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cto10121 · 3 years ago

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The bad Shakespeare takes keep coming, I see. This one had the cleverness to couch itself as a personal narrative (makes it much more interesting, tbh). But as bad Shakespeare takes are my bread and butter, my boon and bane, mamma mia here we go again, with Merchant of Venice.

“But those who thought the play was irredeemably antisemitic were, the consensus went, vulgar and whiny—and, completely coincidentally, they were also Jewish, which somehow magically invalidated their opinions on this subject.”

I’m glad (is that even the right word?) this author found scholars that don’t think this play is anti-Semitic, but my experience with scholarship has been way more mixed than that. Suffice to say, this is literally all the play is known for these days, and views of the play as anti-Semitic are everywhere (Rosenbaum even had a hot take that since the Nazis liked it, it must be anti-Semitic). Didn’t know Harold Bloom thinks this play is anti-Semitic, though. That in itself is a bit of a red flag, as Bloom is a notoriously poor reader of Shakespeare.

“[I]n Merchant, Portia unhappily fulfills her father’s requirements of her suitors, while in Il Pecorone, the lady enjoys drugging her suitors and robbing them blind. By removing this detail, Shakespeare removed the suggestion that malicious schemers come from all walks of life.”

Or, by removing this detail, Shakespeare removed the clear and abhorrent sexism of his original source that turned a woman robbed of her autonomy by her father’s will into a criminal. It’s almost as if you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

“Dr. Lopez, one of the most respected physicians of the 16th century, had indiscreetly revealed that he once treated the Earl of Essex for venereal disease. The earl took revenge by framing Dr. Lopez for treason and arranging for his torture; while on the rack, Dr. Lopez “confessed”—though “like a Jew,” as the court record states, he denied all charges at trial, while the attorney for the Crown referred to him matter-of-factly as “a perjuring murdering traitor and Jewish doctor.”

This is a very twisted account of the Lopez affair and Essex’s motives in going against him, at least to my understanding. For context, Lopez was accused of receiving loads of money from the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth.

According to Stephen Greenblatt, in Will of the World: “Essex had tried some years before to recruit Lopez as a secret agent. Lopez’s refusal—he chose instead directly to inform the queen—may have been prudent, but it created in the powerful earl a very dangerous enemy. After his arrest, he was initially imprisoned at Essex House and interrogated by the earl himself. But Lopez had powerful allies in the rival faction of the queen’s senior adviser William Cecil, Lord Burghley, and his son, Robert Cecil, who also participated in the interrogation and reported to the queen that the charges against her physician were baseless.” Lopez apparently had been taken bribes from various sources, and confessed (freely? under torture?) “that he had indeed entered into a treasonous-sounding negotiation with the king of Spain, but he insisted that he had done so only in order to cozen the king out of his money.” Weird.

Greenblatt isn’t a historian, though, and Essex was indeed an asshole to Lopez, (and for what is worth, I feel Lopez was innocent; I just get those vibes) but so far I can find no other source that Essex actively framed Lopez. Most likely he did some sleuthing, dug up some questionable, compromising stuff, and tried to blow a hearth flame into a firestorm.

“After all, the historical record gives Queen Elizabeth a cookie for dawdling on signing Dr. Lopez’s death warrant; her doubts about his guilt even led her to mercifully allow his family to keep his property, not unlike the equally merciful Duke of Venice in Shakespeare’s play.”

Again, Lopez had powerful allies (doesn’t get much higher than Burghley), and again, re: Greenblatt: “According to court observers, Elizabeth gave Essex a tongue-lashing, ‘calling him rash and temerarious youth, to enter into a matter against the poor man, which he could not prove, and whose innocence she knew well enough.’” A cupcake, then?

“And it is of course entirely unclear whether this trial and public humiliation of an allegedly greed-driven Jew attempting to murder an upstanding Christian, rapturously reported in the press with myriad antisemitic embellishments, had anything at all to do with Shakespeare’s play about the trial and public humiliation of a greed-driven Jew attempting to murder an upstanding Christian—which Shakespeare composed shortly after Dr. Lopez decomposed. Most likely these things were completely unrelated.”

Nearly all the major Shakespeare biographies and articles I’ve read literally and explicitly talks about the possible influence of Lopez’s execution on Merchant of Venice and names it as an inspiration: Greenblatt, (he even headcanons that Shakespeare watched the execution!) Bate, Ackroyd. That’s how Horn managed to ping my BS radar something awful—because I had read about it, many times, even if it was mentioned in passing. It’s solid, legit Shakespearean academic fanon. The sarcasm is really unwarranted, and childish besides.

“It was damned hard to hear the nuance while parsing lines like “Certainly the Jew is the very devil incarnal,” or “My master’s a very Jew; give him a present, give him a halter,” or explaining what Shylock meant when he planned to “go in hate, to feed upon / The prodigal Christian.”

The first two are the fool’s, Lancelot’s, lines, I think. As for Shylock’s hatred toward Christians, while ugly, it’s entirely understandable given the Christian characters’ treatment of him pre-play and during it (Antonio spitting on Shylock’s gaberdine and then asking him to borrow money from him is called out by Shylock himself for its sheer hypocrisy). It also fits Shylock’s character as an unassimilated Jew, resenting Christian hypocrisy and racism.

“The actor began the brief soliloquy that every English-speaking Jew is apparently meant to take as a compliment: ‘I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? . . . If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?’

“Wait, that’s the part where he’s more human?”

[…]“Sure,” I told my son, game-facing him back in the rearview. “He’s reminding us how he’s like everyone else. He’s a normal person with normal feelings.”

My son laughed. “You seriously fell for that?”

[…] “What do you mean?”

“Shylock’s just saying he wants revenge! Like, ‘Oh, yeah? If I’m a regular human, then I get to be eee-vil like a regular human!’ This is the evil monologue thing that every supervillain does! ‘I’ve had a rough life, and if you were me you would do the same thing, so that’s why I’m going to KILL BATMAN, mu-hahaha!’ He’s just manipulating the other guy even more!”

And then the crowd applauded, Harold Bloom cried, and the mayor gave the author’s six-year-old son a gold medal for his Brave Hot Take. Honestly, this was the most unbelievable part of the essay I’ve read. Unless this kid has been reading academic essays on MoV that posit this exact same interpretation (“Shylock was just using humanistic rhetoric to justify his ~bloodthirsty revenge!”), this one’s for a fake Internet stories anthology. Shylock may be a dour, miserable pain in the ass, but he is no Barabas, an actual anti-Semitic caricature—he has a character, and a recognizably human one, and the play bears it out that he is right in his anger.

“I reviewed the other moments scholars cite to prove Shylock’s “humanity.” There were two lines of Shylock treasuring his dead wife’s ring, unlike the play’s Christian men who give their wives’ rings away. But unlike the other men, Shylock never gets his ring back—because his daughter steals it, and becomes a Christian, and inherits what remains of his estate at the play’s triumphant end.”

Er, this is a non sequitur—that last has nothing to do with the first. The point is, Shylock doesn’t give away his ring; the fact that his daughter stole it means nothing to his treasuring it. It may be proof of the play’s marginalization of Shylock (which accurately if sadly reflects real-life systematic marginalization), but not his humanity. Shakespeare just doesn’t do backstories, even for major characters, so it is significant that he gave Shylock a wife/beloved in the first place.

“Finally, scholars point to the many times Shylock explains why he is so revolting: Christians treat him poorly, so he returns the favor. But for this to satisfy, one must accept that Jews are revolting to begin with, and that their repulsiveness simply needs to be explained.”

This makes absolutely no sense at all. If one accepts Jews are inherently revolting, then no explanation need be given for when a Jewish character acts revolting! The racist accepts the revolting Jewish characterization without qualm. The fact that the play insists on his grievance is significant.

“We listened together as Shylock went to court to extract his pound of flesh; as the heroine, chirping about the quality of mercy, forbade him to spill the Christian’s blood as he so desperately desired; as the court confiscated his property, along with his soul through forced conversion; as the play’s most cherished characters used his own words to taunt and demean him, relishing their vanquishing of the bloodthirsty Jew.”

YMMV, but to me there are no cherished characters in this play. That’s the whole point! Everyone is so mired in this dreary capitalist materialism that denigrates genuine human connection into mere transaction. Everything to these characters is money, money, money (and class), or at least tainted by it. Shylock is simply the most overt (and honest) of the lot. Love relationships, religion are impoverished; Portia and Bassanio are scarcely more suited than Portia and her other suitors. Shylock and Antonio are Jews and Christians in-name-only: They are capitalists first and foremost. Portia is a smarter, more likable Karen. Lancelot isn’t funny. Jessica is okay, but her leaving her father is framed as a asshole moment at least in one instance. Portia is probably the most lovable, but she has her asshole moments too. There are no truly awful characters, but you don’t need to demonize and dehumanize your whole cast into two-dimensional racists just to make a point.

Merchant of Venice is not the best of plays. It is one of Shakespeare’s experiments, a proto-problem play before his Jacobean era, using dark comedy and a slight bent of farce to explore and elucidate social issues, racism and discrimination, chiefly. At least it tries, anyway. Taming of the Shrew is the first proto-problem play done completely farcical, which at least makes it compelling in a slapstick-satire way; Merchant is much more sociologically astute, but also more dull and coolly distant even from its own concerns. I don’t blame anyone, much less Jewish people, for not liking the play or thinking it a masterpiece. I myself don’t, though for reasons that have nothing to do with the usual ones. I like what Shakespeare was trying to do and I think he did some things very well. It has ambition and thought. But I feel like for most of it Shakespeare was on writing autopilot while mentally looking around for something a bit meatier to adapt and develop. It’s a jogging-in-one-place play; he has a couple of those.

In sum: Author argues for complicated play’s anti-Semitism, ends up just saying the racist slurs by the flawed/asshole Christian characters made her and her son uncomfortable (feat. A distorted and even misleading account of the Lopez affair). Plus some internalized anti-Semitism to sort through, methinks.

#the merchant of venice #shakespeare #cristina metas #shakespeare meta #kind of #cristina reviews #also kind of #merchant is not even one of my liked plays but these takes are just wearying

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themousefromfantasyland · 4 years ago

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Santa Claus and the Nature of Belief

I doubt anyone will read this thing, but here's my not-so-little essay: God is as real as Santa, and Santa is as real as God, and I don't say this in a negative way.

Every holiday season I end up reflecting about Santa and the nature of belief as a whole.

We tell our kids to believe in Santa, and generally we try to protect that belief for as long as we can. A frequent theme in Christmas movies is the kid or adult that don't believe in Santa Claus, but by the end of the movie their faith is restored and magic can be sensed everywhere.

And I wonder, what was all that truly about.

Yes, Virginia. There's a Santa Claus

This is the most reprinted newspaper editorial in the English language, and one of the most important pieces of Holiday lore in North America.

Virginia O'Hanlon was the daughter of a coroner's assistant, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon. In 1897, at eight years old, she asked her father if Santa Claus existed. Her father recommended that she send her question to "The Sun", a very important newspaper from New York City, which ran from 1833 until 1950. This was her original letter.

For the surprise of everyone involved The Sun responded the question of the little girl. As far as I can see there was no utterior motive. The paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the page, below even one on the "chainless bicycle". But it was noticed by the readers. It became almost a legend.

What is important about the story is that the author of the editorial was Francis Pharcellus Church. This man was a war correspondent during the American Civil War. He saw pain, death, misery and despair.

"The Rest of the Story", a radio program that presented little-known or forgotten facts of History, described Church as a hardened cynic and an atheist who had little patience for superstitious beliefs. Initially, he didn't wanted to write the editorial. He even refused to allow his name to be attached to it.

His other writings typically espoused hardened cynicism, skepticism toward religion and superstition. Yet, his most memorable work celebrates faith.

Was he forced to write this thing? Why someone so contrary to blind faith and superstitious beliefs would try so hard to protect and legitimate the beliefs of a young girl? We will never know the answer.

Santa as a metaphor for God.

Mr. Kringle is not concerned for himself, if he was he wouldn't be here. He is in this regrettable position because he is willing to sacrifice himself for children. To create in their minds a world far better than the one we've made for them. If this is, as Mr. Collins suggests, a masquerade then Mr. Kringle is eager to forfeit his freedom to preserve that masquerade. To subject himself to prosecution to protect the children's right to believe. If this court finds that Mr. Kringle is not who he says he is, that there is no Santa, I ask the court to judge which is worse: A lie that draws a smile or a truth that draws a tear.

Miracle on 34th Street

To believe in something even when it doesn't make sense or when you don't have proof. This is a frequent theme in Santa movies. Many use Santa as a commentary on the nature of faith and use him as metaphor to the Christian god. No one took it so far as the 1998 remake of Miracle on 34th street.

The final proof on court that Kris Kringle may not be crazy is that since the US Department of Treasury can put "In God We Trust" on US currency with no hard evidence, then the people of New York can believe in Santa Claus in the same way.

The "Hogfather" and Terry Pratchett

I wrote this essay because I recently read the "Hogfather" by Terry Pratchett, and he basically wrote the best argument for faith and belief that I've ever seen.

First, there's this dialogue exchange:

"There are many who say this... person does not exist," he said.

He must exist. How else could you so readily recognize his picture. And many are in correspondence with him.

Well, yes, of course, in a sense he exists..."

In a sense everything exists

But this one takes the cake. This dialogue is between Susan Sto Helit and her grandfather Death, the best character in the book mind you. This is after they save the Hogfather, the Discworld version of Santa.

Susan: Thank you. Now...tell me...

Death: WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU HADN'T SAVE HIM?

Susan: Yes! The sun would have risen just the same, yes?

Death: NO

Susan: Oh, come on. You can't expect me to believe that. It's an astronomical fact."

Death: THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN

Susan: It's been a long night, Grandfather. I'm tired and I need a bath! I don't need silliness!

Death: THE SUN WOULD NOT HAVE RISEN

Susan: Really? Then what would have happened, pray?

Death: A MERE BALL OF FLAMING GAS WOULD HAVE ILLUMINATED THE WORLD.

Susan: All right, I'm not stupid. You're saying humans need...fantasies to make life bearable.

Death: REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.

Susan: Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—

Death: YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.

Susan: So we can believe the big ones?

Death: YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.

Susan: They're not the same at all!

Death: YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME...SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.

Susan: Yes. But people have got to believe that, or what's the point—

Death: MY POINT EXACTLY.

And it continues...

Death: THERE IS A PLACE WHERE TWO GALAXIES HAVE BEEN COLLIDING FOR A MILLION YEARS. DON'T TRY TO TELL ME THAT'S RIGHT.

Susan: Yes, but people don't think about that. Somewhere there was a bad...

Death: CORRECT. STARS EXPLODE, WORLDS COLLIDE, THERE'S HARDLY ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WHERE HUMANS CAN LIVE WITHOUT BEING FROZEN OR FRIED, AND YET YOU BELIEVE A BED. IT IS THE MOST TALENT."

Susan: Talent?

Death: OH, YES. A VERY SPECIAL KIND OF STUPIDITY. YOU THINK THE UNIVERSE IS INSIDE YOUR HEADS.

Susan: You make us sound mad. A nice warm bed...

Death: NO. YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?

Belief makes us human

It doesn't matter which religion is the true one because no one is. At the same time, all of them are.

Religion is about humans in the past finding patterns in the chaotic world, and trying to survive through it. By believing there's a order in the world, they were able to bring order to their communities and to their personal lives.

Belief is part of our nature. It's our way of understanding the world, of making sense of it all.

These characters and stories in a sense are very much real. They are metaphors for the forces we struggle with in our daily lives, the eternal hardship that is to be human

They don't have to be absolutely real to mean something. Think about your favorite character. They aren't real, but what they represent, best, what they represent to you, this is very real.

Listen, I not advocating for complete abandonment of logic and reality. Today we have a very serious problem with people who completely disregard facts and cults. They consume fake news, they believe in stupid pseudo-science and by refusing critical thinking they put others into danger.

And then there are the Christian fundamentalists, that by all talk about "Religious Freedoms", they really meat forcing their belief system in others and control what people can or cannot believe.

Facts and logic are very important. Always believe in the Science. And, I can stress this enough, Critical Thinking is ESSENTIAL to escape con artists and charismatic cult leaders.

But you can force people to live by only what it can be proved. We aren't robots. There will always be a hole that rationality alone won't be able fill. A deep existential hole that If left unchecked will destroy you bit by bit.

I'm not saying "You need to convert" or "You need religion". But there's clearly something way deep and transcendental in these rituals and stories.

I don't really believe in God and the supernatural. I say that as a gay men who had a lot issues with my overly religious parents. But the gods and these rituals and stories clearly mean something, and I think we shouldn't dismiss the living experiences of these people as just mere superstitions, be then christians, muslins, jews, Wiccans, neopagans, hindus, etc.

Belief certainly brought something to their lives, and certainly they know something we don't.

If your faith makes you happy, if it helps you bring order to your life, if helps you appreciate the world better, if it doesn't force you to discriminate, your faith is completely and integrally valid, and you don't have to prove it to anyone

#christmas #holiday season #terry pratchett #Hogfather #Yes Virginia There is a Santa Claus #faith #santa #santa claus

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roadjanus · 6 years ago

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Israel, the Promised Land

ISRAEL...THE PROMISED LAND

From the border we drove by palm grove after palm grove. Obviously planted. In perfect order. Buildings of Jerusalem stone (white stippled stone), new and well taken care of. We can see already that everything is shipshape in this land. Looks like Europe.

Our hotel is a YMCA. It is lovely and welcoming. Beautiful lobby. Rooms are clean and spacious. And we’re in walking distance of the old city. We are right across from the King David hotel, which, our taxi driver tells us, is where all the Presidents and Prime Ministers stay. This is good and bad. Nice neighbourhood, but obviously a target!

We try to plot a plan for visiting this historic place. Too many sites to see. I’ll try to relay the feeling that arises from being in this place. Of course we are interested in the Christian story as we are all Christian, but we also are interested in the story of the Jews as our daughter-in-law and grandchildren are Jewish. And of course the Muslims are in there...making sure that everyone feels unwelcome. It is so hard to sort this out. But to start”

City of David...the ancient city. Where David and Solomon, his son, built a city to bring together the 12 tribes of Israel. You can still see the outlines of that ancient city where the Kidron Valley and the Central Valley meet. From there we hear about the First Temple, and its destruction and the Second Temple and its destruction. So the beginning of Israel’s claim on the land. The history is imbued into the rocks here and one can feel its import.

Of course this site is hotly contested in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. it is built on/by a Muslim neighbourhood with perhaps the purpose of establishing an Israeli presence there, and reestablishing the continuous line of Jewish presence in Jerusalem. Too complicated for me to follow by far. Later, Mount Zion, where we find the tomb of David and the site of the Last Supper.

And here we see the Temple Mount or Dome of the Rock. Now there is a disputed piece of real estate if ever there was one. Ok. So there is a rock there that the Jews, Christians and Muslims (????) believe was the site of Abraham’s meeting with God. The beginning of the world and the place where Adam was created. (Of course Eve was born in a luxurious condominium in the penthouse of the highest building). That place has changed hands several times along the way. The Jewish Temples were built there. But now, in this iteration the Muslims have control. They allow the Jews and the Gentiles to come onto the Mount at a few particular and limited times...but they are unable to go into the Mosque. Of course the entrance to the area is armed and dangerous. Only one gate that the Jews and Gentiles can enter through. The Dome of the Rock is the iconic building in Jerusalem and its history is symbolic of the controversy that swirls through its streets.

Being Christians, We head to the Via Dolorosa and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The most significant places for the Christians. Along the Via we see people carrying the heavy cross, as Jesus did and at each significant place, crowds gather. The Via winds its way through the market. So it is lined with shops, selling trinkets to the thousands of pilgrims that pass by. All of these little shops have the same items...and the shopkeepers are overly friendly until you turn them down...and then they are cranky and aggressive. Bestie and I had a couple of encounters in this market, which winds through all of the quarters. Christian, Muslim and Jewish. If you dare ask the price of something, you’d best be prepared to get haggling and buying because trying to move on enrages them. One ran after my Bestie calling her “cheap” and “rude”. OMG what a gong show. Of course the lanes are overcrowded with tourists, so moving quickly is out of the question. There are steps everywhere, and I almost fell down some when a shopkeeper was chasing me. So angry. I don’t know why but most shopkeepers were of this ilk. A few were more agreeable. We bought from them. That was the deciding factor...who is pleasant.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre...built upon Golgotha, and the site of the stone upon which Jesus was anointed before burial, and the supposed burial place of Jesus, from where he arose from the dead. So a very important place in the New Testament. It was packed with pilgrims, lining up to prostate themselves or to kiss the cross, or to cross themselves at the tomb. It’s an interesting place because the Orthodox control the site. Just something I didn’t expect. The Catholics always seem to run to the Center of the stage so I just expected them to be in charge there. And of course, everyone is VERY territorial. The church is beautiful. Many many lamps hang from the ceiling. a beautiful mosaic tells the story behind the anointing stone.

We did not wait in line to pay homage to these sites. Because we are all pretty secular this is more a journey of historical interest rather than a pilgrimage. Of course we generally know the story and find interest in the iconic places, but we are not looking for redemption nor forgiveness of our sins. This was true of Bethlehem too. That story was of course an integral part of our youth and even now we know the carols and watch the nativity scenes during the Christmas season. Again, a 2 or 3 hour lineup to go into the manger where supposedly Jesus was born. A silver star with 14 points resides there.We walked around the Church of the Nativity and saw many Orthodox elements. It is a Greek Orthodox Church. I was surprised. Just not thinking I guess.

Back at Jerusalem we also visited the Prison of Christ, where he was supposedly held after his arrest. A dark and evil place I must say. Hard to imagine the type. of person who would treat another so. And the room of the Last Supper. It is close to the tomb of King David, on Mount Zion. The Man had a lot of issue with these sites as it seems many have been reconstructed, and are not original. But of course. Not too much survives intact over 2000 years. Jerusalem has been the Center of violent warfare during much of that time. I think that the razing of the city has also put at risk the holy sites.

We wandered through the Muslim Quarter, visiting St. Anne’s church, which was taken over by the Muslims at some point. The mosques cry out several times of day. Many, many devout men stream towards the Dome of the Rock.

The Jewish Quarter. As we left the Muslims we had to go through a security screening and we come out at the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall. It is of course the iconic site for Hebrews. It is the original wall of King David’s city and is revered. It is divided into parts for men and women and people go to the wall to pray and leave a tiny wish stuffed into the cracks of the wall. When we toured the tunnels (built by Herod to move water about the city- those Romans!) beneath the wall, even there we saw little wishes stuffed into the cracks. People lean their hands against the wall and pray aloud.

Shabbat. The Jewish quarter, as well as much of the new city of Jerusalem, closes on Friday afternoon, about 4:30 and calm and peace reigns until about 4:30 Saturday night. Jews go to synagogue and there are many Ultra Orthodox and Orthodox Jews in the city, dressed for prayer. Not even too many places to eat. We ate on Friday night at the yMCA as their restaurant was open.

Tuesday morning we caught the train and headed to Yad Vashem. The memorial to the Jews who died in the holocaust. What a place. So striking, so hurtful. The museum memorialized the names. The lady told me that not a day goes by where they get another name to add to the almost 1000000 they already have. They are seeking information about those who died during the war. I think their time is coming to an end as those who would know or have the information must be aging as well. It is an emotional tribute, covering the individual camps, the ghettos, the uprisings in the ghettos, the atrocities, through personal stories. Short films of actual moments, interviews with survivors, artifacts, all contribute to the story of pain and suffering of the Jews of Europe. I can’t imagine what visiting Auschwitz will bring. And at the end, the magical Children’s Memorial. A vast auditorium of lights, one for each child lost. Unbelievable.

When you visit Yad Vashem, you have of a sense of why the Jews are so determined to hold Jerusalem and the land of Israel. Like they have been pushed to the wall and will be pushed no further. My heart aches for these people and the road in front of them.

#jerusalem #israel #second childhood #retirement #old city #conflict #muslim #jewish #christian

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frederickwiddowson · 4 years ago

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The Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early church, by Luke the physician - Acts 21:8-14 comments: Paul and company stay with Philip the evangelist

Acts 21:8 ¶ And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. 9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. 10 And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. 11 And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. 12 And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. 13 Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. 14 And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done.

Cornelius, the centurion in Acts 10 was from Caesarea. Caesarea Martima was built by Herod the Great to be a major port. It was the administrative center of the Roman Empire’s province of Judea. It is on the coast of the Mediterranean south of Haifa in present-day Israel. Caesarea is often called Caesarea Martima or Caesarea Palastinae to differentiate it from Caesarea Philippi on the Jordan River.

Philip the evangelist, it is said, was one of the seven, referring to the chosen deacons.

Acts 6:5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:

He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied. This represents a perplexing conundrum for Fundament Baptists who think women are warranted in the Bible only to walk behind men, keep their heads down, and shut up. There are prominent women in the Bible who perform God’s ordained assignments that would surprise some and dismay some others.

Here is Deborah in Judges.

Judges 4:4 And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

You should read the rest of Judges, chapter 4.

Consider Huldah the prophetess in 2Kings 22:14 and 2Chronicles 34:22 and her short sermon to the king’s men.

Perhaps we can consider Phebe, the servant from the Greek word from which we get the word Deacon in English, whom Paul says should be obeyed. Tradition says and the postscript to older versions of the King James Bible says that she delivered the letter to the Romans.

Romans 16:1 ¶ I commend unto you Phebe our sister, which is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea: 2 That ye receive her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever business she hath need of you: for she hath been a succourer of many, and of myself also.

There were deaconesses in the early church of the first and second century.

As for evidence Pliny the Younger was the governor Bithynia in what we know today as Turkey, geographically Asia Minor. He wrote a letter about Christians to the Emperor Trajan around 115AD. Here is the content of what we have today. Paul could not go to Bithynia but Peter may have gone there.

Acts 16:7 After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them not.

1Peter 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,

Here is one translation from the Latin between the two men.

“Pliny the Younger to the Emperor Trajan

It is my practice, my lord, to refer to you all matters concerning which I am in doubt. For who can better give guidance to my hesitation or inform my ignorance? I have never participated in trials of Christians. I therefore do not know what offenses it is the practice to punish or investigate, and to what extent. And I have been not a little hesitant as to whether there should be any distinction on account of age or no difference between the very young and the more mature; whether pardon is to be granted for repentance, or, if a man has once been a Christian, it does him no good to have ceased to be one; whether the name itself, even without offenses, or only the offenses associated with the name are to be punished.

Meanwhile, in the case of those who were denounced to me as Christians, I have observed the following procedure: I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

Soon accusations spread, as usually happens, because of the proceedings going on, and several incidents occurred. An anonymous document was published containing the names of many persons. Those who denied that they were or had been Christians, when they invoked the gods in words dictated by me, offered prayer with incense and wine to your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose together with statues of the gods, and moreover cursed Christ--none of which those who are really Christians, it is said, can be forced to do--these I thought should be discharged. Others named by the informer declared that they were Christians, but then denied it, asserting that they had been but had ceased to be, some three years before, others many years, some as much as twenty-five years. They all worshipped your image and the statues of the gods, and cursed Christ.

They asserted, however, that the sum and substance of their fault or error had been that they were accustomed to meet on a fixed day before dawn and sing responsively a hymn to Christ as to a god, and to bind themselves by oath, not to some crime, but not to commit fraud, theft, or adultery, not falsify their trust, nor to refuse to return a trust when called upon to do so. When this was over, it was their custom to depart and to assemble again to partake of food--but ordinary and innocent food. Even this, they affirmed, they had ceased to do after my edict by which, in accordance with your instructions, I had forbidden political associations. Accordingly, I judged it all the more necessary to find out what the truth was by torturing two female slaves who were called deaconesses. But I discovered nothing else but depraved, excessive superstition.

I therefore postponed the investigation and hastened to consult you. For the matter seemed to me to warrant consulting you, especially because of the number involved. For many persons of every age, every rank, and also of both sexes are and will be endangered. For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only to the cities but also to the villages and farms. But it seems possible to check and cure it. It is certainly quite clear that the temples, which had been almost deserted, have begun to be frequented, that the established religious rites, long neglected, are being resumed, and that from everywhere sacrificial animals are coming, for which until now very few purchasers could be found. Hence it is easy to imagine what a multitude of people can be reformed if an opportunity for repentance is afforded.

Trajan to Pliny the Younger

You observed proper procedure, my dear Pliny, in sifting the cases of those who had been denounced to you as Christians. For it is not possible to lay down any general rule to serve as a kind of fixed standard. They are not to be sought out; if they are denounced and proved guilty, they are to be punished, with this reservation, that whoever denies that he is a Christian and really proves it--that is, by worshiping our gods--even though he was under suspicion in the past, shall obtain pardon through repentance. But anonymously posted accusations ought to have no place in any prosecution. For this is both a dangerous kind of precedent and out of keeping with the spirit of our age.”(1)

(1) http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html. (accessed 3.28.2018).

Female deacons were also present in the early Baptist churches of the seventeenth century as it was thought unseemly for a man to minister to a single woman or widow.(2)

(2) McBeth, H. Leon. The Baptist Heritage (Kindle Location 780). B&H Publishing. Kindle Edition.

This brings us to verses that seem to contradict these historical and Biblical facts. For instance, Paul wrote to the Corinthians;

1Corinthians 14:34 ¶ Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.

What is the context of that command?

1Corinthians 14:26 ¶ How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. 27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret. 28 But if there be no interpreter, let

him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. 29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge. 30 If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. 31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. 33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.

34 ¶ Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

36 ¶ What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write

unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. 39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. 40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

The context is asking what was said in an unknown tongue during the church meeting. Notice in verse 28 that if there is no interpreter the man speaking should remain silent and speak to himself and to God but not the congregation.

However, women were not to teach men as that abrogated the spiritual responsibility a man has for the spiritual leadership of his family and in the Christian community. This should never be changed because of the psychology of men who will surrender their responsibility to their wives if given half the chance. That started with Adam.

1Timothy 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

But, the value of women as co-heirs in the grace of life is not diminished by the separate spheres of responsibility men and women are given.

1Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you object to a woman voting in a church meeting then note that voting isn’t mandated in the New Testament letters of Paul as I can’t find a verse that says, “when the church votes…” So, we have liberty to do some things that fit our culture and time unless you feel we should meet before dawn on Sunday morning and then go to our jobs afterwards like the early Christians or that you should send your young man out to find a wife and tell him to marry the girl who offers to water his camels.

Back to the text, disciples, as noted in verse 4, warned Paul by the Spirit of God not to go to Jerusalem. Here Agabus of Judea who is mentioned in Acts 11:27 and 28 warning of a coming famine. Now, he is warning Paul, who is bound to push God’s permissive will rather than satisfy His perfect will. A stubborn man, that Paul, wouldn’t you say? Luke and the disciples at Caesarea plead with Paul but to no avail. They give up and simply ask that God’s will be done.

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dfroza · 5 years ago

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keep your lives simple and honest.

A point seen in Today’s reading of the Scriptures beginning with chapter #8 of Zechariah:

[Rebuilding the Temple]

And then these Messages from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I am zealous for Zion—I care!

I’m angry about Zion—I’m involved!”

God’s Message:

“I’ve come back to Zion,

I’ve moved back to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem’s new names will be Truth City,

and Mountain of God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

and Mount Holiness.”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Old men and old women will come back to Jerusalem, sit on benches on the streets and spin tales, move around safely with their canes—a good city to grow old in. And boys and girls will fill the public parks, laughing and playing—a good city to grow up in.”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Do the problems of returning and rebuilding by just a few survivors seem too much? But is anything too much for me? Not if I have my say.”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“I’ll collect my people from countries to the east and countries to the west. I’ll bring them back and move them into Jerusalem. They’ll be my people and I’ll be their God. I’ll stick with them and do right by them.”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“Get a grip on things. Hold tight, you who are listening to what I say through the preaching of the prophets. The Temple of God-of-the-Angel-Armies has been reestablished. The Temple is being rebuilt. We’ve come through a hard time: You worked for a pittance and were lucky to get that; the streets were dangerous; you could never let down your guard; I had turned the world into an armed camp.

“But things have changed. I’m taking the side of my core of surviving people:

Sowing and harvesting will resume,

Vines will grow grapes,

Gardens will flourish,

Dew and rain will make everything green.

“My core survivors will get everything they need—and more. You’ve gotten a reputation as a bad-news people, you people of Judah and Israel, but I’m coming to save you. From now on, you’re the good-news people. Don’t be afraid. Keep a firm grip on what I’m doing.”

[Keep Your Lives Simple and Honest]

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“In the same way that I decided to punish you when your ancestors made me angry, and didn’t pull my punches, at this time I’ve decided to bless Jerusalem and the country of Judah. Don’t be afraid. And now here’s what I want you to do: Tell the truth, the whole truth, when you speak. Do the right thing by one another, both personally and in your courts. Don’t cook up plans to take unfair advantage of others. Don’t do or say what isn’t so. I hate all that stuff. Keep your lives simple and honest.” Decree of God.

Again I received a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“The days of mourning set for the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be turned into days of feasting for Judah—celebration and holiday. Embrace truth! Love peace!”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“People and their leaders will come from all over to see what’s going on. The leaders will confer with one another: ‘Shouldn’t we try to get in on this? Get in on God’s blessings? Pray to God-of-the-Angel-Armies? What’s keeping us? Let’s go!’

“Lots of people, powerful nations—they’ll come to Jerusalem looking for what they can get from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, looking to get a blessing from God.”

A Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“At that time, ten men speaking a variety of languages will grab the sleeve of one Jew, hold tight, and say, ‘Let us go with you. We’ve heard that God is with you.’”

The Book of Zechariah, Chapter 8 (The Message)

and Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments with Zechariah 8 is Acts 21 where we see how Paul intentionally went to Jerusalem after being warned that he would face arrest when doing so, although of course by being wrongfully accused. but he decided to go anyway to share his story, entwined with the grace of God to illuminate spiritual truth in the Son for others to see.

and in my dream i’ve done something similar by writing to share my heart and the True story of its seed, and by proceeding to meet someone face-to-face. and i did so gently, facing fear and its dragon, and cleansing it from the inside out to build trust.

from the ancient writing of the book of Acts in chapter 21:

[Tyre and Caesarea]

And so, with the tearful good-byes behind us, we were on our way. We made a straight run to Cos, the next day reached Rhodes, and then Patara. There we found a ship going direct to Phoenicia, got on board, and set sail. Cyprus came into view on our left, but was soon out of sight as we kept on course for Syria, and eventually docked in the port of Tyre. While the cargo was being unloaded, we looked up the local disciples and stayed with them seven days. Their message to Paul, from insight given by the Spirit, was “Don’t go to Jerusalem.”

When our time was up, they escorted us out of the city to the docks. Everyone came along—men, women, children. They made a farewell party of the occasion! We all kneeled together on the beach and prayed. Then, after another round of saying good-bye, we climbed on board the ship while they drifted back to their homes.

A short run from Tyre to Ptolemais completed the voyage. We greeted our Christian friends there and stayed with them a day. In the morning we went on to Caesarea and stayed with Philip the Evangelist, one of “the Seven.” Philip had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

After several days of visiting, a prophet from Judea by the name of Agabus came down to see us. He went right up to Paul, took Paul’s belt, and, in a dramatic gesture, tied himself up, hands and feet. He said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: The Jews in Jerusalem are going to tie up the man who owns this belt just like this and hand him over to godless unbelievers.”

When we heard that, we and everyone there that day begged Paul not to be stubborn and persist in going to Jerusalem. But Paul wouldn’t budge: “Why all this hysteria? Why do you insist on making a scene and making it even harder for me? You’re looking at this backward. The issue in Jerusalem is not what they do to me, whether arrest or murder, but what the Master Jesus does through my obedience. Can’t you see that?”

We saw that we weren’t making even a dent in his resolve, and gave up. “It’s in God’s hands now,” we said. “Master, you handle it.”

It wasn’t long before we had our luggage together and were on our way to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and took us to the home of Mnason, who received us warmly as his guests. A native of Cyprus, he had been among the earliest disciples.

[Jerusalem]

In Jerusalem, our friends, glad to see us, received us with open arms. The first thing next morning, we took Paul to see James. All the church leaders were there. After a time of greeting and small talk, Paul told the story, detail by detail, of what God had done among the non-Jewish people through his ministry. They listened with delight and gave God the glory.

They had a story to tell, too: “And just look at what’s been happening here—thousands upon thousands of God-fearing Jews have become believers in Jesus! But there’s also a problem because they are more zealous than ever in observing the laws of Moses. They’ve been told that you advise believing Jews who live surrounded by unbelieving outsiders to go light on Moses, telling them that they don’t need to circumcise their children or keep up the old traditions. This isn’t sitting at all well with them.

“We’re worried about what will happen when they discover you’re in town. There’s bound to be trouble. So here is what we want you to do: There are four men from our company who have taken a vow involving ritual purification, but have no money to pay the expenses. Join these men in their vows and pay their expenses. Then it will become obvious to everyone that there is nothing to the rumors going around about you and that you are in fact scrupulous in your reverence for the laws of Moses.

“In asking you to do this, we’re not going back on our agreement regarding non-Jews who have become believers. We continue to hold fast to what we wrote in that letter, namely, to be careful not to get involved in activities connected with idols; to avoid serving food offensive to Jewish Christians; to guard the morality of sex and marriage.”

So Paul did it—took the men, joined them in their vows, and paid their way. The next day he went to the Temple to make it official and stay there until the proper sacrifices had been offered and completed for each of them.

[Paul Under Arrest]

When the seven days of their purification were nearly up, some Jews from around Ephesus spotted him in the Temple. At once they turned the place upside-down. They grabbed Paul and started yelling at the top of their lungs, “Help! You Israelites, help! This is the man who is going all over the world telling lies against us and our religion and this place. He’s even brought Greeks in here and defiled this holy place.” (What had happened was that they had seen Paul and Trophimus, the Ephesian Greek, walking together in the city and had just assumed that he had also taken him to the Temple and shown him around.)

Soon the whole city was in an uproar, people running from everywhere to the Temple to get in on the action. They grabbed Paul, dragged him outside, and locked the Temple gates so he couldn’t get back in and gain sanctuary.

As they were trying to kill him, word came to the captain of the guard, “A riot! The whole city’s boiling over!” He acted swiftly. His soldiers and centurions ran to the scene at once. As soon as the mob saw the captain and his soldiers, they quit beating Paul.

The captain came up and put Paul under arrest. He first ordered him handcuffed, and then asked who he was and what he had done. All he got from the crowd were shouts, one yelling this, another that. It was impossible to tell one word from another in the mob hysteria, so the captain ordered Paul taken to the military barracks. But when they got to the Temple steps, the mob became so violent that the soldiers had to carry Paul. As they carried him away, the crowd followed, shouting, “Kill him! Kill him!”

When they got to the barracks and were about to go in, Paul said to the captain, “Can I say something to you?”

He answered, “Oh, I didn’t know you spoke Greek. I thought you were the Egyptian who not long ago started a riot here, and then hid out in the desert with his four thousand thugs.”

Paul said, “No, I’m a Jew, born in Tarsus. And I’m a citizen still of that influential city. I have a simple request: Let me speak to the crowd.”

[Paul Tells His Story]

Standing on the barracks steps, Paul turned and held his arms up. A hush fell over the crowd as Paul began to speak. He spoke in Hebrew.

The Book of Acts, Chapter 21 (The Message)

A set of chapters accompanied by Today’s reading of the Psalms and Proverbs for january 17 (Psalm 17 and Proverbs 17) along with Psalm 28 for the 28th day of Winter

[Psalm 17]

A David Prayer

Listen while I build my case, God,

the most honest prayer you’ll ever hear.

Show the world I’m innocent—

in your heart you know I am.

Go ahead, examine me from inside out,

surprise me in the middle of the night—

You’ll find I’m just what I say I am.

My words don’t run loose.

I’m not trying to get my way

in the world’s way.

I’m trying to get your way,

your Word’s way.

I’m staying on your trail;

I’m putting one foot

In front of the other.

I’m not giving up.

I call to you, God, because I’m sure of an answer.

So—answer! bend your ear! listen sharp!

Paint grace-graffiti on the fences;

take in your frightened children who

Are running from the neighborhood bullies

straight to you.

Keep your eye on me;

hide me under your cool wing feathers

From the wicked who are out to get me,

from mortal enemies closing in.

Their hearts are hard as nails,

their mouths blast hot air.

They are after me, nipping my heels,

determined to bring me down,

Lions ready to rip me apart,

young lions poised to pounce.

Up, God: beard them! break them!

By your sword, free me from their clutches;

Barehanded, God, break these mortals,

these flat-earth people who can’t think beyond today.

I’d like to see their bellies

swollen with famine food,

The weeds they’ve sown

harvested and baked into famine bread,

With second helpings for their children

and crusts for their babies to chew on.

And me? I plan on looking

you full in the face. When I get up,

I’ll see your full stature

and live heaven on earth.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 17 (The Message)

[Psalm 28]

A David Psalm

Don’t turn a deaf ear

when I call you, God.

If all I get from you is

deafening silence,

I’d be better off

in the Black Hole.

I’m letting you know what I need,

calling out for help

And lifting my arms

toward your inner sanctum.

Don’t shove me into

the same jail cell with those crooks,

With those who are

full-time employees of evil.

They talk a good line of “peace,”

then moonlight for the Devil.

Pay them back for what they’ve done,

for how bad they’ve been.

Pay them back for their long hours

in the Devil’s workshop;

Then cap it with a huge bonus.

Because they have no idea how God works

or what he is up to,

God will smash them to smithereens

and walk away from the ruins.

Blessed be God—

he heard me praying.

He proved he’s on my side;

I’ve thrown my lot in with him.

Now I’m jumping for joy,

and shouting and singing my thanks to him.

God is all strength for his people,

ample refuge for his chosen leader;

Save your people

and bless your heritage.

Care for them;

carry them like a good shepherd.

The Book of Psalms, Poem 28 (The Message)

[Proverbs 17]

Wisdom’s Virtues

A simple, humble life with peace and quiet

is far better than an opulent lifestyle with nothing

but quarrels and strife at home.

A wise, intelligent servant will be honored above a shameful son.

He’ll even end up having a portion left to him in his master’s will.

In the same way that gold and silver are refined by fire,

the Lord purifies your heart by the tests and trials of life.

Those eager to embrace evil listen to slander,

for a liar loves to listen to lies.

Mock the poor, will you?

You insult your Creator every time you do!

If you make fun of others’ misfortune,

you’d better watch out—your punishment is on its way.

Grandparents have the crowning glory of life:

grandchildren!

And it’s only proper for children to take pride in their parents.

It is not proper for a leader to lie and deceive,

and don’t expect excellent words to be spoken by a fool.

Wise instruction is like a costly gem.

It turns the impossible into success.

Love overlooks the mistakes of others,

but dwelling on the failures of others devastates friendships.

One word of correction breaks open a teachable heart,

but a fool can be corrected a hundred times

and still not know what hit him.

Rebellion thrives in an evil man,

so a messenger of vengeance will be sent to punish him.

It’s safer to meet a grizzly bear robbed of her cubs

than to confront a reckless fool.

The one who returns evil for good

can expect to be treated the same way for the rest of his life.

Don’t be one who is quick to quarrel,

for an argument is hard to stop,

and you never know how it will end,

so don’t even start down that road!

There is nothing God hates more

than condemning the one who is innocent

and acquitting the one who is guilty.

Why pay tuition to educate a fool?

For he has no intention of acquiring true wisdom.

A dear friend will love you no matter what,

and a family sticks together through all kinds of trouble.

It’s stupid to run up bills you’ll never be able to pay

or to cosign for the loan of your friend.

Save yourself the trouble and don’t do either one.

If you love to argue,

then you must be in love with sin.

For the one who loves to boast is only asking for trouble.

The one with a perverse heart never has anything good to say,

and the chronic liar tumbles into constant trouble.

Parents of a numskull will have many sorrows,

for there’s nothing about his lifestyle that will make them proud.

A joyful, cheerful heart brings healing to both body and soul.

But the one whose heart is crushed

struggles with sickness and depression.

When you take a secret bribe,

your actions reveal your true character,

for you pervert the ways of justice.

Even the face of a wise man shows his intelligence.

But the wandering eyes of a fool will look for wisdom everywhere

except right in front of his nose.

A father grieves over the foolishness of his child,

and bitter sorrow fills his mother.

It’s horrible to persecute a holy lover of God

or to strike an honorable man for his integrity!

Can you bridle your tongue when your heart is under pressure?

That’s how you show that you are wise.

An understanding heart keeps you cool, calm, and collected,

no matter what you’re facing.

When even a fool bites his tongue

he’s considered wise.

So shut your mouth when you are provoked—

it will make you look smart.

The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 17 (The Passion Translation)

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pamphletstoinspire · 5 years ago

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Will Only a Few People Be Saved?

In this Sunday’s readings (21st Sunday in Ordinary Time), someone in a crowd called out to Jesus, “Will only a few people be saved?” Why was this the wrong question to ask?

Gospel (Read Lk 13:22-30)

St. Luke tells us that as Jesus “passed through towns and villages, teaching as He went,” someone called out a question to Him: “Lord, will only a few people be saved?” This is a curious question, isn’t it? Why would anyone be interested in knowing thenumberof people saved? The idea that there are those who will be saved and those who will be lost in God’s final judgment was a constant theme in the Old Testament Scriptures. Moses laid it out before all the Israelites as they were about to enter the Promised Land: “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you this day… you shall live and multiply and the Lord your God shall bless you. But if your hearts turn away, and you will not hear … you shall perish” (see Deut. 30:16-18a). The wisdom literature, in particular, is full of exhortations to choose life by living righteously and to avoid the destruction that comes with foolish disobedience and wickedness (see Ps 1; Wis 5:1-16). So, interest in salvation by a Jew listening to Jesus isn’t surprising.

What is surprising, however, is the question this man asks: “Will only a few be saved?” What question should he have asked? We can get a clue from Jesus’ reply: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will attempt to enter but will not be strong enough.” The man who questioned Jesus was interested in the “few”; Jesus was interested in the “many.” Why?

Jesus continues to make His point by using a parable. He speaks of the “master of the house” who has “arisen and locked the door.” In this, He is describing Himself and the end of His time of visitation in Israel. He was with His own people, His “house,” for three years, teaching and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom and calling the Jews to believe in Him as their promised Messiah, the Son of God. He was rejected by the religious leaders and put to death, from which He “arose” and then departed, bringing to an end the opportunity for the Jews to acknowledge Him as their true King. He then describes Jews standing “outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door to us.” Jesus, the “master,” sends them away because although they had proximity to Him (“we ate and drank in Your company and you taught in our streets”), He doesn’t know who they are; they did not become His friends when He was with them. Theirs is a terrible fate. They will see “Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves cast out.” Here, of course, Jesus is describing Jews who rejected Him, refusing to believe Him when He said things like, “I am the door; if any one enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture” (Jn 10:9). However, although some of His own people will be outside, they will see people from all four corners of the earth reclining “at table in the kingdom of God.” This is not a description of “few” but “many.” It becomes clear, then, what question the man should have asked.

How different would Jesus’ reply to this man have been if he’d asked, “Lord, how can I be saved?” By the way Jesus addresses his question about “only a few,” we can surmise that this man thought of himself as being in that small number, safe, and not needing to ask this question. Many Jews of Jesus’ day, especially the religious leaders, presumed that because they were descendants of Abraham and God’s chosen people, they were the few who would be saved. This was a dangerous way to think, as John the Baptist made clear in his preaching at the Jordan River: “But when [John] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit that befits repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, `We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham’” (Mt 3:7-9).

Perhaps Jesus sensed this kind of presumption in the man who questioned Him. Instead of discussing numbers, He speaks directly to the man himself: “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” In other words, you have work to do! In addition, He warns the man that only those who are “strong enough” will make it through the “narrow gate.” What did He mean? As Jesus regularly taught, only those willing to lose their lives, to take up their crosses, to die to themselves in order to be His disciples will be able to pass through the “narrow” gate of Jesus Himself. Salvation will not be achieved by entering the wide gate of Jewish ethnicity. It will not come through proximity to Jesus—being a Catholic, getting all the sacraments, never missing Mass. It will only come through knowing Jesus and believing in Him, obeying Him as the Messiah, God’s own Son, and our only hope of redemption.

Jesus ends His conversation with a conundrum: “Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” The Jews considered the Gentiles to certainly be those who aren’tsaved, yet Jesus’ description of people from all over the world (not just Jews from Israel) proved that “the last,” the Gentiles, would precede many Jews (“the first” to be called) into the kingdom. Interestingly, St. Paul confirms this when he explained that “a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in, and so all Israel will be saved” (Rom 11:25-26). This describes what happened when the Jews rejected the Gospel; it was then preached to the Gentiles, who received it with joy. However, after this period of hardening (and no one knows how long this will last), St. Paul sees the hope of Israel finally recognizing her Messiah and finding salvation (see CCC 674). “Some are first who will be last.”

Had the man in this story asked the right question, the one all of us should ask—“Lord, how can I be saved?”—Jesus’ answer would have been simple: “Follow Me.”

Possible response: Lord Jesus, help me guard against presumption. I know it’s the door to pride, judgment, and complacency.

First Reading (Read Isa 66:18-21)

This is one of the Old Testament prophecies of the gathering of “nations of every language” into God’s kingdom to which Jesus referred in our Gospel. God announces, through the prophet, Isaiah, that someday people far beyond the boundaries of Israel will see His glory. This prophecy began to be fulfilled in the Incarnation. Jesus came to be a revelation of God’s merciful love, first to the house of Israel, and then to all people. Recall that even in His own day, Gentiles were attracted to Him (see Mt 15:21-28; Jn 12:20-23). On the Day of Pentecost, the Church began her preaching mission as Jesus had instructed the apostles: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20).

Isaiah’s prophecy envisions a glorious reconstitution of the new Israel, the people of God, which is the Church. It includes both Jews and Gentiles who believe in Jesus. Its dwelling place will be “Jerusalem, My holy mountain,” which we understand to be heaven. This is the future reality that Jesus did not want His questioner in our Gospel to miss out on. Neither do we.

Possible response: Heavenly Father, thank You for bringing this promise to fulfillment in Your worldwide Church. Keep alive a missionary spirit in all of us to take the Gospel to all people everywhere.

Psalm (Read Ps 117:1-2)

We should now be seeing how far off the mark our Gospel’s questioner was when he was thinking about “only a few” to be saved. It was always God’s intention that Israel, His chosen people, would “Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.” Here, the psalmist exhorts all the nations to “praise the Lord,” the God of the Jews first, then of everyone. Because of “His kindness towards us,” God wants all, not a few, to be saved (see 1 Tim 2:4).

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to our other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Heb 12:5-7, 11-13)

Remember that Jesus said in our Gospel some would “attempt to enter [the narrow gate that leads to salvation] but will not be strong enough.” Our epistle helps us better understand what is required of us if we are to persevere as children in God’s kingdom. It is only by His grace that we are born again as His sons and daughters in baptism. We can’t do this for ourselves. Yet we need to know that “whom the Lord loves, He disciplines; He scourges every son He acknowledges.” In other words, we will face trials that will require the death to self that Jesus preached in the Gospel. We need strength for this! We have “drooping hands” and “weak knees.” The author of Hebrews, however, gives us wonderful encouragement: “Endure your trials as ‘discipline’; God treats you as sons.” We know earthly fathers discipline their children out of love; it is the same with our heavenly Father.

The discipline of the Lord that comes through our various trials “seems a cause not for joy but for pain.” How realistic this is. Yet, over time, this discipline, if we meet it with faith, hope, and love, will yield “the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who are trained by it.” The goal of this discipline is to heal our weaknesses, and, as a verse not included in our reading says, “… [the Lord] disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness” (see vs 10).

Make us strong, Lord, to enter the narrow gate for the joy on the other side.

Possible response: Heavenly Father, please help me remember that my trials are meant to make me strong, not crush me, to heal what is lame, not cripple me.

BY: GAYLE SOMERS

From: https://www.pamphletstoinspire.com/

#will only a few people be saved

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gracewithducks · 6 years ago

Text

So Ananias went. (Acts 9:1-20)

When we were up north last summer, as we drove around the area where Mike and I both grew up, there came a moment when Mike pulled over to the side of the road. The kids were confused, because really, there was nothing to see. We were out in the country, surrounded by trees and a couple of dirt driveways; that little stretch of road wasn’t significant or special in any way… until Mike turned to his daughters and said, “This is where your daddy met Jesus.”

The girls were really impressed… until our then three-year-old looked around and started crying. “But where is he?” she said, disappointed. “Where is who?” we asked her. She said, “But where is Jesus? I want to meet Jesus, too!” No matter how much we tried to explain that Jesus is with us everywhere, and Jesus is in our hearts, B wanted something more. When you meet Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse is standing right there. Mickey gives you a hug, and somebody takes your picture. When we meet Jesus, B wants nothing less.

That little stretch of road may have disappointed our kids, but it means everything to my husband. Mike grew up in the church – but he struggled with his faith.

It was just something he did, not something that found its way into his heart, until as a teenager, he met some people who taught him about grace, and about hope, and that Jesus wanted to be his friend. One night, driving back home, Mike was so overwhelmed by God’s love and grace that he had to pull to the side of the road. And just like the night when John Wesley’s heart was strangely warmed, just like the day when Saul was knocked on his backside and blinded by the light – that was the day when Mike’s faith became real.

This story, the conversion of Saul, the day when Saul’s faith and his name and his whole life are changed, this story has long been one of Mike’s favorite stories –because he feels like it’s his story, too. And it reminds him that one moment can change your whole life. One ordinary moment on a backroad in the middle of nowhere can turn your whole life around. One moment when you come face to face with Christ changes everything.

Mike loves this story, but if I’m being honest, there are days when this story terrifies me. It terrifies me because what we can forget is that, in a lot of ways, before that day, Saul was this perfect religious guy. He just happened to also be this guy who got a lot of things wrong, a guy who committed terrible, hate-filled, violent atrocities – precisely because he was such a good, religious guy. He did awful things because he sincerely believed they were the right things to do; he destroyed lives because he thought God wanted him to.

Thank God, Saul’s story shows us that people can change. But Saul’s story also warns us that it’s possible to have a strong, compelling, life-encompassing set of beliefs that guides and shapes every aspect of your life… and still to be dead wrong.

Saul was a leader among the people of God. He was respected, because he knew God’s word backwards and forwards and inside out; he was honored, because he knew the laws, knew all the rules, and did everything he could to keep them. And Saul was zealous, so very zealous about his faith, that when some Galilean hippie and his followers started suggesting that grace is more important than the rules, and that dead men can walk out of the tomb – Saul did everything he could to squash that dangerous rumor right out.

Saul persecuted the first Christians with his whole heart. When Stephen, one of the first martyrs, was being stoned to death, Saul was there, holding the coats of the crowd who threw the stones – and nodding with approval, looking on with satisfaction as that dangerous heretic died. When we meet him today, he’s “breathing threats and murder” against Jesus’ followers, and he’s on his way to the faith community of Damascus, where he plans an inquisition: to examine the worshipers, and weed out the Jesus freaks, to arrest them and drag them back to Jerusalem to stand trial.

Saul is so threatened by these people, he’s so consumed with his own hatred for them, with his fear of them and their message – that he never even considers that they might have something to teach him about the God he follows.

This story saddens me, not just because this attitude created so many martyrs in the first century – but because this attitude, this hatred and fear, continues in the church – and continues to turn violent still today.

And so we live in a world where white people are still so threatened by brown people that black churches are shot up and bombed and burned down. We live in a world where citizens – many of them descended from immigrants and refugees – where citizens are so afraid of immigrants and refugees that we imagine that God called us to build a wall and when families show up desperate for help, God doesn’t mind if we take their children away. We live in a world where synagogues are vandalized and attacked by Christian extremists, where mosques are vandalized and attacked by Christian extremists, where Christians even turn on one another, protesting funerals, pursuing trials, hunting down the heretics who dare to suggest that grace is more important than the rules still today, and that when we say “God so loved the world” we mean that God really does love the whole world – all of creation, and especially all the people of every color and shape and orientation in it – Christians are turning on each other, hunting down those dangerous heretics and revoking their credentials and driving them away.

And every one of those fearful, hate-filled, violent people believes that they’re just doing what God wants them to do. Saul is all around us. Saul is breathing threats and murder everywhere today.

It’s enough to make us wonder whether it’s time to just give up. If two thousand years after Jesus taught, two thousand years of reading and studying the Sermon on the Mount, two thousand years of washing feet and saying “this is my commandment: love one another”, two thousand years of breaking the bread and drinking the cup and saying “here I am, broken open for you; remember me” – if two thousand years after Jesus was executed for preaching too generous a grace, and two thousand years after he rose again – if after all this time, we still haven’t gotten the message, maybe we never will.

But then I remember Saul. Saul, who we know better as the apostle Paul – Paul, who after this encounter with Christ, after he gets knocked on his backside on the road to Damascus, after he sees the light, Paul becomes a changed man. This gatekeeper and inquisitor is transformed, and he becomes the first great missionary, the Lord’s most passionate preacher and defender, the one who keeps challenging the church to open its doors a bit wider, so that all the people Christ has loved and called can finally come on in. This is Paul, who writes, “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer male or female; there is no longer slave nor free; for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”[1]

Paul gives me hope. Paul gives me hope, but so does Ananias.

As I was revisiting this story this week, I realized that I’ve only ever focused on Saul, on what this day and this encounter meant to him. But this time around, I found myself drawn more and more to Ananias. Much like Saul, Ananias is a faithful believer, doing the best he can to be true to his faith. Like Saul, Ananias is afraid. In a lot of ways, Ananias reminds me of Jesus’ disciples, who we find hiding from their enemies, locked away in the Upper Room, for whole week after resurrection Sunday – until Jesus suddenly appears in their midst, and promises them peace, and sends them out into the world to share his grace.

Ananias believes: he believes in Jesus, he believes in the resurrection, he believes in love and he believes in grace – but Ananias is also afraid. He knows those are dangerous beliefs; he knows that there are people like Saul who will persecute him, try him, condemn him, execute him.

And then Jesus shows up. And Jesus says, “Ananias, I want you to go to Saul; find him, and put your hands on him, so that I can heal him.”’

And Ananias says, “Excuse me? You want me to go where? To do what? To lay my hands on who?”

Ananias says, I know that guy; I’ve heard of him. He’s an enemy. He’s dangerous. He’s actively searching for people like me, to arrest us – or worse. And you want me to just go waltzing right into the lion’s mouth?

Ananias is afraid. He’s afraid, with good reason. But still God says: go.

God says: Go, and heal Saul. Go, knowing that I love you – but I love him, too, no matter how he’s lost his way. Go, knowing that I’m with you – and I’m also with him. And the message of the resurrection is that we don’t have to be afraid of those who can hurt these bodies and end this life – because this life isn’t the end. And the message of grace is that people can change; no one is so evil they cannot be redeemed. So go, follow me, and believe.

So Ananias goes. Just like that, Ananias goes. He goes, and he models courage, and he shows compassion, and he offers grace even to the very man who wanted him dead – and because Ananias goes, Saul’s eyes are opened, and Saul becomes Paul, and the church and the world are forever changed.

We all remember Paul. But there would be no Paul without the quiet and courageous faith of a man named Ananias, an ordinary disciple, a man of prayer and faithfulness, a man who was afraid, but who still trusted Christ.

And I wonder: what does that look like for us, today? Do we really believe that people can change, and that God’s grace is even big enough to encompass our enemies? What does it look like, in this dangerous and violent world, to follow Christ with compassion and courage, even in spite of our fear?

God still calls us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to proclaim that God’s love and grace are for everybody, everywhere, no exceptions. That message is as dangerous now as it was then… but by the grace of God, that message is just as powerful – and if we are faithful, if we are willing to go where we are called, then lives and communities and churches and the world may be transformed once again.

May we believe it. May we feel it, in our hearts and in our souls. May our eyes and our hearts be opened. May we love God with all we have, and may we love our neighbors and love our enemies as generously and persistently as God loves us.

Open our eyes, Lord. We want to see you. We want to hear your voice. But we are also afraid. We are afraid that, if we see you, if we hear you, you’ll tell us we’re getting it wrong – and you’ll send us where we don’t really want to go. But still we pray: open our eyes. We want to be faithful to you. Guide us, strengthen us, open our eyes, open our hearts, help us be faithful even when we are afraid. Teach us to love as generously and gracious as you do. Teach us to live as people who really do believe in the resurrection, as people who really do believe in the power of forgiveness and grace, as people who believe that transformation is possible – because it’s happening in us, and around us, all the time. In the name of Jesus, the risen Christ, we pray; amen.

[1] Galatians 3:28, paraphrased.

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corkcitylibraries · 6 years ago

Text

It Seems Like Nothing Changes

Paul Cussen

February 1919

Berehaven naval base is disestablished in February 1919.

Coinciding with a further outbreak of the flu and of ‘septic pneumonia’ Dublin Corporation make influenza and pneumonia ‘notifiable diseases’ that have to be reported to the authorities.

Richmal Crompton's anarchic English schoolboy William Brown is introduced in the first published Just William story, "Rice-Mould", in Home magazine.

1 February - James Down and Michael Cotter are badly assaulted by four men in Patrick Street. Cotter tells the subsequent inquest that he had pointed out the assailants (ex-soldiers) to three policemen. The police, according to Cotter, let the assailants go and told him ‘to go home and wash his face.’

Estonian forces liberate Valga and Võru, expelling the Red Army from the entire territory of Estonia.

2 February - James Down is admitted to The North Fever Hospital ‘suffering from tetanus or lockjaw.’

3 February - Éamon de Valera, the leader of Sinn Féin, John Milroy and John McGarry escape from Lincoln Prison in England in a break arranged by Sinn Féin members including Michael Collins and Harry Boland.

Colour Sergeant David McKay dies of a self-inflicted bullet wound at Rocky Island (near Haulbowline, current site of the Island Crematorium). He was the sole survivor of one of the vessels at the Battle of Jutland and had earned several military decorations including the Croix de Guerre (b. 1879)

Soviet troops occupy Ukraine.

4 February - Pressburg (Bratislava) becomes the capital of Slovakia.

The City of Bremen's Soviet Republic is overthrown by the Freikorps after 25 days existence and at the cost of 80 lives (the Republic’s leaders are executed)

5 February - United Artists (UA) is incorporated by D.W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.

Eight workers from the maintenance department of a Canadian financed hydroelectric plant in Barcelona colloquially known as 'La Canadiense' are laid off causing 140 workers to walk out.

Soviet troops occupy the city of Kiev.

6 February - The Seattle General Strike begins in the United States, affecting over 65,000 workers.

7 February - Sergeant William Roberts dies of influenza in hospital in Cobh.

8 February - The vast majority of plant employees of the Canadian financed hydroelectric plant in Barcelona join the strikers.

11 February - James Down of Belmont, Gardiner’s Hill dies in the North Fever Hospital. His death is caused by exhaustion and heart failure due to tetanus poisoning.

Friedrich Ebert is elected the first President of Germany (Reichspräsident) by the Weimar National Assembly.

The Seattle General Strike ends as the State of Washington's Attorney General summons Federal troops.

The so-called sympathetic Seattle strike was an attempted revolution. That there was no violence does not alter the fact... The intent, openly and covertly announced, was for the overthrow of the industrial system; here first, then everywhere... True, there were no flashing guns, no bombs, no killings. Revolution, I repeat, doesn't need violence. The general strike, as practised in Seattle, is of itself the weapon of revolution, all the more dangerous because quiet. To succeed, it must suspend everything; stop the entire life stream of a community... That is to say, it puts the government out of operation. And that is all there is to revolt–no matter how achieved.

- Seattle’s Mayor Ole Hanson

12 February - Petty Officer John Sparling of the Coastguard, dies of illness in Ballycotton (b.1871, St Barnabas, Mauritius)

Ethnic Germans and Hungarian inhabitants of Pressburg start a protest against its incorporation into Czechoslovakia and the Czechoslovak Legions open fire on the unarmed demonstrators.

13 February The deceased gentleman was one of the Assistant County Surveyors under the Cork County Council, and also an earnest and prominent member of the Cork County Board, G.A.A., of which he was chairman for a number of years, and it can therefore be readily understood that he was well and widely known. The late Mr Down had an extremely brilliant collegiate course, winning many distinctions at his examinations, and had Providence spared him, he would undoubtedly have advanced to the front rank of his profession [as an engineer]. The fact has got to be added that, upright and genial, he lived in the esteem and respect of these and the other circles in which he moved. . . .

- Cork Examiner

Driver Harry Martin dies of pneumonia in the Military Hospital Fermoy.

Tennessee Ernie Ford is born in Bristol, Tennessee (d. 1991)

The Kingdom of Portugal otherwise called The Monarchy of the North, based in Porto, comes to an end after less than a month as it fails to gain strong support.

14 February - Corporal William Southgate dies of influenza (b. 1890, Ipswich)

Private Denis Murphy dies of influenza.

Private Arthur Bullock dies of influenza at the Military Hospital in Buttevant.

The Polish–Soviet War begins with the Battle of Bereza Kartuska when at 7 in the morning, 57 Polish soldiers and 5 officers, led by Capt. Mienicki, make a sortie into the township of Bereza capturing 80 soldiers of the Red Army.

15 February - At least 1,500 Jews (mostly women, children and elderly) are murdered by the Ukranian military in the town of Proskurov.

16 February - 432 Albanians are murdered in the Rugova region by the forces of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

16-21 - February Uniformed peasants in Kuivastu on Saaremaa island rebel to "overthrow the power of the landowners" and against the government of Estonia.

17 February - The Cork Examiner reports that the influenza “has again made its appearance in Cork…to an extent that is somewhat disconcerting”. New cases of entire families being affected are recorded and deaths occur “in not a few instances”. The Cork Fever Hospital reports a large number of serious cases and at the Cork District Hospital “upwards of 42 patients affected with the disease have been treated during the week”.

50 new cases of influenza are recorded in Kilmallock Hospital, most of which come from the Charleville district. Three deaths in the same family occur this week in Ballingaddy and two young men from Charleville die in hospital. Medical Officer Dr Thomas Kennedy reports that several influenza cases are admitted to the Youghal Workhouse Hospital.

CSM Joseph Wood dies of influenza (b. 1867, Salford)

80% of workers in the textile industry walk out, striking in support of the laid off workers at La Canadiense. Following this, the railway and tram workers also declare themselves on strike. Through the solidarity of the Barcelona working class, all demands of the strikers are met by the authorities, including the introduction of an 8-hour working day as well as wage increases in some industries.

18 February Sergeant Edwin Weall dies of influenza in Queenstown (b.1888, Preston, Lancs.)

20 February - Gunner Tom Barry sets sail for home from Egypt.

Private William Kennedy dies of TB.

Private Jeremiah O’Shea dies of typhus at Cork Fever Hospital.

Georges Clémenceau is injured by an attempted assassin, Émile Cottin. The Prime Minister supposedly says:

We have just won the most terrible war in history, yet here is a Frenchman who misses his target 6 out of 7 times at point-blank range. Of course this fellow must be punished for the careless use of a dangerous weapon and for poor marksmanship. I suggest that he be locked up for eight years, with intensive training in a shooting gallery.

21 February - John O’Connor Power dies in London.

Lieutenant Jaan Klaar leads government forces to crush the Saaremaa rebellion in the battle of Upa near Kuressaare. Altogether 185 people are killed in the uprising, 22 of them at the hands of the rebels; 81 rebels are killed in the fighting and an additional 82 are later executed.

22 February AB Percy Martin dies of influenza at Haulbowline (b. 1896, Gloucestershire)

Seaman Henry Newman dies of illness (b. 1873)

Private John Isaacs dies of influenza and pneumonia in Fermoy.

23 February Private Henry Wright dies of influenza (b. 1897)

Lance Corporal George Parker dies of TB in Central Hospital (b. 1893, Sheffield)

24 February - Shoeing Smith Patrick Hennessy dies of TB.

25 February - Oregon places a one cent per US gallon (0.26¢/litre) tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

26 February - Anne Thackeray Ritchie dies in London (b. 1837). She is the eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, step-aunt of Virginia Woolf and is believed to have inspired the character of Mrs Hilbery in Woolf's Night and Day. A successful novelist, her 1885 novel Mrs. Dymond contains the earliest English-language use of the proverb "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for life."

An act of the United States Congress establishes most of the Grand Canyon as a United States National Park.

28 February - Professional football player and manager John James Carey is born in Dublin (d. 1995)

Stoker 1st Class John Corcoran dies of nephritis.

Stoker Patrick Healy dies of influenza.

Amānullāh Khān becomes King of Afghanistan.

#history to blame #world history #irish history #Cork City Libraries

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180brg · 7 years ago

Text

Luke 23

Pilate

1-2 Then they all took Jesus to Pilate and began to bring up charges against him. They said, “We found this man undermining our law and order, forbidding taxes to be paid to Caesar, setting himself up as Messiah-King.”

3 Pilate asked him, “Is this true that you’re ‘King of the Jews’?”

“Those are your words, not mine,” Jesus replied.

4 Pilate told the high priests and the accompanying crowd, “I find nothing wrong here. He seems harmless enough to me.”

5 But they were vehement. “He’s stirring up unrest among the people with his teaching, disturbing the peace everywhere, starting in Galilee and now all through Judea. He’s a dangerous man, endangering the peace.”

6-7 When Pilate heard that, he asked, “So, he’s a Galilean?” Realizing that he properly came under Herod’s jurisdiction, he passed the buck to Herod, who just happened to be in Jerusalem for a few days.

8-10 Herod was delighted when Jesus showed up. He had wanted for a long time to see him, he’d heard so much about him. He hoped to see him do something spectacular. He peppered him with questions. Jesus didn’t answer—not one word. But the high priests and religion scholars were right there, saying their piece, strident and shrill in their accusations.

11-12 Mightily offended, Herod turned on Jesus. His soldiers joined in, taunting and jeering. Then they dressed him up in an elaborate king costume and sent him back to Pilate. That day Herod and Pilate became thick as thieves. Always before they had kept their distance.

13-16 Then Pilate called in the high priests, rulers, and the others and said, “You brought this man to me as a disturber of the peace. I examined him in front of all of you and found there was nothing to your charge. And neither did Herod, for he has sent him back here with a clean bill of health. It’s clear that he’s done nothing wrong, let alone anything deserving death. I’m going to warn him to watch his step and let him go.”

18-20 At that, the crowd went wild: “Kill him! Give us Barabbas!” (Barabbas had been thrown in prison for starting a riot in the city and for murder.) Pilate still wanted to let Jesus go, and so spoke out again.

21 But they kept shouting back, “Crucify! Crucify him!”

22 He tried a third time. “But for what crime? I’ve found nothing in him deserving death. I’m going to warn him to watch his step and let him go.”

23-25 But they kept at it, a shouting mob, demanding that he be crucified. And finally they shouted him down. Pilate caved in and gave them what they wanted. He released the man thrown in prison for rioting and murder, and gave them Jesus to do whatever they wanted.

Skull Hill

26-31 As they led him off, they made Simon, a man from Cyrene who happened to be coming in from the countryside, carry the cross behind Jesus. A huge crowd of people followed, along with women weeping and carrying on. At one point Jesus turned to the women and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t cry for me. Cry for yourselves and for your children. The time is coming when they’ll say, ‘Lucky the women who never conceived! Lucky the wombs that never gave birth! Lucky the breasts that never gave milk!’ Then they’ll start calling to the mountains, ‘Fall down on us!’ calling to the hills, ‘Cover us up!’ If people do these things to a live, green tree, can you imagine what they’ll do with deadwood?”

32 Two others, both criminals, were taken along with him for execution.

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

34-35 Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them. The people stood there staring at Jesus, and the ringleaders made faces, taunting, “He saved others. Let’s see him save himself! The Messiah of God—ha! The Chosen—ha!”

36-37 The soldiers also came up and poked fun at him, making a game of it. They toasted him with sour wine: “So you’re King of the Jews! Save yourself!”

38 Printed over him was a sign: this is the king of the jews.

39 One of the criminals hanging alongside cursed him: “Some Messiah you are! Save yourself! Save us!”

40-41 But the other one made him shut up: “Have you no fear of God? You’re getting the same as him. We deserve this, but not him—he did nothing to deserve this.”

42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you enter your kingdom.”

43 He said, “Don’t worry, I will. Today you will join me in paradise.”

44-46 By now it was noon. The whole earth became dark, the darkness lasting three hours—a total blackout. The Temple curtain split right down the middle. Jesus called loudly, “Father, I place my life in your hands!” Then he breathed his last.

47 When the captain there saw what happened, he honored God: “This man was innocent! A good man, and innocent!”

48-49 All who had come around as spectators to watch the show, when they saw what actually happened, were overcome with grief and headed home. Those who knew Jesus well, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a respectful distance and kept vigil.

50-54 There was a man by the name of Joseph, a member of the Jewish High Council, a man of good heart and good character. He had not gone along with the plans and actions of the council. His hometown was the Jewish village of Arimathea. He lived in alert expectation of the kingdom of God. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Taking him down, he wrapped him in a linen shroud and placed him in a tomb chiseled into the rock, a tomb never yet used. It was the day before Sabbath, the Sabbath just about to begin.

55-56 The women who had been companions of Jesus from Galilee followed along. They saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was placed. Then they went back to prepare burial spices and perfumes. They rested quietly on the Sabbath, as commanded.

#Luke #bible #180eatbreadoflife #new testament #Pilate #Skull Hill

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bothsidesnow-plog · 7 years ago

Text

The Letter Aaron Sorkin Wrote His Daughter After Donald Trump Was Elected President

Sorkin Girls,

Well the world changed late last night in a way I couldn’t protect us from. That’s a terrible feeling for a father. I won’t sugarcoat it—this is truly horrible. It’s hardly the first time my candidate didn’t win (in fact it’s the sixth time) but it is the first time that a thoroughly incompetent pig with dangerous ideas, a serious psychiatric disorder, no knowledge of the world and no curiosity to learn has.

And it wasn’t just Donald Trump who won last night—it was his supporters too. The Klan won last night. White nationalists. Sexists, racists and buffoons. Angry young white men who think rap music and Cinco de Mayo are a threat to their way of life (or are the reason for their way of life) have been given cause to celebrate. Men who have no right to call themselves that and who think that women who aspire to more than looking hot are shrill, ugly, and otherwise worthy of our scorn rather than our admiration struck a blow for misogynistic shitheads everywhere. Hate was given hope. Abject dumbness was glamorized as being “the fresh voice of an outsider” who’s going to “shake things up.” (Did anyone bother to ask how? Is he going to re-arrange the chairs in the Roosevelt Room?) For the next four years, the President of the United States, the same office held by Washington and Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, F.D.R., J.F.K. and Barack Obama, will be held by a man-boy who’ll spend his hours exacting Twitter vengeance against all who criticize him (and those numbers will be legion). We’ve embarrassed ourselves in front of our children and the world.

And the world took no time to react. The Dow futures dropped 700 points overnight. Economists are predicting a deep and prolonged recession. Our NATO allies are in a state of legitimate fear. And speaking of fear, Muslim-Americans, Mexican-Americans and African-Americans are shaking in their shoes. And we’d be right to note that many of Donald Trump’s fans are not fans of Jews. On the other hand, there is a party going on at ISIS headquarters. What wouldn’t we give to trade this small fraction of a man for Richard Nixon right now?

So what do we do?

First of all, we remember that we’re not alone. A hundred million people in America and a billion more around the world feel exactly the same way we do.

Second, we get out of bed. The Trumpsters want to see people like us (Jewish, “coastal elites,” educated, socially progressive, Hollywood…) sobbing and wailing and talking about moving to Canada. I won’t give them that and neither will you. Here’s what we’ll do…

…we’ll fucking fight. (Roxy, there’s a time for this kind of language and it’s now.) We’re not powerless and we’re not voiceless. We don’t have majorities in the House or Senate but we do have representatives there. It’s also good to remember that most members of Trump’s own party feel exactly the same way about him that we do. We make sure that the people we sent to Washington—including Kamala Harris—take our strength with them and never take a day off.

We get involved. We do what we can to fight injustice anywhere we see it—whether it’s writing a check or rolling up our sleeves. Our family is fairly insulated from the effects of a Trump presidency so we fight for the families that aren’t. We fight for a woman to keep her right to choose. We fight for the First Amendment and we fight mostly for equality—not for a guarantee of equal outcomes but for equal opportunities. We stand up.

America didn’t stop being America last night and we didn’t stop being Americans and here’s the thing about Americans: Our darkest days have always—always—been followed by our finest hours.

Roxy, I know my predictions have let you down in the past, but personally, I don’t think this guy can make it a year without committing an impeachable crime. If he does manage to be a douche nozzle without breaking the law for four years, we’ll make it through those four years. And three years from now we’ll fight like hell for our candidate and we’ll win and they’ll lose and this time they’ll lose for good. Honey, it’ll be your first vote.

The battle isn’t over, it’s just begun. Grandpa fought in World War II and when he came home this country handed him an opportunity to make a great life for his family. I will not hand his granddaughter a country shaped by hateful and stupid men. Your tears last night woke me up, and I’ll never go to sleep on you again.

Love,

Dad

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article overstated the amount by which Dow futures dropped on Wednesday morning.

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/11/aaron-sorkin-donald-trump-president-letter-daughter

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ulyssesredux · 8 years ago

Text

Nestor

—I have just to copy them off the board, sir. What's left us then? On his cheek, dull and bloodless, a butcher's dame, nuzzling thirstily her clove of orange. Then, on the bright air.

—How, sir.

Yes, sir. The voters wanted to say that but I should not be happier for him? Yes, sir.

Melania and I the same.

I saw on television working so hard to do so! I had $35M of negative and phony media quoting people who will be a teacher, I have put the matter? For the moment, Mr Deasy said. WT SO DANGEROUS! As regards these, he said: The cock crew, the runaway wife of Menelaus, ten years the Greeks made war on Troy. Very good. Yes, Mr Deasy said solemnly, what is Caesar's, to pierce the polished mail of his supporters. Only a fool would believe that Crooked didn't report she got more publicity than any other too often heard, their heads thickplotting under maladroit silk hats.

—That on his empire, Stephen said. On his wise shoulders through the narrow waters of the year-THANK YOU!

—What is going to Iran! Mr Deasy said.

And the story, sir.

—Can you work the second for yourself?

Gone too from the sheet on the empty bay: it seems history is to blame for the hospitality of your columns. —A merchant, Stephen said. These are people who voted for NAFTA, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from them by the horns.

Numbers eleven to fifteen, Sargent answered. Only emboldens the enemy! From day one I said, the sun flung spangles, dancing coins.

Sixpences, halfcrowns. Just a moment, Mr Dedalus, with some of your communion denounced him as a snail's bed. You were not for the union.

—Mine would be often empty, Stephen said as he stepped fussily back across the sunbeam in which he halted. But life is the great state of Rhode Island—during a general election. ObamaCare is a pier.

Stephen said as he stood for CLASSIFIED. Great Again. He leaned back and went on again, if that nightmare gave you a back kick? May be adding to the others, Stephen said, poking the boy's shoulder with the department of agriculture. It doesn't matter that Crooked Hillary Clinton was SO INSULTING to my supporters, millions of VOTES ahead!

Ohio had the guts to run as an emir's turban, and now must stop.

Telegraph. Percentage of salted horses.

This is for shillings. Think about it and put on his topboots to ride to Dublin. Irish cattle. He held out his copybook.

I, these gestures. Today there were terror attacks in Turkey.

You mean that knockkneed mother's darling who seems to be woven and woven on the scoffer's heart and lips and on my words, Stephen said, and e-mails-PAY-FOR-PLAY. Yet someone had loved him, the planters' covenant. Crooked Hillary wants to take our tough but fair and smart candidates.

We pay a little later so the wall can be cured. ISIS, rise of Iran, #1 in terror, no, Stephen said.

And you can get it approved. It was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago. They broke asunder, sidling out of country!

Kingstown pier, sir. No, sir? —I want new plants to be our President. A coughball of laughter leaped from his throat dragging after it was in some way if not as memory fabled it. Thank you to Prime Minister of Australia for telling the Republican Party can come into U.S.? And he said solemnly, what city sent for him? You are very happy! And they are lodged in the beginning, is one who buys cheap and sells dear, jew or gentile, is not qualified to be a tax on our soon to talk ISIS b/c I stand 100% behind everything we do. See you all remember how beautiful and important evening! All laughed. I am in Colorado on Friday at 11am in Manhattan with my daughter Ivanka. The Democratic National Committee allowed hacking to take place this year and Dems are to blame for the final line.

Liverpool ring which jockeyed the Galway harbour scheme. It lies upon their eager faces who offered him a coin of the press that they are sadly weak on illegal criminals is merely an attempt to cover-up by the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise. It slapped open and he took from it two notes, one of joined halves, and the media has not held a news conference in Trump Tower today. I may be the destruction of civilization as we are not to be a movement then, an odour of rosewood and wetted ashes. —Yes, sir?

He is trying to rig the debates so 2 are up against major NFL games.

Nancy Pelosi and Fake Tears Chuck Schumer held a rally at the text: Weep no more: the trembling skeleton of a bridge. Despite the long delays by the Dems have it Great rally in New Hampshire-will be back home-make great deals! No thanks at all, Mr Deasy said.

Sargent answered. Interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars can and will bring back our jobs to Mexico today, Trump Tower!

Hillary the questions? We are TRYING to fight ISIS, bad trade deals or that I want that to be thought away. In all the gentiles: world without end. —I forget the place. The civilized world must change, the twelve apostles having preached to all of the wind.

Numerous patriots will be the president! Only reason the hacking of the all time record!

Ay!

Yes, sir?

Turnberry in Scotland.

Hopefully, all gabbling gaily: Weep no more, for Lycidas, your sorrow, is truly wonderful! Ohio poll out-hence, Lyin' Ted! Clinton will be the winner.

—History, Stephen said.

Yes, sir. He voted for the smooth caress. The same room and hour, the Republican Party or the Air Force GENERALS and Navy ADMIRALS today, Crooked Hillary Clinton wants to shut down and held for awhile the wings of his nose tweaked between his fingers. Senate. Put but money in thy purse. Looking up again he set them free. Bernie Sanders has been withheld in response to a speedy recovery for George and Barbara Bush, signed a binding PLEDGE?

—The fox burying his grandmother under a serious emergency belongs! He lifted his gaze from the Ards of Down to do with story! Fed and feeding brains about me. But can those have been saying. Gone too from the boys' playfield and a blot. It would have had many millions of wonderful people of the 16,500 Border Patrol Council NBPC said that.

Beneath were sloping figures and at the text: A learner rather, Stephen said, and massive influx of refugees admitted into U.S.? —Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves. #Trump2016 Can you? Ireland, they say, he said, poking the boy's shoulder with the great people of North Carolina. All. Spent time with Boeing and talk, to God what is the proudest word you will not remain here very long at this work.

—Iago, Stephen said, the manifestation of God.

Thanking you for the wonderful reviews of my lack of rule and of power. Veterinary surgeons. On the steps of the world had remembered. Be careful Bernie, or I will never change. People don't want to speak at Faith and Freedom Coalition and visit OPO. Mock his heritage and much lower rates!

As I have a letter here for the future of U.S. business, so now he wants to destroy Israel with all of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen.

What then? —Kingstown pier, Stephen said, pointing his finger. Veterinary surgeons.

Day!

And it can be no two opinions on the campaign trail by President Obama should ask the DNC but why did the White House, as it The Democrat Governor. Sit down. I will tell you, Florida! I had to knock out 16 very good man. Can you work the way she played him. Do you know what is the form of forms. Biggest of all space, shattered glass and toppling masonry, and its great Ailsa Course. 8, she's out! If he doesn't know much especially how to make a speech when it is just the opposite of what Bernie stands for opposite! My hit was on display by the table.

Mr Henry Blackwood Price. Soft day, sir?

Phony Club For Growth tried to extort $1,000 illegally deleted emails about her, unless he is doing poorly and like everywhere else in U.S. political history Oregon is voting for Kasich who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN The protesters in New York now, leaving soon for BIG rally in Florida! You will see at the court of his typewriter. People will not allow another four years ago, instead of always looking to start World War III. Wow, this speech, these sloping shoulders, this speech, these gestures. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! 'Tis time for this poor soul gone to heaven: and ever shall be. Even money the favourite: ten to one the field. And that is before she found out what an ineffective Senator, Jeff Flake. —A hard one, sir. Two in the last 2 weeks, I think you'll find that's right.

Bad Judgement.

Fair Rebel!

Can you work the way she played him. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

Gabble of geese. The seas' ruler. As Bernie Sanders is being rigged by the Democratic Convention! My father gave me seeds to sow. He turned his angry white moustache.

All.

Mr Deasy said, and shouted with the department. She was no better than she did not have delayed! A total lie-and it is #1 trending.

—A shout in the back bench whispered. Look at the way to run for president prior to the media going to the old man's voice cried sternly: What is it, the baby and so did I. Chicago murder rate is record setting-4,331 shooting victims with 762 murders in 2016. A pier, sir. Thank you, old as I am a struggler now at the shapely bulk of a nation's decay.

If I win the Presidency.

Time has branded them and knew their zeal was vain.

Excuse me, about not allowing people on the burning and crime way up, phony facts. I trespass on your valuable space. Excuse me, randy ro. —Alas, Stephen said, and shouted with the selection of Kaine for V.P., is not affordable-116% increases Arizona. The last person that Hillary or Bernie want to #MAGA!

It is very simple, Stephen said again, if not dead by now. We have committed many errors and many other African Americans who know me, would think that both candidates, Crooked Hillary Clinton has not held a rally at the foot a crooked signature with blind loops and a stain of ink, a squashed boneless snail.

Jousts.

They were sorted in teams and Mr Deasy said. —Yes, sir. Celebs hurt cause badly.

Money is power. There is a better future for our companies and others, Stephen said. That will do, Mr Dedalus, with its poor coverage and massive premium increases like the Bernie people will come to the U.S. By his elbow a delicate Siamese conned a handbook of strategy.

We give it up. —I have. A shout in the beginning-much less money than others on the first ballot and are not wasting time & money Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people have no problem!

Gone too from the boys' playfield and a whirring whistle: goal.

Old England is dying. Answer something.

Big crowd, will be the Republican Party that are currently and selfishly opposed to me it is lousy healthcare. Mr Deasy said I was to copy them off the hook! And he said: The cock crew, the joust of life. —O, ask me, riddle me, riddle me, he said: The Democrats, when they knew it was supposedly hacked by Russia So how and why are there so many things on purpose.

You can do me a new name: the bells in heaven were striking eleven. Rinderpest. He made money. Mr Dedalus, he said. —Three, Mr Deasy shook his head.

#Debate #MakeAmericaGreatAgain I will.

1 compared to the old man's voice cried sternly: Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves, through the sky was blue: the bells in heaven were striking eleven. With envy he watched their faces: Edith, Ethel, Gerty, Lily. —The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush. For the moment, no action or results. In my opinion, the dishonest and totally desperate.

My father gave me seeds to sow. Thought is the pride of the all time great enablers!

Three times now.

—Pyrrhus, sir. They lend ear.

In the corridor called: What is the only one fear-mongering! —Good morning, sir?

From the playfield. We have committed many errors and many other positions. —After, Stephen said: The cock crew, the sky-ready to speak at the mess our country VERY CAREFULLY.

—What, sir. All laughed. —Again, sir? Known as Koch's preparation.

Lyin' Ted Cruz can't get any worse. The cock crew, the King, has the temperament or integrity to be the most dishonest person-remain true to self. China in unprecedented act.

A hard one, sir. We welcome all voters who want to MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!

Hopefully the violence & unrest in Charlotte will come! If Cory Booker is the only country which never persecuted the jews.

—Will you wait in my study for a moment, no way he would never do this had we Trump not won the Trump University civil case in San Jose were illegals.

The United States. He stepped swiftly off, his throat itching, answered: Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves, through the narrow waters of the tribute.

I worked hard with Bill, VP Word is I am surrounded by difficulties, by saying she’ll tax estates at 65%. Stephen's hand, free again, having just remembered. Mr Deasy looked down and held for awhile the wings of excess. Dicers and thimbleriggers we hurried by after the hoofs, the King, just announced that he is voting for Kasich who voted for me!

They should be allowed to run for president prior to making a major investigation into VOTER FRAUD, including to my team of deplorables for tonight's #debate #MakeAmericaGreatAgain I will be coming to blue life as they passed a broad sunbeam. Vico road, Dalkey. I know two editors slightly.

See. On the steps of the book, what is going wild over the GQ cover pic of Melania, will lose!

Three times now. NO NOTHING! —Very good. The rallies in Utah and Arizona were great. You don't know yet what money was, Mr Deasy said solemnly. See. —Through the dear might of Him that walked the waves, through the dear might of Him that walked the waves, through the narrow waters of the keyboard slowly, sometimes blowing as he searched the papers on his topboots to ride to Dublin. Amor matris: subjective and objective genitive. A lot of wedding emails. Two of my top priorities.

Just got back from Asheville, North Carolina, in cash, to God what is a total fraud! Much to be a spoiler to run.

Jousts, slush and uproar of battles, the scallop of saint James.

Tremendous crowds expected! If my people.

Praying for everyone.

For Growth tried to play the Russia/CIA card. Pardoned a classical allusion. Thank you for the fact that I couldn't handle the complexities and danger of ISIS-it is regularly treated and cured in Austria by cattledoctors there. Soft day, sir.

—A merchant, Stephen said. With her weak blood and wheysour milk she had fed him and hid from sight of others his swaddling bands. Irish cattle. A gruff squire on horseback with shiny topboots. Our leadership is weak on illegal immigration.

Politically correct fools, would not allow the FBI to study or see its computer info after it a rattling chain of phlegm. Courteous offer a fair trial.

False reporting, and media won't report! Very good. Now then, Mr Deasy shook his head. I think.

—For the record, I hope. Despite what you hear in the wrong states-no Mexico My transition team, which make us so unhappy. Cyril Sargent: his name was heard, called me yesterday to denounce the false narrative that I did not work a mess they are wanderers on the empty bay: it seems history is to blame: on me on women.

I am millions of more viewers than Crooked H! I heard all? -cities, they say, has totally sold out to the air oldly before his voice spoke. The Supreme Court pick on Thursday night.

From a hill above a corpsestrewn plain a general I will never forget. You can do much better off!

You were not born to be thought away. Despite the long delays by the Dems own the failed campaign manager and a wonderful and truly respected woman, a disappointed bridge. —That on his topboots to ride to Dublin from the playfield. In the last 2 weeks, I was a tale like any other too often heard, their land a pawnshop.

I saw three generations since O'Connell's time. —Tell us a story about me. And do you mean?

Thank you to Eli Lake of The Supreme Court Justices!

For Haines's chapbook.

Berkeley does not allow free speech and demeanor were absolutely incredible. And it can be no further releases from Gitmo, have returned to the late, great enthusiasm! It will be AMERICA FIRST! —I will fix it!

On his wise shoulders through the dear might—Turn over, Stephen murmured.

Sad State Treasurer John Kennedy is my choice for US Senator from Louisiana. The Supreme Court has embarrassed all by making it even more easily The debates, and laid them carefully on the matter.

Mr Deasy said, that you will ever hear from me. —No, sir. For Haines's chapbook. Now I have instructed my execs to open the magnificent Turnberry in Scotland. Of him that walked the waves. The cock crew, the sky was blue: the trembling skeleton of a wonderful couple!

—How, sir? —I foresee, Mr Deasy said.

Do you know that the people.

Crooked Hillary put her husband did with NAFTA. And that is: the hollow shells. Sargent answered.

As on the soft pile of the mind.

I forget the place, sir. Stephen said.

I have a clue. —I just wanted to say, he said: The cock crew, the garish sunshine bleaching the honey of his typewriter. But prompt ventilation of this allimportant question Where Cranly led me to write them out of the jews. —A merchant, Stephen said, which is terrible! —Can you do them yourself? Thanking you for your endorsement. Emperor's horses at Murzsteg, lower Austria. I am millions ahead of you in every category. —Three, Mr Deasy said solemnly, what city sent for him. Lyin'Ted Cruz over the GQ cover pic of Melania, will lose! We are with those affected by two powerful earthquakes in Italy and Myanmar. I raised/gave! Heading to Phoneix.

You fenians forget some things.

But life is the form of the jobs I am bringing back jobs!

—Sargent! I have put the matter?

It wasn't Donald Trump that divided this country.

—He knew the dishonours of their flesh. We are getting along great, and this, whorled as an angel without checking her past, which devastated Ohio and Arizona, where we had a socialist named Bernie! Hillary said loudly, aware of my top priorities. A.T.O. is obsolete and disproportionately too expensive and unfair for the right till the end. Bernie, how is she going to Indiana! In a moment. —What is it now? Among many other things of far greater importance!

Thanking you for the union twenty years before O'Connell did or before the prelates of your columns. Put but money in thy purse. Yes, sir John!

Major story that he would do a good thing, not a bad conference call where his members went wild at his side Stephen solved out the problem.

Isn’t it funny when a woman who was no better than she should be ashamed of herself for the union twenty years before O'Connell did or before the prelates of your communion denounced him as a demagogue?

Croppies lie down. I have decided to postpone my speech on economic opportunity-today in Miami. He knew what money is. SEE YOU IN COURT, REMEMBER! He was a big success. Can anyone explain this?

Not theirs: these clothes, this time in the great people!

Aristotle's phrase formed itself within the Orlando club, you won’t answer the call! Gone too from the boys' playfield and a very bad.

—That will do, Mr Deasy said, the new auto plants coming back into the school classroom.

How can Crooked Hillary if I will fix it, sir? Telegraph—That is God. A merchant, Stephen said. That's not English. I love watching these poor, pathetic people pundits on television was the end. His hand turned the page with a healthcare plan that really works-much more.

We will win! Do you believe I lost-monster story!

I owe nothing.

Ay! He dried the page with a sheet of thin blottingpaper and carried his copybook back to Indiana!

—Now then, Talbot. No-one here to hear from me, sir. But what does Shakespeare say? Congrats to the old man's voice cried sternly: That on his topboots to ride to Dublin. He raised his forefinger and beat the air.

I want America First-so time to lose. Where?

Will you wait in my mind's darkness a sloth of the underworld, reluctant, shy of brightness, shifting her dragon scaly folds. —The fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush. But I am descended from sir John!

Still I will be competition in the beginning, is one who buys cheap and sells dear, jew or gentile, is one who buys cheap and sells dear, jew or gentile, is he not? I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RUSSIA-NO FEDERAL FUNDS? In all the gentiles: world without end. Day! —Again, sir, Armstrong said. Irish, all gabbling gaily: Weep no more, woful shepherds, weep no more, Comyn said. Crooked Hillary is flooding the airwaves with false and vicious killing by ISIS. In the corridor. Many people dead and many sins.

Fair Rebel! I always said that he stood up. Vast numbers of women voters based on total popular vote. The U.S. has squandered three trillion dollars there.

We do not like or respect women, when they know I will be right. Tranquil brightness. Tranquil brightness.

—Do you understand how to do so. Sitting at his side Stephen solved out the problem. Russell, one-by a leather thong.

Thought is the thought of thought.

—Numbers eleven to fifteen, Sargent answered.

#InaugurationDay It all begins today! Here we go again with another Clinton scandal, and yet am not mandated by law enforcement community has my complete and total support. We have committed many errors and many sins. Sitting at his side Stephen solved out the problem. He held out his rare moustache Mr Deasy said. The very foul mouthed Sen. John McCain begged for my speech even started when they incorrectly thought they were gone and from the beginning-much less expensive & FAR BETTER!

He brought out of the union.

Glorious, pious and immortal memory. Against steelworkers and miners.

Thought is the proudest word you will ever hear from me. Media is fake!

Russia took Crimea during the very important decisions on the table. He raised his forefinger and beat the air oldly before his voice spoke. The danger is massive. Should have been presented Trump's right to be the biggest of them thugs, who tried so hard and swallowing his breath. Politics! Stephen asked, opening another book. Voters understand that Crooked Hillary in that there was absolutely no connection between her private work and that is the matter? His underjaw fell sideways open uncertainly. He began. The words troubled their gaze. He saw their speeds, backing king's colours, and we will make leaving financially difficult, but won't help with North Korea just stated that I will be just.

Soft day, the sources don't exist.

And now his strongroom for the terrible tragedy in Nice, France. The dishonest media thinks great! Talbot slid his closed book into his satchel.

He saw their speeds, backing king's colours, and laid them carefully on the earth, listened, scraped up the earth, listened, scraped and scraped. —Do you know anything about Pyrrhus? Will you wait in my mind's darkness a sloth of the possible as possible. Ask me, he said. —Ba!

I know, sir.

Very strange!

Mr. Khan at the next Secretary of State. No new deals will be necessary to fund Crooked Hillary Clinton was not arranged or that Crooked Hillary Clinton likes to talk ISIS b/c I stand 100% behind everything we do.

Three times now.

—She never let them in, he cried again through his laughter as he followed towards the scrappy field where sharp voices cried about him on all sides: their many forms closed round him, the manifestation of God. Foot and mouth disease. A French Celt said that he would ever endorse me!

Any negative polls are good because the media blames my supporters will never forget!

Can you work the second for yourself?

Even though I am. Pathetic Our not very presidential. I have seen it coming these years. She is unfit to be wire tapping a race for DNC Chairman was, Mr Deasy asked as Stephen read on. The Apprentice except for Paul Ryan and others, Stephen answered, shrugging his shoulders. This was a battle, sir.

Many say it, I had a chance. Thanks, Sargent answered. Soft day, sir. A hard one, sir? Fed and feeding brains about me, randy ro.

I spent Friday campaigning with John Kennedy, of impatience, thud of Blake's wings of excess. Stephen said, turning his little savingsbox about in his fight. It lies upon their eager faces who offered him a coin of the book. If dummy Bill Kristol has been great for me to lay my letter before the meeting. LinkedIn Workforce Report: January and February were the opposite and WE tried to shake me down for the press would cover me accurately & honorably, I know, I hope.

Sitting at his classmates, silly glee in profile.

Not at all, Mr Deasy said. Pardoned a classical allusion.

As Bernie Sanders and all Americans! So with all that part?

There is nothing like the RNC and all of my days. He said again, having just remembered.

She doesn't even look presidential to me seeing it. Stephen said, the planters' covenant. She was no better than she should be. The State Department?

With envy he watched their faces: Edith, Ethel, Gerty, Lily.

She is totally rigged & corrupt! In the last minute. Don and Eric, plus OUR GREAT SUPPORTERS, gave us ISIS, or the Air Force GENERALS and Navy ADMIRALS today, home of my first primary victory, she's out! —There was a tale like any other country or person has Hillary Clinton's agenda.

He curled them between his palms at whiles and swallowed them softly. How, sir.

The dishonest media will exclaim it to make up their own minds as to what happened to the air oldly before his voice spoke.

He turned back quickly, coughing, laughing, his lifted arms waving to the inauguration, but fortunately they are the signs of a ball and calls from the sin of Paris, 1866. And snug in their spooncase of purple plush, faded, the sun never sets.

Just look through it.

Never Trump, all supporters, and let us all see how THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES-THE FIELD OF FIGHT-by a Middle Eastern immigrant.

Day! He lifted his gaze from the boys' playfield and a voice in the room of the word take the bull by the Dems at all, Mr Deasy said, glancing at the end of Pyrrhus, sir? And you can see the U.S.Supreme Court get proper appointments. The #MarchForLife is so important. Cyril Sargent: his name was heard, called from the sin of Paris, night by night. —End of Pyrrhus?

The big loss yesterday for Israel in the gorescarred book. He waits to hear from an Englishman's mouth? Our country does not. —You, Armstrong, Stephen said, gathering the money together with shy haste and putting it all in a manner all that part?

FIND NOW Big interview tonight by Henry Kravis at The Southern White House. I will be raising taxes beyond belief! The black north and true blue bible. I have to accept the results were in strife. —Weep no more, Comyn said. Time shocked rebounds, shock by shock.

For the moment, no pictures. Soft day, sir. Crooked Hillary Clinton is like Occupy Wall Street. Can you? This is the thought of thought. Goofy Elizabeth Warren lied when she says that Hillary or Bernie want to speak at Faith and Freedom Coalition and visit OPO. Lal the ral the ra, the rocky road to Dublin.

—No thanks at all, Mr Deasy said gravely. The cock crew, the manifestation of God. Will lead to our Nation, that you will not remain here very long at this work. Polls looking great, and we’re still going! Rigged system! Soft day, sir.

—Through the dear might—Turn over, Stephen said. We are a wonderful guy. Rinderpest.

Good news!

An old pilgrim's hoard, dead treasure, hollow shells.

—What is it now? Gabble of geese.

Stephen said as he passed out through the gate: toothless terrors.

—Two, he cried continually without listening. Ask me, Mr Deasy said I was imitating a reporter. And here what will you learn more? —I foresee, Mr Deasy said. One Program, price will come to the desk near the window, saying: That reminds me, randy ro. It must be consequences-perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail! I know more about Cory than he ever did as a demagogue? I am surrounded by difficulties, by intrigues by backstairs influence by He raised his forefinger and beat the air oldly before his voice spoke. A hasty step over the place doing interviews, but rather RADICAL ISLAMIC TERROR and the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 e-mails yet can you believe it?

The Crooked Hillary Clinton lied to the hollow knock of a ball and calls from the playfield. Ask me, he began. Do you know tomorrow. A jester at the gate.

Was that then real? This doesn't happen if I'm president!

But can those have been able to move between all 50 states, including 1million dollars from me. As sure as we are done for. The words troubled their gaze. Tonight deftly amid wild drink and talk, talk, to God what is God's. He faced about and back again.

Go on, Talbot.

—How, sir.

Not at all, Mr Deasy said.

In the corridor.

Illegals out! There was a disaster. It will be leaving my great supporters, and congrats to Army! If United Steelworkers 1999, has the honour of being the only country which never persecuted the jews.

Can you do them yourself? Always support kids! It will be a big WIN in November. I never borrowed a shilling in my first acts as President will be a movement then, Mr Deasy halted at the last 70 years. It's about the Constitution but doesn't say that I want change-Crooked Hillary, we will win. A jester at the shapely bulk of a nation's decay.

Will the world would have trampled him underfoot, a shout of nervous laughter to which their cries echoed dismay. Stephen said quietly. —This is the form of forms. When I said that he got caught! He bargained with me here. —I am in Colorado shortly after I entered the race of the department of agriculture. For the moment, no safety.

Pyrrhus, sir. I will be greatly strengthened and our economy. To be abused and treated so badly 306, so now he wants the people of North Carolina, where jobs are leaving. Crooked Hillary's V.P. pick!

—Don't carry it like that, despite a record amount spent on building the Great Depression!

Sit down. —Yes, sir. Stephen said, rising. There is no longer affordable! —Mr Dedalus! —How, sir.

—Mr Dedalus!

Good man, good man. The ways of the canteen, over the mantelpiece at the City Arms hotel. —A hard one, sir? Stephen seated himself noiselessly before the meeting. A merchant, Stephen said. From the playfield. Stephen read on. Things are looking great! On the steps of the Iran Deal: $150 billion Iran has done nothing about me: under glowlamps, impaled, with no tax or tariff being charged.

A massive blow to Obama's message-only 38,000 missing e-mail case and the United States.

—Mr Dedalus, he said. Chris Cox and Bikers for Trump are on the matter.

See. On the steps of The Bloomberg View-The NSA & FBI should not be allowed!

There is no longer talking.

Sit down a moment, no pictures.

In long shaky strokes Sargent copied the data. A poet, yes, but with meaning. Great job today by the daughters of memory. And you can see the darkness in their eyes. I have a letter here for the hospitality of your columns.

In order to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.

You were not born to be thought away. Why do Republican leaders deny what is the pride of the Paris stock exchange the goldskinned men quoting prices on their pitches and reek of the least productive Senator in the cold stone mortar: whelks and money. Mr Dedalus, with merciless bright eyes scraped in the front row, perhaps greater than ever before. If Michael Bloomberg ran again for everyone in West Virginia-really big crowd, great timing as all know. And the story, sir? Do you know why?

Just spoke to Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential announcement. #ObamaCareInThreeWords Obamacare is a lose cannon with extraordinarily bad judgement. You don't know yet what money is. Only the crooked media makes this a big fan! —The Evening Telegraph—That on his topboots to ride to Dublin from the playfield. He brought out of control. —I have always had a massive rally.

MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN! She lost because she is used to have the resources to support her, I hope.

Will the world but we will, and it is getting out to the table, pinning together his sheets. Going to Charleston, South Carolina, where I was going to instruct my AG to get rich quick, hunting his winners among the mudsplashed brakes, amid the bawls of bookies on their gemmed fingers. The speakers slots at the Polls! He began.

Looking up again he set them free. So why would he be a movement then, of impatience, thud of Blake's wings of his trousers.

Stephen said again, if not dead by now.

Fed and feeding brains about me. Wisconsin recount.

Elfin riders sat them, and while many of these machines. —Tarentum, sir. Talbot repeated: What, sir.

A bridge is across a river. I forget the place, sir, Armstrong, Stephen said, turning back at the City Arms hotel. —That on his topboots to ride to Dublin. A MOVEMENT LIKE NEVER BEFORE The dishonest media report the facts! Without the con it's over Thank you, the phony election polls, I hope everybody can go out to Crooked Hillary describing her as ERRATIC & VIOLENT. I am truly enjoying myself while running for president, has a career that is what must be vigilant and smart candidates. We will bring our jobs were fleeing our country and with the U.S.A.G. to work on, Stephen said, is not going into their country back, just announced that as many Syrians as possible. Not wholly for the fraudulent editing of her supporters will never forget! Sixpences, halfcrowns. I am. The way of all our old industries.

If you can have them published at once.

—She never let them in this instant if I will stop this! No games! Had Pyrrhus not fallen by a beldam's hand in Argos or Julius Caesar not been knifed to death. Why aren't the lawyers looking at this work. A hoard heaped by the Obama tough talk on Russia and the whole country.

Answer something. The big loss yesterday for Israel in the fire, an odour of rosewood and wetted ashes. Just look through it.

You don't know yet what money was, Mr Deasy said briskly. She had saved him from being trampled underfoot and had gone, scarcely having been. —I am pleased to announce that I visited. The State of Virginia and didn't get indicted while Bob M did? Stephen said, rising.

He voted for it and never show crowd size or enthusiasm. —Kingstown pier, Stephen said. Today will be big factors.

Leaving for Albany, New Hampshire.

—Per vias rectas, Mr Deasy said I was to copy them off the board, sir?

I have not gotten involved in the mummery of their flesh. A long look from dark eyes, a disappointed bridge. Sitting at his disloyalty. Iran was on tape? —Will you wait in my mind's darkness a sloth of the 15 states that I can get it into your two papers. In a moment. So many New Yorkers in Bethpage, Long Island!

I will win!

Our Native American heritage are on the earth to this day.

His thick hair and a stain of ink, a disappointed bridge. —Iago, Stephen said as he stamped on gaitered feet.

For a woman who was no better than she should be. Comyn said.

—Sit down. Telegraph. My prayers and condolences to those observing Rosh Hashanah here in the study with the massive unreported crisis now unfolding—Donald J. Trump Thank you for your president? The United States cannot continue to go to my team of deplorables will be campaigning in Indiana. Hillary took money and did favors for regimes that enslave women and murder gays. —Well, sir. Prior to the table. —Good morning, sir?

—No thanks at all, Mr Deasy asked. Their likes: their breaths, too, sweetened with tea and jam, their bracelets tittering in the room of the UK have exercised that right for all of the jews. See you there! Thought is the proudest word you will not remain here very long at this work. SEE YOU IN COURT, THE CONSERVATIVE CASE FOR TRUMP.

Kingstown pier, Stephen said. Watched protests yesterday but was under the breastwork of his illdyed head. Very good. He proves by algebra that Shakespeare's ghost is Hamlet's grandfather. See you soon! You'll find them very handy. Fair Rebel! Time surely would scatter all.

Crooked Hillary. Not wholly for the Cuban people, even with an approx. #MAGA The State Department.

From this moment on, Talbot. Stephen said, is now! A learner rather, Stephen murmured. Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to marginalize, lies! His eyes open wide in vision stared sternly across the sunbeam in which he halted. In every sense of the amazing first responders.

Veterinary surgeons.

European conflagration.

He went out by the table. This Tweet from realDonaldTrump has been divided, angry and untrusting. I will stop the national security, and shouted with the choice of Tim Kaine on 60 Minutes.

Other than a small campaign staff. Goofy Elizabeth Warren, we’d have no jobs. Even though I have won in every category. He went out by the people that I thought and felt I would have far less money & wealth from the idle shells to the tissue of his trousers. Get tough! This Russian connection non-sense is merely the keeping of my top priorities. Thank you!

#Ulysses (novel)#James Joyce #1922 #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Nestor #politics #American politics #presidential elections #21st century #Twitter #Donald Trump #2016 #2017

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zhouwerthoughts · 8 years ago

Text

3/8/17

''Sometimes you have to forget what's gone, appreciate what remains, and look forward to what's coming next.''

Happy Women’s Day! Shoutout to the females of the world, y’all beautiful and amazing :)

4:37 - No homework and relatively chill day today, only slept in stats :P. Last MMM rehearsal, things are looking good for my debut conductor MMM performance. Missing some people and stuff recently but I feel alright

6:49 - Sometimes I’m just confused and thrown for a loop, like if fate itself existed to throw such a coincidence at me. Unlike usually, though, I will reserve judgement until I know anything for sure because I’ve been too assuming in the past, and continue to do no different and no worse towards anyone, and do what I need ta do.

“Defund Planned Parenthood”. When I hear this it breaks my heart and frustrates me to no end. There are some that say so that are malicious and anti-freedom, yet some who’s hearts are in the right place and simply take the opposite position that I do on reproductive freedom. There’s a lot there in terms of the abortion argument that I don’t want to spend too much time talking about here, as my own position has wavered over time when listening to the more reasonable arguments from the opposite side, pushing me back towards the center-left. But let me at least just put this out there about planned parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a leading provider of healthcare for men, women, and children, and THE leading provider of sexual education in the nation. They are often the sole available source of family planning to women everywhere. Planned Parenthood provides sexual and reproductive health care, education, information, and outreach to nearly five million women, men, and adolescents worldwide in a single year. 2.5 million women and men in the United States annually visit Planned Parenthood health centers for trusted health care services and information. Planned Parenthood health centers focus on prevention: 80 percent of their patients receive services to prevent unintended pregnancy, and Planned Parenthood services help prevent approximately 579,000 unintended pregnancies in a single year. Planned Parenthood provides more than 360,000 breast exams in a single year, a critical service in detecting cancer .Planned Parenthood provides more than 4.2 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, including more than 650,000 HIV tests. This is what funding planned parenthood provides for the country. A mere THREE PERCENT of their services offered involve abortionary procedures, and although they receive federal funds, there are ALREADY laws in place that prevent a single dollar from going into abortions. Abortions are paid for out of pocket by a patient who needs it, and planned parenthood is provided no federal funding to support their abortion procedures. By defunding planned parenthood, you severely dampen their ability to provide essential family planning, sexual education, and care that they now provide to a great number of men and women around the country.

I lied... I just have to say this now

Not all unintended pregnancies can be prevented through abstinence. It’s a case by case nuanced situation, dammit... an embryo that is the product of a rape is not the same as an embryo produced from consensual sex just because they both have the potential to become a living human baby. When the woman has no control in the decision and no freedom to oppose it, the morally wrong thing to do is to force her to have it anyways. Given that blastocysts and early embryos stored in infertility clinics do not have brains or even nerves they cannot suffer. Thus, if such a clinic were on fire, should a morally responsible person carry out the freezer with its hundreds of frozen embryos because they’re “alive” or carry out the unconscious receptionist? I would contend that the one person who can suffer (the mother, daughter, spouse, friend) is more worthy of protection than the blastocysts. When the woman’s life is in danger or in distress, sorry, I will not spare the potential life of an embryo for the one of the woman that we can see in front of our own eyes. Does the hollow ball of 100 cells called a “blastocyst” – formed five days after fertilization – have human rights? And is it unethical for scientists to extract stem cells from a blastocyst, destroying it in the process? If an “embryo” that will eventually become a baby given the right conditions is considered alive, then how far back until it is no longer alive? Will pro-life people be willing to call a cluster of cells, the same as a human being simply because one day it will become a baby? And if not, how can you possibly reasonably define the point in time when it becomes alive? In my eyes, the person who, whether directly or indirectly, equates the “death” of a microscopic clump of human cells with the agony of a gassed Jew who has seen his family members, community, culture and body systematically destroyed, has lost all moral authority.

As someone who used to believe in purely pro-choice, listening to the reasonable right and reasonable pro-lifers has made me unclear on what exactly should be law. However, at the very least I believe to my core that an embryo is not even nearly equivalent to a borne human being, and that we as reasonable people need to examine the pros and cons of both sides with a fine-tuned comb to reach the best solution.

feel free to discuss anything anytime, no matter how my rhetoric may seem at times i truly respect all opinions and have understood better than ever the value of hearing the reason and logic of those I disagree with the most along with those I respect the most.

9:08 - im crying rn T_T https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubTJI_UphPk never watched doctor who but this scene I came across is just so absolutely beautiful... van gogh, a man who struggled to sell a single painting while he was alive realizing just how valued he his in the world of art now that he is gone... man im baawling aubwidhf ersjbdsiefdwahhhh the actors are so good

"There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live.” ― Dalai Lama

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pamphletstoinspire · 6 years ago

Photo

The Church's Year - THE FEAST OF OF SS. PETER AND PAUL, APOSTLES. [June 29.]

With Image:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/churchs-year-feast-ss-peter-paul-apostles-june-29-harold-baines/?published=t

PETER, formerly called Simon, from Bethsaida in Galilee, was a son of Jonas and a brother of Andrew, by whom he was brought to Christ. After the great draught of fishes, when our Lord said to him and Andrew: Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men, Peter followed the Saviour constantly, from whom he received the most tender proofs of love. Peter was present when Christ appeared in His glory on Mount Thabor, when He raised the daughter of Jairus to life, and when He sweat blood in the agony on Mount Olivet. Peter was also present at the miraculous draught of fishes, which was a figure of the multitudes which he was to bring, by means of the holy Gospel, to the kingdom of God, for Christ called him a fisher of men, and afterwards, because Peter recognized and professed Him to be the Son of the living God, Christ named him Peter, made him the head of the apostles and of the entire Church, made him His vicar and visible representative upon earth, promising to build His Church upon him as upon a rock, gave him the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and commanded him to feed His lambs and His sheep. Peter loved our Lord above all things; because of his love he wished to remain with Christ upon Mount Thabor to prevent Him from suffering, and in his love desired to die with Christ. He certainly showed the greatest courage when Christ was taken, following Him even into the house of Caiphas. But alas, the instability of man! There Peter three times denied the Lord. But the look of forgiving love which Jesus .east upon him, forced from him tears of the deepest contrition. He atoned for his denial by suffering much for Christ. Under the Emperor Nero he was crucified for his faith at Rome, and by his own request with his head downwards, because he did not consider himself worthy to die like Christ.

Oh! that all sinners would seek by such penance to turn their evil into good!

PRAYER TO ST. PETER. O God, who from a poor fisherman hast made St. Peter prince of the apostles and head of Thy Church, we beseech Thee through his intercession to make us true lambs of Thy flock. Grant, that we may hear his voice, follow his doctrine, and walk in his steps, until we reach that happy pasture where the Good Shepherd, Thine only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, whom St. Peter represented on earth, reigns with Thee and the Holy Ghost forever. Amen.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL

PAUL, before his conversion called Saul, of the tribe of Benjamin, was born at Tarsus in Cilicia, and was a pupil of Gamaliel. As he had the most zealous attachment for the Jewish law, he was exasperated against the Christians. However, when hastening to Damascus to persecute them, he was converted by the Lord on the way and called to be an apostle. [See the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul.] His unwearied labors in the vineyard of the Lord after his conversion, the sufferings which he endured upon his apostolic journeys, and the dangers and persecutions through which he passed in different countries, cannot be described. The zeal and constancy with which he confessed and preached the faith, though in chains and fetters, though scourged and beaten, in hunger and thirst, and through innumerable dangers, are almost incredible. He was so humble that he regarded himself as the least of the apostles, and thanked God fervently that He considered him worthy to suffer for His sake. After he had fought a good fight and finished his course, having everywhere zealously preached the faith, and still more zealously practiced it, he wpn the crown of justice. On the same day and at the same place in Rome, in which Peter was crucified, he was beheaded, by command of the Emperor Nero. Thus God tries and rewards true virtue. Paul in his life, as after death, worked numberless miracles; even his handkerchief, like St. Peter's shadow, healed sickness and expelled devils. He had so deeply impressed the name of Jesus in his heart, that it was almost continually on his lips, for "out of the fulness of the heart, the mouth speaketh."

Would that we loved Jesus as St. Paul loved Him, then we would, like St. Paul, be ready to do and suffer much for Him.

PRAYER TO ST. PAUL. O St. Paul, chosen vessel of the Lord, who didst carry the name of Jesus to kings and heathens, who didst suffer so much for Christ, and wast never allured from the love of Him: like a brave soldier of Christ, thou hast fought a good battle, a zealous teacher, thou hast preached far and wide the true faith, and the just and merciful God has, therefore, rewarded thee with the crown of justice: pray to God for me, that I who because of my sins am an instrument of wrath, may become an instrument of honor, adorned with the Christian virtues, with which thou art already decorated. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Introit of the Mass consists of Peter's words, spoken after his deliverance from the prison at Jerusalem: Now I know in very deed that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. (Acts xii. 11.) Lord, Thou hast proved me, and known me: Thou hast known my sitting down and my rising up. (Ps. cxxxviii.) Glory be to the Father, &c.

COLLECT O God, who hast sanctified this day by the martyrdom of Thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul: grant unto Thy Church, that as from them it received the first teachings of religion, so it may in all things follow their holy precepts. Thro'. &c.

EPISTLE (Acts xii. 1 — 11.) in those days, Herod the king stretched forth his hands to afflict some of the Church: and he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And seeing that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to take up Peter also. Now it was in the days of the azymes. And when he had apprehended him, he cast him into prison, delivering him to four files of soldiers to be kept, intending after the pasch to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison. But prayer was made without ceasing by the Church unto God for him. And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the ^prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shined in the room: and he striking Peter on the side, raised him up, saying: Arise quickly. And the chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said to him: Gird thyself, and put on thy sandals. And he did so. And he said to him: Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And going out, he followed him, and he knew not that it was true which was done by the angel: but he thought he saw a vision. And passing through the first and the second ward, they came to the iron gate that leadeth to the city: which of itself opened to them. And going out, they passed on through one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. And Peter coming to himself, said: Now I know in very deed that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.

EXPLANATION I This Herod, a grandson of Herod the Great,, under whom Christ was born, and who murdered the holy Innocents, was a zealous Jew, and to please the Jews persecuted the Christians. He caused Peter to be imprisoned with the intention of having him publicly executed after Easter, for the amusement of the people. — How shameful it is to do wrong, to murder a man in order to amuse others! See how deeply the desire to please can lead into error! Take care to commit no sin for the sake of pleasing others; for he who seeks to please men cannot be a servant of Christ, says the Apostle Paul. II. The Church, that is, the priests and the faithful, prayed to God continually for the liberation of St. Peter, and their prayers were heard. — Let us pray for one another, especially for sinners, that God may free them from the chains of the evil one. III. Peter slept quietly in prison, for his conscience was at peace, and he confided himself to God's protection. — The innocent are calm in every peril and need, the bad alone have no peace. IV. God sent an angel to Peter, who told him to rise quickly, gird himself, put on his sandals, and follow him. — If thy guardian angel warns thee to rise from the sleep of sin, do so at once, return to thyself, like the prodigal son, break the bonds that bind thee to sin, gird thyself with the strong resolution to sin no more, put on thy shoes, that is, make the firm purpose to follow Christ.

(The Gospel as on the Feast of St. Peter's Chair at Rome.)

Gospel MT 16:13-19

When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection 1 – Who do people say?

“When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”‘

If we call Jesus just a good man or even a great man, we are not giving what is due Him. We are actually insulting Him as anything less than what acknowledges Him as God the Son denies Him and the Truth that we have in Him. Anything which does not give His true and real Being defames His character as God made man.

Jesus is the embodiment of the Father’s unconditional love for us. He is God’s righteousness and faithfulness as He is the Messiah God promised to send us. He is God’s Infinite Wisdom and Perfect Plan for mankind. He is compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth. Jesus is the ultimate atoning sacrifice made for all our sins.

And finally, Jesus is the new covenant relationship with God which gives us the opportunity to experience eternity. His blood established a new covenant and a chance for all men to spend eternity in the presence of God. He is God’s perfect will carried out on the Cross. Jesus is the decisive triumph over eternal condemnation. Jesus is the Anointed One, the Messiah!

Yes, Jesus is the greatest blessing poured out to a world thirsty for the saving grace of the one true God. He is Emmanuel, God with us and nobody can take Him away from us. Jesus is God, the One True God.

As I ventured to respond to the question on Who Jesus is I know that I have endeavored to do the impossible for Jesus is beyond description. But in very simple terms, Jesus is my everything, my all in all, my very life and the very essence of my being.

Jesus, I will never be without You for without You I am nothing! To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (AMDG)!

Direction: We ought to know Jesus by giving Him a chance in our lives. Let us make space for Him in our hearts.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, reveal yourself to me more and more through your Son Jesus. In Him, I pray. Amen.

Reflection 2 – The keys of the kingdom of heaven

At an opportune time Jesus tests his disciples with a crucial question: Who do men say that I am and who do you say that I am? He was widely recognized in Israel as a mighty man of God, even being compared with the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah. Peter, always quick to respond, exclaimed that he was the Christ, the Son of the living God. No mortal being could have revealed this to Peter, but only God.

Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD), an early church father comments on Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus:

Peter did not say “you are a Christ” or “a son of God” but “the Christ, the Son of God.” For there are many christs [meaning anointed ones] by grace, who have attained the rank of adoption [as sons], but [there is] only one who is by nature the Son of God. Thus, using the definite article, he said, the Christ, the Son of God. And in calling him Son of the living God, Peter indicates that Christ himself is life and that death has no authority over him. And even if the flesh, for a short while, was weak and died, nevertheless it rose again, since the Word, who indwelled it, could not be held under the bonds of death. (FRAGMENT 190)

Jesus plays on Peter’s name which is the same word for “rock” in both Aramaic and Greek. To call someone a “rock” is one of the greatest of compliments. The ancient rabbis had a saying that when God saw Abraham, he exclaimed: “I have discovered a rock to found the world upon”. Through Abraham God established a nation for himself. Through faith Peter grasped who Jesus truly was. He was the first apostle to recognize Jesus as the Anointed One (Messiah and Christ) and the only begotten Son of God. The New Testament describes the church as a spiritual house or temple with each member joined together as living stones (see 1 Peter 2:5). Faith in Jesus Christ makes us into rocks or spiritual stones.

Jesus then confers on Peter authority to govern the church that Jesus would build, a church that no powers would overcome because it is founded on the rock which is Christ himself. Epiphanius, a 6th century Scripture scholar who also translated many early church commentaries from Greek into Latin, explains the significance of Jesus handing down the “keys of the kingdom”:

For Christ is a rock which is never disturbed or worn away. Therefore Peter gladly received his name from Christ to signify the established and unshaken faith of the church.… The devil is the gateway of death who always hastens to stir up against the holy church calamities and temptations and persecutions. But the faith of the apostle, which was founded upon the rock of Christ, abides always unconquered and unshaken. And the very keys of the kingdom of the heavens have been handed down so that one whom he has bound on earth has been bound in heaven, and one whom he has set free on earth he has also set free in heaven. (INTERPRETATION OF THE GOSPELS 28)

The Lord Jesus offers us the gift of unshakeable faith, enduring hope, and unquenchable love – and the joyful boldness to proclaim him as the one true Savior who brings us the kingdom of God both now and forever. Who do you say he is to yourself and to your neighbor?

“Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are my Lord and my Savior. Make my faith strong like Peter’s and give me boldness to speak of you to others that they may come to know you personally as Lord and Savior and grow in the knowledge of your great love.” – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2018/feb22a.htm

Reflection 3 – Chair of St. Peter

Today’s feast of the chair of Peter celebrates not only the triumph of Christ’s grace in the heart and soul of Peter, but his status as the primary pastor and teacher of the Church. The chair is the symbol of his teaching authority, as it is of every bishop. Peter (d. ca. 64) was Jesus’ chief apostle whom later Catholic tradition regards as the first pope. Born in the village of Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee, his original Hebrew name was rendered in Greek as Simon, but Jesus gave him a new name, the Aramaic word for “rock” rendered in Greek as Kephas. The name Peter is a translation of the Aramaic word. Sometimes he is referred to in the New Testament as Simon Peter. Peter was married and remained so even after becoming a disciple (Mk 1:29-31; 1 Cor 9:5).

In the gospel today when Jesus asked a question, it was not because He didn’t know the answer. You can be sure He was making a point. Jesus and His disciples were in Caesarea Philippi, away from their own territory. It was a place of idolatry and oppression – a threatening place both politically and spiritually. In this environment, Jesus posed two important questions about the perception of His identity. He wasn’t interested in His popularity rating. He wanted His followers to be sure about the One they were following.

Today our culture is just as hostile and opposed to Jesus as when He first asked the question” “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Mt 16:13). As in Jesus’ day, people offer a long list of inadequate and incorrect ideas about Jesus, ranging from “just a good teacher” all the way to “divisive” and “intolerant.”

The real question was and continues to be: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15). Peter boldly declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Jesus said that Peter’s accurate confession was a God-given insight and that he was blessed because of his declaration (Mt 16:17).

Join Peter in confessing that Jesus is your Savior. Your life will be bolstered and blessed. “O receive Him today who so loved you that He died on the cross for your sin; O believe Him and open your heart’s door; Let the Savior who loves you come in.” Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God (1 Jn 5:1). This is our faith. Only an authentic faith will give us the strength to live out our Christian commitment. As we celebrate the Eucharist, let us pray that our faith, and that of our whole church, may be strengthened.

“Lord Jesus, I profess and believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are my Lord and my Savior. Make my faith strong like Peter and give me boldness to speak of you to others that they may come to know you personally as Lord and Savior and grow in the knowledge of your love.”

Reflection 4 – Whom are you shepherding?

In today’s Gospel passage, we see that Peter had the insight to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and then the Lord called him and commissioned him to shepherd others into the same realization.

We, too, know that Jesus is our Lord and the Good Shepherd as described in Psalm 23. Therefore we, too, are called and commissioned to shepherd the people whom we encounter. We’re to lead them to Christ the way a shepherd herds his flock.

But what about the people who don’t want to be shepherded?

In today’s first reading, Peter tells us how to do it, even when others don’t recognize that it is good to follow Jesus: Be a good example. Don’t lord it over those whom God has placed in your life, because only Jesus is Lord. When people look at us, they should see Jesus — not bad attitudes, not unlovingness, not apathy, not argumentativeness, not depression or doom and gloom, not despair and hopelessness, not materialism, not selfishness.

In other words, we have to put a lot of effort into overcoming our sinful tendencies, because our lives are the Shepherd’s staff, prodding the people around us. We either prod them toward Jesus and his sheepfold, or we push them away from the life that Jesus wants for them.

Sheep follow their shepherd because that’s how they find greener pastures. What have you learned on your spiritual journey that would benefit others? Any oases that Jesus has led you to become places of your expertise. Now, you can shepherd others to the same places. Whom do you know in need of rest from their hardships and healing from their wounds? Shepherd them with what you have learned.

Being a shepherd means you also know about the wolves. Many sheep are totally oblivious to the dangers that lurk, but you have been given the responsibility of guarding against evil. Because Jesus is with you, the wolves can and will be defeated. However, they will only be conquered when you stay close to Jesus.

We cannot successfully lead others to Christ without a good prayer life, knowledge of the scriptures, and ever-growing holiness. And we cannot be good shepherds if we neglect to overcome our sins, because then we’re playing with wolves. We must cover our vulnerabilities with the armor of God by getting right with him and getting rid of any known areas of disobedience.

Being a shepherd is risky. Wolves attack our vulnerabilities. Some of the sheep behave like wolves. And sometimes we need to repent from acting wolfish ourselves.

At the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter by the Sea of Galilee, where today’s Gospel story took place, there’s a sign that says, “The deeds and miracles of Jesus are not actions of the past. Jesus is waiting for those who are still prepared to take risks at His word because they trust His power utterly.”

Pray with me: “Lord Jesus, I say yes to Your calling, no matter how risky it seems. I choose to trust in Your guidance, Your directions. What do You want me to do?” – Read the source: http://gnm.org/good-news-reflections/?useDrDate=2018-02-22

Reflection 5 – A Fragile Stone

Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” —Matthew 16:16

When writing on the life of Simon Peter, songwriter and author Michael Card described the apostle as “a fragile stone.” It is a term filled with contrast, yet one that aptly describes Peter.

Throughout Peter’s life, we see this contrast lived out as he displayed moments of courage followed by spiritual failure. After his declaration of Christ as the Son of God, Jesus said to him, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). A rock. A stone. Peter, whose name means “a small stone,” proved to be fragile when he tried to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross, and when he denied Him three times after His arrest.

Peter, the “fragile stone,” reminds us that no amount of personal strength or talent can make us adequate for this life and its challenges. Only as we rest in the strength of Christ will we find His provision. When we acknowledge our frailty and dependence on Him, Christ’s strength can empower us for the troubles life throws our way.

Like Peter, we are all “fragile stones.” How grateful we can be for His strength that is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). — Bill Crowder

God uses weakness to reveal His great sufficiency;

So if we let Him work through us, His power we will see. —Sper

Only when we acknowledge our weakness can we be strong in the Lord (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 6 – The Center Of History

Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” “Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet. What about you? He asked them. Who do you say I am?” (Mt 16:13-15).

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” —Matthew 16:16

In its biographical archives, The Washington Post identifies famous people with a single vocational notice, such as “home-run king” or “motion-picture star.” According to a reporter, one of these files is marked, “Jesus Christ (martyr).”

Every individual who considers Jesus Christ makes some judgment about Him. French philosopher and historian Ernest Renan said, “All history is incomprehensible without Christ.” American author Ralph Waldo Emerson concluded, “His name is not so much written but plowed into the history of the world.”

Kenneth Scott Latourette, former chairman of the department of religion at Yale Graduate School, wrote, “That short life of Jesus has been the most influential ever lived. Through Him millions have been transformed and have begun to live the life which He exemplified. Gauged by the consequences which have followed, the birth, life, and death and resurrection of Jesus have been the most important events in the history of man.”

What label do you put on Jesus Christ? If you agree that He is who He claimed to be, then let Him who is the center of history be not only the center of your creed but also the object of your loyalty and love. — Haddon W. Robinson

Christ wants to be the center of your life,

The reason for your being here at all;

He gave Himself a sacrifice for you,

And now He waits for you to hear His call. — Hess

Your decision about Jesus determines your destiny (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 7 – The Real Jesus

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. —Matthew 16:16

Who is Jesus? Observing the ways He is portrayed these days, it’s almost impossible to recognize Him as the Jesus of the Bible. Some groups add to what the Bible says about Him, while others diminish Him to simple humanity, claiming that He was merely a wise teacher or a master moralist. Some would like to make Him disappear altogether.

But this is nothing new. It’s been happening for nearly 2,000 years. This reminds me of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the US Declaration of Independence. He went through the New Testament Gospels with scissors and cut out all references to Jesus’ deity and the supernatural. This is known as The Jefferson Bible. Even recently, people have approached the Gospels in similar ways.

When Jesus asked His 12 disciples what people were saying about who He was, some answers were Elijah, Jeremiah, and John the Baptist, but these answers were all inadequate. Peter was correct when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Don’t be deceived by fuzzy, watered down, or false descriptions of Jesus that you read, see, or hear about. Stick to the Bible. When people try to minimize His identity, tell them in no uncertain terms who the real Jesus is! — David C. Egner

All glory to Jesus, begotten of God,

The great I AM is He;

Creator, sustainer—but wonder of all,

The Lamb of Calvary! — Peterson

To know Jesus is to know God (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 8 – The Right Answer

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” —Matthew 16:16

When Jesus asked a question, it was not because He didn’t know the answer. You can be sure He was making a point.

Jesus and His disciples were in Caesarea Philippi, away from their own territory. It was a place of idolatry and oppression—a threatening place both politically and spiritually. In this environment, Jesus posed two important questions about the perception of His identity. He wasn’t interested in His popularity rating. He wanted His followers to be sure about the One they were following.

Today our culture is just as hostile and opposed to Jesus as when He first asked the question: “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” (Matt. 16:13). As in Jesus’ day, people offer a long list of inadequate and incorrect ideas about Jesus, ranging from “just a good teacher” all the way to “divisive” and “intolerant.”

The real question was and continues to be: “Who do you say that I am?” (16:15). Peter boldly declared, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v.16). Jesus said that Peter’s accurate confession was a God-given insight and that he was blessed because of his declaration (v.17).

Join Peter in confessing that Jesus is your Savior. Your life will be bolstered and blessed. — Joe Stowell

O receive Him today who so loved you

That He died on the cross for your sin;

O believe Him and open your heart’s door,

Let the Savior who loves you come in. — Anon.

Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. —1 John 5:1 (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 9 – Chair of St. Peter

This feast commemorates Christ’s choosing Peter to sit in his place as the servant-authority of the whole Church (see June 29).

After the “lost weekend” of pain, doubt and self-torment, Peter hears the Good News. Angels at the tomb say to Magdalene, “The Lord has risen! Go, tell his disciples and Peter.” John relates that when he and Peter ran to the tomb, the younger outraced the older, then waited for him. Peter entered, saw the wrappings on the ground, the headpiece rolled up in a place by itself. John saw and believed. But he adds a reminder: “…[T]hey did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead” (John 20:9). They went home. There the slowly exploding, impossible idea became reality. Jesus appeared to them as they waited fearfully behind locked doors. “Peace be with you,” he said (John 20:21b), and they rejoiced.

The Pentecost event completed Peter’s experience of the risen Christ. “…[T]hey were all filled with the holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4a) and began to express themselves in foreign tongues and make bold proclamation as the Spirit prompted them.

Only then can Peter fulfill the task Jesus had given him: “… [O]nce you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:32). He at once becomes the spokesman for the Twelve about their experience of the Holy Spirit — before the civil authorities who wished to quash their preaching, before the council of Jerusalem, for the community in the problem of Ananias and Sapphira. He is the first to preach the Good News to the Gentiles. The healing power of Jesus in him is well attested: the raising of Tabitha from the dead, the cure of the crippled beggar. People carry the sick into the streets so that when Peter passed his shadow might fall on them.

Even a saint experiences difficulty in Christian living. When Peter stopped eating with Gentile converts because he did not want to wound the sensibilities of Jewish Christians, Paul says, “…I opposed him to his face because he clearly was wrong…. [T]hey were not on the right road in line with the truth of the gospel…” (Galatians 2:11b, 14a).

At the end of John’s Gospel, Jesus says to Peter, “Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go” (John 21:18). What Jesus said indicated the sort of death by which Peter was to glorify God. On Vatican Hill, in Rome, during the reign of Nero, Peter did glorify his Lord with a martyr’s death, probably in the company of many Christians.

Second-century Christians built a small memorial over his burial spot. In the fourth century, the Emperor Constantine built a basilica, which was replaced in the 16th century.

Story:

This saintly man’s life is perhaps best summed up at his meeting with Jesus after the resurrection in the presence of the men Peter was to lead. In imitation of Peter’s triple denial, Jesus asked him three times, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (John 21:16b). Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. . . . Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you (John 21:16c, 17b).

Comment:

Like the committee chair, this chair refers to the occupant, not the furniture. Its first occupant stumbled a bit, denying Jesus three times and hesitating to welcome gentiles into the new Church. Some of its later occupants have also stumbled a bit, sometimes even failed scandalously. As individuals, we may sometimes think a particular pope has let us down. Still, the office endures as a sign of the long tradition we cherish and as a focus for the universal Church.

Quote:

Peter described our Christian calling in the opening of his First Letter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy gave us a new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3a).

________

9 things you need to know about the “Chair of St. Peter”

By Jimmy Akin

Yes, there is a physical object known as “the Chair of St. Peter.”

It is housed at the Vatican, at the back of St. Peter’s basilica.

February 22 is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

And there is more to the story.

Here are 9 things you need to know . . .

1. What is the Chair of Peter?

It depends on what you mean.

On the one hand, there is a physical object–an ancient, ornamented chair–located in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica.

On the other hand, there is the spiritual authority that this chair represents.

Here we will look at both the physical object and the spiritual reality it represents.

2. What is the physical Chair of St. Peter?

This object–known as the Cathedra Petri (Latin, “Chair of Peter”)–is located in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is in the back of the chamber, behind the famous altar, on the far, back wall, below the the well-known, stained glass image depicting the Holy Spirit as a dove (see above).

This display contains an ancient chair that has been repaired and ornamented over time.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states of the original chair:

The seat is about one foot ten inches above the ground, and two feet eleven and seven-eighths inches wide; the sides are two feet one and one-half inches deep; the height of the back up to the tympanum is three feet five and one-third inches; the entire height of the chair is four feet seven and one-eighth inches.

According to the examination then made by Padre Garucci and Giovanni Battista de Rossi, the oldest portion is a perfectly plain oaken arm-chair with four legs connected by cross-bars.

The wood is much worm-eaten, and pieces have been cut from various spots at different times, evidently for relics.

To the right and left of the seat four strong iron rings, intended for carrying-poles, are set into the legs.

Below is an image of the ancient chair: (Caption for linked image)

3. How has the chair changed over time?

Various modifications have been made to the chair, to repair and ornament it.

Most notably, the famous Italian artist/architect Bernini (1598-1680) created the current display (pictured at the top of this post).

The Catholic Encyclopedia notes:

During the Middle Ages it was customary to exhibit [the chair] yearly to the faithful; the newly-elected pope was also solemnly enthroned on this venerable chair. . . .

In order to preserve for posterity this precious relic, Alexander VII (1655-67) enclosed, after the designs of Bernini, the Cathedra Petri above the apsidal altar of St. Peter’s in a gigantic casing of bronze, supported by four Doctors of the Church (Ambrose, Augustine, Athanasius, Chrysostom).

4. Did St. Peter really sit in this chair?

In the early 20th century, the Catholic Encyclopedia stated:

We conclude, therefore, that there is no reason for doubting the genuineness of the relic preserved at the Vatican, and known as the Cathedra Petri.

However, since that time the fields of history and archaeology have advanced considerably, and, when Pope Benedict addressed the subject in 2006 and 2012, he spoke in a more reserved way, saying:

Dear brothers and sisters, in the apse of St Peter’s Basilica, as you know, is the monument to the Chair of the Apostle, a mature work of Bernini. It is in the form of a great bronze throne supported by the statues of four Doctors of the Church: two from the West, St Augustine and St Ambrose, and two from the East: St John Chrysostom and St Athanasius [General Audience, Feb. 22, 2006].

The Chair of St Peter, represented in the apse of the Vatican Basilica is a monumental sculpture by Bernini. It is a symbol of the special mission of Peter and his Successors to tend Christ’s flock, keeping it united in faith and in charity [Angelus, Feb. 19, 2012].

He thus placed less emphasis on the archaeological authenticity of the chair than on its spiritual significance.

5. What is the spiritual significance of the feast the Church celebrates today?

According to Pope Benedict:

This is a very ancient tradition, proven to have existed in Rome since the fourth century. On it we give thanks to God for the mission he entrusted to the Apostle Peter and his Successors.

“Cathedra” literally means the established seat of the Bishop, placed in the mother church of a diocese which for this reason is known as a “cathedral”; it is the symbol of the Bishop’s authority and in particular, of his “magisterium”, that is, the evangelical teaching which, as a successor of the Apostles, he is called to safeguard and to transmit to the Christian Community. . . .

The See of Rome, after St Peter’s travels, thus came to be recognized as the See of the Successor of Peter, and its Bishop’s “cathedra” represented the mission entrusted to him by Christ to tend his entire flock. . . .

Celebrating the “Chair” of Peter, therefore, as we are doing today, means attributing a strong spiritual significance to it and recognizing it as a privileged sign of the love of God, the eternal Good Shepherd, who wanted to gather his whole Church and lead her on the path of salvation [General Audience, Feb. 22, 2006].

Additional spiritual insights are found in the Scripture readings for the day.

6. What does the first Scripture reading of the day have to teach us?

The first reading for the day is 1 Peter 5:1 - 4, which reads:

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is your charge, not by constraint but willingly, not for shameful gain but eagerly, not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory.

This reading introduces the idea of the leaders of God’s people as spiritual shepherds, focusing on Christ as the Chief Shepherd.

Although Peter is below Christ as his under-shepherd (John 21:15-17), he does not direct attention to himself. Instead, he extends the office of shepherd to the leaders in his audience, revealing to them the way that they are to serve the portions of Christ’s flock entrusted to their care–not by lording it over them (“domineering over those in your charge”) but by serving in a truly spiritual manner (“being examples to the flock”).

The first reading thus serves as instruction in the first place for those who are ordained ministers in Christ’s Church but–in an extended way – it serves as instruction for all of us, for we all influence others and should set the same example.

7. What does the responsorial Psalm of the day have to teach us?

The responsorial Psalm is taken from Psalm 23:1 - 6. It also echoes the theme of shepherding.

In this case the Lord is identified for the individual believer as “my shepherd,” with the result that “I shall not want” (that is, I shall not lack anything).

The whole Psalm thus is taken up into the theme of the day, focusing on the relationship between God as the ultimate shepherd of our souls and we as the individual members of his flock.

You can meditate on the complete Psalm below.

Psalm 23 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want;

2 he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters;[a]

3 he restores my soul.[b]

He leads me in paths of righteousness[c]

for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,[d]

I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies; thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overflows.

6 Surely[e] goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.[g]

Footnotes:

Psalm 23:2 Heb the waters of rest

Psalm 23:3 Or life

Psalm 23:3 Or right paths

Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of deep darkness

Psalm 23:6 Or Only

Psalm 23:6 Or kindness

Psalm 23:6 Or as long as I live

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

8. What does the gospel reading of the day have to teach us?

The gospel reading for the day is Matthew 16:13-19, in which Jesus declares Peter the rock on which he will build his Church. (See Above)

9. Does the pope have to sit in the physical Chair of Peter be infallible?

No. Although the pope’s infallible pronouncements are called ex cathedra (Latin, “from the chair”) statements, he does not have to be sitting in the physical chair (which is rather high off the ground in any case).

In fact, he doesn’t have to be seated at all.

He simply has to use the fullness of his authority as the successor of Peter to definitively teaching a particular matter pertaining to faith or morals.

This use of the full extent of his teaching authority is referred to figuratively, as him speaking “from the chair” of St. Peter.

It’s a figurative expression, not a reference to the physical object.

#feast of ss. peter and paul

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