#Who you are in God's eyes

[momentsbeforemass]

NPC’s

(by request)

In the first century, Roman jailers were tortured and put to death if their prisoners escaped.

That’s the backstory to the jailer’s reaction to the earthquake at the jail in today’s first reading.

The foundations of the jail shake, the doors fly open, the chains are pulled loose.

The jailer sees this, assumes that his prisoners (Paul and Silas) have escaped, and prepares to kill himself. Because he knows what they do to jailers.

In that moment of despair, Paul calls out to the jailer, “Do no harm to yourself, we are all here.”

When they could have escaped, Paul and Silas didn’t. Why?

Because Paul and Silas know what they do to jailers.

It would have been so easy for them to run away after the earthquake. Paul and Silas had every reason to do it.

Their friends would have been so happy for them to be free. No one would have given the jailer a second thought.

But Paul and Silas? They knew what running away would mean for the jailer.

So, they stayed. And made sure that the jailer didn’t take his own life.

Why? What makes the jailer so special? All we know about him is his job. In the narrative, he’s part of the scenery, a nameless background character. In gaming terms, he’s an NPC (non-player character).

But that’s not how God sees things. In God’s eyes, there are no nameless background characters.

Paul and Silas are instruments of God’s grace, to be sure. But if we’re only looking at Paul and Silas, then we’ve missed the point of the earthquake at the jail and everything that followed. 

Everything that happened wasn’t done for show, so that people would be impressed with Paul and Silas.

As St. John Chrysostom tells us, it was all done for the jailer – “not for show but for salvation.”

It was all done so that someone who was part of the scenery, a nameless background character to everyone else, might know how much he mattered to God. That to God, “he was worthy of salvation.”

That is how God looks at each one of us.

Because in God’s eyes, there are no NPC’s.

Today’s Readings

[lotussart]

The Taking of The Lamb

COTLtober Week 4: A Kiss

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Be wary not of the beast, but the hand that tamed it.

(Read more dog training tips over at Tiger Tiger)

[lotus-pear]

i love you royal trio (minus akechi)

[heartorbit]

find another role, carry on the show

[marciaillust]

bro fuck it im workposting. i did illustrations, i storyboarded, i directed. I did many cool things in 2024 and millions of people all over the world saw em. that has to count for something

[tending-the-hearth]

never getting over the fact that at the start of "the outsiders" when ponyboy is getting jumped, while the rest of the gang goes after the socs who attacked him, darry is the only one who goes straight to ponyboy to make sure that he's okay, he doesn't even think to go after the socs, his only priority is going to his baby brother and making sure his baby is okay

[hinamie]

idk about yall but life is good again

[egophiliac]

oh, uh, this...this isn't Silver's backstory after all.

[starry-bi-sky]

my martha knight au in a nutshell:

Danny/Martha: see up here?

Danny/Martha: *taps skull*

Danny/Martha: intense psychological damage

-----------

Danny/Martha: *upon finding out she's pregnant*

Danny/Martha: oh my god i cant be a mom, I'm fifteen and homeless--

Danny/Martha: im going to be a terrible mother--

Danny/Martha: i live in a cAR--

Danny/Martha: what if the baby inherits my powers? Oh no--

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Danny/Martha post giving birth: i've only had Bruce for a minute and a half but if anything were to happen to him i won't even need to fuse with Vlad, I'm razing this goddamn planet to the ground myself

Danny, to Baby Bruce: you are the last remaining thread of my sanity. I'm going to give you the world :)

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Danny/Martha prior to getting pregnant: Fuck it, if everything in my life has led to this moment, i'm allowed to make one stupid decision. I'm getting drunk and getting laid

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Danny/Martha while Bruce was a toddler: i swear to fucking god i am going to kill the next person who talks to me--

Bruce: hi mommy!! i brought you something!!!

Danny/Martha, immediately flipping on a dime: hi baby!! what do you have?

Bruce, a weird child like his mother: a spider :)

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Danny/Martha, talking to Falcone after he made an unsavory comment at her and Bruce: If you ever come near me or my son again, I will dig up your shithead father's corpse and make you eat his skin.

Danny/Martha: do you understand me

Falcone:... crystal, ma'am

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Danny/Martha new in Gotham: *getting mugged*

Danny/Martha: *grabs man's arm*

Danny/Martha: I AM GOING TO BREAK YOU IN HALF LIKE A TWIG, FUCK BOY, DO YOU HEAR THE WORDS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH--

(she then proceeds to terrorize Gotham's night life for the next extended period of time, mostly unintentionally)

---------------

Danny/Martha: Danny Fenton?? No. you must be mistaken, my name is Martha Knight.

Danny/Martha: this here is my littlest knight, Bruce.

Danny/Martha: I made him all by myself :]

[aroaceleovaldez]

my hot pjo take is that Jason isn't a second Percy, Jason is a second Annabeth. Jason is just if Annabeth was a guy and also a Big 3 kid.

[momentsbeforemass]

Catherine of Siena

“Come to me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

If we don’t know what Jesus is talking about, it sounds like a day off. Maybe the best day off ever. Because it’s God’s version of a day off, right?

Not exactly.

What Jesus is talking about is rest from the very thing that makes us heavy laden. When you and I weigh our hearts down with the desire to be someone we’re not.

When we look at other people and say in our hearts, “Why can’t I do what she does?” “How come I don’t get to do that?” “When is it going to be my turn?���

We weigh our hearts down. When we compare ourselves to others like that, we make ourselves heavy laden. And every day – even our day off – becomes a burden.

Because we’re missing what Jesus is saying. So here’s the rest of it.

“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The yoke that Jesus is talking about is not the waste of comparison, or the burden of competition.

The truth is that as long as you compare yourself and your situation to others, you will never be anything but miserable. Because there will always be someone more successful, more talented, more celebrated than you are. This is the burden that Jesus wants you to drop.

Jesus is calling you to follow Him.

Let’s be clear, Jesus is not calling you to follow Him by being someone else. Jesus is calling you to follow Him, by being you.

Before you were ever formed in your mother’s womb, He planned for you to be here. For a moment such as this. That you are you, and that you are here now, is no accident.

And He has already given you everything you need to fulfill the purpose that He has for your life.

This is what Jesus is calling you to take upon you.

The more you live true to that purpose. The more you use what He has given you, to do what He has called you to do.

The closer you follow Him. The lighter it all becomes. The less life weighs you down.

It’s the secret of the great saints. It’s the change of heart that will change the world.

It’s what St. Catherine of Siena was talking about when she said - “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

Today’s Readings

[beetlethebug]

consider,,,a lucanis who is in love with emmrich, a spite who is in love with rook, a rook in love with emmrich, and emmrich who is in love with all three but wants lucanis, spite, and rook to get together because he feels he is not the type of man any of them deserve...

bonus points for spite being the one to realize just what sort of love quadrilateral is going on and is the one to get them all together.

[erinwantstowrite]

can you tell us anything about friendsgiving since it’s thanksgiving?

i can give you some out of context comic 🥰 this takes place during Friendsgiving (which i fear my turn into a short arc...) anyways i can't tell you what's being discussed here and it'll be funny watching y'all try to figure it out

[critter-wizard]

you are all I have, you are the eyes that see, the air that breathes, how can I worship anything else?

[forzathunder]

"I have many fears, most of them about Lucrezia." — Cesare Borgia (The Borgias, 2011-2013) + hints of insecurity

that she adores someone that much / if she will reject his dark nature and act of love and violence as Ursula did / if he truly is not part of her desires / that she easily forgets him