#A Ordinary 14 Sunday

[dronningreid]

✧ Part 1: All the times I knew you

A seemingly ordinary case turns into something more when reader returns to Reid's life. Forcing him to tell something that he never told, the beginning of a story that broke his heart fourteen years ago.

change the ending series masterlist

who? Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

category: angst/fluff

warnings/content: reader jealous, reader is a little mean to jj (nothing personal, i love that queen), mentions of maeve, allusion to bullying, special appearance of alex blake, reid is a little mean to reader, very vague mentions of a case and reader and reid appear aged 12, 15 and 31. English is not my first language.

word count: 3.1K

a/n: Hello this is the first part of my series 'Change the ending' I hope you enjoy this as much as I loved writing this. There are a couple of references to the song cardigan (because that is my most personal song and also Spencer's)

14 years, 160 days, 33 minutes and 13 seconds. That was all the time that had passed since Reid last saw you.

It is said that there are always more questions than answers and that has never made more sense than today.

Today's case promised to be average on the Reid scale, of course.

Today promised to be just another day, like the rest. Just an irrelevant Wednesday where he would miss the Sunday of talking to Maeve, which was still fresh in his mind.

As fresh as you, a memory he should have let burn away fourteen years ago. But it wasn't that easy, even without his eidetic memory you attached yourself to his cerebral cortex as if you had been there since the first time he opened his eyes.

If there was one thing he had learned all those years ago, it was that the memories most want to forget are the ones hold on to the most tightly.

"Earth calling Reid." JJ waved her hand in front of his friend's face.

He blinked a few times. “Yeah. What’s up?” He tried to keep his gaze on JJ, but his eyes kept drifting to your shape. So close and so far at the same time... Just like the last time.

Maybe it was a mistake in his mind and it wasn't you, fourteen years had passed. How could he even recognize you? He didn't even know if you were still alive.

Maybe this time it was like when everything ended and he thought he saw you everywhere. In the grocery line, at school, at home...

As if you were a phantom he couldn't get rid of.

He knew those shadows weren't you and yet every time he thought he saw you it was like such a simple activity like breath became complicated out of nowhere. You used to have that effect, honestly you still have it.

Jennifer frowned before turning her gaze to you. But a couple more eyes weren't enough for you realize what was happen. "You know her?" The question caught him off guard.

How should he even answer such a question? Yes, more than anything. No. Of course. Maybe. Neither was a sufficient answer because on the one hand of course he knew you, at least that's how it was before and that's why he didn't know you, at least not now.

He shoved his hands into his pockets before finally looking at JJ. “She looks like someone I used to know.” 100% true? No, but pretty close.

"I was hoping so, it would help us if you met her." Reid frowned. "Bertram is our most viable suspect, if we lose him we're going to hit a wall." JJ explained something that Reid should already know, should.

"And what does that have to do with her?" Reid raised an eyebrow.

JJ was the one who frowned this time. "Spence, she is Bertram's lawyer. Are you okay?"

When he was about to answer, you approached him, increasing his questions, doubts and clumsiness.

"I'm Bertram Harris' lawyer." You introduced yourself before continuing, answering at least one of Spencer's questions. "What is the imaginary evidence against my client? Because if there was real evidence, charges would have already been filed." He knew that harsh tone so well...

"We have 48 hours before we file charges." Reid replied seriously.

"46 hours." You corrected so casually. He recognized you, but you didn't recognize him? Ouch.

"Well, we have a profile-" You didn't let Jennifer finish speaking.

"Profiles." You let out an exaggerated sigh. "I bet a lot of people would fit in your profile, so that's not enough to prove my client guilty in court." You spoke firmly, fierce as a defense lawyer, and you weren't in court yet. And even though he didn't exactly like your attitude, he had to admit that you were good.

Reid crossed his arms. "Out of so many people, it's amazing that the evidence will lead us right to your client. So we'll take advantage of the 46 hours we have left."

You snorted. "Fine, but when time passes and all of you have nothing against my client, he'll be upset about the time you made him waste." You pulled a pen out of your bag. "Give me your names."

JJ and Spencer shared a look before sighing and agreeing to your request. "Jennifer Jareau." You jotted the name down on your palm.

"Spencer Reid." A hint of mockery crept into his serious tone. Yes, you probably didn't remember his face, but his name was something you'd never forget.

You barely wrote the S on your palm and it was like the ink turned to poison when it came into contact with your skin. You immediately rubbed your palm against your trousers before looking up. "Spencer Re...?" The last few letters died in your mouth.

Of course, no one else had those beautiful eyes with hazel colors and golden flecks. So bright, so honest, so innocent. But now in those eyes there was nothing more than severity.

JJ's gaze traveled from Reid to you and back to Reid, using her profiling skills to determine why the air had suddenly become so thick.

"You look... Different." You whispered as he suddenly decided that silence was his best friend.

The wall he had built so long ago was still as strong as the last time you saw him. The last time he saw you he was so serious but this time after fourteen years he made you feel like you were seventeen again.

"You too." Rather than stating the obvious, that sounded like an insult.

JJ cleared her throat. "Spence." He looked away from you. "You know her?" Jennifer whispered in a failed attempt to get you not hear her.

"No." You were surprised at how quickly the letters that came out of his mouth took shape.

"Liar." You pointed out before looking at Jennifer. Though your attention wavered to the ring on her finger. "He knows every inch of me." You lifted your chin.

JJ raised her eyebrows and the way she looked at Reid it seemed more like gossip to her than a tease...

You thought. <<Yeah, maybe she doesn't>>

"Her husband's name is Will. It's not me, she's just my friend." He clarified, though it's not like you were entitled to clarification. At least you hadn't had that right for a long time.

Even when he was just a student he also had that ability to read you like an open book.

"And as for what you said, I'm not a liar." His tone was painfully stern. "I knew you before, fourteen years ago, but that's too long for anyone to remember." That's what he wanted to repeat to himself, because honestly the memories that were about you had no expiration date. "Now and maybe even then I have no idea who you are."

He gave you one last look before turning on his heel and walking off to somewhere where he couldn't sense your presence.

"I'll talk to Bertram about not pressing charges." JJ looked at you in confusion and to be honest even you couldn't believe that a stupid teenage love affair was enough to affect your work. At least you weren't the only one going through something like that.

"And I'm sorry..." A lump formed in your throat. "Maybe I shouldn't even ask you this, but could you deliver something to Spencer?" You then pulled a card out of your bag and handed it to Jennifer.

She studied the black card in her hand for a few seconds, carefully looking at your name and phone number. "Of course, I'll give it to him." She smiled slightly at you.

You gave her an awkward smile before turning away. God, you felt so stupid now for thinking she was his wife. Besides, what would be wrong with him having a wife? Spencer Reid deserved to be happy.

As soon as you left the police station, JJ pulled out his phone. "Penelope, you won't believe what just happened."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

Reid was in a small office going over all the evidence again for a reason he wouldn't admit out loud.

But he had already checked everything three times and had hit a wall all three times. The time it took him to figure things out could vary, but this was different.

What he didn't know was that the answer was there, it's just that his mind was too clouded at the moment to realize it.

And all that mental fog had a name: yours.

He loosened his tie, taking a deep breath to regulate his racing heart. Apparently you still had that effect on him, you, the protagonist of a story so old that it must have already had cobwebs. But unfortunately for him, that wasn't the case...

Spencer gripped the edge of the desk before taking another deep breath.

But his attempts to relax were cut short when his worst enemy: his own memory made him relive the last time he kissed your lips...

The soft skin against each other, the mingled breaths, your hands in his hair and the way he didn't see that those would be the last kisses.

"Another disadvantage of eidetic memory," he told himself. But now that he thought about it, did it have any benefit? Of course it did. But all the tangled threads in his mind didn't allow see the reality.

Someone knocked on the door and he jumped slightly in place before looking towards the door. "Blake..."

Blake smiled slightly at him. "Hi." Her eyes scanned the papers scattered across the desk and then Reid's disheveled appearance. "Is everything okay?"

He nodded quickly, taking his seat back behind the desk. "Yeah." But the way Alex looked at him made him say something else. "Not really."

She sat down in front of him. "Yes, we all know about the pretty lawyer."

"Jennifer..." Reid huffed before running his hands over his face.

"And who is she?" Blake asked in her usual calm tone.

<<Good question>>

A short time ago he was telling her about Maeve, he never thought he would tell Blake about another girl again and not so suddenly... But honestly you weren't another girl, you were THE GIRL.

Reid sighed. "She's nobody." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It must be someone if the smartest guy I know hasn't already given us a big revelation that will help with this case." Blake looked at him with understanding eyes. "Go ahead Reid, talking about it will help."

Reid rubbed his knees with his hands. "Well I can't tell you who she's, but I can tell you who she was."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

Spencer took a deep breath. "I don't even know where to start."

"The beginning is perhaps the easiest." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze, encouraging him to continue.

"We had a lot of beginnings, if that's possible." He ran a hand through his hair.

His mind traveled back to the first interaction he had with you, when you were both 12. But before that, something else had to happen for him to get to know you, something very bad.

He was in the library when Harper Hillman approached him.

"Alexa Isben wants to meet you behind the field house." She said.

She was there. So was the entire football team. They stripped him naked and tied him to a goal post. So many kids were there, just watching...

He begged them to, but they just watched. Then finally they got bored and they left.

He had told that story to Morgan years ago, but he had completely erased you from it. Until now.

Alex looked at him with compassion. "It got dark and I thought I would stay there forever. But then she appeared..." He looked away, remembering it as if it were yesterday.

A little twelve-year-old you ran towards the goal post. "Oh my god. Who did this to you?" You kept your eyes fixed on his defeated face.

He had never seen you before, did you even study there? Because you didn't look the same age as the guys he was going to graduate with, the ones who had done this to him...

You looked much younger, like him.

You weren't discouraged by his lack of words, instead you considered how to help him. "Wait here, I'll go get some clothes and some scissors to cut the rope." You didn't wait for an answer, you just ran off to find what you told him.

The cold of the night was beginning to seep through his skin, freezing him. He didn't even think you'd come back, but then. "Be careful with the scissors, if I sting you, let me know." So you put all your effort into cutting the rope, at that moment you regretted not carrying a knife for ease.

Luckily, a single cut was enough to release the rope. You then spread the clothes you had found over him and covered your eyes with your hand.

"I hope it fits, it's my brother's so it might be a little big on you." Spencer took the clothes from your hands.

"Thank you." He whispered as he hurriedly put on each item of clothing. "You can look now." He said once he finished putting on the shirt.

You pulled your hand away from your eyes. “Oh, I forgot the jacket. You must be freezing cold.” You said as you hurriedly unbuttoned your loose black cardigan.

"Oh, you don't have to..." Embarrassment seeped into his words but you still put your cardigan on him.

"It's okay. You need it more than me. By the way, I'm..." Then you told him your name.

He watched as you finished buttoning the cardigan. "Spencer. Spencer Reid."

"You should tell me the names of those who did this to you, then I can tell my mother to expel them. She's the principal." You let your hands fall to your sides.

"It's not that bad..." Yes it was.

"Of course it was!" You exclaimed. "Give me names and I'll beat them up myself. I hate bullies."

Spencer let out a light laugh that quickly disappeared at the bitter feelings bubbling up inside him. "They're the older guys, you can't handle them. Besides, this could have been worse."

"Don't underestimate me." You tried to joke. "Worse? How long have you been tied up there? It's almost midnight" You looked at him with concern.

"Midnight?" His eyes widened. Surely his mother was worried that he hadn't come home.

So you grabbed him by the sleeve of the cardigan and dragged him along. "Come, I'll ask my dad to take you home."

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"So her dad drove you home?" Blake asked.

"Yes. It was like midnight when I got home. My mom didn't even realize I was late. She was having one of her episodes..." He sigh, how could something that had happened so long ago still have such a negative power over him? "I know I shouldn't get into a stranger's car and technically nothing bad happened to me, they helped me. But I did it... Because I felt like I could trust her but maybe it wasn't a good idea from the start."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that to meet her."

Spencer sighed and looked down. "I regret about both."

"Both?" Blake looked at him in confusion.

Reid looked up. "Yeah, what happened that day and meeting her." He replied with a seriousness too cold to be true.

Blake stared at him in silence for a couple of seconds before speaking again. "What happened next?"

"I don't saw her again, it was like she just vanished." He sighed. "Then three years passed and there she was again..."

"I was studying for my first PhD at MIT so I decided that over the holidays I wanted to go home to visit my mother. But instead of taking a flight I decided to travel by train."

It's funny how a single decision can affect our future.

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"The last train to Las Vegas leaves in five minutes." A voice announced through one of the speakers.

"One ticket, please." The woman at the ticket office handed him his ticket once he gave her the money.

Reid was about to board the train when you crashed into it.

"I'm so sorry." you continued to apologize as you helped him up from the floor.

He brushed off his clothes once he was standing again. "It's okay, don't worry."

You tried not to look at him, not after you had thrown him to the floor. But he did look at you which made his heart skip a beat when he recognized you.

He stared in your direction for a couple of seconds before deciding to continue and board the train.

"Oh, I, I had my money here." You patted your jacket pockets. "If you could just help me I'd pay you right away... It's just that it's very important for me to have that ticket because it's the last train to Las Vegas and I really need to go." But the woman at the ticket office didn't take pity on you.

Then Reid came over. "I'll pay for the ticket."

The woman didn't say anything, she just accepted Reid's money and handed you the ticket, which you immediately took.

"Thank you so much, you just saved my life." You followed him to board the train together.

"Okay, we're even now." He smiled slightly at you.

You hadn't planned on sitting next to a complete stranger but you followed him. "We're even?" You asked as he placed his luggage in the compartment.

"I'm Spencer." He hope that will refresh your mind.

You opened your mouth in surprise. "Of course! Spencer Reid, I remember you well." You scanned him from top to bottom. "The answer to where I left my favorite cardigan three years ago." You tried to load your luggage into the compartment but couldn't.

He helped you out, like a true gentleman. "I'm sorry I didn't see you again after that. Do you want it back?" He asked after closing the compartment door.

"You still have it?" You asked in disbelief.

"It's my favorite too." He whispered.

∗⋅✧⋅∗

"I didn't plan on things being like this, but she and I were together the whole trip. Just chatting and-" He looked down as nostalgia washed over him. "Marked me like a blood stain..."

"She seems pretty nice so far." Blake commented. "What went wrong?"

"She was really nice." He sighed. "At that time, nothing bad had happened. In fact, after that incredible trip I lost track of her again and didn't see her again until two years later."

He looked up. "But I didn't really know her until our third beginning, when everything started to go wrong..."

[joeys-babe]

Joey B Imagines: Boze Babe

___________________________________________

Summary: you see Joe’s Boze commercial for the first time and can’t help but give him a hard time over his dance moves.

Warnings: pure fluff, just some cussing, and one sexual joke.

Pairing: Joe Burrow x reader

Imagine Universe: Baby, I Love You

___________________________________________

September 14, 2023

Today you were just out shopping with your friends at the outlet mall, enjoying the day together.

your best friend, Taylor, brought her sixteen-year-old sister Hailey along as well. while you loved Hailey just as much as her older sister, she had a slight obsession with your boyfriend.

your boyfriend of six years, Joe Burrow. you and Joe had been together since he was a backup QB at Ohio State. you met in a shared class when you were partnered together for a project. to you, he was an incredibly sweet and cute nerd, who over time you developed a crush on.

one day Joe asked you to get lunch with him after class, which led to many more dates, which led to you moving to Louisiana with him when he transferred to LSU. now here you were, living in Cincinnati and watching Joe live out his NFL dreams.

joe was in his fourth season with the Cincinnati Bengals and you couldn’t be more proud of him. The first game of the season didn’t go as planned, Joe didn’t play his best and he was super mad at himself. you hated seeing him be so critical towards himself and you tried your best to cheer him up but nothing would work.

he was a superstitious guy no doubt so after that game Sunday the hair he’d grown out over the off-season had to go. you were a teeny bit upset at first since you loved his long hair (especially with the headbands) but you loved the fresh fade nonetheless, it was the hairstyle he had when you first fell in love with him so you had a certain attachment to it.

Hailey had already complained to you a couple of times over Joe cutting his hair and even asked you to beg Joe to grow it out again. you thought her obsession was funny and didn’t get annoyed by it, but you were not gonna relay that message to Joe.

you and Taylor were discussing your upcoming game day fits when Hailey let out a grimaced “Ohh.”

Taylor gave you a confused look after seeing her sister watching something on her phone before turning to her sister.

“what’s up?” - Taylor

“y/n have you seen Joe’s new commercial for Boze? - Hailey p

“uh no, I’ve only seen the outfits he wore over Facetime. why?” - you

“you need to put that boy in a dance class because that’s bad.” - Hailey laughed and handed you her phone

you pressed play on the video and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary at first but when you first saw Joe “bust a move” you couldn’t help but copy Hailey's previous grimace before giggling.

“he’s trying! That’s not his element at all and I think he handled it well. even if it is kinda cringe, he’s adorable and quirky at the same time.” - you

“and hot as hell” - Hailey

“hailey! shut up, and stop thirsting over my best friend's boyfriend!” - Taylor

“she’s okay Taylor, I know that joes attractive and other girls are gonna like him.” - you laughed

“It's a little disrespectful for her to say that in front of you though..” - Taylor

“I mean this in the nicest way possible, but I don’t feel threatened.” - you shrugged

“good for you girl. how about we all get some pretzels before we leave?” - Taylor

all of the girls agreed so you all went and got pretzels before making your way back to your respective cars.

you were pretty tired by the time you got home, shopping always tuckered you out so you were looking forward to cuddling with Joe till you guys went to sleep.

when you opened the front door the house was mostly quiet, the only light on downstairs was the living room lamp so you figured Joe was upstairs.

you took your shoes off of your feet and put them on the shoe rack next to Joe's much bigger pairs of Nikes. the small detail made your heart warm and all you wanted was to be close to your man after a long day.

once upstairs it didn’t take you long to find out where Joe was, you could hear the slight football sounds coming from his office meaning he was still watching the film. you slipped into your bedroom put a pair of sweatpants on, including one of Joe's shirts, and made your way back to his office door.

you barely knocked, and through the crack of the door, you saw Joe's head snap towards the direction of the door with a smile forming on his face.

“come in!” - Joe

you gently opened the door and when your full frame was in view, Joe's eyes lit up.

“Baby.” - Joe smiled

“Hi Joey, still haven’t given yourself a break, huh?” - you

Joe sighed as you made your way over to him, he was sitting on the leather couch while watching play reruns on the TV. you were worried about him, Joe had told you there was no reason for you to feel that way but you didn’t want him to be so hard on himself.

“I’m just trying to figure out what went wrong, don’t need a break.” - Joe

you plopped down onto the spot on the couch next to him, his gaze softened when he saw the look of worry on your face.

“y/n, I promise, if I need a break I’ll take one. I don’t right now.” - Joe

“I know you will, I just hate seeing you like this it makes me sad” - you

“Like what?” - joe

“you’re being so hard on yourself. I wish you could see yourself the way I see you. To me you are the most talented boy in the world, while you focus on your mistakes.” - you

Joe looked at you for a few seconds without saying anything, he wasn’t mad at you, he was trying to figure out how he deserved you.

“c’mere” - Joe patted his lap, and you happily obliged

you were now straddling him, your legs on either side of his muscular thighs while your arms were around his neck. Joe's hands were placed on your back as he looked up at you with so much admiration in his eyes.

“I love you so much. you’re the best girlfriend ever, I’m so lucky to have you, baby.” - Joe hugged you close

your heart swelled when he laid his head on your shoulder and nuzzled his face into your neck.

“I love you too, honey. I’m so grateful to have a man like you next to me.” - you

you were startled when Joe abruptly pulled his head off your shoulder.

“Okay enough sappy shit, how was your day with the girls?” - Joe

his change in mood made you laugh before you answered his question.

“it was nice to catch up with them, but I have a question” - you

“I might have an answer” - Joe smiled

“When did you get your pilot license?” - you giggled when joes face contorted with confusion

“what the hell? what do you mean?” - Joe

“I saw you flew an airplane” - you laughed

“What are you talking about? Are you high?” - Joe

“no, Joey! I’m talking about your boze commercial, you did a little dance.” - you grinned

“Ohh. don’t make fun of me!” - Joe rolled his eyes

“I’m not making fun of you! I thought it was cute and funny.” - you giggled

“I tried my best..” - Joe grumbled

“I know you did, baby. I mean you’re an absolute boze babe I'm proud of you for getting out of your comfort zone.” - you smiled as you hugged his neck

“oh yeah? enough for a reward?” - Joe smirked

“Joseph Lee” - you rolled your eyes playfully

Joe laughed as he stood up with me still in his lap, he carried me into the bedroom and threw me onto the bed.

“boy I'm too tired to mess around.” - you

“oh I am too, I was hoping to cuddle” - Joe smiled

you had to blush at that. Joe never initiated the cuddling, so when he did it was always extra sweet.

he crawled into bed next to you and got comfortable before laying his head on your chest.

“Goodnight, baby. I love you” - Joe

“goodnight, joey. love you more.” - you ran one of your hands through his freshly cut hair, before placing a kiss on his forehead.

as long as Joe was by your side you knew you’d always feel happy and safe, he truly was everything you could ever want and need in a partner.

———————————————————————

authors note: my first imagine! hope you enjoyed reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it! ❤️🥰

being 0-2 deserves a fic 😭

[monster-energies]

my harry potter masterlist

i will put a key here to indicate what kind of fanfic you’ll be reading please read my warnings before you read my fics:

🌻 - fluff

🌼 - gen/general 🥀 - angst 🌷 - smut

ℹ - implied

✩｡:*•.─────  ❁ ❁  ─────.•*:｡✩

severus snape x reader oneshots

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🌻1. please be mine - ao3 | tumblr ( published: 14.09.2021 )

🌻2. hold onto that feeling - ao3 | tumblr ( published 15.09.2021 )*

🌻3. love me, if thats what you wanna do - ao3 | tumblr ( published 20.09.2021 )

🌻🥀4. dawn is a feeling - ao3 | tumblr ( published 27.09.2021 )*

🌻🥀5. whatever a moon has always meant, and whatever a sun will always sing is you - ao3 | tumblr ( published 16.11.2021 )

🌻6. anything but ordinary - ao3 | tumblr ( published 30.11.2021 )

🌻7. blue skies are on the horizon for you - ao3 | tumblr ( published 06.12.2021 )

🌻8. be my birthday date if you may - ao3 | tumblr ( published 31.12.2021 )

🌻🥀9. a land of infinite wonders, a billion lightyears from here now - ao3 | tumblr ( published 09.01.2022 )

🌻10. if you want blood, you got it - ao3 | tumblr ( published 22.01.2022 )

🌻🥀🌷11. you’ll have me sooner than you know it - ao3 | tumblr ( published 10.02.2022 )

🌷12. this is the face of someone who loves you - ao3 | tumblr ( published 05.04.2022 )

🥀🌻 13. i’ve got to get better, and maybe we’ll work it out - ao3 | tumblr ( published 03.07.2022 )

🥀🌻 🌼 14. you don’t have to be sorry for doing it on your own - ao3 | tumblr ( published 31.08.2022 )

🌻15. always a woman - ao3 | tumblr ( published 9.03.2023 )

*note: oneshots 2 and 4 used to be apart of a series formerly called muggle misadventures but this has now been discontinued and are both standalone oneshots

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other

this section is for miscellaneous fanfics i have published, the character and fandom will be stated when necessary

✩｡:*•.─────  ❁ ❁  ─────.•*:｡✩

🌻🌼1. lionel shabandar/reader - you, me and these neon lights - ao3 | tumblr ( published 08.11.2021 )

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WRITING EVENTS

this section here is for all the of the writing events i have participated in.

snapetober 2021

this is my participation in @sxvxrxssnape​‘s snapetober month 2021. for the whole of october, i wrote a oneshot every day for a month with a list of prompts. if you are searching for my snapetober book on ao3, it is under the title severus’ tale.

✩｡:*•.─────  ❁ ❁  ─────.•*:｡✩

severus’ tale - ao3 ( published 01.10.2021 )

STATUS: COMPLETE

overall word count:  101,853

🌻🌼 prompt 1: autumn - title: fridays will always be better than sundays | tumblr ( published 01.10.2021 ) 

🌻🥀 prompt 2: “you have to let go” - title: letters ive written, never meaning to send. because i love you | tumblr ( published 02.10.2021 )

🌻 prompt 3: pumpkin carving - title: floral and fading | tumblr ( published 03.10.2021 )

🥀 prompt 4: regret - title: don’t you feel small | tumblr ( published 04.10.2021 )

🌻 prompt 5: apple orchard - title: love at first feel | tumblr ( published 05.10.2021 )

🌻🥀 prompt 6: hostage/trapped  - title: you almost made it through the fall | tumblr ( published 06.10.2021 )

🌻 ( ℹ 🌷+ 🥀 ) prompt 7: potions  - title: hands all over | tumblr ( published 07.10.2021 )

🌻🥀 prompt 8: emptiness - title: do you know what i’m seeing ? | tumblr ( published 08.10.2021 )

🌻🥀 prompt 9: old books - title: when you’re without love | tumblr ( published 09.10.2021 )

🌻 prompt 10: misunderstandings - title: time alone with you | tumblr ( published 10.10.2021 )

🌻 prompt 11: old friends - title: childhood’s end | tumblr ( published 11.10.2021 )

🌻🥀 prompt 12: alone - title: you deserve this | tumblr ( published 12.10.2021 )

🌻 ( ℹ + 🥀 ) prompt 13: spell casting - title: the spelling rules | tumblr ( published 13.10.2021 )

🌻🥀 prompt 14: cursed - title: she said you were a hero, you played the part | tumblr ( published: 14.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 15: ghosts - title: an ode to my family | tumblr ( published: 15.10.2021 )

🌻 ( ℹ + 🥀) prompt 16: “i’ve got you” - title: the things we do for love | tumblr  ( published: 16.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 17: witching hour - title: strange phenomena | tumblr ( published 17.10.2021 )

🥀prompt 18: (no) mercy - title: i’ve never been so torn up in all of my life, i should have seen this coming | tumblr  ( published 18.10.2021 )

🌻🥀prompt 19: headstone - title: all my daughters | tumblr ( published 19.10.2021 )

🥀prompt 20: night terrors - title: broken pieces shine | tumblr ( published 20.10.2021 )

🌻 ( ℹ +🥀 ) prompt 21: contemplation - title: i can hear this beat, it fills my head up and gets louder and louder | tumblr ( published 21.10.2021 )

🌻 ( ℹ +🌷 ) prompt 22: touch starved - title: i really should be holding you, loving you | tumblr ( published 22.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 23: vampire/bats - title: can we fly, can we fly away | tumblr ( published 23.10.2021 )

🥀prompt 24: fears - title: welcome to the panic room, where all your darkest fears are gonna come for you | tumblr ( published 24.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 25: rainy evening - title: its our time now if you want it to be | tumblr ( published 25.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 26: “don’t leave me” - title: would you really rush out for me now ? | tumblr ( published 26.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 27: unfinished business - title: you are love | tumblr ( published 27.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 28: flashback - title: it’s all coming back to me now | tumblr ( published 28.10.2021 )

🌻🌼prompt 29: costume - title: where did the party go | tumblr ( published 29.10.2021 )

🥀prompt 30: “how could you do this?” - title: you’re the only thing that’s keeping me alive | tumblr ( published 30.10.2021 )

🌻prompt 31: halloween party - title: we are the kids from yesterday | tumblr ( published 31.10.2021 )

[homeofthelonelywriter]

Let's call it Fate | Part 16

(A/N) I'll leave it up to you, what you gift Secondo!

Pairing: Cardinal Copia x Reader (no Y/N)

Warning: google translate translations, abusive parents (especially mother), arranged marriage, age gap, bullying, talk of grandparents and death of a grandparent, mistreatment of Ghouls, threats, angst, fluff, kissis, bit more spice

Prologue | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16

Sunday came too quickly. By the time everyone gathered for the black mass, you had just about finished your plans. All that was left to do was get all the brothers, especially Secondo, into Copia’s apartment after the mass so you could celebrate.

“You thinking about Copia?” Your eyes focused on Lila, who sat beside you in the chapel. A quiet chuckle left your lips as you shook your head. “No…for once at least.” Lila chuckled and nodded, her eyes focusing on the Cardinal standing at the front, ensuring everything was ready. But before you could tell your friend what you were actually thinking about, Terzo waltzed up to the altar and the black mass started. For the longest time, nothing out of the ordinary happened, and you began to wonder if Papa Secondo had convinced his brothers not to celebrate that day. But then Terzo started to speak.

“As most of you know, today is my dear brother’s birthday.” With as much pizazz as possible, he gestured to Papa Secondo, who had his head in his hands, shaking it slightly. “So, to celebrate, we’ll sing his favorite song from his album.” The moment these words left Terzo’s mouth, Papa Secondo glanced up, confusion clear on his face. But before he could object, the notes for ‘Year Zero’ started playing. Along with everyone else, you started to sing along, although most of the voices around you, were drowned out by Terzo, singing at the top of his lungs while dancing around in the front. Lila and you couldn’t help but chuckle as you watched the current Papa perform. But the moment the lyrics came to “a daughter to fall for a son”, you couldn’t help but glance up at Copia, a soft smile spreading on your lips, as you realized that he was already looking at you, his lips forming the words.

A soft blush rose to your cheeks, and you quickly adverted your gaze, scared that you could get caught somehow. Of course, Lila did catch your little moment, gently elbowing you with a grin to show her support.

After another hour or so, the black mass came to an end, and everyone slowly filtered out of the chapel, but you hung back, waiting to be alone with the Emeritus brothers. “Have fun.” Lila winked at you on her way out, making you chuckle. Before long, the chapel was empty, safe for you and the four men, as well as Phantom and Dew.

“Please lock the chapel doors on your way out.” The Ghouls nodded and did as they were asked.

“Terzo, piccolo bastardo. Era proprio necessario? Sai che non mi piace attirare l'attenzione sul mio compleanno.” Papa Secondo didn’t hold his frustrations back as he yelled at his little brother. But Terzo just waved him off with a smile. “Sai che è tradizione, fratello. Ci ho solo messo un po' sopra.” While they were arguing, you slowly made your way to Copia, who immediately pulled you to his side.

“Hi.” You grinned up at him, echoing his greeting before your attention returned to the brothers. With a reassuring squeeze on your hips by Copia, you gently cleared your throat, making everyone look at you. “You have made it very clear that you don’t like to celebrate your birthday, but we prepared a little something in Copia’s apartment. I’d really prefer you just came with us, but if not…” behind Papa Secondo, Swiss popped up, a grin on his face. “…we have reinforcements, and we will go the hard route.”

Once Papa Secondo realized that there was no getting out of it, he conceded with a heavy sigh and followed as Copia and you led the way through the secret tunnels. Just before you reached the door to Copia’s apartment, you handed Papa Secondo a blindfold, which he begrudgingly put on. Terzo and Copia took over, leading him inside safely, and once you had lit the candles on the cake you had baked, you gave the signal for Terzo to remove the blindfold.

Papa Secondo was greeted by a heavenly-looking chocolate cake with candles on it. Further back, the table was littered with presents, as well as a little bit of confetti to make everything a tad bit more colorful. But when Papa Secondo just kept staring at the cake, not saying a word, you started to feel anxious.

“My parents never celebrated my birthday with me. But…but the staff did. At first, I was sad every year. Confused as to why they wouldn’t even congratulate me, but our head chef always baked me this cake, and it always cheered me up, even when I didn’t even want to be reminded that it was my birthday. I…I don’t know why you don’t like to celebrate, but I learned that birthdays are here to be celebrated, you just need the right people.”

It was silent for a few moments before you were suddenly enveloped in a hug, two strong arms holding you against a burly chest. Confusion filled you for a moment before you realized that Papa Secondo was hugging you. “Grazie, cara.” You smiled, hugging him back.

“Okay! Let’s get this party started!” Leave it to Terzo to ruin a moment. But after Secondo let go of you and blew out the candles, the cake was served and devoured. Within moments, you were declared the family baker from then on, and after the cake was gone, the evening was spent playing different board and card games. At some point, Secondo unwrapped his presents, making comments about each one until he got to yours. He must’ve immediately recognized that it was from you because he just glanced at you with a soft smile, mouthing a quiet ‘thank you.’

After a few hours, when Primo started to doze off, Secondo declared it a birthday well spent and started to usher his brothers, especially Terzo, out the door, thanking you one more time before leaving. The moment the doors closed behind the three, Copia drew you into a hug and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. “You are a miracle, amore.”

Translations: amore...love erzo, piccolo bastardo. Era proprio necessario? Sai che non mi piace attirare l'attenzione sul mio compleanno...Terzo you little bastard. Was that really necessary? You know I don't like drawing attention to my birthday. Sai che è tradizione, fratello. Ci ho solo messo un po' sopra...You know it's tradition, brother. I just put a little spin on it. Grazie, cara...Thank you, dear.

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Ghost Masterlist

Master-Masterlist

Tags: @antoniamarie1989

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[companion-showdown]

Which companion is the most normal person?

a lot of companions would be getting into tv show worthy situations with or without the doctor, but some of them are just normal people, who if they weren't aboard the tardis they'd be living an ordinary, perhaps even boring, life. who is the most normal

SEMIFINALS

Leo Jones vs Ben Jackson

Barbara Wright vs Ian Chesterton

QUARTERFINALS

Leo Jones vs Sergeant Benton

Graham O'Brien vs Ben Jackson

Brian Williams vs Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton vs Katarina

previous rounds under the cut

ROUND 4

K9 vs Leo Jones

Sergeant Benton vs Rory Williams

Alison Cheney vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Ben Jackson

Brian Williams vs Evelyn Smythe

Barbara Wright vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Anji Kapoor

Peri Brown vs Katarina

ROUND 3

K9 vs Business Woman

Leo Jones vs Harry Sullivan

Sergeant Benton vs Kate Stewart

Duggan vs Rory Williams

Tegan Jovanka vs Alison Cheney

Liz Shaw vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Nyssa

Ryan Sinclair vs Ben Jackson

Mickey Smith vs Brian Williams

Evelyn Smythe vs Martha Jones

Grace Holloway vs Barbara Wright

Lucie Miller vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Victoria Waterfield

Hex Schofield vs Anji Kapoor

Donna Noble vs Peri Brown

Dan Lewis vs Katarina

ROUND 2

Day 2

Mickey Smith vs Jamie McCrimmon

Chang Lee vs Brian Williams

Evelyn Smythe vs Romana I

Adric vs Martha Jones

Grace Holloway vs Izzy SInclair

The Brigadier vs Barbara Wright

Lucie Miller vs Headmaster

Ruby Sunday vs Wilfred Mott

Ian Chesterton vs Amy Pond

Mike Yates vs Victoria Waterfield

Hex Schofield vs Frobisher

Nardole vs Anji Kapoor

Donna Noble vs Liv Chenka

Leela vs Peri Brown

Dan Lewis vs Bridget Sinclair

Katarina vs Bill Potts

Day 1

K9 vs Charley Pollard

Business Woman vs Mel Bush

Leo Jones vs Rose Tyler

Laurence Scarman vs Harry Sullivan

Sergeant Benton vs Steven Taylor

Bernice Summerfield vs Kate Stewart

Duggan vs Helen Sinclair

Sarah-Jane Simth vs Rory Williams

Tegan Jovanka vs Dodo Chaplet

Handles vs Alison Cheney

Liz Shaw vs Adam Mitchell

Sam Jones vs Graham O'Brien

Rita Afzal vs Susan Foreman

Nyssa vs Kamelion

Ryan Sinclair vs Polly Wright

Fitz Kreiner vs Ben Jackson

ROUND 1 (Group Stage)

Group 1:

Susan Foreman

Barbara Wright

Ian Chesterton

Vicki Pallister

Steven Taylor

Group 2:

Katarina

Sara Kingdom

Dodo Chaplet

Ben Jackson

Polly Wright

Group 3:

Jamie McCrimmon

Victoria Waterfield

Zoe Heriot

The Brigadier

Sergeant Benton

Group 4:

Liz Shaw

Mike Yates

Jo Grant

Sarah-Jane Smith

Harry Sullivan

Group 5:

Leela

K9

Romana I

Romana II

Group 6:

Adric

Nyssa

Tegan Jovanka

Vislor Turlough

Kamelion

Group 7:

Peri Brown

Mel Bush

Ace McShane

Grace Holloway

Chang Lee

Group 8:

Charley Pollard

C'rizz

Evelyn Smythe

Lucie Miller

Group 9:

Liv Chenka

Helen Sinclair

Hex Schofield

Bernice Summerfield

Chris Cwej

Group 10:

Fitz Kreiner

Compassion

Anji Kapoor

Sam Jones

Group 11:

Alison Cheney

Iris Wildthyme

Izzy Sinclair

Frobisher

Group 12:

Rose Tyler

Mickey Smith

Adam Mitchell

Jack Harkness

Martha Jones

Group 13:

Wilfred Mott

Donna Noble

River Song

Amy Pond

Rory Williams

Group 14:

Kate Stewart

Clara Oswald

Handles

Bill Potts

Nardole

Group 15:

Yasmin Khan

Graham O'Brien

Ryan Sinclair

Dan Lewis

Ruby Sunday

Group 16:

Vince Hawkins

Duggan

Damon

Group 17:

Rhos

Dr Summers

Laurence Scarman

Lowe

Mergrave

Headmaster

Group 18:

Tamsin Drew

Tania Bell

Business Woman

Kevin

Group 19:

Jackie Tyler

Francine Jones

Clive Jones

Tish Jones

Leo Jones

Group 20:

Sylvia Noble

Craig Owens

Brian Williams

Danny Pink

Rigsy

Group 21:

Tommy Connolly

Riley Vashtee

Hath Peck

Nephew

Rita Afzal

Group 22:

Elton Pope

Ursula Blake

Colin Skinner

Bridget Sinclair

Bliss

links to previous tournaments

[myremnantarmy]

𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem

gathered around Jesus,

they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals

with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

—For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews,

do not eat without carefully washing their hands,

keeping the tradition of the elders.

And on coming from the marketplace

they do not eat without purifying themselves.

And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed,

the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds. —

So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him,

"Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders

but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?"

He responded,

"Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God's commandment but cling to human tradition."

He summoned the crowd again and said to them,

"Hear me, all of you, and understand.

Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person;

but the things that come out from within are what defile.

"From within people, from their hearts,

come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,

adultery, greed, malice, deceit,

licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.

All these evils come from within and they defile."

[phyrexian-lesbian]

Final Take on Series 14/Season 40

(It will never be season one cry about it)

Alright so Space Babies brings the while season down at least 50% so we're gonna ignore that episode- which is also useful advice for anyone watching Doctor who.

Excluding space babies, there are a handful of episodes that, stand-alone, are really good. Of course, there'd never be more than a handful because the international franchise pairing with corporate overlords only had time for 9 episodes apparently.

In fact, I like most of the season, considering I don't watch them as a season. Church on Ruby Road was interesting, playing with the idea of magic and the Timeless Child arc.

The Devil's Chord was fun and intriguing, playing with the gods and monsters idea again, and having cool 4th wall breaks and a fun villain. Its drawbacks were the stupid fucking musical number that rtd wrote with no canon reason other than "Maestro's influence", which is a repeat of what he did with the 60th (writing utter bullshit and pinning it on a stupid fucking cause that makes 0 canon sense).

Boom was incredible. For starters, it was written by someone who wasn't rtd, so that's amazing. Also, as a theatre kid, having tur central actor unable to move their body for the entire performance tickled my brain in all the best ways. All in all, it felt like an episode from 12's era, when Doctor was at its peak for me. Great episode. Made me hopeful for the future (hahahaha😶)

73 Yards was also incredible (ignoring the finale). It heightened that (false) sense of mystery surrounding Ruby, and ramped up the horror subtheme started by Wild Blue Yonder. I really enjoyed it, and it was a great story. Felt a lot like Heaven Sent, which is am achievement (All of this praise is for the standalone. RTD pissed all over his good writing with the finale, and 73 Yards was ruined by EoD).

Dot and Bubble played with some interesting ideas but was kinda meh. It was a cool reality to see 15 suffer racism (bit like 13 suffering misogyny), and it was good to see the Doctor mad again.

Rogue was very cool, and I thought it was great. Made me wish we had a Thasmin kiss tho.

Legend of Ruby Sunday, aka the good half of the finale, was very interesting. All the mystery and the magic and the reunions. They dismissed the whole bigeneration plot line, and the fact that 15 didn't see any of this shit coming meant that the bigeneration plot line was completely fucked. 14 and 15 aren't the same person in a looped time line. They're just clones of each other. The whole "therapy" situation is utter bullshit. RTD just can't kill t*nnant for shit (fr love David Tennant in other stuff and as a person in general just getting sick of him in Dr who). Sutekh's reveal could have been handled a bit better, but overall his entrance gave me chills. Loved that. Just needed a bit more detail on how he avoided the TARDIS sensors for two thousand years.

And finally, the episode that untied all the others from each other, Empire of Death. The mystery that terrified Maestro, the God of music and revels, and caught the obsession of Sutekh, the God of death and eternity, was utter bullshit. Ruby's mum is just some guy. A nice thought- we thought she was some godlike entity but she was just an ordinary human. Except. We didn't think that. RTD wrote that. The snow, the "song in her soul", the fact that Ruby's mum couldn't be perceived with anything but the naked eye, not even with Time Lord equipment- that's all superhuman shit. You can't explain that away with "she's normal". That's not how it works. Oh and the God of literal actual Death was defeated by a real good dogleash? Nah man. If you want us to take things seriously, don't pull shit like that. Also they defeated him literally the same way they did last time, adding the aforementioned dog leash. Also the fact that her mum is just normal means that the whole mystery about the specter's words in 73 yards is just... pointless? Completely useless?

Also, no one names their daughter by pointing at a sign (that wasn't there in the original shot).

And Ruby's exit was so nothing. I didn't feel a single thing. There was no emotional connection to the character. She left of her own directive. After 9 45minute episodes. Don't know if people honestly were emotional about that, because there was nothing there.

Overall, good episodes. Bad season.

[paralleljulieverse]

From the Archives: Julie Andrews’ First Steps Towards Global Fame

This May 1947 photo-article from a supplement of the U.S.-based Sunday World Herald offers a fascinating glimpse into the PR campaign that launched Julie Andrews into child stardom. Although Andrews' career is generally dated to her professional debut in Starlight Roof in October 1947, her publicity machine was already in motion months earlier to establish her star image. Her agent, Charles Tucker, commissioned a special photoshoot with Daily Herald photographer Arthur Tanner, and the resulting stories were circulated by various news agencies in the UK and internationally. While similar PR pieces appeared in British, Australian, and even French publications, this article is the first concrete evidence of Andrews’ early fame reaching North American audiences.

The article uses familiar PR tropes to construct the myth of Andrews as a musical child prodigy: the discovery of her voice in a Beckenham air raid shelter, her astounding vocal range, her famously adult-sized larynx, and her multilingual singing abilities (Farmer, 2022). Yet these superhuman qualities are softened by emphasising her childhood innocence, describing her as "just a little girl with the same fondness for dolls as other youngsters." This blend of the extraordinary and the ordinary created a public image that endeared young Andrews to audiences worldwide, setting the stage for a career that would span continents and generations.

Sources:

Farmer, B. (2022). ‘Prima donna in pigtails’: reading the child stardom of Julie Andrews. Celebrity Studies, 14(2), 131–145.

World Herald (1947). 'Tot is blitzed to path of fame.' Sunday World Herald Magazine. 25 May: p. 14-C. © 2024 Brett Farmer All Rights Reserved

[alldancersaretalented]

New solos for nationals

Blue = BD Las Vegas/Orlando, Uncolored = Finals Las Vegas/Orlando

Purple = Protege Radix, Orange = Finals Radix

Red = MVA Velocity, Pink = Finals Velocity

Green = OD NYCDA NYC/PHX, Bold = Finals NYCDA NYC/PHX

CSPAS (All TDA is Las Vegas)

Teresa Nan (7), Waves - Contemporary

Jayda Cook (7), Youth - Contemporary

Skylee Sitterud (11), Gimme More - Ballroom

Skylar DeLoach (12), Hot Like Wow - Jazz

Emberlynn Hill (11-12), We Lost Sight Of The Shoreline - Contemporary

Katheryn Mahoney (11-12), La Vie En Rose - Contemporary

Bella Stepan (13), Land Of All - Contemporary

Dara Rossiter (14), It Fell Quietly - Contemporary

Stella Condie (14), Into My Arms - Contemporary

Halle Hunt (15), La La Land - Contemporary

Kamri Peterson (15), 1977 - Contemporary

Club Dance Studio

Lily Knopps (6), Unchained Melody - Lyrical (ORL)

Abbey Scott (8), In My Memory - Contemporary (LV)

Navy Forrest (9), Into The Void - Contemporary (ORL)

Nixie Vance (9), To Silence - Contemporary (LV)

Makayla Isler (10), Over My Head - Contemporary (LV)

Caitlyn Mckenzie (10), The Pianist - Contemporary

Kennedy Besch (10), In The Mood - Musical Theatre

Kendyl Miller (11), The First Time - Contemporary (ORL)

Isla Gardner (11), Joga - Contemporary (LV)

Dance Enthusiasm (All TDA is Orlando)

Kayleigh Stoler (10), Water Lily - Contemporary

Danceology (All TDA is Las Vegas)

Brody Schaffer (8), Oh Darling - Lyrical

Ava Kim (9), This Will Be - Jazz

Adrianna Cubas (11), Wherever You Will Go - Contemporary

Naomi Morrill (11), Million Reasons - Lyrical

Isabella Amini (11), Nails Hair Hips Heels, Jazz

Hudson Hensely (11), Skins - Contemporary

Kate Blankenship (12), Mourning - Contemporary

Brooke Donnelly (12), A Light Within - Contemporary

Blake Chapman (12), Viola - Jazz

Zsabrina Grenevitch (12), Whispering House - Contemporary

Evelyn Lee (12), Sonata - Contemporary

Charlotte Shinnefield (12), TBA - Contemporary

Ella Bustillos (12), The Glow - Contemporary

Ella-Nani Knight (12), Forever Shifting, Contemporary

Ella Koehnen (12), Internal Collapse - Contemporary

Fiona Sartain (13), Jazz Is For Ordinary People - Tap

Brooke Salazar (13), Circular Translation - Contemporary

Keelyn Jones (13), Unwavering Devotion - Contemporary

Zoey Hibbs (13), Searching Within - Contemporary

Gracie Kim (13), Lacey - Contemporary

Peyton Szuberla (13), Past Recollection - Contemporary

Kylie Kaminsky (14), We Were, We Still Are - Contemporary

Kaelyn Kenneally (15), In The Dark - Contemporary

Khloe Rodriguez (15), Rigid Soul - Contemporary

Sofia Mah (17), Trapped In Cosciousness - Contemporary

Sami Sonder (17), Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang - Jazz

Emma Donnelly, Threatening My Existence - Contemporary

Caroline Skrable (17), Meeting Of Eyes - Contemporary

Emma Donnelly (17), Rule The World - Contemporary

Epic Dance Complex (All TDA is Orlando

Avery Altobelli (10), Secrets From The Sparrow On My Shoulder - Contemporary

Evolve Dance Complex (All TDA is Orlando)

Lola Rodi (11), Bang Bang - Contemporary

Kensington Dressing (12), Paradox Of Surrender - Contemporary

Zooey Steckbeck (13), Soldier - Contemporary

Maya Rogers (14), Eternal Glory - Contemporary

Elyse Wingertsahn (16), Don't Take The Money - Contemporary

Camryn Lanigan (16), Dance With The Truth - ?

Sam Evans (17), Cover Of Magazines - Contemporary

Larkin Dance Studio (All TDA is Las Vegas)

Jade Glyzinski (7), Smile - Contemporary

Stella Ames (7), Hit Me With A Hot Note - Jazz

Lexie Charnstrom (9), Rewind - Contemporary

Evie McCune-Barrett (9), Hallelujah - Contemporary

Evelyn Ringeisen (9), Praise You - Lyrical

Grace Sullivan (10), Broken Waltz - Contemporary

Neala Murphy (10), This Is Me - Specialty

Kennedy Deuth (11), Vivante - Specialty

Hailey Turnbull (11), Remember - Specialty

Sienna Powers (11), Sunday - Contemporary

Kelsie Jacobson (12), Withered - Contemporary

Finley Ashfield (12), This Is My Hand - Contemporary

Finley Ashfield (12), Fools Who Dream - Lyrical

Tahari Conrad (13), I Won't Complain - Specialty

Ava Munos (14), Once I Was Loved - Lyrical

Brynn Kostka (15), Afloat - Contemporary

Claire Monge (15), Fall Deep - Contemporary

Laci Bloss (15), Pure - Contemporary

Gabrielle Nead (16), Find Me - Contemporary

Kellan Cragg (16), Creeks - Contemporary

Angelina Emberson (17), What I Leave Behind - Contemporary

Lexi Adair (17), Our Love - Contemporary

Bella Jarvis (17), A Blurred Haze - Contemporary

Mather Dance Company (All TDA is Orlando)

Kali Funstron (9-10), Honeymoon Is Over - Jazz

Renee Liu (11-12), Can't Help Falling In Love - Lyrical

Winter Eberts (13), Fame - Jazz

Delaney McCarthy (14), Vow - Contemporary

Breez Carver (14), Afterneath - Contemporary

Sydney Robinson (14-15), Impossible Dream - Lyrical

Jonathan Archer (15), Nemesis - Contemporary

Maddie Ortega (15), Let Me Think - Jazz

Davin Ephraim (16), Margaret - Contemporary

Kaitlyn Ortega (17), Something New - Contemporary

Dyllan Blackburn (17), Kaleidoscope Love - Specialty

Dyllan Blackburn (17), Le Jazz Hot - Jazz

Keaton Evans (17), Falling - Contemporary

Abbey Stahl (16-18), Severance - Contemporary

Ryan Piccerillo (16-18), Blower's Daughter - Lyrical

Shaelan Baldwin (16-18), Fragile - Lyrical

Pave School of the Arts

Gabriela Cuevas (6), Teach Me How To Shimmy - Jazz

Sofia Cuevas (9), Red Football - ?

Talia Donaldson (9), Bad Dream - Open

Addison Sebelius (10), Just A Girl - Open

Kara Chen (9-10?), Someone You Loved - Lyrical

Vanessa Mattar (11), Hero - Lyrical

Alaya Ausar (12), Ain't No Other - Jazz

Tayah Klimuck (12), Serotonin - Contemporary

Kaylee Baldwin (13), This Bitter Earth - ?

Scarlet Kendall (13), Special Death - Open

Haven Warther (15), How Could You - Lyrical

Sienna Hardin (13-15), Nicest Thing - Contemporary

Leni Nam (13-15), Art Deco - Contemporary

Kaylie Do (16), Can I - Jazz

Lyrah Cabrera (17), Do You Feel Real - Contemporary

Spree Hazen (17), Landslide -Lyrical

Peach Miller (16-19), Reaching For Cold Hands - Contemporary

Sydney Parker (16-19), Feelin' - Open

Tiffany Robinson (16-19), Honda - Open

Tiffany Robinson (16-19), Call Me Irresponsible - Contemporary

Project 21 (All TDA is Orlando)

Olivia Armstrong (11), When I Go - Contemporary

Regan Gerena (12), The Hollow - Contemporary

Regan Gerena (12), That's Life - Jazz

Leighton Werner (14), Drag Me Down - Contemporary

Stella Eberts (15), Bloom - Contemporary

Gracyn French (15), Chemtrails Over The Country Club - Contemporary

Studio X

Emma Santos (7), Mr. Big Stuff - Jazz

Abigail Broadhead (15), Black Car - Jazz

The Vision Dance Alliance

Mila Trioli (8), Omni - ?

Everly Hafey (8), Tower Over Me - ?

Reese Rosato (9), Down - ?

Maisie McAllister (11), My Creation - ?

Lucia Milano (11), Unravel - ?

Violet McGuire (12), Meu Amor - ?

Julia Amato (13), Liar - Contemporary

Caitlyn Polis (15), Those Behind Us - ?

West Florida Dance Company (All TDA is Orlando)

Hannah Jackson (9), Chandelier - Contemporary

Stella Brogan (9), Unveiled - Contemporary

Johanna Bryant (10), Youth - Contemporary

Lainey Hess (10), Bring Me Water - Contemporary

Vesper Woo (10), The Maze - Contemporary

Kinzley Dragoonis (11), Wasted Time - Contemporary

Lily Hackney (11), The Audio - Contemporary

Ashlyn Weldon (15), If You Wait - Contemporary

Olivia Griffin (16), Eclipse - Contemporary

MadiKai Treger (17), Black Sky - Contemporary

Caleb Monnell (17), Amen - Contemporary

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

1st September >> Fr. Martin's Homilies/Reflections on Today's Mass Readings for The Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B) (Inc. Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23): ‘It is from within, from people’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge’.

Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

Gospel (Except USA) Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23 You put aside the commandment of God, to cling to human traditions.

The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered round Jesus, and they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. For the Pharisees, and the Jews in general, follow the tradition of the elders and never eat without washing their arms as far as the elbow; and on returning from the market place they never eat without first sprinkling themselves. There are also many other observances which have been handed down to them concerning the washing of cups and pots and bronze dishes. So these Pharisees and scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders but eat their food with unclean hands?’ He answered, ‘It was of you hypocrites that Isaiah so rightly prophesied in this passage of scripture:

This people honours me only with lip-service, while their hearts are far from me. The worship they offer me is worthless, the doctrines they teach are only human regulations.

You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human traditions.’ He called the people to him again and said, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that goes into a man from outside can make him unclean; it is the things that come out of a man that make him unclean. For it is from within, from men’s hearts, that evil intentions emerge: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within and make a man unclean.’

Gospel (USA) Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23 You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.

When the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands. —For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands, keeping the tradition of the elders. And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles and beds.— So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.

You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.” He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile. “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Homilies (7)

(i) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

There are times in our individual lives and in the lives of our communities when we need to recover what is truly important. We can all lose sight of what really matters and give ourselves over to what is of much lesser value. We are familiar with the expression, ‘missing the wood for the trees’. This is true in the area of our faith as well as in every other area of life. We can attach too much importance to some expressions of faith and not enough importance to other expressions of faith.

In the gospel reading, Jesus accuses the religious leaders of his day for doing just that. They are giving more importance to various human religious traditions than to the word of God. As Jesus says, ‘You put aside the commandment of God to cling to human tradition’. Jesus was saying to them that what was important to them was not so important to God, whereas what was important to God was not so important to them. The central question when it comes to our relationship with God is, ‘What does God want?’ It may not always be easy to answer that question, but it is worth asking it. Jesus came among us to show us what God wants for our lives. In today’s gospel reading, he points us in the direction of what God wants from us. He suggests that what really matters to God is what is in our hearts, our inner core. He quotes from his own religious tradition, the prophet Isaiah, to show that this is what God has always wanted, ‘This people honours me with their lip-service, while their hearts are far from me’. In spite of the fine sounding words that come from their lips in prayer, their hearts were not give over to God. Their hearts did not belong to God. Their hearts were not in the right place. The religious leaders in the gospel reading were very concerned with ‘the tradition of the elders’. They criticized Jesus’ disciples for not showing respect for this tradition, by their failure to observe certain rituals relating to the washing of hands before eating. Yet, for all their concern about these religious traditions, Jesus could see that their hearts were not given over to God. They had not allowed God to live in their hearts. If they had, they would not have been so critical of Jesus’ disciples.

What God really wants is a heart that is open to receiving God’s abundant love and a heart from which God’s love is then poured out upon others. When Jesus was asked once, ‘What is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ he quoted two texts from the Jewish Scriptures, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind’, and, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. What God wants from us more than anything else is a heart given over to God and to all God’s people in love, in response to God’s love for us. Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish Dutch woman living in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during the Second World War. She died in Auschwitz at the age of twenty-nine. She wrote a diary while she was there and at one point she wrote, ‘Every atom of hate we add to this world, makes it more inhospitable... and every act of loving perfects it’. She refused to hate those who had taken everything from her. She understood what was at the centre of her own Jewish faith, namely love for all. It was this centre that Jesus always highlighted, not just by what he said but by his whole way of life.

Jesus came not just to show us what God wants but to empower us to become what God wants. Through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus poured the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God’s love, into our hearts, so as to create in us hearts that reflect the loving heart of God, hearts that are the source of a loving way of life. A loving heart and the life that flows from it is not just down to our own efforts. It comes to us from God, through his Son and the Holy Spirit. As Saint James says at the beginning of today’s second reading, ‘It is all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of all light’. We need to keep turning to God, asking him to give us the heart that God desires for us, as in that lovely prayer, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love’. We can personalize that prayer for ourselves, ‘Come Holy Spirit, fill my heart, and kindle in me the fire of your love’. If we can keep the fire of the Spirit’s love burning in our hearts, then we will be lovingly attentive to the most vulnerable among us, and this is certainly what God wants. As Saint James says at the end of that second reading, ‘Pure, unspoilt religion, in the eyes of God our Father, is this: coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it’. This has always been the heart of the matter for God and always will be.

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(ii) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our families of origin tend to have their own traditions. In being born into a particular family, we inherit traditional ways of doing things that have been part of the story of our family, perhaps for several generations. When a family member breaks with those traditions and does things differently, it can often create some initial tension in the family. Yet, every generation within a family has to creatively shape the family tradition in ways that correspond to the culture and times in which they live. Tradition is not a kind of dead weight to be passed on faithfully from one generation to the next. Any tradition that is worthwhile has to be something living and vibrant, capable of change and development. A living tradition is one that embodies the wisdom of the past while being open to new wisdom that comes from further reflection on experience.

If every family has its tradition, this is even more so of the church which is two thousand years old. Within the Roman Catholic Church in particular, tradition has always been recognized as a source of God’s revelation. God speaks to us through the Scriptures, but also through all of those people who from the earliest days of the church have reflected upon and given expression to the Scriptures in their way of life. One expression of the tradition of the church would be the lives of the saints, who can continue to teach us what it means to be a follower of the Lord. Other examples of the church’s tradition would be how the church has worshipped over the centuries and how it has given official expression to its faith in its creeds and teachings from earliest times. The church’s tradition is a living tradition. Like a human body it grows and develops. There is always continuity with the past but also change and new life. Looking back over the history of the church, it is possible to identify moments when the church’s tradition underwent a very significant development in a relatively short space of time. The Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s was one such a moment, when the whole church made a serious effort to listen to the signs of the times and to allow the church’s tradition to be reshaped accordingly.

Jesus was a Jew. He was born into a Jewish family and inherited the traditions of his Jewish faith. The gospels suggest that he understood himself as sent by God to renew Judaism, to launch a kind of second Vatican Council within Judaism. He respected deeply the Jewish tradition he inherited but he wanted to reshape it so that it came to express more fully God’s purpose for the Jewish people and for all of humanity. This mission to renew and reshape the Jewish tradition brought him into conflict with those who wanted to maintain the tradition as it was at that time. A good example of such conflict is to be found in our gospel reading this morning. The Pharisees who were committed to preserving and promoting the traditions of the elders accused Jesus and his disciples of riding roughshod over these traditions. Jesus in turn declared that the Pharisees give more importance to human traditions than to God’s commandments. While very concerned about traditions relating to food - what is eaten and how it is eaten – they had neglected much more fundamental values in God’s eyes, what Jesus refers to elsewhere as the weightier matters of the law, such as mercy, justice and love. Jesus challenged the upholders of the tradition to pay less attention to externals and to attend more to what is within the human heart and to the actions that flow from that. In a certain sense, Jesus was calling on them to get back to basics, to return to the wellsprings of their tradition, as found in the message of the prophet Isaiah, whom Jesus quotes.

The Second Vatican Council was the church’s attempt to get back to basics. What drove the deliberations of the Council was a desire to return to the sources of our faith - to Scripture and to the earliest traditions of the church. Every religious tradition needs ongoing purification and the path to that purification always involves a return to the sources. Today’s readings invite us as a church and as individuals to keep on returning to the sources of our faith, in particular, the Scriptures, the word of God.  In the second reading, St James calls on us to ‘accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you’. Such acceptance of and submission to God’s word, he goes on to say, involves not just listening to God’s word but doing what that word tells us. For James, central to God’s word is the call to show care and concern for the needy and most vulnerable. In returning to the sources of our faith, we will always hear afresh the call to serve each other and to build each other up. It is clear from today’s gospel reading that Jesus was much more concerned about how people were relating to each other than about food regulations. At the end of that reading he lists attitudes of the heart that were destructive of human relationships. Jesus understood the values that were central to the Jewish tradition, and he proclaimed those values in the ways he related to people, especially those who were on the margins for one reason or another.

We live in an age in which loyalty to religious tradition can be a very destructive force. Today’s readings remind us that for us as Christians, the real traditionalists, those most faithful to our Christian tradition, are people who live in ways that give expression to the healing, compassionate and life-giving presence of the Lord.

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(iii) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

While he was hear, Pope Francis spoke a lot about family life. Our families of origin tend to have their own traditions. In being born into a particular family, we inherit traditional ways of doing things that have been part of the story of our family. When a family member breaks with those traditions and does things differently, it can often create some initial tension in the family. Yet, every generation of a family has to creatively shape the family tradition in response to the culture and times in which they live. Tradition is not a kind of dead weight to be passed on faithfully from one generation to the next. Any tradition that is worthwhile has to be living and vibrant, open to change and development. A living tradition is one that keeps within it the wisdom of the past while being open to new wisdom that comes from further reflection on experience.

If every family has its tradition, this is even more so of the family of the church which is two thousand years old. Within the Roman Catholic Church, in particular, tradition has always been recognized as a source of God’s revelation. God speaks to us through the Scriptures, which are the earliest and most authoritative expression of the church’s tradition. God also speaks to us through all those who from the earliest days of the church have allowed the Scriptures to shape their way of life. One expression of the tradition of the church would be the lives of the saints, who, even though they belong to the past, still have something to say to us about what it means to be a follower of the Lord today. Other examples of the church’s tradition would be how believers have worshipped over the centuries, and the many ways the church has given official expression to its understanding of the faith in its creeds and catechisms from earliest times. The church’s tradition is a living tradition. Like a human body it grows and develops. There is always continuity with the past but also change and development. Pope Francis embodies that understanding of the church’s tradition. Looking back over the history of the church, it is possible to identify moments when the church’s tradition underwent a very significant development in a relatively short space of time. The Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s was one such moment.

Jesus was born into a Jewish family and he inherited the traditions of his Jewish faith, those laws and customs which, according to the first reading, made the people of Israel wise and prudent. Yet, the gospels suggest that Jesus also wanted to renew his Jewish tradition so that it could more fully express God’s purpose for the Jewish people and for all of humanity. This mission to renew and reshape the Jewish tradition brought him into conflict with those who wanted to maintain the tradition as it was. In today’s gospel reading, the Pharisees who were committed to preserving the traditions of the elders accused Jesus and his disciples of riding roughshod over these traditions. Jesus in turn declared that the Pharisees give more importance to human traditions than to God’s commandments. While they were very concerned about traditions relating to food - what is eaten and how it is eaten – they had neglected what Jesus refers to elsewhere as ‘the weightier matter of the law’, namely, mercy, justice and love. Jesus challenged the upholders of the tradition to pay less attention to externals and to attend more to the attitudes that reside within the human heart and to the actions that flow from them. Jesus was calling on them to get back to basics, to return to the core values of their tradition, as found in the message of the prophet Isaiah, whom Jesus quotes at lenght.

The Second Vatican Council was the church’s attempt to get back to basics, to return to the sources of our faith, Scripture and the earliest traditions of the church. Today’s readings invite us as a church and as individuals to keep on returning to the sources of our faith, in particular, the Scriptures, the word of God.  In the second reading, St James calls on us to ‘accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you’. Such submission to God’s word, he goes on to say, involves not just listening to God’s word but doing what that word tells us. For James, central to God’s word is the call to show care and concern for the needy and most vulnerable, exemplified by the widows and orphans of his day. In returning to the sources of our faith, we will always hear afresh the call to serve those in greatest need. Today’s gospel reading shows that Jesus’ primary concern was those attitudes of heart which shape how we relate to each other. At the end of that reading he lists attitudes of the heart that were destructive of human relationships. Jesus understood the core values of his own Jewish tradition. He proclaimed those values in the ways he related to people, especially those who were on the margins for one reason or another. We live in an age in which loyalty to religious tradition can be a very destructive force. Today’s readings remind us that for us Christians, the real traditionalists, those most faithful to our Christian tradition, are all who live in ways that give expression to the Lord’s healing and life-giving presence.

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(iv) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

To some extent, most of us are creatures of habit. We have traditionally done things in a certain way and it can be hard at times to start doing things differently. The personal habits, or traditions that we have developed can serve us well; yet, there can come a time when they begin to hold us back. As well as personal habits or traditions, we also have communal traditions, traditional ways in which we as a society or as a church have done things. Those communal traditions can serve us well, but there can come a time when they can restrict us.

In the gospel reading Jesus comes into conflict with the Pharisees who had a great regard for what is referred to in that gospel reading as ‘the tradition of the elders’. These were traditions that had been passed down orally for hundreds of years and that applied the Jewish Law to all the details of daily living. These traditions were not written in the Scriptures but they had come to acquire an authority that was equal to that of the Scriptures. In the course of his ministry, Jesus challenged the prominence that the Pharisees and other religious leaders gave to these religious traditions. In the gospel reading Jesus contrasts these human traditions to the commandment of God and he declares that in their zeal to uphold these human traditions, the religious leaders have ended up undermining the commandment of God. Jesus is implying that what mattered so much to the Pharisees did not matter to God. God had other priorities. Long standing traditions about ritual washings of hands and of cups and pots do not matter to God; what does matter to God, according to Jesus, is what is in our heart and what comes from out of our heart.

Those of us who are into gardening know we have to prune our bushes and shrubs. Otherwise, they can get too big and the flower or fruit loses its quality. Jesus was in many ways a pruner. He pruned back the traditions that had come to acquire an importance they did not deserve. In his pruning he tried to highlight what was most important in God’s eyes. Jesus did not jettison the Jewish tradition completely. In this morning’s gospel reading he critiques the traditions of the Pharisees by drawing upon the tradition of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus was able to identify in the Jewish tradition what really mattered to God and what did not. Jesus did not dismantle the Jewish tradition in order to start completely afresh. Rather, he wanted what was best in that tradition to flourish. He highlighted those elements of the Jewish tradition that revealed God’s desire for our lives, most fully. Jesus was very aware that religious tradition can hide God as well as reveal God. An important dimension of his work consisted in pruning back those elements of the tradition that were hiding God.

Our own religious traditions are always in need of pruning, be they our own personal traditions or the traditions of the church. What has become important to us over time may not be as important to God. That is why we need to keep going back to the New Testament and to the gospels in particular to learn over and over again what Jesus says is important to God. We have to keep going back to the source of our Christian tradition, which is the word of God, to allow that tradition to be purified and pruned. The Lord continues to speak to us through his word, reminding us of what is important to God and what, therefore, should be important to us. Today’s second reading from the letter of James calls on us to ‘accept and submit to the word which has been planted in you’. The word of the Lord is not just outside of ourselves in a book; it has been planted in us, through baptism. In attending to the Lord’s word we are attending to what is deepest within ourselves. James reminds us in that reading that accepting and submitting to the Lord’s word means not just listening to it but doing it, doing what the word tells us. If we submit to the Lord’s word in that full sense, then what is important to God will become important to us. The letter of James is very clear about what is important to God. In the words of our second reading, ‘pure unspoilt religion in the eyes of God our Father is this: coming to the help orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world’. I have no doubt that Jesus would have been very happy with that way of expressing what is important to God.

The first priority in God’s eyes is how we relate to one another, in particular how we relate to the weakest and most vulnerable among us. Jesus did not hesitate to heal the sick on the Sabbath even though the tradition of the elders held that this constituted work and so was unlawful. The words and deeds of Jesus are always are best guide to what is of real value in our own religious tradition and what it is that may need to be put aside.

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(v) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Etty Hillesum was a young Jewish Dutch woman living in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam during the Second World War. She was soon to die in Auschwitz at the age of twenty-nine. She wrote a diary while there and at one point she wrote, ‘Every atom of hate we add to this world, makes it more inhospitable... and every act of loving perfects it’. She refused to hate those who had taken everything from her. The essence of her Jewish religious tradition came through in that purity of heart which she maintained against all the odds.

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus and the Pharisees are in conflict as to what it is that constitutes the true Jewish religion. What is the essence of the Jewish religious tradition? Jesus locates it’s essence in what goes on in the human heart and what comes out of the human heart. The Pharisees were more preoccupied with what they called ‘the traditions of the elders’. These were concrete observances of various kinds that had been handed down through the generations. Some of them, for example, related to how people should wash their hands before eating, and how vessels that are to be used for eating and drinking should be prepared beforehand. It is evident that Jesus and his disciples did not follow these traditions of the elders very faithfully. The Pharisees accused Jesus and his disciples of not acting in accordance with the Jewish religious tradition. They were not being ‘religious’ in the sense that the Pharisees understood it.

Jesus did not reject Jewish religious tradition. He himself stood very much within it. His concern was to get to the essence of his own religious tradition. The prophets were a very important part of the Jewish tradition and in this morning’s gospel reading Jesus goes back to one of the prophets, Isaiah, uncover the essence of the Jewish religious tradition. Jesus quotes God speaking through Isaiah, ‘this people honours me only with lip service while their hearts are far from me’. Jesus is saying that the God of Israel wants people’s hearts. Their hearts are to be given over to God and to what God wants. This is the purity of heart that Etty Hillesum displayed against all the odds. As far as Jesus was concerned the Pharisees were giving too much importance to what was peripheral in the Jewish tradition and not enough importance to what was central in that tradition. As he says, they were clinging to human traditions while putting aside the commandment of God. They had all the externals of their tradition right but they were missing what was central.

Jesus prompts us to continually seek out the core of our religious tradition. What is it within our own Catholic religious tradition that matters most to God and that speaks to us of God’s purpose for our lives? The term ‘traditionalist’ can sometimes be used in a disparaging way today. Yet, we are all called to be ‘traditionalists’ in the sense that Jesus would have understood that term. We are to keep in touch with those core elements of our tradition which are a true revelation of God for us today. We find those core elements above all in the Scriptures and, especially, in what we as Christians call the New Testament. The Scriptures are the primary expression of the church’s tradition. The Second Vatican Council which took place in Rome over a period of four years or so in the early 1960s set itself the task of taking a close look at the various traditions of the church, and it went back to the Scriptures, especially the New Testament, to separate out what was central in all those traditions and what was peripheral, what needed to be retained and what could be changed, just as in the gospel reading Jesus went back to the prophet Isaiah to do the same. We, the church, have to keep going back to the Scriptures to be reminded of what is at the core of our religious tradition and what is less important.

When we do go back to the sources in that way, we discover that there is a strong emphasis on the importance of the heart, the inner core, of the person. If we can somehow get that right, everything else will find its rightful place. In one of his beatitudes Jesus said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God’. He declares blessed those whose heart is given over to God, those who seek what God wants above all else. Etty Hillesum was certainly among the pure in heart in that sense. In this morning’s second reading, James calls on us to accept and submit to the word that has been planted deep within us. He speaks there of an inner core, a heart, that has been shaped by the word of God. It is from such a heart that will flow what James understands to be authentic religion, namely, supporting those who are most vulnerable among us. Jesus calls for that inner transformation of the heart. This is only possible through the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of God’s word. If what is deepest in us is of God, all else will follow.

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(vi) Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Many of you will be familiar with the lovely hymn ‘Abide with me, fast falls the eventide’. The author of the hymn was Henry Lyte, an Anglican minister, a curate in Taghmon in County Wexford from 1815 to 1818. According to a plaque erected in his memory in Taghmon Church, he also preached frequently in Killurin Church, about nine miles from there. It is believed that Lyte composed the hymn in 1820 while visiting a dying friend, William Augustus Le Hunte. As Henry Lyte sat with the dying man, William kept repeating the phrase "abide with me…". After leaving William's bedside, Lyte wrote the words of the hymn and gave a copy of it to Le Hunte's family. Shortly before his death, Lyte composed the music for the hymn and it was sung for the very first time at his funeral in 1847. The biblical link for the hymn is the invitation of the two disciples at Emmaus to the risen Lord, ‘Stay with us because it is towards evening’. The second verse of the hymn concludes with the lines, ‘Change and decay in all around I see; O Thou who changest not, abide with me’. There is a recognition there that everything changes in life, nothing stays the same. Yet, God does not change; the risen Lord does not change.

Today’s second reading refers to God as ‘the Father of light’ and declares ‘with him, there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a change’. Elsewhere, the Scriptures declare that God’s love never changes; it endures forever. We all long for a love that endures, that is faithful, that remains strong in good times and in bad, when we are at our best and at our worst. God alone can ultimately satisfy that longing, because his love alone never changes. God remains faithful in his love for us. As Saint Paul says in one of his letters, ‘if we are faithless, he remains faithful’. Hopefully, we will experience in the course of our lives human expressions of God’s faithful, enduring and changeless love, people who stand by us even when we fail them, even when we make great demands on their love. Jesus was the fullest human expression of God’s faithful, changeless, love. He remained faithful to his disciples even when they deserted and denied him. He was like the father in the parable of the prodigal son whose love for his rebellious son remained constant, who ran out to embrace his son as he stumbled home in a spirit of repentance.

‘Change and decay in all around I see’. The author of that hymn in the early part of the nineteenth century could never have imagined the pace of change we have all experienced in recent decades. Just in the last fifty years alone, Irish society has changed more fundamentally than it had in the previous two hundred years. In an era of rapid change, the need for some reality that changes not becomes all the greater. In the whirlwind of change we need a still centre that helps to hold us together. God comes to us through his Son, our risen Lord, as that still centre, as the one who changest not, who, in the words of that hymn, abides with us, ‘through cloud and sunshine’, ‘in life, in death’. There are several more verses in that hymn that we don’t usually sing. The last two lines from one of those unsung verses goes, ‘Thou hast not left me, oft as I left Thee. On to the close, O Lord, abide with me’. The Lord’s loving companionship endures ‘to the close’, until the end of our earthly lives. It endures beyond our earthly lives into eternity. As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Romans, nothing in all creation, not even death, can separate us from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus.

If God alone is changeless, everything else changes, including long-standing religious traditions. In today’s gospel reading, Jesus comes into conflict with the upholders of the religious traditions of the time who ask Jesus, ‘why do your disciples not respect the tradition of the elders?’ They were referring on this occasion to various ritual washings which they considered unchangeable. Earlier in this gospel of Mark, Jesus had said to his critics, ‘no one puts new wine into old wineskins, otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost’. Jesus was saying that some of the old religious traditions were not adequate to contain the new wine of God’s changeless, enduring, love present in his person and his ministry. The presence of the changeless one required an openness to change in others. It called for constant renewal of religious practices and structures. Jesus did not reject his own Jewish tradition. He critiqued elements of it from within that tradition. On this occasion, he quoted from the Jewish prophet Isaiah to show that God’s primary concern was not external rituals but what was in people’s hearts. God looks for human hearts that are open to being transformed by his love, human hearts from which flows a love that reflects God’s changeless love, a love that in the words of today’s second reading, ‘comes to the help of orphans and widows’, those who are most vulnerable among us. It is above all the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, who can create such a heart with us.

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(vii) Twenty Second Sunday of the Year

It could be said that one of the important tasks of life is to be able to distinguish what is really important from what is not so important. There are times when I find myself getting quite worked up about something, and afterwards realizing that the issue was not really all that important. We use expressions like ‘making a mountain out of a mole hill’, or ‘creating a storm in a tea cup’, whenever we recognize the tendency in ourselves or others to get things out of proportion. Perhaps it takes the best part of a lifetime to learn to distinguish what really matters from what is less important, and to react accordingly.

That tendency to give undue significance to what is not really important can be evident in religious matters as much as in other areas of life. In the gospel reading this morning the Pharisees complain because Jesus’ disciples did not submit to certain religious ritual washings that the Pharisees considered important. In response Jesus accuses the Pharisees of attaching more importance to human traditions than to the commandments of God. In putting too much emphasis on something rather peripheral in their religious tradition, they were neglecting what was really important. On one occasion in the gospels, Jesus speaks of straining out a gnat while swallowing a camel. We can all find ourselves fighting the wrong battles at times, creating a major fuss over something rather insignificant, and missing what really matters.

The challenge for all of us is to acquire something of God’s perspective on things, to give importance to what God considers important, to value what God values. It is above all Jesus who reveals God’s perspective on things. In today’s gospel reading Jesus suggests that God’s perspective focuses more on the heart of a person, what is within, rather than on externals. Jesus makes a distinction there between honouring God with lip-service and honouring God with our hearts. The heart in the biblical tradition is the seat of the will and the intellect, as well as the seat of the emotions. If God looks at the heart, what is within, we often tend to give more importance to externals, to what is visible. In our own culture, even more so than in the culture of Jesus, image is hugely important. God’s perspective - Jesus’ perspective - goes deeper than that. When a widow put two copper coins into the temple treasury, Jesus recognized the tremendous significance of her action, even though it must have seemed a gesture of no significance to others. Most people in the temple at the time would not even have noticed her, never mind noticing what she did. Yet, Jesus recognized that her gesture, small as it seemed, revealed a big and generous heart. Much of what God values today in people’s lives probably goes largely unnoticed by others. It will never make headlines.

If we are to acquire something of God’s perspective on things, the first step is to acknowledge that our own perspective can be limited at times, that we are prone to attaching too much importance to what is peripheral and to miss what is of real value. The second step is to recognize that God’s perspective is not something we can acquire by our own efforts alone. The second reading this morning suggests that we need to pray for God’s perspective, that it is a gift given to those who seek it. Saint James says in that reading: ‘It is all that is good, everything that is perfect, which is given us from above’. Included among ‘all that is good’ is the wisdom that enables us to have God’s perspective on things. A little earlier in that same letter, James had said: ‘If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly’. We need to pray for God’s wisdom, if we are to have God’s perspective, if we are to learn to value what God values.

One of the ways we pray for God’s perspective is by listening prayerfully to God’s word, which reveals God’s perspective on things. As James says in that second reading, ‘Accept and submit to the word that has been planted in you’. God’s word, which contains God’s perspective, has been planted in us, through baptism. In a sense we have already been shaped by God’s perspective through baptism. When we attend to God’s word, we are attending to what already resides deep within us. This attentiveness to God’s word will help to keep us focused on what really matters in God’s eyes. In that second reading, James spells out what really matters in God’s eyes: ‘coming to the help of orphans and widows when they need it, and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world’. This is James’ understanding of what is important to God: caring for each other, especially the vulnerable, and holding on to the values of the gospel in a world that is often hostile to them.

Today’s readings call on us to acquire God’s perspective, so that what matters to God comes to matter to us. The gospel reading suggests that this may involve looking at some of our cherished traditions and regulations, including our religious traditions and regulations, and acknowledging that they may not all be as important to God as they have become to us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[icewarrior2000]

Empire of Death

(Series 14, Episode 8)

Summary: We pick up where we left off, with Sutekh returning, but Mel helps the Doctor escape his killer dust cloud on her scooter.  It’s basically the end of everything and everyone, everywhere, except Sutekh is keeping Ruby and the Doctor alive because he just wants to know who her mum is, damnit!  (One can’t help but feel that such a powerful being could find out some other way, but hey ho!)  The Doctor uses this to his advantage and manages to clip a super-powerful lead to Sutekh’s collar, drag him through the time vortex and reset everything via the formula that death + death = life (ooookaaay then).  Anyway, turns out Ruby’s mum is just an ordinary woman, who liked dramatic cloaks and pointing (what 15-year-old doesn’t?) and she and Ruby are reunited, which means the Doctor has to ditch her, which is very sad, but he has clearly learnt NOTHING from his bigenerative therapy, because he still can’t say I love you.

Watch because: Who the heck is Mrs Flood?!

Original Air Date: 22 June 2024.

Doctor: Ncuti Gatwa.

Companions: Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson).

Writer: Russell T Davies.

Director: Jamie Donoughue.

Producer: Vicki Delow.

Executive Producer: Russell T Davies, Julie Gardner, Jane Tranter, Joel Collins & Phil Collinson.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

29th September >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)

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

First Reading Numbers 11:25-29 If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets!

The Lord came down in the Cloud. He spoke with Moses, but took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied, but not again. Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp. The young man ran to tell this to Moses, ‘Look,’ he said, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’ Then said Joshua the son of Nun, who had served Moses from his youth, ‘My Lord Moses, stop them!’ Moses answered him, ‘Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of the Lord were prophets, and the Lord gave his Spirit to them all!’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 18(19):8,10,12-14

R/ The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

The law of the Lord is perfect, it revives the soul. The rule of the Lord is to be trusted, it gives wisdom to the simple.

R/ The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

The fear of the Lord is holy, abiding for ever. The decrees of the Lord are truth and all of them just.

R/ The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

So in them your servant finds instruction; great reward is in their keeping. But who can detect all his errors? From hidden faults acquit me.

R/ The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

From presumption restrain your servant and let it not rule me. Then shall I be blameless, clean from grave sin.

R/ The precepts of the Lord gladden the heart.

Second Reading James 5:1-6 The Lord hears the cries of those you have cheated.

An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body. It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them – listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and luxury; in the time of slaughter you went on eating to your heart’s content. It was you who condemned the innocent and killed them; they offered you no resistance.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation John 17:17

Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is truth, O Lord: consecrate us in the truth. Alleluia!

Gospel Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48 Do not stop anyone from working a miracle in my name.

John said to Jesus, ‘Master, we saw a man who is not one of us casting out devils in your name; and because he was not one of us we tried to stop him.’ But Jesus said, ‘You must not stop him: no one who works a miracle in my name is likely to speak evil of me. Anyone who is not against us is for us. ‘If anyone gives you a cup of water to drink just because you belong to Christ, then I tell you solemnly, he will most certainly not lose his reward. ‘But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out. And if your foot should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life lame, than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye should cause you to sin, tear it out; it is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell where their worm does not die nor their fire go out.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[butchybats]

fic rec ask! 👀😊🥰🛳️🤩

Thank you for asking!!

4. 👀 A fic that you love a normal amount

Your Favorite Innocence by @hekateinhell I’m so normal about this fic so normal. Definitely have not read it dozens of times nope. But joking aside holy shit. Fic of all time. Hall of fame, even. My favorite trope ever is rule 63 and then you combine that with devil’s minion pwp and yeah it’s literally impossible for me to be normal about it. I love how they both feel so in character despite being gender swapped and it’s fluffy and sweet and literally the hottest thing ever

6. 😊 A fic that made you smile on a bad day

on an ordinary sunday by @keepoffthetardis when this was published I was feeling so awful, I had had a migraine for days and a fever and I was visiting family so I felt bad for being sick and aghh. I remember waking up and seeing the email that this was published and got so excited! I immediately fell asleep for another three hours after reading but so worth it. This fic is such a perfect combo of angst and fluff and luckily it was just enough fluff to brighten my spirits. The part specifically where Daniel is drinking sweet wine because Armand likes it… torn between wailing and grinning like a fool :]

8. 🥰 A fic that gives you warm fuzzy feelings

In the Blood by @desertfangs THIS IS SOOO!!! Omg it’s so sweet. The night island content we deserve like genuinely you can’t convince me that this wasn’t what was happening after everyone left night island. Vampire Daniel is so dear to me and I love him still having his mortal mannerisms and being nervous that he’s not what Armand wants even though Armand is so so in love with him and is also worried about him and aghh this fic knocks me out in the best way possible

11. 🛳 A fic that brought you aboard a new ship

July 30: Aftercare by @translouisdpdl so this isn’t a romantic pairing so maybe it doesn’t count as a ship but i don’t care <3 I need more Armand and Nicki fics their dynamic is so fucked up and fun! And this fic is so so good I’ve reread it a couple of times now, the imagery is so nice and it has body horror and Armand being scary and then sweet literally what more do you need in a fic

14. 🤩 A fic that made you SLAM that “subscribe” button

Issues by @graygiantess in which Daniel is way too into the ‘boyfriend is a vampire thing’. A bit of a character study and very hot!! Absolutely love the way that amc Armand and Daniel are written in her fics

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me FRIDAY NIGHT (Mar 22) in TORONTO, then SUNDAY (Mar 24) with LAURA POITRAS in NYC, then Anaheim, and more!

#15yrsago London imposes de-facto 9PM curfew on under-16s https://web.archive.org/web/20120117080328/http://antimega.textdriven.com/antimega/2009/03/01/the-kids-are-alright

#15yrsago Terrorism pundit accused of astroturfing extremist Jihadi message-board posts, then reporting on them https://barthsnotes.com/2009/03/18/obsession-pundit-in-meltdown/

#10yrsago RIP, Lucius Shepard, gone too soon https://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2014/03/lucius.html

#10yrsago Homeland audiobook behind the scenes: Wil Wheaton explains his cameo to the director https://ia801300.us.archive.org/2/items/WilCameoExplanationFMx1/Will_s_Cameo_Explanation_FMx1.mp3

#10yrsago Gamestop as a fee-free, convenient banking institution https://kottke.org/14/03/the-first-national-bank-of-gamestop

#5yrsago IBM supplied surveillance gear to Davao while Duterte was mayor and cheering on the city’s police-linked death-squads https://theintercept.com/2019/03/20/rodrigo-duterte-ibm-surveillance/

#5yrsago Health industry lobbyists are posing as “ordinary citizens who don’t want Medicare for All” https://splinternews.com/look-at-these-absolutely-ordinary-americans-who-hate-me-1833380461

#5yrsago California’s Right to Repair Bill, killed by Big Ag and Apple, has been reintroduced https://appleinsider.com/articles/19/03/18/california-reintroduces-right-to-repair-bill-after-previous-effort-failed

#5yrsago Sponsor of the “Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act” sues Twitter cow-account for $250 million https://lawandcrime.com/crazy/devin-nunes-sues-twitter-and-devin-nunes-mom-for-a-whopping-250-million/

#5yrsago More Than 130 European Businesses Tell the European Parliament: Reject the #CopyrightDirective https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/03/more-130-european-businesses-tell-european-parliament-reject-copyrightdirective

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

[cruger2984]

THE DESCRIPTION OF SAINT KATERI TEKAKWITHA The Lily of the Mohawks and the Patron of Native Americans Feast Day: April 17 (Canada), July 14 (United States)

"My Jesus, I must risk everything with You."

The blood of martyrs is the seed of saints. Nine years after the Jesuits Isaac Jogues and Jean de Lelande were tomahawked by Iroquois warriors, a baby girl was born near the place of their martyrdom, Auriesville, New York.

Her mother was a Christian Algonquin, taken captive by the Iroquois and given as wife to the chief of the Mohawk clan, the boldest and fiercest of the Five Nations. When she was four, Tekakwitha lost her parents and little brother in a smallpox epidemic that left her disfigured and half blind.

She was adopted by an uncle, who succeeded her father as chief. He hated the coming of the Blackrobes—Jesuit missionaries—but could do nothing to them because a peace treaty with the French required their presence in villages with Christian captives. She was moved by the words of three Blackrobes who lodged with her uncle, but fear of him kept her from seeking instruction.

Tekakwitha refused to marry a Mohawk brave, and at 19 finally got the courage to take the step of converting. She was baptized with the name Kateri--Catherine--on Easter Sunday.

Now she would be treated as a slave. Because she would not work on Sunday, Kateri received no food that day. Her life in grace grew rapidly. She told a missionary that she often meditated on the great dignity of being baptized. She was powerfully moved by God’s love for human beings and saw the dignity of each of her people.

She was always in danger, for her conversion and holy life created great opposition. On the advice of a priest, Kateri stole away one night and began a 200-mile walking journey to a Christian Indian village at Sault St. Louis, near Montreal.

For three years she grew in holiness under the direction of a priest and an older Iroquois woman, giving herself totally to God in long hours of prayer, in charity, and in strenuous penance.

At 23, Kateri took a vow of virginity, an unprecedented act for an Indian woman whose future depended on being married. She found a place in the woods where she could pray an hour a day—and was accused of meeting a man there!

Her dedication to virginity was instinctive: Kateri did not know about religious life for women until she visited Montreal. Inspired by this, she and two friends wanted to start a community, but the local priest dissuaded her. She humbly accepted an 'ordinary' life.

She practiced extremely severe fasting as penance for the conversion of her nation.

Kateri Tekakwitha died the afternoon before Holy Thursday. Witnesses said that her emaciated face changed color and became like that of a healthy child. The lines of suffering, even the pockmarks, disappeared and the touch of a smile came upon her lips. She was beatified in 1980 and canonized in 2012.

Source: Franciscan Media

[myremnantarmy]

𝐉𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟏, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐥

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Mk 1:14-20

After John had been arrested,

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:

"This is the time of fulfillment.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent, and believe in the gospel."

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;

they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them,

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

He walked along a little farther

and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They too were in a boat mending their nets.

Then he called them.

So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

along with the hired men and followed him.