#when u is Catholic

[audreyh002]

Help help help a requiem is a sacrifice offered for the dead I am LOSING IT I cannot in all the Catholicism watch this show anymore it is killing me

[puppppppppy]

renaissance dogys

characters belong to @canisalbus

[tunapesto]

I wanna know more about you

[staticrevelations]

can’t get over imogen calling her Saint Laudna can’t stop picturing an undead laudna lovingly rendered in the style of old catholic portraits of saints with a big golden halo around her head

[thedevilsniki]

My roman empire is them.

[queerprayers]

Officially, in the western church, today isn't the Annunciation. This is Holy Monday, and the Annunciation is moved to avoid coinciding with Holy Week. I think if it were during the Triduum I would appreciate this, making space to hold both days separately. But it's Monday, and they can't stop me from thinking about Mary during Holy Week. March 25 is a traditional date of both Jesus's death and conception, as well as the Creation—a spring equinox of redemption. Holding space for all these things has always been appropriate. Birth and death coexist; Jesus's beginnings were the beginnings of his mortality. The angel announces the future, and whoever listens must live through all of it.

What did it mean for Mary to say yes to this? We laugh at the "Mary did you know?" lyrics, because we know she knew. But she also didn't have to know the details of God's plan to say yes to what every parent says yes to—witnessing. Acknowledging the bringing into the world of a frail being, perhaps giving your body to make this happen, praying that you will die before they do but knowing that is not promised. And every parent living under a violent state knows what it is to hope it's not your kid that's next (whether you're a Black parent teaching your child how to talk to cops, or a Palestinian parent hiding in rubble, or a Jewish parent under Roman occupation who's seen the crosses outside the city walls).

Do you think, at the foot of the cross, Mary thought of her response, "Let it be unto me according to your word"? After bearing that Word inside her, teaching him how to walk, waiting for God to change his mind, to reveal a ram caught in a thicket so her son wouldn't have to die after all, do you think she remembered her teenage self, magnifying the Lord? "The Almighty has done great things for me"—and to me. Great as in too big to look at all at once, bloodstained things. The power of the Most High is overshadowing her—the shadow of the cross—his flesh broken, and someone (including her perhaps) will take him down and wash him for burial.

What does it mean to hold space for that day when an angel tore into her life, breaking it open for God—during Holy Week? If we desire a feast, we should wait until Easter, I agree. But today I honor a lady of sorrows—I desire an acknowledgement of the violence of agreeing to live and love and create when it will be torn away. The story never ends there, but we must live through this week (and whatever weeks of our lives hold these things) saying yes, witnessing. Judas quit before the miracle happened—he couldn't witness death so he didn't witness the life (on this earth). Mary kept saying yes, even at the end.

We can never know everything we are saying yes to when we surrender to God. She knew in one sense, yes, but no one knows what it's like to lose a son until it happens. And no one but her knows what it's like to be the Mother of God. We already know what God wants us to do, but we don't know until it happens how much it hurts—and what the dawn will bring. What swords will pierce us, what promises will be kept.

When we say the Magnificat, we usually add a Gloria at the end—Mary did not have those words (the Trinity would not be formulated for another couple hundred years), but we have them. When we sing her song, we hold space for the ways we see God exist, and she saw those ways intimately. She held the Son and was surrounded by the Spirit, and now the Father holds her. As we live through Holy Week every year, every year she says yes. God's love continues unfolding. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Your assigned reading for today (should you choose to accept it) is @tomatobird-blog 's comic "Thirty Years." A blessed Holy Monday (and Annunciation) to you all.

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s2 episode 7 thoughts

hmm. hmm. that is the sound if me pondering what i just watched.

(i understand that this episode was an analysis into mulder's self-destructive behaviors when faced with overwhelming grief, but. that does not mean i enjoyed vampire hookup time)

well. we shall start from the top!

i read that it was an episode about vampires which i thought was a weird narrative choice because. hello. scully still gone??? but then i remembered that i too ignored the main quest in skyrim to hunt some vampires and that i had no place to judge

(granted, my main quest wasn't finding scully though. might have given that a bit more priority than saving the whole world. because she IS my whole world)

we open with a guy that looks like joe biden meeting with an attractive young woman. they're making out in a hot tub and we just know someone is gonna get slurped upon. and woe, it be upon us! double vampire attack.

back in DC, mulder gets his old office back! it's covered in plastic. he takes some of it off. he adjusts his calendar from may to november, so we see how much time he and scully had been assigned to other tasks, which also has me wondering how she managed to get a new house that quick.

(also, this calendar is... scantily clad women posing next to tools such as hammers and saws. was this allowed? was this acceptable? was it normal? were the 90's a lawless wasteland and mulder an irreparable freak?)

well. scully is an x file now, and he puts her glasses and id into an evidence bag and closes the filing cabinet which was sooooo evil. but he can't bring himself to put her necklace away. oh man. oh he's gotta have it in case he finds her. he has to hold her close. i'm Fine this is Fine.

so. he goes out to california to deal with the joe biden looking fellow being murdered. and he is not wanted on the crime scene. we know this because someone greets him by saying "nobody called the bureau" and he says "well, they should have" and lifts up the tape to let himself in. because one thing about him is that he's gonna let himself into a place he isn't wanted.

he sees the writing of a bible verse in blood on the wall and says something about their grasp of biblical knowledge being "feeble and literal" and i was like okayyy need to have a theological discussion with him

he then scares the other guy who originally wanted to kick him out by reciting a LARGE amount of facts related to similar cases and it's very much giving photographic memory. got me thinking, have we ever seen this man forget something? (directions don't count. they're confusing. but everything else sticks in that man's brain)

he just needs one thing: a phone book. which he uses to call a blood bank and ask about a new guy. who must be the vampire who did this!

so he rolls up to the blood bank and i'm over here struggling because i do Not Do Blood, and i knew at this point this was gonna be a tough watch, but i didn't anticipate the non-blood related reasons why this would be true

anyway he's sniffing around the blood bank and he hears some slurping and wouldn't you know, this dude is tearing into a bag of the red stuff like it's a capri sun. somehow he gets him into custody, where the dude refuses to talk because the lights are on, and mulder comes in with a lamp he put a red filter over, because he was prepared for vampire interrogation.

the vampire is going on about how what he did isn't murder because it's not like animals hunting prey is murder which is. not the greatest approach in terms of legal defense. mulder tells the guard that the guy is delusional and it's best to play along, and he believed this to be true... until he, quite literally, burned to a crisp in the sunlight. and died.

he's talking to the coroner and rattling off a bunch of vampire facts and says he didn't believe in vampires which is so funny to me because like. why is that where you draw the line, my friend. not at bigfoot and definitely not at aliens. but man. vampires are just too out there for spooky mulder. until now!

the coroner has a very funny line: "you are really upsetting me... on several levels" which seems to be the general effect fox mulder has on people. and also because i felt the same way about his dumbass actions during this episode.

coroner finds a stamp on the dead body's hand, which seems to come from a nightclub. so naturally our fbi agent ends up there.

you often see posts saying that "(insert character here) should be at the club". i fear that this is not the case for fox mulder, but it's possible that it's his suit and tie that are throwing me off. he just doesn't seem like he belongs there. i ask myself, where should he be instead? perhaps some sort of star wars convention would suit him better. a book signing with some author he likes. idk, an interior decorating festival. not here.

i shall use my verbatim words to walk you through the next scene:

"pause. he's talking to a woman who was looking into a compact without a mirror. so. vampire suspect. and now why are they getting so close together. and getting a drink. okay now they're leaving to a new spot together? AFTER she admits to vampirism"

(here she did some stuff that required me to look away from my screen due to my Weak Constitution. but also it would have felt necessary to look away anyway because it was getting... charged)

she tries to get him to... suck on her finger... but he won't do it because aids. which is fair. i think that's a smart move, actually. it's just that getting flirty with a vampire he knows was involved with a ton of killings was such a stupid move, i don't know why it's now the braincells start to kick in.

that kills the vibe, though, so she gets another guy to take his place and things escalate.

mulder pulls in at a restaurant called ra. nice! the sun god! and he is... through a window, witnessing some more slurping action. he seems to want to intervene and save this poor soul being feasted upon...

but the poor soul is no poor soul at all! he comes out and decks mulder, and delivers this line with stunning conviction: "i don't know who you are, freak, but we're two consenting adults" and with this, he is forced to flee.

and yeah. it made me laugh. my expectations for the genre were subverted. he signed up for that shit! what he did not sign up for, however, was the next part, where he was killed by the other vampires.

cut to investigating the crime scene. mulder has brought along a forensic dentist, which is a job i had no idea you could go into. he needs to see about those bites, which are very human.

next they go to vampire woman's house. it's a very nice place. mulder... opens her oven. and sees a loaf of bread in there. and i'm thinking, man, i hope this doesn't go where i think it's going. baked goods... ovens... i never want a vampire pregnancy arc. but he cracks open the loaf and something red spills out and somehow, this to him means that she is gone and isn't coming back. he can read the signs of the bread. so add that to his resume. what did the bread tell you, my liege?

he seems to have stayed in her house, however, because he's there when she's back, and says he knows she was using the bread as a charm to ward off evil. because apparently that's an eastern european thing, blood bread to warn off evil. sound off if any eastern europeans in the chat wanna confirm or deny.

anyway. he's IN this woman he thinks is a vampire's HOUSE? what the hell. mulder seriously i need you to stop and think. like you should have stopped and done some thinking a while ago. honestly i'm not mad i'm just disappointed. and he's like "i want to save you come with me before they kill you" ohhh big tough man needs to save her huh. make him feel good inside. huh. certainly no ulterior motive here...

she's monologing about her horrible childhood and how sweet blood tastes. um girl. don't lie to him like that. i have busted my lip open before that stuff does NOT taste sweet and dangerous. it's like a penny with rust that you found in a parking lot.

it seems her vampiric origin story, if to be believed, is that things simply got too kinky. which is a new take on the genre.

(it's also about being caught in an abusive relationship and the damage that inflicts, but it seems abusive boyfriend came into vampirism at his kinky parties and things escalated from there. which. well. it blew the eyebrows clean off my head, to be fair)

at this point we see that he is WEARING SCULLY'S NECKLACE? he says something like "it's from someone i lost" and she says that she "hopes he finds her"

i did not like the undertones here and certainly not the overtones. because i knew where this was going. he was shaving in her bathroom. and let me tell you something: there is only ever a shaving scene in media because the writer needs a way to get some blood out of someone's body and into the real world. and man. i knew it was coming.

but what i didn't see coming was her SHAVING HIM??? girl. i am uncomfy. and she does, of course, cut him, and then they kiss. aggressively. terribly aggressively. can anyone answer what was going on in a satisfactory manner?

but the gag is: the original vampire- who burnt to a crisp in the jail cell, and was the abusive ex she spoke of- HE'S WATCHING THEM THROUGH THE WINDOW!

he breaks in and taunts the vampire woman about how he had to "wait for her to finish" and i was like cool. thank you SO much for that mental image i'm super happy with it. i definitely don't feel like i need a shower. but then he's going on about how he can't be killed.

here, at the tail end of the episode, we learn the rules of vampirism in this world: a vampire cannot be killed by a non-vampire. and a non-vampire BECOMES a vampire by consuming the blood of a believer and also taking a life. it is only here we realize that this woman is not an actual vampire yet, she just appropriates their culture by drinking blood unnecessarily.

mulder's still sleeping in her bed and she's like "you need to leave" and she stabs the wall to make her evil ex think she's killing him. but when they go to break out, mulder ties him up quite handily and he gets in the car to escape with vampire woman. until ANOTHER vampire woman jumps on the hood of their car. and main vampire woman knocks her out for a bit by running into her with said car, which is super effective.

mulder's leaving the place in shambles, his shirt still unbuttoned, wandering down the side of the hill. back at the house, now that we know the vampire rules, main vampire woman says she can finally kill the evil vampire ex. and he's like how!! you haven't had the blood of a believer or taken a life. so. she licks the blood off her hands (unclear if it's hers or mulders tbh) and says she'll take her own life. and drops a match after pouring gasoline.

so. that brings that to an end. and shabby looking mulder sits on a hill as he learns all four in the house died.

the episode ends with him playing with scully's necklace. which i don't even sort of feel like unpacking right now but maybe another time.

probably not, though, because i just didn't like this episode. and yeah, a lot of it comes down to me not wanting to see mulder hook up with people who aren't scully. can you blame me? is it so wrong to have preferences in this world?

but also, narrative wise- do you honestly see the guy fucking off to cali while scully's still missing to deal with an unrelated problem instead of devoting every hour of his life to finding her, like we saw him do in the last episode? you expect me to think he just puts it off for a lil while? the guy who, just last episode, pulled his gun on the ski lift operator to get to the top where she might be a little faster, and then choked his one and only suspect out of fury? you're thinking this is the guy that's gonna go soak up some west coast rays?

and yeah, he was obviously not himself through the episode- very cold and analytical- but c'mon. we all want to bang a vampire. he's not special. i just personally wouldn't do that if my friend were gone. like how is that gonna help the situation. be so for real. time and place!

and also the whole only learning the rules of being a vampire about 5 minutes before they need it to be plot relevant. that annoyed me too.

overall, mulder, like i said, i'm not mad, just disappointed.

let me know what you thought on this episode- i try to not be a hater, but i also understand that hating in small doses can be good for the soul. if it's a widely beloathed episode i'll feel better in my judgement as i join a long tradition of haters who have come before me.

[luvbug724]

in my quest to make jean catholic i ended up making him cry blood. whatever that might as well happen

[cath-lic]

i literally do not understand how prosperity gospel and evangelicals have gotten this far. like have u even LOOKED at the bible??? does luke 18:25 mean nothing to you?????

[kirbles]

consider. ex catholic gale and shadowheart modern AU childhood friends.

shadowheart's parents and gale's mum being friends since the two were babies. they expected gale and shadowheart to eventually get together since they were stupidly young, even encouraged it. this never happened, but the families remained as close as ever, even meeting up for holidays well into their adulthood.

both drifted away from the religion for different reasons however they still appreciate the aesthetics and history that comes with it. they're always a phone call away when they need to confide in each other when the ~guilt~ takes hold.

the two of them in their late 30s has gale dressed in gaudy vibrant sweaters and thick frames, and shadowheart in monochrome outfits like she just walked off a runway. they look to be from completely different worlds to outsiders, like they couldn't possibly have anything in common.

meeting and befriending the other companions, who think they're together, and even ask if there was ever anything between them. they both loudly defend themselves because 'EW, NO! THEY'RE LIKE A SIBLING TO ME!'

both have insane amount of dirt on the other, and stories from early teens/twenties that they share with the group after a bottle of wine in order to embarrass the other.

[eightspringdays]

You know what has always seemed funny to me is that Mello has some kind of relation with fire (the explosion and then the fire in his death), and at the same time, his real name is the same one of the arcangel known for having a flaming sword (even tho never stated in the bible but he's represented with one in almost everywhere for interesting reasons but no one gives a shit about that)

which i totally think is a stretch of my part because based on platinum end, ohba's vision of religion is almost the equivalent to the opinion of a 15 yo edgy incel that likes reddit too much

but still funny to me. it's also funny considering the name literally means "who is like god?" because, technically speaking, michael will never be like god, he's the protector and fighter. his name is almost the statement "no one will be like god" which I think is funny considering that the one who tried to be like god was cast out to hell, like u know, the good-looking angel that in some depictions is actually a very manipulative entity that convinces some angels to get into his side and fight with him and was defeated by this said arcangel

that's very funny to me

[shukakumoodboard]

Soooooo, about that gaaleesbians fan fic you were talking about....

LETS GO LESBIANS

ahem

i swear i've mentioned it before but i cannae find it so i shall simply. talk about it again relieved emoji

i have exactly one(1) gaaleesbians fic which came to me in a bolt from da lord after @urieskooki was talking in chats about a fic she was working on affectionately called priestie boys and so now you are all eventually getting: naruto but puritan salem witch trials lesbians au. behold

it's called thread of deepest scarlet, heart of shining pearl and it's going to take me an eternity because i've decided i will write it ye olde 17th century sermon style for why though hey totally unrelated hey would u like a snippet? would u like a snippeptpett? woul ud dyu--

“If you would but allow me to taste you,” she whispered, her lips a red gleam against pale skin, red as shone the skin of a crisp apple in the Garden of Eden. Crimson, like blood on the fangs of a snake. “I might offer your treasure worship.” What treasure had she to offer? What worship might she, humble mortal as she was, deserve? “I do not know that of which you s-speak!” What were these feelings coursing within her, consuming her? Was she bewitched, as the sermons had warned? Was Gaara beset by the Serpent, invoking such spells as to ensnare Lee, feminine and vulnerable thus to such infernal spirits, so said the gospels? She had tried, with prayer, with holy silence, with physical toils, to protect herself against the plagues of consumption and stay herself upon the Lord. And yet. “La petit mort, the little death, or so say the French,” she said. Soft her hand slid across Lee’s cheek to brush a strand of hair. Her low laughter rang across the chamber, sweet bells for which no music could find itself an equal. “Has no lover bestowed upon you such wonders?” “L-lovers!? I have but one, my h-husband!” A husband for whom she must always be deferent to, obedient, subservient… Scarlet lips curved down, a frown to wrinkle her pale forehead and its wine-stain mark. “Does he please you?” “To serve my Lord and my husband is my d-duty—I shall not neglect even if he—” “This I have not asked.” Her words struck Lee down, like gospel, her eyes the nails upon which the Saviour crucified. Bow your head in prayer, o wretched ones. “Has he brought you raptures? Does he please you?” O Lord, forgive her. “No.” Lee had thought no sin could truly taste sweet until this moment, where fruit glistened naught on branches but between red lips and shining teeth. And she itched, burned, Hellfire under her skin screaming for a thirst that but Gaara’s touch might slake. Fingers, delicate, stroked up her front, around her waist to until the apron, green wool pooling to the floor while Gaara undid the small glass buttons down her gown front one by one. Lee should not allow this. Her body was a revelation meant for her husband alone. And yet. “As Christ loves His church, the husband must love his wife absolutely, and so I vow this unto you, I will be joined to you and you alone, as one body and one flesh.” Tenten’s stockings, a gift from Lee herself, on the floor— “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord.” No. She would not! No sanctity could be found in her home, no longer was her bed a place of holiness, why should she be the sole faithful one? Let he without sin cast stones upon her, she would bear it. Gaara’s crimson red lips sang poisonous, blasphemous hymns, and she wanted nothing else. “I can,” she breathed. “I would show you, in all your loveliness, such wonders, if you wish it.” For if Gaara was the serpent in the Garden, she was Eve, and in that parable, it was she doomed to succumb to temptation; her weakness preordained, this was her Apple and the ways of wickedness were already within her, and so. “Please.” And so, she let Gaara consume her.

if it's not obvious as hell: local witch gaara is asking to consume wife-of-the-pastor-who-has-never-nutted-lee's coochie . hell fuckign yeah

[catholic-character-tournament]

my psychic warriors. vote for sister mary. nico is jewish coded and was smuggled out of nazi occupied italy

I feel like this is another "Steve Rogers is Jewish-coded but actually is Catholic" situation cuz

[britneyshakespeare]

I had a dream where because of dream shenanigans I met Alex Turner in my own house (classic dream shenanigans) and I gave him an unusually long hug. And when I let go, Miles Kane, who was also there, said "That's what happens to people when they hug Alex. They turn Catholic."

[cdroloisms]

And I think that DOES have a reasonable explanation if you consider Dream coming from Munchy, where he was an operator/mod, for a few years where it was expected to follow the rules to set an example and punish those who broke them as it’s quite literally his job

i mean, i dont generally go in this direction personally but yk c!dream's backstory is a very open thing so. i'm not saying it's an incorrect take, haha, this is headcanonville. that being said, i'd say that c!dream's mindset imo definitely extends past just this idea of a server standard putting kids in time out if they cause problems the way a minecraft server with strictly defined rules for moderators and limitations for what is very much a job right and whatever. like, c!dream abused a teenager to Teach Him How To Behave or whatever and didn't realize he was going too far until the kid literally tried to commit suicide. and yeah, having any kind of past background isn't necessary to explain that kind of cruelty, but when you throw it into the mix with c!Dream ultrapunishing himself (which does extend a little into different perspectives on the prison yadayadayada i'd be here all day but like, look, there's no world where anyone normal goes 'i thought [i] would be fine with raw potatoes' regardless of the justification without that speaking to some kind of fucked up worldview, which generally does have to come from somewhere) it seems less about alluvthat just as an excuse he spontaneously came up with in order to justify his spite and pettiness towards one (1) person and doesn't otherwise apply to how he sees things and a little more indicative of a level of normalized cruelty on top of the punitive mindset. doessss that makes sense?

[phoenix-before-the-flame]

Religion headcanon moment: Lucy's family is christian but she was so annoyed by Christianity that she became atheist. Then she interacted with the Catholic people in fairy tail and she was ABSOLUTELY MARVELED by the idea of saints and is convinced that they are, indeed, Jesus' secretaries

*pointing wildly* Guys guys look its the person who helped kick off the whole catholic jellal madness!!!!!!

But i suppose real talk, Jude strikes me as the kinda guy who'd see religion as foolish. Stern business man type of guy who sees belief as weakness then converts to some type of faith (specifics dont rlly matter) after he regains his business status but lost Lucy when she disappeared on tenrou.

Layla given her whole *waves hands at spirits* would be like one of those people who'd believe more in the power of nature and the universe as a whole rather than ascribing to one thing. Shes very spiritual lmao, which i think she'd influence Lucy with.