#(HAVE DIS SIN ON THURSDAY)

[todomochi-uwu]

favourite crime. (1/2) J.Y & B.C

Pairing: Jeong Yunho x reader / Bang Chan x reader

Genre: Angst, smut

Know that I loved you so bad I let you treat me like that I was your willing accomplice, honey

Did it I proofread it? Kinda.

Did I just spent the last four hours working on it? Yes.

Am I just gonna post it and hope for the best? Also yes.

If you enjoy my work, please consider buying me a coffee ☕

You fell exhausted into the bed, your chest heaving, legs numb and lips swollen. He falls right next to you, in the same state. Both staring at the ceiling, trying to regain composure. You think of your next words very carefully, how do you approach him without sounding needy? How do you ask him without actually asking? Yunho’s thinking about how he has to get up early in the morning for work, and that he must leave in the next five minutes. The thought of staying over not even crossing his mind, even though work is closer to your place than his.

And while you keep trying to think of a way to get what you want, he gets up, goes to the bathroom, and comes back, just to start putting his clothes back on.

“It’s late, Yun. You should stay over.” You’ve used that one before, and it didn’t work. But you couldn’t think of anything else to say.

“All my stuff is back at my place, and I need it for tomorrow.” He ties his shoes and looks around for his wallet and jewellery. He doesn’t spare you a glance.

“Can’t you just grab it quick in the morning?”

“That doesn’t make sense, Y/n.” He pats his pockets making sure he’s got everything. “Hey, have you seen my hoodie? I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Uh no, I don’t know where it ended up.” It’s not like it’s hidden right under your pillow. That would be crazy. “I’ll look for it, you can come get it tomorrow, or I can bring it to you while you are at work, it’s no…” He cut you off immediately.

“There’s no need for that, don’t worry about it. I’ll take it next time I come by.  See you Thursday, gorgeous.” And with that, he leaves.

And so, the story goes. Every single time. Yunho comes over, horny, desperate and right to the point. Never steering away from his goal. Sex with him is mind-blowing, you won’t even lie, he knows what he’s doing and he’s managed to learn every single thing that makes your toes curl. He knows every inch of your body like a map, inside and outside. The things his mouth does should be illegal, the way his fingers curl just the right way while his lips suck on your clit, maintaining a rhythm that has you seeing stars in seconds. His cock is huge and gorgeous, making it hit all the right spots, while he whispers the most sinful things in your ear.

Looking at you taking my cock, aren’t you such a good slut?

Every single time you beg him to let you suck him off. Doesn’t matter if your jaw ends up aching the next morning, or if your tongue goes numb. The image alone of Yunho losing himself in the pleasure you bring makes you cum untouched. The way small whimpers escape his mouth as he starts growing closer, his hips thrusting into your wet cavern desperate for release, his head thrown back, eyes narrow and open wide mouth, his fist tightly wrapped in your head. It was all too good.

Fuck, baby. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Please don’t stop. Oh. Yes, just like that, sweetheart.

Yunho knows everything there is to know about making you cum. But nothing about not making you cry. The way he doesn’t say anything once everything ends, not even asking if you are okay, his eyes never reach you, making you feel invisible. Leaving you feeling like a toy, his fuck toy, that he can just use and toss aside every time he feels like it. And while you died a little every single time, you couldn’t let go of him. Know that you loved him so bad, you let him treat you like that.

­____________________________________________

Work, stress and a broken heart are never a good mix. You sat in front of the screen, staring at the blank page for a good number of minutes. Your body is there but your head is in a completely different place.

“I don’t there’s any more nails left to bite,” Hongjoong said as he sat next to you, putting a cup and a muffin in front of your face. “Eat this instead of trying to munch off your fingers.”

You looked at them, small bits of skin, nails, chipped nail polish and blood covered the tips, and the pain was slowly making itself present. You cursed under your breath before taking a sip of the beverage, gagging the second it touched your tongue.

“Ugh, I hate tea. I hate chamomile.” You took another sip, “I hate Mondays.”

“You are always in a bad mood, but what’s gotten into you today?” He said taking a sip of his drink, looking through some of his notes.

“I got no sleep. I’m on my period. I’m on a fucking block and this is due by Wednesday.” I’m heartbroken.

He hummed, “Is that all?”

“Isn’t it enough?”

“Y/n, babe, since I’ve known you, you’ve never gotten a full night's sleep, so that’s not it. I understand about your period and you always, always manage to pull through a block, at least good enough for a deadline. You and I both know what this is about.”

“I already told you…”

“Bullshit. Why do you keep lying to yourself? Why do you keep lying to me?” He crossed his arms, his tone becoming accusatory. “What I don’t get is why you keep defending him. No matter how much he crosses the line you keep crossing your heart for him[MC1] .”

“He’s not doing anything, I’m the one who fucked up by falling for him.”

“He doesn’t even give you the bare respect you deserve, Y/n. He treats you like a sex doll; he doesn’t acknowledge you in public; he acts like he doesn’t know you. He knows about your feelings and he could give less of a fuck about them”

“It’s casual sex, Joongie.”

“I’ve had casual sex, and it has never even crossed my mind to treat someone the way he treats you.” He sighs frustrated, “And what bothers me the most is the fact you are willing to stand all it to get a bit of him. He doesn’t want you; he only wants your body.”

Tears threaten to spill out. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before. From him, from Mingi, hell even from yourself. But you couldn’t find it in yourself to push him away. To let go. “Don’t you think I know that? I’m aware of it. But what do you want me to say? I’m a fucking idiot for loving him, but I can’t help it.” You covered your mouth, trying to keep the sobs inside.

“Love, please, I’m begging you I can’t bear to see you like this anymore. I hate what he’s done to you, he took away your shine, your spark. Please, promise you will end this. I can’t stand to see you like this anymore, if not for you, for me, please.”

­____________________________________________

You had made a promise. You would try to move on, finally kicking Yunho out of your life. Yeah, you had first slipped a bit but you were now on the right track.

The first Thursday you had been so dispersed you completely forgot to cancel your (dick) appointment with him. So, when he showed up on your doorstep and immediately threw you onto the couch and ate you out, there was nothing much you could do, so you let yourself enjoy it, one last time you said to yourself.

Oh my god Yun, I'm gonna cum, please!

Don't you dare, I'm not done with you.

Watching him leave was just as bad as the last time. It made you cry all night long, your heart empty and your stomach in a swirl. That was the night you decided you never wanted to feel like that again.

The second time, you'll admit, it was because you were horny and in withdrawal. It was a few weeks after, you had been cancelling your appointments claiming you were too busy, and while it wasn't necessarily a lie, you were also avoiding him. But you just needed a bit of him to help you get by, a small dosage and you would be able to quit.

You had found yourself head pushed against the sheets, waist up and knees wide open while he pistols his hips against your, now, reddish ass. You were drooling, eyes at the back of your head, and mouth screaming his name over and over again.

You missed me, you whore? Oh, I bet you did. I'm the only one who can give you what you need, this pussy is mine and don't you dare forget about it.

You watched him leave and didn't say anything. Staring at your phone, of course, pretending to be busy on it, but it had at least made you appear uninterested.

The third and last time it had been him texting you that he was right in front of your building. On a Wednesday. What the hell was he doing there on a Wednesday?

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd drop by, we haven't seen each other in a couple of weeks and I thought I would at least try." He said.

You looked at him as if he had grown a second head. No clue on who was the man standing in front of you. Yunho had never "dropped by", your meetings planned, and established beforehand, like a doctor's appointment. He was equally as confused as you, not knowing what got into him; blaming it on the stress and the lack of sex.

You had ended up riding him on the sofa, both of you cumming unusually fast, but near as satisfying.

Oh, it felt so good Yun. We hadn't seen each other in a couple of weeks, remember?

And just like that, it was done. You had gotten up, ready to take a shower and go to sleep. Asking him to lock the door on his way out. Yunho couldn't help but feel sick, you hadn't even spared him a glance.

­­­­­­­­­____________________________________________

In the middle of your mess of a life, a new project had been assigned to you at work. It was bigger than anything you had done before, and so demanding that the workload had to be shared between three people. Hongjoong, you and…

“Guys, this is Bang Chan. He will be working with you for the next few weeks, he’s going to be supporting you during this project, so make sure to relay on him.”

Your eyes crossed and he gave you a small smile. He was cute, you won’t try and deny it. But you didn’t have time for that, you have to focus on working on yourself and on the project. Right?

While at first the load of work had been a blessing in disguise, keeping you away from Yunho and off of thinking of him, it had quickly turned into a nightmare in the last few weeks. Change after change after change. At some point it even had you doubting yourself, but Chan was always there to reassure you.

Early mornings turned into late nights. Hongjoong, Chan and you took turns to sleep on the uncomfortable, black leather couch at the back of the studio.

It was 4 a.m. on a Thursday. Hongjoong had lost the battle about an hour ago, softly snoring in the background, with drool running down his cheek. Chan had taken a photo for "future purposes" as he stated.

At this point, you couldn't even focus on the things happening on the screen, but you also couldn't sleep, too anxious to find any peace.

"I don't think we are going to get anything else done today," Chan said throwing his arms back and stretching his muscles. And yeah, you couldn't help but stare.

"I know. But god knows I won't be getting any sleep until we finish this"

"I'm the same."

A comfortable silence covered the room, only the soft sounds of Chan clicking the mouse and the quiet snores of Joong could be heard. And just as you started to disassociate.

"What's your favourite midnight snack?"

"Mm? Oh, I don't know."

"Mine's instant ramen. And I would kill for a bowl right now." He said getting up, "My treat, you in?" He offered his hand to help you get up.

Without any thought, you took it.

And so, the rest of the night went. Between energy drinks, trash food and friendly (and bit flirty) banter.

"I cannot fathom the idea of someone not liking coffee."

"It tastes like shit." No hesitance.

"No, it doesn't! It's literally what keeps me going without it I would just be a zombie all day."

"Tea does the same thing, it doesn't taste like dirt, and it's better for you."

"The thought of having a cup of green tea first thing in the morning makes me want to gag."

"Don't knock till you try it." He finished the last of his noodles, speaking with his mouth full, "And it doesn't even have to be green tea, there are lots of types of teas, like..."

Your phone started ringing, interrupting his rant. He took it and looked at the screen, "Bad idea, don't you dare answer is calling you?"

He called you. Which is something he never does. Too personal. Yet here he was, at the other side of the line. Waiting for you to answer, but you couldn't let yourself do it, you couldn't let yourself fall for him all over again. Stunned on what to do, you let it go to voicemail. Watching it ring one, two, three times before your screen turned black. You let out a breath you didn't know you were holding. Now an awkward silence.

"So... I'm guessing a ghost of the past has just tried to summon itself back into your life?" He said trying to break the tension[MC2] .

"Yeah, it's umm... It's complicated."

"I've got time and I've been told am an excellent listener." His eyes carry a kind of compassion you had never experienced, no pity, no sense of charity.

"Well..."

­­­____________________________________________

"Oh wow, he isn't just a bad idea, Y/n. No, he's way past that."

"I know." A sad giggle. "He's not always an asshole, he's just not interested in me in any other way that's not sexual. That's why I'm trying to move on."

"That's good, that's good." A thought crossed his mind, "he can't be that good in bed."

You choked on your spit, not expecting the conversation to go in that direction.

"I'm just saying, maybe you just idealize him because you hadn't had decent sex before him."

"Even if the burdens me to admit it, he's really good."

"I don't believe you."

"Believe me, that's what makes me hate him even more."

"I'm sure there are guys out there go can fuck you equally or even better, and not break your heart."

"Oh, yeah. Where?" You laughed, lifting your head to look at him. But the view in front of you made your heart stop.

He was looking right into your eyes. His back relaxed against the back of the chair, his legs opened wide and his arms resting on top of his thighs. He tilted his head and gave you a small smirk.

The guy was right in front of you.

You were just too dumb to notice.

"Oh."

­____________________________________________

Contrary to you, Yunho couldn't go back to his duties. Staring confused at the screen of his phone, why didn't you answer? Were you okay? Could you just be busy? Too busy for him? Busy doing what? Busy doing who?

His pulse sped up at that thought, could there be someone else? No. Could it? No. But why does it matter? Is not like he wants you like that.

Right?

­____________________________________________

Thursday rolled around and the project was finally done, delivered and paid for. And you couldn't help but be in ecstasy.

"I thought that shit would never end!" You said finally leaving the building you had been trapped in for all those weeks.

Chan only giggled while looking at you.

"I can't wait to get home and spend the next days completely buried in my bed," Hongjoong said.

"No! Let's go out and celebrate, we deserve it!" You tried convincing him.

"Aren't you tired? My back is killing me, Y/n." He gave you a side hug, "I'm sorry, not today, but I promise we'll go out soon."

"But Joongie." You whined.

"I'm sorry, but you go out and have fun with Chan, okay?" He placed a small kiss on top of your head, "Chan, please take care of her okay? I trust you."

"Don't worry, I've got her."

And got you he did. Got you so drunk you could barely walk back to your apartment. So, he had to carry you on his back.

"Goddamit, when did you take all those shots? I only saw you order two rounds, Y/n."

"The guy at the bar thought I was cute, so gave me a couple extra." You drunkenly giggled, holding your clumsy against his back. "Why aren't you drunk, Channie? We went out to have fun and you are acting all bossy."

"Someone had to be responsible, baby and I knew it wasn't going to be you. Besides, I don't love the taste of alcohol."

"You don't like coffee, you don't like alcohol, what do you like Chan?"

"I can think of one thing." He mumbled under his breath.

Making your way inside the building wasn't easy because of the amount the stairs and the lack of an elevator, but he managed. He had helped you with your keys, and changed you into your pajamas, with his eyes closed which made it a thousand times harder. Just as he was about to leave, you pulled him in.

"Stay over, it's late Channie." You hugged his arm, pushing your breasts against his skin. He was so into you that it got him slightly flustered.

"It's barely 11 p.m., Y/n."

"Please, just stay Chan." You looked right into his eyes, you could feel the alcohol dissipating, sobering up. You needed him, right there, right now. Your hand pulled him in.

"I don't know if it's a good idea, love." He whispered as your faces got closer.

"Please, Channie." You whispered against his lips.

The kiss was soft and timid, him still hesitant but slowly letting himself into it. Your hands made their way from his arms to his shoulders and found their home right into the back of his neck. It made him shiver, and he became a little braver, grabbing your waist. You let your tongue into his mouth, becoming addicted to his taste and the way his lips feel. You separated for just a second, the annoying need of air getting in the way, and as you were to continue. A bang on the door pulled you out of the moment.

"What the..."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"It's so late, who..."

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Y/n? Please open the door. Please, we need to talk. Please, I know you are there."

Yunho. A very drunk Yunho.

[diejager]

could i pretty pls request angel koenig or angel simon kidnapping a reader and forcing them to do some unholy acts with them to repent reader's sins??? pretty pls 🙏🙏🙏

@justadeadreaper this is the moment I was waiting for, to borrow you concept!!!

Cw: DARKFIC, DUB-CON/NON-CON, angel sex, rough sex, kidnapping, “cleansing one’s sin”, size kink, overstimulation, size kink, tell me if I missed any.

He told you it was his duty. He told you he was doing you a favour. He told you he was cleansing you of your sins, washing away the stains of your mind, body and soul with his every act. He called himself König, a King —the King; it called for you subservience and understanding that his decisions were made to benefit you. He was your benefactor and you - the human he picked up from a rundown apartment that stank of piss and human musk. The one he stole in a crude sweep near midnight, a turbulent Thursday that showed no promise despite it being a holy hour, the time where you should’ve been praying for him - his little pet that needed holy teachings.

“Herzblatt, ” he rasps over you, peering down at your weaker figure through the holes of his veil, his blue, crystalline eyes squinted in sheer pleasure and amusement, “This is for your good.”

This is for your good, he said, words repeated like a broken record that made no sense to you. What good was it to spirit you away from your home to an illustrious castle of white pillars and cold floors, to swap comfort for illusion, and to swap familiar love for possessive affection. It was infectious to your throbbing heart, his duty of cleansing you doing more harm than good, to wash away the sins that clung to your skin like leeches with harsh thrusts, his wide hips snapping against the swollen skin of your ass and thighs from his overwhelming use of strength. 

You watched his wings - the many pairs that stood out for it’s various shades of grey and ivory in a place as pristine as his home - flutter over him through blurry eyes, tears clinging to your lashes and rolling down cheeks. They expanded and covered you, a feathery cage that hid you from prying eyes and kept you from moving; not that you could, his pedipalps, shorter than his other pair but equally as strong, held your hips in a bruising grip, painting your skin black and blue. The tapered tip of his cock, a bulbous head that thinned at the tip but swelled at the base, thick and veiny to fit a creature of his proportions. A giant in every sense and you felt it, splitting you in half as he ploughed you, his heavy balls slapping wetly against your ass. 

“Hob ka Ongst,” he whispered unhurriedly, unworried and uncaring, a deep growl rumbling his chest. [Don’t be afraid.]

He folded you in half, your plush thighs slung over his forearms while he mumbled promises, telling you how he saved you from absolution and how his load would wash you of your sins, every drop meant a blessing. His tone was condescending, a low cadence that would have sounded terrifying if he wasn’t balls deep inside of you, degrading you with every orgasm he wrenched out of you, narrowed eyes admiring your little mewls and kicking legs when you came, toes curling and muscle flexing.

“Moch da kane Gedanken, i werd mi ab jetzt um di kümma, Herzblatt.” [Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you from now on.]

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[pennyserenade]

YOU CAN(T) ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT

pairing: dieter bravo x you, dieter bravo x ex-actress!reader rating: explicit (oral sex (female receiving), fingering, pinv, unprotected sex, light dirty talk (not degrading), references to previous sexual encounters, mentions of rough sex) tags: angst, hurt/comfort, talk of drugs (weed), drug usage (weed), dieter & reader are a little toxic - i cannot lie, talk of parents  word count: 4.8k+ summary: your relationship with dieter (albeit the very loose definition of the term) has finally landed you in the tabloids. he attempts to make it up to you  a/n: unbeta’d. i don’t know what possess me when i write dieter but its very real and active right now lol. if you want to get updates on whenever i write, follow @belovedinfidels​

The weight of knowledge wears you thin.

Dieter is a tabloid on page six, the embodiment of Hollywood idiocy sided up against a woman far too young for him. Half his age? the byline reads and the bitter laugh you let out earns you a concerned glance from the old lady in front of you. In his madness, he takes you with him, right there in the middle of the grocery store. You pay eight dollars to read the shit all week, like the spurred lover you can’t claim to be.

Your devotion is too incredible, but that’s the way you are. A strange concoction of bitter and sweet. You’ve never forgotten a wrong-doing and you choke what you love with sheer force of your eagerness. Dieter doesn’t know what he wants and yet he commits himself anyway. Which is why, usually, he is good for you. His touches are seldom chaste and his presence is hardly long-term. If you think you love him, he will disappear and you will remember that you don’t–or rather, that you can’t. It’s a convenience until he makes you remember you aren’t the only thing he occupies himself with in his spare time. Then it is a dull ache in your soul and a reminder of everything you don’t have.

In anger, you fuck a stranger on Tuesday. It’s a reckless moment that is the exception, not the rule, but it feels good. Your body isn’t past expiration, you learn, not an ugly thing. It is older than the girl Dieter was with in that paper, sure, but this stranger is so attentive to it. It responds in all the right ways. You are healthy, you are wanted. There is hope for you yet.

On Thursday, half guilty for no good reason, you tell Dieter congratulations on his new television show. You watched it. You liked it. You can’t help but confess it. He calls you after and you don’t answer, still full of some random man’s want. He doesn’t text you back but he hearts the message to show you he’s really seen it.

By Friday night, he’s got you bent over his kitchen table, his body strong, masculine and warm above your own. Whoever that girl was, she isn’t anymore. He doesn’t tell you this, but you know it to be true, for he is Dieter, and Dieter is consistent in his inconsistency.

He fucks into you with ferocity and you know he is trying to amend for some of his sins. The slick, obscene sound of his cock filling you, the way he presses into your shoulder, pinning you forward into the cold, hard table, the soft, guttural moans that he empties into the air—it is a form of devotion, albeit a slightly demented version of it.

It might be a little twisted, what the two of you share. It’s not love and it’s not necessarily friendship, but it is something akin to the ritual of opening one’s palm and sharing blood with another in a fit of childlike devotion. Forever, it yells with violence, but at the end of the day it merely remains a mess only on the surface. You wonder when you will grow out of it and start doing reasonable things.

When he easies out of you, he rewards you for your loyalty and asks if you’d like to watch an old movie – maybe even get high with him. The movie is an old western and the gunslinger dies in the end. The weed makes you tired.

When you wake the next morning, LA sunlight peeking through the blinds, you’re in his bed. His body is turned in the other direction and a lone pillow separates the space between you. You smile at the way this thoughtless man thinks. All your anger dissipates and he is right for you, all over again. —

On Sunday, you’re the tabloid story.

Finally, you’ve been caught in the act. A sneaky camera in the bushes, that lone photographer with a hungry belly and nothing better to do than explode your life. Half of twitter regals you with hate messages and the other half spouts encouragement. People discover you, search the depths of your online existence and find out more than you would like about everything you used to be.

By Monday morning he’s calling you.

“I’m sorry,” comes his hushed, apologetic tone, “I tried to do something about it but you know how those things are.”

You can’t believe this is the first time you’ve ever been caught. Dieter has been your… your whatever since you stretched your acting muscles briefly in 2012. It was that shitty little pilot that didn’t even make it to cable, but you got him, that up and coming actor with an extensive background in theater. You’ve become several different people since then, changing occupations like clothes, and now you sit halfway between writer and unemployed. It’s okay, though. You have money. Once upon a time you were famous too; a child actor who worked too much and didn’t understand what was real and what wasn’t for far too long. Your mother was kind enough not to exhaust your funds. You think instinctively she knew someday you would be this way.

You shrug, coming to. “It’s okay,” you mutter, trying not to think of all the mean things you’ve read. “Hell,” you joke, “Maybe they’ll finally do that revival now. I’m famous again, so why not?”

He laughs too, so easy. “I’m glad you’re taking this okay. I thought you’d never talk to me again.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I know but still. It’s shitty and you don’t deserve shitty. One day you’ll wise up to it.”

Betrayal curls up inside of you, makes a newfound home. All the unspoken things between you, and he must bring up this today: the way you do this to yourself. “Not all of us can readily admit to the things we know, can we?” you say evenly. “Listen, Bravo, I’ve got to go respond to some of your fans on twitter now, if you don’t mind. They’re asking for your dick pics.”

You hear his laugh. “Oh, knock yourself out. What’s mine is yours or whatever.”

“I don’t feel similarly, just in case you get the same kind of messages this week.” He doesn’t respond, and you furrow your eyebrows, letting your smile drop. “Dieter?”

“I know what they’re saying—“ he pauses, weighing out his words. “I know they’re not all being kind to you. I’ve seen it, and I’m sorry. Really. If I could do something about it, I would. I’ve been trying,” he repeats, sounding far too exasperated for your liking.

You pick the phone off the counter and turn it off the speaker. No one lives here but you, but some things don’t feel like they should be put out in the open air. “It’s just a photo,” you tell him evenly. “I’ve been in this business longer than you. I know how to handle this.”

“I just don’t want you to think you shouldn’t see me anymore. We can be more careful.”

“Where are you?”

“Wherever you’d like me to be.”

You snort. “God, nowhere near me with a line like that.”

“Oh sorry. I forgot you’re not into that sentimentality bullshit.”

You smile, liking the way his voice has turned from sober to playful in a matter of seconds. “Here I’ve been, thinking you’ve got my number. If you don’t know by now what gets me going—”

“—a good fuck, a single cigarette on a bad day or a drunken night, and most photos of Fiona Apple.”

“Well done, Bravo.”

“Can I come over?”

“Sure, but you better make a couple of wrong left turns on the way here for safe measures. Hate for you to get caught with the same woman twice in one week.”

“Oh ha, ha,” he says deadpan. “Unlock your door. I’m outside already.”

—

The public expects you to break. They always have. As you hand Dieter the badly rolled joint, you think about how pleased they’d be to know this is how you spend your time. The little girl wonder grew up just as fucked as they expected, from pigtails to ill suited relationships and drugs during the week. That’s how they’d see it, anyway. You think it’s a little more nuanced than that, but the public hasn’t ever been particularly good at leaving room for it in their judgments.

Dieter sits on the ground between your thighs, his back to your stomach. Your fingers weave their way through his thick, slightly curly hair, catching every now and then on a stray knot. “Fuck,” he mutters when you land on a clump near his ear. You grin, coltish. “Let me cut it,” you tell him.

“I have a girl,” he says as an answer.

You wrap yourself around him, your face on his back. “Always do,” you tease, humming softly.

He covers your arms, allowing you to envelope him. “I’m getting the vibe that you’ve grown a tad bit possessive of me.” You scoff, loosening your grip. He clinches down, trapping you. “I’m like that with you, too,” he adds.

You hear the confession racket through his body, your ear pressing to some part of his rib, and yet you are the one who feels transparent. “That’s fucked up,” you answer simply, unable to find the right words in this state. He’s always too coherent for you when you smoke weed together. It’s better when you just fuck; it’s a language you communicate best in, even when perfectly sober.

“It is fucked up,” he says, setting the joint down on the ashtray. He blows out a cloud of smoke and runs his thumb affectionately over one of your forearms. “And I think in a fucked up way, you enjoy it. I do. I don’t know why — probably something therapy could sort out.” He laughs, though it sounds a bit hollow. “I mean, it makes me miserable. I know when you’re with someone else. I can just feel it. It’s in the way you text me—or the way you don’t text me, actually. You grow so distant and I think ‘This is it. She’s a smart girl, and you’ve done it this time.’ And then, like with Friday, you come back and you let me have my way with you and it’s awful and it’s nasty and yet…” He clicks his tongue, hesitating. “It’s great. I want you so bad I’m…I don’t know. Overcome with it. All the misery leaves my body and it’s just me and you, and it doesn’t feel nasty or degrading, does it? I don’t mean for it to. I just…It feels like I’m on the edge of the rest of my life when I’m with you like that. I want to tear you apart and I want you to tear me apart and then I want to put us together again, just to show you it can be done. And it’s always done, isn’t it? I leave you feeling whole again, like I’ve just righted this terrible wrong.”

“Dieter,” you manage, voice heavy. “You’re a secret romantic.”

“That’s the most fucked up part about it,” he says poignantly. “I think a lot of screwed up people do a lot of the screwed up shit they do in pursuit of love, and yet they can never quite allow themselves to have it. I’d love to stay put but it makes me itch. I don’t know why.”

“Were you parents fucked up?” You lean back. He lets you this time, but he moves back with you, laying his head on your chest.

“Sure,” he responds. “They fought all the time, but most people did back then. I knew they loved each other, though. They liked to dance and they always used to have these lively conversations about everything. They were serious people, to the point that it was almost unserious.

“My mother, she was educated and my father loved to read and watch movies and talk, and I think she fell in love with him because of it, despite the fact he came from a more…less wealthy background than she did. They begged her, her family, to get a prenup but she never even married him, you know? They didn’t care. They just lived together and they were perfectly content with it.”

You stare up at the ceiling, listening. “Why do you say it like it’s over? What happened?”

“I am?” he asks. “I guess I’m talking in past tense, ‘cause that’s where I existed with them, in the past. I don’t speak to them much anymore, not because I don’t want to, but just because life got busy. They’re still together. Probably fighting or having a conversation about something trivial and unimportant right now.” He smiles, filled with fondness and nostalgia. “What were your parents like?”

“I don’t know. I’ve tried to remember, and I’ve tried to piece it together from what I have, but I can’t. I don’t think I ever could.” You close your eyes. “They love me immensely and they love each other immensely, but things happen. Good and bad things. I’m just their kid.” You shrug. “I feel like a terrible person a lot of the time because of it. Like, what did my mother want from life? Surely it wasn’t me. This. She must’ve wanted something and I’ll never know it.”

“Did she want to be an actress?” he asks curiously.

“No,” you say softly. “She wasn’t the projecting type. I wanted to be an actress. I loved it. She just put me in the theater to keep me busy during the summer and I took off. She encouraged me. She was and is the encouraging type.”

“And your dad?”

“He’s…well he’s there when he’s there and isn’t when he isn’t. I love him and I wonder about him and I feel like I know him more than myself. But I also feel like he’s a perfect stranger.”

“Hm,” Dieter surmises.

“I don’t have daddy issues,” you add. This makes him laugh and you feel it vibrate through you too. It’s so comforting, warm.

“I wouldn’t tell you that,” he says.

“I didn’t even want you to think about it. It's a cheap analysis that men have been pining on women for years. I’d sooner admit to fucking up myself. I mean, I’m sure he didn’t help me any but he didn’t do all the work. I’ve had directors more involved.” You crunch up your nose, remembering. “One of them hated me because of my mom. He had a crush on her and she wouldn’t go with him. I think he’s the reason I have a problem with authority.”

He breathes out through his nose and slaps his hand softly against your thigh, laughing. “For what it’s worth, I do not think you’re terribly fucked up. Just a normal amount, no worse than the best of the most successful. Hell,” he continues, “Maybe even a little better than them.”

You sink back into the sofa, feeling the room move beneath your eyelids. “Dieter, I’m so high,” you whine.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?”

“I can’t talk anymore,” you say. “My brain wants me to say things I shouldn’t.”

He lifts an eyebrow. “Like what?”

You groan. “Sentences I’ve already said, just worded differently.” The sincerity of your words makes him laugh — so heartily you squeeze his forearm in appreciation. It touches you everywhere, with your chest against his back like this.

“It’s okay,” he tells you, “Just close your eyes and I’ll keep talking.”

“Mm,” you acknowledge him.

But he doesn’t keep talking. The two of you fall asleep right there in your quiet contentment. You enjoy the peace that comes from soul purging confessions.

—

Tuesday afternoon and he’s still with you. It’s a record, almost. If there hadn’t been that five night stint you had pulled together during one particularly lonely holiday weekend two years ago, this would be the longest you’ve ever seen him. It’s certainly the longest you’ve been together and not had sex.

The pungent, sour-sweet smell of marijuana invades your home, clings to your clothes, and makes you feel like the love-sick, abandoned teenager you were at 17. It’s been a long, long time since then, but there’s a quality about Dieter that puts you back there. Tempting as it is to blame on his perpetual immaturity, you know it’s more to do with your own lack of control. The world spins and you spin with it—a fact that you’ve still yet to gulp down bravely and accept—and Dieter merely reminds you of it.

He thumbs through your record collection while you sip gingerly at a Coke on the couch. Under his breath, he whispers the title of albums that have made up your life, ignorant to just how intimate the act really is. Dieter sees a plethora of intricately organized vinyls and you see half your life; it is a collection made up of poor decisions, lovers’ gifts, and tokens of another life. He plucks out a Rolling Stones album and puts it on the spin table.

Domesticity threatens to choke you for a second before Dieter looks in your direction, sloppy grin on his face. “Let It Bleed,” he says, heading in your direction. “It has You Can’t Always Get What You Want at the end. I think it’s better this way, too, because you have to work for it.”

“What do you mean?”

He takes the Coke out of your hands and steals a sip, voice plugged with passion as he says, “Nowadays you can just listen to a song whenever you want but used to, you had to sit through the whole album. We’re losing the art of the music album because people don’t do that anymore.”

You take your Coke back and shake your head. “That’s not true. After David Bowie died, vinyls became popular again. Albums are very much still in.”

“So maybe they are.” He shrugs. “Regardless, I think they’re better this way. Don’t you?”

“Sometimes. But sometimes I just want to listen to one song.”

He lays his head on the back of the couch, pouting out his bottom lip in consideration. “You’re angry with me,” he surmises after a moment.

You frown. “No.”

“You’re something with me, and it’s certainly not pleased.”

“I was just saying my opinion.”

“You want me to leave?”

“No.”

“I can’t quite reach you in there—“ he points to your head “—so if you want me to do something, or say something, you’ve got to tell me.”

“I don’t want anything from you,” you tell him evenly. He narrows his eyes suspiciously. “I don’t,” you repeat, trying to soften out your features. “I’m feeling…I don’t know. Awkward. You don’t stick around this long and I guess it’s making me feel odd. Especially because you haven’t touched me.”

“Ah,” he says, straightening himself. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

“Have I ever denied you?”

“No, but I figured you might like to know I don’t mind seeing you with your clothes on too.” He offers you a kind smile and his fingers reach out and intertwine loosely with a few of yours. This is completely uncharted territory that makes your heart beat ferociously against your chest.

You tug him closer and he comes, his body leaning into yours as your lips meet. The shirt he wears is slightly too big on him, and the fabric brushes against your stomach as you open your legs to make room for him. His fingers press into your hips, positioning you beneath him, and you open your lips slightly, permitting him access.

For lack of a better word, you think: Homecoming. But it isn’t. This isn’t home. This is Dieter Bravo, page six, Mr. Half His Age. You smile against his lips and he pulls back. “What?” he says, smiling too. You feel his breath on your face, warm, and you lean up to press your lips to his again. “Nothing,” you tell him, knowing the joke won’t be funny.

He doesn’t seem to mind, allowing himself to be swayed away by the suggestive rock of your hips. He leverages himself with a hand on the back of the couch, and you pull him down, further and further, latching your legs around his waist. He is warm, burning, and as you deepen the kiss, you can feel the way he grows hard above you.

“Fuck,” he mutters, nodding his head up, disconnecting the two of you. Your lips feel rubbed raw, bruised, but you want more. He grunts softly when you press yourself into his cock and you look at each other for one dizzying second. Then he is kissing the underside of your jaw, his large hand palming your covered breast.

You try desperately to figure out how to shed the layers of clothing that separate you but he is quicker on his feet, pushing the college shirt you wear up above your stomach. He puts it behind your head, pinning your arms up. You watch as he licks down your chest, warm tongue flattening between the valley of your breasts. Then his breath ghosts over the nipples he exposes, his long, thick fingers pulling down the fabric of your bra quickly, desperate, hungry. He takes one in his mouth and you squeal.

Dieter isn’t usually patient. He fucks for leisure but never really revels in it for too long, so it surprises you when he licks  down the rest of your body, swirling his tongue above the place where the band of your sleep shorts begins. You raise your hips for him and he sheds another layer, but again, just barely. Leaving you in your underwear, he worships you on the way back up, kissing your ankle, your calf, the inside of your thigh, even the place where your thigh meets your cunt. His fingers dig, eager to find skin full enough to grip; breasts and thighs, your hips, your ass when you respond to the hot breath that cascades over your cotton covered cunt.

He presses his hot mouth to you, underwear still in the way, and that’s it, you're ablaze and you are starved, crammed full of lust with an appetite that knows no bounds. You want to bare yourself to him—to spread yourself wide right there, and let him into the wetness of your cunt while you whisper dirty things into his ear. His words from yesterday echo in your mind — I want to tear you apart and I want you to tear me apart and then I want to put us together again, just to show you it can be done — and you think God, that’s it. The pulse point, the center, the raw and unbridled truth. You tear one another apart and it is tender, trusting. You’ve been getting him wrong. Over a decade and yet you’ve miscalculated it all.

He slips aside the fabric of your underwear, licks you, finds you wet and wanting. You are dripping. You feel it, know that his eager tongue is only adding to what his mere presence has caused.

That other man, he was lovely, young, flexible, all calloused hands and the taste of reckless mystery you thought you needed, but Dieter is ritual to you, like waves slapping against the rocks or the slow, inevitable spin of the planet around the sun. It happens and yet the sheer ferocity of the change it brings leaves you shocked. He is the taste of half smoked tobacco, the sweetness of a stolen sip of Coke, the warmth of an almost-orgasm rushing to your head.

His lips are coated with your slick, glossy beneath the warm living room light, but he doesn’t seem to care. He bites down on his bottom lip, pressing the pad of his finger to your entrance. Watching with heavy lidded eyes, he finds it in himself to smirk.

“Dieter,” you pant out, not taking your eyes away.

“You want it?” he growls, voice low and lust-filled. “Beg.”

You don’t hesitate. “Please. Fuck Dieter. Please.”

He sinks it in and the sound of your cunt welcoming him makes you both groan. It’s so deliciously obscene, the entirety of it. Your brain sputters, confused and overwrought, and you think: oh, I would never deny you anything. Never. Never.

His finger curls inside of you and his thumb presses down on your clit, focused and determined, the evidence found in the way his forehead crinkles. You note, even in this state, the way the front of his sweatpants tent and a dark spot where he’s leaked forms. He’s not wearing underwear and his finger is in you, above you, on you. You are warm, a beautiful burning thing around his thick finger. He enters another, says, “Fuck, you are so wet. Look at you.”

You shudder beneath him, a wordless moan escaping as you grip his tattooed wrist. The orgasm wracks through you, leaving you panting, pulling at his hand. So fitting - so ironic - that this is where he would mark himself with the symbol for femininity. Mother nature. That hollow triangle, pointed in the direction of you, sister to the darkened one pointing at him on the other forearm. That one means sun, masculine. They are earthly and complex, harmonic and just right.

Dieter puts his fingers flat on your tongue and you suck your own juices off of him, acidic - sour-sweet. He watches for a moment before he replaces them with his own tongue. There’s more of you there. As you work his sweats below his hips, dragging the fabric across his sensitive cock, he groans deep and you drink it up, hungry for more.

When he pushes into you, he does so with such ease, your body allowing him to sink into you like you’re his home, the missing half. It’s too romantic of a notion for you to carry in real life but somehow, like this, it fits. You crave the truth of it. As he rolls his hips into yours, deep as he can, you pull his shirt over his head and cover his lazy, soft lips with your own. You breathe each other in more than you kiss, bottom lips connected, top lips flirting, and tongues meeting each other as he seats himself fully inside of you.

Dieter is thick, makes you feel full in a decidedly feminine way as grinds himself against you. You clench around him, fingers thrusting into the skin of his back. He nuzzles into your neck, presses wet kisses to the sensitive skin.

You bury your hands in his sexed-up hair, let your body wrap entirely around his frame as he finds a rhythm inside of you. A soft flow of up and down, in and out, lacking ferocity but conveying a desperate need. He drags his cock through you, pierces you with it, and you take it gratefully, eyes shut and senses flooded. When nibble on his ear, you taste the metallic of his lone earring and his breath grows more ragged. “You feel so fucking good,” you whimper, voice high, “I feel you—I feel you everywhere. God your cock—you make me so fucking wet.”

You kiss him fully on the mouth again. Everything feels taut, moments away from being over, and you cling to him, wrapping your arms around his neck, your legs around his waist. You are one, a complete thing. Then he is pulling you apart before you know it, the twitch of his cock happening precariously inside of you. But he knows himself, well enough to pull out just in time, spilling his warm seed across the canvas of your exposed belly. A wordless sob escapes him and you reach out to hold the forearm he’s moved to the back of the couch again.

This is when it ends, the place where the two of you separate, go your own ways. He will hand you a tissue, wrestle out a pathetic ‘thank you’ or ‘see you later’ and the illusion will be broken–

“Do you mind if I spend another night with you?” he says, chest rising and falling. He sits back on his knees, looking at the milky white substance on you with a mixture of curiosity and fascination. He fingers it and you take it, bringing it to your lips. Dieter offers a lopsided grin, that dimple of his showing again.

“What’s mine is yours or whatever,” you echo his previous words, smiling too.

“That means a lot,” he says.

“More than you know,” you agree, “So don’t fuck it up.”

He presses his lips to your knee, the silence deafening, but you trust him despite it. This is different. He is different. He has to be. Please, you plead silently, running your hands through his hair again, Don’t ruin this for me.

He catches your eyes, smiles softly. “I won’t.”

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Trevor Zegras (Part Twenty-Five)

SERIES MASTERLIST

previous: twenty-four

next: twenty-six

corresponding quinn post

TUESDAY, APRIL 11TH

PREGAME

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, _quinnhughes, and 10,662 others

yourusername welcome to my pregame sin bin update show: ethan bet against everybody edition! quinny currently resides at one game sense his last penalty, and trevy stands at zero!

tonight is the second to last game for both the ducks and canucks, and is the last time they will play against one another until next season!

i’ll keep this short and sweet: best of luck to both of my boys, and please, create some chaos for me ;)

i love you both! don’t die!

tagged trevorzegras and _quinnhughes

view all 118 comments

trevorzegras what would you do if i died?

yourusername revive you to kick your ass

trevorzegras aw babe! you’re so sweet <3 i love you, forever!

_quinnhughes your son is just like his father

yourusername don’t say that it’s rude

jackhughes i think i’m offended?

edwards.73 i’m 80% sure i’m not offended

yourusername @/jackhughes @/edwards.73 <3

user1 aw ethan and cole are in the bet gc now🥹

_alexturcotte you two better give us something entertaining

_quinnhughes no promises

trevorzegras i might just read a book on the bench

jamie.drysdale go team go!

yourusername take a lap that was embarrassing

POSTGAME

yourusername

liked by trevorzegras, jamie.drysdale, and 11,369 others

yourusername welcome to my postgame penalty box update show: sexy boyfriend edition! tonight, he got his second penalty in a row with a tripping call against driesy. driesy is my friend so trevor deserved to go to jail!! shame on you, zegras!!

z also attempted to get into a shoving match with millsy, but that was quickly stopped, and then him and quinn just stood back and watched as their besties stepped in to defend which is honestly the most (new) z and quinn thing to do. and we’re counting this as the “trevor tries to fight” category in the bets! so thanks for running him over millsy <3

special shoutout to drew helleson for getting his forst nhl goal! and dad for have 22:11 minutes of ice time which also gets me money! you’re def my second favorite dad for this <3

sorry about your loss, my love :( but you got some assists tonight! get those stats baby! i love you, always🧡

p.s. z-baby held his coffee like a normal person and it was very off putting. never do that again you heathen

tagged trevorzegras

view all 226 comments

trevorzegras i love you, forever🧡 i’m happy at least you get us some money this game!

yourusername idk who “us” is but it is not me and you

trevorzegras u (you) + s (sexy boyfriend) = us

yourusername if i cave will you stop being cringe

trevorzegras probably

yourusername i got US some money, babe!!

user1 what in the name of FUCK was happening in pregame with z and fowler😭

yourusername masochistic rituals

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras sorry about your life

trevorzegras i hope you get hit in the face thursday

yourusername if you’re going to fight why couldn’t you do it ON THE ICE

_quinnhughes @/yourusername so i wouldn’t get a penalty

yourusername @_quinnhughes traitor

trevorzegras @_quinnhughes clearly you don’t love her enough

_quinnhughes @/trevorzegras i will take back my blessing right now

user2 ugh z was so precious this game

tterry19 why am i your second favorite dad?

yourusername jim is first

tterry19 i’ll accept that. you’re welcome for the money, daughter!

yourusername thanks, dad!

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras i hate you

trevorzegras I TRIED

jamie.drysdale I DON’T BELIEVE YOU

edwards.73 you tell him, step dad!!

yourusername i need everyone to know jamie tackled trevor to the floor when he came in because he hates owing jack money

jamie.drysdale and *I* need everyone to know that y/n told me to do it

trevorzegras @/yourusername @/jamie.drysdale traitors! (i think)

jackhughes @/trevorzegras i think they’re traitors to me?

yourusername @/trevorzegras @/jackhughes yes

jamie.drysdale @/trevorzegras @/jackhughes it’s definitely one of the above

user3 “shame on you, zegras” it’s like she’s reprimanding a puppy

jackhughes 🤑💸🎰 (emoji for suck it, soulmate)

_quinnhughes so help me if you set her off

yourusername @/jackhughes careful now. i spend the summers with you.

jackhughes @_quinnhughes @/lhughes_06 you guys will save me, right?

lhughes_06 @/jackhughes not a chance i’ve missed sissy going wild

_quinnhughes @/jackhughes i suggest you wear a helmet

trevorzegras @/jackhughes just sleep in full hockey gear

colecaufield @/trevorzegras i believed in you

trevorzegras it is my deepest regret that i let you down

yourusername @/trevorzegras ahem

trevorzegras @/colecaufield it is my second deepest regret that i let you down

colecaufield @/trevorzegras nice one

user4 CHAIN! I REPEAT: C H A I N !!!!!!

_alexturcotte @/trevorzegras thanks for the money

trevorzegras you went under $175?

_alexturcotte and it would’ve been worse if you didn’t get a penalty!

jamie.drysdale he has a point

yourusername not a very good one

_alexturcotte aw, i love you guys, too!

yourusername @_alexturcotte fine i love you, too

[girlactionfigure]

Christian Saved Jewish Children – Premysl Pitter

Brought Orphans Into His Home

Premysl Pitter was a Czech Christian who cared for hundreds of orphaned Jewish children during and after the Holocaust.

Born in Prague in 1895, Premysl fought in World War I, a horrifying experience which led him to become a devout Christian and pacifist. Not understanding why he survived when so many of his comrades fell on the battlefield, Premysl dedicated the rest of his life to serving others.

There were many war widows in Prague who were having trouble feeding their children after the Great War, and Premysl began working with children. He opened Milicuv, a home for disadvantaged children in 1933, and lovingly cared for them while teaching moral values. One Milicuv resident recalled years later, “Premysl Pitter was a wonderfully cheerful and good-natured person, with a very direct way with children. We all called him ‘uncle’ and we could turn to him with our fears or problems.”

Premysl’s reputation as an exceptional educator grew. His insightful articles on education and theology were widely read throughout Europe. He was an outspoken pacifist, and was arrested by the Czech government for promoting dangerous ideas. Albert Einstein successfully appealed to the Czech president for Premysl’s release.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded Prague. For the next six years, Jewish children were prohibited from attending normal schools and taking part in cultural activities. Premysl brought many Jewish children into Milicuv and kept them safe. When there was no more room at Milicuv, Premysl brought Jewish children into his own home.

One of these kids later told an astonishing story:

“One day they took him to the Gestapo headquarters and accused him of taking in Jewish children. Pitter was never able to tell a lie. He looked at the man and said – ‘From a human point of view I’m sure you can understand why I’m helping these children.’ After a long and deathly silence, the interrogator turned to him and said, ‘You may go.’ It was a kind of miracle. If you don’t want to say it was an act of God, well, let’s say that it was some kind of higher power.”

Prague was liberated in May 1945, and the newly established Czechoslovak government put Premysl in charge of helping traumatized Jewish orphans who had survived the war. Premysl set up many children’s homes, built on the Milicuv model, in the countryside around Prague.

It wasn’t only Jewish children who were suffering in Prague after the war. Thousands of Germans had been expelled from Czechoslovakia, and many of their children remained in Prague, destitute and homeless.

Premysl shocked many when he invited these abandoned German children into his orphanages, to be looked after along with the Jewish children. A few of the German children arrived wearing tattered Hitler Youth uniforms. Adults opposed bringing German children into the homes, but the Jewish children were accepting, and did not hold the Germans accountable for the sins of their parents.

Between 1945 and 1947, 810 children were cared for by Premysl and his staff.

As Stalinism took hold in Czechosolovakia, Premysl faced imprisonment as a Christian and a pacifist. He fled to West Germany in 1951, and then to Switzerland.

In 1964, Premysl was recognized by the Israeli Holocaust Memorial Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. He died in Zurich in 1976. Today, there are schools named after Premysl Pitter all over the Czech Republic.

For opening his heart and his homes to hundreds of forgotten children – Czech, Jewish, and German – we honor Premysl Pitter as this week’s Thursday Hero at Accidental Talmudist.

[666writingcafe]

Someone's Worried

A Text Conversation Between Lucifer and MC

Lucifer: Can I ask you something?

MC: Sure.

Lucifer: What is going on?

MC: With...?

Lucifer: I've overheard conversations between Barbatos, Diavolo, and Solomon.

Lucifer: Usually, it's just Diavolo and Barbatos, but sometimes it's Barbatos and Solomon, or Solomon or Barbatos. Once, all three of them were huddled together.

Lucifer: They always talk in whispers, and whenever they see me approach them, they immediately change the subject, and Solomon quickly disappears. The only thing I've consistently been able to catch is your name, so I know they're talking about you.

Lucifer: MC, if something bad is happening to you, I want to know so that I can help you.

MC: First of all, I would like to apologize for worrying you this much. The three of them are merely following my request to keep things quiet.

Lucifer: What things?

Lucifer: Do they have to do with why you're here?

MC: Yes.

MC: Solomon, Diavolo, and Barbatos are helping me test the extent of my magical abilities. Diavolo has enrolled me in advanced classes that take place on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Barbatos tutors me on Tuesdays, and Solomon on Thursdays.

MC: Mainly, we are trying to figure out how I'm still alive.

Lucifer: Because of the pacts?

MC: Exactly. As far as we are aware, I am the first human to have pacts with all seven Avatars of Sin. History dictates that I should have died after I made the pact with Beel, and yet somehow I'm still here.

Lucifer: I see.

MC: That is all the information I personally have. I don't know what conclusions are being drawn, and I don't want to tell you something that ends up being inaccurate.

MC: I will let Diavolo know to include you in future discussions.

Lucifer: Thank you.

Lucifer: *laughing sticker*

MC: What's so funny?

Lucifer: I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be thanking a human. To think that the Avatar of Pride himself would rely on your support to this degree...

Lucifer: I can only imagine what my brothers would say if they knew.

MC: Out of ALL the things we've done together, THAT is what amuses you?

MC: You are a silly man, Lucifer.

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME!!! thursday we watched tng's "emergence" and ds9's "crossover" (honorific)

emergence (tng):

I HATE HOLODECK EPISODES. i wanted season 7 to go out on a high note. nostalgia and time would have made me forget so many of tng's sins if it had gone out on a high note

girl, the enterprise CAME TO LIFE, had a baby, and then died, and nobody had anything to say about that except "ok let the baby fly into space hope it has a good life!"

the enterprise and moya from farscape could have raised their children together communally. like feral cats.

if kirk had been captain when the enterprise came to life he would NOT have let that baby fly into space. he would have gotten one of those little toddler leashes. he would have paid child support. he's not the step dad he's the dad who stepped up

i honestly don't remember what else happened here because the following episode blew my tits clean off

oh yeah wait i think it was racist to make worf shovel the coal. shame on them. data's way stronger than worf he should have been doing it he would have been like yay i love a novel experience :) i can add this to my file on coal shoveling :)

crossover (ds9):

WORLD'S LONGEST YEAH BOY

no, i'm just going to abandon my bullet points. where do i even begin...you know, actually, let's begin at the beginning, which is the tos mirrorverse episode. i have a wider meta on this in me somewhre i bet but it wasn't always this way! i like, initially watched this, went, "huh! that was neat," and thought no more about it until i read a fanfic (don't ask for it i'm not telling, it was more like 2-3 fanfics honestly) and then i was like WAIT HOLD ON A SECOND. see, my fascination with mirrorverse comes primarily from the following hypothesis:

everyone always says that bones in mirrorverse and bones in the prime universe are the same guy and that makes him god's specialest princess, which i don't disagree with! but i think, deep down, EVERYONE is the same. i think mirrorverse (quite accidentally) provides a pretty compelling commentary on both nature vs nurture and the cycle of violence. kirk, who undoubtedly went to a much worse version of tarsus iv in the mirrorverse, becomes a guy slaughtering colonists by the thousands, because in his mind that's what power looks like and being powerful means being safe. spock, who is brought up to believe violence is logical instead of pacifism, follows that doctrine just as strictly as he sticks to his morals in the prime universe, and indulges in his emotions just as rarely, because in either case he is punished just as much, if not more, for going against vulcan and human social norms.

put the same guys in the opposite situation (ie a mirror) and they will turn out as their own twisted reflections every time. mirror kirk is just as driven to succeed, just at a different game. he has just as much of a temper, but without the apologies that come afterward. he's just and dangerous and as handy in a fight as prime kirk, but without the moral compass that has him pulling punches instead of a knife. he has that same desire for power, though it's to protect himself rather than to protect other people. mirror spock is just as sharp and calculating, he's just running different numbers, after different results. he's just as good at sussing out emotional motives because of his forced distance from them, but he has spent a lifetime being rewarded for exploiting the emotions of others instead of trying to understand them. he even shares the same preference for being the first officer instead of in command, though the two spocks have differing reasons for this. you could even argue that he has the same capacity for loyalty, inasmuch as it's safe or possible to be loyal in the mirrorverse; he avoids trying to kill kirk as much as he possibly can, and when he finds out "his" kirk is gone, immediately does everything in his power to see to getting him back where he belongs. the mirror characters aren't opposites; they're reflections, inversions. they started out as the same base thing. they were made ugly and evil by their circumstances.

we didn't get to see much of mirror kirk and none of mirror bones (to my eternal woe), but knowing mirror spock DID ultimately take action towards pacifism and reform is extremely damning evidence for this hypothesis, at least in my mind palace. our own spock is defined by his compassion and selflessness; he gave his life in the warp core because the needs of the many outweighed his own needs. mirror spock is running the calculation in the other direction; he is thinking of his own needs. yet he comes to the SAME CONCLUSION - it is important for people to be safe, because logically nothing else can hold.

i notice that they carefully avoided saying whether or not spock ACTUALLY killed kirk, and i love that, because i loved the open-ended nature of the original mirrorverse episode - i loved that we could imagine anything happening. kirk dying or becoming a better person or becoming a worse person. i'm a little sad to have finally lost that, but i love that we can still just as gleefully imagine spock shoving a pole through kirk's ribs (in the horny way) or them being little rebels with bones and fighting the system together. ooooh and you better BELIEVE i had to pause the episode and cover my face and take a moment to have my hysterics when they implied mirror spock may have killed mirror kirk bc our kirk asking mirror spock to kill his other self was one of the horniest things tos ever did, up there with amok time and that stupid bondage harness.

speaking of horny, let's get into the actual episode. this episode was so abjectly fucking horny it's ASTOUNDING. it's mind-blowing. i think lesbian kira-on-kira was ABSOLUTELY the way to go as far as introductions. and kira-on-kira PROVES MY HYPOTHESIS!!! mirror kira has the same sympathy for her human laborers (the downtrodden), just not extended further than she extends sympathy for herself. she is also, like our kira, into girls. AND she is seduced by the idea of giving power to a weak bajor. kira's love affair with herself was probably the best part of this episode, number one because women and number two because they understood each other SO well except mirror kira was just unstable enough to be scary. and kira being like a little scared of her and them still being gay was really problematic and horny of them. fun. god. like, BATH SCENE?? HELLO??? i hope nana visitor had the time of her fucking life

mirror garak is also basically the same guy. this is just pre-exile garak. he's so conniving and gay. he didn't even do any of that seductive shit to our kira. why? he's not into girls!

i'm so sorry odo and quark didn't get a better lot in this verse. they don't come back either i checked :( odo was kind of boring, unfortunately, except for3 points: firstly, him slapping julian like 3 times was also problematic but horny. secondly, the goop he exploded into. rip king. (and kira moruning him!! otp.) thirdly, this is odo's disdain and lack of understanding for humanity (humanoidanity?) multiplied by 1000x. this is not an odo who was forced to get to know us and saw that some of us needed the protection he had to live without and now had the power to give, this is an odo who was experimented on and probably killed dr mora on his way out of the facility, and is looking to dish some out instead of take it. FUN. our odo makes hands to touch people with. this odo makes hands to slap people with. rip to that guy and i was absolutely shocked that a do-no-harm DOCTOR killed him but honestly there's probably a net good in that for our julian.

quark running the metaphorical underground railroad out here also seems to echo him selling food to bajorans...also, his, outfit? it made him look like a good person. it's a wonder it took them so long to catch him. our quark is selfish because he sees it as a path to a good life. their quark is selfLESS for the same reason, see? also SCREAM that our kira was like yes we're BESTIES on the other side when she often tells him how much she despises him lmao

o'brien!!! god i wish we had seen more of him but i LOVED him and julian being besties here too. he was like youre NOT my friend and then 20 minutes later helping him escape. it's like he was a sleeper agent, he got one whiff or someone who could afford to have a moral compass and instantly he was like actually yeah humans deserve better than this! i love that julian was just gonna take him back and have two obrien besties and fuck starfleet if they didn't like it lol. obrien secretly also the same, and i'm really glad he got to at least escape w sisko to become a pirate or whatever.

HEY. BY THE WAY. PIRATE SISKO. SO FUN AND EDGY. he was really unhinged and kind of like a lunatic. cw for discussion of rape the rest of this paragraph. so i think there was a light implication via his body language and also "you charmed your way out of the mines" that he was NOT enjoying/consenting to the sex he was having with mirror kira, but very much enjoyed the opportunity to menace her counterpart, and other people, like obrien. again, like odo, he is tired of taking it and itching to dish soem out. UNLIKE odo, we see that he has people he loves! he says "i made the best of a bad life for my crew" and even shakes his head at one of his crew members who is about to do something that will get them hurt - he's also happy enough to take obrien, former target, under his wing on the way out, when he sees something worthy there. JUST LIKE OUR SISKO, he IS protective and he DOES value his people! i loved seeing that core of him, even though his outside was deranged in a fun evil way.

ok, to finally wrap this up, bashir giving away his plate of mush at mealtime because he's gonna get to go back to a nice cozy universe soon (or die) and these people won't is soooo. god. he's SO COMPASSIONATE......like i knew that objectively but we haven't really seen it in action much up until now. it fucking kills me. his compassion, inherent Good Universe vibes, has such a profound impact on mirror obrien in such a short time, but ultimately you CAN'T change this universe. you can affect single people in it, the way kirk got mirror spock, but the point of the mirrorverse is to be evil and edgy (and horny), so no matter WHAT the characters in it do, it is a LAW OF THAT UNIVERSE that powers beyond their comprehension will always reset the status quo to STAY evil and edgy (and horny). like at first i was like oh shit kirk really stepped in it nice job breaking it hero but like it simply CAN'T be fixed. if you try, you will fail. determinism in star trek. wild.

also, wait, sorry, julian coming back filthy head to toe and kira coming back in a ballgown when our sisko has been having kittens trying to locate his people.....iconic. mister privileged having to process ore like kira used to do and kira former ore processor wearing a fancy luxurious evening gown. talk about swapping places.

TONIGHT: tng's "preemptive strike" and ds9's "the collaborator." last non-finale episode of tng!!!

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: Does Darth Vader Do Teshuvah?

Someone in a nerdy-Jewish Facebook group I’m a part of recently posed the question, does Darth Vader’s repentance in Return of the Jedi redeem him for his sins in the prequel trilogy? We’re currently in the month of Elul, the weeks leading up to the high holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, so this is a particularly appropriate time to reflect on this question.

In Judaism, redemption is a matter of teshuvah – of returning. If you did something wrong before, the way to be redeemed is to learn that what you did was wrong and then demonstrate that you’ve learned it by returning to the situation and making the right choice this time. As Rambam says in Hilkhot Teshuvah 2:1, “What is complete teshuvah? When a person again confronts a sin they committed, is capable of doing it again, but nonetheless refrains from doing so in order to repent, not simply because they are afraid of the consequences or too weak to carry out the act.”

Darth Vader has, undeniably, sinned. Looking just at Revenge of the Sith, he murders a lot of people, including children, and in doing so contributes to the destruction of the Jedi Order and the rise of the evil Empire. Could he ever be redeemed for this, or for any of the atrocities he committed afterwards, up to and including genocide?

Murder is, to put it lightly, a tricky thing to do teshuvah for. If you kill someone, then they’re dead. You can never go back and decide not to kill that person this time. From this perspective, Vader may never be able to find redemption.

However, this is the Jewish concept of redemption. I have to acknowledge that this isn’t universal. In some religions, redemption comes from confession. In other worldviews, commonly found in movies and books, redemption can come from death.

Star Wars as a franchise subscribes to the “redemption equals death” trope. In this trope, a character who has done evil things in their life realizes the error of their ways and does a big, good deed that results in their death. The narrative makes it clear that this ultimate self-sacrifice is redemptive. Darth Vader’s end is emblematic of this trope, to the point where his picture is currently at the top of the Redemption Equals Death TVTropes page. Near the end of Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader sacrifices himself to save his son, Luke. Vader kills Emperor Palpatine, suffering fatal injuries in the process. We later see that Vader has become one with the Force, a sign that he has been redeemed.

However, as far as Judaism is concerned, you don’t find redemption by dying. Once you’ve died, you can’t go back and try anything again, so a dead person cannot complete teshuvah. Objectively speaking, Darth Vader dies without going back and re-addressing any of his sins. We could interpret this climactic scene as Vader once again facing the choice about whether to let the Emperor destroy the Jedi Order, and choosing differently this time. But that’s a stretch, even for me, and it still doesn’t do anything about all the murder Vader committed.

It would be easy enough for me to leave it at that – that Vader may be redeemed by the rules of this fictional world, but not by Judaism’s requirements for teshuvah.

Except I’m not going to leave it at that, because Rambam acknowledged that there are some situations for which you can’t go back and try again. Returning to Hilchot Teshuvah 2:1, Rambam says, “…but if a person only repented in old age, thus lacking the power to do what they would have done at an earlier point in life, this is not ideal teshuvah but it nonetheless counts and such a person is considered a ba’al teshuvah – a penitent person. Even if a person was a sinner their whole life and then repented on the day of death and died in a state of teshuvah, all sins are forgiven…”

So perhaps there’s another way out for Vader. Perhaps, in his final moments sitting there with Luke on the floor of the Death Star, he became truly penitent. He would never be able to re-address his sins in life, but he was able to make it clear to G-d – uh, to the Force – that he had realized and internalized the error of his ways. By this interpretation, yes, Darth Vader completes teshuvah and is redeemed.

[djzbasement]

Can we have some facts about Caleb pretty please?

(I love positive rep for religous people, for some reason it always negative please)

ABSOLUTELY IVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ASK ABOUT HIM RAHHHHHH

• He was born and raised in a small town in England, his father being a Pastor- then him taking his place once his father got sick. He’s travelled quite a bit to be a voice of the church. He’s not horrible or mean about it, though. He understands that some people have different beliefs and that’s completely fine, he’s a very respectful person. He just loves to inspire hope in people by telling them that God is always by their side no matter what. He’s not the “You can’t be gay, that’s a sin!” type of guy, he’s the “God says to love everyone, you’re not doing wrong by loving someone of the same gender.” type of guy.

• He’s sort of like the therapist friend of the class? He always listens to the other’s problems and gives them advice, being there to comfort them and finding ways to cheer them up.

•He’s really good at sewing. He even bonded with Tokunaga about their sewing skills. Obviously, before it was revealed he was the mastermind.

•He was originally supposed to be the Ultimate SHSL Janitor. And his name was actually supposed to be Anzhog Okuno.

•He’s extremely good with kids. While he still lived in his hometown, the kids there LOVED him.

•He’s good friends with Keiko, Kenji, Kellise, Quincy and Haru.

•He’s amazing at cooking, him and Dimitrios usually cook together.

• He smiled before he died. Smiled at Matsunari, as a form of forgiveness since he had trouble speaking.

• He’s a hugger. BIG TIME.

• Him, Quincy, Kenji and Dimitrios read together every Thursday. No reason, they just do.

• He has a twin sister who stayed in England while he went off to travel.

• He wears this to bed.

[flickys-courage-club]

Introducing Barry!

Design

Species: Cat

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Asexual

Family: Nathan(Father), Teresa(Mother), Marie(Grandmother), Brandon(Grandfather), Nathaniel(Ancestor), Miranda(Ancestor), Barrett(Ancestor) Lauren(Grandmother), Oliver(Uncle), Matt(Grandfather)

Likes: Roses, fantasy movies, action movies, his parents Nathan and Teresa, rabbits, cats, spending time with Courage, Bunitty(platonic love interest), becoming a detective, mystery shows

Dislikes: Courage in danger, Muriel in danger, danger, his friends in danger, spiders(except Tyrone and his spider crew), Toxin(worst enemy), spicy food, getting scared, violence, his family in danger, Eustace Bagge(enemies)

Friends: Courage, Muriel, Felix, Clive, Justin, Maxwell, Olive, Geo, Charlie, Bunny, Kitty, Bunitty(platonic love interest), Gabriel, Russell, Platinum, Milo(Uncle to him), Grayson, Shady(Childhood best friend/brotherly figure), Computer, Team Frostbite(Damien the Wolf, Malcolm the Mountain Hare, Snowflake the Arctic Fox, Chief Azrael etc), Absolute Six(Jasper, Cyan, Marina, Hurley, Jackson and Carmen), Aden, Eight Tribes of Honour(Lucifer, Claude, Nigel, Krimson, Iram, Blizzard, Twigs and Possum Mob), Fred, Lord Blade VI, Cannibals of Vintage City, Bon, Cyril, Hunchback of Nowhere, Bigfoot, Duck Brothers, Dr Vindaloo, Courage's parents, Animals of Fear Gang

Neutral: Shirley, General, Lieutenant, Banana Suit Dealer

Enemies: Eustace, Fred(formerly), Katz, Le Quack, Cajun Fox, Weremole, Black Puddle Queen, Clutching Foot, Mad Dog, King Ramses, Sirius, Toxin, Alan, Jacob, Raven, Cruel Veterinarian, Vore, Thursday, Tuesday, Saber, Slice, Dice, Amaris, Sin Clowns(Pride, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Envy and Sloth), Fear King, Fear Slaves, Di Lung, Mecha Courage, Ma Bagge, Gem, Evangeline the Musical Mistress, Bone Antler

Facts:

He has a fear of spiders because of the abuse he got from Toxin who is in fact a spider himself.

Barry knows how to hold a gun, however it's a toy gun that shoots corks instead of bullets. He learnt his technique of handling his toy gun by his ancestor Barrett.

He is neutral to Shirley the Medium. He shows respect to her but worries about the curses she puts onto others.

After rescuing Bunitty from Mad Dog, the two became really friends, until they both start to have platonic feelings for each other.

His interactions with the General and the Lieutenant left him in dismay, due to the them fighting with each other or their "antics" as Barry refers it all to.

Barry has become a victim hunted down by Thursday and Tuesday AKA Feline Hunters, since he is a cat.

In the crossover; Straight Outta Nowhere! Scooby Doo Meets Courage The Cowardly Dog. Barry becomes allies with the Mystery Inc. His favourite members of it are Shaggy and Scooby Doo.

Barry loves watching mystery shows, which got him dreaming of becoming an great detective.

Barry's relationship with Computer didn't go well at first, because Computer became (of course) a bit of a jerk to him, until Computer was aware that Barry has anxiety. By that, he now helps Barry how to cope with anxiety.

Barry is allies with Team Frostbite, Absolute Six and Eight Tribes of Honour, he sees Team Frostbite and Tribes of Honour as family figures.

He loves his grandparents Marie and Brandon. Marie loves him dearly and Brandon has a soft spot for him, he tends to nickname him "Scamp" if he forgets his grandson's name.

Whenever Courage isn't around with him, he takes the role as Courage himself. He does remember two of his catchphrases and says them whenever he is in a dangerous situation. The catchphrases being "The things i do for love!" and "I know something bad is gonna happen or if my name is [random name]! And I'm glad it's not."

Barry has the ability to sense any danger that is coming

Barry is the one who set Lucifer free by his order and he fully knows that he has gained freedom.

Barry had an ultimate regret by setting Fear King free. This is because the King was abusing him psychological and uses his anxiety for his goals, but only to make it more worse, but then Barry finally stands up to him, telling him that releasing him was the worse idea he had done and he now sends him back to his book for all eternity and throw it out.

Despite having a fear of spiders, Barry became allies with Tyrone and his spider crew. It was said by Barry that he doesn't fear spiders that show kindness to him

[orthodoxadventure]

Great and Holy Thursday

Commemorated on May 2

THURSDAY: The Last Supper

Two events shape the liturgy of Great and Holy Thursday: the Last Supper of Christ with His disciples, and the betrayal of Judas. The meaning of both is in love. The Last Supper is the ultimate revelation of God’s redeeming love for man, of love as the very essence of salvation. And the betrayal of Judas reveals that sin, death and self-destruction are also due to love, but to deviated and distorted love, love directed at that which does not deserve love. Here is the mystery of this unique day, and its liturgy, where light and darkness, joy and sorrow are so strangely mixed, challenges us with the choice on which depends the eternal destiny of each one of us. “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come... having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end...” (John 13:1). To understand the meaning of the Last Supper we must see it as the very end of the great movement of Divine Love which began with the creation of the world and is now to be consummated in the death and resurrection of Christ.

God is Love (1 John 4:8). And the first gift of Love was life. The meaning, the content of life was communion. To be alive man was to eat and to drink, to partake of the world. The world was thus Divine love made food, made Body of man. And being alive, i.e. partaking of the world, man was to be in communion with God, to have God as the meaning, the content and the end of his life. Communion with the God-given world was indeed communion with God. Man received his food from God and making it his body and his life, he offered the whole world to God, transformed it into life in God and with God. The love of God gave life to man, the love of man for God transformed this life into communion with God. This was paradise. Life in it was, indeed, eucharistic. Through man and his love for God the whole creation was to be sanctified and transformed into one all-embracing sacrament of Divine Presence and man was the priest of this sacrament.

But in sin man lost this eucharistic life. He lost it because he ceased to see the world as a means of Communion with God and his life as eucharist, as adoration and thanksgiving. . . He loves himself and the world for their own sake; he made himself the content and the end of his life. He thought that his hunger and thirst, i.e. his dependence of his life on the world—can be satisfied by the world as such, by food as such. But world and food, once they are deprived of their initial sacramental meaning—as means of communion with God, once they are not received for God’s sake and filled with hunger and thirst for God, once, in other words, God is no longer their real “content,” can give no life, satisfy no hunger, for they have no life in themselves... And thus by putting his love in them, man deviated his love from the only object of all love, of all hunger, of all desires. And he died. For death is the inescapable “decomposition” of life cut from its only source and content. Man thought to find life in the world and in food, but he found death. His life became communion with death, for instead of transforming the world by faith, love, and adoration into communion with God, he submitted himself entirely to the world, he ceased to be its priest and became its slave. And by his sin the whole world was made a cemetery, where people condemned to death partook of death and “sat in the region and shadow of death” (Matt. 4:16).

But if man betrayed, God remained faithful to man. He did not “turn Himself away forever from His creature whom He had made, neither did He forget the works of His hands, but He visited him in diverse manners, through the tender compassion of His mercy” (Liturgy of Saint Basil). A new Divine work began, that of redemption and salvation. And it was fulfilled in Christ, the Son of God Who in order to restore man to his pristine beauty and to restore life as communion with God, became Man, took upon Himself our nature, with its thirst and hunger, with its desire for and love of, life. And in Him life was revealed, given, accepted and fulfilled as total and perfect Eucharist, as total and perfect communion with God. He rejected the basic human temptation: to live “by bread alone”; He revealed that God and His kingdom are the real food, the real life of man. And this perfect eucharistic Life, filled with God, and, therefore Divine and immortal, He gave to all those who would believe in Him, i,e. find in Him the meaning and the content of their lives. Such is the wonderful meaning of the Last Supper. He offered Himself as the true food of man, because the Life revealed in Him is the true Life. And thus the movement of Divine Love which began in paradise with a Divine “take, eat. ..” (for eating is life for man) comes now “unto the end” with the Divine “take, eat, this is My Body...” (for God is life of man). The Last Supper is the restoration of the paradise of bliss, of life as Eucharist and Communion.

But this hour of ultimate love is also that of the ultimate betrayal. Judas leaves the light of the Upper Room and goes into darkness. “And it was night” (John 13:30). Why does he leave? Because he loves, answers the Gospel, and his fateful love is stressed again and again in the hymns of Holy Thursday. It does not matter indeed, that he loves the “silver.” Money stands here for all the deviated and distorted love which leads man into betraying God. It is, indeed, love stolen from God and Judas, therefore, is the Thief. When he does not love God and in God, man still loves and desires, for he was created to love and love is his nature, but it is then a dark and self-destroying passion and death is at its end. And each year, as we immerse ourselves into the unfathomable light and depth of Holy Thursday, the same decisive question is addressed to each one of us: do I respond to Christ’s love and accept it as my life, do I follow Judas into the darkness of his night?

The liturgy of Holy Thursday includes: a) Matins, b) Vespers and, following Vespers, the Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great. In the Cathedral Churches the special service of the Washing of Feet takes place after the Liturgy; while the deacon reads the Gospel, the Bishop washes the feet of twelve priests, reminding us that Christ’s love is the foundation of life in the Church and shapes all relations within it. It is also on Holy Thursday that Holy Chrism is consecrated by the primates of autocephalous Churches, and this also means that the new love of Christ is the gift we receive from the Holy Spirit on the day of our entrance into the Church.

At Matins the Troparion sets the theme of the day: the opposition between the love of Christ and the “insatiable desire” of Judas.

“When the glorious disciples were illumined by washing at the Supper, Then was the impious Judas darkened with the love of silver And to the unjust judges does he betray Thee, the just Judge. Consider, 0 Lover of money, him who hanged himself because of it. Do not follow the insatiable desire which dared this against the Master, 0 Lord, good to all, glory to Thee.”

After the Gospel reading (Luke 12:1-40) we are given the contemplation, the mystical and eternal meaning of the Last Supper in the beautiful canon of Saint Cosmas. Its last “irmos,” (Ninth Ode) invites us to share in the hospitality of the Lord’s banquet:

“Come, 0 ye faithful Let us enjoy the hospitality of the Lord and the banquet of immortality In the upper chamber with minds uplifted....”

At Vespers, the stichira on “Lord, I have cried” stress the spiritual anticlimax of Holy Thursday, the betrayal of Judas:

“Judas the slave and Knave, The disciple and traitor, The friend and fiend, Was proved by his deeds, For, as he followed the Master, Within himself he contemplated His betrayal....”

After the Entrance, three lessons from the Old Testament:

1) Exodus 19: 10-19. God’s descent from Mount Sinai to His people as the image of God’s coming in the Eucharist.

2) Job 38:1-23, 42:1-5, God’s conversation with Job and Job’s answer: “who will utter to me what I understand not? Things too great and wonderful for me, which I knew not...”—and these “great and wonderful things” are fulfilled in the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood.

3) Isaiah 50:4-11. The beginning of the prophecies on the suffering servant of God,

The Epistle reading is from I Corinthians 11:23-32: Saint Paul’s account of the Last Supper and the meaning of communion.

The Gospel reading (the longest of the year is taken from all four Gospels and is the full story of the Last Supper, the betrayal of Judas and Christ’s arrest in the garden.

The Cherubic hymn and the hymn of Communion are replaced by the words of the prayer before Communion:

“Of Thy Mystical Supper, O Son of God, accept me today as a communicant, For I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, Neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; But like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord, in Thy Kingdom.”

by The Very Rev. Alexander Schmemann, S.T.D. Professor of Liturgical Theology, Saint Vladimir’s Seminary

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

12th September >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Thursday, Twenty Third Week in Ordinary Time 

or

The Most Holy Name of Mary 

or

Saint Ailbe, Bishop.

Thursday, Twenty Third Week in Ordinary Time 

 

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading 1 Corinthians 8:1-7,11-13 Your brethren may be weaker than you: do not lead them astray.

Now about food sacrificed to idols. ‘We all have knowledge’; yes, that is so, but knowledge gives self-importance – it is love that makes the building grow. A man may imagine he understands something, but still not understand anything in the way that he ought to. But any man who loves God is known by him. Well then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: we know that idols do not really exist in the world and that there is no god but the One. And even if there were things called gods, either in the sky or on earth – where there certainly seem to be ‘gods’ and ‘lords’ in plenty – still for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist. Some people, however, do not have this knowledge. There are some who have been so long used to idols that they eat this food as though it really had been sacrificed to the idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled by it. In this way your knowledge could become the ruin of someone weak, of a brother for whom Christ died. By sinning in this way against your brothers, and injuring their weak consciences, it would be Christ against whom you sinned. That is why, since food can be the occasion of my brother’s downfall, I shall never eat meat again in case I am the cause of a brother’s downfall.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 138(139):1-3,13-14,23-24

R/ Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

O Lord, you search me and you know me, you know my resting and my rising, you discern my purpose from afar. You mark when I walk or lie down, all my ways lie open to you.

R/ Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

For it was you who created my being, knit me together in my mother’s womb. I thank you for the wonder of my being, for the wonders of all your creation.

R/ Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Already you knew my soul, O search me, God, and know my heart. O test me and know my thoughts. See that I follow not the wrong path and lead me in the path of life eternal.

R/ Lead me, O Lord, in the path of life eternal.

Gospel Acclamation James 1:21

Alleluia, alleluia! Accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you and can save your souls. Alleluia!

Or: 1 John 4:12

Alleluia, alleluia! As long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 6:27-38 Love your enemies.

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I say this to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who treat you badly. To the man who slaps you on one cheek, present the other cheek too; to the man who takes your cloak from you, do not refuse your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your property back from the man who robs you. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love those who love you, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what thanks can you expect? For even sinners do that much. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what thanks can you expect? Even sinners lend to sinners to get back the same amount. Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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

The Most Holy Name of Mary 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Thursday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either:

First Reading Galatians 4:4-7 God sent his Son, born of a woman.

When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

OR: --------

First reading Ephesians 1:3-6 Before the world was made, God chose us in Christ

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved.

Responsorial Psalm Luke 1:46-55

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

My soul glorifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He looks on his servant in her nothingness; henceforth all ages will call me blessed. The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy his name!

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

His mercy is from age to age, on those who fear him. He puts forth his arm in strength and scatters the proud-hearted.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He casts the mighty from their thrones and raises the lowly. He fills the starving with good things, sends the rich away empty.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He protects Israel, his servant, remembering his mercy, the mercy promised to our fathers, to Abraham and his sons for ever.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

Gospel Acclamation cf.Lk1:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk1:45

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk2:19

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who treasured the word of God and pondered it in her heart. Alleluia!

Or: Lk11:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise, for the sun of justice, Christ our God, was born of you. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy is the Virgin Mary, who, without dying, won the palm of martyrdom beneath the cross of the Lord. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 1:39-47 Blessed is she who believed the promise.

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’ And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Saint Ailbe, Bishop 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Thursday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either:

First Reading Exodus 32:7-14 Moses pleads with the Lord his God to spare Israel.

The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostatised. They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. “Here is your God, Israel,” they have cried, “who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘I can see how headstrong these people are! Leave me, now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I will make a great nation.’ But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm outstretched and mighty hand? Why let the Egyptians say, “Ah, it was in treachery that he brought them out, to do them to death in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth”? Leave your burning wrath; relent and do not bring this disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I promised I will give to your descendants, and it shall be their heritage for ever.’ So the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

OR: --------

First reading Deuteronomy 10:8-9 The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to do him service

Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand in the presence of the Lord, to do him service and in his name to pronounce blessing as they still do today. Levi therefore has no share or inheritance with his brothers: the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.’

OR: --------

First reading 1 Samuel 16:1,6-13 David is anointed by Samuel

The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen myself a king among his sons.’ Samuel purified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, he caught sight of Eliab and thought, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed one stands there before him’, but the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Take no notice of his appearance or his height for I have rejected him; God does not see as man sees; man looks at appearances but the Lord looks at the heart.’ Jesse then called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this one either.’ Jesse then presented Shammah, but Samuel said, ‘The Lord has not chosen this one either.’ Jesse presented his seven sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, ‘The Lord has not chosen these.’ He then asked Jesse, ‘Are these all the sons you have?’ He answered, ‘There is still one left, the youngest; he is out looking after the sheep.’ Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send for him; we will not sit down to eat until he comes.’ Jesse had him sent for, a boy of fresh complexion, with fine eyes and pleasant bearing. The Lord said, ‘Come, anoint him, for this is the one.’ At this, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him where he stood with his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord seized on David and stayed with him from that day on.

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah's lips cleansed with a burning coal

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet, and two for flying. And they cried out to one another in this way,

‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. His glory fills the whole earth.’

The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke. I said:

‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said:

‘See now, this has touched your lips, your sin is taken away, your iniquity is purged.’

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

‘Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?’

I answered, ‘Here I am, send me.’

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 61:1-3 He has sent me to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken;

to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favour from the Lord, a day of vengeance for our God,

to comfort all those who mourn and to give them for ashes a garland; for mourning robe the oil of gladness, for despondency, praise.

OR: --------

First reading Jeremiah 1:4-9 Go and say whatever I command you and do not fear

The word of the Lord was addressed to me, saying,

‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you came to birth I consecrated you; I have appointed you as prophet to the nations.’

I said, ‘Ah, Lord; look, I do not know how to speak: I am a child!’

But the Lord replied, ‘Do not say, “I am a child.” Go now to those to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to protect you – it is the Lord who speaks!’

Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me:

‘There! I am putting my words into your mouth.’

OR: --------

First reading Ezekiel 3:17-21 Warn the wicked man, and you will live

The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, I have appointed you as sentry to the House of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from me, warn them in my Name. If I say to a wicked man, “You are to die,” and you do not warn him; if you do not speak and warn him to renounce his evil ways and so live, then he shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, however, you do warn a wicked man and he does not renounce his wickedness and his evil ways, then he shall die for his sin, but you yourself will have saved your life. When the upright man renounces his integrity to do evil and I set a trap for him, he too shall die; since you failed to warn him, he shall die for his sin and the integrity he practised will no longer be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death. If, however, you warn the upright man not to sin and he abstains from sinning, he shall live, thanks to your warning, and you too will have saved your life.’

OR: --------

First reading Ezekiel 34:11-16 I will look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view

The Lord God says this: I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view. As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness. I shall bring them out of the countries where they are; I shall gather them together from foreign countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in every inhabited place in the land. I shall feed them in good pasturage; the high mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing ground; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord who speaks. I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-8,11

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’ O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord ever in my sight: since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand happiness for ever.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation Mt23:9,10

Alleluia, alleluia! You have only one Father, and he is in heaven; you have only one Teacher, the Christ. Alleluia!

Or: Mt28:19,20

Alleluia, alleluia! Go, make disciples of all the nations. I am with you always; yes, to the end of time. Alleluia!

Or: Mk1:17

Alleluia, alleluia! Follow me, says the Lord, and I will make you into fishers of men. Alleluia!

Or: Lk4:18

Alleluia, alleluia! The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives. Alleluia!

Or: Jn10:14

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my own sheep and my own know me. Alleluia!

Or: Jn15:5

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty, says the Lord. Alleluia!

Or: 2Co5:19

Alleluia, alleluia! God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 9:35-37 The harvest is rich but the labourers are few.

Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness. And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[orthodoxydaily]

Saints&Reading: Saturday, May 4, 2024

april 21_may 4

Holy and Great Saturday: Descend into Hades

MARTYR ALAXANDRA THE EMPRESS, WIFE OF DIOCLETIAN (303)

Diocletian's wife (284-305). Her supposed death iThe Holy Empress Alexandra was Diocletian's wife (284-305). Her supposed death is described in the Martyrdom of Saint George, written immediately after his death. The empress, however, received the crown of martyrdom several years later, in 314.

Many events occurred during these years. In 305 the emperor Diocletian resigned the throne and power passed to his co-ruler Maximian Galerius (305-311), a fanatic pagan, as well as a coarse and fierce soldier. His wife was Saint Valeria, the daughter of the holy Empress Alexandra, whom Diocletian had given in marriage against her will.

Saint Alexandra raised her daughter in Christian piety. When Galerius died, the emperor Maximinus sought her hand in marriage. When he was refused, he banished Saint Valeria to Syria, where she lived with her mother.

After the death of Maximinus in 311 the mother and daughter arrived in Nicomedia, trusting in the mercy of the emperor Licinius (311-324). Together with Saint Constantine, he had subscribed to the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians the freedom of religion, but secretly he remained an enemy of Christianity. Licinius gave orders to execute the holy Empress Alexandra and her daughter Valeria. They were beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea.

SAINT MAXIMIAN, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE (434)

Saint Maximian (or Maximus) was born in Rome to wealthy and pious parents. He was a guileless man who preferred to live far from worldly vanity. He was also learned, intelligent, and was known for his many virtues, the integrity of his life, and his incomparable character. Because of his pure and holy life, Patriarch Sisinίos of Constantinople ordained him as a priest. At his own expense, Saint Maximian would pay for the burial of persons who were conspicuous for the holiness of their lives.

After the heresiarch Nestorios was deposed and exiled, Saint Maximian became Patriarch on October 25, 431, with the fervent support of both the reigning Emperor Theodosios the Younger (408-450), and the faithful people.

Saint Maximian reposed peacefully on April 21, 434 (Great and Holy Thursday).

ROMANS 6:3-11

3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

MATTHEW 28:1-20

1 Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat on it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. 4 And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men. 5 But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead, and indeed He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him. Behold, I have told you. 8 So they went out quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell His disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Rejoice!" So they came and held Him by the feet and worshiped Him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me." 11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, "Tell them, 'His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.' 14 And if this comes to the governor's ears, we will appease him and make you secure.

[rexandsparky]

Dear Quark

Dear Quark, boy am I sore at you, you can act like you didn't do anything but I'm taking the opportunity to let you know that I can't believe what you did and it's hurt my feelings real bad.

Now, my folks raised me to be polite and always wish my nearest and dearst a happy Mardi Gras every year, or "Fat Tuesday" as some call it, although as you know Eric will start saying "you mean fat Jew's day?" if you use it around him and acting like he's honking on Kyle's behind if Kyle's in the room, which he has been recently due to his DMing (I don't know what this means) his new game of Vampire the Masquerade that Wendy is hosting on Thursday nights. I know it might hurt your feelings to know that we have been playing this without you, but you gotta understand that we're all uncomfortable about the idea of gambling on role-playing tabletop games, and also you can't just bring your friend along in a 7-Eleven Big Gulp 50-ounce cup and tell us it's Mountain Dew Live Wire, that's simply not acceptable in our polycule and you know it. Now, the truth is, this is a real important time of year for me, what with Lent starting and all, and you know that like in past years I will probably be giving up my white wine spritzers so that over the holiest season I can train my thoughts onto Jesus and think about how he suffered. I sometimes wonder if you ever think about Jesus and how he suffered. Do you ever think about that, Quark? Because I gotta tell you, maybe if you thought a little more about how He died for our sins and a little less about oo-mox and tube grubs -- not to mention profit -- I think you would see that how you act has an impact on other people, and also Eric says to come pick up your rainbow blazer with brown shoulderpads and coattails, he did try to steal it from you so he could wear it to Vampire the Masquerade as part of his character's arc but he says he can't fit in it so you can have it back now, but he's not gonna dryclean it and he knows you got a good tailor on the station so he's not gonna repair the arm rips he made, either. Don't be angry at me for this, you gotta take it up with him.

So yeah, I am sending you my traditional Mardi Gras greetings, and I hope your February is real lucrative at the bar and all, but I hope you'll understand if I don't invite you and that cup full of goo back for game night OR foot stuff (I know he doesn't have feet per se) until our traditional polycule Easter egg hunt. That's a long time to deprive myself but it's gonna be Lent and all, so I hope you understand if I have a lot to think about.

PS the background on this card does remind me of one of your jackets

--- Butters Stotch-Cartburger

[pastortomsteers]

The Bible Study –

Our readings for Thursday, November 30 are Isaiah 6:1-9 & 1st Peter 2:13-25.

In our Old Testament reading we have the prophet Isaiah’s vision of, and commission from, the Lord.

The people have mocked God, the Holy one of Israel.

Now the Lord instructs Isaiah to pronounce judgment and call them to account.

Isaiah’s prophetic words will have the ironic effect of hardening the hearts of unbelieving, rebellious people, thereby fulfilling the warnings of judgment.

Today God calls forgiven sinners, Christians through our Baptism and the Word, to be witnesses to our Saviour Jesus Christ.

The message of Good News may, or may not, be accepted, but He calls us to spread it just the same, with whatever talents and opportunities He’s given us.

Peter begins our New Testament passage by calling Christians to be obedient to secular authorities who keep order.

It’s God who commissions such officials to keep the peace and restrain law-breakers.

Peter describes the redemptive work of Christ.

While believers have been freed from the penalty of our sins through the vicarious atonement of our Saviour on the cross, we’re not to use our Christian freedom to feel we have a ‘license to sin’ or dismiss God’s Law.

Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, just and holy, died for the unjust, us.

The Lord doesn’t promise a life without suffering, or persecution.

God offers salvation and hope to Christians, and the strength and reassurance that come with the promise of eternal life in Heaven.

Pastor Tom Steers

Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto

[loverandservantoftheahlulbayt]

🕊🕋🕊 General Amal 🕊🕋🕊

🕋 For The Month of Rajab 🕋

• Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (as) has reported the Holy Prophet (S) as saying:

Rajab is the month of imploring for forgiveness for my people; so, you should implore forgiveness repeatedly in this month much more than you do in other months, for Almighty Allah is forgiving and merciful. This month is described as the advantageous month, because mercy is poured on my people during it so heavily. You should thus

Repeat very much the following imploration prayer:

ِ أَستغْفر ٱ هللَّ و أَسأَلُه ٱلتهوبةَ

I ask Allah for forgiveness and I pray Him to accept my repentance.

• It is recommended to fast on three days in the month of Rajab: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. It has been narrated that one who fasts on these three days in one of the Sacred Months will be awarded with the reward of nine hundred year worship. َْ ُ ََ ْ ُ َْ

• If one is incapable of fasting during the month recite the following instead 100 times each day in the month of Rajab: ِ

سبحا َن اْلْٰله ٱ ْلْليل ُْ َ َ ِِ ِ

Glory be to the All-majestic God. ِ ُسْب َحا َن َم ْن لا يَْنبَغي ٱلته ْسبي ُح إلاه لَهُ ِِ

Glory be to Him other than Whom none should be glorified. ِ ُس ْ ب َح ا َن ٱ ل َ ع ز ٱ ل َ ْك ر م ِ

Glory be to the All-honorable and All- dignified. َ َ ِ

سبحا َن من لَبس ٱلْعهز وهو لَه أَهل ِ َََُْْ ََُُْ

Glory be to Him Who has dressed Himself with grandeur that fits none but Him.

• The Holy Prophet (S) is reported as saying:

Whoever repeats the following imploration for forgiveness 100 times in Rajab and immediately gives alms after it, Almighty Allah will conclude his life with mercy and forgiveness. Also, whoever repeats it 400 times, will be given the reward of one hundred martyrs: ِِ

أ َ س ت غ ْ ف ر ٱ هللَّ ٱ ل ه ذ ي لا إ ِ ٰ ل ه إ ِ لا ه ه و ََُْ ََُ

I implore the forgiveness of Allah. There is no god save Him, ِ َو ْح َدهُ لا َشري َك لَهُ

the One and Only Who has no partner, ِ

وأَتُوب إلَيه ِ َُْ

and I repent before Him.

• The Holy Prophet (S) is also reported to have said: Whoever repeats this litany 1000 times in Rajab, Almighty Allah will decide for him 100,000 rewards and award him 100 houses in Paradise:

لا َ إ ِ ٰ ل ه إ ِ لا ه ٱ هللَّ َُ

There is no god save Allah.

• A Hadith reads that whoever repeats the following imploration for forgiveness 70 times in the morning and 70 times in the evening on each day in Rajab, will be admitted by Almighty Allah if he dies in Rajab and Hellfire will not touch him on account of the blessings of Rajab: ِِِ

أ َ س ت غ ْ ف ر ٱ هللَّ و أ َ ت ُ و ب إ ل َ ي ه

I implore the forgiveness of Allah and I repent to Him. َْ ُ ََ ُ ْ

After this imploration is repeated seventy times, it is recommended to raise the hands towards the sky and say: ِ

ا َ ل ل ه ُه هم ٱ غ ْ ف ر لِ و ت ُ ب ع ل َ ي ِ ََْْه

O Allah, (please do) forgive me and accept my repentance.

• It is recommended to implore Almighty Allah for forgiveness in the following form one thousand times in Rajab so that He will forgive: ِ

أ َ س ت غ ْ ف ر ٱ هللَّ َذ ا َ ٱ ْلْ لا َ ل و ٱ لْ ْك ر ا م ِِِ َْ ُ َ َ َ َ

I implore Allah, the Lord of majesty and honor,

من َجَيعٱلُّذنُوِبوٱلآَثَِم ِ َْ ِ

to forgive my all sins and offenses.

• One who recites Surah Tawheed 100 times on Fridays in Rajab will enjoy, on the Resurrection Day, light that draws him towards Paradise.

•It has been narrated that the Holy Prophet (S) said,

“One who recites Surah al-Tawheed 100 times at one night in Rajab will be decided to have fasted for one hundred years for the sake of Almighty Allah Who will also decide for him one hundred palaces (in Paradise) in the vicinity of one of the Prophets.

• The Holy Prophet (S) is also reported as saying that Almighty Allah will forgive all the sins of those who offer a ten unit prayer, at one night in Rajab, reciting in each unit Surah al-Fatihah once and repeating Surah al-Tawheed three times.

• In ‘Zad al-Ma`ad,’ `Allamah al- Majlisi has mentioned that Imam `Ali Amir al-Mu'minin (as) reported the following from the Holy Prophet (S)

If one repeats the following Surahs and invocations three times each day and each night in the months of Rajab, Sha`ban, and Ramadhan, he will have all his sins forgiven even if they are as many and much as raindrops, tree leaves, sea foam... etc:

(1) Surah of al-Fatihah,

(2) Ayat al- Kursi,

(3) Surah of al-Kafirun,

(4) Surah of al-Tawhid,

(5) Surah of al- Falaq,

(6) Surah of al-Nas,

(7) the following invocation: ِ ُس ْب َح ا َن ا للَّ ،

All glory be to Allah; ِِ

و ا ْلْ م ُد للَّ ، َ َْ

all praise be to Allah; َولا إلهَ إلا اللَُّ،

there is no god save Allah;

و ا للَّ ُ أ َ ْك َبَ ، َُ

Allah is the Greatest; ِِ

ولا حوَل ولا قُهوَة إلا بِللَّ الْعل ِي ِ َََْ َ ِ الْعظيم. َ

and there is no might and no strength save with Allah, the All-high the All- great.

(8) the following invocation: ِ

ا ل ل ه هم ص ل ع ل َ ى ُمُ هم د و آ ل ٍ ِ

ُمُ هم د . َ

O Allah: send blessings upon Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad.

(9) the following invocation: ُْ ِ والمُؤمنات. ِ

O Allah: (please do) forgive the believing men and women.

(10) the following invocation, four hundred times: ٍ ِ ِ ِِ

ا َ ل ل ه ُ ه ه م ا غ ْ ف ر ل ل ْ م ْ ؤ م ن َين َ ِِ

أَستغْفر اللَّ وأَتُوب إلَيه

I seek the forgiveness of Allah and I repent before Him.

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