#light of the world

[heartsings77]

[dramoor]

~O come let us adore Him~

[thewordfortheday]

Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

In these verses Jesus describes our function as God’s people. In one word it is "influence." When we live according to God’s word, we will have a profound influence on the world we live in.

Wherever there is light, darkness is dispelled. In your corner of the world, reach out to those who are hurting and sad, those who are hopeless and destitute. Ignite a ray of hope in them. Give them a reason to smile. BE THE LIGHT!

[thelordismylightandmysalvation]

Salt and Light

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Graphic via Verse of the Day - Matthew 5:14

[bringthekingdom]

[momentsbeforemass]

Let it

“Salt of the earth”

“Light of the world”

Both come from today’s Gospel. Both get used by countless people in countless ways.

But the point that Jesus is making with both of them? It’s something that goes to the very heart of our most fundamental relationship, our relationship with God.

It’s that our relationship with God isn’t just about us. Though our intimate connection with God is at the heart of it, that intimacy isn’t all of it.

That is, when we have living faith, a faith that flows from a healthy relationship with the God who loves us unconditionally, it’s going to overflow.

The love that’s the very heart of that relationship, and the joy that flows from it, are going to spill out in every area of our lives. And it’s going to have an impact on everyone around us.

If you’ve ever been around someone who is truly holy, then you’ve felt that impact. You’ve found yourself happier, more at peace, just from having spent time with them. 

The point Jesus is making is that this is supposed to happen.

When God fills us with His love, His joy, His peace? That when it gets to the point that it overflows, we should let it. We shouldn’t even try to hold it back.

Note that God isn’t looking for us to make grand pronouncements or produce theological statements. Today’s Gospel makes it clear that God is looking for something much deeper.

God is looking for a change in our character. A change in who we are because of our relationship with God.

A change that impacts every part of us, both in the big moments and the everyday ones. A change that cannot be contained, that alters even our smallest interactions. With God and with everyone we meet.

Our faith should impact others, because it’s had an impact on us.

Today’s Readings

[drzime]

Coming to theaters beginning September 5, 2025, LIGHT OF THE WORLD brings the story of Jesus to life in beautiful 2D animation through the eyes of John, his young disciple. A movie for the entire family, LIGHT OF THE WORLD powerfully illustrates how Jesus of Nazareth changed the world forever.

[theinwardlight]

Oh, everyone that will come, all people come to my beloved; come freely, you shall part with nothing for him that hath either price or value in it. Therefore, delay not but come to Christ Jesus who is the light of the world, his breathings are sweet and his shinings are pure: Oh that the sons and daughters of men knew him! Then would your hearts pant after him. Righteousness is with him, and as a river it flows forth from him. Dear and precious are his counsels. Oh that the nations could hear and obey him! And willingly give up all that which hath and yet doth blind the eye, so that they cannot see him, the everlasting counsellor and Prince of Peace. He is a broad river; his streams make glad the City of God. His depths none in eternity can find. His heights, who can ascend unto? The breadth and length of his love, there's no end of it.

Sarah Blackborow, early Quaker, A Visit to the Spirit in Prison (1658)

[rosie-love98]

We down, but we ain't out!:

I know, I know, it's been a long while since I've posted but boy! Do I have some good news for you...

Turns out the Salvation Poem Project is making a new 2-D film, "Light Of The World" that's set for the summer of 2025! I know I shouldn't get my hopes up (I don't even think a single preview/trailer is out yet). But considering that some of the folks behind this had worked on "Beauty And The Beast", "Emperor's New Groove", "Mulan" and "The Lion King"...how can you NOT be hyped? Anyway, the original pics can be found here: https://twitter.com/michaelperrigo/status/1818280328769012067 https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/there-is-another

[christliche-kunstwerke]

Christus als das Licht der Welt, c. 1550 von Paris Bordone

[gcantread]

Your power’s not in your gold or your name. It’s in you. I don’t understand it.

2024 in books: Menewood by Nicola Griffith

[apenitentialprayer]

No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world! Everybody, according to his or her particular opportunities and responsibilities, should be able to make a personal contribution to putting an end to so many social injustices.

Pope Francis (July 2013 Address to the community of Varginha)

[dramoor]

"When one passes through those times of pain which wring the heart, one is called not to break down but to break through. Just as there is a sound barrier, so there is a kind of praise barrier, and one breaks through the darkness by offering praise to God. Praise at such times is not offered as the fruit of a contented and happy mood. Such praise is not the result of a feeling. It is offered in the teeth of feelings of pain, and in spite of emotional numbness which such feelings of pain can bring.

Such praise is offered to God as a pure act of obedience, as a naked act of the will. It comes from a place deep down, from the heart which lives beneath the daily swirl of feelings. Such acts of praise are acts of defiance, through which we defy the darkness, and confess our faith in God who lives above this vale of tears and who calls us to Himself.

That is why, perhaps, such praise breaks through. When one is able to praise God in such circumstances, one is acknowledging that one is not the Center of the universe, and that one’s pain and loss, though personally difficult, have not displaced the cosmos, or changed the faithfulness of God. Like Job looking to God who appeared to him out of the whirlwind, we lift our eyes from ourselves to behold the Lord, and find a whole new perspective and peace. We acknowledge that although our life is temporarily in tatters, God remains on the throne, and He will make it all right—either in this age or the next."

~Archpriest Lawrence R. Farley, on the Akathist to Jesus, Light to Those in Darkness

(Photo © dramoor 2024 Continental Divide Trail, Colorado)

[angelthefirst1]

Thanks, Emily! She reposted the missing Carol's cookie that I need from my last post here

But it gets better. She added more context and clues.

I mentioned how the Netherlands is a representation of being in France here. I mentioned tiptoe through the tulips 🌷 playing with Sam in season 6 around the time of the Wolves. Tulips are a Neatherlans hint.

They also have very similar flags 🇳🇱 🇫🇷 with the red, white, blue, but flowing horizontal instead of vertical.

Well, she's at the hummingbird Cafe, she is marked as the hummingbird with her tattoo.

The hummingbird cafe is a representation of her in France, eating Carol's cookies, which is part of the Echelon briefing/cure.

What's in the Echelon briefing? Carol's cookie recipe...

The book on the counter says puur, what does that mean in Dutch?

Completely made of alcohol

All clues linking her to DD2 and a cure that only the highest echelons would know about.

Alcohol can be used as a sterilising or purifying agent, and the process of alcohol purification is linked to Christ's purification.

1 John 1.7

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Bad moonshine (purification/light) makes you go blind.

Alcohol can also be called spirits. So completely made of spirits, it could mean made of the Holy Spirit or antichrist spirit.

Real cure/fake cure

🐦🇫🇷🍪🍸♾️🍸🍪🇫🇷 🐦

[thelordismylightandmysalvation]

Verse of the Day - John 8:12