#our Father

[herdreamywasteland]

please please please pray for my Papa, he's 85 and something happened with his hernia or his stomach. The ambulance is on its way to his house and my daddy is going over there, but we don't know much right now. Please keep us in your thoughts. His name is Ralph, please pray for him.

Even if you aren't religious, please say a Hail Mary or Our Father for us. Thank you.

I'll update with more news

[wiirocku]

Isaiah 64:8 (NLT) - And yet, O LORD, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the potter. We all are formed by Your hand.

[sleazyratbastard]

Rat Bastard Banned From The Last Casino On The Eurasian Continent That Would Have Him. He Only Finds Religion At Times Like This.

[roseillith]

[momentsbeforemass]

A million times

The Lord’s Prayer. The Our Father. Whatever you call it, we’ve all said it a million times.

Not that we shouldn’t. It’s worth saying a million times. And more. It’s that good (considering the source, that’s no surprise).

But even with a prayer as good as the Lord’s Prayer, there’s a danger when you and I say a prayer a million times. Our brains go on autopilot. And the words slide out of our mouths without us really noticing them.

That’s why I’m glad that today’s Gospel doesn’t stop with the text of the Our Father.

It gives us one more verse. Where Jesus explains one of the parts of the Lord’s Prayer that we miss when our brains are on autopilot – “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Jesus is pretty clear, “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

God’s love is unconditional. There’s nothing that we have to do – nothing we can do – to earn it. Because God’s love is freely given.

But God’s forgiveness? It absolutely is conditional. We have to earn it.

The thing is, God doesn’t want us to do anything for Him to earn that forgiveness.

God’s not looking for us to be perfect or sinless in order to deserve His forgiveness.

What God wants us to do to earn His forgiveness? Forgive other people who have wronged us. 

If I am truly a Christian. If I am serious about being God’s, about being forgiven, then I do not have the luxury of carrying a grudge.

I can’t hold onto my hatred or resentment for someone else who has hurt me. No matter how deserved it might be. No matter what they did to earn it. No matter how right I think I am.

My favorite “but-you-don’t-know-what-they-did-to-me” claim? Is met with God’s perfect knowledge of exactly what they did. And God’s perfect knowledge of the impact it is having on me.

Knowing that, God is telling me that holding on to that wrong is interfering with my own salvation, my own forgiveness.

Not because God is petty or keeping score or using it to manipulate us.

But because holding onto that wrong will in the end come between us and God. And God loves you too much to ignore anything that would come between you and Him.

And yet, all of us struggle with forgiveness.

Which is a strong clue that our feelings and ideas about forgiveness are probably out of sync with reality, with what God is actually calling us do. More on this tomorrow.

Today’s Readings

[jameslmartello]

[crotchrottt]

the angel with blood at his feet

[whoshigher]

Glasstablegirl

[tilbageidanmark]

(All the other memes I made..)

[hiljametsa]

Proposal for Reconstructed English

The thesis at the heart of this proposed reconstruction process is as follows: The English language, in its earliest recognizably attested form, that is Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, is a full and capable language, able to adequately and generally express the experience, internal and external, of its speakers and writers. It is fit for new life in the contemporary world. In the evolution of English, the language has lost much of its original lexicon and grammar. This is to be restored to it, according to its earliest attested meaning and usage. Orthography is to be formed according to what standards are discernible in Middle and Early Modern English, in order to increase legibility to contemporary speakers. Certain native letters (þ and ð) are to be avoided for this reason, but their usage may be preferential. Syntax is to be formed along the lines of original usage, but may be adjusted for legibility. Phonology will be largely untouched, as the vast chasm of English phonological diversity is now as frustrating to descriptive efforts as it has ever been in the past. This is not a second attempt at what has heretofore been called “Anglish”, which is in general a lexical swap-out project intent on the removal of Latin-derived words from the vocabulary of Modern English. In Reconstructed English, Latin derived words which appear in the language pre-1066 will remain firmly in the lexicon. Where native Old English alternatives exist for latinate words, the native will be preferred. Where this occurs with other Germanic languages (almost solely Old Norse), both the native and non-native will be equally retained. Primary lexical and orthographical preference is to be given to Old English and Middle English, with reference preceding thereafter to Old Norse and German.

Primary influential texts include: Beowulf, the Exeter Book, The Anglo-Saxon Gospels, The Ormulum, Chaucer, and the Wycliffe Bible.

Example Text of Reconstructed English:

Our Fader, thou the eart in héavenum Thín Name béa yhalwed, Thín Rích become, Thín Will béa yworden, so on éarthen as in héavene. Yíve us today ouren daylían bréad, And foryív us oure gyltes, as we foryíveth ourem gyltendum. And ney ylæd us into costnungum, Ack aleís us from evile. Amen.

Example paradigms, noun, verb, and adjective:

Héaven - m. heaven, sky. From OE heofon. Sing., Pl. N. héaven, héavnes A. héaven, héavnes G. héavenes, héavena D. héavene, héavenum

Halwen - to hallow, make holy. present, past 1. ic halwe, halwed 2. thou halwest, halwedest 3. he halweth, halwed plr. halwíeth, halweden part. halwend, yhalwed sub. halwe, halwed halwen, halweden imp. halwe halwíeth inf. halwen halwene

Our - our, of or belonging to us. masc., fem., neu. N. our, our, our A. ouren, oure, our G. oures, oure, oures D. ourem, oure, ourem

Plr. N. our, our, our A. our, our, our G. oura, oura, oura D. ourem, ourem, ourem

[bylagunabay]

Guide for the Perplexed

PRAYER TO THE MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD OF JESUS

𝑬𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓! 𝒘𝒆 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔, 𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒖𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝑹𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝑯𝒂𝒏𝒅; 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒄𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒘𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑫𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒋𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒖𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒃𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒊𝒍𝒍; 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚, "𝑩𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐 𝑫𝒆𝒊 𝒐𝒎𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒔, 𝑷𝒂𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒕 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒊 𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒔 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒔, 𝒆𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓” (𝑴𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕, 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓.) 𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒏."

One Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

- The Raccolta (1910)

[wiirocku]

1 John 3:1 (NLT) - See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know Him.

[supermarioonlychild]

Fiat Voluntas Tua

In prayer, always keep in mind God's will above your own. Don't pray for a girlfriend because she might give you happiness, but pray for happiness in whatever way God wants to give it to you. It might be a girlfriend but it might be the monastic call. Do not impose your will on God, but let Him impose His will on you.

Christ Himself taught us to do this in the Prayer he taught us, "Your will be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven." Christ Himself did this in Gethsemane, when He said "your will be done, not mine".

[roseillith]

[momentsbeforemass]

A heart like God’s

The Lord’s Prayer. The Our Father.

If you want to know how to pray, this is literally Jesus’ answer to that very question.

So it’s no surprise that we pray it. All. The Time.

The only problem with that? When we pray something that much, it can get smooth. Like a river stone. Worn smooth by millions of gallons of water a day, over countless years.

Until there are no rough spots. Nothing to catch on.

Until the deeper meanings, the hard parts, pass by without notice.

Which why the end of today’s Gospel is so important.

After teaching us how to pray, Jesus makes clear one of the most important principles in the Lord’s Prayer. One we often miss in our worn-smooth praying.

“If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

The thing is, the principle that Jesus is teaching isn’t limited just forgiveness. This is a principle for all of life. Here’s what I mean,

God wants us to be like Him, to have a heart like His. A heart that overflows in compassion for others.

It makes sense if we stop and think about it.

We can’t have hearts like God. If there’s no room in our hearts for anyone but us.

A few weeks ago, the daily Mass readings were from Genesis. They included Cain’s murder of Abel, and Cain’s question to God – “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The rest of the Bible? Especially the Gospels? It’s God’s long form answer to Cain’s question.

I’ll just give it away right now. Cain was wrong.

In our hearts, we know this. It’s why the spectacle of someone who talks loudly about their Faith but who harms others with their actions and their words is so grating, so jarring.

It’s so off the mark that even nonbelievers know it’s wrong.

Because we’re not called to be people who take care of ourselves. And no one else.

That’s not who God made us to be.

God made us to be like Him, to have a heart like His. A heart that overflows in compassion for others.

But the only way that works is if we live out who God made us to be.

Which is why we can’t expect to receive God’s blessings, if we’re not giving our blessings.

Today’s Readings