#Catholic baggage

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

Junelezen 10: Shrine

Continuing my catch up pictures while the computer room isn't roasting.

Like just about anyone born in Ishgard, Dusk was raised to worship Halone. When his family fled emigrated, the intensity of that worship fell off considerably, as Gridania prioritizes Nophica and most of their ceremony was spent on soothing the Elementals anyway.

As such, he is not really one for prayers to begin with, although She usually comes to mind first when he has a mind to. He has a whole mess of conflicted feelings about that, though. He knows it's not Halone's fault Ishgard wound up the way it did, and he's aware there are reforms happening in Her church there, but ... he suspects he's never going to feel entirely comfortable with organized religion in general or Halone in particular again.

He'd prefer to be comfortable with it all, mind you. It's difficult to shed completely. His family is hardly a bunch of holy rollers, but they do all consider themselves part of Her church, and he can't deny prayer can be comforting. For now, though, the best he can do is avoid thinking himself in circles about it too often.

[momentsbeforemass]

Conversation with God?

“If prayer is a conversation with God, why is so much of it so formal?”

If you’re going to have a conversation that matters, with someone you care about, it helps to be in the right headspace. Before you even start.

Let’s say you’re (understandably) upset because you’ve had a day where nothing has gone right. Everything you tried to do didn’t work. Everything you said was misunderstood.

If you start talking with a friend or a loved one when you are in that frame of mind, here’s what’s going on – inside you.

The effects of that day are still messing with you. Events are echoing into your emotions. Maybe you’re replaying things that were said.

Will all of that going on, you’re not going to be fully present in that conversation. Because your emotions are still stuck in everything that happened, you’re going to be sending out signals you don’t even know that you know you’re sending.

Your patience and empathy? They’ve already been wrung out from the day you had. Meaning that the odds of you misunderstanding the other person and taking things the wrong way are very good.

When you realize that this is where you are, you need to make a break. You need to intentionally separate yourself from all of that, to free yourself from the baggage of the day. Before you talk with anyone. Much less someone you care about.

“If prayer is a conversation with God, why is so much of it so formal?”

This is a big part of it. The classic prayers are the break, to free us from the baggage of the day. Before we talk with God.

To set us up to have a real conversation with God. So that you and I can hear God. Instead of hearing the echoes of everything else that’s going on in our lives.

Just like we would with anyone we care about.

(Again, this isn’t all there is to prayer. When we pray, there are a lot of different things going on – usually all at the same time. I’ll be sharing more thoughts about prayer in the days to come.)

Today’s Readings

[doyouhearthefranzising]

it actually means a lot to me that tim is wearing his crucifix necklace on fire island in 1979

[tybaltsjuliet]

the highlight of catholicism is that it regularly promotes some of the most unwell teenage girls you have ever heard of as role models for young women.

the problem of catholicism is that, most of the time, this translates to adults instructing classrooms full of unwell teenage girls that the best thing they can possibly do for their god is to let themselves be murdered, violently.

[mainfaggot]

existence is so inherently selfish isn't it...?

[gonturan0]

another day, another instance where I don't like the way a romance is handled in a story and I feel alienated

[gilliebee]

well anyway, in shambles about patrice, venerated as a saint, a paradigm of holiness in human form.... often calling brad 'ange' in fic... an angel, incalculable celestial fury incomprehensible to humans!! but not to patrice though, he gets him

[rainathrownaway]

help No seriously America’s whole... deal... is fucking terrifying from both an internal perspective and an outsider one. If you’re not drinking the Flavor-Aide on this bullshit you are inherently considered to be, at best, suspect, and at worst, a sinner who should be put against the wall and shot for not accepting Jibbidus Chribbidus into your life. And that’s before you add multipliers, like believing in science, or actually calling yourself an atheist, or being LGBT. I was “lucky” enough to be raised Catholic instead of being raised Excessively Nonsensical, so I got the version of this bullshit that had been watered down by centuries of tradition. The Baptists are the most bugnut biblefuckers in the entire world. They tend to think the Pope is too secular. Granted they are not Catholic and so they have no need to respect the Pope, but even if he were the head of their religion, I don’t think they would. But the heads of their religion tend to be billionaires who swear that if you pray hard enough (and send them a generous tithe) your ailments will be cured and gay people will simply evaporate in your presence. The most important thing to know about American Protestantism is that regardless of any claims or personal beliefs otherwise, the actual object of their worship is Money. Everything else is just the trappings that make it easier to convince a fool to part with his money and send it to the guy on top getting richer and richer. These are the people who twisted the meaning of “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven,” to being some sort of practical advice regarding a specific type of gate (unsubstantiated in its existence by any historical or archaeological record) and actually it’s fine to be rich and to steal wealth from the poor and food from the mouths of children. American Protestantism is the quintessential Capitalist religion. It is the strongest opiate for the masses, a religion that demands nothing but money, and that actively discourages even a moment of thought. Be cruel to your neighbor, and give God more money. Be greedy, so you have more money for God. Be prideful, because you are loved by God, as long as you continue to pay. Scorn the poor and the sick - in fact, some sects outright believe that if you are poor and sick, it is *because* you are a sinner. Wealth is the same as goodness, in the eyes of the American Protestant. And as Capitalism crushes more and more people under its heel, American Protestantism will be the grease on the wheels pushing the entire country toward open Fascism.

[infizero]

cant find my post explaining how i view kriselle but thats ok. look at this and you'll understand

[momentsbeforemass]

“Just be yourself”

“Just be yourself.”

Possibly the worst, scariest, most useless advice you and I have ever received.

I mean, do they know us? Seriously, if they had an inkling of how messed up you and I are, no one would ever tell us to do this.

How about something useful instead? Like don’t be a weirdo? Or curb your enthusiasm? Or remember how you screwed it up last time?

The problem with advice like that? When we do anything other than be who we are. When we “should” all over ourselves. When are anything other than our authentic selves. We lay baggage upon baggage on our shoulders.

Piling on backpack after backpack. Until (if we could see ourselves) we look like a cartoon version of the world’s most over-prepared Boy Scout.

Bent down under the weight of everything we think we need. Everything we think we should be. Over-prepared, for stuff that will never happen.

Staggering around under all of that extra crap may give us the illusion of safety. Or strength. Or readiness. But what it really does? It ensures that we’re always going to be on the outside looking in.

Exactly the point that Jesus is making in today’s Gospel.

For you, the doorway to a healthy relationship? It’s you-sized.

For me, it’s me-sized. This applies to every relationship in our lives.

Including the most important relationship. Our relationship with God.

You can’t get through that doorway with any of your extra crap. It simply won’t fit.

There’s room for you to get through. Just you. And that’s all.

But here’s the part that you and I miss.

For those that truly love you – especially God – that’s all they’ve ever wanted.

Today’s Readings

[milopottz]

When in the fuck will old religious people realize that mental health =/= lack of faith in God??

And when will they stop with the "*traumatic situation* is a challenge from God to blah blah blah" aghhhhhhhh

[tybaltsjuliet]

i do not mean to downplay prev because it is remarkable for trans catholics to get that kind of support from the pope but. also. once again francis has given a politely qualified mildly progressive statement with careful caveats and STILL the trads froth.

i need them to secede already and start their own fringe fundamentalist churches and rip each other’s throats out in the process so that the one holy catholic and apostolic can maybe continue to progress into this fucking century.

[the-pithy-aaaaah]

there are far more offensive anti-catholic things on this site and in this replies to this post than appropriating of the aesthetics

Really wish tumblr had a "people are appropriating and misusing elements of my faith and that is offensive" option for reporting posts...

CATHOLICISM 👏 IS 👏 NOT 👏 AN 👏 AESTHETIC 👏

[bcntbouquet]

❛  it's nothing.  ❜ ( gilouise )

two word sentence starters

"... El, darlin'... You wouldn't happen to be clammin' up on me 'cause I'm notch'er doctor anymore, would you?" Gil gently reached for her pointy fingertips. "You should feel able to share anything with me... more so now than ever... I... I love you, Elouise... More than... anything or anyone else... YOU are my number-one priority in this lifetime... God's honest truth..."

[thesingingrevolution]

i know they are just looking out for me but one thing that bothers me is that since my mom and her friends know that i am very “traditional” (no better, concise way to put it) when it comes to dating and relationships it means that they’ll try to set me up with any man who has any semblance of a similar vibe. like a guy will be like “actually i don’t want to have sex on the first date. Maybe like a month in though” and they’re “like oh mygosh what a gentleman!!!!!” 😑 i’m taking the piss so please excuse the crass example (since it includes my mother and her friends) but that’s literally what it feels like. What about his personality. What about how cute he is. what about anything else because this is like bare minimum to me. why dont we leave me alone so i can find someone on my own time