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apenitentialprayer · 5 months ago

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Credo of the People of God

This Creed was promulgated by Pope Saint Paul VI, on the 30th of June, 1968. This Creed, "without being strictly speaking a dogmatic definition," was meant to repeat "in substance . . . the creed of Nicaea" while also elaborating upon the dogmas of the Church "to a high degree complete and explicit" (§3, 7). Pronounced at the end of the Year of Faith, it was meant as a gift to "all those in the world, to whatever spiritual family they belong, who are in search of the Truth" (§7). Bolded emphases are added to better separate the articles of the Creed for convenience of reading.

We believe in one only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Creator of things visible such as this world in which our transient life passes, of things invisible such as the pure spirits which are also called angels, and Creator of each man of his spiritual and immortal soul.

We believe that this only God is absolutely One in His infinitely holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence, His infinite knowledge, His providence, His will, and His love. He is He who is, as He revealed to Moses; and He is love, as the Apostle John teaches us: so that these two names, being and love, express ineffably the same divine Reality of Him who has wished to make Himself known to us, and who, "dwelling in light inaccessible," is in Himself above every name, above every thing, and above every created intellect. God alone can give us right and full knowledge of this Reality by revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose eternal life we are by grace called to share, here below in the obscurity of faith and after death in eternal light. The mutual bonds which eternally constitute the Three Persons, who are each one and the same divine Being, are the blessed inmost life of God thrice-holy, infinitely beyond all that we can conceive in human measure. We give thanks, however, to the divine goodness that very many believers can testify with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know not the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal love. Thus in the Three Divine Persons, coaeternae sibi et coaeuales, the life and beatitude of God perfectly superabound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated Being, and always "there should be venerated unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the unity."

We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri, and through Him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made Man: equal therefore to the Father according to His divinity, and inferior to the Father according to His humanity; and Himself one, not by some impossible confusion of His natures, but by the unity of His Person.

He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. He proclaimed and established the Kingdom of God and made us know in Himself the Father. He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved us. He taught us the way of the beatitudes of the Gospel: poverty in spirit, meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, mercy, purity of heart, will for peace, persecution suffered for justice sake. Under Pontius Pilate He suffered — the Lamb of God bearing on Himself the sins of the world, and He died for us on the cross, saving us by His redeeming Blood. He was buried, and, of His own power, rose on the third day, raising us by His Resurrection to that sharing in the divine life which is the life of grace. He ascended to heaven, and He will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead, each according to his merits — those who have responded to love and piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished.

And His Kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is the Lord and Giver of life, who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He spoke to us by the prophets; He was sent by Christ after His Resurrection and His Ascension to the Father; He illuminates, vivifies, protects, and guides the Church; He purifies the Church's members if they do not shun His grace. His action, which penetrates to the inmost of the soul, enables man to respond to the call of Jesus; "Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." We believe that Mary is the Mother, who remained ever a Virgin, of the Incarnate Word, our God and Savior Jesus Christ, and that by reason of this singular election, she was, in consideration of the merits of her Son, redeemed in a more eminent manner, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, and filled with the grace more than all other creatures. Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption, the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate, was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory and likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of all the just; and we believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ's members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.

We believe that in Adam all have sinned, which means that the original offense committed by him caused human nature, common to all men, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of that offense, and which is not the state in which it was at first in our first parents — established as they were in holiness and justice, and in which man knew neither evil nor death. It is human nature so fallen, stripped of the grace that clothed it, injured in its own natural powers and subjected to the dominion of death, that is transmitted to all men, and it is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin is transmitted with human nature, "not by imitation, but by propagation," and that it is thus "proper to everyone."

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of the Cross, redeemed us from Original Sin and all the personal sins committed by each one of us, so that, in accordance with the word of the Apostle, "where sin abounded, grace did more abound."

We believe in one Baptism instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Baptism should be administered even to little children who have not yet been able to be guilty of any personal sin, in order that, though born deprived of supernatural grace, they may be reborn "of water and the Holy Spirit" to the divine life in Christ Jesus.

We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter. She is the Mystical Body of Christ; at the same time a visible society instituted with hierarchical organs, and a spiritual community; the Church on earth, the pilgrim people of God here below, and the Church filled with heavenly blessings; the germ and the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, through which the work and the sufferings of Redemption are continued throughout human history, and which looks for its perfect accomplishment beyond time in glory. In the course of time, the Lord Jesus forms His Church by means of the sacraments emanating from His plenitude. By these She makes Her members participants in the Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, in the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives Her life and movement. She therefore is holy, though She has sinners in Her bosom, because She Herself has no other life but that of grace: it is by living by Her life that Her members are sanctified; it is by removing themselves from Her life that they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of Her sanctity. This is why She suffers and does penance for these offenses, of which She has the power to heal Her children through the Blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Heiress of the divine promises and daughter of Abraham according to the Spirit, through that Israel whose Scriptures She lovingly guards, and whose patriarchs and prophets She venerates; founded upon the Apostles and handing on from century to century their ever-living word and their powers as pastors in the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him; perpetually assisted by the Holy Spirit she has the charge of guarding, teaching, explaining, and spreading the Truth which God revealed in a then-veiled manner by the prophets, and fully by the Lord Jesus. We believe all that is contained in the word of God written or handed down, and that the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed, whether by solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. We believe in the infallibility enjoyed by the successor of Peter when he teaches ex cathedra as pastor and teacher of all the faithful, and which is assured also to the episcopal body when it exercises with him the supreme Magisterium.

We believe that the Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which He prayed is indefectibly one in faith, worship, and the bond of hierarchical communion. In the bosom of this Church, the rich variety of liturgical rites and the legitimate diversity of theological and spiritual heritages and special disciplines, far from injuring Her unity, make it more manifest.

Recognizing also the existence, outside the organism of the Church of Christ, of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to Her as Her own and tend to Catholic unity, and believing in the action of the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the heart of the disciples of Christ love for this unity, we entertain the hope that the Christians who are not yet in full communion of the one only Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only Shepherd.

We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation, because Christ, who is the sole Mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself present for us in His Body which is the Church. But the divine design of salvation embraces all men; and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in number known only to God, can obtain salvation.

We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the Person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the Name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His Body and His Blood which were to be offered for us on the Cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the Body and Blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious Presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is true, real, and substantial Presence.

Christ cannot thus be present in this sacrament except by the change into His Body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His Blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of thus mystery must, in order to be in accord with the Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine, as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.

The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord, glorious in heaven, is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word whom they cannot see, and who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.

We confess that the Kingdom of God begun here below in the Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and that its proper growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science, or of human technology, but that it consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the love of God, and an ever more generous bestowal of grace and holiness among men. But it is this same love which induces the Church to concern Herself constantly about the true temporal welfare of men. Without ceasing to recall to Her children that they have not here a lasting dwelling, She also urges them to contribute, each according to his vocation and his means, to the welfare of their earthly city, to promote justice, peace, and brotherhood among men, to give their aid freely to their brothers, especially to the poorest and most unfortunate. The deep solicitude of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, for the needs of men, for their joys and hopes, their griefs and efforts, is therefore nothing other than Her great desire to be present to them, in order to illuminate them with the light of Christ and to gather them all in Him, their only Savior. This solicitude can never mean that the Church conform Herself to the things of this world, or that She lessen the ardor of Her expectation of Her Lord and of the eternal Kingdom. We believe in life eternal. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ, whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as He did for the Good Thief, are the people of God in the eternity beyond death, which will finally be conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will be reunited to their bodies.

We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is, and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.

We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: "Ask, and you will receive." Thus it is with faith and in hope that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Blessed be God thrice-holy. Amen.

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rui-nova · 8 months ago

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Tragedy at an Impasse: The Terror, Hope, and Loss

Or a series of digressions about the story's themes of hope and some of its manifestations.

Once upon a time, a Greek chorus would sing upon a spectacle, and before then, and ever after, tragedy would fascinate us, because it would call to our familiars, because we, too, live with regrets, on a stage with little control over our fate, where we are nonetheless festering hope, a speck of something unattainable, a longing for what we may have once dreamt as familiar, as safe, as right.

There is no chorus in The Terror, its music is haunting, quiet, and acute. Like a good tragedy, its beginning already spells its doomed end, but its theme is silence. How then, should one replace the chorus, how can one call for fear and mercy, which muse should sing for them, rotten as they are, lonesome as some vowed to be? Its characters are left bare, but few of the self can be recognised through their exposed thinning flesh and frail whimpering. They are no geodes, expecting to be broken, to reveal a truth only their God would lay claim upon 一they’re Heraclitus’ paradigm of the shifting river, Theseus’ ship, and they are gone. Dead, and gone.

They are a graveyard of hope, with no bones to be buried. It begets grief and resistance, in their path laden with loss and futileness. The Terror is a tale of hubris and loss, of unfairness upon silence, of humanity bereft of it. Hope, too, is bereft of itself —but it does not die until they all do.

I. Devotion

On occasion, the characters pour hope into their devotion. After all, the men of Erebus and Terror cling mostly to the way of the lands they leave behind.

Far from the waylay ships and their forsaken fates, they hang on to the faith of their merciful God, whose scripture should stand above all laws of men. Here? There is no place for the divine. Not for them. The land, they soon see as godless, as it is put under prejudice, as they try to conquer that which is not theirs; soon it is godless, as human law and debauchery attack it, and thus God cannot love them. Their faith, and thus their hope, cannot reach him, if he is there.

Forsaken, what is God to them? He who loves them not, and in whose stead Fitzjames raises Sir John first, then Crozier?

Like Irving, the men who know the gospel in their hearts doubt and suffer, but they find contentment in that divine law, in its order. That God would not grant them ghosts. There is no more content soul than that of the most pious devout, and that of those who deny religion and gladly accept it in their heart. To Irving, faith was enough, as he upheld 'propriety' at the ships. It was enough, as he trudged atop the ice and the steppes. It bloomed, when hope was granted by chance, as a meeting with the Netsilik, as the goodwill of humanity was rekindled before his eyes. Freezing, devoted, doggish Saint Bernard that he was, it is still known: tragedy fancies not a mercy to devotion, to faith.

God-fearing Franklin and David Young cling to faith, when they feel their passing near. Perhaps, convinced by Goodsir, Young would fashion himself a more fortunate Icarus, even when his wings he did not will himself; why would he not wish to be anything other than a canary in a coal mine, after all? Perhaps, Sir John fashioned himself a Robinson Crusoe, that God would say to them that “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5). Perhaps, but God is not there for them.

Even then, when Goodsir claims it does not matter if God is with them, it matters to some, it matters to Hodgson, and Fitzjames, who gnaw onto its hope and meaning for salvation, for legitimation. Hodgson equates the Holy Communion to human consumption, he incarnates the horror that Dante appealed to with Count Ugolino and his purposely ambiguous verses, and he hopes, or rather wishes he hoped, that this faith will preserve his humanity, as the body of Christ preserves life, because he is hungry, and he wants to live. Fitzjames, in its stead, plays his subtle counterpart, he plays Ugolino’s sons, he pleads to give back to those who believed his performance more than he did, and he cries, to Crozier, who ‘loves the men more than God does’, “Father, much less pain ’twill give us / If thou do eat of us; thyself didst clothe us / With this poor flesh, and do thou strip it off. / Then hunger did what sorrow could not do” (Canto XXXIII, Inferno). Indeed, he is not Christ, but his body he will offer.

Hope, thus, is named faith, in the name of Christ, the son of the absent God, ripped apart like a Dionysos by men hungry for his love, when hunger did what sorrow could not.

II. Consumption

Could we say, then, that hope is consumption, in the human need of possession, the desire of life?

The crews find little wonder in this place. They wonder only of below, of forward, by Franklin's ghost. Life can bloom, one can find beauty in Nunavut, Goodsir learns, and Silna mourns, but the other sentenced men see only a barren land. The hollow land, for hollow men.

Hope turns some to forbidden consumption, to harvest corpses for the life that does not bloom in them, and it is both the epitome of Arendt’s banality of evil, that “wholly unexceptional complacency” (Eichmann in Jerusalem) that waltzes into horror, and an act of fear and unrequited understanding, unrequited love.

It is said that “incorporating what you love is a sure way of seeing that it never escapes from you” (Crain, 1994). It is no wonder that he who has nothing would want to consume everything.

Rat, vulture, prophet, devil, monster, chosen, no one, ‘Hickey’ 一neither of which he is. Few understand hope as Hickey does. Hope is whatever one makes of a bad situation. Hope is survival, and “survival is a nasty piece of business. But we do what we have to do.” There is no troubled complaisance, because this force of life, this meaning, is owed to the possession of something, anything; it is feeding from the possibility of having a place and a meaning in the great scheme of it all.

This curse may leave them loveless, may leave them unconsumed by the recognition of the other through their ever-decaying humanity, but Hickey opens the door to hope through consumption. No more would they be shown “fear in a handful of dust” (The Wasteland: The Burial of the Dead, TS Eliot), but rather, a new life from it: a utilitarian Noah's ark of mutineers. Or the attempt of it.

Because Hickey scraps from meat and its ornaments, he dresses in that which the world knows he is not, in the boots of a man who must stand to the view of all or believe himself no one at all, in the coat of a subservient man who forced him to expose himself for the 'godly' concern of ‘dirtiness’ —but Hickey is no Dr. Jekyll. He is both sinner and sufferer, but cannot conjure a Mr. Hyde. He cannot become someone else, someone born with different circumstances, someone beyond tragedy.

But hopeful, of his powerful change of fortune, he must have felt. Hopeful that the intimacy of anthropophagy and lust —and perhaps even love— would fill him as they should, that he would be seen and loved by a place through which he only works if it is to mingle with the dead… but this place, this barren, hollow, wasted land that they have made, cannot love them back. It cannot love Hickey back, no matter how much he hopes so.

III. Legitimacy

Hope is born out of recognition, a yearning that could not be wholly unreal, that there may be no certainty, but still a possibility of that desire, and a strength to see it through. As such, hope calls for an act of mercy, in repentance and debt, a hope for meaning and order; hope longs for foresight, as it guides the defeatist soothsayers to silent survival.

Mercy demands a hierarchy, a higher power and a higher moral, and what claim do these downtrodden souls have on such exercise? What right have they, to instil upon their lot the pretence of order they left back on their homes? What legitimacy have they to cry for Lazarus, his grave either sealed or in the making?

If hope is survival, if hope is in the rightness of humanity, and the purity of the flesh, it gives, that the physicians would dare all they did, a vow to knowledge, a vow to wellness ーthe burden of mercy. It is telling, then, that Stanley and Goodsir’s sentence is set from their very own sickened flesh, when their soul can no longer be contained, when it cannot bear to heal what is thought lost. Song is lost, through Morfin, and so is fellowship, through Collins, and truly, what remains of man by then?

Soon, they will be husks, there is no other end to life and their sentences. Three roads stand before them: they may seize all banal struggle, end it here before hope eats itself; they may push forward, wait for someone to take up the torch while they impossibly keep its fire alive; they may also cut expenses, maximise the chances of the fortunate few. Le Vesconte chooses the latter, to Little's dismay, but truly, nothing is fair where they are. The ill shall die alone, but they, too, already are "dead and gone", and damn it all ーthey still hope to live.

Theirs is an act of love, a hope that their mercy might make it right, but, ultimately, they are no God, and they cannot command the choice of their men. They cannot play Abraham nor the shepherds, because they are Cain, indeed, their brethren’s keepers, and the death they plan is also the death they hope to inflict upon the lead and the fear that is slowly sentencing them.

This is a truth that they know all too well, but few more than Silna and Crozier do, soothsayers, voice in the wilderness, shamans that they are. They have the certainty, and they suffer the curse of Tiresias and Cassandra, of an Orpheus who shall see his darlings leave when he remains, and whose cries shall be for naught but a sad song with no words.

And Crozier shall drown in the alcohol and the visions of a David who will be thrown to the lion's den and survive it, yet he will long for that spiteful hierarchy of patronising mercy, in the mistrust born from others’ devaluation of him —but Silna shall be a symbol of the suffering that colonial enterprises inflict upon the innocent. She shall bite that “We were never meant to survive” (A Litany for Survival, Audre Lorde), but why would they not leave, why would they not let her bury her father, force her to play Antigone? Why are they tying her down with them, making her Lady Silence? And, to Crozier, “Why do you want to die?” Why— why would he kill hope, why would they make her home a boneyard?

And, far removed from who they were, exiled from their homes, both shall inflict a silence upon their legacy, and enact the aftermath of that hope.

IV. Hope

What value does hope have, if this is an inked and parched tragedy? What goodness is it, when loss is assured, faith is unheard, consumption fills no well, and mercy is not merciful at all?

Most died, and there were innocents back in the graveyards they left behind, as there were innocents in Sodom and Gomorra. Faith and trust are gone, and so is warmth, while love is frail. Hope is at odds with itself, it is both a noble promise and a delusion, and it is the trembling gun that points not to the narrative’s back, but to its chest, cold, heavy, knowing, undoing. That particular gun should fire, it would be right, but a certain lieutenant wavers, does not pull the trigger, because he hoped— He hoped it did not have to be like this.

A question is thrown to the skies, from sore, tender hearts: “Why?”

The veterans remember well, ‘why’. Before their minds were touched by darkness, “it wasn't sickness or hunger that mattered most to our chances.” Instead, as Mr. Blanky relates, “what little love we had amongst us was the only thing keeping us civil”, and Blanky speaks not only of the story of Fury Beach, but also of their very fates.

If hope is to be the compulsion to bite the hand that feeds, to split its head open with a boat axe —if hope is to be a stronger faith in the others, or the self, than on living on, then so be it.

To hope against hope, in the face of silence, of loss, is worthwhile, and it is allowed, Blanky proves, as he discovers both the Passage and Tuunbaq by his own, lonely path. Then, hope needn’t be of survival, it needn’t be of a cleansed state of naïve, optimistic utopia. Ephemeral as life is granted to humanity, I’d dare say we are allowed this, to hope not only in spite —but because of death.

Because of death, the Netsilik family that feeds Irving matters —because of it, the efforts Lady Jane pursues back in England matter —because of it, Collins, Hartnell, and Tozer’s care for their fellows matters so, even as it leads them straight to their death.

Because hope is restless, and it cares little for tragedy when tragedy cares so much for it, it lives on, and it instils upon the bystander the chance of that bittersweet, wonderful catharsis.

Hope punishes Jopson, due to a frenzied servitude and loyalty that is paid in the botulism-induced disbelief of abandonment, but it pushes him forward, too, closer to the open than to the living dead the tents guard; hope chokes Little through angry chains and a last command, it reduces him to puppetry, but it pushes him to a subtle integrity few are allowed, and something must remain at the very end, to ask ‘Close?’, and thus hope for an answer, if it mattered, in the end; hope tells Bridgens love is what life is worth being alive for, and he’ll want for nothing else when Peglar’s gone, but he guards the pocket-book to his waist, he keeps his lover's words close, closer than his own, and he hopes not to die an empty book.

Crozier speaks without a waver, through words that haunt The Terror till its very end. That “‘close’ is nothing. It’s worse than nothing. It’s worse than anything in the world.” This is a tragedy, there is no happy ending. But ‘close’ does have a meaning. ‘Close’ means ‘hope’, and hope is the remnant in Pandora's jar, to which they were so close. Hope is what made them, once upon a time, alive, and hope is why it hurts.

If you reached the end, this is an invitation to talk about the hyperfixation together 🤝

#the terror #meta #long post #i really needed to write about hope and end it on a positive note. it mattered to me -perhaps it might matter to other terror fans (?)#inspired by conversation with @even-in-arcadia!

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tamamita · 2 years ago

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How does islamic monotheism contrast with christianity?

So first things first, because despite all the jabs I made towards the Christological concept of the Trinity, the Qur'an considers Christians to be Monotheists, this has to be understood. Islam is purely concerned with how the concept of monotheism is distorted by the multitude of interpretations presented within Christianity, especially between the first and 5th century until the idea was properly introduced by Titullian.

Islam, like Judaism, associates the Trinity with Shirk or Shituf (association) respectively without necessarily accusing Christians of Polytheism, however, the issue of association becomes an issue when the Oneness of God becomes compromised by the idea of a Triune God; three distinct persons all coeternal and cosubstantial in the One God. Islamically, Muslims believe in One Unique, Eternal, Omnipresent and Omniscient God, whose words are articulated through His prophets, thus we could postulate that the prophets were pre-existent in the Word, but that's more of a theological supposition. He did not beget nor was He begotten; He is One. His prophets carry out his will and thus His presence is there. Similar to the Shema, Islam professes His Unity in the testimony of faith, which is why Judaism and Islam are referred to as Unitarian forms of Monotheistic religions, whereas God in the Trinity forms the basis for Trinitarian Monotheism. Indeed, the Qur'an states that the Trinity is a blasphemous assumption nevertheless, and the likes of Maimonedes debated regarding the status of Christians as monotheists and whether they could be categorized as Noahides. But the reason why Islam rejectes the Trinity is because it has no basis, it is a later invention and holds no water in any of the divine revelations, even the Gospels make no mention of it, it is a mere supposition concocted by the Church Fathers to try to make sense of the Nature of the Son admist a fragmented Christianity. Furthermore, God is One in every aspect, He is not two in One or three in One; He is one in ONE. Islam makes it clear That God is One and nothing more in the strictest Modist interpretation; God is a single concept/entity that would describe or ascribe all existing things. If this concept is shared, then He is no longer Unique.

One thing has to be understood, Trinitarian Christians are wired to understand God as being One in the form of a triune aspect, this is what makes them Monotheists in a sense, albeit in stark contrast to the Jewish and Islamic interpretations of Monotheism; the idea of One singlular God. Indeed, the Qur'an does refer to the Trinity as "unbelief" since it's monotheism taken to an "extreme" and beyond the Unitarians folds of religion, but the Qur'an never refers to Christians as polytheists.

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 5 months ago

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9th July >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Tuesday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, Martyrs.

Tuesday, Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading Hosea 8:4-7,11-13 They have sown the wind; they will reap the whirlwind.

Thus says the Lord:

They have set up kings, but not with my consent, and appointed princes, but without my knowledge. Out of their own silver and gold they have made idols, which are doomed to destruction. I spurn your calf, Samaria, my anger blazes against it. (How long will it be before they purge themselves of this, the sons of Israel?) A workman made the thing, this cannot be God! Yes, the calf of Samaria shall go up in flames. They sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind; their wheat will yield no ear, the ear will yield no flour, or, if it does, foreigners will swallow it.

Ephraim has built altar after altar, they have only served him as occasion for sin. Were I to write out the thousand precepts of my Law for him, they would be paid no more attention than those of a stranger. They love sacrificing; right, let them sacrifice! They love meat; right, let them eat it! The Lord takes no pleasure in these. He is now going to remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they will have to go back to Egypt.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 113B(115):3-10

R/ Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

Our God, he is in the heavens; he does whatever he wills. The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

R/ Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

They have mouths but they cannot speak; they have eyes but they cannot see; they have ears but they cannot hear; they have nostrils but they cannot smell.

R/ Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

With their hands they cannot feel; with their feet they cannot walk. Their makers will come to be like them and so will all who trust in them.

R/ Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord; he is their help and their shield. Sons of Aaron, trust in the Lord; he is their help and their shield.

R/ Sons of Israel, trust in the Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation cf. Ephesians 1:17,18

Alleluia, alleluia! May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our mind, so that we can see what hope his call holds for us. Alleluia!

Or: John 10:14

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the good shepherd, says the Lord; I know my own sheep and my own know me. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 9:32-37 The harvest is rich but the labourers are few.

A man was brought to Jesus, a dumb demoniac. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb man spoke and the people were amazed. ‘Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel’ they said. But the Pharisees said, ‘It is through the prince of devils that he casts out devils.’ Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness. And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Saint Augustine Zhao Rong and his Companions, Martyrs

(Liturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Tuesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First reading 1 John 5:1-5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has already overcome the world.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God; and whoever loves the Father that begot him loves the child whom he begets. We can be sure that we love God’s children if we love God himself and do what he has commanded us; this is what loving God is – keeping his commandments; and his commandments are not difficult, because anyone who has been begotten by God has already overcome the world; this is the victory over the world – our faith.

Who can overcome the world? Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 125(126):1-6

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

The heathens themselves said: ‘What marvels the Lord worked for them!’ What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land. Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing: they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.

R/ Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:10

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia!

Or: John 17:19

Alleluia, alleluia! For their sake I consecrate myself, so that they too may be consecrated in the truth. Alleluia!

Or: 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed be God, a gentle Father and the God of all consolation, who comforts us in all our sorrows. Alleluia!

Or: James 1:12

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy the man who stands firm, for he has proved himself, and will win the crown of life. Alleluia!

Or: 1 Peter 4:14

Alleluia, alleluia! It is a blessing for you when they insult you for bearing the name of Christ, for the Spirit of God rests on you. Alleluia!

Or: cf. Te Deum

Alleluia, alleluia! We praise you, O God, we acknowledge you to be the Lord; the noble army of martyrs praise you, O Lord. Alleluia!

Gospel John 12:24-26 If a grain of wheat falls on the ground and dies, it yields a rich harvest.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest. Anyone who loves his life loses it; anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for the eternal life. If a man serves me, he must follow me, wherever I am, my servant will be there too. If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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pelleas-at-castle-nox · 2 years ago

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Watched one of the final episodes (of the original run) of columbo tonight. The killer involved was a therapist, particularly one who charges for public courses about controlling your life. His scheme is that he trains his 2 dogs to kill his friend and colleague who had slept with his wife (who it's also implied and all but confirmed that he also killed 6 months ago) by making it look as if the dogs just... Spontaneously decided to attack him.

This man also tries to kill literally every character who appears in a scene with him with the exception of one guard, including columbo. It's not a particularly clever murder considering the crazy amount of evidence he leaves, to the point in the deconstruction scene, columbo flat out calls the killer an idiot. His motive was obscenely easy to glean (evidence of his affair was in the victim's home, already bad enough but then he tries to steal them and gets caught in the act), his method for training the dogs was obvious and his only way to cover for that was to say "uh no I wasn't doing that"

It's got me thinking, both in the micro and macrocosm of the show. Throughout Columbo many of the killers are psychologists, I'd need to double back to check but I feel like there's at least 1 per season, and notably the original pilot featured a psychologists as the killer.

Between this episode and the last one I watched (whether they were one right after the other isn't completely clear) there was a heavy theme presented in that both cases involved a previous murder going unsolved. In the previous episode, a famous author's beloved niece is killed by her husband, and because the killer was never caught, the author takes matters into her own hands and kills him herself. In this episode, the fact that his murder of his wife goes unsolved leads directly into him being able to kill again. In the first episode, the author laments at the end after she's been caught "if only you'd been the one to investigate my niece's death, then we wouldn't be here." Obviously saying that she felt that if columbo had done that investigation, her own victim wouldn't have gotten away with his crime. It goes unaddressed on this episode, but I couldn't help thinking the same thing. He'd already killed once, and it wasn't caught, and as stated in another recent episode, murder begets murder, "even when you don't know it, you start to think it."

Perhaps it's a subtle sadness and recognition of the fantasy of columbo. It's easy to think that you can't commit a murder in LA in this world because if you do, Columbo will show up much like a vengeful specter and hound you til your crimes see the light of day, but these episodes are a grim reminder, he's just one man, and even a case as obvious as this one still took so much time and effort for columbo to actually be able to PROVE what was so inherently obvious.

Perhaps read uncharitably, that could be read as a nugget of copoganda at the core of columbo. "Isn't it stupid that it's so hard to convict someone who it obviously just feels guilty? It shouldn't be so hard to arrest people like that!" Which is a terrible stance to take, and I'm sure one that, intentional or not, many people in the 70s and beyond probably took as the gospel of Columbo.

Personally I don't think that was the writer's intentions, at least not from how they talk about the stories they wrote in interviews (a quote from one of them went along the of "people love to see capitalists pay for their crimes") personally I think it's just a bitter sweet element that poked through the fantastic veneer of columbo, a sad reminder that columbo ISN'T a cop in the true sense. He doesn't carry a gun, he doesn't say a thing until he's ready to say it and not a moment before. He refuses promotions and prosperity because that would hinder his work.

Maybe there are, or were a detective or two out there who was as devoted to the truth as columbo was on the screen, but even if such a man exists, columbo, the show itself, doesn't want you to forget that if he did, he'd hated by his peers.

#columbo ramblings #ckat #anyways i stayed up way too late writing this #and i didnt even really make my point #im just sad columbo isnt real

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stevesociety8 · 10 days ago

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Fossil fuels are destroying our planet. Big oil is evil. Coal is an addiction. These are hyperbolic statements uttered without basis in the public square as we continue with lifestyles dependent on hydrocarbons and their derivatives.

This dissonance exists cognitively in individuals whose choices are inconsistent with their thinking. Another dissonance manifests itself as elites who are wedded to an apocalyptic climate vision fearmongering to people who are just fine with their “high-carbon lives.”

Whatever one thinks about hydrocarbons, nobody can deny the sheer ubiquity of the things produced through their use as an energy source or feedstock.

From the plastic in smartphones to the synthetic fibers in clothing, from life-saving medical equipment to the asphalt on roads, petroleum-based products are woven into the fabric of modern life. Even the components of many “green” technologies, such as solar panels and wind turbines, are made with materials derived from fossil fuels.

In a document stating that petrochemicals are the basis for more than 6,000 everyday products, the U.S. Department of Energy lists a fraction of them to make the point of their prevalence.

The success of the climate industrial complex in demonizing coal, oil and natural gas despite their enormous benefits speaks to the broadness of the alarmists’ network: career politicians, unelected international political organizations, media houses, government-funded scientists in academia and corporate CEOs addicted to subsidies. All this is fed by an education system that puts ideological indoctrination ahead of inculcation of independent thought to beget complaisant minds.

Yet, this schizophrenic relationship to hydrocarbons may not run as deeply as it sometimes seems. Despite the crescendo calling for a rapid transition to solar and wind, global consumption of fossil fuels continues to climb. That is because the alternatives are neither affordable nor dependable.

In 2023, the world set new records for hydrocarbon consumption. This trend is not limited to developing nations struggling to industrialize like China and India; it’s equally evident in some of the world’s most advanced economies.

The U.S. was the world’s largest oil producer in 2023, with an average of 12.9 million barrels per day (b/d), breaking the previous U.S. global record of 12.3 million b/d set in 2019. Norway, often hailed as a leader in environmental policy, issued hundreds of new drilling permits for oil and gas exploration in 2024.

Dependence on fossil fuels is not waning; it’s intensifying at a rate never seen before.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser says, “Global South is likely to see significant growth in oil demand for a long time…. If so, more than 100 million barrels per day would realistically still be required by 2050… This is a stark contrast with those predicting that oil will, or must, fall to just 25 million barrels per day by then…. Being short 75 million barrels every day would be devastating for energy security and affordability.”

Meanwhile, the preachers of the anti-fossil fuel gospel live hypocritically, enjoying fossil fuel-guzzling private jets and lavish sea-front mansions. That their affluence rests on an economic bedrock of fossil fuels is not lost on impoverished countries seeking betterment through the use of hydrocarbons as they are pressured to adopt “green” policies.

Even if the findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports are accepted, the predictions of harm from global warming are overblown. According to the IPCC, the cost of a warmer planet would be in the range of 2-4% of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100 – a tiny amount considering that the average person is expected to be much richer by then and the cost of “green” policies are likely to impoverish entire nations.

Every major economy thriving today was built on fossil fuels. Their contributions in the areas of energy, transportation, construction, agriculture, manufacturing, healthcare and more have produced unprecedented levels of prosperity, health and life expectancy.

Moreover, the increase in atmospheric CO2 from the combustion of hydrocarbons has been a boon, greening vast areas of Earth and producing record crop harvests to feed billions of people.

It’s past time to abandon the climate myth and embrace fossil fuels for the gifts that they are.

This commentary was first published at BizPac Review on October 28, 2024.

Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India.

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thepete77 · 8 months ago

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Daily Walk, day 5

Absently caressed into a lulled sleep, during the rays full brightness, dispensed from demands, and hostile gestures of aggression, recognizing the municipal factors of my soul, bequeathed by the divine.

The sentient demonic intellect spirits are stilled this morning and a quiet ambience has struck my mind, in reflection of the plutonic lakes and rivers of the earth and chasms of my soul. I have no hostilities of the world ‘round as a simple mortal man, in curious nature to leviathan, Satan, and the legions of hell.

Nothing is new under the sun,, it has been all done before, brothers of demons, darksome delights, women of Babylon, and priests of might. Nothing is new under the sun…

But I have found the way of my heart, and stand as a gospel ronin of occult ways. The scriptures reveal the teachings, the word of god taken so highly, that those who hear beget their faith, and those who know his voice shall know him. These methods applied are methods of gnosis, with inclusion of logos, divine living consciousness and words within making me alive as a sentient being, as a mortal man, a son of man.

I apply this to the demonic divine, the shades and whispers of the caverns within, the black flame illuminating the dancing figures on the walls, my records of life, my footsteps on the earth.

The gospels declare the disciples and apostles of Christ continuing his ministry ‘head. But cloaked from prior legends and actions of spirit in great detail. The scriptures reveal in part of the miracles, deeds, and words, and allude directly to the fact that Jesus was trained and lived in Egypt, the great metropolis and fatherland of modern religion:

In these declarations of discipleship the modern Christians have failed, and have brought injury and sickness and death, instead of power over it, acting as the sons of Abraham, denied by his very self for falsely preaching his name.

Hyperbole and metaphor are evident within scriptural intent. Having the knowledge of them and applying them. Having stanza and haiku knowledge as well, living in festered pestilence of weakness and sickness of spirit. Distortion of the demonic divine leads to the constipated efforts of levitation and metallurgy and mumbling and groaning of foamed mouth ignorance.

The lethal mistake of leisure on the path to immortality is imparted upon the Christian worship to open themselves to failure of spirit. Their hope is futile and they become even further blind of malicious gossip and hateful injury in distraction by those who take advantage and proclaim hypocritically the way of grace and forgiveness and non-judgement. Don’t put it past them to not misrepresent even their own words and the words of scripture that they have departed from.

This is a warning I personally take to show cruelty and no mercy to the bickering and whining fraudulation of mortal spirit.

This is how I know the practitioners of the synagogue of Satan, and the false declarations of the reproved sons of Abraham, who are lukewarm and spewed from his mouth. The left hand of god, the goats aside from the sheep, are in triumph in adherence.

God the Creator can not be suppressed, mutilated, or corrupted, for he is incorruptible, immutable, and in full glory as the nameless one of spirit. The most high god of invisible spirit, the all that the aether binds together, I worship, and the demonic divine I work with and call my brothers and friends. God alone is my father, and his will I seek to accomplish.

Who is this immutable king of glory? His names attributed by those without are many, for they have adapted polytheistic paganism to his name and have sought to suppress his worship through their declarations of the lord is one. El is a prominent name applied to him from Canaanite regions of ancient days, as well as attributes of Mendes and Khmun, and Khmuns consort Satis, as well as rips from Adonis. The origination and likeness of the baphomet being the goat of mendes and the likeness of the name Satis relative to the name of Satan, and the fact that Heka was a deity aside Khmun, and has very much relevance to the Greek Hekate, I feel is no coincidence, and is something to learn from. The idea that in Sanskrit the definition of Tan and Sat as Satan’s name divided and reversed can be translated to Trust and Confidence in the true unchangeable essence, and the Japanese word for enlightenment being Satori, I find no coincidence either. These are the names I reflect on in matters of the character of the word I use, God, in relation to the invisible and immortal incorruptible spirit that no man has seen at any given time, and in Egypt is typically viewed as Ahmun-Ra in major application, I attribute all of this to Satan. Apollo was ripped into Apollyon, and Lucifer was adapted entirely from the separate Roman Latin deity. The John Milton and romantic styled imagery of Satan is ripped directly from the Greek Pan, and combinations from the goat of mendes. This collaboration of multiple sources of imagery and function of separate deities causes some confusion for secular interests in the communication of the practices of devil worship and why we apply the worship that we do.

In order to know god, you must know who god is, and you must recognize god’s stature in the first place, god is god, and we’re not in most respects. Figuring out god’s will is not the constipated and putrid contemplation of what god knows or asking simple questions if god knows everything, or why bad things Happen to good people. These are not ways to draw close to god.

The idea of hearing god’s voice is mostly metaphorical of recognizing scripture and spiritual teachings as an occult method of study, and taking confidence in life application and continual recognition and reflection about god, aka Satan.

The ways of devil worship in prayer and reflection have different application that have become more relevant within esoteric witchcraft teachings, as chanting and invoking, and energy related practices because they are functionable practical uses and systems of spiritual application related to heritage practices of earth, including elements all the way to sacrificial offerings and votive offerings, in the truest and accurate methods and meanings thereof for the undeniable impact in a person's life as a whole system, I personally do not believe, and eschew practices of, common standard words of casual use, like god is right beside you in the same room. I believe this leads to disastrous effects in even Christian living.

The way of ascension is the mystery traditions focus from ancient Egypt, the way I adhere to the brotherhood of the serpent as the ones who dispersed the teachings of Egypt that had effect on all the ancient cultures throughout civilization, and they did provide structure and practice to foreknowledge and after knowledge, related to the gift of prophecy. They were white people, not just in white robes, that was a description of later translations as an excuse to try and diffuse the idea of racism. They were white. There are several educational aspects of study in African culture of Indo-European ethnicity amongst cultures of Africa like India, that I stress on the relevance of Caucasian genetics. I often even wonder sometimes about the weakling attitude that people feel inclined to show favoritism for African or Asian spirituality in their genetically context on matters of distorted relation to equality, and confusion related to how mortal men are punished differently and some do not receive rewards of their effort, and bad things happening to good people. A quote from slipknot, “I am not a number that is equal to any of you.”

Even in accurate Christian application sin is punished individually and separately and not conglomerated on the whole entire human species, making most of the uses of the original sin model invalid.

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davidrmaas · 10 months ago

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THROUGH HIS FAITHFULNESS

Having demonstrated that all men violate God’s revealed will, Paul concludes that no one is acquitted before Him “from the works of the Law.” Instead, men and women are justified “through the faith” or faithfulness OF Jesus - They are reconciled with their Creator because of the gracious act of Jesus on their behalf. Since all men deserve condemnation and death, all they can do is respond with repentance and faith to what God has done for them.

Jews have the Mosaic Law but fall short of its requirements. Gentiles have the witness of their own conscience yet continue to sin. Man’s sinful proclivities are not only evidence that humanity is under the “Wrath of God,” but the never-ending transgressions of men are manifestations of the “wrath” that is “being revealed [present tense] from heaven against all unrighteousness.”

Because we persist in ungodliness, God “gives us over to the lusts of our hearts.” Sin begets more and even worse transgressions as we “treasure up for ourselves wrath in the Day of Wrath” - (Romans 1:18-28).

Israel possessed the Law yet sinned all the same, and Jewish transgressors will be judged by it. Gentiles sin “without the Law” and will “perish without the Law.” Jews and Gentiles alike are “under sin.” There is no one righteous, “no, not even one.” Every man is in the same sorry state.

“But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets, a righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who have faith, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned lack the glory of God. Being declared righteous freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God presented as expiation, through faith in his blood, for a showing forth of his righteousness by the passing-over of the previously committed sins in the forbearance of God, with a view to a showing forth of his righteousness in the present season, that he might be righteous even when declaring righteous him that has faith in Jesus” – (Romans 3:21-26).

However, just as “wrath” is “being revealed from heaven,” so the “righteousness of God is being revealed FROM faith and FOR faith.” Paul is deliberate in his choice of prepositions in the Letter’s opening paragraph:

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes… For God’s righteousness is therein being revealed, FROM faith FOR faith, even as it is written, My righteous one [singular] FROM faith will live” – (Romans 1:16-17).

The faithfulness or “righteousness” of God is revealed “FROM” faith. This rendering represents the Greek term ‘ek’ which stresses source, origin. Here, “My Righteous One” is singular and refers to Jesus, not to righteous men in general. He is the one from whose faith or faithfulness the “righteousness of God” is revealed to humanity. It is being unveiled “for” or “unto” faith (Greek preposition ‘eis’).

The grammatical structure is important to Paul’s summary statement in Chapter 3 where he declares that “the Righteous One” (‘ho dikaios’, singular) “will live” (‘zésetai’, singular) “FROM faith” (‘ek pisteôs’). No one is justified “from the works of the Law,” therefore, men are reconciled to God on another basis, namely, “from faith.” But it is not “faith” in general or just any form of “faith,” but something far more specific.

[Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash]

[Read the complete post on the Good News for All Nations website]

#salvation #gospel

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rainsmediaradio · 11 months ago

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The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 20th December – Open the Doors.

TOPIC: Open the Doors. Read: : Isaiah 45:1-14(NKJV) 45:1. “Thus says the LORD to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held — To subdue nations before him And loose the armor of kings, To open before him the double doors, So that the gates will not be shut: 45:2. ‘I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 45:3. I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden riches of secret places, That you may know that I, the LORD, Who call by your name, the God of Israel. 45:4. For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. 45:5. I the LORD, and no other; no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 45:6. That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That none besides Me. I the LORD, and no other; 45:7. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these 45:8. ” Rain down, you heavens, from above, And let the skies pour down righteousness; Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation, And let righteousness spring up together. I, the LORD, have created it. 45:9. ” Woe to him who strives with his Maker! the potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ Or shall your handiwork ‘He has no hands’? 45:10. Woe to him who says to father, ‘What are you begetting?’ Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ” 45:11. Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me. 45:12. I have made the earth, And created man on it. I — My hands — stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded. 45:13. I have raised him up in righteousness, And I will direct all his ways; He shall build My city And let My exiles go free, Not for price nor reward,” Says the LORD of hosts. 45:14. Thus says the LORD: “The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush And of the Sabeans, men of stature, Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours; They shall walk behind you, They shall come over in chains; And they shall bow down to you. They will make supplication to you, ‘Surely God in you, And no other; no other God.’ ”

ANGLICAN COMMUNION DEVOTIONAL OUTLINE FOR 20TH DECEMBER 2023.

One of the things that is very clear in Scripture concerning those who know the Lord, is what He is saying concerning ‘Cyrus’ (v. 1). You might as well put your name there. He wants us to subdue the nations before Him. This is not necessarily through the physical sword, but by the word of God as we witness to His salvation plans. Are you engaged in this? He wants ‘Cyrus’ to loose the armour of kings and to open before him the double doors (v.1). The doors of sin have closed many out of God’s embrace. God wants us, by love and the sharing of the good news, to open this gate so that sinners might receive His forgiveness and be saved. Will you get more actively involved? Paul’s passion and drive in this direction is attestable. He saw it as a task that must be done, and he did much to take the gospel to places where Christ had not been mentioned. I visited one of the CAPRO mission fields sometime ago and I was touched by the sacrifices of the missionaries that were living in that ‘bush’ just for the sake of the gospel. What are you doing to open the doors of salvation for the people today? Do you not know that Satan does not freely open the gate for his prisoners?Rise up today! PRAYER: Lord, make me a useful instrument of Your rescue mission. Read the full article

#AnglicanCommunion

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the-hem · 1 year ago

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"The Pinion." From the Chandogya Upanishad, the Exploration of the Mysteries of the Priesthood.

Chapter II − Dialogue of Raikva and Janasruti (I)

1−2 Then Janasruti "the rumor" the great−grandson of Janasruta "what is known" took with him six hundred cows, a necklace and a chariot with mules and went to Raikva "the driver" and said:

"Raikva, here are six hundred cows, a necklace and a chariot with mules. Pray, revered Sir, teach me the deity whom you worship."

3 To him the other said: "Ah, may the necklace and the chariot remain with you, O Sudra, (a slave) along with the cows."

Thereupon Janasruti the great−grandson of Janasruta took with him a thousand cows, a chariot with mules, a necklace and his own daughter, too and went to Raikva.

4 Janasruti said to him: "Raikva, here are a thousand cows, a necklace, a chariot with mules, this wife and this village where you shall dwell. Revered Sir, teach me."

5 Then considering her (the princess) as the door for imparting knowledge, Raikva said: "O Sudra! You brought these cows and other presents; this is good. But you will make me speak now only through this means (i.e. the princess)."

These are the villages named Raikvaparna, "pinion" in the country of Mahavrishas "large grains", where Raikva lived.

The cows represent knowledge of the Brahman. If one has a herd of cows, one will automatically beget more cows and they will produce more milk for the owner and these will feed the calves on their own and when they come into season, again more cows will be produced.

The more one studies the Upanishads, the more cows- increments of Reality- one will add to one's herd.

The Queen of the Upanishads is Shruti, the Supreme Spirit who narrates the text to us as we read it, assisting us to understand its meaning through the intellect. The Princess is the future queen, or the person who has not yet mastered Shruti.

The chariot driver, who lives in a place called "chariot with wings" that has "large grains of rice" says only through the study of the Upanishads can one find the Deity that wrote them.

He is known by His Presence behind the letters, the intellect that has memorized them and their meaning, He is all rumors about what is known and the applied knowledge that results but He is still none of these things. Once one accepts this, and is willing to give up on the study of the scripture as the means to find God, one is ready to know the Deity.

Regardless of the source of the scripture- the Quran, the Gospels, the Torah, unless one is able to recognize the One Voice of God, what the Quran calls the Quran al Kareem, Cream of the Verses, here called the Queen, the study of all of these is futile.

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thegnosticsphere · 1 month ago

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Meditation on Psalm 23:

On the Nature of the Pleroma:

The spiritual light has no name, no form, it is beyond the Pleroma and the Aeons and is manifest through its emanations. The Ineffable Spirit brings forward Light through Barbelo, who is the Creative Force that instigates the Formation of the Pleroma by asking for the Pentad, followed by the Autogenes which then begets the rest. This movement of energy is not limited to the Pleroma, however, since Sophia fell to the Midst (referred to as Chaos, Hades or some other) and indirectly caused the Creation of the Material World - though she was placed in a liminal space in the Gospel of the Egyptians.

Therefore, what is above is below, the Light is no more distant from the material world than my fingers from my hand. When Sophia's Light Power was taken and distributed, both in Yaldabaoth but also (through cunning on the part of the Pleroma and Sophia) to the First Man who is Adam, it set the path into motion. That which is of the Pleroma returns to it, and thus all are built off this Divine Nature, and are thus all able to obtain the Pleroma as both a state of Life, and a state of Being.

The Pleroma, thus, is incarnate in the light of every person's soul. The Pleroma itself, its various aeons, are the Incorruptibles that the Gnostic develops within themselves, until their final consummation where they achieve the Full Gnosis of the Great Ineffable Spirit.

Therefore, we do not lack anything in spirit - the Light is apparent. Just because we close our curtains and no sunlight enters, that doesn't make it any less sunny outside.

Focus on your forehead, and on your heart, the two spaces of personal and interpersonal Heaven.

Gnostic Adaption of Psalm 23:

The Light is my Redeemer, I lack nothing In blissful peace, I am rested And I am led in clarity amongst the waters My deficiencies are resolved And the Incorruptibles revealed By the Ordinance of the Light

And though I wander in the Midst, the Realm of Form and Limitation I shall fear not, for the Light is with me Its abounding wisdom and mercy comforts me The Lord established a place for me in the Light Even when I am still in the flesh My head is anointed, and His Mercy overflows

His Wisdom and Mystery shall abide with me forevermore And in Eternal Peace shall I abide until Completion

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 1 year ago

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2nd August >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop

Saint Peter Julian Eymard.

Wednesday, Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green: A (1))

First Reading Exodus 34:29-35 Moses passes on to the people the orders given by the Lord.

When Moses came down from the mountain of Sinai – as he came down from the mountain, Moses had the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands – he did not know that the skin on his face was radiant after speaking with the Lord. And when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, the skin on his face shone so much that they would not venture near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron with all the leaders of the community came back to him; and he spoke to them. Then all the sons of Israel came closer, and he passed on to them all the orders that the Lord had given him on the mountain of Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever he went into the Lord’s presence to speak with him, Moses would remove the veil until he came out again. And when he came out, he would tell the sons of Israel what he had been ordered to pass on to them, and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 98(99):5-7,9

R/ You are holy, O Lord our God.

Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before Zion, his footstool. He the Lord is holy.

R/ You are holy, O Lord our God.

Among his priests were Aaron and Moses, among those who invoked his name was Samuel. They invoked the Lord and he answered.

R/ You are holy, O Lord our God.

To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud. They did his will; they kept the law, which he, the Lord, had given.

R/ You are holy, O Lord our God.

Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before his holy mountain for the Lord our God is holy.

R/ You are holy, O Lord our God.

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 118:105

Alleluia, alleluia! Your word is a lamp for my steps and a light for my path. Alleluia!

Or: John 15:15

Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 13:44-46 He sells everything he owns and buys the field.

Jesus said to the crowds: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop

(Liturgical Colour: White: A (1))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading 1 John 5:1-5 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has already overcome the world.

Who can overcome the world? Only the man who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 88(89):2-5,21-22,25,27

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord; through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth. Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever, that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: I will establish your dynasty for ever and set up your throne through all ages.

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

‘I have found David my servant and with my holy oil anointed him. My hand shall always be with him and my arm shall make him strong.

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

‘My truth and my love shall be with him; by my name his might shall be exalted. He will say to me: “You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me.”’

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord.

Gospel Acclamation Matthew 5:3

Alleluia, alleluia! How happy are the poor in spirit: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 5:1-12 How happy are the poor in spirit.

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

‘How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy the gentle: they shall have the earth for their heritage. Happy those who mourn: they shall be comforted. Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right: they shall be satisfied. Happy the merciful: they shall have mercy shown them. Happy the pure in heart: they shall see God. Happy the peacemakers: they shall be called sons of God. Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

‘Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven: this is how they persecuted the prophets before you.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Saint Peter Julian Eymard

(Liturgical Colour: White: A (1))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Wednesday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading Acts of the Apostles 4:32-35 The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul.

The whole group of believers was united, heart and soul; no one claimed for his own use anything that he had, as everything they owned was held in common.

The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus with great power, and they were all given great respect. None of their members was ever in want, as all those who owned land or houses would sell them, and bring the money from them, to present it to the apostles; it was then distributed to any members who might be in need.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 33(34):2-11