#lenten observance

[lightblueminecraftorchid]

u know it’s bad when ur doctor literally goes “hey you need to take a break from Lent/going to Mass this year until we work through some stuff”.

[breelandwalker]

Worm Moon - March 13-14 2025

The world is thawing and spring will soon be sprung. Dust off your garden tools and get ready for the Worm Moon!

Worm Moon

The Worm Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of March in the Northern Hemisphere. Most sources claim this name is taken from the renewed visible presence of vermicast (worm droppings) and earthworms themselves, as the spring thaw allows them to emerge from the soil.

There is a possible alternative explanation, involving a colonial explorer's notes about the Naudowessie (Dakota) observation of emerging worm-like beetle larvae from the bark of trees. "Every month has with them a name expressive of its season; for instance, they call the month of March (in which their year generally begins at the first New Moon after the vernal Equinox) the Worm Month or Moon; because at this time the worms quit their retreats in the bark of the trees, wood, &c. where they have sheltered themselves during the winter." (It's entirely possible that this "worm" in this instance is a mistranslation of an indigenous word for "larva," since it refers to the larval state of certain beetles. Without knowing whether the language in question makes a distinction between larval worms and earthworms, it's impossible to tell, and I was unable to find further sources.)

Other North American Indigenous names for this moon include Goose Moon (Algonquin and Cree) and Crow Comes Back Moon (Northern Ojibwe), in reference to the reappearance of migratory birds, and Sugar Moon (Ojibwe) and Sap Moon (Shawnee), in reference to the season in which the maple sap begins to run and can be tapped for the production of maple syrup.

Fun Fact: The term "Worm Moon" only occurs in southerly indigenous nations. The March moon is commonly named for trees or birds in more northerly areas of North America because in those places, the native species of earthworms went extinct during the period when glaciers covered that portion of the continent. About 12,000 years ago when the glaciers receded, the forest grew back without earthworms. The species which now inhabit those areas are invasive or introduced specimens originating from Europe and Asia.

The March moon, if it occurs prior to the spring equinox, is also the Lenten Moon, named for the Christian holiday of Lent. If it occurs after the equinox, it is called the Paschal Full Moon, corresponding with the Christian holiday of Easter, or Paschal Sunday (This year's Worm Moon will occur the week before the equinox and Easter Sunday will be in April.)

This year's Worm Moon will also feature a lunar eclipse, the only one we'll see this year. The peak of the full moon will occur at 2:55am EST on March 14th, but the moon will appear to be full and the eclipse should be visible on the night of the 13th. Check the Dark Sky Place Finder for visibility conditions in your area and livestreams of the event.

What Does It Mean For Witches?

Full moons are both the beginning and end of the lunar cycle. With the Worm Moon, we can look forward to the beginning of spring and the yearly harvest cycle. So now is the perfect time for seasonal divination, plans for the coming months, and the setting of goals for the future, both short-term and long-term. You can also check in with goals you may have set back in January and record your progress. (Remember - even a little progress is still progress!)

Consider also how you can change or begin new routines and habits to improve your life, make better choices, streamline your schedule, or just give yourself a much-needed break. If there’s something hanging around that no longer serves you, now is the time to consider bidding it adieu and moving forward to a new path.

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

The Worm Moon heralds the imminent start of the planting season. If you’ve got green fingers, now is the time to begin planning your garden for the season. Prepare your sprouting trays and browse your favorite seed catalog for inspiration.

It’s also time for that all-important spring cleaning, so open up those windows on a warm day and air out all the staleness from winter. As you scrub and dust and declutter, you can also magically cleanse your space of stagnant, disruptive, or unwanted things, replacing them with your own energy and your good wishes and goals for the upcoming season.

This is also an excellent time for spells focused on fertility, optimism, and new growth. It’s important to remember that fertility spells don’t just have to focus on procreation. They can also be geared toward planting, creating, opportunity, inspiration, motivation, prosperity, abundance, and anything that requires nurturing and productivity.

As the land begins to turn toward springtime, even if the weather is still cold, take note of the changes in the flora and fauna in your area. What species can you identify? How are the animals acting? Is there anything new that you notice since last year? Tracking these changes can help you connect with your local biome and identify patterns that can help you draw forecasts for the weather, the coming crop cycle, and any personal omens you have which are connected to nature. Try this knowledge-building exercise as part of your study - Dig Through The Ditches.

Since there is a lunar eclipse set to occur, this is also an optimal time for not only the usual fulfillment and abundance magic associated with the full moon, but for any magic meant to yeet something into the all-devouring void with all your might. Contrary to certain schools of belief, eclipses do not automatically negate magical workings done on the date they occur and there are ways of employing that energy to useful purpose. Picture the earth's shadow moving over the moon like a giant cosmic disposal bin which carries away anything thrown into it to be released into the void of space.

As always, for best results, make sure you are focused and specific with your intentions and close loopholes in your wording. Remember that YOU are the most important component in your spell, since you're the one providing the impetus and the energy and telling the magic what to do. Don't be afraid to clear and emphatic!

Recall also that in any environment, there comes a time when progress cannot occur until harmful elements are removed, stagnation is released, and detritus is returned to a state where it can decay and benefit new growth. Do with this what you will.

The season of greening and renewal is upon us, so it’s time to Ready, Set, GROW!

Happy Worm Moon, witches! 🌕🌱

Further Reading:

Worm Moon: Full Moon for March 2025, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Worm Moon: The Stunning Full Moon of March 2025, The Peculiar Brunette.

Witchcraft Exercise - Dig Through The Ditches, Bree NicGarran.

Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767 and 1768, Capt. Jonathan Carver, London, 1781. (Text available on Project Gutenberg)

Total Lunar Eclipse March 2025, Space.com.

Easter and the Paschal Full Moon: Determining the Date of Easter, The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2004.

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. ���)

[thepastisalreadywritten]

The most powerful moment of the coronation of King Charles III was not the gold glittering off carriages or epaulettes — not the pomp and show and signifiers of power.

It was precisely their opposite: when Charles shed his gold robes and stood in a thin white shirt, his frail humanity implied.

Then a screen was erected around him and, shielded, he had a private consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, who dabbed anointing oil with his hands on Charles’s bare breast.

"This was the most solemn and personal of moments,” Buckingham Palace said.

Charles was bare before God, in privacy, God being one of the last beings with no need to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

The Princess of Wales looked on as the screen shielded her father-in-law.

By contrast, she was at that point the most magnificent she had ever been, swathed in layer upon layer of regality, the dress, the robes, the hanging chains, headpiece and ribbons all serving to move the viewing gaze — subjects in every sense — from our awareness of Catherine Middleton with her everyday human DNA and towards the shared fiction of her transcendent queenliness.

Less than a year later, this moment is remembered with new and terrible power.

It is spring again, but it’s a time of hard Lenten moral reflection for us as a nation, in relationship to our royals, as well as an ever more voraciously unprivate modern celebrity culture.

Both the King and the princess have cancer, the latter’s disclosed by Catherine in an unprecedented video address on Friday, March 22.

Catherine’s speech was something of a plea bargain in which she traded not only her customary silence but her most personal of health ordeals in order to put an end to toxic rumours swirling online that had become in tone like an unruly mob rattling at the palace gates.

Or rattling at the figurative locks on her medical notes, with three workers at the London Clinic, where she and the King were treated, suspended and under investigation for allegedly trying to access her records (hers, it is important to note, the King’s were unmolested).

📷: Getty Images

What was so powerful about the anointing of the King was the sacredness of that space in which he could be fully human away from observation and judgment.

There should be another one-on-one consultation that is sacred, where anyone, from King to princess to pauper, can expect to be shriven in total privacy, and that is the sanctity of the medical room.

It used to be that priests were our only bound confidants, we could trust them to be privy to all our spiritual ills.

Now doctors are our secular priests: bound by law and ethics to enshrine confidentiality at the heart of the patient relationship.

As a result, our medical privacy in an age of oversharing and online surveillance feels both stranger and more necessary.

If we knew our every GP-inspected rash was to be posted on TikTok for the nation, many of us would quite literally die of embarrassment.

The King’s appointment behind the three-sided screen can now be viewed through the lens of royal illness.

The lavishly embroidered panels and expensive white shirt now replaced by the flimsy three-sided ward screen on wheels and thin hospital gown that can humble us all.

But it also enacts a principle at the very heart of becoming the monarch.

The medical-like screen is erected in the coronation to tell us there are some places the public cannot go; to tell us that there are sacredly personal moments in which a person, any person, however swathed in our projections of power, needs to be nakedly human.

Otherwise, they will go mad. We need to make sure the screens are erected around Catherine now.

Much is said, quite a lot of it by Prince Harry himself, of the dangers of the wives of the princes repeating the tragic history of their mother, Princess Diana, hunted by photographers.

He remains phobic to any hint of tabloid persecution or paparazzi chase. But this is a sideshow, even an anachronism in 2024.

He and others have not recognised how the “chase” has changed. Who needs paparazzi when there are a billion citizen hacks ready to take pictures with their phones, in case a convalescing woman nips to a Windsor farm shop with her husband?

Instead, the appetite now is not to see but to know.

The royals used to have a contract with the public: we pay for them, and in return, they give us their presence.

Nearly all of their official job is to do with surface: to show up, to put in appearances at a set number of functions, whether at the opening of parliament or the opening of a leisure centre.

But now parts of the online mob seem to be staging a coup. We want more than the surface, we want to puncture the skin barrier of the royal family and occupy from the inside.

The “fans” have become an invasive virus. The royal analogy is often that they are trapped in a gilded zoo. This new model, instead, casts the royals more as lab rats.

When Catherine disappeared from view in January after announcing a “planned abdominal operation,” the response from internet truthers was one of irate entitlement.

They are now the 1980s tabloids: ravening for intimacies and making stuff up when thwarted.

This wasn’t the boomer generation, who are both more respectful of the royals and more private about their own health.

It was the fortysomething mothers frustrated when they can’t track the phone location of everyone in their life; or the twentysomethings on Snap Map.

Both desperate for their personalised new Netflix season of “The Royals” to drop.

Catherine presents with such stoicism and dignity, it is easy to forget where this new invasiveness started: when she was pregnant with Prince George in December 2012 and hospitalised for extreme morning sickness.

While she was sleeping on the ward, a radio station in Australia rang the hospital switchboard pretending to be the Queen.

They broadcast the nurse’s comments about Catherine’s “retching.”

One could only find this prank funny if Catherine had already — a young, wretchedly ill, pregnant woman — been dehumanised.

George is now ten and his mother hospitalised again, and in that decade, the physical security of ill royals may have tightened but their claim to bodily autonomy seems to have weakened.

Some say Kensington Palace “brought it on themselves” by their wish for discretion; this claim is duplicitous.

The late Queen Elizabeth II became increasingly debilitated in her final years with not much detail ever given; just as her father, King George VI, died without disclosing his lung cancer.

I’m glad that the British do not subject their heads of state to the same publicised medical reports as the president of the United States; one shouldn’t have to present a stool swab to sit on the throne.

No, instead the apparent justification of all those clicking and posting conspiracy theories “worried for Catherine’s welfare” was this sinful truth.

As a beautiful, 42-year-old mother of three, her drama was more box office than the ailments of those older, a pound of her flesh was worth more.

Pity, Susan Sontag said in her 1978 book Illness as Metaphor, is close to contempt.

Back then cancer was still taboo. Those around the patient, Sontag says, “express pity but also convey contempt.”

Ask any cancer patient and they will say they don’t want pity: it is too isolating, it sets them apart, an unwanted privilege.

This is why the video plea of Catherine was one of affinity, rather than pity or privilege.

Last year, she sat in robes in Westminster Abbey at the coronation of her father-in-law, next to her future king son and future king husband.

In her video address last week, she sat on a classically English garden bench, pale, alone and in jeans, as bare of pomp as any royal can be.

No mention of kings or titles, just Diana’s ring on her hand.

Rather she gave an appeal, parent to parent, human to human, about her “huge shock” and her care for her “young family.”

And, finally, her kinship with anyone who lives in a vulnerable human body susceptible to a democratic illness like cancer, “you are not alone.”

Or, to paraphrase Richard Curtis:

“I’m just a girl, standing in front of a public, asking for some time to endure gruelling chemotherapy."

NOTE: Additional photos have been included in this article.

[posingsodomite]

The dinner that he gave me, incidentally, was so sumptuous — broiled quail and chanterelles, Saint-Nectaire cheese with figs — that I quite forgot to observe that abstention that is appropriate to the Lenten season. (In future I must remember to be more on guard about such things and not allow myself to be seduced by worldly pleasure. I must seek to desire no more than what I must have by necessity; I know all too well that temptations of this kind are precisely the keys by which a demon could gain entrance to my soul.)

(...)

The room Lord Vane has given me is marvellous — scarcely believable when one considers that I come to it directly from sleeping on a cot in a draughty boathouse. I have a window from which I can look out over clifftop onto the sea far below. I understand there are men who would give almost anything to have such a view. Perhaps I should feel fortunate that Lord Vane seems not to get many guests or I doubt he would squander such a desirable chamber on a mere humble priest like myself.

(@ Father Ardelian) HASN'T ANYONE EVER TOLD YOU TO ENJOY THE MOMENT AND APPRECIATE WHAT YOU HAVE

[boleynqueenes]

🔮

Anne is down, but never out. 

Their Lenten breakfast marks at least one cause of her failure: eggs slide over the iron pan and onto their plates, and he, in penitent observance, insists he cannot share her bed, no, not even just for company, we cannot imperil our souls …

Two, she is with child. And so he treads around her as though she were made of glass, and will not share news of the council with her, for fear of ‘endangering her’.

But she must know what is happening, in the world: she must know, for herself , and for her daughter, and so she pursues him, as though they were courting, all over again, as though she were earning his confidence, all over again. 

And so… she has had enough. Enough, of Madge Shelton, blushing at all those secret smiles , enough, of his fickle lack of courage, and insisted upon visiting him, every night, without fail, and… with, fail. 

He eats efficiently, and deposits his plate , and slides back into bed , turning to his side, shuffling, punching pillows into shape and slumping against them.

Anne has had to abstain, for courage, and ventures, turning to her own side:

“You will embrace your pillows, but not I?”

“They are softer than you. And…how about… why don’t…you hold me for once?”

“Are you joking?”

“Obviously you are not as soft as a cushion of feathers, Anne. What can I do about that?”

“No, the other thing. “

“What other thing?”

“Do you wish to be held?”

Henry acts as though he has not heard her , nuzzling farther into his pillow. 

“Do you?”

“Yes,” he snipes, voice edgy with resentment, adding, “not that you would care.”

She has to summon past feeling: what was it like, before he had betrayed her? What had it felt like, to see his pain, before he had weaponized her love?

What would she have done?

Tentatively, Anne shuffles closer to him, and winds her arm about his torso.

He freezes, as though wary of the gesture, and then, sags with relief, and clasps her hand to his chest, tightly as a relic.

“What is the matter? What has you so tense?” his wife asks, kneading at his shoulders and neck.

“His lordship… the Earl of Kildare ,” he explains, as she drives her thumb into an especially tight muscle of his neck, eliciting his seethe, the syllable of each title , a sneer, “has sent complaints of his conditions in the Tower to the council.”

“How very wicked…when you show yourself more merciful than many a Christian prince in your sparing of his life!”

“I know, darling… I know it,” the King gives, sighing into his pillow.

“Suffering a rebel to live! The Emperor would stamp out such a one in a heartbeat, and so would Francois… I marvel at the arrogance of these men, thinking to censure you, to endorse the censure of you, by and through the Bishop of Rome… some other foreign potentate,” Anne scoffs, whisking her hand as if banishing the thought of their armies (much as she had, in the golden age of their betrothal: let the Emperor come, and find what it is to meet 10,000 of my Uncle’s men alone … that day would dim St Albans to the very recesses of this realm’s memory!), “as if they would not see your actions in a like manner to them, as a declaration for war!”

As she clings, and descends her mouth to patter kisses upon his neck; familiar, although distant, sensations of their bond return, swiftly, to him…

His stomach dropping, and the warm, sensual urge in his groin…

She seems to sense his need instinctually, with all the practice of a wife, her hand soothing him the rest of the way along, and his mind empties of all others…before God, he does not need maidens. He has a soulmate already. He never spends himself better than under her reverent, gentle, and knowing care …

[orthodoxadventure]

The Apostles Fast in the Orthodox Church

Many non-Orthodox Christians often wonder what is the Apostles Fast in the Orthodox Church. It is often seen as a hidden treasure of the Liturgical Calendar - everyone knows about the Great Lent and even the Nativity Fast, but the rather short Apostles Fast often gets forgotten.

Jesus Christ Himself set the foundation for fasting. As it is said in the New Testament:

“Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (Luke 5:35)

The roots of the Apostles Fast go back to the first century of Christianity. After the Lord’s Ascension, His disciples lived a lifestyle of continuous fasting and prayer until the day the Holy Spirit descended - the day of Pentecost.

After Pentecost, the Apostles also fasted, but this time the reason was a little bit different. It was the fast of thanksgiving for the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they received. Another reason was to get well prepared for their mission of preaching and spreading the Gospel throughout the world.

The Fast is not only present in the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is also observed by the Coptic Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholics.

When does the Apostles Fast start and end in 2025?

Here is an interesting fact about the Fast: it doesn’t have a set date and its length varies from year to year. How is that possible? Well, let’s look a bit deeper into the history of the Fast.

The Orthodox Apostles Fast was officially established during the Ecumenical Council of Nicea in 325 AD. It was decided that the Fast must start on the second Monday after the Feast of Pentecost (or the next day after the Feast of All Saints) and lasts right until the day when we commemorate the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul. This is why it is often called the Peter and Paul Fast.

In 2025 the Peter and Paul Fast starts on June 16th and ends on July 11th in the Belarussian Orthodox Church.

How long is the Apostles Fast?

Each year the Fast starts and ends on different dates and even in different months. This means that its length is not set, but determined by the day of the Ressurection or simply Pascha. For example, in 2022 the Apostles Fast lasted for three weeks.

In general, the Holy Apostles Fast may last from 8 to 49 days, depending on the year.

What are the rules of the Apostles Fast?

The Fast is nowhere near as strict as the Great Lent. However, there is a list of products that are prohibited for Christians to consume during the Fast:

red meat;

poultry;

eggs;

dairy.

Such products as oil, fish and wine are prohibited on Wednesdays and Fridays of the Apostles Fast.

When it comes to the church services of the Fast, it is a tradition in the Russian and Belorussian Orthodox Church to serve the Lenten services on the first day or even the first week of the Fast. Such services help the faithful to prepare mentally and spiritually for the journey ahead.

What is the significance of the Apostles Fast?

Just as Christ fasted 40 days after the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove, the Apostles also fasted after the day of Pentecost. As we know, the Holy Spirit is now upon us as well. So it makes sense for us to fast the Fast of thanksgiving to God.

With the Apostles Fast, we meditate on the Glory of God and worship the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Fast is also a great instrument for any Christian to get closer to God and grow spiritually.

[Article from Saint Elisabeth Convent]

[soundwavesopretty]

Russian Peasants & Religion

Russian Peasants, late 19th century.

The religiosity of the Russian peasant has been one of the most enduring myths -- along with the depth of the Russian soul -- in the history of Russia. But in reality the Russian peasant has never been more than semi-detached with the Orthodox religion. Only a thin coat of Christianity had been painted over his ancient pagan folk-culture.

To be sure, the Russian peasant displayed a great deal of external devotion. He crossed himself continually, pronounced the Lord's name in every other sentence, regularly went to church, always observed the Lenten fast, never worked on religious holidays, and was even known from time to time to go on pilgrimage. to holy shrines.

Slavophile intellectuals, like Dostoevsky or Solzhenitsyn, might wish to see this as a sign of the peasant's deep attachment to the Orthodox faith. And it is certainly true that most of the peasants thought of themselves of Orthodox. If one could go into a Russian village at the turn of the century and ask its inhabitants who they were, one would probably receive the reply: 'We are Orthodox and from here.'

But the peasants' religion was far from the bookish Christianity of the clergy. They mixed pagan cults and superstitious magic and sorcery, with their adherence to Orthodox beliefs. This was the peasants' own vernacular religion shaped to fit the needs of their precarious farming lives.

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891–1924, Orlando Figes

[kahuna-burger]

Super important question! Tomorrow is, as you all [should] know, Pi Day. It is tradition in this house to make meat pies for dinner in celebration, and all the ingredients have been procured in advance. However! The Hubby observes Lent and is thus not supposed to eat meat tomorrow.

Now bearing in mind that local bishops regular give a special dispensation if St Patrick's Day falls on a Fasting day, I feel that the Hubby should be granted one as well. When the subject of my authority to grant such a dispensation arose, I responded with poise and maturity, "I'll make a tumblr poll."

[rabbitcruiser]

Saint Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is an annual feast celebrated on March 17th. Get ready to don yourself with the greenest garb, eat some clover-shaped cookies and march in Irish pride parades. St Patrick was the patron saint and bishop of Ireland. He was also the national apostle of Ireland who is credited with bringing the Christianity to Ireland. St Patrick’s Day is a religious feast day in the 17th-century which has evolved into a variety of festivals from across the globe. The celebration includes Irish culture with parades, special foods, music, dancing, and a whole lot of traditional green feast of the meal of Irish bacon and cabbage. St Patrick’s Day is also celebrated inside and outside of Ireland as a cultural and religious holiday. Saint Patrick’s Day is a global celebration of Irish culture and honors St Patrick, one of Ireland’s patron saints.

“Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.” – Saint Patrick

History of Saint Patrick’s Day

The origin, history, and the first observance of Saint Patrick’s Day are as old as St Patrick. Therefore the exact person or organization who has come up celebrating the St Patrick is anonymous. However, the history and tradition of St Patrick’s Day celebration are rich and long. March 17th is chosen for the feast as it is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick in or around the year 493. St Patrick’s Day is otherwise called as or the Feast of Saint Patrick or Lá Fhéile Pádraig in Irish, meaning the Day of the Festival of Patrick. It is a cultural and religious celebration, and the Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for beyond 1,000 years. St Patrick’s Day was made as an official Christian feast day during the early 17th century and is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Lutheran Church.

St Patrick’s Day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of the Christianity in Ireland. The annual commemoration, in general, celebrates the rich heritage and culture of the Irish. People in Ireland have been celebrating the Roman Catholic feast day of St Patrick on March 17 around the ninth or tenth century. The first parade was held to honor St Patrick’s Day took place in the United States and not in Ireland. The celebration Day falls during the Christian season of Lent, and the Irish families would traditionally attend the church in the morning and celebrate it in the afternoon. People will drink, dance and feast on the traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage as the Lenten prohibitions against the consumption of meat were abandoned on the celebration.

Saint Patrick’s Day is still a public holiday in many countries including the Republic of Ireland and has also been celebrated in more countries than any other national festival. Until the late 20th century, the St Patrick’s Day was often a bigger celebration among the diaspora than it was in Ireland. Celebrations usually involve the public parades and festivals, Irish traditional music sessions, and the wearing of the green attire or shamrocks. The Irish brands of drinks are popular at the St Patrick’s Day events. The shamrock is considered to be the most common St Patrick’s Day symbol. The shamrock is traditionally the leaf of the clover plant that is referred to as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. People prefer to wear the color green and the St Patrick’s Day parades will hold the flag of the Republic of Ireland around the world.

The custom of ‘drowning the shamrock‘ or ‘wetting the shamrock‘ on the St Patrick’s Day was historically popular, especially in Ireland. A shamrock is then put into the bottom of a cup at the end of the celebrations and then the cup is filled with the alcohol like whiskey, beer, or cider. The alcohol is then drunk as a toast to St Patrick, Ireland, or those present. The shamrock will either be swallowed with the drink or taken out and tossed over the shoulder for the good luck. It was said that St Patrick had rid Ireland of snakes. However, there have been no snakes in Ireland. Saint Patrick was a 5th-century Romano-British Christian missionary and is considered to be the foremost patron saint of Ireland. He was an “Apostle of Ireland” and bishop in Ireland. Patrick was thought to be born in Roman Britain and was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave when he was 16.

Records say that St Patrick was actually born as Maewyn Succat, but later he had changed his name to Patricius or Patrick that derives from the Latin term for “father figure,” after he has become a priest. He had later escaped but returned to Ireland. Patrick was also credited with bringing the Christianity to the people of Ireland. Patrick had already come to be worshipped as the patron saint of Ireland by the seventh century. The precise dates of Patrick’s life are uncertain as there are many conflicting traditions prevailing regarding the year of his death. It is said to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. It is said that he had been buried under the Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, Ireland. Thus the St Patrick’s Day celebration is held on the same date throughout the world.

How to Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day

Celebrating the Saint Patrick’s Day is quite easy. You can wear any green clothing on this celebration Day. Visit a church and attend a St Patrick’s Day parade. Serve your children with sweets and adults can enjoy drinking a ‘pint’ of beer at a local pub. You can organize parties at your home featuring the homemade Irish food and drinks that are dyed in green food colour are part of this celebration. Include the meal of Irish bacon and cabbage to treat your friends and family. If you are affordable, take a visit to Ireland to indulge yourself in the traditional celebrations. You can even go to any restaurants and pubs which offer Irish food or drink to celebrate this Day.

Source

[revlyncox]

Agape (2025)

Unitarian Universalism is a pluralistic faith. Some UU's are Christian (and have a lot of different definitions of what that means), many UU's are not, yet all of us cultivate mutual respect for each other's spiritual paths. In this season of Lent, we can learn from each other about the spiritual disciplines of love. We learn from Universalism and some other forms of Christianity that agape love is unconditional, that agape demonstrates what love looks like in public, and that agape is a discipline of readiness for change. This sermon was recast for The Unitarian Society in East Brunswick for the service on March 9, 2025, by Rev. Lyn Cox.

In the kitchens of my internal calendar, the smell of soup is in the air. For Western Christians, Lent started this past Wednesday. In my upbringing, that means simplicity, community, and mindfulness.

The idea is that, just like Jesus took time in the desert for spiritual discipline and challenge before beginning his ministry, Christians enter a sacred time to prepare for the holiest day of the year. Lent can be framed as paring down, removing the distractions that get in the way of an authentic spiritual life. This season helps Christians make room in their hearts and souls so that they can deeply experience the hope and promise of their faith.

Unitarian Universalism is a pluralistic faith. As it says in the values statement that is part of the UUA bylaws and as I often say when I’m introducing the wisdom story, “we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology. “ Universalism and Unitarianism have Christian roots, and yet our movement has grown to embrace many life-affirming spiritual paths. Some UU’s are Christian, many are not, and we all support one another in a life of meaning and purpose with love at the center. Those of us who are not Christian might find it helpful to learn how to support our UU Christian comrades, and we could find some inspiration that resonates with our own spiritual paths. Furthermore, as a progressive faith movement, we are among the people who are called to disrupt the harmful false narrative of white Christian nationalism, and so we need to be equipped with an understanding of the life-affirming and love-centered traditions within Christianity. Whoever you are, whatever your beliefs or un-beliefs about Jesus or God, you are welcome here. My hope is that we can learn about each other’s spiritual and ethical paths so that we can be in closer community. 

I was raised as a liberal Christian, and though my own path has moved on, there are things about my upbringing that are still meaningful. In the Christian church where I grew up, people gathered for potlucks every Wednesday night during Lent. Basic, nourishing foods like soup and bread kept us warm while we gathered in the social hall. A lay leader would introduce reflection questions for small groups to discuss. Topics might include materialism or how we respond to world hunger in light of Jesus’ observation that we do not live by bread alone. When I went back to visit as an adult, I was struck by how the tone of the discussion was guided by curiosity and affection.  

These Lenten potlucks were called Agápe meals. Agape is a Greek word that means the kind of love the Divine has for humans and, by extension, the kind of love that humans in the spiritual community have for one another. Agape love is not a response to someone’s accomplishments or usefulness or even moral virtue. Agape love is there from the beginning. We are loved, not because of anything we have done or will do, but because love is the primary force in the universe.

To me, Agape has always evoked the sacredness and the strength of a community of ordinary folks who show extraordinary love for their neighbors. That sounds a lot like an ideal congregation. I’d like to explore three aspects of this concept that are relevant for our spiritual life together: Agape is unconditional. Agape demonstrates what love looks like in public. Agape is a discipline of readiness for change.  

Agape is Unconditional

First, Agape is unconditional, because love is a primary force in the universe. This may sound either naïve or novel, but it’s not just 21st century hippie talk. Love is foundational for Jewish and Christian teachings.

There is a story about Jesus that appears in both Mark and Matthew (Mark 12:28-31 and Matthew 22:39) in which someone asks Jesus about the most important commandment. Jesus responds in two parts. The first part is drawn from Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” That first part is the beginning of the Shema, the most basic Jewish prayer. For the second part, Jesus quotes Leviticus, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s it in a nutshell. Jesus said the most important thing to do is to love.

Incidentally, as Jewish scholars like Amy-Jill Levine and Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has pointed out, this teaching resonates very strongly with the teachings of Rabbi Hillel. Most of my favorite teachings ascribed to Jesus are firmly Jewish teachings. Do not believe antisemitic framing about Jesus’ Jewishness or what Judaism is.

Anyway, the most important thing to do is love. Neither Jesus nor the writers of the Torah put a caveat on that. They didn’t say, “Love your neighbor, unless he annoys you, then never mind.” There are standards of behavior, but not limits placing members of the community outside the reach of love and respect.

Universalism says that Divine love is unconditional and is so powerful that no one is beyond its reach. That theology has been around since Origen of Alexandria in 225. The Universalist movement that is tied most closely to us in an organized way goes back to the 1700s in England. We’ve been doing this love thing for awhile. We keep practicing. We’ll get better at it.

Being in community is not painless. But I can be OK with struggle, and OK with not being perfect, because the love arising from the Spirit of Life is unconditional. Unitarian Universalism is accepting and also challenging. Love sounds simple, but simple is different than easy.  

Whether we call it Agape or Universalism, unconditional love is a gift. We can rest in that gift, knowing that we are acceptable just as we are. We can respond to that gift through practicing respect and kindness, knowing that the face of the Divine shines all around us.

Agape Demonstrates What Love Looks Like in Public

A second aspect of Agape is that it is concrete. You can experience Agape in a real sense through the words and actions of the beloved community. That’s because Agape love, like all forms of authentic love, is not just about a sense of emotional connection. Speaking to each other in loving and respectful ways is an outgrowth of Agape. Actions that demonstrate care for one another are manifestations of Agape. When we clear away the barriers that are preventing the members of our beloved community from thriving, that’s Agape.

For us as Universalists, because we believe that worthiness and love don’t stop at the meeting house door, that sense of interdependence keeps going, too. Pretty soon we see that relieving hunger is a form of Agape. Resisting racism is part of Agape. So is ending gender identity discrimination. The list goes on. Love is a primary force in the universe, but it is up to us as humans to respond to that love and to fix the messes humans made when we forgot the source of life.

Dr. Cornel West writes that “Justice is what love looks like in public.” To put it a slightly different way in a 2009 interview, he said:

“The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. And as a Christian, I believe in unconditional love.... But unconditional love is always tied to justice. Justice is love on legs, spilling over into the public sphere.”

Dr. West speaks about racial justice and economic justice as current concerns for love made visible. He speaks about racial justice and economic justice as current concerns for the visible work of love.

No human community can be an absolute example of loving, kind, justice-centered relationships. Being respectful, emotionally present, and open to learning from our mistakes is difficult. Noticing our own complicity in brokenness is difficult. Uprooting generations of ingrained, systemic patterns of oppression is difficult. Yet moving ahead on that journey is what love calls us to do. As I said, love is simple, and simple is different from easy, yet none of us are beyond its reach. We can learn to do better.

The practice of love, especially the practice of unconditional love in community, is actually quite difficult. The practice of love benefits from mentoring, reflection, trial and error … all of the elements that go into helping us to learn any other skill necessary for life.  Author and scholar bell hooks (of blessed memory) wrote that we need “schools for love,” places where we can explore the practice of relationship as an accountable, truthful activity.

Congregations cannot be perfect. Congregations can provide some of the resources and emotional space we need to educate each other about love. We study the most life-affirming aspects of the great religious teachings, including our own Universalist heritage. We are rooted in a living tradition of love. Our tradition can help us to learn to manifest that love in concrete forms of justice.

Agape is a Discipline of Readiness for Change

Jesus, as he is depicted in the Christian scriptures, taught by example that cultivating openness to transformation and taking bodily and spiritual risks are aspects of the path of love. He spent time in the wilderness, risking injury and starvation, to confront ideas that would stand in the way of his mission. According to the stories in Matthew (4:1-11), Mark (1:12-13), and Luke (4:1-13), the spirit leads Jesus into the desert following his baptism. While there, Satan tempts Jesus to satisfy his hunger by turning stones into bread, to jump from a pinnacle and rely on the angels to save him, and to worship Satan in exchange for power over all the kingdoms of the world.

I interpret this story as being in the mind’s eye of Jesus, a spiritual vision rather than a physical reality. At a pivotal moment right after the baptism, maybe what met Jesus in the desert was only what he brought with him. He had to be willing to wrestle with human things like physical vulnerability and self-centeredness. The temptation of political power is interesting, because theoretically Jesus is going to rule with God someday anyway. I would like to believe that the choice Jesus is making is between the short-term, obvious authority of domination and the slow-building, resilient power of just and loving community. He is giving up the idea that leadership means absolute control over people and outcomes.

Let’s think about what that means for UU congregations. UU congregations are, to varying degrees, democratic. They run on shared leadership. Being involved means a certain amount of letting go of control of outcomes, and we can do that because we trust each other to be committed to the essential values and mission of the congregation. Divine love as it is manifest in the beloved community is flexible and resilient. We are prepared to be surprised and amazed by what we can do together, which necessarily means we have to be open to change. Maintaining that openness requires some work.

That’s where spiritual practice comes in. I don’t think we have to go out to the desert. I do think that we do a better job of Agape as expressed in shared leadership when we can take a deep breath, practice mindfulness, and center our discussions on mutual care and concern. It’s easy to get caught up in the fear of the unknown, yet we have the courage to follow our mission when it leads us to unexpected places. To me, the story of Lent and Easter is that love is stronger than fear.

When we skip the reflection and intentional choices that accompany Lent and move straight into the joy of Easter, we lose some of the tools of transformation that could help us to sustain and share that joy. I’m thinking of tools like meditation or prayer, when we quiet down so that we can confront the devils we bring with us in our own minds. I’m thinking of tools like simple living, when those of us who can choose to make do with less create room to share more with others. I’m thinking of tools like asking forgiveness, when we create change and invite new beginnings. One might even call those tools for transformation a discipline, in the sense that discipline means a choice to focus methodically and purposefully.

If we need schools for love, if the congregation is going to be a school for love, the coming month is an opportunity for intense study. We are Universalists, so this is a school with no grades and no failing. I’m not talking about exam week. For me, periods of intense spiritual practice are more like preparing for the science fair—a time of experimentation, exciting discovery, and thinking about how to share my findings. Other folks may have more anxiety about the science fair, so that’s probably not a metaphor that works for everybody. My point is that a time to spiritually stretch ourselves, a time to challenge ourselves to love justly and concretely and to accept love that is fully nurturing, a time to invite positive change into our religious lives is a valuable season.

Conclusion

We can benefit from spending some time reflection in the coming weeks, whatever the spiritual tradition we draw from individually. Let’s share a commitment to disciplines that will increase our abilities to embody love in the community.

We will need to remember that we, ourselves, are worthy of love, and that our neighbors are worthy of love. We will stick to spiritual practices that support mutual wellbeing.

We will make love visible, here at The Unitarian Society, in the community, in our homes and in our workplaces. We will not leave affectionate feelings to fend for themselves, but will clothe them in works of justice and compassion.

We will open our minds and hearts to transformation, because experiences of true love will challenge habits and attitudes we didn’t even know we had. Agape, experienced madly, deeply, and passionately, will lead us to new ways of living.

So be it. Blessed be. Amen.

[meltorights]

it's amazing how quickly you want to give up your Lenten Observance.... truly the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

[breelandwalker]

Worm Moon - March 25, 2024

The world is thawing and spring will soon be sprung. Dust off your garden tools and get ready for the Worm Moon!

Worm Moon

The Worm Moon is the name given to the full moon which occurs in the month of March in the Northern Hemisphere. Most sources claim this name is taken from the renewed visible presence of vermicast (worm droppings) and earthworms themselves, as the spring thaw allows them to emerge from the soil.

There is a possible alternative explanation, involving a colonial explorer's notes about the Naudowessie (Dakota) observation of emerging worm-like beetle larvae from the bark of trees. "Every month has with them a name expressive of its season; for instance, they call the month of March (in which their year generally begins at the first New Moon after the vernal Equinox) the Worm Month or Moon; because at this time the worms quit their retreats in the bark of the trees, wood, &c. where they have sheltered themselves during the winter." (It's entirely possible that this "worm" in this instance is a mistranslation of an indigenous word for "larva," since it refers to the larval state of certain beetles. Without knowing whether the language in question makes a distinction between larval worms and earthworms, it's impossible to tell, and I was unable to find further sources.)

Other North American Indigenous names for this moon include Goose Moon (Algonquin and Cree) and Crow Comes Back Moon (Northern Ojibwe), in reference to the reappearance of migratory birds, and Sugar Moon (Ojibwe) and Sap Moon (Shawnee), in reference to the season in which the maple sap begins to run and can be tapped for the production of maple syrup.

Fun Fact: The term "Worm Moon" only occurs in southerly indigenous nations. The March moon is commonly named for trees or birds in more northerly areas of North America because in those places, the native species of earthworms went extinct during the period when glaciers covered that portion of the continent. About 12,000 years ago when the glaciers receded, the forest grew back without earthworms. The species which now inhabit those areas are invasive or introduced specimens originating from Europe and Asia.

The March moon, if it occurs prior to the spring equinox, is also the Lenten Moon, named for the Christian holiday of Lent. If it occurs after the equinox, it is called the Paschal Full Moon, corresponding with the Christian holiday of Easter, or Paschal Sunday (This year's Worm Moon will occur the week after the equinox and Easter Sunday will be March 31st.)

What Does It Mean For Witches?

Full moons are both the beginning and end of the lunar cycle. With the Worm Moon, we can look forward to the beginning of spring and the yearly harvest cycle. So now is the perfect time for seasonal divination, plans for the coming months, and the setting of goals for the future, both short-term and long-term. You can also check in with goals you may have set back in January and record your progress. (Remember - even a little progress is still progress!)

Consider also how you can change or begin new routines and habits to improve your life, make better choices, streamline your schedule, or just give yourself a much-needed break. If there’s something hanging around that no longer serves you, now is the time to consider bidding it adieu and moving forward to a new path.

What Witchy Things Can We Do?

The Worm Moon heralds the imminent start of the planting season. If you’ve got green fingers, now is the time to begin planning your garden for the season. Prepare your sprouting trays and browse your favorite seed catalog for inspiration.

It’s also time for that all-important spring cleaning, so open up those windows on a warm day and air out all the staleness from winter. As you scrub and dust and declutter, you can also magically cleanse your space of stagnant, disruptive, or unwanted things, replacing them with your own energy and your good wishes and goals for the upcoming season.

This is also an excellent time for spells focused on fertility, optimism, and new growth. It’s important to remember that fertility spells don’t just have to focus on procreation. They can also be geared toward planting, creating, opportunity, inspiration, motivation, prosperity, abundance, and anything that requires nurturing and productivity.

The season of growth and renewal is upon us, so it’s time to Ready, Set, GROW!

Happy Worm Moon, witches! 🌕🌱

Further Reading:

Worm Moon: Full Moon for March 2024, The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Worm Moon: The Stunning Full Moon of March 2024, The Peculiar Brunette.

Travels Through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767 and 1768, Capt. Jonathan Carver, London, 1781. (Text available on Project Gutenberg)

The Next Full Moon is a "Supermoon" Crow Moon, NASA, March 5 2020.

Easter and the Paschal Full Moon: Determining the Date of Easter, The Old Farmer's Almanac.

Everyday Moon Magic: Spells & Rituals for Abundant Living, Dorothy Morrison, Llewellyn Publications, 2004.

(If you’re enjoying my content, please feel free to drop a little something in the tip jar or check out my published works on Amazon or in the Willow Wings Witch Shop. 😊)

[margindoodles2407]

What even is Mardi Gras? From my layman’s understanding it’s like. A day of gluttony right before going into Lent which kinda defeats the purpose right. I’m guessing it’s like a thing celebrated by people who live in Catholic-influenced cultures but not by Catholics themselves

AHAHA YES you have come to the right place (well, at least i hope it is)

Okay so in a modern sense... you're kinda right. The way that Mardi Gras/Carnival/Fat Tuesday is currently celebrated (mostly talking about in the regions where it's big) is uh. Uhhhhhhhhhh okay forgive my language but it really is a kind of bastardized version of the traditional Shrove Tuesday. However if we're gonna talk about it we need to go back in time and look at some history.

So. Back in the day, Lenten practices were way stricter than they are currently. In the modern day, the rules are pretty much:

Fast (two small meals that when put together do not exceed a third, larger meal in amount of food, for everyone from the ages of 18 to 59) and abstain (no meat, and we usually extend this to mean no indulgence in any kind of bodily pleasure, for everyone over the age of 14) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday

Abstain from meat on all Fridays (while currently this is only obligatory during the Lenten season, some more traditional families- of which my own family happens to be one- continue to observe this all year round)

Seriously re-evaluate one's prayer life and acts of charity, and make a commitment to going out of one's way to be more Christ-like (we are encouraged to do this all year round, but Lent especially is like, taking stock of how that's actually going and make a committed effort to fix the things that are less than stellar)

But up until around 1966, the practices of Lent were far more ascetic. Fasting and abstinence were expected the whole season (with the exception of Sundays, in which one was only required to abstain), and abstinence was not just for meat, but also fats, sugar, dairy, and eggs.

Now, remember that this was before the age of refrigeration. Well, the week or so leading up to Ash Wednesday became Shrovetide, and it originally served the practical purpose of consuming all those things a family would have to abstain from during Lent, because really the only other option would be to let it spoil and therefore waste the food. The somewhat celebratory attitude was offset by the minor season of Septuageisma (and Sexageisma and Quinquageisma), which are the three weeks preceding Ash Wednesday and which were, so to speak, a mini-Lent, in which the faithful would spiritually prepare themselves for the penitential season to come. In fact, this is why it's called Shrovetide, because it comes from shrive, as part of this preparation was the frequent observance of Confession.

However, as these regulations were relaxed (my feelings about this is a post for another day), and as non-Catholics began to celebrate Carnival as a cultural celebration rather than a religious preparation period, you're right, certain things did, uh, get out of hand. Now, I'm from the Midwest and our Mardi Gras celebrations aren't usually very much. My family eats pancakes for dinner (again, to use up that sugar/butter/eggs/dairy), but that's about it. Also, when Catholics celebrate, we tend to focus on the celebratory aspect as more of a religious joy (okay i'm phrasing this poorly but like, basically, we're celebrating because even though we're about to spend a penitential season, we're doing it out of love to unite ourselves to the Passion and we know that it's not just, like, masochism, because in the end Christ has conquered sin and death).

One final note: although Septuageisma/Sexageisma/Quinquageisma isn't an official Church observance anymore, its spirit absolutely does linger in our practices. The weeks leading up to Lent will and have been spent praying and discerning what we need to give up that's currently blocking our relationship with God, and even our church's interior design has been getting more austere in preparation (we took out all the plants in the sanctuary save for the small vases of flowers in our Mary and Joseph alcoves, and usually we at least have some greenery, so even if we're not in purple vestments yet we're getting closer)

TL;DR: You're actually pretty right, but it wasn't always like this, and in most practicing Catholic circles it still isn't like this even if the official regulations have been relaxed

[thefemmefatalism]

The Religion of Organized Sports

Casey G

As we have just passed one of the most anticipated events of the sports year, the Super Bowl, I feel compelled to unleash the disdain I hold for the cultural phenomenon of sports appreciation. My disfavor is sharpened so by the participation of my team – ‘mine’ by proximity-designation – in the grand event, as the environment around me has been infiltrated. The clothing trends of my region have been disregarded, subdued by the tidal wave of Kelly-green jerseys and other official Eagles merchandise. Greetings and commonalities have been eradicated from conversation, as interactions now begin and end with a colloquial blessing to the Birds. These blessings – bound to an emotional, season-long tribute – seem to have paid off, though I cannot say the same for the greasing of the street posts.

It is not the sport of football – or any of them, for that matter – that bothers me, but the intensified commercialization and cult-fertilizing processes that have been fostered by the national leagues and financial monopolies that effectively control how we consume these sports.

The subsequent submission to these emotionally-tied, rage-based investments as encouraged by ruling sports institutions by the general population is both disappointing and concerning. Many of the behaviors exhibited by engaged sports fans are similar in character to behaviors of those who consider themselves devoutly religious, and strangely enough, it would appear that the effects of sports and religion share many of the same cultural impressions. Sports and religion both inspire obsessive loyalty and obedient followings, are largely based on parochial foundations, and offer community and purpose where there would otherwise be a gaping void of existence to face. These reasons, at large, are why I feel so critical about sports as an institution.

The extreme and unquestioning loyalty that individuals hold for their sports teams has always struck me as profound, considering that most people find what they consider “their” team based on regional proximity. For example, many Philadelphia team fans are so because they (and/or their family) were born in Philadelphia, or closer to that city than New York, Baltimore, or any other sports identity capital. Of course, there are always outliers – your random Anaheim Ducks fan born and raised in Minnesota; this can happen for a variety of reasons, but it is less common. There isn’t anything wrong with inheriting the love of a team from your region, family, or culture, but to treat the inherited affection as though it is based on independent evaluation of skill, a choice you made due to the genuine truth of the team’s position as the best, has always been silly to me. It seems ignorantly regionalistic, very us vs. them to naturally claim superiority based on regional athletics, especially in a world that is increasingly stratified by economic strife and political discord. There are no consistent teams with unchanging players and strategies to root for, just colors tagged with city names, producing new and gluttonously expensive jerseys every year to string along the cult-like fan base that have invested their life savings in the consumer experience of American Sports.

Out of this specific context, it is not the phenomenon of adopting the culture that surrounds you that I take issue with, for I would assert that is within the normal tendencies of human behavior. It is not the principle but the magnitude of the phenomenon that astounds me, specifically that  I have witnessed while residing in what is considered Eagles fan territory. I understand the general premise of interest in football, but I do not understand the culture shift I observe before my eyes. It is almost as though we enter a Lenten period of honorary genuflection to our Avian Lord, best expressed through the donning of officially branded merchandise. In a similar fashion to the religious holiday season, all worshippers turn out for the grand celebration, the most special time of the year; you consume the body of Christ, or you drink the blood of the Eagle (a green glitter beer). With regard to the peak of the football season, their fanaticism is met with the sacred ceremony of brute athleticism and alcohol-fueled celebration. 

Aside from the jerseys and dyed-food, the obsessive expression of sports appreciation extends further and into far more sinister manifestations. Rituals and charms are curated for luck and maintained for as long as a team’s winning streak might last, sometimes as long as an entire season. Rituals include specific behaviors and activities and an order in which they need to take place on game days; “good luck” tokens are frequently dirty clothing items, such as weeks-unwashed underwear and jerseys. The casual development of obsessive compulsions that they feel are directly tied to the victorious prevail and harrowing defeat of their beloved team help give definition to the sports fan experience through the illusion of participation. The delusion of participation is supported by aggressive vocalizations directed at the high-resolution screen, incessant screaming and endless frustration, ripping-out of hair and punching holes into drywall, anxious gripping and subsequent smashing of the beer bottle. This, in addition to the addictive and instantaneous world of sports betting, now accessible via mobile device where they can more easily target individuals with curated notifications and betting offers. When you feel bad that your team has lost – and even more sore over the financial loss – you can point to the fact that you didn’t wear your underwear inside out, or that the other team cheated…at least according to the angle on your television screen. Either way, you need a scapegoat, an embodiment for the loss and negativity you’ve experienced, some devil upon which you can harness all of your hatred and vitriol. Ironically, this outlet will also play into your continued loyalty to the team, for now you have a purpose not only in championing your team, but also in conquering your enemies. Religion functions similarly with psychologically-warped purpose-fulfillment encouraged through fanaticism and social divide.

Though my comparison of sports and religious fanaticism might seem harsh, it might soften the lens to consider that we adopt our religion very similarly to how we adopt our favorite teams. As previously asserted, most of us acquire our “home team” based on our geographical proximity to a major city and/or familial inheritance, though our family members typically have the same reason for adopting a sports team, unless the family has relocated. Similarly, religion is passed both through familial and regional patterns; religion differs in that familial loyalty reigns supreme over regionality, but regionality is relevant as it is common for the religious to live in communities alongside those of the same religion. It may seem natural, but I assert it to be rather strange that we receive our religious knowledge and understanding of the universe so ignorantly, blind and unassuming, happy to accept the banality of our context. When it comes to sports, the blind assumption of loyalties is less consequential, but is still worth considering. Why do you like the team you do, why do you want to wear the same exact jersey as everyone else, why do you allow them to suffocate you with those terribly overplayed, corny stadium songs? Calum Scott’s Dancing on my Own is insufferable, even after the Tiësto remix.

One commonality that sports and religious engagement share is their ability to foster community and provide purpose. When people have something, such as a game or event, to gather and celebrate together for, they are in their best form. It is my opinion that people are not on Earth to toil themselves as slaves of the dollar unto death, but rather to fruitfully enjoy themselves and the company of others within the restorative force of nature. Sports and religion capture a portion of the sentiment of human connection, though they do not fully manage the focus for it is cast upon some exterior goal or figure, whether it be a coveted victory or a feared god. In their capacity to provide the short-term purpose of gathering and engaging, interacting and being together, one can truly appreciate the emotional capacities of sports and religion upon humanity; it is with this perspective that one might feel apprehension towards both institutions as well.

If you can stomach the comparative psychological grip that organized sports holds on emotion alone, then let the unfettered commercialization and capitalization of the industry bother you instead. A quick Google search tells me that a brand new Jalen Hurts jersey goes for $149.99, the profit margins on such an item we can only assume are significant due to the production occurring in South America. You can expect to pay over $200 to see a live football game in the Lincoln Financial Field, not including anything besides the ticket itself. Sports is more and more removed from the direct experience of watching and enjoying the sport; like everything else, it is increasingly becoming a matter of investment. Not only do they want you to buy ridiculously expensive jerseys, they want you to buy a season stadium pass with an accompanying parking pass, not including of course any concessions and merchandise you buy while attending the games; they want you to invest financially in the fate of the games with the multitude of betting apps; they want you to stake your free time and mental sanctity to the welfare of the Sports Complex; they want you to revere overpaid athletes like God-celebrities. The same demographic who would rave incoherently about the corruption of Hollywood and the indulgent luxury at events such as the Grammys, would lovingly lick heel-to-toe of Roger Goodell’s boot.

I played softball for 13 years until the simultaneous fracture and dislocation of my thumb ended my career; I enjoy watching college softball, as well as major league baseball. I do understand the appeal of watching talented athletes excel and dominate on the field. What I don’t understand and refuse to accept, is the normalization of the consumption of sports as a product, the commodification of athleticism into something less valuable than the awe-inspiring display of human power that it is. What I don’t understand and refuse to engage, is the fanatical and cult-submitting behavior that many seem to adopt when it comes to their regionally assigned sports team. If not for organized sports and religion, what else would hold the ability to collectively captivate and distract us?

“So long as they (the Proles) continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. Left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern…Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult.” George Orwell, 1984

[ave-immaculata]

Hi. I am messaging as many Catholic blogs as I possibly can for spiritual help--I don't know if this is offensive. I don't mean it to be--I honestly, I try my very best to be a good practicing Catholic--but life gets very confusing. Anyway, I've been absolutely failing at every aspect of this Lenten promise, and I am terrified God is going to hurt me or hate me or punish me or just let something like that happen--that is not to say God is vindictive--He isn't; I'm just being very evil by making a promise to God and then not sticking to it. I've been getting mostly positive signs, but I am afraid that I am interpreting them that way out the selfish desire to be good and loved by God and not because He is actually pleased with me. I know this is complex problem. I know if you find the side blog this is from that it is going to be filled with non-canonical thoughts and desires and takes on God. I don't do it to be disrespectful--I love the Church with all my heart. I never wanna leave Her. So, if you do find it, please don't be mad or think made this out insincerity. I'm just scared and life and maybe the afterlife is throwing things at me at a much more advanced speed and understanding than I am prepared for. I would talk to my local priest, but I have caused trouble in the Diocese before, and I really don't wanna drag those people back in or my current priest or my family and I don't wanna be humiliated again. So, all I am asking for is prayer. Just pray for me.

{{{{Lenten Plans from the Universe/The Messiah/The Golden Timeline (02/13/24)

Okay so basically, here is the plan--handed down through divine intuition or signs or whatever gave me the information--I trust the information source--so here's my spiritual cleanse for the 40 days:

3 days of (as close as possible) no sleep--72 straight hours--then 2 days of regular sleep schedule for the next 40 days

40 days of no more than 1200 calories every day

40 days no spend (outside of food and bills)

40 days (at least) of no medication (exception--Excedrin Migraine but only in extreme situations...)

Increased prayer/communing/sign reading

***I want to be clear that this is something that I am doing for my own spiritual cleanse and enlightenment and enrichment and etc; I'm not advertising this as a responsible or safe or anything--this isn't a recommendation--you're welcome to join me in an attempt but consult with your own support system including mental health team.***}}}

I'm sorry this is so long. I'm sorry for being confusing or weird. I hope you are having a blessed Lent and I hope that you are given many blessings for praying. God Bless and thank you.

I will absolutely pray for you. I also want to add, despite what I'm about to say, that I get the worry you're describing about God punishing you or letting something bad happen as a consequence. I experience that kind of thinking, and even though intellectually we know that's not how God operates, it doesn't necessarily make it any less stressful. Any practices or penances that are amplifying those concerns are not drawing you to God and are not good.

Your series of Lenten devotions, in my opinion, were always going to be failed. These are collectively (individually, even), stricter and more difficult than most religious people (monks, nuns, etc., not just people who practice religion) would take on. I would sincerely recommend considering lessening your observance for the rest of Lent and discerning these sources pushing you towards them with renewed skepticism (especially using Ignatian discernment, which I can describe more if you like). Especially concerning (outside the penances), is "sign-reading." I don't doubt your sincerity or love for God, but I don't know that, given your worries and anxiety, this is going to be fruitful or draw you into a deeper communion with God.

God will not try to trick you with confusing signs or threaten you for not being able to keep up with this. God isn't going to ask you to stop taking prescribed medications as a penance. Let your your love for Him and His Church be the foundation of the remainder of Lent; your desire to please Him is delightful to Him. Read the Scriptures and dwell with Him.

I obviously don't know the situation with your diocese, but please consider speaking to one of the Priests about this.

[orthodoxadventure]

The next Sunday is called the "Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee." On the eve of this day, on Saturday at Vespers, the liturgical book of the Lenten season -- the Triodion -- makes its first appearance and texts from it are added to the usual hymns and prayers of the weekly Resurrection service. They develop the next major aspect of repentance: humility.

The Gospel lesson (Lk. 18:10-14). pictures a man who is always pleased with himself and who thinks that he complies with all the requirements of religion. He is self assured and proud of himself. In reality, however, he has falsified the meaning of religion. He has reduced it to external observations and he measures his piety by the amount of money he contributes to the temple. As for the Publican, he humbles himself and his humility justifies him before God. If there is a moral quality almost completely disregarded and even denied today, it is indeed humility. The culture in which we live constantly instills in us the sense of pride, of self-glorification, and of self-righteousness. It is built on the assumption that man can achieve anything by himself, an it even pictures God as the One who all the time "gives credit" for man's achievements and good deeds. Humility -- be it individual or corporate, ethnic or national - is viewed as a sign of weakness, as something unbecoming a real man. Even our churches -- are we not imbued with that same spirit of the Pharisee? Do we not want our every contribution, every "good deed," all that we do "for the Church" to be acknowledged, praised, publicized?

--Rev Dr. Alexander Schmemann: Great Lent - Journey to Pascha