#Jesus christ he just saved Theresa

[caduschka]

Still obsessed over the implications of Cronus with no memories being a fundamentally good and helpful person.

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S2E15 (part 3)

Phases

I'm going to start this post with a bit of a rant: Willow asks Buffy if making the first move makes her a slut. What the ever loving fuck! Why was this line included? Was it necessary? How would making the first move make her or anyone a slut? It's such a horrible fucking question. There was no need to phrase it like that. There are better ways of asking if she could make the first move than that. It just caught me off guard. I get that Willow is a bit nervous and new to these things, but come on! It does not make you a slut if you make the first move. You are just clearly showing your interest in a person who hopefully has similar feelings as you and wants to reciprocate them. There is nothing wrong with that. Jesus fucking Christ though.

Yeah, Buffy and pals, you sort of jumped the gun on the whole Theresa thing. There are still vampires roaming around. A werewolf might be high priority right now but you can't assume that it killed her. Also Willow can access coroner's reports, she could have looked it up.

It's good that the werewolf didn't kill Theresa but bad that Angel did because he wants to start his reign of terror against Buffy.

How long does it take for people to go from the coroners office to a funeral home? Theresa has only been dead less that 24 hours and she turns in that time too. Yet, some don't turn until after they are in the ground. Do some vampires wake up in the funeral homes, realise where they are and then go back to sleep so they can have the full newbie vampire experience?

Xander coming in with the save and killing a vampire. I should start keeping a tally of him being actually helpful (I won't that is too much work).

Sir, I hope you have some good ventilation in that van if you're using a bunsen burner to make bullets. Also does a bunsen burner produce enough heat to melt silver? And how much time is passing in this scene because there is no way that he can melt down the silver pour it into the mould, then take it out and it be cold to touch in the space of a few minuets like the scene is suggesting.

Also, it is dark outside Cain's van, which means sundown and moon up. Shouldn't Oz be in wolf mode by now? Because other times in the show he changes as soon as the sun is down, yet here he doesn't change until after Willow gets to his house.

Where did Oz get the chains from and where is he anchoring them to stop himself from getting out and attacking people?

Bad time for angry speeches Will. Oz really is going through some changes and you don't want to be around when it happens.

Giles coming through with the tranquiliser gun.

Willow shooting Oz with her eyes closed, that's pretty good aiming. Her 'I shot Oz' was adorable.

Larry has stopped being an ass. We like to see personal growth.

Is Xander worried that because Larry thinks he is gay that Larry likes him now? Or just that Larry might tell people that he is?

Oz is the loyal type, until season 4.

I'm glad nothing is up to Xander, because then life would be shit.

Oz and Willow talking about their relationship like normal people should do. And they get to have their first kiss. Yay for happy endings.

So, the next episode is one that I do not like. It will not be talked about favourably. And it serves to make me feel even more ick towards Xander.

[lady-knight-]

St Jude

Warning, I relay  a personal story. If you're annoyed or triggered by personal sob stories, not a believer, and not a catholic, you can stop here as you won't  necessarily like it. But if you do: keep on reading, this is important.

  Six months ago, I spotted in the drawer of my night table at my parents’s a letter I kept for reasons I don't even remembered and from years ago. It was a donation ask in favor of Mother's Theresa charity foundation. What caught my attention was the text of a prayer to saint Jude. He was presented as the patron saint of desperate causes and the prayer translated like this:

  "Oh glorious apostle St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the name of the traitor who delivered thy beloved Master into the hands of His enemies has caused thee to be forgotten by many, but the Church honors and invokes thee universally as the patron of hopeless cases--of things despaired of. Pray for me who am so miserable; make use, I implore thee, of that particular privilege accorded thee of bringing visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need, that I may receive the consolations and succor of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations and sufferings, particularly (mention your request), and that I may bless God with thee and all the elect throughout eternity. I promise thee, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, and I will never cease to honor thee as my special and powerful patron, and to do all in my power to encourage devotion to thee. Amen"

I was surprised, to me, the patron saint of desperate causes was Saint Rita. But prior to her  birth, Jude used to be this.  Killed with a club, he was one of the Christ’s cousins. I've then learned he was a victim of his name, too close of "Judas", and fell in obscurity. That's why he's named Thaddeus instead, sometimes.

  Being in dire straits for two years now, the novena caught my attention, and I have started to experience attraction law since three years. So I did not believed it was a coincidence and stated the novena in in October. My present problems come from the fact I don't have any money and it would solve most of them, so I asked for it. In November, I've also learned that Thérèse of Lisieux's relic would come temporary in local churches. I loved to read her story as a kid, and from time to time since she popped up in sometimes surprising circumstances. 

Like this small scapular I received with her photo on, or, when I went on World youth day in Roma. Back from it, my bus meet another bus burnt carcass in a parking. 

It carried others french pilgrims, it caught fire at night, and luckily nobody was hurt. But their stuff burnt to ashes, except perhaps... Someone found a carton folder remains in the fragments, and between two blacken hymn sheets..."Hey look, little Thérèse did not burn!" , showing us her not even blackened  photo.

But it was only at the beginning of last year, caught in a hypochondriac panic (not easy, the pandemic) that I thought back she would give "roses" (gifts) to the living ones. Signs started to pop up. I asked her too better financial days, and since, she pop up constantly, people brought her spontaneously in conversations, I notice her biography or poster in the shop of the abbey where we hear mass with my family, or...On Christmas day, I've noticed in said shop key chains I never saw before. It represented roses and I supposed there was a Virgin Mary engraving or something behind it but no, just roses.

 It was then two months and a half since my novena. To me "visible and speedy help" shall happen within three months. On Christmas day, my parents told us about a sold in their real estate society, and I knew that. What I did not suspect was the my sisters and me would be granted a part of the prize.

  It's roughly the same than my three years savings I've lost in my moving out and fuel oil purchase. And a third of what I wrote on my Secret check from Universe. In addition, my disabled allowance was just renewed for five years instead of just two.  So it works, and now Jude deserve recognition (and Thérèse if you never heard of her). If you are desperate, try the novena, and, to encourage devotion,  explain everyone the difference between Judas and Jude-Thaddeus. Thanks and blessings!

[giftofshewbread]

Why God HAD to Create the Universe

: By David Cogburn     Published on: September 29, 2021

We live in an amazing universe created by God. Its vastness seems infinite and almost more than we can comprehend. But here is a good question: Why did God even create a universe in the first place? God is eternal and lives inside eternity, so why go to the trouble of creating something like our universe? The truth is God “had to.” This article will explain why, but first, let me digress a moment.

As we all know, God is a Trinity God existing as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Just as water can be a solid, liquid and gas helps explain how God can be one God with three essences. We also all know God is a God of love, and this occurs because God “IS” a “Relationship” through the Trinity, and relationship is what brings God His greatest joy. You can only have love if there is free will, which means you cannot have love unless you have the ability not to love.

He enjoys it so much that He decided to create more of it by creating angels to have a personal relationship with Him and with each other. Each angel was created perfect, sinless and holy in heaven. God loves them, and they love Him back, and each one is receiving the “best” God has to offer.

But then the unthinkable happened. Lucifer, God’s greatest angel, decided he, too, wanted to be worshipped like God. He took his eyes off God, put them onto himself, and committed the first sin in the Bible – pride. He rejected what God had to offer. Love is putting others first. Pride is putting yourself first, and Lucifer was powerful enough that his influence with the other angels caused one-third of the angels to also reject what God had to offer. They, too, fell from God’s grace.

God, knowing all things, obviously knew this would occur. It certainly saddened Him to know that His best was not good enough for one-third of His angels, and this appears to be about the time God may have decided to do something “incredibly different.” It’s easy for sinless, holy angels living in heaven with God to know Him and enjoy everything He offers. What would happen if God created a different kind of being to have a relationship with – human beings – whom He knew would sin from the beginning and would not be holy, sinless beings living in His presence and receiving the best He had to offer?

There is a saying in Las Vegas that applies to eternity. What happens in eternity STAYS in eternity. Once one-third of God’s angels fell from His grace inside eternity, there is “no way” for them to ever receive redemption and have their sin forgiven. God’s eternity is a perfect, holy, sinless eternity, and no sin can dwell there. Thus, God had to create a place inside eternity that was separate from where He dwells; this is why He created hell.

The Bible seems to show that once God creates a sentient being like an angel or a human being that He does not allow an eternal “annihilation” type of death to occur where you die and don’t exist anymore. It is an eternal “separation” type of death, which is actually far worse than an annihilation type of death. And since there is no physical death in eternity, there is no way to have “someone” die and pay the price for your sins, like in the case of angels. This is why Jesus said it is better never to have been born than to be born and end up not being saved.

The name of the game for everything is ETERNITY, period. Everything revolves around God, and life is not about some temporary 100-year life span on earth; it is about eternity with God or separated from God. How important is everything we do while alive for one second on earth compared to infinite trillions of years in eternity, and especially WHERE we live in eternity?

So now we get to the question of why God “had to” create a physical universe.

The answer is as simple as the nose on our faces. He had to create TIME, and that’s what the universe does. It creates TIME, which is temporary. Obviously, God does not need time, but when He decided to create human beings –knowing they would fall from His grace at the beginning and that all of humanity from that point forward would be born spiritually dead with a sin nature – God HAD to make sure we were not created and born with a sin nature INSIDE ETERNITY. What happens inside eternity “stays” inside eternity, so He had to provide us “time” to come to know Him and have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus Christ so that when we “do” enter eternity at our physical death, we enter “eternity” either saved through Jesus or not saved without Jesus.

Now, let’s sit back for a moment and try to contemplate what God has actually done. We know from His word that His plan has always been to spend eternity on earth with us human beings, so it appears He creates this incredible infinite-type universe for one main reason – to give us “time” to know Him and be saved, and that would mean this WHOLE UNIVERSE was created for one MAIN reason – for US and just us.

Just about everyone, it seems, believes in extra-terrestrial aliens, and most of them think of them as aliens from other planets. But the best answer is they are demonic and come from another dimension vs other planets. We know from Genesis that at one point, some of God’s fallen angels were allowed to become visible and have relations with human women to produce the Nephilim, the giants of the Old Testament. The Bible says the end times will be as they were in the days of Noah, so demonic beings becoming more and more active these past few decades could easily explain what is going on.

But surely, God would not create a universe as vast as ours for only us, would He? Why not? We know from His word that His plan is for His saved children to spend eternity on “earth” with Him forever, and we also know from His word that not only is this what happens but also when that happens.

After Jesus comes back and rules our planet for His millennial 1,000-year reign, Satan will be released to gather up his great multitude of people who have rejected Christ with their sin nature during His millennial reign. They are destroyed, and then we have God’s great White Throne judgment in which all unbelievers of all ages will be judged and be separated from God forever in hell. It is THEN that the sinful human race is over with. God ends up creating new heavens and a new earth in which the New Jerusalem in heaven comes down onto the new earth. There is no more sin due to no more mortal human beings, and we spend eternity with God just like He planned all along.

But here is another good question: God created perfect, sinless, holy angels inside eternity where there is no sin. Why would God now want to create a whole different kind of being in His image that “is” sinful, cannot live in His presence, will have to live our lives in this sinful universe, and have to fend for ourselves due to sin?

In heaven, God takes care of “everything” for us. We will want for “nothing.” On earth, WE have to provide everything for ourselves. We don’t live in God’s presence, but He’s still here, watches everything we do, and has given us His word, which explains His plan from the beginning to the end. It explains everything we need to know about how to live our lives from every perspective. Best of all, how to come to know Him and have a personal relationship with Him through Jesus and go from being spiritually dead for all eternity to being spiritually alive for all eternity.

Time is a paradox. It is the greatest blessing God ever gave us and also the greatest curse God ever gave us at the same time. With “time,” the greatest blessing is that we can become saved for eternity through Christ. And it’s the greatest curse because “time” destroys “everything.” Nothing in the whole universe can survive time, including the sun, moon and stars, as well as ourselves when we physically die.

What is the greatest difference between us sinful human beings and God’s holy angels? The difference is the GREATEST thing that God has ever done, and this appears to be the MAIN reason why God created us in the first place. It certainly pleases God when His angels serve Him, but angels do not have to have “faith.” You don’t need faith in heaven. There is symmetry in the Bible, and we know that one-third of the “saved” angels fell from God’s grace. And the symmetry is that it also appears from the Bible that approximately one-third of the “lost” human beings will be “saved.”

ALL human beings are born LOST and are spiritually DEAD. It appears all religions think you are saved if you do enough good works. However, you could be a Mother Theresa 1,000 times over, and you are still spiritually DEAD without Jesus, who paid the price to remove ALL of our sins. The name of the game on entering eternity is sin or no sin. It’s as simple as that when it comes to heaven and hell, and ONLY God could remove our sins by sacrificing His Son Jesus on a cross to pay for our sins.

So, what is it that God really wants from us sinful human beings? He wants to get MARRIED. He wants a BRIDE for His Son. God has set up marriage to be the most INTIMATE relationship there is when TWO become ONE in every aspect. Soul mates, as we like to say. This is why the church is called the bride of Christ. God did something far, far greater than most people, including born-again Christians, even have a clue about. It is such a big deal to God when an eternally lost human being comes to know Him through faith in Christ that He decided to share HIMSELF with us.

In John 14, Jesus tells us, “I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.” God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell all born-again believers. We literally become CONNECTED to God in a small way. Think of God as Windows and angels as Mac. Mac is separate from Windows but serves Windows. We are a Windows upgrade or update. We are a part of God now; chew on that a bit. WE ARE A PART OF GOD NOW! As in marriage, we are now TWO become ONE, and this also helps to understand why the Bible says we shall rule over angels in eternity. We have more “rank,” if you will.

We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. God did not share Himself with His angels. It took eternally lost human beings, who never see God visibly and who are not now receiving the best He has to offer, to still come to have faith and love Him through His Son Jesus and become His bride for now and forever. WOW!!! How incredible is that? Of course, we will not truly know what all of this means until we enter heaven.

I used to be concerned that since some angels used their free will and goofed up and sinned, does that mean there’s a chance that I, too, might goof up and sin somehow inside eternity? The answer is that would be impossible for one simple reason: We are connected to God, and just as God would never sin, we will never sin. We will be able to love like God loves, and a myriad of other things too incredible to even know right now. As the Bible says, there is no way we can grasp all of the incredible, wonderful things God has in store for us in eternity. And this is why God wants us to be His ambassadors and share Jesus with others. He wants us to live our lives in a way that shows Jesus to others so that they, too, might desire to come to know Him as Lord and Savior.

One final thought: Let’s look at how God views things from a color perspective. Everything with God represents the color white, which is associated with Holiness, goodness, joy, pleasure, and ALL things good because they come from God, and this is what you have in heaven. God is Light, and white light is a “combination” of ALL colors in the color spectrum, which you would expect with God. In hell, where God does not dwell, everything is the total opposite of what you get with God in heaven, such as darkness because there is no light without God, unholiness, no joy, pain, suffering and torment, and all things bad. Black is the “absence” of ALL colors in the color spectrum. Thus, inside eternity “everything is ALL good with God or ALL bad without God, and it is impossible to combine any part of good with any part of bad.

BUT the universe is Gray. It is the ONLY place located inside “time” that God allows good and evil to co-exist together. Why would God do this? Because the universe with “time” is a sinful universe due to Adam’s sin and our sin natures. And God, knowing He would be invisible to us, does manage to make Himself “visible” in a different way through ALL of His incredible creation and through His holy word in the Bible. “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth” is the perfect acronym because God tells us everything we need to know about Him and about everything else.

As I mentioned a moment ago, God wants to get married and have a bride for His Son. But why would God pick as His bride the sinful human race over His holy angels? The answer is simple – opposites ATTRACT. We humans are one hundred percent the opposite of God in every aspect. Angels are too much like God and thus not a good match for a bride.

God, being a God of love, loves and is attracted to ALL human beings as marriage material. But just like us humans, He, too, is only interested in a soul mate who also loves Him back. Opposite attraction works both ways. God is 100 percent the opposite of us, and you would think we would be attracted to Him for that. But the huge problem is that humans have a sin nature that prevents us from being naturally attracted to God.

But because God has revealed Himself through ALL of His creation and through His word in the Bible, many humans DO see Him and fall in love with Him and want to get married to Him since He has made that possible.

As humans, most all of us desire to grow up, find our soul mate to marry, and hopefully have a wonderful and perfect, loving marriage relationship for the rest of our lives with each other. Our sin nature makes it less than perfect, but it seems that marriages between couples who love the Lord and are connected to Him do much better than those couples who do not know Him. Here is the best news: Our marriage to God “IS” the ONLY perfect, intimate loving relationship that is even possible, and it lasts forever. There is no divorce with God.

I am guessing that many of us have never even thought of our relationship with the Lord in these terms, but we will be officially married to Jesus when He comes for His bride at the rapture, which could be super soon. We will go back to celebrate with Him our 7-day/year wedding feast, and then we come back with Him for His 1,000-year millennial reign. If all of this doesn’t get us excited big time, I don’t know what will.

I hope this article has helped to not only show why God created the universe but also to show why He created us, which is to be a perfect, holy, loving bride to His Son and be joined to Him now and forever. There are simply no words to describe how truly GREAT He is, and the good news for us is that Jesus is coming SOON!

Maranatha, Lord Jesus.

David Cogburn

[radicalreliablerandomness]

(it was 2 long 2 paste in the post lmao)

barry b benson x adam flayman

TW BEE SUICIDE ATTEMPT

adam sat upon the flower, observing the people around him. humans were so fucking stupid, honestly. like who the fuck would think that it was a good idea to put peanut butter and jelly in a sandwich together, when honey would compliment the jelly so much better? idiots. watching as a mother slathered her child with what seemed like way too much suncream, adam could not help but ponder how barry fell for one of these disgusting creatures. and one who looks like theresa may, none the less! barry had bad taste in the bitches if he did say so himself. although that was hippocritical for the bee who was in love with the bee who was in love with a human who looked like fiona from shrek in a human au. wait no, thats unfair on fiona, shes waaaaaayy better looking than that dumpster fire, bitch ass, boris johnson looking hoe with her short ass hair and stupid name. vanessa. ugh- even saying it made adam throw up in his mouth. vanes-augh. [wait can bees even throw up? eh, probably. what would they do if they accidentally ate a bit of a mARMITE otherwise,? that shit be nasty.] cant barry just requite his love and fuck him already? like, this isnt some angsty, 270k+, friends to lovers to enemies to lovers to friends to enemies to lovers fanfiction trope. it isnt 2004 people! sighing, adam ran a hand through his //moist// fuzz and thought about just jumping off of the flower and ending it all. after all, it was a rose, his brother's girlfriends step sister's son was killed by one of those. eh, whats he got to lose? like an alpha male, he triple flipped off of the rose, his small body getting closer to the thorns as every second passed, waiting for them to penetrate him. (ha, shame itd be the roses doing that and not barry, eh? ;))) until they didnt. what the fuck? he was meant to be dead and no longer have to face his unrequited love for his best friend and the fact that his mother was making him go on a vegan diet. (apparently cannabalism 'isnt good for his mental health.' well look where my mental health has gotten me now kAREN.) adams musings were interrupted by a voice. "jesus christ adam what the hell were you thinking?"

barry? barry had saved him? oh. well of course he had, barry was so fucking perfect with his black and yellow stripes and his sexy voice. goddamit, why did he have to have a nice personality too? why couldnt he just be an asshole fuck boy? "adam, can you hear me there buddy?"

buddy? ugh. i just got r/friendzoned.

"ugh yeah barry-buddy- i can hear you"

"great. now wHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING ADAM? YOU COULDVE DIED. DIED! YOU WOULD BE DEAD AND ID NEVER BE ABLE TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH I-" barry broke down into sobs as adam patted his back gently, wondering what barry wanted to tell him.

"barry, its okay- you saved me. im here now and you can say whatever you wish."

"adam i- i- fuck."

"take your time, love. its okay"

barry looked at adam strangely as he realised what he had just said. LOVE? SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING?

"adam i love you."

adam waited; and waited; and waited. this had to be a joke. a cruel friendzoning or a shout of no homo afterwards. but barry was silent, looking everywhere but at him.

"-and" barry continued, finally locking his eyes with his sunlight struck orbs of amber.

"i know you love me too."

adam stared at barry, transfixed on the bee in front of him, the bee that he loved. how did barry know? apart from the slip up a second ago, he had done a pretty good job at keeping his emotions hidden. he was just a dude chilling in a honey tub, five feet away from barry because he wasnt gay. then it hit him, like a truck hitting a fox.

"sonofabitch you read my dream journal."

barry looked at him sheepishly, with guilt ridden eyes.

"well you left your diary at my house. and i read those pages, you really love me baby..."

adam coughed, trying to hide a splutter at the fact that barry had just called him baby. this bee was going to be the death of him.

"ha, yes-well. i- it is true. i do love you barry."

barrys face immediately broke out into a grin as he brought adam into a tight hug, clinging onto adam as if he were going to discintegrate, like voldemort in the deathly hallows movie despite the fact that in the books he just died like a normal fucking person. thanks hollywood. anyway, adam buried his face in barrys fuzz, finally at peace.

"waIT!" he screamed suddenly, pulling away.

"what?" barry answered, looking slightly scared for his life.

"what about vanessa?"

last time hed seen barry hed been infatuated with the she-demon, wtf happened? was barry fucking with him. he didnt want that. barry should be fucking him not fucking with him. what if-

"oh her? yeah she poured milk before her cereal. crazy bitch" barry stated, wrapping his fingers in adams fuzz.

adam giggled, relieved that this wasnt just a joke.

"yeah, i always got those kinda vibes from her."

he turned to see barry smiling softly up at him.

"yeah, i should have realised sooner."

and with that he was back in barrys arms, never wanting to leave.

IM CRINGEING BUT AT LEAST IM NOT A COWARD

“YOU READ MY DREAM JOURNAL” I AM ACTUALLY DYING OF LAUGHTER NOW THANK YOU FOR YOUR BRAVERY KIND SIR THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST PART OF THE DAY OH MYGOD I CANT ALSO PLEASE DONT BASH PB AND J ITS AMAZING 

[r4tjam]

here is my sin 😔✌

adam sat upon the flower, observing the people around him. humans were so fucking stupid, honestly. like who the fuck would think that it was a good idea to put peanut butter and jelly in a sandwich together, when honey would compliment the jelly so much better? idiots. watching as a mother slathered her child with what seemed like way too much suncream, adam could not help but ponder how barry fell for one of these disgusting creatures. and one who looks like theresa may, none the less! barry had bad taste in the bitches if he did say so himself. although that was hippocritical for the bee who was in love with the bee who was in love with a human who looked like fiona from shrek in a human au. wait no, thats unfair on fiona, shes waaaaaayy better looking than that dumpster fire, bitch ass, boris johnson looking hoe with her short ass hair and stupid name. vanessa. ugh- even saying it made adam throw up in his mouth. vanes-augh. [wait can bees even throw up? eh, probably. what would they do if they accidentally ate a bit of a mARMITE otherwise,? that shit be nasty.] cant barry just requite his love and fuck him already? like, this isnt some angsty, 270k+, friends to lovers to enemies to lovers to friends to enemies to lovers fanfiction trope. it isnt 2004 people! sighing, adam ran a hand through his //moist// fuzz and thought about just jumping off of the flower and ending it all. after all, it was a rose, his brother's girlfriends step sister's son was killed by one of those. eh, whats he got to lose? like an alpha male, he triple flipped off of the rose, his small body getting closer to the thorns as every second passed, waiting for them to penetrate him. (ha, shame itd be the roses doing that and not barry, eh? ;))) until they didnt. what the fuck? he was meant to be dead and no longer have to face his unrequited love for his best friend and the fact that his mother was making him go on a vegan diet. (apparently cannabalism 'isnt good for his mental health.' well look where my mental health has gotten me now kAREN.) adams musings were interrupted by a voice. "jesus christ adam what the hell were you thinking?"

barry? barry had saved him? oh. well of course he had, barry was so fucking perfect with his black and yellow stripes and his sexy voice. goddamit, why did he have to have a nice personality too? why couldnt he just be an asshole fuck boy? "adam, can you hear me there buddy?"

buddy? ugh. i just got r/friendzoned.

"ugh yeah barry-buddy- i can hear you"

"great. now wHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING ADAM? YOU COULDVE DIED. DIED! YOU WOULD BE DEAD AND ID NEVER BE ABLE TO TELL YOU HOW MUCH I-" barry broke down into sobs as adam patted his back gently, wondering what barry wanted to tell him.

"barry, its okay- you saved me. im here now and you can say whatever you wish."

"adam i- i- fuck."

"take your time, love. its okay"

barry looked at adam strangely as he realised what he had just said. LOVE? SHIT. WHAT THE FUCK WAS HE THINKING?

"adam i love you."

adam waited; and waited; and waited. this had to be a joke. a cruel friendzoning or a shout of no homo afterwards. but barry was silent, looking everywhere but at him.

"-and" barry continued, finally locking his eyes with his sunlight struck orbs of amber.

"i know you love me too."

adam stared at barry, transfixed on the bee in front of him, the bee that he loved. how did barry know? apart from the slip up a second ago, he had done a pretty good job at keeping his emotions hidden. he was just a dude chilling in a honey tub, five feet away from barry because he wasnt gay. then it hit him, like a truck hitting a fox.

"sonofabitch you read my dream journal."

barry looked at him sheepishly, with guilt ridden eyes.

"well you left your diary at my house. and i read those pages, you really love me baby..."

adam coughed, trying to hide a splutter at the fact that barry had just called him baby. this bee was going to be the death of him.

"ha, yes-well. i- it is true. i do love you barry."

barrys face immediately broke out into a grin as he brought adam into a tight hug, clinging onto adam as if he were going to discintegrate, like voldemort in the deathly hallows movie despite the fact that in the books he just died like a normal fucking person. thanks hollywood. anyway, adam buried his face in barrys fuzz, finally at peace.

"waIT!" he screamed suddenly, pulling away.

"what?" barry answered, looking slightly scared for his life.

"what about vanessa?"

last time hed seen barry hed been infatuated with the she-demon, wtf happened? was barry fucking with him. he didnt want that. barry should be fucking him not fucking with him. what if-

"oh her? yeah she poured milk before her cereal. crazy bitch" barry stated, wrapping his fingers in adams fuzz.

adam giggled, relieved that this wasnt just a joke.

"yeah, i always got those kinda vibes from her."

he turned to see barry smiling softly up at him.

"yeah, i should have realised sooner."

and with that he was back in barrys arms, never wanting to leave.

OMFG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR OWN BEE MOVIE FANFIC IM- 

this is legendary i’m crying laughing oh my god 😂😭😭

[romancatholicreflections]

22nd January >> “Never Losing By Never Losing Hope” ~ One Bread, One Body - Daily Reflection for Roman Catholics: "Like a sure and firm anchor, that hope extends beyond the veil." – Hebrews 6:19.

In the Christian life, the old saying is true: "All's well that ends well." Some people are like the good thief who probably lived a terribly sinful life but repented moments before his death (Lk 23:42-43). Others may be like Judas Iscariot, who spent every day with Jesus for three years, but in the end betrayed Christ and committed suicide.

Will each of us persevere in our faith? "Our desire is that each of you show the same zeal to the end" (Heb 6:11). We persevere because we hope. "In hope we were saved" (Rm 8:24). The Lord gives us hope by His promise and His oath (Heb 6:13, 16). "By two things that are unchangeable, in which He could not lie, we who have taken refuge in Him might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope which is placed before us" (Heb 6:18). Not only does faith come through hearing God's Word (see Rm 10:17) but also hope comes by believing God's Word. Believing God's promise and oath, we hold on to hope and refuse to let go until we are home in heaven with our Lord forever. We persevere because we "hope so." "Seize the hope" (Heb 6:18).

PRAYER: Father, fulfill my hopes by pouring out Your love in my heart through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

PROMISE: “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just." – Psalm 111:1.

PRAISE: Believing in the Bible and the Church's teaching saved Theresa from succumbing to despair.

[pamphletstoinspire]

The Church's Year - INSTRUCTION ON THE FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH - March 19

ST. JOSEPH of the royal blood of David, was a mechanic in Nazareth of Galilee, where he was espoused to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The gospel praises him very highly, calling him a just man, chosen by God from among men to be the foster-father of Christ who was subject to him as He was to His blessed Mother. The history of his childhood and youth has not been preserved, and of it, as of the rest of his life, we know only that which is related by the Evangelists. As we do not read that he was present at the marriage in Cana, it is supposed that before the commencement of Christ’s ministry he died a happy death in the arms of Jesus and Mary.

The Introit of the Mass reads: The just shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow up like the cedar of Libanus: planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God. It is good to give praise to the Lord: and to sing to Thy name, O Most High! (Ps. xci.) Glory be to the Father &c.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH. Vouchsafe, O Lord, that we may be helped by the merits of Thy most holy Mother’s spouse: that what of ourselves we can not obtain may be given to us through his intercession. Who &c.

LESSON. (Ecclus. xlv. i—6.) He was beloved of God and men, whose memory is in benediction. He made him like the saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he appeased monsters. He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments in the sight of his people, and showed him his glory. He sanctified him in his faith and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh. For he heard him and his voice, and brought him into a cloud. And he gave him commandments before his face, and a law of life and instruction.

APPLICATION. What is here said of Moses, may justly be applied to St. Joseph, for which reason the Church chooses this lesson for his festival day. That St. Joseph was beloved of God, is shown by his being chosen the foster-father of the Son of God, Jesus Christ; his memory is in benediction, and how could it be otherwise than blessed. He was the foster-father of Him who from the commencement of the world, as its Creator, blessed all creatures, and who, by His death, as Redeemer, procured blessings and graces for us who, on account of our sins, deserved the curse of God. God has placed St. Joseph with the saints, and glorified him before all kings, for he was not only of royal blood, but he was foster-father to the King of kings. His humility, his purity and his faithful love of Mary enabled him while on earth to hear the tender voice of Jesus; God has also brought him into a cloud, that is, taken him up to heaven, where he now sees Him face to face, and is a most powerful intercessor for man.

GOSPEL (Matt. i. 18—21.) WHEN Mary, the mother of Jesus, was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Whereupon Joseph, her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Why was the Blessed Virgin espoused to St. Joseph?

St. Jerome gives the following answer to this question: that by Joseph’s descent from the house of David it might be established that Jesus and Mary belonged to the same line, for in the Old Law a woman was not permitted to marry out of her own tribe, when there were no male heirs; that Mary might not be stoned to death, as she would have been, if found unmarried with child; that Christ might not be regarded as an illegitimate child and be, therefore, despised and repudiated; and that, as St. Ignatius the Martyr says, the birth of Christ thus might remain concealed from the devil who, therefore, believed that Christ was not born of a virgin, but of a wife; finally, that Mary might have consolation and assistance, as at the time of the flight with Jesus into Egypt.

Why did St. Joseph wish to leave Mary privately?

Because he was not instructed concerning the divine mysteries, and could not from her pure, blameless life understand Mary’s condition, and was too charitable to think or assert evil of her, or put her to shame.

Why did not Mary reveal these mysteries to him?

Because of the humility which she loved so much that she would rather be suspected of evil than reveal the great grace which God had shown her; besides she also trusted that God Himself would care for her and make her innocence manifest.

ON THE VENERATION OF ST. JOSEPH

ST. Alphonsus Liguori writes that the example of Christ who so highly venerated St. Joseph while on earth, and who during his whole life was obedient to him, should suffice to inspire all hearts with devotion to this great saint; and he, whom the King of kings placed so high, indeed deserves especial veneration from man. To encourage this veneration, St. Theresa wrote: “I do not remember that I ever prayed to St. Joseph for anything which he did not procure for me; the great graces God has given me through him, and the many dangers of body and soul from which he has preserved me, are indeed truly wonderful. It seems as if God has given to other saints the grace to assist in some special manner those who seek their intercession; but of this glorious saint my experience is that he assists in every need. The Lord appears to show by this, that as He was subject to him on earth, so in heaven he does every thing which St. Joseph requests of Him. Others, whom I have advised to have recourse to him, have experienced the same thing. I would gladly so advise every one.” “I have a great devotion to this saint,” continues St. Alphonsus, “because I have so often experienced that he can obtain so much from God. For many years I have been accustomed to ask a special grace on his festival, and my prayer is always answered. As we must all die, we should all have a special devotion to St. Joseph, for all Catholics consider him as the patron of the dying, who assists in the hour of death those who have venerated him, and this for three reasons: because Jesus loves Him, not only as a friend, but as His father, on which account he is a more powerful intercessor than any other saint; because St. Joseph has a special power against evil spirits who attack us in the hour of death; for since he freed our Saviour from the snares of Herod, God has given him the power to guard the dying from the attacks of the devil; lastly the assistance which Jesus and Mary rendered him in the hour of death, gives him the right to procure a sweet and holy death for his servants. If they, therefore, invoke him in the hour of death, he will not only aid them himself, but procure aid for them from Jesus and Mary.” Should not these words of so great a saint encourage us daily to honor St. Joseph? Should not this hope of being assisted in the hour of death by Jesus, Mary and Joseph, move us to devotion to the foster-father of Christ?

PRAYER TO ST. JOSEPH. O St. Joseph, Mary’s pure bridegroom, who because of thy purity and love of justice wast chosen for the foster-father of Jesus Christ, do not leave me, I beseech thee, in my neces¬sities and cares; ask for me the grace to live a just and pure life like thine, and grant, that I may obtain the happiness of dying, like thee, in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Amen.

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

10/9/2020 DAB Chronological Transcription

Matthew 12:1-21, Mark 3 and Luke 6

Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible Chronological, I'm China. Today is the 9th day of October, welcome. So great to be here with you guys today. So great to be with you guys today. Today we are in the book of Matthew, chapter 12, verses 1 through 21, Mark 3 and Luke 6. And we are continuing on with the New Living translation. Commentary:

So much goodness in today's scripture to impact, but really the beatitudes, man, that always gets me because I feel like it's like there's no way that you could have left that speaking and, like, not walked away, transformed, like, there's just no way. And so I love so many different things, but Jesus is like very clear about it, he's very clear about what to do. And he's even saying, like, look, I'm aware that this is what like the standard was. I'm aware that this is how things were. But we're having a new standard and this is what life is now going to look like. This is now the standard for believers and Christ followers. And I think definitely raised some eyebrows. I think it definitely ruffled some feathers. But I also know that it really transformed and changed people's hearts. How could it not in listening to Jesus speak about what the kingdom is going to look like and the expectation of believers? And I just think that it's so good and it's so powerful. And I love how Jesus, he corrected people's hearts like he wasn't interested in a fight. He wasn't interested in being right, even though he clearly was. You know, there's not a question about that. But he wasn't an arrogant man. Like he wasn't like, I need to be right and you need to bow before me right now. Like, that was not who he is. Instead, he came to really fulfill the law and correct people's hearts and say, hey, I'm actually saving you from this way of thinking. I'm coming to save you and provide a new way to the father, one that you've never had access to before. And it's gonna be good. And I know you don't understand what's going on right now, but soon you will.

Prayer: 

And so father, I just thank you for your goodness and your kindness that follows us all of our days, that from the moment that we were formed in our mother's womb to this moment right now, I thank you that your goodness has always been there. I thank you, God, that you are a man of your word. You are a man of integrity and of love and kindness and tenderness. A man who was willing to die for what he believed in, to die for the people that he loved. And Jesus, I just thank you so much for your life. What a beautiful life you have showed us and what's available to us to walk in. And Lord I pray that our eyes be so awake, awakened to just the purity of your spirit and just the kindness of your nature. That we'd be forever transformed and changed by it. And Lord we just thank you for who you are. We love you and we praise you. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Community Prayer Line:

Hi, this is Theresa from Ohio. I just wanted to call in and say to Daniel Kingdom Seeker, I believe it is, wow, what an amazing gift you've been given. Your voice is beautiful. That was a beautiful song sung today. I just want to say that and wish everyone a blessed weekend. Bye. So, DABC family, this is Alaska Mom on October 2nd. And I would like to let Rush know, who was a first time caller, that I have definitely got him in my prayers, along with so many others. But he was commenting on, Tony, the Narrator's story about his children being taken away. And Rush is a foster parent and wants to adopt the daughter that he has, the little girl that he has. And it looks like the the girl may be going back to her birth family and he's not sure if that's the best. He wants what's best for the child. And I can understand that he does have some concerns, but he is just praying for God's will. And that's what I pray that God's will will be will be done, whether it is to place the child back with their birth family or if not, that Rush would be able to adopt. But whatever happens, I just pray that the best for the child is is taken into account. And Rush I just ask that God's peace comes over you. And I would also just like to pray Romans 12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. Hello, everybody. This is Carmen from Germany, and I want to congratulate Ben and China on their pregnancy. This is so exciting. I'm so happy for you. And I just want to say congratulations. Have a wonderful pregnancy. You just radiate through through the message that you gave us and also to Brian and Jill on becoming grandparents. Way. This is wonderful. Anyway, I was just listening to the community prayer on September 26th and I keep listening to prayer after prayer and praying with them and being able to relate to so many of them. And I keep thinking, well, I'm going to call him right after I listen to this. I'm going to call in and because somebody just really struck me with the need that really just touched me to pray for them. But, you know, just I mean, it's a huge list. There's so many people I can't list them all for. The last one I just listened to was from a woman named Adrian from Washington, and her request was just praying for her, for her marriage well her marriage is basically over at this point. She said that her husband filed for divorce and she was not going to fight with him anymore or wasn't fighting any more. She had fought for her marriage and that she was just. Yeah, satisfied, I guess. I don't know what the word is knowing that God is in control of everything. And that just so resonated with me because I'm in exactly the same situation. My husband filed for divorce. I haven't seen him in since the day he walked out a couple of years ago, but I've become stronger through it. That was something Brian had told us a couple months ago, that we should pray for strength and I have become stronger. I'm not fighting and I'm confident that God is in control of all of it. And that brings me joy. So I...

[live4thelord]

Cardinal Sarah’s Guide to the New Counter-Reformation

MICHAEL WARREN DAVIS

In 1577, St. John of the Cross was taken prisoner by a group of Carmelites from Toledo who were opposed to the reforms of the Order he was undertaking with St. Teresa of Ávila. For eight or nine months, he was held in a six-by-ten-foot cell. The ceiling was so low that John (not a tall man) could hardly stand up. His one tunic was constantly soaked with blood from the frequent scourgings. The food they gave him was so bad that he suspected his guards were trying to poison him; he would say an Act of Love with every bite to steel himself against calumny.

Yet it was here that he wrote the Spiritual Canticle and parts of his masterpiece, Dark Night of the Soul. He bore captivity and torture with such love, patience, and determination that the older Carmelites called him “the coward”. The younger monks—not yet poisoned by the decadence and factionalism of the 16th- century Church—wept at John’s courage in the face of suffering. “This is a saint,” they whispered among themselves.

The most moving story, in my opinion, comes near the end of his confinement. John’s spiritual daughter, St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross—inexplicably known even to Catholics by her secular name, Edith Stein—recalls it in The Science of the Cross:

Prior Maldonado [the “Calced” leader] came to John’s prison cell accompanied by two religious. The prisoner was so weak that he could hardly move. Thinking his jailer had entered, he did not move [to stand] up. The prior poked him with his foot and asked why he did not stand up in his presence. As John begged pardon, saying he had not known who was there, Padre Maldonado asked, “What were you thinking about since you were so absorbed?” [St. John replied,] “I was thinking that tomorrow is the feast of Our Lady and that it would be a great consolation for me if I could say Mass.”

(It’s said that the Virgin appeared to him the next day and showed him how to pick the lock. Talk about a mother’s love!)

It has become common now to say that the Church faces her greatest crisis since the Protestant Reformation. We should remember that a very different priest—Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar—had a very different response to the corruption in the Church: he accused the Pope of being the Antichrist and attacked magisterial teaching, including the dogma of the Real Presence. He defied the bishops, incurred excommunication, and founded a brand-new church to propagate his teachings.

John knew there can be no authentic reform in the absence of obedience to one’s lawful superiors—even superiors as cruel and corrupt as Prior Maldonado. That’s why John is remembered as the greatest saint of the Counter-Reformation, and Luther as the most dangerous heretic in Christian history.

I thought of John as I read Robert Cardinal Sarah’s new book, The Day is Now Far Spent. It is dedicated to two very different pontiffs: Pope Benedict XVI (a “peerless architect of rebuilding the Church”) and Pope Francis (a “faithful and devoted son of Saint Ignatius”). Yet it is Sarah himself, I think, who lays out the finest blueprint we’re likely to see for ecclesial reform—or perhaps I should say counter-reform.

Today, the word “reform” drips with innuendo, just as it did in the time of St. John of the Cross. It signifies a desire to change the permanent teachings of the Church as a solution to institutional corruption. It uses a temporal crisis as an excuse to propagate spiritual errors. It uses moral confusion to camouflage innovation. It can also encourage disobedience in the name of theological purity: we shouldn’t forget that the original Protestants viewed themselves as conservatives.

Just because a man opposes the Maldonados in the Church it doesn’t make him a John of the Cross. He may very well be a Martin Luther.

I have no doubt that Cardinal Sarah, for one, is a John of the Cross. Like the Mystical Doctor, he takes seriously St. Paul’s warning to the Ephesians: “For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ultimately, the source of the present crisis—whether “present” means the 16th century or the 21st—isn’t new: it’s original sin.

Ultimately, then, the solution isn’t novel either: it’s the pursuit of greater holiness. As our Enemy is sin itself, the easiest sins to do battle against are those festering in our own souls. As St. Francis of Assisi put it, “the soldier of Christ must begin with victory over himself.”

The Day Is Now Far Spent is a manual for the new Counter-Reformation. As such, it’s as concerned with addressing the false solutions to the crisis as it is with the crisis itself—with refuting the Luthers as well as the Maldonados. His Eminence warns that,

No human effort, however talented or generous it may be, can transform a soul and give it the life of Christ. Only the grace and the Cross of Jesus can save and sanctify souls and make the Church grow. Multiplying human efforts, believing that methods and strategies have any efficacy in themselves, will always be a waste of time.

Cardinal Sarah isn’t recommending we ignore the crisis. On the contrary. “Let us not be afraid to say that the Church needs profound reform and that this happens through our conversion.” (Emphasis added.) “Go,” he commands; “repair by your faith, by your hope, and by your charity.”

❧

“Wait a minute, Davis,” I hear some of you saying; “This doesn’t sit right with me. What about Bergoglio? What about Pachamama and the German bishops’ ‘synodal journey’? What about the Viganò report and the unanswered dubia? Are you saying we should ignore all of this and just say the rosary?”

Well, the rosary is certainly a good place to start—and a good place to end. It’ not a bad place to stop along the way either.

It is true that no crisis has ever been solved by mere inaction. But, once we’ve resolved to act, the question becomes, How do we act most effectively? Cardinal Sarah’s answer: prayer. His book is fundamentally about the efficacy of grace.

Those who follow the daily meditations of another Discalced Carmelite, Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen’s Divine Intimacy, may remember the reflection from two Wednesdays ago on apostolic prayer. As Fr. Gabriel reminds us,

We can never be certain at all that our prayers will be answered according to our expectation, for we do not know if what we ask is conformable to God’s will; but when it is a question of apostolic prayer which asks for grace and the salvation of souls, it is a very different matter. In fact, when we pray for the aims of the apostolate, we are fitting into the plan prearranged by God Himself from all eternity, that plan for the salvation of all men which God desires to put into action infinitely more than we do; therefore, we cannot doubt the efficacy of our prayer. Because of this effectiveness, apostolic prayer is one of the most powerful means of furthering the apostolate.

For “if God has willed the distribution of grace in the world to depend upon the prayers of men,” then we can render no better service to the Church than to set about diligently distributing these graces, teaching others how to do so, and encouraging them in their efforts.

By the same token, the Enemy would be most gratified if we came to value our own “methods and strategies” above Our Lord’s. Better yet, we could distract others. We could join the secular, anti-Catholic media in amplifying the corruption within the Church, thereby leading others to become scandalized. (Nearly 40 percent of U.S. Catholics have considered leaving the Church over clerical sex abuse.) We could cause our fellow Catholics to lose faith in our spiritual fathers. (“Those who make sensational announcements of change and rupture are false prophets,” Cardinal Sarah charges.)

Our Blessed Lord’s strategy for reform is quite simple: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Everything else is idle noise.

Of course, Cardinal Sarah isn’t suggesting we ignore the crisis in the Church. On the contrary, he writes: “Let us not be afraid to say that the Church needs profound reform and that this happens through our conversion.” Those last three words are crucial: through our conversion. “We do not reform the Church by division and hatred,” he warns; “We reform the Church when we start by changing ourselves!”

Where should our conversion lead us? To a deeper faith in Christ, as opposed to a prideful faith in our own schemes. What do we need to change in ourselves? Anything that separates us from Him. He attacks the spiritual and moral roots of the rot—roots that spread far wider than the Vatican and go further back than 2013.

At the heart of all modern corruption and decadence—both within and without the Church—is the problem of materialism. As Cardinal Sarah states rather movingly, “The supernatural is swallowed up in the desert of the natural.” This is why the real solution to the present crisis—namely, prayer and fasting—seems so quaint, perhaps even naïve. It’s as though we can’t tell the difference between an image of St. Michael armed for battle and one of Bouguereau’s putti.

The most obvious manifestation of this decadence, this pervasive materialism, is the smartphone. His Eminence asks us to consider how much time we spend “absorbed by the images, lights, [and] ghosts” it offers. He calls the ubiquitous screen “an eternal illusion, a little prison cell.” The cardinal warns that these devices

steal silence, destroy the richness of solitude, and trample on intimacy. It often happens that they snatch us away from our loving life with God to expose us to the periphery, to what is external to us in the midst of the world.

(By the way, that goes for tablets, computers, and televisions as well.)

Can we bring ourselves to get rid of our devices, deactivate our social media accounts, and dedicate those liberated hours to deepening our relationship with God? Can we accept that the Church will only grow bigger and stronger as we ourselves become smaller and meeker? Can we trust Christ enough to take Him up on His offer to cease carrying our burden and rest? Are we humble enough to admit that our burden is too heavy for us to carry, and to take up His easy yoke instead?

Martin Luther said No, and went on to appoint himself reformer of the Church. In his arrogance and disobedience, that one friar wounded our Holy Mother more grievously than all the Maldonados put together.

John of the Cross stood by the Church. He cleaned her wounds with the tears he wept over sins—most especially his own. He nourished her with his fasting. He strengthened her with his suffering. He kept her company in the dark night, even when Our Lord withdrew His sweet consolation. It was his patience, humility, and obedience—even towards Maldonado—that won the wicked prior’s monks to his cause.

“If you think that your priests and bishops are not saints,” Cardinal Sarah writes, “then be one for them.” Today, there’s only one Carmelite monastery in Toledo, and it’s Discalced.

There will be no shortage of Luthers in this generation. But, with The Day Is Now Spent, we know there’s at least one John of the Cross in our midst.

Cardinal Sarah's Guide to the New Counter-Reformation - Crisis Magazine

[backseatpope]

Praying For Your Nation???

A helpful observation for praying Christians in a time of political uncertainty ... 1 Timothy 2 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all ... “ I've heard people get tied up in knots and end up praying for God's will in terms of their political opinions, based on this verse, or other people leaning over backwards to not pray their opinion and end up not knowing what to say. And I’m one of them!

So, let’s note what it instructs us to pray for, and what it doesn’t.

Firstly, what we are to pray for?

Who?

a) all men (this was written in an even more male dominated culture than ours, so we can translate that to 'all people'). This puts our prayer in the context of praying for all levels of society right from the start.

b) Including Kings (as above, include Queens!) and all in authority - Presidents, Prime Ministers, etc - because they are still in that wider context and are normal fallible humans like the rest of us, so they need prayer, grace, wisdom, guidance, just like 'us'.

This is because like us, they get it wrong, make mistakes, misunderstand things, have the incomplete picture, do their best, cheat, lie, do good things with bad motives, do bad things with good motives, try to get it right ...... ...... in fact, they are all over the shop with their choices, life decisions and motives, just like us, because they are normal fallible fallen humans too. 

Why?

c) So that we (all of us) can live quiet normal peaceful lives.

d) And because God likes this when it happens.

e) It's not automatic or else we wouldn't have to pray for it.

For what end result?

f) The reason for this peaceful context that God likes is that 'He desires all men to be saved'.

In other words, a peaceful contented existence is the best one for us to demonstrate Jesus's values in normal society, and for people to be able to think through Jesus's life, death, resurrection and teaching, and carefully decide to follow him too. So pray for that.

Now let’s consider what isn't in there:

There is no instruction to pray about or for or against specific policies or decisions.

Just pray for the people at the top. 

They are like us. 

They have a difficult job which can affect the lives of loads of other people, and we are to pray for them - whether we agree with, disagree with, like or dislike any of their choices or policies. 

Pray for them so that our society can run peacefully. 

They will make mistakes, like us. 

Still pray for them anyway, just like we would want people to pray for us when we get it wrong. 

We are also not told to pray for our nation to be successful compared to other nations, or for a revelation of God's plan for our nation, or for guidance for our nation. 

In fact, in the New Covenant we are now predominantly defined as in His Kingdom, and strangers journeying through this realm as citizens of another Kingdom, followers of another King. 

His people in all nations are called primarily to be in His Kingdom, even though we will have natural patriotic allegiances to our current home and so it's good to pray for our leaders and for peace 'here'. 

The only places in the New Testament that nations are mentioned, it's because God wants His message and love taken to all nations (or more accurately ‘peoples’ or ethnic groupings), so that in the end all nationalities will be gathered to celebrate Him and to live in peace in His New Creation.

God seems to love people and peoples, and wants to bring them into His Kingdom to live how Jesus taught (The Great Commission), but in a New Covenant context, nations are just the locations where people and peoples are placed, whereas there is no real focus on the national identity of independent states.

So I will carry my human national identity into eternity alongside people from all other nations under the Sun.

But there is no sense that God has a plan for our nation or any nation, and prayers to this end are usually lifted out of an Old Testament context, based on verses that are part of the story of that one nation and God's dealings with them, but in a story where the goal, the aim, is to bless every family on earth, based on the promises to Abraham.

I genuinely think that there's no New Testament mandate to pray for or against specific policies, or to ask God to reveal or coerce us as a nation into His plans, because His Kingdom doesn't work like that.

Just pray for peace.

For The Good News.

For the imperfect people at the top (like Donny and Theresa).

For His Kingdom to be seen in our lives.

And avoid the temptation to pray for 'my' choice of policies based on a mistaken notion of God's plan for any nation.

Live in the New Covenant.

Follow Him and His Kingdom.

Live out His Kingdom values. 

Love your nation.

Pray and work for peace.

I think if we all did this, it would remove the pressure to feel like we have to know the right policies to pray for.

[shekeepsthebees]

A repudiation of the Hahn’s Rome Sweet Home by Owen Wood, 2009

Rome Sweet Home (Roman Catholicism)

     In contrast to Alexander Hislop's "The Two Babylons" (Pagan Influence in Catholicism), the book "Rome Sweet Home" is quite sympathetic to Roman Catholicism. "Rome Sweet Home" is the first-person account by Scott Hahn and his wife, Kimberly, of their conversion from the Presbyterian Church to the Roman Catholic Church. As a young adult, Hahn "experienced a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit." He developed strong "anti-Catholic convictions" because of his strong belief that the Bible taught "sola fide," justification by faith alone, whereas Roman Catholics believed that they were saved by their works. He says on page 6, "Let's face it, anti-Catholicism can be a very reasonable thing. If the wafer Catholics worship is not Christ (and I was convinced it was not), then it is idolatrous and blasphemous to do what Catholics do in bowing before and worshiping the Eucharist." He cited many "errors and superstitions" in the Roman Catholic Church, including infant baptism, and he became convinced "that the covenant was the key for unlocking the whole Bible".

It is important to explain here the "sola" terminology used by Hahn. Martin Luther taught a doctrine he coined as "sola fide" which is the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and one he also coined "sola scriptura" which is the doctrine that state that the Scriptures are the Christian's sole authority, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as opposed to extra-biblical divine authority of a pope, a church, or tradition. It seems that when pressed to support Roman Catholic doctrine from scripture, many feel the need to discredit Luther's "sola" doctrines. From a Roman Catholic perspective, Luther seems to be viewed as the person who divided and ruined the Roman Catholic Church, so it becomes necessary to find a flaw in Luther's credibility. Hahn's first revelation that the Roman Catholic Church might not be entirely wrong occurred when Kimberly convinced him that contraception was wrong. Meanwhile, he routinely engaged in late-night discussions with peers "debating hard doctrines..." After "acquiring some skills in Greek and Hebrew", he became convinced that "with the Holy Spirit and Sacred Scripture we could reinvent all the wheels, if need be." Hahn says that he has been blessed "with very deep friendships with men and women who were really serious about opening up their minds..."

Justification by Faith Alone

Hahn says, "... I discovered that nowhere did Saint Paul ever teach that we were justified by faith alone. Sola fide was unscriptural!" This seems to have been based on James 2:24, "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone." I submit that are several problems with this reasoning.

The first problem is the common misinterpretation of the passage in James, and Roman Catholics are not alone in misunderstanding it. This is referring to the verification of our justification before men, not before God. Although God saves us by grace through faith alone, the evidence of our salvation before men is our conduct.

Also, one of the basic principles of hermeneutics (interpretation) is that a doctrine cannot be based upon only a single scripture. The doctrine must be substantiated by other passages in the Bible. Even if Hahn's interpretation of James 2:24 was correct, it would be supported by other proof texts. Even if it wasn't, the best case would be that this doctrine wasn't addressed elsewhere in scripture. The worst case would be that it disagreed with existing proof texts on this subject.

However, if there is one message that is clearly repeated throughout the Bible, it is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Romans Chapters 3 through 5 and Galatians Chapters 2 through 5 are dedicated to this doctrine, and it is explicitly stated in many more scriptures (Acts 16:31; Romans 1:17; Romans 3:22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28; Romans 4:3,5,9, 11-13, 16-20, 24; Romans 5:1, 2, 21; Romans 9:30, 32; Romans 10:4, 9-14; Romans 11:20; Romans 15:13; 1 Corinthians 1:21; 2 Corinthians 6:1; Galatians 2:16,20; Galatians 3:6-9, 14, 22, 24, 26; Galatians 5:5-6; Ephesians 1:13, 19; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 3:9; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12; Hebrews 3:19; 1 John 5:1, 10-11, 13).

We cannot begin to cover all the proof texts here, but it is necessary to look at a few of them in order to show the clarity of the scriptures concerning justification. Probably the most emphatic and complete verse on justification is Galatians 2:16, "A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So, we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified." Furthermore, Romans 1:16 says that the gospel is the power of God to everyone who "believes" (John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 1:21). In fact, the most common terms found in the scriptures for differentiating Christians from non-Christians are "believers" and "unbelievers," so justification by faith is even inherent by definition. It should also be noted that this justification by faith is in accord with the doctrine of grace (Romans 4:16, 5:2), in that even our faith comes from God (Romans 12:3, Philippians 1:29, Colossians 2:12, 2 Peter 1:1). God is the one who justifies (Romans 8:33, 1 Corinthians 6:11), and justification comes from His grace, not from our works.

Clearly, the 56 verses in the 22 passages (mostly from Paul) cited above establish the doctrine of justification by faith alone, in contrast to Roman Catholic doctrine. Hahn's claim that Paul didn't teach that we are justified by faith alone is a failed attempt to (in his own words) "reinvent" a core doctrine of the Scriptures. If Hahn's interpretation of James were true, it would be in direct contradiction with these other 22 passages of inspired scripture. Although Hahn is not the first to misinterpret James, to take a solitary verse out of context in this way, in light of so many other passages, seems to be a weak intellectual argument.

Another major problem with justification by works, as taught by the Roman Catholic Church , concerns the qualification of just how good one's works would have to be. If I'm 95% good, is that good enough? If I do 25% of it and God does 75%, is that OK? On the contrary, the Bible teaches justification by faith alone, whereas one must actually be as good as Jesus Christ, and he attains that standing by being declared righteous by God's grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-10). In fact, the Bible hold harsh warnings for anyone trying to achieve justification through works: "Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5). Also, "And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace" (Romans 11:6). Roman Catholic doctrine becomes quite confusing when it tries to teach salvation by grace as well as by works.

Defenders of Roman Catholicism often point to Mother Theresa as proof that we are saved by our good works. They ask, "How could all her good works not earn her salvation?" The answer is in Galatians 1:16, because we're not justified by our good works. I don't know whether Mother Theresa was saved or not, but if she was, it was because of her faith in Christ, not because of her good works. Anyone can do good works, although Mother Theresa did more than most. However, by the doctrine of imputation, Mother Theresa, like the rest of us, was stained by imputed sin that could only be paid for by the death of (the perfect) Jesus Christ on the cross, and we can only claim our position in Him through faith.

The Sacraments

Hahn started celebrating communion every week, and he became caught up in the sacramental imagery as presented by Roman Catholicism. He talked so much about sacraments, liturgy, typology, and Eucharist, that his wife coined a phrase for him, "Luther in reverse", to which he responded with a quest to live up to the task of searching for scriptural defense of every Roman Catholic custom.

Transubstantiation

Hahn next dealt with the Eucharist, in relation to John 6:53, which says, "Jesus said to them, 'I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.'" Hahn became convinced of transubstantiation; i.e., that Christ was not speaking symbolically, and that the bread and wine of communion miraculously changes into the actual flesh and blood of Christ. Although this is an age-old controversy, I've often wondered why the Roman Catholic Church, if its position is correct, doesn't easily and definitively end this debate. If the bread and wine were simply subjected to scientific examination, both before and after the miracle of transubstantiation, this controversy could be quickly resolved.

The Infallible Pope

Hahn then attacked "sola scriptura" which claims that the Bible alone is our authority, rather than the Pope, Church councils, or Tradition, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. His defense here comes from a misinterpretation of 1 Timothy 3:15 which says, "If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." However, Wycliffe best explains this verse as speaking of the church "in its sphere of testimony to the world. Christ, himself the truth, is the one foundation of the Church (1 Cor. 3:11)."

Hahn also cites the various Councils at which the Canon of scripture was established by selecting which books it would include, and he says, "So, whose decision was trustworthy and final, if the Church doesn't teach with infallible authority?" However, if one doesn't believe that God justifies by faith, how could he believe by faith that God provided the Canon He intended for us? Hahn later asks, "How can we be sure about the twenty-seven books of the New Testament themselves being the infallible Word of God, since fallible Church councils and Popes are the ones who made up the list?" The answer is the same one as that for justification--we accept by faith that God has provided us with His true Word.

Self-Indoctrination

Hahn energetically continued his newfound love for Roman Catholicism by buying the library of a deceased priest and reading Roman Catholic theology books every night for up to seven hours. He says that he owned around fifteen thousand books. He even cites a list of modern theologians he just discovered and says, "It's incredible--even if they're wrong--it's a gold mine!" As a result, he became even more impressed with liturgy and all of the "prostrations, incense and icons, the smells and the bells...", and later, "...Gregorian chant and Latin in the liturgy". His description of his enthusiasm suggests a possible emotional self-indoctrination and infatuation with Roman Catholic theology.

"Nothing Less Than Diabolical"

Then Hahn makes this startling statement, "But if the Catholic Church was wrong, it was more than a little off, because no denomination on earth made the kinds of outrageous claims that Rome made for itself." He also notes that only Catholics claim to be the one and only true church founded by Jesus, to have as their head a Pope who was Christ's infallible vicar on earth, and to be run by leaders claiming an unbroken line of succession going all the way back to Peter (which he later bases upon Matthew 16:17-19). Then he says that he agrees with Cardinal Newman, who said that "if the Catholic Church was wrong, it was nothing less than diabolical." This tells us that if one believes that the Roman Catholic Church is wrong on justification by faith, transubstantiation, or the infallibility of the Pope, then it must follow that he believes that Catholicism is diabolical.

Hahn had some interesting encounters with several Roman Catholic priests to whom he went for advice. He was disappointed when they "really didn't want to talk about the church". One even told him, "If you want someone to help you convert, you've come to the wrong person." He even enrolled in a catholic university (Duquesne), and found that he was sometimes the only student defending the Pope. Then he asked his wife this telling question: "Why are Gerry and I the only ones to see these Catholic ideas in Scripture?"

The Rosary / Praying to the Sinless Mary

Then someone (he doesn't say who) mailed him a plastic Rosary, which made him confront what he considered the toughest obstacle of all: Mary. He locked himself in his office and prayed, "... Mary, if you are even half of what the Catholic Church says, please take this specific petition--which seems impossible--to the Lord for me through this prayer." He then prayed his first Rosary. Three months later, he deduced that Mary had answered his prayer. Furthermore, he calls the Rosary "an incredible weapon, one that highlights the scandal of the Incarnation." At this same time, Mrs. Hahn says that she was "concerned that the Rosary was an example of vain repetition that had been clearly condemned by Jesus". However, "If the prayers of a righteous man are very powerful, as James 5:16 says, how much more those who are perfected? If I could ask my mother on earth to pray for me and know that God would hear her petitions, why couldn't I ask the Mother of Jesus to pray for me?" Mrs. Hahn demonstrates a reinvention of her own when she somehow uses Revelation 12:17 and John 19:26-27 to explain away all the Marian doctrines, completely ignoring Matthew 12:49. Also, on several occasions, Hahn is quick to point out that Roman Catholics don't worship Mary, they simply venerate her. However, they do believe she was sinless.

Turmoil in the Rome Home

The Hahns make some incredible statements concerning the effect of Mr. Hahn's conversion on their family life. Mrs. Hahn says, "... we were both starting not to trust each other. The foundation of trust in our marriage was being shaken tremendously." One day she told her husband, "I would never consider suicide, but I have begged God today to give me an illness that would kill me so that I can die and have all the questions laid to rest. Then you could find a nice little Catholic girl and get on with this life." She said that on that day she "felt the joy of the Lord depart. Except for a few brief times, it did not return for almost five years..." She ends that particular chapter of the book with, "I'm so confused?"

She says, "I was devastated... I had a very deep sense of betrayal... I was dying inside... Scott was vowing himself to a Church that would separate us for a while and perhaps even permanently." To her, communion became their "symbol of disunity. And the rejoicing of the people was like a dagger in my heart, for their joy was my unspeakable sorrow." She calls her first Mass "the worst night of my life... it was excruciating to see the delight of all for him when our marriage was in the midst of the greatest challenge we had ever had." Mr. Hahn cited "the pain and desolation," but he says it couldn't compare to his ecstasy of conversion." Mrs. Hahn said, "The loneliness between us was excruciating... The Bible was my only consolation. But I began to be concerned about even picking up the Scriptures, because Scott kept telling me that the Bible said something different from what I thought... Scott was stuck with me because he did not believe in divorce." Mr. Hahn said, "... if it had been me five years ago, I would have urged divorce in the same situation." Mrs. Hahn noted that she had two miscarriages during this difficult time. She said that she felt like she had to choose whether she would be separated from her immediate family or her extended family. At no point did Mr. Hahn question whether his new indoctrination and infatuation with Roman Catholicism was worth the five years of marriage and family life which it destroyed.

Romance

I was intrigued by Hahn's statements on pages 86-87 where he says of his conversion, "It was capturing my imagination as well as my intellect," and that it "was becoming, supernaturally, a romance tale." Again, his enthusiasm seems to be based upon his emotions.

The Mass

Hahn said, "Then one day, I made a fatal blunder--I decided that it was time for me to go to Mass on my own." At the Mass, he whispered, "I don't want to hold anything back." Of that Mass experience he said, "Within a week or two I was hooked... Each day after Mass, I spent a half hour to an hour praying the Rosary," then praying to God. "... Am I just caught up in some intellectual escapade?" When his friend Gerry told him that he was going to join the Roman Catholic Church, Hahn said, "'You can't beat me to the Eucharist!' It hardly seemed fair."

Mrs. Hahn Finally Surrenders

After a year or so, Mrs. Hahn became particularly influenced by "the beauty of the baptismal liturgy," making an interesting statement: "... very few, if any, of my Catholic students really understood their Faith, even the basics." Unfortunately, the same can probably be said of most denominations.

After about five years of agony in her marriage, Mrs. Hahn decided to be confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, agreeing with her husband that "the Catholic Church is not just another denomination--it is either true or diabolical."

Relics

Mrs. Hahn had some trouble with crucifixes, and statues and pictures of Jesus, Mary, and the saints, believing that they constituted "the making of graven images and bowing down before them." However, a priest explained these away as being like family photos that simply remind us of our loved ones.

Summary

Only Mr. Hahn knows for sure if his conversion experience was simply the emotional infatuation of an educated but over-zealous Bible student on a quest to reinvent Christianity; or, if he became bored with Biblical Christianity and went on a one-man crusade to search for something more. For nearly five years, he indoctrinated himself daily by attending Mass, saying the Rosary and praying to Mary for one hour, and reading his fifteen thousand books on Roman Catholic doctrine for up to seven hours each day. Who can say whether or not his time would have been better spent in nurturing his marriage? It's no wonder that he began believing what he was reading, and who he was praying to. If one is exposed to enough indoctrination, whether it is true or false, he will believe and respond to it. In Hahn's own words, if he is wrong, then Roman Catholicism is "idolatrous and blasphemous," "more than a little off," "nothing less than diabolical," and "either true or diabolical."

[firstpresfp]

Palm Sunday Bulletin for 4/5/2020

The King Is Coming, Graham Braddock 2013

In order to be prepared before we begin worship this Palm Sunday, it would be helpful to have soap and a bowl of water handy for hand washing AND some bread and a drink for communion.

The following comes from North Alabama Presbytery Stated Clerk, Reverend Christie Ashton -As part of worship this week, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper (Communion) together! How... does that work from home? Well, we’re asking you to each have elements ready and available during our Sunday morning worship service – they can be actual bread and wine/juice or the closest approximation you have on hand (animal crackers and water work!). When it’s time for that portion of the service, Tom and Theresa will lead us in preparation and prayer and you will be invited to partake of your elements at the appropriate time together “virtually”. Whenever and however we gather for Communion, we believe that the power of the Holy Spirit unites us and lifts us into the presence of Christ, so even though we cannot be together in person, we are always together in the Spirit with Christians in every time and place. Likewise, while the bread and wine are important symbols that remind us of Christ’s body and blood, when Jesus gathered with his disciples for the Last Supper, they shared in an ordinary meal together - it is Christ's love and sacrifice that makes the Sacrament holy, not the particular food consumed. So even though we’ll be celebrating the Lord’s Supper a little differently during this time, the meaning and power of the Sacrament remains the same. In fact, being “re-membered” into the Body of Christ even while apart may be the most powerful act of hope we can witness to during this time. We look forward to celebrating with you on Sunday."

Prelude 

“The King is Coming” (see below for lyrics & video links)

OPENING PRAYER 

Everlasting God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son to live on earth, and to suffer death upon the cross. In your mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

CALL TO WORSHIP 

Take your soap and start to lather

Today Lord, we remember that this world is Your own – a world that is full of mystery held in Your hands.

As you rub your hands together 

For those whose world has fallen apart who wring their hands in pain, We pray that they know Your peace and be strengthened to lift their heads up again.

As you rub the backs of your hands 

For those who work behind the scenes, who seek and test a cure, we pray for them Your wisdom that they find the right ways.

As you work each finger and nails 

Thumb – for family and friends, we ask Your care and that they feel Your overwhelming love.

Pointer finger – for those who work with the sick, protect them Lord we pray.

Middle – for those who lead, wherever they are, Lord, we ask Your wisdom.

Ring – that we would keep our hearts true to you Lord.

Pinkie – For children Lord, give them resilience and patience. 

Nails – our nails remind us Lord that You know our pain.

Rinse hands: 

And as we wash the soap away, we pray You will take away our fear and remind us again that You always hold us near and dear to You.  Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE

“Crown Him with Many Crowns” (see below for lyrics & video links)

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Patient God, we confess that we people usually love a parade. We are happy to see palms waving and hear shouts of praise. But we fail to recognize sadness on the face of the Savior; our shouts block out his sorrow. He comes to us as King, and we expect that royal treatment will follow. We do not expect that difficulties will come our way and will tempt us to be fearful. Yet when we confess our sin, you forgive us and call us to turn our lives around so that we see the needs of others, reach out in trust and faith and are willing to witness to your good news of saving love. Heal our hearts and give us courage.  We ask this in Jesus’ Name, AMEN.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Though we may fall short, God reaches out to us in loving forgiveness. God is with us, celebrating this day and moving us closer to the cross of Christ. For the time of salvation is coming nearer and nearer. AMEN.

SCRIPTURE

Matthew 21: 1-11

21 When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.[a]” 4 This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

5 “Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you,    humble, and mounted on a donkey,        and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7 they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8 A very large crowd[b] spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!    Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” 11 The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

MESSAGE

Hosanna!

Affirmation of Faith - Lenten Creed

We believe that our lives are held within the encircling love of God. We believe in the birthing, renewing, enabling spirit of God. We believe that God is in the arid desert as well as in green pastures, and that hard times and discipline may also be loving gifts.

We believe that our journey has a purpose and a destination, and that our path leads to ways of glorifying God.

We believe that as the church we are fellow pilgrims on the road,  and that we are called to love one another as God loves us.

This is our faith and hope. Amen

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise

WORDS OF INSTITUTION

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

Please feel free to serve your own elements at home.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION AND LORD’S PRAYER  

Hymn after Communion

“Amazing Grace” 91st verse only)

CHARGE AND BLESSING

Peace, be still. Stay calm and carry on with faith and hope in God.  God go before you to lead you, God go behind you to protect you, God go beneath you to support you, God go beside you to befriend you.

Do not be afraid.

May the blessing of God the Father, Son & Holy Spirit,  Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, be upon us.

Do not be afraid. 

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. 

Amen. 

Our sung blessing

God be with you ‘til we meet again. By His counsels guide, uphold you. With his sheep securely fold you. God be with you ‘til we meet again.

LYRICS

“The King is Coming” (Bill Gaither)

The marketplace is empty, no more traffic in the street  All the builder's tools are silent, no more time to harvest wheat  Busy housewives cease their labor, in the courtroom no debate Work on earth has been suspended as the King comes through the gate

Happy faces line the hallway, those whose lives have been redeemed Broken homes He has mended, those from prison He has freed Little children and the aged hand in hand stand all a-glow Who were crippled, broken, ruined, clad in garments white as snow

Chorus: The King is coming, the King is coming I just heard the trumpet sounding and soon His face I'll see The King is coming, the King is coming

Praise God, He's coming for me I can hear the chariots rumble, I can see the marching throng And the flurry of God's trumpet spells the end of sin and wrong Regal robes are now unfolded, heaven's grandstands all in place Heaven's choir is now assembled, start to sing "Amazing Grace"

Chorus: The King is coming, the King is coming I just heard the trumpet sounding and soon His face I'll see The King is coming, the King is coming Praise God, He's coming for me

“Crown Him with Many Crowns” (Norton Hall Band)

Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne; Hark, how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own! Awake, my soul and sing of him who died for thee, And hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity.

Crown him the Lord of life who triumphed o'er the grave, And rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save; His glories now we sing who died, and rose on high. Who died, eternal life to bring and lives that death may die.

Crown Him the Lord of Heav’n, enthroned in worlds above, Crown Him the king to whom is giv’n the wondrous name of Love. Crown Him with many crowns, as thrones before Him fall; Crown Him, ye kings, with many crowns, for He is king of all.

[seekfirstme]

The following reflection is courtesy of Don Schwager © 2020. Don's website is located at Dailyscripture.ServantsOfTheWord.org

Meditation: Are you good at reading signs? Signs tell us what is coming ahead. The people of Jesus' time expected that the coming of the Messiah would be accompanied by extraordinary signs and wonders. The religious leaders tested Jesus to see if he had a genuine sign from heaven to back his claim to be the Messiah. False messiahs in the past had made extraordinary claims to attract their followers, such as claiming that they could cleave the Jordan River in two or cause the walls of Jerusalem to fall.

What makes us blind-sighted to God's presence and power in our lives?

Jesus knew the hearts of those who came to test him. They were more interested in seeking signs to prove that they were right and Jesus was wrong. Jesus revealed the true intention of their heart - they came to argue with him and to test him (Mark 8:11) because they did not believe that he spoke in the name of his Father in heaven. They wanted to discredit his claim to be the true Messiah and Savior. They unfortunately were blind-sighted to the truth of Jesus' message that the Father had sent him, the only begotten Son, to set them free from sin, Satan, and death. No miracle of Jesus would convince them because their hearts were full of self-seeking pride and glory for themselves.

Simeon had prophesied at Jesus' birth that he was "destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that inner thoughts of many will be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). Jesus gave the Pharisees no sign except himself and the ultimate proof of his divinity when he overcame death and rose victorious from the tomb on the third day.We also need no further proof than the witness of Jesus who fulfilled what Moses and the prophets had foretold would take place when the Messiah came to redeem his people.

Jesus is the only begotten Son of God who came from the Father in heaven to set us free from the power of sin, Satan, and death. His death on the cross atones for all of our sins and opens for us the floodgates of God's merciful love and healing forgiveness. He alone can set us free from guilt, condemnation, pride, and fear. He alone can give us abundant life, peace, and joy through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus gives us "listening ears" and "eyes of faith" to recognize his presence in our lives

The Lord reveals himself and makes his presence known to us in many ways - in his "word" (the good news he came to give us) and in the "breaking of the bread" in the Eucharist (he is the Bread of Life), in his church - the Body of Christ, and in his creation (he is the Word who created all things). And even in the daily circumstances of our lives the Lord Jesus continues to speak to us and guide us. If we seek the Lord Jesus, we will surely find him. And we can be confident that he will give us whatever we need to carry out his will for our lives. Most of all the Lord Jesus assures us of his daily presence with us and the promise that he will never leave us. Theresa of Avila's prayer book contained a bookmark which she wrote: Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you; All things pass: God never changes. Patience achieves all it strives for. Whoever has God lacks nothing, God alone suffices. Is God enough for you?

"Lord Jesus, may I always recognize your saving presence in my life and never forget your promises when I encounter trials and difficulties. Give me a faith that never wavers, a hope that never fades, and a love that never grows cold."

The following reflection is from One Bread, One Body courtesy of Presentation Ministries © 2020.

 

LIVING THE MIRACULOUS LIFE

  "My brothers, count it pure joy when you are involved in every sort of trial." —James 1:2  

For about thirty years I have taught the Lord's command to consider various trials "all joy." Today I read this in my hospital room. I haven't been allowed to eat or drink even water or ice chips for about a day. I've had an IV stuck in me for hours. And I have had four enemas. It has never been more clear to me that the command to consider trials "all joy" is truly a miracle.

This command is not a burdensome challenge to our will-power but a call to rise above ourselves and live in the supernatural dimension by utterly depending on the Lord. This grace strengthens our faith, producing perseverance which can result in our becoming "fully mature and lacking in nothing" (Jas 1:4). How privileged we are to be commanded to do things that we cannot do! How blessed we are to move from grace to grace and not just from human limitation to human limitation! May we let the Lord repeatedly do the impossible in our lives. Let us rejoice in sufferings (Col 1:24; 1 Pt 4:13), love our enemies (Lk 6:27, 35), deny our very selves (Lk 9:23), and generally do things we cannot do. Live the new, abundant, eternal life in the Lord.

  Prayer: Father, fill me with joy in living in You. Promise: "If any of you is without wisdom, let him ask it from the God Who gives generously and ungrudgingly to all, and it will be given him." —Jas 1:5 Praise: In the year 1240, seven prominent men of Florence withdrew from society for a solitary life of prayer with direct service to God. Out of this came the Order of the Servites.   (Editor's Note: Fr. Al Lauer, founder and author of , passed away in October 2002 of liver cancer. In the coming weeks, we are a series of Father's reflections from his final months of suffering.)  

  Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") for One Bread, One Body covering the period from February 1, 2020 through March 31, 2020.

†Most Reverend Joseph R. Binzer, Auxiliary Bishop, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, July 8, 2019.  

The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements

[stephenaltrogge-blog]

Before Jesus saved me, I lived essentially for my own happiness. I wanted to make myself happy. I never actually said that, but I believe that deep down that was the driving force in my life. I learned to play guitar and got into a rock band because that brought me pleasure. I became an art major in college because painting and drawing made me happy. I wanted a girlfriend essentially for my happiness. And I had no idea how self-centered I was, how selfish I was. 

And when I cried out to Jesus, it was initially essentially for my own happiness. For relief from my ever-increasing guilt, and ever-increasing slavery to sin. I didn’t pray, “Jesus, please save me for your glory. I want to live a life to glorify you.” 

I’m so grateful God is so longsuffering, loving and patient with me. 

Eventually, the more I read and heard God’s word, the longer I followed Jesus, he revealed the main reason he saved me – for his glory. God saves us, yes, because he loves us, and because  he is so merciful. But I believe the primary reason he creates us and then saves us is for his glory. And he is not some vain, self-centered God who just wants all the glory. The more we see and know God’s glory and give him glory, the more joy we experience in him.

Our greatest goal in life should be to know and delight in our Lord, and to bring him glory.

Our greatest goal should not be to be successful or famous or rich. Our greatest desire should be to know our God, and to live to serve him and glorify him. As it says in the Psalms:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Psalm 115:1

We should desire to glorify God because he is worthy of all glory and honor:

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” Revelation 4:11

And God tells us in 1 Corinthians:

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (10:31)

So how can we glorify God?

We may think that those who glorify God are those who have extraordinary gifts, maybe like preachers or missionaries or people like Mother Theresa. You may think, “How can I glorify God? I have to drive an hour to work every morning through heavy traffic. I work all day at this boring job. I drive home, and have to take care of my kids (if you have kids) or pay my bills, and clean up the kitchen after supper. I have to cut my grass and pay my bills. My life is ordinary and I’m not some powerful evangelist. How can I glorify God?

God tells us that each one of us can glorify him in numerous ways. Here are some ways every one of us can glorify God.

1. We glorify God by letting our light shine before others.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

We can let our light shine before our unbelieving relatives on holidays, by serving them. By being cheerful. By not grumbling when we don’t get our way. We can let our light shine before our children every day by serving our spouse, and by demonstrating thankfulness, patience, love, forgiveness. 

We can let our light shine before our co-workers by not joining in with office gossip and grumbling about our boss. By looking for ways to serve our fellow workers. By seeking to be the most cheerful person in the office. 

2. We glorify God by working heartily at whatever we do:

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Colossians 3:23-24

When Paul exhorted his fellow believers to work heartily, he was primarily addressing “bondservants” to serve their masters heartily. But ultimately they were serving the Lord and that he would reward them. They may not have felt like they were glorifying God, but Paul said they were. They would bring glory to God by working heartily as bondservants, even though they may not have chosen to do that or desired it.

You may be stuck in a job you don’t like, but you can glorify God by doing your work heartily for the Lord, and not for your boss. And Jesus will reward you.

3. We glorify God by giving him thanks and praise:

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. Psalm 86:12

We don’t need to be in church to give thanks to God. We can thank him in the car, in our kitchen, on the way to class. We can thank him when we wake up in the morning for the gift of sleep and his protection during the night. We can thank him for the sunrise. For our health. For every heartbeat and every breath he gives us.

4. We glorify God by worshipping him together with others

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! Psalm 34:3

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Psalm 107:32

I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. Psalm 35:18

5. We glorify God by how we live our lives

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:12

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16

Our unbelieving relatives, neighbors, fellow students, and co-workers are watching us. They want to see if Jesus has really changed us. There are all kinds of ways we can do this. It might be as simply as offering to get your neighbor’s mail when they’re out of town. Or going over and helping your neighbor shovel his driveway after a snow.

6. We glorify God by turning away from sin

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sine a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Paul told the Corinthians to “flee from sexual immorality.” In this way each one was to “glorify God in your body.” We glorify God by living holy lives. By fleeing sin. 

7. We glorify God by serving others

Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:11

When we serve others, we do it by “the strength that God supplies” – and that brings him glory. I don’t have a natural inclination to serve others. I want to serve myself. But God calls us all to serve. So I must ask him for strength and desire, which he always gives me. Jesus humbled himself and came as a servant (Philippians 2), and when we serve others, we imitate Christ and bring glory to God.

8. We glorify God by bearing fruit.

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

As we live for Jesus, the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives. We don’t do it ourselves; the Holy Spirit does it in us and with us as we seek to obey Jesus. And Jesus said in John 15:8 that as we bear fruit it glorifies the Father, because people see that it is God who really did that in us.

As we grow in love, and kindness and gentleness and all the fruit of the Spirit the Father is glorified. We prove to be Jesus’ disciples and he is glorified.

9. We glorify God by being generous to the poor

He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, theyf will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 2 Corinthians 9:10-13

Paul told the Corinthians that their “sowing” to the poor believers in Macedonia would “produce thanksgiving to God” and was “overflowing in many thanksgivings to God,” and the recipients would “glorify God” because of their generosity.

Make it your goal in life to glorify God every day, in everything you do. Ask him to help you glorify him. Nothing will bring you more joy and satisfaction.

The post 9 Ways Every Believer Can Glorify God appeared first on The Blazing Center.

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Macron vows to rebuild Notre Dame cathedral after devastating fire

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild Notre Dame with help from the international community after a devastating fire gutted the famous Catholic cathedral last night.

Speaking just hours after the roof of the 850-year-old building caved in, Macron said a national fundraising campaign to restore the historic building would be launched today, and he called on the world’s ‘greatest talents’ to help.

The French leader credited the ‘courage’ and ‘great professionalism’ of firefighters with sparing Notre Dame’s spectacular Gothic facade and two landmark towers from being destroyed, saying ‘the worst has been avoided’.

But much of the UNESCO World Heritage landmark building was devastated. The 300ft-tall Gothic spire collapsed into the embers early in the blaze to pained cries of ‘Oh my God’ from locals transfixed by the unfolding scene.

‘We have been dealt a knockout blow,’ a grief-stricken Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit said at the scene.

Scroll down for video 

As darkness fell on Paris on Monday evening the ruined cathedral was illuminated by the flames still burning in the roof as firefighters battled on against the inferno

A shard of the cathedral’s spire plummets through the air as it collapsed earlier after the fire burned through its foundations

A view from inside the cathedral shows flames in the roof as firefighters douse it from below with hoses. A shocked firefighter looks back at the camera as the blaze is seen raging through a hole in the roof

A spokesperson for the cathedral told Le Monde that the entire frame of the historic cathedral’s roof (pictured here before the blaze) had caught fire

The blaze broke out just before 7pm local time in a roof area undergoing around £6m of renovations. The fire service said last night they believed it was an accident, but investigations were continuing.

More than 400 firefighters battled the flames, which quickly spread along the roof structure, causing burning timbers to collapse onto the ceiling of the vault below. Some of that collapsed into the aisle however the cathedral’s Twitter account declared the damage inside was less than feared, in a message ending ‘Allelujah’.

At around 3am local time, Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said: ‘We can consider that the main structure of Notre-Dame has been saved and preserved as well as the two towers.’

And a brigade spokesman added: ‘We will continue to watch over any residual pockets of fire and cool down the areas that are still red-hot, like the wooden beam framework.’

One fireman was severely injured tackling the blaze, but no fatalities were reported. The building – and the entire Ile de la Cite island it occupies in the centre of the French capital – were successfully evacuated as the seriousness of the fire became clear.

As well as the historic stricture, the cathedral was home to dozens of priceless artefacts, including the reputed Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus during his crucifixion.

A human chain of emergency service workers carried this and many other items to safety.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said: ‘Thank you to the [Paris fire brigade], policemen and the municipal agents who have made this evening a tremendous human chain to save the works of Notre Dame. The Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place.’

Priceless works that couldn’t be moved fared less well. Firefighters told how the building’s stained-glass rose windows, high on the north, west and south faces of the cathedral, ‘exploded’ in the heat of the inferno.

‘They exploded because of the heat of the blaze,’ said one, referring to the Rosette West, which was created in 1225, the Rosette North and the Rossette South, both from 1250.

An aerial view of the cathedral taken from a police drone showed the famous structure completely stripped of its roof and still ablaze on the inside

Drone footage from the French Interior Ministry showed the devastation to the cathedral’s centuries-old timber roof

Speaking with tears in his eyes on the steps of the cathedral, Macron vowed to rebuild Notre Dame with the help of the international community

Teams of firefighters from across the city were called in to try and put out the fire after it spread quickly through the cathedral on Monday evening

Much of the top of the structure fell victim to the inferno including the famous spire and part of the dome at the back of the church

The fast moving fire consumed the roof of the cathedral. This evening, President Emmanuel Macron said the whole nation was moved. ‘Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,’ he tweeted

Smoke continues to billow into the Paris sky this evening as firefighters try to stop the flames from spreading

Pictures from inside the centuries old church show the stone-built roof of the structure partially caved in after the huge blaze

Many of the church pews were pictured intact despite the blaze as the stone-made part of the church remained largely intact despite the wooden roof structure caving in

Firefighters had also struggled to take down many of the large paintings in the cathedral, administrative cleric Monsignor Patrick Chauvet said, meaning the scale of the devastation will not be known for some time.

But at the height of the inferno, many feared the entire building would be lost.

Cathedral spokesman Andre Finot said: ‘Everything is burning. The frame – which dates to the 19th century on one side and the 13th century on the other – there will be nothing left.’

And as the fire spread, President Macron Tweeted: ‘Our Lady of Paris in flames. Emotion of a whole nation. Thoughts go out to all Catholics and all of France. Like all our countrymen, I’m sad tonight to see this part of us burn.’

He was joined by politicians, religious leaders and academics who lamented the losses suffered.

‘If Paris is the Eiffel Tower then France is Notre Dame. It’s the entire culture, entire history of France incarnated in this monument,’ Bernard Lecomte, a writer and specialist in religious history told French TV.

The Vatican expressed its ‘incredulity’ and ‘sadness’ over the fire and offered prayers for firefighters tackling the blaze and solidarity with the French people.

In Washington, Donald Trump tweeted: ‘So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.’

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sent the best wishes of the Anglican church to people at the scene. ‘Tonight we pray for the firefighters tackling the tragic Notre Dame fire – and for everyone in France and beyond who watches and weeps for this beautiful, sacred place where millions have met with Jesus Christ,’ he said.

And British Prime Minister Theresa May added: ‘My thoughts are with the people of France tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze.’

Firefighters were still battling to bring the blaze under control as night drew in on Paris and the roof of Notre Dame was still on fire. The stained glass window also appeared to have been destroyed by the heat of the fire

The scaffolding at the top of the church and the wooden frame of the building was said to be completely ablaze by a cathedral spokesperson

The famous spire of Notre Dame collapsed dramatically at around 7.15pm GMT after the blaze tore through the wooden structure at the top of the building

Firefighters tackle the blaze on Monday evening as flames and smoke rise from the Notre Dame cathedral as it burns in Paris

As the flames died down, thoughts turned to rebuilding the monument.

In an impassioned speech outside the cathedral, President Macron said: ‘We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre Dame because that’s what the French are waiting for, because that’s what our history deserves, because it’s our deepest destiny.’

Late on Monday evening French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros (£86.2 million) towards the rebuilding the cathedral.

In a statement sent the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards ‘the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame’ would be paid by the Pinault family’s investment firm Artemis.

The cathedral is one of Europe’s most-visited landmarks, and as Holy Week got underway yesterday, thousands of tourists were in the vicinity and were joined by locals who spilled open-mouthed onto the streets to watch the disaster unfolding.

Firefighters douse flames billowing from the roof as they try to stop the flames spreading. Nobody has been injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: ‘It’s too early to determine the causes of the fire’

The burning orange of the flames can be seen through the rose petal window this evening as Parisians and tourists look on in horror as the blaze continues to spread at the cathedral

People watch in Paris this evening as the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral continues to swarm the building, as firefighters fight to contain it

The spire collapses while flames are burning through the roof at teh Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris today. The blaze started in the late afternoon at one of the most visited monuments in the French capital

A cordon is in place as fire crews spray water on the gothic cathedral to try and stem the flames this evening

A lone firefighter on a crane uses a hose to try and extiguish the flames this evening. British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her thoughts for the people of France and emergency services battling a devastating fire this evening

The flames have engulfed large parts of the Cathedral, located in central Paris. A spurt of water can be seen at the bottom right of the picture as firefighters do battle with the blaze this evening. Officials in Paris said the fire could be linked to restoration works as the peak of the church is currently undergoing a 6 million-euro ($6.8 million) renovation project

The spire seen leaning slightly over as it began to give way because of the fire ripping through its foundations and the rest of the roof

One of the turrets on the cathedral before it collapsed (left) at around 7.00pm this evening and afterwards at around 7.30pm

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted shortly after the fire broke out that he was sad to see ‘a part of us burn’ and sent his sympathies to people across France

A visibly upset Emmanual Macron walking near the Notre Dame Cathedral as it burns this evening. The French President postponed an important address to the nation that was to lay out his responses to the yellow vest crisis because of the massive fire

‘Notre-Dame survived all the wars, all the bombardments. We never thought it could burn. I feel incredibly sad and empty,’ Stephane Seigneurie, a consultant who joined other shocked onlookers in a solemn rendition of ‘Ave Maria’ as they watched the fire from a nearby bridge.

‘Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before,’ said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s.

Jacky Lafortune, a 72-year-old artist and self-described atheist stood forlornly on the banks of the River Seine staring at the cathedral.

Comparing the mood in the French capital to the aftermath of a terror attack he said: ‘But this stirs much deeper emotions because Notre-Dame is linked to the very foundations of our culture.’

The cathedral, one the finest example of French Gothic architecture in Europe, is located at the centre of the French capital in the Middle Ages and its construction was completed in the mid-14th century after some 200 years of work.

During the French Revolution in the 18th century, the cathedral was vandalised in widespread anti-Catholic violence. Its spire was dismantled, its treasures plundered and its large statues at the grand entrance doors destroyed.

It would go on to feature as a central character in a Victor Hugo novel published in 1831, ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ and shortly afterwards a restoration project lasting two decades got under way, led by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc.

The building survived the devastation of two global conflicts in the 20th century and famously rang its bells on August 24, 1944, the day of the Liberation of Paris from German occupation at the end of the World War II.

Before yesterday’s blaze it was in the midst of renovations, with some sections under scaffolding, and bronze statues had been removed last week for works.

Its 330ft-long roof, of which a large section was consumed in the first hour of the blaze, was one of the oldest such structures in Paris.

I walked through the gutted cathedral… then the crucifix shone from what remained of the altar, a symbol of defiance in the gloom: ROBERT HARDMAN is among first witnesses inside ravaged Notre Dame 

Sparks and bits of flaming woodwork are still cascading from the remnants of the 12th-century roof.

The smell instantly sears the back of your throat like a dose of smelling salts and my feet are soaked. The ancient black and white tiles leading up the aisle are under a gently-flowing river of hose water from the fire crews pumping what seems like much of the River Seine from their elevated platforms.

Yet I can faithfully report that the Cathedral of Notre Dame is not entirely destroyed. Because I am standing inside it – alongside the French prime minister.

In the early hours of this morning, I was among the first people to be allowed inside the ruins of one of the world’s finest cathedrals following the fire which has shocked not just the entire French nation but much of the planet.

A blaze which begin in the cathedral’s loft at 6.30pm had turned into an all-consuming catastrophe by nightfall. Officials reported that the wooden interior of the medieval cathedral had been almost completely destroyed.

Certainly, Notre Dame’s spire is no more. Great chunks of its eastern end are no more. Its world-famous stained glass windows are in smithereens and the whole edifice is open to the skies.

Robert Hardman was given access to the charred remains of the Notre Dame cathedral in the early hours of Tuesday morning

Smoke is seen around the alter inside Notre Dame cathedral on Monday evening. Miracolously the cross and altar have managed to survive the inferno

But Paris will wake today to see that the cathedral that has defied world wars, enemy occupations, revolutions and mobs galore is still poking its head above the Paris skyline.

And at 1am today, at the far end of the cathedral, illuminated by lingering embers and firefighters’ equipment, I could just make out a stunning symbol of defiance through the gloom: the unmistakeable sight of a crucifix on what remains of the altar.

Notre Dame is gravely damaged. Yet its most spectacular features – the 850-year-old twin towers – are still there. For centuries, these were the highest structures in Paris until the Eiffel Tower came along. To this day, they are instantly recognisable the world over. And last night, though looking very sorry for themselves, they were in one piece as I stood beneath them alongside a posse of fire crews and prime ministerial aides.

Within hours, speculation was rife as to the cause of the fire. For now, it seems that it was what one official called a ‘stray flame’ – linked to a £5 million restoration project – which sparked the inferno.

Experts have warned for years that the cathedral has been in a poor condition, with the French state reluctant to fund renovation work in recent decades.

Experts said that the building needed a £129.5million (€150million) restoration, but the state had only offered €40million.

Pictures taken outside the cathedral and from the entrance hall in the early hours of Tuesday show emergency service personnel still working to make the site safe

Massive plumes of yellow brown smoke is filling the air above Notre Dame Cathedral and ash is falling on tourists and others around the island that marks the centre of Paris. Firefighters can be seen on the left, fighting the fire

The cathedral was seeking private donations to make up the rest.

The flames were first spotted just minutes after the building had closed to the public for the day. Echoing the fears of his entire country, French president Emmanuel Macron instantly declared a national emergency. ‘Our Lady of Paris in flames,’ he declared on Twitter. ‘Like all our countrymen, I’m sad tonight to see this part of us burn.’

He has pledged to rebuild Notre Dame, saying: ‘Notre Dame is our history, our imagination, where we’ve lived all our great moments, and is the epicentre of our lives.

‘It’s the story of our books, our paintings. It’s the cathedral for all French people, even if they have never been. But it is burning and I know this sadness will be felt by all of our citizens.

‘Tomorrow a national subscription will be launched for people around the country to help rebuild this great Notre Dame. Because that’s what the French people want. That is what their history requires. Because that is our destiny.’

Questions were immediately asked about the way in which a fire could take such a rapid hold of one of the world’s most visited – and most beloved – landmarks. The firefighting response was also questioned as few, if any, high-pressure water hoses were able to reach the roof in the first hour. Critically, the Paris prosecutor has already opened an inquiry.

I arrived last night to find a dumbstruck City of Light still bathed in a dismal afterglow. Here, on the banks of the Seine, tens of thousands of people – of all nationalities – stared incredulously at the slow death of a part of France’s soul.

The fire spread rapidly across the roof-line of the cathedral leaving one of the spires and another section of the roof engulfed in flames

To describe the cathedral of Notre Dame as a national monument is a grave understatement. Imagine Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Tower of London all going up in smoke at the same time and you begin to appreciate the magnitude of this loss, except that Notre Dame attracts – or used to attract – twice as many annual visitors as those three London landmarks put together.

That is why, as news began to spread last night, Parisians flocked to the Seine. They came here not as voyeurs but as mourners. They came to pay their last respects. Some sang hymns. Many were in tears. Some brought flowers and cards to place they knew not where. Understandably, perhaps, no one saw fit to light a candle. 

From medieval times, Notre Dame has marked the epochs in the story of this proud country and inspired one of the most famous literary masterpieces in the French language, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This August marks the 75th anniversary of the day that General Charles De Gaulle marked the liberation of Paris within its walls, even as sporadic gunfire continued outside.

This is a city which was famously spared the destruction which history has wreaked on so many other European capitals. It really did feel blessed; almost eternal. Not any more. Those twin towers are now blackened and wide open to the elements. By midnight, however, the flames had died down as the first glimmers of firemen’s torches could be seen here and there in the remains.

I joined what I can only describe as a requiem mass of Parisians chanting prayers on the Pont de Notre Dame. All approaches to the cathedral’s island site had been sealed off to the public but crowds kept on coming from all directions for a glimpse. 

‘At least the two towers are still standing, and they must stay up so that Notre Dame can be reborn,’ said civil servant Pascal Boichut, 52. There was a glimmer of hope when Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet told reporters: ‘We consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been preserved.’

In a statement the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards ‘the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame’ would be paid by the Pinault family’s investment firm Artemis.

Macron had earlier cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening to respond to months of protests, and instead headed to the scene in person.

He said while the ‘worst had been avoided’ and the facade and two towers saved, ‘the next hours will be difficult’.

Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said ‘we can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved’ as well as the two towers.

French billionaire pledges 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral 

A French billionaire has pledged 100 million euros to help rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral as a defiant President Macron launches a national fundraising campaign to restore the building to its former glory.

The catastrophic blaze destroyed the roof of the 850-year-old UNESCO world heritage landmark as horrified Parisians looked on – many in tears and praying – on Monday evening.

A visibly emotional Macron, spoke outside the gothic cathedral and said a national fundraising campaign to restore Notre Dame would be launched Tuesday, as he called on the world’s ‘greatest talents’ to help.

He said: ‘We will appeal to the greatest talents and we will rebuild Notre Dame because that’s what the French are waiting for, because that’s what our history deserves, because it’s our deepest destiny.’

Late on Monday evening French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault pledged 100 million euros (£86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, which was partly gutted by a devastating fire

French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who is married to Hollywood actress Salma Hayek, pledged 100 million euros (£86.2 million) towards the rebuilding of the cathedral.

In a statement the CEO of the Kering group, which owns Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent fashion houses, said the money towards ‘the effort necessary to completely rebuild Notre Dame’ would be paid by the Pinault family’s investment firm Artemis.

Macron had earlier cancelled a major televised policy speech he was due to give on Monday evening to respond to months of protests, and instead headed to the scene in person.

He said while the ‘worst had been avoided’ and the facade and two towers saved, ‘the next hours will be difficult’.

Paris fire brigade chief Jean-Claude Gallet said ‘we can consider that the main structure of Notre Dame has been saved and preserved’ as well as the two towers.

Deputy Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, also present at the scene on Monday evening, said that for the first time ‘the fire had decreased in intensity’ while still urging ‘extreme caution’.

The Vatican on Monday expressed its ‘incredulity’ and ‘sadness’, expressing ‘our closeness with French Catholics and with the Parisian population.’

The cause of the blaze was not immediately confirmed. The cathedral had been undergoing intense restoration work which the fire service said could be linked to the blaze.

French prosecutors said it was being treated as an ‘involuntary’ fire, indicating that foul play was ruled out for now.

Parisians applaud the firefighters who formed a human chain to save Notre Dame’s priceless collection of art and relics – including the Crown Of Thorns from Jesus’ crucifixion 

Firefighters, police, and churchmen risked their lives last night to carry priceless historical artefacts and religious relics away from the flames which engulfed Notre Dame de Paris.

The Mayor of Paris tweeted her thanks to first responders for forming ‘a formidable human chain’ to save irreplaceable objects including the relic believed by Catholics to be the crown of thorns which was put on Jesus’ head as he died on the cross.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo went on: ‘The Crown of Thorns, the tunic of Saint Louis and several other major works are now in a safe place.’

Emergency responders worked with city staff to manhandle priceless relics away from the fire

Reliquaries, statues, and artefacts including the crown of thorns were saved from the fire by ‘human chain’

And Father Fournier, Chaplain of the Paris Firefighters, told reporters he went into the burning cathedral to save the Blessed Sacrament and Crown of Thorns.

Parisians applauded and cheered fire crews as they drove through the streets in the early hours of the morning.

The church’s treasure trove of priceless artworks and religious relics include the Crown of Thorns said to have been placed on the head of Jesus before he was crucified, a piece of the True Cross on which he is said to have died and a nail from the crucifixion.

The relics were obtained from the Byzantine Empire in 1238 and brought to Paris by King Louis IX.

Notre Dame is also home to priceless paintings dating back to the 1600s, including a series known as the Petits Mays, gifted to the cathedral once a year from 1630 to 1707.

Among the most celebrated artworks are three stained-glass rose windows high up on the west, north and south faces of the cathedral.

Shortly after midnight, Paris time, the artefacts had been safely transferred to a storage room

Worries onlookers were filmed looking at the salvaged antiquities on the night the cathedral’s ancient roof burned to cinders

Notre Dame’s Great Organ, which dates back to the 13th century and was restored in the early 1990s, is considered the most famous in the world, with five keyboards and nearly 8,000 pipes.

Last night firemen at the scene said all efforts were being directed at saving artwork in the cathedral and preventing the collapse of its northern tower.

‘Everything is collapsing,’ a police officer near the scene said as the cathedral continued to burn.

The ten bells of Notre Dame are renowned across Europe and the first nine are named Marie, Gabriel, Anne-Genevieve, Denis, Marcel, Etienne, Benoit-Joseph, Maurice, and Jean-Marie.

The final and largest, known as the bourdon bell Emmanuel, weighs more than 13 tonnes. It sits in the southern tower and has been a part of the building since 1681.

In 1944, Emmanuel was rung in celebration and triumph by French troops and allies to announce to the city that it was on its way to liberation.

The famous gargoyles and chimera that adorn Notre Dame were built in the 19th century by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. The original purpose of the gargoyles was to assist with the building’s drainage, but they have become one of its most-loved features.

The crown is an interleaved ring of reeds, the thorns having been separated and displayed at churches across the medieval world

Catholics believe the relic is the ‘crown’ placed on Jesus’ head in mockery as he was crucified

A priest wipes the Crown of Thorns, a relic of the passion of Christ, at Notre Dame de Paris

In the 1790s, Notre Dame was desecrated during the French Revolution when much of its religious imagery was damaged or destroyed and its treasures plundered.

The 28 statues of biblical kings located at the west facade, mistaken for statues of French kings, were beheaded.

All of the other large statues on the facade, with the exception of that of the Virgin Mary on the portal of the cloister, were destroyed.

The cathedral was restored over 25 years after the publication of the book The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo in 1831 brought it into the spotlight.

Sixteen statues that were part of the cathedral’s destroyed spire were safe and unscathed after being removed as part of a renovation a few days ago, and that the relics had also been saved.

The green-grey statues, representing the 12 apostles and four evangelists, were apparently lowered by cranes from the site and taken away.

The cathedral also has a spectacular series of carved wooden stalls and statues representing the Passion of the Christ.

A man puts his hand to his mouth in pure shock as he watches the flames burst from the historic catherdral

A woman reacts with horror as she watches the collosal fire engulf the roof of the Notre Dame. The colossal fire swept through the cathedral causing a spire to collapse and threatening to destroy the entire masterpiece and its precious artworks. The fire, which began in the early evening, sent flames and huge clouds of grey smoke billowing into the Paris sky as stunned Parisians and tourists looked on in dismay

A woman on the phone looks on at the burning cathedral and smoke billows into the sky. The spire of Paris’s famous Notre Dame cathedral has already collapsed earlier this evening

A man holds his hands on his head in despair as the smoke billows from the cathedral this evening as firefighers desperately battle the blaze

People kneel on the pavement as they pray outside watching the flames engulf Notre Dame Cathedral this evening

A woman with tears in her eyes clasps her hands in front of her as she watches the flames spread over the cathedral, and a man puts his head in his hands in despair

Parisians and toursits look on in utter shock as the flames engulf the historic cathedral, which is visited by millions every year

A woman reacts with shock as she watches the flames engulf the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris this evening

Firefighters using hoses from all four sides of Notre Dame to try and douse the flames which tore through the building at a startling pace

Firefighters look on at the fire fire at the landmark Notre Dame Cathedral in central Paris as they cross a bridge over the river Seine

Parisians gather on the River Seine this evening to look at the flames spreading throughout the cathedral. The blaze started in the late afternoon

Crowds look at the flames as they engulf the building on Monday evening.  Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit invited priests across France to ring church bells in a call for prayers for the beloved Paris cathedral

French fire crews check the hoses in the streets of Paris on Monday evening. As the cathedral continued to burn, Parisians gathered to pray and sing hymns outside the church of Saint Julien Les Pauvres across the river from Notre Dame, as the flames lit the sky behind them

People sit and look in disbelief as the roof of the Notre Dame Cathedral burns on Monday afternoon and into the evening

Sparks fill the Paris air on Monday evening as fire crews spray water to try and stop the blaze. The Louvre Museum has described the fire as ‘a tragedy for World Heritage’. A comment on the art museum’s official Twitter account said: ‘The fire which has struck Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is a tragedy for World Heritage. ‘The Louvre expresses its deepest admiration and solidarity with those who are currently battling the flames’

The flames and smoke engulf the historic gothic building on Monday afternoon. Parisians prayed and cried as they watched it burn

French fire crew gather on the parvis in front door of the Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday evening as flames are burning its roof in Paris

Officials say the blaze could be linked to renovation works as the spire has been undergoing a $6.8million renovation this year

The blaze could be seen from across Paris on Monday night as officials in the city said a major operation was in place to put it out

Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold

Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold

Earlier on Monday evening small amounts of smoke were spotted above the landmark as the fire took hold

Our Lady of Paris: The 850-year-old cathedral that survived being sacked in the Revolution to become Europe’s most-visited historical monument

Intrigued by tales of Quasimodo, fascinated by the gargoyles, or on a pilgrimage to see the Crown of Thorns said to have rested on Jesus’ head on the Cross, more than 13 million people each year flock to see Europe’s most popular historic monument.

The 12th century Catholic cathedral is a masterpiece of French Gothic design, with a cavernous vaulted ceiling and some of the largest rose windows on the continent.

It is the seat of the Archdiocese of Paris and its 69m-tall towers were the tallest structures in Paris until the completion of the Eiffel Tower in 1889.

It survived a partial sacking by 16th century zealots and the destruction of many of its treasures during the atheist French Revolution but remains one of the greatest churches in the world and was the scene of Emperor Napoleon’s coronation in 1804. 

A view of the middle-age stained glass rosace on the southern side of the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral

The foundation stone was laid in front of Pope Alexander III in 1163, with building work on the initial structure completed in 1260. 

The roof of the nave was constructed with a new technology: the rib vault. The roof of the nave was supported by crossed ribs which divided each vault into compartments, and the use of four-part rather than six-part rib vaults meant the roofs were stronger and could be higher.

After the original structure was completed in the mid 13th century – following the consecration of the High altar in 1182 – flying  buttresses had been invented, and were added to spread the weight of the mighty vault.

The original spire was constructed in the 13th century, probably between 1220 and 1230. It was battered, weakened and bent by the wind over five centuries, and finally was removed in 1786. 

During a 19th century restoration, following desecration during the Revolution, it was recreated with a new version of oak covered with lead. The entire spire weighed 750 tons. 

At the summit of the spire were held three relics; a tiny piece of the Crown of Thorns, located in the treasury of the Cathedral; and relics of Denis and Saint Genevieve, patron saints of Paris. They were placed there in 1935 by the Archibishop Verdier, to protect the congregation from lightning or other harm.

The Crown of Thorns was one of the great relics of medieval Christianity. It was acquired by Louis IX, king of France, in Constantinople in AD 1239 for the price of 135,000 livres – nearly half the annual expenditure of France. 

The elaborate reliquary in which just one of the thorns is housed sits in the Cathedral having been moved from the Saint-Chappelle church in Paris. The thorn is mounted on a large sapphire in the centre.

The crown itself is also held in the cathedral, and is usually on view to the public on Good Friday – which comes at the end of this week.

Notre-Dame de Paris is home to the relic accepted by Catholics the world over cathedral. The holy crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during the Passion

During the 1790s with the country in the grip of atheist Revolution the cathedral was desecrated and much of its religious iconography destroyed. It was rededicated to the Cult of Reason and 28 statues of biblical kings – wrongly believed to by French monarchs – were beheaded. Even the great bells were nearly melted down.

Napoleon returned the cathedral to the Catholic Church and was crowned Emperor there in 1804, but by the middle of the 19th century much of the iconic building.

It wasn’t until the publication of Victor Hugo’s novel – The Hunchback of Notre Dame – in 1831 that public interest in the building resurfaced and repair works began. 

A major restoration project was launched in 1845 and took 25 years to be completed. 

Architects Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc won the commission. 

By 1944 the cathedral was to be damaged again and during the liberation of Paris, stray bullets caused minor damage to the medieval stained glass. 

This would be updated with modern designs. 

In 1963 France’s Culture Minister, André Malraux, ordered the cleaning of the facade of the cathedral, where 800 years worth of soot and grime were removed. 

Notre Dame has a crypt, called the Crypte archéologique de l’île de la Cité, where old architectural ruins are stored. They span from the times of the earliest settlement in Paris to present day. 

The cathedral has 10 bells, the heaviest bell – known as the boudon and weighing 13 tonnes – is called Emmanuel and has been rung to mark many historical events throughout time. 

At the end of the First and Second World Wars the bell was rung to mark the end of the conflicts. 

It is also rung to signify poignant events such as French heads of state dying or following horrific events such as the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001.  

The three stained glass rose windows are the most famous features of the cathedral. They were created in the Gothic style between 1225 and 1270. 

While most of the original glass is long gone, some remains in the south rose which dates back to the last quarter of the 12th century. 

The rest of the windows were restored in the 18th century. 

The south rose is made up of 94 medallions which are arranged in four concentric circles. 

They portray scenes from the life of Christ and those who knew him – with the inner circle showing the 12 apostles in it 12 medallions. 

During the French Revolution rioters set fire to the residence of the archbishop, which was around the side of the cathedral, and the south rose was damaged. 

One of the cathedral’s first organs was built in 1403 by Friedrich Schambantz but was replaced in the 18th century before being remade using the pipe work from former instruments.

The Cathedral is also home to a Catholic relic said to be a single thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus on the cross.

  ‘It’s burning to the ground’: Trump tweets about massive fire as Notre Dame goes up in flames and suggests use of airborne water tankers – then questions the renovation work at the iconic cathedral

President Donald Trump tweeted about the massive fire engulfing Notre Dame Monday, suggesting the use of flying water tankers to douse the flames – then appeared to criticize renovation work that may have caused it.

Trump tweeted from aboard Air Force One en route to Minnesota, while viewers around the world were watching the iconic cathedral’s in flames.

‘So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!’ Trump wrote while en route to Minnesota for an event about taxes.

Later, at his Tax Day event, Trump told a crowd about the ‘terrible, terrible fire.’

‘The fire that they’re having at the Notre Dame Cathedral is something like few people have witnessed,’ the president said.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the fire at Notre Dame Monday

The president suggested the use of airborne tankers

‘When we left the plane, it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burn. It’s one of the great treasures of the world,’ Trump continued.

‘It’s one of the great treasures in the world. The greatest artists in the world. Probably if you think about it … it might be greater almost than any museum in the world and it’s burning very badly. Looks like It’s burning to the ground,’ the president added, as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze.

Trump said he had a ‘communication’ with France but did not specify if he spoke to French authorities.

‘That puts a damper on what we’re about to say to be honest,’ Trump told his audience in Minnesota. ‘Because that is beyond countries. That’s beyond anything. That’s a part of our growing up it’s a part of our culture, it’s a part of our lives. That’s a truly great cathedral. And I’ve been there and I’ve seen it … There’s probably no cathedral in the world like it,’ Trump said.

‘They think it was caused by renovation. And I hope that’s the reason,’ Trump continued. Renovation. What’s that all about?’ Trump said. Then he called it a ‘terrible sight to behold.’

‘With that being said, I want to tell you that a lot of progress has been made by our country in the last two and a half years, ‘ Trump said, segueing into his tax event. ‘Hard to believe we’re already starting to think about our next election.’

Great buildings ravaged by fire: From Windsor Castle to York Minster

The Windsor Castle fire of November 1992 

A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence.

The Berkshire blaze started at 11am in Queen Victoria’s Private Chapel after a faulty spotlight ignited a curtain next to the altar.

Within minutes the blaze had spread to St George’s Hall next door, and the fire would go on to destroy 115 rooms, including nine State Rooms.

Three hours after the blaze was first spotted 225 firemen from seven counties were battling the fire, using 36 pumps to discharge 1.5million gallons of water at the inferno’s peak.

The fire break at the other end of St George’s Hall remained unbreached, so the Royal Library was fortunately left undamaged.

A fire broke out at Windsor Castle on November 20, 1992, which caused extensive damage to the royal residence

Staff worked to remove works of art from the Royal Collection from the path of the fire.

According to the Royal Collection Trust: ‘The Castle’s Quadrangle was full of some of the finest examples of French 18th-century furniture, paintings by Van Dyck, Rubens and Gainsborough, Sèvres porcelain and other treasures of the Collection.

‘Amazingly, only two works of art were lost in the fire – a rosewood sideboard and a very large painting by Sir William Beechey that couldn’t be taken down from the wall in time. Luckily works of art had already been removed from many rooms in advance of rewiring work.’

The Duke of York had said he he heard the fire alarm and roughly two or three minutes later he saw the smoke after leaving the room he was in, according to contemporary reports.

Prince Andrew had joined a group removing valuable works of art from the castle to save them from destruction.

The York Minster fire of 1984 

Pictured: Aftermath of the York Minster fire of July 9, 1984

Early in the morning of July 9, 1984, York Minster’s south transept was set ablaze, destroying the roof and causing £2.25million worth of damage.

More than 100 firefighters confronted the church fire, taking two hours to bring it to heel.

The cause of the fire is believed to have been a lightning bolt that struck the cathedral shortly after midnight. 

The blaze seriously damaged the cathedral’s stonework, along with its famous Rose Window, and firefighters were left tackling embers on the floor after the roof collapsed at 4am.

Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am. 

An investigation ruled out an electrical or gas fault, and arson was discounted due to roof’s inaccessibility. Tests had found that the blaze was ‘almost certainly’ caused by a lightning strike but much of the evidence was destroyed in the fire.

The building was restored in 1988 after masonry teams re-carved stonework above the building’s rose window and arches.

It was reported that the rose window, designed to celebrate the marriage of King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, reached a temperature of 842F during the incident, cracking the glass in several places before it was restored. 

It was not the first time the building had caught ablaze.

In the early hours of February 1, 1829, Jonathan Martin set the building on fire, melting the lead from the roof and cracking the building’s limestone pillars.

Late that afternoon the fire started dying out after roughly 230 feet of choir roof had collapsed.

Non-conformist Martin, a former sailor from Northumberland, did not believe in formal liturgy, had published pamphlets condemning the clergy as ‘vipers of Hell’.

He was charged with setting the building on fire, but was found not guilty due to insanity, and died in a London asylum in 1838.

Pictured: The roof of the South Transept of York Minster ablaze at the height of the fire. Minster staff and clergy busied themselves saving as many artefacts as possible before the fire was finally brought under control at around 5.24am

The Great Fire of London 

St Paul’s Cathedral (pictured now) caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street ‘like a river’ as the building collapsed

On September 2, 1666, a fire broke out Thomas Farriner’s bakery in Pudding Lane, close to London Bridge. The summer of 1666 had been unusually hot, and the city had not seen rain for several weeks, leaving wooden houses and buildings tinder dry.

Once the fire had taken hold, 300 houses quickly collapsed and strong east winds fanned the flames from house to house, sweeping the blaze through London’s winding narrow lanes, with houses positioned close together.

In an attempt to flee the fire by boat, Londoners poured down to the River Thames and the city was overtaken by chaos.

There was no fire brigade in London at the time, so residents themselves had to fight the fire with the help of local soldiers.

They used buckets of water, water squirts and fire hooks, pulling down houses with hooks to make gaps or ‘fire breaks’, but the wind helped fan the fire across the created gaps.

King Charles II had ordered that houses in the path of the fire should be pulled down – but the fire outstripped the hooked poles that were used to try and achieve this.

By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control.

Gunpowder was deployed to blow up houses that lay in the path’s fire, but the sound of explosions triggered rumours of a French invasion, heightening the city’s panic.

St Paul’s Cathedral caught fire, with the lead roof melting and pouring into the street ‘like a river’ as the cathedral collapsed.

The fire was eventually brought under control and extinguished by September 6, leaving just one fifth of London untouched.

Almost every civic building had been destroyed, along with 13,000 private homes, 87 parish churches, The Royal Exchange, and Guildhall.

Roughly 350,000 people lived in London just before the Great Fire, making the city one of the largest in Europe.

A monument was erected in Pudding Lane, where the blaze broke out.

By September 4 half of London had been overtaken by the blaze, and King Charles himself joined firefighters, handing them buckets of water in a desperate attempt to bring the blaze under control (pictured: An illustration from 1834)

The Great Fire of Rome , 64AD

The Great Fire of Rome, during the reign of Emperor Nero in 64AD, destroyed much of the city after the blaze began in the slums south of the aristocratic Palatine Hill.

Strong winds fanned the fire north, scorching homes in its path, causing widespread panic during the inferno’s three-day duration.

Hundreds died in the conflagration, and thousands were left homeless. Three of the 14 districts were completely destroyed, and only four remained completely untouched.

That Emperor Nero ‘fiddled while the city burned’ has become popular legend, but is not accurate. The Emperor was 35 miles away in Antium when the fire broke out and allowed his palace to be used as a shelter. And the fiddle had not yet been invented.

Nero, who used the fire as an opportunity to rebuild the city in a more Greek style, blamed Christians for the fire, ordering the arrest, torture and execution of hundreds of the religion’s faithful.

Historian Tacitus said the fire was ‘graver and more terrible than any other which had befallen this city.’

‘Art and history destroyed before our eyes’: Witnesses share their horror as the Notre Dame Cathedral is engulfed in flames

Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames on Monday in a roaring blaze that devastated the Parisian landmark, leaving the city, France, and the international community distraught. 

Flames that began in the early evening burst through the roof of the centuries-old cathedral and engulfed the spire, which collapsed, quickly followed by the entire roof.

While a huge plume of smoke wafted across the city and ash fell over a large area, Parisians and tourists watched on, as others took to social media to express their sorrow.

‘Centuries of art and history destroyed before our eyes. This building has stood since the Middle Ages. This is absolutely devastating,’ one Twitter user wrote.

Later in the evening, those in the city gathered together to say prayers and sing hymns in front of the nearby Saint Julien Les Pauvres church as the massive blaze continued only a few hundred meters away.

Onlookers stand on a bridge as the stare in shock at the smoke and flames rising through the landmark in Paris

Many were quietly singing an Ave Maria in Latin, including Stephane Seigneurie, 52, who said he has lived in Paris for the past 25 years.

‘I come often, and go in even where there’s no mass because it’s an extraordinary place, entwined in the history of France,’ he said. ‘Politically, intellectually and spiritually, it’s a symbol of France.’

Archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit has invited priests across France to ring the bells of their churches in a call for prayers for Notre Dame.

‘Paris is disfigured. The city will never be like it was before,’ said Philippe, a communications worker in his mid-30s, who had biked over to the scene after being alerted of the fire by a friend.

‘I’m a Parisian, my father was a Parisian, my grandfather as well – this was something we brought our sons to see,’ he said. ‘I won’t be showing this to my son.’ 

‘It’s a tragedy,’ he added. ‘If you pray, now is the time to pray.’ 

‘Basically the whole rooftop is gone. I see no hope for the building,’ said witness Jacek Poltorak, watching the fire from a fifth-floor balcony two blocks from the southern facade of the cathedral, one of France’s most visited places.  

People sit and watch as the flames blaze through the landmark building in Paris, France

A woman talks on the phone and begins to cry as she watches the flames rip through the roof

‘Notre Dame is perhaps one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever set foot in, and watching it burn down is absolutely soul crushing,’ read one Twitter post. 

‘Terrible seeing the Notre Dame in flames. Art and history turned to ashes. So glad no one has been hurt. Paris we are with you and will be there to see it restored. Shocking news,’ another social media user said. 

Others described the tragedy of never being able to see the Notre Dame as it was before the blaze.

‘Sad I’ll never get to see Notre Dame,’ one Twitter user wrote. ‘It’s on my bucket list and now one of the historic landmarks is just gone! Thoughts go out to France’. 

‘It’s finished, we’ll never be able to see it again,’ said Jerome Fautrey, a 37-year-old who had come to watch. 

Buildings around were evacuated and nobody was injured, junior interior minister Laurent Nunez said at the scene, adding: ‘It’s too early to determine the causes of the fire.’ 

France 2 television reported that police were treating it as an accident. 

‘Everything is collapsing,’ a police officer near the scene said as the entire roof of the cathedral continued to burn.   

‘Like all our compatriots, I am sad this evening to see this part of all of us burn,’ President Emmanuel Macron tweeted. 

‘There are a lot of art works inside…it’s a real tragedy,’ Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at the scene.  

Crowds of stunned Parisians and tourists – some crying, others offering prayers – watched in horror in central Paris on Monday night as firefighters struggled for hours to extinguish the flames engulfing the Notre Dame Cathedral

Questions for Paris fire brigade as Notre Dame inferno burns out of control for hours

Authorities have revealed they are unable to drop water on to Notre Dame to tame the blaze for fear it will ruin what is left of the 850-year-old cathedral as well as injuring people nearby.

The tactic was suggested by US President Donald Trump on Twitter but it hasn’t been deployed because of the risks it could pose not only to the historic building but to any people nearby.

The French Interior Ministry tweeted to say that 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze that is engulfing the cathedral.

The French Interior Ministry has tweeted to say 400 firefighters have been mobilised to help tackle the blaze

In cases of intense fires, a water bomber jet – called a Canadair – can be deployed to drop large amounts of water.

Hundreds of comments have flooded in on the Pompiers du Paris Twitter page in support of the brave firefighters risking their lives to save Notre Dame.

French news site Le Monde, explains: ‘A Canadair projects about six tonnes of water at high speed to the ground.

‘The danger is significant of hurting one or more people around the building – which is why Canadair interventions are so infrequent in urban and peri-urban areas.

‘Such an intervention could also significantly destroy the little remaining structure of the cathedral.’

The French Interior Ministry have mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the blazing inferno which has been burning for

If an accident happens while a Canadair is being used, the pilot may also face criminal charges.

Canadairs were used earlier this year in March when France experienced intense wildfires near Valdeblore in the Alpes-Maritimes.

They were also used in 2017 when France experienced intense wildfires that forced 10,000 people to evacuate their homes and campsites overnight.

The French Interior Ministry has mobilised 400 firefighters to help tackle the inferno that has been burning for hours 

French news site Le Monde, explains: ‘A Canadair projects about six tonnes of water at high speed to the ground’. Stock picture of a Canadair 

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