#den of robbers

[artandthebible]

Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple

Artist: Artist: El Greco (Greek, 1541 – 614)

Genre: Religious Art

Date: 1600

Medium: Oil on Canvas

Collection: Frick Collection, New York City

Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple is a 1595-1600 Christian art painting by El Greco, now in the Frick Collection. It depicts the Cleansing of the Temple, an event in the Life of Christ.

Matthew 21:12-13 New International Version (NIV)

'''Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

[imaginalstudio]

This romanticized narrative of spiritual leaders as actors donning a divine disguise is not only misleading but dangerous. Zen or Dzogchen would dismiss this notion as a misunderstanding that feeds ego and fuels the spiritual marketplace, where charlatans thrive. 'Enlightenment' is not a performance tailored to societal expectations; it is the dissolution of the self, where no “I” remains to play roles or perpetuate illusions. Papaji’s warning, “If you say you are enlightened, you are not,” underscores that genuine realization is beyond pretense and performance. Realized beings simply embody reality as it is, free of masks and free of concern for public approval.

Propagating this idea entraps genuine seekers in samsara’s web, mistaking the show for the substance and leaving them vulnerable to spiritual predators who mimic the guise of 'enlightenment'. The truth is simple: spiritual teachers do not play roles for an audience, nor do they uphold narratives that fit popular conceptions of divinity. They embody an unfiltered existence that transcends both performer and performance. Anything less is just another layer of delusion masquerading as wisdom, more noise obscuring the true path to realization.

[trmpt]

Mark 11:15-17

New International Version

15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’[a]? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.

[blankensnappeas]

i dont know if anything can top Kamen Rider Den-O ep 15

and this episode made me realize Ipad Child with a Gun might be my favorite character

[chill-vibes-but-rainbow-panic]

AJDHUIFWH, WOLLTE MIR IRGENDJEMAND SAGEN; DASS DIE NEN ZWEITEN LIVE ACTION RÄUBER HOTZENPLOTZ FILM GEMACHT HABEN???? LETZTES JAHR????

(Translation: AJDHUIFWH, WAS ANYBODY GONNA TELL ME THAT THEY MADE A SECOND LIVE ACTION ROBBER HOTZENPLOTZ MOVIE???? LAST YEAR????)

[aunt-bridget]

A Quiet Place

The trip to the luxury den in the mountains was a perfect opportunity to indulge your sissy perversions. A whole array of outfits were on hand and you would settle into trying them all while you had the week to yourself.

For now, you wanted to be a bit more casual, to play the pretty trophy, housewife as you busied yourself in making this place your own. Casual leggings and a tight sweater showing off your new fake rack was a lovely look. The brunette wig and classy makeup further added to the ‘girl next door’ look.

You had to stop preening as dinner was nearly ready and the wine was ready to pour. The chastity cup was tight, but you didn’t want to spoil the look of your tight ass in those leggings with the unsightly cock bulge.

Unfortunately, your disguise was too good as the strong hands grabbed you from behind. A secluded spot like this was a great target for thieves looking to rob the more affluent tourists…..

The warm socks were pulled from your feet and balled up into your mouth. The brutish robbers were too busy securing you, they didn’t pay close attention to your wig as they wrapped the silver tape tightly around your mouth. You grunted and struggled as more tape was welded around your body and sealing your fists into mitts. One of the men took full advantage of squeezing your fake tits….the high quality made them reasonably convincing and he leered at you as you shook your ass in the constricting tape bondage.

You panicked as the other man reappeared from the bedroom with your outfits in his arms. The leather and latex you brought, along with silky panties and fuck me heels. There was nobody around for miles and as the darkness drew in, you had a horrible feeling that you would be performing a fashion show for your guests. When they realised exactly what they had in their company, anything might happen……..

[hissinghydrangeas]

Everyone wants a pirate Seawing oc but no one wants to work out how piracy works in wof you can't tell me that the dragons are building and boats and robbing other dragons who are also on boats.

I imagine that after Pantala is discovered Seawing criminal groups start targeting travelers and creating hideouts in underwater caves and on islands that are off the grid. Maybe even targeting merchants and selling their stuff in the Scorpion's Den or other places at high costs

Most are missing limbs, eyes and are heavily scarred due to service in The army from a young age. They many missed out on an education because of the war or just out a shitty one with Coral whole thing about them focusing on her scrolls over actual important subjects. Most Pirates are ex- military after the war left them scarred and with PTSD or missing a home they joined pirate organizations that offered better pay. Many feel that they would be better with criminals than under the Seawing monarchy. Many deserted so we're already considering criminals.

The islands they live in are hard to find and are rumors to be protected with Animus magic.

The world Pirate comes from the ancient Pantala language a combination of the words" sea" and "robber" in the language or just a word used to describe Seawing criminals.

I will post more about this when my OCS go up because Seawing pirates can be so much cooler then the fandom make them out to be.

[floralcavern]

Reminder that Jesus was not some passive hippie who only preached about goodness and love. He knew when people needed to be yelled at for their stupidity

“So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.””

John 2:15-17

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers.””

Matthew 21:12-13

Not to mention that he was sarcastic as hell

“Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Go away, leave here, for Herod wants to kill You.” And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I reach My goal.’ Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day; for it cannot be that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem.”

Luke 13:33

“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.””

Matthew 12:1-8

[exhaled-spirals]

« [T]he Schoolmen ... aiming at glory and esteem, ... found this a good expedient to cover their ignorance, with a curious and inexplicable web of perplexed words, and [to] procure to themselves the admiration of others, by unintelligible terms ...: whilst it appears in all history, that these profound doctors ... brought but small advantage to human life, or the societies, wherein they lived; unless the coining of new words, where they produced no new things to apply them to, or the perplexing or obscuring the signification of old ones, and so bringing all things into question and dispute, were a thing profitable to the life of man, or worthy of commendation and reward.

... Nevertheless, this artificial ignorance, and learned gibberish, prevailed mightily in these last ages, by the interest and artifice of those, who found no easier way to that pitch of authority and dominion they have attained, than by ... employing the ingenious and idle in intricate disputes, about unintelligible terms, and holding them perpetually entangled in that endless labyrinth. 

Besides, the best way to defend strange and absurd doctrines is to guard them with legions of obscure, doubtful, and undefined words. Yet that makes these retreats more like dens of robbers or holes of foxes than like fortresses manned by sturdy warriors, [as] what makes it hard to get them out of their retreat isn’t their strength but rather the dark tangle of briars and thorns they are surrounded with. Because untruth is unacceptable to the mind of man, the only defence left for absurdity is obscurity.

... [T]hough unlearned men well enough understood the words white and black, etc. and had constant notions of the ideas signified by those words; yet there were philosophers found, who had learning and subtlety enough to prove, that snow was black; i.e. to prove, that white was black. Whereby they had the advantage to destroy the instruments and means of discourse, conversation, instruction, and society; whilst with great art and subtlety they did no more but perplex and confound the signification of words, and thereby render language less useful ... »

— John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690)

[dragonologist-phd]

OC Inspo

Guidelines: share something that acts as inspiration for your OC(s)! It could be anything; a moodboard, a collection of pictures, a playlist, a movie, etc. Explaining why you like it as inspiration is optional.

tagged by @gothimp! thank you! i'll pass the tag on to @ammoniteflesh @serenbach86 @starlightcleric @arendaes @transprincecaspian (if y'all want to, no pressure!)

i'm in a real playlist mood today, so how about my oc playlists for marja and darvis? i won't ramble too long about all the inspiration (we'd be here all day) but feel welcome to ask about any specific songs if you'd like!

Marja Aeducan

King- Florence + The Machine // Daniel In The Den- Bastille // Everybody Wants to rule the World- Lorde // Up the Wolves- The Mountain Goats // Angel On Fire- Halsey // Glory- Bastille // Hide & Seek- Amber run // Delicate- Taylor Swift // Stay Gold- First Aid Kit // Queen of Peace- Florence + The Machine // Yellow Flicker Beat- Lorde // Call Mercy- The rough & Tumble // I Of The Storm- Of Monsters And Men // It's Called: Freefall- Paris Paloma // Upper West Side- King Princess // Sometimes I See Stars- Tegan and Sara // Second Child, restless Child- The Oh Hellos // I Must Be The Sun- The rough & Tumble // Supercut- Lorde // Wait For Me- John-Allison Weiss // Costellations- The Oh Hellos

Darvis Brosca

The Boxer- Mumford & Sons // I Go To Work- Delta rae // Back Against the Wall- Cage the Elephant // Kiss the Sky- Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra // Dog Valley- The Moss // Cops and robbers- The Hoosiers // This Year- The Mountain Goats // Fistfight- The Ballroom Thieves // Thank God I'm Not You- HIMALAYAS // The Kids Aren't Alright- Fall Out Boy // Comfort of Strangers- Bastille // Alone Together- Fall Out Boy // Blood In The Cut- K Flay // Bad Blood- Bastille // The Harrowed And The Haunted- The Decemberists // Glory- Bastille // Sunlight- Hozier // Shovels & Dirt- The Strumbellas // Ends of the Earth- Lord Huron // St Jude- Florence + The Machine // Inkpot Gods- The Amazing Devil

[planet-gay-comic]

The Robber and the Prince

"A handsome young prince lost in the woods. Then robbers seized him, yet one of the robbers loved this prince. I love you my prince. I love you my robber. Dark and gold."

Original German text: "Ein schöner junger Prinz verirrte sich im Wald. Da packten ihn die Räuber, doch einer von den Räubern, liebte diesen Prinzen. Ich liebe dich mein Prinzen. Ich liebe dich mein Räuber. Dunkel und Gold"

These lines from the song "Der Räuber und der Prinz" by Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft (DAF) encapsulate more than just an unusual narrative. It is a poetic depiction of love and desire that challenges societal norms and expectations. Released in the early 80s, this song is emblematic of how DAF explored themes of sexuality, identity, and nonconformity in their music.

DAF, often regarded as pioneers of electronic music and the Neue Deutsche Welle, have left an indelible mark on music history. With their radical aesthetic, provocative lyrics, and minimalist synthesizer sounds, Gabi Delgado-López and Robert Görl represented an art form that consciously deviated from the commercial pop and rock music traditions of their time.

DAF's significance to the LGBT movement in the 80s cannot be overstated. At a time when LGBT rights were largely ignored or openly opposed, DAF offered a rare glimpse into queer love and desire. "Der Räuber und der Prinz" stands out for its story of unexpected and socially taboo love that defies conventional narratives.

The fact that one of the band members, Gabi Delgado-López, openly lived his bisexuality, lent DAF's music authenticity and a political dimension. Their songs were not just expressions of personal freedom and sexual liberation but also acts of resistance against the repressive social norms of the time.

DAF's influence extends beyond the boundaries of music. They helped increase the visibility of LGBT themes in the public sphere and initiated a dialogue on gender, sexuality, and identity that continues today. Their fearless commitment to individuality and nonconformity makes them icons of the LGBT movement and pioneers of a cultural revolution that began in the 80s and echoes in today's society.

"The Robber and the Prince" thus symbolizes not only DAF's artistic vision but also a moment of emancipation in the history of the LGBT movement. The song and the band itself remind us that love in all its forms should be celebrated and that music can be a powerful force for change and acceptance.

Text supported by Chat GPT-4

Base Image generated with DALL-E, overworked with SD-1.5 and SDXL inpainting and composing.

[awfullybigwardrobe44]

“And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers." And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ���21‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Just obsessed with the idea of Jesus flipping tables and driving out the bad guys with a whip and then nearly immediately turning around and healing people

Just… Jesus could have accomplished His mission of driving out the people making temple goings-on a business venture, therefore restoring it to its use as a place of worship and devotion and obedience

But He doesn’t just stop there, He heals the people who come to Him there so the temple is a place of healing too

God cleanses the temple and isn’t satisfied just to have it devoted to Him again, He turns around and starts blessing and healing those who come to Him

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

22nd November Fr. Martin's Reflections/Homilies on Today's Mass Readings for Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time (Inc. Luke 19:45-48): ‘The people as a whole hung on his words’.

Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel (Except USA) Luke 19:45-48 You have turned God's house into a robbers' den.

Jesus went into the Temple and began driving out those who were selling. ‘According to scripture,’ he said ‘my house will be a house of prayer. But you have turned it into a robbers’ den.’ He taught in the Temple every day. The chief priests and the scribes, with the support of the leading citizens, tried to do away with him, but they did not see how they could carry this out because the people as a whole hung on his words.

Gospel (USA) Luke 19:45-48 You have made it a den of thieves.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out those who were selling things, saying to them, “It is written, My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.” And every day he was teaching in the temple area. The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile, were seeking to put him to death, but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose because all the people were hanging on his words.

Reflections (11)

(i) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus as a twelve year old teaches in the Temple in Jerusalem. On that occasion, he referred to the Temple as ‘my Father’s house’, declaring to his parents who had been frantically looking for him, ‘Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ If Jesus regarded the Temple as the house of God his Father, he would have a keen interest in what was going on there. In today’s gospel reading, the adult Jesus is not pleased with what is going on in the Temple. What God had intended to be a ‘house of prayer’ had become a ‘robbers’ den’. Those responsible for the Temple were more concerned with the profits to be made from the sale of animals for sacrifice and from the changing of money to a currency acceptable in the Temple than with the proper worship of God. Jesus could see that the priorities of the chief priests and scribes were at odds with God his Father’s priorities. When Jesus challenged their priorities by driving out those who were selling in the Temple, the chief priests and scribes, with the support of the leading citizens of Jerusalem, were determined to do away with Jesus. The religious authorities were not only out of step with God’s priorities, they were also out of step with the people as a whole, who hung upon every word that Jesus spoke. The people were more attuned to God speaking and acting through Jesus than their leaders were. Sometimes what we value and prioritize doesn’t correspond to what God values and prioritizes. Like the people, we need to hang on every word that Jesus speaks if our values and priorities are to be in keeping with those of God. It is Jesus who reveals the mind of God, the vision of God for our own personal lives, the life of our church and of our world. It is to Jesus we have to keep turning if what is important to us is to correspond in some way to what is important to God, our heavenly Father.

And/Or

(ii) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading we have just heard, Jesus firstly drives all trade out of the Temple area and then he proceeds to teach there every day. According to our reading, the presence of Jesus in the Temple met with a divided response. The religious leaders, the chief priests and the leading citizens who were responsible for the running of the temple wanted to do away with Jesus. In contrast, the people as a whole hung on Jesus’ words. A few chapters further on in his gospel Luke describes the crucifixion of Jesus and once again he makes the same distinction between the religious leaders and the people. He tells us that as Jesus hung from the cross the leaders scoffed at him, whereas the people simple stood by watching and after Jesus died they returned home, beating their breasts as a sign of sorrow and repentance. Luke makes it clear that the religious leaders were much more hostile to Jesus than the people as a whole because Jesus was perceived by them as threatening their vested interests. They had something to defend against Jesus whereas the people as a whole knew they had much to receive from Jesus. They somehow recognized that God was visiting them in a special way through Jesus. They had nothing to lose and everything to receive from Jesus. This morning we are invited to stand with the people in hanging on the words of Jesus, and, like them, we too beat our breasts as we look upon the cross of Jesus, recognizing that we have not always lived by his word or walked in his way.

And/Or

(iii) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In the gospel reading this morning, Jesus drives all trade out of the temple, so as to purify it for the worship of God alone. The temple was to be a place of worship and prayer but it had become something else. The buying and selling of the market place had intruded into the temple and had undermined the temple’s primary purpose as a house of prayer. The temple no longer exists but there are still houses of prayer. Our church buildings are houses of prayer. We all feel that we have a very special house of prayer in our own parish church. It is a place of worship, a space into which people can enter to pray and to worship God. Everything in the church is to serve that purpose, the art work, the lighting, the decor, the furniture. I have always felt coming into this church that it is a place where people have been praying for a very long time, as indeed they have. The bulk of the church goes back to the late 1830s. People’s prayer over the generations leaves its mark on a building and makes it easier for us to pray. Our prayerful presence here, in turn, leaves its mark on the building and makes it easier of others to enter into prayer, including those of the generations to come.

And/Or

(iv) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In this morning’s gospel reading Jesus shows his displeasure at what is happening in the Temple in Jerusalem. Instead of serving its original purpose as a house of prayer for everyone, it had come to serve the interests of a few. Every human institution needs ongoing reform and renewal, and that includes religious institutions, like the church. The Lord is always prompting us to reform and renew our institutions so that they serve God’s purposes more fully, rather than our own purposes. No human institution, no matter how revered, is perfect; it will always be in need of renewal, because it will always be shaped by people who are tainted by sin. What is important is to acknowledge this in an ongoing way and to be open to the Lord’s call to repentance and renewal. This was not the case with those responsible for the Jewish temple in Jerusalem. After Jesus’ actions in the temple, the gospel reading says that the chief priests and the scribes tried to do away with Jesus. To resist ongoing renewal is to resist the Lord. Our journey towards God, both as individuals and as communities, will always involve repentance, a willing to keep on turning more fully towards what God wants for our lives.

And/Or

(v) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading Jesus refers to the Temple in Jerusalem as a ‘house of prayer’. The primary activity of the Temple was to be the activity of prayer. However, other activities had taken over and become more important than they should have been, such as the selling of animals for sacrifice, the exchange of coins, all of which could have been done outside the temple precinct. Jesus’ identification of the Temple as a ‘house of prayer’ is appropriate for every Christian church building. The primary activity of this parish church, and of buildings like it, is the activity of prayer. Every other activity is secondary and should, in some way, be at the service of the primary activity of prayer. Everything in the building should be at the service of people’s prayer such as the lighting, the furniture, the art work, whether it be in the form of statues, paintings, mosaics or stained glass. Our purpose in coming into a church is to pray, and to pray in the whole variety of forms of prayer that have evolved over the centuries within the Jewish and the Christian tradition, the prayer of petition, of contrition, of praise and thanksgiving, of intercession, the quiet prayer of attentive listening. All those forms of prayer have their place within the great prayer of the Eucharist. If this parish church is a ‘house of prayer’, then its primary purpose is to help us to become a people of prayer, in the way that Jesus was a man of prayer. In becoming people of prayer we open ourselves more fully to God’s purpose for our lives and for our world.

And/Or

(vi) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus, quoting one of the prophets, speaks of the Temple in Jerusalem as a ‘house of prayer’. Prayer was to be the primary activity of the Temple. However, in Jesus’ day certain economic activities had become so important that they had gotten in the way of the Temple being a house of prayer for everyone, including non-Jews. Jesus is suggesting that the Temple had lost its way; it was no longer serving God’s purpose but was at the service of various human purposes. We can all lose our way. We can all end up serving our own purpose rather than God’s purpose. This can happen not only with individuals but with institutions, even institutions as sacred as the Temple in Jerusalem. Every so often we need to hear a prophetic voice calling us back to God’s way. For us as Christians, the most authoritative prophetic voice is the voice of Jesus which we hear above all in the gospels. We need to keep returning to his voice, to his living word, as it comes to us through the Scriptures, so that we can live our lives in keeping with God’s purpose. Every parish church, like the Temple in Jerusalem, is a house of prayer. It is above all in that setting that we can prayerfully listen to the word of the Lord addressed to each of us individually and to all of us as members of God’s people, the church.

And/Or

(vii) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

According to our first reading, it was on the 25th day of the Jewish month of Chislev that Judas Maccabeus and his associates purified the Temple in Jerusalem which had become contaminated by pagan images and practices. This happened a little over 150 years before the birth of Jesus. The 25th of Chislev remains an important feast day for Jews today. It is usually celebrated in November/December, the Feast of the Rededication of the Temple. In the gospel reading Jesus is also portrayed as purifying the Temple in Jerusalem. On this occasion it wasn’t pagans, non-Jews, who were responsible for the unsatisfactory state of the Temple, but other Jews, in particular, the priests who were responsible for the Temple. They had allowed people to sell goods in one of the courts of the Temple, the court reserved for non-Jews. As a result, non-Jews could not pray in the area reserved for them. The Temple was meant to be a house of prayer for Jews and non-Jews. Jesus saw that the Temple was not conducting its business in accordance with God’s purpose. It had become, according to Jesus, a ‘robber’s den’ rather than a ‘house of prayer’. According to Luke, Jesus had referred to the Temple, when a twelve-year-old, as ‘my Father’s house’. Jesus, the Son of God, acted authoritatively to purify and renew his Father’s house.  Every institution stands in need of continuing renewal, including religious institutions, of which the most sacred in Jesus’ day was the Temple in Jerusalem. The church, likewise, is always in need of reform. We who comprise the church are always in need of the Lord’s reforming and renewing zeal. It is a seal that is born of love, because the Lord wants us to become all that God desires for us. Each day we try to open ourselves anew to the Lord’s continuing work of renewal in our lives.

And/Or

(viii) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

The prophet Malachi in the Jewish Scriptures had written, ‘the Lord whom you seek will suddenly enter his Temple’. The scene in today’s gospel reading where Jesus enters the Temple is the fulfilment of that prophecy. Earlier in Luke’s gospel, the twelve year old Jesus had spoken of the Temple as ‘my Father’s house’. At the beginning of today’s gospel reading, Jesus quotes God’s word as found in Isaiah, ‘my house will be a house of prayer’. The Temple, God’s house, was to be a place of prayer. Jesus, God’s Son, acts authoritatively in God his Father’s house, because far from being a house of prayer it had become a ‘robbers’ den’. Buying and selling, the making of money, had become a higher priority than prayer. Those responsible for the activities of the Temple saw it as a resource that could serve their own purposes, rather than a place that was to serve God’s purpose. It has been said that Jesus comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable. Those whose management of the Temple had left them comfortable were now experiencing the disturbing side of Jesus’ words and actions and, in response, Luke says that ‘they tried to do away with him’. Yet, the people as a whole, Luke tells us, ‘hung on his words’. We are invited to stand with the ordinary people in hanging on the Lord’s words. The Lord’s words bring light and life, love and mercy, into our lives, healing our wounds and restoring our spirit. Yet, there are times when we will also experience his words as disturbing our comfort zones. At such times too, we need to hang on his words, because, even then, the Lord’s words remain words of spirit and life for us.

And/Or

(ix) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

Religious buildings can be very significant for people. Parishioners have a great love for our parish church. A lot of work is being done at the moment to conserve and restore the fabric. The most important religious building for the Jews in the time of Jesus, and before his time, was the Temple in Jerusalem. It had been profaned by the pagan rulers of Judea about 150 years before the coming of Christ. Today’s first reading is the story of the Temple’s joyful rededication after the people of Israel regained control of it from the pagans. In the gospel reading, Jesus recognizes the value of the Temple, declaring it to be a house of prayer. Perhaps that is a good description of our own parish church, a ‘house of prayer’. However, Jesus could see that the focus of the Temple was no longer prayer but various commercial activities, and, so, he drove out from the Temple all who were selling. There is a little warning there to us also. We must be careful that prayer remains the focus of our own church building and not some commercial activity, no matter how well intentioned. This building is about the work of prayer, the prayer of the liturgy, the Eucharist and other sacraments, the prayer of the church, the praying of the rosary, the private prayers of people who come into the church, often expressed through the lighting of candles. When we are entering this church, we are entering a house of prayer and the focal point of that house is the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist calling us to prayer. In this place, we open ourselves to the Lord in prayer so as to be better able to bring the Lord to those we meet when we leave this house of prayer.

And/Or

(x) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus refers to the Temple of Jerusalem as a ‘house of prayer’. He clearly felt that some of the other activities that were going on there were working against it being the house or place of prayer that God intended the Temple to be. Every parish church is a house of prayer. We gather in our own parish church, during normal times, to pray together as a community. People also come into the church during the day for their own personal prayer. I have been struck by the numbers of people who have been coming to our church to pray during the day in recent weeks and months. There is no other building that could be described as a house of prayer, a place whose primary role it is to support people in prayer. We need such spaces in our busy world with all its many activities. It is said in today’s gospel reading that ‘the people hung on the words of Jesus’ as he taught in the Temple. Our parish church is also a place where we hear the word of the Lord, whether listening with others as that word is proclaimed in the setting of the Eucharist and other liturgical settings, or whether we reflect on the Lord’s word to us quietly and alone. I sometimes see people with the Missalette for the following Sunday praying quietly on the word of God. We come into a house of prayer like this to pray and to hang on the Lord’s word, so that we can go out to witness to the Lord’s love and presence with greater energy and courage. That pattern of coming in and going out is at the heart of our lives as the Lord’s disciples, coming in to pray and going out to live what we have prayed. This parish church, this house of prayer, is at the service of this important pattern in our lives.

And/Or

(xi) Friday, Thirty Third Week in Ordinary Time

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the Temple in Jerusalem as a ‘house of prayer’. We think of a house as a place where a family gathers. The Temple was the place where the family of God’s people gathered for prayer, whether it was the prayer of petition, of thanksgiving or of intercession. Every parish church could be described as a house of prayer. It is a place where the family of God’s people gather to pray. In our prayer, as Christians, we recognize the God to whom the Jewish people prayed in the Temple as the Father of Jesus and we recognize Jesus as God’s beloved Son. We pray to God our Father, through Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, whom we recognize as the Spirit of both God the Father and God the Son. When we gather in this house of prayer, we do so as family, as the family of faith, recognizing ourselves and one another as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and temples of the Holy Spirit. Even when we come into the church on our own, we are always conscious of the other members of our family of faith and of the human family, and, indeed, the family of all God’s creatures, all God’s creation. In the house of prayer, which is our parish church, as in every house of prayer, we open ourselves up to God present to us through his Son and the Holy Spirit. As a result, we are strengthened in our identity as sons and daughters of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus and temples of the Holy Spirit. We leave this house of prayer empowered to live out of that identity more generously and courageously.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[starscatteredsky]

is it ok to ask for an inbox check?/nf

inbox check!

its pretty long right now, but we're doing our best! its a little overwhelming but we're to help the kin masses! /silly

-mono

queued and ready to post! (in order of when they'll be posted, subject to slight changes as drafts are slotted into their places)

Tips for a burmese mountain dog

Stimboard/tips for TFP/TFA starscream

Tips for a ferret

Tips for Dave brubot/major player

Tips for dating colin the computer

Tips for pickles the drummer (metalocalypse)

Tips for P.AI.NTER

Tips for an australian shepard 

Tips and fashion kit for maned wolf

Tips for an arctic fox

Tips for a fallen angel

Fashion for snow leopards

Tips for highland cows and blacknose sheep

Tips for an alien

Tips for a minecraft phantom

Tips for a kestrel

Tips for feral dogs

Neos for cryptids

Selfcare tips for an omnitherian

Tips for Madcom Grunt kin + Sebastian Solace kin

Pastel pink robot moodboard

Moodboard for Shidaraki

Playlist for the Tenth Doctor

Fashion kit for a fallen angel and space

Pronouns and activities for a barnowl

Tips for draculara

Tips for paldean woopers

Tips for tsunami (wof)

Fashion for a weather angel

Neos and fashion for N (murder drones)

Tips for an eldritch horror

Tips and fashion for a robotic wolf

Tips for dwebble and crustle

Tips for bowerbirds

Wips/drafts/in progress/complete but not queued (in no particular order)!

Tips and playlist for a warden

Tips for bill cypher

Tips and fashion for a great horned owl

Fashion for an african wild dog

Fashion for an orange persian cat

Denboard and fashionboard for a vancouver island coastal wolf

Black cat and shark tips

Tips for eevee

Punk fashion kit and tips for a pine marten

Tips  and den inspo for a wood mouse

Tips for a black cat

Moodboard and tips for shadow demon

Tips and fashion for fern the human (adventuretime)

Fashion and home decor for the old web

Fashionboard for an angel

Sweater fashion kit

Tips and fashion for lilac (Orin Ayo)

70s/80s fashion for an incubus

Home inspo for yeerks

Tips fashion and recipes for a zim

Tips for a raccoon

Tips for the untitled goose

Tips for a dragon and shark

Tips for questioning fictionkin

tips /fashion for a sheep

Tips for cerberus

Tips and fashion for a shapeshifter

Tips for a wallace hawk eagle

Tips for an aussie shepard

Tips for an albino leopard

Tips for frost

Tips for sunbears

Tips for a robot/eldritch being

Tips for a tv

Tips for a questioning voidkin

Tips for scp-049

Tips for ermac

tips for a corvid

Fashion for a fox

tips for a nightfury

Tips for ball jointed dolls

Fashion for cerberus

Fashion for a burmese mountain dog

Tips and neos for quetzalcoatlus

tips and fashion for shadow the hedgehog

Tips for jasper

Tips for space divines

Tips for c!tubbo without explosions

Tips for a tiger with connection to space

Tips for buckets

tips/gear for a neanderthal 

Tips for a disabled vampire

Tips for poodles/chinese crested dogs

tips for a border collie

Darkcore fashion for a feral black german shepherd 

Tips for sparrows

Tips for lions

tips for an angel

Tips for a dog/fae and mimic

Fashion for a satyr

Fashionboard for oscar pine

Tips for zekrom

Dysphoria relieving tips for a general nonhuman

Tips for crows and cockatoos

inbox/not started (in no particular order)!!

Tips for a space-man (KISS)

Tips for an albino american cockroach

Tips for mark heathcliff (mandela catalouge)

Tips for connecting to mermaid kintype away from the sea

Tips for scarlet (pearlecentmoon) and nihachu (genloss)

Tips for aven (worldless)

Tips for flippy (htf)

Tips for persecutor unicorns

Tips for micheal afton

Tips for C1tubbo

Tips for dib membrane (invader zim)

Tips fpr a nextbot

Tips for a centipede

Tips for ronja (robbers daughter)

Tips for deimos from madness combat

Tips for barney calhoun from half life 2

Thin man vibes

Tips for fan (inanimate insanity)

Tips for tardis

Tips for jordie holmes

Tips for jane doe

Tips for connecting to feeling catlike

Tips for an aibo

Carekit for a god/void

Tips for zim/an irken

Tips for an EPCOT placekin

Denboard for a ferret

Recommendations for servius

Tips for raven from the raven poem

Tips for dave miller

Fashion for a coastal wolf

tips/fashion for the companion bots from stray

Tips for raoul

Grounding tips for fnaf sourced alters

Tips for v1 (ultrakill)

tips/denboard for a gryphon

Carekit for an alien

Carekit for venus (solarballs)

Tips for a halforc/elf humankin

tips for zelda

tips for a purple blooded troll

tips for princess

tips for guiding lights

fashion board for cold

tips for glimmer

fashion for a scene cougar

tips for qsmp philza

tips and outfit ideas for c!technoblade

names and tips for a femme scott summers

fem fashion for a crow

tips for kyouka izumi

selfcare for a hobbit and room cleaning tips for a hobbit/vampire

vibes for a hobbit and vampire, moodboard for a hobbit and vampire

names for a hobbit and recipes for a hobbit

questions for connecting to hobbit kintype

fashion for the heart 

goth and alt fashion for an enderman

tips for an evil ocean deity

types of requests

vampire and gothic fashion for scourge

colourful fashion for a moth 

tips for a cheagle 

tips for connecting to clownpierce

neos and xenos for even hansen

fashion for red heeler dog (REDO)

stimboard and masc fashion for a saarloos wolfdog 

fashion for a coyote

fashion and moodboard for a harpy

tips for huldra

tips for hell hounds, ghosts, and cyn

[sholiofic]

If you're still taking prompts for Biggles - then Bertie, Algy and Fritz on a hunting weekend in Chedcombe? Maybe make it a casefic where there's robbers/spies/murderers? I imagine Fritz being a very skilled horseman, like his uncle :D

I am back to answer fic prompts! This is a LOVELY prompt, and I don't have a full story in my head for it, but have a little snippet of their weekend <3

--

Fritz had been uncertain and shy about the weekend's invitation, but after a slightly awkward car ride and even more awkward introduction to the Chedcombe staff, he was charmed immediately by the horses.

"We've a quiet old lass in the stables here, Lady is her name, you might enjoy her," Bertie suggested, while Fritz was making friends with all the horses, petting and talking to them.

"Oh, but I like this one very much," Fritz said, stroking a silky equine nose. "He's beautiful. I would very much like to ride him. What is his name, please?"

"That's Jupiter, old boy, he might be a bit much for a novice rider, but let's see if he's been getting his daily gallop, what?"

The groom saddled the horses for them. Fritz listened avidly to Bertie's explanations, mounted with a little awkwardness but sat his saddle proudly, adjusting his grip on the reins swiftly at a word from Bertie.

"Let's walk him round a bit, what? Good form, lad," Bertie said happily. "You've ridden before?"

"Only a little. There wasn't much opportunity back home."

"Chip off the old block, I say," Bertie declared, and Fritz flushed and ducked his head. Meanwhile, Algy mounted up on the blue roan hunter he had selected for himself. After a few more turns round the paddock and some corrections to Fritz's seat, Bertie announced them ready for the gallops -- or the walking trails, at least.

"Chip off the old block, what?" Bertie repeated to Algy as they rode behind Fritz, who sat upright and natural, holding the rein self-consciously but with a relaxed grip. Several of the dogs from Bertie's kennels coursed alongside. The well-trained horses danced only a little at the dogs' presence, and Fritz, reacting almost instinctively, tugged his horse back under control when it began to prance.

"Exactly what we all hoped for," Algy said dryly, but he said it quietly, so that Fritz couldn't hear. 

"I told you the lad's a natural. Jolly old Biggles doesn't know what he's missing."

"Jolly old Biggles would be bored off his head in an hour and driving the rest of us up the wall by evening."

Bertie laughed. "Right there with you, right with you. The Chief and Ginger will most likely have found an entire smuggler's den of criminals by the time we're back. Not to speak of old Erich--"

"Let's not speak of him, then," Algy said between his teeth.

But whatever Biggles, Ginger, and (regrettably, in Algy's eyes) von Stalhein might have been getting up to back in London, the Chedcombe parkland and forest lay golden-green and lovely in the afternoon sun. They flushed a pair of foxes, but Bertie called back the dogs -- "Just a married couple on a stroll, let's give 'em a little space" -- and they ended up walking the horses down to a lovely pond with ducks paddling about and pheasants on the far grass. It was a soul-soothing place after all they'd been through, and Fritz looked delighted.

[weepingwidar]

Joel Slotte (Finnish, 1987) - Laulu Ryövärinpesästä (Song from the Robber's Den) (2020-2021)