#i must be the virgin mary to create a son who will suffer so much...........

[barrenclan]

unsure if this has been said before but please let me get what i want (the deftones vers specifically) feels very fitting for pinepaw or maybe even rainhaze. the family guys who are almost foils to each other when they're both going through a messy rough time 🤝

I really like this suggestion, because Morrissey is my current voiceclaim for Pinepaw so he's very Smiths-coded in my mind.

Haven't had a dream in a long time See, the life I've had Could make a good man bad

So for once in my life Let me get what I want Lord knows it would be the last time Lord knows it would be the first time

Oh my friend, British men screeching is just about my favorite musical styling.

Want land in the valley There's pieces of you breaking off (Pieces of you breaking off)

Big money's in the basin, you don't come back without it He's killing with abandon to get over the mountain Got darkest rum from Mama, seething in the liver Blood disease from Papi, poisoning the river

Friends on the Other Side works pretty well for Ranger, at the very least his attitude. Rainhaze's deal came from desperation rather than greed, but I do like things that speak to his thoughtless self-centeredness and hero complex.

That's a Rainhaze song if I ever heard one!

Stuck in the middle of a forest made of Flesh and bones and they're all scared of A lost little boy who has lost his heart Fear's not enough, they have to Tear him apart

Follow the scent of iron sinking Deeper into corpses rotting But they can't hear you talk, talk, talk About every little thing

And the Hound Is humming you A lie, a lullaby

Ohh, yeah... I can see it.

I wonder who I'd be If all these bad things Didn't happen to me

I must be The Virgin Mary To create a son Who will suffer so much <- the sloug.......

The tone of the song is pretty light, but I can see the lyrics working! Especially drawing parallels between the original great destruction and the current onslaught.

Oh god, come quickly The execution of all things Let's start with the bears and the air And mountains, rivers and streams Then we'll murder what matters to you And move on to your neighbors and kids Crush all hopes of happiness with disease 'Cause of what you did

And lastly, you're all alone with nothing left but sleep But sleep never comes to you It's the guilt and forever wakefulness of the weak It's just you and me

Ah, that musical is on my watchlist but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I've heard pretty good things, though!

I roar! And you cry! I'm the reason You run and hide!

You better leave your hopes behind No one's gonna stop him You better hope he's out of sight Or you're doomed to be a victim

Objectively wild pull, but I do love Johnny Cash, and his voice reminds me a lot of what Mallowstar's would be like. I like this song a lot with him. :,]

Well, I won't back down, no I won't back down You can stand me up at the gates of Hell But I won't back down

Well, I know what's right, I got just one life In a world that keeps on pushin' me around But I stand my ground and I won't back down <- wahh mallowstar...

I'd definitely this has big Slugpelt energy.

Dear, I fear we're facing a problem You love me no longer, I know And maybe there is nothing That I can do to make you do Mama tells me I shouldn't bother

Lately I have desperately pondered, Spent my nights awake and I wonder What I could have done in another way To make you stay

It's a pretty good song!

YAY Queen song! This is interesting; I can see it very well with characters that are still a spoiler to talk about.

So much ado, my lover So many games we played Through every fleeted summer Through every precious day

All dead, all dead All the dreams we had And I wonder why I still live on All dead, all dead And alone, I'm spared My sweeter half instead All dead and gone

Damn I ran out of video links

[ptsdickgrayson]

I must be the Virgin Mary to create a son who will suffer so much

[august-undergrounds]

i must have been the virgin mary to create a son who will suffer so much

[noodlenirvana21]

Religious Trauma and What I Have Reflected on Through my Brother’s School Project

The concept of Machismo

Machismo is the concept of what it means to be a “man”, “masculine”, or “manly”, which is used to create a patriarchal structure that encapsulates Hispanic culture [editor’s note: I’m not saying Latino because that would include the Portuguese colony of Brazil and other colonies in Latin America. For the purposes of this short essay I’ll be limiting it to Hispanic Catholicism as I live it and understand it]. Machismo defines a code of conduct specifically for men but affects women as well; the Catholic religion that permeates Latin America as the dominant religion maintains this structure by stressing the significance of its religious figures and virtues. The virtue of preserving one’s purity by conserving their virginity until marriage is something that is expected of men and women, but machismo is more lenient of men breaking this virtue. In machismo culture, it is recognized that men can be “animals” and adopt a “boys will be boys” type of mindset, so to speak. Women, on the other hand, are much more likely to suffer negative social consequences if they do not remain chaste. They either lose their position in society, bring shame to their families, tarnish their reputation, or could suffer severe physical and emotional harm by the hands of their family members or community. If there is a pregnancy, it is the responsibility of the woman to carry the baby to term. Under Catholicism, abortion is extremely frowned upon, even if the baby was the product of an assault, if the mother’s health is at risk, or for any reason that the mother deems an abortion as necessary. In the family unit, while the father is the one who has the final say at the end of the day, it’s the mother who is in charge of running the household, and the one responsible for educating the children in the family to follow/uphold religious traditions. Internalized misogyny in machismo culture is very prevalent among women, so their sons get taught to expect to be taken care of by the women in their lives, whether they be their mothers, sisters, or wives. This gets further reinforced when you think about Biblical figures, specifically Jesus and his followers. All of the apostles are men, but some show themselves to be weak-willed (like the story of Peter attempting to stay awake when Jesus told him to or when Judas betrays Jesus), but his most loyal followers like the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene are not afforded this privilege, even if they’re the ones taking care of him and the first to check on him the day of his resurrection. In the same vein, machismo reflects this by providing the men the capacity to do as they wish, while the women must provide them with their needed comforts so that they can rule (whether the home or country) and focus on other “male-dominated” tasks. 

The Bible is a document written by men, with very few instances of the reader being able to see through the perspective of the women in each book. We could judge the Bible for gatekeeping female voices, although we also need to take into consideration that at the time of these writings, it was much more common for men to be able to read and write, as many people did not know how and needed to communicate their stories orally. As it stands however, because the Bible has a primarily male-dominant bias, some feminist approaches of the Bible have kept its historical context at the forefront of any interpretations, and might use it as a tool to guide their morals (and adaptable/malleable for the current time period) rather than a code of conduct set in stone to be followed verbatim regardless of era/time period. 

The concept of Marianismo

Marianismo is the veneration of feminine virtues and is intertwined with the concept of machismo. Where machismo is used as a guide to shaping the virtues of men, marianismo molds the values of women and upholds chastity, family, self-sacrifice, and self-silencing. It upholds the belief that women are spiritually superior to men, which is why they are expected to fight against their “animalistic” instincts and have a higher degree of chastity than men. The word marianismo comes from the Virgin Mary, who is heralded as an extremely important figure in Hispanic Catholicism for her self-sacrifice, purity, loyalty, and modesty. Women are encouraged to remain true to these virtues and will be shamed if they fail to do so. Marianismo is complicated as a concept–while it emphasizes the divinity of femininity and uplifts women as “morally superior” to men (which can be seen as a positive influence on women), marianismo also limits women by having such morally high expectations of them that they can’t fail like a normal human being can. When machismo is learned by men through their mothers and grandmothers, marianismo is learned among women who will hold each other accountable to the strict guidelines that it imposes. Some expectations are: 

Bad women enjoy premarital sex, good women only comply when it’s a marriage requirement. It is only for procreation purposes, not for enjoyment of any kind. 

Women should show emotional restraint and not show joy. 

Women should grieve heavily over family members–it is expected for women to wear black and be in mourning (de luto) for the rest of their lives once their husband passes away. If they attempt to move on with their lives, try to find love or companionship, or do anything that might soothe them emotionally after their spouse’s passing, this is extremely frowned upon. The longer you keep in mourning the more respected you become, and even recognized as a woman of high virtue if you keep this until your own death. 

You, as a woman, are not allowed to put your own needs first. You need to put your husband first, your children first, your parents first, and you are encouraged not to look after yourself at all because that is a selfish thing to do. You need to withstand anything that happens unto you by your husband, regardless of severity (divorce is also extremely frowned upon, as any divorcees become pariahs). Autonomy and independence? BAD. Keeping your family’s needs at the center of your universe at all times, even if you’re being abused or if it’s killing you from the inside? GOOD. 

You’re not allowed to be gay. Why are you gay. 

Do not disrespect your husband or your elders. 

You should always be agreeable. The phrase “te ves más bonita calladita” gets used a lot and has even been said to me here and there in childhood. Self-censorship is important. 

God these were all painful to write. The concepts of machismo and marianismo have contributed to the prevalence of gender-based violence, with many women being told “y que le has hecho?”, which means “what did you do to him [their husband] to deserve your punishment?”. When machismo encourages male aggression, marianismo encourages female passivity and restraint, which foments the patriarchal structure that is found in Hispanic Catholic culture. The men lead and the women follow, which is why God is our Father and not our Mother, Jesus is His Son and was not born a woman, and the Apostles are all men. That’s why saying things like “God is a woman” sound so radical to us–the idea that our All-Powerful Being could take a female form or have a feminine energy is inconceivable as it’s the men that are supposed to take charge and create structure and order. As I’ve stated, the Bible is a document written by only men. There is no evidence that God is our Father and not our Mother, which demonstrates a male bias that is encouraged in Hispanic Catholicism. Male dominance is justified by Biblical passages. The famous image of the Virgin Mary holding Jesus (a work of art called the Pietá, modeled after the Lamentation of Christ) after he was crucified is an example–while yes, you would hope that your mother would hold you the same way if you were in that position, this imagery also represents something more. The woman is meant to take care of the man, stand behind him, take a passenger seat while he becomes the main character, and stay with him whether in life or death. Your existence is not your own–you exist to obey and comply to men. If you want to take down machismo, you need to target the expectations that marianismo has of women. Let’s turn marianismo on its head for a moment. If women are uplifted to be these spiritually superior beings, then why are they not allowed to rule with an iron fist in the home? Why should they allow men, who are equal to animals, to do as they wish and harm their bodies? Why do they not have the platform to shame men into fulfilling their roles as providers and leaders who must take care of the people they have under their protection? If you do not put yourself first, how can you even be considered capable of taking care of everyone else if your own body/mind/soul is torn apart and you’re screaming for help on the inside? If women are required to be emotionally and spiritually disciplined, I would expect them to be much more capable leaders than men, as good leadership requires a level-headed person who won’t make rash or impulsive decisions based on poor emotional control. It just makes sense but marianismo/machismo won’t have it that way, I suppose.

[yrpuppet]

I MUST BE THE VIRGIN MARY TO CREATE A SON WHO SUFFERS SO MUCH!!!!!!!!

[husterikos]

I must be the Virgin Mary to create a son who will suffer so much

[thecatholicbozo]

(I hope it's okay to reblog & add my thoughts, let me know if not!) On the point about the creation of Woman - I think there are good arguments to be made for Woman being the capstone of Creation. At the end of most of the days of Creation, God sees that his work is "good," but on the 6th day with the creation of Man & Woman, "God saw everything that he he had made, and behold, it was VERY good." I think this perspective is most fully realized in the person of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is the most perfect of all God's creatures (and probably the most perfect of all of God's creating things period). On the devil depicted as serpent - not an answer so much as jumping ahead to future imagery. In Exodus, there is an event where the Israelites are bitten by asps & falling ill, and God commands Moses to make a graven image of a snake, to put it on a pole, and to show it to everyone, and they are cured of their snakebites. This incident gets referenced by Jesus in John 3:14-15 "And as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life." In other words, Jesus asserts himself to be the cure to the "snakebite" of sin we first suffered in Eden. Revelation 12 also has imagery of the devil as a dragon or serpent making war with Mary, Jesus, and his followers, which I must imagine was a conscious allusion to Genesis.

On prayer - one of the primary benefits of prayer (even when it feels dry), is turning your mind toward God. It's practice for listening & talking to him, especially in your moments of need. Knowing a couple verses of the Psalms to say a couple time throughout the day is especially good for difficult moments. Prayer in "dry" periods is good for building up the virtues of obedience & perseverance (when it is hard to pray, as opposed to when it is easy). Longer prayers like the Rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet give us good practice for dedicating decent chunks of our time & attention to God instead of more trivial & "shiny" things. I suspect the majority of most peoples' prayer life is fairly uninspiring & unremarkable (maybe I am just projecting lol), at least when it comes to vocal prayer. Meditative & contemplative prayer "feel" more "prayerful" when I've tried them, so you may have better a experience with that. Praying the psalms is one of the more fulfilling vocal prayers for me than some of the other vocal prayers - my favorites are Ps27, Ps42, Ps63, and especially Ps148. Either way, daily prayer is fundamental to growing in faith, so keep at it!

Day One: Genesis 1-3

4/22/24

I was gonna read through chapter 4 but this post was getting pretty long already so I decided to stop here. I did say I was prone to rambling...

Definitely not going to go this in-depth every single time 😅 my 12th grade Sacred Scripture class just happened to spend a lot of time on the Creation narrative so I have a lot of previous knowledge I want to share.

Genesis 1

Looking through my 12th grade theology notes on the creation narrative, I have a table there that looks like this:

Realm | Ruler Time | Sun, moon, stars Space | Birds Life | Land animals Sabbath | Man

I wish I had taken more in-depth notes. I feel like there should be much more to say on this but I can't elaborate. I think I understand what that means but not enough to explain it. Although, thinking of the sun, moon and stars as being created to "rule" light makes the idea of light being created before the sun make a little more sense to me.

"God said, 'let the earth produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, each bearing fruit of its own kind within it." Gen 1:11

Okay, maybe slightly off-topic, but I've always wondered if there were any foods that Jesus didn't like. Because I mean, he's God, so he created them, but he's also human, so I would assume that maybe that means he had the human experience of having certain foods he didn't care for. Did he ever eat a vegetable as a kid and then go "why did I make this"?

"God said, 'let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the earth.' Gen 1:26

Let US make man in OUR own image, in the likeness of OURSELVES. I never noticed that before. I thought it might just be this translation but I went and checked RSV and NAB and they both say that as well. Is God referring to himself as the trinity? All the way back in Genesis chapter 1? Or...am I just...thinking too hard about it?

This is one of the scenarios where I wish I could understand Hebrew because I want to go and read this passage in the original Hebrew. I'm marking this verse to come back to later.

Also, my favorite explanation of the Trinity and the one that makes the most sense to me is this: if human beings are made of a body, soul, and a will, and they are made in God's image, then God is also made of a body, soul, and a will—with Jesus as the body, the Father as the soul, and the Holy Spirit as the will.

Genesis 2

"But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you are not to eat; for the day you eat of that you shall die." Gen 2:17

From the footnotes: Eating from this tree means usurping the divine privilege of deciding what is good and what is evil; the temptation is to proud independence, questioning God's judgement of good and evil.

This is indeed the way the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was explained to me in 12th grade, which I am thankful for because it used to be so confusing to me when I was younger. I thought it meant that eating from the tree would grant the ability to tell the difference between good and evil, and I could never understand how that would be a bad thing.

It also makes perfect sense because it seems the root of practically all problems in society is that everyone has their own ideas about what constitutes moral goodness. Even as a bad Catholic who struggles to wrap her head around her own faith I cringe every time I hear the "you have your truth, I have mine" line.

"The LORD God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone. I shall make him a helper as a partner.'" Gen 2:18

My mom quotes this verse whenever my dad does something dumb.

"Then the LORD God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he was asleep, he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. The LORD God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man." Gen 2:21-22

According to my theology teacher, the ancient Hebrews believed the soul was contained in the chest/lungs and that the rib protected the soul; so Even being formed from a rib means women are built to be protectors of the soul..? Or...something like that. Again, I wish I'd taken more thorough notes.

There was also this thing I heard from somewhere else about how calling women inferior to men because Eve was created from a piece of Adam is dumb, because the pattern of creation is that each new thing God created was better than the last, and Eve was the last thing he created. But that sounds like a point a radical feminist would make so I'm sure that wasn't the whole explanation haha because I'm fairly certain the speaker was a conservative Catholic man.

Genesis 3

"Now, the snake was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. It asked the woman, 'Did God really say you were not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?'" Gen 3:1

I have always wondered why the devil is portrayed this way and that's still something I don't quite understand.

From the footnotes: In Hebr., 'snake' and 'dragon' are the same word; the dragon will lose its proud stance and become wormlike.

If we're imagining the serpent in the garden as not a tiny talking snake, but a giant monstrous serpent, it's sort of weird that Adam just...lets it chat with his wife. Because he was standing right there—

"She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it." Gen 3:6

Another thing my theology teacher said: "Every covenant failure begins with a man failing to stand up for his bride."

"Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths." Gen 3:7

I have a few things to say about this verse. The first is just that I've heard the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is believed to be a fig tree, both because it mentions Adam and Eve sew together fig leaves here and also because of that one passage in the New Testament where Jesus curses a fig tree.

Also, I noticed that the very first thing that happened after committing original sin was that Adam and Eve felt shame and immediately began to hide themselves from God.

I think there has to be some significance to their being ashamed of their naked bodies, something that relates to how throughout history human sexuality has been perverted, but it's not something I can put into words right now.

"He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you been eating from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?' The man replied, 'The woman you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.'" Gen 3:11

This was something else I heard: obviously God already knew that they ate from the tree; what he is doing here is giving them the chance to confess. Like, as in the sacrament of reconciliation, I think.

Also, Adam immediately pointing fingers at his wife like a kid trying to get out of a punishment. Very classy of him. Eve also tries to blame the serpent but I feel like it's a little worse that Adam tries to blame her, since they are supposed to be partners who love and protect each other.

"'I shall put enmity / between you and the woman, / and between your offspring and hers; / he will bruise your head / and you will strike his heel.'" Gen 3:15

First of all, does anyone know why verses 14-19 are written in this format that's reminiscent of books like Psalms and Isaiah?

Secondly—although, this is probably common knowledge so I probably don't need to say this here—

The woman's offspring = Jesus

He will bruise your head = Jesus will triumph over sin

You will strike his heel = At the same time, he will suffer and die

Okay! So, that was Genesis chapters 1 through 3. This turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be. Again, please do not expect this level of detail from me through this whole series. 😅

The thing is, I find this stuff fascinating and I can talk about it like this but when it comes to actually believing it I have such a hard time wrapping my head around it. Even with everything I learned in that class there's still so much I don't understand.

I suppose there will always be things I don't understand, because there are things that we don't even have definite answers to. And those are the gaps that faith is supposed to fill.

Here's one of the stupid questions I have that I mentioned in my first post: does reciting prayers make a difference?

Right now I especially struggle with prayer and reciting prayers such as the Our Father is the only way I feel I'm capable of praying right now. But it doesn't feel like anything. It just feels like me saying words, even if I try to reflect on what they mean. Should I still say them anyway? What value does it have if I don't feel like I'm actually connecting with God?

Thank you to anyone who actually took the time to read this whole thing (if anyone did, that is...) and especially thank you to the support I have already received. I feel welcomed :)

[genvy]

eva from mgs for the song lyric ask?

chick habit - april march

howl - alexandra savior

right round the clock - sorry

vow - garbage

susan smith - wych elm

[church-history]

Our Lady Of Akita

A few pious women known as the Institute of the Handmaids of the Holy Eucharist were leading a quiet, hidden life of prayer in Yuzawadai just outside of Akita when they welcomed into their novitiate Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, who was then 42 years old and a convert from Buddhism. When she entered on May 12, 1973, Agnes was totally and incurably deaf, however she was blessed with various mystical favors; soon this convent would become so well known that their little chapel would attract pilgrims from around the world.

The first miraculous event at Akita occurred on June 12, 1973, only a month after the entrance of Sr. Agnes:A brilliant light shone forth from the Tabernacle. This happened several times and was often accompanied by something resembling smoke which hung around the altar. During one of these illuminations Sr. Agnes saw ". . . a multitude of beings similar to Angels who surrounded the altar in adoration before the Host." Bishop Ito was staying at the convent to conduct a week of devotions. Sr. Agnes confided to him the circumstances of this vision, as well as all the events and apparitions that followed. Bishop Ito and the convent's spiritual director, Rev. Teiji Yasuda, were witnesses to many of the events.

Seitai Hoshikai Convent, Akita Japan

Sr. Agnes was also favored with visitations of her guardian Angel. Asked to describe the Angel, Sr. Agnes replied: "a round face, an expression of sweetness . . . a person covered with a shining whiteness like snow . . ." The guardian Angel confided various messages to the sister and often prayed with her, in addition to guiding and advising her.

On the evening of June 28, 1973, Sr. Agnes discovered on the palm of her left hand a cross-shaped wound that was exceedingly painful. On July 5, 1973, a small opening appeared in the center from which blood began to flow. Later, the pain would ease during most of the week except for Thursday nights and all day Friday, when the pain became almost unbearable.

Then on July 6 the guardian Angel appeared, telling Sr. Agnes: ". . . The wounds of Mary are much deeper and more sorrowful than yours. Let us go to pray together in the chapel." After entering the chapel the Angel disappeared. Sr. Agnes then turned to the statue of Mary situated on the right side of the altar.

The statue, which is approximately three feet tall had been carved from the hard wood of the Judea tree: it is a figure of Our Lady standing before a cross, her arms at her side with the palms of her hands facing forward. Beneath her feet is a globe representing the world.

When Sr. Agnes approached the statue, she said, "I suddenly felt that the wooden statue came to life and was about to speak to me . . . She was bathed in a brilliant light . . . and at the same moment a voice of indescribable beauty struck my totally deaf ears." Our Lady told her: ". . . Your deafness will be healed . . ." She then recited with Sr. Agnes the community prayer that had been composed by Bishop Ito. At the words "Jesus present in the Eucharist," Mary instructed, "From now on, you will add TRULY." Together with the Angel who again appeared, the three voices recited a consecration to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, TRULY present in the Holy Eucharist. Before disappearing, Our Lady asked that Sr. Agnes "pray very much for the Pope, bishops and priests . . ."

The next morning, when the sisters assembled for the recitation of Lauds, they found blood on the right hand of the statue and two lines which crossed, in the middle of which was an opening from which the blood flowed. The wound matched that on the hand of Sr. Agnes except that, since the statue's hand was smaller, its wound was smaller. It bled on the Fridays of July during the year 1973, as did the wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes.

One of the sisters wrote: "It seemed to be truly cut into flesh. The edge of the cross had the aspect of human flesh and one even saw the grain of the skin like a fingerprint. I said to myself at that moment that the wound was real . . ."

Of special noteworthiness, the drops of blood ran the length of the statue's hand, which was open and pointing downward, yet the drops never fell from the hand.

Sr. Agnes Sasagawa

The wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes appeared on Thursday, June 28. As predicted by the guardian Angel, the wound disappeared on Friday, July 27 without leaving a trace.

The second message of Our Lady came on August 3, 1973, a First Friday, when the heavenly voice from the statue warned:

". . . Many men in this world afflict the Lord . . . In order that the world might know His anger, the Heavenly Father is preparing to inflict a great chastisement on all mankind . . . I have prevented the coming of calamities by offering Him the sufferings of the Son on the Cross, His Precious Blood and beloved souls who console Him forming a cohort of victim souls. Prayer, penance and courageous sacrifices can soften the Father's anger . . . know that you must be fastened to the Cross with three nails. These three nails are poverty, chastity and obedience. Of the three, obedience is the foundation . . . When Sr. Agnes was professed, she pronounced these three vows. Although the wound on the hand of Sr. Agnes disappeared on July 27, the wound on the hand of the statue remained until its disappearance on September 29. At that time the statue emitted a bright light. The wound had remained for three months.

While wounds in the hands of the statue bled, Bishop Ito advises that, contrary to some reports, ". ..the statue did not sweat blood or weep blood at any time."

On the evening office of September 29, 1973, the whole community saw a brilliant light coming from the statue. Almost immediately the entire body of the statue became covered with a moisture resembling perspiration. Sr. Agnes' guardian Angel told her, "Mary is even sadder than when she shed blood. Dry the perspiration."

The sisters used cotton balls to collect the moisture. Following Our Lady's message, the dazzling light that had surrounded the statue gradually disappeared.

Toward the end of May, 1974, another phenomenon occurred. While the statue's garment and the hair retained the look of natural wood, the face, hands and feet became distinguished by a dark, reddish-brown tint. Eight years later, when the sculptor came to see the statue, he could not hide his surprise that only the visible parts of Our Lady's body had changed color, and that the face itself had changed expression.

Then on January 4, 1975, to the amazement of the community and Fr. Yasuda, the statue of the Virgin began to weep and did so three times that day. Also witnessing these tears, in addition to the sisters, were Bishop Ito and a number of people who had joined the nuns for a New Year's retreat. In the 10 years following, scientific studies excluded any explanation other than the supernatural.

the tears collected on the inside edge of the eyes flowed down the cheeks, collected at the edge of the garment near the throat, rolled down the folds of the garment and fell upon the globe under Our Lady's feet.

Fr. Yasuda recorded in his book, The Tears and Message of Mary, that the statue:

. . . had completely dried out during the years since it was made and little cracks had begun to appear. It is already miraculous if water would flow from such material, but it is still more prodigious that a liquid sightly salty, of the nature of true human tears, should have flowed precisely from the eyes."

Eventually, Bishop Ito arranged for Professor Sagisaka, M.D., a non-Christian specialist in forensic medicine, to make a rigorous scientific examination of the three fluids, although the Bishop did not reveal their source. The results were: "The matter adhering on the gauze is human blood. The sweat and the tears absorbed in the two pieces of cotton are of human origin." The blood was found to belong to group B and the sweat and tears to group AB. Sr. Agnes belongs to group B.

Bishop Ito was advised by the Apostolic Nuncio to seek the assistance of the Archbishop of Tokyo in creating a commission of canonical inquiry. Unfortunately, the Inquisitor who was not Catholic was named president of this group. Without any of the members visiting the convent to conduct a personal inquiry, the commission rendered an unfavorable verdict.

Unwilling to accept a negative verdict to the events he himself had witnessed, Bishop Ito asked the advice in Rome of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. He was then advised to form another commission to study the events from the beginning. This commission rendered a favorable verdict regarding the supernatural aspects of the events.

The tears of December 8, 1979 were filmed by a televiion crew at 11 o'clock in the evening, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and was shown on television to 12 million people throughout Japan. It is now shown by the nuns at the convent and was shown during news broadcasts throughout the world.

The sculptor of the statue, Saburo Wakasa, a non-Catholic and a citizen of Akita, was asked his reaction to the occurrences relating to the statue. He answered:

The statue of Mary was my first work connected with Christianity. Of my various statues, it is only with the statue of Mary at Yuzawadai that mysterious events occurred . . . I sculptured the whole statue of Mary, globe, and the Cross from the same piece of wood, so there are no joints . . . The wood from which I carved the statue of Mary was very dry and rather hard . . .

When questioned as to whether he regards as a "miracle" the reported shedding of tears from the statue of Mary, he replied, "It is a mystery."

Another examination of the fluids was conducted by Dr. Sagisaka of the Department of Forensic Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Akita. The results were given on November 30, 1981 and revealed that:

"The object examined has adhering to it human liquids which belong to the blood group O." Since the first analysis revealed that the blood belonged to group B and the sweat and tears to group AB, it has been established that the fluids belong to three different blood groups.

It is a medical fact that the blood, tears and sweat of an individual all belong to the same blood group. One fluid cannot differ in type from the other fluids of the same body. Since Sr. Agnes belonged to group B she could not have "ejected and transferred" blood or fluids belonging to group AB or O. The theory of the Inquisitor that Sr. Agnes exercised had ectoplasmic power wass thereby refuted.

On the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows [September 15], the statue cried for the last time. Two weeks later, Sr. Agnes' guardian Angel presented a large Bible surrounded with a brilliant light. The open Bible revealed the reference, Genesis 3:15. The Angel explained that the passage had a relationship with the tears of Mary and then continued.

 . . . sin came into the world by a woman and it is also by a woman that salvation came to the world . . .

The lachrymations number 101, and they took place at irregular intervals from January 4, 1975 until September 15, 1981. The first 1 is Eve, the second, Our Lady and the 0 represents the eternal Holy Trinity.

According to the records kept by the sisters, the number of persons witnessing the tears went unrecorded on five occasions. However, all the other times they were witnessed by no fewer than ten persons, and other lachrymations were witnessed by various numbers of people, sometimes as many as 46, 55 and, for the last lachrymation, 65 people. Some of the witnesses were non-Christians and some were prominent Buddhists, including the mayor of the city.

 On October 13, the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, 1973, Sr. Agnes heard the beautiful voice speaking from the statue once more: "The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres, churches and altars will be sacked. The Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the devil will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon would be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God. The thought of the loss of so many souls is the cause of my sadness. If sins increase in number and gravity, there will be no longer any pardon for them."

She continued, "As I told you, if people do not repent and better themselves, the Father will inflict a terrible punishment on all humanity. It will be a punishment greater than the Flood, such as one will never have seen before. Fire will fall from the sky and will wipe out a great part of humanity, the good as well as the bad, sparing neither priests nor faithful. The survivors will find themselves so desolate that they will envy the dead. The only arms which will remain for you will be the Rosary and the Sign left by my Son. Each day recite the prayers of the Rosary. With the Rosary pray for the Pope, the bishops and the priests."

The statue wept for the last time on September 15, Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Sr. Agnes was totally and incurably deaf when she entered the community, having lost her hearing on March 16, 1973. Sister was able to speak, and understood spoken messages by lip reading. As predicted by her guardian Angel, she temporarily regained her hearing on October 13, 1974. Deafness returned on March 7, 1975. Her hearing was permanently restored on May 30, 1982, as predicted by Our Lady during the first message of July 6, 1973. Both healings occurred instantaneously during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Sr. Agnes is today in sound health, except for the rheumatism that has affected her hands.

A canonical law regarding the judgment of a Marian apparition was issued in 1978. According to a Vatican official: ". . . the authority to hand down a conclusion regarding the authenticity of any Marian apparition is given canonically to the ordinary (the bishop) of the local diocese where the apparition took place . . ."

In his pastoral letter dated April 22, 1984, Bishop John Ito, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Niigata, wrote that having been given directives in this regard, "I authorize throughout the entire diocese of which I am charged, the veneration of the Holy Mother of Akita." The Bishop noted that the events are only a matter of private revelation, and are not points of doctrine. The Bishop also mentioned in his pastoral letter that he had known Sr. Agnes Sasagawa for 10 years. "She is a woman sound in spirit, frank and without problems; she has always impressed me as a balanced person. Consequently the messages she says that she has received did not appear to me to be in any way the result of imagination or hallucination."

Four years later, on June 20, 1988, during Bishop lto's visit to Rome, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith approved the contents of the pastoral letter.

 Bishop Ito's official recognitions of the occurrences and the Madonna's messages were reported in the October, 1988 issue of the magazine 30 Days. In the August 1990 issue, Cardinal Ratzinger is quoted as saying that "there are no objections to the conclusion of the pastoral letter." Cardinal Ratzinger has invited the Bishop to continue to inform him about the pilgrimages and conversions.

[frommindtopen]

They’re doing a series of sermons on the Apostle’s Creed at church. I thought I’d go through it again just to see if I still believe all of it because I’ve found lately that maybe there are some Christian precepts that I’m beginning to question.

As I was raised Episcopalian, I had to memorize this whole thing when I got confirmed, but I couldn’t remember all of it now so I had to google it and print it out. I went through it step by step and questioned myself. Do I really believe all of this? This is what Christians are “supposed” to believe. It was interesting to note that the Creed didn’t address any of the things that I, personally, am currently questioning. That was a bit of a relief to be honest. Anyway, here’s what I came up with. Honestly, I’m not expecting ANYONE at all to read this whole thing. It’s a lot of words. I’m just pasting it in to keep a note for myself for the future.

I believe in God,

(Yes, I really do believe that. I believe in a compassionate, all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful being who watches over us, who CAN take steps to change things and who DOES take steps to change things - from time to time - as He sees fit, that we cannot question because we just don’t know what He knows. I believe that He is omniscient, that we know nothing compared to Him and when we bring our petty complaints to Him - even though they don’t seem so petty to us because they may have to do with life and death - we have no idea of what the grand scheme of things is - He actually knows what He’s doing and we don’t. I also believe He keeps out of our business. After all, this is OUR world, He gave us free will and let’s us use it and if we don’t use the brains He gave us or if we use those brains the wrong way and use our free will the wrong way, the only time He might step in to fix the issues that we caused is if we petition Him with enough prayer and even then He might not step in. But, yes, I DO believe in God.)

the Father almighty,

(And, yes, I believe He is the Father almighty… pretty much see the above.)

maker of heaven and earth,

(Yes, I believe He created everything. I don’t think that necessarily means there was no evolution involved. I don’t see why creationism and evolution have to preclude each other. After all, “to God a thousand years is like a day and a day is like a thousand years,” so time is all screwed up so who knows what seven days was really in the beginning. But, either way, I believe He created everything. And I get really amazed when I think about all living things having the same DNA origin, sort of like God did a cut and paste then made variations to it. Yeah, of COURSE He created everything… come on.)

and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,

(I DO believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and was fully God and fully man. I don’t exactly get completely how that works but I DO get that it DID work. For heaven’s sake, if we can “get” some of the fantasy books out there, then how can we not “get” the concept of fully man and fully God. Is it because we say that this is real? Maybe. You know that some people run around acting like Harry Potter is real. I saw people in Universal who were wearing robes and dressed like “He, whose name shall not be spoken,” and it was like 100 degrees outside. Yet, they paced around with that heavy stuff on and serious expressions across their faces as if they were truly headed for Dumbledore or whoever it is and ready to buy a real wand. I’ve never heard a story of a wand REALLY changing the course of someone’s life with a miracle but I have heard hundreds of stories of a prayer changing the course of a life with a miracle. So… yes, I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God and I believe He’s real, but the reason I mostly believe is because of His presence in MY life.)

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

(Well, yeah, otherwise He wouldn’t have been fully God…)

born of the Virgin Mary,

Well, yeah, otherwise He wouldn’t have been fully man…)

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

(Even Josephus wrote about that — Josephus, for those of you who don’t know, was an ancient historian *nonChristian, by the way* who did confirm the reality of Jesus as a living, breathing human being.)

was crucified, died and was buried;

(Yep, it happened.)

he descended into hell;

(I don’t know how we know that and I’m less sure about that one but I’m going to buy into it because it makes sense.”

on the third day he rose again from the dead;

(Now, I struggled with this one for a while. I mean that’s a hard one to believe and it was hard for me. But here’s the thing, there were hundreds and hundreds of witnesses. There were hundreds of people who saw Him after he rose from the dead, not just like the Apostles - which is how it looks in the movies - there were hundreds! The way I ended up convinced was one afternoon, my daughter was telling me about a documentary where they said that Hitler was probably not actually dead at the end of WWII because there were some witnesses who saw him in South America. Not a lot of witnesses, but a few. I got really mad because I believed that, completely. There was no doubt in my mind. Then I thought to myself, if I could buy into the Hitler thing because of a few witnesses, why am I questioning the Jesus thing when there are hundreds of witnesses? That’s when I realized how biased I am. When it comes to Jesus and the Bible, I am pre-biased to more cynicism and anything from the Bible or to do with Jesus/God will require more convincing and more proof than anything to do with another subject. I am pre-programmed to believe anything Biblical LESS easily than anything else!)

he ascended into heaven,

(Yeah, that’s pretty easy to believe if you believe the last thing, right?)

and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;

(Also, pretty darn easy to believe if you believe the other stuff.)

from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

(If you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, of course you believe He has the right to judge people.)

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

(I DO believe in this. I know what I am like inside. Don’t we all know who we are to a certain extent? And I know the capacity I have for evil. Yet, I also know how I’ve changed since I came to Jesus. I believe that the Holy Spirit DID enter me and is still doing that work in me. Yeah Yeah, I know you can say it’s just me maturing or whatever but you don’t know what is inside of me. You don’t know the struggle I’ve had with mental illness. You don’t know what I’ve been through, how I tried to commit suicide three times, the first time at age 13, how many times I cut up my arms, all that I’ve done to others and myself. And you don’t know how that changed once Jesus came into my life so you really can’t make the judgement call on what brought about the change. Only I can make that call and I say it was the Holy Spirit.. the hand of Jesus.)

the holy catholic Church,

(I was taught that this actually means “throughout the whole” and not the Catholic Church denomination. I DO believe in the church body but I don’t feel as if the church body is functioning appropriately in the USA or probably very well anyplace else at this time. I think we are a very very sick body currently and only getting sicker. We are diseased and Covid has made us even sicker.)

the communion of saints,

(Yes, I think communion is pretty cool in that it centers our thoughts and reminds us of what the Lord did for us but I don’t believe it has magic powers or anything.)

the forgiveness of sins,

(Boy, oh boy, do I believe in this. And I sure believe that we are called to forgive others. I think that is one of our number one callings. We must must must empathize and forgive and when we can’t find forgiveness in our hearts, we must pray for the Holy Spirit to put that forgiveness there. I think that is one of our primary goals as human beings and, especially, as Christians.)

the resurrection of the body,

(I don’t know about this one, but I’m hoping that it’s true.)

and life everlasting. Amen.

(Yes, I do believe in life after life, that it will be everlasting.)

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

13th February >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

   or 

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday, Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green)

First Reading

Genesis 3:9-24

The expulsion from the Garden of Eden

The Lord God called to the man. ‘Where are you?’ he asked.    ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’    ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’    The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’    Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’    The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’    Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

To the woman he said:

‘I will multiply your pains in childbearing, you shall give birth to your children in pain. Your yearning shall be for your husband, yet he will lord it over you.’

To the man he said, ‘Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat,

‘Accursed be the soil because of you. With suffering shall you get your food from it every day of your life. It shall yield you brambles and thistles, and you shall eat wild plants. With sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it. For dust you are and to dust you shall return.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live. The Lord God made clothes out of skins for the man and his wife, and they put them on. Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, with his knowledge of good and evil. He must not be allowed to stretch his hand out next and pick from the tree of life also, and eat some and live for ever.’ So the Lord God expelled him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he had been taken. He banished the man, and in front of the garden of Eden he posted the cherubs, and the flame of a flashing sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 89(90):2-6,12-13

R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Before the mountains were born    or the earth or the world brought forth,    you are God, without beginning or end.

R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You turn men back to dust    and say: ‘Go back, sons of men.’ To your eyes a thousand years    are like yesterday, come and gone,    no more than a watch in the night.

R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

You sweep men away like a dream,    like the grass which springs up in the morning. In the morning it springs up and flowers:    by evening it withers and fades.

R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Make us know the shortness of our life    that we may gain wisdom of heart. Lord, relent! Is your anger for ever?    Show pity to your servants.

R/ O Lord, you have been our refuge from one generation to the next.

Gospel Acclamation

Matthew 4:4

Alleluia, alleluia! Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 8:1-10

The feeding of the four thousand

A great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat. So Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘I feel sorry for all these people; they have been with me for three days now and have nothing to eat. If I send them off home hungry they will collapse on the way; some have come a great distance.’ His disciples replied, ‘Where could anyone get bread to feed these people in a deserted place like this?’ He asked them, ‘How many loaves have you?’ ‘Seven’ they said. Then he instructed the crowd to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and handed them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them among the crowd. They had a few small fish as well, and over these he said a blessing and ordered them to be distributed also. They ate as much as they wanted, and they collected seven basketfuls of the scraps left over. Now there had been about four thousand people. He sent them away and immediately, getting into the boat with his disciples, went to the region of Dalmanutha.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial)

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

Either:

First Reading

Genesis 3:9-15,20

The mother of all those who live

After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’    Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this,

‘Be accursed beyond all cattle, all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’

The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live.

OR: --------

First reading Genesis 12:1-7 All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you

The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.

‘I will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’

So Abram went as the Lord told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had amassed and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set off for the land of Canaan, and arrived there.    Abram passed through the land as far as Shechem’s holy place, the Oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘It is to your descendants that I will give this land.’ So Abram built there an altar for the Lord who had appeared to him.

OR: --------

First reading 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8-11,16 The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House

Once David had settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all the enemies surrounding him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, ‘Look, I am living in a house of cedar while the ark of God dwells in a tent.’ Nathan said to the king, ‘Go and do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.’    But that very night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:    ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus the Lord speaks: Are you the man to build me a house to dwell in? I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel; I have been with you on all your expeditions; I have cut off all your enemies before you. I will give you fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth. I will provide a place for my people Israel; I will plant them there and they shall dwell in that place and never be disturbed again; nor shall the wicked continue to oppress them as they did, in the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel; I will give them rest from all their enemies. The Lord will make you great; the Lord will make you a House. Your House and your sovereignty will always stand secure before me and your throne be established for ever.”’

OR: --------

First reading 1 Chronicles 15:3-4,15-16,16:1-2 They brought in the ark of God and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it

David gathered all Israel together to bring the ark of God up to the place he had prepared for it. David called together the sons of Aaron and the sons of Levi. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the shafts on their shoulders, as Moses had ordered in accordance with the word of the Lord.    David then told the heads of the Levites to assign duties for their kinsmen as cantors, with their various instruments of music, harps and lyres and cymbals, to play joyful tunes.    They brought the ark of God in and put it inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered holocausts before God, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord.

OR: --------

First reading Proverbs 8:22-31 Before the earth came into being, Wisdom was born

The Wisdom of God cries aloud:

The Lord created me when his purpose first unfolded,    before the oldest of his works. From everlasting I was firmly set,    from the beginning, before earth came into being. The deep was not, when I was born,    there were no springs to gush with water. Before the mountains were settled,    before the hills, I came to birth; before he made the earth, the countryside,    or the first grains of the world’s dust. When he fixed the heavens firm, I was there,    when he drew a ring on the surface of the deep, when he thickened the clouds above,    when he fixed fast the springs of the deep, when he assigned the sea its boundaries – and the waters will not invade the shore –    when he laid down the foundations of the earth, I was by his side, a master craftsman,    delighting him day after day,    ever at play in his presence, at play everywhere in his world,    delighting to be with the sons of men.

OR: --------

First reading Ecclesiasticus 24:1-4,8-12,18-21 From eternity, in the beginning, God created wisdom

Wisdom speaks her own praises,    in the midst of her people she glories in herself. She opens her mouth in the assembly of the Most High,    she glories in herself in the presence of the Mighty One: ‘I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,    and I covered the earth like a mist. I had my tent in the heights,    and my throne in a pillar of cloud. Then the creator of all things instructed me,    and he who created me fixed a place for my tent. He said, “Pitch your tent in Jacob,    make Israel your inheritance.” From eternity, in the beginning, he created me,    and for eternity I shall remain. I ministered before him in the holy tabernacle,    and thus was I established on Zion. In the beloved city he has given me rest,    and in Jerusalem I wield my authority. I have taken root in a privileged people,    in the Lord’s property, in his inheritance. Approach me, you who desire me,    and take your fill of my fruits, for memories of me are sweeter than honey,    inheriting me is sweeter than the honeycomb. They who eat me will hunger for more,    they who drink me will thirst for more. Whoever listens to me will never have to blush,    whoever acts as I dictate will never sin.’

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 The maiden is with child

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’    Then Isaiah said:

‘Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without trying the patience of my God, too? The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means “God-is-with-us.”’

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 9:1-6 A Son is given to us

The people that walked in darkness has seen a great light; on those who live in a land of deep shadow a light has shone. You have made their gladness greater, you have made their joy increase; they rejoice in your presence as men rejoice at harvest time, as men are happy when they are dividing the spoils.

For the yoke that was weighing on him, the bar across his shoulders, the rod of his oppressor, these you break as on the day of Midian.

For all the footgear of battle, every cloak rolled in blood, is burnt, and consumed by fire.

For there is a child born for us, a son given to us and dominion is laid on his shoulders; and this is the name they give him: Wonder-Counsellor, Mighty-God, Eternal-Father, Prince-of-Peace.

OR: --------

First reading Isaiah 61:9-11 I exult for joy in the Lord

Their race will be famous throughout the nations, their descendants throughout the peoples. All who see them will admit that they are a race whom the Lord has blessed.

‘I exult for joy in the Lord, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath, like a bride adorned in her jewels.

‘For as the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations.’

OR: --------

First reading Micah 5:1-4 He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord

The Lord says this:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the distant past, to the days of old. The Lord is therefore going to abandon them till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth. Then the remnant of his brothers will come back to the sons of Israel. He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power to the ends of the land. He himself will be peace.

OR: --------

First reading Zechariah 2:14-17 'I am coming', says the Lord

Sing, rejoice, daughter of Zion; for I am coming to dwell in the middle of you – it is the Lord who speaks. Many nations will join the Lord, on that day; they will become his people. But he will remain among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. But the Lord will hold Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and again make Jerusalem his very own. Let all mankind be silent before the Lord! For he is awaking and is coming from his holy dwelling.

-------- ________

EITHER: --------

Responsorial Psalm 1 Samuel 2:1,4-8

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

My heart exults in the Lord.    I find my strength in my God; my mouth laughs at my enemies    as I rejoice in your saving help.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

The bows of the mighty are broken,    but the weak are clothed with strength. Those with plenty must labour for bread,    but the hungry need work no more. The childless wife has children now    but the fruitful wife bears no more.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

It is the Lord who gives life and death,    he brings men to the grave and back; it is the Lord who gives poverty and riches.    He brings men low and raises them on high.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

He lifts up the lowly from the dust,    from the dungheap he raises the poor to set him in the company of princes    to give him a glorious throne. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,    on them he has set the world.

My heart exults in the Lord my Saviour.

OR: --------

Responsorial Psalm Judith 13:18a-19

You are the highest honour of our race!

May you be blessed, my daughter, by God Most High, beyond all women on earth; and may the Lord God be blessed, the Creator of heaven and earth.

You are the highest honour of our race!

The trust you have shown shall not pass from the memories of men, but shall ever remind them of the power of God.

You are the highest honour of our race!

OR: --------

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 44(45):11-12,14-17

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words:    forget your own people and your father’s house. So will the king desire your beauty:    He is your lord, pay homage to him.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.

The daughter of the king is clothed with splendour,    her robes embroidered with pearls set in gold. She is led to the king with her maiden companions.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.

They are escorted amid gladness and joy;    they pass within the palace of the king. Sons shall be yours in place of your fathers:    you will make them princes over all the earth.

Listen, O daughter, give ear to my words.

OR: --------

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 112(113):1-7

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore! or Alleluia!

Praise, O servants of the Lord,    praise the name of the Lord! May the name of the Lord be blessed    both now and for evermore!

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore! or Alleluia!

From the rising of the sun to its setting    praised be the name of the Lord! High above all nations is the Lord,    above the heavens his glory.

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore! or Alleluia!

Who is like the Lord, our God,    who has risen on high to his throne yet stoops from the heights to look down,    to look down upon heaven and earth? From the dust he lifts up the lowly,    from the dungheap he raises the poor

May the name of the Lord be blessed for evermore! or Alleluia!

OR: --------

Responsorial Psalm Luke 1:46-55

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

My soul glorifies the Lord,    my spirit rejoices in God, my Saviour.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He looks on his servant in her nothingness;    henceforth all ages will call me blessed. The Almighty works marvels for me.    Holy his name!

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

His mercy is from age to age,    on those who fear him. He puts forth his arm in strength    and scatters the proud-hearted.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He casts the mighty from their thrones    and raises the lowly. He fills the starving with good things,    sends the rich away empty.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

He protects Israel, his servant,    remembering his mercy, the mercy promised to our fathers,    to Abraham and his sons for ever.

The Almighty works marvels for me. Holy is his name! or Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who bore the Son of the eternal Father.

-------- ________

Gospel Acclamation cf.Lk1:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk1:45

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. Alleluia!

Or: cf.Lk2:19

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed is the Virgin Mary, who treasured the word of God and pondered it in her heart. Alleluia!

Or: Lk11:28

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Blessed are you, holy Virgin Mary, and most worthy of all praise, for the sun of justice, Christ our God, was born of you. Alleluia!

Or:

Alleluia, alleluia! Happy is the Virgin Mary, who, without dying, won the palm of martyrdom beneath the cross of the Lord. Alleluia!

________

EITHER: --------

Gospel Matthew 1:1-16,18-23 The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother, Perez was the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother, Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother, Obed was the father of Jesse; and Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Azariah, Azariah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah; and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob; and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

OR: --------

Gospel Matthew 1:18-23 How Jesus Christ came to be born

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel,

a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’

OR: --------

Gospel Matthew 2:13-15,19-23 The flight into Egypt and the return to Nazareth

After the wise men had left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you, and escape into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, because Herod intends to search for the child and do away with him.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until Herod was dead. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:

I called my son out of Egypt.

After Herod’s death, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother with you and go back to the land of Israel, for those who wanted to kill the child are dead.’ So Joseph got up and, taking the child and his mother with him, went back to the land of Israel. But when he learnt that Archelaus had succeeded his father Herod as ruler of Judaea he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he left for the region of Galilee. There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled:

‘He will be called a Nazarene.’

OR: --------

Gospel Matthew 12:46-50 My mother and my brothers are anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven

Jesus was speaking to the crowds when his mother and his brothers appeared; they were standing outside and were anxious to have a word with him. But to the man who told him this Jesus replied, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ And stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 1:26-38 'I am the handmaid of the Lord'

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 1:39-47 Blessed is she who believed the promise

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’    And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour.’

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 2:1-14 'In the town of David a saviour has been born to you'

Caesar Augustus issued a decree for a census of the whole world to be taken. This census – the first – took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and travelled up to Judaea, to the town of David called Bethlehem, since he was of David’s House and line, in order to be registered together with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.    In the countryside close by there were shepherds who lived in the fields and took it in turns to watch their flocks during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said, ‘Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’ And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host, praising God and singing:

‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace to men who enjoy his favour.’

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 2:15-19 The shepherds hurried to Bethlehem and found the baby lying in the manger

Now when the angels had gone from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.’ So they hurried away and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 2:27-35 'A sword will pierce your soul too'

Prompted by the Spirit Simeon came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 2:41-52 Mary stored up all these things in her heart

Every year the parents of Jesus used to go to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up for the feast as usual. When they were on their way home after the feast, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem without his parents knowing it. They assumed he was with the caravan, and it was only after a day’s journey that they went to look for him among their relations and acquaintances. When they failed to find him they went back to Jerusalem looking for him everywhere.    Three days later, they found him in the Temple, sitting among the doctors, listening to them, and asking them questions; and all those who heard him were astounded at his intelligence and his replies. They were overcome when they saw him, and his mother said to him, ‘My child, why have, you done this to us? See how worried your father and I have been, looking for you.’    ‘Why were you looking for me?’ he replied. ‘Did you not know that I must be busy with my Father’s affairs?’ But they did not understand what he meant.    He then went down with them and came to Nazareth and lived under their authority.    His mother stored up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in stature, and in favour with God and men.

OR: --------

Gospel Luke 11:27-28 'Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!'

As Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But he replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

OR: --------

Gospel John 2:1-11 'My hour has not come yet' - 'Do whatever he tells you'

There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ Jesus said ‘Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablutions that are customary among the Jews: each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water’, and they filled them to the brim. ‘Draw some out now’ he told them ‘and take it to the steward.’ They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from – only the servants who had drawn the water knew – the steward called the bridegroom and said, ‘People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now.’    This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him.

OR: --------

Gospel John 19:25-27 'Woman, this is your son'

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.

[theraccolta]

I was taught many things. Mary was given the grace of interior knowledge. The Blessed Virgin knew that she had conceived the Messiah, the Son of the Most High. All that was within her was open to the eyes of her spirit. But she did not then know that the in Him by the Lord God, was a supernatural one; nor did she then know that the House of Jacob, over which He was, as Gabriel declared, to rule for all eternity, was the Church, the congregation of regenerated mankind. She thought that the Redeemer would be a holy king, who would purify His people and give them victory over Hell. She did not then know that this King, in order to redeem mankind, must suffer a bitter death. It was made known to me why the Redeemer deigned to remain nine months in His Mother’s womb and to be born as a little child, and why it was not His will to appear as perfect and beautiful as the newly-created Adam; but I can no longer explain this clearly. I can, however, remember this much—that it was His will to reconsecrate man’s conception and birth which had been so sadly degraded by the Fall. The reason why Mary became His Mother and why He did not come sooner was that she alone, and no creature before her or after her, was the pure Vessel of Grace, promised by God to mankind as the Mother of the Incarnate Word, by the merits of whose Passion mankind was to be redeemed from its guilt. The Blessed Virgin was the one and only pure blossom of the human race, flowering in the fullness of time. All the children of God from the beginning of time who have striven after salvation contributed to her coming. She was the only pure gold of the whole earth. She alone was the pure immaculate flesh and blood of the whole human race, prepared and purified and ordained and consecrated through all the generations of her ancestors, guided, guarded, and fortified by the Law until she came forth as the fullness of Grace. She was pre-ordained in eternity and passed through time as the Mother of the Eternal. [SeeProv. 8.22-35.] At the Incarnation of Christ the Blessed Virgin was a little over fourteen years old. Christ reached the age of thirty-three years and three times six weeks. - the Annunciation from the visions of Bl. Anne C. Emmerich

[jackednephi]

Queering Christ: a post where I'm just rambling out some Thoughts

Jesus had two moms AND two dads. So we can look at this a couple of ways

Polyamorous family in which Mary had two husbands considering God got her pregnant. A mixed family like the case of divorce where kids have four parents is also a valid way to look at that. But honestly? The way the Holy Family is looked at by all of Christianity? That's totally a polyamorous relationship

Mary, like all good Jewish women, prepared from an early age to be worthy to carry the savior. From what I understand of the Jewish faith, good Jewish women still do this as they don't see (accept?) Jesus as the Christ. They live a specific way and pray to be worthy to receive the savior. Mary would have done this and, as we know from the scriptures available, this is exactly what she did. Therefore, the angelic visit of "hey you down to clown with god himself, lord over all creation?" was no surprise in that way. Pleasant, overwhelming and positive? Yes. Fearful screaming like with the shepherds? Not so much

I don't presume to understand how God himself allowed a virgin birth. We can say sex was involved but I'm just not going there. Instead, I propose something I learned of a few years ago when I was still a biology major: Christ's chromosomes were xx

So there's an actual recorded phenomenon wherein a woman can become pregnant, barring the usual method. She gives birth to a girl because of self fertilization. I forget the specific particulars but it is an actual thing that happens. It's rare and, from what I understand, will always produce someone xx rather than xy. Intersex and whatnot aside, this would mean that Christ was a trans man

We can talk about miracles all day long if we so please. Christ could have miracled himself whatever body he wanted. I'm not here to speculate on that. What I CAN speculate on is the fact that Mary was told she'd have a son. Meaning she would be told to raise him as a son. Children are pretty much interchangeable before puberty when it comes to telling gender at a glance. Hell, it used to be common practice to put all babies, regardless of gender, in little dresses

It would have been an easy thing for Mary and Joseph to raise Christ as a boy/man from a young age, teaching him carpentry. This would have likely also been safer socially because of how women were viewed in the past. Then, right around the time the couple could have explained to Jesus that no he was a girl, he would have been plenty old enough to protest and insist he was a boy. And anyway, look at those robes everyone wore

Or just look at paintings. Aside from color differences, hair covering was slightly different as well, these were pretty unisex robes. It would be no thing for him to dress as male. Not to mention, I honestly cannot see any bulge around this woman's chest. So long as Jesus didn't have an enormous chest, he wouldn't have to miracle anything away at all

Look, even if he wasn't trans during his life, he most certainly was in the Garden of Gethsemane considering the suffering he endured there. We know he bled for not just every sin but for every possible experience we could have ever had. The pain of being rejected by queerphobic family, friends, and society. Period cramps, child birth, the pain of being told you will never have children, losing children, losing spouse(s), and so on. In those moments, even if God had performed THE miracle and Jesus wasn't a trans man, Christ knew everything all of us would ever face. Meaning, during that time if nowhere else, he was just as trans and other forms of queer as the rest if us

But the scientist in me loves to think he went his whole life as a trans man due to the self fertilization that is a thing. God created the rules of reality and we know He plays within those rules. Why would he make Mary's pregnancy any different?

This also brings up the issue of Holy Consent. Mary consented enthusiastically to carry Christ. But what of The Mother? As someone in a polyamorous arrangement, I can confidently say that all parties must consent at all times to everything, with some wiggle room. If my wife were to want to remove their birth control, all of us would have to be consulted since everyone would be coparenting. When I removed mine, all three spouses and my then girlfriend were consulted for the off chance (read: miracle) of my own pregnancy

Before any of us most immediately affected adds a new partner, we consult the other partners. It isn't a Huge Ordeal so much as a quick text of "I'm going to start dating Josh" and usually it's "hey congratulations!" There have been instances of "you already have # partners. Will you be able to handle another?" or "I'm not really comfortable with Josh because of [behavior]" in which case, things are discussed further before a decision is made

Bottom line, consent is a conversation that happens between all affected parties. Otherwise it's not healthy or polyamory but just cheating. And we know God doesn't Cheat. Which means, at some point, there was a Conversation. And not only did our Mother consent, she did so for every instance of miraculous birth, a couple of which happen in the bible itself. I can't remember names but there was this one woman who gave her son to the temple? Because she'd had a miraculous birth? Look, I know it's in there I'm just fuzzy on the specifics because I focus on (sarcasm) important stuff (sarcasm end) like kosher laws and Laban's sword. And now this rambly mess of a post

That means that Christ was the child of a polyamorous relationship, however that relationship was structured. This isn't even diving into the kings etc before Christ who had multiple wives and concubines. I mean. The tribes of Israel were the product of a multiple woman, polyamorous situation

Anyway, there's no neat conclusion or anything but I've been sitting on these thoughts for a couple of years now. Feel free to discuss

[bertiebrocki]

Max Ernst 10/9/19

Max Ernst 

Max Ernst was Born on April 2nd in 1891 in Bruhl Germany. Later in life Ernst enrolled in the University of Bonn. At this school he studied philosophy, psychiatry, psychology and art history you can see that these really influenced his political and artist view later on in his life. His Father was always quite strict so Ernst  liked to rebel. Although he did not like his Father being strict he was inspired by him being an amateur painter. Ernst enjoyed painting enormously but had to stop as WW1 began and he was sent to fight in the war. Ones the war ended Ernst was traumatised and began to make his first collages. He later on joined the Dada group. 

The Birdman  is very anthropomorphic combining the head of a bird with a rugged man's body. I can see that this is quite surreal and dreamlike as surrealist art should is. It seems that colour has been used purposely to show the bad and the good. The Bird is very dark in colour but the person being stabbed in the foot is quite brighter. I cannot help but to connect the colour with blood which gives it a bizarre sinister feel to the image,

A Lot of the surrealists were very political and wished to change the society. Birds are seen a lot in Max Ernst work as they are a great symbol of freedom and liberation. The main technique he has used is frottage which is where you use an uneven surface with a piece of paper over it to create a unique pattern. The background uses this well it almost looks like rain which is good use of pathetic fallacy. 

This painting is called The Angel of Hearth and Home. It seems this was a very political piece. He painted this piece after the Spanish republicans lost in the Spanish civil war. The bird like creature is trying to convey the chaos this civil war created with the body parts of the character being in quite random positions. The birds own body is almost attacking and grabbing him, I feel this represents how people might try to protest and fight against fascist governments. Furthermore these creatures on the body are attached to the bird showing how as much as the population of Spain are fighting against these fascist leaders they are still part of the country and the government have the real power. Despite this piece being about fascism the title is quite the opposite “The Angel of Hearth and Home” the word “Angel” is quite interesting as it confuses the reader, an angel is almost the opposite of what's in the painting. It looks more devilish than angel like. This overall confuses the person which is what Ernst is trying to show. He wants you to see how chaotic fascism can be and often being confused is chaotic. 

To understand why Max Ernst created this piece of art you must first understand the relationship between Ernst and his father. Max Ernst father was a strict christian and often quite disciplined towards his son. Ernst would often rebel against him because of this. Although they did not have the best relationship his father was the one who introduced him to art and encouraged him to take it up as a profession. Even though his father motivated Ernst to do art he did not think his style lived up to the middle class idea of art that he had. 

The “Pieta or Revolution by Night replaces the depiction of the Virgin Mary supporting the body of dead Christ. Pieta is a particular depiction of an imagined moment in the Life of Christ where he is mourned by the Virgin Mary and has a very emotional appeal. The painting sees Max being held by his father as if he is about to be carried up the stairs, almost childlike and submissive, does this mean in his subconscious that he wants to revert to his childhood and the simplicity of life then, even if it was a strict upbringing. His trousers are red a link to Pieta, in Mathew 27:28 “and they stripped him and on him put a scarlet robe, describing Jesus when taken down from the cross”.

Ernst paintings are typical of surrealism using irrational images to portray the workings of the human mind. The faces are both blank almost unemotional which is often said to be a state of sleepwalking. Myself I can see the submission, possibly knowing his fathers love is there but by expressing it in a sleepwalking state neither have to face reality and can take a step back into childhood and the past. The bowler hat and curly moustache is still an acknowledgement to the fact he still thought his father was a fool.

Johnnathan Jones, from The Guardian wrote “the Pieta in Renaissance art is an image of maternal love. In Ernst’s painting, the father becomes a mother. The son instead of raging against him in oedipal drama familiar to Ernst as a student of Freud, becomes a passive corpse. In other words, it is the rigid carapace of masculinity that melts in the revolution of the unconscious that occurs every night.The revolution here is not one fought across barricades, but a dreamy one in which barricades disintegrates, (and) the boundaries of identity dissolve and we suffer a sea change”. After reading this description it is basically saying once you take the material and emotional trappings of life away and can hide behind thoughts and dreams, under the cover of sleep, Max can just be himself

In the background is a man with a head wound thought

 to be either Gullaume Apollinaire the french poet who was wounded in the head during WW1 after which his personality and behaviour changed dramatically. Gullamume used the word surrealism three years before surrealism emerged as an art movement in Paris. Or Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psychoanalysis and a key writer on the unconscious and it’s analysis. Max Ernst’s works have been found ti example great similarities with Freudian Casey and theories. 

How this was Useful 

This information is quite useful as I get a better understanding of what surrealist art is. So far I have a better knowledge of the many techniques the artist uses like anthropomorphism and frottage, these techniques would be good to use as they make my work stand out. I also have a better variety of techniques I can choose from for a future client. Your client your boss and you need to fit their needs. For example this project I am working on an anthropomorphic animal for target 8-13 years old I can use my inspiration from Ernst birds and see what does and doesn’t work to make sure my character is refined. Furthermore I have realised now how much simple things such as colour and shape can really send a message to someone. Max Ernst used these to represent certain political views. I will use bright primary colours in my characters in order to appeal to the child audience.

[knightofchrist]

Since the blog is getting bigger, I feel the need to state my positions.

I am an Antiochian Orthodox Christian. I believe the Eastern Orthodox Church is the one true Church, although I view all Christians as one body.

I am an American, and a Texan.

Politically I lie somewhere between Traditional Conservative and Libertarian. I believe no one has a right to infringe on your God given rights, so long as you do not infringe on another’s. I believe the Church should have much more social and cultural influence then it does. To accomplish that, we must have a plural society. I support monarchies in nations where they have been traditional. I will not accept tyranny of any kind.

I believe the West is culturally and morally superior. I believe there is civilization and there is barbarism.

I do not necessarily believe one race is superior to another although I do not ignore statistical facts.

I have no use for antisemitism. I believe the nation of Israel aught to exist as the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem. I have no intellectual use for anyone who supports the Palestinian Muslims over the Jews.

I believe communism and fascism are literal manifestations of the adversary.

I disagree with the Church on the nature of Freemasonry.

I believe Muhammad was the false prophet spoken of in Revelations.

I believe the United States is the spiritual successor of the Roman Republic.

I believe in one God, Father Almighty, Creator of

heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of

God, begotten of the Father before all ages;

Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten,

not created, of one essence with the Father

through Whom all things were made.

Who for us men and for our salvation

came down from heaven and was incarnate

of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and became man.

He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate,

and suffered and was buried;

And He rose on the third day,

according to the Scriptures.

He ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father;

And He will come again with glory to judge the living

and dead. His kingdom shall have no end.

And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the Creator of life,

Who proceeds from the Father, Who together with the

Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, Who

spoke through the prophets.

In one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.

I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

I look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the age to come.

[yeshua2019sblog]

YESHUA 2015-2019

NEW MESSAGES FROM YESHUA

Please try to understand the true words of Yeshua and, for this, your hearts must be pure, and your minds are calm. If your hearts and minds are full of lusts there will be no understanding of this words. You will only be misusing the divinity to find excuses to legalize your wrong behaviors.

God created human beings biologically as blacks, whites and yellows. God is very close to us. God is everywhere. In our hearts and in the breath also in nature and in every good deed. If we put God to a place far from us, then He will be far from us. On the contrary God is with us all the time.

Do not put God somewhere unreachable. Yeshua is the guide of the straightest and most illuminated Broadway to God. To the very core of God. Once we are there, at the core of the God, we shall live eternally. That is the second birth. We will have born again spiritually to live eternally in God. God is love and the keyholder of the gate of love is Yeshua.

Give your body to the service of God who is love by becoming love yourselves. Give love to all around you. Vibrate positive energy and don't look back as to who has absorbed this positive energy and who has not. Those who are ready, who has reached to high frequencies of love will take it. Others with lower energies will reject it and be angry with you, thus will also try to pull you down to their level. So, never insist or argue with anybody.

God doesn't like doubt. Grow closer to God and your faith in God must be rock solid. Leave dogmas and manmade religions. Don't take them as a corner stone for your faith. Incorporate silence and solicitude into your life regularly and ask God to help you, praise Him and ask Him to forgive your mistakes.

Do not long for power and personal success. Power is necessary to protect yourselves and for malicious works. Personal success is selfishness. You do all your best and leave to others to evaluate you. Don't run after personal success. Do your best and stay in peace. Stay calm. To reflect the energy coming from God one must stay calm. One must be in peace. Otherwise the more passionate and concerned about earthly matters the less Divine Energy you can reflect.

Love is God's way. Love is not Yeshua's own personal way. Yes, God gave the order to Yeshua to teach love to all of us. To teach World how one can obtain the eternal life. Yeshua came on Earth to teach us love simply by living among us.

Yeshua did not establish a religion but simply showed the way to love and thus, to eternity. He said; ''With love in your hearts you can reach me and God. All you need is love. Only love in your hearts like little children you can reach me and God. If you can reach me, you can reach to God. You can directly reach me by love. You don't need any mediator.' ' Before Yeshua had come to World people were trying to reach 'love' but, could not. Even after that Yeshua had gone, even the closest people around Him could not understand what 'love' is. Very few people could rise to that consciousness.

God wants all His creatures be happy. That's why He has created the miracles called nature to please us. God is miracle and everything He has created are miracles. For this reason, unhappiness is accepted as a rebel against God. Live in joy and give thanks to the God, the Almighty.

People think that when a person dies, that's the end. The dead are just gone forever. But, they are wrong. Yeshua made it clear that death is not the end. He told a story about what happened after a rich man and a beggar died. Yeshua said; people remain conscious after their bodies die, and they have body, and people can feel pleasure or pain after they die.

Souls come to earth alone. But, some souls don't return alone. They are welcomed by light bearers. Those souls are the ones who have spent their lifetimes in kindness and love. By doing so they have become lights themselves and obtained the right to live eternally in light bodies. They do not incarnate again rather they also become the light bearers themselves. Majority of the humans go alone but if they not lived a harmful life to others on earth they are to be taken for training before they are given another chance by God for re-incarnation on earth in flesh.

The wicked humans who have committed crimes such as blasphemy, fornication, rape, murder, false witnessing, sorcery and theft will not be awaken at all. They will not realize even they are death and continue living in their miserable feelings under the ground for eons. They shall receive of the same sufferings of what they have done to others. 'This is Divine Justice.'

Those who have killed intentionally are not forgiven. If they kill without knowing what they have done will be annihilated by God without any suffering but, those who have killed knowingly shall first suffer all their wickedness same as they caused to others and then annihilated. Annihilation process is such; the murderer's memories will eventually diminish and will be erased totally from life. Their life energies will have mixed with nature or taken back by God. That is the second death. 'The real death.'

At the last seven minutes prior to passing to afterlife one becomes, after a short unconscious sleep, completely free to travel to the places and times with his/her conscious. This includes the ancient times. At this last minutes I advise you to focus only on God and His light. Accept death and do not pay any more attention to earthly affairs or remains. In the last minute you will be shown the place, you are going after death. This is in exception of those who have committed big crimes such as the murderers.

Human beings re-incarnate only as humans. The theory of re-incarnating as plants and animals before or after is completely wrong. There is no meaning in this. Plants and animals don't re-incarnate. Once they die their life energies get merged with natural forces. They have no awareness as the humans.

Man is not a body. Man is a soul, a consciousness. And the body is just a temporary container, in which man must go through the next stage of studying in the school in the material world.

Incarnate states of people are usually much shorter parts of their lives as compare to non-incarnate states. However, the development of man can only take place in the incarnate state. It is for this reason that the incarnations are necessary, it is for this reason that God creates material worlds.

There are fictions on earth whereas here are truths only.

According to the potency of the person difficult tasks are given.

Knowledge is given but understanding belongs to the people themselves.

You must always think the beauty beyond when it rains. You must get out of the prison you have caged yourselves. You have made a wall around yourselves. There must be a door to get out otherwise you will bump into the wall.

Thoughts are parasites and they suck the energy of your being. Without thoughts you maintain your energy in yourselves and it becomes a fullness.

Be open to learn otherwise you will become neurotics.

The point is that the body is the ''factory'' for transformation of energy. Physical movements create energy and thus with this energy loaded to soul our consciousness growth process take place both qualitatively and quantitively.

God is the living force for all. If a living creature with their own free will shall brake their ties with God while on earth, then they will disappear from the world of livings in the graves.

Yeshua said, "You shall learn the truth and the truth shall let you be free". Liberation from suffering comes with truth. Be aware of dogmas because of them people have started denying God and His truth. God is love and once this truth is forgotten there left nothing to hold on for kindness.

The word 'truth' has been translated from the Greek word 'Alethia' which originally means unforgettable. So, we understand from that we remember the truth inherited in us already. Truth is something we must remember. It has its own inherent and irresistible 'witness' to reality. People may lie to themselves but ultimately the truth has final word. ''The Light shine in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.''

Yeshua said, if your spiritual leaders say to you, ''Look, the Divine Realm is in the sky, then the birds of the sky will get there ahead of you. If they say to you, 'it is in the sea', then the fishes will precede you. No, the Divine Reality is existing inside and all around you. Only when you come to know your true self will you be fully known and, you will understand that you are a child of the Living God. If, however, you do not come to know who you truly are, realizing your true self then you are poverty-stricken being, and it is your 'self' which lies impoverished.

Before Yeshua, ' love’ was not known on earth. Before,' eternal life’ was not known. The real Creator was not known. Before Yeshua we were all under a strict law of retaliation. An eye to an eye. With Yeshua came unity of beings, love and light, forgiveness and brotherhood. With Yeshua came the freedom.

Yeshua never said he was a personality equal to God. On the contrary he said, 'the Father is greater than I'. He said, 'I will rise to my Father, to your Father, to my God and to your God'. He prayed at His last minutes to the Father 'Father forgive them because they don't know what they are doing'. He said, 'I deliver my soul to you Hands'.

''Without the trust in Yeshua, there is no stability.'' Yeshua was the faithful and true witness and he also called 'amen'. God sent Yeshua to expand his energy down to the earth to a biological body who is to be born from Virgin Mary. Yeshua, having been born from a woman was called 'son of man' where as he was called 'son of God' before the birth. He was already an important part of the Holy Spirit, a Holy Spirit that was the first time born as son of man on Earth.

The Holy Spirit is a part of God's Spirit and the active force of God. God sends His force to anywhere He pleases to get the duties done. The Holy Spirit is a name given by us and represents the pure souls. We human beings came on earth to be able to gain the right to become a Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit in general is a part of God's spirit and the active force in universe. So Yeshua called us all to become the children of God, sparkles of God's love by being brother with him. To be like Him. As we are to become the children of God we must become the brothers and sisters of Yeshua first because Yeshua is the son of God. Originally 'the son' means the sparkles of God's love. The atomy particles of God's light.

Holy Spirits live in the Kingdom of God. This is the second birth, eternal life in the core of God as light beings. Consciousness, living in light bodies instead of the flesh bodies. There is no gender, no nationality but ‘us'. Every conscious unit will have consciousness with their own integrity but acting as one.

The truth requires a much deeper understanding. Spirituality requires that you ask questions of yourself, whilst religions requires you to rely on books to move forward. And, by doing so millions of soul's minds have been locked down. Religions has become the slave owner’s mental back doors. Organized religions all over the world has become politics.

Soul needs to be constantly stimulated with new concepts to challenge and to feel invigorated. As the apparently only living gods (Pagan gods prophets) are not speaking anymore, but the so-called living gods from among the various religious clergy, people need more stimulus. They gravitate the ways calling them from within their soul. Religion is memory based as people can only exchange holy books scriptures as opposed to their own original thinking. The person with the ability to recite more scriptures is regarded as the more gifted, not due to originate but to ability to recite script. This can also be good for some time but this has always been detrimental for people who believes them. They have been taken away from their real mission. That's why the battle now commences with soul arguing with the programmed religious mind.

Discipline your life. Do the things that are hard to do: discipline is a necessary part of a successful life. The easy way out is for losers. Life will not coddle you out of your troubles, so don't waste yourself in complaining and whining. Want some examples of discipline? Master your thoughts and have spiritual practice! These take discipline at first, but they become something you love to do because they work. Serve others as well as yourselves. Do something nice for everybody. Reach out for good. Give of yourself.

While living on earth, don't disturb anybody, but make the world better with your caring. Love beauty and be curious. The world is incredible even if we've messed it up. Listen to upbringing music and read uplifting books. Create something. Learn something new. Take care of your body. Don't eat junk. Drink pure water without chlorine and fluoride. Get adequate sleep. Have a stress elimination routine and get exercise.

The one who has entered the spiritual path has to separate in oneself the true, eternal and valuable for life in the highest eons-from the false, which belongs only to this world. Then one has to cultivate in oneself the first and get rid of the second. Those who have accomplished this become eternal in the Divine eons. That is, make sure that you see heavenly treasure as infinitely more precious than earthly material treasure. When your eye sees things this way, you are full of light. And if you don't see things this way, even the light you think you see (the glitz and flash and skin and muscle of this world) is all temporary. You are sleepwalking through life. You are serving money as a slave without even knowing it, because it has lulled you to sleep. Far better is to be swayed by the truth- the infinite value of God.

God and the spirits hear not only the words which we say but also our thoughts, even the most ''secret'' ones. They also see everything existing in the world of matter, in all detail. Not only clothes, under which we hide our bodies, but even the intestines of our bodies are absolutely to the sight of Them. We are visible to all. They examine us, admiring or compassionating, respecting or making fun, loving or disliking, despising, foretasting our future suffering.

You shall know the truth and what you have learned will set you free from all mortal passions and fears. Without the truth, there can be no real morality, justice, equality, unity, success, freedom, love, joy, peace, spirituality or even survival. Only the truth can stop the wars and make the world the paradise it can be.

Keep calm and be pure hearted, then you will have direct connection with God, the Almighty. You will start getting your energy directly from God once you have reached and internalized the truth of life. You will be self-radiant like the stars in the universe. Once you become pure in heart you will be called as Holy Spirit. That you have gained the right again to live eternally in the core of God, just as it was in the beginning of the creation. You will start to sparkle your own light and you won't be a reflection anymore.

Average human beings curse those who worship material things but, the same human beings curse those who worship God twice as much. Even if you are not wanted, continue with reflecting the love as the world needs this. You, yourself become light and sparkle your own light.

Nations repeating themselves without love and wise are bound to lose at the end. Racism, gender, color, nationality and social statues must not carry any importance and superiority feelings over other people. We must never drive away those who approaches us openheartedly with love. We must find a way to live in peace together. We must be kind to others. Individuals must be able to stand for good even if the rest of the world goes to opposite direction. The only way to reach God's Kingdom which is eternal life in the core of Him, is love because God is Love.

God do not take revenge, but we separate ourselves from Him by thinking we can have separate life on ourselves without the God, the Creator. God is the Source of life. God is in and around us. We have been created to live in the core of Him eternally as His Spirit's holy sparkles at the highest eons. This is what we call the Kingdom of God, the core.

In the coming times, along with the new generations coming, the old will be replaced and, with this replacement, will come the new perceptions. As the new generations replace the old generations, believes will also be replaced. In fact, new generations will be clever, more energetic and more perceptive, but more mechanical and more egoistic as well. Religions will be left, and people will believe in sort of Source. They shall live more isolated life and get lonely.

Keep calm. Always keep your mind calm. Can you see yourselves on boiling water? No, you can’t, but if the water is calm like a mirror then you can see yourselves as if you are looking to a mirror. That's important. If your mind is not calm enough, you cannot receive the life energies flowing to every direction from the Source. That's why keeping calm is vital. Without having received the continuous flowing of the life energies one cannot stay healthy. Both physically and mentally.

. So, keep away anxiety.

. Keep calm.

. Never lose your temper.

. Praying is a great help to keep calm.

. Also, daily grounding with soil and water are very essential.

Could God not create the human beings as human beings of today? Has God not powerful enough for that? Certainly, God can, and He did. God doesn't need evolution. God creates by Word. Liner time as we perceive is our physical cognition whereas, in spiritual eons there is no time, only the present.

The first human beings were created almost 80 thousand years ago as todays human beings. Human beings became servants of their own bodies, whereas these bodies are only covers. Nothing else, and if you pollute them by bad feedings and bad thoughts your souls shall also be polluted. In addition to that wrong doings, human beings have started to use their bodies as a weapon against each other.

God creates the most perfect and beautiful because He is perfect and beautiful. We, human beings are the ones who destroy the beauty because we are jealous. We destroy the perfectness because we are greedy and unkind.

Also, evil doings of the tyrants which are in power of the big organizations like governments, financial foundations and religious sects got out of control. This will lead to a mass extinction of the species including human beings. Water will cover almost all over the world. There will be no life left on planet which had happened also before. When the planet renews itself a new race, both the bodies and the souls will be pure, will be created by God. The closing is a must unfortunately. They have speed up the procedure. The duration is probably like what scientists expect. However, God knows only. It is up to Him. The human-like creatures like Cro-Magnon, Neanderthal were not human. They did not have the consciousness and awareness you have.

I had said: "God forgive them. They don't know what they are doing". Now they know what they are doing. They know that they are at the point of no return from their wickedness. They know that they will taste the second death. That's why they carry on fiercely with their evil doings. That's why I do not pray for them. I do not say: "God forgive them" any longer.

Pray to God only for goodness. God is the spring of goodness and cleanness. From this clean spring is it possible to drink dirty water? But, if the mouths are dirty than the water also will get dirty in the mouths. So, never pray anything which is not for the goodness of yourselves and others. Cursing or imprecation cannot be prayed from God. Remember: ''Pray for your enemies also''. Those who curse or damn will be punished by God.

The Kingdom of God is not where God reigns, but where His Source of Divine Power is.

''The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God come near; repent, and believe in the good news. Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you''.

Our physical identities are for examinations to reach to higher eons. The physical bodies we use are not us, but instruments for our souls to be developed. When we are finished with them they shall be left behind to soil where they came from originally. Our soul identities are what matters. What we load to our souls, here on Earth, we will become in after life. And, that some of you will wake up to light and some to darkness.

If you shut the truth and the Life out, then you miss the mark. If you give priority to other things by giving more emphasis to desires rather than truth, it is the only way you can commit a sin. The unseen enemies of mankind are those who are preventing humans from learning and changing. Open minded, rational humans are needed. The rest, by means of morality, will come as they start to realize that they have to have respect for themselves and, above all, for life. Up till now the word of God has been destroyed by the traditions that has been handed down.

Information is not wisdom, those who are full of information shall miss the truth longest.

The truth is simple. Not only educated, but the children can also understand it.

. Love God with all your heart, wise and soul. This is spiritual love, love without seeing and hearing.

. Love everybody as yourself. The love here is the Divine Love which means a general affection.

. Cease doing malignant actions.

. Experience genuine remorse for the wrong committed.

. Make restitution to repair the damage done to others.

. Act to protect life, preserve life, make life more functional and/or improve the quality of life.

. Respect the human lives and beasts. Do not kill.

...but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Slavishly believing in dogmas, insulting the consciousness of all men, and has been pulled down by the darkness. With dogmas souls will be conquered by negative feelings such as rage, hatred, fear and jealousy. But with intuition men will be filled with unconditional Divine Love for everybody and everything meaning that you have reached the consciousness of unity. And your souls shall be full of love, peace and understanding.

Many human beings say 'I love you' one day and reject you the next day. This is not love. One whose heart is filled with love of God cannot willfully hurt anyone. When you love God without reservation, your heart gets filled with His unconditional love flowing freely always for all who are ready to take. The ordinary love is self-centered in the consciousness of 'I, Me, Mine', he has not discovered the omnipresent God who resides in him and everything.

Yeshua said; 'I am a drop of light from God.' 'I wish you to be all the same.' I am the path, illuminated path. If you stray from this path wickedness will catch you just like wild animals catch their prey. Follow me, the straightest and illuminated path, and this will take you to eternal life again. Yeshua represents the love God wants us to be able to live on earth.

Yeshua's main mission is healing. He is the key holder of the gate to the Kingdom. The gate of love, and nobody may pass through this gate without becoming pure in their hearts. God is love so, how can they enter the Kingdom of God before reaching full love in their hearts. That's why Yeshua said, ''I am the path'' because he represented the love of God. He said: '' I am the light'' because he is illuminating this path. And that path leads to the Kingdom (eternal life in the core of God). That's why Yeshua said, ''I am life''.

The sizes of every bodies' cups are different. Human beings can understand His messages according to the sizes of their cups. Even, 2000 years ago, His disciples couldn't understand Him. Those who reads this message will understand according to their consciousness level so, never insist but give the message and go to your way. Do not struggle to conceive as the ones with lower consciousness will not understand and, on the contrary will pull you down.

Eternal life is available only after physical death and the second birth which is spiritual. That is an awareness only a few souls have while living on earth. Notify this truth. Do not look back as to who have understood and who have not. Do not lose time with that. As some babies are being born dead, the same, some souls are also born dead. Just notify.

Our hearts must be pure. Our hearts are the source of our feelings, and if they are dirty nothing good will come out of it. Notice that all the religious are made for the sole purpose of possessions. Worship of ego most of the time and, they put their egos in the center and became fake idols.

You are all here to prove yourselves. There are still some souls waiting for incarnation on earth for the first time. This is due to their own wrong doings while at the spiritual realms. They didn't take serious enough the duties and trainings given to them. You are all here to gain the eternal life. To be born again spiritually. God sent Yeshua to teach us love so that we can eternal life.

World is the place of selection. So, try to be the ones who shall be selected. Look above to Godly things and act accordingly. Overcome the lust and temptation. God is limitless at every aspect. God warns directly and when He convicts it is irrevocable.

As the rulers of the world cannot compete with the rising birth rate, they are using terrorism to make them kill each other. Ego pushes nations into the lust as to be superior to others as well as the individuals to other individuals. Those individuals who are the real rulers who wants to work for humanity are being killed.

If you inflict terrible sufferings on others, surely, you've got to be punished. There are no exceptions. You will go through a life review, rather like a documentary with prodigious value. You will experience your life from the point of view of everyone who has involved: Everyone's feelings, attitudes, motives and believes laid bare, including yours. You won't just observe through their eyes and ears, you will experience what they have experienced. Did you steal from someone? You will experience his hurt and outrage. Did you give food to someone who was hungry? Then you will experience her relief and joy. Of course, your earth personality could not cope with this review, because the ship of your mind would founder in the emotional typhoon. Do you see the significance of this?

Through the afterlife there are multitude of different journeys. In the past, many didn't know that one cannot take anything with himself, and they took it all. Weapons, trappings of wealth, and slaves thoughtfully slaughtered for their post-earth convenience. Eventually time comes for real things.

Keep away from all type of perversion. Do not even look at the perverted humans with sympathy. Do not make friendships with them. They have strayed from the righteousness and left the humanity. They all shall taste the second death together with those who have made friendships with them or even look at them with sympathy and approval.

If you helped somebody or do a favor for them don't talk about it. Don't keep repeating of your kindness. If you talk about the good deeds you have done for others than your good behaviors will be of no value. Because, repeatedly mentioning the kindness done is like digging the newly planted tree's roots.

Man and woman are equal as an equal half of an apple. Whatever is right for one side is also right for the other side as well. There is no discrimination. The sides have different characteristics, but this is to complete each other. The main features are the same. Marriages must be pure as it is a remarkable opportunity for self-development of people longing for Truth. A pure marriage is vital in striving for attainment of Mergence with the Holy Spirit. As for its impure form, it exists as an outer appearance. By this, they will burden significantly their destinies. So, cognize the pure marriage, for it has great power.

Yeshua said, ''Blessed are those who verily existed before they were born. The one who verily exists now was like this and will be.'' Psychogenetically young people can live only an instinctive-reflexive life like the life of primitive animals. Those who represent a qualitatively and quantitively developed consciousness are capable of truly conscious, rightly directed, disciplined existence on the Path to the spiritual perfection, on the Path to the Father. But the maturing of the consciousness is a quite slow, and it lasts many incarnations. The statement of Yeshua is about this: first, it is easy to live with such mature people. Second, such people were prepared to such spiritual levels of existence before the beginning of the present incarnation.

Switch your attention to the Highest Goal-God the Father.

. Do not fear the flesh, nor love it.

. If you fear it, it will become your master.

. If you love it, it devours and subjugate you.

Rise in the highest eons. If you cannot succeed in this world you will be found outside of God's love eventually where the real badness is. It is perdition there. That's why it is good to live that world having not committing sins. We must acquire the resurrection while we live in this world. So that when we strip off the flesh, we may be found in calm, but not walk outside of love. Yet many go astray from the Path.

The Bridal Chamber is neither for animals, nor for men-slaves of passions, nor for women driven by passion. It is for pure women and men who gained spiritual freedom. Then one must learn to enter this Highest Eon by one's own efforts and stay in it. It is called the birth in it as a Holy Spirit. And one comes to Mergence with the Consciousness dwelling in God. Once you are there, once you feel the peace and calm in there you will never miss anything else again. You become the Son.

The purified souls becomes the user of the Divine Energies. The user can absorb divine energy and power directly into their body and use it in various ways.

The true purified soul's mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. Their souls always yields to purifying light.

One passion includes all others. Purification requires the soul to be pure and clean from our own passions and lusts. The more we purify ourselves, the more we allow for Divine grace to function. When a soul is completely clean from its passion and is totally humbled, then it can experience the grace of God and the fulfillment of all His promises.

If a man thinks only of his own profit, and tries to benefit himself at the expense of others, he will incur the hatred of Heaven.

Communism was a gigantic facade, and the reality concealed behind it was the sheer drive for power, for total power as an end in itself. The rest was merely instrumental -- a matter of tactics and some necessary self-restrictions to achieve the desired end. Thus rationalism was transformed under communism into the idea of slavery.

There's an increasing sense in our political life that in both parties politicians call themselves public servants but act like bosses who think that voters work for them. Politicians who jerk around doctors, nurses and health systems call themselves servants, when of course they look more like little kings and queens instructing the grudging peasants in how to arrange their affairs. But in Governments, where the Legislative is in one lasting Assembly always in being, or in one Man, as in Absolute Monarchies, there is danger still, that they will think themselves to have a distinct interest, from the rest of the Community; and so will be apt to increase their own Riches and Power, by taking, what they think fit, from the People. Our rulers are theoretically "our" representatives, but they are busy turning us into the instruments of the projects they keep dreaming up.

Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty...will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them; distinguished, too, by this tempting circumstance, that they are the instrument, as well as the object of acquisition. With money we will get men, said Caesar, and with men we will get money.

It is not enough that honest men are appointed Judges. All know the influence of interest on the mind of man, and how unconsciously his judgment is warped by that influence.

Life is a better teacher of virtue than politicians, and most sensible governments in the past left moral faults alone. Instead, democratic citizenship in the twenty-first century means receiving a steam of improving "messages" from authority. Some may forgive these intrusions because they are so well intentioned. Who would defend prejudice, debt, or excessive drinking? The point, however, is that our rulers have no business telling us how to live. They are tiresome enough in their exercise of authority. They are intolerable when they mount the pulpit. We should never doubt that nationalizing the moral life is the first step toward totalitarianism.

In fact, it appears that those who have the most unquestioning belief in their own virtue, from the Capitalists to Commununists, are often those who feel entitled to commit, and do commit, the most abhorant acts against those who oppose them or who have different values.

Yeshua was not a rabbi. Yeshua took Maria Magdelena under His marriage certificate for the sole purpose of protecting her life. They never had sexual intercourse nor stay under the same roof.

Yeshua had no intention of making his name know worldwide as the one who came after him did. He didnot want to establish a new religion or a new flow. He was a Juden and wanted to correct the mıstakes his peoples were makıng under the name of religion.

Spiritual truth is eternal and universal: no particular religion or sect can have a monopoly on it. So, never get bigotted on one religion or other. Yeshua did not bring a new religion. He remind you the universal truth which is unity and the way to achiving it which is love.

Yeshua told me that: I shouldn't had taken her under my name through marrige. I admit I must have sort of weakness for her. But we had never been together as husband and wife. God wouldn't had allowed that. But, because we had been officially married I had to pay for her penalties here as well. This is valid for every marrige. Men take the responsibly of their wives.

Yeshua said that he had never been to France or to Tibet. He was a Divine Soul among us to show us the straighest and the most illimunated way to Divineness.

He said that His body was not left on Earth.

Yeshua said, ''The shroud of turin is fake. The real cotton that had been used faded away and dissolved in time. It is now nowhere.''

There will be no second coming. I have come and gone many times and I still come and go when & where it is necessary. But as Yeshua Messiah I will not come again.

There is no end time as you think. There is no devil. There is no armagedon. That will be against the act of free will.

There will be huge natural disasters and the World will change. There will be famine, plaques and floods worldwide. The world population will decrease voliminously. Life styles will change completely.

Do not loose faith. Keep calm till end. You, humans have acceletated this situation by your greeds. Do not be afraid of dying. Your feelings are very important at your last hours. This affects your passing procedure to afterlife. Whether you can realize you have died or not soon. Do not loose your faith at the last minutes. That is very important. I am always with the faithful.

You don’t need a religion to reach me.

All you need is love.

Only with Love in your hearts like little children you can reach me and God.

These are the steps of stairs.

Love, Me and God.

With Love in your hearts you can reach me.

If you reach me you can reach to God.

I couldn’t teach that to human beings.

You can directly reach me by love.

Declare that to all people.

They don't need any mediator.

Love God with all you soul, heart and mind and love people as yourself.

All you need is a pure heart full of love.

The germs of true religion originate in the domain of man’s moral consciousness, and they are revealed in the growth of man’s spiritual insight.

Yeshua says: "Do not be a warrior."

But religions say:"Fight till the end untill the law is fulfilled."

Follow Yeshua not the religions.

WAKE UP

I am holding the key of love, my brother. You know that God is love. So, how can they enter the Kingdom of God before reaching to full love in their hearts. That's why I have said that I was the path. I represent the love God created. I am illuminating that path that's why I have said that I was the light. And that path leads all to the Kingdom. To The Eternal Life. So, that's why I have said I was the life. That's why I have said that I came to World so that you could have life in abundance.

I hope most of you will awake before death and be taken.

Do not be a warrior. Drop your shields. Leave your passion. Leave all your addictions, fear, nervousness. Let love be your path and light be your comrade on this path. Fill your heart with love for God and do not allow anything to violate this love. Do not put anything before your love for God. Keep calm. Do not allow nerviousness control your mind and do not let fear and infidelity fill in your heart.

Turn your face to light and let the light illimunate your face. You are neither your emotions nor your mind. You are a being above them. Be aware of your reactions. Watch them as a third person and criticize. Put them down when they are short tempered. When your mind become like a clear water reflecting all who looks at you and your emotions positive, full of love then you are eligible for becoming a part of the Holy Spirit.

The souls who are awakened while still living on Earth and has reached the state of emiting God's pure energy also pulls the negative energies of unawakends and turns it into pure energy and send it back to God. Had they not been doing this energy healing, the World would have turned upside down long ago. That is what Yeshua did on a global measure once.

All of the life energy which has intellect derivates from God. God gave us everything but, alas, fewer of us believes in Him in Spirit. Most of us believes in a mighty merchant king. If pleased, gives every sort of lust fullfilling toys othervise burns forever.

Most of us believes in a false gods in allignment with their egos for richness, virgins, wealth of no boundries, flesh and gold. All sort of wordly lusts. They are unable to perceive Spirit and the peace when filled up with that Spirit.

Eternal life and Holy Spirit does not mean anything to them. They worship gold, flesh and the power giver but, not the Spirit.

If your children had loved you just for the money you gave them, how would you feel? Aren't we the children of God? How God feels? Let's think.

For the past 2,000 years he has maintained a line of communication through those who have been willing to serve as messengers for His Living Word and who have pursued an understanding of His true message instead of settling for fake official religious doctrines which disturb Him continiously.

Once you admit that mainstream religious traditions have not answered your questions about life, you are very close in getting contact with the divine truth.

If you use a perverted version of Yesua's teachings as a justification for closing your mind to His real teachings, you are not one of His modern-day disciples.

God's judgement regarding gender condition is final. Those who are perverted such as transgender; gays, lesbiens, bisexual, intersex, and like perversions, even those who accept this incidents as normal, those who make friendships with them, marries to them, perform their marriage ceromony, who confirms and legalize this perversion, and who blesses them, anyone who feels affinity with them are going to be annihilated by God and they shall not see the eternal life.

So called gays and lesbians are mentally ill and morally pervert people.

Same as fornication these should not be accepted as normal in communities. This kind of sickness will in tima rot natural relationships. They should enter under a remedy treatment.

Those perversions are a rebellion against the God.

THE ONE BEING

There is only One Being at the Universe. And, there are beings in that One Being. Human beings first know themselves. Learn their essence first and then they can connect to God. When you connect to God you are like a hawk. You start living multidimensional and multifaceted.

Those who are in agony are actually suffering from a side product of their ego. Not seeing the miracles around and see the misery only is egoism.

Do not become a voice among other voices. Be still, keep calm and be silent then you can become a witness of your surrounding.

Yeshua 27th, August 2017

THE WAYS WE ARE FREE TO CHOSE

There are two ways for the souls.

One goes to life and the other goes to death. Faith is very important. Whatever you believe while you live in a physical body is what you are going to face after death. The soul does not die with body and whatever you have loaded to him/her will go with the soul.

So, don't load weakness and wrong beliefs to your soul. In addition to that your conscience knows everything and by every wrong doing of yourselves realizes that he/she shall have to face the consequences.

As for the crimes the divine justice will be working.

The unseen enemies of mankind are those who are preventing humans from learning and changing. Open minded, rational humans are needed. The rest, by means of morality, will come as they start to realize that they have to have respect for themselves and, above all, for life.

If you shut the truth and the Life(God) out then you miss the mark. If you give prioity to other things by giving more emphasis to desires rather than truth, it is the only way you can commit a sin.

God is the spring of kindness, goodness and cleanness. From this clean spring, is it possible to drink dirty water? One can drink only clean water. But, if the mouths of the drinkers are dirty than the water gets dirty as well in their mouths. As such only goodness can be prayed from God. Badness cannot be prayed from Him. Badness for somebody else or curse cannot be wished from that pure Spring. Those who do this vile wishes are punished by God.

Think of God and His light. Do not put any other loves in between your love for God and yourselves. Love God first and before everything and everybody. Do not be a warrior. Drop your shields. Leave your passion. Leave all your addictions, fear, nerviousness. Let love be your path and light be your comrade on this path. Fill your heart with love for God and do not allow anything to violate this love. Keep calm. Do not allow nerviousness control your mind and do not let fear and infidelity fill in your heart

Never deny God, Almighty. Do not even argue about His oneness and divineness. He is the Source of light. He is Love. He is in and out of everything seen and unseen. Our bodies are to be the temple of The Holy Spirit. Our souls are to be the part of His Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the active force of God so, our souls must be the home for God. All the praises and all the glory are belong to Him, to our God, to our Love. His will be done forever.

The truth requires a much deeper understanding. Spirituality requires that you ask questions of yourself, whilst religions requires you to rely on books to move forward. And, by doing so millions of soul's minds have been locked down.

The physical realm is the world of beginnings and endings, creation and destruction. Matter and energy change forms as ceaselessly as the ocean’s surface rises and falls from frothy wave to wave. Trees, mountains, buildings, and human bodies are all temporary. They're just the scenery, and when a drama is finished, the scenery is torn down to make room for another set that can contain another play. Only we, the players, are real and eternal—our consciouses are spiritual, and our consciouses are entirely separate from the brain and physical realm.

“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible”.

Never forget, spirituality Is what you are, it is not what you do. The total of what you have loaded to yourselves while living on earth.

Spiritual adultery includes any form of idolatry and is a major theme throughout the Old Testament. Yeshua reminds us just how deadly this form of adultery can be. Yeshua said, “Nobody can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other”. It’s important as believers that we leave the worldly attachements and lusts behind us, put the God before us first. There is no turning back.

Knowing God is the purpose of human existence. When you get this, you’re at peace. The search is over. Ego-driven expectations disappear. Life begins to be genuinely celebrated.

We show up for one reason and one reason only: to walk with God, or union with Divine.

“The word ‘enlightenment’ conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment. It is really just your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”

SPIRITUAL ADULTARY

“God sent His son as a ransom to be sacrified so that with his blood our sins are washed.”

They claim this sadistic knowledge from the Bible and really believe in it. I reject to believe in such a cruel and sadistic god… What would you say to that my brother?

Yeshua said: “There are a lot of false words in bible. You are right. This is wrong. God is love. God is the God of all universe, not only the World’s. I didn’t come to World as ransom. I had come as the love of the Father but I was not welcomed and was tried to be killed. Even now 2/3 of the people on Earth are still wicked. They are enemies of God Who is Love and Light. The Source of every goodness and beauty. Uptill now I used to pray: My God they don’t know what they are doing. Forgive them…but now I don’t say ‘forgive them’ anymore. "

I asked to Yeshua in my lucid dream, Christian belief is as such that those who believe in You and get babtised, the Holy Spirit will be cast down upon them. Is it so?

Yeshua answered, ‘’Holy Spirit is neither cast down nor descend but humans must rise up cognitively to become a Holy Spirit.’’

All people – Christians or not – receive this help through the spiritual love that Yeshua hold. "Ask and you will be answered".

PROPHECY

Any kind of prophecy, prediction or clairvoyance regarding future events are not wellcomed by the God. God detastes interference with His doings. God gets disturbed about the foretellings of any kind regarding what He is going to do.

Those in the past, your socalled prophets, had said many things. If one says so many a thing regarding future events some of them might be used to sitimulate people according to the policies of the rulers. That doesn't mean that they know the future. Nobody can and may know the future. To know the future one must be superior to the One who makes the future every moment anew, The Almighty God. That is, to think that you are superior to Him even unknowingly, a very disgraceful mistake one can do.

Nobody can know what God will do. Nobody can talk about future. That is to poke your nose in God's bussiness which is an impertinent action. God is superior and can not be forecasted. Also this impertinent action, trying to forecast God's affairs disturbs God.

Stay with righteouness. Never bring evil thoughts into action. Do not give them life.

Yeshua.

FINAL WARNING

Time is closing. Sideways were all closed. There is no sideways any more. Either one reaches to God or to the second death after the physical death. "All or nothing." That is the word and the deed now to reach God. You have to focus on God only in order to achive this goal. Those who shall not succeed this goal will lose everything. Tell this to everyone.

Yeshua, 1st of March, 2018.

IN GOD WE TRUST…