#where is god?

[momentsbeforemass]

Not able

Today’s Gospel is weird.

When we think about Jesus’ public ministry, there are certain things that pretty much always show up.

Classic prophet stuff, and more. Calling people back to God. Miracles. Healing. Reaching out to the marginalized. Teaching people about God.

It may be put together in different ways. But most, if not all, of it will be there.

Then there’s today’s Gospel. Which ends with this –

“So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Let’s be clear, the Gospel is saying this – about God. As in “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” As in “All things came to be through Him, and without Him nothing came to be.” This the all-powerful Creator, in the midst of His creation.

So how is it that God can’t do something?

For the simple reason that God will never contradict His own nature. God can’t, because God won’t. That’s not who God is.

As Billy Graham put it, “God will not force Himself upon us against our will. If we want God’s love, we need to believe in Him. We need to make a definite, positive act of commitment and surrender to the love of God. No one can do it for us.”

That’s what we’re seeing here. This is the nature of God. And not just in the New Testament.

If you and I are wondering why we’re not seeing more of God in our lives? If we’re wondering where God is right now?

This is going to be a big part of it. Because this is the inescapable first step to receiving all that God wants to give us. To receiving God’s love.

To be clear, this is not a one and done. Our commitment and surrender to the love of God must be done daily. This is the first step to a living relationship with God.

In case you ever wondered why the Church is so big on starting the day with prayer.

Today’s Readings

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Walter Wiese - Where is God? - Fortress Press - 1969

[anndreiicaa]

Sometimes I just stop for a moment and fucking cant believe that this is my life

[mias-back-from-the-dead]

tbh i think the funniest phenomena that's been happening in the last couple years is "youtuber, having gone too deep into the research hole, has been made an investigative journalist against their will"

[charbroiledchicken]

"you're the writer, you control how the story goes" no not really. i wrote the first sentence and then my characters said "WE WILL TAKE IT FROM HERE" and promptly swerved into an electrical fence.

[boltlightning]

oh my god. og my god. the symbolism of it all

[noelledeltarune]

EVERY SINGLE DAY there are MILLIONS of characters in their late 20s who get falsely accused of being father figures to teenagers when in reality the description of "weird older cousin" or "step-sibling that moved out before you were born" is 1000000x more apt

[teaboot]

The idea that bodymod of all kinds from piercings and tattoos to gender-affirming care and amputations "goes against God's design" is such a fragile fucking take imo.

Like. Fuck, Brendine, you don't cut the moldy bit off a block of cheese? You don't spit out the bones when you eat fish? Do you never bake bread or cook food or chop off your hair? You just crawl around in a fig leaf bikini eating pine cones off the ground and shit in a hole?

Eve ate the apple already hon we ain't gonna undo that shit dressing like we're Children of the Corn

[quibbs]

just had SO much fun with the fallout tv show... i love you missus okey dokey

[ringosmistress]

[jeyneofpoole]

it is so strange to go to the grocery store and realize that 65 percent of the people there just hate me and will always hate me. i mean it’s not like i didn’t know before. but i don’t think people in blue states will ever understand that level of sheer hopelessness and total demoralization and i wouldn’t wish it on them. if you love or even just know a southerner please realize that we can hear what you’re saying about us and it’s not just one wall of bigots here. people are already talking about refusing aid to states like texas and florida in the case of another natural disaster and i am begging you to realize that we fucking live here too.

[egophiliac]

the whole school is rallying together to give these boys the full princess experience, and I think that's beautiful! they would all rather die than work together on one single group project, but hell if they won't pull through when sparkly princess outfits are on the line. (I am sad that Grim doesn't get a little ribbon of his own, though. 😔)

also, the return of my favorite literal running joke, Vargas Meets an Immovable Object Face-First at 20 MPH

[hinamie]

subject, specimen, spectacle;

should i say that you're dead?

[deadbaguette]

Dear children of Priam, were you doomed all along?

[frownyalfred]

If you’ve never had to pick up an adult over let’s say 100 lbs I think most people don’t realize how fucking impressive it is that we see human DC characters (mostly the Bats, let’s be real) routinely lifting and carrying unconscious people for distances longer than a few feet.

Bruce carrying Dick’s body home after he died in Injustice? Insanity. He walked with ~200 lbs of dead weight in his arms (non-optimal carrying position too) without visible effort.