jesusfreq

[jesusfreq]

step father

when Mary

had finished her labor

lying weary and cold

on the straw

there was no one to heat water

to wash the child

but him.

no servants to bring silk

to comfort the maiden,

no hands to hold the child while she washed

but his.

hands too rough to hold God.

but, God, there were no other hands.

the baby was so small and perfect

that he could not have imagined it was anyone but God.

and so Joseph knelt when he lifted Him.

the sweet child was crying.

how to make Him still?

a faint instinct-memory

of the comfort of great and secure hands

arose in him.

Joseph set one thumb

upon Jesus' cheek - his only son.

and Jesus' face turned into it instantly

with a heart-breaking confidence of love.

for Joseph had loved Adonai confidingly all his life:

since kneeled, early-morning lisped prayers, eyes turned upwards

but had never known before the awful joy

of being loved confidingly

by God.

to have God

in one's own arms

so small

one's own child

in all the ways that mattered.

so while Mary slept at last

Joseph held God

in his arms

to keep Him warm.

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GUYS

My teacher recommended me a bible website, and it's the coolest thing ever

Basically, it's called Catena, and the gist is that for every verse of the bible you can click on it and see commentary from TONS of scholars across the centuries

the funniest part is that it's formatted like a comment section so it looks like all these massive scholars all got together and commented on the bible

which they did (communion of saints my beloved)

BUT ANYWAYS yeah I just felt that this should be shared with you all :)

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Douglas Blanchard, The Passion of the Christ - A Gay Vision, Part I

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collect :)

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If anyone might see this, please if you could pray for me I would appreciate it. My lymph nodes have been enlarged for 5 months now. The ultrasound showed them as benign & appearing, but if they don't go down soon I will have to have a biopsy because it could still indicate cancer. I'm very scared right now.

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Merry Christmas to all those to celebrate (I know Christmas hasn't hit everyone yet)!!!

May we remember our love, Jesus Christ 💗†

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you know what dad? maybe i don't wanna be the saviour of the broken, the beaten and the damned. it's a lot of pressure to put on me and honestly i've been feeling stressed recently because of it

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currently struggling with the question.. why did jesus have to die for our sins? a friend recently asked me and she's atheist, and I thought I knew the answer, but then i went blank.

i could give you some trite and theologically correct about how god loved us so much that he had to offer his only son to ransom us from the sin we chose to commit (john 3:16) but that's not...what i personally believe? and i know a lot of christians who will not like my view on the issue of grace. but i believe he didn't have to die for anyone's sins: he just wanted to, because he is love. but every day we are faced with the choice of whether or not jesus has to die. jesus was a victim above all: he allowed himself to become that in solidarity with all victims, across time and place. you can believe in a chronological history of time in which we are in the breath before christ returns to divide the sheep from the goats, or you can believe that he sublimates history and know that every day, every choice we make, every person we encounter, asks us to spare christ. christ died to be a symbol of the human capacity for mercy and its failing. he is in us as we are in him: thus we die with him, and we can save with him. when we are loving we walk jesus out of the tomb. the purpose of christ's death is to make us unfraid to look into the darkness of death and suffering, and grasp the hand reaching for us.

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Icon corner in the Slutsk Ethnographic Museum (x).

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The Lord saves not with the sword and spear.

1 Samuel 17:47

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Could you expand more about your thoughts on Heaven and hell? Idk how hell can be seen as anything but punishment

My interpretation is very much influenced by Eastern Orthodox theologies of heaven and hell, however there are actually a lot of theologies that don't see "heaven=reward" and "hell=punishment." I will do my best to explain my thoughts on the matter of heaven and hell, which I admit is constantly changing.

I foremost believe that the Kingdom of God cannot be confined to the afterlife. It is timeless and ever-present, and amongst all of us (Luke 17:21). I also believe that God's ultimate desire is for us to return to God (Acts 17:26-28). I also believe that there is a place of burning eonic (not eternal) fire, as Jesus describes in Matthew 25:31-46.

I am of the conviction that every single being eventually unifies with God. When we face the Light of God, our perception of this Light varies. One might perceive this Light as the glories of heaven, or might perceive this Light as the burning fires of hell. Heaven and hell are not separate places but are two interpretations of the same experience.

I personally believe that in order to fully embrace this heavenly unification, like Christ we must go through Kenosis ("self-emptying"). I think the majority of people (myself included) will have to burn in the purifying fires for quite some time before we are ready to soften our hearts and let go of our egos. Our time on earth should be spent on preparing ourselves for Theosis ("unification with God").

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"Радоуисѧ,Невѣсто Неневѣстнаꙗ"

Icon of the Virgin Mary “Tenderness” (19th-20th century)

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The Prayer of Surrender by Fr. Walter Ciszek, S.J.

Lord, Jesus Christ, I ask the grace to accept the sadness in my heart, as your will for me, in this moment. I offer it up, in union with your sufferings, for those who are in deepest need of your redeeming grace. I surrender myself to your Father’s will and I ask you to help me to move on to the next task that you have set for me. Spirit of Christ, help me to enter into a deeper union with you. Lead me away from dwelling on the hurt I feel: to thoughts of charity for those who need my love, to thoughts of compassion for those who need my care, and to thoughts of giving to those who need my help. As I give myself to you, help me to provide for the salvation of those who come to me in need. May I find my healing in this giving. May I always accept God’s will. May I find my true self by living for others in a spirit of sacrifice and suffering. May I die more fully to myself, and live more fully in you. As I seek to surrender to the Father’s will, may I come to trust that he will do everything for me.