#EXCEPT for baptism by desire

[ave-immaculata]

fellas we're once again wrestling with imperfect vs. perfect contrition and why imperfect contrition with a firm resolution to not sin again and promptly receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation doesn't save

[yeyinde]

The 141 finding out you've never had sex.

Just casually drinking, playing cards. A joke causes it to slip out.

body electric: the virgin edition

Gaz, the instigator, mutters something about not having been fucked in ages. this springs up a sudden surge of comradery, because, yeah. neither have they.

Soap's devote Catholicism (i like to imagine) leaves little room for flippant intimacy. he tries to be a good boy. key word, of course, being: tries. but the last serious relationship was years ago. back when he was grunt. he's pent up. abstinence, yeah? he holds it tight in his hand. but the thing about fists is that they're often mistaken for anger. Soap's a realist masquerading as an optimist. he knows whoever falls into his jowls next will be a MacTavish by the time he's through with them. and commitment. well. his comes at a price. a hefty one.

Ghost prefers casual flings where he doesn't have to take any clothes off. unzips his trousers, frees his cock, and then tries to pretend he's a real, flesh and blood, human. to feel something, anything, except a vacuum between hollow bones. but his tastes are peculiar. on the side of unhinged. he hasn't found the perfect body yet satiate himself with.

Price. well. with his bloody hands, he thinks he'd rather not dirty the same people he swears to protect. and divorcing at the age of 30 does that to a man, maybe. his role as a captain (an excuse in retrospect) also keeps him from unleashing his wants. the very same ones that are probably best under lock and key, anyway. it's just for the best, really. something he ought to do because the moment he has another chance to sink his teeth into someone's neck, he'll tear them apart. break them into pieces.

despite bringing it up, Gaz knows the real reason he's single is because he's pushy. he wants. so he takes. and then takes some more. more. more. until his gullet is full of the person he's obsessed with. carrying them around in his breast pocket everywhere he goes. the perfect mate. the one he can shower with unfettered affection. a deluge, in all honesty. one with the ideation to drown. biblical floods. trapped beneath him. he likes it more than he should, but. singedom, then, he supposes.

and then you roll the dice. admit, sheepishly, that, technically, you have them all beat. zero is always lesser than five, ten, twenty. but it's this misstep—zero, never—that catches their attention.

suddenly, you're not surrounded by kin but a pack of wolves. all hungry in their own ways, all starving. it just makes sense to quench their hunger with you, doesn't it? friend, ally. pretty little thing. so sweet for them. and perfectly mouldable. putty they shape to their hearts desire. the perfect mate.

Soap grips his rosary. the sign of the cross, heavenly Father and Holy Spirit, digging into his palm like the burn of a baptism. what's devotion if not pain? he cuts himself on the gold. offers blood of the sacrament to whoever might be listening, and leans in, sniffing.

Price's knuckles are white. he leans back, hidden in shadows. all you can see is spark of burning orange from his cigar as he takes mouthful after mouthful of smoke, contemplating. assessing.

"that so?" he doesn't even need to look at his Lieutenant to know that the man has gone still. too bad for you, it's not from shock.

Ghost barely holds himself back. keeps tight in his seat. fists clenching. unclenching. he has a good enough read on the people around him to see the unfiltered desire ripping across their face. scorching. but to bite, with his mouthful of jagged, seraded teeth; ones meant to rip, break, tear, would ruin you. permanently. unequivocally. and—

"wanna give it a go?" all eyes turn to Gaz, electric in his seat. eyes smouldering umbre. "i mean, you trust us the most, don't you?" us. it's stunning, he thinks, the way Gaz can weave tapestry in the air like this with just his words. one tangled like shibari binds. "and we care for you a lot. we'll be gentle. it's up to you, of course, but—"

Soap's bloody hand disappears under the table. you gasp. "yer askin' fer it, ain't ye? beggin' so pretty fer it."

"n-no, i—"

"mind your manners." Price. his voice is chiselled into char, authoritative; low. a lulling command spoken in a breath of smoke. "and don't lie, love. or i'll have to take you over my knee."

the tension is thick. Soap's arm moves, slow. deliberate. Ghost has clench his jaw to avoid bearing his teeth. snarling.

Gaz cuts it with a knife. hews compliance into your skin with a fine needle point. "it's okay. we'll take such good care'a you. make you feel so good."

your submission is a heavy thing. oppressive. the shallow dip of your chin, the blistering heat simmering under your flesh, burning right, is the prettiest fuckin' thing he's ever seen. he does clench his jaw this time. tight, tight. tight

until something pops.

"okay." you yield. head bowed. beautifully submissive.

when he looks around, catches the predatory crackle in the air. his hackles raise. immediate. instinctual. and ah, right.

it's easy to forget he's surrounded by a wild pack of stray dogs. starving ones, too.

[tsuutarr]

Yandere!Hero (Chosen One) x Saint!Reader

In all of his life, Elias only remembers crying once. It was when he was a young boy, no older than six years old. He had been taken to the Church for a baptism, only for his holy power and status as the Chosen One to be revealed. He had then been stolen from his parents and beaten black and blue until he was molded into the Hero that would save everyone.

Resigned to his role, Elias never allowed himself to feel any semblance of emotion. He only needs to fulfill the prophecy, after all. No one cares about who he is as a person, about him. They’ve put him outside to protect the borders of humanity by sacrificing his life. They’ve put a distance between him, parading him as a Hero while masking their selfish desires of having him take on the entire burden of bringing salvation to humankind. He is nothing more than a glorified sacrifice without the privilege of feeling emotions. 

But if that’s the case, why does his heart ache when he’s with you? Why does his stomach flutter? Why does a smile he had thought he lost in his youth come back when you’re around? Why does rage burn his fingers when you get hurt? Why do tears wet his cheeks when he holds your cold, lifeless body?

Please, please tell him that you’re just sleeping. Tell him that you’ll greet him when morning comes. Please, use your warm hands to brush his tears away. Tell him that it’ll all be okay.

Despite Elias’ ardent desires, the dead cannot comfort the living. 

“My child,” a voice from the Heavens calls, a beam of light surrounding Elias. “I thank you for your service.”

“Please,” Elias murmurs, voice thick with emotion. “I cannot live without the Saint.”

The voice above is silent as it observes Elias, who cradles you in his arms like you’re his most important treasure. “I cannot change the hands of fate.”

“Then I will,” Elias responds. “Turn back time for me and I will find another way to seal the Demon Lord.”

“It does not exist. You will only put yourself through the same pain.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. As long as I can save the Saint.”

The voice from the Heavens is silent, before it says, “Very well. If that is your desire.”

And so, time is rewinded back to when Elias was a young boy. He once again goes to Church to receive baptism. He is once again shown to be the Hero. He is once again stripped from his parents and beaten black and blue, but this time, he does not cry. Instead, he looks forward so that he can find a way to save you.

But no matter Elias’ efforts, bad end after bad end follows his footsteps. No matter what he does, no matter what he changes, no matter what, bad ends are the only ends he meets with. A good ending where the world is saved and you are still alive just doesn’t exist. So, Elias has no choice, really. He’ll create his own bad end, except this time, the world will be sacrificed for you.

[adini-nikolaevna]

“At 7 in the morning, the first signs of premature birth occurred.

At 8 o'clock the distinguished young woman [Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna] took Holy Communion according to the rite of the Greek Church. Her confessor had demanded to see her, and so the Grand Duchess' desire for the ordinance was brought about in a natural way. According to the custom of the Greek religion, the sick woman asked not only her parents present but also her husband's forgiveness for any slights. This was so touching for the young gentleman, who was not used to this ecclesiastical form, that he knelt by the bed and also asked for forgiveness for any worries that he had caused her during the short time of their marriage.

An hour later she gave birth almost painlessly and unusually easily to a boy who screamed loudly and audibly, although he was only 25 weeks old. I went with the child and all members of the august family, except her father and mother, into the next room, where I wrapped him in warm cotton wool to await the baptism. All the members gradually approached the basket to see their sister's child . The prince [Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel] also approached and seemed deeply touched with fatherly joy, which dwindled with each passing moment.”

A Protestant priest had been sent to perform the baptism. However, when he had not arrived after three quarters of an hour, and the weak spark of life threatened to go out at any moment, the fear arose in the entire circle of those present that the child might die without the sacrament of baptism. Someone, I think it was the Duke of Leuchtenberg, had opened the door of the sick room and saw the emperor kneeling beside the bed. No one dared to disturb this moment, and yet danger was imminent.

I handed over the care of the young prince to a very capable chambermaid, entered the mother's room and actually saw the emperor [Nicholas I] at her bedside, holding both of her hands in his in a half-kneeling position.

To get his attention I made a small noise, but he would not look up, and I was forced to wave. He immediately got up, came toward me, led me to the doorway and asked,

“What do you want?”

“The child is in danger of dying any minute; the clergyman has not come. Does Your Majesty wish to baptize your grandson yourself, lest he die without the ordinance?”

“Yes, yes. Certainly.”

The emperor immediately went into the next room and entered the circle of his family surrounding the basket with the child. When the bowl of water was given to him as ordered, he performed the baptism with a dignity and emotion that made the deepest impression on me. Everyone knelt around the great emperor, who was baptizing his youngest grandchild. Then, without another word, he left the room and returned to his daughter’s bedside.

After a good half hour the summoned clergyman finally appeared in full regalia, decorated with several medals. The child was barely alive; but he performed the baptism according to the regulations of the Protestant church.

Of these two baptisms, that of the grandfather of his grandson was certainly recorded in heaven.”

— Imperial physician Dr. Martin von Mandt on the premature birth of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel, the short-lived son of Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia.”

[alessiamalfoyzabini]

Dark Moon | Chapter Seven

Pairing | yandere!Jimin x Reader

Word Count | 2,8k

Warnings | +18, torture, beating, violence and threats, slight mention of past abuse, Jimin has much suppressed anger

This fanfiction is yandere, if you don't like the genre, don't read and if you are not of age, don't read.

I don't want to hear any complaints in the comments, thank you.

This does not reflect my way of thinking or living at all, it is just a work of fiction, it is like watching a horror movie, many of us love horror movies, but we would never dream of what we see in those movies happening in reality as well.

Simply put, this story was written for entertainment purposes, it should not be seen as a reflection of my values, opinions or morals. I absolutely do not condone such acts.

⤷ Summary | She just wanted to escape her past, take charge of her life and break out of her steel cage, praying in God for a miracle that could change her life for good.

And her prayers were heard, but it was not the Divine that answered her.

That was certainly the devil in the guise of an angel, she thought as those corrupted and empty eyes searched her soul with extreme voracity.

He turned a sweet, false smile on her, before pushing her into the abyss.

➢ Author's Note | Dark Moon is a story destined to get darker and darker, be careful ❤️

Taglist: @katherine-kookie, @dragons-flare, @m00njinnie, @seokjins-luigi, @pjmsneverland, @jimincrystal, @ajkwww, @ungodlyjoon, @hecateslittlewitchling, @namjoonsbuspass, @darkuni63, @xicanacorpse

Taglist is open!

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She had gotten out of the Dark Moon business, at night she no longer heard shady footsteps of clients coming and going from the rooms of her former colleagues, nor any alcohol-induced shuffling murmurs from the hallway, the thing still seemed impossible for her to believe.

Over the course of those three days Jimin had not approached her in the slightest, in fact she had not even seen him, there were only the objects he used to testify to his presence in the house. Perhaps she also had to "blame" her time spent in her bedroom, her new refuge.

She hid under the covers wearing the softest and most delicate clothes she had ever had, even as a child she had never been able to afford such things, her childhood consisted of hunger and nightmares.

She knew that Jimin had not given her everything for free, and that soon he would present her with a hefty bill.

But what she did not know was that Jimin had avoided any contact with her to keep his beast at bay.

The idea of having her in his house, the house he had recently bought for her, drove him crazy with desire. He wanted to bang her at every angle of the house, make her his, sadistically thinking that it would be like a baptism for the new home.

Just before he made the decision to accept Seokjin's offer, Jimin was living in a smaller apartment, suitable for a man who lived alone but, more importantly, spent most of his time outside.

He wanted to give her all the amenities necessary and suitable for a young woman like her: a nice, airy room, expensive clothes, a private bathroom, and even jewelry.

Things that Y/N had barely touched except out of strict necessity, but it didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was that she was there with him, ready to fulfill his every order when he decided the time was right.

"Earth to Park Jimin, hey... Hyung... Yah, Jimin-ssi!" he roused himself from his thoughts by bringing his gaze to Jungkook; the young man was staring at him with large, doubtful eyes.

It was not only Jungkook who squared him strangely, the others also had one question stamped on their foreheads, ‘What the hell is wrong with you?’

Jimin sighed, "Sorry, go ahead-were we talking about the Just Bloods?" he rubbed his hands over his face, he hadn't slept a wink that night.

"They took out four of our people, in return we are holding one of theirs hostage," Hoseok said, Jimin raised an eyebrow.

"Only one? At the very least I would have expected carnage from you, Hoseok" Hoseok glowered at him.

"While you were having fun picking out the furnishings of your new apartment, I was attacked without warning, lost men, and it's already so much that I only captured one of them," darted the redhead, causing Jimin's amusement.

"Don't feel bad, hyung, you did a great job capturing the strategist," said Taehyung trying to improve Hoseok's tension.

"The strategist?"

"Choi Kyungi," replied Jungkook, "He is the right-hand man of the Just Blood leader, I'm sure they will be furious now."

"Furious and vengeful, what do we do Seokjin?" Namjoon turned to their leader for an answer; Jin did not even think about it.

"I want him to confess what his gang's plans are exactly, if they attacked us it's because they plan to take control of our territory, but I want to hear it from his putrid mouth," he hissed, "Torture him if it seems appropriate, I want him to confess by hook or crook, these bastards have already dared to do too much."

It did not take a genius to understand that Seokjin was livid with anger. The men they had lost had received a strict military education to be the perfect killers, Jin had invested in them and hated losing money, Jin just hated losing.

The man's grim look was sublime, his feline eyes showed no mercy, much less did the eyes of the remaining Bangtans.

Jimin, Namjoon, and Jungkook saw each other again in the afternoon at one of their establishments, Choi Kyungi stood there, tied with chains to a wooden chair, the room mostly empty except for some "work" tools they usually used when they had to gouge information out of someone's mouth.

"Hoseok?" asked Jungkook.

"Jin doesn't want him here, he's afraid it might kill him," said Namjoon as he looked sideways at the man with the sack over his head; they had sedated him to keep him quiet for a while and now it was their turn to wake him up.

"I wouldn't even blame him," spat Jimin, tossing aside the black sack covering their captive's face, the bruised face showed a boy who could not have been more than twenty-six years old, Jimin growled in anger before unleashing a punch on the man's well-delineated jaw, knuckles collided painfully on the already abused face, and instantly Kyungi opened his spirited eyes, gasping breathlessly, "Lice striking from behind would piss off anyone."

Namjoon approached the boy, lowering himself to his height, "Choi Kyungi, may we know what the fuck you're planning to do?" he asked trying to be reasonable in tone, he wanted to save himself the trouble of another beating at least that day, but in response the prisoner spat a stream of vermilion blood into his face.

"Fuck you, Bangtan boy," laughed Kyungi with contempt.

For a few moments frost fell in the room, no one daring to move in the face of that deliberate disrespect, Namjoon wiped his face with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, which he later observed disgruntled.

"That was my favorite," he hissed, the kick that shot straight to Kyungi's stomach was swift and powerful, the man coughed up more blood as Namjoon adjusted the collar of the sweatshirt in question, his tense gaze betraying his apparent calm. That dog had unnerved him, "I wanted to be charitable and save you a lot of beating, but you leave us no choice," he made a sign toward Jungkook, who nodded with a grin, his dark eyes glittered with sadism, and walking confidently and cadencedly on on his amphibians, black as his soul, he went to pick up an interesting object.

It was a spiked bat, which he clutched in the palm of one hand with confidence, his swollen muscles flexing from beneath the light mesh, foretasting the little job that would soon set them in motion.

"You're not going to walk out of here on your own legs, Choi," he laughed softly, showing the bat to Kyungi, who swallowed slightly without blurting out a single word, "You're such a jerk, like those little friends of yours who tried to play with us, not knowing that for Bangtans there is no such thing as forgiveness," he pulled back his mighty arm with speed, bringing the bat down against one of the unfortunate man's legs, who held back no longer and screamed breathlessly, his eyes out of their sockets testifying to the lacerating pain that the bat equipped with dangerous ferrous spines had been able to inflict on him.

He trembled agonizingly with his bruised jaw clenched; he would not speak.

Jimin studied the whole scene over and over again, he had lost count of how many times Jungkook had hit him; with the bat, with his own kicks and punches, nothing, Kyungi was barely breathing. He was only capable of spitting his own blood, soiling even more of the already long gone floor; he was a tough cookie and this Jimin had to admit.

"Stop, Jungkook," Jimin put an end to that torture, Jungkook gasped with his forehead and upper lip drenched in sweat, his dark, brooding eyes seemed unwilling to lose sight of their prey, with his chest swollen with irritation he threw his weapon to the floor, backing away.

Namjoon stepped forward to take his place, but Jimin shook his head.

He had something far more useful than torture or a beating; he could be said to have let Jungkook continue just for the sake of revenge.

He approached the now unrecognizable man, put a hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a postcard.

Kyungi widened his good eye, a choked breath caught in his throat.

Jimin smiled serpentinely.

"She's very pretty, Choi," he said softly, "Those chubby little cheeks make my heart melt, I have to admit," he chuckled, waving the postcard, which turned out to be a picture of a baby girl just nine months old.

"How...how" Kyungi stammered without being able to finish the sentence; he didn't have the strength.

"How did I get this picture? Bangtans have their own connections, Choi...as a result I know about your little girl that you left with her grandparents so they would take care of her, you went off to keep her safe and that's admirable, believe me," he said sympathetically, "But I probably wouldn't do the same in your place, who knows how many wolves might kidnap and eat the hunter's family when he leaves the hut to look for more food."

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM ME, PARK?!" he suddenly ranted, throwing himself at Jimin just enough that the chains could allow him, the idea that his little girl might end up in the hands of those bastards drove him crazy, and Park Jimin looked like the biggest bastard there.

"That should be me asking you, what the fuck do you want from us?" he asked in a low, quiet voice, "You'd better tell us if you don't want anything to happen to Mada."

Kyungi remained silent, frozen. He even knew his daughter's name, how far had he gone?

"Namjoon, take this picture, tonight we are going on a visit to Daegu province, Yoongi and Taehyung know where to go," the boy stretched out the picture of the little girl to his friend, followed by their prisoner's shout.

"I will talk! Fuck!" he whined, "Don't touch my daughter, I'll talk!"

"You'd better start doing that now, because I really don't know what might happen to her if you don't cooperate: our boss might sell her to a rich family that can't have children, as well as he might raise her in our brothel, making her a respectable Bangtan whore in the future," joked Namjoon, "Or he might just kill her, what do you say Jungkook? One way or another, you will never see her grow up."

"He could indeed, once a decision is made Kim Seokjin doesn't give up, not for anything in the world," shrugged the younger man, holding up the game to his friend.

Now in tears Kyungi spilled the beans, "The Just Bloods would never attack the Bangtans for no reason! Shit..." he exclaimed.

"Bangtan never had any contact with Just Blood, what the fuck are you talking about," chafed Namjoon, already fed up with that play.

"Not with us... but with Choi Minho yes," he said, sending a shiver down Jimin's spine, "He provides us with drugs and prevents the cops from giving us unwanted attention, in return we fulfill his favors," he swallowed, "And..." he cast a glance at Jimin, "He asked us to eliminate one person, a Bangtan."

Jimin snickered openly; it was obvious who Kyungi was referring to.

Minho must have really tied his finger the night he had spent at the Dark Moon under Jimin's threats, and he wanted to retaliate with in other ways so as not to get his hands dirty, the idea pissed Jimin off, it was as if Minho was openly declaring that Jimin wasn’t even worth it to be eliminated with his own hands.

That cowardly behavior was intolerable.

"Listen to me carefully, Kyungi," he leaned slightly toward him, "I want to know every thing you have said to each other, the plan you have devised, and most importantly the place where you are meeting," at those words the man tried to shake his head, but Jimin grabbed him hard by the hair, nailing him with one lethal glance, "Maybe we have not understood each other, you will do it or I will personally visit your daughter and feed her to the worms, screwing anything else, understood?!" he blurted lethally, Kyungi trembled from head to toe bowing his head, he had no choice.

Namjoon and Jungkook accompanied Jimin to his apartment first, they had just discussed about giving a bodyguard to the direct concerned.

"No way, I am Kim Seokjin's bodyguard, and a bodyguard with a bodyguard is even ridiculous to imagine," he growled.

"Hyung, a bodyguard is not embarrassing if your life is involved," the younger man tried to reason with him, failing.

"It's embarrassing if I've been trained to defend and stand up for myself, okay? I don't want someone to protect me," he made adamant, causing the other two to snort.

He got out of the car stymied, but Namjoon called him back, turned listlessly, "What?"

"Would you really have hurt that child, Jimin?" he asked, there was no accusation in his tone, just curiosity. In their world they had seen anything and everything, but they had never gone that far.

Jimin remained impassive, before shaking off an uncomfortable feeling.

"It's just the way we live, hyung, no hard feelings," he said in a colorless voice, before turning and leaving.

When he returned to his new apartment waiting for him was a small figure, she held a plate in her hands and on it lay a soft slice of chocolate cake, the girl's eyes widened.

They had not seen each other for days and she did not expect to see him at just such a time, she cast a glance at the wall clock that read two o'clock in the morning. She believed he would not be back by that evening....

She made to set her plate down on the low coffee table, but Jimin beat her to it, slipping away into his own bedroom.

She was petrified, was this the same intimidating man she had come to know?

She asked no more questions, grabbed her cake and ran to her room, to her shelter, before the boy changed his mind and came back to her with the intention of tormenting her.

But Jimin would not return to her that night, he was struggling with the blood that soaked his skin, after Kyungi's confession had made sure the man fully understood his situation, Jimin rubbed his skin under the shower water, bruised with rage.

Minho was not going to get away with this, the son of a bitch had finally moved, now not even Jin would find excuses to stop him from carrying out his revenge.

He thought back with disgust to his captive days spent in the dungeon of the Choi mansion.

His nerves tensed and he narrowly restrained himself from hitting the pale tiles of his bathroom with his fist.

That and more would be reserved for Minho.

He stepped out of the shower with a small towel tied around his hips, his shiny, flawless skin showcasing the man's beautifully fit figure.

He went to bed that way, not bothering to get boxers to sleep in.

He was tired and mentally exhausted, the last thing he wanted was to take one more step.

He closed his thin, magnetic eyes, trying to fall asleep, but in vain. Chaos reigned in his head, a woman's shadow stretched across his memories, and hours passed, hours where he tried to escape her hands, turned over and tossed and turned in bed in a sweat slick. The woman's laughter scratched his ears, while the Choi forefather's smile never stopped taunting him.

He jerked his eyes open staring at the ceiling in the dark, he breathed heavily for air, frustration made him kick between the clean sheets, he lifted himself up holding his head in his hands, a sickening rage that was hard to let go took over his body.

His beast.

He had to let it out.

He abandoned his bed in search of his vice, grabbed the pack of cigarettes and pulled one out, placed it between his fleshy lips inhaling its bitter substance once lit, after three or four puffs he realized it would do no good.

Frustrated and with damp hair in front of his eyes he pressed it down on the ashtray, putting it out in an unnerved manner.

He had developed an addiction to smoking to escape from his problems, but a bad feeling made him sense that even that habit would no longer be of any use, his crisis was not passing and he was going crazy after it.

With one last glimmer of lucidity he remembered her. Y/N.

He widened his eyes, pupils dilated. With his body trembling, invaded by negative emotions too painful to keep to himself, he prepared to reach out to the only life form in the house besides himself.

[gctchell]

" Hoss, I want you to pray to your god. I want you to pray that he comes and saves you. I want lightning to come down and crash upon my fuckin' head! "

-> So you're a little devil, huh? Come to drag me and my kin to Hell? Well, not today, Satan!

Martha headcanon dump / Interest check. Drop a 🩸 in the replies if you have interest interacting with her, and if you're a multimuse yourself, let me know who you want me to toss her at.

Born in dark baptism of blood and raised in cannibalism & devil worship, Martha is deeply entrenched in damnation and has never desired any other sort of way of being. This is how she is, pure, brutal, raw, sadistic, and hungry for pain and torment. She is an evil soul looking to make the best of her life and live in hedonism, pure and simple.

Her particular worship involves Mammon, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Satan, and a little bit of Lilith. These are the ones who have called to her as her prime sins are Greed, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, and Wrath. However, even if she does worship and offer tribute to them, there's not always someone on the other line - she does get left on read quite often by some of them.. namely Lucifer, who wants little to nothing to do with Sinners in the first place. Still, she calls, and gets aggravated when he doesn't answer. Later I would like to do a post for what she does in regards for her worship of these Infernals, but for now this is what I got. uvu

Martha is not exclusive in her selection of course, she is very open to work with many demons who catch her ear and tempt her with their call. Any who are willing to work with her, any who she might have caught the eye of have a very good chance of working with her. She is willing to do a great many hideous things, she has no restraint except for her family. Speaking of..

Martha is a serial black widower - or, well, she was. There's a long trail of dead vows hanging from her wedding band, tons of hearts of thirsty & lecherous wealthy men left 'pon on her altar to the delicious King Asmodeus ( 'the one true man who knows how to really please a woman.' ). The husband-killing stopped when Ralphie just would not fuckin' die! She tried everything; poisoning, concussions, hitting him with her car, drowning him after hitting him with a motorboat, and straight up electrocuting his ass in the bathtub.

She finally stopped trying when he caught her shotgun shells in his teeth. Man's hardy and is sickly, deeply, twistedly, and hopelessly in love with Martha, and she finally came to respect and admire that, even more so when she began introducing him to the darker aspects of her life such as cannibalism, human taxidermy, and ritualistic killings. She gained a partner-in-crime, true and honest. What she has for him isn't really true love as much as it is a very deep affection and attraction, and he doesn't mind, so long as they can keep on keeping on. They both popped out a couple of children, and the rest is history.

Excellent cook, excellent baker, excellent little house wife who serves up the image of a godly woman quite well. She saves face by going to church on Sundays just to spend her Sunday nights doing very special dark rituals. Duality of woman!

Very vivid in her sexuality. She has a taste for both men and women (bisexual).

While in Hell, she is veeeery curious who it is that got that hit put on her. There's a damn good many who would want her dead, so she doesn't right away suspect only Mayberry. She sees this as some business as deathright to wrap up. She has her ear out. That said, of course Martha is happy in Hell, this is where she wanted to be! She just wasn't ready yet. She wanted to live longer, so revenge is definitely on the mind.

Has a lovely two story cabin in Hell that she and Ralphie both slaughtered the previous owners of and claimed dominion over with their children. The owners, once resurrected, sure learned to stop coming back and left the property well alone.

She is a lovely neighbor of Cannibal Town. Enjoys the festivities a lot! Very active participant in the community even though she doesn't live within the city limits exactly, just somewhere outside of them. Seeks to make a nice relationship with Rosie. :)

The idea of becoming an Overlord is intriguing to her, and it's an idea she is definitely playing around with. For now, her soul belongs to no one.

Martha is still very much into the Kings and Queens she worshiped while she was alive and even has altars to them! Still pays tribute and still carries out rituals in their names. That part of her isn't going away.

I am playing with her from when she was alive and while she is in Hell. Both are going to be fun. :]

Drawing inspiration from .. Tiffany Valentine, Rob Zombie's music and bits of his movies ( "I am the Devil, and I am here to do the Devil's work." ) , and Texas Chainsaw.

Please note: This is devil worship done in the stereotypical Hellaverse & Horror Movies way with a little more knowledge of the actual demons - this is not an accurate depiction of the followings of these actual Infernal Divines.

[campgender]

My father comes home from work and he is exhausted. He winces as he walks on his knee replacements, he hunches under extra weight, feeling always the subterranean throb of his back, sometimes exhaling a distressing sound of pure suffering—never the word “God,” but close: gad. It was always this way. He came home and there was nothing left except a desire to be alone with himself, so he could regenerate the language he needed to speak universally. There is a certain fatigue that comes from always presiding over the baptisms, the weddings, and the burials—the three ceremonies where you are most certain to encounter poetry, even if it is present nowhere else in your life.

A truce, then, between me and my father’s house. I was not made in his likeness, but I have chosen something of his same extremity, his willingness to be available for the questions that knock on the door in the middle of the night. His voice inside the verses was so sweeping, his judgment from the pulpit so black-and-white, that it was hard not to inherit them. It was hard not to inherit the desire to stand over the deceased and say something, and it was impossible, finally, not to inherit his anger. As long as I lived under his roof, I told myself that I had no temper, that I would never speak that knot of heat I felt so often in my throat, forced down into my rib cage, sent flowing into my fingertips. But I belong to myself now, and I can admit it. When I sit down at the desk, the anger radiates out of me in great bronze spikes, like holiness in the old paintings, and a sermon rises up in me as if it had been waiting for breath, and puts itself together bone to bone.

I’m not interested in heaven unless my anger gets to go there too. I’m not interested in a happy eternity unless I get to spend an eternity on anger first. Let me speak for the meek and say that we don’t want the earth, if that’s where all the bodies are buried. If we are resurrected at the end of the world, I want us to assemble with a military click, I want us to come together as an army against what happened to us here. I want us to bring down the enemy of our suffering once and for all, and I want us to loot the pockets, and I want us to take baths in the blood.

What do I want? I want him to have a job, and be living in your house. I want us to stop selling heaven as the home we don’t get here. I want an afterlife for my anger; I want levitation, perfection, and white wings for it, and I want an afterlife for my question, which is an answer.

But for now the question just hangs in the middle of the air, halfway up the blue sky, the long unbroken mosquito whine of a why, and the only thing that answers is the voice of my father, saying what he always said, saying the same thing your father always said: “Life isn’t fair, nobody ever said it was going to be, who told you that.”

from Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

25th October >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Friday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time.

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

First Reading Ephesians 4:1-6 One Body, one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God.

I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 23(24):1-6

R/ Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness, the world and all its peoples. It is he who set it on the seas; on the waters he made it firm.

R/ Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? The man with clean hands and pure heart, who desires not worthless things.

R/ Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

He shall receive blessings from the Lord and reward from the God who saves him. Such are the men who seek him, seek the face of the God of Jacob.

R/ Such are the men who seek your face, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 94:8

Alleluia, alleluia! Harden not your hearts today, but listen to the voice of the Lord. Alleluia!

Or: Matthew 11:25

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 12:54-59 Do you not know how to interpret these times?

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘When you see a cloud looming up in the west you say at once that rain is coming, and so it does. And when the wind is from the south you say it will be hot, and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the face of the earth and the sky. How is it you do not know how to interpret these times? ‘Why not judge for yourselves what is right? For example: when you go to court with your opponent, try to settle with him on the way, or he may drag you before the judge and the judge hand you over to the bailiff and the bailiff have you thrown into prison. I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the very last penny.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you. Lord Jesus Christ.

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

14th October >> Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Luke 11:29-32): ‘There is someone greater than Solomon here’.

Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 11:29-32 As Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be a sign.

The crowds got even bigger, and Jesus addressed them: ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here.’

Gospel (USA) Luke 11:29-32 This generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”

Reflections (9)

(i) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus criticizes his contemporaries because they want signs from him to show he really is who he says he is. Yet, they fail to see that Jesus himself is the real sign from God. They fail to recognize that someone truly special and significant stands before them, someone greater than the prophet Jonah and greater than the wise man Solomon, someone greater than all the former prophets and wise people of Israel. God is calling out to them through Jesus in a much more powerful way than the spoke through the prophets or wise people of the past and, yet, they are unmoved. We too can sometimes fail to appreciate that someone greater than Solomon and Jonah stands among us. The risen Lord is here. He is here in a special way when we celebrate the Eucharist. He is present in his Word when it is proclaimed aloud or when we reflect on it privately or in groups. He is present in each one of us because of our baptism. We live and move and have our being in his presence. In the gospel reading, Jesus calls on us to attend to the wonderful gift of his Son that God has given us, and not to go searching for something better. He stands among us full of grace and truth and we are always being invited to receive from his fullness, so that we can live life to the full. God has given us enough to be going on with. We don’t need to go looking for signs. We spend our lives growing in our appreciation of all that God has given us through his Son who stands among us, sometimes unknown to us.

And/Or

(ii) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of himself as greater than King Solomon and greater than the prophet Jonah. Indeed, Jesus was greater than all the spiritual leaders of Israel prior to him, whether they were priests, prophets or kings. In a way, Jesus is reminding his contemporaries just how fortunate they are to have witnessed his coming. In the previous chapter of Luke’s gospel, Jesus had said to his disciples, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see but did not see it, to hear what you hear but did not hear it’. That same beatitude could be spoken to all of us. We have all lived to see and to hear someone greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah. Today’s gospel invites us to keep growing in our appreciation for the gift that God has given us in his Son, Jesus. We shown our appreciation of this gift most of all when we respond to Jesus as generously as the Queen of Sheba responded to King Solomon and as the people of Nineveh responded to the prophet Jonah. We show that we treasure the gift that is Jesus by placing him at the centre of our lives.

And/Or

(iii) Monday, Twenty Eighth week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading, people come to Jesus looking for a sign. He replies that the signs they are looking for are actually there in front of their eyes if only they could see them. The people of Nineveh took Jonah more seriously than some of the people of Jesus’ generation were taking him, and, yet, there were far more powerful signs of God’s presence in the life of Jesus than in the life of Jonah. ‘There is something greater than Jonah here’. The queen of Sheba took Solomon more seriously than some of the people of Jesus’ generation were taking him, and, yet, there were far more powerful signs of God’s presence in the life of Jesus than in the life of Solomon. ‘There is something greater than Solomon here’. In looking for some striking, spectacular, signs from Jesus, many of his contemporaries were missing the signs that were staring them in the face. In looking for the extraordinary, we too can miss the richness in the ordinary. In many ways Jesus was very ordinary. ‘Is not this the son of the carpenter?’ the people of Nazareth asked. When Jesus spoke about God’s kingdom, the ways of God, he did so in very ordinary terms, the sower going out to sow, the man robbed on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the father whose son left home in a very selfish fashion, the weeds that grow among the field of wheat. These were scenes from ordinary life. Jesus was saying, the signs of God’s presence are to be found there in the ordinary stuff of life, for those who have eyes to see. This morning we pray for eyes to see the many signs of the Lord’s presence in our day to day lives.

And/Or

(iv) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

This morning’s gospel reading suggests that many of Jesus’ contemporaries did not really appreciate him. They wanted to see some dramatic sign from him if they were to believe in him. ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign’, he said. We will always have a hankering after the spectacular and the unusual when it comes to the life of faith. Yet, that is not normally the way that God seems to work. In many ways, there was something very ordinary about Jesus. ‘Is this not the carpenter’s son?’ the people of Nazareth asked. He was too ordinary for them to take him seriously. If Jesus did something really spectacular, that would make them sit up and take him seriously. That was the temptation Jesus had to battle with at the beginning of his ministry. Satan tempted him to do spectacular signs so as to win a following, turning stones into bread, throwing himself down from the pinnacle of the temple. This was not the way of Jesus. He revealed God in very ordinary ways, most of the time, sharing table with the excluded, feeding the hungry, caring for and healing the sick, feeding people’s spirits with his teaching, gathering a new kind of community about himself that brought together people who did not normally mix. For those who had eyes to see, someone greater than Solomon or Jonah was present. The Lord is present to us in very ordinary ways today too. He is alive where people are cared for and looked after, where the broken are healed, where the lonely are given companionship, where the spiritually and physically hungry are fed, where love endures even in the face of suffering and loss.

And/Or

(v) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus draws on the Jewish Scriptures to show how people from beyond Israel, pagans, were sometimes more responsive to God’s messengers than God’s own people were. The Queen of the South, who was a pagan, came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The people of the pagan city of Nineveh repented in response to the preaching of the prophet Jonah. Jesus declares that something greater than Solomon and greater than Jonah is here, and, yet, many of his contemporaries do not take him seriously. They come to him looking for some sign from him to prove his credentials. Jesus is indeed greater than Solomon and Jonah, greater than all the wise people and prophets of Israel, and he is here among us, today. He is not just ‘here’ to his contemporaries but ‘here’ to believers of every generation. The gospel reading challenges us never to take the wonder of our faith for granted. God became flesh in Jesus, not in Solomon or any of the prophets, and Jesus, God with us, has given us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink. Someone greater than Solomon and Jonah is ‘here’ in this Eucharist. Unlike the Queen of the South in the gospel reading, we don’t have to come from the ends of the earth to find him, because he has come from heaven to find us and to be with us where we are. The only response we can make to such a privilege is one of thanksgiving and the place where we give thanks above all is in the Eucharist. Saint Paul would remind us that such thanksgiving must flow over into our lives so that the life we live becomes an act of thanksgiving to God’s gracious love for us in Christ.

And/Or

(vi) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus is exasperated with his contemporaries because they fail to take him seriously. They look for a sign from him, while being indifferent to all that he is offering them through his words and deeds. Jesus reminds his hearers that, in the Scriptures, the people of Nineveh took the prophet Jonah seriously and the Queen of the South took Solomon seriously. Yet, Jesus’ own contemporaries do not take him seriously, even though, as Jesus says, ‘there is something greater than Solomon here... there is something greater than Jonah here’. Jesus is indeed greater than Jonah and all the other prophets of Israel; he is greater than Solomon and all the other wise people that appeared in Israel since Solomon. Jesus is the Son of God; he is God in human form. There is such a richness and depth to Jesus’ identity that we never fully grasp him in this life. There is always more to Jesus than we can conceive. There is always something greater to him that we have not yet come to appreciate. In his letter to the Ephesians Paul speaks about the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and yet he prays that we would come to know this love of Christ. This knowledge Paul prays for us to have is not just knowledge of the mind but of the heart. We are always on a journey towards this knowing the love of Christ because it is always greater than we imagine.

And/Or

(vii) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, people ask Jesus for a sign. They wanted a more powerful sign that he had given them so far, in order to take him seriously and believe in him. We can all have a tendency to look for signs from the Lord. We are always looking for great clarity and certitude when it comes to our relationship with the Lord. If only he would give us a clear sign, then we would know what to do. Yet, in response to the people’s request for a sign, Jesus tells them that God has already given them a sign. Jesus himself is the sign, someone who is greater than the great wise man Solomon and greater than the prophet Jonah. Jesus is saying the same to us today. God has given us the gift of his Son. He is the sign, the sacrament, of God. He makes God present to us in a way no one else who lived on earth has ever done. There nothing greater that God can give us. In giving us Jesus, God has given us all we need for our journey through life. In his gospel, the evangelist John says of Jesus, ‘from his fullness, we have all received’. There is no fuller sign that God can give us than the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and the sending of the Spirit. There is a fullness, a richness, there that we can never exhaust in this life. We are always receiving from the Lord’s fullness. No matter how much we have received in the past, there is always more to be received into the future, and more again in eternity. The Lord who is present to us in all his fullness is always inviting us to draw life from him anew. We need no other sign than him.

And/Or

(viii) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Many of Jesus’ contemporaries were slow to respond to Jesus’ presence and message; they were insisting on some dramatic sign. In contrast, Jesus reminds them, people from outside of Israel, pagans, responded to God’s messengers in the past, the Ninevites responded to the preaching of the prophet Jonah, and the Queen of Sheeba responded to the wisdom of Solomon. These pagans were more receptive to God’s presence in Israel than Jesus’ own contemporaries were, even though Jesus is greater than the prophet Jonah and greater than the wise man Solomon. He is the fulfilment of all the prophets and the wise men and women of Israel and, still, so many of his contemporaries are unmoved by him. Jesus has no inclination to perform some kind of overpowering sign for such people who have been so indifferent to all that God has already been doing through his ministry. When Jesus says that there is something greater than Solomon here and something greater than Jonah here, we can apply the word ‘here’ to wherever we happen to be today. By ‘here’ Jesus did not just mean his own place and time. ‘Here’ refers to the time and place of each one of us. The Lord is here, with us now, wherever we happen to find ourselves, and he is here as someone greater than all the prophets and wise people of Israel. The Lord remains ‘here’ with us in our own place, our own home, own own room. He is there in all his risen power, inviting us to draw strength from his presence, and to live from that strength. We may not always feel great in these troubling times, but today’s gospel reading reminds us that we are always in the presence of someone greater.

And/Or

(ix) Monday, Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading, Jesus criticizes his contemporaries for failing to recognize that ‘something greater than Solomon… something greater than Jonah’ was among them. God had sent them the greatest possible gift, his own Son, and they were failing to receive this gift. The gospel reading invites us to ask ourselves, ‘How much do I appreciate God’s gift of his Son Jesus to us?’ ‘Do I too fail to recognize that something greater than Solomon and Jonah stands among us?’ We can sometimes take our faith for granted because it has been with us all our lives. Yet, it is good to stand back and to recognize how graced we have been to receive God’s gift of his Son into our lives. In today’s first reading, Paul reminds the church in Rome of how graced they are. He tells them that by God’s call they belong to Jesus Christ, and addresses them as ‘God’s beloved’. We all belong to Jesus Christ because of God’s call and we are all God’s beloved. Through our baptism and the gift of faith, we have entered into a very intimate relationship with Jesus. He lives in us through the Holy Spirit. He is present among us, in the community of believers, in his word and in the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Someone greater than all the wise people and prophets of Israel stands among us, and lives within us. There is much to appreciate and value, and give thanks for, here. It can be good to step back and to prayerfully savour just how much we have been graced and blessed by God through the gift of his Son to us.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[rucbarthatbowtiesarecooldw]

Sunday Afternoon Session

Conducting: Henry B. Eyring

For All the Saints

Elder Dale G. Renlund

King Tutankhamun and the finding of Tuts tomb

He is our mark – if we imagine there is something beyond what He offers, we deny all His blessings

Focus on Him intentionally

Baptismal water doesn’t wash away sins. That is why we have the opportunity to repent.

Approach the sacrament the same way a new convert approaches baptism – with a contrite heart and spirit

With the temple close it can be easy to let little things get in the way of attending – do not take the temple for granted. When we do we look beyond the mark

Do not praise exotic sources for being enlightened – sometimes that is not the case

Remember and always focus on Jesus Christ. He is our Savior and Redeemer, the Mark towards whom we should look, and our Greatest Treasure

Elder John C Pingree Jr. 70

What is our understanding of truth in today’s world?

What is truth and why is it important?

Where do we find truth?

When we find truth how do we share it?

1 God is THE source of eternal truth.

2 The Holy Ghost testifies of all truth.

3 Prophets receive truth from God, and share that truth with us

4 We all play a crucial role in this process. God expects us to seek, receive and act on truth

Our ability to receive and understand truth is dependent on our relationship with God

Is the concept taught consistently in the scriptures and by living prophets?

Is it confirmed by the Holy Ghost?

Doctrine = eternal truths such as God is our eternal Father, Christ’s atonement etc

Unchangeable

Policy =application of doctrine based on current circumstances

Subject to change

Teach truth in a way that invites the converting power of the Holy Ghost

Truth should be conveyed with Christlike love – love without truth is hollow and lacks the promise of growth

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus

Elder Valeri V Cordon, 70

Help children establish a gospel culture

Righteous Intentional Parenting

1 Teach Freely

Liberally, generously, and without restraint

Spend meaningful time with them, use church resources (church moveis, come follow me)

2 Model Discipleship

By example keep the sabbath day holy, keep temple covenants.

3 Invite to Act

To seek individual revelation, work for and nurture their own testimony

We are God’s agents for our children. Create an environment where they can feel His love and guidance.

Accidental conversion is not a principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ

God will do everything He can without violating your agency.

As a parent you should do the same

Elder J. Kimo Esplin, 70

Hawaii and the battle of Okinawa

Baptisms for the dead, and temple work. People being taught in the spirit world.

Temple blessings can heal so much.

The Saviors work is to bind people together

Rejoice the Lord is King

Elder Garrit W. Gong Q of 12

Morse code locket “I I you”

Multilingual “I” “I” (Chinese ai) “You” = I love you

Languages of Gospel love

Warmth and Reverence

Service and Sacrifice

Covenant and Belonging

Daily sacrifices matter

Remember to speak with warmth and reverence about the Lord’s work

Sometimes things can affect our ability to serve, but hopefully never our desire

You need to feel the Lord’s love for those you serve – and for you when you serve.

When we serve in the gospel together, we find fewer faults and greater peace

Remember to minister with your hearts

Sociality and service often go together

The more we serve the better we can understand the nature of Christ.

Elder Christophe G. Giraud-Carrier 70

1 Samuel 16:7

God looks on the heart

We are His children, all of us without exception.

How sad is it that we honor labels more than we honor each other?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the mediator

Discrimination is not ok

How we treat each other really matters.

I’ll Walk with You children’s song

Like Christ love others because it is the right thing to do.

Consider the Lillies

President Russell M. Nelson

What is the secret to living so long?

No what have I learned in almost a century if living

Heavenly Fathers plan for us is fabulous

This plan takes the mystery out of what comes next

What we do in this life matters

Savior’s atonement makes the plan possible

Adopt the practice of Thinking Celestial tm

Being spiritually minding

Mortality is a masterclass in learning what is of greatest eternal importance

Begin with the end in mind – carefully consider where each of your decisions will put you in the next life

Where will each decision place you? You get to choose

Take the long view – the eternal view

Put Jesus Christ first

Your obsession becomes your god – you look to it rather than to Him for solace

Struggling with addiction? Seek professional and spiritual help

Be chaste to attain celestial glory

Seek guidance from trusted voices

There are lots of things we can do to build faith

Temples!

Savai’i, Samoa

Cancún, Mexico

Piura, Peru

Huancayo, Peru

Viña del Mar, Chile

Goiãnia, Brazil

João Pessoa, Brazil

Calabar, Nigeria

Cape Coast, Ghana

Luanda, Angola

Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

Laoag, Philippines

Osaka, Japan

Colorado Springs, Colorado

Tulsa, Oklahoma

Roanoke, Virginia

Kahului, Hawaii

Fairbanks, Alaska

Vancouver, Washington

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Fun fact: he has announced 153 temples since becoming prophet

Teach me to Walk in the Light

[paula-of-christ]

So I am struggling with where to go from here. I've been going to some aa meetings and of course it's in a church, most of them take place in a catholic church near me. And a huge part of 12 step programs involves finding "a power greater than yourself", and every single time I start to explore spirituality and religion I get drawn to Catholicism. I didn't have religious parents, not much influence of it in my life except for a few times my grandmother would take my brother and I to church with her sometimes when she'd visit. I've done a lot of really awful things over the course of my life (i killed someone by accident years ago) it's hard for me to believe in a God that cares about me. I'm certain something exists that created the universe, I don't know what to call it besides God. Anyway I guess my question is how would I start exploring Catholicism? Like should I just show up to a service on a Sunday and go from there, and what should I expect? I just feel so drawn to it as a whole but I have no idea what to do about it cause I've never been religious/gone to church much/etc. Any advice would be wonderful.

Boy did you come to the right place, my friend! I am glad you are going through a program to help recovery, I know that can be an extremely difficult thing to go through, realizing all of the things you've done that are not what you'd like them to be. I think the most important piece of advice I can give you regardless if you decide to become a formal Christian and join the Catholic Church, is to continue to look for that growth inside of you and the way you treat others. Sometimes it can remain hidden to us just how much we are growing.

I posted this recently about sins being forgiveable and if you just want to take a moment to read that, sit with it, and then continue on to my practical advice about how to actually convert. (under the page break)

The biggest reason I say you came to the right place is because of the patronage of my blog, St. Paul. He was complacent and considered himself a murderer prior to his conversion to the Church, and then after experiencing the Risen Christ, became the greatest evangelist in Church History. He wrote the majority of the new testaments. All of those letters authored by Paul, is the Paul that helped the temple officials find and stone many of our first martyrs, including a tradition where he helped martyr the first martyr, St. Stephen.

You can read his conversion in Acts chapter 9, but if you go a little bit earlier in Acts, you can read about the persecution of the Christians as well.

The first step to formal conversion, since I think you already have what you need for spiritual conversion (a desire to pursue Catholicism) is to just start going to Mass. You can try out a couple of different parishes near you if there is more than one. If you google "Catholic church near me" and look at the different church's websites to find their Mass times or go to MassTimes.org I believe it is called. I would say try out different parishes to feel it out. They will all have the same basic structure but maybe the people at one parish are more friendly than others.

Once you find a parish you like, they will usually advertise RCIA classes in their newsletter/bulletin, or you can simply call or email the parish office (usually in the bulletin) to enquire about RCIA classes. RCIA stands for Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. It is generally a 9 month class, where you learn more about Catholicism and how to live it out. At any point between signing up and the Easter Vigil, where people in RCIA are brought into the Church either through baptism or confirmation (both if you're getting baptized, but if you already are, just confirmation) you can decide not to become Catholic. If you need more time or if you decide to go with a different Christian Church. Ideally you stick with it, but it unfortunately does happen.

A note about sin and being sorry for it; through baptism we are saved. We have an obligation after that to remain in good standing with God, but we can always get back to good standing with God. The only reason we are alive, or the world exists, or for any of this to be here, is because God loves each and every small part of us, down to the very atoms, immensely, and wills for us to remain here. If God, who is Love, stopped loving us, we would stop existing. Just because it is difficult for us to forgive ourselves, does not mean that God has difficulty forgiving us. God understands our struggles, because "he was made sin so that we might become righteousness" (2 Corinthians 5:21) but he doesn't sin. He was tempted in the desert, and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, but He did not sin, because He is God.

I cannot stress enough how much picking up a Catholic bible is important, and reading the Gospels. I specify Catholic only because the Catholic bible has books in it that Protestant bibles do not. A good translation that I personally like is the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE).

Be assured of my prayers and please reach out on or off anon if you need some more encouragement!

[theriu]

Ok but like, what is a Mennonite?

Great question! I’d first like to preface that I am far, far from an expert on this; I go to and was raised in a Mennonite Church, but we are a little odd because we’re the only Mennonite church around (you often find several in a community) and we don’t uphold the typical dress code of head coverings and skirts. Also my mom was the daughter of an army chaplain, so because of her experiences growing up and being around people of many Christian groups combined, we are pretty comfortable with many denominations. Here are some basics, though:

Mennonites are part of the Anabaptist movement, which is largely noted (among other things) for believing that people should choose baptism as adults as a sign of their commitment to Christ, rather than be baptized as infants.

We do still do dedications, which is where the parents and baby go up front at church and oil is put on the baby’s head and the congregation verbally commits to helping raise the child to know the Lord - basically showing they plan to be a good and supportive church family for this new member and the family.

Another notable difference is peaceful noncombatance. Mennonites generally hold that using force is wrong and that we shouldn’t join the military because it divides our allegiance between God and our country. This is another one that my church, at least, is more relaxed on - at least one of our members is a police officer, and my brother wanted to join the national guard (he couldn’t due to a minor but chronic medical issue). Also, as mentioned, my grandpa (who was not a Mennonite) was an army chaplain. I support my brothers and sisters in Christ who choose military service, but I also respect those who feel they should stay apart from it (and count myself one of them).

Fun Fact: Mennonites and German Baptists and other Anabaptist denominations are often confused with Amish because we are all Anabaptists and we all have a tradition of the women wearing head coverings and old-fashioned-ish skirts/dresses. However, the Amish came after the Mennonites, and Mennonites aren’t against using electricity or owning technology and such. I wont speak further on that because I am even less of an expert on Amish customs. (I mentioned German Baptists because I see them frequently around where I live; I know little of their differences from Mennonites except their head coverings are typically a cute boxy shape instead of the flat lace circle traditional Mennonite women wear.)

These next ones are, I think, pretty common across many or most denominations, and they are what I consider the core tenets of faith in Christ:

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and part of the Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all one God but are also distinct persons).

Jesus came to Earth as both fully man and fully God, He lived a sinless life and died on the cross to pay the debt of our sins so we could be reunited with God, and He rose from the dead to defeat the death that is the just punishment for our sin.

The Bible is the Word of God and it is true and good for guiding, teaching, comforting, and correcting.

We all have free will, and while God desires all people to be saved, the gift of salvation is freely offered, and we must choose to take it. We are saved by accepting Jesus as our Lord and Savior and asking forgiveness of our sins, accepting his payment of our debt.

We cannot “earn” our salvation through good works, but genuine faith in Christ should lead to doing good works as a demonstration of our love for Him and of His love for others.

The Holy Spirit is the one mediator between us and God, and we can ask the Holy Spirit to pray through us when we don’t know how to express what we want to pray. God always answers our prayers, even if the answer is “No” or “Wait,” and we can trust that His answers are for our good and His glory, even when we can’t see how from our limited perspective here on Earth.

I think that’s a decent summary, but let me know if you have questions or are interested in the Bible verses that support the different points. And thanks for asking!

[orthodoxadventure]

Morning prayer of Archimandrite Sophrony: "Prayer at Daybreak"

O Lord Eternal and Creator of all things, Who of Thine inscrutable goodness called me to this life; Who bestowed on me the grace of Baptism and the Seal of the Holy Spirit; Who imbued me with the desire to seek Thee, the one true God: Hear my prayer. I have no life, no light, no joy or wisdom, no strength except in Thee, O God. Because of my unrighteousness, I dare not raise my eyes to Thee. But Thou said to Thy disciples, 'Whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing, you shall receive.' and 'Whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do.' Wherefore I dare to invoke Thee. Purify me from all taint of flesh and spirit. Teach me to pray aright. Bless this day which Thou givest unto me, Thine unworthy servant. By the power of Thy blessing enable me at all times to speak and act to Thy glory with a pure spirit, with humility, patience, love, gentleness, peace, courage and wisdom, aware always of Thy presence. Of Thine immense goodness, O Lord God, show me the path of Thy will, and grant me to walk in Thy sight without sin. O Lord, unto Whom all hearts be open, Thou knowest what things I have need of. Thou art acquainted with my blindness and my ignorance, Thou knowest mine infirmity and my soul's corruption; But neither are my pain and anguish hid from Thee. Wherefore I beseech Thee, hear my prayer and by Thy Holy Spirit, teach me the way wherein I should walk; and when my perverted will would lead me down other paths, spare me not, O Lord, but force me back to Thee. By the power of Thy love, grant me to hold fast to that which is good. Preserve me from every word or deed that corrupts the soul; from every impulse unpleasing in Thy sight and hurtful to my brother-man. Teach me what I should say and how I should speak. If it be Thy will that I make no answer, inspire me to keep silent in a spirit of peace that causes neither sorrow nor hurt to my fellow man. Establish me in the path of Thy commandments and to my last breath let me not stray from the light of Thine ordinances, that Thy commandments may become the sole law of my being on this earth and all eternity. Yea, Lord, I pray to Thee, have pity on me. Spare me in my affliction and my misery and hide not the way of salvation from me. In my foolishness, O God, I plead with Thee for many and great things. Yet am I ever mindful of my wickedness, my baseness, my vileness. Have mercy upon me. Cast me not away from your presence because of my presumption. Do Thou, rather, increase in me this presumption, and grant unto me, the worst of men, to love Thee as Thou hast commanded, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my mind, and with all my strength: With my whole being. Yea, O Lord, by Thy Holy Spirit, teach me good judgment and knowledge. Grant me to know Thy truth before I go down into the grave. Maintain my life in this world until I may offer unto Thee worthy repentance. Take me not away in the midst of my days, nor while my mind is still blind. When Thou shalt be pleased to bring my life to an end, forewarn me that I may prepare my soul to come before Thee. Be with me, O Lord, at that dread hour and grant me the joy of salvation. Cleanse me from secret faults, from all iniquity that is hidden in me; and give me a right answer before Thy judgment-seat— Yea, Lord, of Thy great mercy and immeasurable love for mankind.

[pendragonsclotpole]

Started season three of Succession. I just need to rant about Kendall Freaking Roy.

For two seasons, I have been rooting for this man. Is he a saint? No. Not at all. Is he a good man? Deep down, I think he might be. Outwardly? No. But he tries, against everything he’s been raised as, he tries. He’s arrogant, a bit of a huge dick to his wife and kids. He’s cringeworthy, he has little to no self-awareness, he thinks he’s better than both of his siblings, and he has no idea how to read a freaking room except in those brief moments of enlightenment when he’s pushed to the brink and has no other choice. Also, he literally almost dies after a night of bad decisions and leaves someone behind to die in a car accident he was responsible for and never owns up to it.

But Kendall Roy, when backed into a corner, should have been the hero—the tragic hero—destined to fuck up by his own flaws and yet meant to still be the one we wanted to see succeed. He murders a guy and we see him wracked with guilt, blackmailed into submission and emotionally abused by his father. There was something here inherently sympathetic about him that superseded the classic “poor little rich boy” narrative and that was after he made a bunch of stupid decisions that led to the death of an innocent guy.

Kendall was a guy who consistently hungered for his father’s praise and who as the firstborn (sorry, second born, but as we all know, Connor Roy has been interested in politics from a very young age) desperately thought and expected he would inherit everything his father had built. Instead, his father strips away from him the chance to own up to his own mistakes for once in his life. I would have loved a storyline where Kendall stays at the scene of the accident, calls the cops, takes responsibility, is so guilty, and used the opportunity to fucking get out of his family’s messed up situation. But no. He stays, he endures, and when he finally breaks free again, it results in this:

A part of me expected Kendall to duck his head in there, with the bathtub full of water, and have a baptism scene that would wipe him of his previous mistakes in a reversal of the accident in the lake. But there was no water. Kendall lays there without getting any absolution and he returns to his old habits.

I don’t know if anyone else has experience with parental figures convinced they know everything and are always right, but if you do, then you know the deepest desire you have as a kid is to both make them proud, tell them to fuck off, build up everything they have, and also destroy it. It’s a paradoxical minefield of love and resentment. You want to wipe away every trace of them to prove you didn’t need them but any failure to do so is taken to be proof that they were right. Kendall’s constant attempts to defeat his father reminded me of that eternal struggle, and his mess ups felt like those lowest of lows. Succession gets so much right about generational trauma, but seeing the amount of arrogance Kendall has in these first episodes kills me on the inside because I just know he’s going to hit a new low and he won’t break free of his father’s hold. He’ll just be stuck in Logan’s grasp forever until Logan dies. It’ll be on Logan’s terms.

[hieromonkcharbel]

“Blessed are the pure in heart: they will see God”

Our purity of heart is always the Magdalene’s purity. We are, all of us, sinners, and the word of God itself condemns us, if we deny it. “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). “If we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his word is not in us” (1 John 1:10).

According to scripture, God declares that we are all sinners. We all need to “wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14). It is the blood of Christ alone that can purify us (1 John 1:7, 9). It is by eating the Body of Christ that we are transformed into this pure flesh.

For me, the great joy of my priesthood, unworthy as I am, and - let’s face it - impure as I am, is to be able nonetheless to offer to God the pure sacrifice of Christ: “and from the many gifts you have given us we offer to you, God of glory and majesty, this holy and perfect sacrifice: the bread of life and the cup of eternal salvation.” The sin in us runs so deep that we cannot liberate ourselves except by dying on the cross of Christ for the sake of the new life of the resurrection.

“Therefore we have been buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4)

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

It is by this means that this wondrous new life, announced by the prophets, is realized in us. It isn’t so much that the law is changed; it is the heart itself that is changed. We receive a new heart, the heart of Christ by the gift of the Holy Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Love. In him we turn with filial confidence to the Father crying, “Abba” in obedient love, and through him we love one another.

Something completely new is born: a new life is given us. The Christian’s purity of heart is Christ’s purity of heart. It is grace, freely given. It comes from afar. It is born from the wounded side of the crucified. It surpasses all our petty efforts, it surpasses even our desires because it is holy with the holiness of God and sets our human hearts on fire. It is an infusing fire that does not tolerate sin, limitations, unlove in us. It consumes, it burns, it purifies by the intensity of its light. “Our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29).

Please understand me: I am not limiting myself to chastity alone. What is of interest here is purity of heart. Interior and exterior chastity, when it is both the grounding and the fruit of charity, is a wondrous song of love to God.

Purity of heart consists in loving conformable with Love, that is to say, conformable with God. Note well: it consists in loving. Too often purity of heart is spoken of as not loving this or that, as if it were some sort of barrier. In addition, there is a danger of too great insistence on “guarding the heart” especially if it is wrongly understood.

To be sure, we are very frail and we need to protect ourselves from our own weakness, cutting ourselves off from situations that might cause our downfall - temptations, etc. Purity of heart involves well-balanced vigilance and an appropriate self-distrust. These are indispensable. Nevertheless, the ideal ought to be affirmative. Our vocation is to love - not to love less, but more. To love, firstly, God. That is clear because we all use our energy to focus our attention on him. But also on our neighbors, humanity, the entire universe, which we discover and love in the true reality of the depths of God. And this love should radiate on the people we are given to meet and walk beside.

Therefore, let us seek to love more deeply, more sincerely, without any thought of return for ourselves, conforming to God, and for the glory of God. But for the love of Christ, by faithfulness to his blood shed for sinners and the redemption of the world, in order not to grieve the Spirit of Christ, who lives in us and who pours out his love in our hearts, let us love with all our hearts, with all our strength, with all our mind. The rest is nothing. This is true purity of heart. . . .

A Carthusian

[bookoformon]

The Book of Moroni, Chapter 8. "The Conference."

As we near the end of the Book of Mormon, I am toning down the amount of drilling in order to allow the Prophet to make his points. There is Gematria present in the first two verses below which expound upon the importance of maintaining few disputations about good and evil in the rearing of small children:

The baptism of little children is an evil abomination—Little children are alive in Christ because of the Atonement—Faith, repentance, meekness and lowliness of heart, receiving the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end lead to salvation. About A.D. 401–21.

1 An epistle of my father Mormon, written to me, Moroni; and it was written unto me soon after my calling to the ministry. And on this wise did he write unto me, saying:

2 My beloved son, Moroni, I rejoice exceedingly that your Lord Jesus Christ hath been mindful of you, and hath called you to his ministry, and to his holy work.

The Values in Gematria are:

v. 1: An Epistle of Mormon, "The Balm of the Oppresed":

The Number is 11193, קיאטג‎, kitterg, "the arraignment."

v. 2: A call to this ministry. The Number is י‎דו‎ו‎, "His Hand, yadav," "know how to perceive."

3 I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.

4 And now, my son, I speak unto you concerning that which grieveth me exceedingly; for it grieveth me that there should disputations rise among you.

5 For, if I have learned the truth, there have been disputations among you concerning the baptism of your little children.

6 And now, my son, I desire that ye should labor diligently, that this gross error should be removed from among you; for, for this intent I have written this epistle.

7 For immediately after I had learned these things of you I inquired of the Lord concerning the matter. And the word of the Lord came to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, saying:

8 Listen to the words of Christ, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Behold, I came into the world not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance; the whole need no physician, but they that are sick; wherefore, little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them; and the law of circumcision is done away in me.

9 And after this manner did the Holy Ghost manifest the word of God unto me; wherefore, my beloved son, I know that it is solemn mockery before God, that ye should baptize little children.

10 Behold I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach—repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall all be saved with their little children.

11 And their little children need no repentance, neither baptism. Behold, baptism is unto repentance to the fulfilling the commandments unto the remission of sins.

12 But little children are alive in Christ, even from the foundation of the world; if not so, God is a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons; for how many little children have died without baptism!

13 Wherefore, if little children could not be saved without baptism, these must have gone to an endless hell.

14 Behold I say unto you, that he that supposeth that little children need baptism is in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity; for he hath neither faith, hope, nor charity; wherefore, should he be cut off while in the thought, he must go down to hell.

15 For awful is the wickedness to suppose that God saveth one child because of baptism, and the other must perish because he hath no baptism.

16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.

17 And I am filled with charity, which is everlasting love; wherefore, all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation.

18 For I know that God is not a partial God, neither a changeable being; but he is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity.

19 Little children cannot repent; wherefore, it is awful wickedness to deny the pure mercies of God unto them, for they are all alive in him because of his mercy.

20 And he that saith that little children need baptism denieth the mercies of Christ, and setteth at naught the atonement of him and the power of his redemption.

21 Wo unto such, for they are in danger of death, hell, and an endless torment. I speak it boldly; God hath commanded me. Listen unto them and give heed, or they stand against you at the judgment-seat of Christ.

22 For behold that all little children are alive in Christ, and also all they that are without the law. For the power of redemption cometh on all them that have no law; wherefore, he that is not condemned, or he that is under no condemnation, cannot repent; and unto such baptism availeth nothing—

23 But it is mockery before God, denying the mercies of Christ, and the power of his Holy Spirit, and putting trust in dead works.

24 Behold, my son, this thing ought not to be; for repentance is unto them that are under condemnation and under the curse of a broken law.

25 And the first fruits of repentance is baptism; and baptism cometh by faith unto the fulfilling the commandments; and the fulfilling the commandments bringeth remission of sins;

26 And the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.

27 Behold, my son, I will write unto you again if I go not out soon against the Lamanites. Behold, the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction except they should repent.

28 Pray for them, my son, that repentance may come unto them. But behold, I fear lest the Spirit hath ceased striving with them; and in this part of the land they are also seeking to put down all power and authority which cometh from God; and they are denying the Holy Ghost.

29 And after rejecting so great a knowledge, my son, they must perish soon, unto the fulfilling of the prophecies which were spoken by the prophets, as well as the words of our Savior himself.

30 Farewell, my son, until I shall write unto you, or shall meet you again. Amen.

So the Prophet concludes the section on who should perform Holy Baptism on whom and when and says "a person who knows of God's Hand very well, who does not perform dead works" is the one who should be entrusted with the Authority of the Holy Ghost. Such a person, like the Spirit Himself would be known as a Comforter, who loves others and gives them hope.

These are the words spoken by Christ in the flesh and He communicates them always through His Spirit. This is what children need. Adults too. When it is time for the dawn of faith in such a great knowledge, and conviction or "an arraignment" is made through the study of the scriptures, the Conference with the Holy Ghost takes place, and in no other way.