ONE HOUR AGO: intergenerational solidarity from our comrades at upenn!

Madre Juana, the sixteenth century Spanish nun who resonates with trans and intersex experiences today

Today, May 3, is the feast day of Madre Juana de la Cruz, one of my favorite holy transcestors. I'm flattered that my art piece above was included in this year's sharing of QSpirit's article on Juana; I highly recommend that article for aaaall the details about Juana!

I've also written an article that hones in on Juana's genderfluid visions of God, and other ways the life and preaching of this sixteenth century Spanish nun resonates with trans and intersex experiences today. Learn about Juana's adam's apple and sex-shifting clothing choices, God's pregnancy cravings and seamstress skills, and other fun stuff!

no, you are not "running from God". He's in front of you

In the early afternoon of 29 November last year, several Palestinian boys descended on to their street in the occupied West Bank, where they often played together.Minutes later, two of them lay dead from gunshots fired by Israeli soldiers - Basil, 15, and eight-year-old Adam. As part of an investigation into the conduct of Israel's security forces in the West Bank, which has been under military occupation for more than half a century, the BBC has pieced together what happened on the day the two boys were killed. Mobile phone and CCTV footage, information about the movements of Israel's military, witness testimony and detailed investigation of the scene, including taking measurements, combine to reveal evidence suggesting serious human rights violations. The evidence we found has prompted Ben Saul, UN special rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism, to say the death of Adam appears to be a "war crime".Another legal expert, Dr Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, described the use of lethal force as “indiscriminate”. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the circumstances of the deaths were “under review” but said “live fire is used only in order to remove immediate threats or for arrest purposes, following arrest protocols after exhausting other options”.

Video footage from 29 November shows Basil standing next to a hardware store, its shutters firmly locked down. When Israel's military arrives, shops close quickly in Jenin, a city in the West Bank - Palestinian territory which, unlike Gaza, is not run by Hamas. Witnesses said gunfire had been ringing out from a nearby operation by Israel's army in the Jenin refugee camp. Adam, a football fanatic and massive Lionel Messi fan, stood with his older brother Baha, 14. There were about nine boys on the street in total, all captured on CCTV cameras that provided a nearly 360-degree view of what happened next.

A few hundred metres away, a convoy of at least six armoured Israeli military vehicles turned a corner and began heading towards the boys, who clearly became uneasy. Several of the boys started to move away. At this precise moment, mobile phone footage shows the front door of an armoured vehicle opened. The soldier inside had a direct view of the boys. Basil had darted into the middle of the road, while Adam was 12m further from the soldiers, running away. Then at least 11 gunshots rang out.

Medical reports obtained by the BBC show that two shots hit Basil in the chest. Another bullet struck eight-year-old Adam in the back of the head as he ran away; his older brother Baha desperately tried to drag him to cover, leaving a trail of blood as he screamed for an ambulance.

[Image ID: an instagram post from @/nationalsjp of six students at the McMurdo Station in Antartica, standing in snow and ice, holding a palestinian flag and signs that say "Antartic workers for Gaza", "Ceasefire", and "Fund science not genocide"]

protests have literally made it to antartica

who’s left- Mariame/Prison Abolition

by Flynn Nicholls

Pink Plate  - Patty Weise

American , b. 1940s -

Gouache on paper, 11 x 14 in.

What does religion mean to you and how can one become religious or in touch with god

Religion for me is the recognition that we are bound to each other and to a mystery that is deeper than all of us. It is the recognition that every human life matters, that an ineradicable dignity inheres in the life of the living simply by virtue of being alive. It is knowing in our hearts—insisting with our vulnerable lives, with all that we are and have—that hate will not have the final word, that hate is a kind of hell in which we cut ourselves off from each other and from this deeper mystery of love.

All I know is that God can be found in prayer and action, and especially in those actions that bring us into contact with the vulnerable and poor. Because that is where God is. God is with the broken and breaking and is the voice that insists that, despite all of this, life matters. God is the light that calls us away from violence and hatred and towards these places of absolute despair, of nothingness and desolation—both in our hearts and in the world—and summons us to a reckless and courageous and foolish love. God is in every human hand and face.

Live kindly and simply and truly, pray, and try to be with the vulnerable and poor, and you will find that God is there, where they have always been—in your heart and with those crushed by the world.

True religion, I think, is nothing more than this.

we are divinely obligated to feed each other. may every hungry person be filled

The Nicene Creed in Arabic and Syriac, St. Peter and St. Paul Cathedral, Baghdad

April 28, 2024 - An unintentionally funny video by a zionist propagandist shows off some good organisation and discipline at the UCLA encampment for Palestine.

- Blythe Baird

Jesus didn’t bring good news to those who serve the poor from a secure position in life; he brought good news to the poor. He has nothing to say to other saviors who compete with him for the position of Messiah. He brings a message for those who recognize themselves as poor, naked, hurt, tired, overburdened, needy, and hopeless. For the rest, he has little to offer. The only way to remain with the poor is to discover that we too are miserable, to recognize ourselves, however well we are disguised, in the suffering neighbor before our eyes. When their misery reflects our own, when we realize our own neediness and desperate need to be healed and restored, then Jesus can help us. God is not manifest in our ability to heal, but in our need to be healed.

By Claudio Oliver at Plough.