erindevanadera05

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"For my part I am devoted to these works at any hour and still perform them at all times: to seek after nothing but Love, work nothing but Love, protect nothing but Love, and advance nothing but Love. How you are to do or omit each of these things, may God, our Beloved, teach you."

- Saint Hadewijch of Antwerp, Letter 17: Living in the Rhythm of the Trinity

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[erindevanadera05]

The crucifixion didn’t put an end to suffering; what it meant is that God entered into suffering. He is a God of wounds. “No one escapes this life unmarked by suffering. We are broken people who live on a broken planet, and grief is part of the price we pay,” the author Philip Yancey has written. Last year I asked Philip, a follower of Jesus, why he thought God allows suffering, especially for the young and the innocent. He told me, “I don’t know why God allows for suffering. All I know is that God is on the side of the sufferer.” I don’t believe there’s a satisfactory answer to the questions posed by Ivan, and Dostoyevsky, to his credit, doesn’t try to provide one. The problem of evil, for him, has no cut-and-dry solution. The Brothers Karamazov doesn’t give us a solution to suffering but a different way to look at it, and a way of life we can choose to take in response: active, incarnational love. A kiss is all we have for now. But a kiss is enough for now.

Peter Wehner, "Why Does God Allow the Innocent to Suffer?"

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THIS. BRO. THIS.

Everyone's always like "mythology disproves Christianity." No!!!! Mythology proves that our God is a God of stories, of details, of intentionality. Everyone is so hung up on "every culture has a story of the dying and rising god/a virgin birth, etc. etc" but that's just it. Every culture has it, because somewhere, somewhen, it was true. Mythology is simply a reminder that God fashioned for us a language that we are all born knowing— a religious language, a language of the sacred. It's the reason so many cultures view bread as something sacred and use incense in their worship. Christ did not become man to unteach us "pagan" vocabulary. The vocabulary was never pagan to begin with! It was, and is, human. Christ became man, took on flesh, and spoke the language we were all born knowing: the language of mythos and sacred rituals, of prayers and of liturgy.

Do you think Jesus did not intimately know the world He entered? Do you think He didn't know the stories of Dionysus? Or the surprisingly Christocentric imagery associated with Apollo? Do you think He did not watch Virgil pen his fourth ecologue, in which he prophesies the coming of a baby, a redeemer? Do you think the all-knowing, all-powerful God who crafted Virgil's soul with his own hands didn't know that?

Mythology reminds us that God wrote the story. That He etched into the very marrow of our bones the language we need to know Him. When He came, He came in a way that was unexpected. But it was the way we would best recognize Him.

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Prayer for those who suffer: Victims of Genocide

Lord Have Mercy Lord Have Mercy Lord Have Mercy

Lord Come to their assistance, make haste to help them. Those who mourn. Those who cry. Those whose pain is far too much to bare. For those who live with no families left to hold. No mothers. No fathers. No children. Lord we pray to you that you shelter them from the evils of the world that seeks to harm them. That you bless their hearts. We ask you grant protection to those who live. Those who fight. and those imprisoned. We ask that you show mercy to us who watch. That you grant us opportunities to help and shelter: to protect and support.

Lord we ask that you hear our prayer. Grant these people in peace as there are many who suffer throughout the world. Sudan. Palestine. Democratic Republic of Congo. Papua New Guinea. and so so so many more places.

We pray for those who remain malnourished of their land and culture, and systematically occupied. We pray for their freedoms as well such as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and many many more places.

I pray for them and their safety. They are our brothers and sisters in humanity and I pray that you lend them your strength and protection. I pray for the Children, The orphans, The women, The widows, The grandparents who have out lived their offspring and their generations built, The men who lost their wives, The men who lost their children, The students robbed of education, The children robbed of their childhood, the people of this earth robbed of their lives.

I pray for Yemen, Lord, Lebanon, Lord, Ethiopia, Lord, Rwanda, Lord. as we know they too are in times of trial. Come to their Aid. And to the Aid of those all around the world who seek you, and need you.

Lord We Pray in your Holy Name

Amen

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I crave an everyday theology. a spirituality of the ordinary. a slow life. I am not in a hurry. I am arriving. I am capable of feeling deeply. I trust my body. I trust myself. I love myself. I am worthy of a life that is slow and kind and loving. I am worthy of a love story. I am worthy of friends and family that care about all facets of me. I am worthy of a job that fulfills me and compensates me well. I am worthy of investment in a home and space that affirms me. I am worthy of and allowed to share my art with the world. my perspective is valuable. I am worthy of a spiritual practice and life that does not hinge on suffering. every ending is a beginning. I am exactly where I am supposed to be. I have so much beautiful time.

g.t.e. // affirmations for a new year