#Oh—also overflowing with all the religious symbolism. Need I say more?

[eremin0109]

I don’t even think any explanation is needed for this scene. It’s literally the staple of every single romantic kdrama in existence. We’ve seen the heterosexual counterpart of this EXACT scene a million times over.

I know this scene is in here for a reason but also it is very in touch with the amount of queer coding in this fucking show. I think they’re aware of what they’re doing—showing the queer version of other wise heteronormative tropes without the usual kdrama mockery. And honestly I’m LIVING for it.

Hello, Ms. Jung. Sorry, I was just all over the place. What brings you to the Supreme Court?

I’m meeting someone to talk about the foundation. But I got lucky, I’ve wanted to meet you again and here we are.

[savedfromsalvation]

CHRISTIAN CANNIBALS

An argument of why Christians are cannibals (and possibly vampires) from Christianity's own perspective

by Jim Walker (an ex-cannibal)

Originated: 07 January 2003Additions: 10 July 2006

How many Christians realize that when they eat that wafer and drink the wine during communion service that they, in effect, practice cannibalism by the partaking in the eating of human flesh and blood?

I certainly did not know that when I underwent communion in my religious days. It sounds so innocent and benign; "Communion" imparts the concept of sharing thoughts and feelings, or so I thought. Oh how the priests fooled me. They used other obscure terms too, like "Eucharist" and "Sacrament of the Last Supper." At no time did a priest or deacon explain to me that I would share in the communal eating of the human flesh and blood of Jesus.

Cannibal: A person who eats the flesh of human beings.

Since Jesus represents an actual human being, and I ate him, that made me a cannibal. And if you have ever undergone communion, then you too fall into that category.

The Church tricked me and turned me into a cannibal!

Not only did I drink blood and eat flesh, but they made me do it in front of a statue of a bloody corpse hanging by nails on two pieces of lumber, a representation of the human whom I had just eaten. (Imagine eating a hamburger in front of an image of a freshly slain cow.)

The Church indoctrinates cannibalism at an early age. Here we have a priest putting pieces of raw human flesh into the mouths of children.

While Popes and priests visit foreign countries, they also make sure to spread their cannibalism.

Did this priest tell this child that she would eat human meat before putting a slice of it into her mouth?

When I discovered the shocking realization that I had eaten human flesh, and drank human blood I felt like vomiting. Where in the world did this morbid practice begin, I wondered. I reread the Bible for clues. Could that explain the mystery of the empty tomb of Jesus (Luke 24:3)? Did the disciples eat him?

Several Christians tried to console me by explaining that Communion only represents the symbolic eating of flesh, not the real thing (I later discovered that many Protestant Christians don't believe in the literal eating of Jesus, although some do). I felt relieved for awhile until other Christians told me otherwise (virtually all Catholics and Episcopalians believe in the literal interpretation). I began to do a bit of research for myself from the Catholic Church's own position. My stomach began to churn again as I discovered what communion and the Eucharist really means.

Communion

Communion, or "Holy Communion" as the Church officially calls it, means the actual reception of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As the Catholic Encyclopedia puts it, "For real reception of the Blessed Eucharist it is required that the sacred species be received into the stomach. For this alone is the eating referred to by our Lord (John 6:58)."

So you can't just put it in your mouth and spit it out. Oh no. You have to make sure you swallow it into your stomach!

I looked up the Biblical chapter in John 6 and found this diabolical revelation:

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (John 6:53-55)

Egads, I thought. Jesus really wants them to EAT HIM! It would make perfect sense if the disciples did eat his dead corpse. Of course you wouldn't want to admit your cannibalism to the unbelievers and you'd have to explain the missing body to the authorities. You might say something like, "He is not here, but is risen..." (Luke 24:6). Yeah, right, that's the ticket.

If the disciples did eat Christ, it may have looked something like this.

Eucharist

Eucharist describes the name given to the "Blessed Sacrament of the Altar," (older religions also used blood sacrifices to an altar. Some used virgin humans, bulls, lambs, etc.). The Christians use it to mean an actual sacrifice by Jesus where they truly believe the bread and wine turns into the actual corporal flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Christians also use other titles such as, "Table of the Lord" (Mensa Domini) or the morbid term, "Lord's Body" (Corpus Domini).

From the Catholic Church and as far back as the pronouncement from the Council of Trent, the quintessence of the Eucharist means that "the Body and Blood of the God-man ARE truly, really, and substantially present."

Here we have a community of Christians lining up to eat and swallow the uncooked flesh of Jesus in what Christianity calls the "Blessed sacrament of the Altar" or better known as the 'Eucharist' during a ceremony of communion. Looks innocent, doesn't it? Not at all the image of cannibalism as usually depicted in folklore.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992), stresses the centrality of the Eucharist to Catholic life:

The Eucharist is 'the source and summit of the Christian life.' The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, or Pasch.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1324

So if you practice Catholicism, and wish to remain a Catholic, you must honor the connubiality of the Eucharist. Not only does it mean eating the flesh and blood of Christ as a sacrifice, it means a union with the gore:

In the Eucharist the sacrifice of Christ becomes also the sacrifice of the members of his Body. The lives of the faithful, their praise, sufferings, prayer, and work, are united with those of Christ and with his total offering, and so acquire a new value. Christ's sacrifice present on the altar makes it possible for all generations of Christians to be untied with his offering.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1368

Moreover, you must never deny the priesthoods power of consecrating the flesh and blood:

If any one shall say that in the New Testament there is no visible and external priesthood nor any power of consecrating and offering the Body and Blood of the Lord, as well as of remitting and retaining sins, but merely the office and bare ministry of preaching the Gospel, let him be anathema.

Council of Trent, No. 961

Note: anathema means cursed, a malediction on your soul.

So how does bread and wine turn into actual flesh, you may ask? The Christians believe it comes from the concept of transubstantiation.

Transubstantiation

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Hildebert of Tours (~1079) probably first used the term transubstantiation and the Church later adopted the practice in the Fourth Council of the Lateran (1215) and the Council of Lyons (1274), and finally, the Council of Trent (1545-1563).

Transubstantiation basically means, the transition or conversion of one thing into another in some aspect of being. Turning water into wine gives one example of transubstantiation, and turning bread into flesh and wine into blood gives another. Transubstantiation, however, doesn't just describe a simple conversion of one thing into another but a substantial conversion (conversio substantialis). Transubstantiation differs from every other substantial conversion in this, that only the substance gets converted into another.

[Advice to the Church: Before converting the wine into blood, why not also transubstantiate water into wine? No need for expensive grape orchards, harvesting, or processing because Jesus would do the entire conversion for you for free. That way, you could give (or better yet, sell) bottles of wine to your congregations (you could call it "Jesus Juice"). You could establish Catholic wineries around the world! Just imagine the new converts you would get and, oh how your coffer cups would overflow. Just a thought.]

In the Eucharist, two extremes of conversions occur, namely the bread and wine as the terminus a quo, and the Body and Blood of Christ as the terminus ad quem (before and after). In other words, the substance of the bread and wine departs in order to make room for the Body and Blood of Christ.

Transubstantiation, as a conversion of the total substance, is the transition of the entire substance of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, comes as the express doctrine of the Church (Council of Trent, Sess. XIII, can. ii).

This theophagy (god eating) of course did not come first from the Catholics but had occurred throughout pagan religions long before Christianity. The notion that eating another living human being lies at the belief of absorbing his nature into his own, thus becoming, in some sense, more godlike, similar to the even more primitive belief that eating one's enemies makes one more powerful.

No true Christian should doubt it. Eating that wafer and drinking the wine in Church actually means truly and really eating human meat and blood. In fact, it's the entire body: eyes, brains, gall bladder, spleen, rectum, penis, testicles, etc. Everything. If you've ever watched the TV program, Fear Factor, that's nothing compared with eating the components of an entire human body. According to the Council of Trent, if you deny the Transubstantiation, then you are accursed (anathema). You will also get to spend eternity in hell.

Bon appetit!

For the full reading of this official Church doctrine from the Council of Trent, click here.

How does transubstantiation work?

So how does transubstantiation actually work; what process does the Church use to transform bread and wine into human flesh and blood (and guts, etc.)? Apparently this remains a deep Church secret. However, we do know that the priests make verbal incantations, pass smoking incense about, and pray a lot during a rite they call "Offertory" (Offertorium). Apparently the actual transformation occurs during the Prayer of Consecration, by which the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, and are converted into the flesh and blood of Christ. At just what miraculous moment during the prayer it turns into human flesh, I haven't a clue and I suspect the priests don't either. Apparently Jesus does the actual conversion, but I haven't discovered the method of how the priests know when this occurs or what test procedures they use to insure that Jesus made the transubstantiation (what if Jesus got lazy that day or just decided, enough is enough?).

In any case, by the time the priest places the wafer into your mouth, you can rest assured that you are actually eating Christ's meat. (It tastes like chicken.)

We do know that an industry exists to make the bread and wine. For example, S&M (I kid you not) stands as one of the companies that make official communion bread for the Church:

If you don't know what S&M means, in colloquial terms it stands for sadomasochism or the practice of sadism (sadistic) and masochism (subjecting oneself to abuse or physical pain).

Now I doubt that this company's name means or intends a connection with sadomasochism, but it seems an appropriate term if you consider what the eating of human flesh means to the recipient or the giver of one's own flesh. I cannot think of another word than sadomasochism to better describe the act of consciously eating the flesh of a human from another person (a sadistic act) who willingly gives them their flesh and blood to eat (an extreme masochist act).

Frankwright Mundy & Co. Ltd. sells communical sets. They even offer briefcases and shoulder bags for carrying around the flesh and blood of Jesus. What next, I wondered; will they one day build fast food outlets where a Christian can get Jesus meat anytime of day? McJesus? Christ-In-A-Box?

Vampirism

Not only did I eat human flesh in my communion sacraments, but I also drank the "actual" blood of Jesus. Doesn't this make me a vampire also? Although vampires supposedly suck blood instead of drinking it, this seems an insignificant distinction. On the contrary, the drinking and the whole swallowing of blood as opposed to sucking seems to me a bit more bloodthirsty if you ask me.

If you consider the folklore surrounding vampire stories and compare them with the beliefs of Christianity, the claims appear similar. Vampire myths (see Dracula) and Christianity both believe that by drinking human blood, you will live forever. Actually Christianity goes one step further by requiring the eating of human flesh along with the blood (John 6:53-55). And of course you're also eating the penis of Jesus (does that make one gay, I wonder?) and the small and large intestines of Jesus, and the bladder of Jesus, etc. Only by this cannibalistic act can you achieve "eternal life."

Consider also that vampirism and their drinking of blood and immortality represent fiction, whereas Christians actually believe their communal drinking of blood and eating of Jesus' corpse will earn them eternal life. Doesn't this, at the very least, put Christian vampirism in a more deleterious light than fictional vampirism?

Note that the actual Dracula (not the fictional one) lived as a Christian. Click here for more information. No doubt the real Dracula thoroughly enjoyed his communal ingesting of human blood.

Addiction?

Now I don't know why just one eating of flesh and drinking of blood won't get you to heaven, but I've yet to get a good explanation of why Christians need to eat flesh and blood every week. This continual practice of ritual cannibalism and vampirism brings up even more pressing questions about this gruesome practice. Does the act of communion lead to habitual use or an addictive need for more flesh and blood? Consider that Christians have done more to promote bloody wars throughout history than any other group, and their insistence on evangelizing every human on earth to their faith, should non-believers fear that the Christians might turn them into human flesh eaters too?

(

Click to enlarge

)They start this addiction at the earliest possible age. For the first communion, they actually give a reward for remembering their first cannibalistic act, usually in the form of a certificate. (You'd think the promise of everlasting life would serve as enough reward.) Note that nowhere in the certificate does it say that you've just eaten the human meat of Jesus.

Here we have a Christian boy eagerly awaiting his fix of Jesus' flesh. (Note the extra large portion.)

Christian Cannibalism and vampirism continues into elderly life.How many glasses of Christ's blood has this woman drank over the years?

Another concern involves the length of time of transubstantiated bread and wine. Just how long does this conversion last? We now know that you must swallow it for its effect to work, but at what stage does it turn back into naturally digested bread and wine? Does it remain transubstantiated even after digestion? Does it ever reconvert? If not, consider what this means as we move our bowels. Should we not treat the remains of Christ as sacred, just as we do the remains of the bodies of dead saints? Perhaps we might consider a better form of elimination of the excrement made from our Redeemer than just thoughtlessly flushing Him down the toilet.

I find the practice of sacred cannibalism disturbing and potentially life threatening, regardless of how many of the addicted faithful tell us it will give us everlasting life. I humbly make the following proposal: that the FDA and the CDC get involved in the study of the composition of the Transubstantiated bread and wine and the narcotic or addictive effects they may impose on the human body.

I hope that I have alarmed you enough to contact your local law enforcement office and state representative about this pressing matter. If you and I don't do it, who will?

Conclusion

Even if you still stubbornly cling to the belief that the Eucharist represents only a symbol of eating flesh and drinking blood, that still makes you a cannibal, if only a symbolic cannibal. If you partake in communion as a metaphorical representation of eating Christ's body, then that still makes you a metaphorical cannibal. You simply have no easy out of this predicament as a symbolic cannibal sits as a subset of cannibalism.

You might also want to question the metaphorical or symbolic stance because if the Eucharist presents metaphor, then what does that say for Jesus himself and what Jesus directly says from the Bible about eating his meat? Metaphorical also? How do you distinguish between metaphor and reality in the Bible when it treats all doctrines equally as the inspired words of God? Would you object to the title of Symbolic Christian or Metaphorical Christian? If you consider yourself a metaphorical or symbolic Christian, then you still fall under the label of Christian just as a symbolic cannibal falls under the label of cannibal.There simply exists no way out for a Christian to escape the cannibal label, except of course to exit Christianity entirely. I did just that and by doing so, I escaped cannibalism along with all the other nonsense. I wrote this article as satire but if you live as one of the millions of faithful that believe in the Bible and the doctrines of Christianity then you must take this article as a serious argument.

Sources:

Catholic Encyclopedia

Holy Communion

The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist

Offertory Rite The Council of Trent The Thirteenth Session

[paganchristian]

Tree branches at twilight, with the water and sky behind them, that we saw a while ago, when I was into taking more pictures again, for a while, ago, and then stopped and how I’ve started once more, and then I was into blogging but now I’m into blogging again in a different way, different subjects, rather, and different audience, or potential audience, separating myself from any particular crowd mostly I feel.  Anyway, when I see this picture I see a heart, in the shape of overlapping branches, there, where there is a patch of sky with branches in front.  It looks like a heart in branches and leaves, woven into patterns.  A heart that is drenched in shadow, outlined by the strong branches of trees, tangled between two trees that make the heart together.  Maybe the heart is found in the shadows, sometimes.  In the shadow, the shadow of the psyche.  Or also it could be found in the shadow of life, the darkness and pain, the need, lack, failure, humility, breaking out of assumptions and worldviews, seeking out what love is there to be found, to ease the pain.  Seeking out the love in ourselves or in our connection to something mysterious that can love ourselves even if it’s not us, but what can come channeled to us.  As the spirits and energy helped me to love myself but as much and far more really, they loved me, adored me, in perfect ways and ecstatic visions, deep insights, intricate perfect messages to me, to make me see in myself, in life, in others, in God, in insight and possibility and what not everything that I could never even dream of, delivered in perfect words for me, exact what I needed messages, symbols and feelings, so memorable, and ever fresh.  Always new, repeated, poured forth on me, like a waterfall of grace, never tiring of adoring me and healing and delighting and fascinating and inspiring and energizing me.  Me, of all people, why me, full of problems, lack, and horrible weakness and terrible mental and spiritual illness, heart destroyed, cold, empty, mind a sludge of nothingness and stupidity, numbness and fog.  Creativity, insight, personality all decayed and pathetic, lost from whatever beauty and goodness and love and creativity I had once had, but they adored me back into something that became healed.  Then, through all of this, in all their adoration, they helped me to change, believe in myself, heal myself, love myself, want to live, and improve.  All these ideas of self-loathing, personal worthlessness, helplessness and submission, being controlled and a mere tool, inherently nothing and despicable, in the eyes of God, I cannot see how such  way would have ever found me buried like I was, back then, in horror and lostness.  But it didn’t find me, what found me and healed me was something so far outside religion or new age and spiritual constructs of any sort that I’d seen anywhere else.  It was my own unique individual visions of spirit and of people in astral visions that I had.  There was another thing that would be seen as extremely taboo in many religious contexts, but not in others, like Hindu religions, which is that these visions I had were usually very romantic too, but not always.  The most involved and most healing of them were though.  And there were visions of God as lover and there were visions of astral people as lovers and there were visions of a polyamorous type, where I was not committed to any one person, and there were then later visions where I was asked to be committed, and it was much better, but then there were visions where the one who asked me to commit became horribly unfaithful to me, which ended that particular string of visions with them because they were repulsive to me because of the nature of the unfaithfulness which seemed particularly meaningless (and some of these visions did contain things that hurt and confused me, yet overall there was much more healing than hurt and they saved my life often and healed my mind, heart and soul and even body, it often felt too). 

Now I have my family to care for and I wonder if I can be just as gracious, though not as unbelievably immense and overflowing my love and insight, and not as full of bliss and adoration and of course not the romantic and sensual nature of it all, that I had.  But as a friend, or as a family member, with all the limits of that.  Could I find how to somehow be so loving and forget all the fear, all the lack, blame, shame, and focus most primarily just on joy, hope, faith, courage, respect, self-love, healing, adoring them, ...  Innocence, peace, mindfulness, beauty, fun, silliness, everything positive?  What finds love in the darkness?  Is it just often things that are most bright and joyful, not tangled, but not denying and shunning the tangled things, just not adding more and more to that all, there is enough already. The time for attacking the tangles in a more aggressive, analytical, critical manner might be later on, as it is happening now for me many years down the road after all this adoration and joy was what healed me and seemed needed more than anything or instead of anything else, mostly, even though all that time that I had all of this adoring love visions I also had the divination and other things, so I was actually diving in the deep of confusion too but it was only so much, not too much.  And then even the visions of love when they betrayed, hurt or confused me, that too taught me a lot about myself, about life and about others, and the soul, the heart, sprit, the limitations, needs, problems of these things.  I feel that was really an immense source of healing for me, to untangle the problems of the human heart and soul and mind an d relationships from the safe distance of astral visions and such rather than real in person relationships, which were harder to let go of, more real.  It was like I was living through intense, real-seeming waking dreams, to give me love, physical healing, complex mental answers, beautiful ideas and inspiration, bliss and euphoria, and to give me lessons on the problematic nature of things and how to overcome those wrongs and detach and see them clearly, in myself and in others’ wrongs and the world’s wrongs, human nature and cultures’ wrongs too.

And if I have to feel, like I felt before, that kind of overpowering, all-consuming lack, shame, fear, confusion, lostness, hurt, rejection, dejection, anger, coldness, total distaste and disgust for all, even myself,,... as I felt all of this at points in my life, if I have to ever feel that way or anything approaching some of that overpowering hell, if not all of it,..  But if I ever must face such things one day, then,...  Will I find my way back to center, to love again, just like I did before?  How many times can the prodigal son (or daughter) fall before God is not willing to take you back again?  When the world was the one to blind and delude you and push you down?  Perhaps religions and spirituality and love relationships and family, school, friends,...  and the body and the brain you were born with, society, culture, a toxic environment, supposed healthy food full of harmful toxins, allergens and adulterated, harmfully processed, and mislabeled ingredients, the frantic pace of life, and enforced norms of mindless delusion and noise, all around you,  and family, friends, relationships, love, marriage, workplace all demand or corner and force you to keep up or you’ll be abandoned, ill and unable to support your most basic of needs,...  And all the mindless speed, the complete and pervasive mindlessness in all ways, the competition, blame, hate, denial, repression, voicelessness, isolation, total hatred people, culture, religion, and society give you, and you were brainwashed into giving yourself the same abuse too... And if all of those things are what held you down and trapped and destroyed you, would God leave you there to die? 

Maybe in that kind of situation like it’s felt for much of my stretched thin to burst, decaying and trapped misery of a life, as it has felt... Maybe then in those cases, when I’m asking myself in that hell,...   the question of how to find peace, joy and love and meaning and  goodness ...  then it could be that I am to find this love again if I can find it just as I did before, and this love, and God’s love was never forsaking me, but all this love and God’s love, they were always there, and always hidden in some secret door if I find it, ...  Deep down under, withing some hidden trail, some tunnel or passageway, some secret key, the twist to the horror fairytale, the waking up from the nightmare,...And, opening up as I did, my opening up seemed to open it up to me.  These certain ways that I opened up and it flowed in like magic to me.  Then maybe I could help my loved ones find that if they were open to opening up and letting spirit flow into their lives that way if it would like it did for me.  And though religions often would say, oh no, delusion, danger, evil spirits, etc, don't do that, but if I have to choose to be right or to be happy, as was put by someone, regarding the questions of religions and dogmas and such, versus compassion, love, and joy to be found, what if there is a middle way too?  What if it’s neither right (as in correct), nor happy, but just good, just love,...  What is the closest thing to real love I can find, to real goodness, that I can know and believe is good the best I can see or feel or experience?  It might not always make me feel happy but it gives me enough meaning and deep inner joy and even if I don’t have certainty that it’s correct and right in any logical, proven sense, I can hang on through the lowest of the lows and maybe the need to be correct is often an illusion of the ego indeed, because so many people who are convinced they’re correct really are not but they fight and oppress others over it.  Even if you were correct is it a reason to judge and afflict those who aren’t?  There needs to be room for doubt and self-questioning or it seems we are deluding ourselves, perhaps deluding ourselves that God said so, the infallible God, and that is why we are so convinced of our correctness. A logical trick we play on ourselves and are forevermore blinded to change, unless someone can shake us free to question it deeply, openly, sincerely, honestly, ...  But if not ,then the human mind and heart aren’t infallible.  I forgive it and move on for my own self. I forgive my past self who was so convinced of my rightness too, about certain wrong things.

[gospelmusic]

Catholic Daily Reading + Reflection: Sunday 11 October 2020 - I Can Do All Things Through Christ

Sunday October 11, 2020

28TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Vestment: Green Today’s Rosary: The Glorious Mystery

Theme of the Sunday: 

We Are Invited to a Banquet, Not to a Funeral. The banquet theme joins together the first reading and the gospel. The banquet is the symbol of the happiness and joy present in the kingdom of God. The first reading tells us of a promise; the gospel tells us of its actualisation. If the banquet has already begun (with the coming of the Messiah), why do we still have so much hatred, so many wars, deaths all over the world? Yes, the feast has begun, but the Kingdom is still awaiting its full attainment. The second reading is also connected with this theme. We are given the example of the community at Philippi where there is authentic love and where a completely new life has really begun; the help and the gifts sent to Paul are proof of this.

Entrance Antiphon Ps 130:3-4

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness, O God of Israel.

Collect

May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after, and make us always determined to carry out good works. Through our Lord... (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

FIRST READING

The Lord will prepare a feast and will wipe away tears from all faces. A reading from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 25:6-10a) On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines — of fat things full of marrow, of choice wines well refined. And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm23:1 -3a.3b-4.5.6 (R.6cd)

R/. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for length of days unending.

The Lord is my shepherd;  there is nothing I shall Want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me;  he revives my soul. R. He guides me along the right path, for the sake of his name. Though I should walk in the valley of the shadow of death, no evil would I fear, for you are with me. Your crook and your staff will give me comfort. R. You have prepared a table before me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing. R. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell For length of days unending. R.

SECOND READING

I can do all things in him who strengthens me. A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians (Philippians 4:12-14.19-20) Brethren: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want. I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen. The word of the Lord.

ALLELUIA Ephesians 1:17-18

Alleluia. May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we might know what is the hope to which he has called us. Alleluia. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

GOSPEL

Invite to the marriage feast as many as you find. A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 22: 1-14) *At that time: Again Jesus spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people, in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a marriage feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast; but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, Behold, I have made ready my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves are killed, and everything is ready; come to the marriage feast. ’ But they made light of it and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the streets, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. *“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ’ For many are called, but few are chosen. * The Gospel of the Lord. * Shorter form: Matthew 22:1- 10. Read between *

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL

The Lord has of the vineyard. PRIEST: Gathered together to celebrate the Eucharist, a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, to which, as Christians, we are invited, let us pray to God our Father for all the graces we need. READER:  FOR THE PRIEST OF THE CHURCH, (pause) that their celebration of the Eucharist may be the focal point of their lives, and that the joy of this celebration may overcome any doubts or fears that trouble them. (pause) Lord, hear us; and feed us always we pray Oh Lord. atOptions = { 'key' : 'a7d957da62155c266685b350c95abc35', 'format' : 'iframe', 'height' : 250, 'width' : 300, 'params' : {} }; document.write(''); FOR THOSE IN CHARGE OF WORLD RELIEF, (pause) that the Lord’s sharing in the Eucharist may be the measure of their sharing of the world’s goods, so that in every corner of our universe, people will have sufficient for their needs. (pause) Lord, hear us; and feed us always we pray Oh Lord. FOR THOSE OVERBURDENED WITH WORRY, ESPECIALLY ABOUT MONEY, (pause) that they may know that the Lord always provides for those who put their trust in him, and that there is no problem they cannot solve with the help of the Lord, who gives them strength. (pause) Lord, hear us; and feed us always we pray Oh Lord. For a deeper appreciation of the Lord’s goodness to us. (pause) that we may never take for granted all the blessings of the Lord: life, above all, the Eucharist. (pause) Lord, hear us; and feed us always we pray Oh Lord. We pray in silence for our own intentions to the loving Lord who feeds us. PRIEST:  Father, You have prepared a banquet for us, and so we pray that we may make ourselves ready for the feast. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Today’s Reflection

The banquet of finest wine and food is used to describe the peace and joy of the kingdom of God by the prophet Isaiah and Jesus in the gospel text, but two things we must learn from the reading. Firstly, the presence of abundance unlimited and secondly our preparedness to enter this kingdom. St Paul reassures us that God’s presence gives us plenty of unlimited blessings despite distress and hardship whereas Jesus tells us that to be admitted into this kingdom of plentiful abundance we must be prepared in righteousness. People go to church for various reasons among which is social status or pressure. Are you one of those who occupy the spaces in religious assemblies but are not truly prepared to live a holy life? The word of God is addressed to you, to those who proclaim God’s word but are not with their wedding garment on, they are not holy enough. Many are called but few are chosen. Are you among the chosen ones or are you a lip service and bodily presence Christian? We must be prepared to inherit the peace and joy of the kingdom of God. This preparation entails accepting the word of God and not persecuting ministers of the word.

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[paganchristian]

Thistles.  Since this is the thistle-blooming time of the year, it seems fitting.  I just took some photos of a thistle, a few days ago, and I don’t feel like getting the adapter to upload the pictures so instead I will choose this one picture to post rather than looking through the new photos I’ve not yet uploaded from the camera.  On the laptop, where I am posting here at this moment, there is an even smaller selection of photos and it seems that this is the only one remaining at present that I feel is postable.  Among my personal photos and I will not post others’ photos, because of copyright issues.  Not that I think it’s a problem if I post from free photo sites, but there’s the littlest of chances which I won’t take.   Anyway, sun-drenched thorny resilient flowers are a good thing for me to gaze upon, the bright glowing fluorescent looking to me purple.  The sign of Scotland, for whatever that’s worth.  A butterfly attractor.  Makes me think of milk thistle, which I think was supposed to be some health thing or was it some other thistle, blessed thistle? holy thistle? , anyway, there was some thistle which I thought was maybe an adaptogen, a liver cleanser, and builder maybe it was, that I thought might be good for me.  

This thistle was at a place we go fairly often but only see these thistles rarely, because we usually aren’t there when they bloom, and though there the other day, we didn’t see the thistles, so I don’t know, maybe they mowed them down instead, but in the cowfields and roadsides, thistles galore, towering in shades of red, plum, fluorescent purple, yellow and pink bicolor (like the one I photographed the other day).  I do think I posted a thistle picture, before, but not this particular picture, though a purple one like this, and it was when I was writing (rereading this I thought it said “writhing”.  lol), about something religious at the time, like if I can approach God, I don’t feel able.  I guess in my mind, the thought of thorns, and a smilax vine’s (smilax,...  sounds like smile, ...  A thorny smile.  Smile ax.  hahaha), its thorny stem growing up among its leaves, too.  You seem thorny but invite me to come near to your embrace, it felt, like I was saying to God.  Anyway, if I did post this picture before, oh sorry, but then again, I can reuse the same picture, with new words, it is my blog, so it doesn’t really matter.  If I wanted to do that, anyone who was bored could just ignore my blog, with little effort at all. I probably would get bored with my own pictures, too, if I used them too much, the way I also tend to get bored with divination tools that aren’t ever-fresh, and extremely varied.  So I use songs, books, many different books.  

I use that, rather than a narrow set of symbols, repeatedly drawn from and made new with spinning new webs of connections and insights dug from the archetypal figures in them or the mine of imagery that springs from the well of the subconscious, not in the cards (or other objects) themselves but only what they spur forward for me, from the hidden underbrush, chasing them out like some hunted thing.  But I rather not make it so forced, and try to enjoy it all like some kind of pleasant and lazy mysterious and abundant walk through possibility and novelty, ..  and that is how it feels when my divination tool are varied enough.  Maybe my mind isn’t overflowing enough to use the regular divination tools most people seem to use, ...  or maybe my own mind is too littered with sadness, pain, fear, distress, despair, horror, anger, worry, doubt, shame, confusion, and I need images that bring fresh and new ready and strong happiness instead of the all too common empty sadness and distress I feel when my gaze crumbles upon the majority of the world, crumbling attention, crumbling interest, reverting back into itself and the lack and pain therein, only the slightest rapidly eroding thread to anything good and stable and practical outside me. Then without that good mirror outside me, the good inside me flutters down underneath, like the fish hiding in the mud and algae and deep murky water of my heart, mind, my life.  

Which is why I feel that I need to find just the right image to unravel the contemplation, because the wrong one will set me off onto something that taints my mind. and feelings,...  taints them for days, maybe setting off a cycle lasting weeks or months or years, because it is just that fragile as I’ve come to know after having it happen, the trigger to derail the train of my life again and again, too many times, in the past.

Though often my thoughts thus unspooled, even when I do find that right image, even then my thoughts I reel up to me, in my little spool of unspiraled, tightly coiled self, no, ... Still even then, these thoughts aren’t cheery or strong, still they are much better than if the wrong image had drawn them on, because I know this from past experience.  The right image keeps the pain safe and contained, for me.  Somewhat at least and then I comfort those upset feelings with the more other right images,...

Or not images, sometimes, instead just things to do, places to be, or senses to feel, games and stories and songs and time with my child and walking in nature, and my favorite authors and book subjects and genres, and healing music, dance, and yoga, yoga guided meditation stories that make life feel like a living daydream surreal fairytale, and washing dishes and other housework, the right shade, the right lighting, the right thing to set my sensory brain into a mesmerized healing calm for the trauma, the right patterns and movements, sounds and tactile feelings, strangely satisfying, whatever, and whatever grounds, uplifts, sinks me into imagination and possibility, hopes, ideals, senses, innocence, and love) ...  

Those things will then come in and complete the work begun that was trauma-wound-up, trauma-tangled, trauma-triggered, trauma-stuck-in this mud of never washed away trauma that only gradually can be removed, before more gets slathered on again, trauma, a way of life...  Yes all that trauma was there, brought up by these right images and words for me, no doubt, but now with the right path out again of the dark part of the garden, to better quarters, better hidden courtyards, now I’ve found my way out, enough practice, I know how, with the right healing images, with the right healing practices, to get better enough, again, for now.  For this moment, enough.  

And, now, after all of that, they don’t leave loose ends to fester, and they heal them up like a salve, disinfecting and speeding the healing of the wound I had to dive into to clean it, however painful that might be.  Cleaning and cleaning again and again, until if it ever heals, but if it’s just a never-healing wound, then maybe it’s not even a wound but rather a disease that doesn’t ever heal, but you still have to keep tending it.  To keep your state from decaying, more, faster.