#Moments BEfore Mass

[momentsbeforemass]

50% of God’s love

One of the promises you make at Ordination is to pray the Divine Office. Morning prayer and evening prayer. Every day.

If you’ve tried to do it, you know that some days are easier than others. Some days it just flows. Other times, not so much.

There are distractions. Intrusive thoughts. All kinds of things can turn quiet time with God into anything but.

But none of that is really about the Divine Office. That stuff happens with every kind of prayer.

The good part? Even when it’s not easy, or even particularly coherent, God is listening, taking it all in. None of it is ever lost or unheard.

Just as important? What God is not doing.

God’s not evaluating our prayers, figuring out whether they’re worth His time. God doesn’t grade our prayers. God has never said to anyone after prayer,

“That was a mess. Truly one of your worst. You were all over the map. Half the time, you were distracted. When you weren’t, it was all about you. And all the stuff you’ve got going on.

Really, it doesn’t even deserve a response.

But, because I’m Me, I’ll meet you halfway. I’ll give you 50% of My love, some of My grace, part of what you need.

Next time, pray better.”

God’s not looking for perfection. And prayer isn’t a performance.

Prayer is all about talking with God. Drawing closer to God. Being with God.

What God really wants is for us to persevere in prayer.

Even if we’re distracted. Or if we don’t feel God’s presence right now. For us to keep trying.

Even when it’s not easy. For us to keep coming back to God.

To persevere in prayer. Until our hearts rest in Him.

Until we are able to receive 100% of His love, all of His grace, and everything we need.

Today’s Readings

[supercool-here]

HELP I JUST REALIZED MOMENTSBEFOREMASS IS A PRIEST!!!!!!???????M

[ef-1]

That gif of Daniel leaning away from DC’s kiss, coward! Kiss the old man like nature intended!

pls he’s come so far, the performance of being #Daniel Ricciardo distracts people from his shy roots, but my boy literally went from visibly fidgety, nervous and burrowing into his own collar

to this ->

and we've only climbed the gay ladder since then 💪

[doortotomorrow]

rebecca shepard / kaidan alenko - finding a moment of peace

[kaidanalenkosprmanager]

THE BEST OF SHENKO 1/?

The end of the world has a way of reminding you of all the things you forgot to say do. Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (2021)

[winepresswrath]

i am going to wind up on team #justiceforarmand but it's going to be so situational. justice for armand specifically during the period of time louis is all "oooh who needs labels." a very different kind of justice for armand on matters pertaining to claudia.

[cyanide-latte]

Gonna be reblogging a lot of moots' stuff and putting "tag later" on it as a reminder to myself.

[batsplat]

do you have a favorite moment of casey and vale’s rivalry? or a top 5 favorite moments?

can't just give my favourite moment because my favourite moment is the obvious favourite moment - laguna 2008, which is a boring pick, but also going for anything else would be dishonest. the top two picks are the ones everyone knows about!! so we'll start with the normie ones and get a little less normie by the end. and obviously the inherent problem with this list is that by now I HAVE talked about everything on here before, probably at quite some length, but. this is a fun exercise anyway because it lets me condense the whole narrative to the highlight reel. let's go

1. LAGUNA SECA 2008 - race of all timeeeeeeeeee. is it not cool that you have an actual RACE that so fundamentally changes the relationship between its protagonists with virtually zero forewarning?? casey might hate the press games, might think valentino isn't friendly enough to him - but NONE of it ends up mattering as much as a single race where valentino caught him completely unawares. the talking was very much done on the track. casey thinks valentino makes enemies deliberately to motivate himself... but valentino literally isn't even doing that here. he's just doing this to win the title. this is him at his most cold-blooded... he knows exactly how dangerous casey is, he is painfully aware of how his usual tactics haven't cracked casey and he NEEDS to do something to change the momentum. this is him intimidating casey, wresting control of this rivalry away from casey - doing whatever he can to get into casey's head. taking risks he usually wouldn't be willing to take!! it works as this culmination of their rivalry thus far, this dramatic climax of a season where valentino had dedicated himself so thoroughly towards figuring out casey. and it hits so good because it's... premeditated ruthlessness, this shock on casey's side - everyone startled and off-balance except for valentino who has already made the choice that he is willing to do whatever it takes to beat casey. it makes the fight feels so much more viscerally thrilling... valentino's daring meeting casey's bubbling rage. valentino's cunning barely holding off casey's unmatched speed. it's testing, testing, testing casey how far he's willing to go - and it's so clear how badly they need to beat each other here. casey rising, rising, rising to the challenge - until he loses his temper and loses his chance for victory in the gravel. and then he needs to pick it up and ride home to an embarrassing second... has to endure valentino's post-race theatrics, perfectly judged to twist in the knife. casey's initial barely restrained anger giving way to the humiliation of having to apologise to valentino for his post-race comments a few weeks later... brutal. there's nothing better in a rivalry than when you can tell the tale of a relationship through the fabric of the sport itself - and this is a race that tells us plenty about the two riders and their dynamic, inexorably changing one of its protagonists. it's a turning point, it's a reckoning, it's emotionally devastating. how can you fail to be compelled

2. ambition outweighing talent - one of the rivalry's most infamous moments also acting as a thesis statement!! a fitting bit of theatre for this time period where their rivalry became confined to off-track wrangling - sure, it might have been a collision in a race... but nobody remembers motegi 2005 (definitely a worse error) for a reason, right. it's all about casey taking advantage of the moment. this schadenfreude and desire for delayed retribution that has been simmering with him... he so dearly wants to twist in the knife over valentino's failures at ducati and an opportunity falls into his lap. and he's furious - because it's another confrontation with valentino that plays so neatly into his larger grievances with the sport, the stewards prioritising valentino over him as he's left unable to continue and opts to sarcastically clap valentino on the following lap. there's valentino's perceived lack of respect in not removing his helmet, of course - which casey somehow manages to link back to europeans' insincerity, while valentino jokes he was worried casey might punch him. it's so very them, isn't it. and y'know, casey's always talking about learning from valentino, including in how valentino deals with the press... he's learned valentino's tricks and is prepared to suck up to the media and is so, so determined to get his revenge. this is his graduation moment, and it's one that repeatedly echoes laguna 2008. back then, valentino interrupts casey in his tv interview to get casey's ungracious response recorded for posterity - and now casey takes full advantage of the cameras valentino brought to immortalise his insults. first, casey inquires about valentino's shoulder - sometimes gets a little odd about his rivals' injuries, casey does - and then he delivers his pithy line... in some ways, casey really is one of valentino's best students, matching him in a war of words like none of valentino's other rivals ever really did. and the line itself directly echoes what he said after laguna 2008: "let his ambition to win take control over his technique" becomes "ambition outweighed your talent". there's something deeply satisfying about the thematic coherency of that rivalry, how this infamous moment sums up its central competitive tension. willpower versus ability, cunning versus technique, ambition versus talent. it's such a perfect bit of theatre that feels so very valentino - except it's casey who plays the valentino role, as he has a tendency to do in this rivalry... and he really did learn ever so well from valentino, which is of course also why he still publicly bangs on about a racing incident from 2011 so much. he RELISHES it to the fullest, using the comment to slander valentino's entire career in the autobiography, suggesting maybe valentino shouldn't have raced a title contender like that (it was round two lol), talking about it again and again and again to get his side of the rivalry out there. because he understands the symbolic weight of this moment, just as valentino once kissed the corkscrew. something so satisfying about a rivalry where the boundaries between the two become just a little blurred at times... something fun about a rivalry so challenging it forces its participants to change and adapt in response. and casey shows what a good student he is

3. riding like a god - catalunya 2007 my belovedddd..... ignore the rest of this paragraph and just go watch this race. to me this is THE valentino feud circuit. starts with the biaggi fistfight in 2001 and then valentino just will not stop having dramatic duels there with his major rivals. sete in 2004 and 2005, casey in 2007 and 2008, jorge in 2009, marc in 2016... and look, I don't think it's a coincidence that valentino wins quite so many duels against spaniards there of all places - BUT it also just feels right that the only one he ever loses is to casey. this is such an important moment in the big picture of the rivalry because it's not just a great valentino duel circuit - it's a strong yamaha circuit, a strong michelin circuit... casey is as dominant as he is that year partly because of a bike/tyre advantage, but there's no denying he beats valentino 100% on merit at that track. it's an exhilarating race, one that establishes just how dramatic a challenge casey poses - and it's one that valentino learns some lessons from. first off, he tests out that last corner overtake that will come ever so handy two years later against jorge on the final lap. and secondly, he learns that casey is not a rider who will simply buckle under the pressure valentino applies from behind. what happens at laguna 2008 is the consequence of that lesson. there, it is valentino who rides ferociously unaffected out front while casey snaps ineffectually at his heels from behind... again, it's how they're both forced to react to each other, how they step onto each other's turf and take on attributes from the other to adapt to the challenge. valentino gets beaten at his number one feud circuit, then decides to play frontrunner for a change a year later. it's the ability they have to surprise each other!! AND it's valentino's complimenting of casey after the race. "riding like a god"... what a thing for valentino to say about someone!! it's just so symbolically rich to have casey, who is essentially attempting to slay a god in this rivalry, be ushered into the pantheon like this. in a way, valentino truly loved this rivalry... casey is the perfect challenge, the perfect little puzzle, perfect mr perfect. fighting casey is uniquely thrilling for valentino. which makes it even better that casey doesn't feel like it was one of his better victories, contrarian to the last. and yes, he's enough of a perfectionist to find fault with a win like that... but casey's always taken more pleasure in beating his rivals than he cares to admit. I know he liked that

4. arm around the shoulder - brave to put a moment in my top five that really depends entirely on my own interpretation. but, well, I reckon I'm onto something here. this post gives the details - it's a moment where valentino puts his arm around casey on the donington 2008 podium, seemingly to quieten the boos of the crowd, and casey looks happy enough to reciprocate. valentino does generally treat fan unpleasantness as part of the game, joking after jerez 2005 that he'd lost 30-40% of his spanish fans and offering jorge qualified support in 2011 when jorge was being booed by italian fans while also essentially telling him to ignore them. it's just another way of applying pressure on rivals, right, and you might as well use every tool available. sometimes, he sidesteps responsibility entirely - as with casey in this instance, pointing to anglo hostilities and casey's repeated rudeness towards donington as causes for the brits' animosity. sometimes, he might even encourage the hostility, with suggestions from some quarters he sicced the british crowd first on dani in 2006 and then on casey in 2007. which makes it interesting when he goes the other way... like he did with jorge at misano 2009, just taking that little step to deescalate the tensions in the rivalry. like at donington 2008 with casey. the willingness to make the gesture is revealing... it shows you that valentino is looking for basically a neutral relationship with casey, the way he shies away from escalating things off-track in the years in which they're actually competing for titles. casey says he lost respect for valentino after laguna 2008 and also that he's faster than valentino and valentino can't handle it - and valentino accepts his apology with minimal fuss! he wants the relationship to remain cordial! no real desire for mess... he just wants to win the title. he won't mind if the brits make life rough for casey, but then he'll extend an arm to help keep things reasonably civil. and casey's reaction, man. casey is so all over the place with valentino,, like he's so jaded and so cynical and the persecution complex is never far from the surface - but then you also get moments like this, where casey looks earnestly pleased at the gesture. as previously discussed, casey has shown that he sometimes tries to explain away even valentino's small acts of civility towards him, as if valentino must have an ulterior motive for congratulating casey politely. which makes this moment even better, because it makes it extremely likely casey has put some serious thought into valentino's actions here (and presumably come to some rather ungenerous conclusions). and of course, there's one last thing that really makes this moment... it's only three races before laguna 2008. don't smile too brightly at him, casey

5. qatar 2007/le mans 2012 - it just wouldn't be right if I didn't try to cheat the requirements a little bit, but there is a reason to take these two moments together. here is my case:

the first and the last podium they share, and they just happen to produce these pleasingly similar photos. casey with his helmet off, valentino with his helmet on, and valentino's hand in the general proximity of casey's cheek. there's just being something fun and evocative about how valentino is quite literally hiding something of himself as he faces casey - which is actually a nice little motif that crops up a few times for these two, including of course at jerez 2011. in the post-race press conference at le mans, they are asked explicitly about that race at jerez - whether they'd been thinking back to the incident given the similar conditions that day (clip here). and they confirm that they'd both done so, with valentino saying it had made him cautious the first time he had a go at casey and casey saying he'd known valentino was thinking about it, which... isn't it fun that he knew that! and isn't it even more fun that casey knew valentino wouldn't hesitate when he tried to overtake again at the very end of the race! idk, it's a sweet little moment that showcases the history they've built up between each other, for better or for worse... fittingly, this was also the weekend where casey had announced his retirement. it makes for a good bookend to that rivalry - even at its foulest and most toxic, you sometimes still get these moments where they are able to joke with each other in-person, right before going back to insulting each other in the press. casey really HAS learnt a lot from valentino. been a long journey from the first photo, right, taken at casey's first victory at qatar 2007. as discussed here, casey pays close enough attention to how valentino congratulates him to remark on the interaction not once but twice in his autobiography, including to note how valentino had rubbed his cheek. and of course casey writes it off as valentino simply not thinking he was a threat, failing to take casey seriously and thus dismissing him. again, it's how the interpersonal warmth coexists with all the unpleasantness - how casey is willing to be friendly with valentino even at the height of the feud while simultaneously unpicking valentino's motives. how valentino can't reconcile valentino the character with valentino the person. the former he hates, the latter he has more complicated feelings towards. but it's that complexity, the uncertainty, the contradiction of it all, that really elevates the rivalry... and it's there from the first podium to the last. perfect

[jakeperalta]

trying to catch a busy train from london euston feels like an sas who dares wins challenge

[famewolf]

STOP. I'm getting choked up

[momentsbeforemass]

True

Sometimes the parables of Jesus are bad ideas. Or they’re just odd.

Like today’s Gospel, the one about the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the one lost sheep.

So why do the Gospels spend so much time on parables? For the same reason that Jesus said them in the first place. Because they’re true.

Not in the sense that they’re describing something that actually happened.

Whether they were historical events or not? That’s not really the point.

Not in the sense that they’re an example that we should literally follow.

Leaving 99 sheep unattended? That’s a bad idea if you’re a sheep farmer.

Parables are true. In the sense that they show us what God is like.

And what the parable of the shepherd who leaves the 99 sheep to find the one lost sheep shows us about God is God’s love. For each one of us. Individually. No matter what.

Even though you’ve strayed. Even though you’ve cut yourself off from everything and everyone that reminds you of God.

No matter what you’ve done. No matter how far gone you think you are.

God is looking for you.

In case you wondered how much God loves you.

Today’s Readings

[mariocki]

Fat Man on a Beach (HTV, 1974)

"I'm going to read some more poems now. Erm. It may be that if you want to go and have a cup of tea, this would be a good time. I know that's what you masses are like. The mention of poetry and off you go."

[gothamcityneedsme]

Jon Kent is so cute! Such a good boy...

I do love Jon Kent, especially in the Supersons era. Modern Jon is a little lackluster to me--he is too much like Clark. And. I am primarily a Clark fan, and it sucks to be trying to read about his son and to just be like 'i wish clark was here actually'. I WANT to like Jon desperately but post the age-up it's just not felt good to read stories about him.

[6ebe]

How do we get Spain to stop exploiting child labour laws in international football tournaments

[dcviated]

Been awhile since I sent asks around. Should do that.

[crqstalite]

yk sometimes i briefly think abt the fact that with the twins being 22 theres a really high likelihood one or both graduated college/university right before they left for andromeda which makes me think that was the last big event they had with ellen.

do you think they cherish that photo in their new quarters? the last time their mother felt well enough to stand for a few minutes and embrace her children — whether or not alec was behind the camera or even there?

(sobs)