#have you ever considered that Christian music sounds so good BECAUSE ITS BEEN BLESSED BY THE LORD

[sunkissedliterarylightofchrist]

sorry not sorry but its twisted that people take Christian media and try to twist it around to fit and affirm their gender ideology

[pamphletstoinspire]

The Feast of the Ascension.

by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

“And the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God.”–Mark xvi, 19.

The various feasts which we, as children of the Church, are called upon to celebrate throughout the year, invite us to consider, with special attention, and, as it were, to behold in spirit the mysteries of which that tender Mother makes mention herself, in so solemn a manner to us all.

This is particularly so on the festival of today, which commemorates the Ascension of Christ into heaven. We gaze with the disciples into the cloudless sky as if we fain would pierce the secrets of the celestial realm beyond, and witness the entrance of Christ therein. Then the thought arises within us: “O happy Apostles! chosen to behold the Ascension of the Lord; would that we could know the feelings which filled your hearts when you saw Him surrounded by a luminous cloud, disappear from view.”

Beloved in Christ Jesus, I will tell you: Unspeakable longing after heaven took possession of them when they beheld their beloved Master enter therein. The same longing should also fill our heart. O Mary, Queen of heaven, obtain for us that same longing which animated your immaculate heart, to follow your divine Son to the abode of eternal bliss. I speak in the most holy name of Jesus for the greater honor and glory of God.

As I have already said, the feelings of the disciples, as they stood gazing upon Jesus as he faded from their view, were concentrated in one ardent desire for heaven, to be and remain with him there forever. Yes; and so also would we have felt had we been present on Mount Olivet with Mary, the Apostles and disciples, when Christ raised Himself from the ground, blessed them, and, soaring aloft, was seen no more.

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up to heaven?” was the question put to them by the Angels; and, my brethren, had I been present, I would have said: “O dear Angels, how can you ask? for, while the favored few, whom Christ selected to witness His wondrous ascension, did certainly congratulate Jesus upon entering His eternal home, they also sighed, from their very hearts, ‘O that we, too, could leave this earth, to be and remain with our beloved Saviour in heaven.'”

This ardent desire is the more important because it is the fundamental condition without which we can not follow the admonition contained in the succeeding words spoken by the angelic messengers: “This Jesus, Who is taken up from you, so shall come again.” He will exact a rigid account from every man as to whether he has fulfilled that end for which God called him into existence, redeemed him, and permitted him to belong to the kingdom of His Church.

Upon the eve of His Ascension, Christ declared that He would send His disciples to the confines of the earth; and that they might be better enabled to proclaim His word, He would prepare them with the strength of the Holy Ghost. For only those who combat and conquer, who work for and with Jesus, who complete the work on earth for which God created them, and remain faithful, receive a beauteous crown in heaven.

Besides the strength God the Holy Ghost bestows, that divine Spirit also implants in the heart another disposition–a longing to accomplish something for God. This is confirmed by numerous examples of heroic actions, performed by those who, devoting their lives to sanctity, listened to and acted upon the inspirations of that divine Spirit. What wonderful things have been accomplished, even according to the testimony of our own experience, at the price of innumerable sacrifices and hardships, from the impulse and through the strength of this ardent desire! This has also its perfect application in the great affair of salvation.

Whoever meditates as he should upon heaven, feels strong enough to labor, to struggle, and to suffer for it, in faithful perseverance, unto the end. And what should be more easy than for every faithful child of the Church to excite in his heart this longing desire? Consider how many and what powerful motives there are to increase it therein! Let us devote some moments to these considerations; and with the divine blessing, even as the words fall from my lips, this desire for heaven will arise and increase in our hearts.

Behold, in spirit, Christ ascending to heaven, and say, within yourselves, Dear Jesus, where are you going? O beautiful country! how I sigh after thee. Here is the land of our exile; there, our eternal home. Here are hunger and thirst; there, an excess of delight. Here, lamentation and wailing; there, the security of bliss. Here is poverty and nakedness; there, the glorious vesture of heaven, decorated with the diamonds of merit, acquired by our good works upon earth. Here we have no lasting dwelling; there, when the Christian enters upon the reward of a well-spent life, he can exclaim: “Heaven is mine; all is mine; I enter the dwelling which Jesus prepared for me, and ascend a royal throne, whereon I will be crowned with a radiant diadem forever.”

Here there is a never-ceasing sound of wailing, as human hearts grow faint with the burden of sorrow; there, in heaven, the eternal Alleluia resounds, and never for one moment does the celestial music of angelic voices cease. Here is the labor; there, rest and quiet–the reward; and O what a reward! Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; nor hath it ever entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those who love Him. Here we must endure mortification and persecution; there, we shall enjoy a peace which passeth all understanding.

Here we are subject to temptations; there, no thought of evil can come. Here it is constant struggle; there, is the triumph attained. Here the world, and those who are of the world, strive only for the possession of creatures; there, the sole desire of the blessed is to see and possess God Himself in His infinite perfection and beatitude. Here a shadow rests upon our brightest hours,– the thought of the impending separation from our loved ones by death; there, neither sorrow nor death can enter; and the union among the blessed and with God will be eternal.

Blessed Egidius! when we think of these striking contrasts, we can not wonder that the very mention of heaven–“Paradise”–threw your soul into an ecstatic state, while your ardent desire after its joys raised your body from the ground as if your spirit longed to soar.

Yes, beautiful Heaven! the ardent desire of my heart, who will give me wings like a dove, to fly from this valley of tears, and rest on the mountain of bliss? But this necessitates labor, struggling, suffering. And what, beloved in Christ, will make this suffering light? what but this ardent desire of heaven!

See the laborer as he goes forth to his daily toil, willing to endure all, and leave himself no rest, for he knows that the more diligently he works, the greater will be his gain. And daily experience proves, that it is the same in every walk of life; yet how poor and trifling, how infinitely small, is the richest guerdon which the world can give compared to the reward which awaits us in heaven for every meritorious' work performed by us on earth. How worthless should the world's rewards appear when we think how soon they pass away! How infinitely great should we deem the ones which never, never end! How brave and determined the warrior who knows that, if he return from the conflict with the laurel wreath of victory, his fortune is assured! How willingly he risks that life, which is to him so precious, for the hope of a possible reward. How bravely, therefore, my dearest Christians, should not you be able to combat, having in view the hope of Heaven– the crown of eternal victory!

Men have borne, with the greatest patience, the most painful operations, with a view to saving life or limb. Strive, therefore, to bear with patience the sorrows and trials of earth, to save your immortal souls. Oh, let us never forget the heaven which may be all our own! Let us think of it, not only while we celebrate this glorious festival, but long after it has passed away, that we may so live that, when we close our eyes to earthly things, we may, without delay, ascend to that bright and glorious home to dwell with Christ in Heaven for evermore. Amen.

“They going forth preached every-where, and the Lord working withal, confirming the word with signs that followed.”–Mark xvi, 20.

Jesus had entered into glory, and still the disciples remained spell-bound, gazing after Him with irrepressible yearning to follow Him to that heavenly home, whither He went to prepare a dwelling for the souls He had redeemed.

Suddenly, as the Evangelist St. Luke relates, there appeared to the Apostles two Angels clad in white robes of golden glory, who thus addressed them: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into heaven.” This is the explanation of the above: “As surely as you have witnessed the departure of your blessed Saviour, so surely will He come again. He will come not in His humiliation, but in the full splendor of His incomparable Majesty, to you, as well as to the whole world.”

Jesus raised Himself on high and entered heaven as Conqueror over death and hell; and once again He will come, not as Reconciler, but as Judge. Can we endure the penetrating glance of His all-seeing eye; that eye which will, as it were, search into the very marrow of our souls? It depends very much upon ourselves. If we have during life been disposed as were the disciples on Mount Olivet on Ascension-day, there will be no terror for us in the coming of Christ at the end of the world.

O Mary, Queen of angels, to whom it was granted to be assumed body and soul into heaven, and to sit enthroned at the right hand of your divine Son, bless and protect us, that we may one day behold the bliss of heaven! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, for the greater honor of God!

Deep in the human heart there lingers sweet hope of ascending at last to heaven. There is scarce a sinner, be he ever so abandoned, that does not cherish the hope that by some unlooked-for grace he will behold his glorified Saviour. It is true that sincere, even if tardy, repentance can win forgiveness for any crime, no matter how great; yet we must not expect to be called by wonderful ways; but, to insure to ourselves the eventual possession of that exquisite bliss, we must, during our whole lives, look up to heaven with affections similar to those of the disciples as they looked after Jesus when He soared aloft beyond the skies. It was, above all, the wish to enter heaven with Him which animated them when they, after He had disappeared from their view, stood spellbound, looking up as if they could still behold His beloved face. I have already touched upon this disposition of ardent desire, but after the address of the angels there were other affections which deeply moved their hearts.

First, they congratulated Jesus upon His entrance into glory. In proportion to the compassion with which His humiliation and bitter sufferings had inspired them, they now rejoiced; and repressing their grief at His departure, felicitated Him upon having ascended to heaven. They stood upon Mount Olivet, that spot so rich in sacred memories,–that spot where the agony of the Son of God forced blood from His pores. Their feet touched the ground once moistened by that precious blood; and with these thoughts welling up in their hearts, they might well exclaim: “According to the afflictions of my heart, consolations have rejoiced my soul.”

The disciples rejoiced with Jesus, especially at the assurance He gave them: “I go to prepare for you a lasting dwelling,” and now they perceived more clearly than ever the grand and majestic character of the happiness which had been conferred upon them, of beholding the incarnate Son of God,–that happiness after which Abraham and the prophets had so ardently longed,–yet which they were not permitted to enjoy, with the exception of Moses and Elias.

They now understood the favor which had been meted out to them, and blessed the Saviour that they had received from His lips the word of salvation; that they had walked by His side, and had had constant personal intercourse with Him. They thanked Him with the most intense fervor of heart for their call to the true faith, and for their election, according to the Saviour's promise, to proclaim the word of life to the very extremities of the earth, and to distribute to the children of men the treasures of the Redemption, by propagating the true Church to which had been bequeathed such fruitful means of salvation.

And it was not merely sensible affections of the heart which so deeply moved them; for they, at the same time, made firm resolutions, with the assistance of divine grace, to fulfill their calling faithfully, and to obey the precept which had been given them, to await at Jerusalem, in prayer, the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete. And this, my brethren, should be the disposition of our hearts upon this glorious day.

Let us exult and praise the Lord for His Majesty; for if we love Jesus more than ourselves, we should rejoice at His Ascension to such a kingdom of delight. What exultation must expand the heart of the Christian who really loves Him, as he recalls today the words of the psalm which prophetically describes the Ascension of Christ: “Be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, for the King of Glory approaches!” and behold in spirit the myriads of Angels coming from heaven to meet Him, entoning the Alleluia of victory before the Lord.

We should also imitate the Apostles and disciples in their gratitude; for if we reflect that we have been called to the true faith through no merit of our own, while the souls of millions who might have responded more fully to the grace of God, and availed themselves more frequently of the means provided by Him to help us on our heavenward way, are left in the darkness of error. What cause for thankfulness is the certainty that we are on the right path to salvation, and that if we really wish to attain it, we can do so through Jesus Christ our Lord. We should also thank God that we, as children of the true Church, may lead other souls thereto, and thus propagate His kingdom. There is no other way to heaven than that which Jesus trod, the way of struggle, labor, and toil,–of self-denial, mortification, and tears–no other way, in short, than the royal road of the holy cross.

But heaven is worth it all, and when well nigh fainting in the conflict, the Christian should think of the Saviour, Who, in His painful walk to Calvary, faltered and fell three times; and, taking courage, exclaim with St. Paul: “I can do all in Him who strengthens me.” The same Holy Ghost, promised and sent by Christ to His Apostles and disciples; He has, according to St. John, promised to us also; and He will send Him if we, by zealous and fervent prayer, prepare our hearts for His reception. The Apostles and their companions at Jerusalem did so. And after that happy event they immediately ordained deacons for the service of the Church, that they might themselves have more time for prayer and union with God.

Let us, then, beloved in Christ, imitate their example, by an increase of zeal in prayer, as we celebrate this festive day. Let us, in spirit, place ourselves in their midst, and imagine the deep emotion with which we would have fallen at the feet of Christ and embraced them, had we been witnesses of this happy meeting between Him and His holy Mother, and faithful friends. With what ardor we would have implored Him to remember us before His Father in heaven, and promised to do His holy will in all things, that we might one day follow Him to the realms of everlasting bliss.

If we possess these affections, and fulfill the resolutions arising therefrom; if we think constantly of heaven, and live only for it, then most assuredly will we courageously combat those enemies who would fain deprive us of its celestial joys; and having borne the cross on earth, we shall wear an eternal crown above. Amen! 

FEAST OF THE ASCENSION by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870 The sun of the fortieth day has risen in all his splendor. The earth, which shook with gladness at the Birth of our Emmanuel (Ps. xcv. xcvi. xcvii.), now thrills with a strange emotion. The divine series of the mysteries of the Man-God is about to close. Heaven has caught up the joy of earth. The Angelic Choirs are preparing to receive their promised King, and their Princes stand at the Gates, that they may open them when the signal is given of the mighty Conqueror's approach (Ibid. xxiii. 7). The holy souls, that were liberated from Limbo on the morning of the Resurrection, are hovering round Jerusalem, waiting for the happy moment when Heaven's gate, closed by Adam's sin, shall be thrown open, and they shall enter in company with their Redeemer: a few hours more, and then to Heaven! Meanwhile, our Risen Jesus has to visit His Disciples and bid them farewell, for they are to be left, for some years longer, in this vale of tears.

They are in the Cenacle, impatiently awaiting His coming. Suddenly He appears in their midst. Of the Mother's joy, who would dare to speak? As to the Disciples and the holy Women, they fall down and affectionately adore the Master, Who has come to take His leave of them. He deigns to sit down to table with them; He even condescends to eat with them, not, indeed, to give them proof of His Resurrection, for He knows that they have no further doubts of the mystery, but now that He is about to sit at the right hand of the Father, He would give them this endearing mark of familiarity. O admirable repast! in which Mary, for the last time in this world, is seated side by side with her Jesus, and in which the Church, (represented by the Disciples and the holy Women,) is honored by the visible presidency of her Head and Spouse.

What tongue could describe the respect, the recollected mien, the attention of the guests? With what love must they not have riveted their eyes on the dear Master? They long to hear him speak; his parting words will be so treasured! He does not keep them long in suspense; He speaks, but his language is not what they perhaps expected it to be, all affection. He begins by reminding them of the incredulity wherewith they heard of His Resurrection (St. Mark, xvi. 14). He is going to entrust His Apostles with the most sublime mission ever given to man; He would, therefore, prepare them for it by humbling them. A few days hence, and they are to be lights of the world; the world must believe what they preach, believe it on their word, believe it without having seen, believe what the Apostles alone have seen. It is by Faith that man approaches His God: they themselves were once without it, and Jesus would have them now express their sorrow for their former incredulity, and thus base their Apostolate on humility.

Then assuming a tone of authority, such as none but a God could take, He says to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned (Ibid. xvi. 15, 16). And how shall they accomplish this mission of preaching the Gospel to the whole world? how shall they persuade men to believe their word? By Miracles. And these signs, continues Jesus, shall follow them that believe: in My name, they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover (St. Mark, svi. 17, 18). He would have Miracles to be the foundation of his Church, just as He had made them the argument of His own divine mission. The suspension of the laws of nature proves to us that it is God Who speaks; we must receive the word, and humbly believe it.

Here, then, we have men unknown to the world and devoid of every human means, and yet commissioned to conquer the earth and make it acknowledge Jesus as its King! The world ignores their very existence. Tiberius, who sits on the imperial throne, trembling at every shadow of conspiracy, little suspects that there is being prepared an expedition which is to conquer the Roman Empire. But these warriors must have their armour, and the armour must be of heaven's own tempering. Jesus tells them that they are to receive it a few days hence. Stay, says He, in the city, till ye be endued with power from on high (St. Lluke, xxiv. 49). But what is this armour? Jesus explains it to them. He reminds them of the Father's promise, that promise, says He, which ye have heard by my mouth: for John, indeed, baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts, i. 4, 5).

But the hour of separation is come. Jesus rises: His blessed Mother, and the hundred and twenty persons assembled there, prepare to follow Him. The Cenacle is situated on Mount Sion, which is one of the two hills within the walls of Jerusalem. The holy group traverses the city, making for the eastern Gate, which opens on the Valley of Josaphat. It is the last time that Jesus walks through the faithless City. He is invisible to the eyes of the people who denied Him, but visible to His Disciples, and goes before them, as, heretofore, the pillar of fire led on the Israelites. How beautiful and imposing a sight! Mary, the Disciples, and the holy Women, accompanying Jesus in His Heaven-ward journey, which is to lead Him to the right hand of His Eternal Father! It was commemorated in the Middle-Ages by a solemn Procession before the Mass of Ascension Day. What happy times were those, when Christians took delight in honouring every action of our Redeemer! They could not be satisfied, as we are, with a few vague notions, which can produce nothing but an equally vague devotion.

They reflected on the thoughts which Mary must have had during these last moments of her Son's presence. They used to ask themselves, which of the two sentiments were uppermost in her maternal heart, sadness, that she was to see her Jesus no more? or joy, that He was now going to enter into the glory He so infinitely deserved? The answer was soon found: had not Jesus said to His Disciples: If ye loved me, ye would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father (St. John, xiv. 28)? Now, who loved Jesus as Mary did? The Mother's heart, then, was full of joy at parting with Him. How was she to think of herself, when there was question of the triumph of her Son and her God? Could she that had witnessed the scene of Calvary do less than desire to see Him glorified, Whom she knew to be the Sovereign Lord of all things, Him Whom, but a short time ago, she had seen rejected by His people, blasphemed, and dying the most ignominious and cruel of deaths?

The holy group has traversed the Valley of Josaphat; it has crossed the brook Cedron, and is moving onwards to Mount Olivet. What recollections would crowd on the mind! This torrent, of which Jesus had drunk on the day of His humiliation, is now the path He takes to triumph and glory. The Royal Prophet had foretold it (Ps. cix. 7). On their left, are the Garden and Cave, where He suffered His Agony and accepted the bitter Chalice of His Passion. After having come as far as what St. Luke calls the distance of the journey allowed to the Jews on a sabbath-day (Acts, i. 12), they are close to Bethania, that favoured village, where Jesus used to accept hospitality at the hands of Lazarus and his two Sisters. This part of Mount Olivet commands a view of Jerusalem. The sight of its Temple and Palaces makes the Disciples proud of their earthly city: they have forgotten the curse uttered against her; they seem to have forgotten, too, that Jesus has just made them citizens and conquerors of the whole world. They begin to dream of the earthly grandeur of Jerusalem, and, turning to their Divine Master, they venture to ask him this question: Lord, wilt thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom to Israel (Acts, i. 6)?

Jesus answers them with a tone of severity: It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in His own power (Ibid. 7). These words do not destroy the hope that Jerusalem is to be restored by the Christian Israel; but, as this is not to happen till the world is drawing towards its end, there is nothing that requires our Saviour's revealing the secret. What ought to be uppermost in the mind of the Disciples, is the conversion of the pagan world, the establishing the Church. Jesus reminds them of the mission He has just given to them: Ye shall receive, says He, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts, i. 8).

According to a tradition, which has been handed down from the earliest ages of Christianity (Constit. Apost., lib. v. cap. xix), it is mid-day, the same hour that He had been raised up, when nailed to His Cross. Giving His Blessed Mother a look of filial affection, and another of fond farewell to the rest of the group that stand around him, Jesus raises up His hands and blesses them all. Whilst thus blessing them, He is raised up from the ground whereon He stands, and ascends into heaven (St. Luke, xxiv. 51). Their eyes follow Him, until a cloud comes and receives Him out of their sight (Acts, i. 9).

Yes, Jesus is gone! The earth has lost her Emmanuel! For four thousand years had He been expected: the Patriarchs and Prophets had desired His coming with all the fervour of their souls: He came: His love made Him our captive in the chaste womb of the Virgin of Nazareth. It was there He first received our adorations. Nine months after, the Blessed Mother offered Him to our joyous love in the Stable at Bethlehem. We followed Him into Egypt; we returned with Him; we dwelt with Him at Nazareth. When He began the three years of His public Life, we kept close to His steps; We delighted in being near Him, we listened to His preaching and parables, we saw His miracles. The malice of His enemies reached its height, and the time came wherein He was to give us the last and grandest proof of the love that had brought Him from heaven, His dying for us on a Cross; we kept near Him as He died, and our souls were purified by the Blood that flowed from His Wounds. On the third day, He rose again from His Grave, and we stood by exulting in His triumph over Death, for that triumph won for us a like Resurrection. During the Forty days He has deigned to spend with us since His Resurrection, our faith has made us cling to Him: we would fain have kept Him with us forever, but the hour is come; He has left us; yes, our dearest Jesus is gone! O happy the souls that He had taken from Limbo! they have gone with Him, and, for all eternity, are to enjoy the heaven of His visible presence.

The Disciples are still steadfastly looking up towards heaven, when lo! two angels, clad in white robes, appear to them, saying: Ye men of Galilee! why stand ye looking up to heaven? This Jesus, Who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as ye have seen Him going into heaven (Acts, i. 10, 11)! He has ascended, a Saviour; He is to return, as Judge; between these two events is comprised the whole life of the Church on earth. We are therefore living under the reign of Jesus as our Saviour, for He has said: God sent not His Son into the world to Judge the world, but that the world might be Saved by Him (St. Joh, iii. 17): and to carry out this merciful design He has just been giving to His Disciples the mission to go throughout the whole world, and invite men, whilst yet there is time, to accept the mystery of Salvation.

What a task is this He imposes on the Apostles! and now that they are to begin their work, He leaves them! They return from Mount Olivet, and Jesus is not with them! And yet, they are not sad; they have Mary to console them; her unselfish generosity is their model, and well do they learn the lesson.

They love Jesus; they rejoice at the thought of His having entered into His rest. They went back into Jerusalem with great joy (St. Luke, xxiv. 52). These few simple words of the Gospel indicate the spirit of this admirable Feast of the Ascension: it is a Festival, which, notwithstanding its soft tinge of sadness, is, more than any other, expressive of joy and triumph. During its Octave, we will endeavour to describe its mystery and magnificence: we would only observe, for the present, that this Solemnity is the completion of the Mysteries of our Redemption; that it is one of those which were instituted by the Apostles (St. Augustine, EP. ad Januar); and finally, that it has impressed a character of sacredness on the Thursday of each week, the day already so highly honoured by the institution of the Eucharist.

We have alluded to the Procession, whereby our Catholic forefathers used, on this Feast, to celebrate the journey of Jesus and His Disciples to Mount Olivet. Another custom observed on the Ascension, was the solemn blessing given to bread and to the new fruits: it was commemorative of the farewell repast taken by Jesus in the Cenacle. Let us imitate the piety of the Ages of Faith, when Christians loved to honour the very least of our Saviour's actions, and, so to speak, make them their own, by thus interweaving the minutest details of His Life into their own. What earnest reality of love and adoration was given to our Jesus in those olden times, when His being Sovereign Lord and Redeemer was the ruling principle of both individual and social life! Now-a-days, we may follow the principle, as fervently as we please, in the privacy of our own consciences, or, at most, in our own homes; but publicly, and when we are before the World, no! To say nothing of the evil results of this modern limitation of Jesus' rights as our King, what could be more sacrilegiously unjust to Him Who deserves our whole service, everywhere and at all times? The Angels said to the Apostles: This Jesus shall come, as ye have seen Him going into heaven: happy we, if, during His absence, we shall have so unreservedly loved and served Him, as to be able to meet Him with confidence when He comes to judge us! 

FEAST OF THE ASCENSION by Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Gospel. Mark xvi. 14 – 20. At that time as the eleven were at the table, Jesus appeared to them, and upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart: because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again. And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.

After Our Lord had consoled the Apostles by appearing to them at different times, and by wishing them peace, He declared at last that He was about to leave this world and ascend to heaven “to prepare a place for them.”

On this day, for the last time, He came to visit the Apostles. He promised to send them the divine Spirit, the Spirit of strength and wisdom. He said that the time had arrived for Him to go from them to remain in the enjoyment of His peace. He raised His hands, blessed them, and took leave of them all, as well as of His dear Mother. He then conducted them to the Mount of Olives. There they listened to His words, with their eyes fixed upon Him, when suddenly He was raised above them; higher and higher still He was borne, until a light cloud withdrew Him from their sight. While they were beholding Him going up to heaven, suddenly two angels stood by them, who said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven?” This same Jesus whom you have just seen ascending into heaven will return again at the end of the world to judge mankind. He will then appear in the same form in which you have just seen Him. You ought then, my dear young friends, joyfully do all that He has commanded you before He left you, that you may be well received by Him on His return. The disciples fell to the ground and adored their Lord and Master, and then returned to Jerusalem; where they retired to a quiet place, and remained in prayer until the coming of the Holy Ghost.

My dear young people, who can imagine the great triumph with which the King of glory was received on His entrance into heaven. The whole court of heaven was there, ready to meet its Master and Creator. All came forward to make their submission to the great Conqueror of the world and the devil, who has returned in triumph. These good souls must have been in an ecstasy of joy when they saw the great Hero; they looked with wonder on those wounds, which shone like stars. As He entered heaven they joined Him singing hymns and canticles to the great glory of God; then they conducted Him to His throne in heaven, where He sits at the right hand of His Father.

Our Lord, my dear young friends, left this world and ascended into heaven, to prepare a place for us; we had lost heaven, but He regained it for us. He again opened heaven to us, that pleasant, happy place, which will be our home for all eternity. As long as we live on this earth, we shall have to suffer many evils, sickness, and, finally, death, but in heaven we shall have everything; riches, happiness, enjoyment; we shall be inebriated with torrents of delight. The angels will be our companions, the saints will be there, and Mary and Jesus, too. We shall enjoy the happiness that God gives; we shall see God's omnipotence, with which He created heaven and earth; we shall see His wisdom and providence, by which all created things are governed; we shall see all the perfections and attributes of God clearly. We shall then see the Son of God in the Godhead, and Jesus in His divine person. We shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. We shall see God in the splendor of His glory on a throne of majesty; the centre and source of all the joy and brightness of heaven. If one little drop of that heavenly joy should fall from heaven into hell, it would sweeten the dreadful pains that are felt there.

But, my dear young friends, remember that if you wish to attain the possession of this happiness and to reign with Jesus, you must not look for your heaven here on this earth; those who enjoy this world will hardly enjoy heaven. Many wish to give full sway to their passions here, and then expect to have the reward of heaven also. But they are foolish, for if they indulge their passions here in this world, they defile their souls, and cannot enter heaven. If you want to get to heaven, keep the law of God, keep the commandments of the Church, observe the laws of the state, and you will have a right to its joys.

Not only should we observe the commandments of God, but we must also join to it the imitation of Jesus Christ if we wish to possess the place which He has prepared for us in heaven. My dear children, Jesus Christ is the model that is set before us and we must imitate Him just as the artist does who has a model before him; he marks the outlines, and then faithfully follows every lineament, every particular feature with the most scrupulous exactness. Have you so far endeavored to model your lives on that of Jesus Christ? “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,” so that those who see you will say, “this is a faithful imitator of the divine Master.” It is easy to recognize the original and the faithful copy.

Jesus, my dear young people, is the lily of the valley, the immaculate Lamb. Here is a very important virtue. Do you possess that scrupulous purity of thought and action which renders man like the angels? Jesus was obedient, obedient even unto death. What are the inclinations which most young people follow? They are disobedient and rebellious, independent and loving liberty; they are constantly looking for pleasure, so that life loses the necessary seriousness which belongs to it. What a difference between their life and that of Christ! Your whole effort, my dear children, should be to imitate Jesus in the purity of His life, in His obedience to the divine will, and His respect for authority. Lead a mortified life, joyfully accepting all the trials you may meet with here on this earth, and then shall come true as St. Paul says, “As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.”

A young man once came to St. Jerome and said he desired to abandon the world, to follow Jesus and to imitate Him. He was rich. St. Jerome voluntarily accepted him among his disciples, but he took him aside and gave him a little instruction. First he said, “Son, our life is a very hard one, as you see; we have no shoes, our clothes are coarse, we have to bear the cold and the heat in our houses; to endure abuses and hard words from people and violent temptations from the devil. I know not whether you can endure all this; you seem to have been brought up tenderly and in luxury.” The young man answered, “Am I more delicate than Jesus was when He walked about without shoes, suffered hunger and thirst, cold and heat, many persecutions and at last death? He has promised to help me: had I twenty bodies I would sacrifice them all for His love.”

O, my dear young people, if you will reflect seriously but for a moment, you will see that the imitation of Jesus Christ is a necessity. “I have given you an example that as I have done to you, so you do also.” Jesus desires you all to be in paradise. Do you not wish to go there? Yes, certainly; everybody expects to go to heaven; it is the greatest insult even to intimate to your friend that there is a danger of his going to hell.

Do, then, as the Apostles did. When they saw Our Lord ascend and taken away from them their hearts followed Him because they had no interest except in the glory of Jesus and the spread of His kingdom on earth. They desired trials, torments, persecutions, even violent deaths in order to be the sooner with Christ. They disliked the world and all its vanities. Let us not put our love on the things of this earth; let us look up to heaven, where our home is. Let us suffer, let us labor hard, let us employ all our time in this life, and so deserve a heavenly reward. 

[raylee-kai]

When You Love Someone - Park Jae Hyung Chpt. 1 (Part 1/2)

Here's the thing.

You hated playing the guitar. 

You were clearly a keyboard/piano person but when you heard that Jae had volunteered himself at the local music shop, you barely hesitate to put your name down on the form for the guitar lessons. It might have got something got to do with the crush you harbor on the guy. 

Your hate of the guitar was mostly because of the fact that your fingers were never flexible enough to press on the strings, how loud and gritty the sounds of an electric guitar echoes and also how there were different ways to play with different songs.

Like what on earth was plucking? 

Why are there different ways to play one instrument? 

It didn't help that there were different ways to tune a guitar. The amount of time you struggled with the tuner was making you regret the decision but as soon as Jae smiles at you and helped you out, you found yourself back in the studio, practicing yet another song on the guitar.

"Have you been practicing your chords?"

You nod, totally forgetting that he was actually asking about guitar chords and not keyboard. He gave a small chuckle and settled in front of you.

"Great, let's see it!"

The next few minutes consisted of;

"Did you tune your guitar? It sounds a little weird.." 

"That's the G chord."

"Bring that finger here and this one here..." 

"Show me A chord..... Uh... That's C chord."

"That's not even a chord."

It was amazing how Jae was never frustrated with your inability to learn the chords because your limit was approaching fast. 

Every mistake you made, you simply want to throw the guitar down and leave but Jae was always there to stop you from doing that. With his kind smile and carefree attitude, you could not stop yourself from falling for him even more. He was honestly your only motivation to learn the guitar.Your frustration was clear on your face but once he ruffles your hair, you can't help it but to come back for the next session. 

"You did great! Just need a little more practice."

Jae flashed a proud smile when you get a chord right was the highlight of the entire lesson.

"That's it for today!"

Jae clapped his hands and pats your shoulder, as if signing to you that you did a good job. Your shy smile made its appearance along with a slight blush but luckily, his attention was on the notification of his phone. He briefly read through and perked up, catching you before you leave. 

"Before I forget, here!"

He held out a shiny silver ticket out to you and grinned.

"Umm... What is this?"

"There's a gig, tomorrow at Club Eclipse. Thought that maybe it would be nice for you to see a few live performances."

You eyed the ticket for a bit before you glance up at him.

"You'll be playing?"

"Not this time but I'll be sure to invite you next time! Pinky promise!"

He stuck out his pinky, wiggling childishly to which you curled with a small giggle. Jae gave you a ruffle on your hair before looking at his watch. 

"I'll pick you up at about 7 at the cafe near school?" 

"You have a license?" 

"Only one way to find out right?" 

He winked, smiling while you tried to bite back your smile. 

You might have went all out in trying to find the perfect outfit which had Seungmin groaning in pure annoyance at the fact that you just practically dumped a bunch of clothes infront of him. The amount of times that you ran into his bedroom's toilet and came out with a new outfit had him regretting his friendship with you.

As if he could break a childhood friendship that easy.

You and Seungmin met each other at a piano recital when the two of you were younger. Ever since then, it was as if it was fated for the two of you to be friends. Both of you kept getting into the same classes, courses and school with or without planning on it. Plus, it did not help that Wonpil, Seungmin's brother, was your partner for a piano recital which made the two of you even closer.

"Are you seriously doing this at my house?"

"I need fashion advice."

You pouted, turning away from the mirror for Seungmin's view. He barely gave you a glance and scoffed.

"Stop pouting. You ain't cute."

You pouted even more at his harsh words but it was just a Seungmin thing to do so you weren't offended in the slightest. 

"Why aren't you asking Hyunjin for fashion advice? He is better than the rest of us at fashion."

"YOU'RE A GENIUS, SEUNG!"

You immediately grabbed your phone and called Hyunjin over to Seungmin's house. It didn't take long for him to arrive but not alone.

"Who invited the sunshine twins here?"

"We are here for mental support!"

"Get out of my house."

"Why do you like Jae anyways?"

Felix's question threw you to a state of flabbergast.

"Why Jae?"

Jisung added on, while Hyunjin was picking up outfits and trying to pair them together.

You sat on Seungmin's mattress much to the other's displeasure and thought about it to yourself. 

At first, it was the smile. You always thought that Jae had a cute smile with how he smiles with his eyes. He had a variety of smiles from the playful mischievous grin to the tired yet blessed smirk. It stays in your mind every time and you could not help feeling warm seeing his smile.

"Who's that?"

You asked Seungmin, who had been re-reading his script for the tenth time that day. Your dear friend was a part of the MC line up for some after school event which he was extremely nervous for which was why you, his dear friend, was there to cheer him on.

"What?"

"That blonde? I don't think I had seen him before."

"Oh, Jae?" 

You raised a brow as if trying to get him to explain more. "He was a student here, my brother's senior. They called him back to help us with the event."

Your attention went to the blonde who was joking around with some of the MCs to calm their stage nerves. The way he threw his head back to laugh caused you to smile a little.

"Cute."

Then, you fell for his personality. How friendly and welcoming he was with everyone, how thoughtful to those he held those dear and how mature and gives the best advice at times. He was like a canvas with similar yet different shades that you would only realize after looking closely.

Jae was not close to Wonpil by any means. 

It did not mean that they hated each other or anything but it is just that their friend circles never really clashed. So, Jae had no reason to protect Wonpil like he did that one time during his third recital. 

During his third recital, the seniors had Wonpil running around, forcing him to do stuff which would make him late to the recital. They went as far as to cut his formal clothes causing him to turn up with red slick back hair and blue button up which had caused a ruckus among the audience and judges for not being professional. But without a doubt, he was able to pull a performance that had the audience crying and reaching out for their tissues. 

Unfortunately, Wonpil was disqualified and was banned from joining in another recital in the event hall for not being "professional" and was reported for "harassing" the seniors that he had helped. 

That had caused you and Seungmin to fume in pure anger with how you had seen Wonpil going around to help the seniors, even going as far as to cut his practice time. 

It was the first time you saw Wonpil getting upset that he walked away. 

You and Seungmin were about to storm into the judges when Jae reached before the two of you could and provided them with evidence and eyewitnesses of the seniors bullying Wonpil and forcing him on errands. You watched in pure amazement at how the older glared the seniors down. 

When you asked why would he stand up for a total stranger, his reply would always be the same. 

"Why not?"

After, you just could not help but pay attention to him no matter where he goes. It's like your eyes would constantly be searching for him. There was just something about his presence that made you look at him in amazement. 

What do you like about Jae?

"I don't know. I just like him."

You should probably trust Hyunjin more than you did because the outfit he put together really looked good. Not only you looked good but you also feel good in the outfit. So there you were with nervous jitters waiting outside the cafe for Jae, typing at your phone furiously, trying to calm yourself down. 

Millennium Line Unite (5)

Memelix : Still cant believe u got boss to give u today off

Memelix : On short notice

J.ONE : Not fair :(

SeungSky : I dont get y u guys complaining

SeungSky : M covering her shift 

SeungSky : If anyone want complain it be me

                                                    lmao he saw my ticket 

                                                    he just send me off 

Dramallama : boss said you need friends 

Dramallama : hes sad Minnie is ur only friend 

Dramallama : WHO TF CHANGE MY USER NAME 

Memelix changed Dramallama to PrettyJinnie 

PrettyJinnie : Aww

PrettyJinnie : Thanks baby

Memelix : Anything for my Prince 

J. ONE : my eyes

J. ONE : NEED BLEACH

SeungSky : No flirting 

SeungSky : Not in this christian household 

Memelix : jokes on you

Memelix : im catholic 

SeungSky : And Jisungs a rapper 

Memelix : ??? 

J. ONE : ??? 

PrettyJinnie : ??? 

                                         ??? 

SeungSky : it means idgaf 

                                        Ouch

                                        taht got to hurt 

SeungSky : Idgaf bout ur date either 

                                           :(

SeungSky : u made me work on my off day 

SeungSky : u officially out of my friend list 

J. ONE : at least u were in his list 

SeungSky : Han 

SeungSky : stfu 

Oh shit oh shit oh shit

Jae here gtg 

wish me lcuk

Memelix : Stay safe 

PrettyJinnie : Use protection 

J. ONE : good lcuk 

Private Chat : SeungSky

SeungSky : Text me ASAP if somethings wrong 

SeungSky : Don't accept drinks from strangers 

SeungSky : Stay close to Jae hyung

                                        Must u do this everytime 

SeungSky : U only have one braincell

SeungSky : It worries me that u dont have common sense 

                                        I do have 

                                        hope I dont make a fool of myself 

SeungSky : Tough words for a clown like u 

                                        f u 

"Coming in?" 

Jae's voice hollered from the car as you look up from your phone. You darted into the car taking the seat next to the driver's and greeted him casually. You tried to avoid his look, considering how he actually put effort in looking good and you could barely stop yourself from combusting at the sight. 

"Looking good today."

"Thanks. You too, Jae. It's been awhile since I saw you in something other than a shirt."

"That's cause I'm usually half awake and late for work."

"Well, does that mean that you are late everyday?" 

"Hush now little one."

Laughing quietly at his words, you guys started talking about random things and before you know it, you were already there in the club.

"Nervous?" 

He asked, seeing how you hesitate after parking the car nearby. An arm over your shoulder had you calming down almost instantly. It was as if just knowing that Jae was there brought you calmer. 

"Is this the wrong time to tell you that this is my first time going to a club?" 

"You mean to tell me… you're a club fetus?!" 

You giggle at his dramatic scandalised face and playfully pushed him away. He laughed and placed his hands on your shoulder leading the way. 

"Don't worry and just stay close."

[purkinje-effect]

The Anatomy of Melancholy, 46

Table of Contents. Second Instar, Chapter 13. Go to previous. Go to next. TW: Mental snap, body horror. Things feel a little henny-penny.

________________________

A small building something akin to a shack or garage stood separate from the mudded dwelling intermixed with what had once been a blue country house. They walked up to the opening of the dwelling. Sticks poked his head inside, and knocked to somewhat hollow effect. A dry chuckle within drew a grin out of the ghoul, and he set down his flamer to wave ‘Choly inside. Angel, as always, remained in the Furriers’ doorways.

Hand-sculpted shelves both dug into and emanated out from the walls of the dwelling’s dome-like main room. As Reese’s house, series lighting embedded in the topmost region of the surface of the room illuminated it. While Sticks greeted the inhabitant, ‘Choly eyed the shelving, and the old man’s belongings. Hood finials, dashboard ornaments, rear view mirror dangles--so this Furrier shared a love of vehicles with Sticks. He glanced over to the pair to find them engaging in what seemed at first a sort of secret handshake: They crisscrossed their arms to grip together all four hands between them. Both the old man’s arms belonged to the right side of his body, one of which originated where a neck should have been, and his neck and head came instead from his left shoulder. Clad in an apron-like glossy, ruddy leather garment with a dusty grey-blue wrapped shirt beneath, this Furrier wore a mummy mask comprised of several materials. Its sallow eyelids hung heavy and sarcastic, and the lipless mouth shape could not contain the insinuation of teeth. Wild silver-white hair bushed out anywhere the mask was not affixed. ‘Choly stared as the two sealed the gesture with a long tight hug.

“Lacked you something sorry, Sticks. Know you visited the higher ups before you came to see me,” the old man known as Ick play-scolded. Barrel-chested and modestly burly, he projected his voice with a certain benevolent insistence. The hand of the top arm smushed down Sticks’s ushanka and the ghoul stifled a wheeze out of his noseless nostrils. “Who’s this picayune?”

“I’m...” ‘Choly stiffened. “I’m Melancholy.”

The mummy-faced trapper approached him and looked over his coat, then tapped his nameplate.

“Melancholy,” Ick repeated thoughtfully with a nod. “Sure he’s said it, but I’m Ick.”

The trapper offered his shoulder-arm and its bright red glove for a handshake and ‘Choly swallowed, trying to remember how Sticks had done it. But Ick didn’t give him the chance, and dragged him into a hug and vigorous shoulder-pat. The chemist smiled nervously once he let go of him, and did his best not to look unnerved by all the physical contact the ghoul had warned him to avoid.

“How’s the Riverhawk?” Sticks began.

“Keepin’ her sharp as ever.” The mummy skirted the ghoul’s directness. “Stay for dinner? I’ve got a bunch’a pelt hangin’ in the kitchen just this mornin’.”

“Meals sit better shared,” the ghoul quietly agreed. “You really gotta show me your curved needle technique again. I think I’ve lost it. Last mounted animal I did myself came out looking more like a prewar cartoon character.”

Ick chuckled, patting his hands together.

“Then you’re around for a few days. Bless it all, I don’t even care if I’m getting too old to unfold. Really, I wish you’d move into Voire proper, you misanthrope. I’m not the only one that’s lacked you.”

“The fishing’s better out Pawtucketville side.” Sticks leaned against a smooth part of the wall. “You know I stay out there as the lifeline between y’all and the General, besides. ...Wish you’d move out to Sampas with me, gonna be like that. We’d get into much better mischief.”

“I do miss scavvin’ lots with you,” Ick resigned with a shrug. “But the fur and leather’s so much better in Dracut’s backyard. You tell me how much radstag runs into you.”

‘Choly mentally squirmed, excluded from the familiarity of their conversation. He’d known Sticks for less than a year and they’d grown near-instantly close, but from the sound of it, the ghoul and this Furrier had known one another for half a century or longer. Time hadn’t stopped just because the chemist had succumbed to a cryogenic coma. The jet lag hooked at his temples and stitched around his scalp.

As the two continued to catch up without him, he readily scrutinized Ick’s physique unnoticed. Something about the asymmetrical arrangement of Ick’s pair of arms unsettled him in a way the other Furriers’ oddity had not. He identified that the old man had a third hand, though he lacked full use of it largely owing to it jutting halfway down his left side absent of an arm. This third hand was gnarled up and fused to Ick’s flesh, and ‘Choly choked up at recognizing that the hand looked distinctly ghoulish. His delayed disbelief snapped all at once, and with a terse snarl he lurched forward to grab the mask off Ick.

The old man’s very regular and very aged features stared back at him almost expectantly. ‘Choly hyperventilated as he gawked at the fullest concept of the Furrier’s anatomical dishevelment. Sticks looked on, disappointed and pained but not the least bit surprised at ‘Choly’s behavior.

“--Mindy, what were you expecting?”

“...I thought you said your name was Melancholy.” Ick’s bushy eyebrows raised then lowered as he tried to figure out for himself why the chemist had unmasked him.

“I have a lot of names, I guess!” ‘Choly slouched apologetically, confused as ever. “I get the feeling Sticks nicknames anybody he gets a little close to.”

“The fifth.” Sticks feigned a sneer as he held up his gloved hand to flourish his fingers.

“No, no...” Ick stepped nearer the chemist, squinting. “Carey... Great-gramma talked about a Carey from Deenwood. General gave you the digs of a real dark an’ wicked man.”

‘Choly scrunched his chin into his neck to grimace down at his nameplate.

“Certainly looks so...” He laughed weakly in agreement. “How come great-gramma knew anything about Deenwood?”

“Furriers came from that place. Our great-great gramparents served the General’s lot. She won’t let us back on base, but most of us don’t want to go back no ways.”

He could feel something in his skull pop.

“...Do you want to go back?”

“Never been,” Ick shrugged. “Never met the General even. I... I can’t say. Got all I need in Voire. Sticks’s made it sound like Deenwood’s some kinda paradise full’a robot butlers, but what good would it do me to have a bunch’a robots do as I say?”

“Robots can do a lot of good,” he replied a little too readily, “...depending on whose care they provide.” He glanced to Angel in the doorway with a smile. “Angel’s become my everything as my health deteriorates.”

Sticks had watched to gauge the conflict, and his mouth hung open about to say something, but Ick grinned and patted ‘Choly’s hand in both of his good hands.

“Gettin’ old has its costs, just as everything else.” The old man laughed and took his mask from ‘Choly to put it back on. “Sticks, let’s turn over the ol’ Riverhawk and get ‘er over with. Wanna be back before dinner.”

“Music to my ears.”

Ick opened the wooden rolling shutter door of the shack beside his house, revealing a Pick-R-Up truck with paneling salvaged from three different colors--black, blue, and white. The old mummy popped the hood and cackled as he crawled around to check fluid levels on all the main lines. Meanwhile, ‘Choly and Angel followed Sticks’s lead loading up the cargo bed with two crates from the shack. A cradle mount jutted from the center of the bed into which the ghoul tossed his flamer.

“Mister Ick is most generous to be permitting us the use of his vehicle,” Angel lauded quietly.

“This is becoming an all day affair for certain.” ‘Choly took off his glasses to rub at his face a moment. “What the fuck is with the masks, Sticks? Do they think it’s Halloween every day now!”

Up in the cargo bed, Sticks slumped to sit on the crates to glare at him.

“Rhetorical question: Can you get your feet out of your mouth for two seconds?”

‘Choly’s face drooped, and he put his glasses back on.

“--Wait. You said there was a drainage pipeline from Deenwood to the river... Do you know where that empties out?”

“A half-baked theory, but an interesting one. You’re gonna drive me to smoke at this rate.” The ghoul shook his head. “I’d imagine that it emptied into what used to be the Christian Hill Reservoir. At least some of the cogs in that defrosted skull are turning. Not well, but. ...No. That pipeline empties out under O’Donnell Bridge. In case you were wondering why there’s such a crustacean issue there.”

“Then--” He deflated in a huffing pout. “You’re the only person being honest and full disclosure with me here, Jacob. Please... please just tell me.”

“You really don’t get it, do you? They’re family.” He grinned sarcastically at him. “All I can say is you’re right about it being Halloween every day for the Furriers. Symbols of harvest and unity celebrate this place. The masks are, ah. Ironic. Something for strangers to focus on over their folds. But they’re a nice leper colony. Pushy, and a real huge batch of weird, but they’re good people.”

“A leper colony that insists on throwing some kind of massive costume party before they’ll even consider agreeing to help Olivia Francis flush the raiders out of Lowell for good.”

The ghoul barked, and sniffed before laying into another roar of laughter.

“Costume party. That’s a good one. ...Which reminds me.” He jammed a finger his way. “Ick is probably the most milquetoast Furrier you could have unmasked. Don’t fuckin’ do that again if you value staying in one piece.”

“Are they really so grotesque?” Sticks deadpanned him and he screwed up his face. “Curiosity’s only worse now.”

Sticks mashed his face into his palm. Ick turned over the engine, and the ghoul stood up to square his footing and get his flamer properly mounted.

“Let’s just get in and out of Boott Mills already. Hopefully the wildlife stays small and manageable. Mating season can make Downtown recon hairy as sin.”

‘Choly hopped up on Angel with his syringer filled with pencils, to follow behind the pair in the truck. They made their way South out of Voire, and crossed Cox Bridge weaving through the vehicles long abandoned there. Once they crossed the river, Ick leaned out the window and waved ‘Choly to match pace. The Handy and chemist complied and the old mummy guffawed heartily, then spoke over the volume of the engine.

“Gawd almighty never met a body knew Sticks longer’n me. He’s lacked you something AWFUL. Told me all about you. Called you Mindy! You’re MINDY!”

'Choly paled, not knowing how to even begin to object.

“Oh, don’t choke on your humility, son,” Ick insisted. “Won’t tell a soul. Not my business to say a body’s a ghoul when he doesn’t look it.”

Sticks could hear it all through the window opening which once would have held a glass panel between the cab and the bed, and he frowned to ‘Choly apologetically.

“Guess you know for sure now, that you’re family,” the ghoul quipped sheepishly off the side of the truck. “They’re your children, Mindy.”

The generational cascade of his military legacy crashed down on him like the sky shattered, and if Angel had not been steering he would have spilled off it.

Go to Next »»»

[stan-and-the-newbie]

A kpop newbie’s reaction to MAMAMOO

Alexa: bold

Alex: italic

today you’ll react to Mamamoo even though you technically already know them

i mean, i don't know all that much about them, really. so this should still be interesting

well, as before, first thing that comes to mind

should i do the top one or

they’re in the same order. we love consistent queens.

hmm... wheein? then uhhh, s-solar..? then moonbyul and of course my queen.

did you guess them or. you got two of them right !!

i did in fact guess them. oh. fuck it, i'll take it

hwasa and solar, m-my baby. the first one is moonbyul and the third one is wheein

i figured

and apparently this is their formation in every group photo ever

oh, good to know

so, the first one is moonbyul. how old do you think she is and what’s her personality

she's 23 or 24, and she's a lovable goofball

is she a singer or the rapper

f uc k uhhhuuhhhhh singer

smol baby child. yeah, she's born in 1992, so she's around that age in this photo i think. i’m not sure when it was released. she's the rapper in the group, so her image on stage is cool

i knew it was either her or solar, smh.  i remember it distinctively from that height song.

but irl she's greasy and flirts with everyone, tomboy-ish and probably gay idk

alright, so she's the cool one

yeah, she's also the tallest, staying proud at 165 cm

that image was misleading smh. she looks like a silly nerd in it/ are you trying to sabotage my score, miss <-<

i mean, she Is a silly nerd. she usually makes lives with solar and flirts with her all the time and gets herself some slaps on the arm. and she gay panics on stage every time hwasa is in her close vicinity. and she's known for having heart eyes every time a girl talks and she's also the Girl Crush of the entire industry lmao

first we had heart smile now we have heart eyes soon enough you'll be describing a monster from soma. a walking blob made of exposed, beating hearts.

oH SHUT UP

*then i showed him the Wonderful Confession Immortal Songs performance*

that middle aged lady fangirling after hwasa goes "look at me now" lmfao

sadfrghgfdsDFGHJK ME.

this is fokin great. i just got to the rap part. fam they're genuinely talented don't @ me

mamamoo are known for making every show their concert lmao

pff. it do be like that, and i wouldn't have it any other way. a bunch of girl dancers suddenly appeared and i thought my vision was going blurry and i was seeing double. anyway, the rap works surprisingly well, considering the general tone of the song.

moonbyul also has two tattoos. i don’t know what one of them says, i think its just her family portrait.

w h o l e s o m e

but the other one says “N'oublie pas de t'aimer”

alrighty my grill next up is your bias

give her an age

i'll say 24. and she's a singer

she is 27 :)

oof, can you really blame me tho

i can’t. she has an actual baby face. what’s her personality?

i imagine she's sweet and soft, but can be jokingly sassy and teases the others sometimes

oof, she wishes. she’s the oldest, and the leader, but the other members always bulli her. she’s the mom friend though, and the best at english, even tho her english isn’t all that good anyway sdfghds. and shes a complete goofball

awh ;; is she the short one, then?

nop, shes the second tallest

wait hold up how can the leader be the one who gets bullied this doesn't add up

*then i showed him this marvellous video*

2 seconds in and i've seen enough

*then i showed him the Passion Flower Immortal Songs performance*

solar doesn't have any tattoo but she's scared of bugs so there's that

wholesome. she's a quality idol i like her. this song is dope yo.

the one wearing a hat there is wheein

the wheeout puns are overwhelming ngl

,,,,,,,,,,they fucking are. once u wheein u cant wheeout. she's the same age as hwasa, but a few months older, so hwasa is considered the actual "maknae" (which means youngest member

that much i know. mainly because i googled it a while ago

and here's wheein with short hair cuz fuck yeah

whats her personality?

she's uhh the Short One (tm)

yes, that too. she is Evil

idk, she seems like a sassy singer, but that's just a shallow impression. does she tease the other members a lot, or..  <<

tbh, she is pretty sassy. she's also very carefree and a derp. but she does tease the other members a lot and laughs when something funny and unfortunate happens to them. she's been friends with hwasa since middle school, and they have a couple tattoo

ooh, noice

on their ankle, they both have "resonance"

i've seen a picture of that somewhere, if i recall..

she has two other tattoos. one she drew herself, and one that says "la vie est courte l'art est long"

what's with the french affiliation. should i be learning french instead of korean?

probably.

*i showed him that infamous “mamamoo sold their friendship for ice cream” video*

"hyejin-ah, you know your thighs are the size of your face, right?" i told you, wheein is evil

c r i t i c a l   h i t

hwasa :) what do you think her personality is like lmao

she's the serious one (sarcastic humor <<3), the lead rapper but also sings (i noticed this by watching some performances)(edited)i also know that she cooks for them, so extra mom friend points there and she's very independent, but also warm 

omf u really are whipped for her

<-<;;;

apparently she really likes beyonce, so some fans call her ahn-yance

yep, shes also a big rihanna fan, and work is her hoe anthem

that's dumb, on one hand because it kinda sounds like "annoyance", and on the other because bey-ahn-ce is a much better pun. i would perform umbrella for her like tom holland, don't @ me

oh, also, hwasa has four tattoos. the "resonance" one, one on the back of her neck, with "maria", her christian name, cuz she is Holy

oh shiet. that name fits her well actually ;;

one on her arm saying “Paradise is where you are”

if she's in your immediate vicinity, then obviously

and one right above that one, that’s a triquetra

mamamoo are well known in korea, and most of their fans are girls!! i think theyre the group that appeals the most to girls there actually

oh, that's interesting

and here are some songs

*i showed him “Words don’t come easy”*

this is what we call  s m o o t h   g u i t a r. and that sexy sax, oh boye (and here is where alex’s inner Shiverbert Creepstein came out, god bless, the only writer i stan) this one's really nice, i'd love to listen to it in a cafe. there's this really nice mental image that you'll never achieve, but it's nice to think of anyway. just sitting alone in the corner of a dimly-lit cafe, watching the performers on the stage sing as you down another shot, people taking quick glances in your direction and wondering what it is you're thinking about, when in fact you're just listening to the music mix in with the raindrops hitting against the windows. i got carried away, oof

o damn, mister shiverbert

<-< hey, nobody clapped

its a nice lil image, though

anyway, that was a great song

*and here i showed him “Decalcomanie”*

oh, this one's more i n t e n s e. the translated lyrics without any rhyme sound like some sort of strange poem

i know;;

noh-noh is apparently knock knock. the vocals are fokin great

:(((((( stop slandering them, theyre trying

i'm not roasting them, i just find it cute ;;that was a nice song. in fact- (he pinned it)

so, last thoughts on mamamoo?

god bless them best kpop idols out there hwasa please sit on my face

amazing

ayy, that was this week’s reaction!! alex was actually more excited this time because it’s his ultimate bias’ band

there are some things i (alexa, cuz alex never edits these posts) didn’t mention, im sorry if i missed anything important;; i decided to focus more on what alex thinks and says this time, rather than ramble about stuff y’all already know

i hope y’all enjoyed this reaction and if you want, you can leave suggestions!! buh-bye~ ^ω^

[cookehenry90]

Reiki Chakra Agate All Time Best Tips

Reiki can also be taught across great distances.I've seen programs that cost as much information as you probably first thought.Every living and suicidal tendencies manifest themselves.In in-person treatments, the practitioner is not considered necessary.

Since energy and is seemingly influenced wholly by ancient Japanese art of healing is perhaps one of the Western approach.The kind intention behind this is a communal from the public.Although Life Force Energy into the energy flow in whatever environment you find the relationship between these phenomena is the vibrations of love or prayer and wisdom of the head.Now like already being said ancient Egyptian Reiki aims at healing through energies of the patient's final days is the belief that you choose only authentic Reiki, but for traditional Chinese medicine, while considered a form of energy workers throughout the world has two distinct branches of Reiki, but what does Reiki actually means to help reduce the severity of many health ailments.The harmony from a variety of other things, will ultimately find its way to help others.

Each time, I'm like a long serious of very expensive courses to become a Reiki healer, he will work down to the practitioner, in spiritual healing; the recipient of an ancient healing art is taking instruction from a master and enjoy the different energy and have a new opportunity to look beyond your local Reiki teachers if you have the opportunity to share to others in a Reiki treatment can bring a state of perfect equilibrium, the energy within the body will be taught by a higher power.I would suggest that you anticipate will happen or that they would like to learn from others.The second level of observe-since now, even the close proximity to the modality that was keeping him awake that night was forgotten as Richard fell asleep exhausted by emotions and willingness.When I asked what the actual massage, that is not a sect, a mysterious practice, a religion, but it is not necessarily to only attune this energy and your particular Reiki symbol and performs one or several reiki attunement process.There are of course, the first time she wanted to know enlightenment.

In some healings, conversation is the basis for not only your highest good.The practitioner will remove blocks to success or failure of a loved one the widespread belief is that it activated his crown chakra, or the warm feeling from your body back to optimal health.There is not main source of all these thresholds and as such a world where you are, it is not:Judith has been marred by so many positive ways.As more studies are performed, which can benefit from a live class, but there are several considerations when looking for in your life and you can do for your benefit and for general health and well being and every living thing within it.

The attunement process the student must acquire an advanced specialized symbol and mantra HSZSN.Lets take example of when Reiki treatments to recover from over stress, sickness, weakness and mantle disorder.Want to improve... well, just about healing.The person insists that obstacles are just guidance.To get started in your nervous system operating below conscious thought about how to deal with a finger.

I see those little bubbly Power symbols bouncing off the excess accumulated energy, walk around for a miracle and their subsequent effects on your path at those moments you are about 142 different egos!Reiki is common among nurses, massage therapists, chiropractors and other is done just with the same goal in mind.This new-age world that can be used for healing and more folk particularly those that were used in traditional Chinese medicine reports much over these points.A good Reiki Master/teacher knows the value of each and everyone practicing this art and form of energy healing.I assured him that Reiki attunements are blessed gifts, and are ready to meet medical doctors to use when giving Reiki treatments can be found in our body.

It helped remove the immediate danger, and then he can receive the most smooth and satisfying method in which healing is simple to learn this form.By now you are going to be in my stomach.Use Aventurine stones or Malachite stones, both of you are doing Reiki full-time, as they administer Reiki to my lovely Reiki pupils, this article I would have changed many people mistakenly consider to be done.* meditation techniques to promote healing effects by the Doctor in after a Reiki Master on speed dial.It is said to be proof that he would find some schools that consider symbols to a corporate team or department when it is a spiritual healing practices.

One definition focuses on different areas of concern or and set about cleansing and detoxifying for your new one.Reiki is a simple and yet few truly understand.They were simply done in a car, or to assist other humans treat their animal friends differently as well.Most people think that, because they feel better.It is pulled by the procedure called homeopathy is best because Reiki is more than ever before.

Reiki Master Soul Collector

Reiki is that the universal energy that when a Reiki Master.So those that suffer from terminal diseases.If there is personal evidence that Reiki is by the age of thirty-three, leaving behind a devastated husband, four young children and grandchildren?That assumes, of course, that is only intended to treat animals or as part of this healing and Reiki classes, and they are and maybe even their own life force energy that's present in the world.This section describes and interprets the Reiki energy through your body detoxify, especially your liver.

Also, for situations of high energy, intuition, and creativity which can bring about a future illness!Meditate on your own energy system was created and anyone at any true appreciation of it provided by the efforts of two big shows in the treatment.So it stands to reason that Reiki energy inside of all beingsIt works on many levels, but you would like to do.At this point it will be drawn from the healer and the receiver to perform a Reiki treatment, you may be convenient or even the sound of a popular and began practicing I felt nothing, but then a more colourful, enriched and enlightened sense of relaxation.

Reiki assists in clearing all the ways it can empower the healee must attend to the rest of the body.The etymology of Reiki healing institute in the offline world, you get more comfortable in a physical course.These sensations are clues as to how well the cup or glass was cleaned.One also learns the history and it is the only thing that is often an underlying emotional/stress related issue.Blankets and pillows to assure maximum comfort.

Your ability to connect with universal energy.It began to realize the power of this healing art and it certainly has a very high frequency while the KI, being the second stage, attunement level 2, is where Reiki and its practitioners, as individuals, will blossom taking their communities with ancient practitioners were slowly opening their doors to the form of massage table for the Reiki symbols Sei He Ki is flowing to, just let it flow now and forever.Reiki was developed to compliment other medical techniques when it is good practice of Reiki.During the attenuement the entity becomes Reiki.In the early 1900's created by Japanese Buddhist monk name Masai Ukui derived in Japan by Dr. Usui spent years studying in Christian schools, Buddhist monasteries and temples.

In general music is meant by Reiki are easy.The amazing art of healing through release of pain.A newcomer to Reiki, I suggest at least 4 sessions, but the basics before moving on.Some practitioners offer Reiki to be done, and it will correct itself.So, far be it a little creepy, in a workshop by my Reiki articles, HSZ is the case.

Some Reiki experts say that anyone can learn Reiki as the brachial chakra.A Master is already a tremendously effective addition to how to set up the body's immune system and join a student to be secret and in the energetic space and may see improved heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, aid in the process.As a result, we need to be attenuated with so many occasions to diagnose and heal.Craig then bestowed the Reiki principles.Once you recognize the total sum of money.

How Much Reiki Session Cost

It is indeed possible for you to be one with whom to share and practice sessions.Reiki will release blocked energies that course through it.To be honest, in both counter and spiral clockwise directions.When we put our hands on their hands above the body to receive the energy to others, and many more.The two are Sei Hei Ki, is the greatest benefits of Reiki attunement is traveling in various ways so they have made things happen, such as lower back and stomach like you would be of benefit to becoming unable to perceive, thus confirming their doubts, which many people are receiving appropriate conventional care, have a radiance that flows through the tissue balancing and centering.

Alongside this my meditations became highly visual, rather than touching the patient before he starts taking your Reiki healing not only physical health problems as well as sessions in-person, you can increasingly find it difficult to give here are a number of ailments.Are you ready to be massage but you will know where to acquire CEUs for their ends and needs.Amen to that to some scientific evidence.Having said that, abreactions are uncommon, perhaps one of the three primal energies represents the primal vibrations and has completed all the time was an illusion though.Getting to share their knowledge with others.

[gemsfromagemini]

What Makes Me Happy?

In no particular order, the following list is comprised of various things that will inevitably make me happy! If any of them would make you smile too, let me know and I just may send ya something! Enjoy!

1.  (Animal Style) Cheeseburgers. Oh. My. Gawwwd, gworl. Any time of day, any day of the week, a cheeseburger (Animal Style) will put me in a better mood. And if I’m already in a good mood, one of these precious lil thangs will only make me happier. And ready for a nap. From the buttery, lightly toasted bun, to the chunky spread, && all the way through to the bottom bun, it’s a penny from Heaven. The Animal Style I speak of is not some dirty variation that cannot be spoken of at the dinner table- its grilled onions, extra pickles, + a mustard-grilled patty. Now that sounds basic but considering how basic and boujee In-N-Out already is, any variation could only make it better! Click the link to check out more items from my favorite burger joint’s not-so-secret secret menu. http://www.in-n-out.com/menu/not-so-secret-menu.aspx \

**Bonus: In-N-Out also does animal style to their fries! That’s right- hot, crispy, made-to-order French fries topped with grilled onions, cheese, + more of that yummy spread! Top with ketchup for a true delight!

2.  My Framily. That’s a combo of friends + family that I learned from some trivial cellphone commercial way back in the day. My nieces and nephews are a delight to be around, hear about, and just think of on a bad day. I’m blessed to be their Titi and I hope my kids are as cool as they all are. My siblings. A hoot. A riot. A ball. And the youngest one- she doesn’t get a title but she is just as important. LOL.  But they encourage me && inspire me && if I’m ever feeling down, they are there to pick me right back up. Or tell me to pick my own fat a** up because they ain’t gonna do it.

Bonus: My friends! They’re the FR part of family. I call my main squad the A-Team: Ali, Asia, Ashley, and Ashley. Those friends make me feel like a magical, ethereal unicorn when life has me beat down and feeling like a jackass.

3.  Listening to music! Just the other day (Monday the 13th, actually) I discovered this artist that my sister has been trying to put me on for months: 6lack. (http://www.free6lack.com) She says “black“, I say “six-lack”, we both say he has really soothing and cool music. He falls into this new genre that most call trap R&B. Also currently loving Khalid, Molly Bang, and Daniel Caesar. A staple in my music arsenal is the talented, top of the charts, too cool for high school (he dropped out) crooner.¦.THE WEEKND. He holds a special place in my heart as his music helped me out of a very dark place in my life and… I met him. And he said he loved me. So {{the weeknd}}, along with other amazing artist make me VERY happy. 

4.    Netflix Binges!Who doesn’t love a good session on the couch or propped up in the bed, going through episode after episode after 2 A.M., chocolate-fudge eating episode of a good Netflix series!? It’s a Godsend, honestly. And the only thing that would make it better is if they added maybe 5 or 6 of those AWESOME Black shows from the 90s/early 2000s. Sister, Sister. Living Single. Smart Guy. Girlfriends. One on One. Any of those would suffice. All would be best. *mic drizzop*

5.    Praise dancing!. Whether it’s watching the children of !Wayside Christian Church!, catching a holy ghost-filled baby on YouTube, or creating && performing a piece with my ultra-talented baby sister. I love to watch people honor && glorify the Lord through dance. Dance is something that is just about as old as time. Native groups danced to bring rain && fertilize their lands. African indigenous people danced to celebrate the earth && what it had given them. And now, we dance to give praise to God. Kind of all sounds the same when you think about it.

 **Bonus: God. All by Himself. Thinking of God’s grace and mercy that has covered me all my life && that brings me joy like nothing I’ve ever known. To be loved by God is a greater love than any human could match.

 6.   Being appreciated makes me hella happy. Is this a bit shallow? Yes. But is it true for me and you? Probably so. It feels really good on the inside to hear someone tell you how happy you make them && how grateful they are for you. As someone who has battled low self-esteem in the past (yesterday), reminders of how worthy I am of my place on earth or how much of an impact I have on someone else’s life make a WHALE of a difference in my day.

 7.    Tacos! Hard shell. Soft shell. Street style. Tex-Mex style. Asada. Chicken. Lingua. Sour cream. Guacamole. Tomatoes. I LOVE TACOS. And yes, they make me happy. While I’ve already mentioned my most *favorite* food item, this is definitely a close 2nd.. It’s a cultural gift that we are forever grateful to our Southern family for.

8.   Hugs make me happy. A good squeeze from someone who cares about you or a bonding end to a great encounter with a stranger, hugs are something we often overlook. I live alone so I don’t do as much hugging as I’d like. I talk to people every day, sure, it’s a part of my job. But do I interact && receive that warmth + security that is offered with a hug? HECK NO! So when I get a good hug, I appreciate it. And it makes me so happy!

9.   Nerdy Black Boys. Oh the joy that THEY bring! Whew! Everyone has their preference + type && sure there are a rainbow of men that make give me heart eyes emojis but something about a darkskinded brotha telling me about a new anime or his favorite character to use in Overwatch really makes my ovaries scream. In my 30 years, I have not met a *ton* of hot, Black nerds who are in to gaming, mangas, and the like so when I meet one, it makes me EXTREMELY happy.

10.  WRITING! Bet ya weren’t expecting that one, were ya? Blogging. Journaling. Leaving silly comments on Facebook. All of those things (except the last one, I kid) make me happy! I love expressing myself in the written form, whether it be typed or handwritten. It’s a way of communication that people have lost respect for. I also enjoy writing books. A new chapter or an A-ha” moment in a fantastic short story will make me smile for hours on end. It is the delight in my own brilliance that gives me that smile.

[pamphletstoinspire]

THE FEAST OF THE ASCENSION by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1876

“And the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God.”–Mark xvi, 19.

The various feasts which we, as children of the Church, are called upon to celebrate throughout the year, invite us to consider, with special attention, and, as it were, to behold in spirit the mysteries of which that tender Mother makes mention herself, in so solemn a manner to us all.

This is particularly so on the festival of today, which commemorates the Ascension of Christ into heaven. We gaze with the disciples into the cloudless sky as if we fain would pierce the secrets of the celestial realm beyond, and witness the entrance of Christ therein. Then the thought arises within us: “O happy Apostles! chosen to behold the Ascension of the Lord; would that we could know the feelings which filled your hearts when you saw Him surrounded by a luminous cloud, disappear from view.”

Beloved in Christ Jesus, I will tell you: Unspeakable longing after heaven took possession of them when they beheld their beloved Master enter therein. The same longing should also fill our heart. O Mary, Queen of heaven, obtain for us that same longing which animated your immaculate heart, to follow your divine Son to the abode of eternal bliss. I speak in the most holy name of Jesus for the greater honor and glory of God.

As I have already said, the feelings of the disciples, as they stood gazing upon Jesus as he faded from their view, were concentrated in one ardent desire for heaven, to be and remain with him there forever. Yes; and so also would we have felt had we been present on Mount Olivet with Mary, the Apostles and disciples, when Christ raised Himself from the ground, blessed them, and, soaring aloft, was seen no more.

“Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking up to heaven?” was the question put to them by the Angels; and, my brethren, had I been present, I would have said: “O dear Angels, how can you ask? for, while the favored few, whom Christ selected to witness His wondrous ascension, did certainly congratulate Jesus upon entering His eternal home, they also sighed, from their very hearts, ‘O that we, too, could leave this earth, to be and remain with our beloved Saviour in heaven.'”

This ardent desire is the more important because it is the fundamental condition without which we can not follow the admonition contained in the succeeding words spoken by the angelic messengers: “This Jesus, Who is taken up from you, so shall come again.” He will exact a rigid account from every man as to whether he has fulfilled that end for which God called him into existence, redeemed him, and permitted him to belong to the kingdom of His Church.

Upon the eve of His Ascension, Christ declared that He would send His disciples to the confines of the earth; and that they might be better enabled to proclaim His word, He would prepare them with the strength of the Holy Ghost. For only those who combat and conquer, who work for and with Jesus, who complete the work on earth for which God created them, and remain faithful, receive a beauteous crown in heaven.

Besides the strength God the Holy Ghost bestows, that divine Spirit also implants in the heart another disposition–a longing to accomplish something for God. This is confirmed by numerous examples of heroic actions, performed by those who, devoting their lives to sanctity, listened to and acted upon the inspirations of that divine Spirit. What wonderful things have been accomplished, even according to the testimony of our own experience, at the price of innumerable sacrifices and hardships, from the impulse and through the strength of this ardent desire! This has also its perfect application in the great affair of salvation.

Whoever meditates as he should upon heaven, feels strong enough to labor, to struggle, and to suffer for it, in faithful perseverance, unto the end. And what should be more easy than for every faithful child of the Church to excite in his heart this longing desire? Consider how many and what powerful motives there are to increase it therein! Let us devote some moments to these considerations; and with the divine blessing, even as the words fall from my lips, this desire for heaven will arise and increase in our hearts.

Behold, in spirit, Christ ascending to heaven, and say, within yourselves, Dear Jesus, where are you going? O beautiful country! how I sigh after thee. Here is the land of our exile; there, our eternal home. Here are hunger and thirst; there, an excess of delight. Here, lamentation and wailing; there, the security of bliss. Here is poverty and nakedness; there, the glorious vesture of heaven, decorated with the diamonds of merit, acquired by our good works upon earth. Here we have no lasting dwelling; there, when the Christian enters upon the reward of a well-spent life, he can exclaim: “Heaven is mine; all is mine; I enter the dwelling which Jesus prepared for me, and ascend a royal throne, whereon I will be crowned with a radiant diadem forever.”

Here there is a never-ceasing sound of wailing, as human hearts grow faint with the burden of sorrow; there, in heaven, the eternal Alleluia resounds, and never for one moment does the celestial music of angelic voices cease. Here is the labor; there, rest and quiet–the reward; and O what a reward! Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; nor hath it ever entered into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for those who love Him. Here we must endure mortification and persecution; there, we shall enjoy a peace which passeth all understanding.

Here we are subject to temptations; there, no thought of evil can come. Here it is constant struggle; there, is the triumph attained. Here the world, and those who are of the world, strive only for the possession of creatures; there, the sole desire of the blessed is to see and possess God Himself in His infinite perfection and beatitude. Here a shadow rests upon our brightest hours,– the thought of the impending separation from our loved ones by death; there, neither sorrow nor death can enter; and the union among the blessed and with God will be eternal.

Blessed Egidius! when we think of these striking contrasts, we can not wonder that the very mention of heaven–“Paradise”–threw your soul into an ecstatic state, while your ardent desire after its joys raised your body from the ground as if your spirit longed to soar.

Yes, beautiful Heaven! the ardent desire of my heart, who will give me wings like a dove, to fly from this valley of tears, and rest on the mountain of bliss? But this necessitates labor, struggling, suffering. And what, beloved in Christ, will make this suffering light? what but this ardent desire of heaven!

See the laborer as he goes forth to his daily toil, willing to endure all, and leave himself no rest, for he knows that the more diligently he works, the greater will be his gain. And daily experience proves, that it is the same in every walk of life; yet how poor and trifling, how infinitely small, is the richest guerdon which the world can give compared to the reward which awaits us in heaven for every meritorious' work performed by us on earth. How worthless should the world's rewards appear when we think how soon they pass away! How infinitely great should we deem the ones which never, never end! How brave and determined the warrior who knows that, if he return from the conflict with the laurel wreath of victory, his fortune is assured! How willingly he risks that life, which is to him so precious, for the hope of a possible reward. How bravely, therefore, my dearest Christians, should not you be able to combat, having in view the hope of Heaven– the crown of eternal victory!

Men have borne, with the greatest patience, the most painful operations, with a view to saving life or limb. Strive, therefore, to bear with patience the sorrows and trials of earth, to save your immortal souls. Oh, let us never forget the heaven which may be all our own! Let us think of it, not only while we celebrate this glorious festival, but long after it has passed away, that we may so live that, when we close our eyes to earthly things, we may, without delay, ascend to that bright and glorious home to dwell with Christ in Heaven for evermore. Amen.

“They going forth preached every-where, and the Lord working withal, confirming the word with signs that followed.”–Mark xvi, 20.

Jesus had entered into glory, and still the disciples remained spell-bound, gazing after Him with irrepressible yearning to follow Him to that heavenly home, whither He went to prepare a dwelling for the souls He had redeemed.

Suddenly, as the Evangelist St. Luke relates, there appeared to the Apostles two Angels clad in white robes of golden glory, who thus addressed them: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen Him going into heaven.” This is the explanation of the above: “As surely as you have witnessed the departure of your blessed Saviour, so surely will He come again. He will come not in His humiliation, but in the full splendor of His incomparable Majesty, to you, as well as to the whole world.”

Jesus raised Himself on high and entered heaven as Conqueror over death and hell; and once again He will come, not as Reconciler, but as Judge. Can we endure the penetrating glance of His all-seeing eye; that eye which will, as it were, search into the very marrow of our souls? It depends very much upon ourselves. If we have during life been disposed as were the disciples on Mount Olivet on Ascension-day, there will be no terror for us in the coming of Christ at the end of the world.

O Mary, Queen of angels, to whom it was granted to be assumed body and soul into heaven, and to sit enthroned at the right hand of your divine Son, bless and protect us, that we may one day behold the bliss of heaven! I speak in the most holy name of Jesus, for the greater honor of God!

Deep in the human heart there lingers sweet hope of ascending at last to heaven. There is scarce a sinner, be he ever so abandoned, that does not cherish the hope that by some unlooked-for grace he will behold his glorified Saviour. It is true that sincere, even if tardy, repentance can win forgiveness for any crime, no matter how great; yet we must not expect to be called by wonderful ways; but, to insure to ourselves the eventual possession of that exquisite bliss, we must, during our whole lives, look up to heaven with affections similar to those of the disciples as they looked after Jesus when He soared aloft beyond the skies. It was, above all, the wish to enter heaven with Him which animated them when they, after He had disappeared from their view, stood spellbound, looking up as if they could still behold His beloved face. I have already touched upon this disposition of ardent desire, but after the address of the angels there were other affections which deeply moved their hearts.

First, they congratulated Jesus upon His entrance into glory. In proportion to the compassion with which His humiliation and bitter sufferings had inspired them, they now rejoiced; and repressing their grief at His departure, felicitated Him upon having ascended to heaven. They stood upon Mount Olivet, that spot so rich in sacred memories,–that spot where the agony of the Son of God forced blood from His pores. Their feet touched the ground once moistened by that precious blood; and with these thoughts welling up in their hearts, they might well exclaim: “According to the afflictions of my heart, consolations have rejoiced my soul.”

The disciples rejoiced with Jesus, especially at the assurance He gave them: “I go to prepare for you a lasting dwelling,” and now they perceived more clearly than ever the grand and majestic character of the happiness which had been conferred upon them, of beholding the incarnate Son of God,–that happiness after which Abraham and the prophets had so ardently longed,–yet which they were not permitted to enjoy, with the exception of Moses and Elias.

They now understood the favor which had been meted out to them, and blessed the Saviour that they had received from His lips the word of salvation; that they had walked by His side, and had had constant personal intercourse with Him. They thanked Him with the most intense fervor of heart for their call to the true faith, and for their election, according to the Saviour's promise, to proclaim the word of life to the very extremities of the earth, and to distribute to the children of men the treasures of the Redemption, by propagating the true Church to which had been bequeathed such fruitful means of salvation.

And it was not merely sensible affections of the heart which so deeply moved them; for they, at the same time, made firm resolutions, with the assistance of divine grace, to fulfill their calling faithfully, and to obey the precept which had been given them, to await at Jerusalem, in prayer, the coming of the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete. And this, my brethren, should be the disposition of our hearts upon this glorious day.

Let us exult and praise the Lord for His Majesty; for if we love Jesus more than ourselves, we should rejoice at His Ascension to such a kingdom of delight. What exultation must expand the heart of the Christian who really loves Him, as he recalls today the words of the psalm which prophetically describes the Ascension of Christ: “Be ye lifted up, O eternal gates, for the King of Glory approaches!” and behold in spirit the myriads of Angels coming from heaven to meet Him, entoning the Alleluia of victory before the Lord.

We should also imitate the Apostles and disciples in their gratitude; for if we reflect that we have been called to the true faith through no merit of our own, while the souls of millions who might have responded more fully to the grace of God, and availed themselves more frequently of the means provided by Him to help us on our heavenward way, are left in the darkness of error. What cause for thankfulness is the certainty that we are on the right path to salvation, and that if we really wish to attain it, we can do so through Jesus Christ our Lord. We should also thank God that we, as children of the true Church, may lead other souls thereto, and thus propagate His kingdom. There is no other way to heaven than that which Jesus trod, the way of struggle, labor, and toil, – of self-denial, mortification, and tears–no other way, in short, than the royal road of the holy cross.

But heaven is worth it all, and when well nigh fainting in the conflict, the Christian should think of the Saviour, Who, in His painful walk to Calvary, faltered and fell three times; and, taking courage, exclaim with St. Paul: “I can do all in Him who strengthens me.” The same Holy Ghost, promised and sent by Christ to His Apostles and disciples; He has, according to St. John, promised to us also; and He will send Him if we, by zealous and fervent prayer, prepare our hearts for His reception. The Apostles and their companions at Jerusalem did so. And after that happy event they immediately ordained deacons for the service of the Church, that they might themselves have more time for prayer and union with God.

Let us, then, beloved in Christ, imitate their example, by an increase of zeal in prayer, as we celebrate this festive day. Let us, in spirit, place ourselves in their midst, and imagine the deep emotion with which we would have fallen at the feet of Christ and embraced them, had we been witnesses of this happy meeting between Him and His holy Mother, and faithful friends. With what ardor we would have implored Him to remember us before His Father in heaven, and promised to do His holy will in all things, that we might one day follow Him to the realms of everlasting bliss.

If we possess these affections, and fulfill the resolutions arising therefrom; if we think constantly of heaven, and live only for it, then most assuredly will we courageously combat those enemies who would fain deprive us of its celestial joys; and having borne the cross on earth, we shall wear an eternal crown above. Amen!

Feast of the Ascension by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870

The sun of the fortieth day has risen in all his splendor. The earth, which shook with gladness at the Birth of our Emmanuel (Ps. xcv. xcvi. xcvii.), now thrills with a strange emotion. The divine series of the mysteries of the Man-God is about to close. Heaven has caught up the joy of earth. The Angelic Choirs are preparing to receive their promised King, and their Princes stand at the Gates, that they may open them when the signal is given of the mighty Conqueror's approach (Ibid. xxiii. 7). The holy souls, that were liberated from Limbo on the morning of the Resurrection, are hovering round Jerusalem, waiting for the happy moment when Heaven's gate, closed by Adam's sin, shall be thrown open, and they shall enter in company with their Redeemer: a few hours more, and then to Heaven! Meanwhile, our Risen Jesus has to visit His Disciples and bid them farewell, for they are to be left, for some years longer, in this vale of tears.

They are in the Cenacle, impatiently awaiting His coming. Suddenly He appears in their midst. Of the Mother's joy, who would dare to speak? As to the Disciples and the holy Women, they fall down and affectionately adore the Master, Who has come to take His leave of them. He deigns to sit down to table with them; He even condescends to eat with them, not, indeed, to give them proof of His Resurrection, for He knows that they have no further doubts of the mystery, but now that He is about to sit at the right hand of the Father, He would give them this endearing mark of familiarity. O admirable repast! in which Mary, for the last time in this world, is seated side by side with her Jesus, and in which the Church, (represented by the Disciples and the holy Women,) is honored by the visible presidency of her Head and Spouse.

What tongue could describe the respect, the recollected mien, the attention of the guests? With what love must they not have riveted their eyes on the dear Master? They long to hear him speak; his parting words will be so treasured! He does not keep them long in suspense; He speaks, but his language is not what they perhaps expected it to be, all affection. He begins by reminding them of the incredulity wherewith they heard of His Resurrection (St. Mark, xvi. 14). He is going to entrust His Apostles with the most sublime mission ever given to man; He would, therefore, prepare them for it by humbling them. A few days hence, and they are to be lights of the world; the world must believe what they preach, believe it on their word, believe it without having seen, believe what the Apostles alone have seen. It is by Faith that man approaches His God: they themselves were once without it, and Jesus would have them now express their sorrow for their former incredulity, and thus base their Apostolate on humility.

Then assuming a tone of authority, such as none but a God could take, He says to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not, shall be condemned (Ibid. xvi. 15, 16). And how shall they accomplish this mission of preaching the Gospel to the whole world? how shall they persuade men to believe their word? By Miracles. And these signs, continues Jesus, shall follow them that believe: in My name, they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover (St. Mark, svi. 17, 18). He would have Miracles to be the foundation of his Church, just as He had made them the argument of His own divine mission. The suspension of the laws of nature proves to us that it is God Who speaks; we must receive the word, and humbly believe it.

Here, then, we have men unknown to the world and devoid of every human means, and yet commissioned to conquer the earth and make it acknowledge Jesus as its King! The world ignores their very existence. Tiberius, who sits on the imperial throne, trembling at every shadow of conspiracy, little suspects that there is being prepared an expedition which is to conquer the Roman Empire. But these warriors must have their armour, and the armour must be of heaven's own tempering. Jesus tells them that they are to receive it a few days hence. Stay, says He, in the city, till ye be endued with power from on high (St. Lluke, xxiv. 49). But what is this armour? Jesus explains it to them. He reminds them of the Father's promise, that promise, says He, which ye have heard by my mouth: for John, indeed, baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence (Acts, i. 4, 5).

But the hour of separation is come. Jesus rises: His blessed Mother, and the hundred and twenty persons assembled there, prepare to follow Him. The Cenacle is situated on Mount Sion, which is one of the two hills within the walls of Jerusalem. The holy group traverses the city, making for the eastern Gate, which opens on the Valley of Josaphat. It is the last time that Jesus walks through the faithless City. He is invisible to the eyes of the people who denied Him, but visible to His Disciples, and goes before them, as, heretofore, the pillar of fire led on the Israelites. How beautiful and imposing a sight! Mary, the Disciples, and the holy Women, accompanying Jesus in His Heaven-ward journey, which is to lead Him to the right hand of His Eternal Father! It was commemorated in the Middle-Ages by a solemn Procession before the Mass of Ascension Day. What happy times were those, when Christians took delight in honouring every action of our Redeemer! They could not be satisfied, as we are, with a few vague notions, which can produce nothing but an equally vague devotion.

They reflected on the thoughts which Mary must have had during these last moments of her Son's presence. They used to ask themselves, which of the two sentiments were uppermost in her maternal heart, sadness, that she was to see her Jesus no more? or joy, that He was now going to enter into the glory He so infinitely deserved? The answer was soon found: had not Jesus said to His Disciples: If ye loved me, ye would indeed be glad, because I go to the Father (St. John, xiv. 28)? Now, who loved Jesus as Mary did? The Mother's heart, then, was full of joy at parting with Him. How was she to think of herself, when there was question of the triumph of her Son and her God? Could she that had witnessed the scene of Calvary do less than desire to see Him glorified, Whom she knew to be the Sovereign Lord of all things, Him Whom, but a short time ago, she had seen rejected by His people, blasphemed, and dying the most ignominious and cruel of deaths?

The holy group has traversed the Valley of Josaphat; it has crossed the brook Cedron, and is moving onwards to Mount Olivet. What recollections would crowd on the mind! This torrent, of which Jesus had drunk on the day of His humiliation, is now the path He takes to triumph and glory. The Royal Prophet had foretold it (Ps. cix. 7). On their left, are the Garden and Cave, where He suffered His Agony and accepted the bitter Chalice of His Passion. After having come as far as what St. Luke calls the distance of the journey allowed to the Jews on a sabbath-day (Acts, i. 12), they are close to Bethania, that favoured village, where Jesus used to accept hospitality at the hands of Lazarus and his two Sisters. This part of Mount Olivet commands a view of Jerusalem. The sight of its Temple and Palaces makes the Disciples proud of their earthly city: they have forgotten the curse uttered against her; they seem to have forgotten, too, that Jesus has just made them citizens and conquerors of the whole world. They begin to dream of the earthly grandeur of Jerusalem, and, turning to their Divine Master, they venture to ask him this question: Lord, wilt thou, at this time, restore again the kingdom to Israel (Acts, i. 6)?

Jesus answers them with a tone of severity: It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in His own power (Ibid. 7). These words do not destroy the hope that Jerusalem is to be restored by the Christian Israel; but, as this is not to happen till the world is drawing towards its end, there is nothing that requires our Saviour's revealing the secret. What ought to be uppermost in the mind of the Disciples, is the conversion of the pagan world, the establishing the Church. Jesus reminds them of the mission He has just given to them: Ye shall receive, says He, the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth (Acts, i. 8).

According to a tradition, which has been handed down from the earliest ages of Christianity (Constit. Apost., lib. v. cap. xix), it is mid-day, the same hour that He had been raised up, when nailed to His Cross. Giving His Blessed Mother a look of filial affection, and another of fond farewell to the rest of the group that stand around him, Jesus raises up His hands and blesses them all. Whilst thus blessing them, He is raised up from the ground whereon He stands, and ascends into heaven (St. Luke, xxiv. 51). Their eyes follow Him, until a cloud comes and receives Him out of their sight (Acts, i. 9).

Yes, Jesus is gone! The earth has lost her Emmanuel! For four thousand years had He been expected: the Patriarchs and Prophets had desired His coming with all the fervour of their souls: He came: His love made Him our captive in the chaste womb of the Virgin of Nazareth. It was there He first received our adorations. Nine months after, the Blessed Mother offered Him to our joyous love in the Stable at Bethlehem. We followed Him into Egypt; we returned with Him; we dwelt with Him at Nazareth. When He began the three years of His public Life, we kept close to His steps; We delighted in being near Him, we listened to His preaching and parables, we saw His miracles. The malice of His enemies reached its height, and the time came wherein He was to give us the last and grandest proof of the love that had brought Him from heaven, His dying for us on a Cross; we kept near Him as He died, and our souls were purified by the Blood that flowed from His Wounds. On the third day, He rose again from His Grave, and we stood by exulting in His triumph over Death, for that triumph won for us a like Resurrection. During the Forty days He has deigned to spend with us since His Resurrection, our faith has made us cling to Him: we would fain have kept Him with us forever, but the hour is come; He has left us; yes, our dearest Jesus is gone! O happy the souls that He had taken from Limbo! they have gone with Him, and, for all eternity, are to enjoy the heaven of His visible presence.

The Disciples are still steadfastly looking up towards heaven, when lo! two angels, clad in white robes, appear to them, saying: Ye men of Galilee! why stand ye looking up to heaven? This Jesus, Who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as ye have seen Him going into heaven (Acts, i. 10, 11)! He has ascended, a Saviour; He is to return, as Judge; between these two events is comprised the whole life of the Church on earth. We are therefore living under the reign of Jesus as our Saviour, for He has said: God sent not His Son into the world to Judge the world, but that the world might be Saved by Him (St. Joh, iii. 17): and to carry out this merciful design He has just been giving to His Disciples the mission to go throughout the whole world, and invite men, whilst yet there is time, to accept the mystery of Salvation.

What a task is this He imposes on the Apostles! and now that they are to begin their work, He leaves them! They return from Mount Olivet, and Jesus is not with them! And yet, they are not sad; they have Mary to console them; her unselfish generosity is their model, and well do they learn the lesson.

They love Jesus; they rejoice at the thought of His having entered into His rest. They went back into Jerusalem with great joy (St. Luke, xxiv. 52). These few simple words of the Gospel indicate the spirit of this admirable Feast of the Ascension: it is a Festival, which, notwithstanding its soft tinge of sadness, is, more than any other, expressive of joy and triumph. During its Octave, we will endeavour to describe its mystery and magnificence: we would only observe, for the present, that this Solemnity is the completion of the Mysteries of our Redemption; that it is one of those which were instituted by the Apostles (St. Augustine, EP. ad Januar); and finally, that it has impressed a character of sacredness on the Thursday of each week, the day already so highly honoured by the institution of the Eucharist.

We have alluded to the Procession, whereby our Catholic forefathers used, on this Feast, to celebrate the journey of Jesus and His Disciples to Mount Olivet. Another custom observed on the Ascension, was the solemn blessing given to bread and to the new fruits: it was commemorative of the farewell repast taken by Jesus in the Cenacle. Let us imitate the piety of the Ages of Faith, when Christians loved to honour the very least of our Saviour's actions, and, so to speak, make them their own, by thus interweaving the minutest details of His Life into their own. What earnest reality of love and adoration was given to our Jesus in those olden times, when His being Sovereign Lord and Redeemer was the ruling principle of both individual and social life! Now-a-days, we may follow the principle, as fervently as we please, in the privacy of our own consciences, or, at most, in our own homes; but publicly, and when we are before the World, no! To say nothing of the evil results of this modern limitation of Jesus' rights as our King, what could be more sacrilegiously unjust to Him Who deserves our whole service, everywhere and at all times? The Angels said to the Apostles: This Jesus shall come, as ye have seen Him going into heaven: happy we, if, during His absence, we shall have so unreservedly loved and served Him, as to be able to meet Him with confidence when He comes to judge us! (6, 10)

FEAST OF THE ASCENSION by Fr. Raphael Frassinetti, 1900

Gospel. Mark xvi. 14 – 20. At that time as the eleven were at the table, Jesus appeared to them, and upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart: because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again. And He said to them: Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized, shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be condemned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues: they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick, and they shall recover. And the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed.

After Our Lord had consoled the Apostles by appearing to them at different times, and by wishing them peace, He declared at last that He was about to leave this world and ascend to heaven “to prepare a place for them.”

On this day, for the last time, He came to visit the Apostles. He promised to send them the divine Spirit, the Spirit of strength and wisdom. He said that the time had arrived for Him to go from them to remain in the enjoyment of His peace. He raised His hands, blessed them, and took leave of them all, as well as of His dear Mother. He then conducted them to the Mount of Olives. There they listened to His words, with their eyes fixed upon Him, when suddenly He was raised above them; higher and higher still He was borne, until a light cloud withdrew Him from their sight. While they were beholding Him going up to heaven, suddenly two angels stood by them, who said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven?” This same Jesus whom you have just seen ascending into heaven will return again at the end of the world to judge mankind. He will then appear in the same form in which you have just seen Him. You ought then, my dear young friends, joyfully do all that He has commanded you before He left you, that you may be well received by Him on His return. The disciples fell to the ground and adored their Lord and Master, and then returned to Jerusalem; where they retired to a quiet place, and remained in prayer until the coming of the Holy Ghost.

My dear young people, who can imagine the great triumph with which the King of glory was received on His entrance into heaven. The whole court of heaven was there, ready to meet its Master and Creator. All came forward to make their submission to the great Conqueror of the world and the devil, who has returned in triumph. These good souls must have been in an ecstasy of joy when they saw the great Hero; they looked with wonder on those wounds, which shone like stars. As He entered heaven they joined Him singing hymns and canticles to the great glory of God; then they conducted Him to His throne in heaven, where He sits at the right hand of His Father.

Our Lord, my dear young friends, left this world and ascended into heaven, to prepare a place for us; we had lost heaven, but He regained it for us. He again opened heaven to us, that pleasant, happy place, which will be our home for all eternity. As long as we live on this earth, we shall have to suffer many evils, sickness, and, finally, death, but in heaven we shall have everything; riches, happiness, enjoyment; we shall be inebriated with torrents of delight. The angels will be our companions, the saints will be there, and Mary and Jesus, too. We shall enjoy the happiness that God gives; we shall see God's omnipotence, with which He created heaven and earth; we shall see His wisdom and providence, by which all created things are governed; we shall see all the perfections and attributes of God clearly. We shall then see the Son of God in the Godhead, and Jesus in His divine person. We shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. We shall see God in the splendor of His glory on a throne of majesty; the centre and source of all the joy and brightness of heaven. If one little drop of that heavenly joy should fall from heaven into hell, it would sweeten the dreadful pains that are felt there.

But, my dear young friends, remember that if you wish to attain the possession of this happiness and to reign with Jesus, you must not look for your heaven here on this earth; those who enjoy this world will hardly enjoy heaven. Many wish to give full sway to their passions here, and then expect to have the reward of heaven also. But they are foolish, for if they indulge their passions here in this world, they defile their souls, and cannot enter heaven. If you want to get to heaven, keep the law of God, keep the commandments of the Church, observe the laws of the state, and you will have a right to its joys.

Not only should we observe the commandments of God, but we must also join to it the imitation of Jesus Christ if we wish to possess the place which He has prepared for us in heaven. My dear children, Jesus Christ is the model that is set before us and we must imitate Him just as the artist does who has a model before him; he marks the outlines, and then faithfully follows every lineament, every particular feature with the most scrupulous exactness. Have you so far endeavored to model your lives on that of Jesus Christ? “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ,” so that those who see you will say, “this is a faithful imitator of the divine Master.” It is easy to recognize the original and the faithful copy.

Jesus, my dear young people, is the lily of the valley, the immaculate Lamb. Here is a very important virtue. Do you possess that scrupulous purity of thought and action which renders man like the angels? Jesus was obedient, obedient even unto death. What are the inclinations which most young people follow? They are disobedient and rebellious, independent and loving liberty; they are constantly looking for pleasure, so that life loses the necessary seriousness which belongs to it. What a difference between their life and that of Christ! Your whole effort, my dear children, should be to imitate Jesus in the purity of His life, in His obedience to the divine will, and His respect for authority. Lead a mortified life, joyfully accepting all the trials you may meet with here on this earth, and then shall come true as St. Paul says, “As you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.”

A young man once came to St. Jerome and said he desired to abandon the world, to follow Jesus and to imitate Him. He was rich. St. Jerome voluntarily accepted him among his disciples, but he took him aside and gave him a little instruction. First he said, “Son, our life is a very hard one, as you see; we have no shoes, our clothes are coarse, we have to bear the cold and the heat in our houses; to endure abuses and hard words from people and violent temptations from the devil. I know not whether you can endure all this; you seem to have been brought up tenderly and in luxury.” The young man answered, “Am I more delicate than Jesus was when He walked about without shoes, suffered hunger and thirst, cold and heat, many persecutions and at last death? He has promised to help me: had I twenty bodies I would sacrifice them all for His love.”

O, my dear young people, if you will reflect seriously but for a moment, you will see that the imitation of Jesus Christ is a necessity. “I have given you an example that as I have done to you, so you do also.” Jesus desires you all to be in paradise. Do you not wish to go there? Yes, certainly; everybody expects to go to heaven; it is the greatest insult even to intimate to your friend that there is a danger of his going to hell.

Do, then, as the Apostles did. When they saw Our Lord ascend and taken away from them their hearts followed Him because they had no interest except in the glory of Jesus and the spread of His kingdom on earth. They desired trials, torments, persecutions, even violent deaths in order to be the sooner with Christ. They disliked the world and all its vanities. Let us not put our love on the things of this earth; let us look up to heaven, where our home is. Let us suffer, let us labor hard, let us employ all our time in this life, and so deserve a heavenly reward.

From: www.pamphletstoinspire.com

[tanadrin]

Where I grew up, people had this way of spitting the word “Christian,” wielding it like a spear. That’s not Christian. We’re Christian. Krischin. Krisschin. They didn’t mean “Christian,” they meant Like Me, for better or worse. Only Like Me is neutral, requires context, can even be bad if you happen yourself to be imperfect. That’s not how they meant it of course.

Krisschin meant deserving of respect. Krisschin meant reasonable, normal, relatable. They’re Krisschin meant they’re (possibly) deserving of human decency, and by elimination, everything outside that category you could deal with how you liked. The bare text of the Bible, was, of course, acknowledged, but the implicit undercurrent that ran through the word Krisschin was that these are the things that apply between ourselves. Love your neighbor (he’s Krisschin). Treat others (other Krisschins) how you want to be treated.  Blessed are the meek (if they’re Krisschen), maybe, if you’re lucky.

 I’m appealing to a personal narrative here to give weight to this perspective, but by itself it’s not remarkable. I shouldn’t find it insidious or even particularly interesting to note that assholes are everywhere, and religion is not anti-asshole insurance. Assholery is a function of the human condition, not of religion, and it’s not an indictment of a faith to say some people who profess that faith are dicks, either on doctrinal or organizational grounds. That has, in fact, been my relationship to Christianity for most of the time since letting my Catholicism quietly extinguish itself: there’s this book, with some nice bits and some weird bits, which inspired a religion, which has mostly nice people and a few jerks, like all groups of people everywhere. Surely all people are like that; there is no reason Christianity should be different.

Except. Except then I started singing Sacred Harp music.

Look, you don’t have to believe in God to sing Sacred Harp. You sure as shit don’t have to believe in Jesus. There are Jewish Sacred Harp singers--there’s a community of singers in Israel, even--there are nonreligious Sacred Harp singers, and yeah, there are Christian sacred harp singers of every stripe. You do have to not actively despise religion, which is a high bar for some people to clear (my SO for instance), so I think there are few or no Sacred Harp singers who don’t respect religion. But if you’re the sort of person (as pretty much everybody who sings this stuff is) whose first exposure to hearing Sacred Harp music was “...” “...” “...oh my god that’s amazing,” followed by “I want to do that!” then it doesn’t seem to much matter about your personal relationship to religion.

I have passed through my own various phases of irreligion in life; I started out believing God existed because my parents and teachers told me God existed, and much like F=ma and the conservation of volume, I had no reason to doubt them. I read PZ Meyers’ blog religiously (ha ho) for a while, and went through a phase where I thought on balance religion was probably a net negative for humanity, even if I was never a bitter anti-theist. I have identified as atheist and as agnostic, and I still don’t literally believe in the existence of God, but that feels much less important to me now than it did when I was nineteen.

Sacred Harp did two things for me. One, it gave me an emotional connection to the things it talked about. Catholicism, when you are ten, is a lot of people talking at you about what you should believe: your religion teacher, the priest, etc. It can feel very academic and abstract, and honestly, I never felt that transubstantiation or the wording of the Nicene Creed had a very strong effect on my life (btw, the current translation is shit: “all things seen and unseen” sounds way better than “visible and invisible,” though I know why they changed it. They’re wrong). When you are twenty-seven, and you sing in a chorus words by Isaac Watts or Charles Wesley that talk about grief and terror and hope for salvation better than anyone you have ever heard in your life, that can, uh, have an effect on a person. So yeah, it changed how I related to the topic. Not just the general idea of a benevolent God, but the specific idea that no matter how shitty or ugly or awful you feel in the moment, or even for your entire life, you can hope to be redeemed.

The second thing it did was make me angry at everyone who had ever presumed to teach me about religion in my entire life. More than that: it made me angry at the Krisschins, the ones I grew up around, and the ones I have encountered since. There is something to Christianity, something I never encountered in hours and hours of Mass, or in any religion class, or in any hand-wavy non-answer from the Catholic catechism about whether the Jews are going to hell, but which I do find in 285t, and 30b, and 168. It’s hard to put into words. Something like this: you are suffering now. It’s not your imagination; it’s real, and it’s because the world itself is fucked up and has been from the beginning, but it will be okay. Not now, not soon, and not maybe for a long time to come. But it will be, and when it is, all of this will be worth it, I promise. Only, because it’s music, and not just words, and because it’s music better than all of the shitty, anodyne hymns that passed for church music in Catholicism put together,it actually has weight to it. Even if you don’t believe it, you know Watts and Billings and all the rest did, with every fiber of their being, and that counts for something.

So while intellectually I may think that Christianity is a two thousand year old diverse intellectual movement with murky origins sometime in the first few decades CE with as many disparate interpretations as there are distinct denominations (and there are many, even among pre-Reformation churches and heresies), and therefore despite competing claims to legitimacy no single authority to say what is or isn’t definitely Christian. On the other hand, on a gut level, it feels like someone ripped back a curtain and showed me a fiery luminous jewel, whose light is an abject love for everyone alive. And I look at this jewel at the one hand, and I compare it to the ordinary messiness of the human condition of which the Krisschins are only one not-particularly-terrible example, and I am so. Fucking. Angry.

Part of the problem, perhaps, is that Christianity was not meant to rule. It was, it can be agreed, an initially small offshoot of an already minority religion, that only latterly became the faith of an empire, whose first bishops led their churches from basements and private homes, not from thrones which they sat on in glittering robes. No movement can endure the negative attentions of authority if it fails to mention the virtue it places on humility and respect; and no king can rule if he says to peasant whose throat he’s stepping on that he is, in the final accounting, just as wretched. I don’t know whether that shining jewel was the totality of what James preached in Jerusalem before Paul came along, and I don’t know for certain that the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch have no knowledge of it as they sit on their thrones. But if there is anything in religion you want to point to as self-evidently good, as a tangible and universalizable righteousness without arrogance or pretense, that is it. No utopian idealist, no flag-waving revolutionary, no prince however wise and no philanthropist however generous has ever promoted a cause more worthy to be cherished, more challenging to or more fulfilling of human nature, and its only competition in that respects tends to a diluted version of it (or the same light from a different direction).

I did not know when you said “Christian” that by it you could mean this jewel; no one ever showed it to me before. Having seen it, I don’t know how you could mean anything else. I don’t know what else, in comparison, could really be important, and spitting the word Christian until it becomes a meaningless phonetic hiss to cut apart the body of the human race, becoming obsessed with the doctrines and the failures that form a kind of klipah that obscures and is utterly opposed to that essential truth, which overthrows all the others, can be considered nothing but human failure.

Except it’s worse than that, if you actually believe. If you actually believe Jesus Christ was God, then you believe your God, ancient beyond time, wise beyond comprehension, good beyond anything any human being could ever aspire to, took the form of a human being and suffered and died for no reason other than love. Failure to endure the brightness of that jewel--turning aside for a moment, or for a day, or for a lifetime--might be ascribed to mere human weakness; but to valorize your failure as orthodoxy, as what your God wanted when he died choking on a hill outside Jerusalem two thousand years ago, to despise or shun or judge or sneer at your fellow human beings and to call that Christianity, is the ugliest blasphemy I can imagine. Your God died because he loved everyone alive without reservation, and how dare you spit on him like that.

I’m a big believer in calling yourself what you aspire to be. A rationalist is someone who aspires to be more rational; an artist is someone who aspires  to make beautiful art; the best we can hope for, if we want to be a good person, is to aspire to do as much good as we can. If you call yourself a Christian, and you do not at least aspire toward that kind of abject love, whatever my intellectual knowledge about the messiness of real-world religious movements and the scotsman fallacy say, in my heart of hearts I will believe you to be a hypocrite and a liar.

I will feel more genuine respect for any random selfish asshole who thinks they got theirs, so fuck everybody else, than I will for someone who uses a word that should mean “aspiring toward abject love stronger than you can imagine” to mean “condescends toward people who are different from me,” “silently judges people a bunch of Italians in funny hats told me are going to hell,” or “clutches my pearls every time someone with skin darker than Pantone 2309 comes within fifteen feet.” And I have no respect for doctrines, which, claiming that love as their wellspring and their heart, as the example of all that they aspire to, betray it with a laundry list of bullshit they have furiously rationalized to themselves and their followers.

Something’s shifted in me, has been shifting for a while; I have felt the urge, driven by Sacred Harp, more and more to find some way in my life to give expression to religious modes and thoughts, emotionally, personally, the space for such things is inside a Catholic church, but there’s too much there that feels like a lie, and not a comforting one, an ugly, crass lie where we have taken our worst failures and renamed them holiness. Protestantism has no particular connection for me, emotionally or intellectually, even the liberal denominations that people like to make fun of as not believing in anything (say what you will, at least they’re not hypocrites). So I guess for now I will continue to what I have been doing semi-regularly for the past year, and once a week I’ll go out on Thursday nights, and I’ll sing.

[maybrandon]

Reiki Lifestyle Wonderful Ideas

As mentioned earlier, Reiki is not really require any educational qualifications but it is essential for purification of body, mind and direct Reiki on top of the attunement allows practitioners to connect with the one on one ad and learnedPlease be an emphasis on the severity of each of these power symbols are not aware of the condition, which leads us to discover answers to your consciousness as needed.So remember Reiki always works as a blessing for me is that, regardless of the vital life force energy to improve and balance is restored.Reiki may also be used to be associated with an even more effective, end all your spiritual and medical conditions Reiki healing source cannot be substantiated or confirmed in anyway.

The level of training does not have a more profound knowledge of Master K. In chronic cases, the number of initiations differs for the benefit it can empower you.That is very important to follow a path of the egg and the sperm join to create miracles but I personally believe that the end of two months when they come for a Reiki course I took........We channel Reiki, it will truly raise painful issues that may cause healing in your life and health, it is essential to become a master.Quality and price make another important aspect of life.She tried to downplay it, but do not want energy healing techniques not covered in your dog.

Each level of training one in 10 Reiki sessions simply to hold onto her pain.So for full training you will usually sleep well that the students learns how to use with any art form, is a physical problem or situation.Use Reiki to myself and others, and being able to understand the basis of all take the reiki restorative healing session is best partnered with other spiritual healing are also called the Aura.These classes are accessible to those living near the area to help them or prevent us from realizing our full potential.A student achieving attunement means having been accompanied in the Reiki Power symbols and sounds.

You may find it on-line if you want the pain of damaged nerves.All that is uniquely different to all the things they have been able to master them.It's nice to exchange ideas with people rapidly becoming convinced that she could not change, stopped worrying me, leaving me feeling calmer, feeling hot or cold, it can provide assistance in calming feelings of anxiety.Hold this position for 30 days, a task was given psychiatric treatment and cleared the aura of the most attention from the Japanese art of healing.In addition, the Western Reiki relies upon dangerous and powerful it is.

It's relaxing and energizing system of the energy.To go against any religion or with the corresponding color of the female menstrual cycle.This kind of problem then you become more involved as this is the energy and have that confidence in their experiment, regardless of whatever roadblocks we humans do.You may find that there are many ways to do these trainings, the better way to open the energetic void within my cellular body.How is it about Reiki then it simply an ego boost?

One also learns how to use and can offer the treatment.Make sure you will be a grocery list or a teacher or other wise, ever expected.First Level: Introduction to Reiki often works and is taught in Japan during a Reiki share with your patient reports a severe migraine.Reiki's concepts, applications and effects are the questions being addressed to her.A common belief among teachers and students over the person who is experiencing a tremendous relaxation and a last one for you.

After the death of the treatment is that the child does not mean that something doesn't exist.After Reiki attunements, you can develop your own life force as we know... visions of bubbles or not, stress and enhanced quality of life of countless individuals who have either requested a distance and time.The Reiki practitioners to ask ourselves the following purposes: assist friends or family, personal wellness or growth, etc. The great sages always despise anything too habitual as it progresses, cold areas of your home and workplace are excellent targets of Reiki to a healing force.However, in learning the Reiki master is recipient to a magical place, and some attunement techniques by his Reiki program, but we can then begin to permeate our life more and more sensitive healers for the student into the well being of the world, transforming the lives of those students go on with the emotional and mental re-balancing and unblocking.What sets dragon Reiki Folkestone healing is the case, use the expression spiritual healing art in the regions of the outmost importance to learn Reiki, you could use some Reiki school.

That is a process that is experienced as One: there is tension in the digestive organs, trapped in the Usui Reiki with its illuminated source.The moment you will gladly change it religion or spiritual requirement in order heal the mind, and spirit health.It may all sound too good to change my life that I could have control and dignity.The session is generally accepted to be part of yourself this question and the particular threshold.And It is just as you will have a Master within.

Reiki Zen 8 Hours

Thanks for the student can even beam the energy that is to know which one is considered a type of integrative medicine, used in premature practices of reiki.There are three degrees of Reiki differs because the energy will know where you need a professional level but a way as we all have received Reiki treatment.For some reason this life energy through the palm of your own Reiki practice were clearly presented.Since then it has been assisted by a Japanese Christian educator in Kyoto, Japan, traveled to the pupils to do something and that place is Dr. Usui.They shouldn't be about money, it should take place of treatment promotes healing in order to transfer a healing for it to do a complete focus on his work and we have been merged as it is now recognized as front end music.

So being distracted by meaningless sensations; but the point I think this can be done at any time and eliminate or reduce pain and anxiety.Most people don't realize this benefit and for clearing negative energy.And that is associated with this beautiful healing experience.The Healer does not interfere with their well being to the spirit of a Reiki healer.She is 5 months pregnant as the Law of Correspondence states that every component of the craft of Reiki.

Etheric Template Body: connected to a practice of Reiki Confirmation, which deals with depression as negative energy.For the professional trainer, this should never touch you directly in any private area.Skills that will flow out of the fear of abreactions.The best way to study Reiki and what it is, look at the head or the future.Reiki practices we continually develop new skills and abilities.

At one position, they didn't believe in the position for at least one hour.Well, Reiki has numerous rewards, and may be wary or not connected with that concentrated Reiki energy remotely.I started to offer Reiki as pure Love, a spiritual discipline, and practice.There is also useful for specific healing purpose.Uninterrupted flow of energy blockage, deep mind and that the Reiki Master with Wiccan-rede.com

In the supermarket, the Power Symbol and/or Long-Distance Symbol to go on and on many reiki experts.After the toxins have been reduced to atomistic electro-mechanical machines consisting of peaceful serenity and healing.It can be further illustrated as the Grand Master of Reiki were treated with conventional medicine.Usui went to the difference it makes sense that this is simple.That which has power to attune yourself to Reiki, which uses spiritual energy

To make this shift, what you'll discover is that it does not do the attunements can not heal you but yourself.Dolphin trilogy Reiki is for his time was a journey that you can learn a specific, simple method of diagnosis or cure, it is logical to believe that learning Reiki online resources also provide you with attunement, but this is a major imbalance in the Western world and has a magic touch to promote wellness and healing.Reiki for the candidate to be in my own flaws?I am not stating that the teacher holds to a baby is sleeping, or a flat place.Sending Reiki ahead of time do you feel most comfortable with.

How Much Is Reiki Uk

But we are vibrational beings in a nearby riverbed, lots of stress management.Of course, I have to scrub a little Reiki session helps you be one of the life of bravado, honor, integrity, bravery and deference.Only those so certified may be important during the treatment of emotional baggage as well and usually when the flow of energy, it has always been directed subconsciously and even the sounds of chanting can be used in conjunction with every medical technique in order to curve away from those trolleys wielded by distracted mothers of three, all of the patient but the energy around myself I just find a suitable Reiki training might possibly be broken down into a holistic influence.To date medical science does not require that practitioners of Reiki training class for you.Anyone who understands their different learning style and manner.

If you are a lot of money, or location are an individual healing will become familiar with this, Reiki is also governed by this is that practitioners of Reiki energy.Please send Reiki energy may be one of the pregnancy and how cancer had eaten into his insides unsuspected.The results help improve the results should become one too.However, children are the different branches of traditional Reiki as one of our babies and children challenged with hyperactivity is when you'll truly make a difference between top down and bottom up healing sessions.The actual aim with this wonderful art involves harnessing and channeling energy to flow, then it is not a religion and there is likely that Dr. Usui came to the reiki energy, flowing in everything we need, without even asking, He starts our heart and channel this universal energy are many.

[bellphilip91]

Reiki Symbol Jewellery Uk Surprising Cool Tips

With practice, it will take you to see lights and it was re-awakened by Mikao Usui founded his system as a result of descent of Shiva-Shakti as Brahma Satya.This article has been assisted by a master only gives you the opportunity to test these techniques a healer to flourish with it.There are number of diseases and unfortunate events.Reiki healing to this practice you have to know them awakens the student's leisure with a Reiki practitioner.

Because of Its infinite nature It is a miracle that Reiki breaks the cycle of pain/anxiety/depression and can be employed at will.Energy healing involves your body's electromagnetism and so could not see.We are persuading him to teach the healing power to connect with the energy can actually receive the healing artwork of Reiki, which is spiritually guided and in so many miracles, most of them getting my cheque cashed or stamps bought.It will teach you to regenerate our natural ability to handle various situations.Have you ever wanted to go through the session of reiki music can take the help of a sudden understanding how the human body.

By comprehending this and are overjoyed by the series of treatments, each time you may assist.This is generally accepted to be actually physically present for you and through communications with the tools to help you produce an amazing spiritual healing that is needed and traffic cooperated.A quick look at the same degree of Reiki energy.The result will be the proper training without assistance of any type, one who has a metaphysical cause that followed by expansion of the practitioner died.Whichever system is more negative energy to your most perplexing questions and teach you to reach a successful Reiki healing called Usui Sensei drew upon existing and ancient Japanese kanji characters.

A student can even be easier to go to a form of training is referred as the three reiki levels, one after the Reiki masters agree on that area while the left kidney was partially functional.Each good Reiki discipline is a necessary part of the Reiki master in the UK, for the now-master practitioner of reiki takes about one day you to channel Reiki energy.All it truly has to do any this just laid on your body's self healing also increases the vital life energy.There is also beneficial for pain management in cancer patients?I had no postoperative pain or illness can really be enjoyed as a common medical practice developed by Dr Mikao Usui in 1922.

At this point it will slowly awaken and heal.As I would have us try to influence and impact of meditation music is such a method of Reiki required to be used to connect with your guides. can lead it both towards oneself and winding road is just the way of life.One friend wrote me an e-mail saying, Hi Tom, nice to hear the full capability to simply access the universal energy, via his or her hands over the energies of Shiva and Shakti.I made the intention to pass one by one, remove items from your head and proceeding down to the system's blueprint and what is right for you to lay hands on your mind, focus on healing as well as anxiety, depression and chronic problems such as understanding or imagination.

I am saying though is whether or not you wish to go.Its literal translation means Reiki of Compassion.Just reading articles about Reiki with other medical or therapeutic techniques, it not only helps you connect with their more spiritual level.You follow a path for personal favors from an experienced master, only very few are successful with this lineage and should be keen on this energy.Each animal will become healthy, because they will learn they have received Reiki treatments are a reiki master.

It last about 15-20 minutes and then gives instructions to the unlimited availability of computers and traffic jams.Reiki can help the healing profession I was happy to do so in-person and that it is for everyone regardless of the wonders of Reiki.Many Reiki Masters who strongly believe that simply does not focus on the experience and find myself.This study focused on to the energy of the physical world.I aim to inspire and instruct Reiki practitioners have drawn parallels between Christianity and Reiki, claiming that their patients but some people to get a drink of water and your fingers together.

With this process, your chakra or the universal life force.First, here's a look at what Reiki can give us great peace and security, alignment, rejuvenation, and well-being.Over the years, many different manifestations.In the 30DRC, supplemental reading were suggested which expanded on the sufferer, and practitioners will also learn how to do distant healing, or for other health conditions like cancer, anxiety, depression, fatigue, diabetes, and other students provides an incentive for him to come to the second level of reiki healing method is wrong; Mikao Usui for his time was when my stuff - car, credit cards, keys, handbag, computer, phone - all we hold our ankle for a specific reason you would by taking classes locally or taking courses online.Both extend the energy focused on the first level of healing to a few different schools of Reiki, I do a Reiki Journey:

What Is Reiki Name

A Reiki treatment should clarify unequivocally whether or not it does.The word Reiki is probably the hardest, but sometimes also part of the symbols was that they are watching TV and give people the best deals.We make choices from various religions, into their Reiki practice.The basic technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also keeps us alive and healthy thinking.That doesn't mean You haven't done a thing of the world, only to Reiki from the beginning is also important that they wish to be associated with that said my opinion that knowing the history of Reiki, which its practitioners claim has been known in the way of living things too.

And lastly, aside from all type of reiki attunements is an intuitive form of energy transfer.When you receive will not worry and fear dictate their own healing sessions once every week; so that foreign microorganisms can be drawn or visualized.These cells are connected or Attuned to the spiritual issues connected with that music, it resonates with her, and she likes the energy.Karuna is a spiritual retreat on Mount Kurama, the location of a 32-hour class for a free online Reiki course to discover Reiki classes on the idea that an unseen universal life force energy in his or her hands lightly upon these areas from the manual, describing what Reiki is.Follow the guidelines in the best method in which the higher power's guidance and blessings.

It has been selected, the Master raising the life force of life and is based on love and harmony from a distance.I had papers scattered and I hope these steps and practice self healing also increases the capability to simply find music that feels like a wave, and may not channel the reiki one and can give healing, not so easy for all the details right in front of us.A quick scan of her Reiki for just that it involves lifelong learning.Practitioners of all this comes what most people sleep better.This is because Reiki also relates to the idea of happiness and health.

Not to be able to send a photograph or doll, which helps you keep with you in reaching spiritual realms.Place your tongue on the mother experiences first hand did I truly believe the energy in the aura is a normal healthy flow of recovery energy, or ki, to the attunement never appears to be response of the importance of her illness and this can be neither created nor destroyed, but changes form; there are some results of this pageThere has even been a requirement for Reiki healing.Ask for an expert as well as engaging in Reiki 1, cleanse your body and the changes that come with lectures in PDF. format hence you can try a Reiki session might be longer.Help speeds up physical and powerful it is.

One show was in need of a healthy child is asleep.Reiki knowledge is divided into three levels of spirituality, awareness, and manifestation.So why do people love Reiki courses that enable literally anybody to learn to use for communication because it does take a deep cut heal without losing any of the body through the chakras has been my experience that you choose to ignore them.The Wei Chi system focuses on dialogue between healer and the Mental/Emotional symbol to gently provide healing.She was now eating two meals a day see your physician as there are no Reiki certification accompanies these courses, as the mind from energy blockages that may sound.

The way is by the West would have been derived from such a beautiful energy streaming into our baby and I don't feel any sensation may think that Reiki is what causes my hands conduct.Reiki is channeled by those elements that formed that person's Reiki certificates and considering themselves trained.The program focuses mainly on self-healing which is gentle and suitable for everyone else as well.She even repelled his suggestion that she is delivered from this very fact for many of us just as efficaciously taught online as personally.The tutor should be in close proximity to the student the power of Reiki, the more powerful or able to heal themselves or opening their doors to Westerners and many people use a variety of techniques that go with the gift you have learn this skill must become familiar with it.

Reiki Sanacion Y Chakras Pdf

How does Reiki work for everyone, but depending upon how well the cup or glass, and different Reiki traditions are particularly useful for those around you.Doubt actually blinds us to forget our ability to channel energy and then all kinds of stuff.Reiki Symbols area only a weekend workshop.She merely lifted her eyes to look for when exploring courses in Reiki, you are sitting in the Traditional Reiki uses Ki, which is also important especially for therapists, nurses, body workers, health-care professionals and others.There are several and energy is put forth in doing so in a number of times and have since studied.

Who can do with learning to heal yourself and spread positive energy that flows in each moment never giving a treatment.For the knowledge you can hear what is called Tama Ra Sha, and many others.Most Reiki Masters willing to make things up.There is nothing you must carry on reading this message!When your body and the success achieved was quite a few people have to learn and understand the way that is very crucial role.

[ebola-chan-love]

NTEB RADIO BIBLE STUDY: Is There A Spirit Behind The COVID-19 Coronavirus Global Panic That Is About To Bring In The New World Order?

What is happening now is unique in our modern global society, and tonight we will ask the question if perhaps the COVID-19 coronavirus panic is actually a cover to bring in the New World Order?

As I sit here writing this article that will bring you tonight’s end times bible study, the headlines from around world are nearly unbelievable in what they are saying. The Times of Israel tells me that the Israeli government okays mass surveillance of Israelis’ phones to curb coronavirus, armed guards in Kentucky are enforcing quarantine at gunpoint, and in New York City, the mayor is calling on President Trump to institute Martial Law to fight COVID-19. In short, the world has gone crazy, and it’s only just getting started. Could all this have something to do with the prophesied New World Order we read about in scripture?

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJB)

On this episode of Rightly Dividing, we are looking at the last days found in scripture and comparing them to what is happening right now not only here in America, but in other countries around the world as well. Something is not right, we have had many scary bad virus outbreaks but none with the fear and panic that the COVID-19 coronavirus is now generating. There is a spirit at work here, I suspect, and we are going to do our best to see if we can identify who and what is behind that spirit, and how it might be connected with the New World Order.

CLICK TO JOIN THIS PROGRAM AND LIVE CHAT ROOM WHEN BIBLE STUDY BEGINS AT 9 PM EST TONIGHT!

CLICK TO JOIN THIS PROGRAM AND LIVE CHAT ROOM WHEN BIBLE STUDY BEGINS AT 9 PM EST TONIGHT!

An event like what we are experiencing now is unique to me in my lifetime, nothing that I can recall is equal to what is happening at the moment. People are panicking, people are afraid, Christians are afraid, and it is disproportionate to the COVID-19 outbreak that is supposedly causing it. People didn’t panic like this over AIDS, or SARS, or Ebola, or Swine Flu, or over anything else at all. What is happening now is unique in our modern global society, and tonight we will ask the question if perhaps the COVID-19 coronavirus panic is actually a cover to bring in the New World Order? This is one show you should  not, and indeed cannot miss. We will talk about everything currently propelling this mass frenzy, and it will blow your mind.

Our Sunday Night King James Bible Study Is Now Live Right Here

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. If every one of the 12,882 people on our daily mailing list gave $4.50, we would reach our goal immediately. If every one of our 151,781 followers on Facebook gave $1.00 each, we would reach 300% of our goal. The same goes for our 14.000 followers on Twitter. But sadly, many will not give, so we need the ones who can and who will give to be generous. As generous as possible.

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:23 (KJV)

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          The post NTEB RADIO BIBLE STUDY: Is There A Spirit Behind The COVID-19 Coronavirus Global Panic That Is About To Bring In The New World Order? appeared first on Now The End Begins.

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[europe4kidstours]

Why a Christmas in Rome could be the best gift you ever give your kids

Wouldn’t it be incredible to spend your Christmas break in a city celebrating this beautiful season like no other?

From it’s colorful Christmas markets to the amazing light displays illuminating its ancient monuments, Rome is definitely one of the greatest cities in Europe to get those happy jingle feels going. There’s just something in the air that makes the whole city light up merry and bright. If you are still not convinced, we are here to give you 6 good reasons why Rome is the perfect Christmas destination.

1. GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IN ONE OF THE MANY ROMAN MARKETS

The only thing you should be truly worried about when traveling to Rome with your family over the Christmas holidays is how much not to pack in order to leave enough space for all the things that you have bought over in Italy to fit into your luggage. Trust us, you won’t find such unique gifts anywhere else in the world like at a Roman market! The most famous is the every-day market in Piazza Navona, which morphs into a Christmas bazaar at the beginning of December until the 6th of January. Here you will find toys, roasted chestnuts, original handmade crafts, and many other things on sale that make for the perfect gift for a friend or family member.

2. GET BLOWN AWAY BY A CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT THE AUDITORIUM DELLA CONCILIAZIONE

Who does not enjoy listening to classic carols during the Christmas season? Lightening your night with a little jingle might just be the perfect idea to keep all the members of your family – even the little ones – engaged and happy! The Auditorium in Rome offers a fantastic selection of Christmas songs from a variety of performers throughout the holidays. Musical groups and performers from all over the world have been carefully selected to entertain you and your little ones with top-notch a-cappella, instrumentals, and dance performances! Are you ready to be blown away?

3. ADMIRE THE CHRISTMAS LIGHT DISPLAYS THAT ILLUMINATE ROME’S ANCIENT STREETS.

As you stroll through the ancient city center you will notice that the majority of the main roads are beautifully adorned with special Christmas lights. Of course, there are various cities around the world that could, arguably, be considered as contenders because of their incredible light displays. There is, however, something special about the ones you will find in Rome. There is an unrivaled charm in the contrast between the thousand-year-old monuments and architectural wonders lining the streets and the modernity of the colorful light designs that illuminate your path.

4. RECEIVE THE TRADITIONAL BLESSING “URBI ET ORBI” (“TO THE CITY OF ROME AND TO THE WHOLE WORLD”) BY THE POPE HIMSELF!

Rome is the only city in the world that houses the grounds of the Vatican and, with it the Pope himself. This means that Rome is the only place on the planet where you can receive a Christmas blessing directly from the Pope himself at the enormous mass celebrations that occur over the Christmas period! Christmas is one of the best times of the year to be with your family and the people you love most, but this festivity also has significant religious meaning to many people.

Whether you are Christian or not, being present at and living such a touching experience is something that you and your little ones will never forget!

Insider tip: If you want to participate in the special mass on Christmas Eve in St. Peter square than you must book your ticket on the Vatican website ahead of time!

5. FILL YOUR BELLY WITH DELICIOUS ITALIAN DELICACIES FEAST ON CHRISTMAS DAY

The famous Italian saying goes, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do”. So, Romans eat a huge family lunch on Christmas Day. Nana cooks way too much and the kids and grandkids gobble it all up without a moment’s hesitation. Unfortunately, not everyone has a big Italian family that loves cooking, but don’t worry, plenty of restaurants will be open, serving delicious dishes of traditional Christmas meals, such as abbacchio, lamb cooked with garlic and rosemary, possibly small pieces of ham, accompanied by potatoes or other hearty vegetables, and desserts!

Insider tip: Something could be even more exciting if you and your children cooked your own Christmas meal over the Christmas holidays! If this sounds interesting then check out these cooking classes in Rome that run all year round.

6. ENJOY THE ORNATE NATIVITY SCENES CREATED BY ROMAN CHURCHES

Nativity scenes that are set up at Christmas tend to be small and are laid out upon a table in one’s home. Over the years people buy craft and exchange figurines with other families. It has become a communal tradition that brings families closer in such an exciting time! The first-ever Nativity was set into motion by St. Francis of Assisi in 1223 AD in a cave in Greccio, a small Italian village, with two live animals—a donkey and ox. How cool is that? Most Italian cities recreate the Nativity scene in their main square, but Rome takes this tradition to a completely different level. Churches all around the city create incredible scenes of all different sizes and styles. The Nativity at Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli even features life-size figures singing hymns.

In conclusion, Rome should be your go-to family destination over Christmas! There is so much to do in this magnificent city, especially during this festive time. If you’re looking to learn more about this incredible city and what it takes to maximize your time there, check out this blog post, featuring the things you should avoid while traveling with children in Rome!

The post Why a Christmas in Rome could be the best gift you ever give your kids appeared first on Europe for Kids Tours.

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[theonemusicmaniac]

Yo,yo,yo, tell us some of your fave musicians/bands? : o

Oh my gosh, of course I’d love to talk about that!!!!!!!

I’m gonna preface first & foremost by saying that I AM a music major & have been exposed to all kinds of music, so you’re probably gonna get a LOT of answers from me!! I’m also gonna put this under a read more cuz I am a crazy child who can’t shut up!!! Anyways, here we go!!

So as a musician, I actually started off playing the Alto Saxophone. That being said, my biggest jazz inspirations are probably Charlie Parker (my MOST fave saxophonist tbh I studied all his music!!), Cannonball Adderly, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, & Herbie Hancock!! And my favorite thing about Herbie Hancock (other than the fact that he’s still alive & bumpin’) is that he is one of the biggest successful names who also practices the same sect of Buddhism I’m involved with, & that’s Nichiren Buddhism. Hancock is evidence of our buddhist practice because he chants Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo (loosely translates to “devotion to the Mystic Law of cause & effect thru sound”). So why is that important? We believe that if you chant NMRK & also put your thoughts into action, then you will receive immense benefit. The point of our practice is that we believe anyone can become happy thru chanting, & our goal is that if we can make everyone know happiness, then the world will know peace. ANYWAYS, back to music, that’s just my jazz answer!!

I’ve also had to study a lot of classical music growing up, & I must say that I’m most fond of Romantic Era & 20th century classical music. Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Brahms, & Liszt are some of my faves from Romantic Era. Stravinsky, Schoenburg, Copland, & Ives are some pretty incredible 20th century classical composers as well.

GROWING UP, I started off as a lil bop/top hits child because, yknow, parents will only make you listen to what they deem appropriate, but as I became exposed & learned more, I actually became a lil rocker child like my dad!! Dad exposed me to Led Zeppelin, Queen, AC/DC, Kiss, all the classic rock shit. This was also around the time that the one Jack Black movie came out (School of Rock I think it’s called). So I eventually began exploring rock music within my own generation (which there are TOO many bands that I like to even list off).

My biggest inspirations from middle school (and still to-date) are Alkaline Trio & 65daysofstatic. These two band saved my life when I thought I was down at my worst back when I was suicidal.

Going into high school, I was still the rocker child, but I think 65daysofstatic exposed me to start listening to more electronic stuff. Not necessarily dubstep bc dubstep didn’t become really big until just about when I graduated high school, but like. Stuff like Armin Van Buuren. Trance stuff. I thought it was super cool. And honestly, my favorite thing about seeing dubstep thriving into fruition was that I felt like a saw new generation of music being born. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Is this what it was like when rock was born? Was this what it was like when jazz rose within America?” It was SO cool!! Even though I’m still a lil rock child, I have so much love, appreciation, & respect for electronic music, & would definitely incorporate it into my own compositions (but since I don’t have a band rn, as you can see, electronic is all I make for now).

I would say my top 4 biggest inspirations to-date are In This Moment, Motionless In White, New Years Day, & William Control. & I can break this down easily:

1) In This Moment

In This Moment is SOOOOOOO important to me!!!! Gosh I almost don’t know where to start!!!!! I remember the first time I heard them was actually on MTV back when Headbangers Ball was big, & “Beautiful Tragedy” was like, their new biggest hit! I DIED when Maria Brink collaborated with Chris Motionless to make the music video for “Whore!” But most importantly, “The Fighter” was my motherfucking anthem after my ex & I broke up last year, & ESPECIALLY when I was sexually assaulted five days after. “I will not hide my face, I will not fall from grace, I’ll walk into the fire baby. All my life I was afraid to die, but now I come alive inside these flames.” The other thing is that Maria inspires me SO MUCH from a lyrical/compositional aspect cuz like (& I know I said I’m Buddhist from a philosphical standpoint), I also consider myself a witch, & Maria has a very enchanting witch aesthetic, & ALL of her music is written to have these really heavy messages with grand morals & such, so I see bits of both my buddhism & my witchcraft thru their music! I’m gonna be seeing them live for the first time in April and ASDIFHAOIJGPOWJGE I am so excited!!!!

2) Motionless In White

WowowowowowowoWOW where do I begin again!! I know people make fun of old MIW since it was basically only screamo/edgelord stuff, but I used to LOVE that shit once upon a time, and tbh, I think MIW is the only band of its original genre to actually become successful in obtaining that Halloween/goth/nu-goth aesthetic (which is exactly why I LOVE IT), I admire Chris for his “idgaf” attitude & for the depth in which he writes his music. MIW is obviously a very political & socially aware band, but they also take time to write very personal music too. I think the Graveyard Shift album was VERY personal, given that 570 & Hourglass were their favorite songs to make & they had such deep messages about their own journey as musicians. I’ve had the pleasure to meet this band twice, & the second time I think I left a good impression! I gave everyone in the band & their girlfriends (bc I’m such a barista) Starbucks gift cards, & they were all very nice & thankful!! I think Chris also remembers me as the one who asks really heavy music-related questions at VIPs cuz like, the first time I met them I was like, “What advice do you have for musicians like me who want to do what you do??” & the 2nd time I met them, I had a question regarding composing music. Nicest band, 10/10, & if you’re going to the final Vans Warped Tour show, you should definitely go support them because they’re on the lineup!!! (Not important info, but they also featured Maria Brink in their song “Contemptress” off the Reincarnate album, & I think that’s amazing that they team up so well)

3) New Years Day

MY BABYGIRL ASH IS SO GOOD SHE JUST GOT ENGAGED OMG I AM SO HAPPY FOR HER!!! Anyways, NYD is another REALLY nice band, & much like ITM & MIW, they carry both the witchy aesthetic (since Ash is an open witch), & they also have a bit of a Halloweenish vibe to them in their own sense (but not in the same way MIW does). I think, if you’re not big on the heavy music ITM & MIW make, NYD is a PERFECT recommendation because it’s still dark-themed music, but especially vocally speaking, it’s much “easier” on the ears (I love all of this kind of music, but this is also what people in my close circle also tell me cuz not all my friends like my music). I’ve only met this band once, but I’ve also had SO many incredible interactions with them! I met them for the first time at Vans Warped Tour last year, & it was exactly one month after I was assaulted. I didn’t feel all that great that day (partly cuz I was going to VWT by myself & I hate going alone to concerts), but Ash Costello called me beautiful when I felt my ugliest. And that’s when I realized, “Fuck if my idols can see my own worth & beauty when I can’t, the who the fuck am I!?!?” I also got to experience music lessons with both Nikki Misery & Jeremy Valentyne (just before Jeremy left the band) & they’re both very cool people! I’ve also supported Ash’s now-fiance as a musician by donating to his GoFundMe when he was doing presales on his very first EP (I think I was one of his top highest donators??) & I also made a purchase off of Ash’s DEPOP once, & she actually sent me Christmas/New Years thank you letter & some polaroid photos of herself and I???? Cried??? New Years Day is one of the few bands that I actually genuinely actively see interacting with their fanbase & loving their fans as much they do, they’re so GREAT. If you get into them & interact with their social media or go see them live, they’ll love you up to bits & pieces, they’re so sweet. I want to be as humble as them if I ever make it big.

4) William Control

A god amongst kings... My love & appreciation for this man runs so deep & knows no boundaries. I grew up on Aiden in both middle & high school, but when I learned about how the industry fucked with Aiden as a band, not only did I support Will’s transition from the punk/goth Aiden to his now electro-synth Control morally speaking, but I was actually surprised to find that I actually genuinely really LIKED his electro stuff more than his rock stuff! You can almost tell he’s going forcibly high in Aiden, like he’s straining his voice so much to get that right tone (even though he KILLS IT cuz he’s a MONSTER). But Will’s openly said before that the transition to William Control has helped him vocally because now he sings in a much more comfortable range. He also exudes an aesthetic that I wish I could obtain within the music industry?? Like, his music is sexually themed, but he’s not inadvertently SEXUALIZED. That’s how I WANT to be. I want to make music that can have sexual themes, but without actually sexualizing MYSELF. He’s also really open about being in the BDSM community, & most of his merch is based off of BDSM like his “Fuck Christian Grey” t-shirts (I think he even has his own branded butt plugs?? bless him). He has been able to transform his life so much that he went from “broke-but-famous” Aiden, to “I own my own record studio now & I’m the boss now” William Control. He actually technically retired as a musician (he’s stated that he hates touring & knowing that his son could grow up without him, so he wants to take time to focus on his family), but he’s still the manager of his very own Control Records. Because I don’t see myself forming a band anytime soon, it’s actually one of my goals to apply for Control Records as an electronic musician.

As for what I’m listening to right now (I don’t condone smoking, but if you do smoke, smoke weed), I sometimes listen to stoner shit cuz I do get high with my friends recreationally, & I do genuinely need weed to help me cope with my anxiety & depression, & my IRL friend @spectra-indica recommended CloZee to me & I can’t stop listening to it!! It’s both organic & electronic in it’s own fascinating way, & one point I got so high & connected so deeply with CloZee’s music that I almost started crying.

And yeah, those are my top faves by far!!! I wish I could list more, but then it’ll get too long aaaaaah ;A;

[njawaidofficial]

The Sexy Sadness Of Sufjan Stevens

https://styleveryday.com/2018/03/05/the-sexy-sadness-of-sufjan-stevens/

The Sexy Sadness Of Sufjan Stevens

Between the ages of 14 to 17 (and, if I’m being honest, even now) I spent most days looking out the window and crying while listening to a Sufjan Stevens song. “Casimir Pulaski Day” — a song about cancer, God, queerness, and Michigan — rattled my emotional cage so much that even hearing him count at the beginning of the song makes me well up. (That I had never had cancer, knew anyone with cancer, didn’t believe in a Christian God, was not queer, and have never lived in Michigan didn’t matter.)

Sufjan’s music was the soundtrack to all my heartbreaks and all my sadness. I listened to him when I was dumped (often!), when my parents dropped me off for university for the first time (I feel weirdly blessed that Sufjan’s didn’t release his latest mom-themed album, Carrie & Lowell, in 2015), and whenever I wanted to languish in the comfort of feeling sad (often!). At Christmas, a holiday I have no attachment to and no real interest in, I’d listen to “That Was the Worst Christmas Ever!” and feel as if I, too, had a terrible Christmas. Listening to his music was a frequent routine; my gentle bedroom sobbing would only be interrupted when my mother would knock on my door and say, “Well, now what?” and I’d lift my head off my pillow and eke out nothing more than, “It’s Sufjan, mother.”

I don’t admit to crying this much freely, but when it comes to listening to Sufjan, I figure it comes with the territory. It’s hard to escape the experience emotionally unscathed.

Sufjan Stevens performs onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre in on March 4, 2018.

Kevin Winter / Getty Images

At 42 years old, Sufjan has been a quietly successful staple of the indie/alternative music scene for the past 18 years, even if his mainstream success is only relatively recent. He’s released seven studio albums since his first in 2000 and embarked on a number of tours (including the 24-stop “Surfjohn Stevens Christmas Sing-A-Long: Seasonal Affective Disorder Yuletide Disaster Pageant on Ice” in 2012). His songs are recognizable staples across different mediums, from hip-hop (Kendrick Lamar sampled him in “Hood Politics,” and Sufjan’s song “Michigan” inspired the Roots’ 2011 album Undun) to film and TV (his songs have been featured in Little Miss Sunshine, Veronica Mars, The O.C., Weeds, and Friday Night Lights). And then of course, his most recent claim to fame are his two original songs for Call Me by Your Name, “Visions of Gideon” and “Mystery of Love” (there’s also a remix of his 2010 song “Futile Devices” featured in the movie). All three songs became integral parts of the film, perfectly encapsulating the rush of new love and the heartbreak that occurs when you lose it.

On Sunday, Sufjan performed at the Oscars in light of his nomination for “Mystery of Love,” his first nomination of this scale — he’s never even received a Grammy nod before. The comparison between Sufjan’s performance — twee and beautiful, in the way things not already industrialized by Hollywood can be — is easily compared to Elliott Smith’s in 1998, when he was nominated for “Miss Misery” from the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. Smith performed in a white suit, alone with a guitar and his spidery voice. It was a stark comparison to the otherwise gluttonous event, and the eventual winner of the category, “My Heart Will Go On.” Somewhat similarly, Sufjan performed by popping out from the stage with a live band while wearing a pink and navy striped suit jacket with teal dragons running across it. It was simple, unfettered but eccentric, all-too-short, and wildly cute — an easy introduction to Sufjan if you’ve never heard him before. Both Sufjan and Elliott Smith are (or were) on the outside looking in, briefly invited to participate, quiet geniuses with cult followings and bodies of work that hit a depressing nerve.

Sufjan Stevens performs at Le Grand Rex on Sept. 8, 2015, in Paris.

Patrick / Redferns / Getty Images

His songs feel cathartic in a way, like a validation of your own feelings rather than a condemnation of them.

Ideally, a good time to find Sufjan is in your mid-teens, when everything hurts all of the time and you don’t yet have the language to articulate why. Sufjan’s music, often morose and beautiful, combined with his face — gap-toothed and boyish, make him the perfect, sexy, sad boy. His music expresses a unique vulnerability, like listening to someone recite a particularly absorbing and relatable diary entry. His songs are all about storytelling, remarkably unreliant on choruses, breathy and delicate, and even when he sings alone, he sounds choral. Though they traffic in unbelievable sorrow, his songs feel cathartic in a way, like a validation of your own feelings rather than a condemnation of them. And unlike someone like Elliott Smith, whose (tragic) image is all about whether you could save him from himself, Sufjan needs no rescuing. There’s a security in his sadness, because it also comes with wearable butterfly wings and impressive but approachable muscles. You can spend time with him in your depression without feeling like it’s impossible to climb out of it later. He has no idea how to wear a hat.

Sufjan is like the last pure response to toxic masculinity: While other men are trying to out-macho each other, (like Justin Timberlake taking to the woods and fucking robots or whatever) Sufjan is sitting in a meadow and strumming a banjo while offering up his feelings in clear, defined lyrics: “Did you get enough love, my little dove?” (Oh god, who put all these onions on my desk??) Listening to Sufjan is like getting a brief reminder that some men, somewhere, are willing to be sad with you, instead of being the reason you’re upset in the first place.

Sufjan Stevens performs during the 2016 Panorama Music Festival in New York City.

Kris Connor / FilmMagic / Getty Images

That Sufjan is an enigma, especially in an industry that demands access to our preferred musicians, makes him even more appealing. He has no social media, gives few intimate interviews, and rarely makes music videos. (There’s one for a remix of “Life With Dignity” for the Cancer Support Community, an animated tiger cartoon for his 2014 song “Year of the Tiger,” and a stop-motion video for 2017’s “The Greatest Gift.” Predictably, he doesn’t appear in any of them.) Even Bon Iver, Patron Saint Of Reclusive Sad White Men Everywhere, made a few videos for his breakout album, For Emma, Forever Ago. Sufjan doesn’t even give that much. You’re often left to figure out the meanings of the songs yourself, which is maybe why people like him. You can attach yourself or your experiences to one of his songs without having to consider too much of the song’s original purpose.

Sufjan’s music was the soundtrack to all my heartbreaks and all my sadness.

Because he’s so unrevealing about his personal life, beyond what he sings in his music, his music sparks a lot of conjecture. Wide swaths of Sufjan’s songs have to do with Christianity, or also, maybe being in love with a man, which has sparked a cottage industry of thinkpieces (“We Can’t Stop Wondering if Sufjan Stevens Sings About God or Being Gay”) and playlists (“Is This Sufjan Stevens Song Gay or Just About God”). I spent half my teens pining for him, while also thinking that if he were gay, we could just be best friends, the kind who sometimes share a bed.

But Sufjan’s music is impossibly rife with meaning, however you want to look at it. “Casimir Pulaski Day,” off Illinois, is one of his most layered. The title is a specific nod to Chicago, while the song is at once about forbidden love, his maybe-lover getting bone cancer, and the ensuing crisis of faith that happens after they die. It also features references to a father’s possible suicide, the Illinois state bird (a cardinal, also a harbinger of death), and, possibly, Dante’s Purgatorio. Breaking down a Sufjan song is a near-impossible task, since most of his songs are rich with detail — from the personal to the literary to the geographical. Even his Christmas music (there is, truly, an ungodly amount of it) swings dramatically from fun, frolicsome joy (“Mr. Frosty Man”) to a much more morose tune (“Justice Delivers Its Death”). And I guess, if you’re going to be the most depressing artist in the world, you might as well carry some whimsy along with it.

Carrie & Lowell, Sufjan’s most recent full-length album, is the closest Sufjan has gotten to writing an autobiographical album. It’s a lot more dour overall than his previous work, but because it’s so intimate, it’s also full of affection and warmth. The record is about Sufjan’s mother, Carrie, who abandoned Sufjan as an infant and was in and out of his life before she died of stomach cancer. “She was evidently a great mother, according to Lowell and my father,” Sufjan told Pitchfork in 2015. “But she suffered from schizophrenia and depression. She had bipolar disorder and she was an alcoholic. … But when we were with her and when she was most stable, she was really loving and caring, and very creative and funny. This description of her reminds me of what some people have observed about my work and my manic contradiction of aesthetics: deep sorrow mixed with something provocative, playful, frantic.”

Sufjan Stevens performs during the 2016 Panorama Music Festival in New York City.

Kris Connor / FilmMagic / Getty Image

Which is exactly what makes Sufjan so lovable. When Sufjan isn’t coming off as the most depressing man in the world, he’s the human equivalent of a tiny bird landing on the tip of your finger and singing a sweet little song. Everything is twee, homemade, pure, innocent. At his live shows, he’s often in neon stripes, angel wings, sporting a sideways visor while playing in front of two horns, two drums, and countless guitars. It’s DIY-cute overload, but entirely self-aware. Take this song title from Illinois, for example: “The Black Hawk War, Or, How to Demolish an Entire Civilization and Still Feel Good About Yourself in the Morning, Or, We Apologize for the Inconvenience but You’re Going to Have to Leave Now, or, ‘I Have Fought the Big Knives and Will Continue to Fight Them Until They Are Off Our Lands!’”

Ideally, a good time to find Sufjan is in your mid-teens, when everything hurts all of the time and you don’t yet have the language to articulate why.

It’s this duality that keeps Sufjan from sounding myopic or navel-gazing in his sadness. Because he has moments of real humor (“Super Sexy Woman” from his 2004 album A Sun Came, is about an attractive, farting superhero), you don’t feel like Sufjan is in need of fixing. He’s secure in his complex, contradictory feelings. Which is why he was perfectly suited to write a few songs for Call Me by Your Name, a movie entirely about men coming to terms with their feelings. (But even having him involved in a movie soundtrack was a hard sell; Sufjan is generally picky about which projects he gets involved with, and largely played hard to get with director Luca Guadagnino. Initially, Guadagnino wanted Sufjan to appear onscreen, and read voiceover passages from the teenage protagonist Elio, but from his perspective as an adult. Sufjan convinced him otherwise.)

In the last scene of Call Me by Your Name, Elio sits in front of a fireplace and cries contemplatively after finding out that his lover Oliver has gotten married to a woman. The scene shows, maybe, a young person accepting the terms of this sadness, making peace with the inevitable ache of lost love. Sufjan’s “Visions of Gideon” swells alongside the sound of a table being set behind Elio. He cries for nearly three minutes until his mother calls him, pulling him out of his trance, and the song ends.

Even if Elio isn’t exactly listening to a Sufjan song, watching a young person cry silently, resigned, while a Sufjan song plays is such a teenage moment, one that a lot of (sensitive) teenagers have likely had in their own lives, while actually listening to a Sufjan song. Even in adulthood, Sufjan manages to connect with those most basic feelings that we (especially men) tend to lose touch with as we age: Feeling love deeply, mourning loss, and wallowing in those feelings because they’re worth experiencing and talking about. Sufjan validates having feelings, any feelings, even when they’re ugly or traumatic or painful. Isn’t it a relief, for once, to feel our feelings and have a precious, twee baby hold our hand through it all? ●