#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

[eric-the-disposable-demon]

Uh-

just found out my cousin (who lives in England) is in the art department of a bunch of shows??? And she worked oN DOCTOR WHO? AND HAD LUNCH WITH DAVID TENNANT???? and she just told me so casually because she's interested in the art, not the show? I mean, excuse me? She worked on SHERLOCK???? FOR A WHOLE SEASON?? She worked on Peaky Blinders and Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones??? And probably other things because she has a shitty memory and according to her everything is a blur?? AND AT ONE POINT SHE WAS LIKE: "oh and have you ever heard of Neil Gaiman?" And I was trying not to scream, because yes, of course I've heard of Neil, he's only my favorite author, I've only read like all of his books multiple times, and if you say you worked on Good Omens or the Sandman I'm going to lose it completely. So I said "yeah I've read a couple of his books," -you know, like a liar- "what about him?" and she goes "well I worked on one of his shows and he's brilliant i just can't remember which one" and i go "w-what do you mean he's brilliant? You're.. you're talking about his writing... his writing is brilliant, right?" And she cheerfully says "oh no I don't read books, I ment he was really nice and brilliant when I talked to him" and i go "WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT WHAT DID YOU TALK ABOUT" and she thinks for a moment and goes "oh! BRICKS" WHAT IN THE WORLD YES NO THAT MAKES SENSE YOU GET TO WORK AND TALK WITH NEIL FUCKING GAIMAN AND YOU TALK ABOUT BRICKS? NO THAT'S TOTALLY NORMAL I'M NOT MAD ".... it was what I was designing at the time, I needed to know what vibe the bricks should have. Anyway want to see the spinning fireplace I made for doctor who" WHAT THE FUCK.

@neil-gaiman do you remember any brick conversations by any chance

[boredomsparkles]

"The Wild Robot is an allegory to autism and neurodivergents" of course it is, look at Roz

She's literally the autism creature

[lotussart]

The Taking of The Lamb

COTLtober Week 4: A Kiss

[heartorbit]

find another role, carry on the show

[hinamie]

idk about yall but life is good again

[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

[egophiliac]

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

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

i have a Scene - a Plot if you will - that backs this as context. y'all are gonna have to trust me on this one <3 or read the tags...

[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--

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

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 :)

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

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

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

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 :)

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

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

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

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

[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

[s0fter-sin]

ghost has a flat he rarely goes to

it's covered in a thick layer of dust from disuse. none of the cupboards or closets have doors, not when they're so easy to hide behind. the windows are covered in thick black paint that no light can penetrate

but worst? worst is the glass

mirrors, cups, bowels, every single reflective surface is shattered; the glass left lying where it fell

he never cleans it; just steps around the crystalline piles, the shards too fine to hold a reflection

there's little need to guess how they were broken, not when there's a fist-sized hole in the mirror backing in the bathroom. not when fine scars riddle his knuckles, torn from ripping out glass splinters with shaking hands

ghost has a flat he rarely goes to

there's no doors, no light, no glass

because everywhere he turns, simon riley's waiting to stare back at him and ask if he's finished burying him yet

[narikill]

aughdhshfjjsjcjdjfjsbgsknfjs <- leshy in this art probably