disgruntledexplainer

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autism

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Here’s a big post about it (scroll down a bit). It has only somewhat worked unfortunately because you can’t get rid of prostitution until you get rid of poverty, and thats harder to work towards. Taking away their only choice while providing no other solutions doesn’t address the root problem (just like abortion!)

But it gets pimps and johns off the streets which is good. Because the beliefs they have about women are absolutely repulsive.

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Now I'm imagining Superman watching a swarm of mi-go flying about like a human watching the sunset.

bitchy superbat friendship but it’s just Clark flying up and interrupting whatever borderline suicidal coping mechanism Bruce thought up this week and going “really? [coping mechanism]?” and Bruce goes “some of us can’t go sulk on the moon whenever we’re having a bad day” and Clark is 1) horrified that Bruce knows about that and 2) instantly distracted by the sulking accusation. they repeat variations of this conversation until Bruce breaks a bone he actually needs to function (arguable) and Clark offers to fly him home; said offer is rejected immediately so instead he sits in Bruce’s passenger seat and tries not to — you guessed it — sulk. when they’re about to pull into the Cave, Clark sheepishly asks Bruce if him sitting on the moon is disturbing anything important and should he be worried. Bruce turns in his seat and looks at him like this 😐 nothing else is said

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I love ravelry.

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not to glorify the early years tumblr hellscape but this site was infinitely better when you could block anon hate and then immediately find out who was sending it by checking your blocklist and i for one propose that we bring that back. no rights for cowards.

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it's crazy to me that science is widely perceived as the antithesis to faith when you cannot take a single step into it without running into God

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Have you tried sending a letter to your bishop? I'm praying.

I'm worried about my parish. Most of our priests are lukewarm at best. Our diocese sends "the lazy ones" to our area. If a new priest tries to spring things up, he doesn't last long.

The one thing that hurts me, though. The priests in my parish stopped giving communion at Mass. There's no explanation. They just sit down at the presider's chair and the extraordinary ministers of the Holy Communion are the ones in charge of distributing it. There's no reason for this behavior.

Ergo, said ministers are very prideful and more often than not, run the place. The priests and deacons? Still chilling, apparently.

Please, pray for the fate of our humble diocese, Caguas Puerto Rico, and my hometown, Naranjito, Puerto Rico.

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Every time I see someone post about how someone's life doesn't matter because they did something terrible, or that they deserve to die because of it, or that they don't deserve any pity or love or mercy or grace or forgiveness or redemption because they did horrible things... I just want to cry.

And it's worse when it's from a Christian. Because you know what?? That just doesn't seem Christ-like to me. God is a righteous and just God, but that's His job, not ours.

When it's you, it's sin.

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It makes me happy when they listen

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Gandalf's Totally Foolproof I Swear This Is Gonna Work Guys strategy for protecting Middle-Earth:

apply hobbit of choice to problem

introduce big groups in smaller groups as not to spook potential host

when all goes haywire, eagles

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"Ubi Petrus Ibi Ecclesia" (Where Peter is, there is the Church) - #SaintAmbroseofMilan

📷 The Chair of Saint Peter / © Petr Polak via #CanvaPro. #Catholic_Priest #CatholicPriestMedia #ChairofPeter

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I would like to add that Dwarves ALSO make their homes underground.

Hey in middle earth is there any ecological consequences for those big fuckin eagles

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Faith or works?

“You can’t earn your way into heaven.”

On my way into the Catholic Church (I’m a convert), this was one of the objections my Protestant friends raised.

It’s grounded in the classic (misguided) idea that for Catholics your relationship with God is all about doing things (works of mercy, certain prayers, etc.) with little or no actual personal connection or faith.

It’s usually followed up by an assertion that salvation is a gift from God (that part is true).

The point being that (as they saw it) the supposed hyperfocus on “works” in the Catholic Church was unnecessary at best. At worst, it was a distraction or even an obstacle to faith.

Were my friends right? That there’s a conflict between faith and works, and in that conflict the Catholic Church has it wrong?

Actually, the Catholic Church isn’t focused on works to the detriment of faith. More importantly, there is no conflict between faith and works.

Sadly, this is one of the classic ways that Christians mess things up. And end up turning Christianity into something it was never meant to be. Here’s what I mean:

With the best of intentions, people try to make the Faith simpler and easier – by taking one positive good (like faith) and putting it above all other positive goods. With the idea that if they do this one thing well, then everything else will work itself out.

It’s a very understandable impulse, because the Faith is complex and nuanced (just like life, just like people). But in the long run, hyper-focusing on one positive good almost always ends up putting it in conflict with other positive goods (like works).

BTW, this same sort of thinking is the source of the (very not Catholic) manufactured conflict between faith and reason.

Back to faith and works. Against the “faith alone” perspective, St. James pushes back hard in today’s first reading when he says, “faith without works is dead.”

If that’s true, then what is the relationship of faith and works?

Pope Leo the Great put it simply, “while faith provides the basis for the works, the strength of faith comes out only in works.”

Faith alone is not enough.

Not because you or I have to earn God’s love (hint – we can’t earn it, it’s freely given by God). But because works are the unavoidable result of a living faith. Here’s what I mean.

My mother owns some woods that have a small creek running through them. One day, I decided to walk up the creek to find its source. I eventually found the place where it comes up out of the ground.

I put my foot over the spot, and for a moment the water stopped flowing. With no new water coming in, I could see the bottom of the creek start to emerge as the water drained away. And then it started to fill back up.

I looked back and saw water welling up around my foot and starting to flow again. The living spring that fed the creek was more than a match for my feeble attempt to disrupt it.

That is the relationship between faith and works that Leo the Great is talking about.

That is, if you have a living faith, works will well up out of you. Like me trying to block the flow of the spring, you will not be able to prevent yourself from living out your faith through corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

Just as the water in the creek points to the living spring, our works point to the living faith in us.

It’s not faith or works. It’s faith and works.

May God bless you richly with both.

Today’s Readings

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New Nun prints in my Shoppe

PLUS - last few places on my upcoming comics workshop series! Learn how to draw comics with me over 4 sessions in March - starts March 1st 2025. Click here to book & learn more!

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Christianity In India

by maps_by_samarth/instagram

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02/21/2025

Happy Feast of the Chair of St. Peter (this Saturday)!

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JOKE-OGRAPHY: 1. In this Bible story, Jesus warns Simon-Peter that his faith is about to be tested (during Jesus's arrest and execution), and although Satan wants to use that test to destroy the disciples, Jesus assures St. Peter, specifically, that He prayed for him, and that once Peter "turns back" (i.e. "returns to the disciples after denying Christ"), he must strengthen his brethren. 2. As per my pact with my patron (St. Lawrence), I am bound to inject humor into every comic, lest I face "the Cleansing." Thus, in the last panel, Jesus makes a pun. He basically reiterates what He tells St. Peter in panel 3 by saying, "Your faith will be ROCKED (as in "caused shock or distress" or "tossed by waves, like a boat"), but as the ROCK (Peter's name means "rock"), you must ROCK on (as in "continue to celebrate the music -- or, in this case, the Gospel -- like a rockstar")." Then Jesus waves a hand-gesture called "the horns," which rockstars use.