0608
1. CWC!!
2. Outside on campus, by ourself. We miss this place so much.
3. THE BLESSING FROM THAT LADY

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0609
1. Beautiful Mass morning

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0610
1. Slept in & prayed
2. Slow day, ate well

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0611
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0612
1. Early breakfast, so there were rainbows all over the table
2. Bible Study group!
3. So many people helped me financially

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0613
1. Spent lots of time with mom
2. Got to drive & see the sunset
3. Went to mass at QOTA!

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0614
1. Beautiful thunderstorm
2. Perfectly quiet day; no phone calls or texts

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0615
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0616
1. Dad said "I love you" and hugged me THREE TIMES!

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0617
1. Ice cream with mom

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0618
1. INSIDE OUT 2!!! ♥ Oh my gosh this movie went STRAIGHT TO MY HEART

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0619
1. BIBLE STUDY
2. SCOTT HAHN
3. AMAZING LECTURES

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0620
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0621
1. Mom smiled when I kissed her
2. Thunderstorm!!

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0622 -- MON 0624
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0625
1. KELLY!!!

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0626 -- SAT 0629
(N/A)

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0630
1. FINALLY got back to biking & did an entire 90 minutes

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0631
1. FOUGHT SO HARD against mental illness; didn't give up




OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS MONTH...
1. THIS DAMNABLE EATING DISORDER


prismaticbleed: (Default)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0524
1. Said the Rosary while biking today & actually "felt it" this time
2. Got everything ready/ done on time & finished ideally early too!
3. Was accountable & said the Stations of the Cross; don't ever forget how beautiful Clarence Enzler's are.

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0525
1. Still being so honest in confession; Father said I AM progressing spiritually
2. Wore ALL WHITE to church! I miss this color; it feels very right.
3. Started watching WOF lectures! I'm learning & growing so much from it.

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0526
1. Had a very difficult & painful yet honest & important talk with mom
2. GOT TO SING THE LORICA OF SAINT PATRICK-- by SIGHTREADING!
3. Someone was setting fireworks off outside and we saw ONE (red & green)!

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0527
1. Got the laundry & vacuuming done, & wasn't stressed out over it
2. Tried that unfiltered EVOO I've been avoiding for weeks out of fear, and it's actually LOVELY
3. SO MUCH RAIN! And it was QUIET outside despite it being a holiday, thank God!

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0528
1. BRAVELY tried rainbow carrots; I DIDN'T get sick & they were LOVELY

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0529
1. Held myself accountable to both exercise/ worship music despite depression

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0530
1. Found out it was Saint Joseph Marello's feast day, so I went to the Oblates for mass!
2. Bravely went with mom to get a haircut & she said it looks nice
3. Sat down & read for an hour although I kept falling asleep

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0531
1. Maintenance FINALLY fixed my broken closet door & removed the broken pantry door
2. Cleaned up my phone a bit & put the pink flowers at grandma's house as wallpaper



OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS WEEK...
1. Obsessing over health fears
2. Ruminating over future disasters
3. Feeling powerless to refuse acting on compulsive/ addictive behaviors



prismaticbleed: (held)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0518
1. Absolutely gorgeous almost-summer rainy day, cool & foggy & green. Celebi weather.
2. Father P.'s front garden is now FULL OF LAVENDER COLORED IRISES
3. Ate a full 1050K, including bonus cucumber, & didn't purge OR panic

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0519
1. Confirmation Mass! We got to sing the prayer "Veni Creator Spiritus" which was beautiful
2. Got to watch the homily from the National Basilica in D.C. (our "second home") LIVE while exercising today!
3. Some really good worship music recommendations, keeping my spirits up

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0520
1. Read my FAVORITE PSALM today, which I needed so badly to remember
2. Another night drive with music straight to the heart; I need this
3. CLEANED THE SINK at last, which makes my house & head both feel cleaner

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0521
1. Went to THREE food drives for Jade. It was arduous but absolutely worth the effort
2. Didn't gripe or complain over extra errands & phone calls, but cooperated with kindness
3. That BEAUTIFUL APPLE at the food drive that looked like God had painted it with a brush by Hand. We literally just sat and admired it up close for at least five solid minutes

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0522
1. Really convicting/ important lectures & Bible study today; thanks Holy Spirit
2. SONDAE JUST RELEASED A NEW ALBUM AND IT'S BLESSEDLY AMAZING
3. Fought addiction HARD on behalf of my brother; sacrifice ego for love of other

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0523
1. Got to visit my brother at his new place, & meet his friend & their kitten!
2. Had a hospital procedure for ~5 hours which was actually great downtime; I needed a break
3. Ate a "normal breakfast" thanks to the hospital procedure & didn't panic or get nauseous; thanks God!!




OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS WEEK...
1. NOT taking time to do this list
2. Internet distraction/ distress
3. OBSESSIVE & COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR

JOY SPARKS TO KINDLE NEXT WEEK...
1. JOURNALING!!! TALK IT OUT
2. Seriously FINISH READING
3. You NEED to decompress at night




prismaticbleed: (held)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0512
1. Visited DAD! ♥ We had a POSITIVE conversation & he gave me a birthday card
2. Got a surprisingly relevant & touchingly sweet birthday card from mom
3. The May Crowning kids at church were SO CUTE & there was that GORGEOUS Latina girl & her fam too

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0513
1. FINALLY did the laundry! We DIDN'T get overwhelmed & our timing was perfect!
2. Cleaned up that huge stack of church bulletins that's been piling up by the altar since mid-April
3. Finally got back into the exercise routine, & got a solid hour in, with music!

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0514
1. Wonderful therapy session, FULL OF SCRIPTURE HOPE!
2. Refused to stop praying, no matter how scared/ stressed I was
3. Didn't give in to compulsive spending behaviors, THANK GOD

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0515
1. Didn't go back to bed when I woke up, despite depression wanting to
2. Smokie Norful album discovery; BEAUTIFUL songs = EXACT prayers I needed
3. Didn't starve myself OR binge; ate normally & was brave

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0516
1. Got to go up the old house with mom & SMELL THE WISTERIA
2. Also got to smell THREE COLORS OF IRISES at the house & at church
3. Used morning confusion to our advantage & put away winter clothes

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0517
1. BOTH major family issues from yesterday/ today were resolved well
2. Finally starting cataloguing the bookshelves, while listening to Sondae
3. DIDN'T PURGE when I was afraid "forbidden" food had "poisoned" me



OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS WEEK...
1. EATING DISORDER HELL
2. TUMBLR/ FACEBOOK BRAIN INFECTION
3. TRYING TO PLEASE EVERYBODY
4. TOO MUCH SALT YOU MORON

JOY SPARKS TO KINDLE NEXT WEEK...
1. NIGHT TIME WITH THE SYSTEM
2. LISTEN TO SYSTEM MUSIC
3. GET BACK TO JOURNALING!!



prismaticbleed: (held)

focus on the good!


GOOD THINGS ON WED 0501
1. Posted my reflections in the weekly WOF Book Club & it was received positively
2. 1/3 into the year and we've done every daily Bible+Catechism In A Year study so far faithfully
3. Spent some time reviewing old inspirations/ poetry on our Tumblr loveblog to "set the stage" to return to it in earnest

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0502
1. Finished my online audio studies on the Saint Paul Center; now we can move forwards to the next kind
2. Started reading the next fairytale ("The Light Princess") for this month's book club
3. The trees outside my window are green with leaf buds & they looked so beautiful against the clear blue sky... especially since that exact color combination reminds me of both Celebi & Chaos 0

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0503
1. Discovered a new worship song that put words to exactly what I needed to pray
2. Started a new religious lecture course and it is already both deeply inspiring & shockingly educational
3. Worked up the courage to voice my opinion in the WOF book club although no one else shared my views

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0504
1. Got to SMELL THE WISTERIA regrowing up at the homestead-- the exact same from my childhood (it didn't die and neither did we)
2. Beautiful spring rain all evening, with that "emerald" scent that wet forests have-- it was 100% Celebi and went straight to my heart
3. Started a new book (The Princess and the Goblin), even if only the first 5 pages, and I'm already fascinated

GOOD THINGS ON SUN 0505
1. First Holy Communion at church, so it was PACKED, notably with kids and families, which was lovely to see
2. The lilacs by the church (the pastel colored ones) are in full bloom & they smell so beautiful
3. Saw Father P. out planting seeds in his garden & wearing pajama pants; it was such a simply sweet human moment, it meant a lot

GOOD THINGS ON MON 0506
1. Managed to get a full hour of exercise in (I missed yesterday)
2. By a crazy sequence of "not quite coincidences," I GOT MY CHILDHOOD FAIRYTALE BOOK BACK!!
3. Driving LATE (9PM) to pick up mom, & listening to music on the highway

GOOD THINGS ON TUE 0507
1. Got a "happy birthday" phone call from dad AND texts from ALL my siblings!
2. Indulged my sense of childlike wonder/ joy/ affection & got mom an "I love you" balloon
3. SURVIVED TO AGE 34!!! Seriously BY THE GRACE OF GOD, may He guide & protect us still!!

GOOD THINGS ON WED 0508
1. MOM'S BIRTHDAY! Genuinely moved/ struck with thinking about how much I really do love her
2. Let my body sleep in a bit for once; we were so exhausted we needed it
3. Seriously convicting Bible study, but we needed the severe honest correction

GOOD THINGS ON THU 0509
1. Ascension Thursday! ♥ Mass was during the "golden hour" and everything looked so beautiful
2. Unexpectedly heard my favorite "night song" from college on the drive home & everything felt transcendently bittersweet
3. Found some more good music while biking today; I'm learning that I don't "have to like everything" blindly

GOOD THINGS ON FRI 0510
1. AMAZING counseling session; completely unexpected. HUGE insights into habitualized trauma behaviors
2. Ran several errands for mom that she later genuinely thanked me for; proving I CAN be kind & reliable
3. Synchronicity with night drive music giving me MASSIVE consolation & brought me to tears

GOOD THINGS ON SAT 0511
1. Talked to my choir director about my debilitating struggles with scrupulosity lately; he deals with it too so he UNDERSTANDS & CARES
2. Had a very honest confession concerning the scrupulosity discussion, and ACTUALLY felt freer when it was over; powerful grace to keep trying
3. In prayer after, FELT like Mary DID LOVE ME. No fear. That's SO SIGNIFICANT for me. Don't ever forget this; keep praying!



OBSTACLES TO JOY THIS WEEK...
1. "GUILT/SHAME" over feeling any happiness
2. Undermining "the bright side"
3. Giving in to "monotony despair"
4. STOP WASTING TIME ONLINE!!

JOY SPARKS TO KINDLE NEXT WEEK...
1. TALK TO THE SYSTEM MORE OFTEN
2. PUT ASIDE EVEN 10 MINUTES TO READ AT NIGHT



prismaticbleed: (held)

focus on the good!


TUES 0430
1. I got to see all the flowers coming up in mom's garden (especially that RED TULIP)
2. I got to take a night drive to pick up mom & listen to some favorite music 🪐❤️
3. Got three of my childhood formative books back from the attic (the last Animorphs ones I was missing); now I can start reading the set




030424

Mar. 5th, 2024 10:35 am
prismaticbleed: (angel)



today, at the adoration chapel after bloodwork,

(lady) *walks in, sits to my left, says nothing for a minute*
(lady) *suddenly points to picture of blessed carlos acutis* Is that you?
(me) *staggered* No, he's a saint! …Or at least, he's on the way to being one.
(lady) Really? I thought that was you. You look like a saint.
(me) God knows I'm trying! But I need His help to get there, so I'll keep praying!

HONESTLY THOUGH DUDE WHAT EVEN??????????
LADY LEGIT THOUGHT I WAS BLESSED CARLOS ACUTIS I need to pray to this boy for heavenly intercession now. SHEESH

122623

Dec. 26th, 2023 10:57 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
 

TRAUMA NIGHTMARES. literally the worst they could possibly be.
Violent lesbian rape, forced feeding & terrified vomiting, family hatred & verbal abuse, SUICIDE ATTEMPT, and missing Mass on top of it all.
Bizarrely, at the very end, we were FINALLY leaving the family house (where ALL THAT HELL HAPPENED), and it began to snow?? And JEWEL FRONTED. She was "Sonic-skating" on the snowy road like it was a skaterail, and when she got to the crest of the hill (which is MUCH steeper & longer in dreams, like low airplane height even), Mewtwo was flying above her (below the sky ceiling, which was STILL THERE) and she asked him(!) to "fly her down" to the city, where we live? And he did, although he complained at first, but by the drop-off they were interacting clearly as good friends.
So... yeah. That extreme juxtaposition of events & moods says a LOT about our subconscious experience of both places.

Had to go to church, needed the consolation, after such a hell night
BUT THERE WAS NO CHURCH??
We decided to stay anyway, and went upstairs to pray before the Tabernacle... and ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS WERE ON IN THE DARK.
It was so stunningly beautiful it felt like a dream. Pun intended, perhaps. But that's why God brought us here, despite the nightmares, despite no Mass. This was such a profound consolation, this beauty in the dark, the Baby in the manger shining brightest of all. This was a clear, visible, tangible reminder of what Christmas was really about... and a reassurance that yes, it did apply to me, too.

Got home for 830.
Laundry day since we actually had time & we had THREE LOADS TO DO

Knock shrine online mass
Intrusive hateful thoughts (ego dystonic!!!) are SO LOUD when we watch other people??? Its SUPER DISTURBING.
We reject the thoughts actively, we refuse to entertain them, we recognize them as wrong and cruel and shockingly ugly, but THEY KEEP HAPPENING and they are INSISTENT. So its very distressing and we never know what to do. You can't really "resist them" when they're constantly shouting around your ears. We can't turn them off. But we can at least say, over and over, "no, I do not agree with that, I refuse to judge, what you are saying is evil, I have no part of it." Etc.
But we still have to confess this every week. It doesn't stop. It's as mentally exhausting as it is morally frightening. ARE we really THAT EVIL?? Why won't it stop? Why are we like this?

Likewise, we CANNOT STOP PANICKING ABOUT POSSIBLE SOCIAL INTERACTIONS, especially with neighbors like Paul who like to talk. Its not his fault. We just literally will screamcry, selfabuse and throw up if we talk too much to ANYONE. That, too, happens EVERY BLOODY TIME no matter how hard we try to "smile and wait it out" or "play the part patiently" or whatever. The family holidays were proof of our inability to stop the fatal consequences of overstimulation, as were the nightmares.
But we can at least AVOID going up the house. We cannot avoid the unpredictable encounter of a neighbor.
...
Social media is worse. I seriously want to delete our Facebook. I HATE that website, honestly I do. Maybe we should just junk it. We'd finally have peace.

Immediately after laundry, we bravely went to the candle shop for mom. (Waiting another day would put our anxiety through the roof, but going outdoors closer to noon has a very high risk of talkative social encounters)
Got her the Pumpkin Chai as it smells like tea & isn't oppressively sweet.
There's one thats "Tobacco & Oud" that we think we like? We're still trying to figure out what "we" ACTUALLY do like, as opposed to what is programming, what is imitation, and what is a foni giving their own opinion, haha. The latter instance is the only acceptable one.
But this won't solidify without a solid Core. That's inevitable.

OCD is only kicking in when we PRAY WITHOUT FELIX???
Also we're thinking he is GREEN, not yellow-- there may be a name spelling change to match. Yellow was blurring him with that rude humor guy with the goggles. Besides that color was only assumed because of name synaesthesia. But his VOICE is GREEN!!
In any case he has NO "body" yet, in innerspace. His case is unique-- for his role to work, he HAS TO BE AN ANDROID. He cannot be organic or it would MAKE HIM DANGEROUS, since his role is to SPEAK!!!
I'm wondering how this affects Algorith?? Especially with her original function roots, as one of the martial Retributors.

ADELAIDE IS SHIFTING PINK??? Like a powdery pink. She FEELS more stable moving that way.
Still, wondering about this concerning what Spice said about Browns the other day. But we can't deny that Addie was miserable?
I also think she seriously wants to work WITH Audrey, or Julie. She doesn't want to be alone with the somafoni.
Is this the first time a foni "rejected" a function assignment and Chose to move, and was ALLOWED to without dying??? Is that something ONLY Browns can do, because of their neutral nature???


While watching lectures =
If people cry or get choked up while talking TO ME, and ESPECIALLY if they are trying to smile or be dramatic, it makes me feel ANGRY & FRIGHTENED & CONFUSED. It feels like they're FORCING THEMSELVES ON ME. I don’t know why, but it does. It's like I'm cornered, towered over, helpless, and they are climbing on top of me.
...


Evening =
It's getting so hard to concentrate on anything, or retain any information input. I think our poor brain is fried.

Trying to relax on couch but as usual we WON'T LET OURSELVES RELAX. It's exhausting.

122523

Dec. 25th, 2023 10:56 pm
prismaticbleed: (drained)
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
WE SANG SIX ENTIRE MASSES BOYYYYYYY

When people tell me I have a talent for singing, and I DENY it, saying "no, I'm not very good," or the like, THAT'S PRIDE!!!!!
I'm effectively saying, "I won't consider this a gift UNTIL I'm spectacular!" THAT'S ARROGANT. God HAS given you a gift, however unusual it is shaped, however small it may be, and because its from HIM its PERFECT FOR YOU EXACTLY AS IT IS, because guess what else? IT'S GIVEN IN ORDER TO BE USED FOR HIS GLORY. SO HE KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT IS NEEDED TO DO THAT. IT'S NOT ABOUT YOUR EGO.


House E.D. relapse
EVERY TIME I GO UP THERE I HAVE A MELTDOWN OF SOME SORT.
ESPECIALLY ON HOLIDAYS.
It's spiritual warfare.
I prayed so hard for help. I begged God to do something with this, to not ruin Christmas with my sin.
And actually, I feel sick & tired & scared & wrecked, with no hope but Jesus. And I'm clinging to Him.
Somehow this is more Christmas than any gifts or food could ever be.





122123

Dec. 21st, 2023 10:38 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)


Still SO WEAK & IN PAIN.

Mom morning again! Food drive stop, people still encouraging us to keep singing at church, which means a great deal as we might have to sing SIX MASSES OVER THE WEEKEND SON!!
Walmart stop to get some basics. Genesis dedicatedly keeping me from blacking out from stress & overwhelmed confusion; there were SO MANY PEOPLE our brain was literally shutting off just to cope.

Left off Jade's Christmas card at work! It's so glittery haha, they'll know exactly who it's from

Car talk is a blur as usual but we were discussing mental health & such? EXCEPT WE'RE A MISERABLE CONVERSATIONIST, all we do is complain & point fingers & discuss problems. NO WONDER EVERYONE HATES TO BE AROUND YOU, YOU ASS.
I ask, yet again: WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS.
Is THIS what we turn into when we DON'T TALK AS A SYSTEM????? This is EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED IN CNC after all!! With no Spectrum communication, we somehow turn into an absolute nightmare of a gloomy griping git. We apparently CAN'T BE POSITIVE AS A "SINGLET." That's all we can figure.
Why? Because we ARE A MULTIPLE SYSTEM. We are SUPPOSED to live TOGETHER!! When the somafoni deny & suppress & avoid & attack that fact, or when they go even further and try to outright kill us-- well, that says a LOT about why THEY are the way they are.
But... new year's resolution. Daily journals. Monthly Xangas. Weekly headspace "meditations". And all of it shot through with REAL CHRISTIANITY.
THAT'S something we realized today, like the floor dropping out of the world. We're treating our religion like a college class. We're making it all about words & essays & quizzes & studying. We've turned Jesus into an idea. Our whole faith is "on paper"-- on a phone screen, on a bookshelf, in a notebook.
Guess what? THAT'S NOT TRUE CHRISTIANITY.
Jesus is a PERSON. The Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU, AMONG YOU, in the streets of the tangible world, in the faces of the most needy & forgotten. You can study all you want; but where is your oil, foolish whore? Where are your good works? You're too damn busy comparing translations & blabbering nonsense to realize the Bridegroom you've read about is literally at the door, expecting you to get off your ass and join Him and the rest of the crowd!! Would they even know who you are?? Who are you serving? Are you tending the vineyard? Are you feeding the sheep? What have you done with your bloody talents??
No wonder we're miserable.


One bit of good news: we ARE having a small but real "family get-together" on BOTH Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. Dinner, presents, music, even a tree. Of course we immediately but silently freaked out about food scheduling & options, scared of variables & allergens, but mom EXPECTED our anxiety?? Because she just as immediately told us, on her own, that she WON'T cook any shellfish, WON'T coerce us into eating dairy or gluten, and WILL allow us to actually bring our own food. WHAT THE SHARK I DIDN’T REALIZE THAT WAS ALLOWED. The amount of sheer relief we felt was STAGGERING. We didn't realize how SCARED we were until suddenly there was an "escape hatch."

BK @ 3pm son 😂 Laurie is not happy with the OCD delays

Reading Matthew's Gospel instead of typing. I'm sick of the commentary. I'm tired of the thriskefoni & somafoni running the life. For the new year, everything needs to change.
I seriously think we will do the "Bible In A Year" study from Ascension. We actually started it this year, but stopped for some unknown reason. We'll try again, with sincere determination, and PRAYER for perseverance, you proud rat, stop thinking you can power your puny ass through your aspirations; no wonder they all crash and burn.


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

Adoration thought =

I've realized what I struggle with concerning forgiveness =
How can Jesus "take my sins away" if they still happened?
They still exist in history. Their consequences still endure. I'm still damaged and so are many others. How can Jesus redeem me from them if I am still shackled to those daily consequences?
I want to know. I genuinely want to know because Jesus DOES forgive me of the guilt, somehow. He DOES redeem me from the slavery to sin. I do believe that. And yet, even there, I still struggle in a daily war with kakofoni. I'm not a slave anymore, but then why am I still in prison? Why all the nightmares? Why this trashheap of a personality?
God i don't understand. Please help me.
But yeah, THIS is why I get so frustrated when people say "Jesus died for your sins!" WHAT DOES THAT ACTUALLY MEAN.
I know He died BECAUSE MY SINS MURDERED HIM. That is obvious. But then where is my hope? If His death "took those sins away," why am I still haunted? Why do those sins still actively affect every moment of my wretched existence?
The problem is on my end, I am doing something wrong, I don't understand and I want to.

DUDE READ THE CATECHISM
I'm SURE it says something about this.

Psalm 98???
"O Lord our God, You answered them. For them You were a God who forgives; yet You punished all their offences."
...

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VOTD = Psalm 100:2.
"[God always keeps His promises.] Therefore, even when hardships persist, we can serve the Lord with gladness and come to Him with praise. No matter what happens to us in life, God is always worthy of worship. But worship is a choice, and we have to decide to be confident in God's Word, to preach to ourselves, to keep waiting for and trusting in God... God has unfailingly proven His faithfulness throughout history, and Advent is the greatest testimony of this-- because the Birth of Christ was-- and is, and will continue to be-- the perfect fulfillment of all God's promises."
1) Hardships have no power against God. This is because, as even we mortals can attest, hardships are powerless against LOVE! In fact, love practically thrives in hardships-- tough times are the glorious battlefields in which Love the Invincible wins its greatest victories... and the ultimate Victory of Love is the Cross.
2) Seriously, familiarize yourself WITH God's Promises!! Start that notebook for the New Year. Write it ALL down. Then you'll KNOW what you can specifically anchor your praise and patience and hope and gratitude into.
3) This actually implies, correctly, that if we don't trust in God during hardships, we cannot serve Him. I say "at all"-- because if we aren't serving gladly, then we're grumbling & morose, or distracted & anxious, and those very dispositions DON'T SERVE GOD.
4) Likewise, we cannot praise God if we don't trust Him. Do you see how important true faith is?
...
5) WORSHIP IS A CHOICE. It's not automatic. It's not a program to run. It cannot be faked or forced, copied or compelled. It is a freely willing decision of the heart, or it isn't worship.
...
6) confident
7) SELF PREACH
8) KEEP waiting & trusting
...


The questions are POWERFUL =
"How will you worship the Lord today?
+By celebrating His blessings with my community.
+By intentionally giving Him the best of my time.
+By bringing my grief to Him and trusting Him with my pain."

THAT'S ALL WORSHIP????
Man why don't we Catholics talk about this??? This sort of perspective is literally the way to sanctify one's ENTIRE LIFE, every little detail and aspect of it, seeing the opportunity to praise & honor & serve God in ALL things and at ALL times, and simply yet faithfully DOING SO. That is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL AND ESSENTIAL to being a Christian at ALL, for heavens sakes!
1) Outside of general Mass, I've never done anything like this, because it was never offered or even imagined as a possibility! People around me "kept their faith to themselves," outside of church services. And no one got together JUST to celebrate GOD! And yet HOW BEAUTIFUL THAT WOULD BE!! And how my heart and soul are YEARNING for it, now that they are able to discern & voice this previously unrecognized need!!
2) We need to seriously ponder & discuss this one. What, truly, IS "the best of our time"? What are the ACTUAL criteria?
...
3) ...giving God my grief is worship. How. I need to understand this; that changes everything.
Oh wait, oh man hold up, the prayer on the very next slide SAYS how=
"God, You make all things beautiful. You bring beauty out of ugly situations, and You can turn mourning into joy... I will view my pain as an opportunity to find fulfillment in You, and my blessings as opportunities to praise You."
1) I daresay that, without God, nothing is beautiful. Yet His Presence alone brings true beauty to anything-- because the ugliness that is sin & death CANNOT exist in His Presence!!
(REMEMBER THE UPMC SUNRISE!!!)
...
2) God also "brings beauty OUT of ugliness." Nothing is inherently ugly except for sin. God created everything Good. So, He can recreate everything Good-- and He DID exactly this IN CHRIST.
God's very Presence TRANSMUTES things.
...
3) Christ is also the ultimate example of transmuting mourning into joy. Isn't that the Cross? Isn't that the "happy fault"?
Remember the Beatitudes!
...
4) Pain & fulfillment. This is deep.
What causes us pain? Death. In one way or another, great or small, it's death. We suffer loss, disappointment, decay, injury, illness, grief, trauma... All of it is a death of something. 
All death, deep down, inspires our hurting hearts to look beyond this world, to hope for the eternal, to blindly grope towards God. Christianity gives us the Light of Faith, to lead us out of that darkness.
But fulfillment is the key word. We won't follow that Light if we treasure the shadows.
(You're babbling. The "talk around the topic" girls are out. Pause this until WE can speak; otherwise they'll just bury the point beneath distracting fluff.) 


KVOTD adds to this topic with some very interesting thoughts =
"God's plans can take us by surprise, and even shock us. But no matter how big or wild or strange His plans seem to us, or how many impossible obstacles seem to be in their way, we can trust that God will make ALL His plans come through-- because God can do anything, and He can perform miracles to keep His promises."
MAN WE FORGET THAT, DON'T WE??

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

A thought =
Something can still be an "idol" even if you're terrified of it. Just look at actual pagan worship. Their "gods" are not necessarily "good" whatsoever-- but they still demand sacrifice & worship, else they lash out in violently offended pride.
The True God isn't like that. He never has tantrums or fits. He never does spitework. He is always honorable, just, and righteous.
Nevertheless... you still react to Him as if He was like a pagan idol. Why? Are you unknowingly worshipping an idol and thinking it's the Lord? What are you so terrified of?
The thought that started this topic =
I am still too obsessed with food. And I'm obsessed with food because I "need" to control exactly what & when I eat. And I "need" to control it because I'm afraid that otherwise I will be forced to eat poison or allergens. And I'm afraid because then I will die an unholy death, spasming mindlessly like an animal, dehumanized by careless gluttony. 
I'm so afraid of food killing me.
I'm so tired of this unending terror.
But I'm MOST afraid that it would be JUST, that God would LET it happen if I WAS so nonchalant about food, instead of practicing ascetic denial & strict control. No luxury, no novelty, no feasting, no exceptions. If you do take that carefree chance, and you die from it, then it serves you right.
I'm scared to death. I cannot take that risk.

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121923

Dec. 19th, 2023 10:34 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Bad night again.
Midnight fire alarm
Horrible flashback-adjacent nightmare. SLC & CNC both fused.
Very disturbed upon waking (4am) from what it revealed about my mindset in those situations.

Mom shopping
3 HOURS for two stores haha. At least i got to spend time with her.
Still we ALWAYS TALK WRONG. We say things that aren't true, we exaggerate, we play side against side, we never remember what we said afterwards. We feel legitimately possessed, like someone else is in our body. Our voice and mannerisms even change. It's disturbing and we can't seem to stop it because WE DON'T HAVE ANY AWARENESS UNTIL HINDSIGHT.

BK @1520 😂

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VOTD = Psalm 47:1.
"This verse is unconditional! No matter how you're feeling or what you're going through, keep giving God your best praise. Pour out your heart to Him, and He will lift you up."
1) It really is, which I never noticed! That goes to show you how there is a proper way of reading Scripture; it cannot be read casually. It is ALIVE AND ACTIVE. When there is a command, an unconditional statement like this, it MEANS SOMETHING TO ME, NOW.
2) Don't make excuses. What is the best praise you can offer tO God, right now? It's not about "quantity," either. You're not trying to impress God, or impress yourself, with how much you can do, or how difficult the effort is. That's actually not the point. "Best" does not mean "most skilled." It means "most heartfelt." We're talking "quality". Maybe your very best praise, the highest quality you can give, is simply feeling pure gratitude for life itself in this moment. The depth of sincerity and love in that simple action, directed towards God with all your heart, even if its not "impressive," is REAL worship.
3) KEEP GIVING IT.
4) A wonderful thing happens when we praise God despite our pain and struggle... God changes our hearts. The very act of praising Him opens the door for transformation, enabling Him TO lift us out of our shadows and into His light.
...

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

KVOTD = Luke 2:13-14
"Can you imagine what it sounds like to hear an angel singing? I'm sure it's more majestic than the "Gloria" in our Christmas carol. And guess who got to hear it? The shepherds. Not the most important people, not the well-adjusted winners, but the last of the last, the lowly smelly shepherds. God's Love still sings. You have to listen for it. It's deeper than the "love songs" you hear on the radio and it's deeper than the songs that you sing to yourself. His Love still "sings sweetly o'er the plains," if you'll listen for it. Listen closely, and you'll hear "Gloria.""
...this absolutely moved us to tears.
...

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

Universalis today=

"There is also, perhaps, one more lesson to be learnt from Samson: the conventional ways in which the Spirit works, or through whom the Spirit works, are not necessarily those of a ‘plaster-cast saint’. We have no right to confine the Spirit to the ways we think the Spirit should be working! Our conceptions of the ways in which the Spirit works are not necessarily the same as God’s."
1) This gives me so much hope I could cry. THERE'S NO "PLASTER CAST" PROVISO.
...
2) "Why is that so important to you?" You may ask. "Why are you so obsessed with becoming a saint?" My response: because to me, living as anything less than a Saint is a wasted life. The thought is unbearable. If my life ISN'T completely consecrated to God, and spent for His glory, can it even be called a life at all?
...
3) It just hit me, how outrageously arrogant it is to "should" the Holy Spirit, and yet how COMMON this claim is in our country. This is related to our recent topic on "not expecting to see Jesus." What conceited impudence, disguised as orthodoxy!
...

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

ttywpf = Another GUTPUNCH.
"[Jesus] seems to show no mercy to those who have taken... the reality of a God Who is close, God Who is walking with His people, Who became man... and distilled it along with their many traditions and made it simply an idea, purely a precept, thereby alienating so many people... Indeed, Jesus will accuse these people of being proselytizers... They go halfway around the world to look for someone to proselytize, and then they burden them with all their laws and precepts. They alienate people [from religion and from God]. Jesus taught us another way: that of going out— going out to give witness, going out to take a concern for brothers and sisters, going out to share, going out to inquire. To become incarnate.
What is the difference between someone who makes Jesus into just an idea versus someone who shares the faith by going out and encountering others? What do their lives look like? How can you avoid making Jesus into a set of rules and instead let Him be as He Is, a Reality?"

1) God is not an idea. Christianity is not an idea.
2) I used to do this. I didn't have a relationship with God so I couldn't understand how to be a Christian, let alone how to "make others Christian." It was entirely the wrong motivation.
I really did alienate people.
..
3) Witness, concern, sharing, inquiry-- these DEFINE "incarnate"  as opposed to "idea"??? REFLECT ON THIS
That word "encounter" is key. The Pope heavily emphasizes it, and with good reason.
...
4) Am I still making Jesus into a set of rules?
5) JESUS IS A REALITY. That tiny article is essential. It makes Him personal. Just declaring that He "is Reality," however profoundly true, is still conceptualizing Him.
...


Passion =
"The Cross of Jesus is the revelation of God’s judgment on sin. Never tolerate the idea of martyrdom about the Cross of Jesus Christ... The Cross did not happen to Jesus: He came on purpose for it. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The whole meaning of the Incarnation is the Cross...
The Cross is the exhibition of the nature of God, the gateway whereby any individual of the human race can enter into union with God. When we get to the Cross, we do not go through it; we abide in the life to which the Cross is the gateway.
The centre of salvation is the Cross of Jesus, and the reason it is so easy to obtain salvation is because it cost God so much. The Cross is the point where God and sinful man merge with a crash and the way to life is opened— but the crash is on the heart of God."

1) Martyrdom is "to die rather than renounce religion," or to die "on behalf of a belief or cause." This is NOT WHAT CHRIST DID. He died AS A SACRIFICE. He IS what religion worships. He IS Who we believe in; He IS the First Cause, as it were, being GOD in His very essence. He wasn't witnessing to anything greater than Himself.
...
In a way, our "crosses" are also not inherently occasions of martyrdom? The very nature of a cross is a capital punishment after all. We can't "appropriate" our trials & tribulations to that end, as they are from the Hand of God, and what is there to die for besides Him? We cannot be martyrs to ourselves, OR BY CHOICE. It is a GRACE given by GOD.
Martyrdom only occurs when there is a crisis point-- either to choose God and die, or reject Him and survive.
Jesus was not making such a declaration. He went to the Cross under a criminal sentence. He was going in OUR PLACE. He was not putting Himself in a position of righteous testimony; He invited no sympathizers, made no statements.
...
Our crosses only become "martyrs crosses" when they are united to CHRIST'S Cross, accepted for HIS sake... otherwise they're just our deserved instruments of execution.
They don't "just happen" to us either, but for different reasons-- we do not have the right to refuse or avoid them. We deserve them. God gives them justly. We cannot choose them on our own.
...
2) I am forever astounded by the FACT that Jesus was effectively SLAIN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. His Incarnation and Crucifixion are outside of time
...
3) The Cross exhibits God's Nature BECAUSE it is the door of unity.
...
4)...


MDE =
"When she was walking up to communion, she said to herself, "In a few minutes, I am going to meet Jesus. I’m going to take Him in my hand and I will ask Him for His help.” While she was a Catholic who received communion often, this time she looked at the sacred Host and said, “I know You are really here. Today, when You come into me, take away this fear. Heal me if You want, but please do something for me.” ...That woman was healed. I wonder how many of us come to the Eucharist only physically present, without any expectant faith, any excitement over what we are doing. Perhaps we come to the Eucharist only for what we get out of it and we do not thank God or praise Him for giving Himself to us."
1) The simple and direct INTIMACY of her statement amazes me, as does her CHILDLIKE TRUST.
2) her prayer, and its reliance on His Presence
3) ...Where is my expectant faith? What am I to be expecting?
4) Am I excited or afraid? Am I scared to admit the intimacy of what's happening? Am I afraid I'm signing a contract that I never actually read? I can't say no, I don't want to say no, but what exactly am I agreeing to? Why am I so scared? Am I projecting all the sxtrauma onto this??
...
5) ...oh wow what a distinction. I AM coming for "what I get out of it"; but it's fearful. I'll die and be damned and go to hell if I don't, if I even miss it once. Where's the recognition of the Self-Gift of God?? Where's my gratitude for such generosity? Where's my love in return for infinite Love?


EGJ =
"Are we willing to be like Joseph, who committed his life to loving and raising a child toward whom he had no obligation?
This is a big day, a potentially life-changing day. Sit in silence and listen to the Spirit whisper one small way you can share love with the least among us. Commit to it not just once, but at least once a month for the next year.  Whatsoever you do for the least around you, you do for Jesus. How you treat the least around you, you treat Jesus. How you respect the least around you, you respect Jesus. How you love the least around you, you love Jesus."

1) Arguably, we all have an obligation to each other by virtue of just our common humanity-- even moreso as fellow children of God! But there is no exception in truth. We may not have a "legal" obligation, or even a sentimental one, but all such ties are far less binding than our common DNA, for heavens sakes. So. TREAT PEOPLE LIKE IT. You ARE obligated to love and support your fellow man, because he IS a fellow man!
...
2) And yet Saint Joseph takes it a step further: to deeply personal commitment.
...
3) EVERY day is a big day. EVERY day could change someone’s life. Ponder that, seriously.
...
4) Who ARE the "least" in my community? Do I know?
...


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Catena tonight was very thought-provoking so I'm NOT QUOTING IT. All this pasting is lazy. I'm going to put things in our own words, as we were affected, to drive the core message home.


Suffering only ever comes to us as the will of God? As in, it cannot happen to us "by chance or accident." Suffering has purpose, but more humbly, it is "just"-- we are sinners, and such is the result of sin, even if we are ultimately redeemed from its tyranny. We still sin in our weakness. No man can deny that. It's in the Bible, 1 John 1:8-10. Same with Romans 7.
But... 1 Peter 4 speaks powerfully. It means that, even though this world & body damaged by sin will inevitably suffer because of that damage, those who cherish sin will run from suffering at all costs?? Such people seek luxuries & pleasures & parties & fun, all sorts of entertainment & comforts, running from pain & trouble & death at every turn. They deny sin. They reject penance. They therefore see no purpose to suffering and that scares them the most.
...
There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between suffering as a sinner and suffering as a Christian. That distinction is key, here. We CANNOT "endure our suffering patiently" if we ARE suffering for sin, because our offended pride will refuse to submit to it.
...
However, there is a greater danger even than fleeing, and that is fighting. That is active refusal, violent opposition to God's will, just because it hurts. That is rejection of the Cross, blind denial of its Truth and Power, because of its scandal. To fight suffering is to say not only "I do not want what God wants," but "I do not deserve this pain." So we do everything we can to stop it, unable to rest, miserable in our struggle. The problem: we are not God. We are all helpless mortal men. We have no power to come down from our own cross. So will we be Gestas or Dismal? Only one of those tortured thieves found peace despite the pain, despite death itself, and it had nothing to do with his own strength or effort.
To put this very simply: patience is a virtue, and a powerful one, but human power can never achieve it. All the might & muscle & mindpower in the world cannot conjure up an ounce of patience, especially not when suffering strikes. Patience is given, not gotten. But then how do we receive it? First, we must stop fighting. We must surrender.
Whoever insists "I can handle this myself" is closing the door on God. Such a person cannot endure suffering, for he cannot stop trying to stop it or control it. He refuses to see or admit God's Will in the situation, and sees suffering only as an obstacle to overcome, a problem to solve. He cannot let go, because he cannot put things in God's Hands.
This sort of person has no faith. They do not trust in God. They don't trust His Plans in suffering, because they don't trust His Character; they don't see God as Good, or Wise, or Merciful, or Just. They don't have faith in God because they don't love Him. And that is the greatest suffering of all.
...
If we love God, then we trust Him like a Father. We have faith that He will always be Good to us. So, when we suffer, we recognize that HE is still watching over us, protecting us, helping us, and we CAN bear all suffering with patience & courage, in surrendering obedience to His Will. This endurance strengthens our own will to do good, not of our own doing, but through the grace we received by the faith that enabled such endurance to begin with!
Another perspective = when we love God, then we even rejoice in suffering because it unites us more closely to Christ. We cannot share fully in His Life if we don't share His Passion! Through this, suffering even becomes a cause for joy, as it brings us to the Cross Itself, the very floodgates of grace, the Throne of our Compassionate King.
...
When, through the grace of charity, we have dedicated ourselves to do God's will, and to submit in trust to whatever He sends us, then we will suddenly find the grace to triumph over human weakness-- as Christ did in Gethsemane. Although we naturally fear pain & death, when we say in loving trust "Thy Will Be Done" and accept the Cup as a profound blessing, that love and faith will overcome our mortal frailty with the Spirit’s power. "Love conquers all"; the Cross is the very means of victory; why then would you fear it? 


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121723

Dec. 17th, 2023 11:04 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

💕💕GAUDETE SUNDAY💕💕
We were ALL pink son!!

Tony pickup, slightly late. We savored the winter morning. Struck by how much blacktop there is, so few trees, the landscape is almost entirely artificial and sterile. What was it like before we did this to it?

Mom drive home & shop
VERY late getting home.
3PM BK!!

NEWSFLASH = THE RED CHRISTMAS LIGHTS FINALLY BURNED OUT AS OF 4PM 😂 THAT'S A FULL YEAR GOD BLESS
Perfect timing though; there's no better day to relight our tree!

Evening = DID JUST THAT ❤
Man its SO NICE to finally have a tree without any dead lights on it, haha. That feels kind of significant, and very well can be, if we use it as such a lens. Where in our lives are we hanging onto "dead lights", unwilling to remove them until they all burn out, and/or because it would require stripping the entire tree to replace them? I'm sure we can answer that question. Meditate seriously on it.

Also we put multi lights up over the left wall mirrors too, for both holiday spirit and cheerful illumination. We need a longer set, but this will do for now.  The brighter apartment is pinging Jewel, which is both fascinating and encouraging, because we NEED to draw stuff within the next week and SHE is the artist in here. So keep those lights plugged in, kiddo!!

Lastly, "I" was briefly joking with Markus that we were actually listening to Clay Aiken by choice, haha. That poor chap is an ancient injoke thanks to AMG, God bless her too. But hey, two decades later, both Clay and I have "come out" and so with the "fear of alloforcing" therefore neutralized, we can simply enjoy the fact that he actually does have a nice voice, and uses it to sing one of our favorite Christmas songs. How things change over the years!


Jumped right outta the woodwork into our OLD Tumblr for TEN SECONDS to "be a voice crying out in the wilderness"-- and then blindly changed our password ran back into the desert, haha.
We couldn't not share that hard but powerful truth. I don't care if it wakes up the hornets. That's not my intention or job. I'm logged out and leaving it at that. To do any further would be pride. The truth speaks for itself. I thank God I had the guts to share it. But it isn't my war of words to wage.

Night =
Two hours on the couch listening to the Lupin III OST by PAPIK?? And tons of new Christmas music. We needed this rest.


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

EGJ =
"The Pharisees and high priests certainly knew what the messiah would look like, or at least they thought they did. So, they disqualified Jesus. How often do we encounter the living Christ among us and around us but fail to recognize Him simply because He looks like a cab driver? Or a grocery clerk? Or a skateboarder? Advent challenges us to open our eyes to the surprising reality that Christ can and does show up in the most unexpected places. Are we ready for that?
Today, identify a blind spot. Sit quietly and think of one thing you would not expect Jesus to be: A different race? A different gender? A different tradition? What holds you back from opening to the possibility?
"Challenge me, O Lord. Show up in my life disguised as someone I would not expect and jolt me into an awareness of Your inspiring and awesome diversity.""

First, a preface from the VOTD, as it ties right into this= "The Good News of Jesus Christ is for ALL people and ALL nations."
...It's shameful and shocking, how much internalized prejudice we actually still have. We can blame our upbringing all we want; the point is, we haven't uprooted it yet. And THAT'S our blind spot: rigid definitions that reject reality and prevent compassion.
When you are raised in a small town & small school, surrounded by elderly white Christian folks with minimal education and limited awareness of the rest of the world, then it's inevitable that xenophobia becomes a normal part of your daily life-- so normal that you don't realize there's any alternative.
This is very dangerous within religion.
...
But I NEVER AGREED with them.
...
My biggest problem? I don't expect Jesus to look like the people I'm scared of. I don't expect Him to look like the people I disagree with. Isn't that devilish. It's disgusting.
I don't expect Jesus to look like a sorority girl, or a death metal frontman, or a drag queen, et cetera. Isn't that terrible?
But I never expected Jesus to look like my schizophrenic transgender sister, either.
...and lest I forget, at all times, I am one new nousfoni away from BEING each and any of those people.
Is THAT the fear?? Is it a MORAL terror, that such people are "sinners" in such a way that it would be scandalous to see Christ in them?? You damned hypocrite, YOU'RE the WORST SINNER OF ALL, and you're going to judge others on appearance alone?? Did you forget Luke 13?? Did you forget your beloved Patron Saint?? Did you forget the Cross Itself??
...and yet, I feel your real fear. You WANT TO see Christ in them. You STRIVE to do so, actually, in secret. And you're TERRIFIED that THAT IS A MORTAL SIN-- seeing Jesus in the faces of people who may be actively blaspheming Him.
...
In short: I STILL struggle so much with the very concept of "Christ IN everyday people," because I feel like that's idolatry or heresy????
...
We were raised to believe that, if you're a REAL Christian, you can ONLY look and talk and feel and act in a certain specific way, NO EXCEPTIONS, NO VARIATIONS. Any odd or weird or "different" people are ungraced, even possessed; they must be domesticated and humbled before they will be allowed into polite & right society, let alone the holy Church!
And I'm STILL being taught that, everywhere I turn! Just look at the "tradcath" movement! As a "queer, autistic, mentally ill" person-- the EXACT kind of person I WOULDN'T EXPECT TO SEE JESUS IN-- that movement is TERRIFYING.
...
...

2) THEY DISQUALIFIED JESUS.
3)
4) And yet, Christ is  ALWAYS UNEXPECTED.
5) "not expect JESUS to be"
6) DISGUISED
7) The diversity of Christ!!!! HIS BODY IS PROOF YOU IDIOT
...


LBB =
"I may not be the main event. But the things that happen in my life are main events for me. And they’re main events for God too. God, unlike the world, has room on center stage for everyone. [Every human being is] center stage for God... [and they are each] God’s beloved. So am I."
1) Pope Francis once said, "Jesus is the only protagonist." That stuck with me. JESUS is the ONLY "main event" in ALL OF HISTORY, and in every individual life! Let that sink in. You aren't the main character of your own existence, because your existence isn't solitary. You're not isolated. Your life is part of the big picture, part of the story of all mankind AND of all Creation. You cannot be the main character; you exist for a blip, for a nanosecond, one snowflake falling amongst septillions. But God created you with His Own Hands. He breathed His Own Breath into your lungs. And most amazingly of all, when the Main Character DID show up, and brought about the ONLY Main Event there is... He was thinking about you.
2) Don't underestimate God's Love. You literally cannot comprehend it. He is infinite, eternal, and entirely Love. He holds the entire cosmos in existence, He keeps the laws of physics running, He personally manages every single star in the sky... and He is watching you right now, with the tender attentive care of a Father. Your ordinary, nothing-special, everyday life is irreplaceably precious to Him, and everything you experience today is of utmost importance to Him. Does that sound impossible? Does that sound crazy? Then consider this additional truth: God feels this way about every single human being in existence. No exceptions, no partiality. Every person is on "center stage" for God, of utmost significance, on equal standing-- the orphan in the slum, the billionaire in the mansion, the convict in the jail, the nun in the cloister, the refugee in the shelter, the celebrity in the tour bus, the average Joe in the factory, the President in the office, Et cetera. Every race, every language, every culture, every religion, every walk of life. Use your imagination. There are literally no exceptions. God cares that deeply and that intimately for every single soul. And why?
3) We are beloved to God. To GOD!
...


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VOTD = Romans 15:13.
"Scripture calls God "the God of Hope" because hope is the result of a relationship with a God like this. Hope is the expectation that good things are on the way, even in situations that seem hopeless, because our Good God is always working things out for our good. Hope is God's specialty; it is what He alone gives us, and He is always willing to share it with us. As we trust in God by placing our hopes in Him, God also gives us joy and peace, because He always keeps His promises-- and the result of this is that we overflow in hope. And we always have reason for hope, because God has sent His Son Jesus as our Savior."
1) Oh man that opening line is echoing in my heart. "Hope is the result of relationship with God." That is so profound. And "a God LIKE THIS," to boot! Because let me tell you, as a former pagan, not all "relationships with gods" are good. None of them give real hope. That's because NONE OF THEM ARE ACTUALLY "GODS". 
There is only ONE God, the Holy One of Israel,
...
2)
3)

The prayer had this =
"If I start to feel overwhelmed, hopeless, confused, or fearful, remind me that You are near. Please make me aware of Your Presence."
God's Presence ACTIVELY CONQUERS ALL THOSE VICES.
When God is near, we are freed from overwhelm, because we can share our burdens with Him, while recognizing that He alone is our real priority, the only thing that truly matters in life.
When God is near, we are freed from hopelessness, because we know He is still in control, and is always working all things out for both our good, and His glory.
When God is near, we are freed from confusion, because He is perfect Truth and Light, and will guide us in His Way by His Word & Spirit.
When God is near, we are freed from fear, because Jesus's Cross triumphs over the grave, and so nothing in life or death can separate us from His Love.
...

KVOTD prayer had this =
"God, thank You for giving us Jesus, the greatest gift, and for being available to me all day, every day, forever. Today I want to receive that gift and spend time with You, my Everlasting Father."
1) Today’s self-deifying culture has really made it hard to properly appreciate the ASTOUNDING GIFT that the ONLY GOD has GIVEN us, IN CHRIST, to literally be ABLE to talk to God directly, and at ANY TIME. That is STAGGERING. Read the OT and you'll get a sincere appreciation as to why!
To claim we "have a right to" such access-- or to try to grasp it ourselves-- automatically dooms our attempts to failure, even backfiring. Grace is ONLY available as a gift. So is Love. Power, intelligence, merit, all those and all else are utterly useless to gain grace, to acquire love. They can only be received, and to receive we must have room in our selves TO do so.
Are your hands empty enough, is your heart open enough, is your mind pure enough? No? Then are you willing to be emptied out of everything earthly, humbled and left vulnerable, so that God can fill you with Himself instead of your self? How? You do realize the gift is Christ on the Cross?
2) Also astounding? The fact that GOD GAVE THE GIFT, AS A GIFT. No one forced Him. No one asked Him. He Himself WANTED this communication opened between mortal and divine, to RESTORE what was lost in Eden!! WE WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE SEPARATED. Do you realize that?? We're not "starting from" a position of innate exclusion-- we're here in EXILE. This world is NOT OUR HOME. God never forgot that, but we did. And that's a huge part of why Jesus is such an amazing gift-- we didn't even realize we needed Him. We never would've asked.
3) Don't ever overlook that key point. The gift is JESUS, IN HIS PERSON. The gift is our RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. THAT'S where all our hope comes from! Why is God always available to us now? Because He's available TO JESUS, THROUGH JESUS. No mortal, ever, could merit such communication access, let alone privilege. No mortal could ever reach such celestial heights by their own power-- no mortal could SURVIVE the mere perception of the LORD, even for a nanosecond! Even the prophets that "saw God" only saw Him because HE willed it-- He gave the vision and enabled it, and still only appeared in types and shadows. But the prophet never sought such sights, never dared to even dream that he would be worthy of them-- he outright rejected the very possibility, too acutely aware of his own wretchedly humble state. And THAT is where God meets us in Christ-- right there in the dust. But Jesus came to give sight to the blind.
...
4) Revisiting the LBB reflection: yes, because of Jesus, God is available to you at every moment forever. That's stunning enough on its own. But He's available as a FATHER. He's available because of Psalm 116-- because He's LISTENING. He CARES. He LOVES YOU.
5) We have to ACCEPT THIS.


Guided prayer ties into all this.
"God, it’s when I seek You that I find You. So today, help me to intentionally draw near to You. Give me the courage to shift my attention off of my circumstances and onto You. I want to rely on You completely by coming to You first— above anything else."
1) This reminds me of a line in one of my very favorite prayers, which gives me hope in my most desperate times:
"Teach me to seek You. I cannot seek You unless You teach me
or find You unless You show Yourself to me..."

...
2) We must choose to actively move closer to God.  That just floors me. What NERVE that requires!! And yet, do we not have that Gift? God wants us to approach Him. Jesus is proof-- and He gives us the power TO approach Him, even Himself, in beautiful paradox, as I said previously. He will help us.
...
3) To shift one's focus like this requires a TOTAL REORIENTATION of reality, a shift in perspective that is as essential as it is radical.
...
4)


And this one ACHES.
"God, I’m in awe of Your love for those who follow You. You choose to protect, care for, and provide for us— just as a loving Father should. You see the needs I have today— and I trust that You will not only provide for me, but You will bless me abundantly so that I can be a blessing to others.
Thank You for being a good Father."

...


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I apologize profusely for how messy and ugly this entry ended up being. I'm not sure how many people contributed. We're always a mess mentally after oversocializing. Please forgive us for anything foolish or proud or downright evil we said here.



121623

Dec. 16th, 2023 09:51 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Slept in until 10am dude!!
Body was just SO EXHAUSTED and in a LOT of pain.

Worried about schedule rush, but put it into God's Hands.
He inspired us to actually pray our DVM & STM chaplets WITH FELIX, while we biked.
OH MAN WHY DID WE NEVER DO THIS EARLIER
It literally BYPASSES THE OCD. It puts us in "listener mode" and therefore DOESN'T ENGAGE THE THOUGHTS. Instead, our mind is FREE to IMAGINE IMAGES, therefore ENABLING us to ACTUALLY meditate on the mysteries & intentions, and NOT LOOPING PRAYERS out of technical recitation error panic.
So we got both done in... 35 minutes. COMPARED TO ~80 MINUTES ON OUR OWN.
So thank You God for using this unexpected morning rush to your absolute Glory and Praise!!

BK prep went perfectly too. Only regret was that MOM CALLED the INSTANT we needed to oil the frypan or it would burn, so we had to rush the call conclusion. Nevertheless, thanks to the grace God has given us through conscience convictions and Confession, we are now ACTIVELY AWARE of how we talk on the phone and we make a PRESENT EFFORT to be as attentive and kind a listener as possible, and to NOT BE A PESSIMISTIC BOOR when we speak!

BK at 1240, which gives us just enough time to walk to SJE later.
Not sure if we're going to go to Confession today, or wait until the Deanery service on Thursday. We'll ask the Spirit. In any case we NEED to examine our conscience HONESTLY first. No making up sins, no assuming we did everything wrong just in case!!

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

The Youversion guided prayer immediately knocking me out of the park =
“l am loved, because God is love.”

That's it. That's actually everything. It's as simple and absolute and beautiful as that.

"You are greatly loved by the God who is Love, and who sent His only Son to show you love. You are not alone."
That word "show" is standing out to me, because it specifically refers to the humanity of Christ.

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

From BST.

"God knows you inside and out (Psalm 139:1-4). He is not deceived by appearances (1 Samuel 16:7). He cannot lie (Titus 1:2). What God says about you in His Word is unvarnished, rock-solid fact. In a world full of uncertainty, there is comfort and strength in knowing the unchanging truth of who you are in Christ."
1) My first thought = "I can't appropriate all those verses to ME! That's taking them out of context and being proud!!"
What, so God won't deal with you in the same way He has dealt with every other human being throughout history?
If "in Adam all die," then are you not already in the OT, as you are united to all of mankind by flesh & blood? And if "in Christ all are made alive," then are not you already in the NT, as you are part of the Church united in Christ's Body that transforms your flesh & blood through His Own?
What I'm trying to say is= you are never isolated from others. You are no exemption from common experience. You are just another human. Simple as that. Isn't that a profound comfort? Isn't that such a deep relief you could cry from gratitude? You're NOT the aberration! You're NOT the foreign body, the infection, the unknown and unwanted intruder! You're JUST ANOTHER HUMAN.
And that means Christ can save you, too.
It also means that yes, you are part of the collective human story, and as such, you ARE part of the Bible! Remember that commentary on John 12? "think of human life, the common life we are all leading... that common stock and harvest of experience... It is very surprising, when you get deep enough, to discover the oneness of all human hearts." Isn't that what Christ is about-- unity of individuals? In Him we are all One, yet we are all each other still. It's a beautiful mystery.
OH! But the Psalms themselves answer this inquiry! They were written by David, AS David, speaking from his own heart and experience-- and yet they are also PROPHETIC, as they speak of CHRIST'S experiences yet to come in history... and which would then become APPLICABLE TO US as His Church IN HIM!! You see? You CAN apply the Psalms to yourself, as a Christian!
2) But then, "I'm not Jesus." So those prophetic Psalms DON'T apply to me in that respect... or do they?? If Christ wants to live IN me, if He is actually transforming me "into His likeness," then isn't it possible that His Life will be echoed in mine, and therefore also the Psalms? That's up to God. But you already know, from the Divine Office, how so many Psalms CAN speak from your own heart. Don't deny that just because other nousfoni pray them. We, too, are a united whole.
3) God doesn't change. However He dealt with humanity in ages past, He deals with me, now. I am no different from any other human. The only "difference" is that caused by grace, the grace that blessed the Patriarchs & Saints of old, and blesses us poor Christians now. But God works it all. He speaks to us all the same, all of us His sheep, either secure or straying.
4) The most important words: IN CHRIST. That affects EVERYTHING, as was alluded to. Yes you are a human, yes you were born a poor doomed descendant of Adam, like every other person on earth, sharing in that "common stock & harvest," just another man along men. And then you were baptized. In the incubator, no less! You barely had any time in your first birth, living under the reign of death, before Christ arrived in triumph and poured out His ocean of mercy upon your tiny head. From that instant on, you were reborn, remade in His Image. Why am I reiterating this? Because THAT'S YOUR REAL IDENTITY. Even so far back, it overrules everything that came after. Christ transcends time. Your later sins and straying do not unmake you. Your later abuses and addictions do not erase that indelible cross on your forehead. Your permanent, actual, eternal, undeniable, intrinsic identity is IN CHRIST. That's it, that's everything, and it's pure joy. No matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, you belong to Jesus. He chose you for Himself within hours after your surgical birth, refusing to lose you, and He will never let you go. Your true self is safely anchored and rooted in Him. Ponder that.


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I just got this article from Propel Women and THIS is the opening paragraph =
"How are we supposed to grapple with personal failures? Why do we often feel like we are the failure, or even worse–like we’ve failed God? When we open the Bible, we find stories of men and women who failed terribly, yet God used them despite their shortcomings. Not only did God restore their lives, but He worked all things for their good (including the setbacks and personal failures). Proverbs 24:16 offers this wisdom: “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Applying this to our lives, we need to recognize that if we fall, we must get back up. We cannot wallow in our failures, and stay down. You might have fallen due to past failures or traumas, yet the Lord is calling you to “rise again” from the guilt, frustration, and condemnation which has led so many to stay down and out. The Lord still has more for you to do, and through repentance and our willingness to rise up again to follow Him, He wipes our histories clean and keeps working in and through us towards the future. It’s not the falling down but the getting up again that ultimately matters."
1) ...You have no idea how badly I needed to hear this hope phrased like this.
All the real hope, all the hope I've desperately needed and sought for, has been right there in the Bible all along.
How did I miss that? Does this tie into the previous self-argument, with so many "up front foni" thinking that they actually are an exception to the common promises, that Scripture has some "fine print" somewhere that rules them out?  Probably. I mean, we pray Psalm 51 and 13 CONSTANTLY, as the cry of our own heart, but somehow we never "realized" that they are real historical lamentations of a man who had sinned almost as badly as we have? And God DID deliver him from death! So why not us? Why do we pray those Psalms as contrite confessions, yet never seem to fully expect that God could, or rather would, deliver us too? Why? Are we just that unable to forgive ourselves? "At Christmas??" Seriously, have you never noticed that God is absolutely willing and able to completely forgive & restore ALL sinners who repent? He DOESN'T want you to die!!
Think of Laurie. Think of Chaos 0. Think of how they love you, imperfectly but with all their hearts. How do THEY treat you when you fall & mess up? And you think God loves you any less? No, their love for you is FROM God, and OF God, and HE loves you WITH THAT SAME LOVE, but in absolutely pure perfection. Does THAT change how you view God at your lowest? Does THAT change how you see yourself when you fall?
It must. Otherwise you are doomed, and only then.
2) You haven't failed God because He never expected you to be sinless. To think otherwise is appallingly prideful, and THAT will kill you, NOT your mortal weakness. Dare I remind you of "O Happy Fault?" Are you greater than Adam and Eve, you poor fool? No. You KNOW you've sinned, and terribly. You cannot deny that. So what are you doing? "God expected better from me." I don't think God is putting "expectations" on you, kid. And in any case, His Love is unconditional, and His Mercy endless. Does that make you feel better? That even if you did "let Him down," He's just waiting with open Arms for you to return to Him, so He can give you a second chance at life? Are you not the Prodigal Son? Even if you were the lost sheep, He would still come looking for you, and would rejoice when He found you, gently setting you free from the brambles and carrying you home singing. Where is the angry scolding you fear? Where is the passive-aggressive shunning you dread? Where is the acidic criticism, the threats and penalties, the actual physical beatings to "teach you better"? They're nowhere to be seen. God doesn't do that. Were the thorns and the pigsty not torments enough? Isn't what you truly need right now just a safe warm hug from your understanding Father? You don't want to go astray again; you're sorry you ever left, if you could take it all back you could, if you could give it all back you would, but you've got nothing but a broken heart and broken body and calendars full of regrets. God runs to meet you anyway. God kisses you anyway. God welcomes you home without a second thought. He never expected perfection of you, just perseverance. And here you are, after all.



121423

Dec. 14th, 2023 11:16 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)


Got barely 6 hours of sleep. God allowed this. Deprivation wakes up the kakofoni so we can SEE them and RESIST their subtle evil

Morning food obsessing and panic
Talking to Jesus about it in Mass & Adoration
True food vs luxury
NONE OF IT MATTERS IN THE LIGHT OF THE CROSS!!!
THAT'S THE "COUNSEL & TEMPERANCE"

Also spoke to SPICE about it!!
She gave data on why those foods were useless, then pointed out FEARFUL foni, we realized their reactions ASSUME DOOM??? LIKE "NO" IS NEVER AN OPTION OR EVEN POSSIBILITY????
Spice also said "don't forget the original reason I exist" = PAIN BUFFER

Asked CHOCOLOCO for assistance in resistance but he said THAT'S NOT HIS DOMAIN??? But he IS keeping us from buying anything chocolate peppermint, so thank him

Making OCD "vows" in desperation, hoping that would "force stop" the insistent compulsions. But it didn't.
ONLY MOURNING DOES?????
We forcibly "wanted" the gingerbread cereal, even if the monkfruit makes us sick, even if we're scared of cinnamon, even if we detest the taste of sugar, even if we were genuinely terrified at the thought of actually swallowing the stuff-- none of that could stop the compulsion. Even shaking with fear, and miserably helpless, we couldn't say no; we "had to do it." We "wanted it," with no explanation or evidence other than blind & violent insistence.
And then we suddenly remembered that grandpa loved ginger snaps, and before he died, the lotophagoi stole and ate one of his bags.
The shift was IMMEDIATE. The unbearable guilt & shame & SORROW completely killed the maniacal gluttony, replacing it with a bluetone self-hatred that INSTEAD made us want, just as violently, to THROW UP and possibly kill ourself.
THIS IS INSANE. WHY ARE THE ROOTS FOR THAT ENTIRE BULIMIC-ABUSIVE HELL STILL IN OUR HEAD?????
At least we can RESIST them now, THANK GOD!!!!


BTW remember yesterday's HOMILY GLANCE that INSTANTLY & TOTALLY "reconciled" Fr. E to us.
He was saying something about the "my burden is light" gospel, i forget what, i can never remember. but he said something like, we often think God is harsh with us, or that He won't comfort us? something negative. "but that's not true," he added. something like that. "God isn't like that." and he looked straight at us.
mind you we are the only person who sits on that side of the chapel altar. he did that on purpose.
and instantly, it felt like the burden had been completely lifted from our shoulders.


today, Fr. J said THIS Antiphon right as we were struggling with the E.D. =
"O God, who gave the Priest Saint John an outstanding dedication to perfect self-denial and love of the Cross, grant that, by imitating him closely at all times, we may come to contemplate eternally your glory."
It was a clear direction for us. We humbly & gratefully realized & accepted that in the very moment, however shakily.
1) SELF DENIAL. That's the bottom line. No matter how loud the E.D. is with its demonic desire for "dainties", we MUST STAND OUR GROUND FOR CHRIST. 
2)
3)

Terce's Psalm 119 was immediately applicable to our morning warfare too, as we dwell among the manipulative lotophagoi and belligerent kakofoni who all hate peace and will never work for it.

Adoration for 90m as we "lost" the first 25m to hypochondriac food allergy terror.
Did a lot of talking with Jesus though, and He LITERALLY SHUT DOWN THE ADDICTION COMPULSIONS with gracious reason??? He didn't "wave a wand" as it were. He knows how mental we are. We discussed the struggle, and by His Words and His Love together, somehow the obsession just STOPPED.
It's oddly fitting that I can't remember how.
...


Shopping day again, as we had non-EBT funds. Exhausted but had to do it. Only local though thank God, the unwanted "compulsion" to do stupid luxury shopping was thankfully ANNIHILATED

Brain just NOT WORKING AT ALL today. Probably the lack of sleep.
The fact that we haven't gotten sick yet is a miracle.

3PM BK WTF.
OCD rituals are TERRORIZING again

Evening=
Mom car switch, she was infodumping about Longwood again, haha. She really loves it. We consciously chose to pay genuine interested attention to her, resisting the stupid devil temptation to empty distraction. We WANT to listen to her, dummy!
What was that old quote... "who is the most important person in the world? Whoever you are with right now. What is the most important thing you could possibly do? Being completely present to that person right now." That's the gist of it. We think about it a lot.

Mom then SHOCKED us by saying out of the blue, "when the January doldrums hit, remember, we're going to start watching DOCTOR WHO!"
OH MY GOODNESS I THOUGHT SHE HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN OR CHANGED HER MIND IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS.
But... no coincidences, dude. Last night we started uploading 2017 at long last. That's when & where WE first met the Doctor, and we are forever grateful. Honestly we are, and always have been... but tragically I don't know if we ever expressed that to TBAS before we stupidly "bailed" on our friendship, twice. What a jerk we were.
Nevertheless, we'll always be grateful. And Eleven will always make us think of them with utmost affection.

Night=

well.
we forgot that when we try to feed this poor body after 8pm, no matter how careful we are, it WILL collapse into a bingepurge.
those stupid beans did not help, let me say that much. we put like one tablespoon of them in with the broccoli, and within minutes, we were worriedly wondering, "why do we feel so nauseous?"
WELL BUDDY THERE IS LONG-STANDING DATA THAT SAYS THAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU ATE THE BLOODY THINGS BUT NO ONE CAN EVER ACCESS THAT DATA WITHOUT A BRUTAL RE-TRIGGER FOR SOME ASININE REASON.
seriously WHY. why can we NEVER remember that something is painful or dangerous or otherwise a trauma trigger until we literally re-experience it and make the trigger even WORSE???
in any case, we had a hell of a night. it was agonizing.
oh yeah, and WHOEVER BOUGHT WHITE CHOCOLATE NEEDS TO LET GO OF THE PAST.
that poem does not define your life, no matter how kind the author's original intentions were. you are putting so much power in their hands, based on a snippet they wrote over a decade ago based on, what, an hour of interacting with you? and you just clung to it like a liferaft. why? is it because you were so desperate for q & y to write about you, to hear anything from either of them, some proof of love, but nothing ever happened? so when you got this unexpected thought from a total stranger, comparing your voice to an easter confection, you took it as the word of God.
stop. please. it doesn't translate to reality. you cannot be forcing our poor body to eat that stuff anymore, in the tragic frantic hope that you can become someone worth loving, someone worth writing about, as a result. whatever you're trying to do. i don't know. i'm not the one who did it. the compulsion is too blind anyway. it's the terror that if we don't buy and eat it, we're rejecting that "only hope we had." we're invalidating the only scrap of affection we received in our own language. et cetera. dude you need to work through all that stuff, it's been literally over ten years, why is it still not settled?
but now isn't the time.
all i want to say is that, please, stop letting the lotophagoi buy food. they adhere to obsessive obligations, not nutrition or sense or even system data. everything they do is in order to appease someone else, or to obey some random new rule that they read on the internet. it's all driven by fear of disobedience, fear of punishment, fear that if they don't do what the other people are doing, they will be even less human than before. something like that. i can't phrase their feelings very well, they're too raw. that's something they would have to express on their own, and we can't get that deep right now. no time. no leeway for exploration, not tonight.
God please we need time to go inside ourselves again. that's keeping us stagnant. and it's feeding these bad nights, pun horribly intended. i wonder if that's playing into it as a hidden motive somewhere. who knows.
all i know is this:
DON'T EAT LATE ANYMORE, DON'T EAT ANY CANS OR CANDY, AND DON'T EAT WHEN YOU'RE SOCIALLY OVERSTIMULATED YOU IDIOT.

there's no memory of the before or after, as usual. there's only one or two flashbulb of "during," both panicked lucid snaps when we briefly realized that we were on a highway to hell and the brakes weren't working.
but we survived. apparently. thanks be to God alone, all credit to Him. we don't know how to recover, it's always two seconds away from calling an ambulance. all we can do is try our best and pray, and when the Spirit talks, do what He says.

praying right now that we feel stable enough in the morning to go to Mass. promising God that if we do, we will. hoping He will answer that prayer. the thought of not going to Mass, even for one day, is so unbearable it's unthinkable.
no matter how stupid and foolish and afraid and sad we may be, even if we messed up bad again tonight, twice in one month, that's frightening-- no matter what, God is there in the Tabernacle waiting for us, to heal us, to give us strength to try again.
that's hope enough for everything.


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The first reading at Mass today was one we actually love, and on this particular morning it spoke straight to our wretched heart anew. It was Isaiah 41, with that liturgical opening line that guts us every time.
Here it is straight from the NASB =
"‭For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand, Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you people of Israel; I will help you,” declares the Lord, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel."
And here are our favorite translations =
(Verse 13)
"‭‭‭For I the Lord will grab you by the hand and tell you, “Don't be afraid! I myself will help you.""
‭"For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand; it is I who say to you, “You must not fear; I myself, I will help you."
"I am the Lord your God. I am holding your hand, so don't be afraid. I am here to help you."
‭"For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am The One Who helps you.”

(Verse 14)
"Do not be afraid, Jacob, poor worm, Israel, puny mite...Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you maggot Israel!"
"Others may say, "Israel is only a worm!""
"Fear not, O worm of Jacob, you who are dead within Israel."
"You are as small, lowly, weak, despised, powerless, unimportant, insignificant, and worthless as a worm..."
"‭Do you feel like a lowly worm, Jacob? Don’t be afraid. Feel like a fragile insect, Israel? I’ll help you. I, God, want to reassure you. I am The God who buys you back, The Holy One of Israel. I’m transforming you from worm to harrow, from insect to iron..."

And the last=
"Don't worry, don't be frightened... I Myself will help you, says the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel... I am your Savior, Defender, and Protector."
Do you see how much richness of mercy & power & love & humility & grace there is in those two verses alone?? Every translation reveals more nuances of God's Heart towards His people; worms though we may be, we are saved and even cherished by the Holy One Himself!!

Honestly verses 8-20 all feel so personal it aches.
...
The Universalis commentary to that reading today was just as unexpectedly headspacey as the reading itself, so actually i should comment on its clarifications alongside the raw text.
A DISCLAIMER = I am in no way appropriating this. I fully accept and honor the actual, original, divine meaning and historical application of these words of Scripture. They are not to be removed from their context. HOWEVER. God's Character does not change, and Scripture is living & active. What is true here for ancient Israel is also "true" for me, in a real yet symbolic manner, both as a member of "spiritual Israel" through my Christian baptism, and also as a mere human being experiencing the same archetypal events as they. So I apply this to my own life as a microcosm, as my own individual share in the eternal Truth of this Scripture, because if God responded to His people in this situation in this specific way, then He must respond in kind to His people in like situations in this modern age-- after all, it is HE Who orchestrates all the events of time to begin with!
So I can trust in His Word to hold true to my own foolish little life, too, as worthless and useless a worm as I am. God has still helped me. And therefore I must tell of His unchanging Goodness.

1) Isaiah 41 is "promising the ecological transformation of Israel, a sort of pledge of the return of Israel/Jacob to the land devastated by the Babylonian invaders."
My first thought? Headspace. Our innerworld was DESTROYED after CNC and never rebuilt. We've never actually returned as a result. We're living in ruins, in scraps of memory...
The "Babylonians" here-- the pagan invaders-- were not a specific person, but a military force. So too with us. Our REAL devastation, what TRULY shook our city to shambles, was wrought by what CAME INTO HEADSPACE-- which can only be the most deadly thing of all: a thought. That's all it takes. One cancer cell starts the whole takeover. One small insect starts the whole infestation. And a thought is more virulent than either.
...
But we're missing the whole point.
This entire prophecy is God PROMISING TO TRANSFORM THE LAND.
Our city is in ruins. Our forests are in ruins. Everything is devastated. God is promising to bring THE LAND back to life so we can live in it. Because let's face it-- unless He does, it is utterly uninhabitable; not just because everything has been crushed and shattered down to dust, but also because even when it was still standing, all the foundations were totally wrong.

2) "This [transformation] will NOT be the work of Israel/Jacob itself-- which receives only the uncomplimentary names of ‘worm’ and ‘insect’-- but it will be accomplished by [God alone]."
AND THAT'S WHY WE HAVEN'T GOTTEN ANYWHERE IN FIVE YEARS.
We were destroyed BECAUSE we were "trying to do everything without God." It's impossible to rebuild from that same vain mindset. Those rotten foundations need to be torn right out of the parched earth and completely re-set, just as the soil itself needs to be completely rejuvenated before it can grow anything. You get the idea. We can't do any of that ourselves. We don't have the knowledge OR the means OR the manpower; we have nothing, nothing. We're utterly bereft.
But when we can admit that and turn to God in trust, then HE will do EVERYTHING, for HIS glory. And what better glory is there, but glory to Love and Light and Truth as they REALLY are? We ignorantly and proudly thought we had those things, back in CNC, with our glitter-guts and sparkle-sins that blinded us to how base of a beast we were. we were injuriously iridescent. a pernicious prism. etc etc. the surface was all shimmer but beneath it was just scum.
what am i even rambling about. oh yeah. we were vermin. just a big worm. just like the tempter himself. good for nothing but to be crushed underfoot, wings plucked off, sprayed until spasming in suffocation.
i'm in a bad state of mind, forgive me.
the point is this. we can't transform ourselves, or our land, or anything. but God can. and God wants to. and here, in this prophecy, for the chosen people and we hope desperately for us too as members of the Church, God promises to.
and God will transform US, too. and THAT will be glorious.

3) ""The LORD, the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer"= These three titles all express the special closeness of God to His people which is so predominant in this chapter.
‘I am the LORD, your God’ takes us back to the revelation of the Divine Name to Moses at the burning-bush; the giving of a name is itself an expression of intimacy.
‘The Holy One of Israel’ is Isaiah’s special title for God, used liberally throughout all the parts of this Book; it bespeaks the awe and reverence in which the LORD must be held.
Finally the ‘redeemer’ or go’el is a special family word in Israel. The go’el is the closest family member, who is bound in family love and lore to bail out his nearest family member if the latter is in dire trouble. The LORD can be relied on absolutely, just like the family member, to bail out Israel. This is the first time the concept has been applied to God; it is frequent in this second part of Isaiah. Clearly it is an important part of the concept of the LORD at this crucial moment that He can be relied on to deliver Israel from the captivity."

I've noticed that God really loves to use personal possessive pronouns, and it's... it's so deeply sweet, it shocks you speechless. "YOUR God," He says. "yours." and He says to us, "you are Mine." so on and so forth. it's not possession of objects. it's so intimate, so affectionate, it's almost incomprehensible to admit that this is being said BY OUR CREATOR.
What shocks me even more, and what actually hurts in light of headspace, is that bit about the bush. God shows up, reveals His existence personally to Moses, and what does He do? He gives us His Name. He ACTUALLY tells us Who He Is. I can't repeat it, I can't. But that's proof of its truth. And seriously, think about it! Who would ever think that Divinity Himself, the God of Gods, the ultimate Source and Preserver of everything, would give His Name to an old shepherd in the wilderness? To say the least. But He does. And why? Because they are His people, and He loves them, and He is coming to save them. So of course He gives them His Name. How strange, that the impossible becomes the essential, now that God Himself has declared the relationship. "I am your God," He keeps repeating. Yours. There is a belonging here, something determined by God Himself, a covenant of promise that He Himself holds faithful through all eons of time, because He wants to be ours. And that's why Jesus has a Name, too. How much more vulnerable and sweet and true and holy is that, for God to take a human name to Himself and sanctify it forever-- a name we can speak, we feeble humans, our clumsy languages and careless mouths, God has taken a human name so we can talk to Him as humans. There's so much sincere intimacy in everything God does, it's astounding.
Even so, He is ALWAYS THE HOLY ONE. Note the "the" and the "one." There is no other; there can never be any other. God is GOD. He IS holy. He is utterly beyond comprehension and description. To see Him with human eyes is to be struck dead. To touch the sacred things without His explicit command is to be struck dead. It's not by whim, it's by transcendence. Our mortal bodies and minds just shatter at the exposure, by design. Again, this is why Jesus is so amazing-- He IS this One True Holy God, but visible, tangible, comprehensible.
...



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"Today, what is one way you can love God through your obedience?
+ I can spend intentional time in prayer, seeking guidance and wisdom from God.
+ I can choose to show love to my enemies.
+ I can confess my hidden sins and bring them into the light."

1) ...oh boy, that does not describe our prayer times. Yes, still. That's genuinely disturbing. We're just so scared-obsessed with "getting all the dailies done" that we can't rest, and "talking to Jesus doesn't count" unless we're at Adoration.
...
2) My first thought: what counts as an enemy? Must it only be people? Or could it be our OCD? Because "choosing LOVE" would indeed change the game, and (if done right) defeat the enemy. Love isn't sentimental feeling, it's not romance, it's not sappy silly sensual garbage. Love is RIGHTEOUS and TRUE and PURE. Love is self-sacrificing. Love is merciful and just. Love is GOD. But then how do we "apply this" to our situation? Only through Christ.
And therefore, we must also recognize the true context of love, which is relationship. That requires PERSONS. We cannot "show love to" a disorder. But we CAN manage it in a way that shows love to GOD, in how we show love to His Son, Who has made us into part of His Own Body. Christ enables us to love our enemies because He died for them too, and if we are OF His Body Crucified then we are NECESSARILY bound to express that love TO His enemies, SPECIFICALLY, in both generous purity of undeserved grace AND the sincere hope to convert their hearts to Him through such unconditional compassion.
...
3) I personally think there is a KEY difference between "confessing" a hidden sin, and "bringing it to the light".
...

The written reflection today is very beautiful.
"We imitate those we love. As all of us grew up as kids, we imitated those around us so that we could learn and grow. During that process of growing, we naturally gravitate towards certain people we want to be like."
Let me pause here because this is something we never thought about and there's a LOT of weight in this observation.
First, though, consider this: we were isolated. We didn't have a "selection" of people to imitate. We had no neighbors, no friends, no social groups, et cetera. And yeah, we did prefer that. Even as a child, when we were given the opportunity to socialize, we rejected it with utmost distaste. We would much rather read and draw and talk to our imaginary friends.
...and really, THAT'S who we were imitating, for the most part.
Yes, we definitely did imitate our grandmother and father as a child. I can see bits of them in our personality even now. But as for the vast majority of our growth? We were copying fictional people.
It never ceases to stun me, when I pick up a piece of media from our childhood to revisit, and suddenly it's like looking into a mirror. Vocabulary, mannerisms, fashion, behaviors, interests, etc. It's jarring, to be honest, to realize that we were cobbling our "self" together from the media we were exposed to, because we had no physical people to imitate... at least, not anyone that... that we...
...We didn't want to be like our family. They fought a lot. They scared us a lot. We were punished and beaten and threatened and mocked and bullied. Oh of course we also had BEAUTIFUL days, so many good days, but... there were enough bad days and nightmares to make us afraid to imitate those people, knowing what we would be "taking into ourselves" by proxy, almost.
...
...did we truly love our family, as a child? how did we reconcile the fear alongside it?
God that makes me want to sob. did we ever learn or recognize what love truly was back then?
...


"Someone you know is grieving the loss of someone or something. Reach out and let the love of Christ touch them through your kindness and compassion."
Oh this is hitting a lot of bruises.
1) That "cold-hearted" part of us, whyever it's there, immediately reacts to this with a sneer. It thinks grieving is stupid. It thinks losses are deserved. It has no patience for mourning or tears. "Get over it," it snarls. "So what if you lost it? So what if they died? It was bound to happen. You can't do anything about it. It is what it is. Man up and move on." et cetera. empty, heartless words. where did that come from? it's not us. but it's in our head. we don't want it.
we WANT to be compassionate. we WANT to be able to see grief and not panic in fear, or scowl in disgust. why those two responses?
2) it's not about us. we have to let THE LOVE OF CHRIST work through us. and what does that say about compassion? what does that say about what REALLY IS RIGHT in this situation? If GOD reaches out to touch the hurting one, to give kindness and compassion, then to NOT do so is outright demonic.
sit with that. let it scare you. then beg for grace to stop being so evil.
3) but why are we evil. we WANT to be kind. we yearn for it ourselves, as well as for others. we see people in tears and we WANT to comfort them, but the very thought is terrifying, and then we shut down and turn cold. is that the chain of events?
...


"God, in life’s dark nights, let Your love rain down upon me. In life’s dark nights, let Your love stir the heart within me. In life’s dark nights,
let Your love reach others through me."
...this is so absolutely headspace relevant it is breaking my heart.


"By the example of the saints you inst
ruct your faithful in the ways of wisdom and love; through our pastors, help us grow to the full stature of perfection."
*immediately shows this to Chaos 0*
seriously though this is heartachingly beautiful. this means that true perfection is wise and loving.
...

121323

Dec. 13th, 2023 10:19 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

It's Saint Lucy's feast day, that means it's time for my FAVORITE ART of her to haunt my thoughts all day, and now yours too!
Seriously though I love that sculpture. That's a SAINT, so sacredly macabre. The horror is blessed. What you're looking at is no grotesque display of pain, but the result of a joyfully pious devotion so invincible that this very depiction is that of her triumph over all tortures and evils. The girl is smiling, you realize. She has no physical eyes, but by the very merit of their surrender, she now sees a blissful glory that no human sight could ever perceive.
So yeah. Saint Lucy, pray for us.


Today we had the car, and we might not tomorrow, so we went shopping after Adoration.
Our brain was NOT WORKING but at least WE were, all together-- Genesis and Laurie made sure we didn't do anything stupid. We were surprisingly self-aware despite the brainvoid feeling, with no Socials taking over. I think the prayers in the car helped a lot.

We got BEANS to try, for fiber, perhaps stupidly but we only got two cans. But that meant we had to get a can opener, haha.
Dollar Tree was PACKED like sardines. Shocked. Lines down the aisles. We decided to be patient and wait peacefully, trusting God. And then the idea hit us= we can use this time to plug the ENTIRE Saint Michael Chaplet into the T2S app, so we could have it running while we cooked, as we would have NO time to bike and say it today.

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE= when we were in Wal-Mart, checking the bean cans for net carbs & fiber (the determining factor), we suddenly got BADLY TRIGGERED by the sight of a can of GARBANZO BEANS. This had NOT happened in the other stores because those cans were labeled as CHICKPEAS and had illustrated labels. This one had a photo of the actual beans and that different title. The point is... WE FORGOT ABOUT CNC. But our subconscious didn't!! This also explains WHY we've been "scared of black beans for no reason"; every time we saw them something in our head would go "no, they're bad and dangerous, don't touch them." We never knew why. WELL NOW WE REMEMBER.
Man I'll tell you our eating disorder gave us SO MUCH FALLOUT HELL to deal with now. At least it IS an aftermath, thanks be to GOD

Got home for noon, haha. Running late buddy!!

JOSÉ ACTUALLY SPOKE TO US IN THE HALL TODAY 🤩 He asked us if it was still cold outside, haha. He was wearing a solid green t-shirt and gold chain necklaces. God bless that man

BK prep was really nice today actually. I think it's because we were just surrendering our schedule to God. It gave us such peace.
Also THE CHAPLET WORKED PERFECTLY, thank God! It's MUCH easier to pray when we're LISTENING, I think because it BYPASSES the OCD panic over thought perfection, AND it "frees up" brainpower to MEDITATE on the prayers & mysteries, which we typically CAN'T do because we're so burnt out just THINKING WORDS.
Also wondering IS THERE A NOUSFONI FOR THIS??? Like the Friar, but techno. I put the "request" out, and almost instantly got a "confirmed potential" for a technomonk connected to the phone app, with that same voice, and named Felix (as the phone is Perpetua).

Adelaide keeps "bumping heads" with that ONE SOMAFONI GIRL who is vaguely manic??
Honestly we think Addie is actually going to NEED a Function shift to survive.


Evening=
No matter how much we try to "get done early," by the time we finish all our daily chores and prayers, we only EVER have ONE HOUR of "free time" at the end of the day, in which we are now doing laptop work AT LONG LAST because without it we are literally souldead.
Still, we're exhausted. We need FAR MORE than one hour to do ANYTHING significant with the Archives-- and writing an entry typically takes TWO hours, MINIMUM. Xangas can take five, haha. At least.
...that aches though. We miss that, talking late into the early morning, all of us alive and present in the heart together, flowing through these fingertips in realtime records of our existences.
Honestly I think we need to take time, every day now, to just read ONE entry from the old days. Just to remember, inbetween all the daily rush. We need to. God can't properly bring us into the future if we have forgotten our past, believe it or not. Everything ties together. We HAVE a history, spiritually AND physically. Completely disowning or depersonalizing or detaching from that doesn't mean it never happened, or that it didn't affect you OR the world you live in.
And we all still exist. Even just as echoes. Even just as memories. All of us are still lights in this heart.

Spotify has given me a daylist of "aggressive elevator music wednesday evening" and I'm quite amused by this.
The only thing is, it's very "general." Nothing standout. I'm at track 24 and I've only liked two songs. I've only skipped about three. It's a cool audio aesthetic, I'm not complaining. And hey, anything more attention-grabbing would make it impossible to focus on work. So this works.

As for what I/we're doing tonight... we're biting the bullet and just uploading 2017 entries.
Yeah. It's been over five years. We need to heal. We can't do that without looking this stuff in the face, and seeing BOTH the bad and good CANDIDLY.
I'm not reading anything yet, at all. Which means I can't erase or censor anything. It also means I won't trigger anything prematurely. We're just being completely, recklessly honest and uploading it all.
THEN we can worry about reviewing it, AFTER the holidays, when we can get a new therapist, haha. It's inevitable. We were a MONSTER during the CNC time period. Coming to terms with our abusive demeanor is going to be very very difficult. But, that's why God gave us Mimic, dead serious. That octopus has, whether he realizes it or not, changed my heart to be more humble and honest about my own "villain arc," which left terrible scars on both myself and others, that may never be erased. But we need to learn to live with the fallout, and make sincere restitution for what we can, and genuinely change our lives so we never hurt anyone like that again. Repentance and metanoia. We're in it together. Chaos 0 too, actually, and Laurie, and even Genesis, although they aren't saying so outright. But we all have such devastating pasts, we're all so ashamed and horrified by what we've been. Funny how our resident not-a-squid jumpstarted such a huge era of healing in our heart. I'm very grateful. So we need to honor that as December rolls on, now that he's been here a full year.

All right, it's 1120 and Laurie is going to smash my head into this keyboard if I don't get some sleep so I'll see you kids later!

(sorry this entry is, as usual, vastly unfinished. we're overworking ourself. it's literally impossible to do as much as we are forcing ourself to do in terms of devotional reading and commentary. we NEED to cut down, because right now, this is spreading our soul so thin that we're unable to FOCUS and make solid consistent growth in any respect. a scattered faith is not honoring our Lord. we genuinely need to start doing less, before we can be more.)


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MDE =
"I understood these tears to be not of sadness but rather of purification."
I'm wondering if this has System relevance. Sadness is a compartmentalized emotion, but have we ever really been aware of its holy nuances before? Exploring this would be hugely beneficial and revelatory, I'm sure.
...

"Think of a person who has brought great joy to your life... anyone who just showed up in your life one day without your plotting or planning. Say a prayer of gratitude for them."
My heart immediately said, Jena. And I honestly teared up from the intensity of gratitude I felt, offering her name up in prayer, and imploring God to bless her to the utmost.
...man, January is going to actually be 15 YEARS since I "met" her. I need to type about that.
...


LBB =
"The words that Mary speaks in today’s passage are among the best known words in all the Gospels: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” These are words of total acceptance of God’s will. [Yet] Mary wasn’t saying, “This is wonderful. Of course, I'll do it.” Instead she was saying, ‘This isn’t what I had planned, and I’m not sure I understand, but I’ll do my best to do what the Lord wants.”
What is it like to say words to that effect on any given day? Or at the beginning of every day? Try it. God’s plan is always better than my own."

1) ACCEPTANCE ISN'T GLIB.
2) Even as pure & sinless as she was, even devoid of all selfishness, Mary's plan for her own life prior to this WASN'T GOD'S PLAN-- simply because SHE ISN'T GOD. She couldn't ever have predicted or expected or willed what she had just heard from the Angel! And that WASN'T SINFUL, because once she DID "know God's plan," she SURRENDERED EVERYTHING TO IT.
3) Even so, for the same reason of Divine Mystery, Mary DIDN'T understand this Plan-- but she TRUSTED GOD!!
4)

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Universalis today=

"When you are in your room, at night, think always on Christ, and wait for His coming at every moment... He enters by the open door; He has promised to come in, and He cannot deceive. Embrace Him, the one you have sought; turn to him, and be enlightened; hold him fast, ask him not to go in haste, beg him not to leave you. The Word of God moves swiftly; he is not won by the lukewarm, nor held fast by the negligent. Let your soul be attentive to his word; follow carefully the path God tells you to take, for he is swift in his passing... Do not imagine that you are displeasing to him despite having called him, asked him in, and opened the door to him; and that this is the reason why he has gone so quickly– no, for he allows us to be constantly tested... But even if it seems to you that he has left you, go out and seek him once more."
1) We actually do this, a little? At night, we make a special effort with our night prayer routine to bring an awareness of God's Presence directly into our going to sleep.
...
2) I love that small but profound reminder that Jesus doesn't sneak in a back door. He enters by the open front door. There is no secrecy, no deceit, nothing sneaky or sly about Him. He CANNOT deceive, just as He CANNOT lie.
But... I never realized that He actually promised to come to us.
...
3) We must respond to His arrival, and ardently.
...

"Who but holy Church is to teach you how to hold Christ fast? Indeed, she has already taught you, if you only understood her words in Scripture.. How do we hold him fast? ...by the longing of the soul... seek Him and be fearless of suffering. It is often easier to find Him in the midst of bodily torments, in the very hands of persecutors... in a little space, after a brief moment, when you have escaped from the hands of your persecutors without yielding to the powers of this world, Christ will come to you, and He will not allow you to be tested for long."

1) ONLY the Church, the BRIDE of Christ, can teach you how to hold Him in love. The world can NEVER teach you this-- after all, the world is no bride, no spouse, no virgin.
2) Scripture IS the voice of the Church!!! Even all her traditions and customs must be rooted there, for it alone is the Truth of God, the very Words of her Bridegroom. But in His unity with her, she says nothing contrary to Him.
3) We "hold Him" by our soul's longing. What a beautiful paradox.
...And how terrifying a phrase for our traumatized self.
This was inevitable. Ambrose is quoting the Song of Songs here, which we have never read for tragically obvious reasons.
...
4)
5)

"Whoever seeks Christ in this way, and finds Him, can say: "I held Him fast, and I will not let Him go before I bring him into my mother’s house, into the room of her who conceived me." What is this “house,” this “room,” but the deep and secret places of your heart? Maintain this house, sweep out its secret recesses until it becomes immaculate and rises as a spiritual temple for a holy priesthood, firmly secured by Christ, the cornerstone, so that the Holy Spirit may dwell in it. Whoever seeks Christ in this way, whoever prays to Christ in this way, is not abandoned by Him; on the contrary, Christ comes again and again to visit such a person, for He is with us until the end of the world."
1) This is UNEXPECTEDLY MARIAN. The soul who finds Christ does not bring Him into "her own house," for she HAS NONE-- she is yet a virgin girl living with her MOTHER!!! We will not live "in Christ’s House" until we get to Heaven! UNTIL then, what house do we have? Only our hearts. And yet, who "OWNS" that house? OUR MOTHER. This is beautifully twofold. First, it's STILL the Church as mother, and therefore ALSO CHRIST even now-- for truly He alone owns what He created, and even further consecrated & claimed for Himself in loving covenant-- but it's ALSO MARY AS MOTHER, of both the Church AND CHRIST HIMSELF!!
But look further. Our mother is the one who conceived us. That's such a powerful truth spiritually.
...
2) ...I just love how blatantly headspacey this is. Our "home" is literally the "deep and secret places of our heart," where God indeed dwells by grace of Baptism.
...
3) What must we do with our heart-home, then? Two things. We must:
+ MAINTAIN it. Keep it warm, do the repairs, furnish it properly, et cetera.
+ SWEEP all the dust away-- but not just the main rooms! You need to SPECIFICALLY FOCUS on cleaning out the SECRET RECESSES of your heart.
Now THAT is HEADSPACE.
But... who's got the broom? Who has the floorplan for this place? Who is limber &
...
4) What's the ultimate goal here? The only thing fitting our Mother's House-- we must make our heart like hers. It must be made IMMACULATE.
(Pure dwelling, Temple of God, living stone FOR priestly service remember)
...
5) This is ALL "so the HOLY SPIRIT CAN DWELL" in our heart.
...
6) We must seek AND PRAY!
...
7) Christ VISITS.
(no abandon)
...


On the Gospel =
"In Judaism the ‘yoke’ often refers to the Law, a burden which must be borne, [so] it is tempting to see a contrast between the light yoke which Jesus offers and the heavy yoke of the exact and burdensome observance of the Law... except that obedience to the Law was always a joy, since the Law is a revelation of God’s Nature and of God’s Will for human beings, so that it is a joyful privilege to respond."
1) I am a Christian, so I can't speak for the experience of Jews and their Law, especially not in history-- but I do know that Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law, protecting & perfecting every last letter of it, because it IS GOD'S WILL & OF HIS NATURE. It is the special honor and blessed privilege of every Jew. And yet, they themselves call it a burden. Why? Again, I can't speak for them, but when I look at my own "struggle" to keep the commands of Christ, especially in a world that almost mandates the opposite... I can tell you that God is NOT the cause of the burden. My own sinful nature is.
No matter how much of a "burden" it may therefore make the Law of God to me, that same Law is NEVERTHELESS ALWAYS PURE JOY. Why? Because it's INHERENTLY GOOD. It's literally directions from God! And when you love God, then following His directions-- no matter how complicated or difficult the application & enactment honestly may be-- is ALWAYS deeply & unshakably joyful at its heart. It truly is a privilege, to KNOW what God wants and to be able to strive for it, even to strain under it. It's either His Law or the world's anarchy, and I would much rather bear the heavy holy yoke of purpose & covenant than go running "free" in selfish whim, doomed to uselessness. 
2) I actually really love reflecting on the Law of Scripture as "God's Will for mankind" AND as "a revelation of God's Nature." Both those truths are STAGGERING. We're just puny stupid weak mortal sinners!! And God Himself has CHOSEN FREELY to not just REVEAL these sacred Mysteries to us, but also to call us to COOPERATE IN THEM??? That's BEYOND COMPREHENSION. And yet it is ABSOLUTE FACT.
...
3) All this actually reminds me of the prayer Mimic and I say before each Bible study=
"O Lord Jesus Christ, open Thou the eyes of my heart, that I may hear Thy Word and understand and do Thy will... Hide not Thy commandments from me, but open mine eyes, that I may perceive the wonders of Thy Law. Speak unto me the hidden and secret things of Thy wisdom... enlighten my mind and understanding with the light of Thy knowledge, not only to cherish those things which are written, but to DO them..." etc.
Without divine enlightenment-- which we cannot achieve on our own; it must be given by God Himself of His Own Will-- the Law will be "hidden" from us, even if we follow it? We won't "perceive its wonders", which are only seen with "the eyes of the heart," and can then be understood-- but again, only by grace! For no one knows God BUT God, so without the Spirit imparting that Knowledge to us through Love-- for God is Love, and so ALL Knowledge of Him MUST be of Love, by Love-- all divine things will remain "hidden and secret" to us, even incomprehensible. It's all from God, for God.
But I want to emphasize the conclusion. The end of all this enlightenment and knowledge and understanding is to be able to cherish the Law, to see with your heart the hidden wonder of God Who Is Love within it, to recognize it as His Wise and Good Will, and therefore to do what that Law says with true and sincere and holy joy. All the grace is humbly petitioned for, and mercifully received, for that sole purpose-- loving obedience according to loving knowledge.
I hope that makes sense. My heart is so moved about it, it's very hard to put into words, especially on a phone keypad.


"In the Old Testament, personified Wisdom is always standing in her doorway to invite people to her banquet... and to take on her yoke. This fits also the address of the invitation of Jesus to the poor who "labour and are overburdened", for the invitation of Wisdom is addressed NOT to the learned but to those who are humble and open-minded. And Jesus Himself is the humble and unpretentious King, as He shows by entering Jerusalem on a donkey– no warlike steed... [a humble reign which began when] Jesus [was] born into an impoverished and homeless family among the cattle, and first greeted by simple shepherds. This is the heart of the invitation of Jesus: to put aside all worldly honour and standards and embrace His own more profound and more rewarding criteria."
1) Wisdom only invites the humble because the proud are too full of themselves; they don't trust anyone's table but their own.
But the analogy is fascinating. It's a free banquet, offered to those souls that humbly admit their hunger & weariness & inability to soothe either pain themselves... but there's a yoke to bear. Honestly, there ALWAYS is. And that's GOOD. Honest work is holy, sincere effort is a means of sanctification, the struggle for righteousness brings grace, etc. Wisdom is given without cost, her banquet is free, but from then on out you MUST bear her yoke-- and you must be willing to lower your head and bend to receive it, through no boasted effort of yours. That's the exchange, that's the true banquet for your soul, for now you will be bound to her, carrying her "burden" of wealth alongside her. You have shared her meal, accepted her invitation-- now you work together to plow the paths you tread,  preparing it for the planting that will yield even more fruit. This is an honor. What you have received without cost, you must give without cost-- but never by your own power. You are not the source of the seeds to be planted, nor are you the one sowing. You are simply shouldering the yoke, humbly yet indispensably... alongside humble & holy Wisdom herself.
The yoke is not a price, it's a privilege. She will be a source of endless wealth for you, if you are emptied enough of yourself to receive it, and you are willing to in turn become a fountain for that wealth to others on her behalf, for her sake, as she continues to invite all who will listen to her endlessly generous banquet.
2) Jesus, Who IS Wisdom, is the true & perfect Embodiment of ALL of that. He is ALWAYS inviting, always standing at the very doorway to Heaven, as it were. He wants to feed us and shelter us. But He STILL wants us to WORK, hence the yoke. He isn't calling us to insolence or gluttony-- no matter how rich the banquet is! But the yoke is easy. Why? Because it is shared with Him-- with His unfailing Strength, and unconditional Love. His burden is light, but note it is still a "burden!" Jesus IS the Law. Jesus taught God's Will and EMBODIED God's Nature, and He constantly conflicted with the religious authorities because He didn't obsess over legalism & paperwork as it were. He revealed the "wonders" hidden in the Law, the core Truth behind every command. Obedience to the Law of God IS a joy, after all, when God is recognized & known & cherished in it-- and Jesus purifies & perfects that Law by distilling the Letter down to LOVE. THAT makes it light, pun intended-- it makes it clearer and brighter than ever before, illuminating every shadow of confusion, chasing away all darkness of ignorance. No longer is it just a list of boxes to be checked. Jesus moves us from head to heart. He liberates us from the minutiae by yoking us to His infinite embrace. He calls us to carry the Crossbar on our shoulders.
3) If the KING is so astonishingly humble, then His subjects absolutely must imitate His example. That's obvious. But consider the examples!! Look at where His Power truly lies-- invincible, yet invisible to worldly eyes!
...
4) Here's the wrapup. I need to grasp this together with the bit on the Law.
Jesus's invitation is for "the weary" to "take on His yoke" by "learning from Him"-- and in doing so, to finally be at rest in their souls. This is the invitation of Wisdom to her banquet, an invitation only offered to the humble. Jesus's "yoke" IS that of Wisdom.
Here, Scripture says it far better than I can=
"This is what I say: It costs nothing to be wise. Put on the yoke, and be willing to learn. The opportunity is always near... No matter how much it costs you to get Wisdom, it will be well worth it."
...

(When you have a meek & humble heart, every weight is easier to carry)


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The last thought for today, from an article.

"With just a couple of handfuls of days left until Christmas, I will try to focus on [Jesus's] promise of rest. There are still many tasks to attend to, but those tasks are not the point. Instead, it is the promise of peace during this season of light."
Remember this.
We were actually feeling guilty today because we "weren't doing enough reading and devotion and special prayer" for the season. There are Christmas books we haven't opened yet, there are Bible study plans we haven't started, there are cards we haven't written and gifts we haven't bought, there are carols we haven't sung or performed, there are decorations we haven't put up... it snowballs, very fast.
None of it truly matters if we don't have the peace of the Christ Child.
THAT'S the endpoint of Advent. Christ is COMING TO US, in the past present and future, and we need to be ready for HIM. Not the holiday. For CHRIST HIMSELF.
And you'll only be ready if your heart is open to Him as the Prince of Peace.



121123

Dec. 11th, 2023 05:32 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)


2 hour delay so NO MORNING MASS.
Slept in naturally until 8. Body felt decent, which was nice.
Decided to plan day around 1130 mass, as we miraculously have the car an extra day, and DO LAUNDRY AT LONG LAST

Audio notes so I don't forget=
Laurie pointed out that one of the main reasons she's blurring so hard into the core personality, is because the cores are talking to her like they used to talk to Genesis!!
Genesis said that's not cool, Laurie said no it isn't, because he's the only cool guy around. Cue the sunglasses.

Lynne saying that her surname needs to change because she no longer holds her Original role, Which was quite literally standing between Laurie and Julie so they didn't kill each other. That was why her original surname was Stabelle,  Because her presence was needed for there to be any stability!
But now that function is no longer needed but SHE is still needed--  Which is stunning because remember she literally died, And we implored her to come back, And she came back extremely unstable at first, ironically, But she did stick around thank God-- And that's why now her color brightened and she became more warm, With her stability function changing to that of community stability, Through friendship and communication?  Which is an extremely orange function.
By the way Laurie has also been saying lately that her surname needs to  Permanently change.  Her color also appears to need to stay violet, not purple!  There is too huge of a difference between the two colors and it's breaking her function.  She literally needs to go back to her roots without losing all her spiritual growth & softening of heart, BUT SHE ALSO NEEDS HER BRUTAL EDGES BACK.  Laurie's existence NEEDS to be this paradoxical yet perfect harmony Between those two "extremes."

Later=
1130 Mass! Got there for 11 to say the Joyful Rosary before the Tabernacle.
We FORGOT how IMMERSIVE our mystery meditations are in such a context-- even moreso than with visual aids or with music-- the only tradeoff is that we get so caught up in the emotions and visuals that we lose track of the actual recited prayers. So we need to learn how to balance this. But in any case, it is SO important TO be able to "feel" the mysteries like this; without such "personal experience" they become just theory, just data, and the "meditations" on both their events and gifts are hollow.

I forget the exact homily-- I'm writing this too late and I don't know who was fronting to get the memory; there's always a lot of social interference in church-- but the priest was the same guy that gave us that heavy confession on Saturday, so there were some very nasty floating voices throwing hate at him. Which is BIZARRE, because consciously we were GRATEFUL for that chastisement, and we still liked him very much as a person, but not the floating voices, those invisible devils. So that was a distressing war again during Mass.
BUT. THE HOMILY SPOKE DIRECTLY TO THAT SITUATION.
Again, I wish I remembered the words. God, remind me if you can. If not, I will trust that the forgetting is better. Nevertheless, it felt personally delivered, and it helped us in the fight.
What helped the MOST, though, was what happened AFTER Mass, when we got home-- Laurie and the Core revisited the confession data. As in, LAURIE spoke those EXACT SAME WORDS to the Core, NOT a thriskefoni, to see how we TRULY reacted to those words in a CONSCIOUS context.
Let me tell you: it changes everything. There is NO hatred, NO anger, NO pride or bitterness. It's Laurie, for heaven's sakes, we're used to her speaking so roughly, we know it's all in love. And THAT made us fully realize the BIGGEST TRUTH= JESUS IS THE ONE SPEAKING THROUGH THE PRIEST, AND JESUS LOVES US EVEN MORE THAN LAURIE DOES!! So whatever the priest said, IT WAS FROM CHRIST, translated through His servant, FOR OUR GOOD. I'm making a mess of words. The priest, in the confessional, is guided in his speech by the Holy Spirit, for the sake of the Sacrament. So we can TRUST EVERY WORD of what he said to us as TRUE AND GOOD.
And, again, hearing it from Laurie helped us truly grasp that fact. Hearing her say, "kid, you've got too much time on your hands," made us realize that wait, we actually do, because we're NOT ALLOWING OURSELVES TO DO ANY PRODUCTIVE WORK, instead "running away" from EVERYTHING except obsessive prayer-- even our most basic bodily needs are frequently put on hold for its sake. And there's nothing wrong with prayer! The problem is that we're ABUSING IT and using it as a compulsive escapism from "REAL LIFE," and therefore ALSO from REAL PRAYER. We have too much time on our hands because we won't spend it. We WANT to. We WANT to invest it in work, in healing, in reading, in love-- but no, we keep forsaking it all for the sake of "the holy schedule." What a fool.
Stop, we're getting switchy.
But yeah, it helped SO MUCH, it defused ALL the "imposed hate" and foreign anger. I still don't know where that comes from. They're NOT our emotions; they feel totally outside and alien and we DON'T WANT THEM. But they keep coming. Is that the ego-dystonic thing? I guess all we can do is consciously affirm what we ARE feeling, truly, and don't give those wrong-fake emotions any attention at all.
What else did Laurie repeat back to us? Oh yeah, "you're making up sins." That's because we're obsessing. And she pointed out, we LITERALLY ARE-- when we're doing an examination of conscience, we ALWAYS say, "there HAS to be more, there MUST be more things that count as sins!" and we LOOK FOR THEM. There's a fine line between a healthily thorough examination and what we're doing, which is doubting that we CAN be good at ALL. We literally EXPECT to sin, and ASSUME that "well, I'll confess that I did this, because I probably did, and if I DON'T confess it, I'll go to hell for hiding it!" et cetera. And READING an examen is WORSE, because EVERY QUESTION gets a terrified mental response of, "did I?? I don't know, I probably did, I know I'm just that bad. Oh man I should confess it just in case, I can't believe I did such an evil thing..." et cetera!! So our confessions can get REALLY long and ironically nebulous, because our personal past just feels like an infinite haze of sin and no matter how much we confess, there's always more, and our future feels doomed already. The priest was right. We're "making up sins," in the sense that we're actively trying to label things as sins because we feel this unbearable guilt at all times and we're trying to ascribe it to every possible cause, and hopefully confessing them will find the "right one" and finally give us peace. That's textbook OCD, you loon.
What else... oh yeah. Oh MAN. "You think Christ can't forgive you? At Christmas?" Dude Laurie went on a SPEECH about that, it was deeply moving, I wish I could quote her but it's not recorded data. Just trust me, she GETS IT and she drilled it into our head. I remember the gist of "He was born so he COULD die in your place, to pay the penalty of your sins so YOU won't have to die," basically. But hearing her say it, the way she does, it hit harder than just reading it somewhere. She knows what it means to suffer for someone you love, because they really screwed up, and you're only bleeding so they don't have to, although they really deserve it. But you love them. You want them to be better. And if this is the only way to save their stupid butt until they wise up, then so be it. That's my words, but you get the idea I hope. Jesus takes it to the ultimate perfect extreme. But Laurie does reflect that to us, like a moon or a mirror, but still a true reflection. God does that a lot. It's why the System is so important.



So it's 1525 and Laurie just asked me why I haven't eaten breakfast yet today, except for a single carrot. I said it's because I got carried away praying and typing. Then without even thinking about it, I said "I just love God more than I love food."
TILLY I HOPE YOU HEAR THAT.
That was honestly her BIGGEST TERROR. She was so afraid, trapped in the eating disorder, that we DIDN'T love God more than food. But... just now, despite being hungry and tired, I sincerely spoke the opposite from my heart, and by my actions. I love God more. I really do.
God, thank You. Thank You so much for the grace that allowed this to happen. Please keep us here in this grace forever, and help us to love you more and more every day.

Evening=
LOTS of mom communication today. It hit us how friendly we are now, how she will call us just to tell us things, or to express stress and then just have us listen. We're... we're harmless to her now. She used to be afraid of us. She SAID so several times before. But now... now she is so open and amiable around us.
I cannot express how much that means to us. It's a huge and ancient prayer suddenly realized as answered.
God, thank You, thank You. Help us always be the daughter she needs.


Praying wall prayers, saying the "death acceptance" one, and suddenly feeling this absolute rush of love for RAZOR.
I literally went into headspace, where we were both kneeling in "dualspace" (the level of headspace that is a direct "overlay" of the outside on the inside; need better jargon but that suffices for now), took her face in my hands and just pressed our foreheads together for a moment, cherishing her existence, virtually in tears. I remember her placing her hands on my own, and the mind kept translating them into x-acto knives, on and off, like it was some hidden layer of her form. But it was harmless, too. She felt like an artist, not a weapon.
I remember looking into her eyes and just saying "I'm so grateful you exist." I know I told her I loved her, too-- "philia" love, but no less sincere and strong than any other. It's still love. I remember the bloodslick color of her hair in the dim light, and her porcelain-pale skin, looking so thin I could practically see her network of veins through it... I remember her eyes, so strange, those x-pupils shifting into x-scars as her presence shifted in the dim evening haze of our shared mind. But she was looking at me too, her irises just as deep a red as the wounds she used to carve into my legs, but in her gaze there was only this disarming innocence, this tenderness and awe... this quiet gratitude for me, too, and for the fact that we were friends, and for us both being alive in this small moment under the glittering dark and warm-rainbow lights.
i want to remember that for a long, long time.

i miss everybody, but not in a lonely way. it's a joyful missing. i know they're all here, they're all around, if i look for them i will find them, one way or another. the missing is only in the sense that they are missing from a place i want them dearly to be in at this moment-- in my arms, close to my heart. all of us together. i miss them with such love it makes me weep. and i thank God for it.
we must start taking serious scheduled time to just be in headspace, in heartspace, every single day. not just at night, in brief blessed flashes. we need hours. like we used to.
we will only move forwards, in the healing and hope God offers us, if we do it together.



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VOTD = Matthew 6:25
"Whatever you're worried about, Jesus tells us to trust God to meet all our needs. We don't have to worry, because "God's got it!" He will take care of you; He will meet your needs, day by day. So free yourself-- free your mind of the worries of day to day things! Free yourself to think about things that actually matter! Free yourself to think about how to make a difference, and how to live a life that honors Him!"
1) There are no exceptions to this. Physical needs, spiritual needs, emotional needs, psychological needs, social needs, financial needs... EVERYTHING IS WITHIN GOD'S JURISDICTION AND HIS POWER. Do you realize this, the truly omnipotent scope of His ability to aid you?
And don't skew this by thinking that "God won't send a boat," like that famously convicting joke. You don't think God can work in and through His Creation? Would you separate what He has joined in Christ, unwilling to accept Divine aid by physical means? Are you so proud that you demand either a miracle response or nothing? Do you ignore the humble backstreet wonders of Jesus and brazenly ask for a "real" sign from heaven? Are you so blind? Do you put such limits on the Lord? You impose your own rules upon the King? You entitled fool, are you so afraid that your truest need is to be brought low before Him? If your prayer is answered in a way that humiliates you, if your need is met in a way that scandalizes you, would you rather never ask God for help at all? Where is your trust? Is it all in yourself, you worthless idol?
I'm off topic but I'm not.
The point is, some part of us is genuinely terrified that God, being Spirit, can only meet our needs IN Spirit. As in, we still think like a bloody gnostic. We are scared that, if we're hungry and literally need physical food, God won't consider that a "real need," because "spirit is more important, and your REAL need is TO be hungry." Same with a "need for rest." "The only rest you REALLY need is the rest of heaven, so until then you won't get any." In less harsh words, of course, but the fact that our brain is phrasing it that way betrays who is REALLY putting those thoughts into our head.
Listen. Look at the FACTS. Has God EVER withheld your physical needs? NO. Countless times you've been moved to tears because God met a need with such TENDER CARE & UNEXPECTED GENEROSITY, even in smallness & simplicity, that all you could do was sob "God, you're so kind to me!!" THIS HAPPENS ON A REGULAR BASIS, KID.
But tie this back into the main point. God meets EVERY need, in EVERY context, JUST THAT LOVINGLY, and yes He CAN and DOES and WILL meet those needs WITH PHYSICAL THINGS IF THAT IS NEEDED, because guess what? HE MADE YOUR BODY, AND THIS EARTH, AND HE CARES FOR BOTH OF THOSE THINGS TOO, NOT JUST YOUR SPIRIT. Stop being so darn dualistic.
We'll need to make lists later, just brainstorm, see who contributes, to exactly what we instinctively would label as "needs" and even "wants" in contrast, in all those contexts, and then see how God HAS met them all. But now isn't the time. We're too switchy.
Just remember the heart point here= everything is in His care, and under His power, and He WILL help you. So you CAN trust Him for EVERY SINGLE NEED you can possibly imagine. Take that as simply and totally as possible. Don't overthink it. If you have a need, even if it's a childish need, God will meet it, as it needs to be met. So TRUST HIM.
2) If we have a need, God ALREADY KNOWS IT. Don't ever fear that He "overlooked" something or "doesn't understand the situation" or "underestimates the urgency." No. Its you that cannot see clearly. God already knows your need, in minute detail, and He has the entire universe at His disposal to meet it... in the proper way, at the proper time. But He's "got it", don't worry. He doesn't miss a beat.
3) God CAN AND WILL MEET OUR EVERY NEED... if we allow Him to. Even now, He never forces or imposes. Like a loving mother trying to feed a hungry but stubborn child, if he won't open his mouth for her gentle offers, for whatever reason, he's going to stay hungry-- and he can't blame her for it! She won't pry his mouth open and force him to eat, lest he see her as cruel and violent and lose all trust & comfort in her. God is similar. He WAITS for us to turn to Him, like a child, with total confidence and surrender that He WILL act, as is BEST for us.
But He can only step in if we're not blocking the door, or refusing all help on proud principle. If you doubt He even will help, or doubt that He CAN help, that's the biggest obstacle of all. Doubt keeps Him at a distance, by your own doing. You can't blame Him for "not helping" if you yourself won't accept that He CAN AND WILL. This is why we MUST trust Him, and have faith in His Love, because if we don't, we're screwed. It's the ironic "just deserts" of insisting that "I can take care of it myself!" No you can't, but God won't try to talk you out of it if you won't listen. He'll just stand back, sadly but respectfully, until you experientially realize that truth and turn to Him-- and He'll be ready with arms full of every possible help, the instant your heart so much as glances in His direction. He won't abandon you. But you can still turn your back to Him. Don't.
4) God meets our needs DAY BY DAY. This is the "Our Father"! It's also Proverbs 30:8-9, and arguably 1 Timothy 6:6-9! And it's absolutely the manna and the Eucharist! God gives us everything we need for today. That's all we ever need. We don't know if we'll see tomorrow, or if God will call us home tonight! We must stay present & focused in the NOW, which is the only moment we're ever able to reach God in, for it is His. He is HERE, NOW. When "tomorrow" gets here, it too will be Now, and God will be there still, as generous and all-sufficient as always.
5) Trusting GOD to provide gives us FREEDOM from DAILY WORRY. But we, bizarrely, struggle the most with this?? It's because it's so direct & personal & mundane... and because we're such a control freak with the OCD. We can trust "in theory" that "God will provide," but when we are faced with a very individual loss or lack, our knee-jerk response is that devilish twist: "Maybe God's "Providence" IS this lack?" But it's too stupid to even debate.
Listen. God is not under ANY obligation to cater to your expectations or assumptions, especially because they're typically very foolish and blind and unloving. You think you know what you need and when and how. Newsflash: you absolutely do not. There is consistent historical proof of this-- just as there is invincibly unwavering evidence that God DOES know, because He ALWAYS GIVES IT TO YOU.
And yes, actually, God DOES and HAS provided for you THROUGH "LACK," because you were getting GREEDY OR GLUTTONOUS and His precision deprivation was a surgical strike at the root that HAS ALWAYS RESULTED IN A GAIN OF SIMPLICITY & VIRTUE.
Lastly, on that note, you're really bad at the "day by day" thing. You HOARD, buddy. You always buy more than you need "just in case." You have a famine mindset, a disaster predisposition. You are always so darn scared that you'll run out and God won't do anything about it. Don't be ridiculous, you sightless sod, has that EVER HAPPENED, even when you lived out of state and were dying from a bloody eating disorder??? GOD HAS NEVER EVER FAILED TO PROVIDE FOR YOU. When the heck are you going to just trust Him to meet your daily needs as HE LITERALLY ALWAYS HAS??? He's NOT going to change!! Oh, but you're scared, you insist, "well, if I DO trust Him that much, He'll say, "time to level up," and then He WILL start exposing me to REAL famine, to test my trust, and wean me away from the world as much as possible!" Well first of all, if He DOES "expose you to famine," HE STILL WON'T ABANDON YOU. You can STILL trust, paradoxically but absolutely, that He is STILL providing for your needs-- IF YOU TRUST HIM TO. That's your biggest obstacle to actually LIVING in the freedom He offers: you are just so scared that the "real God" is going to just leave you homeless and penniless and hungry and cold and say "this is what you REALLY need!" First of all, THAT'S PUNISHMENT LANGUAGE, and you're PROJECTING it onto God. STOP. Secondly, I repeat, if God ever DID do that, HE WOULD STILL BE CARRYING YOU IN HIS ARMS, and even like those absolutely traumatic nights in CNC where you were "briefly homeless" and eating out of garbage cans and supermarket scraps, you poor lunatic, God STILL GOT YOU THROUGH, even when you got freakin' mugged you KNOW that ultimately THAT ACTUALLY WAS THE BEST THING THAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED at the time. It's insane but it's TRUE. GOD HAS NEVER ABANDONED YOU, OR DONE ANYTHING FOR SPITE, EVER. AND HE NEVER WILL. Listen I'm just rambling now but START TRUSTING HIM TO DO THE DAY-BY-DAY THING. Because He already does, and if you just paid active grateful trusting attention to it it would LITERALLY CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
6) On that ultimate note: Daily survival isn't what actually matters. That seems impossible, but it's Biblical. "Whoever would save his life"... etc. One translation of this very verse says "‭You should not worry about how to stay alive"! And why? Because "your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes." Note the details. Your life IS important. Your body IS important. But SO IS YOUR SOUL. AND THEY ALL GO TOGETHER. Just like you CANNOT take care of your soul to the point of neglecting and hating your body-- WHICH YOU HAVE AN AWFUL TRACK RECORD OF DOING-- you also cannot obsess over your body to the point of shoving your soul to the backburner! WHICH YOU ARE ALSO DOING, IRONICALLY, every time you get low on food or cash.
Except... not all of us do. There ARE a LOT of us who actually instinctively DO TRUST GOD and ACTIVELY SURRENDER OUR CIRCUMSTANCES into His Hands when things get tight, and they KNOW He will show up and get us through, and HE DOES. EVERY SINGLE TIME. Don't get so upset with one bunch of system-disconnected foni that you forget that a WHOLE LOT OF US inside DO TRUST GOD and it is BEAUTIFUL and FREEING and we wish we could do it even more, and better, and more completely.
One last bit: an unidentified grafifoni wrote this earlier:
"Oh of course it's important to care for our physical lives, but all our worrying about the particulars? That's unnecessary. Not only will God provide what we need, but we have HIGHER and ETERNAL needs, and THOSE ARE WHAT REALLY MATTER, even at the expense of the temporal ones!!"
That closing bit is what I want to speak on briefly, because it can very easily be twisted to promote that gnostic-dualism and body hatred/ neglect. That's NOT what Jesus wants you to do. HOWEVER, He DOES want you to realize that they ARE STILL SECONDARY NEEDS to the eternal and spiritual. They're still needs, don't misunderstand me, but if they are ever in conflict with your soul, they must be set aside. This is something that ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT can discern; your own mortal opinion is going to err either to false humility or to indulgent sloth so don't trust it. Trust GOD. Honestly if THAT is your only litmus test-- just sincerely striving to trust God and serve God in EVERYTHING you do, even in recognizing & meeting needs, then you're going to be headed in a good direction. The Spirit will help you every step, if your intentions are pure, and your heart open to His guidance concerning them.
7) On that very note-- what sort of "difference" are we finally talking about? One that honors God. Those two "things that matter" are necessarily united. We actually cannot "make a difference" of any lasting sort, not as mere mortals, as unwise and misled and temporary as we are-- BUT if we let GOD work through us, if we really are living as the Body of Christ, if our every action is directed towards eternity and our hope of heaven, then "we" WILL "make a difference" in our world, because it is God doing His work through us, and He alone directs all change and progress.
But here's the essential bit. We must cooperate. We must THINK ABOUT HOW we can open up to this; to HOW we can "make a difference" in the sense of WHERE we can offer ourselves as a servant of the Lord, to let His grace work through us to truly change another life, even in a small way. We aren't robots, we aren't mindless automatons. We are in a RELATIONSHIP with God and we have to WORK WITH HIM, it's supposed to be joyful and free, and we can ONLY do that IF WE AREN'T WORRYING ABOUT "OUR OWN NEEDS." If we're so myopic, we won't be ABLE to see anyone ELSE'S needs that GOD WANTS TO MEET THROUGH US. And yes, He CAN AND WILL do that, because WE'RE PART OF CHRIST'S BODY, and Christ spent His WHOLE LIFE serving others, giving His Life, feeding people with His very Self. He wants to continue that IN YOU. Honestly if you're a Christian He MUST, if you want to remain united with Him!
So TRUST GOD to take care of you. Seriously, remember that you're saved by His Son, and PART OF HIS CHURCH-- do you really think God wouldn't care for such a soul? If that's the reason you need to cling to, then do so. But TRUST HIM. And when you do, use your freedom of mind and emotion and schedule and attention to HONOR HIM WITH YOUR LIBERATED LIFE.
Oh, but that's terrifying to the ego. The ego WANTS to distrust so it CAN be selfish. Isn't that awful? The proud self, the "me" mindset, doesn't want to be free, because then the soul will insist on higher aspirations and truths.
I can't phrase this well. Here's the gist of it: don't be afraid of freedom. That animal fear isn't you. It's a devil thought. Push it aside. Embrace the freedom of trust in God, however "scary" that wide-open vista of life is, especially after a life spent in a prison cell. I promise you, it's only "scary" because it's so grand and new and strange, but it is beautiful. God wants to embrace you and send you out to embrace others in His Name. Say yes! Put your life in His Hands, and then use your unshackled arms to reach out in love to the lives of those around you.
I can't say any more on this. It speaks for itself.
We know what it's like to trust God, and to doubt Him. The latter is unbearable suffering. The former is childlike bliss. Please, always choose to trust Him, especially when that requires a leap of faith. Those sacrificial surrenders always result in the most wonderful "little miracles." God is faithful. He will always be faithful. Follow Him. Live for Him. He'll take care of all the details. 


More from Universalis =
"Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord, and has not gone over to the rebels who follow false gods... As for me, wretched and poor, the Lord thinks of me. You are my rescuer, my help, O God, do not delay."

1) IF YOU DON'T TRUST GOD, YOU WILL INEVITABLY TRUST IN IDOLS. There literally is no other option. Instinctively you MUST trust in something, even if only yourself. That's all idolatry. You are making YOURSELF a "false god"!!
2) Such untrusting people are REBELS!!
3) The Lord thinks of you. Yes, you.
4) God never delays, truthfully. That's a beautiful consolation, however difficultly it may play out.


A very important distinction we personally NEED TO REMEMBER =
"Jesus never said not to think about your basic needs. He did say not to worry about them. Recognizing your physical needs can remind you of your spiritual needs— an invitation to trust your ultimate Provider."
1) This is a humbling chastisement! We can indeed to go to this extreme, as we mentioned before, especially the thriskefoni-- they love to do 24-hour fasts, to refuse to sleep, to expose the body to harsh weather, etc. But self-mortification is one thing-- the active refusing to admit that the body is loopy from hunger and dehydration is a whole other thing. We HAVE to take care of this body. We HAVE to pay attention to it and treat it kindly. So yes, we DO have to realistically consider its NEEDS, which DO include food, drink, rest, and cleanliness, to say the least, and then we have to MEET those needs as God expects us to do. Does that sound shocking to you? Do you feel like "I can't feed the body until God TELLS me I can?" Relying on the spiritradio is too risky, kiddo. If we're seriously hungry and exhausted enough that our body is begging for us to pay attention, then the frequencies you're going to pick up are NOT going to be any less distressing.
2) Ironically, that's WHERE your "worry" comes in ALL THE TIME. You start obsessing over "what the floating voices are telling me to do/ not to do," and you PANIC over so much as eating "one slice of carrot without permission" because then "that's a mortal sin." You think that doesn't count as worry? What the heck else is your brain doing in those moments? You're TERRIFIED. And you're NOT THINKING OF GOD, not truthfully. God doesn't string you along with conditional statements, weirdly particular directions to "test you," or punishments for eating one single loop of cereal "too many." I know you don't believe me. I know we definitely need to discuss this more, ideally one-on-one (J make a note). But worrying is not serving God, in any case. If you put your heart into the position of trust, like a child, I guarantee you, the Spirit would guide you to do whatever actually needs to be done or not done, without any fear.
3) THE PHYSICAL SERVES THE SPIRITUAL. THE BODY AND SOUL ARE UNITED. You literally cannot split them up! I know we've NEVER believed that before but IT'S LITERALLY BIBLICAL, it's the most astounding truth of Christianity we have learned recently, and it's TRUE so you NEED TO LIVE ACCORDING TO IT. Jesus died and rose again and KEPT HIS BODY and so you're gonna keep yours!! So TAKE CARE OF THE POOR THING. But also realize that IT IS MEANT TO BE IN HARMONY WITH YOUR SOUL. What I'm trying to say is, when you recognize what your body needs, somehow, it echoes what your soul needs. They both hunger and thirst, albeit for different things. They both need warmth, and rest, and breath. You get the idea. But seeing your physical needs LIKE THIS is actually hugely edifying, and beautifully compassionate, because then you're truly honoring the body AS A TEMPLE OF GOD, and not just as some "meat vessel." That's cruel and unkind and irreverent. The body reflects the soul and you cannot deny that. I can't claim much else on this topic as it's new and we're uneducated, but I can tell you what we feel in experience: when we neglect the body, when we don't take care of it, when we don't recognize or respect its needs, it doesn't help our soul one bit. Again, there's a BIG difference between honestly reverent "mortification" and outright abusing the body under the pretense of piety. Which is WHY our priest LITERALLY BANNED US FROM FASTING, you goof. You take it way too far. If you start thinking that it's fine and dandy to just not eat, because you hate eating and don't want to think about the body, well I hate to tell you kiddo but sooner or later that's gonna bleed into the same sort of subtly bitter apathy towards your soul. What you stomp on will come back to bite you. Whatever is motivating such unloving behavior does NOT have your soul's best interests in mind. Don't be fooled.
4) God is our "ultimate Provider." He's the fundamental, absolute, final, greatest, etc. in that respect. That means He can provide everything and anything and nothing else in the entire cosmos can. Everywhere else you look, there will be lack and dearth and limitation. You will find deserts and droughts. But God is a watered garden. You get the picture. And He is like this UNCONDITIONALLY. He created BOTH your body AND your soul and He KNOWS what they need and HOW to meet those needs and WHEN-- He even knows WHY, which is really beautiful to reflect upon.
The point is: you need to trust God COMPLETELY with BOTH your spiritual needs AND your bodily needs-- not just in the sense of His ability and willingness to meet them (which are both constants, btw), but ALSO in the sense that you GIVE THEM BOTH TO HIM EQUALLY. You trust Him TO meet both and you ACCEPT that care from Him FOR both, equally. You can't "have a favorite child" in this regard. You must love ALL parts of your existence just as equally as God loves them. 
...I daresay that has a far profounder meaning for us as a System. Take it that way. It's true, too.


"Advent prompts us to embrace a sense of trust, letting go of anxieties about the temporal and embracing the eternal significance of Christ's coming... to shift our focus from worldly worries to spiritual anticipation. [After all,] God knows what you need before you do. God knows your prayers before you pray them... So, let’s seek Him first. During this season of Advent, reflect upon the work entrusted to us while trusting in Him for provision [to live and do that work]. And let's not waste another second on worldly worries!"
1) I like this new spin. We aren't just to actively choose to trust, in particular circumstances, but to "embrace a SENSE of trust." We are to live in trust like it's the air we breathe.
2) Oh man, this too-- the depth of meaning that Advent GIVES that trusting atmosphere is FOUNDED IN CHRIST. That's amazing. We have "no reason to worry" not just because God is our Provider, but because Christ has come to earth and THAT is what brings that truth home more than anything?
Pause, stop talking, and let it sink in. Christ came to earth as a human. He united Himself to humanity, FOREVER. His first Advent was the fulfillment of thousands of years of promise and waiting-- for what? For a SAVIOR! Isn't that simple fact alone enough to erase all your anxieties forever? And then consider that this Savior is GOD HIMSELF, in a human form, which HE CHOSE specifically to be one with us... there's such a profound peace in that, it's staggering really. Just pondering that for a moment fills our heart with such quiet comfort and consolation. Jesus Christ is the very manifestation of "everything is going to be okay," because He exists. He has come to us, and He will remain with us forever.
3)
4)


The daily prayer is really powerful and worth pondering thoroughly=
"God, You know what I need and what I want. And regardless of what my current situation is-- I believe that You are enough for me. Your provision is enough for me. Your love is enough for me. Your will is enough for me. So today, I surrender my concerns for the future and my current worries. I will pursue You and trust that You will take care of me."
...

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KVOTD = Luke 4:1-2, an unexpected compliment to the VOTD.
"God cannot tempt us; temptations never come from God, but from the devil. So, as the Body of Christ, when we are tempted in our deserts, we should rely on God and not ourselves, and persevere in our resistance to evil, because God will come through for us and deliver us by faith. Never give up your faith in God, even in your most difficult seasons, because during the difficulty & temptation itself God will give you the strength and help you need to overcome all the temptations that are set before you."
1) With all the Catena reflections on temptations lately, and how they CAN and ARE opportunities for virtue, we must be VERY CAREFUL to clarify that GOD USES THEM FOR THAT PURPOSE. The devil does NOT intend that when he tempts us. Remember the book of Job! This is spiritual warfare, but God just loves to take all the angry attempts of evil and transform them into training-grounds for His kids. He knows that patience only flourishes when we are being tempted to haste, to irritability, to arrogance. So God lets the devil do his dirty work in tempting, while the Spirit is handing us armloads of grace-ammunition, haha.
2) AS CHRIST'S BODY, we are connected to Him in His experiences like this??
3)


"God, You have already given me everything I need to say "no" to temptation-- with the help of Your Word and the Holy Spirit, sin has no place in my life. Thank You for taking such great care of me."
1) God has "already" acted, before you even asked, or realized you needed to ask!
2) Specifically, God already "gave." He charges nothing, He demands no payment, He doesn't check credit scores. God GIVES, and He does so already, before the need makes itself known.
3) God gives EVERYTHING we need.
...
4) What is our "everything" needed? GOD'S WORD & SPIRIT.
...
5) We CAN "say no" to temptation. I don't just mean it's technically possible, but that it's ALLOWED. As strange as that sounds, as a chronic trauma survivor that became a "victimized abuser", this is perpetually an essential lesson.
...
6) In this same real context, the devil-- the Tempter-- is an abuser; THE Abuser.
7)

The questions are STRIKING=
"What can we learn from Jesus’ experience in the wilderness?
+ I can overcome temptation by trusting in the Truth of God's Word.
+ The enemy will often tempt me when I am already tired.
+ The Holy Spirit gives me power and wisdom to avoid sin."

1) Boy, is THIS ever relevant to life lately, especially with all the genuinely disturbing antitruths we see all over YouTube and Tumblr, whenever we foolishly stumble into either. And yes they're more than just "falsehoods" or "lies." They are actively anti-Truth, and often just as brazenly anti-Christ. It's genuinely terrifying, to realize THIS IS REALLY HAPPENING in the world around me RIGHT NOW.
And yet, like Christ Himself in the desert, we can overcome, because we HAVE THE TRUTH. We KNOW what is ACTUALLY REAL, and it is GOD'S WORD!
No matter what heresies and blasphemies may become popular, even promoted, if we put all our trust in Scripture alone then we will have solid ground to stand on.
...
2) OH MAN CAN WE EVER ATTEST TO THIS ONE!!!
Still... oh wow, Jesus went through this too. I never realized that. He gets it. He KNOWS how hard it is. Jesus was TIRED, and hungry, and overall suffering physically in that wilderness. He was not in "top shape." And the devil TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THAT. I told you he was The Abuser!!
But Jesus DIDN'T GIVE IN. His mortal body and mind, however hassled, were NOT the source of His moral strength! His power to resist the devil's temptations came from His TRUST AND LOVE FOR GOD HIS FATHER.
...
3) I note the word "avoid" here-- not just escape, not just fight, not just overcome, but AVOID!
...


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The prayer lottery gave us THIS, which I MUST take line by line=
"Jesus, I believe You are alive."
RIGHT NOW, Jesus is ALIVE. And yes, not just "as a spirit." He HAS a body, a HUMAN body, and HE IS ALIVE. Do you seriously believe that? Do you ACCEPT that reality, as shocking at it is, enough TO believe it in earnest? Or are you still too afraid of bodies and hum

"Jesus, I believe You are ever-present."
Even in your most humiliating, frightening, unhinged moments? Are you willing to admit His Presence even then, in you, living stone?

"Jesus, I believe You are working in the world around me."

Don't blunt the impact by making this a generalization. Look at the world AROUND YOU, right now. How "small" is it? On your bleakest days, is your "world" just these four walls? Are you homebound? I'll? Poverty-stricken? Are you isolated, ostracized, afraid? How small can your world get? Look at it. Do you believe Christ is still working there?
...

"Jesus, I believe that no matter what circumstances I face, You are Good."
Emphasize different words. Jesus, YOU are Good. You ARE Good. You are GOOD. Feel the entire breadth of meaning.
...

"Jesus, I believe You weep, mourn, and rejoice with Your children."

THIS is what stopped me dead in my tracks. Do I believe this??
Why does some very old and loud part of our psyche still see God as emotionally apathetic?
...

"Jesus, I believe You are my God and my Redeemer."
Do you truly believe the "MY"? Do you realize just how personal that pronoun actually is?
Of course you do, deep down. That's WHY you're afraid to say it with sincerity. The intimacy scares you.
...

"Jesus, I believe You are making all things new."
"Are" is an active word. Right now, in this very moment, Jesus IS making ALL things new-- and "all" MEANS ALL. There is NO exception.
...

"So come what may, Jesus, I will place my hope in You."
...

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We're bring crazy & starting another Advent reading plan.

"Advent simply means "coming into place, view, or being; arrival.""
As soon as I read this Mimic smirks & says "I like this one already." SAME BRO
1) Christ IS "coming into place." Isn't that astonishing? Although He hails from heaven, this world of ours, that little manger, Mary's womb, our hearts, are His place.
Consider the sense of "finality & connection" we mean when we use that phrase ourselves. "Things are finally coming into place!" We've been waiting, we see the pieces lining up, but there hasn't yet been a fulfillment, a conclusion. Nevertheless, it is on the way, we see the star, we follow it in hope, to that central event towards which everything else has led. And consider that very word "place," how oddly nominative it is, how personal it is. "This is my favorite place." "I've found my place in society." "Come stay at my place." There's a sense of rest, of security, of a search coming to a happy end.
Players move into position. Puzzle pieces begin to match. A clue is found, an idea is sparked. The Spirit hovers over the face of the waters. Advent is always happening. Christ is coming into place.
2) Christ is coming into view.
3) Christ is coming into being. What a paradox! And yet it, too, is true-- true in US, this very moment.
4) Christ is arriving. This takes everything a step further still.
Consider the word. Do you think of airplanes, railways, limousines? There is more than mere expectation, there is an announcement, there is a watching, there is a timeframe.
...
(BTW WHO IS TYPING THIS BIT????)


"Christ’s arrival offers a holistic response to the sin problem and can directly affect your life today and give you hope for a future in Him...
In Christ, there is hope for restoration of God and man.
In Christ, there is hope for freedom from sin.
In Christ, there is hope for eternal purpose for your life.
In Christ, you have hope to live as a son or daughter of a loving and compassionate Father.
In Christ, your religious traditions are overshadowed by a relationship with God... Ask God to show you how your traditions can be redeemed to illuminate Christ towards others this season."

1) "Holistic" is a tough definition, but i think the essence here is "everything taken together as a unit." Every aspect, every component, is treated as a part of a whole, interrelated and indivisible from the others.
So, when Christ offers a "holistic response," He deals with sin's effects & consequences in EVERY context-- spiritual, psychological, emotional, social, physical, et cetera. His solution is as universal as the problem. That is AMAZING.
And lest you forget: THAT IS THE POWER OF THE CROSS.
2) This effect is DIRECT AND PRESENT. It is RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW.
...


120623

Dec. 6th, 2023 11:17 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

SNOW!!!!!!!
SO INSPIRED TO DO LEAGUEWORK but had to pray. Jewel wanted to weep. "Isn't using my talents a prayer?? You never let me use them, you always "have to pray instead"".
Compromised unexpectedly beautifully by imagining League scenes FOR the intercessions, and such "OCs" praying.
I am dead serious, this is the FIRST TIME WE WERE ABLE TO PRAY WITHOUT ANXIOUS EXHAUSTION & FEAR. We actually lost track of time!!! And we MEANT the prayers, too!
I SWEAR WE ONLY EVER FUNCTION PROPERLY IN "THIRD PERSON." And you can FEEL the spatial shifts inside, from League to Central to BODY.

Mom call the instant we began the rosary, to GIVE US THE CAR???
So we can drive OURSELF to MU for the Tree Lighting, which is GREAT Because NOW we can see IF CANNON AND/OR HER "SISTERS" DRIVE on the way up-- otherwise, being driven by mom, we would just go black-out Social Mode. But NOW we can POTENTIALLY GET MEMORY BACK.
And buddy, believe me, you're gonna get SLAMMED when you ACTUALLY WALK ONTO THE CAMPUS.
Genesis you are REQUIRED to keep us constant company; it's all empty without you.

Made a simple throwaway "business email" for the sake of selling our instruments, also for doctors & the like, as it's a MUCH shorter contact addess than what we've been using (which everyone misspells) and ALSO so there are NO PHONE NUMBERS INVOLVED in contacting us. We CANNOT "process a transaction" in social mode. We CANNOT THINK OR REASON over the phone!! This has been REPEATEDLY PROVEN.
...

BK prep was NIGHTMARISH. Eggs burnt, broccoli bag leaked, we kept dissociating from overwhelm, making extra dishes out of confused panic, etc.

Freaking out over frying pans, eventually gave up from stress & just decided to go "cheap & local." We ARE one of the "poor folk" now, and cannot be thinking fancy or entitled. Live like your grandparents.

CANNOT concentrate at ALL because of schedule shifts, especially the impending unpredictability & sheer amount of travel & planning with SUDDENLY HAVING TO DO ALL OUR GROCERY SHOPPING IN THE EVENING. Which is TERRIFYING.
Giving us that "screamcry & vomit" feeling of anxious disease. Why is it so severe??

BK LATE, 1215. SO RUSHED.
Still, God knew what He was doing. Those burnt eggs that we couldn't even cut? We were therefore able to eat them in HALF the time. That means, IF we get the broccoli done fast, we MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEAVE EARLY AND GET SOME GROCERIES BEFORE IT GETS DARK!! Thank You God, PLEASE help us to do that.


Evening update= HE SURE DID HELP US!!!
And honestly? THANK GOD FOR THE SOCIAL SUBSYSTEM.
I know we disparage them. That's cruel. THEY exist for a reason too, by GOD'S DESIGN. And today proved EXACTLY WHY.
We innerspace folks could NEVER do that sort of madrush business running about.
We left around 230, and went straight to Wegmans.
GOOGLE MAPS FAILURE. Trying to trust God's mysterious plan & be patient & open-minded.
Then we went to MARYWOOD!!
(Music building, Tree rosary )
(Drive through area. NO CANNON. We feel too different inside?? We've CHANGED TANGIBLY.)
(also we think she's ONLY triggered by the ART BUILDING and we didn't go there. Plus campus has ALSO CHANGED which disturbs or even destroys memory triggers??)
(Virtually NO MEMORY from the car at all btw)
(SAME WITH GROCERY SHOPPING??? Dude we were on BLACKOUT AUTOMATIC, is THAT how we survived the darkness & crowds???)
When we got home, as we rushed to unpack, José was SINGING AT FULL VOLUME. Honestly I love that guy, his existence gives me such joy. God bless him and his random Spanish karaoke nights. 


DN at 720 WHAT EVEN DUDE. Can't be helped though, could've been worse!


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VOTD = 1 Peter 3:15.
"We must live, not just confessing Jesus as Lord, but REVERING Jesus as the Lord of our Life. Do we live in awe of Jesus as the Lord of our lives, in such a way that we have a kind of hope in a world of discouragement, despair, and bad news, that people would see us and say, "you've got a hope, that sticks out in this world, a hope that conquers despair, overcomes discouragement-- you are looking to something beyond this world." Do we live in such a way that they would ask us, "how do you have this hope?" And we would be ready to tell them, "we have this hope because Jesus is our Lord, because Jesus is our Life, because Jesus died on a cross for our sins, He rose from the grave, He's conquered sin and death itself!" We have a hope that transcends anything this world throws at us, and we are ready to share that hope, gently & respectfully introducing the people around us to the hope that we have in Jesus."
1) Confessing vs REVERING.
2) "THE LORD" VS "OUR LORD", basically. That's a heavy conviction.
3) The idea of LIVING IN AWE-- not just feeling it here & there, but constantly breathing it as an atmosphere.
4) IS our hope VISIBLE? CAN people SEE, in our daily life, that we "are living for something beyond this world"?
5) WOULD THEY ASK YOU ABOUT IT?? That's a whole other level of witness, mind you! It means YOU'RE ALSO VISIBLY APPROACHABLE.
6) "Ready"
7) The jarringly "clichéd" response that IS STILL ABSOLUTELY TRUE. But if YOU can't grasp its depth, how can you witness at all? And if YOU hear it with a sigh, thinking its just a canned phrase, despite having faith, then what would you RATHER hear, and by extension SAY to jaded hearts? Because JESUS IS STILL MY HOPE. But I don't want to declare that vapidly. I'm thinking too much. If you're witnessing BY YOUR LIFE to such a profound extent, then giving the SOLE REASON for your supernatural hope as "because Jesus is my Lord," then if they really are serious about their inquiry, they'll TAKE THAT REPLY SERIOUSLY, even if they've "heard it" a hundred times before-- because THIS TIME, they can SEE how it AFFECTS YOUR LIFE. They're NOT "just words" anymore. THAT'S WITNESS!!!
8) You know what? REFLECT ON THAT RESPONSE. Seriously ponder WHY every word of it IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE.
+ "I have hope because Jesus is my Lord"=
+ "I have hope because Jesus is my Life"=
+ "I have hope because Jesus died for my sins"=
+ "I have hope because Jesus rose from the dead"=
+ "I have hope because Jesus conquered sin"=
+ "I have hope because Jesus conquered death"=
(THE HOPE IS ONE, BUT MULTIFACETED!! EACH TRUTH ENRICHES IT & EXTENDS IT MORE FULLY INTO ONE'S WHOLE LIFE)
(THE HOPE WE HAVE IS JESUS!!!!!! HIS VERY EXISTENCE AND PERSON IS HOPE; HE IS THE "EMBODIMENT" OF IT, AS HE IS ITS SOURCE AND PERFECTION. Everything we could possibly hope for IS FOUND IN HIS PERSON.)
9) Our hope TRANSCENDS everything in this world, because it is NOT OF THIS WORLD. Don't forget that, it's essential.
10) We SHARE our hope, we don't "preach" it or "give a speech on it." It's not a matter of "education," so to speak; It's that Christian virtue of ENCOUNTER, of experiencing truth with others rather than simply being monologued at.
11) "Gentleness and respect" are emphasized, because if someone is asking you about hope they probably don't have any, and might have let their poor heart become very bitter, cynical, hard, stubborn, and cold, even by closing it to the very thought of hope just to survive the daily beatdown of life. Be gentle with them. It's scary and painful to open up again, and it must happen slowly, carefully, and with great tenderness.
Likewise, respect wherever they're at, no exceptions. It's not for you to judge or criticize. Meet them wherever they are, because that's where the very God you hope in meets them, too.
12) Lastly, and most importantly, THIS HOPE ISN'T ABOUT YOU, and NEITHER IS YOUR WITNESS. When you share your hope, you're not just taking about Jesus; YOU'RE INTRODUCING THEM TO JESUS. YOUR HOPE IS A PERSON, AND ALSO GOD. THIS MEANS HE MUST BE TREATED IN A RELATIONSHIP CONTEXT, AND HE IS PRESENT WITH YOU, NOW.



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"Question: Where do you often find yourself restless or discontent? Why do you think that is? How can you practice the gift of presence and contentment this season?"
1) We are ALWAYS restless around other people, shamefully so. They are too often cruelly labeled as "unexpected interruptions to the schedule," and we zoom through conversations on autopilot just to "get done and catch up on time lost." But it WASN'T LOST, you buffoon, it was ACTUALLY WELL SPENT FOR ONCE. Even better, it arguably wasn't "spent" at all, but given as a GIFT. And that's HOW you SHOULD spend more of your obsessive time!!
...
2) As for discontentment? THE INTERNET. There is SO MUCH HELLISH GARBAGE on there, and it sucks the soul hollow.
...
3) How to practice PRESENCE= Actually? HAVE PEOPLE QUIETLY FRONT MORE OFTEN. Don't let the kakofonic Socials run the show so tyrannically.
4) How to practice CONTENTMENT = SEE EVERY MOMENT AS COMING FROM GOD'S LOVING HAND, IN HIS PERFECT WILL, FOR YOUR SALVATION. That's really the bottom line. "Thy Will be done."

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Universalis=

"The love of Christ ought to reach such a spiritual pitch in his shepherds that it overcomes the natural fear of death which makes us shrink from the thought of dying even though we desire to live with Christ. However distressful death may be, the strength of love ought to master the distress. I mean the love we have for Christ who, although he is our life, consented to suffer death for our sake. Consider this: if death held little or no distress for us, the glory of martyrdom would be less... how much more ought Christ’s shepherds to fight for the truth even to death and to shed their blood in opposing sin? With his passion for their example, Christ’s shepherds are most certainly bound to cling to the pattern of his suffering, since even the lambs have so often followed that pattern of the chief shepherd in whose one flock the shepherds themselves are lambs. For the Good Shepherd who suffered for all mankind has made all mankind his lambs, since in order to suffer for them all he made himself a lamb."
1) Hearing that the love of Christ and the "natural fear of death" CAN EXIST SIMULTANEOUSLY is such a relief; we were so terrified that it could only be EITHER "one or the other." But no, this is saying that the natural fear will remain-- it did in Christ, in the Garden!!-- but it will be overcome by Love. And that is FAR more beautiful than "destroying" the fear.
2) I just... this makes me think of Laurie, of course, of what she was meant to be, of what she is at her very core, and what her mere existence always reminds me of. Love is stronger than fear. Love is stronger than distress. It doesn't erase it, but it is infinitely more powerful.
3) DEATH IS SUPPOSED TO BE DISTRESSFUL. THAT'S WHERE VIRTUE IS FORGED.
4)
5)


"We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold: the third coming is between the other two and it is not visible in the way they are... In the middle, the hidden coming, only the chosen see him, and they see him within themselves; and so their souls are saved... the middle coming is in spirit and power... This middle coming is like a road that leads from the first coming to the last. At the first, Christ was our redemption; at the last, he will become manifest as our life; but in this middle way he is our rest and our consolation.""
1) The seeing God IN OURSELVES is CONNECTED TO OUR SALVATION!!! This is because ONLY THE HOLY SPIRIT can give us such sight & recognition.
2) The redemption is why we can rest, and the coming manifestation is what comforts us, as Christ comes to us now. We rest because we are free from death, free of fear, free of sin, and the battle is won by the Lord.
...

"Prepare our hearts, Lord, by the power of Your grace. When Christ comes, may He find us worthy to receive from His hand the bread of heaven at the feast of eternal life."
This is an obvious Eucharistic parallel, but STILL-- the very idea of Christ FEEDING US BY HAND is staggering. It's such a parental, spousal, intimately caring and affectionate action. But the phrase is deepened further in meaning by the fact that Christ IS the Bread of Heaven, and for us to "receive from His hands" makes me think of the scars left by the nails.
...

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120323

Dec. 3rd, 2023 09:18 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

ADVENT OFFICIALLY BEGINS!

...

I had to put my phone on do not disturb while we eat because I know I had to put my phone on Do Not Disturb while we eat because I know that, If we are  Interrupted by a phone call, It won't shut us into social mode and we will end up being a Whiny miserable crying irritable wreck. We will end up sinning and offending the family and ruining everyone's day.
The guilt is unbearable but if we leave the phone open the Anxiety is equally unbearable. There's literally no way to win. But the smartest thing to do is to put it on Do Not Disturb. Or is it? I don't know.  All I know is that the very thought of the phone ringing is making me want to screamcry & vomit.
...Nevermind. I prayed to Jesus about it a day He said, "don't be rude." "Turn your phone back on," He said, "and trust Me." I prayed the Surrender Novena prayer, and obeyed.
The anxiety is still lingering, still wringing its hands and trembling, but Trust in God is standing by her, strong arms around her shaking shoulders, warmly reassuring her that "God's in control of the situation. He won't let any harm come to you. Trust His timing and plans. We aren't in any danger as long as we stay close to Him." Anxiety panics, "ARE we close??" Trust replies, "if we keep our phone on and leave the details up to Him, then yes. Keep talking to Him about it if you need to. You can't be far away from Him if you're in a conversation."

Update at 1452:
Jade just called and although we were irked at first, instinctively, we actively chose & strove to be as kind as possible. And the anxiety CALMED DOWN. We just met the call as a courageous task, but not a burden-- as something to rejoice in, as an opportunity for kindness & service & friendship, GIVEN BY GOD.
We're always scared of saying things "automatically" and without thinking "to be polite" or "say what is proper" BUT then we make promises we CANNOT KEEP, or assert opinions we DON'T HAVE, et cetera. It's an act, a facade, and it's as evil as it is wrong as it is programmed.
We need to pray about it, AS a "we," because THAT'S where we can receive the help for ALL of us, even the poor Socials.
...


It's beautiful weather outside, I just want to note-- our "favorite" before snow comes. Everything is foggy & shining with rain, the trees all copper-stellated fractals against the fine silver sky.


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VOTD = Psalm 130:5.
"The season of Advent reminds us that regardless of who you are, where you're from, or what you've done, you can cry out and wait on God. He is trustworthy, He is faithful, and He always makes good on His promises."
🎶As long as You love me...🎶 Seriously though, that's the actual message here.
Why do we cry out? Because at heart we're helpless. We're wounded & frightened children. We hurt and we're scared. We cry out for help, for rescue, to be found, to be delivered. It's the most basic instinct we have, the first action of any infant the moment they enter the world. And once we have cried, we wait. We must wait; we have no other option, as a response is never immediate nor even guaranteed... that is, unless we're crying to God.
God ALWAYS hears us, before we even draw breath to cry; He hears the instant the very impulse rises in our troubled minds. And IN His very hearing He responds. There is no hesitation, no debate, no wondering with God. Why? Because He IS faithful, He IS trustworthy, and He HAS PROMISED to care for us.
(Scripture verse to support this? Otherwise,)


"As you wait upon the Lord during this Advent season, know that He wants you to come close— so that He can be your strength, so that He can give you comfort, and so that He can provide everything you need."
This phrasing struck me. AS you wait, COME. The waiting IS a movement. The stillness and expectation IS a coming towards those very hopes. But the very motion reveals that our hopes are ALREADY realized-- because ALL of our hope, all we are waiting for & expecting, IS IN GOD. He, Himself, IS the fulfillment of every Promise. And He calls US to come, to wait and yet to have... to come to Him, and to come close.
That's the most amazing word: "close". God wants us as near to Him as we can get, and infinitely nearer.
...
And in that very closeness, we receive strength, comfort, and provision, because God IS those things-- He IS every hope, and far exceeded.
...


The questions are very helpful, perfect for Advent=
"As we begin this Advent season, how can you actively cultivate a sense of waiting and expectation?
1) I can meditate on the attributes of Jesus Christ.
2) I can commit to more intentional prayer times with my family.
3) I can seek to serve others as I remember the ultimate sacrifice of God sending His Son."

1= Its very different to wait for a stranger than it is to wait for a friend. It's very different to wait in hope and joy than to wait in boredom or impatience. We need to know Who Jesus IS, and what He is for us and the world, before we can truly EXPECT and AWAIT Him as we ought, as He deserves. We need to get to know Him as a Friend.
2= Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer is an active reaching-up to Him.
The word "commit" echoes marriage.
The word "intentional" demands your personal presence.
Lastly, FAMILY.
3= This is such an unexpectedly powerful application of the Advent message. Who, in need, is waiting for God's Presence right now?
God gave His Son to us through Mary. He put Him in a manger, a food-trough. Are you not part of that same Christ now, through the Church? Jesus seeks to fill the empty Manger even now. Who can you feed today, through the grace of His Presence in you? Who can you "become food" for? How can you give yourself as Christ gave Himself, humbly and totally and with tender love?
...

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KVOTD on John 3:16 is STUNNING me with unexpected insight.
"Christmas is the time when we celebrate the Gift God gave humanity-- which is the Life, Death, AND Resurrection of Jesus. Because Jesus rose again, it means we don't just get the "Gift of Jesus" on December 25th, but every day! Eternal Life, His Peace, His Patience, and His Love... we receive the gift of God's Presence every single day. Eternal life starts here and now."
Easter and Christmas are FUSED AT THE HEART and we don't typically think about that beautiful and terrible truth!! Even in Christmas, there is the Cross... but that means that even in the Cross, there is the very birth of Life Himself. It's gorgeous.
But THEN there's the RESURRECTION, which means ALL of that is ALSO RIGHT NOW??? Jesus LIVES, and He Lives FOREVER, both in time AND in eternity-- although now we do "wait for Him" to return, He IS HERE, in His Spirit, AS LIFE, THROUGH LOVE.
...

Then, they gave the verse with a "fill in the blank" like THIS=
"For this is how God _____ the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."
1) loved
2) rules
3) created."

THEY'RE ALL ACTUALLY CORRECT???
God loves us by giving us Jesus, of course, BUT Jesus is ALSO our KING-- our King OF LOVE, and the Loving King Who LITERALLY CREATED THE COSMOS. God gave Him to us in love, and when we believe in Him AS our King, as our Lord, even truly as our Creator, then we are re-created in Him, through His Divine Authority and Love, and thus we have eternal life-- HIS Life. It's amazing.

The questions are deeply moving too.
"FILL IN THE BLANK: "Love is _____." =
1) Putting other's needs before your own... like Jesus did!
2) Being patient... like Jesus is!
3) Never giving up on someone... like Jesus never gives up on me!"

And I just had to sit with this in light of the video and realize that 1 Corinthians 13 really is just describing Jesus.
"Love is basically laying your life down for someone, which means JESUS IS LOVE." 
And yet, how often we forget what that definition truly is!!
1= Jesus HAD NEEDS. This is mind-boggling. As GOD, He didn't need anything and cannot need anything. But AS A MAN, Jesus had the SAME INNOCENT HUMAN NEEDS as the rest of us. He needed food, water, clothing, shelter, rest, companionship... and Jesus readily and willingly forsook those needs for Himself whenever it meant He could therefore fulfill those same needs for someone else.
Do we do the same? Are we even willing to try?
2= Jesus is patient. Read that again. Jesus IS patient. It's a CHARACTER TRAIT for Him. God isn't fickle, remember!
Think of how He constantly exhibits this. Yes, He trusts God's plans & timing; He looks at all events through the lens of eternity-- but this exact perspective affects how He treats people. He never "reacts" in haste, He responds deliberately & with respect. He exemplifies "longsuffering"; He never complains about others, never forces others, never rushes people. When people let Him down, He gives them another chance, with no griping. He meets sinners right where they're at. Are we patient with others, patient like Him?
3= Jesus NEVER gives up on people. No exceptions. This ties into both His patience, and His Self-sacrifice. Jesus DIED to save EVERY SINGLE SINNER, if they would but accept Him. And He gives them that chance to accept Him EVERY MOMENT, literally until their heart stops and they stand before Him in person. But up until that final instant, Jesus offers unlimited forgiveness and love. Every day He goes out searching for the lost sheep. Every day He is up on the hill watching for the prodigal son. Every day He is preaching repentance and mercy both. Every day He is on the Cross.
THAT is our model for love, and perseverance within it. If Christ NEVER gives up on ANYONE, to that astonishing an extent... how could we, who are called by His very Name, ever dare to harden our hearts and do anything less?


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Oh man I almost forgot we have ACTUAL ADVENT DEVOTIONALS for today =

LBB=
"Spend today’s time with the Lord writing your ideas on how you can spend [Advent] well. Your plans can include items that are spiritual, (deciding where and when you will pray each day), practical (your gift list), personal (sending a Christmas card to someone with whom you've not been on good terms), or charitable (doing something for the poor).
[Before you write anything, spend a few quiet moments with the Lord and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.]"

Honestly I should print out that last instruction and tape it to my phone. We NEED to get into the habit of quietly pausing & praying, even for a moment, BEFORE we do ANYTHING, and specifically asking for the Holy Spirit to guide us IN that action. Otherwise we're effectively going at it alone, failing to give Him a decent thought, and we WILL justly crash & burn.
So, having asked for His inspiration, insight, and guidance on this-- and ALSO praying to be given the grace to be OPEN TO HEAR & RECEIVE that from Him-- let's do day one.
Our initial ideas on how to spend this Advent well include =
1) SPIRITUAL = Start reading BACE again at last, especially since we STOPPED at the Nativity originally. Take time to READ more of the actual Gospel. Do this during free time periods: hour after BK, hour before bed. When you are too tired to think and instead need to rest, listen to Christmas hymns & edifying carols, and reflect sincerely on their message. Do NOT overwork yourself with devotionals, especially typing; the key is to REFLECT more, to PREPARE YOUR HEART for Jesus's birth by MAKING ROOM, not to make more of a mess with overexertion clutter & rushing.
2) PRACTICAL = put new lights on the tree. Follow through on your yearly wish to RECORD A CHRISTMAS CAROL, even if it's just vocals over an FLKeys track. But do something, and do it worshipfully.
3) PERSONAL = give Christmas cards to ALL family members, and to at least every neighbor that gives me a card (I do not yet know anyone else; if I do, include them).
4) CHARITABLE = Fulfill one tag on the SJE Giving Tree. Actually go over mom's house to help her bake cookies, and ALSO go up the homestead to help her clean. Donate at least one book & chaplet to the Church. Don't avoid Paul if you see him about.


"The joy of the Gospel fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus... all Christians, everywhere, at this very moment, [are invited] to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ, or at least [to] an openness to letting Him encounter them; [we must all] do this unfailingly each day."
This is it. This is actually it. This is what we're lacking in prayer. This is what we want-- need-- to do for Advent.
We need an actual personal encounter with Jesus.
Our soul is starving. We could weep from how badly we KNOW we need this.
...


The other devotional book (EGJ) has THIS devastatingly gorgeous reflection as an intro, that literally had us reeling =
"Can you even get your head around this? Is there room in your heart for it? The entire distance separating heaven from earth, God from humanity, the Creator from the creation is about to be erased. All barriers standing between you and the full embrace of God’s infinite love are on the verge of disappearing forever... All that’s required is a heart opened wide enough to let all the love in God’s universe flow in, dwell for a beat, and then flow out again, over and over, again and again. It is the most amazing gift imaginable, and it has the potential to rock our world, so we’d best get ourselves prepared. Ready?"
DUDE THERE IS NO WAY I COULD EVER BE READY FOR THAT, it's too divine, too pure, too beautiful, too intimate but THAT'S WHERE THE HOLY SPIRIT COMES IN, and thank God for that!!
...man but that is Infi talk. One hundred percent.
...

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WE'RE READIN' SON!!
We actually have these 2 books from the 1940s full of Christmas stories that I've never heard of, and I really want to read them because it reminds us of our childhood, when our mother would read us stories in bed about "the long white winter" when it was snowing outside. I can still see the cardinals and pine trees in our mind's eye. There was such a perfect cozy silent quiet precious beauty to all of it that I treasure with my whole heart. Christmastime and Easter are when our family actually did feel like family, and our home actually did feel like a home. Considering the fact that we've lost virtually everything in that respect over the past 5 years, we really need a tangible reminder, however small and private, in this year when we're struggling to even remember who we are, not just what this season truly means.

Book one is "The Fireside Book of Christmas Stories" by Edward Wagenknecht & Wallace Morgan. Its super fat and super old-- 1945 and 659 pages. It's a red fabric hardcover and there's nothing on it but an embossed image of three Church bells and it smells like a library. I don't even know where this thing came from but I love it.

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I always catch up on the Church bulletins on Sunday, and this is what we got from those=

"There are many things to take care of and to get accomplished in our preparations [for Advent]! But keep in mind the necessity to prepare spiritually first and foremost! ALL we do stems from the sense of "gift" and joy, and sharing and believing! In order to do that, we might need to do one of the most difficult things of the season... Slow down, breathe, experience! ...Enjoy the moment, live in the present! ...The scriptures call us to stay awake and alert. That mindset may help us to be aware of Christ's Presence here and now, not just waiting for His Birth, but realizing His immense Presence in our lives every moment of every day. Let's try to really make this a new beginning. Let's not miss a minute but prepare our hearts for Christmas in a way we may not have thought of or had time to do before. Allow God to enter in, and take comfort in His ever-present love and grace. [That] will show us the way through these days of Advent and help us to make Our way to the feast of joy we all prepare for and await!"
1) Like the LBB said today, EVERYTHING we do MUST be done WITH the Holy Spirit. Everything we undertake must be consciously brought into the spiritual dimension, by bringing it to God in prayer BEFORE DOING ANYTHING ELSE. We never learned this before, and from rightly humiliating pride we never "thought of it on our own." We must humble ourselves in deep gratitude now and thank God for this new & most essential instruction. There is ONLY ONE WAY to prepare for ANYTHING-- and that way is PRAYER. Real prayer, not mindless babble like we do. In any case, the true reality of physical things IS spiritual; for anything we do with & within it to be true, likewise, we must actively involve that deeper dimension.
2) A beautiful way to do so: act from a sense of GIFT. Again, the EGJ devotional referenced this very thing! "
...
3) IT'S NOT A SIN TO ENJOY THE MOMENT. IN FACT, IT'S SPIRITUALLY NECESSARY!!
...
4) This is really shaping up to be our personal Spirit-ordained theme for Advent: Christ IS Present with me, right here, right now, for real, and i NEED to start LIVING LIKE IT.
...
5) ...this can be a new beginning. Of course it can be, with Christ "arriving anew." He is "never changing, always new"; He "makes all things new"... it's because "death has no power over Him." Every encounter with Christ is a new encounter with Life. It's inevitable. He never changes, He is always the same, yet He is inexhaustible in depth & richness, always new yet eternally unchanging... it's beautiful. But that's just the context for our point. Jesus gives you a new beginning in every moment with Him. YOU can change, after all, to become more like Him-- each time one step higher up an infinitely ascending height of goodness & truth.
...
6) Never forget the MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT ADVENT = you are preparing your heart for Jesus Christ to enter in and be "BORN" there. He's not just "arriving," like holiday visitors from out of town. He's not showing up like Santa Claus. Jesus isn't something outside that stays for the season then returns to whence it came. No, Jesus is a child being born, making your very heart His cradle and home, calling you to imitate His very Mother. Jesus wants you to prepare for His Birth while He already resides within you. He wants to enter your life in a brand-new way, a life-changing way, a way that involves all of you forever, a way that makes you specially His and makes Him specially yours.
I may be rambling. But Christmas isn't just a memory-- like the Eucharist, it is a memorial, a making-present of the Greatest Present possible-- the Presence of God.
Advent is about preparing our hearts to receive that very Presence more deeply & truly than ever before...
7) ...and step one is ALLOWING it to happen. THIS IS ALL GRACE. You cannot will it to happen on your own. You cannot force it, schedule it in, orchestrate it, et cetera. It is not in your hands. This is all God's glorious work, and we are to echo Mary, "May it be done to me according to Your will." And if God leads us to a cold and distant cave, outside of town, in the middle of the night, then so be it.
This "allowing," this joyfully humble trusting surrender to the flow and direction of grace, is what will lead us not only through the surprises of Advent to the unexpected yet blissful Manger, but also through the ongoing Advent of the Church as she waits for the Second Coming of Christ in the equally unpredictable future. May our every heartbeat be a preparation for Him, in this season and ever onwards.


From a different church, on this same vital topic =
"In both the first reading and the Gospel, we hear of how Shepherds tend their flock, caring for the sick and the lost, eventually judging and separating them. In the first reading from Ezekiel, God is that shepherd, rescuing the sheep from harm, seeking them out when they are lost or strayed, healing them when they are sick or hurt. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was that shepherd, the Good Shepherd-- calling his sheep, feeding his sheep, tending his sheep. In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus tells his disciples that they, the sheep, are now to tend one another, and that He can be found in the least of their sisters and brothers. We, His disciples, are now the ones who must feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and care for the ill, visit the imprisoned. As we celebrate Christ the King, may we recommit ourselves to our calling so that one day we can face our King, our Good Shepherd, knowing that we have served Him in our brothers and sisters in need. What corporal works of mercy will we do this week? How can we better see the Lord in our neighbor in need?"
1) What hit me the hardest = don't get stuck on the corporal mercies alone. Look at the big picture, just in this reflection, and let THAT sink in-- we, in imitation of our Shepherd, must rescue each other from harm. We must seek others out when they are lost or straying. We must heal others when they are sick or hurt. We must call others to community, we must feed others who hunger, we must tend to the most basic needs of others with attentive care. This is the "spirit of the law" even within that list of works. Now do you grasp more clearly just how deep and sincere and outgoing our love must be? We must SHEPHERD each other, and we CAN because we, the Church, the very sheepfold, ARE the Body of Christ the Shepherd! This is WHY He is in not only us to SERVE as Shepherd, but He is also in the beloved "least ones" to BE SERVED as King... while never usurping or replacing any precious human life. Yes, Christ is in all, but it is a relationship; it is a unity, a sharing, a love. If you neglect the one Christ loves so much, even that very least one, then you neglect Him. If the King cherishes the most wretched beggar so dearly as to leave the 99 and seek him out and carry him home and live in his heart, then who are you to overlook that treasured soul, in whose dirty face the very reflection of Christ is visible? Did not Christ live as humbly and poorly as they? Did God not identify Himself with those that the world rejects?
There is a profound unity of love here. It MUST be acted upon.
2) Don't get overwhelmed by the immensity of the task. It is not yours alone to do. Ignore your ambitious pride. You are but a sheep, a single cell of a Body. You are insignificant, yet irreplaceable, and you are necessary, and there is a work that only you can do. Pray about it. Be like Jesus. Serve those around you right now. Seek the most needy right where you are and serve them, even if you can only help one person. You are still bringing God's love to that soul, and that is priceless.
Be realistic yet diligent. Set a timeframe! What CAN you do this week, with no transportation, no food you can share, no money in your wallet? What do you have? Always yourself. Always time, always an ear, always your presence. Do not tremble & complain at this. Pray for grace, and do what you can. Set a concrete goal. Start small. But give



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Dec. 2nd, 2023 06:05 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Saturday. Very lost & confused over unpredictable schedule, & very anxious over having to run to Mass in the dark AND among crowds today. Nevertheless it must be done. It's a great sacrifice.

Dream about dad. House in dupont, as it is in dreams, all flowers in the evening. Beautiful dream, very rare.

Suddenly inspired to FIX THE KITCHEN LIGHTS around 830.
Horrible guilt about not saying Lauds but I promised we WOULD say it later; however this task was something that needed to be done and we had no other ready opportunity TO do it. So instead of shirking responsibility in order to pray, we took the HUGE MORAL RISK of fixing the lights and just praying more afterwards.


JAY CAN PRAY EFFORTLESSLY??????
AND YES APPARENTLY HE STILL EXISTS!!!
We realized the "scrupulous and anxious" thriskefoni are ALL SOMAFONI. Their anchors are OUTSIDE.
When we are anchored INSIDE, we have NO TROUBLE PRAYING AT ALL and also NO TERROR TOWARDS GOD????

ALSO. TO BE A CORE AT ALL, YOU MUST BE IN THE BLOODLINE.
THE BLOOD IS THE ENTIRE POINT.
This is why Kyanos & Javier could never hold the role, despite the System engineering them FOR the position in a pinch. But without the blood, it cannot work.

THE WHITE-HAIRED JEWEL IS REAL. SHE FEELS LIKE SHE TRULY IS MEANT TO BE OUR CURRENT CORE, THE TRUE CONTINUATION OF THE BLOODLINE.
But the somafoni have usurped everything. They won't LET a Core in at ALL.
...

Getting notable flashes of Jesus & Mary as the TRUE "WHITE" HOLDERS in the Spectrum??? Rightfully so, as THEY are the Sources of ALL our Light, as it is all grace from God.
But yeah, the different colors within them would MANIFEST DIFFERENTLY like different apparitions, so to speak= this is EXACTLY what our old "Spectrum Christ" digital painting series idea WAS!!!! (And yes we STILL want to do it)


Evening=
Ran to church. Don't remember it. Dissociated hard from fear.
Run home was unexpectedly erased too because we got SOCIALFORCED from the apparent PARADE HAPPENING. WHAT THE SHARK.
It was scary to have noise & music & crowds & DARK. We got home, got on the bike, put on some liquid funk and BOOKED IT

Church was lovely though.
Lantern "wreath" for Advent. Laurie briefly fronted to pray, moved to pain by it.
Homily about Christ coming to us "in the night." Christmas happens at night. Surprised me, moved me. I saw Infi for a few seconds, perfectly clear, so full of stars xhe looked snowdusted. My heart nearly turned to fire

Night exhaustion. Still won't let ourself rest.
Music feels alien & unsafe lately. Trying too hard to discover, not enjoying anything. Should be revisiting System tunes from the past & remembering what matters.

Constantly want to cry from sheer exhaustion & "pain" all over. Never rested. Never at peace. At least, not unless we go inside.
Remember that. There's love here. We're starving for it.

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THIS ENTIRE SERMON BY SAINT AUGUSTINE=

"Let us sing alleluia here on earth, while we are still anxious and worrying, so that we may one day be able to sing it there in heaven, without any worry or care. Why anxious and worrying here? You must want me to be anxious, Lord, when I read, "Is not man’s life on earth a trial and a temptation?" You must want me to worry when temptation is so plentiful that the Prayer itself tells us to worry, when we say, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us." Every day we are petitioners, every day we are trespassers. Do you want me to throw care to the winds, Lord, when every day I am requesting pardon for sins and assistance against dangers? After all, when I have said, because of past sins, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us," I must immediately go on to add, because of future dangers, "Lead us not into temptation." And how can a people be in a good way, when they cry out with me, "Deliver us from evil?" And yet, my brethren, in this time that is still evil, let us sing alleluia to the good God, Who DOES deliver us from evil."
0) ...God knows we're fond of a certain orange critter arriving next June. He sees (and definitely orchestrated) our sudden genuine heart-softening to this topic and He is taking FULL and blessed advantage of it. So we receive these "coincidences" from His Hands with grateful wonder. He is speaking here, purposefully.
1) We MUST "sing alleluia" DURING earthly trials IN ORDER TO sing it in heavenly peace!! That FULLNESS of capacity is ESSENTIAL. Our joy & praise CANNOT be full, CANNOT be perfect, WITHOUT the strange grace of SUFFERING FIRST. It really is the universal principle of the Cross.
2) This insight into "HOLY WORRY" that STILL TRUSTS is ASTOUNDING.
3) What a game-changing insight into the Lord's Prayer in that regard!
4) EVEN SO, THERE IS NO ROOM FOR DOUBT.
...

"Even here, among the dangers, among the trials and temptations of this life, both by others and by ourselves let alleluia be sung. God is faithful, He says, and He will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure. So even here let us sing alleluia. Man is still a defendant on trial, but God is faithful. He did not say “He will not permit you to be tempted” but "He will not permit you to be tempted beyond what you are able to endure;" and with the temptation "He will also make a way out, so that you may be able to endure it." You have entered into temptation; but God will also make a way out so that you do not perish in the temptation; so that like a potter’s jar you may be shaped by the preaching and fired into strength by the tribulation. But when you enter the temptation, bear in mind the way out: because God is faithful, God will watch over you and guard your going in and your coming out."
1) We do NOT sing "in spite of danger," but AMONG the dangers. We do not deny, or scoff at, or trivialize, or ignore the danger.
2) THIS IS A PROMISE, you realize. God "WILL NOT." That means NO EXCEPTIONS.
3) ...God is like a raincoat. Go figure. That's EXACTLY THIS.
4) The shocking assertion that "man is STILL ON TRIAL, BUT..." God is faithful to us, to give us a way out so we won't perish, EVEN DURING OUR TRIAL. The IMMENSITY of LOVE in that is STAGGERING.
5) Every temptation is meant FOR GOOD. It is NEVER God's intent for us to perish, or be lost!!
6) The keyword = God MAKES a way out. He literally CREATES ONE where there may not have been ANY escapep by human means or judgment. This is WHY we FAIL on our own, when we try to fight our temptations alone. WE CAN'T WIN, OR ESCAPE, WITHOUT GOD, because ONLY HE CAN ENABLE EITHER.
7) THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY OUT, and IT IS GOD. He is "our guard and our shade,"
...


"Furthermore, when this body has become immortal and imperishable, when all temptation has been done away with; because the body is dead– why is it dead? –Because of sin. But the spirit is life, because of justice. So do we leave the body dead, then? NO, but listen: But if the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells within you, then HE who raised Christ from the dead WILL give life to your mortal bodies. So you see: now the body receives its life from the soul, but then it will receive it from the Spirit."
I need to break this down. This changes so much.
1) The body becomes immortal BECAUSE temptation has been eliminated.
2) Temptation is eliminated BECAUSE THE BODY IS DEAD.
3) The body is dead BECAUSE OF SIN.
4) The contrast with justice???  That's the reason WHY the Spirit is Life??? PONDER THIS.
5) THE BODY IS NOT MEANT TO STAY DEAD.
...
6) THE HOLY SPIRIT WITHIN US
7) SOURCES OF LIFE?????

"O! what a happy alleluia there, how carefree, how safe from all opposition, where nobody will be an enemy, where no-one will ever cease to be a friend! God’s praises sung there, sung here – here, by the anxious; there, by the carefree – here, by those who will die; there, by those who will live for ever – here, in hope; there, in reality – here, on our journey; there, in our homeland.
So now, my brethren, let us sing, not to delight our leisure, but to ease our toil. In the way that travellers are in the habit of singing, sing, but keep on walking. What does it mean, “keep on walking”? Go onward always – but go onward in goodness, for there are, according to the Apostle, some people who go ever onward from bad to worse. If you are going onward, you are walking; but always go onward in goodness, onward in the right faith, onward in good habits and behaviour. Sing, and walk onwards."


...that last line actually moved me to tears.


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Guided prayer is a SNIPER SHOT TO SCRUPULOSITY =

"God, thank You for being Someone I can trust at all times! You are always worthy of my praise and worship. Before continuing, I just want to spend a few moments telling You how much I adore You. When I think of all that You've done, how could I not love You? Thank You for being faithful at all times. Today, I want to worship You."
1) God CAN be trusted AT ALL TIMES. "But trusted to do WHAT," you ask fearfully? I say, stop being so contrary and rebellious. You are unwilling TO trust, so you mangle the term. Think like a child. Do you "trust someone" to hurt you? That's abuse of the word. When you say, "I trust you"-- and Charis can back me up on this one all the way to heaven-- I am saying, "I trust you to be trustworthy. I trust you to be good, and faithful, and true." It's a psychospiritual "trust fall"! I can RELY on you being there to catch me, because you care. You wouldn't be there if you didn't. You get it? GOD CAN BE TRUSTED. You can "surrender yourself to Him" like a child in its Father's arms, even if you stubbornly insist "you can't understand that." Conceptually you can. In the League you can. You have no excuse.
2) EVERYTHING God does is worthy of praise, even His chastisements and punishments, even His redirections & refusals, even His silences & delays. God is worthy of praise when He hands you a heavier cross. God is worthy of worship when you're doubtful, when you're panicked, when you're spiritually dry, when you're empty inside. God is worthy of worship when He gives you no sensible consolation or comfort, when He withholds your physical & mental rest, when He takes away your health & possessions & job & family, when He throws you into danger and when He delivers you to death. God is worthy of praise when He leaves you in the prison of addiction for years. God is worthy of worship when He allows you to be abused repeatedly. I could go on. But this is the reality that guts us, that confuses mankind throughout the ages. "How can I trust God, if He allows such horrors?" That's the thing. You HAVE to trust Him, even in the horrors, because He IS trustworthy DESPITE the horrors. It's what Job clung to, it's what Christ personified. God IS, by permanent definition, in His unchanging character, trustworthy. He IS Goodness and Love, Mercy and Justice, Truth and Wisdom. All these terrible things that happen to us because of sin, through sin, have nothing to do with God. But He allows them. Why? Look at the Cross. There is the silent answer to all man's pain. There is the perfect response to all mortal struggle, the divine reply to every cry of human pain. There are mysteries we may never know in this world, but we CAN trust Him... and that trust will transmute it all.
3) There's a flipside. You must remember this. Yes, God has permitted man's sin, the devil's schemes, the effects of death. But what has God done? What are the Works OF God, those things ONLY He can do?
...
4) Love is the natural response to Love Himself. When we recognize God AS Love, we "can't help but love Him"-- not out of fear or compulsion, not even out of resignation or obligation, but out of sheer overwhelming relief & joy & gratitude. When we realize God IS LOVE, no matter what unlove and antilove is in our world and in our lives, then our souls can breathe and laugh and sing, invincible in the infinite Heart of the Trinity.
This transcendent Truth of Love is what every martyr witnessed to.
5) Faithfulness motivates worship.
...
6) Lastly... how does one truly adore God?
That word is tainted for us, corrupted by sexual terror. It blinds us. We need to clarify and rewrite the definition.
...


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Some more scrupulosity articles before Mass, because we're making vital progress and we mustn't slack off or chicken out.


"If you always feel anxious, disturbed, and compulsive about your prayer life, there’s something wrong. It’s not a virtue to be anxious about prayer. If you pray consistently and from your heart but you always feel like it’s not enough or it’s not the right quality, really there’s something wrong."
Putting it plainly like this does help us admit that, okay, maybe there IS a problem.
But then our brain says, "the problem is you're EVIL. You have a devil in you, you're rotten to the core, that's WHY prayer makes you anxious, just like Holy water burns demons! The prayer aggravates your evil soul so you want an excuse to stop with this OCD fake diagnosis! You're just looking for an easy way out of prayer, so you don't have to be exorcised!!"
I beg your pardon, brain, but I WANT to pray. I just recognize that this literally "disturbingly compulsive" thing I'm doing ISN'T "real" prayer somehow, and I want to find out.
It ISN'T normal to be so panicked over prayer, or to cry from helpless frustration whenever I have to pray more. Is that really proof that I'm evil? Is it OCD? I'm afraid to ask. It feels blasphemous.
And yeah, whenever we DO pray, and try really hard TO do so, it's NEVER "done right"-- in fact, assuming we COULD "do it right" is SINFUL PRIDE!!! So EVERY PRAYER MUST BE REPEATED NOW, as an "act of humility," an "admission that we cannot praise God as He deserves." But it's NEVER GOOD ENOUGH. We will compulsively repeat prayers 3 times, 7 times, 12 times. Prayers have to be said in specific orders, in specific postures, at specific times. Otherwise Mary will yell at you, or God will punish you in offended rage. Et cetera.
This isn't prayer. It can't be.

"For people with faulty doctrinal views about salvation, excessive prayer and other devotional rituals can be viewed as a “work” that "earns points towards salvation". There is no joy or depth to such prayer, only a feeling of self-preservation and self-responsibility. These people need to take care not to allow prayer to become a form of legalism."
"Earning points" with prayer becomes a LEGIT CONCERN when you're dealing with INDULGENCES and "PROMISES", like the ones attached to the Seven Swords Rosary and many Raccolta prayers. You're told flat-out that you MUST say them EVERY DAY-- and often warned that if you DON'T, it's a sign of unbelief & spiritual sloth. WHICH IS TRUE.
...
But that bolded line is like a knife to the gut.
THERE'S NO JOY. THERE'S NO DEPTH.
...


"For a scrupulous person who is praying for six hours per day and can’t stop, or for the person who takes 30 minutes to pray before eating or has to repeat prayers multiple times because of making a minor mistake, you need to know that God does not require that of you. You do not need to repeat your prayers when you make a mistake. After you have opened your heart to God and have earnestly asked for your requests, it’s ok to stop. Jesus actually told us not to pray repetitively "like the heathen," who think they will be heard for their “many words” (Matthew 6:7). God is not interested in repetitive speech and “many words.” He is interested in hearing our heart."
1) There are countless stories of saints who WOULD spend HOURS at a time in prayer and Adoration DAILY, doing vigils & severe mortifications & keeping fasts as well. It's a VERY HIGH BAR that is set. EVEN NOW there are religious orders who pray six hours every day!!
2) We've actually timed our meal prep stages. At least 30m is indeed spent on notably compulsive prayer, interspersed with distressing cleanliness rituals that we repeat uncontrollably.
3) THE "CORRECTIVE REPETITION" IS THE WORST. We sound like a skipping CD sometimes, helplessly restarting the same sentence over and over because we "can't get it right", sometimes for SEVERAL MINUTES. And if we try to move on anyway, we FEEL the panicked moral terror of sin, of CHOOSING to be CARELESS with prayer. We FEEL God staring hard at us in dire warning, silently ordering us to rethink our poor decision, or else. The fear is choking.
4) INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS ARE WORSE. They cause a LOT of the repetitive correction.
5) How can you say God doesn't require it? Everything else requires repetition when a mistake is made! Music, cleaning, exercise, speeches, et cetera. Prayer is NOT exempt, especially because it is MORE IMPORTANT THAN ALL.
6) Protestant prayer is apparently VERY DIFFERENT from Catholic prayer. I'M NOT MAKING REQUESTS.
7) ...but have I opened my heart to God in my prayer? Has He heard my heart speaking, or just my anxious mind?
...I think that depends on who's fronting.
...


113023

Nov. 30th, 2023 10:54 pm
prismaticbleed: (shatter)
 

So exhausted and confused sick. Body crashing i think

Mom call about Jade
Drop-off around 1130
Forgot OJ. Guilt crushing

BK at 230.

So burnt out dead, can barely think. Want to cry from sheer fatigue

Evening =
We are legit addicted to high-resistance biking. It must be another trauma-coping response. It's emulating the terrified hyperarousal and "run for your life" reaction.
But I've noticed something else, something very interesting and alarming.
Since we started doing this high-resistance biking, we've become distressingly emotional. We're having angry-helpless crying paroxysms, having mini tantrums from sheer frustrated despair. It's like we're a teakettle screaming all the time, unable to release anything but pressurized steam.
WHY IS THE BIKING DOING THIS????
Not only that, but IT DOESN'T EXHAUST US ANYMORE. We get hungry for MORE effort, and we don't want to physically eat at ALL, although our body does. We're constantly angry and weeping, wanting to destroy everything violently and then sob so hard it tends the very rocks. What on earth is going on.


Mom called the INSTANT we sat down to eat. AGAIN. Honestly it is uncanny how her phone calls LINE UP with our mealtimes, and that's not a good thing because then we get DELAYED by like 20 entire minutes and that's a HUGE chunk of time. Then we can't sleep, can't bike, etc. Why is our schedule so watertight that the slightest "interruption" throws us into an absolute panicked fit? Our poor mother has to deal with that from us CONSTANTLY because she always wants to do stuff and take us along, and we just want to stay home and have everything be controlled & predictable & tidy & efficient & ordered properly. No room for variables. No unexpected events tolerated. No spare time allowed, everything must have an assignment. I repeat: WHY ARE WE SUDDENLY LIKE THIS?
But... we don't want to snub mom. We need to spend time with her and we want to, both as her child and as a Christian. But our bloody schedule keeps getting in the way.
We have to go to mass. We have to say 2 hours of morning prayers. We have to exercise. We have to prep our meals all at once. We have to eat all at once, alone and quiet and uninterrupted. Et cetera. Remove a "have to" from our routine and we quickly nosedive into a nervous wreck, desperate to flee and quickly "catch up" to time lost.
We cannot cooperate or compromise like this. We have no real flexibility. We can't be spontaneous. We cannot even leave the house except for church functions.
I don't know what to do about this yet. We can't solve this problem from a mindset entrenched in it. Still... God keeps having our mother invite us to things. We'll have to say yes, and just... surrender the details to God.
We need to involve God more. How ironic. We never think of asking Him for help or direction or advice with our schedule stress. It's because we're afraid He'll say, "well you SHOULD be spending another two hours in prayer, you know," or "you don't need to exercise, you could be reading the Bible," etc. We're terrified that He WILL "make it worse," because God NEVER gives "relief from suffering"; He WANTS us to suffer & struggle so we have something to "offer up". To seek ease & relief from tribulation is to reject the Cross. So if we DO dare to ask, then He will justly respond with a chastisement. If we whine about the weight, He will make it heavier, to humble us. That's how it works.
...It's so sad though. Sometimes I really wish I could talk to God about this, without being humiliated & ashamed & guilty for feeling frightened & overwhelmed & confused in the first place. I'm so afraid of being sternly scolded & then "marked" as the "problem child," the one who will take a mile if you give her an inch, so give her extra discipline to keep her in line. It's for her own good. She's too weak; she mustn't be coddled or given reprieve.
And you know what? I DON'T WANT TO BE, DARN IT. I'M SO BLOODY TIRED OF FEELING TYPECAST AS LITTLE MISS MILKSOP. THAT IS NEVER WHO I WAS AND YOU KNOW IT. I was always the tomboy, the firecracker, the jester, the spitfire-- I never wanted a princess life, I rejected everything dainty, why the hell are you writing me as a pretty pansy now??? Why is THIS what happened when they killed all the "man" in me, because "good Christian girls" must be TOTALLY dependent on and subservient to men???
THIS IS THE EXACT SAME DAMN THING THAT CAUSED ALL THE ORIGINAL SEXUAL TRAUMA BACK IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL YOU HEATHEN!!!!

ALSO DON'T FORGET "YOU'RE" MULTIPLE AND HAVE BEEN SINCE CHILDHOOD YOU IDIOT


Night =
Noticing snowflakes, "glitter in the dark". Made me think of Mimic. Accidentally pinged him so strongly he actually looked in, half asleep, asked what is reminding me of him now? I pointed to the snowflakes, he gives me the look and says "why."
I said its because you wouldn't think they would catch the light at all in the dark, it was surprising to notice, and only visible way up close. But it was beautiful to see.
Mimic said nothing for a moment, then generally stated "well, you said it, so I won't argue" and walked back out with the subtlest smile
I then added, basically, "Laurie, i would say that you're like that too, but that's not actually true. You're not so dark anymore. Now you're like the daylight."
Her expression in response was just... gold. Thank God we still feel this.


BTW don't forget Spotify wrapped today, and the unexpected sword-to-the-heart chronological snapshot it gave us

We get 20 MINUTES TO SIT DOWN THANK YOU GOD because tomorrow is First Friday and family is also busy so we're gonna be crushed with exhaustion. Lord get us through it. You always do.


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Universalis today.

"After Andrew had stayed with Jesus and had learned much from Him, he did not keep this treasure to himself, but hastened to share it with his brother. Notice what Andrew said to [Peter]: "We have found the Messiah, that is to say, the Christ". Notice how his words reveal what he has learned in so short a time. They show the power of the Master Who has convinced them of this Truth. They reveal the zeal and concern of men preoccupied with this question from the very beginning. Andrew’s words reveal a soul waiting with the utmost longing for the coming of the Messiah, looking forward to His appearing from heaven, rejoicing when He does appear, and hastening to announce so great an event to others. To support one another in the things of the spirit is the true sign of good will between brothers, of loving kinship and sincere affection."

1) The life of a Christian is one of fellowship & sharing from the very beginning. Nothing about our faith is meant to be "kept to ourselves-- and especially not Jesus Himself!
2) We must hasten to share what we learn from Christ. This should be an instinct for us, a drive, yet freely & willingly done, with all eagerness. We must love God so much, and our neighbor so much for His sake, that the very thought of depriving our fellow man of the joy we have received is intolerable. We must evangelize because we love. It is like a fire in us, seeking to give light and warmth to all it can. My point is: if we receive this treasure of faith and don't feel any impetus to share it, but cling to it privately, then our 'faith' is a selfish & impure & cowardly thing. It is a lamp under a bushel.
3) "FOUND." He had been looking for the Messiah, with the ardent hope and goal OF finding Him. He hadn't been looking "just to look," out of curiosity, like so many modern "seekers" do. 
4) Andrew was convinced of the Truth by Christ Himself, long before He had any public influence or status or testimony. All he had were John's direction, and the Lamb of God. That was all he needed-- no philosophical arguments, no stories of repute, no political acclaim-- just Jesus alone, Himself the only Witness required to His Own Truth. And how? By BEING. That's the Power Christ alone has. All His Words and actions, however good & true in themselves, are but expressions and emanations of Who He IS, beyond all language or human deduction. Andrew was convinced because his heart had been sincerely seeking God, and suddenly God was there in flesh before him. His very soul recognized Him, inevitably so. He knew he had found Him. He was convinced by grace, because he was open to receive it when it came. And how?
5) Zeal, concern, & preoccupation!
I think it's safe to say that, on a very real level, Andrew's daily life was constantly focused on seeking God. It would have to be, for him to "find" Christ at all-- you don't ever stop searching for your heart's treasure, even for a moment, if it is truly your treasure; you will always be preoccupied with it, however quietly. So was Andrew, searching for Christ.
...
6) Waiting with utmost longing, Looking forward, rejoicing, and announcing
7) Spiritual support is TRUE goodwill & brotherhood!!
...


"Immediately Andrew heard the Lord preaching, he left the nets by which he earned his living* and followed the giver of eternal life. ℣. Andrew endured his suffering for love of Christ and his law,* and followed the giver of eternal life."
1) the nets. Nets are meant to catch things, things get tangled up in them. The world is a net. But Andrew "earned his living" by them. So do most of us. Our jobs, our careers, our life pursuits become "nets" that just tangle us up, and keep us trapped in the world, even if they "put food on the table" they are eating us alive at the same time. That's what's so important about Andrew's reaction-- he left the nets. He abandoned his "daily bread" to obtain the True Bread. He left the world to follow its Creator. He untangled himself in the very act of choosing Jesus instead. He gave up his earthly way of life and found the Way of eternal Life.
2) giver vs earning. Andrew labored with his nets day and night, "earning" his living by the sweat of his brow, the very curse of Adam. But Jesus gives life. He removes the curse. Andrew no longer has to "earn the means & right to live," as it were, in a cutthroat world. He no longer has to worry about how he's going to survive. Christ now gives life entire, imperishable, free of charge, bought with His Own Blood, and the Life He gives is His very Self-- it is not money, it is not privilege, it is not anything earthly. Life is a Person, a relationship, that lasts forever, and Andrew does not have to do anything but follow Him in trust.
3) Andrew's endurance was his following. the keyword is "love." This is how we follow God, only love, and love is proved the most clearly and powerfully in suffering.


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Books

MDE is beautiful =
"To be able to become bread! To be able to nourish the whole world with His Flesh and Blood! I am terribly selfish and fearful when faced with suffering, but if I could become bread to save all humanity, I would do it. If I could become bread to feed all the poor, I should throw myself into the fire at once.
No, the Eucharist is not something strange: It is the most logical thing in the world, it is the story of the greatest love ever lived in this world, by a man called Jesus.
When I gaze on this bread, when I take up this bread into my hands, I gaze on and take up the passion and death of Christ for humanity. This bread is the memorial of His death for us. This bread is the trumpet call of the Resurrection, through which we, too, shall one day be able to rise.
This bread is the living summary of all God’s love for man. From Genesis to the prophets, from Exodus to the Apocalypse, everything is yearning towards this terrible mystery of God's tragic love for man. God, who made Himself present in the first covenant and yet more present in the Incarnation, becomes still more present in this mystery of the bread of life."

1) I love how simply yet profoundly the first line is phrased; it puts into shockingly clear perspective just what the Eucharist is and does. Jesus becomes bread. He becomes food for the whole world.
2) It's a true sign of the spark of God in all of us that we have this instinct, despite all our selfishness, to want to become bread too. Ask any parent. Ask any lover. Ask any child, even. If we could "become bread" to save even one soul from starvation forever, we would do it in a heartbeat. This is the impulse of God. This is what the Eucharist is, to infinite perfection.
3) "It is the most logical thing in the world." It really is. People talk about "love languages" and half-joke about "peeling oranges" for others but it's true. Look at a matron cooking meals for her extended family for hours on end, day after day, with a smile on her face. It's such a basic need, such a primal gesture of care. "I will feed you because I care about you, and I want you to live, and I love you." Of course God would become food for His people. But for Jesus to do this so literally, so perfectly, to become bread-- it's the most beautiful thing in the universe. It's the purest and profoundest love.
4) PRIESTS GET TO HOLD HIM LIKE THIS.
5) The Eucharist is a sign of the resurrection. That shocked me. Of course, it is a sign of His Death, and that is inseparable from His Resurrection-- but how we forget that so easily!
6) "this terrible mystery of God's tragic love for man." What a gorgeously aching sentence.
7) The Eucharist is covenantal. It is the most perfect Presence of God to man, even moreso than the Incarnation. Think about that!
...


"St. Irenaeus asks, “How can anyone say that our bodies, which are nourished on the flesh and blood of Christ, are brought to perdition? Our bodies, tasting of the Eucharist, are no longer corruptible, but have the hope of resurrection.”"
That's astounding. THEY ARE NO LONGER CAPABLE OF CORRUPTION. This is "common sense" when you realize WHY-- it's because THEY HAVE FED ON CHRIST. The literal atoms of the Eucharist, the Real Presence of GOD, have nourished these bodies and become an actual physical part of them. The Flesh & Blood of Christ, inseparable from His Soul & Divinity, have been our Bread. He CANNOT decay or corrupt or fade away, ever. He IS eternity, He IS Life, He IS salvation. He IS the Resurrection! And when we receive Him in this most blessed Sacrament, WE TAKE ALL THAT INTO OUR BODIES. It's amazing. It's on purpose. God WANTS that to happen. This is how He saves and transforms us most directly, most astonishingly. He changes us from the inside out, by the power of His Love, embodied in His Son, Present in this Sacrament, and now in us.


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VOTD = Psalm 119:2.
"We have a revelation of God's ways when we make His Heart our passion-- when we say, "God, I don't want to just know about You, I want to know You."...There's a lot of us who know God's faithful acts, but take the challenge to press in further, and ask God what is His Heart, so that you would know His ways. When you know His ways, then you know how He will respond-- and you can respond like your Father."
Every time I read something like this I want to cry.
We want this SO BADLY. Honestly I think in a very real but suppressed way we ALREADY HAVE THIS. Deep down, when we stop hiding and running and doubting the truth out of fear of feeling, we must admit that YES, HIS HEART IS OUR TRUEST PASSION. We aren't living that truth as completely as we want to, no. But it is the truth. It's the kernel at the center that cannot be denied.
We're so tired of mechanical praying. We're so tired of spending hours every day just reading articles and "doing the dailies." We're HUNGRY FOR GOD. WE WANT TO KNOW JESUS. We want to TALK TO HIM. We want to sit down and READ ABOUT HIS LIFE. We want to HEAR HIM SPEAK. We want to HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. We're so sick and tired of just this intellectual awareness of Him, this historical education, this ironically heartless datahoarding. The thriskefoni that bury themselves in prayer cards and chaplets and religious emails don't know Jesus as a PERSON. It's so sad. But we never knew Him before, especially not growing up. We never realized you COULD have a relationship with God, let alone that such a thing was ALLOWED, until very very recently-- again, probably the past two years, tops, and with the past year alone being one of the most spiritually potent we've ever had, if not the absolute trophy winner.
But the point is... we're still running circles around the goal. We're still avoiding our heart's desire. WHY.
It's because it's too headspacey.
Read that next line. Press in further. Ask God what His Heart is.
As far as we know, the thriskefoni cannot do that. Their anchor, our religious upbringing and experience, don't include that sort of intimacy. It's banned. It's blasphemous. It's sinful, to even consider-- to them, ANY intimacy, ANY closeness of that sort, is WRONG.
And it's absolutely one hundred percent what the System is ABOUT.
That's why there's this "civil war" going on. The religious voices want to declare a crusade and coldly erase all of us from existence because "we're not God." Whereas all of us inside, although we aren't as "pious" as they are, truly love God AND each other and we WANT TO GET CLOSER TO GOD.
...this is why the Cores keep begging God to give Infinitii "back." It's not something we'd ever do for a human. Headspace is different; people do die, but they die in order to be reborn. Even Laurie reminds us of this constantly-- her axe isn't meant to ruin, but to reset. If she ever does cleave someone's skull in half, it's so it can be put back together better. That's what "death" is for a nousfoni-- it is a hope, in the direct wake of despair. If we die, it is because we have failed to do what we were made to do, or we have committed a grave sin, causing permanent damage, et cetera. Death for us is a swift and direct "penalty" for our loss of light, but it also is, in and of itself, a solid hope of resurrection. ALWAYS. Thanks be to God. We don't die unless there's a real hope that we'll be remade as a result.
So the Cores are asking God to do that to Infi. Why?
Because Infinitii was the one of us who most ardently knew what it was like to love with one's entire heart and soul.
Infinitii COULD TEACH AND ENABLE US HOW TO LOVE GOD LIKE THIS. And believe me, ze DID... Jay still has very clear memories from church, that he clings to constantly, as they are the only way he can feel anything like it. NO ONE ELSE can get that close, without being shut down or pushed away.
It's too much to talk about in depth now, but the important thing is: Infi wasn't scared of opening hir heart, or letting anyone else into it. That was what killed hir, in the end, but it is also hir biggest hope of rebirth, if I can hope the same on hir behalf... because to use that great grace properly, it must first and foremost be directed TOWARDS GOD.
...The last bit up there, resonates with the Jay bloodline. "You will respond like your Father."
We have... weird issues, with fatherhood. We love our biological dad, dearly so, but... we never really knew him growing up. He was always at work, or distant, or uninvolved, or-- as the years dragged on-- out drinking. We had no idea who he was as a person until he moved out and got remarried, and started talking to us from that separate living space. We were no longer "in the same family" in a sense, although we were permanently bound by blood; we no longer shared a roof, my mother was no longer his wife. But that new "distance" brought us closer than ever, and continues to do so, oddly.
The point is: we never had an example of fatherhood in our life until now.
It's still something we glean only in flashes. We're in our 30s; he can't be our "dad" in the way our child-heart still unconsciously yearns for. But now we can recognize that there IS such a yearning, which we NEVER realized before, not until we got old enough to realize that hey, families AREN'T supposed to be terrifying, and by the grace of God started to realize that everything beautiful the Bible says about GOD is what fatherhood truly takes its essence from. God is THE FATHER. And that just... changed everything.
And yet, way back around 2011, Jay wanted to be a father more than anything in the universe and his heart caught that truth long before anyone else could even postulate its existence or semblance. Jay knew what fatherhood meant. He WAS a father. And it was beautiful.
When the bloodline was shattered by the CNC corruption and we lost that entire awareness with the Tilly takeover... it gutted us. We're still not-quite-alive in the wake of that loss. Yes, Jay is still (miraculously) alive, but he's a flickering light now, barely able to front, barely able to hold a form inside. There's "too much of a threat of him becoming a Core again," apparently, and "Cores aren't allowed to be male anymore." But those boys had such good hearts. They understood, somehow, "how God would react" even before we were religious-- long before we were consciously able to trust God, let alone even know Who He was.
...is it possible for the new compulsively-female "Cores" to respond like their Father? Or will the binary-forcing keep them, and therefore our body existence, fatally disconnected from God's Heart?
I don't know. This is something we need to sit and feel and talk about as a System, together, not something the thriskefoni can "reason out" or even truly pray about-- their hearts wouldn't be in it at all; they wouldn't pray for us anyway, sadly. We have to do that ourselves, even if they don't want to admit we can.
I'm sorry, I don't want to sound condemning. It just hurts so much, that they refuse to feel, at least anything but fear and panic that masquerades as obedience and devotion. We want to help them, too. We want ALL of the foni in the Spectrum to be together, like the Church; for heaven's sakes we're all one soul in the first place. We need to be united; we need to be family, we need to be as one, even in our multiplicity. It's possible. That's the beauty of it.
...I guess this is a bit of that Father-feeling, actually. The Prodigal Father, up on that hill, looking out for the lost son. It feels like we're doing that for ourself, in our most fragile and tender moments. God give us the grace to always keep our arms open to ourself, as You always do for us, so that we may all be gathered into Your embrace.



The prayer really stood out to me:
"God, I want to seek You with all my heart. You are my everything— so let my actions match my words. Each day, help me to draw closer to You. Guide me through each decision, and inspire me with new dreams and pursuits. I want to honor You in all that I do."
1)The prayer is admitting, "I confess that I'm not seeking You with all my heart, but I WANT to"... "You are my everything, BUT my actions don't match those words"... and then that striking plea, "LET them match," silently echoing "LET me seek you with all my heart." It's stunning. The focus is on our absolute need of God's gift of grace-- our total dependence on God empowering us in order to do ANYTHING good, because we have NO power on our own.
...
2) Likewise, "HELP me to draw closer to You." It just struck me how unique this is. Unlike between humans, I cannot approach God on my own; I cannot "draw near" physically or mentally, emotionally or spiritually, by my own efforts.
...
3) EACH DAY, and "draw closer." This is gradual, ongoing, and unending. It's never all at once. There is never a finish line.
4) The "guide me" follows the petition for closeness. The very "helping me draw close" IS CONNECTED TO the "guide me through"!
5) Again, "I WANT to honor You in everything I do... but by myself I don't know how." This is why the prayer asks for inspiration and guidance immediately prior.
..
6) INSPIRE ME WITH NEW DREAMS.


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KVOTD = A really sweet thought on Revelation 4:8!
"Imagine your favorite thing to do, and getting to do that every day forever... what if every day was the best day ever? ...Well, [this verse shows us that] in the Throne Room [of heaven], they never stop praising God. It goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. Every day they celebrate and worship Jesus-- they celebrate the God Who loves us forever. Every day is the best day ever. Every day we can praise God here on earth, too, and make it the best day ever! So how will you praise God today, to practice for Eternity?"
1) The simple childlike thought that the Ophanim are having the "best day ever forever" because praising God is their "favorite thing to do" is so, so sweet, and deeply touching. Lord, I pray to be blessed with such grace to feel the same.
2) The angels are worshipping JESUS, not just the Father!
3) When we worship, we echo the joyful songs of eternity here on earth. That's ASTOUNDING.
I love the analogy of "practicing." That hits so strongly and endearingly it hurts.
...

The prayer =
"God, thank You for the hope You've given me. One day, I will get to worship You in Heaven forever! Until then, please help me to be creative and find new ways to show You how much You mean to me. As I worship You, I know it will show everyone who knows me how great You are."
1) Cling to this hope. Make it the undercurrent of your life. Sing in your heart, like your Patroness, at all times, forever echoing this holy refrain. Let this hope anchor your soul to heaven.
2) This entire concept of personal creative worship is not something I ever heard as a Catholic, but it is so beautiful and important to me. It's joyous. It's liberating. It means I CAN worship God in COUNTLESS ways, to countless people! It means my faith and love and joy and hope are not imprisoned, not caged, not bound and muted!
3) Worship SHOWS. It is inherently public, praising and proclaiming. It is naturally evangelistic, an outpouring of inspired zeal, an act of grateful witness to the Breath and Fire and Living Water.
4) Worship changes how people see me-- it shifts the focus TO GOD!! Worship redirects the attention to HIM, not me! It makes me Christ's instrument, and He is the song-- it makes me His canvas, and Him the masterpiece. The Spirit paints, the Spirit performs, and God is all in all. I am nothing; that's the bliss!

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Scrupulosity articles hitting a bullseye over and over again =


"Feeling apathetic, lethargic, or careless about religion is understandable when you struggle with an anxiety disorder that is constantly trying to crush you with toxic spirituality, overthinking, and burnout. The apathy that we experience with OCD is not a true spiritual distaste but is a rejection of the overwrought, overly intense type of spirituality that OCD presses upon us."
THIS IS LITERALLY OUR EXACT PROBLEM. THEY ACTUALLY PUT IT INTO WORDS. Reading this, every lightbulb went on. We've NEVER heard ANYONE sum it up so clearly & bluntly before-- and without having words to express WHAT and WHY you're feeling, that monster remains invisible & intangible &  impossible to deal with. NOT SO ANYMORE!!
...


"Just because I have one bad day doesn’t mean my whole life is going down the tube. It doesn’t mean a relapse is imminent. [That's] absolutist thinking. It tells me that I must never have a relapse... that, if I go back to that dark place that I once was, I will never get out. It will be eternal. I can’t handle it. What black-and-white, absolutist thinking! I can recover if I have a relapse. It’s not the end of the world. I will survive whatever life throws at me because God is beside me and He will help me."
1) In any case, we don't want to risk it. "The dog returns to its vomit." Once the tiniest speck of corruption gets into your brain, you can't get it out. We know this from hellish experience, it's why we avoid the internet & television & radio whenever possible. A relapse might very well be imminent because you LIVED like that before for YEARS, and those well-worn paths of addiction don't disappear overnight. They might never disappear; they might have dug in so deep they left scars. You do have free will, of course, but never overestimate your freedom. How compromised is your state of mind? Don't risk it.
I'm rambling. Bad mindset. Sorry.
2)
3) ...I didn't expect that last line. It stunned me.
That says a fearful lot about where our anxious brain goes.
...
But... that line also feels heretically arrogant?
....


"What about people who struggle with the apathy that they feel after having a blasphemous thought, or apathy about spiritual things? How should they deal with the anxiety that arises in response to the primary disturbance, their apathy? Again, we need to recognize that the black-and-white, absolutist thinking of OCD is trying to get the upper hand. There are NO absolute statements in Scripture that say that Christians must always feel passionate and constantly soaring with lofty flights of ecstatic religious feeling.
And as for the feeling of horror that you might think should always accompany your intrusive thoughts– well, don’t forget that you’re dealing with repetitive, ego-dystonic thoughts that are pestering you every few minutes for months (even years!) on end. It’s natural for the brain to reach a point of emotional shutdown. You can only experience emotions like horror so many times before the mind tries to block out the intense emotionJust ask traumatized war victims if their emotional response was different the first time they saw a dead body, or the hundredth time.
When you think about it, emotional numbness is actually a fairly reasonable response to the intrusive thoughts we deal with. But that’s not my main point. My main point is that there are many layers in complex situations like scrupulosity. We have to avoid pinning ourselves to the wall with absolute beliefs like, “I should always experience horror at my blasphemous thoughts to validate the fact that I don’t want them.”

THIS BLINDSIDED US.
1) The Psalms especially destroy all absolutism-- and that has actually deeply disturbed me for years.
2) "EGO-DYSTONIC"
3) THAT "SHUTDOWN" IS LITERALLY THE "ESTAR PROBLEM"!!!!!!!
4) validation and trauma
...

I am admittedly very disappointed with the conclusion of this article; it got far too carefree, seeming almost flippant. "Oh well," etc.
"Oh well. If I relapse, I relapse. I’ll get over it again."
THAT'S FATALLY PRESUMPTUOUS.
But... they also say things like,
"Oh well. If I don’t have the disgust against my intrusive thoughts that I think I ought to have, I’ll just need to leave this one with the Lord and trust Him to read my heart rather than me trusting my own validation techniques."
How can you be THAT CASUAL ABOUT THE RISK THOUGH. Maybe that's our OCD talking. Even so, that's where we're at. Feeling apathy where it does not belong-- and where, "outside of OCD," it would be a grave sin & sign of a rotten heart-- and just saying "oh well, let God be the judge" is SUPER DANGEROUS. It's like hearing the fire alarm go off and saying "oh well, if it's a real fire, I'll let the firefighters take care of it." AND WE DO THIS, SO WE KNOW. THAT APATHY IS A HUGE RED FLAG AND IT IS NOT HEALTHY.
...

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"Sometimes, our emotions just shut down, like a safety shutoff valve. This might happen when we’ve been ruminating and obsessing about our faith for too long. Numbness and apathy might actually be the brain’s way of protecting itself from too much anxiety... what most people with Religious OCD are dealing with is not true numbness and apathy towards God, but rather a sense of mental exhaustion and spiritual burnout... it’s a pretty normal thing for people to grow numb when we go through extreme experiences. This is simply our body’s way of protecting ourselves, of shutting down the emotions so that we don’t become too overwhelmed for our own good."
1) I hate this so much. I DON'T WANT A BLOODY SHUTOFF VALVE. I'M SO TIRED OF THIS BUILT-IN COWARDICE. I'M SO BLOODY TIRED OF BEING NUMB.
...


"Elijah was suicidal. He asked God to kill him and let him sleep with his ancestors. But God didn’t do that. God understood that Elijah was experiencing burnout. He was mentally, physically, and spiritually exhausted after his turmoil on Mount Carmel. God did not forsake him in that situation. He understood that the way he feels right now is not the way he really feels. And that’s a beautiful lesson for us. When we’re in the midst of our OCD struggles, and we’re burned out and feeling numbness and apathy towards God, the way we’re feeling is not the way we really feel. And praise the Lord. He understands that."
...
...God understands????

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112923

Nov. 29th, 2023 11:28 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)
 

FORGOT TO TURN THE ALARM ON
Miraculously woke up at 7:08 and BOOKED IT to Mass
MADE IT ON TIME, thanks be to God!!
Morning schedule actually went perfectly normally. That was a great blessing.
BK prep immediately at 10am because SOUP & SCRIPTURE SON!!
Mass first though, of course. Man we haven't been to OLOMC in MONTHS, since before we started using the bookbag I think? But it's been ages. And we were lucky-- since it was Wednesday, we got to say the Saint Joseph novena which we love.
S&S was, admittedly, a bit disappointing. The folks first ate for an entire half hour-- understandable, this was probably their actual lunch, and I used the time to read some very timely tabbed articles (a sermon on giving one's all to God, as the widow, and then a shockingly relevant warning on scrupulosity & prophecy which we NEED to type about)-- but then we didn't discuss the actual readings. It was mostly just church chat, which has its place for sure, but... we didn't give any solid attention to Scripture. And that did hurt. Nevertheless, Father E gave us the "basics" on Advent, which was informative, and the general conversation was still amiable and positive. Honestly I cannot complain-- if I did, which my stupid selfish ego is tempted to, it would show how closed my heart was to grace, how closed my mind was to inspiration. You MUST go into these things LIKE A CHILD, with no expectations except "God is working here; I can't want to see and hear what He does!" NO LIMITS.
Also don't forget the reading referenced our favorite super-obscure hymn, and now it's stuck in our head. Good.


Got home for 145 and breakfast was PERMAFROSTED, haha. Two minutes in the microwave fixed it though, no worries. Razor called them "glass eggs" because not only did they turn translucent, but also because she couldn't cut them at first as they were as solid as actual glass. It was hilarious.

A SUDDEN REALIZATION IN REALTIME:
PHONE TYPISTS CHANGE DEPENDING ON WHETHER IT IS SINGLE OR DOUBLE FINGER TYPING?????
THE SPEED AT WHICH THOUGHTS BECOME WRITTEN DOWN CHANGES THE TYPIST, BECAUSE THE SPEED DICTATES OUR MINDSET.
WHAT THE HECK THAT'S INSANE. BUT IT MAKES SO MUCH SENSE.


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Reading the A.R.E. papers on RECONCILIATION for today, and my heart is breaking into flame because THIS IS WHAT INFI'S HEART IS REALLY MEANT TO BE. I can feel it so clearly it is painful.
Quote it.
THIS is going to be their NEW NAME, too, I can feel it.
Every time I prayed about "things being ready" for Infi to come back, I kept getting "wait for December." And here we are, with something I never would have expected, right when I was able to receive it. God knows His schedule. We needed this class, and everything else that preceded it, before the stage could be properly set for what's next. I cannot predict or guess any of it, but God's timing is Impeccable. Trust in Him.

More System relevance =
"Atone: To be in harmony or accordance; literally to bring "at one", to reconcile, and thence to suffer the pains of whatever sacrifice is necessary to bring about a reconciliation."
"Atonement: the "condition of being at one (with others)," often achieved through "satisfaction or reparation for wrong or injury, propitiation of an offended party". The theological meaning is "reconciliation", of man with God through the life, passion, and death of Christ.
"Retribution: to "give back, give in return, restore, pay back, return in kind"; "recompense, repayment," especially "that which is given in return for past good or evil." Also "making or bringing requital, retaliative."

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

Evening =
Driving & weeping over Christmas loss. Parked and crumpled under it. Actually slumped over steering wheel and sobbing.

Bluntly honest in A.R.E. about confession questions.
SCRUPULOSITY CHASTISEMENT FROM FATHER!! It's actually "false humility," as it's entirely obsessively focused on SELF
...
Asked about "what if I'm haunted by the consequences of my sin, things I literally cannot change even if I confessed and repented"? Father VERY POINTEDLY used the example of alcoholism (he knows about the E.D.), and then knocked me out of left field-- he said that living with such a heavy cross, this humbling and constant awareness of what we did and were delivered from nevertheless, is a GREAT GRACE?????
He also used an example of "being cruel and bitter all your life" before gaining the grace to change, while still having the consequences and reputation of your past demeanor to deal with, perhaps permanently-- and that pinged Mimic SO HARD.

Father ALSO brought up SAINT DISMAS!
I mentioned he was my patron saint and Father said "devotion to him is very powerful"
(BTW when I got home, in the kitchen I was suddenly moved to pray to him to pray for me. I wasn't afraid to, it felt like sending a request to a real friend. Solemn but sincere, and strongly affectionate. It was surprising to feel such a trusting hope in myself, such a feeling of actual brotherhood)

Talking to Laurie, briefly, right before the class and during the first minutes. She was in tears, but soberly so, asking me with grave sincerity whether or not I actually forgave her... and asserting the affirmative on her own part.
"You bloody killed me, kid, and I forgive you completely"
I remember her notably stating that, in CNC, we basically "killed each other" by our stupid and foolish actions, but even then we didn't mean to do so. It was never our intention, although it was the awful result.
At one point she admitted this-- that her corruption and slipping directly caused my own death, and still affected me now-- and asked point-blank "do you forgive me." NOT pleading, but seeking an honest reply.
Immediately I started saying "yes, of course I do," but then I jarringly realized THAT WAS PROGRAMMING. When I actually felt down in our heart there was SO MUCH BITTER PAIN EVEN AT HER???? And it was all FUSED WITH OUR OWN SELF-HATRED.
I admitted this to her. It disturbed me that I HAD to "forgive her," that in order to say "I WANT to forgive you, I WANT to be close to you again, I WANT to be able to love you without flashbacks" etc. meant that I wasn't there yet.
Laurie gave me this achingly fierce smile and embraced me just as strongly, just as painfully. In that moment I wanted nothing more than to be able to accept and return it in total freedom. But there is a wound in the way. God help us. Please. It's been five years. We NEED to heal. We NEED to forgive ourselves.

...Laurie said she would much rather I say flat-out that I don't forgive her, but want to work that out together, than to blindly smile and say everything was fine, there's no problem, etc. and not actually heal anything-- because she KNEW there was damage, no matter how much we may try to hide or deny or suppress the severity of it.
...I'd rather bleed with her. I want to. I have so much pain that I've never felt and it's not even mine.
So much of it belongs to people who have died.
What do we do about that?



Home for 8, thanks be to God, we actually get to eat dinner

Mom leaving off a box of Jade/Viral's stuff because THEY'RE OUT OF THE PSYCH WARD TOMORROW. So we can't go to Bible study as we planned because our whole daily focus has changed.
Is that a sin? We are being relied on to help a family member in need, and if we want to feed our stupid body as well, we can't spend the whole morning in church. I feel like throwing up and scream-crying just saying that. What a girlish response. What on earth is wrong with me.

Anyway. We're giving so much it hurts. We can't do any less. That's just honesty. It's natural. I guess that's a grace too. Thank You God.

But poor mom. We ended up STOMPING in frustrated helplessness when talking to her, because she said "you keep scarring all your therapists away, I know what you tell them!" But she doesn't, or are we wrong? God I'm so sorry.
Unprocessed trauma is making us into a monster. 8+ hours if religious rituals every day is not healing those wounds. That sounds sacrilegious, but our disturbingly repetitive confessions say otherwise. We need to actually stop using religion as an excuse to run away from life, to run away from ourself.

I have no idea what to do. "I" still want to puke & scream & weep. I have no idea where that's coming from, or what to call such an emotion, other than overwhelmed helplessness. I want to cry. I want to sleep. There's too much to do. I'll see you tomorrow.


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VOTD =
"God's character is unchanging-- He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. The God who loves us and gives us grace today will do the same tomorrow."

Please, repeat this to yourself. Remember it. It's true.
He's not going to suddenly stop giving you grace & love, because guess what? He HAS given us grace, through the Sacraments, and He HAS given us Love, through His Son and through the System. We have PROOF that such gifts HAVE been given, and therefore, since God doesn't change, He WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE THEM.
I know that sounds insane and impossible but it's TRUE. God isn't a human, or a mortal, or a creature. He is Perfect and Good beyond our ability to measure or comprehend and you're just gonna have to get used to that, haha.
...

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KVOTD =
The prayer fills this out beautifully, and builds on the VOTD too=
"God, You are good. No matter what happens in my life, I know that You are perfect and holy in every way. Please make me brave so I can praise you in every situation-- I know it will change things when I do."
1) A vital reminder of God's unchanging Goodness, expended and deepened by the simultaneous truth that He is also HOLY and PERFECT... whatever He allows to happen to us. That REALLY makes you awestruck. It's one thing to be in a crisis and say, "God is still Good. He is still using this for Goodness." It's another thing to say as well, in that crisis, "God is still PERFECT. There is no possible flaw or oversight or misstep in His allowing this." And ultimately, "God is still HOLY. Even as I am suffering greatly, even if I am being tormented by the effects & consequences of sin, God is forever holy, and He sees me in this state, and He is perfect and good and He loves me even now." Et cetera, with all reverence. Take it further, "in every way." His timing is perfect. His methods are holy. His purposes are good. His instruction is perfect. His chastisement is holy. His silence is good... There are so many layers. Honestly, pray through them when you're in distress, one by one. It will center your mind and heart in truth, and thus give you true peace.
2) Bravery is really a GRACE. Being "brave" by human standards often ends up bring arrogant and/or foolhardy instead. What we truly need is FORTITUDE. We need MORAL COURAGE. And we cannot obtain such manly virtues unless the Holy Spirit gives them to us. We must be MADE brave.
3) Real bravery, by definition, cannot be self-serving. If we pray for that grace, we will receive it only if our intention is directed towards God. We must desire to be brave for God's sake, not our own.
4) Why do we need to be brave? To praise God in every situation. That's HEAVY. It means that praise is soldier's work. It means that we will have to fight against fear, doubt, scandal, heresy, and other such vices that do violence to God's honor. It means that sometimes praising God will be the most difficult thing we could possibly do in some situations... and it means that, without the grace of bravery, we cannot praise Him. So do not take it for granted.
5) Praise and worship CHANGES THINGS... paradoxically because God never changes.
Worship brings His perpetual Goodness and Holiness and Perfection into whatever situation we're in,
...

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112823

Nov. 28th, 2023 10:18 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 
DOUBLE MASS MORNING
Literally prayed for a "small miracle" to get to SHJ on time. Despite traffic & lights, kept surrendering to God's will & direction, and repeating my prayer request with hope.
I kid you not the priest rang the bells the MOMENT I OPENED THE DOOR.

QOTA Mass for Adoration! Man it's been MONTHS. I missed being there.
Father S was an absolute sweetheart as usual and he unexpectedly gave me a BOX of extra Thanksgiving food for mom. God bless him, he always goes out of his way to be kind to us. I honestly should get him a Christmas card. Get in the habit of doing acts of kindness & gratitude like that!

SNOW!!!!!! ❄🤍💙❄🤍💙❄

Walmart stop to check frypans. EVERYTHING IS TOXIC OR HUGE. WTF.
Can't buy the cast-iron because they're pre-seasoned with SOY OIL, good job broski. And there were only 2 little ceramic pans that weren't coated with chemicals: but the one had a "speckle" color that looked filthy & would be impossible to clean, and the other was copper, a color which gives us instant panic reactions. So no dice. But now we know!

Home for 11, I think? It's a blur. We prayed & vacuumed.

Evening =
Liquid funk bike
Exercise high??? Could NOT come down
Eating made Brain a whirlwind of nonstop manic noise. Couldn't think straight, no current memory access, hard to pray. STUCK IN PAST MODE???

Missing the Outspacers, "where's Phlegmoni?"
Realizing that with the hyperreligious schedule we don't spend time with people anymore.

Wanting to type SO BADLY, heart overflowing, but couldn't. "Must say all night prayers instead." Is that right? Is it allowed to type ABOUT God "as prayer" instead of talking AT Him?
It feels like I'm not allowed to do anything but recite prayer cards & rosaries. Is it a sin to want to write, to read, to sing, to love others, "instead"?

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

VOTD= 2 Corinthians 9:7 for Giving Tuesday!
"Loving God takes action, and not just any action-- a cheerful action! God loves a cheerful giver-- not a giver who gives out of compulsion or obligation, but one who gives because they love God and the people God loves. When you're led by a love for God, you'll start to see lots of opportunities to spread that love through cheerful generosity. Do not wait to give to others in need."
"We tend to give our time, money, and energy to the things that we love the most... Look at the way you spend or invest your money, and how this reflects what you love. No matter what your income looks like, do your finances reflect the sort of cheerful generosity the Scriptures talk about? If not, what do you need to change today to make giving a priority in your life?"

1) I did not know the context of this verse historically, which is that this is a "letter of correction"-- because the Corinthians had promised to take up a financial collection for the struggling church in Jerusalem, but they still hadn't sent any aid... A YEAR LATER. This is a chastisement for all of us that, when we have an opportunity to do good, however small, we MUST ACT ON IT NOW. Do not hesitate or put it off. People NEED YOUR HELP RIGHT NOW, and every little bit matters. Trust me, I've been on the receiving end many times. Even one dollar is a priceless gift to someone who is struggling, and time is of the essence. When you can give, GIVE.
2) ...but CHECK YOUR HEART even so!! That opening distinction STRUCK me. Yes, love always requires action, but it "must be CHEERFUL." And that is true. If the "action" of your love is begrudging or morose or frustrated, then it's not actually from love.
3) An always relevant reminder that we love other people because GOD LOVES THEM. It's not out of compulsion, like "I love God, so I have to love people too." We have some corrupt thriskefoni who DO think like that, like loving human beings is "an interruption" or a "distraction" from their loving God. They don't seem to understand that God loves those human beings. Can you imagine, telling God, "I DON'T want to love those people that You CREATED and DIED for"??? Because THAT'S what you're saying when you refuse to show compassion to your fellow man!! God loves EVERYONE, no exceptions, and so we must do the same, BECAUSE we love God and when you love someone, you love what they love too. Their priorities and joys and interests become yours, through that selflessly serving love. It's never "forced," when it's real love; it only flows, freely and generously, into everything.
4) Love must LEAD us, and only then we will be ABLE TO SEE its paths open up before us.
5) We give to what we love. How simply true, and yet how crushingly convicting.
And THIS IS WHY OUR MOTIVES MUST BE PURE!!! Because if we don't love the people we're giving to, but we love ourself and our reputation, then we will give to them ONLY BECAUSE IT MAKES US LOOK GOOD. and GOD DOES NOT LIKE THAT.
...
6) Our financial spending REFLECTS OUR LOVE, and therefore our priorities. It's so easy to separate the two terms, but really, they go together, and to realize that is shocking-- especially because we never want to associate money with love! But money is just a focused form of power, even an enabler of dignity. When you give money, you give someone the ability to purchase what they may otherwise be utterly deprived of-- including food, clothes, water, and housing. You sacrifice some of your own ability to provide for yourself, in order for someone else's life to be provided for. THAT'S LOVE!!
...
7) Giving must be a priority in our life. No exceptions. It is our duty as Christians, a duty born of Love, perfectly embodied in Christ. HIS Life was ALL about giving! If we bear His Name, if we are truly Members of His Body, then we MUST give as much as He did-- we must give our very lives, in every moment, out of pure love.
8) A closing remark: we fear to give because we fear lack. We fear loss and powerlessness and deprivation. But really, dude, where is your faith? Do you not trust that God will provide, He Who gave you ALL your resources to begin with, and Who COMMANDS you to use them for His Glory in all circumstances? And where is your compassion, your mercy, to prioritize your own comfort when your neighbor is hungry and cold and lonely? Doesn't your heart break at the very thought? Don't smother that ache, don't bury it in despair or fear or exhaustion! You can ALWAYS give something. Give a dollar. Give a kind word and smile. Give a prayer. But GIVE, because you love. Keep it flowing!


The written reflection =
"When we are reluctant to give, we miss out on the chance to bless others. Disobedience can harden our hearts toward others. We can hold on to what we have because we think we know best.
Instead, when you give with urgency, [God] will bless you “so that you can be generous on every occasion, and... your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Corinthians 9:11)... God will always provide you with the means to be generous— with your time, energy, and money. And because God does not wait to provide for us, we shouldn't wait to provide for others.
Today, look for opportunities to give with a cheerful spirit, showing generosity as you share the good gifts God has given you— and when you see one, don't wait to act!"

1) Blessings & graces are never a one-way street. They don't stop at your door! They are given to BE given, and they grow in the process-- you will only lose them by clinging to them.
2) The striking use of the word "DISOBEDIENCE" in this context: it implies that our reluctance IS disobedience to God!!
3) DISOBEDIENCE HARDENS THE HEART. I emphasize this because that is a fact in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, not just in refusing to give.
4) "We think we know best," and THAT motivates our disobedience. It's original sin all over again, you realize. It's pride. It's satanic in its subtlety. But listen, if God tells you to do something, especially in Scripture where you cannot doubt it as "just your own thoughts"-- then YOU DO WHAT HE SAYS, WITHOUT QUESTION, because GOD ALONE "KNOWS BEST."
5) Obey with urgency. This outraces the devil. If you make up your mind to do what God tells you to do the instant you get the order, then that leaves no time for devilish tricks of doubt or hesitation or excuses. Set your heart on giving, and then do it immediately, as soon as the opportunity opens up.
6) Your generosity GLORIFIES GOD, by giving others the opportunity to feel gratitude and praise HIS generosity THROUGH YOU.
Likewise, we ourselves both thank & honor God by being generous with what we have received. But this shouldn't just be a solitary action-- "generosity" must be a DISPOSITION of our life!!
7) God WANTS you to be able to give, so you can trust that He WILL give you MANY opportunities to do so... as well as the MEANS. These WILL occur TOGETHER. Do NOT doubt this.
8) GOD DOES NOT WAIT TO PROVIDE FOR YOU. Let that sink in. If you don't truly believe this, it will seriously cripple your own ability to provide for others, because you will not have a true understanding of love.
9) Generosity isn't about "your" giving. It's about sharing the gifts GOD has shared WITH you. Literally EVERYTHING you could ever possibly give, even if you were a billionaire, belongs to God and is "on loan" to you. You are a steward, a manager, a servant. Your job is ALWAYS CHARITY. We love because He first loved us-- likewise, we can only give because He first gave to us, and yes, that giving was out of pure Love as well!
10) God blesses you with the privilege of being able & equipped to fulfill the needs of others. He puts you in HIS role, as His representative, as a messenger of His Love. Your heart reflects God's Heart when you serve others & give generously of yourself, because such giving is God's Nature-- such giving is Love
11) A thought: don't just blindly "look for opportunities" without first having looked at what you HAVE to offer! Why? Because then you'll realize how MUCH you DO have, in SEVERAL aspects, and ALL of it is the free & lavish gift of God! You DO have enough money to give-- maybe only a handful of change, but by golly you CAN give it, so do so! You DO have enough time to give-- maybe only five minutes before your next appointment, but God can change a life with those 300 seconds you share! Be honest about your real limits, but refuse to make excuses about them, refuse to set any that charity hasn't, and never let any limit stop you from pushing the envelope nevertheless. Ultimately, the more of a sacrifice your giving is, the more of a blessing it will be to others and yourself, and the more it will glorify God.
12) Specifically THANK GOD for all the blessings He has given you-- individually. Make a list. Realize how much He loves you. Then pray about how you can respond to that Love by sharing every single blessing you have with others in some way.
...

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KVOTD = the prayer hit like a knife.
"God, thank You for listening every time I speak to You. I need more of You today. Please help me to put everything else aside-- my hobbies, my worries, my doubts-- and make space for You. My time and focus is Yours."
1) God actually does hear you every time you pray. It's not "hit or miss," He's never "out of range," and He's NEVER uninterested or inattentive. He actually LISTENS to you-- He actively listens FOR you! He WANTS to hear you. He CARES what you have to say. I know it sounds impossible, that it feels arrogant and entitled even to suggest such things. But it's true. God Himself says so in Scripture. The Psalmist says God even catches every single tear we shed "in His bottle." That means He's paying that close attention, with that much tenderness, and we are that precious to Him. He's like a mother saving baby teeth, like a father whose ears are sensitive to the smallest sniffle of his child, even in the dead of night. God loves you, and He is listening to you, for you, always.
2) ...This has been my especially fervent prayer for the past several days, actually. "God, I need more of You today." With the rushed & jam-packed schedule, the media bombardment, the oversocialization, the debilitating fatigue that makes even prayer into a herculean effort... I'm thirsting for God, the Living God. I'm literally in tears from how desperately I want to just be with Him, with no orders from floating voices, no time constraints, no interruptions... it's too much to ask, and I'm afraid to ask, afraid of what I'll be given, afraid of some further exhaustion that drives me further from Him. What am I doing wrong.
3) ...oh yeah. I'm doubting. I'm worrying. I'm typing too much.
4) I have to MAKE SPACE for God. What an awful implication, that I haven't done so yet. Regardless, He won't ever force His way in. He won't impose; He's too respectful of the free will He gave us. But our hearts yearn for Him on their own. And if we do not smother or petrify them, then sooner or later, we will "remodel the entire house" to accommodate our beloved God, without even being asked to, simply because we want Him to live there-- to make His home there with us. But WE must make that space.
5) Where is my focus, truly? Where is my time being spent? Is it really on God? Or am I fooling myself?
I type too much. I want to just read about Him. But, when I don't type, I forget; I don't apply the knowledge, and I don't SHARE it either-- that lack of immediate response is torture to my conscience.
...

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Expositor's.

"Jesus did not desire a nominal discipleship, however influential and widely extended. There must be moral oneness, the sense of a common life, participation in the same great experience."
THIS IS MY BIGGEST TROUBLE WITH "MASS EVANGELIZATION" EFFORTS.
Yes, it's great to call people to Jesus, we NEED to do that... but you ALSO NEED to realize that you are calling them INTO A FAMILY, INTO HIS BODY.
...

THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS I'VE READ YET =
"A woman came to me and said: 'Pastor, my son is unsaved, and is as wicked a boy as ever lived. I have been praying in great agony over him, but, thank God, I have come to the place now where I am not troubled one whit about him or anything that he does.' I said: 'If you speak the truth, you reveal the saddest condition of the human heart that can possibly be revealed. You reveal two things: that you have lost the mother-heart, and God pity a boy who has a mother without a mother-heart; and you reveal the fact besides, that you do not know the Passion of Jesus.'"
THIS IS STAGGERINGLY SIGNIFICANT.
1) THAT POOR WOMAN THINKS LIKE MODERN SOCIETY DOES. "I don't care what you do," "it's not my problem," "your choices aren't my concern," etc. Moral relativism results in a careless amorality that bleaches out compassion and nullifies sacrificial love.
...
2) That "thank God" was like a stab wound to read. GOD ISN'T APATHETIC. That is an absolutely astounding truth that I, too, DID NOT KNOW UNTIL RECENTLY.
...
3) Intercessory prayer, sincere to the point of emotional agony, is A GOOD THING.
...
4) GOD HAS A MOTHER-HEART.
...I never knew what that meant before. I never knew what it meant to be a mother-- what a mother is supposed to do, or say, or feel, towards her children. I've always been scared to death of mothers, of motherhood, of anything and everything motherly. The entire concept filled me with terror & dread.
But God created motherhood from His Own Heart. Before anything had a mother by blood, all of Creation had a Mother in God.
That changes everything, for me at least. It means the true definition of a mother is not defined by mortal beings and it cannot be changed or corrupted by sinful people.
...
5) THE PASSION OF JESUS IS COMPARABLE TO THIS KIND OF PRAYER. That is... that sends me reeling. But it's SCRIPTURAL. Look at Gethsemane! Jesus WAS praying for us "wicked children" to the point of sweating blood from the agonized ardor of His pleas.
...


"Jesus came to this earth, for what? To teach men how to live a perfect life? Yes, in part; but that is not the main mission upon which He came. Just the mission upon which Jesus came is set forth in this second declaration of His prayer: 'For this cause came I unto this hour'. What hour? The hour of the Cross; the hour in which the penalty of the sins of the earth are to be met by the atoning work of the Cross of Calvary. That is the hour, and that is the mission that brought Christ to this earth, not to live, but to die. When He came from heaven to this earth, He was occupied with one thought: the Cross; and all through His life from the first day until the day when He was nailed upon it, the Cross stood out before Him as the one thing for which He had come to this earth. If we have left out the Cross, on which the penalty of the sins of the world was nailed with Jesus, we have left out the one supreme purpose that Jesus had in His earthly ministry."
This applies to us as Christians, too.
In any case the world denies this mission. So many "truthseekers" want Christ without the Cross. They want His "consciousness," not His crucifixion. They want His perfect Life, not realizing it was all directed towards His death. They praise His moral wisdom and teachings of practical justice, yet disregard all the details that speak of necessary suffering, sacrifice, and self-denial.
...

"The supreme appeal of the cross is the Divine atonement for sin... by an exhibition of power which triumphs over the malice of sin, and by a system of grace which abounds in fuller volume where sin did much more abound. [But in this power is also] the appeal of sympathy. It is in the face of a suffering world that the cross is raised... He did feel and did bear the extremity of physical, mental yes, even spiritual pain, so that His sympathy is literally the 'suffering with' those towards whom He exercises His tender love: and this is wide and far-reaching... there is many a soul sick with anguish, even amidst the joyous brightness of this world's fairest scene. If it be hid away, it is no less there, on which that suffering Face looks down, and which that tender appeal alone can reach."
1) The power of the Cross IS grace and mercy, even within its framework of absolute justice. We're desperately drawn to the hope of absolution and forgiveness, of course, but such a response requires not only divine Power but divine Tenderness. He wields this power to triumph over every evil deed because He is pure Goodness, invincible Truth, infinite Love-- such is Reality, and sin only an aberration in rejection of it. All the malice in the universe is nailed to the Cross, not in answering violence but through sacrificial mercy. It's a wonderful mystery.
2) THAT is where we find stunning sympathy for sinners. Christ LITERALLY SHARED ALL our suffering. He didn't just pay the debt, He didn't just clear the record, He didn't just slay the dragon.
...
3) There are no exceptions to His compassion. If you are suffering, no matter how ignored you are by the world, no matter how invisible your anguish is to mortal knowledge, Christ is suffering your pain with you, right now.


112523

Nov. 25th, 2023 10:29 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Allergy panic HELL.
Looked up garlic symptoms, got LUPUS SCARE????
Actually ordered an online intolerance test. Now I'm panicking about the prep. It's ridiculous. But I've decided to do it all on Monday.
Besides now I will have ACTUAL DATA, that I can compare to old tests, to check consistency.
God can still use this for my good and His Glory. I just need to keep putting it into His Hands. I must surrender entirely.
But my thoughts are my worst enemy.

Almost passed out on bike???

Mom call distraction. That's one of my biggest sins I've noticed.

CONVINCED we were going to DIE if we ate the carrots. Literally shaking & panicked sobbing over it.

Accidentally burnt the eggs, again, from dissociatedly messing up the cooking temperature. Ate them anyway as penance. Reminding ourself that our soul could've been burnt instead.


Evening =
Library printed the intolerance test packing slip, now we don't have to worry and can mail it Monday.

Panic setting in DURING MASS. It really has to be the color of the twilight, but there's still that "you are going to die violently and imminently" terror. WHY. What is in our history that caused this??

Holy Spirit pushed us to make a House stop to get old Suzuki books & B's extra sketchbooks
Being there SHOOK US UP?? Our brain ACTUALLY REGRESSED CHRONOLOGICALLY. It was bizarre. We can never stay "conscious" there, our immediate memories of the visits feel as unreal as dreams, and we never know WHO we are there. Worst of all, then we get the "shivering flashbacks" for the rest of the day, and we can't relax or focus.
Which is why it took us 30m to get undressed when we got home, and then we immediately biked at high resistance for 40m to "cauterize" our brain. Biking is the only thing that staves off panic attacks. It's why we used to run laps all the time when we did live at the house, plus night biking. Man. We never realized it was a COPING MECHANISM. Arguably so was the bloody eating disorder,  in its own awful way. But that's not a discussion topic for tonight! Right now we're too darn scared of dying from eating these carrots, seriously WHAT THE HECK.

...
God FINALLY had mercy and LET US SIT DOWN tonight. Our body is DEVASTATINGLY EXHAUSTED.
Lord please get us through tomorrow.

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ttywpf = Read it during intense carrot panic. Hit like a blow. I must paste the whole thing for full impact.
"God thinks like the Samaritan who did not pass by the unfortunate man, [not simply] pitying him or looking at him from the other side of the road, but helped him without asking for anything in return; without asking whether he was a Jew, a pagan, or a Samaritan, whether he was rich or poor: he asked for nothing. He went to help him: God is like this. God thinks like the Shepherd who lays down His life in order to defend and save His sheep."
"How does God exceed our understanding of love and forgiveness? In what ways have you seen Him go above and beyond your expectations to help you? How can you live out this model of mercy?"

I need to break this down bit by bit.
1) God sees us bleeding on the road and He does NOT pass us by. EVER. But even more striking than that, what I STRUGGLE with, is the FACT that God ALSO DOESN'T JUST "STAND THERE AND WATCH." Yes, He sees me. Yes, He stops and doesn't just keep walking. I can grasp that much. But then I feel like God just looks at me from the other side of the road. "I pity your sad state, but there's nothing I should do, because you deserved these injuries," is what I fear He says. But by writing it out I KNOW it's false. God has too tender a Heart to ever just feel a distanced pity. No, God ACTS.
2) God IMMEDIATELY HELPS with "everything at His disposal," like the Good Samaritan, holding nothing back, sparing no expense or effort.
3) GOD ASKS FOR NOTHING IN RETURN. Think about this. Sure, gratitude and honor are just responses, but God does not "ask for them." He leaves it up to our free will. That's not the biggest point, though-- the point is that God SEEKS NO REWARD OR BENEFIT. He needs no recompense, needs no recognition. He seeks only one thing: TO HELP. His motivation is utterly pure and loving, always.
4) GOD DOES NOT "ASK IF YOU DESERVE IT"-- either the beating or the healing!!! He NEVER puts conditions on His compassion. "Sorry, but you're a pagan; I can't help you, it'll be scandalous!" NO. HE NEVER SAYS THAT.
5) I reiterate: God comes to us to help us. Pure and true and simple.
6) THE SHEPHERD EXAMPLE is STAGGERING. I actually never considered how sheep CANNOT "give back" ANYTHING to their Shepherd for saving them!! The Good Shepherd literally DIES to protect them, and they are just "dumb and foolish animals" who may not even realize they HAVE been "died for." They can't say thanks, they can't recompense, they can't eulogize him, nothing. Sheep are just sheep. But the Shepherd loves them and sacrifices Himself for them regardless of their response, because of His love.
...
7) God exceeds my expectations because my expectations are disturbingly unloving. That actually shocks me into asking, "then what the heck IS my understanding of love and forgiveness???"
...
...
8) ...God constantly goes above and beyond my expectations because I expect His "help" to be... punishment, or exacerbation, or just watching from the side of the road. When I ask for help I literally "expect" Him to say, "my NOT doing anything IS helping you!" "NOT comforting or consoling you IS what you need most!" "The best way TO help you is actually to give you MORE suffering!" And those ARE VALID RESPONSES. The problem is, there's no alternative. There's NEVER an option for gentleness, because "I AM being gentle with you; if I wasn't, you'd be in the ER right now."
...
9) How can I model this. Yes, me. How can I live out this mercy I have received?
Step one: recognize that you have received mercy. I mean REAL mercy. Disentangle it from fear & terror that it is "only temporary," or "conditional," or "an exception."
You seem to fail to realize that real mercy requires love. Only through love can mercy admit the undeserving state of the recipient and gently set it aside, because mercy exists to triumph over justice alone. Mercy and love see farther & deeper. They count no cost and keep no score. They both exult in giving themselves liberally, freely, without fine print or conditions. They are the glory of God and God alone, for they flow from His Heart.
...


abbodfer = "Your brain us your greatest weapon. Protect it!"
Immediately my brain thinks of this image, haha.
...

MDE = one about consecrated life, the other about Saint Gemma and her amazing love for Christ in the Eucharist. Both really hit hard, both convicted me of pride & fear, both gave me hope that God can still change me. Both moved me with the absolute beauty and power of REAL LOVE, which CAN ONLY COME FROM GOD and which ALSO CAN ONLY BE FELT FOR GOD!!!

About the nuns=
"One of the most thrilling, beautiful and heroic scenes that I have ever been privileged to witness is that of the consecration of a young lady to Christ— the scene of a nun’s religious profession. The entire consecration is spread between two ceremonies; between the two is interposed the period of her novitiate. She enters the chapel for the first time clothed as a lovely bride, white-robed, veiled, carrying a gorgeous bouquet in her arms. She comes forth for the second time a somber nun, clothed in black, her body entirely garmented except for her face. She has almost lost her identity, even to the extent of changing her name. Now she is called Sister. But the sister of whom? The sister of Him Who is called the First-born of all the brethren, our Brother, Jesus Christ. The human being has suffered a mystical death; there is born of that act of consecration a new being, a spouse and lover of the divine Christ.
This act of consecration of a nun, this transformation, usually takes place during Holy Mass. It is a sacrifice within a sacrifice: a small Calvary erected side by side with the mystic Calvary of Christ. This act of consecration and change, this transformation takes place at Mass because it is through the Mass that each of us can and must be changed into the likeness of Christ. Through the Mass we must "put on Christ" that we may be able to say: “I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me.” And this transformation of us into Christ can be effected only by suffering and by sacrifice."

1) The identity loss is actually a paradox. She still has a name, but it is an echo of a saint and not of herself, utterly detached from her past and no longer even her primary mode of address.
2) This is HEROIC. 
3) She is now a Sister OF CHRIST. I somehow never realized this. But, this means she is also the Sister of EVERY Christian in the Body of Christ, in a special way?
4) The "mystical death" DIRECTLY RESULTS IN A "MYSTICAL BIRTH." Death is NEVER the end for a Christian!
5) Her death IS HER CONSECRATION, just like Christ.
6) She becomes a "SPOUSE & LOVER" THROUGH THIS "DEATH"???? I struggle so much to understand marital language in the church, but this is important.
...
7) The Mass parallel is strikingly beautiful & momentous. Each Mass is an event of "consecration, change, and transformation," and that happens THROUGH "suffering & sacrifice"-- literally through "mystical death," however "small", united with His.
...
8) THIS TRANSFORMATION AT EVERY MASS IS OF US BEING MADE INTO THE LIKENESS OF CHRIST. This is not a replacement or supplanting; this is no newage "Christ consciousness" heresy. There is ONLY ONE CHRIST, in all truth. Adam was not a deity, just because he was "in the likeness of God". This still applies to all humanity, no matter what modern humanism declares. Man is not God, and man cannot be God. But God became Man, in order to lift man up INTO God, through Himself alone. I don't know this well enough to talk about it. But, Christ is Present in every Mass, Present through His Sacrifice that reconciled all humanity to God and made us able TO be reborn, even recreated, in Christ's likeness.
9) Birth requires blood. That's the summary of it. If Christ had to bleed & die in order to redeem us-- if His Passion is an integral part of His Character, as it were-- then to be remade in His Likeness evidently requires that we must share His Passion. Again, I am too uneducated to discuss this further.
10) THIS TRANSFORMATION IS MANDATORY FOR ALL CHRISTIANS!! We cannot do it alone, we can barely fathom it. But we can go to Mass with this intention and offer ourselves wirh Him in a surrendering spirit of love. Christ will do His work in us. We just need to be willing to die as He did, and as this nun did, before we can be resurrected, reborn in His likeness, and able to love Him properly.


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VOTD = Numbers 6:24-26.
"For God’s Face to shine upon someone is for the grace & favor of God to be on them. But for this to happen, we need to be in relationship with God. We ought to spend time with God each day, learning from Him and receiving His grace through His Spirit... through a relationship with Jesus Christ, which is the primary way that God blesses us today. When we have faith in Jesus, we begin such a relationship with Him, and the Holy Spirit lives within us and empowers our new life."
1) Jesus Christ IS the "Face of God."
2) RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD IS ALWAYS BY COVENANT. This is the ONLY WAY we mortal creatures CAN be on such unique & close terms with Him. GOD MUST TAKE THE INITIATIVE.
3) We cannot keep the original covenant, due to sin. So now we can ONLY be "in a relationship" with God THROUGH JESUS? He IS the New and Eternal Covenant, IN HIMSELF, AS RELATIONSHIP?? He alone fulfills the Old in Himself and thereby sublimates it in His Person? THROUGH Him we enter into real relationship with the Father AND the Spirit!!
4) Also, not only IS Jesus God, as the Son, He is also HUMAN, and therefore CAN be in close relationship with humans???
5) We "spend time with God" through prayer, Scripture, Mass, and devotions such as Eucharistic Adoration. These are all literally direct ways to contact God,
6) RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS IS THE SOURCE AND MEANS OF BLESSINGS!!!!! This changes EVERYTHING and it annihilates the "prosperity gospel". When we seek and receive mercy, peace, comfort, justice, wisdom, truth, purpose, guidance, clarity, hope, love... ALL those SPIRITUAL blessings, which are REAL & ETERNAL, unlike temporary gifts, EXIST AND ARE BESTOWED WITHIN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS, and will ALWAYS NECESSARILY BE REALIZED AND RECEIVED both THROUGH AND AS HIM. I cannot emphasize this enough.


The guided prayer is EXACTLY what the Ttywpf was talking about =
"God, thank You for blessing me and always keeping me near You. Thank You for looking upon me with delight and love. Thank You for showing me mercy. Thank You for seeing me through every challenge and bringing me peace."
1) Blessing= Count them. This is your gratitude list.
2) Keeping near= As Laurie always says to me... "Kid, I never leave." That's what God is like, infinitely moreso.
3) Delight in= This is SO DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND.
4) Look with Love= ...This is so beautiful it seems impossible.
5) Mercy shown= note the ACTIVE VERB. God doesn't just "talk mercy," He SHOWS IT. 
6) Seeing through challenges= You're not dead yet, right? Seriously, that is PROOF of God's faithful protection.
7) Peace= I love the verb "bringing" with this. It gives the feeling of unexpected generosity, of a surprise gift. It's like bringing flowers or a meal to someone sick. The very word "bring" suggests an anticipated yet unvoiced need graciously met.
...


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The KVOTD today was Psalm 136, simply yet strongly emphasizing GRATITUDE, notably that "thankfulness is a COMMAND, not a recommendation!" That's because our thankfulness DIRECTLY REFLECTS OUR TRUST IN GOD'S GOODNESS-- whether we have such trust or not. God doesn't change. He cannot change.
"We must be thankful at all times, not because of what we have or don't have, but simply because GOD IS GOOD."
That COMPLETELY shifts our focus OF gratitude, away from things & circumstances and onto GOD... JUST GOD. THAT'S the duty of a Christian!!
...actually oh my goodness I JUST REALIZED what Psalm this is!! We pray it in the Divine Office sometimes and it always strikes me as so interesting, worthy of meditation, because EVERY SINGLE LINE ends with "for His mercy endures forever," EVEN if the preceding line doesn't seem merciful to the mortal mind. BUT THAT'S THE DEPTH. THAT'S THE POINT! GOD NEVER CHANGES. No matter how we may debate or argue or question or doubt, HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER, and that mercy is therefore JUST AS OMNIPRESENT A PART OF GOD'S CHARACTER AS HIS JUSTICE.

The prayer today had some powerful insights =
"God, thank You for challenging me with Your Word today. Thankfulness isn't a feeling I experience-- it is a continuous choice I make every day! Please help me to choose to be thankful to You no matter what is going on around me. I know You deserve it."
1) What a beautiful opener. "Thank You for challenging me." THAT'S recognition of God's Character! But this recognition is deepened by the MODE of challenge-- GOD'S WORD. Truthfully, that's the ONLY WAY God will challenge us, because IT APPLIES TO EVERYTHING.
1.5) A challenge is etymologically an accusation, a charge of wrongdoing, a rebuke, a legal complaint. It is a calling-out of sin. That is EXACTLY what Scripture does, and for Christians that IS something to be grateful for-- because we have an ADVOCATE, a Great High Priest, a Redeemer, Who is ALSO our Just Judge. "He wounds, but He also heals." His Word which challenges us in our evil also points us to deliverance from the same. Note: a challenge is also, by definition, always difficult. A challenge also "calls us to fight"; it "calls us to account", forcing us to choose our ground and stand there. But where we plant our feet and flag depends on where our gratitude lies. If we thank God FOR challenging us, we will surrender to HIS side, and fight against our own sin, even at the expense of pride and comfort. But if we are ungrateful... then we will die on our molehill, claiming we are a mountain, and we will lose everything. God challenges us in order to PREVENT such doom.
2) GRATITUDE ISN'T A FEELING!! IT'S A CHOICE!! Oh man this is a GAME-CHANGER and it's PROFOUNDLY CONSOLING. It completely disarms emotion as a false standard of truth. It absolves struggling hearts from moral panic. It frees us from the prison of waiting on whims. Gratitude doesn't "just happen," it isn't inherently "warm and fuzzy," it's not "lost", and it IS POSSIBLE EVEN NOW. It's a posture of the heart. I finally understand that phrase! Real thankfulness is oriented SOLELY AND TOTALLY TOWARDS GOD, and when it is, then its INVINCIBLE.
3) We still need God's grace to do this. It isn't "humanly possible" otherwise.
4) God is always, perfectly, eternally, entirely Good. Therefore HE DESERVES OUR GRATITUDE. It's basic justice. If you need more "reason" as to why God deserves all our thanks, read the Bible. Go to Church. Look at nature. Hug your family. Take a deep breath. Et cetera. God gave you ALL OF THAT freely because He IS Good. Be humble, be joyful, and be grateful.


...There's been such a heavy and unignorable focus on relationship and gratitude lately, in our daily devotionals. The Holy Spirit is absolutely trying to get His point across. The two are mutually inclusive. I cannot have a true relationship with God if I'm too selfish, scared, or stupid to be actively grateful FOR HIM, not just what He does!! ALL of God's actions are a DIRECT EXPRESSION OF HIS CHARACTER. And if I'm still afraid He's waiting to crush me... then I don't properly know Him. I cannot properly thank Him, if I'm only thanking Him for "not killing me today." And if I cannot thank Him, because I don't truly know Him, then I cannot be in relationship with Him.
THIS IS A DEADLY WARNING. PAY ATTENTION.

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Finishing up that Catholic Answers article tonight.

"...we [ought] to care for the bodies of those we love, which they wore far more closely and intimately than any clothing! For the body is not an extraneous ornament or aid, but a part of man’s very nature."
I still am so new to this truth. Because yes, it's a TRUTH, not an idea or concept. The human body is SACRED and DESTINED FOR IMMORTALITY. It's not just junk flesh, it's not a prison, it's not "someone else who i happen to be trapped in." My soul is apparently BOUND to this thing BY DESIGN.
...Death does not turn the body into trash. It doesn't. That body may decompose but it is still marked forever as a Temple of God.
...

"Why do we worship the incarnate Jesus? After all, “the King of ages” is “immortal, invisible, the only God” (1 Tim. 1:17).  The people of the first century could no more see Jesus’ divine nature than we can see it today. They saw his humanity, and those who believed saw, through his humanity (so to speak), to his divinity... Jesus’ humanity is therefore both an image of his divinity and associated with his divinity. Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.” That’s the first reason we worship him in his humanity: his humanity is imprinted with divinity. But the second reason is that Jesus’ humanity is perfectly united to his divinity and that “we have been sanctified through the offering of the BODY of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb. 10:10). In other words, his humanity is the instrument of our salvation. In that sense, it's... why we worship the Eucharist AS the Body of Christ. [Remember, ] we don’t worship... the Body of Christ as flesh. Rather, we worship God in (or through) [it]."
...DUDE WHAT
This is making me dizzy. It never ever even occurred to me that we DO worship His "Body", BECAUSE HE IS GOD INCARNATE.
1) ONLY God is worthy of worship.
2) Jesus is God. Jesus is ALSO a man.
3) Jesus "took on flesh," uniting His human soul & body TO HIS DIVINE PERSONHOOD.
4) Therefore, by this unity, Jesus's human Body is worthy of worship, but NOT AS just a body-- it is worthy ONLY because it is literally "made part of God," in the Person of the Son?? And so when we worship His Body we are directing that worship not to the Body as "flesh" but TO GOD, as through HIS Body of flesh BECAUSE IT'S UNITED WITH HIS DIVINITY???
Man this is rewiring my entire brain. This is amazing.
5) BUT THE EUCHARIST!!!!! Suddenly that gains even DEEPER meaning, as it IS JESUS'S BODY, and if the body is not extraneous but essential to one's being, if the body is made FOR the soul and CANNOT be separated from it even in death... then yes, suddenly the words "BODY, BLOOD, SOUL, AND DIVINITY" gain profounder depths-- that my mind cannot fully grasp at all, not yet. But now I can FEEL them. Now I know there IS MORE to it. Now I can meditate on it, pray about it, open my heart to learn more.
This is perfect timing, too, as we have Adoration off & on all day tomorrow for Christ the King.
6) Jesus's HUMANITY is the instrument of our salvation. That has me reeling. Even if I can only comprehend the bare surface of it yet, its true. His BODY was intrinsic to the Plan of Salvation. That same Body is inevitably eternal, permanently part of God, if only for the fact of the Cross. Our Redemption wasn't accomplished by the mere abstracted will of God. It wasn't won by Jesus's Soul alone. It REQUIRED HIS BODY, UNITED TO HIS SOUL, UNITED TO HIS DIVINITY. It was ALL essential, TOGETHER!
After all, don't forget the achingly important bit-- Jesus needed a Body in order to have a HEART, and in order to BLEED. He needed a Body so He could sacrifice it.
There's so much terrific beauty in that. I want to just contemplate it for a while.


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

Last =

"Mary lived in the presence of Jesus. She paid attention to him. She contemplated him. She found a focus and a center in him. It is the same for us who come before the Eucharistic Lord [especially in Adoration], as we simply stay with him, watch him, focus ourselves on him and find in him a center for our lives. This form of Eucharistic adoration both stems from the Mass and leads us back to the Mass."
This helps me so much, to understand Adoration better in light of Mary's perfect example, as I admittedly never really knew "how to adore properly".
This is... touchingly simple, but very weighty. It's demanding, as all honest love is, like a mother for a child. But it's not tedious. It's only so demanding because real love requires of itself a total giving of self, because anything less wouldn't be love. And here it's absolutely reciprocal. The Eucharist IS Love Itself. Adoration "demands" such love by justice alone, but never forces it. Love must be given freely, willingly, completely. In Adoration, Love Himself will enable us to do so in return. 



112423

Nov. 24th, 2023 10:28 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Morning shopping WITH DAD!!! 💙🤍💙🤍💙
Three hours and it flew by. It was a genuine joy.
Also we got THREE PAIRS OF ACTUAL SHOES SON!!!
In any case I was so happy just to be with dad.
He's suffering SO MUCH PAIN, though, from medication-induced inflammation. Pray for him. Sacrifice too, remember you CAN do that!!

REFLECTION DIDN'T MATCH but it IS RECOGNIZABLE??? It's the EARRINGS!!! Somebody is ANCHORED TO THOSE, someone Core-adjacent, but FEMALE and DISTURBINGLY VAIN.
...
Social mode fallout destroying our ability to be conscious at ALL. Fasting is exacerbating it. Gotta eat sonny boy!!

Listening to Beegie Adair's Christmas music because IT'S TIME.
Honestly in heartaching tears though. The year we discovered this music, and looped it all season, was RIGHT AFTER we escaped CNC, and that was grandma's year. It was before she got sick and before we went dormant. This music sounds like her, like those last dying embers of hope we had for a healed future, before everything hit the bricks and the next 4 years disappeared.
Nevertheless, we feel actual emotion from this. That's so important. Thank You God, even for the hurt, even especially so. It means a great deal, in so many ways.
But only the System can feel the truth of it. Only the System can feel the depths of love. Not we typist foni, especially not we on phones and media. But we know you can. So please do, soon.

Knife being distracted by blood during prayer, because its IN the prayer. He has this uniquely numinous understanding of it. But it still feels wrong? Too intimate, too consumptive? He was in tears, distressed. He doesn't want to be a "vampire" anymore in any case-- there's too much difference between him and the cultural myth. He doesn't want to be corrupted or to scandalize anyone.
He may end up with ALL sharp teeth like his sister, and Sugar & Spice for the record. Albuskinned foni tend to have sharkmouths, haha.


2PM BK, to be expected.
Mild allergic reaction to the CARROTS???? We feared this actually, because we do get random hives & dyspnea & sharp stomach pain when we eat AND that one kitchen foni is TERRIFIED of green carrot ends... and apparently, as we ONLY learned YESTERDAY, carrots are cross-reactive with CELERY AND PARSLEY. We have allergies to BOTH. So it may all indeed be related.
So... just like with our past dietary staples, God may be telling us, "it's time to change." We don't know what to change TO-- there aren't many options left-- but God does. Surrender to Him, pray for guidance & patience & courage & trust. He isn't trying to starve you or malnourish you. You can rest in that. Whatever you truly need, He will provide you, and lead you to obtain. Don't be afraid to let go and move forwards. We've been through massive dietary upheavals before; if this one means we'll be finally free of even just the hives & breathing trouble, then bring it on, Lord.

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System relevance in our inbox =
"Violet is the liturgical color that symbolizes penance, sacrifice, and prayer, and as such, it characterizes both Advent and Lent. Moreover, during Advent, we meditate particularly on the coming of our King at Christmas. In this way, the color violet—traditionally associated with royalty—takes on a dual meaning, representing both the penitential nature of the season and the kingship of the coming Christ, [who we prepare for by our prayerful penance]."
THAT IS WHY LAURIE NEEDS TO STAY VIOLET. THIS IS HER HEART.
Yes, Purple is great too, but its NOT THE SAME AT ALL. The two hues are NOT "interchangeable"; they have VASTLY different roles! This applies to ALL hues, for the record-- Green and Spring and Spruce are not the same, Blue and Sky and Sapphire are not the same, etc. Of course they're related, but they're nevertheless distinct and clearly so. The separation is necessary for proper function & order. It's why blurring & sliding can kill you.
...

"The Third Sunday of Advent is called Gaudete (“Rejoice”) Sunday. On this day, we celebrate that our wait is almost over and we witness the sudden introduction of a lovely shade of rose in our churches and our Advent wreath. As the liturgical color used to signify joy, rose is used in the third week of Advent in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah."
This is extremely important to us because, notably, Pink is NOT ROSE. The two are VERY different, ESPECIALLY liturgically!
System-wise, though, PINK leans VIOLET, and ROSE leans RED. Heck, Rose IS "Red," just a pastel tint of it! But PINK is ITS OWN THING. So their vibes and functions are VERY DIFFERENT.
...


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YouTube notification as soon as we got home=
HEY APATEFONI. GET SLAMMED
https://youtube.com/shorts/yUGHdG8e7A0?si=He0hmea96gJvZKnv

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Ttywpf=
"But what kind of a King is Jesus? ...He is not accompanied by a court, He is not surrounded by an army as a symbol of power. He is received by humble people, simple folk who have the sense to see something more in Jesus.
What is the relationship between your simplicity and your ability TO accept Jesus? What is Jesus asking you to put aside to receive Him? Where is Jesus asking you to be humble so that you are more like Him?"

There is SO MUCH to seriously ponder here.
1) I know nothing about royalty, but Jesus's Kingship has no attendees and no army, and that by itself in concept deserves reflection. He had no one serving Him. He had no one defending Him. He showed no military power, no physical force. He did not seek to conquer land or enslave people. He had no nobles attesting to His lineage or glory or character. He just showed up, as Himself, unarmed and unannounced by all but the Prophets. But despite all this poverty He still showed up AS KING. He arrived as one returning home. Which is why--
2) He is RECEIVED. His Kingship is REAL but hidden, and can only be recognized by hearts like His Own: simple & humble & devoted to God, and thus ABLE to be ruled by Him? Proud & clever hearts are too wrapped up in themselves to recognize any "kingship" but their own, however usurped & impotent it truly is.
3) SIMPLE FOLK HAVE THE SENSE. I love that. Pride think simplicity is stupid, but only the simple minds are clear & direct, able to discern the essence of things, unsullied & untroubled by egotistic ambition.
4) If I'm not simple, I will be unable to accept a simple King. It's that blunt. His Kingdom IS so stripped-down, pinpoint focused on God, that there is no room for complex drama & libraries of distraction.
5) The phrasing "put aside to receive" suggests that my hands & arms are involved, symbolically. I need to embrace Christ. I need an open posture, I need clean hands. What am I afraid to put down?
6) The phrasing "where can you be humble" suggests location. It's not a "how" or "when". It's bluntly practical. It's place.
...


abbodfer = "Love has room for everybody. True friends love each other like God loves us. He loves us the same, no matter how many new people become part of His family."
...I've never experienced this in bodylife and that aches.
Still. GOD loves me, and everyone, like this, and THAT gives me such comfort I could weep from sheer gratitude. I no longer have to fear being replaced. I no longer have to fear becoming obsolete. I no longer have to fear being expendable.
...

The written VOTD reflection =
"When the Church was new, it didn’t have a complete, written Bible, and access to Hebrew Scripture was limited... We now have an incredible gift in the Bible. We have the full counsel of God from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Through God's Word, we can know God's plan and purposes, the story and Truth of Jesus-- Who Jesus is, what He has done, and how we should respond-- and how we are to live a life worthy of our calling in Him... being full of love for one another, as followers of Christ. And, we can encourage one another to keep our eyes on Jesus, as we study and learn Scripture together, praising God together and being thankful for all He has done-- including giving us access to His wisdom, guidance, and teachings through Scripture in the first place, and for giving us the opportunity to worship and praise Him together as believers.
So, take time in your day, every day, to read God's Word. Study its content and context. Discover God's character, plans, purposes, and love as you allow His Word to dwell in you richly. Then, whenever possible, spend time with other believers and discuss what you've read."

1) The Bible IS an amazing gift, a privilege, an indescribable grace. But we take it for granted, just like our religious freedom. It's humbling. Sit and think about the real gravity of this.
...
2)That community focus here is actually so important, because I typically think of Scripture study as a personal thing. But it needs BOTH personal AND public aspects, because I'm not living my faith alone, AND because Scripture is NOT UP TO PERSONAL INTERPRETATION. This is why we go to Mass, and have Bible studies based on Saintly and/or Papal writings.
...
3) It never ceases to amaze me that we can "get to KNOW GOD" through Scripture, Because it IS His Word, His Self-revelation in Christ. We CAN "discover" God's character, His purposes, His plans, His wisdom, His teachings, AND His Love. It's ALL in there, written out in human language, for us to understand what was previously pure mystery, obscure and inaccessible to man.
BUT WE NEED THE HOLY SPIRIT!!!
...still. What an ineffable work of God's infinite Love, just TO give us this ability and opportunity TO know Himself, in the Bible.
...

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KVOTD = 1 Thessalonians 5:18, a timeless classic honestly.
"Big stuff tiny book," haha! Man we used to LOVE making those, we SERIOUSLY SHOULD AGAIN.

"When you feel empty of joy, gratitude can fill you with joy. Gratitude reminds us of how much God cares for us. It brings us back to what matters, even on our worst days."

Just like hope, true joy is NOT contingent on circumstances, but anchored securely in GOD'S CHARACTER.
We must actively remember and assert that God is merciful, righteous, just, loving, wise, attentive, compassionate, understanding, trustworthy, and faithful-- and we must declare this DURING our most frightening trials, because they are CONSTANT EVEN THEN. This Truth of God is the bedrock foundation of ALL gratitude, and therefore of all joy. We CAN Rejoice IN ALL CIRCUMSTANCES through Christ Jesus, Who reveals and manifests ALL those divine characteristics to us in His Person, and Who is PRESENT WITH US THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT. The Trinity is always together and the Spirit is WITHIN YOU, even when you're on your cross-- even especially then! God cares for you THAT MUCH. Your suffering is even a blessing, conforming you more closely to The Son. THAT is what matters most-- our salvation, our Savior, our hope of heaven, our Christian walk. We have an unshakable Source of grateful joy, a Good Shepherd even in the valley of the shadow of death.

"There are joyful blessings all around you-- even right now, in this moment-- and practicing gratitude enables us to offer God our full appreciation of them."
It's a very good habit to recognize blessings in everyday life, in common situations and routine, in otherwise uneventful moments. There are no unblessed times. Everything is overflowing with grace. We just need gratitude to see it, to recognize and name it, and therefore to thank God for it. We owe it to Him, not just as His children, but also simply because He gives everything to us at all times. That sort of limitlessly loving largesse deserves all the thanks we can ever possibly give, by virtue of justice alone!

"Ungratefulness causes cynicism, entitlement, and jealousy."
THAT'S SCARY. We forget that both virtues and vices are terrifically proliferant. They naturally emanate from one another. Of course, some are more powerful than others, for good or ill, and ungratefulness is actually quite high on that list. Why? Because it is a disposition of denying the goodness of God. That's LETHAL. It will absolutely kill your soul if you persist in it.
Its "offspring" are further proof of its malignity. It causes cynicism by rejecting hope, refusing to see the goodness of God in all things. It causes jealousy because it cannot see the abundant blessings in its own life, and suspects that others are hoarding all the joy. And it causes entitlement, which is effectively luciferean, by insisting that "God owes ME," and has failed to provide. Every one of these vices is based on a total lie.

"Even on a bad day, you can always think of three things to be grateful for! They can be big or small things. Name them, and write them down. Be sure to keep a record of the things you appreciate so you can revisit it later."
The immediate thought: THAT'S THE ARCHIVES!! And God knows they DO perform this function too.
This is also obviously why the nightly entries MUST begin again soon. Without them, we forget everything. The days blur together into a colorless haze, and we lose all memory of tiny precious blessings.

"Don't be in a rush. Enjoy good things in the moment they happen. And when you appreciate someone, tell them."
This is Christian mindfulness!
I immediately think of people at concerts, forsaking the actual experience in order to film it on their phones, but life doesn't even give you such an opportunity for a rewatch. Either you experience it RIGHT NOW, or you don't. It's that stark. Either you are present in this moment, or you are not. Believe me, we struggle with dissociation and depersonalization, you know this, we are warning you from experience. Nothing is scarier than "waking up" in your own head and not knowing where the past year has gone. Altered states, addictive cycles, media binges, timesink phone apps, et cetera... they all pull you out of the moment, out of the NOW of God, and therefore out of gratitude. And of course, so does simply rushing, the result of trying to survive the rat race of a career, or of trying to outrun the shadows dogging your steps, or of trying to reach some horizon that keeps shifting red... rushing has its sights set on some "better tomorrow" and so it is unable and unwilling to see or admit that today-- this very moment-- could actually contain all the joy they've been chasing blindly after.
We have to listen to Jesus. "Do not worry about tomorrow." God WILL provide. He is providing right now. Just open your heart and look.
Next point =
Telling people that you appreciate them, even "at random," is such a good and holy habit. You never need a "right moment" to express gratitude because EVERY moment is a right one! Send a text, send an email, leave a comment, make a phone call, pay a visit, mail a card, whatever-- but ACT ON IT IMMEDIATELY. Do not quench the Spirit! And if you genuinely have no way to contact that person at the time, PRAY IN THANKS FOR THEM. Really, do that all the time. Make that a habit. Give thanks to God for their very existence, every day. Watch how that changes your heart.

"Find gratitude in your challenges. What can you appreciate, even when things are tough?"

This takes faith and practice but it is a HUGE GRACE and it HAS SAVED OUR LIFE, so to speak.
Honestly, reading the Archives is SUCH a powerful practice of this very thing. If anything is going to flood our heart with gratitude, it's seeing how even the darkest days were still woven into our System's ultimate Good, BY GOD.

...


The questions genuinely surprised me with their insight=
"How can you choose to notice good things today?
1) I can list three things that I'm grateful for in a gratitude journal
2) I can be vocal when I see something I'm grateful for.
3) I can serve people who need something to be grateful for."

1= We've mentioned lately how we need to start a gratitude journal again, to have that running log, and really it SHOULD be on paper. That makes it more immediate, more sincere, more intimate, more warm, more childlike.
2= We've been actively making effort on saying we're grateful in the moment we feel it! We may never get the chance again, after all. The Holy Spirit is absolutely enabling, nudging, & helping us to do this.
3= This HITS HARD. Think about the weightiness of it. Right now, in my immediate community, there are people who "need something to be grateful for." That's heartwrenching, and it's TRUE.
...
...


The prayer seems commonplace but that means we must take it more seriously; if we are tempted to skim over or skip something because it's "obvious," we're actually blinding ourselves to deeper truth. All such judgment & resistance is proud & of the devil.
Most importantly = the devil never wants us to take our faith seriously. So if you EVER make an excuse to "lighten up", "brush off", or even "laugh/ scoff/ roll your eyes at" something Christian, then you're denying Christ in a very real sense. You're treating His Calling as a joke. It's just as bad as outright avoidance, flinching & wincing, keeping your mouth shut, hesitating & neglecting to admit or own your faith.
We must ALWAYS take our faith seriously, no exceptions. It is nota hobby or game. It DOESN'T lose its gravity when taught to children, even when the language is gentler. It still speaks the same immortal truths of power.

On that note, here's the simple prayer.
"God, thank You for every blessing You have placed in our lives. Thank You for our home, our family, and the life we get to live for You."
How easily would we say this without thinking, or truly feeling? We should be ashamed.
First, SAY THANK YOU AND MEAN IT.
Second, there are no exceptions. When we realize that "God IS blessing", and only sin is a curse,
Third, God has PLACED each blessing. This is DELIBERATE, purposeful, perfectly timed.
Fourth, do you ever really sit and think of WHY these "typical responses" ARE typical? It's because they're ALWAYS BLESSINGS. Faith, family, and home are really basic needs, on a spiritual level, and can ONLY be given by God because they are pure gift, meant for good, purposed for Himself.
...
Fifth, we "GET TO" live. A Christian heart rejects the devilish lie of entitlement, as it recognizes that all is grace, all is gift, and all is also God-directed.
...


"God, please keep our eyes open to just how good You are to us so we can reflect that goodness to others."
We cannot reflect a light we cannot see. The mirrors of our hearts must be facing the Son in order to catch His Goodness, but also turned to face the "room", the world we live in, as well, in order to "shine" that Light into dark corners even across the expanse.


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112123

Nov. 21st, 2023 10:24 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)


SHJ Mass today because schedule different.
Lauds in car, guilt wouldn't let me skip it, thank God
Wegmans stop, asked for more prayers, got some more sacramentals!
Traffic trouble and "doubting the Spirit". Very humbled & chastened.

Unexpected laundry, Jesus recommended
TALKING TO HIM btw. Church too.
Also. We had to do the wash twice to get the suds out, and now I know why God did that-- because when we went to the dryer now, 40m later than it would've been, we met a NEW NEIGHBOR and were able to help him out with instructions!
Oh but we LEFT FIRST. We were already up the stairs when the Spirit elbowed us in the gut, haha. We legit TURNED AROUND and went back down to offer help.
Man I might even go BACK in a half hour to offer change for the dryer.
...I've never lived as a Christian before. Is this what it's like? It's ineffable. It's real. I'm not used to things being tangible, being actual and active, in time and space with people!
But this is exactly what that article I started reading last night told me. It literally turned my world upside-down. I need to quote it, type about it. But this is exactly what it was talking about.
God I WANT to live like this. I WANT to be a real Christian, a true disciple, a servant of God by serving His People. I've never known what it was like before. It's joy, even especially in the effort. Remember grandma. Remember SLC and CNC even, what we wanted them to be: serving others. Deep down my soul truly yearns for it, as a female especially, I'm wired to serve. And such acts of sacrificial charity are what need to grow in my faith WALK. I've just been talking! But Christianity is worship AND service, both symbiotic, united, inseparable. We are anointed to be like Christ Jesus Himself, our Head and Lord-- and His ENTIRE LIFE was serving, even to the point of giving His Life for our salvation, in redemptive death AND in Sacramental Food! Dude WE ARE OBLIGATED TO IMITATE HIM TO THE END. That is the highest privilege and it's TRUE JOY.
Don't forget, though, that we get our "fuel" TO do service THROUGH PRAYER. So did Jesus. It's inhale/exhale. We are given grace in order to give grace.
...And quarters for laundry, too, if the Spirit nudges you to it.

FOR THE RECORD = bliss isn't an emotion. Christian joy isn't about "feeling good" at ALL. Like all truth, it is beyond the sensible and temporal. When you do "good deeds," you must NEVER do them for a reward, or in the hopes OF "feeling good," like Professor Marmalade. You all know how he turned out! Rather, a Christian does "good" because God is good, and we are His Children-- we do good because Christ is in us doing the work for His glory and purposes. We do good because true goodness is found in Self-giving, in sacrificial Love, in tireless charity and boundless generosity, and we are able to do all of those things though the Holy Spirit given by the Son to glorify the Father. Our joy is in GOD.
And THAT is true bliss. Even when you "feel" empty, hollow, unappreciated, rejected, suspected, even slandered, if you are working by the Spirit, and for the Father's sake, as part of Christ's Body, then no matter how you are received by men you WILL have genuine joy in your heart. As divine mysteries are, it is quiet and deep, still and serene. You may not "feel" anything like secular "happiness," but you will have joy, and peace, and hope, and love-- all from God and for God. You are never the end of your own means. You are never the goal, never the summit, never the reason, never the cause. You're never "doing good" because of yourself; you are doing good and serving others and worshiping in action because God wants to use you to do His work. He has given you the opportunity and the grace to meet it... but He has also given you free will, even now. Will you choose to obey, even knowing you might not receive so much as mere consolation? Will you obey solely because you love your Master, and since He so loves this world of His, loves all the people He sends you to serve, then so will you?
You are an unprofitable servant. And yet, in your very obligation, you may come to share the Master's joy.



Timing the eggs today.
Siobhan did the dishes, telling us that when we're being timed OR waiting on timing-- the eggs & laundry respectively-- the Front is in a DIFFERENT SPACE??
It's NOT social; it's actually SUPER INTERNAL. It's laserpoint focus on the "time ahead" to the point of debilitating distraction in the present. It CANNOT interact socially as a result.
...

⭐Shirley, Sirius, and Penny TRUE JOBS MATCH THEIR NAMES!
Also Penny is "maturing"; she's "growing out of" her initial "infant" stage of root-likeness, when she resembled Razor a lot, because they're tied to the same chronological era?

⭐EVERYONE PRAYS DIFFERENTLY!! When people front, they FEEL the sentiments uniquely, to their color especially?? Anima Christi proved this unexpectedly and movingly.

Wondering about "color virtues" in light of this.
Violet is TRUTH?? Laurie's ESSENTIAL role!!

Evening =
Adoration!
Could not focus.
SEVERE PANIC setting in the darker & bluer it got.
Eased up a bit at home, alone & warm light, "smaller soundspace"??
BUT THE PANIC RETURNED and was DEBILITATING.
Got on the bike, put on liquid funk and BOOKED IT for 12m. INSTANT CURE.
Man we SERIOUSLY want to go back to being a gym rat, but I'm afraid that fast, strong, bright lifestyle would be in conflict with our quiet, slow, soft "cloistered life" now. Is a balance possible??? Because honestly the FORMER is true to "my soul." I'm still RED. I still have this FIRE in me that I keep dousing to be a "good Christian girl." But... God made me a spark? God knew I would have this disposition? My ENTIRE CHILDHOOD I was like this? Is it possible to be a "good Christian" and still be honestly entirely "ME"?
I want to be MYSELF for God, absolutely blazingly myself, hiding nothing & holding nothing back, giving all my fire to Him.
When did I become this? This frightened mouse of a person, a wet blanket that cries at the drop of a hat, not from sorrow but from terror. "I'm" watered-down and washed-out. What the fish happened to "me"?? This isn't a life, this isn't even a personality; how am I ever supposed to give THAT to God? I won't own it. That's dishonest. It's not my heart. My heart is still a thurible, full of fire and burning itself up for the Lord in joy. I don't know. I'm starting to slip away. I'm going dormant. That pinkish girl is taking over again, she uses flowery powdery language, not me. I apologize.
I'm a nervous wreck there's 8 minutes until Vespers what do I do until then??
Then I'm going back on the bike, before we totally pass out from anxiety. Chill out, it's only 6 minutes now. Don't be so terrified!


Dinner over an HOUR LATE haha. Our panicky brain CANNOT relax until Vespers is said. Hence our inability to get done earlier, especially when churches have evening events.
Seriously though we NEED TO DO ACTUAL NIGHTLY JOURNALING AGAIN. Not this overwhelming, scattered, perpetually unfinished datapasting for the sake of "piety."
We would probably actually grow so much more in our faith if we STOPPED just ctrl+v'ing everything to the point of never thinking about God on our own. If we do paste something, we need to talk about it RIGHT THEN. Hoarding religious text for the sake of "doing something with it later" is carelessly irreverent.
...

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VOTD = Psalm 23:6.
"Perhaps it may take a while to see the goodness God, but make no mistake, God is always good...even if your situation does not seem good, we follow a God Who Is always good. [So] trust Him today, that His Love and His Goodness will follow you, not only today, but very single day of your life."
Trust Him even in the pit, even in prison, even in oppression, etc. Like Joseph in the OT. It took YEARS for him to see God's goodness in his life, BUT he trusted the entire time he waited, KNOWING that God had promised him goodness, and it WOULD come, when God decided it was time. Until then, he trusted that God was working, everywhere, everyday, for that very goodness. You can't see who is following you until you turn around, but they are there! Likewise, we may only recognize God's constant lovingkindness in hindsight. But it has been following you the entire time. You have never been abandoned or forgotten. Even in the pit, God was with you, and not only that, He followed you there! He didn't "show up later." He goes with you always. That's how caring & devoted His "following you" is. It isn't passive or casual, it's active and involved. That's how dear you are to Him, that He will not leave you, even in the grave.That's love.


"At the end of Psalm 23, there is a promise for us. For those who follow God and listen to His guidance, the writer says that goodness and mercy will follow us."

Wait up, THAT COUNTS AS A PROMISE???
Gosh, I guess that does make sense-- the Psalms are inspired writings, typically prophetic, and the Holy Spirit is living and active in speaking to us through them NOW. Jesus says "Scripture cannot be broken," and "my words will never pass away," and Saint Paul says "all Scripture is God-breathed." SO, if Scripture says something "WILL" happen, even in the Psalms, it's still God's Word;  it's still inspired by the Spirit; it's still Truth.
Man that seriously puts EVERYTHING on a whole new level. I honestly never caught the truly deep & sacred implications of "ALL Scripture is God's Word" before. No wonder I never understood what people meant when they did talk about "God's Promises"-- I didn't even know what to look for, let alone how to read them!
Honestly this is eye-opening, and heart-opening. Mimic and Chaos 0 will both be happy, haha-- especially because honestly we REALLY SHOULD RESTART OUR BIBLE PLAN. "We" started it during the E.D. and so NO ONE REMEMBERS IT. What little recall data we have is from traumaburn data. That's not right. God's Word deserves our wholehearted attention and devotion.
After we finish John we will have to do that. So GET CRACKIN' ON THAT COMMENTARY SON!!

"What does it mean that God's goodness and mercy will follow us? It doesn't mean that life will go according to our plans. It also doesn't mean life will be free of pain and problems... we will still have to walk through dark valleys in life. Here's what it does mean: God will always be with us. God will always be good to us. Life may not always be easy, but God promises to always Be Good... His goodness and mercy will never end, [and] it’s because of God's goodness and mercy that we will one day join Him in heaven to be with Him forever."
1) That initial distinction is important. Yes, we are being followed, but that doesn't mean we're leading the way!! There's a CONDITION attached to the following, even in the Psalm, and that is, so simply & starkly you could miss it, that "the LORD is my Shepherd." If He doesn't go ahead of you, then nothing of His goes behind you, either.
2) Pain, problems, darkness, low valleys, shadows and even death itself cannot stop the pursuit of God's Goodness.
3) God will always be good... TO us.
4) God's "always" isn't stopped by death, or even time itself. For God, "always" truly means forever.
5) WE CAN'T GET TO HEAVEN OTHERWISE.


"Lord, help me to dwell in the awareness of Your goodness and mercy each day. May I be a vessel of Your love to others. Open my eyes to recognize Your leading in every circumstance, and teach me to follow after You."

1) We CANNOT be "vessels of God's Love" UNLESS we are RECEPTIVE TO THAT LOVE, and we cannot receive it unless we are AWARE of it, and even then, awareness alone won't fill us up unless we DWELL in what we are aware of and open to receive! IT'S A WHOLE PROCESS.



110923

Nov. 9th, 2023 09:41 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

Car morning so we HAD to get groceries because the freezer was actually 2 days short of being EMPTY.

Lateran Basilica feast day! Fr Jackson homily HIT = external beauty of churches means NOTHING without His Presence in the Tabernacle! Closing words applied this gravity to US!!!
We are "not just another building"; as long as we have Christ within us, we are HOLY-- we are "SET APART"

Combating unbelieving & blasphemous intrusive thoughts, accusing God of evil behavior, with the staggeringly worldchanging consideration: "imagine God acting like Laurie."
COMPLETELY REWIRED MY BRAIN AND HEART, SERIOUSLY
But really dude, if SHE can love me THAT MUCH, then why the heck wouldn't God?
Really dude WRITE A WHOLE ENTRY ABOUT THIS

Genesis keeping me car/shop company UNTIL social mode kicked in hard, and we "blackout depersonalized" to where Laurie had to be shouting directions at us in order to do even basic functions

I didn't addict-buy the lentils so Spice kissed me
Laurie asked if she should make a similar bet, but I said no not now I'm already having trouble thinking straight

Jade car shift, with them informing us of recent events
...In light of last night's discussion with Fr. Petro, it was pitiable? I was so sadly aware of how distorted & lost their thoughts were.
...

"Hunger irritability" really tough to manage, with the accompanying inability to focus or form a coherent thought

We made the stupid mistake of trying to sharpen our brand-new ceramic knife-- and now it cuts just as well as a spoon, haha. Ah well. We chucked it in the bin and we'll have to get a new one on Sunday, since the original red-colored knives we bought evidently don't sharpen because of the color, and the bottom line is that right now everything is mangling the eggs.

Schedule overwhelm and disturbance both pushed us to do 30m of BIKING PRAYERS before we ate, despite the fasting symptoms. We were praying for survival haha. But it actually WORKED OUT PERFECTLY, thank You God!!!

20 HOUR FAST man we have SUCH A HEADACHE
Update: it is PHENOMENAL how much difference just a cup of carrots makes, haha. Its like our brain got new batteries


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VOTD = Hebrews 4:16.
Jesus, as a high priest, is our INTERCESSOR! "He bridges the gap between us and God" FOREVER.
First: that term, in and of itself, is indeed exactly what Intercessor-class Nousfoni do in the System-- they "bridge the gap" between Upstairs and Downstairs, effectively.
Second: Jesus bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth in the same way-- He communicates God's Truth and Character to us below, and brings our prayers & offerings to God above-- BUT He doesn't just "do this intercession," He IS THE INTERCESSION!!
BOTH the Cross AND The Incarnation, united themselves, prove this Priestly Purpose, one NATIVE to Him AS united with the anointing Spirit in His very Being.
...

"God is not waiting to zap us, or point a judgmental finger at us. He is actually wanting us to approach His Throne of Grace with confidence, to receive the mercy He has waiting for us."
This is still so shocking to me. It's the exact opposite of what I was raised to believe about God. I don't think I actually had ANY true conception of this Truth until the past year or two. I just could not fathom God being this... this merciful, ironically. I had been taught that such gentleness, such willingness to forgive, was weakness and utterly unworthy OF God. Again, how ironic, seeing as how "weakness" is God's favorite canvas, even in us.
...


"It is essential to think about what Scripture is doing in our own heart, but it just as vital to contemplate how that effect should affect the way we treat others. Of course we want to receive God's forgiveness, but therefore we must also want to model that same type of forgiveness for others."
THIS is holy humility. Even our spiritual gifts & graces are given to us in order to serve & benefit others. We are members of Christ's Body; our faith CANNOT be solitary.
Also key is that word "WANT." It's not enough to "know we should" forgive. We must WANT to forgive, as ardently as we want to BE forgiven!
When grace is poured into our heart, it doesn't change us by "making us feel good," or "giving us consolation." That's not a change, that's an experience. We MUST be changed into CHANNELS of that grace we've been given, because it FLOWS, and if we just want to "take our share" and go our merry way, then God will justly "divert His spring" and we will be stuck with only our own stagnant pools. He WANTS us to share. It's not "our fountain"! It is HIS, and it is given for ALL PEOPLES. The minute we start feeling like we have a monopoly, we will lose what little we do have.
...

"This verse reveals a clear connection between rest and mercy and grace. We have to refuse worry and fear, and instead we have to come boldly to our High Priest, to our Intercessor, Who offers forgiveness, salvation, peace, and rest."
...Oh man this reminds me of that story I read many years ago and never forgot the heart of: it was about a man doing backbreaking labor for the sake of the Church and the Gospel, and often getting no physical rest. Someone asked him, how do you do it, with no opportunity to rest? And he replied, in essence, "I carry my rest with me always. My rest is a Person, and His Name is Jesus."
I never forgot it, because I never understood it, but wanted to. And now I can say that I do understand, at last.
Physical rest is important, and our body does need it, but it means nothing without the real essential-- spiritual rest. I can attest to this. You can sleep for days, you can lounge in the most comfortable chair for hours, you can take a month-long vacation just to "do nothing"-- but if your soul is not at rest, your body will NEVER be able to relax.
We need peace & quiet to properly rest, and sin utterly disrupts that on a soul level.
...

The prayer=
"God, please show me how to approach You with confidence. I know that You care for me. I know that You love me, but sometimes—I doubt my worthiness. Please replace my doubts with bold assurance that I belong to You, and You long to hear from me. Here I am—please help me."
The language here is tricky.
NO ONE is "worthy" to approach God, EVER, except Christ Jesus. We see this displayed to the extreme in Revelation.
But this inherent "unworthiness" we ALL have, simply because we are created and imperfect things, ALLOWS MERCY TO TRIUMPH.
Also, CHRIST IS OUR INTERCESSOR. Don't ever downplay the SHOCKING MAGNITUDE of that fact.
...
That last line is so powerful.
...

"What do you need to ask God to help you with today?
Boldness to share my testimony.
Wisdom to make a difficult decision.
Strength to stand against temptation."

You realize God WANTS us to ask for these things? And He WON'T glare at you for asking, or punish you for "needing TO ask"? He's not an exasperated human parent pushing self-reliance "so you get off His back."
...

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

Saint Clare homily pushed at me again.
Focus was on the UNITY of the Church-- unity between literally churches, between human members, between the Pope and all clergy, between the global Church and Christ its Head, between family members in the "mini churches" of our homes... et cetera. We all worship the same Lord, we all obey the same Commandments, we all follow the same doctrines. HOWEVER this means that when there ARE small differences in the universal Church body, like between cultures & local customs in parishes, we DON'T CLAIM OUR OWN AS "DEFAULT"? We humbly choose to PRESERVE UNITY, although always in MORAL RIGHTEOUSNESS-- if there is no sin or scandal at risk, then we should set aside our own private preferences and opinions for the sake of being in common unity with our fellow Christian, for the sake of God Our Father.
...This all made me feel VERY STRONGLY about our SYSTEM.
We have, jarringly, been lacking complete unity. There are too many isolated Foni, the Subsystems don't communicate, there are a disturbing amount of conflicting wants & interests & goals & beliefs. Why are we still so shattered?
It's because we spent FIVE YEARS in posttraumatic shutdown, you realize, and we NEVER HEALED THE PROBLEMS WE HAD even BEFORE that happened.
We just... woke up for good in the hospital and forgot everything prior and we've been barely existing "as if everything is healed and normal," when all we did was bury the past alive. Of course we're shattered; that's the whole point of dissociative disorder!! If we won't FACE the truth TOGETHER, then we'll inevitably suppress it by breaking into blinded pieces and hiding those pieces from each other.
...You do realize we're still not actually awake. We're still too lost in amnesia & denial.
...


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

The VOTD prayer was unexpectedly relevant to ARE too =
"God, following Jesus can be tough sometimes-- I don't always know what to do or what to say. But You didn't leave me to live for You on my own-- You sent help! Holy Spirit, please fill me with Your power and boldness today."
Being a Christian is this strange yet lovely paradox, this delicate dance of simultaneous helplessness & empowerment. I DON'T have any clue what to do or say to please God-- the only way I LEARN is BY SCRIPTURE, the knowledge of which enables me to to both hear & recognize the Holy Spirit AS the Holy Spirit, APPLYING those Words to my everyday life.
I never knew I had this Help when I was younger, not even when I was Confirmed. I was convinced, wrongly but sincerely, that because of my unworthiness and sin, the Holy Spirit had rejected me. I didn't have any Protestant "born again" sensation at my Confirmation and so I concluded that I "must not be a real Christian after all." I figured everyone else could ask for His help except me-- I wasn't part of the club; I was just an imposter, a wannabe, an outcast. And then meeting the Mormons in 2009 made it SO MUCH WORSE, culminating in the devastating claim that I had NEVER received the Holy Spirit to begin with, not even in Baptism!! And I BELIEVED IT. I absolutely believed it, with both gutwrenching terror and sick "relief" that I finally "had an explanation" as to "why I was so evil despite allegedly being a Christian." It felt like I had been suffering inexplicably for years and had just now received a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. "Ah, that explains it. Finally I know why." But it was fatal.
It was also FALSE.
...

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

More Mallett. Focusing on him for now with both current events & schedule constraints.

"Perhaps you’ve noticed how similar New Age language is to that of Christian prophecy and mysticism in reference to coming times... We aim for a purified conscience; they aim for a “higher or altered state of consciousness.” Christians are called to be “born again” while new agers aim at being “rebirthed”. We speak about an era of unity in Christ, while they speak of an era of universal “oneness.”  In fact, the prayer of Jesus was that, through unity, we would come to a state of perfection as a witness to the world (John 17:21-23). Satan has promised a false “perfection” as well, primarily to those attempting to bring about this “new age” through the “hidden knowledge” of secret societies: Among the ancient Greeks, ‘the mysteries’ were religious rites and ceremonies practiced by secret societies into which any one who so desired might be received. Those who were initiated into these mysteries became possessors of certain knowledge, which was not imparted to the uninitiated, and were called ‘the perfected.’"
I'm pasting all that because it's EXACTLY WHAT "JADE" HAS BEEN SUBSCRIBING TO SINCE THEY STARTED THEIR DRUG TRIP.
1) The "altered consciousness" ALWAYS claiming that "there is no such thing as sin! Morality is relative!" and therefore that the "conscience" is "already pure," or even inherently so! This blindness to all POSSIBILITY of fault, this denial of sin as a reality whatsoever, shuts down the real conscience by passively dooming it to unrepentance.
2) I'm unfamiliar with "rebirthed" but I HAVE heard "REMADE" far too often, and that's worse.
3) Oneness vs unity
4) True & false perfection
...


"The economic, social, and political order as we know it is going to collapse. In its place will rise a “new order” founded on this “new spirituality” (which is actually rooted in those ancient “mysteries”— errant philosophies and paganism)... this “global government’ will respond not only to people’s cry for order among the chaos, but also to their spiritual cry. [But] this insidious spirituality... will lead not to freedom, but slavery— bondage to Antichrist and the dragon himself; [because] the ultimate goal of the dragon, and his puppet the Antichrist, is to lead mankind to worshiping him (Rev 13:4, 8 ): [just so, the] New Age shares with a number of internationally influential groups, the goal of superseding or transcending particular religions in order to create space for a universal religion which "could unite humanity". Closely related to this is a very concerted effort on the part of many institutions to invent a Global Ethic. This “Global Ethic” will attempt to blend cultural, political, and economical realities into one framework with a “universal religion” as its foundation. The heart of this spirituality is the “supreme Self”—me, myself, and I. As such, there really is no unity in mutual love but a False Unity based upon a false trinity: "Tolerant, Humane, and Equal." We are all gods trying to reach a “universal consciousness”: a harmony with one another, Mother Earth, and the “vibrations” or “energy” of the cosmos. We will reach this transcendent reality through a “paradigm shift” and “altered state of consciousness.” Since there is no personal God, there is no Judge, and therefore, no sin... It is clear, then, that Christianity and her indissoluble moral codes stand as a formidable obstacle to this counter spirituality."
...this is so explicitly obvious it's unreal. My head is spinning.
MY ENTIRE FAMILY BELIEVES AND WANTS THIS LIE.
It even has WORD FOR WORD hat ugly and demonic phrase my brother parrots constantly= "we are all gods," etc.!!
But THE IMPLICATIONS!!!!! Oh man I could never quite put into words WHY that self-deifying mindset disturbed me so much. IT'S BECAUSE IF "WE'RE ALL GODS," THEN THERE IS NO GREATER GOOD, and if we're not held to any standard or Law higher than our selves-- if we define our OWN personal Truth-- then due to this amoral atmosphere, THERE'S "NO SIN." But then there's also NO SANCTITY, and therefore NO REAL HEAVEN, so what the heck is your "transcendent reality" even about???
You claim that the "only thing EVERYONE can worship is the SELF," making humanity into "little gods" whose ultimate common transcendent goal is "self-improvement" and maintaining "high vibrations" and such things, therefore focusing ALL effort and achievement ON SELF... but then if everyone is a "deity" worshipping in its own temple, then how is there unity?? How is there community?? How is there love??

Oh boy I can't be commenting on this, I'll get even more confused. I just need to READ and PAY ATTENTION.

...We're very convicted, though, and just as deeply grateful for the humiliation. We have been VERY GUILTY of falling for these luciferean tricks. Yet, God never let go of our heart, which is a miracle. He never stopped leading us back to the Truth, irresistibly so, even if we couldn't see Him working whatsoever. His Love was like gravity itself. It still is.

The "gender issues," the seeking of "altered states," the hyperfocus on our own egodrama... we're all so guilty. Thank God we see our errors now, by the grace of God. Just, please, Lord God Almighty, don't EVER let us be tricked again.

One last thing I legitimately HATE about the "newage" movement, ESPECIALLY since it FOOLED ME back around 2011--

"When it is consciously received by men and women, “divine energy” is often described as “Christic energy”. There is also talk of Christ, but this does not mean Jesus of Nazareth. “Christ” is a title applied to someone who has arrived at a state of consciousness where he or she perceives him- or herself to be divine and can thus claim to be a “universal Master”. Jesus of Nazareth was not the Christ, but simply one among many historical figures in whom this “Christic” nature is revealed, as is the case with Buddha and others. Every historical realisation of the Christ shows clearly that all human beings are heavenly and divine, and leads them towards this realisation. The innermost and most personal (“psychic”) level on which this “divine cosmic energy” is “heard” by human beings is also called “Holy Spirit”."
DO YOU SEE HOW SERPENTINE THIS HIDDEN HERESY IS???
...

"this New Age counterfeit is not true repentance, but a false worship... [The Illumination] will be explained away in the most deceptive terms as a universal awakening of the “Christ within”... a “universal consciousness” being awakened, a global paradigm shift creating an opportunity for all humanity to achieve their potential of being a god."


On THAT NOTE--

"Our understanding of anger is generally flawed. We tend to think of it as an eruption of temper or rage, tending to emotional or physical violence. And even when we see it in its justified forms it makes us somewhat fearful. Nevertheless, we do admit that there is room for just anger: when we see an injustice committed, we too become angry. Why then do we permit ourselves to feel justly angry, and yet do not permit this of God in whose image we are created? ...God is slow to anger and rich in mercy. But that’s exactly the point. He is slow to anger, but eventually, He can and does become angry. The reason is that Justice demands it... God’s response is one of patience, one of mercy, one that willingly overlooks the sin so as to embrace and heal the sinner. If he does not repent, does not accept this gift, then the Father must discipline this child. This too is an act of love. What good surgeon allows the cancer to grow so as to spare the patient the knife?"
GOD'S ANGER IS JUST AND IT IS DIRECTLY TIED TO MERCY.
...


"Jesus has freely taken the punishment for sin that is due us. Our free response is to accept this gift BY confessing our sin, repenting of it, and obeying His commandments. That is, one cannot say He believes in Jesus if His life is lived in opposition to Him. To reject this gift is to remain under the judgment pronounced in Eden: separation from Paradise. This is the wrath of God."
I just realized-- in order for Jesus’s "taking OUR punishment" TO apply to us, we need to LEGALLY ADMIT OUR GUILT. If we deny that we are under the Law, if we deny that we have any debt, if we deny that we have been sentenced to death-- if we refuse to "own" our sins AND their due wages-- death-- Jesus cannot "legally" pay them off. To give a poor analogy-- It's like if your car was totaled and Jesus offered to pay off the insurance, clear your record, and give you a new car, for free-- all of which He VISIBLY offered proof of having already prepared for you, showing it was as good as done except for your signature, as it were-- but despite His proofs, your injuries and insurance papers you kept insisting, "that's not my car! I've never been in an accident, you insult my driving skill," etc. It's insanity. But we foolish sinners do that with the Cross.
...

110223

Nov. 2nd, 2023 10:07 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JADE!!! 💚🖤💚🖤💚🖤💚🖤💚
We went ALL OUT for her as much as we possibly could.
We legit spent like... $170 on her, haha. GENEROSITY! God gave us enough to share, at exactly the right time, and we have enough for ourselves right now. Honestly if we DIDN'T go the extra mile, we would've regretted it forever. Last year, I thought BOTH OF US would be dead by this year. But we're not. We're alive and actually thriving. So WE'RE CELEBRATIN' SON!!!!

Quick notes =
THE SYNCHRONICITY ROSES
General needed food gifts, but went extra mile to get
Extra card, FINALLY wrote a personal message written in it
STEVIE WONDER!

LUNCH RUSH

Mass
Evening prayer
8pm dinner what the shark

The most important thing:
Listening to "Sandım ki"
and although it sounds so much like Infi it hurts,
I started getting absolute legit headspace events with LAURIE.

Fighting, as she does best. Felt SO REAL.
"You don't get this much blood without just as much pain, kid" comment. Floored me. Never considered that but it was suddenly so achingly obvious

Taking off bandages?? Going ENERGY like a Trigun plant??? Missing arm practically exploded into light wings, but "too frantic". She went violet light & DAENGELIC, Julie & Lynne distresses. I said something like "when the pain gets too intense the only way to bear it is to run it completely through you"?? BUT cried out "don't lose yourself in it"??
I manifested a small dagger of light and plunged it straight into my own chest?? And IMMEDIATELY Laurie-engel CAUGHT THE PAIN. Eyes changed instantly, turned to me, profoundly concerned. Single stabshape of pure red light on her own chest.
Never fails to send me reeling that she still takes on everything.

...

Kissing Mimic on the head while he was asleep. "I don't think he realizes just how vulnerable he looks like this"
Chaos 0 asking how in the world I didn't wake him up with that, I jokingly take out my Sandman umbrella and hit it for gold dust to fall out. CZ almost laughed out loud, "way to ruin the mood" tease
Still. It was a very significant moment, as I was able TO feel something so pure & sincere and EXPRESS IT.

Also dude you haven't mentioned anywhere yet how Mimic now holds your hand every time we say the Chrysostom prayer, to help ground me and focus him in too. But the means, man! It means a lot, pun intended, and I think he knows it.

...

Needless to say, with everything in headspace this evening I feel more REAL, more ALIVE, and more IN LOVE than I have in many months; almost a full year. I feel like I exist, almost.
I need to get back to laptop typing every night. God please, let our schedule accommodate that. Your Love shows itself so clearly through them, through us all together. Please don't strip me of that. I'm so tired of this hollow and cold and solitary heart. Please let us all BE together again, for Your sake, please.
I felt real love today. Please. Don't strip that from me anymore.
I know it's a poor and broken and rashly worded prayer. But it's honest, and it's a prayer. I offer it up to you. That’s all I can do at this hour, except say thank You, thank You so so much for that exact love, for all of them, for all of us. I love them so much it hurts like joy. I am so grateful I could cry. Thank You for still letting me have this in my heart, with them, with You in them I'm absolutely sure.
I'm exhausted. I love You too. If THIS is what God is then the thriskefoni have it ALL WRONG. and THIS IS ABSOLUTELY WORTH LIVING AND DYING FOR.
...funny how I'm learning that lesson from both Jesus and Laurie, at once. It only makes complete sense taken together. Remember that too. There's a bigger picture we're all a part of.


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

VOTD = "The word cast in Hebrew means to throw, hurl, shed, or fling. To propel something as far as possible. To sling something out of your sight... God wants to carry your burdens, but you have to cast them off. So don’t just halfheartedly set down your burdens or passively give them to God... Cast them down at His Feet."
...
Also the WAY the lady talked about Jesus & the Holy Spirit was really striking to me. For the first time EVER I GOT the "evangelist enthusiasm." For a moment I UNDERSTOOD the "thank You Jesus!!" Gospel preacher attitude, SINCERELY.
Rewatch it and comment specifically.
...
We ACTUALLY did this today without being "asked" or reminded!! We KNEW it was gonna be a crazy day so we DIDN'T SKIP ADORATION and we went to Mass BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. We prioritized God, and we CONSCIOUSLY "put the day in His Hands," recognizing and admitting to Him that we were powerless & blind to control our schedule or its outcomes, BUT God knew what we needed and when, so please guide us, amen. And we ACTUALLY LET GO & SURRENDERED TO WHATEVER WOULD HAPPEN. We even prayed "Thy will be done" the instant we felt anxieties coming on, and gave them over to Him.
And boy howdy let me tell you, AGAINST ALL ODDS, EVERYTHING HAS WORKED OUT PERFECTLY TODAY. And ALL the credit goes EXCLUSIVELY TO ALMIGHTY GOD.
...

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

Universalis=

"The reading [from Isaiah 25] begins with the image of the messianic banquet, the banquet which the LORD is preparing for the end of time, an image which Jesus takes up in the gospel story of the wedding-feast. After the first lines the image changes to the removal of the mourning-veil and the destruction of death, every tear wiped away. In the earlier parts of the Bible the dead are thought to lead a wretched existence in Sheol, a life which is no life, a sort of half-existence without power or substance, when the dead cannot even praise God. Gradually Israel comes to realise that God’s love is so enveloping and so enduring that God cannot desert or abandon his faithful even in death. Even death cannot cut off the faithful from God. This is one of the crucial passages where the permanent, saving strength of God’s love is expressed. Speaking to the Sadducees (who did not believe in the resurrection) Jesus will say, ‘God is the God not of the dead but of the living’. Paul will say, ‘Neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.’"
OH DUDE I GET IT!!
...
Also, this reading is clearly referring to Jesus's Crucifixion, even if only in symbols, and even if not exclusively. The meaning is still immensely important.
The "mountain" has become Calvary, that dreadful hill suddenly exalted to incomparable heights of glory. The "banquet for all peoples" IS JESUS, Whose saving Death allows Him TO give His Body AS our Food IN THE EUCHARIST. The "mourning veil" and "shroud" of death over all peoples also make me think of the Shroud of Turin, and the Sudarium, which were literal representations of real death that were also entirely transmuted into PROOFS OF ETERNAL LIFE, BY His very Death on that mountain-- a Death that paradoxically destroyed death forever. And through that same fact, Jesus wipes away our tears by giving us unfailing hope. By His innocent Passion and Death, He removes the shame from all good souls who suffer like Him, changing the Cross itself into an instrument of glory and faith, even for us. Lastly, the Cross was the ultimate proof of Jesus's Divinity, by what He accomplished there, and how, and why. It is because of His Crucifixion and all it won for us that we CAN and DO recognize and exclaim, "SEE, THIS is our GOD; the Lord JESUS IS the One for Whom ALL the endless ages have hoped in for salvation-- and SEE, He HAS SAVED US!"


"Paul uses several different images to convey the unique work of Christ. Here he uses ‘reconciled’, ‘justified’, ‘saved’. Is there any difference between them? We have been reconciled and justified by Christ’s death, and we shall be saved by his life, presumably by his risen and glorious life after the Resurrection, which will lead us to share with him in glory; this is still in the future, the end product. But we have already been reconciled with God. The enmity which we, the human race, put between ourselves and God by our constant rebellion, has been dissolved by the overwhelming act of Jesus’ love for his Father. The love of Christ surpasses the disobedience and hostility of Adam-- the human race-- in which we all shared. Paul also says that we have been justified or made righteous by Christ’s death. Human righteousness, being right with God, is always dependent on God’s own righteousness. God’s righteousness is His fidelity to His promises to save. In fulfilling those promises God is being true to Himself and His Word, and so is righteous. We are brought under that same righteousness by the fulfilment of the promises in Christ. So we are already reconciled and justified, and will be saved by Christ’s life."
These are very important distinctions, even surprising, to effectively say here that Christ's Death is not what "saves us"-- His LIFE is! BUT that very life is a RESURRECTED Life, which is ONLY possible, and therefore ONLY efficacious for our salvation, BECAUSE OF HIS DEATH. And that same chain of events is how it will work in US, through Him?? Our "saved lives"-- saved from sin, death, and destruction-- are ONLY possible BY OUR DYING, both "internally" in mystical union with Christ, by "dying to self", and then "externally", in physical death... death is our door.
(STOP BABBLING AND REMEMBER SAINT AMBROSE!!!!)
...



"The ‘yoke’ is often a symbol of the Law of Moses, which could seem burdensome with its many commands, though it was also valued as God’s revelation of Himself to His Own people in love. Christ is not a tyrannical master, but is a sympathetic, gentle and humble leader Who shares His life with His followers. The ‘yoke’ or law of Christ, as we saw [in Romans 5], is the interior impulse of the Spirit. It cannot be burdensome, since it is a joy to carry, a way of living with Christ and by his Spirit. Even the joy of martyrs, subjected as they are to physical pains, is a constant feature of accounts of martyrdom."
1) The Law is God's revelation of Himself. That's astounding. Why are we Christians not taught it AS such??
2) The Law is a gift of Love inasmuch as it IS a gift of Self. It is only "burdensome" in the same way caring for an infant or upkeeping a marriage is.
3) A tyrant is defined as "an individual who arrogates to himself the royal authority absolutely, without having a right to it;" therefore "a sovereign or other ruler who uses power in ways that are unjustly cruel, harsh, or severe; arbitrary or oppressive; despotic;" even "a compulsory influence."
Christ is none of those things. He CANNOT be those things, ever. But let that really sink in.
First, He has full rights to His Power. This, however, is WHERE unbelievers like to point and shout "despotism!" But they only accuse because they are ignorant of His Character. He is indeed an "absolute ruler"-- He is in fact THE Master of ALL Creation, the Lord of the entire Cosmos-- but although He "governs according to his own will, under a recognized right," He is NOT "uncontrolled by constitutional restrictions," in the sense that He is completely obedient to His Father, and His Father IS THE LAW, and that Law is PURE AND HOLY LOVE. Furthermore, Christ is never unconcerned or untouched by "the wishes of his subjects." He is in fact SO concerned and touched that He BECAME "one of His subjects" in His Incarnation and shared HIS Life with US.
...
4) The true definition of the famous "easy yoke"-- joy born of love.
...


102723

Oct. 27th, 2023 11:15 pm
prismaticbleed: (angel)
 

So very tired this morning. Headache, weak, a bit nauseous.

UMBRELLA HOMILY!!

Paul guilt CRUSHED us during prayer
Had to STOP and say a prayer ABOUT it= painfully contrite, asking for another chance to do right.
HOWEVER this revealed that we DON'T think of it as LISTENING TO PAUL??? We go into social performance panic, and THAT'S why we avoid him. But if we rewire our brain to JUST LISTEN, then it won't be such a dreaded "threat of encounter."
How shameful we are. At least God is showing us & then helping us heal & grow & change.

Burnt eggs = SELF-PITY DELUGE??? What the heck dude.
Thank You God AGAIN for revealing ANOTHER shameful inclination.
ALSO discernment of God vs devil lying as to what to do ABOUT the eggs.
+ DON'T trash them, DON'T throw away the burnt bits, DO eat them "as God gave them to you" without complaining, TRUST IN HIS PLAN HERE.

...

Thinking of Jesus alone in the Tabernacle down the street all day broke my heart. Asked my angel to carry my heart there, to put it in the Tabernacle with Him.
It's terrible to want so badly to live a purely spiritual life while still in the body & needing to attend to daily responsibilities. And I know I'm nowhere near strong enough as I am now, to adore for several hours a day. But I still get struck by the Spirit and I want to live there, more than anything else in the world. Just like I admittedly still dream of living in the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, worshipping all day, my life becoming one endless praise & prayer. It's practically impossible, but I still think of it all the time. It's why I always wanted to be a cloistered nun-- I just want to dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life, and for eternal ages after.
But... there were saints who were housewives, and soldiers, and students, and laypersons. They all became saints. Wherever God puts me, He calls me to love & serve Him, with the exact same inspired fervor & love that pulls my heart to that lonely ciborium in Saint John's. Christ is Present in that church, absolutely, but He is also Present in the Church. Is my ardor true & unconditional enough to consume my "pious pride" and serve Jesus with no such religious consolation? If not, then it's not His Love.

Evening =

Waiting for mom, SAT DOWN NEXT TO PAUL!
PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR REPARATION, THANK YOU GOD

House visit!
Scraped paint for mom, whacked down a pear, walked through garden leaves, ganked two of my old shiny leaves, chased cats away from tiramisu, talked to Mike about new anime, saw the HUGE MOON RISING


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

The First Reading (Romans 7) is LITERALLY LIFE AS A SYSTEM, with the SOUL VS THE BODY, ESPECIALLY with longterm addictions & disorders =
"I know of nothing good living in me – living, that is, in my unspiritual self – for though the will to do what is good is in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me. In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand. In my inmost self I dearly love God’s Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
THIS IS OUR DAILY BATTLE, ALMOST WORD FOR WORD.
...
...
I was actually just telling this to Chaos 0 & Mimic, too-- how what I truly want for them, above all else, is for them to be saved from sin and darkness-- to be redeemed from their bloody pasts & to find true life in Christ, with the rest of us. I want them to have that holy peace in their souls, as they are filled ever more with light & hope, literally being transformed into new creatures.
Man I want that for EVERYONE, now that I've been given the "surety" of it in Christ. I absolutely couldn't have sought or received or even wanted it on my own, as I was, as we were. But Christ reached down and pulled me out of the abyss.
...

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

VOTD = The resurrection story according to Luke!
"The Kingdom of God turns the world upside down... Jesus preaches a new and radical way of life, where enemies become friends, the poor are cared for, and people find forgiveness for their failures." "Jesus said that the Kingdom belongs to the poor and the outsider, and that real power consists in serving others in love."
"Jesus said that the Jewish Scriptures were all pointing to His Death and Resurrection: that Israel needed a king who would suffer and die as a rebel, on behalf of those who actually are rebels. And then He would be vindicated by his resurrection, so he could give true life to those who would receive it."
The travelers on the road to Emmaus recognized Jesus ONLY WHEN "they took IN the broken bread"-- the very image of His broken Body on the Cross, AND a direct echo of the Last Supper! THAT ALSO UNITES THE THREE EVENTS: Life, Death, AND Resurrection, IN THE EUCHARIST!!
+ "it's hard to see Jesus for Who He really is... how could God's royal power and love be revealed through this Man's shameful execution? How could a humble man become the King of the world through weakness and self-sacrifice? Its very hard to see. But this is the message of Luke's Gospel. It takes a transformation of your imagination to see it and embrace Jesus's upside down Kingdom."
"The Disciples in the upper room were freaking out over Jesus's new resurrected Body... Jesus was STILL HUMAN, but "way more." He had passed through death and come out the other side, a walking talking piece of new Creation."
"Jesus tells them that He's going to give them the same Divine Power that sustained Him, so that they can go out and share the Good News of God's Kingdom with other people."
+ Why the Ascension? "In the OT, the skies were the place of God's Throne: they're above everything. So this is Luke's way of showing that Jesus has been Enthroned as the Divine King of the whole world."

Reflection =
"When people harm Jesus, He does not retaliate or try to get even. Instead, He loves and forgives. Even when soldiers are humiliating and killing him, Jesus is compassionate toward them: “Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do” (Luke 23:34). Can you imagine loving and praying for your opposers even AS they hurt and kill you? How can Jesus be so weak when He's supposed to be powerful? Even more, how can He ask us to be vulnerable like Him? Wouldn't we be humiliated or even put to death, like Him? Jesus believes that death is part of His human storynot the end of His human life. He trusts God to preserve His life and restore it, even through suffering and death. Three days after his burial, Jesus is restored to new life. Resurrection! Jesus promises that, as His brothers and sisters, we will eventually experience His same resurrection.
Brutal and dark as it is, death does not defeat the goodness and light of life that God creates. So we stop fearing death. We stop hoarding resources and start sharing generously. We care for and pray for our opposers rather than trying to get even. We trust the power of God's patient love and learn to live peacefully with one another. Our hope is not focused on ways we can "prevent death." Instead, we embrace the death that all of us, including Jesus, have to experience. And we do so with living hope in the resurrected, living Christ Jesus— our Friend."

First: the active tense. "When people HARM Jesus..." It's still happening.
Second... I do think God wants to "get even" with me. I just realized that. I had no way to phrase the fear until now.
Third: vulnerability. How ironic, that it should now prove to be our biggest fear after all.
...
Fourth: human story vs human LIFE??? Massive depths there.
Fifth: "preserve & restore THROUGH DEATH," and trusting so absolutely "foolishly" in God's omnipotent Love.
Sixth: HIS resurrection, PROMISED to us, AS HIS SIBLINGS. Three very key points!
Seventh: BODILY DEATH IS NOT LIFE'S ENEMY. She does not stop goodness or light; actually, she often ENHANCES IT-- but ONLY IF WE HAVE THE TRUTH OF HOPE!!! Without hope, BOTH physical life & physical death become FEARFUL & EMPTY. But with hope, REAL hope, the hope WHO IS JESUS CHRIST, both are completely transmuted into joy.
Eighth: how not fearing Death-- thanks to Jesus-- transforms us & enables HOLY living, revealing shockingly how much of our sins ARE BECAUSE WE FEAR DEATH.
Ninth: Jesus reconciled ALL THINGS TO GOD, IN HIMSELF... INCLUDING DEATH. So now we can embrace her, too, as a friend in Christ.


Questions =
"How does the resurrection of Jesus give you hope?
1)When living like Jesus looks foolish and costs me, I remember that He lived through death and promised that I will too.
2) Rather than working to defend myself and to survive as long as possible, I can relax and know that my life is safe in Jesus.
3) Because Jesus has resurrected into new life, when I pray to Him I’m engaging not with a dead legend but with the living God."

...I'm actually almost in tears. I did not expect these to be so painfully applicable. Are we really THIS terrified of death?? We have ALL of these fears, but we haven't had ANY OF THESE HOPES. What on earth happened to us??
...
Even the PRAYER!! Somehow there IS a disconnect between our understanding of Jesus in History and Jesus in Heaven??? Like it "changed His attitude towards humanity." NO, IT DIDN'T. THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT. He was ALWAYS GOD, even as a Man-- and now, in heaven, He is STILL ALSO A MAN-- THAT EXACT SAME HISTORICAL MAN.
...

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

Continuing Matthew Henry at verse 36.

"It is the duty of every one of us to believe in the gospel light, to receive it as a divine light, to subscribe to the truths IT discovers, for it is a light to our eyes, and to follow its guidance, for it is a light to our feet. Christ IS the Light, and we must believe in Him AS He is revealed to us; as a True Light that will not deceive us, a sure Light that will not misguide us... Those that believe in the Light shall be the children of light; they shall be owned as Christians."
I'm emphasizing this, however obvious it may seem as Christian instruction, because for that very reason we take it for granted. We don't properly apprehend its import.
First: this is our DUTY, which is "something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation." That means that every single human being is justly expected to believe in the Gospel. Why? Because it is DIVINE LIGHT, and that very Divinity created us all. So of course we have a duty, as His creations, TO believe IN His Gospel-- that declaration of our true King, to Whom we are thus furthermore LEGALLY obliged to believe in "as a duty". Lastly, there's also duty in the sense of "moral obligation," because even the most ignorant & uneducated pagan child has a "natural law" of God in their little heart, a spark OF "divine light" by virtue of their creation BY the very Source of Light, Whose image that child innately holds. Our entire human existence is immersed in holy duty, which is to do just one simple thing-- to trust & accept God's Word.
Secondly... In this day & age, when we hear the Gospel preached, we must hear it AS GOD'S WORD. Far too many people nowadays think the Scriptures are a human invention... many of them don't even deny that there IS a God to begin with, let alone One Who cares so much about mankind. A scary amount of unbelievers think that they ARE God, effectively, and both treat & preach their OWN words as "truth". But then all the idol "truths" conflict. Then what? Do we let relativism erase the reality of Divinity altogether? Do we feign ignorant innocence of truth because we fear to admit a Higher authority? Do we echo Pontius Pilate and wash our hands of our moral duty, even as the crowds are screaming for morality's crucifixion? NO. WE SUBSCRIBE TO ONE TRUTH, THE ONLY TRUTH-- THE TRUTH OF JESUS CHRIST. He alone tells us what is real and good and righteous. Whatever He says, IS. We CANNOT argue or cavil. We CANNOT hesitate or look for loopholes. We MUST TRUST HIM WITHOUT RESERVE. What other option do you have? What else is out there but the devils lies? Rejoice that you have the light for a little while, and embrace Him with everything you've got.
Fourth: Jesus's Light, His Truth, doesn't just show us the Way-- it ENABLES us to walk it.
Fifth, something I can never understate or emphasize enough... JESUS CANNOT LIE. JESUS CANNOT DECEIVE. Whatever He tells us IS TRUE. Wherever He leads us IS GOOD.
...
Sixth... this is what it means to be a Christian. It means we are fully, really, rightly human... just like Christ.


"Jesus... said no more at this time, but left this to their consideration, and departed, and did hide Himself from them. And this He did, for their conviction and awakening. If they will not regard what He has said, He will have nothing more to say to them. They are joined to their infidelity, as Ephraim to idols; let them alone. Note, Christ justly removes the means of grace from those that quarrel with Him, and hides His face from a froward generation... what he said irritated and exasperated them, and they were made worse by that which should have made them better."
REMEMBER, WE GET WHAT WE GIVE, EVEN WITH SALVATION! If you refuse grace, refuse faith, refuse hope, refuse MERCY, then you will REAP THAT REFUSAL by simple justice. YOUR FREE WILL WILL BE RESPECTED, EVEN IF YOU MISUSE IT!! God never forces ANYONE to do anything against their will... EVEN TO BE SAVED.
...
As for "being made worse," whose fault was that? Surely those who CHOSE to respond to gracious words with proud irritability and selfish exasperation!
...

"We have here the honour done to our Lord Jesus by the Old-Testament prophets, who foretold and lamented the infidelity of the many that believed not on him. It was indeed a dishonour and grief to Christ that His doctrine met with so little acceptance and so much opposition; but this takes off the wonder and reproach, makes the offence of it to cease, and made it no disappointment to Christ, that herein the Scriptures were fulfilled."
This is tough to grasp properly.
Is this how we should view the events of life, especially its trials, especially lately?
We must avoid nihilism, though. We must never shirk or erase responsibility altogether. Biblical AND approved revelatory prophecies for the future WILL be fulfilled, for God speaks Truth, but it is STILL YOUR CHOICE as to what side of the prophecy you'll be on, so to speak. God ALWAYS WARNS US FIRST, and long ahead of time. Pay attention to Him!!
Nevertheless, when we know something is God's Will TO happen, then that does help assuage the fear, if only through trust in His Promised Plans.
Likewise, we know through MANY prophecies (especially the titular Apocalypse!) that the End Times WILL involve immense suffering & persecution for faithful Christians, and disaster for the Church (albeit never destroyed), so even when those times arrive, knowing that it "fulfills Scripture" DOES "take off the wonder and reproach," as we can still trust in God despite death standing at our very shoulder. We won't let devilish offenses drive us from the true Faith because God warned us about such ploys. Christ will not be surprised by any of it, just as He wasn't back then, because in the end of all ends, HE is the Omega, the goal of ALL prophecy, and HE holds EVERYTHING in His Omnipotent Hands.
...


"The multitude of His miracles was not only a proof of His unexhausted Power, but gave the greater opportunity to examine them; and, if there had been a cheat in them, it was morally impossible but that in some or other of them it would have been discovered, [for] He wrought these miracles before them, not at a distance, not in a corner, but before many witnesses, appearing to their own eyes... and, being all miracles of mercy, the more there were the more good was done."
Oh wow, I never considered that about the proof of omnipotence! That's true!
I feel it's important to note that He left His miracles open to examination, too. He didn't seek to publicize or promote them, but He never kept them secret either. He just did them, right where & when they needed to be done, seeking neither fame nor reputation, and needing neither approval nor validation, but only working quietly & unstoppably for the glory of God.
Lastly, EVERY MIRACLE WAS MERCIFUL. Remember that, because THAT'S STILL HIS CHARACTER!!! Even today, when we pray to Him for great healings or cures or deliverances, we first MUST HAVE FAITH, and when He responds, it will ALWAYS BE WITH MERCY. The trouble is... we often presume we have enough faith, when we don't... or we ask for something we think is a worthy miracle, but it isn't... and when Christ says "no" to those situations, THAT IS STILL MERCY. Please remember that. But ALSO REMEMBER that Christ never leaves you empty-handed. Even to these unbelievers, He left wisdom and truth and hope and Light... they just wouldn't take it. They were too focused on having one particular want met in a specifically expected way, that they were blind & ignorant of the great and beautiful mystery of this Person offering His very Self to meet the deeper needs they wouldn't even admit they had.
I think that's the biggest lesson here. The endless miracles & endless power of mercy were all flowing from & pointing to the same single thing in the end... to Jesus Himself.


"The gospel is here called their report... which we have heard from God, and which you have heard from us... like the report of a matter of fact, or the report of a solemn resolution in the senate. [But] it is foretold that a few comparatively of those to whom this report is brought will be persuaded to give credit to it. Many hear it, but few heed it and embrace it: Who hath believed it? Here and there one, but none to speak of; not the wise, not the noble; it is to them but a report which wants confirmation... The reason why men believe not the report of the gospel is because the arm of the Lord is not revealed to them, that is, because they do not acquaint themselves with, and submit themselves to, the grace of God; they do not experimentally know the virtue and fellowship of Christ's death and resurrection, in which the arm of the Lord is revealed. They saw Christ's miracles, but did not see the arm of the Lord revealed in them."
First: the description of the Gospel as a report actually perfectly fits the prophetic & historical definition the Bible Project gave us this week, and which we wouldn't have known otherwise. The Gospel, the declaration of Christ's Kingship, was proclaimed in His miracles, and so they were indeed a royal report themselves! That report is NOT from men, and never was-- it originated IN CHRIST, Who ONLY did and spoke what He received FROM THE FATHER. So His Kingship, shown by His miracles, WAS a Fact, a solemn yet joyful resolution from the Creator of All. And just because it WAS from God Himself, ironically, is WHY so many men considered it "unconfirmed." They were thinking as men, as fallen creatures, as sin-blinded mortals... not by grace, not by the Light that was shining now right in front of them.
...
...
When I read warnings like this, I always think: "how might this apply to us? DOES it apply to us?" What miracles has Christ worked in plain sight for us, but which we failed to see the Arm of the Lord working in?
...


"We are sure that God is infinitely just and merciful, and therefore we cannot think there is in any such an impotency to good, resulting from the counsels of God, as lays them under a fatal necessity of being evil. [And yet] they were obstinately resolved in their infidelity, [in] the invincible refusal of the will... This is a moral impotency, like that of one that is accustomed to do evil."
First: NO ONE is "necessarily evil." NO ONE is "impotent to do good."
...
"And yet," it says, these unbelievers of Christ "could not believe". In my humbled opinion, this was because they had refused TO be able. I say this because I know what insane and blinding lengths the mind will heedlessly take just to deny or evade something it does not want to see or admit or accept.
...
...


"God damns none by mere sovereignty... God is not the author of sin, and yet, there is a righteous hand of God sometimes to be acknowledged in the blindness and obstinacy of those who persist in impenitency and unbelief, by which they are justly punished for their former resistance of the divine light and rebellion against the divine law... judicial blindness and hardness are, in the word of God, threatened against all those who wilfully persist in wickedness... If God withhold abused grace, and give men over to indulged lusts-- if He permit the evil spirit to do his work on those that resisted the good Spirit-- and if in His Providence He lay stumbling-blocks in the way of sinners, which confirm their prejudices, then He blinds their eyes, and hardens their hearts... these are spiritual judgments, like the giving up of idolatrous Gentiles to vile affections, and degenerate Christians to strong delusions."

This entire truth, awful and vital, is something we must always emphasize. Free will, and our ability to not only choose sin, but neglect good-- both positive and negative evil-- have FATAL CONSEQUENCES.
Let me take this piece by piece.
First: God NEVER damns us "just because He can." That goes against His entire Nature. God WANTS ALL TO BE SAVED, always, no exceptions, forever. HOWEVER. We can still REJECT salvation, actively or passively, and He will also not save us "by mere sovereignty." Love gives the beloved the free option to reject that love, to choose to separate themselves from the lover. Otherwise, without this freedom to say no, there can be no willing, mutual, or true relationship. So God gives us that option. We can refuse His Love, even if we would be alone and empty and miserable without it. He still won't force us to accept His Love, OR to love Him, ever... but, like I just mentioned in passing, that rejection has real consequences.
Second... if we persist in rebelling against the Divine Law-- the exact same cosmic Rule that holds the very galaxy in order-- then what else could happen, but that we will effectively damn ourselves to a state of spiritual "primordial disorder" without the Spirit’s enlivening Influence? If we continue to resist the Divine Light, what else could happen, but that we damn ourselves to inescapable darkness, to the very degeneration of our spiritual sight, the actual atrophy of the eyes of our heart? We bring this ON OURSELVES, but God ALLOWS IT, in all justice, because WE CHOSE IT by our persistent impenitent sin... our repeated rejection of Love.
Third, we have the scariest line here to me: "God will withhold abused grace, and give men over to indulged lusts."
Fourth, remember the "room swept but empty." Even if our lives look clean & tidy on the outside, like a swanky new house, if our inside state is devoid of Life, without the spousal company of the Good and Holy Spirit... well, then the demonic squatters will sneak in to steal the space. That's just a spiritual law. The heart cannot be empty; that defies its very purpose. You will always find it filled with something... if not the beauty of God, then the ruin of sin. When we choose to worship ourselves and live alone in our heart... it's only a matter of time before egotism turns into animalism, and pagan promiscuity starts letting anyone in, secretly afraid of the suffocating solitary silence in the absence of Love.
...
Fifth, stumbling-blocks of Providence! What a concept! Let me grapple with this. They are described as such because they "confirm the prejudices of sinners," and are laid specifically TO do so. How is this Providential? Because it is a sign of God's spiritual judgment, a testimony of righteousness against their obstinate wickedness, and a proof of truth against their falsehoods. But what's an example?
...
Sixth, DEGENERATE CHRISTIANS & DELUSIONS. I shudder to admit I WAS ONCE ONE OF THEM.
...


"Observe the method of conversion implied here, and the steps taken in it:
[1.] Sinners are brought to see with their eyes, to discern the reality of divine things and to have some knowledge of them.
[2.] To understand with their heart, to apply these things to themselves; not only to assent and approve, but to consent and accept.
[3.] To be converted, and effectually turned from sin to Christ, from the world and the flesh to God, as their felicity and portion.
[4.] Then God will heal them, will justify and sanctify them; will pardon their sins, which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions, which are as lurking diseases.
Now when God denies His grace nothing of this is done; the alienation of the mind from, and its aversion to, God and the divine life, grow into a rooted and invincible antipathy, and so the case becomes desperate."

Hope and terror here together, as it always is in Scripture, and rightly so.
First, to be converted, we must first SEE-- we must, as plainly as our physical sight, SEE that divine things are not just REAL, but REALITY. There is a difference. To suddenly "see" that the Gospel is not just true historically, but Truth Itself-- rather, Truth HIMSELF-- to realize that Heaven and Hell, judgment and sin and grace and redemption, are ALL REAL and in fact DEFINE REALITY at every turn, that changes everything. It's like seeing colors for the first time. It's like hearing "Ephatha." And to really see something IS to gain knowledge of it-- you're not just passively absorbing visual data; you're looking, you're processing what is before you, you're gazing upon it.
But as to why sight is step one to conversion: you only need conversion because you turned away from God. You rejected Him. You wouldn't look at Him. You shut out all awareness and acknowledgement of His Love-- which, guess what? IS REALITY. You blinded yourself to Truth and you forgot what it looked like. Well... then you need to see it again, at long last, even just a glimpse. Then you have hope. But on your own, you can't even imagine it. It's like a color you've never seen... solely because you've been living in darkness. You need grace to shine a little light on your life *clap clap* and make you see.
Second: Seeing isn't enough. Even gazing & contemplating aren't enough. Wonder is wonderful, but James 1:23 warns us all that we still have weak eyes. When you look, then, you must press that image deeper-- you must emblazon it on your heart. You must understand what you see. The most stunning artistic masterpiece is still just a senseless splash of shape & color to one who doesn't understand what they are looking at. They must look into it, from inside themselves. "What is essential is invisible to the eye," after all. But... understanding goes deeper still. It implies a relationship has been forged, however small. There is now a connection between you and the thing understood. And this connection, this relationship, necessitates compassion. That is where conversion keeps its roots.
(APPLY TO SELF; ASSENT & APPROVE, CONSENT & ACCEPT)
...
Third:
...
Fourth: the promises!! God "WILL" heal you, and
BECAUSE now you are IN RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, and such benefits are INEVITABLE.
...
Fifth... the terror.
What happens when you "alienate yourself" from Life? What happens when you stop eating, or drinking-- what happens when you stop breathing? Do you realize that is the state of your soul without the Spirit?
...


"Such is the Knowledge of God that He cannot be deceived in what He foresees, and such His Truth that He cannot deceive in what He foretells, so that the Scripture cannot be broken."
A reminder that EVERYTHING IN SCRIPTURE IS TRUE.
...I'm struck by the description "it cannot be broken," BECAUSE it is true, as if implying that falsehood shatters things, and that all lies will BE shattered, by necessity.

 

prismaticbleed: (Default)

we've decided to consolidate all our "phone entry" posts into monthly bulk updates to avoid flooding the archives with general daily data.

if there is a strikingly important topic, or something we want to be able to reference individually in the future, we will post it as its own entry.
however, it is more likely that we will take these snippet posts as "starting posts" to write larger, formal entries from when we have the time and capacity to.

otherwise, having all these smaller entries in one place makes it much easier to grasp the general tenor of the month, and to see small bits of progress from day to day.


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

1001

Church: GOSPEL + LAST NIGHT VERSE REVELATION
"Save life vs lose life"= ACTIONS, not results!!

BK AT 220 ;_____;

Evening =

Finding a spot to put the 5ft lights
In room= under desk attempt. REMEMBER WE DID THIS IN THE HOMESTEAD!!!
Decided not to put them there; wanted red.
Bright idea to put 5ft around bathroom mirror, for getting ready in morning-- doesn't blind us, and also respects privacy with open door.

Kitchen lights fixing at like 9pm? Put up a string by microwave, up the wall, to chase away corner shadows

Mimic going to bed early, "so sue me for appreciating the fact that I can actually sleep safely here."
I casually said "love you goodnight" and in his drowsiness he replied "I love you too, see you in the morning"
Laurie LOOKED at me, pointed to calendar, mark the milestone date that he was ABLE to let his walls down even for just a second

LYNNE randomly took the melatonin tonight
Julie asked why this isn't more common? Why is she herself the one pushed out?
Laurie said she's the only Centralite who CAN eat, and is one of the only foni trusted TO eat.
Lynne added that in any case, the melatonin "tasted pink" so it would naturally call her out

Stayed up to pray on couch.
Sacrifice was NO BIKE today. Day of rest! Genuinely hard to do, so offered it up.
Falling asleep but still got all prayers in, and got to bed early enough to get legit sleep! God rewards efforts of devotion, always.

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

1002

Bathroom mirror lights work perfectly!
Lynne very pleased with them

Blood sugar 70 at mass
We feel SO SICK after we take glucose???

UNBEARABLE GUILT during morning Chaplets. Couldn't focus. Felt like death row.

Kitchen lighting = lights BELOW eye level CAUSES PANIC??? Bizarre. Is that triggering BASEMENT FEAR??

Egg disaster again
Moping! Felt like everything I did was wrong always
LAURIE PRAYED FOR ME

Evening=
Utterly exhausted. Literally 30 MINUTES of free time to rest. That's it. Lord please give us strength.

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

1003

WHAT A BUSY DAY!!!

Church. Lady from daily crew passed away. Father gave homily about her, tied into Gospel! We all prayed for her.
Adoration as usual, plus reading about today's TEN MARTYRS from the Reformation attacks on Catholics. Genuinely disturbing that we never even knew that happened.

Got home, immediately & spontaneously CUT HAIR.
Shower
Laundry
Faucet fix
Clean kitchen

FINALLY BREAKFAST AT 150PM 😂

Well, not only does it keep glitching & freezing, but apparently Youversion's update DELETED ALL OUR SAVED PRAYERS.
That's it, man, we're done. We've GOT to find a replacement app.


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

1005


Fasting again today.
Called office about repairs-- apparently they are always on-call and NOT "native to" our housing? So although we're technically "on their list" of jobs to complete, there is NO set schedule and it might take DAYS before they actually show up. so there is literally NO WAY to predict their arrival. the lady in the office said they weren't even on site today. which was also unexpected. so yeah, this is going to be a prolonged cross. God's will be done; He has good reasons for this, and we trust Him. we've already learned a LOT.

Mom called during Rosary
Paid full attention to her!!

BK prep FURIOUS OCD Kakofoni
Laurie AXED
Realized we no longer have Infi to transmute Tar
ALSO REALIZED HIR ENTIRE TRANSMUTATION METHOD WAS AN EXPLICIT SXABUSE/ED MIRROR.
...

...our unwillingness to forgive is what killed Infinitii.
ZE did it. ZE was the one directly responsible for that fatal event. But ze was only trying to love, as misled & misinformed as ze was.
Even so... without hir, now, how DO we "forgive ourself"-- AND Oliver, who Infi LOVED?
In Infi's heart, I think, forgiveness is already there. There's enough love AND grief for it.
...

Harbor blue twilight sky at 1845, with streetlights on = INSTANT "THEME PARK EVENING" PANIC!!! Almost debilitating; hard to breathe, shaking, heart racing. WHY THIS SEVERE???


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


1006

Last night= wouldn't let self relax. Tumblr waste time. Got so depressed & angry crying from guilt.
Then suddenly CULTURE VULTURES????
I FORGOT how much I love that album. Gotta put it on the phone!


Repairmen ACTUALLY knocked on our door around 930-- BY ACCIDENT. But God said it was time to comfort us, and to tell us that our door repairs are TUESDAY!!
I have to thank God profusely for these two days of heavy fasting & prayer (now day three). I have learned a great deal, and have been humbled in my starkly revealed weakness. But this is grace. I must cling to it, and continue in it.

Saint Bruno's feast day! Universalis bio referred me HERE
https://maps.app.goo.gl/AEppTXjctmAmLK7q6
I am ACTUALLY IN TEARS from the sheer beauty of it. It's so simple, yet so grandiose in God's splendor. Pray for us Saint Bruno.

Lynne eating carrots= VIBE MATCH! Proves that she IS Orange, NOT Vermillion!


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

1007


Slept until 9
SO exhausted. We never feel rested.

Prayers tough from fatigue, emotional turmoil. Prayed for help & grace.
Focus was better than yesterday; we're learning to "speak TO Mary" and listen more than think.

Passion prayers during cooking= EASIER WITH AUDIO???

Rosary moved to tears w/ Visitation + music. Hit home.
Reflecting on VIRTUES manifested in each Mystery, in the Hearts of Mary AND Jesus.

It's raining outside and everything smells like heaven.
Wet fallen leaves are honestly one of the most comforting childhood memory scents we have; it's the beautiful backyard when EVERYTHING turns orange & crimson & maroon.
I've gotta go up there soon. Mom has cut down so many of the trees, but... the woods remains, and THAT is where I want-- where I NEED-- to let my heart run free.


...Xenophon doesn't have me feed her with the chopsticks anymore. She asks for the bowl & feeds herself now.
It's a bit sad, but it's inevitable. We're both growing older. She's TWELVE now for heavens sakes, in literal age, not minusing the "dead years" after CNC-- and even if we did, she'd still be hitting 8.
...Today she was talking about moving into the League. She recognizes the aging too, and the irreversible life changes, especially in me. Her father is no longer up front. The bloodline shifted entirely. Her role in my life is completely different; we're not biologically related, and she isn't a child anymore. She's finally accepting that. It just... aches, somehow, this loss,this absence, this knowledge that she SHOULD mean more to me and we SHOULD be closer but... we're not. I'm too different; we come from different timelines, different worlds, different lives.


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

1008

Unbelievably exhausted waking up. Fibro probably

Blood sugar would NOT go above 84??
So cold too. Hands numb.
Glucose shot up to 104 once driving??? Stress??

Wegmans shop, Walmart stop
Jade car shift
EAR CANDY TUNES by CAPSULE!

Huge mistake BK prep = tried the gummies & vegchips
POISON PANIC FONI FREAKED OUT.
Not Allegra. She says that's her LITTLE SISTER.
Our face & lips DID get red & puffy. SCARED. took benadryl.
Kissed Jesus & Mary pictures with faith and it CURED IT!!!

BK at 3PM WTF.


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

101223

LOTS of sharp lower abdominal pain this morning. Wanting to vomit from it.

BK prep Passion prayers again. Sincere.

Early schedule for films. We need to watch them all within 3 days because they're due and we've put it off for two weeks already. But we don't want to be so irresponsible/ lazy/ rejecting of own goals to not watch them.

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

1016


Church. Made the effort
No sanctuary candle???
Unexpected visitor in back. social mode kicked in and we COULDN'T PRAY. brain literally would not think because everything was forced external. disturbing to feel this hard shift in realtime. 

JORDAN PETERSON YouTube sudden diversion when we got home.
NEED to watch his talks.

Jade shower stop. Family trouble again.

Cleanup & prayers. Reflecting on them more with the System
Accidental shower haha

Mom called, JADE GOT FIRED??????


101523

Oct. 15th, 2023 10:04 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


HAPPY SUNDAY IT'S 230PM BREAKFAST TIME 😂
Seriously though i don't mind. I'm used to fasting thanks to God's training. Remember yesterday's VOTD about discipline!
Today had been gorgeous, and I thank God for that too.

Dream with grandma wanting "chicken pancakes". So realistic that as soon as I woke up I googled recipes for it haha.
But... honestly I think I've been dreaming about her every night for weeks now. It wasn't like this last year. And... it's so strange. In our dreams, we're always at the homestead, but the era is very starkly different: either we are a child, around age 6-7, or we are in 2021-2022, when she was in home hospice. In both cases she is still bedridden, but she's... not dying? She's not in pain. We're still taking care of her in the dreams, but she is smiling and talking and lucid; it's not like the last days actually were, when her awareness of both self and space was visibly deteriorating from the cancer.
...It feels like God is giving me a "second chance." We weren't conscious for the entire time grandma was ill; we were still "dead" post-CNC, and God only knows who was fronting. So memory only starts to pick up in late 2021, I think? Whenever we started listening to Larnelle Harris and hanging clothes on the porch at night with WVIA jazz playing in the background. They're very broken memories, like looking through someone else's brain from behind, but they're real flashes. Nevertheless, they are very sparse.
But... the point is this. We didn't get to care for her. We weren't ABLE to care for her; we were addicted and abusive and absolutely incapable of doing good for anyone. We didn't even wake up until half a year after she died. And... now, suddenly, when we ARE aware and conscious and SANE for the first time in freakin' YEARS... God is giving us these dreams. We're able to see her, even though we don't "remember" her. It's so strange. We see snippets of childhood, and that house, and it's like photographs that we only saw once suddenly come to life.
But we're grateful. Whether or not we actually remember our body's chronological history, it happened, and it affects us whether we realize it or not. So God giving us these nighttime "visits" is a real grace.

 
Beautiful post-rain winter sky upon waking, like a big silver fluffy blanket. It was shockingly lovely to see. I lay there with CZ for a bit and just looked at it.

Needed TWO glucose at church today, but didn't feel super sick, just cold & so lightheaded the room was wobbly and my sense of proprioception was failing, haha. That happens when the glucose drops!

CCD kids stopped in between Masses! Impressed and deeply humbled by how simply yet piously Maryann P teaches them the basics. I have a lot to learn, and a lot of foolish pride to lose, if I ever want to teach children too.

MARVELOUS HOMILY. "Choose carefully!!" Fr. P gets SO ZEALOUS i love it so much. He is on fire for the faith.
Basilica broadcast had a good homily too! Tied all three readings together!

HOMESTEAD SMELLS LIKE HEAVEN. IT'S ALL AUTUMN LEAVES.
I absolutely NEED to go up there one day to help work & soak it all in.
Nabbed a pear!

Jade crying over Pepper still missing.
Had a good honest human talk today though. No zany stuff.

1234 on microwave activated Audrey's radio, haha
Did I mention we CAN see her, roughly? I need to make an avatar for her. But she's BRIGHT ORANGE. She has short hair, is a bit chubby, and she always wears big over-ear headphones. She's young, too, maybe only 13. She doesn't talk much, she communicates through music or gestures mainly; when she does talk it's quiet & brief but notably aware & intelligent for her age. She's so sweet, though. We all like her a lot.

"Laurie-analogous" protector slots for EACH color???
Spice thinking about this
Discriminating her function from both Lynne & Adelaide despite close colors

None hour prayers about loving God. "I love You, Lord, my strength, my protection, my Savior," etc. Hit me that I still don't have that personal and close a relationship with Jesus. I'm still both too scared, and too self-dependent??? Which is ironic as I am totally helpless and stupid and I KNOW it. But its learned instinct from childhood. I need to unlearn it. Even better, I need to have a "NEW CHILDHOOD" IN CHRIST!!!

Etymology bliss= learning "claudere" root words!
Honestly when I learn more about the "skeletons" of language it's like a whole new world opens up. I can recognize the bits and pieces in common words all of a sudden, and even guess the meanings of new ones. It's such a wonderful feeling. I get that too when I can properly read Greek or Hebrew letters, which I am getting better at but very slowly, as I'm not actively studying right now due to all my time being dedicated to Scripture study outright. Nevertheless, it involves both languages inevitably, so I'm still getting some knowledge here and there. I treasure it.

We contacted YouVersion help finally. Apparently there are a LOT of known unresolved bugs, so thank God for telling us to be patient and Compassionate and not quit in a snit.
On that note it paid off already-- today we VERY SUDDENLY got back TONS OF PRAYERS that have been assumed deleted for MONTHS??? So hopefully they're NOT all gone, just glitched. Thank You God, and please forgive our stupid impatience. Thank You for not giving up on us; help us to never give up on others, either.

Think8:7 KVOTD intro actually made me laugh out loud. I always enjoy their vids, them and Word of Life.

Evening =

Family donated food. Uncontrollable panic.
Destructive binge.

I am so sick and so scared.
All I want is Jesus.


101423

Oct. 14th, 2023 09:48 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


Dream hack right before alarm. Threw me off so bad.
It felt like being sniped. The worst part is that I was TALKING TO CZ at the time so he SAW me brace for the hellish impact and he couldn't do anything. He was just as shaken and sick as I was.

Late start day, for that reason and also weakness & cold.
Vacuumed the house to wake self up. Said the Saint Michael chaplet at 7 bike resistance to warm up and start the day for real with prayer & protection.
Oh!! WAFERS released a video literally the minute we were about to pray, that we watched immediately-- it was Fulton Sheen talking about GUARDIAN ANGELS. We had never heard that talk of his, and it HIT HARD. Completely changed our perspective on it. We need to find and watch that whole talk now.
He even referenced Matthew 16:25-26, which is EXACTLY what we're currently studying in John. So God is handing this to us very specifically, very pointedly. We must then pursue this line of spiritual education. It is literally essential.

God making me weaker and sicker with age is actually FOR MY GOOD because it now FORCES me to rely on HIM rather than on my own strength, which I used to do.

God reminding me that the System is "the colors of my soul" and that we MUST exist and worship TOGETHER to do so AS A WHOLE SOUL. seems obvious but this "singlet forcing" is suicidal and scarily prevalent.

At Mass=
Got there early, ran to confession! I was very unstructured but I mentioned my inner struggles with prayer fatigue and tendency to despair over past sins.
I was upset that I didn't have time to examine my conscience-- I just ran in as it was last minute. But now I'm motivated to do so thoroughly so thank You Holy Spirit.

Going up the stairs i glimpsed INFI again, unexpected but clearer than I've seen hir yet since hir death. Ze's still intangible, and in an unmappable floating space that can't be accessed at will-- such "bubbles" you must be brought into. But... I saw hir. Not entirely, of course-- I havent since hir death. But today I saw hir WINGS-- and they have CHANGED. They are now stained glass??? It's achingly beautiful. They're smaller, more elegant, streamlined.
I said, "but won't they be fragile?"
Ze turned to look at me with that eye, like a bouquet of lilies, and said, "shouldn't I be fragile?"
It pulled my heart like a harp again. It's unreal. I ONLY FEEL EMOTIONS AROUND HIR.
I know ze said something else in response, one more line. But I can't remember it. I think it had to do with color.
Nevertheless... ze IS changing, truly and deeply. They ARE being reborn in Christ like the rest of us, slowly but surely. They ARE being freed from their past, because they are forgiven, and as we accept that more completely, as a whole, then we ALL will be changed into a new life and beauty too.

Due to rain & autumn, the church was darker & colder then usual, and it immediately brought a surge of CHRISTMAS feelings to my heart, powerful and heady. But I found i was scared to feel that joy?? I was so tense and anxious, it felt dangerous to calm down & relax into that "I'm home" feeling of this season specifically manifest in the church. But once I noticed this resistance, I LET GO. For a minute or two, I opened my heart to it and let it fill me. The peaceful joy was so sincere it was hard to comprehend. I felt alien to it. Why? Still, I chose to stay in it, to accustom my soul to it again, as it had been in childhood. I reminded myself that Heaven is all joy & peace & safety in Christ, so I must not resist it even now. I must learn to be okay with being happy, healthy, and safe. Otherwise I will keep resisting Jesus's consolation, mercy, and forgiveness. That is literally fatal.
I don't know how I got so morbidly stuck in fear, but God does, and He WILL help you, so pray to Him to do so.

I was also suddenly so aware of Jesus in the Tabernacle during the Gloria today. I sang it directly to Him.
All our devotionals and studies are truly enriching our knowledge and faith in the Real Presence. This is amazing and it REALLY gives me joy that I CAN FEEL. Thank You God so much for this amazing grace!! Please continue to deepen our belief, reverence and love for Your Son in the Blessed Sacrament, especially when we receive Him. You deserve everything we can offer you and infinitely more. Please help us to give all we are to Him in love, as He has done so for us.

Beautiful new song to sing today. Here, listen!

Bizarre irritable apathy before dinner??? Felt utterly alien. Probably social overwhelm.
Debilitating depression after dinner though. Destroyed our motivation to exist even. Almost binged from sheer careless deadness. Took an hour to get the energy to say Rosary. Made mistake of looking for safe food online and getting an eyeful of bitter entitled reviews & mindless consumer mentality.
Prayer gave some hope again. That's what's REAL, not this sham of a culture.

So exhausted. Feel horrible. Possibly getting legit sick.



101323

Oct. 13th, 2023 09:37 pm
prismaticbleed: (soniccity)



Friday the thirteenth.
Really aching missing Josephina. But I know s/he HAS a potential rebirth seed STILL in Yellow.
I haven't seen him/her (yes their gender needs to stabilize and it's unsure) in a while, but they're in whatever "neither here nor there" floatspace that Infi is in. I think? Jo's in a more "dreamy" space; it's less "tangible" than wherever Infi is? And they COULD NOT MEET, I can feel that clearly. It's very strange.
Nevertheless, they aren't "dead," not "permanently." Their souls are too strongly loved, too important to us all, for them to disappear or even be recycled. They just need to wait until the good Lord decides they can resurrect, with new names and faces inevitably but still the hearts we know and love. Change is necessary, when a nousfoni dies. We know this. It doesn't make the loss any easier though.
Still. I am grateful for that. It means we aren't hardened to death, even though we have a hope of life afterwards. To be nonchalant about death, even a temporary one, would mean our own hearts were lifeless.


Notably more tired & weak today than usual. Run home was tough.

Last night= watched both Kubo and the Two Strings and The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Kubo kept freezing and skipping chunks of the movie?? Some library discs do that and we don't know why. So we missed some important scenes, which was the worst bit-- almost for spite, it would freeze and skip at KEY POINTS in the film, notably three times during the ending.
Still, the animation was amazing and the "family" plotline really tugged at our heart; we've never had a family dynamic IRL, so that "mom & dad" togetherness is alien to us. Deep down I think some part of us wants it more than anything though, even though it's impossible.
...
Kaguya was unexpectedly lovely, but it hurt. Yes the beginning was VERY DISTURBING for us as a trauma survivor, solely because of the culture shock of casual nudity. But besides that, the art style was unexpectedly wonderful to watch, and I swear EVERY SCENE where they showed the sheer wild beauty of the Japanese countryside had us aching with affection. Nature is so beautiful, oh my gosh, the delicate details made it so much worse, we were almost in tears several times from the pure and simply beauty of existence portrayed on screen.
...
Both films emphasized the importance of human relationships and human emotions. Needless to say, both those topics have been a sword in our heart for months now.


REMEMBER LAST NIGHT= EMOTIONS WITH THE FLOWERS IN KAGUYA. All the blooming made me think so powerfully & instinctively of Infinitii. My heart instantly thought of Them standing there and it was so clear I could swear they were really there. I reached out towards them and I felt my heart absolutely MOVE. There's no other way to describe it it was an emotion so deep it was like an upheaval. In the instant I knew with complete conviction that "if I touched them, I would fall in love so hard it would kill me."

Evening =
Watched Song of the Sea.
SO MUCH CASUAL CATHOLIC IMAGERY. It was an intrinsic yet unstated part of the very landscape. It gave me such immense joy to see. I want that in the League.
Mac Lir weeping in anguish was like a sword to the chest. You NEVER hear men cry in movies, ESPECIALLY NOT THAT PAINFULLY. It did something to my heart. I needed it.
On a lighter note, I love the daoine sídhe trio, especially Lug, they were beautifully animated and wonderfully characterized.
Also WHY IS MY VERY SOUL ALWAYS ACHING FOR IRELAND??? It's been like this since at LEAST 2002!! Honestly I resonate with it SO HARD it hurts-- the landscape, the language, the music, everything. I don't know how to explain it.

Also I legit think we're getting sick. The weakness is worsening, as is the intestinal pain & nausea. It was so bad during breakfast we could barely eat. We feel flushed too. I hope this isn't bloody COVID again, seriously.
No fever though. Thank God.

I just looked outside at the grey-blue overcast twilight and thought, "It's Dunwall weather," haha. TIS THE SEASON.
Man but I miss that game terribly. That and NiER Gestalt. Just like Ireland, something in those games resonates so much with our heart.
Still, NOTHING BEATS KLONOA DTP. That's Jewel's heart. To this day, it resonates with more brilliance and joy and depth than anything else.
We really need to sit and play it all the way through soon. We haven't in many many years. If anything is going to remind us of who we were, back then before everything started to darken, that undoubtedly will.




101123

Oct. 11th, 2023 09:30 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


Cold tired & dissociated but MADE IT TO MASS!
Still haunted by terrorism thoughts. What if terrorists came into the chapel & gunned us down today? Remembered stories of martyr priests running to guard the Tabernacle with their very bodies, & immediately thought of the verse, "your life is hidden with Christ in God"
I typed that instantly so I wouldn't forget. But I can't grasp the initial revelation now. Pray to recover it & then write it.
I think it was how the Eucharist WAS the Life of those priests? Even if they were murdered, they didn't lose their life, because their Life is CHRIST and He is untouchable & eternal in heaven. Their deaths therefore sent them TO Life.

Saint Bridget prayers= remember we SERIOUSLY want to write heavy reflections on the introductory phrases for each prayer: there are immense depths calling to us.
One hit us new= HIDE ME IN THY WOUNDS, but FROM THY ANGERED FACE!! Staggering. When God "hides His Face" from us in our sin, and justly so, we suffer as a result; BUT BY THE CROSS Christ can now REDEEM even that state by hiding us IN HIS WOUNDS BY OUR SUFFERINGS??? He makes it so that no matter where we are we can still be with God??? WE are the ones whose sins GAVE Him those Wounds, and they are WHY His Face is angrily turned from us in justice, BUT IN HIS MERCY He uses those very Wounds to hide us from His own wrath. It's amazing. That's how much He loves us and wants to save us.


140m prayers, SPOKEN. Shockingly easier & more honest.
No music except Glorious Rosary.
Actually A FEW TEARS at end of Dolors Rosary!! We keep praying for the grace of divine sorrow, for our heart TO weep again, to be ABLE to feel things again.

SO much age-sliding and gender-shifting in the Core identity during prayer: certain selves can feel or think different things. Male vs female, young vs old, CANNOT experience the same way. It's such a distressing fact that we "have to be just one" in normal external life; to do so feels like suicide. It cuts off half of the entire heart, at the very least. Who would that "me" be, so mutilated in emotion & awareness?
"I" only exist in full truth AS PART OF A MULTIPLICITY. I am but one "me" of many, just one color of the rainbow. And when this is EMBRACED and ALLOWED TO FLOURISH, we do so much better; life becomes rich & real & colorful.
...but it's also exhausting, to exist. The lazy "singlet" brain wants it all gone, to not have to feel or remember or dream or anything, just drone through on the outside, a living death.
Our biggest fear is that being multiple is a sin, in and of itself. God please we hope not. But no one ever talks about it in religion, other than in demonic possession, which this IS NOT because demons don't pray and worship Jesus the Lord. But the church doesn't really talk about mental health, let alone innerworlds and all who inhabit them. We still say, not even joking, that if God did decide to miraculously make us a canonized Saint, we would want to be the patron Saint of dissociative (identity) disorders, if not also eating disorders. We've walked those roads firsthand, but God never left us, and if He is willing to bring us even further to heaven, then from there, we want to intercede for the future Church Militant fighting those particular battles. It would be such a joy, such an honor, but even morseso it would be such an act of fraternal love. And we do want that, if we may be so bold as to admit it, although humbly pressing our face to the ground and insisting But Thy Will Alone Be Done, Lord. We surrender to Your Good Will And Purposes either way. Just getting to heaven would be (will be, oh we hope!!) enough of a stunning miracle to merit our infinite gratitude forever; we dare not ask for anything more... but we cannot but plead for anything less.


BK prep quieter than usual. Laurie said that if God wants her to go away in order for Him to save me, then she will gladly leave. The heartbreak and joy were both synonymous in her saying that. Me too.
Everyone else agreed with her. We hope it won't come to that-- we all love God together and want to help each other grow in faith-- but we are still one collective soul. If we HAVE to sacrifice that for the greater good of God, especially in order to sacrifice our body's life for those around us physically, then we repeat, Thy Will Be Done. Please give us the grace to surrender completely to it.

Evening =
1845 PHONE CALL FROM MOM, IT'S JUST A CYST, IT'S NOT CANCER, OH THANK YOU GOD!!!

6pm PANIC ATTACK SLAMMED INTO US AGAIN. What the heck is causing this EVERY NIGHT? And it's accompanied with a "flee for your life" response; we feel frighteningly rushed, like there's a tornado bearing down on us and if we don't evacuate ASAP we're going to die. WHAT IS THIS. It's impending doom, yeah, but RUSHING towards us and SCREAMING. We feel the countdown timer in our lungs. We're shaking like a leaf and can't breathe.
Is this a trauma response to the twilight? We feel like "something TERRIBLE is GOING to happen once the sun sets." PLUS OUR "WARM" CLOTHES MAKE IT WORSE-- LONG SLEEVES & PANTS DRAMATICALLY EXACERBATE THE SYMPTOMS???? Short sleeves, and shorts, despite the cold, cause INSTANT DRAMATIC RELIEF.
This makes NO SENSE. Not yet at least. God help us with this please; we cannot function like this.



100423

Oct. 4th, 2023 09:41 pm
prismaticbleed: (amecry)
 

Church
Paul talk
Got overwhelmed, miserable. Socializing messes me up

Unbearably nervous over unscheduled repairmen visit. No idea when they'll show up. Can't even think straight from anxiety. Literally CRYING & SHAKING from the unpredictability.
BEGGING Jesus & Mary to have mercy on me & send them up soon. Terrified that they won't, because they want me to suffer more. Still... remember that even if they DO, it's for your highest good. It's NOT out of spite or sadism. If you must carry this cross even longer, it will benefit your soul that much more.
Still... I'm so hungry and scared. I'm weak and dizzy. I feel so helpless & vulnerable it's terrible. God please have mercy on me, give me strength to bear this, PLEASE send them up soon it's been FOUR HOURS.

...FIVE HOURS and I give up.

I'm thinking of Lazarus in the tomb. I have to. It's the only way to properly understand this. "Jesus loved them, THEREFORE He waited."

...oh my gosh. I just clicked the kid's devotional and it's Joshua 1:9.
https://www.bible.com/en/videos/36709?orientation=portrait&utm_content=STORY_CLIP&utm_medium=SHARE&utm_source=YVAPP
That is... that is exactly my day today. That is amazing.
I'm overwhelmed, scared, confused, frustrated, miserable... I'm powerless and weak and foolish.
But... God has COMMANDED me to be STRONG AND BRAVE,  THROUGH HIS SPIRIT Who LIVES IN ME.
...I can do that, with His help. I can pick my head up, and smile even, with His grace.

Lord, I offer all of this up to You. Please, transmute it into something that will honor You. I can't do anything good with it; take it all, please. I give it to you as my "gift," the only thing I CAN give in my wretchedness. I give You all my anxiety, fear, hunger, fatigue, dizziness, anger, confusion, exasperation, frustration, annoyance, panic, worry, distress, despair, resignation, weakness, stupidity, entitlement, and doubt. All of my sufferings today are in Your Hands, to use as You will, for I KNOW You CAN bring Good out of even this evil for Your Own sake. I beg You to do so, so that I do not sin by neglecting or ignoring You. I am ashamed and contrite for my untrusting behavior, which I know offends Your Father's Heart. Increase my faith, Lord. Forgive my foolishness.
...I just realized, my morning offering prayer asks for just this. "I offer You today ALL my prayers, works, joys, sorrows, and sufferings, for the praise of Your Holy Name and all the desires of Your Sacred Heart"... man I had no idea what offering I'd be called to give, haha. But I was willing to give it. And here we are.
It's profoundly reassuring, to realize that yes, God DOES accept our offerings even of struggle & weakness, when we unite them to HIS Offering of HIS human weakness ON HIS CROSS.

...and the daily prayer just gave me 1 Peter 5:6-7. Lord, thank You. You really are speaking to me. Forgive me for being so afraid of Your silence earlier. Maybe I was listening for the wrong thing. Maybe my ears were shut to all but what I expected or wanted to hear.

He's stripping me of all nonessentials. He's teaching me to suffer better, to be happy with little, and patient in tribulations.

What God taught me through today's cross:
• I CAN fast, if He wants me to fast.
• I CAN fit in all my set prayers before breakfast.
• I am not entitled to get what I want, even when I think it's best.
• I need to adapt to OTHER people's schedules.
• I must learn to accept the unexpected.
• I must let go of my obsession with controlling my own schedule.
• I must learn to accept disappointments gracefully.
• I am very weak spiritually when I am hungry & anxious.
• I must learn to accept interruptions.

I know God has a reason. I know He is Good. I know He cares about me, and is watching over me, and He HEARS my prayers and He answers them according to His Loving Wisdom, even if that answer is a "no" or "not in the way you think."
I trust Him. I trust Him despite all my fears and doubts. I KNOW He is Good and is DOING Good even in this. Nothing can shake that. If nothing else, I can rest in that knowledge, deep down in my heart, even if the storms of emotion keep raging.

• Today, Christ let me share in His Passion.
If that was the only reason for this mental & physical trial, then it is sublimely enough.
Thank You, Lord. Please help me to suffer better.

Jesus, I want to be more like You... I want You to live in me more. I don't understand it yet, but I want it. I must decrease for You to increase. But... I keep twisting that into self-annihilation, leaving You with no one to love. That isn't right.
...

A quick psychological thought= this "waiting five hours for repairmen to show up at a random unannounced time" is actually a TRAUMA ECHO. It was the same sort of "waiting for the bomb to drop" terror with volatile parents? I can FEEL the fear in childhood memory; was that it, the constant unspoken threat of punishment for an unspecified crime?
Possibly relatedly, interruptions like text-message sounds feel like SHOVES, the kind bullies do-- both hands, forceful, angry. But the shove comes with a shout: "LOOK AT ME!! TALK TO ME!! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!" It's VIOLENT and mean and I don't know WHY the interruptor even WANTS me to focus on them? Why me? Why is that so important?
...


"Help me draw nearer to You" prayer EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED.

Remember earlier:
WEEPING over Jesus picture, begging for mercy
Arms out CROSS prayer for Saint Bridget, entering into Passion


Passion devotional= Peter disowned Jesus, but Jesus did not disown him. He instead offered that powerful look of convicting mercy & love, to break his heart and bring him back to life.
So too with us. No matter how we stumble, Jesus does not disown us. He wants us back. He will never give up on us. He will always call us back to Himself.

092923

Sep. 29th, 2023 06:24 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


If grandma's death had gone "the way I wanted," I never would have realized the effect my bad living was having on her.
"Your grief can also be the price of souls."
God, in His Providence, deprived us both of consolation in order to give me spiritual graces. I think grandma wanted that, even more than she wanted me there-- and that's hard to say. But, I'm sure that if God had asked her, "you can either have your granddaughter here with you for one last day, and have everything be perfect, or... you could not have her here, and never see her again until the next life, BUT in that great suffering and sacrifice, it will SAVE HER SOUL." I am sure she would have agreed to the loss.
Because honestly, let's face it. I was willingly blind. I knew I was sick, but I kept making excuses. It took her death, and my stupidity during it, to wake me up to the actual reprehensible abhorrence of my addiction.
I never would have had the sheer agony of contrition in order TO repent, if I had not f*ed up that last week of her life so much.
...
It's a very hard pill to swallow. But it's heavy-duty chemo, and my self-hating grief is a cancer.

I still don't know what to do about the asinine things I did prior to that last time, though. I use "I" bitterly yet honestly-- whoever the heck "I" was back then, they were still part of this collective psyche, manifesting ugly evil parts painted plastic-white. That girl, while wearing her mantillas and crucifixes and obsessively going to Mass, was the most sinful person of all of us. I mean it. She was worse than Julie, worse than Jezebel, worse than Infidhell when you get down to it. And that is saying something.
"Tilly" was the devil in a Sunday dress.



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

Daily events:

Chopsticks broke
Both set of kitchen lights burned out
Youversion completely "updated" and it is now SUPER BUGGY & UNUSABLE.
All of this in ONE MORNING had us reeling. Felt like God "dealing us death" to make us let go of life more.
There were important lessons in it all. Those chopsticks were a remnant from the bulimia days-- with them gone, that's one more tie eliminated. Those lights were half-dead anyway, too-- now that we replaced them, the kitchen is much brighter, and in the process we learned how to properly replace a dead bulb! And with the Youversion update... well, now we need to look elsewhere, for an explicitly Catholic source, one where we won't constantly be butting heads with the freakin' prosperity-antigospel preachers.


Jade shower stop, timed it so it was DURING our therapy phone call
Therapy call all but useless once again. Therapist said TWO SENTENCES the entire 45 minutes, and those were "so how can I help you?" Lady if YOU have to ask me that I'd be better off paying a mirror, wink nudge cough hello headspace!! On that note she REFUSES to acknowledge the fact that we are EVIDENTLY MULTIPLE, which isn't a surprise as she has given ZERO INPUT to our sessions other than "you should cut ties with your family" and "you should try more coping skills" and "you need to stop being so religious," effectively. I'm sorry this is bitter. But we CANNOT get anywhere here. We NEED DIALOGUE. Oh well. At least this is making us DESPERATELY WANT TO START HOSTING XANGA SESSIONS AGAIN.

Since it was rainy, we got Jade to drive us to the library to pick up our Ghibli DVDs at last-- and we got FREE DVDs as well?? They were having an "autumn cleanout" of their library section as most folks are going digital, and told us to go through the rack and seriously take as many as we wanted. Well, we only buy/own DVDs IF said movie has had a significant enough effect on our life for it to merit rewatches. And, lo and behold, the rack had TWO OF THEM, IN PRISTINE CONDITION. The first was... I kid you not... INCEPTION. Which had a PROFOUND effect on our innerlife way back in 2010, during the SLC stay, and it DIRECTLY INFLUENCED JOSEPHINA'S CREATION. (We miss him so much, still; his "birthday" is next month so it'll ache even more.) And it was a Blu-Ray to boot! So that was amazing. I guess God was saying "it's finally time to re-watch this." That's NOTABLE. As for the second movie? Big Fish. Now I don't know if anyone ever typed about that-- probably not-- but it was one of the LAST movies we remember watching with grandma before she died, and it stood out because it was about death. It was like watching her impending future on screen. It hurt so much to watch... and yet it was so beautiful. But the part that hit the hardest? Grandma LOVED it. She was ENTHRALLED, and so were we. That's why this film stands out as "THE last film" we watched WITH her, because after this one... the pain and the cancer made her mental state so bad, she couldn't focus anymore. So this film became very beloved.
We also grabbed two more DVDs we'd never heard of-- one was a religious one, about the Holy Land and Scripture, and the other one was an artistic film about Van Gogh? So we'll see! But it was nice, to have something new, too.


At a loss as to Bible study, now that Youversion is down. We can't compare translations anymore. We can't highlight like we used to. We can't even collapse footnotes. Our ENTIRE method has been CRUSHED in one update. 
We think we're just going to stick with the commentaries for now, and weed those out too-- again, we keep stumbling across Protestant heresies, which we are ONLY able to identify AS WE ARE BETTER CATECHIZED. Honestly, if you aren't familiar with the basic structural tenets of your faith, you are AN EASY TARGET for the devil to sneak his subtle lies in instead.

2 cor 2:14-16 = ROSE ALLERGY METAPHOR!! The rose itself smells objectively sweet, BUT if you have an allergy to it, your body will treat it AS AN ENEMY, and attack it-- but that very attack CAN KILL YOU. The rose has done nothing wrong. It's your misinformed immune system that has hurt you, BY SEEING THAT ROSE AS AN ENEMY. The parallel to Christ and the depraved soul is obvious. 





092523

Sep. 25th, 2023 10:16 pm
prismaticbleed: (angrycry)
 Yom Kippur.

Woke up so weak, tired, kinda sick. Headache.
Still put our boots on & ran to Mass!

...

System too quiet. This happens when we're sick & out of it; there's a loss of selfhood?? We get consciousness overwhelmed by the symptoms.

UNEXPECTED SHOPPING TRIP WITH MOM?????
Took TWO HOURS DUDE
biggest shame: religion talk. She pushing reincarnation, female leaders in church, gender deconstruction? Magdalene conspiracy, "we are all on a special mission of enlightenment," etc. I responded too brusquely; I took offense at the newagey thoughts & "corrected" them too quickly and without dialogue. BUT!!! I noticed this AS it was happening, and tried hard to build a bridge on the spot-- explaining gender "role fluidity" IN Scripture, Mary’s key role as leading the women disciples, etc. Mom's demeanor notably lifted to enthusiasm. She began talking about ideal "women's groups" in church, less business-meeting and more "friends of Mary"-- the HISTORICAL MARY: a young Jewish refugee, possibly of color, living in poverty-- NOT a fair-haired white European woman. Etc.
I remember talking about how the LGBTQ movement & community is TOXIC and the Church NEEDS to step up to not only welcome but SAVE these kids from it. Mentioned "Jesus Movement" movie on that topic. Also mom talking about vans & 60s fashion, "we're on the verge of another revolution"= need to focus on caring for planet & people as ONE FAMILY & HOME.
In all topics, we noticed our distressing & disgusting habit of being JUDGMENTAL & OBTRUSIVE. It's like playing social chess; it feels like we're desperate to "win" some game of strategy with high stakes??? It's mostly automated and we HATE IT. At least we're more conscious of it. It just brings such sin & shame; it breeds ugly pride. Our mom deserves better too. We're such a poor listener like that. We WANT TO BE MEEK & HUMBLE & PATIENT & KIND. We're so tired of being bossy, clever, loud, and rushed. It's spiritually exhausting.

The ending of Psalm 19 is really how i feel right now.
"Nobody realizes every time they do something wrong. Please forgive me for the sins that I do not know about. Lord, stop me doing things that I know are wrong. Do not let those sins rule my life. Then I will not be guilty. I will not have turned against you in a bad way. Lord, I want to make you happy. I want my words and my thoughts to please You."
Psalms 19:12‭-‬14 EASY
And "How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults." Psalms 19:12 NLT
One more good one for clarification =
"Who can understand his errors or omissions? Acquit me of hidden (unconscious, unintended) faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous (deliberate, willful) sins; Let them not rule and have control over me. Then I will be blameless (complete), And I shall be acquitted of great transgression."
Psa 19:12‭-‬13 AMP
That's how I feel all the time. It's overwhelming lately.
I'm constantly catching myself in sin.
...

I cannot ignore the fact that I was RAISED LIKE THIS, although that does not absolve me or acquit me of reprehensible guilt.
Mom always wanted to be famous. She wanted a magazine-cover family. She dressed like a model, associated with high-society folks & functions, kept up with the Joneses and tirelessly pushed her kids to be better than everyone else. We reflected on her, so we HAD to be the valedictorians, the prodigies, the overachievers, the stars. We were faux aristocrats, living a double life up in the boonies, cut off from all non-familial influence.
...
Our siblings all did well. They WERE AND ARE all shockingly smart, with impeccable grades and flourishing talents and multiple degrees. Whatever they set their minds to, it was done, and done marvelously.
But... not us. From the very beginning, we were sick & stupid, haha. And that was not only unexpected but UNACCEPTABLE. See, we got hit HARD as the firstborn, and the only biological female. We were the lauded doll, displayed like a decoration, that in time was scandalously revealed to be a factory error. Et cetera. Too much metaphor, but our brain avoids direct talk about childhood.
Nevertheless. The point relevant to today is: we felt FORCED to be "smart" and "clever," felt COMPELLED to "be able to answer any question or meet any challenge" so we would impress people AND SO HONOR OUR FAMILY.
...
But even in talking about this I'm being a judgmental ass.

...
I'm just so tired of hearing her say things like "I don't trust the Vatican, they're hiding the truth from us" and "this is why I get into arguments with the priests, because women were SUPPOSED to lead the church, remember Mary Magdalene?" and "people come back to earth in different bodies until they finish the mission they were sent here to do, and when we die we're just pure light, pure spirit" etc. No judgment, no sin, no hell, no urgency to this life, no need to evangelize others, no absolute Truth, et cetera. It's NONSENSE. But how do I tell that to her respectfully??? How do I defend the Faith? That sort of talk genuinely makes me ANGRY and I don't know how to rightfully respond.
And my therapist actually told me FLAT-OUT to NOT talk to people about religion because "it's disrespecting their boundaries." What, by DEFAULT??? What sort of boundaries are being crossed??? But she literally told me, keep it to yourself at home. I'M SORRY BUT THAT'S NOT REAL RELIGION. Religion affects the WHOLE LIFE, and it is INHERENTLY RELATIONAL. If I "keep it to myself" IT WILL DIE. Geez. But she's also the one who told me to effectively "pick and choose my moral code" so I cannot take her advice on ANY spiritual matters. That, ironically, makes honest therapy impossible. I will have to request a change in provider, if this week's session follows suit. I always feel so ill after our appointments. Oh yeah, and she has so far failed to even consider our multiplicity, so THAT is already a deal-breaker. If you're not treating US, then you're not treating ANYONE.

...thinking of that word "treat" and how I hated that TBAS would talk about humans on the same level as animals. No wonder they dehumanized us so easily in larger ways; their foundation was corrupt.


(left unfinished)



092323

Sep. 23rd, 2023 11:19 pm
prismaticbleed: (Default)
 
HAPPY FIRST DAY OF AUTUMN!!!! 🧡🍁🍂🎃

Unbelievable panic all morning.
Completionist prayer triggered
Started saying Seven Swords Chaplet but interrupted by mom phone, then had to do morning responsibilities and make breakfast. Prayer looming over head like a thunderstorm
This is not real prayer. I shouldn't be so afraid that I'm literally shaking. I'm afraid that if I don't say them at the right time, or in the right order, or in the right way, I WILL DIE. GOD WILL KILL ME. It's not just fear of punitive consequences, it's the conviction that the consequences are LITERALLY DEATH.
...

Daily devotionals both reassuring & convicting.
ttywpf= "Do you recognize the authentic voice of Jesus? Or are you distracted and deceived by other voices in the world?" Emphasizing that recognition comes THROUGH PRAYER. Shook me to the bone. What am I doing wrong?
odb= The sower parable & the sower's LAVISH scattering of love & grace: NO JUDGING if the soil is "worthy," or "most likely to grow," or "will the seed be wasted," or "scrutinizing the soil." He "Gives without counting the cost, Makes his offering without worrying about what will happen to his gift once given." He loves "Freely lavishly generously" and calls US to GIVE LOVE the same way, ALSO "not clinging to the hope of results, But trusting in God to bring good fruit where He will." VERY IMPORTANT.
obob= weeding the heart harden of briars & thorns. WE HAD A FONI BY THAT NAME IN CNC????????
Weed out CARES, RICHES, & PLEASURES. 
Notable distinction on the last:  "The Lord wants us to enjoy ourselves sometimes. Yet we must not live for pleasures but for Him, Even if this means we will suffer greatly." "If you do not weed your Briar patch you will never never bear good fruit and never have a harvest."
THE THORNS PREVENT THE SEED FROM MATURING. But the seed IS THERE!!!

VOTD about mercy. Hurts our heart so much.
We... don't understand mercy yet. No enough. Not deeply enough. The examples they listed are a punch to the gut.
"Maybe you owed someone money, but they decided to cancel your debt. Maybe you hurt someone you love, but they gave you another chance. Maybe you made a huge mistake, but you received forgiveness instead of punishment."
NOPE, NOPE, AND NOPE.
We've never known that. We're used to grudges & payback & "you'll get what you deserve!" from others.
We treat ourself the same way.
Which is ironic, because THE SYSTEM ISN'T LIKE THAT!!!!!!
...
...We will never be treated with mercy outside, unless we SHOW mercy outside. 

Especially with prayer, we are fatally UNMERCIFUL. Which is dreadfully ironic.
Our childhood was like this, though. It has very old, very powerful, very knotted roots.
....

Oh man but this is EVERY SINGLE FEAR THAT'S BEEN SUFFOCATING US THIS MORNING =
"Because we are imperfect sinners who have all fallen short of God's glorious standards, we all deserve death. We all deserve punishment. We all deserve to be eternally separated from God."
"To be clear, grace and mercy, while similar, aren't the same. Grace is getting what you don't deserve (an unwarranted gift) while mercy is not getting what you do deserve (judgment and wrath)."


BUT WE KEEP FORGETTING THIS =

“BUT God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!” (Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT)
Jesus is passionate about justice and righteousness while simultaneously fervent about grace and mercy.
That's why He paid the ultimate price for us—so that we could truly live. That's why He conquered the grave—to mercifully save our souls. That's why He sent His Spirit—so that we could also show mercy.
Jesus HAS shown us mercy! And now we can offer it to others."


...

Kids devotional =
"You ARE a leader, and what you do and say matters for so many people... Who could you protect, help, care for, or encourage this week?  The more you do that, the more you'll be living like the greatest Shepherd of all."

While praying, we've sadly noticed that we STILL get "misogynistic angerfear" at certain portrayals of MARY?????? Which is SO SAD and also SINFUL, so DO NOT ENTERTAIN IT. You know it's a devilish lie so SHUT IT DOWN.
Actually, no. Human anger does not serve the purposes of God. When a nousfoni starts feeling that angerfear, FIND THEM and send them to the Cross to ADMIT IT. You'd be surprised how quickly they start EXPRESSING THEIR FEELINGS; they know they can TRUST CHRIST.
It's very sad & deeply upsetting that we still struggle with this. But thank God anyway for His grace in our continued healing-- remember how only a few years ago we were TERRIFIED OF MARY and wouldn't even say the Rosary! And yes, there's still knee-jerk stubborn resistance to that too, but it's from childhood punishment. It doesn't stop us now. We have too much BEAUTIFUL TRUTH in experience now to OVERRIDE IT.
And THAT is whats helping us heal our "female fear" OF Mary, too-- because there are SOME portrayals of her that, just as instinctively, RECOGNIZE AS "MOTHER." And that is HUGE. It shows that we CAN & DO grasp & perceive the concept, despite our mangled experience. There is an innate "knowing" and it is REALIZED IN MARY and we CAN DO SO. Do not downplay the significance of that.
As for which portrayals "register" for us? BACE, La Salette, Perpetual Help, ALL Orthodox images of her, Our Lady of Sorrows, our prayer card of Pontmain, and sometimes actually Guadalupe?  I'm sure there are more if we will look.
POST EXAMPLES.
We really struggle with "round soft white adult woman" portrayals of her, probably due to abuse.
And yet... what a perfectly divine doorway to learn how TO love such women.
Mary chooses to look like them, too. She loves them just as much as she loves me. And yes, she DOES love me.
Gosh there are LAYERS to this problem, I'm seeing. Thank You God for showing me this. (I swear it's the Seven Swords Chaplet graces kicking in already)
...

Church
GORGEOUS PSALM. Recorded it
Face hymn too-- In Christ Alone. Such beautiful low notes to sing. I realize we "push" the lower hums into our nose?? They resonate better. Singing low takes "our whole self"; we feel absorbed in it, just like playing cello. Thank You God for this blessing.
Shockingly SWEET Eucharist, right after the Saint Ambrose prayer with those same words

Walmart carrot stop
Brief sidewalk stranded moment. Notably our heart DEFAULTED to TRUST IN GOD & PRAYER, not panic, although we WERE scared; the faith did not kill the honest emotion, whereas social mode would have, & panic would have made it lethal through cancerous overgrowth.

Carrot peeling & Saint Bridget
Bishop Barron ABSOLUTELY SPECTACULAR SERMON. All about TRUE MERCY, UNDESERVED GRACE, GOD'S PURE JUSTICE, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE, and THE TRUTH OF HEAVEN-- "the way IS the destination"!
Spotlight on SAINT DISMAS!
Honestly it all meant SO MUCH TO US. We've been deeply upset by the "I busted my ass all my life to be good, I deserve my reward" and "its not fair to absolve THAT guy, let him rot in hell where he belongs" ugly mindsets we've heard thrown around by fellow Christians.
...We do have love, we must admit, by grace. But not enough.
We still are "working for a reward" with all this praying panic. We're not seeing it as a privilege or a joy just yet-- at least, not all the time. With the altar prayers & cards we often would. But with the "daily grind" we're doing with all the Chaplets... why is that more exhausting? Hm. Reflect on this.
In any case WHAT A HOMILY. League relevance too!!
Listen to it again soon. Type about it more.


There is a small child singing the alphabet song right below our window. It's adorable.

The air smells like heaven. Autumn always does. There was evrn some fog yesterday morning too, on the rooftops, as we ran to Mass.
The leaves are starting to turn. I can feel our heart turning ruby-gold with jubilant wonder along with them.

...Xenophon is letting herself grow older.
When she was still hoping her dad was the Core, she stayed young, like she was when he in turn stayed out front. But... that was over 5 years ago, man.
Now, she's staying upstairs more, considering what growing up means for her, even quietly considering a League move what with her Moralimon genetic resonance... it's such a big change, starting slowly for sure, but evidently the first glimpses of something lifealteringly massive.
We all need to grow up, really.
...our fear of maturity is fused with the trauma, though. So it's inevitable that we face it at last, especially as we mature spiritually. Dont be afraid though. God will help us. We never were open to that before, let alone able to receive it... but we still have a long way to go. Even so, He holds our hand and leads us. "And I am certain that God, Who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." Philippians 1:6. Remember that verse. He won't stop mid-job. In His faithfulness, you have solid hope for finally healing this-- you can even bank on it. He can do what you cannot, and if you let Him, He WILL. Thank God for this new and humbling grace to grow into. 


092123

Sep. 21st, 2023 01:03 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)
 
THREE failed mass livestreams
The one we finally got was PERFECT
https://www.youtube.com/live/t7wy-QIZ4hg?si=v6BJNB2JxnoCWbxA

...

Apatefoni on Godphone
"I wish the System was gone. I just want to focus on You"
"Remember how bad things were for you the last time you asked for that"

"I don't want to have to worry about their lives. They're not real."
"They're part of your soul. So are you part of theirs. You exist together."
"I just want to be alone with You"
"And what will you do when you're called out into the world? What if i ask you to get your elbows dirty? Will you refuse and run back to your altar? That isn't serving Me in truth."
"...They aren't serving you!!"
"They practice mercy & forgiveness, which you don't."

"You don't want the burden of their lives" "without them, your religion is selfish"

"Why do you want them to go away?"
"For love of You"
"But is it also for hatred of them?"
"..."
"The two cannot coexist as motives, my dear child"


Bible study note in light of that^
"...the pain of a few was permitted for the benefit of the whole Church."
I reiterate this. YOUR LIFE IS NOT ABOUT YOU. IT'S ABOUT EVERYONE. AND THAT INCLUDES YOU!!!!
IT'S NOT A CALLOUS EITHER-OR DIVISION. IT'S A COMPASSIONATE BOTH-AND UNITY.
Your life is a GIFT to begin with.

Thriskefoni switching got us SO DARKLY DEPRESSED that a "demiJewel" (similar era roots, internal anchor, but no League function) suddenly switched in at the kitchen PURPOSELY to eat the cereal "because we're stressed"??????
Xenophon, Laurie, and Jay talked her out of it BUT cooperatively-- she's fully open to reason.
STILL anxious though & someone else started portioning carrots??? Lynne took over & held stable.
We all began to talk during the mechanical activity to prevent dangerous dissociation. Somehow the MASSACRE was mentioned??
Laurie OBVIOUSLY SHELLSHOCKED as she talked notably around it. That was shocking and agonizing to see. She's traumatized by it. I don't think we considered she COULD be, with her brutal function. But that's why CNC killed her-- she was assumed invincible, and it ironically destroyed her.
I remember her saying specifically how Cannon walked in "with a railgun strapped to her arm"
I think that's actually how we got into this subject. Cannon was then just working mercenary for JESSICA, whose motives are way too close to those of Christina & Tatiana, albeit far more hideously apparent. The thriskefoni are worse in their hypocrisy-- they want you dead, but they'll keep their own hands spotless; and when they do bring about your utter annihilation, it will be with a pretty plasticine smile.
...
Jay fronting then, joyfully mentioned Christmas coming, then bluntly yet gracefully shifted RIGHT into the massacre topic, consoling Laurie and telling her that her actions on that terrible night "proved the depth of her love for us" more than even he could have imagined.
I know we also mentioned how Cannon has since begun dealing with her darkness and, like Razor, is no longer a homicide threat.

Rather compulsively requested 4 more DVDs from the library.
...

Bible study = Mimic suddenly noticing a parallel between the Harrowing of Hell & Psalm 139


...I want to make a subversive comic-image? Comparing the lgbtq+ "explore your sexuality" to "colonizing" violence, on earth AND in space. Because it is.
"I'm not land to be explored." "I am not your mountain to climb, just to plant your triumphant flag upon." "I am not just another part of your empire." Parallel actual terms. Use Metaphors to call out misdemeanor.
EMPHASIZE COMMITMENT & FIDELITY & RESPECT.
NO PROMISCUITY. NO SLEEPING AROUND.


Noise next door made us realize =
WE STILL GET PANIC ATTACKS WHEN WE HEAR THE SKYPE PHONECALL RINGTONE.
...that's very saddening. Fifteen entire years later we STILL are triggered by those memories and WE DON'T KNOW WHY.
We have no idea who was driving before Cannon showed up.
...


"What is perfection in love? Love your enemies in such a way that you would desire to make them your brothers ... For so did He love, Who hanging on the Cross, said 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' (Luke 23:34)"
- St. Augustine
 


092023

Sep. 20th, 2023 11:58 pm
prismaticbleed: (held)
 

Transportation failure
Phone calls

Mass online. New church!
Homily about "fickleness of faith"; getting tripped up by temptations & desires, "double minded" really. This vacullation versus stability of martyrs: focused on Jesus, devoted to Gospel, DEDICATED UNTO DEATH.
"Are we fickle when it comes to our baptismal commitment, to our living out the Christian commandments, or are we more like a martyr?  Being consistent, making Jesus Lord of our lives,  Not just When it is opportune it works out it feels good, but even in the most challenging of times.  Let us pray that we may continue to know God's will and live God's will each and every day."
Lovely music. Couldn't tell if it was live or not at first because it was so well orchestrated, but then the male singer's voice cracked twice and it was so endearingly human, honestly I loved it even more for that.
(find it and link it here. i want to remember it.)


Phone appointment
Breached trauma topic at last

Daily book devotionals
STILL TERRIFIED OF MATRIMONY METAPHOR.
Lord please I NEED to work through this because it's SEPARATING ME FROM JESUS. 
...
Thank you letter comparison with Psalms, very sweet & thought provoking.

VOTD Craig Groeschel!!!!! Fave dude
HOLY GRIEF. (PENTHOS!!!!!)
Quote the reflection because DANG
...and yet, I don't grieve enough.
My tears feel shallow. My chest feels hollow. My heart feels empty. It's that old "scraped-out" sensation, awful and bereft, like someone took a dirty spoon and just carved out my insides like a gourd. Nothing is left but the hard rind.
...I wonder if this means more than I ever realized. I legit feel the Holy Spirit winking at me.
I keep saying "I need to get my fire back." I've been frozen for so long. Maybe that's what God has scooped out so totally-- maybe all my guts were iced. Maybe it all HAD to go. But then... what? I'm no longer a consumable object. Oh my gosh. There's nothing in me to rip out & eat anymore. I'm emptied out. But I'm not useless. Now, God can reach in, right down through where He's knifed me through, in a perfect circle plunging deep, like a halo or a laurel wreath... and He can place His candle in me.
... I need to think about this more later, when it's not breakfast. God give me the grace to hear & listen & understand & accept & WRITE IT DOWN.

...but, man. I have a TWISTED VIEW of "comfort."
Please reread 2 Corinthians 1. My definition is all wrong. My heart has gotten so hard & cold; honestly at this point I think it's even studded with spikes. It's vaulted against all invasion, all touch, all closeness. It's armed for defense & repellant, and despite all those protective efforts, it's dying. It has forgotten it is a heart.
How did we get this bad? When? God, what do we do now? What first step do we take? Should we be careful, or should we just take a sledgehammer to it?
...

SPEAKING OF HEARTS & WEAPONS
Bizarre visual during therapy. On evil porch. Infi AS INFIDHELL. huge, horrible, all teeth.
I was there floating above, AS "ME"???? body mirror BLACK RESONATING form. Solemnly reached INTO CHEST to get sword-- as all Cores do-- BUT it came out like a twisted black metal sword COVERED IN BLOOD. And I stabbed "Infi" down through the skull, impaling "TBAS" below as well, with that nightmare grin frozen on their face.
I realized Jay couldn't do this, OR Jewel. Jay can't attack Infi AND the WHITE Core Sword-- which is crystalline-- CANNOT BE USED SO BRUTALLY. Same with Jewel, resonating at heart RED, she is for battle but NOT death? But... I pulled out a BLACK sword. And it is MEANT to deal out death-- but GRAVELY. It is NOT for battle. It is for EXECUTION.

...
BTW the scent of that "peppermint bark" lip balm from the hospital pings Jay SO HARD. It is absolutely his vibe.
He's so pure, so good and shining and softhearted. But that is also what killed him. He couldn't see the shadows as shadows. He loved the things in the velvet dark. He shone so brightly that he couldn't admit he was capable of being blinded by that very light. He didn't rot, he didn't even calcify really-- he got bleached out. Like a skeleton on the beach, he was stripped bare and left to crumble into dust.

...

Okay I NEEDED this kids devotional I actually laughed out loud=
https://www.bible.com/en/videos/42466?orientation=portrait&utm_content=story_clip&utm_medium=share&utm_source=yvapp
Darn good challenge too. That is, scarily and surprisingly, something we struggle with VERY much. We're afraid to speak up for Jesus because we feel we CAN'T speak of Him properly. CNC showed us both our foolish pride, and our utter ignorance. We didn't know God at ALL. So... we still hesitate to talk about Him. DO we know Him even now? It's our biggest fear.
But darn it we HAVE TO TRY. Its not about relying on our own stupid knowledge. We're always gonna come up short. What we NEED to do is TRUST THE HOLY SPIRIT TO GUIDE US and then COURAGEOUSLY SURRENDER TO THAT GUIDANCE. Believe me, when you let HIM work through you, WITH LOVE, then you CAN speak rightly about God-- because GOD IS LOVE and without that basic foundation behind your words you're SUNK!!!
And you DO love God. We all do and you KNOW IT. Be brave for the sake of that love. Be humble in your human weakness but confident in God's mission & grace, and so go forth and fight the good fight of loving faith & faithful love with the sword GOD gave you-- His WORD!! Remember, YOU'RE not the light-- CHRIST IS. Your words aren't what matters here; HIS ARE. And THAT sure foundation is where you can stand steadfast against any verbal storms.
Sorry I'm rambling. But please, don't bite your tongue when you have a chance to mention God, even just in passing. Be a witness. Be a martyr of the heart. Say you know Him.

...
Fasted by not putting extra salt on the eggs, because it's the Ember Days. It was amusingly difficult, haha. But that's good, that made it a real sacrifice.
We can't fast much else otherwise, as we're already a vegetarian eating 1.5 meals a day at ~1200K. Our priest told us flat-out not to lean anorexic with this because boy howdy despite all our petty whining last night we ARE VERY TEMPTED to restrict to extremes for proud "look how much I can torture my body" bottom line ascetism. It's not about giving up for love, in that mindset-- it becomes instead about cutting out for spite, or beating up for hate.
Plus the Lord knows that our mental health plummets the more we neglect the body-- which we like to do more than is healthy, again from a spiritually sick standpoint of body refusal & loathing, which DOES go against the sanctity & destined Resurrection of the body in Catholic doctrine which we NEVER LEARNED until we accidentally stumbled across it recently-- and when we get that bad, prayer & service become very muffled & tainted. So we do need to eat.
It's admittedly hard, though. We don't like feeling like we're a coward, or a milquetoast. We WANT to be strong & suffer more. But that's PRIDE yet. It's just the misogynistic vanity finding another outlet. We have to be honest about our ugliest faults; only once we have named their specie and looked them dead in the face can we properly plunge a sword through their jaws.

CONCERNING LAZARUS'S GRAVE-STONE=
"What is now shewn as the sepulchre of Lazarus is an excavation in the ground with steps down to it. The stone would keep out beasts of prey."
IS THAT WHAT WE DID TO OUR HEART???

Went into "heart Cathedral" during prayer. I forget what inspired it. BUT WE HAVENT BEEN ABLE TO GO THERE IN YEARS!!!!!!
AND IT HAS CHANGED.
it is now BLACK and GOTHIC looking architecture. Smoky stone black, not inky or painted, but like those old ancient churches in Europe with the stone darkened by decades of candles... and our Cathedral is FULL of red candles. Little ones in dozens of rows, like we love.
We can't see the stained glass yet.
The place is so quiet, and feels smaller than the original WHITE Cathedral, the one tied to the Jays (NOT the Lotus Cathedral-- that was DIFFERENT remember!!!!)
But GEEZ. WOW.
GO BACK THERE IN A MEDITATION ASAP. WE HAVEN'T HAD A GOOD SOULDIVE ADVENTURE IN AGES. IF WE CAN SEE THE CATHEDRAL, IT'S TIME. THIS IS A LITERAL MILESTONE. IT COULD BE A HINGE. DON'T LET THIS GO UNEMBRACED.

...

FINALLY watched Porco Rosso tonight
WE DIDNT EXPECT IT TO BE THIS GOOD, OH MAN
Forgive me, honestly. It was such a touching film. Beautiful.

Chaos 0 and I suddenly so in love after. Around 1230am so no surprise there but... I miss this. Quiet and unexpected but so real and deep.

Nervous about tomorrow schedule. Gotta just put it in God's hands. Daily Mass FINALLY returns on Friday. Get some sleep before then kiddo

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

(faithpasting tonight was an actual spiritual experience. read it here.)


091823

Sep. 18th, 2023 10:40 pm
prismaticbleed: (Default)
 
Late wake up. Looking up ember days.
Jade call late too. DISTRAUGHT. Mom & Lou trying to 302 her??? Actively conspiring. I was shocked because mom made it sound like she was meticulously hiding Jade from Lou???

Jade came up, grief-ranted for a while about all this unjust prejudice & malice against her, the threats of literal violence, the total lack of compassion & NO DIALOGUE WHATSOEVER.
We kept our heart & mind wide open.
DID PICK UP ON CUES & HUGGED HER. Actually brought us to tears too. (Our emotions are working RIGHTLY here, thank You God. Genuine selfless concern will do that bro)
Praying for her a great deal. Gonna offer up all our usual ones today for her. Asking for online intercession too.

BK prep during Jade shower so System communication was muffled. We watched the daily Mass from Ireland instead! The priest actively acknowledged the online watchers throughout the globe which was really sweet. He had a very personable way of saying the Mass, too, with small yet tender comments added in to draw you in more deeply & personally. It meant a lot.

After prep, when washing face= "Gatekeeper" girls complaining about Outspacers again. Realized that's a "survival" resistance; "system vs league" takes all focus & mental energy.
WHY DO THOSE GIRLS ALWAYS SPEAK UP WHEN WE GET FLASHES OF BODY AWARENESS???? Is their entitled & rejecting attitude TIED to that???

Adelaide concerned about function trouble? She's constantly being pushed out by heavy depersonalization. She was meant to OVERCOME that; has that been deemed unwise, or even disturbing to the point of being a threat to wellbeing?
⭐ PROPERLY DIFFERENTIATE JARGON = functions slipping, failing, fading, breaking, shifting, ALSO colors graying, sliding, etc. WE NEED THE RIGHT SPECIFIC LANGUAGE TO BE ABLE TO TRUTHFULLY DISCUSS SUCH SPECIFICS.

Kyanos & Sergei are still briefly & faintly but really present during pre-BK prayers!

Accidentally froze broccoli & eggs. 😂 Remembering yesterday though, God transmuting failure WHEN WE ACTIVELY PUT IT IN HIS HANDS WITH TRUSTING SURRENDER. Being nonchalantly "laissez-faire" about it-- like "ah well, let God do whatever," and NOT PRAYING OR ADMITTING UPSET-- is just apathetic pride wearing a different mask. You have to BRING IT TO GOD SINCERELY.
"I know You made this happen for a reason. Please help us to rest in that reason and not complain, because although Your plans may remain unknown, they are always trustworthy. May we always cooperate with them for Your glory."

VOTD vid had a GREAT reflection (Psalm 34:4-5) =
(Review; "your strength is joy in the Lord," God removing our fear which in and of itself removes obstacles? Etc.)

Also the kid's devotional (Mark 8:35) was SPOT ON.
Denying self & take up cross defined POSITIVELY???? total game changer. VERSUS our extreme ascetic tendency. Said its more about living LOVE in truth than mortifying WORKS for themselves.
Here, let me quote it because it was THAT GOOD=
"Jesus isn't asking us to do more; He's actually asking us to SLOW DOWN and be IN RELATIONSHIP with Him!"
Self denial means that "Sometimes... you'll be uncomfortable for the sake of the Gospel and the mission of God to reach every person in this whole wide world... you'll have to stretch yourself to grow & learn & be courageous & bold & not fearful to speak of Jesus!"
THAT IS SUCH A BETTER & MORE EDIFYING DEFINITION!!!
AND= To take up your Cross means to "lay down your strengths or your weaknesses.  It means everything we think we're great at-- or terrible at-- we pick all those things up, and we don't let them weigh us down or get in the way of [following Jesus]!"
"To be a disciple of Jesus means that YOU ARE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. It means that you're spending time with Him in the Word, in praying, in worshipping: just following Him faithfully.  It's not how much you do that makes you a disciple; but it's how much you love Jesus-- enough TO deny yourself, pick up your Cross, and follow Him DAILY."
KUDOS TO CALVARY KIDS, SERIOUSLY.
Also the REFLECTION =
"What next step will you take in your discipleship journey today?
I will say "no" to something that the Word says is wrong.
I will choose to love others, no matter how they treat me.
I will always keep my eyes open to someone who needs help."
That is AS BEAUTIFUL AS IT IS PRACTICAL.
This is why I always read & watch & follow Christian CHILDREN'S media. THIS STUFF IS THE GOOD STUFF.

We were literally just reflecting on Mark 8:35 yesterday on our own, too. We had a sudden thought of deep SPIRITUAL comfort despite the disaster of the day, literally thinking "I love my life," which was a shock. We immediately thought of this verse, and the strange paradox of terms.
To "hate one's life" is not devilish hate. It is a CONTRAST, one that works IN TANDEM & IN HARMONY WITH LOVE OF CHRIST!!!! The point is that we must love Christ so much that we are WILLING to give up EVEN HIS GIFT OF PHYSICAL LIFE FOR HIS SAKE, because we recognize that HE HIMSELF IS LIFE, AND ONE FAR GREATER EVEN THAN THIS. In that sharp awareness, one "hates" their physical life ONLY in the sense that it LOSES ITS FALSE GLORY when held up against the Ineffable gorgeous brilliance of Heaven seen in Jesus Christ. THAT is why He says such "hate" SAVES YOUR LIFE!!!!!! Devilish hatred WOULDN'T WANT THAT!!!!!
What the devil DOES want is to LIE, & MANGLE THE TRUTH, ESPECIALLY OF LIFE & LOVE!!! Therefore, Some people "love their life" on EARTH so much that they HATE JESUS because He speaks of something FAR MORE & BETTER & WORTH SACRIFICING WORLDLY COMFORTS FOR. And so they LOSE BOTH!!!
...

Remember reflecting on Friday, with Bishop Barron & "safe spaces" & "coming of age" = GOD IS THE ONLY "SAFE SPACE".

Noticing yesterday with mom that our default "social mode automaton" is literally just a practiced carbon copy of her. It's disturbing, dehumanizing, and depressing. We lose ALL selfhood and individuality around her. We act JUST LIKE HER and we CANNOT TURN IT OFF.
Dear God what do we do. We're being existentially dishonest because of this, and our mother things THAT'S THE REAL US. No wonder she keeps triggering us and invalidating our actual life experience-- because WE do the SAME BLOODY THING TO OURSELVES, AS HER, WHEN AROUND HER.
I'd say "bring that up in therapy" but that phone therapist is NOT good for us l. We're legit going to request a transfer of care after this week.
We DO have that in person therapist on Wednesday though, the "new agey office" one with the affirmations & dream meanings dictionary. We're hesitant, of course, but we need to go to that trusting in God's direction & providence against all appearances too.

Also, for the record, I think God made our food freeze because we just spent the past hour and a half doing nothing but praying and typing. 😂 WORTH IT THOUGH!
(BTW the eggs that froze & thawed had the BEST TEXTURE)


This is SOLID ADVICE for us as a System =
"Do an overview of your week and stand still at the experiences that draw your attention. Review your week and focus on the moments when you had experiences that caught your attention. It is  almost like a summary of your week's experiences and is a wonderful means to relive God's grace when you focus on it. Keeping a journal is a way to deepen your experiences in your spiritual journey and write down these experiences you revisit in your review prayer. Over time, it becomes like a record of your interactions with God. This means that as you look back, you can see how you have grown and changed: how you look at things and patterns in your behaviour. These changes are usually slow and happen in such a way that we do not always notice them immediately... Ask the Lord to remind you of the week’s experiences. Reflect on what comes to you. Trust your experience... Speak to God about your experience. Where did I experience God’s Presence? How has connection with myself, others and Him deepened as a result of my [recent experiences of faith]?"

Remember that "to sacrifice" means "TO MAKE HOLY"!!! It does NOT inherently mean "to kill" or "destroy"!!! THAT'S THE LITERAL OPPOSITE RESULT!!!! In EVERY case, HOLINESS BRINGS REAL LIFE, and it does so THROUGH LOVE. This does NOT exclude suffering-- rather it WELCOMES it as the MOST POWERFUL MEANS of proving Love & therefore sanctifying Life!!!
THE CROSS IS THE ALTAR.


Barry reading Baruch
⭐BEFORE AN OUTSPACER CAN TRULY LEAVE THEIR NATIVE WORLD, THEY HAVE TO BE AT MUTUAL PEACE WITH IT = IT HAS TO CONVERT????
DUDE I THINK THAT IS THE KEY!!!!
THIS IS WHERE "STARSPACE" (???) COMES IN??? Not Heartspace, but MEDIAspace, WITHIN A "LEAGUE-PROLOGUE" AND "SOURCE-EPILOGUE" SPACE???? ACTIVELY REWRITES THE ENTIRE ORIGINATING ENVIRONMENT & PLOT TO MATCH THEIR NEW & HEALING & CONVERTED HEART, RECONCILING ALL STORY DISSONANCE THROUGH TRANSFORMATION, MENDING ALL RELATIONSHIPS BY GRACE & PATIENCE & SINCERE EFFORT, AND LIFTING EVERYTHING UP TO HOPE & FAITH & LOVE.
THIS PROCESS IS WHAT GIVES THE OUTSPACER A NEW FOUNDATION IN THE LEAGUE TO BUILD FROM IN THE FIRST PLACE-- IT HAS TO BE ROOTED IN THEIR NATIVE WORLD, AS IF THAT WORLD HAD BEEN PART OF THE LEAGUE TO BEGIN WITH???? EVEN IF IT IS NOW BEING MOVED ON FROM, IT IS STILL THE ANCHOR.
So yeah. THAT'S why there "haven't been any doors" yet. WE HAVE BEEN IGNORANT OF THIS KEY STEP IN DOING SO!!!!! Yeah the door opens TO the League, but IT HAS TO OPEN FROM THEIR NATIVE WORLD FIRST!!! Such doors connect WORLDS and therefore CANNOT OPEN IN HEADSPACE!!!!!!

Comment on importance of family & familial LOVE.
"When you don't have loving parents, you get people like me" = unconsciously imitate & perpetuate "normal" unloving & violent behavior. WE DO THIS TOO. The environment in which you grow up AFFECTS EVERYTHING that comes after.
BUT THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE. Especially through Christianity, you CAN still learn what REAL LOVE IS, and even what a LOVING FAMILY IS. It's hard and can be scary, but it IS POSSIBLE and again WE ARE GROWING PROOF, God willing to preserve & support us in this journey.

BTW WHAT WAS THE LEAGUELINK ROOM???? Look up old entries. I think it was more of an airport terminal than anything; it was a means of visitation only??


Just randomly stumbled across this online and GEEZ =
"When I first started the CATTA, there were many “Scared Straight” programs in Michigan, and I had even participated in a couple. However, I quickly discovered that inflicting trauma will never help a boy release it, but instead teach him to suppress it. Nowadays, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a Scared Straight or Bootcamp program because discipline without love is ineffectual. Our boys need to be healed, not scared straight."
"Teaching boys how to fight is one thing, but training them up to walk the path of righteousness is another...  So, my combat thesis is to love always, and fight if you must."
"Although I’ve seen the benefits of martial arts discipline, I’ve always been confounded about how a martial artist can make it to the level of a black belt in a dojo or gym, but remain a white belt in life. I see why it’s written that, “Training the physical body is of some value, but training for godliness is of value in every way, benefitting in this life and the life to come (1 Tim 4:8).” I’m not a martial artist, but a man with a martial heart. I am not committed to developing martial artists, I sacrifice my life to save the lives of boys."
"...trauma cannot be ignored because it becomes the very root of a students’ behavior patterns and mindset."
Thinking hard about childhood & family & dysfunction & trauma lately... all of that hits home so hard it hurts.


I suddenly realized why Mimic is so far beyond other Outspacers in development right now.
SHOCKINGLY, HIS HEART IS BREAKABLE, and he has WEPT.
That SINGLE INSTANT of raw Vulnerability in that dream IS WHY HE'S EVEN UP HERE TO BEGIN WITH. He got an unprecedented head start.
Tears and heartache are ESSENTIAL to being part of the League OR the Spheres!
BARRY HAS NOT CRIED. NOR HAS PHLEGMONI.
And for some bizarre reason, ALL THE FEMALE OUTSPACERS ARE BEING "BARRED" FROM BLUER EMOTIONS.
Mimic leans that color too, btw. He's Indigo. Thats INHERENTLY an emotionally deep color. Warmer tones are different. They feel warmer emotions easier. And those are all vital too, absolutely, BUT it is the ability to FEEL COMPASSION (SUFFERING WITH) THAT GIVES YOU ROOTS.
Your heart has to be able to LIGHT UP. You've gotta be SOUL FORM COMPATIBLE buddy!!!!!


Darkness "cannot comprehend?" Light BECAUSE DARKNESS IS, BY DEFINITION, THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT. A shadow literally only CAN exist if something STOPS THE LIGHT in order TO cause a shadow; it is an INHERENTLY NEGATIVE "EXISTENCE"; it is a VOID and not a substance. THAT IS THE DEFINITION OF SIN, FOR THE RECORD. Sin is LOSS, LACK, REJECTION, REFUSAL, EMPTINESS, ENTROPY. It is UNREALITY.
You cannot "turn darkness into light." It's just the lack OF light. LIGHT IS THE TRUTH, THE REALITY. It is LIFE, the most natural & essential emanation of it.
 


091723

Sep. 17th, 2023 11:49 pm
prismaticbleed: https://www.deviantart.com/teacosies/art/celebi-420071633 (tears)


 Made it to church!
Congestion made us SING BETTER??? and BEAUTIFUL LOW NOTES thank You God!

Downstairs delay. Impatient because losing Chaplet time. Surrendered and tried to adore Sacrament as best we could.
Oddly drawn to St John Neumann book in narthex? Put it in backpack. Oddly hopeful about it.  I forget what he is the patron saint of;  Maybe we need his intercession right now in our life.
Talked to M.A.P. about the EUCHARISTIC MIRACLE her son had IN OUR CHURCH. Gave us a PHOTO of it!!!! Put it right in our phone case.
Paused. Thinking hard about this.  Told God that we need a Eucharist miracle too, but not a physical one.  That wouldn't do us any good if our heart didn't know what to do with it.  For us the true miracle would be for him to change our heart, To make it open and forgiving and faithful. And we begged him for that; we need that and want that so badly.

Blood sugar stable but felt horrid?
Kept Panicking over tomorrow schedule. Couldn't even pray right.
Martie said our rosary was gorgeous, asked where we got it.
We said GRANDMA got it for us before she died. And that IS the truth. She gets ALL the credit.
Still haunted by guilt though. Disturbed how Tilly feels NONE of it.

Brief dad visit; saw him unpacking & refused to drive past.
Miss him so much.

BK prep DISASTER.
EVERYTHING went wrong.
Probably the dissociation . System absent.

Told God I was angry with Him BUT I KNEW HE WAS GOOD AND I DIDNT WANT TO BE ANGRY. totally honest & raw

SUDDEN MIRACULOUS 180 EMOTIONALLY AFTER???? And System communication turned back on just as suddenly

GREAT & HEAVY devotionals today. Type about

Mary sweetly walking us through cleanup & such. Reassuring & calming. Then ORDERED me to eat because I was neglecting it from anxiety & getting sicker

VOTD video made us doubletake; exactly relevant to this fiasco
Dude has a great speaking manner btw

BK AT 2PM BTW WTF ;________;

Xenophon got 13 CARROT TAILS today haha. Sundays are special; I put em ALL in

BTW windows are open, it's raining, and reading Psalm 91 EVERYTHING FEELS LIKE MORALIMON. OUR HEART IS SO BRIGHT WITH LOVE I COULD CRY.
I feel SO REAL right now. I TOLD you autumn is our springtime!!! This is OUR season of new life!!!

ALSO. At church we realized = AUTUMN IS HEAVEN BECAUSE WE HAVE NO TRAUMA MEMORIES DURING AUTUMN???????
Despite the October trauma anniversaries, THOSE DON'T REGISTER AS AUTUMN????
WE ONLY HAVE AUTUMN MEMORIES FROM CHILDHOOD!!!!!!! FULL STOP! Spring is the SAME WAY.
As an adult FEMALE it's ALL SUMMER.
As an adult MALE it's ALL WINTER.
...


I feared the eggs were ruined today BUT they taste even BETTER?? Even though they're broken, and not "perfect". This is because we surrendered it to God, thank You God for redeeming even our stupid mistakes. It feels strongly relevant to the state of our soul (and body), too.

...

Youversion prayer request distraction.
Too much past thinking. Greatly shook us, lost our center & sense of time/self.  Of course we still want to pray for them but it's so hard when we're depersonalized From that whole time period.
Disturbed by self-state "body memory" they trigger. Feels very wrong.

...

Just stumbled across something sickeningly disturbing while researching a commentary reference =
""If the cubs themselves behave strangely, that might be a reason for animals to eat their offspring," Huck told CNN, citing illness or developmental issues as possible causes. "If their infant doesn't respond as an infant should do, it's not recognized as an infant and therefore the maternal instinct doesn't kick in. It is more likely in captivity because there are more factors that would contribute. It is well known that if animals in captivity are stressed, they are more likely to eat their cubs.""
I'm wondering if THAT garish fact applies to US, AND OUR TERROR OF FEMININITY & SXUALITY.
We can easily & heartily feel paternal affection towards people. We did in church. But motherhood feels WRONG, notably as something DISGUSTINGLY PROMISCUOUS.
That's not right. But it's our immediate & potent gut response.

All day schedule scrambling
Called mom right when we started breakfast
Mom called right when we started dinner
Crying from confused helpless exhaustion to God
BUT GOT LIGHTS!!!! Thank the Lord

8pm dinner. We're wrecked. After we pray, we're robably just gonna watch Porco Rosso tonight; no strength to do much else.

Changed the Hour of Honor reminder music to "Bells for Her". No longer triggers stress-anger.

Jade call again late night.

So exhausted. Dead tired. No energy.


091623

Sep. 16th, 2023 11:40 pm
prismaticbleed: (soniccity)
 
Slept until 10
Lots of death-adjacent flat nightmares. Deeply unsettled & ill upon waking.

BK prep, prayers, & cleanup took exactly one hour on best timing. Good to know!

Matthew Henry deserves an award for this amazing alliteration =
"Here is a precious comment upon a pernicious text; the counsel of cursed Caiaphas so construed as to fall in with the counsels of the blessed God."
Seriously man that is FANTASTIC.
BTW "pernicious" is TERRIFYING etymologically

I'm sitting here with the window open & fans off, first time since summer began, and it smells like autumn. It's beautiful. My heart is aching. We didn't see autumn at all last year, the year we woke up, and so we have NO MEMORIES OF IT outside of childhood (2000-2002). We miss our woods so much. God please, let us go up there many times this autumn, to treasure it & bless You for it.
...Still. we must remember it has changed irreparably, catastrophically. It will never be the woods in our heart ever again on this earth.
But we owe it at least this one last try. God, if it is Your will, please let us be there.
If not, we beg of You, please... give us an autumn forest elsewhere. Show us something close, something precious & unexpected.


Went to church early for confession
Penance is actually doing random acts of kindness
I really love that. I think it's the exact sort of penance we need to truly change our heart for the better. make sure to do that every day.

Ran home safely. thank God for showing his mercy even more when there's a higher risk.
 at apartment, usual two old guys out front, always stop me to shoot the bull. they ended up talking about religious trauma in their life. shockingly they had so much grudging hatred for the organization of the church, especially in corrupt priests and schools. it broke my heart and made me very upset to hear that so many people hate the church because of the sins of the people-- Forgetting that Christianity is not about humans and our weakness, it's about Jesus. if we would all strive to focus on Him more I think we'd have a lot less problems.
Same thing with claiming that you "picked the wrong vocation". the guys were making rather off-color comments about that, citing examples of "former priests" they knew. just felt totally wrong. like HOW can you possibly BECOME A PRIEST and then, one day, decide it's "not for you"??? I don't think we pray enough about our vocations, nor do we ask enough if we're doing it for God or for ourselves.

Saw infi in heartspace when walking by the rosebush. I knew that's where they were; I could feel that space very clearly in spatial awareness.
I forget what we talked about, but I remember how they still were all ghostly-- you can't look at them directly, There's nothing to look at. its bizarre.  The only thing I can see of them for sure are their eyes. They have a single eye on their face and no mouth, just like they should. and their eyes (wings included) are this beautiful soft charcoal black, with a sort of hazy rainbow cloud, like ink in water, threading through them. It's very beautiful. I know they used to have an oil slick look to their black but it's nothing like that. 

I heard from them again later today, when getting ready for dinner. I forget why, but I remember reflecting on their name. And they clearly said that isn't their name anymore, and it cannot be their name anymore. It's because that name was a negative name-- It always inherently held a negation of something.  And I remember them clearly saying, "I don't want to be associated with loss anymore."
During church, something about their heart or soul kept resonating. Not a ping, more like a broad resonance-- like a church bell echo.
They're reflecting the truth of what the Black energy is. It's stellating the night.  It's putting Points of light into the blackness. Whatever their new name is, it's going to have to do with forgiveness. Forgiveness, mercy, gentleness, consolation.
The only way they can survive and live is if their entire identity is anchored into that. In fact, it's what they were supposed to be all along. The only reason they became a trauma-mirror Is because we were trying so hard to not hate the people that did scary things to us-- to not hate anyone who did or said things that explicitly reminded us of, or directly echoed, sexual abuse. We were, insanely, trying to become like them, to "empathize with them", because we wanted to forgive them-- to like them even. But... we became the sin instead of seeing the person trapped beneath the sin. And Infi was the absolute embodiment of that error, becoming the literal incarnation of every sexually-terrifying things we heard and saw in order to "get us used to it" and "love the people that did it to us." we couldn't run, we couldn't escape, so we had to "fit in." or so we thought. nevertheless it killed hir and us in the end. but we can't heal from THAT until we stop trying to "justify" the sin and instead CONDEMN it AS sin WHILE STILL FORGIVING THE SINNERS. that's the big shift. So now, THAT'S infi's job: to forgive And free them-- and us as well-- through that forgiveness, Without allowing the sin, Or trying to justify it or even saying "it's okay". Because it's not, & that's the whole point.

Clean all of that up I'm taking it on audio notes because I'm running very late today.

By the way I'm feeling very sick, like we're starting to run a fever, so I hope we can still get to church tomorrow. We're going to try!

DN= Criminally dissociated. Forgetting everything.
Typing too much. Oversocialized.
Couldn't taste anything or remember anything. Miserable.

Quote of the day fits perfectly with our penance =
"If you find that there is no love in you, but you want to have it, then do deeds of love, even though you do them without love in the beginning. The Lord will see you desire and striving and will put love in your heart."
- St. Ambrose of Optina


091523

Sep. 15th, 2023 07:46 pm
prismaticbleed: (amecry)
 

Bomber jacket & chapel veil
Holy hour!

Praying at home was so hard?
Emotional turmoil for some reason.
Struggled. Kept getting distracted by windows, compulsions, brain disheveled (not fog!!). So upset but couldn't cry; no sadness, just agitation & self-loathing.
BREAKTHROUGH in sorrowful mystery 3. Looking at His bloodied yet loving Face and thinking, "that's my King."

BK prep a mess.
No one around from social locking??
COULDN'T EVEN THINK STRAIGHT on my own.
Trying to multitask with window film while cooking. Overheated the evoo: forgot that hot-oil smell is a HUGE TRIGGER. Knocked thr wind out of me, nearly started to cry from childfear & general exasperation with self.

Couldn't bear the empty heart anymore
Closed eyes & called everyone over to look at them. They all said a few loving words of encouragement & fidelity to me, holding my hands.
Lynne, Julie, Laurie, Leon, Scalpel, Knife, Razor, Siobhan, Wreckage.
I could SEE THEM. It blew my mind. There were things I forgot but saw/ felt. I remember glimpsing Lynne's tattoo & Leon's necklace, feeling Scalpel's rings and Laurie's bandage wraps.
Wreckage took my head in her claws & bumped our foreheads together, it was so sweet it ached.
I felt SO ALIVE & LOVED I actually teared up. INSTANT heart grounding.

New egg prep btw!
No longer paranoid about vitamins either. We got it figured out, thanks to God.

Daily devotional on Our Lady of Sorrows = Mimics pop quiz answered by LAURIE, FLAWLESSLY AT ONCE. He was legit impressed. Laurie said "she's my patron" so she owed her that loyal attention.

Mimic commenting on the book devotional w fr. Cizsek, labor camp masses. "No 'villain' would ever have the guts to do that." The power of Good in trying circumstances, when Bad would actually chicken out. The indomitable strength of humility against all odds, that Pride would mock as crazy or stupid. Stark contrasts.

"Soulfrequency" messed up enough to pick up devil talk. "Gluten free conspiracy against the Eucharist."

Finally eating at 1230. Still late but we did our best all things considered.
Gotta learn to cope with these bad brain days without despairing.

VOTD reflection EXACTLY what we needed today, & DIRECTLY RELEVANT to rosary experience.
Lynne resonating hard with "hope" and being "steadfast." Anchor feelings!

Kids devotional FIERY FURNACE!!! Also GREAT insight on hidden idolatry.
God needs to be our top priority, the focus of all our time, thoughts, money, and attention... we need to be LOVINGLY OBSESSED WITH GOD. And honestly we WANT that SO MUCH. Its a TOTALLY DIFFERENT feeling than a compulsory obsession!! it feels like FREEDOM, not slavery. It is a JOY, not a terror.

Gender panic has returned BTW. There's a lot going on in the Catholic Church right now concerning it.
Notably there were 2 articles emailed to us yesterday that scared us so badly. (Link, discuss?)
Theres SUCH a Femininity struggle, with trauma. Being a "girl" is foreign and ALWAYS WAS. The only time we were "feminine" was AS AN INFANT.
Still. TYPE ABOUT GENDER IN CHILDHOOD. Please get it all out in front of our eyes, so we can process things. Bottom line is that THE CHURCH TEACHES A CISHET BINARY and we NEED to adapt to it, FOR GOD'S SAKE.
In any case, there are two sides = the Church, and the Satanist relativistic promiscuous "pride" cult we see everywhere online.
We NEVER WANT TO ASSOCIATE WITH THE LATTER.
so we must make ourselves fit the former.
...I just remember that such efforts were WHY THE TRAUMA BEGAN IN THE FIRST PLACE.
...but we've never processed that either.
Maybe it's time.

James 1:12.

Sudden mom call
ANOTHER emotional sobbing guilt meltdown after
WHY DO WE GO INTO BITCHY SOCIAL MODE ON THE PHONE????

Lent devotional catchup
Not sure why but hey. Autumn fitting really.

Made the mistake of trying that food mom sent up
IMMEDIATELY VOMITED.
so upset. so sick.
Could NOT recover emotionally.
Prayed in angry hurt scared distress. Honest.
"What IS my highest good?"
"The salvation of your soul"

GUTPUNCH overheard convo with CZ and whatever pseudocore girl was driving in the wake of the food hell=

"You're not real."
"Is that what you really think?"
"No"
"..."
"I'm just so confused by my religion and (???)"
"Your religion shouldn't be confusing you.  Don't you believe that God is love?"
"Yes"
"Well. I love you.  If anything makes me real that's it."

Later, between that unknown antilove girl and the "Jesus voice"=
"That's no way to treat your daughter."
"She's not my daughter. I don't love him."
"You don't love him because you're cold hearted."


...
And yet God still inexplicably makes everything work out for my highest good.
I ended up being too depressed and dishevelled to say rote prayers, So I was watching spiritual videos on YouTube And stumbled across a channel of NDEs.
...
It made me want to cry. I kept thinking of how We would feel that sense of absolute cosmic love as a system in the past.  How did we ever lose touch with that?
... We still have no solid answers for what death means to us as a system. We can only hope that the love we share will be the realest thing in the end.

Praying about "Infi" again, in light of this stone heart, this lack of self-love. "Give me a daengel again." Please.

Saint Bridget prayers and Dan Deacon music. Something moved me today.

Lungs & bodyache getting worse though. Hope to God this isn't COVID again. Still gotta run to church tomorrow!

BK for 7pm, small miracle haha

Me being so glad to see Mimic suddenly show up during Bible study (looking up "corroborate the faith"; he wanted to see if i could grasp the etymology properly on my own). His casual presence felt like i was back home, back in gear after the mess.
Then, feeling deeper thoughts on that topic, I looked over to CZ, deeply moved that he was STILL HERE after everything. Called him over.
Laurie spoke up, said he shouldn't need to be called over, "only Knife needs to be invited" (hand on his shoulder, "that's a joke, buddy") = but Chaos has a RIGHT and arguably an OBLIGATION to be near me, because of our relationship.
She paused, unsure what to call us now, what with the gender & religion struggle lately. Then she simply said to Chaos, "because you're her soulmate."
AND THAT CLICKS????? LIKE IT LITERALLY FEELS RIGHT.
So of course CZ & I fistbumped in agreement before he basically threw his arms around me haha.
But yeah. That's HUGE.

Still not right for Xenophon to call me "mom." It's not true in the way that matters. INFI was the ensoulment of Blackspace creative potential, that the Red Jewels could tap into-- Infi WAS "motherhood."
And yet I'm resonating with Black again, too, which the Jays did NOT.
Still. Asexuality is intrinsic. I cannot be a parent. But what do I do for her? If I'm the successor OF her father, what role do I play?

" it is common for those in authority to impose their corrupt dictates by virtue of that; and, because they should be the wisest and best, to expect that every body should believe they are so. "
Laurie = "don't ever let me be like that. Im just a nousfoni like the rest of us. Don't put me on a pedestal. If I am wise, its by God; if I fall, its my own doing."


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

In light of our frightened sickness prayers, this is the FIRST thing we saw when we sat down =
"Though the miracle was not yet wrought, yet the prayer was answered, and he triumphs before the victory. No other can pretend to such an assurance as Christ had; yet we may by faith in the promise have a prospect of mercy before it be actually given in, and may rejoice in that prospect, and give God thanks for it. In David's devotions, the same psalm which begins with prayer for a mercy closes with thanksgivings for it. Note, (a.) Mercies in answer to prayer ought in a special manner to be acknowledged with thankfulness. Besides the grant of the mercy itself, we are to value it as a great favour to have our poor prayers taken notice of. (b.) We ought to meet the first appearances of the return of prayer with early thanksgivings. As God answers us with mercy, even before we call, and hears while we are yet speaking, so we should answer him with praise even before he grants, and give him thanks while he is yet speaking good words and comfortable words."
THAT REQUIRES ABSOLUTE FAITH & TRUST IN HIS GOODNESS & MERCIFUL HEART. When you CHOOSE to thank Him ahead of time, it OPENS THE DOOR for those graces!!! GOD MEETS YOU IN THE EFFORT.
And He WILL help you. This stuff is FACT, NOT CONJECTURE. Remember GOD IS LOVE. He IS mercy.
You can bet everything on Him, surrender it all into His care-- and you will be infinitely richer for it, without fail, every time. You are safe in His Heart, NO MATTER WHAT.
That all means so, so much to me. Blessed be God.

FOR THE RECORD... GOD HAS LITERALLY ANSWERED EVERY SINGLE PRAYER YOU HAVE EVER PRAYED.
EVEN THE MOST DESPERATE, HYSTERICAL, TERRIFIED PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN DUE TIME, AND IN MIRACULOUS WAYS.
HE HAS NEVER, EVER, EVER LET YOU DOWN. HE NEVER WILL.
THANK HIM WITH EVERY BEAT OF YOUR HEART.
GOD LOVES YOU. UNQUESTIONABLY.

I genuinely want to praise Him with my entire life.  Lord give me the grace.


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

"Christ gave this proof of his humanity, in both senses of the word; that, as a man, he could weep, and, as a merciful man, he would weep, before he gave this proof of his divinity. [2.] That he was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, as was foretold, Isaiah 53:3. We never read that he laughed, but more than once we have him in tears. Thus he shows not only that a mournful state will consist with the love of God, but that those who sow to the Spirit must sow in tears. [3.] Tears of compassion well become Christians, and make them most to resemble Christ. It is a relief to those who are in sorrow to have their friends sympathize with them, especially such a friend as their Lord Jesus... It becomes us, according to this example of Christ, to show our love to our friends, both living and dying. We must sorrow for our brethren that sleep in Jesus; [notably doing so] as those that are full of love, though not void of hope."
Disturbingly, we get an instinctive DISGUST RESPONSE to the thought of crying over people, which proves that PART OF OUR HEART IS FROZEN. Why????? That's actually horrifying to realize.
This is so unnatural. We weren't like this even in college, i don't think. How & when & why did our heart turn to stone???????
⭐Reading all this and thinking... the devil cannot cry. The devil WON'T cry. Crying REQUIRES A TENDERNESS OF HEART!!! 
I know angels are pictured as weeping at the Cross, but I've heard others say that angels in general cannot feel sadness??? Because heaven has no sorrow? It's a HUMAN emotion, allegedly. But then what about grief over sinfulness? What about lamenting souls that stray? What about GODLY SORROW? What about Mary weeping as our Sorrowful Mother even now? What about Jesus's eternal Wounds?
There's gotta be something we're misunderstanding. God please grant us humble light & wisdom. May we seek this knowledge only for Your sake, and for love of You.


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