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lesfeldickbiblestudy · 1 year

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Through the Bible with Les Feldick LESSON 2 * PART 4 * BOOK 63 ABRAHAMIC & MOSAIC COVENANTS As always, we’re so glad you’re with us. We trust that you’ll study and search the Scriptures with us. Again, we appreciate your prayers, your letters, and your financial help; everything that makes the ministry possible. Okay, we’re going to continue right on where we left off in our last program. Again, in case we have someone who has missed the last two, three programs, we’re going through a study of the covenants. They started way back in the Garden of Eden where God mandated the environment, the responsibility of Adam and Eve in the Garden, and then the fall. Then, He lays out the program for life in the human race under the curse. That has carried on until our present time and will until the end of the Tribulation. All right, the next covenant, as I mentioned at the beginning of our last program, is in the middle of the seven covenants that take place between Adam and the Kingdom. I’m going to come back and study it more in depth in a future program. We’ll just touch on it briefly in this program, before we move on into the next covenant, which would be the Mosaic covenant, the bringing about of the Law of Moses. But let’s first take a brief look at the Abrahamic, and like I said, we’ll come back to it in detail in a future program. Genesis 12:1 "Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, (Now remember, he was clear down there in the area of the Persian Gulf, probably south of present day Baghdad.) and from thy kindred, (That is, your household and your relatives.) and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee:" Now, the first thing I always like to point out is: what kind of people was Abram’s family? The best way to explain that is to use Scripture. Keep your hand in Genesis, we’ll be right back. Come up with me to Joshua, chapter 24 verse 2, because we have to get the big picture as we go along. These things didn’t just happen in a corner. Joshua 24:2 "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers (your forefathers) dwelt on the other side of the flood (- Or River, that’d be the River Euphrates.) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: (Abraham’s brother) and they (the whole family, the whole community, the whole then known world) served (What?) other gods." Now, you see that? That was what? It was idols, paganism. That’s all they knew. Now, you want to remember, 200 years previous to the call of Abraham, you had the Tower of Babel. It was at the Tower of Babel that false religion was first introduced by Nimrod. From Nimrod on then, the whole human race was steeped in idolatry. Now, you want to remember that you’re only dealing with that small part of the world at that time, in the area of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, but they were all steeped in idolatry. They knew nothing of the one true God. So, it was for that reason, come back to Genesis 12, that God had to separate this man that He’s going to use to bring about the Nation of Israel. He had to separate them from his idolatrous relatives. So He told him "to leave your kindred. Go from your father’s house unto a land that I will (future) show thee." Now, here comes the covenant, and we’re going to watch it carefully before we move on. Like I said, we’ll come back to it in a future program. God says in His covenant promise: Genesis 12:2-3a "And I will make of thee a great nation, (separate from all the rest of the nations of the world) and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:…" Isn’t it too bad that the world can’t believe that? But you see, if they did, that would spare Israel all the satanic attacks, and that is not going to be stopped until Christ returns. But nevertheless, this is the promise in this Abrahamic Covenant that God will bless those who bless Israel and He will curse those who are against Israel.

Then, here comes the capstone of the whole covenant. This last part of verse 3: Genesis 12:3b "…and in thee (in Abram) shall all families of the earth be blessed." No, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that. What does that mean? That through this man Abraham, God is going to set things in motion that will lead to the place where salvation will then go out and encompass the whole human race. That’s why I want to spend more time on the Abrahamic covenant than all the rest of them put together, because it’s on this covenant that our salvation rests. It’s because of this covenant that Christ came. It’s because of this covenant that Christ suffered and died. It’s because of this covenant that the Apostle Paul came on the scene and became the Apostle of the Gentiles. That’s why Paul, over and over, refers to this man Abraham. So, that’s the Abrahamic Covenant, and we’re going to come back to it at a future time. Now, I’m going to go ahead to the next covenant on our board and that is the Mosaic. The covenant that God made with Moses and the Children of Israel. Now, we’re going to jump all the way up to Exodus 19. Now in the interval, of course, we have the beginning of the Nation of Israel, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then the twelve sons. Joseph is sold down into Egypt as a slave by the eleven others, and that, of course, separated Israel from the Promised Land. It put them down in a place of slavery. It put them in a place of subjection to pagan, ungodly rulers, out of which God had to redeem the nation with the book of Exodus. We now find the nation at Mount Sinai, ready to receive - what should I call it? It is the foundation of the next covenant – The Law. All right, let’s pick it up in verse 3, Exodus chapter 19 verse 3. The nation is now out of Egypt. They’re gathered around Mount Sinai and God is showing His presence on the mountaintop with thunder and smoke and fire. Verse 3: Exodus 19:3-4 "And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 4. Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, (That is a reference to the drowning in the Red Sea.) and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, (Not that they sprouted feathers and flew, but supernaturally, miraculously, God led them out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and down to Mount Sinai. It was a supernatural event.) and brought you unto myself." Now, here the language already indicates – whose people are they? They’re God’s people. They’re His covenant people, and He has mandated it as such, and we’re going to see that now in a coming verse. Exodus 19:5 "Now therefore, (Since I have brought you out of slavery. I have supernaturally brought you to Myself.) if (Here’s the condition now.) ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then (and only then) ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above (What?) all people:…" Now, right there is the beginning of God elevating the Nation of Israel head and shoulders above all the rest of the nations and races of the world. This is why they are called the "favored nation." They are called the "chosen people." They are God’s covenant people and here is the first real indication of it. All right, finishing verse 5. Exodus 19:5b "…then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: (Here’s the reason.) for all the earth is mine:" What does that mean? He can do what He wants. God is Sovereign. Now, you know, I learn every day. The other day somebody called and said, "Les, do you know the word Sovereign isn’t in our Bible?" Now, you know how often I’ve used it over the years. I said, "No, I didn’t know that." So, I had to look and he was right. The word Sovereign, like the word Trinity, is not in our Bible. But certainly all the evidence of what Sovereignty means is here. So, I don’t have to stop using the word, not at all. But you know it’s interesting, here I’ve been using a word that I thought was as Biblical as anything could be.

But it’s true. It’s not in our Bible, but certainly all the meaning of it is. Here is one of them: "for all the earth is mine." What does that mean? He’s Sovereign. He can to whatever He wants. This is what He chose to do. He chose to pick this one little nation of people and set them head and shoulders above all the other nations of the world, and He’s going to work through that one little nation. All the rest of humanity, as I’ve used it before, is just going to flow like Old Man River to the ocean. For the most part, they’re going to have nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There will be isolated exceptions. Now, the first thing that Paul writes that exemplifies that so beautifully is in Exodus. Keep your hand in Exodus and turn to Ephesians chapter 2. Because a lot of times people kind of look at me cross-eyed when I let it be known that the Gentiles were never the object of God’s grace before the calling of Paul. The Jews were never instructed to go to the Gentiles, except to go to Ninevah. They were never instructed to evangelize the Gentiles, but quite the opposite. They were to keep all of these knowledges of God. Boy, what a word! I coined one, didn’t I? All of these things pertaining to the knowledge of God, they were to keep to themselves. They weren’t to share it with the Gentile world, because God was not in the business of saving the Gentiles. A lot of folks just say, "Where do you get that?" Well, because of language like we’ve just seen here. But here, in Ephesians 2:11-12, Paul himself makes it so easy to understand. This leaves no room for any great number of Gentiles coming to salvation in the Old Testament economy. It was impossible. Ephesians 2:11 "Wherefore (Paul is writing now to Gentiles at Ephesus.) remember, that ye being in time past (What?) Gentiles…." Now, maybe for the sake of one or two listeners out in television I’d better stop. What is a Gentile? Well, in plain language, he’s anybody who is not a Jew. A Gentile could be an Arab or a Black or an Indian or a Caucasian or you name it. If they’re not members of the Nation of Israel, they are Gentiles. Now you see, all the way from Adam until Abraham you don’t have any particular Jew or Gentile separation. These are all just simply of the race and the birth of Adam. They are what I call the Adamic race of people. But now, with the call of Abraham, God separates out one little nation, and He calls them "Jews or Israelites." The rest are Gentiles. So, from Abraham on we have that difference in Scripture of Jew and Gentile. All right, reading on in Ephesians. Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit says to remember you Ephesians, and of course the churches around them. Ephesians 2:11 "Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision (What was that? That was a deriding term. That was the scorn that Jews had for the Gentiles.) by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;" Or the Jew. Now verse 12, and just see how plain this is. Ephesians 2:12 "That at that time (While God was dealing with Israel under these covenant promises.) ye (Gentiles) were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the (What?) covenants of promise, (That’s why we’re studying them now, today. The Gentile world was strangers from the covenants of promise.) having no hope, and (What?) without God in the world:" Now, what does that mean? They were lost, every last one of them. Well, it wasn’t God’s fault, because they had proved, for the first 2000 years, that they didn’t have any interest in the things of God. They had proved by their idolatry, out of which Abraham came, that they weren’t concerned about knowledge of the one true God. They were satisfied in their idolatry. Look, that’s the vast majority of people today. They’re content with their false religion. They’re content with no religion. They’re not interested in real salvation, and it’s always been this way.

All right, so the Gentile world, then, was totally separated from all of the covenant promises of Israel. All right, now back to Exodus 19, we can pursue this a little further for the next few moments. How that God is now going to supernaturally invoke the covenant promise of a religious system of Law. Now, most of you know, I do not like the term "religion." Well, Judaism, The Law, was a religion. Because it was a works thing, based on faith, but nevertheless Judaism demanded works. It was a process and we’re going to be looking at that. They had to do this and they had to do that. In fact, you might as well drop back down to Exodus 19 verse 8, and that says it all. Exodus 19:8a "And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will (Believe? No, but rather - ) do." So, they gladly embraced a works religion. All right, I think we can move on over into chapter 20. What is it? The Ten Commandments. Hopefully you’ve all learned them when you were kids in Sunday School or Daily Vacation Bible School. The Ten Commandments which are causing such a furor today. Well, I’ve got mixed emotions. Naturally, they are certainly God’s format for society. The Ten Commandments are still the basic laws of God. I’ll never take that away. But for us as Grace Age believers, you see, the Law is moot, it’s been crucified with Christ. But for the unbelieving world, it is still God’s moral Law. All right, now I’m not going to go through all the Ten Commandments. I trust you all know them forwards and backwards, but here in Exodus 20, now, is the unfolding of the first part of this three-part covenant. We have the moral law, the Ten Commandments. All right, when we come on over to chapter 21 verse 1, we come to the second part of what we call the Law. It’s the civil law, what I referred to, I think, in the last program. Now, in these succeeding chapters and on into the book of Leviticus, the civil law covered every aspect of human relationship with other humans. As I mentioned, if you have an animal that’s known to kill and you let it kill someone, then you are responsible for it. It is like this all the way through. How you dealt with your neighbor in business transactions. Morally, how you behaved yourself in society. This was all covered in what I call the civil law. I think probably a good portion of Israel’s 613 laws, which the rabbis concocted out of the five books of Moses, would cover a lot of those little details. It’s interesting to see how much of Israel’s civil law is a part and parcel of our own Western civilization. I wouldn’t doubt that when the British, way back in history, put together the Magna Carta, those men took a lot of their ideas from Israel’s civil law. Because after all, God was the one who gave it. All right, for just an example now, chapter 21, we start with the term "judgments," which means in plain English, rules of government. Exodus 21:1 "Now these are the judgments which thou shalt set before them." Now, this is aside from the moral law, the Ten Commandment Law. All the way through, we have judgments covering the various aspects of Israel’s day to day experience within the nation. You come through all these succeeding chapters; these are the judgments to maintain society in the Nation of Israel. Now, I’m going to take you all the way up to the next part of the law, which is the ceremonial or the ecclesiastical or the ritual part of the law. Now remember, you’ve got the moral law, the Ten Commandments. You’ve got the civil law – how to deal with your fellow neighbor. Now, we come to the ecclesiastical or the religious part of the law, and that is going to entail the priesthood and the tabernacle, which later became the Temple. Okay, now I think we can come all the way up to chapter 24 verse 3, where we now have what I call the third part of the Law of Moses. Now, this is just sort of scratching the surface. I expect a lot of my listeners to dig a little deeper. You can do all this instead

of watching the stupid television! Get into the Book and pursue this a little further in all three aspects. But now, we’re getting ready to establish the worship or the religious system of the Law. Exodus 24:3 "And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, (Do you see that? God said it.) and all the judgments: (all these rules and regulations) and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do." Well, you heard that before, didn’t you? All right, now going on down to verse 7. Exodus 24:7-8 "And he took the book of the covenant, (This mandate that God has now placed upon the Nation of Israel.) and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said, will we do, and be obedient. 8. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words." Now, you want to remember that blood has been the intrinsic part of God’s relationship with man, leading up to the shed blood of Christ on the cross of Calvary. All right, now as we move on down in chapter 24, come to verse 12. Exodus 24:12 -13 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13. And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up unto the mount of God." All right, now as Moses is up in the mountain, starting in chapter 25, God begins to lay out to Moses all of the ramifications of the tabernacle, all the aspects of it, all the materials of it. He lays out to Moses, just as plain as language can make it, that it was supposed to be built according to the tabernacle which was already in Heaven. This was merely a copy of it. Now, as we come all the way through these chapters of Exodus, we get to the place of the priesthood in chapter 29, maybe I’m going too far. Just a minute, I want to start with the priesthood here, if I can. Chapter 29 verse 1, and I want you to remember that in order to exercise the religious system that is going to center around the temple, the sacrifices, and all of the ramifications of the tabernacle worship, you had to have a priesthood. You had to have designated men to carry out all these systems of worship. All right, here we come, chapter 29 verse 1. Exodus 29:1a "And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest’s office:…" Now, you haven’t seen this before. This is something totally new in human history, that God is establishing a priesthood. Exodus 29:1b-2a "…Take one young bullock, and two rams without blemish, 2. And unleavened bread,…" And so on and so forth. Then, verse 4: Exodus 29:4 "And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shalt (Watch this. Do what?) wash them with water." That was one of the first processes of becoming a priest. It was wash, wash, and wash. This was not only for entering the priesthood. As they would begin to go through the ritual of accepting the sacrifices, stopping at the laver of cleansing, and going on into the ministry of the temple or the tabernacle, before they could begin to minister, what did the priests have to do? Wash! Wash! Wash! Even though physical water could never take away their sin, yet symbolically, it was speaking of a cleansing before they could step into the office of the priesthood. So, all of this now becomes the third aspect of this covenant of Law. First, there were the Ten Commandments. Then the judgments, or the rules and regulations of civil life. Then, the religious system to compensate for their time and again failures and their errors and their sinfulness. So, this is all part and parcel of the covenant of the Law. Dig deeper and study more, as you go along.

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nerdyelvenpolitologist · 2 years

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Witcher is not Slavic! It’s Polish. But in a good way.

Warning: It’s long post. And I didn’t even covered all I wanted. Also I’m not really used to write in English so sorry for mistakes. I tried to find links to as many English translations to things I mention as I could.

That’s the one. True Pole.

There is a lot talking about how slavic The Witcher is. Monsters, believes ect… But it’s not. The Witcher was written by Andrzej Sapkowski, who was a fan of fantasy and he wrote fantasy. Based on what he knew from the genre. But also it was written by Polish author, in Polish language, for Polish readers and to be published in Poland. We can say many things about Sapkowski, but one thing is certain, he is great writer. It’s really easy to forget and I’m kinda suprised everytime I read the books. So our Wiedźmin was a fantasy stories, then saga, wtitten by fantasy fan that did’t pretend that he wasn’t from Poland.

So you get referances to King Arthur’s legends (like it’s main inspiration later in books), you get classical fairy tales like Little Mermaid (Bit of Sacrifice - my favourite story) or Snow White (Renfri). In Time of Contempt (Czas Pogardy) when Ciri first meets the Wild Hunt (and yes, wild hunt appears somewhere in Slavic mythology but mostly it’s conected to German, Norse and Celtic ones) it’s basicly re-telling of The Erl-King by Goethe.

The Erl-King

But there are also other inspirations. In the story with golden dragon the villagers tried to kill the first dragon (that just had baby dragon) by giving her sheep stuffed with sulfur, tar and belladona. Then they also suggest to give it to the golden one. Sounds ridiculus, right? Well, if you were born in Poland you know from very young age that giving dragon a sheep stuffed with sulfur is a best way to kill one! That’s how Szewczyk Dratewka killed the dragon that live under the Wawel castle in Kraków.

That’s the statue of said dragon under Wawel castle. Yes, it really breaths fire.

Also Duny, the hedgehog in knight’s armor may seems a little odd. But most children in Poland will find it completly normal and on top of that they will know that love can break the curse. The idea is based on a poem from one of the most popular poets that wrote for children (not only) – Jan Brzechwa. It’s called Baśń o Stalowym Jeżu – The Tale of Steel Hedgehog and it’s really beautiful, sadly i did’t find any English translation.

I remember as my mom read me this when I was little.

You have to understand that we don’t really learn at schools about Slavic mythology. According to books before baptism there were Pagans, they had some believes and then history of Poland starts with Christianity. It’s bullshit but yeah. So even about Dziady (Forefather’s Eve) we learn as we read Mickiewicz’s book of the same title. Or we hear some local stories. I always knew a lot about witches’ sabbaths on Łysa Góra (Bald Mountain – it was also quest in Witcher 3) because it’s my region.

Second part of Dziady by Adam Mickiewicz, the one that covers Forefather’s Eve ritual is actually one of the few books everyone reads at school.

And that’s Łysa Góra. Most known place of witches sabbaths. And actual place of Pagan cult. Part of my home region.

Sapkowski took inspirations from what he knew. Nothing more and nothing less. And thanks to that, as we were raised in the same culture we also know it and recognize it. But the thing i most enjoy is the climate of the books. Because I read these books and it’s clear that it’s now based in Poland and characters are not Polish. But wen I read it you can feel that it’s… homey. These are little bits that sadly were lost in translations.

In Kraniec Świata – story with Torque the Silvan and elves, when Geralt is looking for a job and he’s talking to villagers, when i read this I KNOW that the author is from Poland. In the first village when they talk about everything bad that is happening in their village and how it must be made by monsters, and also about old Nachakowa (Old Nan the Hag) and some officials and some neighbourly quarrels - I was like „Yeah, guys, I feel ya. I work with clients too”. But what was lost in translation were Nietopyrze. In Ensligh translations it was translated as „bats” and it’s kinda correct. But the proper word for “bats” in Polish is “nietoperze”. “Nietopyrze” is a form that is associated with people from small villages that lacks an education. And even Geralt is kinda making fun of that. Then when they’re talking about Silvan they say „diaboł” insted of „diabeł” (meaning devil and it’s same situation as before). Here even Jaskier corrects them by saying „Diabłów nie ma” („There are no devils”) and the Duhn insists that it’s „diaboł”. And of course there old lady that everyone reffers to as „grandma”. We still have that. Even in cities.

The faces of people that have to talk to people at work. That’s Jaskier and Geralt from Polish tv series btw.

Btw when i read about these villages I thing about my grand-grandmother’s house that I visited when I was a child. There were no shop in the village, and even no church. The church was in the village near by. But we had farmlands there – I remember picking up potatoes, we had chickens that we used to get eggs (they were also used for soups but luckily I never saw that). And there were no toilet in the house, no gas – there were tiled stove. But we had a horse! These are my memories, welcome to Poland.

But as we talk about people, it’s time to explain why I added that The Witcher is Polish but in a „good way”. Sometimes when I see comments on the internet there are just ones about how every character should be white and straight because it’s Polish book and of course in Poland everyone is white and straight. Exept it’s not the case and never was. And The Witcher was written by male fantasy author in 90s. And it’s leftish as hell.

The Continent is not Poland, it’s very clear. The characters have names from all over the world which also suggest that THEY ARE NOT POLISH. And there are evles. We never had elves in Poland. Rusałki yes, but not elves. And the whole series is a manifest on how discrimination based of someone’s nacionality, race, looks, proffesion etc. is leading to death and destruction. It’s also about what happens if we destroy nature. And women are the ones in charge. Socceres are using kings as their puppets. The patriatchy is criticized (Calanthe). Femine forms? Hell yeah! Ciri is a Wiedźminka (female form from the Witcher) not Wiedźmin. She’s a girl alfter all. And she can bothe learn to fight and how to kill monsters and wear makeup because she feels like it and she won’t practice because she doesn’t feel good when she’s on her period. Yes, Sapkowski in 90s decided that it’s important to mention that a teenage girl have period. And he made fun of how men don’t think about it and how uncomfortable they get when someone mentions is. This scene with Triss were much more important in books then in Netflix series where she just mentions it.

But as we talk about women – Yeneffer is helping with unwanted pragnancies (of course for money but don’t expect her to do anything for free) and Geralt calls women’s right to choose sacred. Yes, our beloved White Wolf is pro choice. Also sorceresses are cononicly bisexual. And faith fanatics are bad guys while most (if not all) good characters are atheists. That’s also how our country works till this day.

So yes, Witcher is Polish but in a way that we fight for justice, freedom, for equal rights. If you want to write stories based on The Witcher it don’t have to be Slavic. You can use Andersen’s or Brothers Grimms’ fairy tales. You can use stories you heard as a child. Other mythologies. Even other fantasy works. Because it’s what Sapkowski did. He took what he knew and he happend to know what was known in Poland. And of course you CAN use Slavic myths. But you can also read some legends as the one about Wawel’s dragon. Or about knights sleeping under Giewont mountain. Or some poems – Mickiewicz or Leśmian for example. I love Leśmian. Maybe I will write a post about these Polish legends and poems that would add to the lore. What do you think?

Slavic mythology IS NOT A CANON. But feminism, ecologism, equality IS A CANON. Remember about that.

#the witcher netflix #the witcher #geralt #geralt of rivia #jaskier #julian alfred pankratz #witcher #poland #witcher meta #yennefer of vengerberg #ciri #cirilla fiona elen riannon #wiedzmin #hexer #polish culture

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multimetaverse · 3 years

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HSMTMTS 2x01 Review

New Year’s Eve was a great way to return to HSMTMTS especially after such a long gap. Let’s dig in!

Vladimir Lenin once said that, ‘’ there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen". It’s been almost a year and half since S1 ended but this past week has seen revelation after revelation as the fandom has resurrected itself and promotion for S2 kicked into high gear: Joshua Bassett came out, Frankie and Joe confirmed that they are a real life couple, Larry seemingly confirmed that S2 will only have 11 eps rather than the 12 initially ordered, and perhaps most importantly Olivia revealed that she and the main cast are under contract for 4 seasons and made clear that she’s leaving the show as soon as her contract is up.

I really enjoyed this premiere, it felt like picking up right back where we left off. I’m guessing that S2 was originally supposed to premiere around Christmas or New Year’s but the holiday decorations and real Utah snow add a charming aesthetic to the ep. Tim Federle deserves credit for giving HSMTMTS more of an ensemble feel which is no easy feat with a cast as large as this show has. It likely won’t last due to covid restrictions but at least for tonight we got to see all the characters hanging out together acting like a real group of friends.

The dialogue tonight really reminded me of Glee and I think I mean that as a compliment. Miss Jenn in particular seems to be doing her best April Rhodes impression minus the alcoholism.

The rini scenes tonight were lovely. Perfect gift was a great song and I loved the rini duet during the music in me as the world faded around them leaving just the two of them. The Harry Styles reference is funny in light of Josh’s coming out interview. Of course, it’s hard now to separate Nini and Ricky and Olivia and Josh. Their chemistry shines through as 2x01, 2x02, and possibly parts of 2x03 were filmed pre Jolivia breakup which seems to have happened around summer 2020. Whether they can keep that same chemistry later on in S2, not to mention future seasons, remains to be seen.

A major theme tonight was communication and clearly Rini need to work on theirs. Poor Ricky had to learn that Nini’s moving to Denver the night before she leaves town which has to remind of him of his mom effectively abandoning him. Ricky saying that he’s never gonna breakup with Nini ever again sure sounds like foreshadowing for a disaster though the odds that this time Nini initiates the breakup are pretty good.

I’m glad that the show is continuing to delve in the Bowen’s divorce story with their house being sold and Ricky and his dad having to move into an apartment. Divorce is expensive and the division of assets typically leave people less well off. Mike Bowen needs to work on his communication skills but he’s rocking that beard; it takes him from depressed divorced dad to depressed divorced daddy.

Seblos was cute and in a nice change of pace Disney doesn’t seem to be cynically teasing them then cutting their scenes. It was refreshing to see them just being a couple and to hear Carlos casually refer to himself as gay. In that regard tonight’s ep didn’t seem like it was a Disney show at all and it’s major progress that there are now two main gay characters on HSMTMTS. We learn that Carlos is rich which seems likely to be a source of conflict with Seb who comes from a large farming family.

Bet on It was really fun and I liked that Ricky apparently couldn’t stop singing it. The medley of HSM 2 songs was fun but I’ll be real with you wildcats, I never thought HSM 2 or 3 were nearly as good as the first movie so I’m not sad that they’re doing something else this year.

Wild that Big Red’s mom also calls him Big Red. Salt Lake Slices seems poised to be a big part of S2 both as hangout spot and work location for some of the characters. Redlyn are sweet together but sometimes Big Red comes off as a closeted gay guy which isn’t ideal for a het pairing that is supposedly a big part of S2.

Nice to see Gina so excited to have sleepovers with Ashlyn. We know from 2x03 that Gina contends with being single on Valentine’s day and from her glances at Ricky tonight she’s clearly not over him. Tim’s playing with fire and I can only hope he knows what he’s doing. I liked the little detail of Kourtney having AOC on her vision board, it feels true to the character (hopefully AOC gets elected president one day if the USA doesn’t collapse into a fascist dictatorship or civil war before then). EJ’s beard has got to go but I like that he seems committed to being a better version of himself; very doubtful his plan to go straight to Duke like his forefathers doesn’t change by the end of the season.

Derek Hough did a good job of playing Zach as a subtly condescending man who managed to swiftly undermine Miss Jenn’s confidence, we’ll see what he and North High bring to the table.

Looking Ahead:

Next week are auditions for Beauty and the Beast, we know Ashlyn gets the role of Belle and EJ has conveniently removed himself from the running for Beast which presumably clears the path for Ricky to take the lead. There’s been some controversy over the casting choices and I’ll save my comments about it for the 2x02 review.

We get to see Lily who looks like a meaner version of season 1 Gina, we’ll see how much depth she actually ends up getting. Howie is introduced in 2x03 and Antoine likely shows up later on. Jack likely shows up towards the end of the season.

Howie seems to have a connection with Kourtney though the character synopsis does say he gets close to a wildcat or two which certainly leaves room to slide him into Gina’s plot. We know Antoine is into Ashlyn so that’s another love triangle to look forward to. Jack was described as having wanderlust and most of the cast seems not to have filmed with him so I think it’s likely that he plays a role in convincing EJ to take a gap year rather than head straight to Duke.

A translation leak on TikTok reveals that in 2x03 Gina is sad that she’s only gotten a Valentine’s Day gift from her mom. A brief clip from the promo shows up her on her porch at night holding a heart shaped box of chocolates. If that’s supposed to be from a secret or semi-secret admirer than it has to be from either EJ, Ricky, or Howie. If it’s a platonic gift then it could be from anyone, we’ll see what Tim has up his sleeves.

Nini moving back to SLC is a question of when not if. It’s going to be very difficult to bring her back in a way that’s justified and also doesn’t leave the time she spends in Denver looking like a total waste. Frankly, I’d rather the show just bite the bullet and bring her back with as little fuss as possible.

We’re possibly around a quarter way through HSMTMTS given that the mains have 4 season contracts and presuming that the show is not cancelled earlier. At the very least the show will be radically different after S4 if they try to continue it as Olivia has made very clear that she’s going to leave asap to pursue her burgeoning music career full time (notably she’s only done the bare minimum of promo for S2).

Looming over the remaining seasons of HSMTMTS is what the professional relationship between Olivia and Josh looks like especially since in many ways the show is built around Ricky and Nini. Off screen relationships have often caused on screen problems and dating a co-worker is rarely a good idea since even clean breakups leave lingering resentments. Obviously the Jolivia breakup was not clean, Driver’s License, Deja Vu, and Good 4 U (which is a certified bop) were clearly written from a place of hurt and in some ways were written to hurt. It’s no surprise that Joshua has dropped his duet with Sabrina Carpenter from his EP; someone on his team at least is trying to stop the damage to his reputation. There’s a decent chance that Olivia’s songs becoming such hits has irreparably damaged Joshua Bassett’s reputation among the same pool of largely young women that he’s targeting his music towards thereby cutting off his music career at the knees. If nothing else this behind the scenes drama should keep things entertaining for a while.

Until next week Wildcats

#HSMTMTS #Rini #Seblos #Ricky Bowen #Nini Salazar-Roberts #Carlos Rodriguez #Seb Matthew-Smith #Gina Porter #ej caswell #HSMTMTS Reviews

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kjbv · 2 years

Text

Because People Do Not Know What God Is Telling Them Here They Cannot See The Danger And Descendants Of This Enemy Is Trying To Take Them And The Whole World Out And Is Trying To Get Them And Is Getting Them And The Whole World Destroy Here One By One And Is Misleading Them With False Information About The Gospel And What Happen Here In That Time In The Bible.'' They need to be embarrassing and ashamed to make them look real bad before the public and whole world and people can know the truth about them because they are making people think they are sent from God to lead them to salvation and they know people in this time do not know the truth about them and what happen here in that time in the bible and think people can not recognize them here and their ugly faces and what they did here in that time in the bible and their scum reputation will do them in and would have to be handed out on a platter and sell them out and get beat at their own evil games and all eyes will turn on them and people will know the truth about them and what they did here in that time in the bible and from generation to generation and what they are doing here in this time and in the future in the book of Revelation.

They know people cannot recognize them here with out the gospel and do not know they are evil spirits in celestial bodies and looks human

and is descendants of this evil spirit written in the bible and is making people here in this time think they are sent from God to lead them to salvation and they will tried to make them selves look professional putting on a fake appearance and calling them selves doctors and lawyers and church leaders and governors and

public figures and other names they go by here they are descendants of this evil spirit written in the bible the devil. People do not know what happen here in that time in the bible and have already heard about this enemy written in the bible and is familiar with his name and his descendants is at war with the descendants of God

chosen people here in this time because of the covenant God made with their forefathers here centuries ago in the bible and because people do not know what happen here in that time in the bible descendants of this enemy is ruling over people here in this time and is misleading them and the nations with false

information about the gospel and what happen here in that time in the bible base on lies. A person would have to read the bible for them selves to know what happen here in that time in the bible and what God is telling them and not just what the person is saying because the person can think someone is just making it up what

they are telling them because descendants of this enemy is getting people here in this time destroy and is killing them here because people do not know what God is telling them and a person who think they do not have to listen to God is making a big mistake and this is not about war and these scum bags here in this time this is

about the word of God and his truth and a fight for people souls and what make people think they do not have to listen to God and who told people they can live here but do not have to know what God is telling them and think it is their choice they can live here but do not have to listen to him and the problems people are

having here is coming from the wrong choices they are making. And life is more than about just living in a world but it is about knowing how to survive and people just assume what they think they know about God but do not know what he is talking about to them in the bible and think he is just letting people live here on the

earth and people think they can live and survive on their own without God and even if a person make selves think what they know is not good enough because the person will not understand the knowledge they was cursed with and how they can discern the difference between good and evil because of Adam and Eve mistake in

the book of Genesis. People is just trying to live here and survive but they are not concern about what is happening here in their world and is making one wrong choice after another and how can people live here on the earth if they do not know how to survive on their own without God and will have to know what God is telling

them to live and survive as a nation and people and because people is making one wrong choice after another here this whole generation is heading for hell and how do a person know if God is just letting them live here if they do not know what he is telling them in the bible and people is trying to live and survive here on their own

but have no understanding from God. And now people have a much bigger problem they have to think about and do not know what God is telling them in the bible and what is happening here in this time and because we are dealing with paranormal and delusional spirits here in this time and descendants of this enemy is sexually

attacking people and their children here in the earth and selling them into sex trafficking and is raping them and beating them and is murdering them here the same way they did to people in the bible who was your ancestors who was living here in another time and from generation to generation before we was here; they

raped and beat people and murdered them and sold them into slavering here in that time in the bible. And they are not leading people to salvation here in this time they are leading them and have led them to hell and the vaccine does not protect a person from getting the virus they are using people here in this time to keep the

virus here to get them and the nations destroy and people is letting the virus be out of control and is keeping it here and is still in the danger zone and because of people ignorance not wearing a mask other people is being exposed and is killing them here and the virus can take them and the whole world out and it is just a

matter of time and they are making people here in this time think they are christians and was born again and no one here in this time was told the truth are save and is separate from God. People know what they have been doing here in this time so far and think God will keep letting them break his commandments and

serving evil spirits and worshiping to devils they call gods and sacrificing to devils and committing adultery and stealing and murdering and lying and is swearing and bearing false witness and using the name of the Lord God in vain and much more things they are doing here in this time their forefathers did here in that time in the

bible. And why all this time people is sitting here God is using the government and evil spirits and is allowing what you are seeing here and people is being destroy and killed and murdered here by descendants of this enemy is because people is breaking his commandments and is not hearing him like their stubborn forefathers

and the longer people sit here and wait the worse it will get until the great tribulation comes to pass here in the future in the book of Revelation and God will be using the government here in the future in the book of revelation to punish the whole world and nothing will be the same here in the future and these lying

scumbags who is pretending to be their pastor and church leaders here in this time is not telling people about this and people is being attack here by sexually unclean spirits and they will use a person to do unclean things in their body are to get the person to think what they are feeling in their body and think they can give a person

satisfaction sexually attacking them in their body with no man hood and they will use a person to destroy someone and people think their children was sexually attack by a human in their church people who is their pastor and church leaders and they are sexually unclean spirits in celestial bodies not sent from God.

Extended Post Original KingJamesBible

Every Single Churches Here In Our State And World Wide Is Misleading People And The Nations With False Doctrine And What Happen Here In That Time In Bible.

And a person have the right to know they have been misled and is a question of life and death and where the person soul is going in the after life and if a person cares about their life and where their soul is going in the after life is to be taken seriously. The original gospel is here in this time to tell people what God is telling them and

the church screwed up real bad when they did not tell people the truth thinking it will keep people from finding out the truth and the original gospel was written about people here in this time and their ancestors and God commandments and future descendants and what is coming to pass. And how can they be sent from

God if they are not telling people the truth and a church must be ordained and is anointed by God first before they can lead and people think they are just living here and have not receive instruction from God and what he is telling a person in the original gospel and what happen here in that time in the bible and they are

misleading people here in this time with false doctrine and is denying them of the truth and people is making the same mistake here in this time their ancestors made and will pay a heavy price. God is using the government here to punish the world and they are using it and is misleading the nations with false information about the

gospel to get them and the nations destroy and God is going to use the government here in the future in the book of revelation when this prophecy comes to pass and it is people fault for not paying attention and listening and because people is not hearing God the church is lying to them here and no one here in this time was told

the truth are save and people have unclean spirits in them and because people is being so stubborn and foolish here and is not listening the church is misleading people with false doctrine and people is breaking God commandments. People is being told the truth but they still is not listening and it is people fault thinking they

was just living here on the earth and have not receive instruction from God and what he is telling a person in the bible and a person is not here on this earth to stay and is just kidding them selves because they think to them nothing is going to happen and people is being destroy here each and every day because of the evil here

in our world and a person might enjoy the fine pleasure of life here for temporary and is being destroy here along with it. And how can the church make them selves look innocent like if they was telling the truth putting on a fake act fronting in the media if they did not tell people what God is telling them in the original gospel and

how can they lead and preach the gospel if they are not telling people the truth and might think they have the world fooled but they do not have God fooled and the devil might think he can hide behind a body but he cannot hide from the word of God and is no match against the word of God and since they are not going to tell the

truth them selves someone will have to do it for them and the longer people sit here and wait they are losing time here by the minute and the scriptures is fulfilling and a person being ignorant of God and pleasing them selves destroyed them selves and is condemned already and how can people serve God with unclean spirits in them.

And these lying scum bags who is pretending to be your church leaders and government here in this time do not want people to know it is them misleading people here and the original gospel was written about people here in this time and their ancestors and God commandments and future descendants. To continuing reading and for more info please see the below links with bible scriptures.

Everyone Of Them Should Be Arrested And Put In Jail For Attempted Murder And Construction Of Justice And Have Violated And Have Broken The Law To The Constitutional Rights Misleading People And The Nations With False Information About The Gospel. People Is Not Aware Of This Scandal And Have Been A Victim Of This Crime.''

Millions Of People Here In This Time Have False Doctrine And Thinks It Comes From God And Do Not Know They Have Been Scam And Was Not Told The Truth And What Happen Here In That Time In The Bible And The Original Gospel Was Written About People Here In This Time And Their Ancestors And Future

Descendants And God Commandments Here Centuries Ago And God Is Using The Government Here To Punish The World And They Are Using It And Is Misleading People And The Nations With False Information About The Gospel And Covid-19 It Is To Get Them And The Nations Destroy.'' In The Book Of Revelation God Is Going To Use The Government And The Son Of Perdition Here In The Future To Punish The World When This Prophecy Comes To Pass.''

https://ancientdiscoveries.wixsite.com/mysite/post/everyone-of-them-should-be-arrested-and-put-in-jail-for-attempted-murder-and-construction-of-justice

https://biblepsalms23.livejournal.com/38126.html

https://wesbrend.tumblr.com/post/671094969195544576/everyone-of-them-should-be-arrested-and-put-in

How Can They Serve God And The Devil In The Church At The Same Time With Devils In The Church Leading Them Teaching The False Doctrine Of Man And Laying Aside The Commandments Of God, Speaking Lies In Hypocrisy; Having Their Conscience Seared With Hot Iron Who Privily Shall Bring In Damnable Heresies, Even Denying The Lord And Using The Name Of The Lord God In Vain And Have Violated And Have Broken The Amendments To The Constitution Rights Committing Crimes And Scandal Using False Doctrine To Make People Think What Happen Here In That Time In The Bible Base On Lies And False Identity To Represent Them Selves As Christian Men And Women Sent From God

https://biblepsalms23.livejournal.com/37642.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueGospelOfChrist/comments/rl6x0l/how_can_they_serve_god_and_the_devil_in_the/

https://www.flickr.com/groups/vision_and_dreams_and_revelation_prophecies_warnings_of_the_future/discuss/72157721915300975/

#KJBV

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daraanna · 4 years

Text

Dziady

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto nor Boruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. Also I don’t own Dziady part II written by Adam Mickiewicz. Fic is strongly inspired by this drama, it includes some quotes from it clumsily translated into English, written in this fic in Italic type.

Rate: T I guess... but it get a little bit gore.

.....................

Ciemno wszędzie, głucho wszędzie, co to będzie? co to będzie?

...................

She knew she shouldn't have agreed to do it. When Boruto suggested they spend the Halloween as a team together a week ago, she declined. She did not like this holiday. She didn’t like sweets as well as the spooky atmosphere. Unfortunately he was so annoying that in the end he convinced her, also he promised that they would spend the whole evening in Mitsuki's apartment. She had no other plans for the day, Cho-cho was on a mission, Mom was on shift in hospital all night, and Dad wasn't in the village either.

She agreed, now she regretted it. Forced to bargain with an old woman selling food from all over the world, because to apparently Mistuki she can't imagine a party without some dumplings from the Land of Fields.

....................... Darkness everywhere, silent everywhere, what will happen? What will it happen?

........................

Boruto couldn't contain his excitement. He had been planning this evening for a long time.

Mitsuki showed him a scroll a month ago, he found it while visiting his parent in Oto. This scroll allows its owner to summon the souls of dead. The text was in a strange language, but his blue-haired teammate claimed he could decode it. The young Uzumaki immediately got the idea to use it at the Halloween party, they planned with Inojin and Shikadai. Unfortunately Team 10 received a long mission just before the end of October. Therefore, from the boys party, they decided to turn it into an evening of deepening the ties in their team. The problem was that Sarada hated horrors. He was really surprised when she finally agreed to come.

He and Mitsuki prepared the room. All furniture was pushed against the wall, making as much space as possible on the floor. They placed a large stone in the centre of the room. (The blonde had no idea where his friend got it from, but he preferred not to ask.) Sitting down next to him, he took the items needed for the ritual out of his pocket. Linen yarn, a wreath that Himawari helped him to make from herbs and flowers from their garden, and food that Hinata prepared for them.

"Um ... You got ..." He began to ask a question when the golden-eyed boy put a bottle of vodka next to him. Boruto almost jumped in nervousness, if his mother found out he would kill them. “How did you get it?”

“Hn? It was not difficult ...”replied the snake boy with creepy smile.

They heard a knock on the door. The blond was the first to open. Sarada stood in the corridor irritated with the box in her hand. The boy smiled letting her inside.

"I knew you would get them," he sighed, scratching his head

“I hope it would be worth it” she replied, setting the box with food on the counter in the small kitchen. She was dressed in civilian clothes, a red dress that slightly resembled her disguise during their mission in Hozuki's castle. He couldn't help but think she looked cute. Uchiha went to the living room to greet the host. Her gaze scanned the room.

“Don't say you're planning a horror marathon?” She asked, trying to hide her anxiety.

"We have much better ideas," replied Mitsuki, pulling out the scroll. However, at that moment the eyes of the black-haired girl stopped at the bottle of alcohol.

“You must be kidding !? There's no way we're having a libation here! Where did you get it from !?”she shouted, moving towards the exit.

“It's not like that!”blue-eyed grabbed her wrist. “We will not drink it is for something else ...”

“ Sure, for what? Are we going to wash the oven?”

“No, we will summon ghosts “ blue-haired joined the discussion. Sarada looked at him in shock.

"It's part of the ritual that Mitsuki found while his visit in Oto, we want to try it out," said the blond. She looked at them in shock as if they were crazy. Finally, she took her hand away from her friend's grip as she walked towards the door.

“I'm coming home. You two do whatever you want!” her hand touched the door handle when she heard Uzumaki’s voice.

“I told you that she will get scared” he said to their friend, but loud enough for her to hear it. She froze, because although it was true that she was afraid, she could not give him that satisfaction and admit it.

“I'm not afraid”a few steps she was again by his side “I will stay”

"Are you sure?" Orochimaru's son asked in a serious tone.”Once the ritual begin, it cannot be interrupted, nor can anyone leave the room.”

She swallowed involuntarily.

"I'm sure," she replied, trying to sound confident.

.................... Darkness everywhere, silent everywhere, what will happen? What will happen? .................. As they sat down around the stone, Mitsuki unfolded the scroll and began to read.

"Close the door to the room, turn off the lights and cover the windows, don’t let the moonlight get here," he said in a sublime tone.

“You could have said that before we sat down ...” Boruto sighed heading towards the door.

"It's part of the ritual," the boy replied.

“ What to do with the cat?“ asked Uchiha, who, while covering the curtains, found him sleeping on the radiator.

“I think it will be safer to move him to the kitchen” she did as he said. Cat struggled a bit, but at the sight of his food, he forgot about his warm lair.

When the room was completely dark and catless, playing the role of a sorcerer, Mitsuki spoke again.

“Darkness everywhere, silent everywhere, what will happen? What will happen?” “You told us to cover everything ...”

"That's part of the ritual you have to repeat after me ..." he sighed, but the other two obediently repeated.

In the darkness, Sarada could hardly refrain from activating her sharingan, convinced that her friend was about to do something to scare her. She clenched her hands into fists to stop them from trembling, at this point Uzumaki moved closer to her and leaning slightly towards her, he whispered with a mocking smile “Do not worry I will save you from ghosts.”

She answered him with a "Tch". Still she feeling a bit more confident in having him closer. Of course, she couldn't admit it.

“The soul on the other side, with unfinished matters, wanting to contact the living, we conjure you, invite you to the Forefathers' Eve! - shouted Mitsuki - Put the yarn on a stone and set it on fire” he instructed his friends.

They did so, the flame swept over the yarn quickly and went out. It was dark again in the room. They were sitting in silence when suddenly two beams of light appeared at the ceiling. Sarada let out a small sigh, but as the lights landed on the stones, they turned into two children. The scream rip through the room. Before she had time to realize what was going on, she was in the grip of the scared blonde.

“They are real ghosts!” He stumbled, looking away from them.

"Well, that's what we do, we summon the spirits ..." she replied, trying not to laugh. Despite the fact that she was scared herself, she felt a growing curiosity in her.

“I wasn't expecting this to work!”

“I do not believe that my grandson is such a coward” said red-haired girl.

“Oh Kushina, we surprised them. You also did not expect that we would visit today the world of the living ... - replied the blue-eyed boy who looked very similar to Boruto. “It is a really interesting justu, we can’t get physical contact with anything except food , and it also took us here in a compact version ...

“I can’t be eleven, who saw it, be younger than your own grandson” Uzumaki sighed.

“It will pass with the first cock crowing, in order to return to the afterlife you must eat mustard seed- said Mitsuki.

“Don't talk to them so calmly, who are you anyway?” Asked the son of the Hokage, still clutching to Sarada, who tried to soothe him by gently stroking his head.

“Isn't it obvious? Though you probably won't guess, just like my Naruto. I am your grandmother Kushina Uzumaki, and this is your grandfather Minato Namikaze ...” explained the ghost girl.

The boy looked at them in shock.

“ Fourth? “ asked the surprised brunette.

The former Hokage ghost smiled at her.

“Who are you? Are my grandson's girlfriend?”he asked.

“No way!” both of them shouted in response, quickly pushing themselves away from each other.

“Heh? Last time I didn’t guessed right too” gost sighed.

“No no. This time there is something in it ...” the red-haired girl joined in.

“So what were you planning on getting into our world?” Mitsuki interrupted them.

“Actually, the only thing I wanted is to see is my grandchildren and daughter-in-law, maybe we can visit the village too?” Kushina exchanged look with her husband.

“I think we will have enough time for it ...“ he replied “We only have to leave immediately” he added, looking at his grandson “I believe that our son raised you well, but if I could give you some advice, it will be that it is worth fighting for love.”

“It's also worth not to be too stubborn, you don't need kidnapping to notice that you love someone!” his grandmother added before they both turned into beams of light and disappeared from the room.

"Hn ... I didn't even have to talk them out," the blue-haired man was surprised.

“Uh ... What was this advice supposed to be?” Uzumaki asked strongly flushed.

However, no one answered him. Mitsuki was busy with another spell, and black-haired was too blushed to even looked in his direction.

“Souls of purgation, who for their sins end up chained to this world, if we can shorten the torture a bit to of any of you! “ said the boy pouring alcohol into the bowl which he put on the stone, then threw a match into it. Goblet was immediately caught in the fire which quickly spread. A hand emerged from inside, looking like a zombie from a horror films. Moments later, a grown man appeared from the flame. His body was in a state of partial decomposition, his clothes was torn. Both Boruto and Sarada moved as far away from him as possible, even Mitsuki backed away a few steps.

“Who are you?” Asked the summoner.

“You don't know me !? I was once the second most important person in this village, I was to be appointed the sixth Hokage! My name is Danzô Shimura” at the sound of his name, Uchicha felt a chill. She was terrified, and yet she felt a disgust towards the man and a strong rage that she could not explain. Suddenly, crows, owls, and eagles and other birds emerged from the flame. The animals pounced on the spirit, tearing his clothes and rip his flesh with their claws.

“What do you need to get to the afterlife? We have food, drink, herbs! ”Orochimaru's son shouted, trying to continue the ritual.

The man just laughed, a dry laugh.

“The only thing that can save me is the mercy shown me by someone against whom I have sinned. You can't do anything for me ...” his eyes fell on Uchiha, who unintentionally activated hers sharingan.

“ YOU! Give me something to eat!” He shouted pointing his finger at her. Another wave of emotions rolled through her body. Fear, despair, hatred all so intense as if it did not come from her, but from thousands of people. She felt breathless.

Danzo took a step towards her, but then Boruto stood between them with a kunai in his hand.

"Mitsuki, we have to break it somehow!", He shouted at his friend who was nervously searching through the text on the scroll.

"The only thing we can do to send back is to fulfil his demands," the boy replied reluctantly.

" Why is it supposed to be Sarada??" The blonde snarled, covering his friend with his body.

"I must be forgiven ..." the impatient spectre replied, and then birds surrounding him began to attack it even more intensely.

“F-for what? What have you done?” Black-haired girl asked, still trying to calm down.

“If you don't know that, then you shouldn't ask ... Do you really think I deserves such a fate? Eternal hunger and flesh tearing !?”

The girl stiffened, no one seemed to deserve such a fate after all and how could she judge a man she didn't know. She stood up carefully, taking the bowl of rice. Slowly she stretched her hand toward the wraith, trying to stop her from trembling. But as soon as she got close to the man, one of the crows, turned into a boy who gripped her wrist tightly enough to stop her but not that hard that it would hurt her. He was not much older than them, he had curly black hair with black feathers tangled between them, and his fingernails resembled the claws of a bird of prey. His eye sockets were empty, but even so, she felt as if he was looking into her soul. Surprisingly, she was not afraid of him.

"He doesn't deserve your mercy" he said in a calm voice. All she could do was nod. She her knees feel weak. The crow-man carefully helped her sid in her place next to Boruto, before turning to the former ANBU leader. His aura immediately became sinister.

“You don't like starving? But do you remember how hungry for power and honors of the Hokage title, by deception you took my sight away to condemn my relatives and me to death? How did you took away the only chance to resolve the conflict without bloodshed? How did you use the child of our clan and sentence him for the fate of a murderer and traitor? You knew no mercy! ”He moved closer to Danzo with every word he spoke. Then a scream came out of the birds' throats in sync with the boy's voice.

“Hey owls, eagles and crows, we also have no mercy! Let us tear the food into pieces, and if the food won’ be enough, let's tear the body into pieces. Let the naked bones shine!”

Another bird turned into a human. A boy with gray hair wearing an owl ANBU mask. He grabbed the former Hokage candidate’s arm with his claws, tearing his skin and muscles apart.

“You don't like starving? And do you remember how you trained the Konoha orphans for your own use? How did you condemn them to fratricidal duels in the name of creating obedient and emotionless soldiers? You knew no mercy!

“Hey owls, eagles and crows, we also have no mercy! Let us tear the food into pieces, and if the food won’ be enough, let's tear the body into pieces. Let the naked bones shine!”

Echoed the rest of the herd, throwing herself at the ghost. They pecked and scratched his body. His screams of pain spread across the room. Team Seven stared in shock at the cruel scene that lasted until it was only a skeleton than left from his body. Then all the ghosts disappeared in the fire they came from. It was completely dark again in the room. The blond looked shocked at the empty cup. A soft sob fill the silence. His gaze shifted to his friend, he instinctively embraced her and pulled her into his arms.

"Mitsuki, what the hell was that?" He turned to the blue-haired boy.

“I did not foresee this ...” he explained, preparing the wreath for the next ritual.

“What are you doing!? Do you want to continue after something like this?“ Uzumaki growled.

“If we don't finish now, we can hit the afterlife too ...”

“WHAAAT?!”

“ I said when we start, there will be no turning back ...”

"No way! You see what it led to?" He asked, hugging the black-haired girl tighter.

"It's alright," Sarada sighed, wiping her tears and sitting down in her seat. "Let's continue ...”

Boruto pouted slightly as the girl moved away from him, but he was glad that he was feeling better now. Still, he still didn't release her right hand, just in case she was scared again ... not that he liked her or something ...

Mitsuki lit the wreath and, stretching his hand over it, began to recite: “ Oh holy weed...”

Uchiha rebuked the blonde with her eyes. The boy scratched the back of his head silently swearing that they had not brought any illegal substances with them.

“With your power I invoke a soul that is stuck between two worlds, that have raised too high for the world of men, but sill too low for the world of gods!”

The flame above the flowers turn blue, which spread around the room as moonlike aura. A beautiful woman with long white hair and horns resembling rabbit ears appeared on the stone.

“Is that ... “- blue-eyed began, but the spirit interrupted him.

"My name is Kaguya ... The princess of this planet. You should know me," she said as she surveyed the three genins with her Byakugan.

“Well, this time, I actually exaggerated, the last time she was summoned, the world almost ended ...”

"Mitsuki?!" His teammates spoke simultaneously

“Do not be afraid, in this form I cannot hurt you ...“ the goddess replied, staring at the right hand of Uzumaki “Bloody Momoshiki ... I guess, this is not the last time we meet... Who knows, maybe my children will call me back from with all my strength ...”

“Why would we do this? You wanted to destroy our planet! ”Sarada replied.

The rabbit princess looked at the still folded hands of Uchiha and Uzumaki.

"I loved this planet and its inhabitants ... Unfortunately, they betrayed me and I had to punish them, but nevertheless I hate my clan even more than you humans ... My scrolls are still on the moon. The children of Ashura and Idrra should be able to handle it ... " she said and disappeared the same way she appeared, leaving Team 7 in consternation.

The ritual leader looked at the scroll again.

"Basically it's the end ... we just have to put the rest of the food out the door for the lesser spirits," said Orochimaru's son and throwed the contents of the bento prepared for them by Hinata through the window.

"Mitsuki!" moaned pitifully blonde, and a lonely tear ran down his cheek. If only his mom found out about it, she would kill him! “That’s the end of Forefathers' Eve” The boy replied opening the curtains. The first rays of sun broke into the room. The other two genins get busy cleaning up the rest of the food when the figure of a young man with long black hair gathered in a ponytail appeared on the stone altar.

Noticing him, the Boruto let out a scream.

“Strange this should not happen ... Certainly not during the day ...” blue-haired boy sighed, grabbing his chin ”What do you need spirit?”

However, the ghost said nothing, just stood looking straight at Sarada. Despite the strangeness of the scene, she felt no fear. On the contrary, the presence of this soul filled her with peace and warmth combined with longing.

“You said it was over!“ the blue-eyed snarled to his friend.

“It should be ... What do you need? Food? Drink? Answer, or get be lost!”

However, the spirit absolutely ignored them, taking a step towards the young Uchiha.

“Mitsuki!”

In desperation, Orochimaru's son grabbed one of the dumplings and threw it at the ghost. Food bounced off his cloak, but juts look irritated at them and continued his walk.

“Impossible ... He resisted the pieróg ... This soul is too powerful!”

“What? What is that supposed to mean? We have to do something! Sarada, why aren't you running away from him?“ young Uzumaki started to panic.

"I think ... I think I know him ..." she replied, and the ghost smiled slightly at her. His eyes reminds her of her father's, although the ghost was perhaps a meter away, she did not move away from him. She didn't flinch as he reached out and gently tapped her forehead and disappeared. Moments after that, she felt someone grab her tightly by the arms.

“Sarada? Hey can you hear me? What did he done to you ?!” Boruto's face get too close to her as he pulled her into his arms, but she could see how worried he was.

“Everything is okay” she replied embracing his face so that he looked at her and stopped panicking.”I'm fine ...” she added yawning.

"It's 5 in the morning what you say for a little nap, before you get back home I have a lot of space on the couch, the carpet is also quite comfortable," suggested Mitsuki.

“It's a good idea ... after all, it was supposed to be a sleepover...” Uchiha replied, because the blonde was still too busy being nervous to answer.

The host left the room to get the blankets from the wardrobe in the hall. However, pulling them out turned be more difficult than he expected. While the shelves with the scrolls from his parent, was kept a spotless order, the closet was in a complete mess. When he finally managed to pull them out, Mikazuki's rubbed against his legs, and started to scratch the door of the apartment. The boy sighed and putting down what he had in his hands opened them for him. The cat looked at him and then at the door, again at him without moving a bit. The blue-haired rolled his eyes and wanted to close the door when the kitten decided to get out. When he finally returned to the room, he found his friends on the couch. Boruto was leaning against the back of the furniture with one hand wrapped around Uchiha’s waist. Sarada was leaning against his shoulder, hugging his torso. They both slept soundly. Mitsuki covered them with a blanket and took a photo with the camera his parent had given him for the second anniversary of the living outside the incubator. He looked at the photo smiling wide.

“Maybe they are not canon yet, but they are definitely my OTP...”

....................................................................................................

So... I missed Halloween, but writing this turned to be much harder that I thought it, will be.

Also writing this I based the description of rite on drama, and didn’t do a lot of research about the actual ceremony... I’m sorry If I write something wrong way. Naprawdę nie chciałam obrażać rodzimowierców słowiańskich, przepraszam jeśli to zrobiłam.

Also I want to apologie to high school lecture teacher, I know she won’t read it, but I know she would kill me, if she did XD

#sarada uchiha #boruto #boruto uzumaki #Mitsuki #borusara #Dziady AU #because why not #halloween #but i'm late #tried too #Kaguya (Naruto)#danzo shimura #kushina uzumaki #minato namikaze #pierógXD

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pol-ski · 4 years

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November Uprising 1830-1831 - A Polish national uprising directed against Russia. Poland was at the time partitioned between Russia, Prussia and Austria.

Unfortunately, the repressions after the November Uprising were very severe. Following the crushing of the insurrection in October 1831, the Russians abolished the Polish parliament (Sejm) and local government, and shut down Polish universities in the Kingdom of Poland. Those who took part were sentenced to death or sent to Siberia.

Tsar Nicholas I (1831): I don’t know if there ever will be a Poland, what I am sure of is that there will be no Poles.

The Great Emigration began – many important artists and activists had to leave the country. It was during this emigration after the November Uprising that the most famous Polish poet, Adam Mickiewicz, wrote the national epic Pan Tadeusz.

The eruption and tragic fall of the November Uprising left a deep mark on Chopin, as attested by several letters and the so-called Stuttgart Diary. In particular, the distressed entries, which he had jotted in the diary upon learning about the fall of the November Uprising, have an ardent, passionate tone, often compared to sections of Konrad's ''Grand Improvisation'' from Mickiewicz's Forefathers' Eve, Part III.

The Polish soldiers who fought the Russians in the November Uprising 1830-1831 were among the best trained in Europe. Despite being outnumbered two-to-one, the Polish army had a very good chance of defeating the Russian forces.

Some historians claim, and not without reason, that it was one of the best armies in the history of Poland. Interestingly enough, the army was created in large part by a Russian, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, who it seems fell in love with Poland. To this day, it is claimed that it was an excellent army, a perfect war machine which outperformed the Russians in every aspect – it could shoot better, it was better at fighting with bayonets, it was very good at performing manoeuvres, it had an excellent artillery, including a horse artillery and engineer corps.

During the Napoleonic era there were many distinguished military leaders. But most of the leaders did not believe that victory was possible. The Uprising was planned by young people; they had an enormous willingness to fight, but they lacked conceptual depth. The surge took place on the basis: “We’ll manage somehow”, “First we’ll attack the Russians, then we’ll see what happens.” Most of the officer corps, men who would have been able to lead the Uprising to victory, spoke out against the revolt – which made things very difficult from the start to the very end of the war.

#november uprising #poland #adam mickiewicz #Chopin #Konstantin Pavlovich #russia #partitions of poland #uhlans #ułani #juliusz kossak #polish art #lancers #siberia #*

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snarksandsarcasm · 4 years

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Goblins

The Green Plague

Styx mentions he awoke in a dried-up lake bed after the Fall of Akenash. The cutscene at that point shows that it isn’t entirely true. A lot of the tower and its inhabitants got pulverized in the process of the fall but there are still big chunks of wall and stones in that dried-up lake bed beneath. The tree as well, due it’s magical properties, remained surprisingly intact, just got crushed and broken under the weight of the structures around it. A lot of amber vaporized (possibly poisoning the area making it very unsafe for non-Amber-creatures to enter), the rest came down in its liquid form to become a shallow lake at “ground zero”. The tree is not producing Amber anymore and will just rot away over the next couple decades.

Within that Amber lake the strange reaction of spawning creatures continued and rakash rise regularly. With every rakash risen the amount of amber decreases so eventually all amber is used up to create all these goblins. That is when the infestation of Styx-duplicates ends. (I think by the time of OOAM this has happened, and all goblins that remain are now those living their regular life, which would mean they could be eradicated if it wasn’t for some independent regular breeding goblins).

Since these rakash were born of the Amber, similar to Styx being reborn in the cocoon, they are fully functional living creatures, free from any mental connections to elves or even each other. But they are all made from the same base model and thus are all male, sharing the same genetics with limited conscience and intelligence. They are like rats… or dogs… following their instincts to eat without consideration and have a distinct violent aspect to their being. But capable of being taught, as Sarkyss shows us. OOAM goblins appear a lot more vicious, the SoD ones more like sad puppies that don’t know any better.

Ground Zero was left alone for a couple of reasons.

There aren’t any survivors other than those who were on airships at the time of the fall or not in Akenash in the first place.

The area got covered with raw Amber that isn’t easily dealt with by humans or other non-Amber creatures. The elves are now for sure not willing to help in any recovery efforts due to the death of their own kin.

There is too many rakash around that will tear any human or other being apart (they may have attacked and potentially eaten their own creator, but other than that they are not cannibals).

The area in general isn’t easily accessible. Akenash was already afloat somewhere in the mountains, possibly for secrecy reasons, far away from the civilisation going on in the mainland. The steep mountain walls and jungle forests probably don’t allow many people to live there and with the rakash roaming about I can imagine even that one big trade route is being avoided for a long time to come.

The Goblins

This is my own take on this but I want these little creatures to thrive as their own race and not be doomed to extinction in this world. What follows is a very short paragraph on how that came to be (and I may cover that in more detail in another time).

Styx had made use of a human the last decade before The Fall of Akenash and taught her some of the things he knew as a shaman, scholar and scientist. After the Fall, this human let’s go of the dream of ‘becoming an Orc once more’ and instead aims to make these new creatures ‘whole’. Nearby ‘Ground Zero’ she utilises an old laboratory of Styx and starts to experiment on female orcs. Ruthlessly and of all ages. (Sarkyss Predecessor!) After two decades the result are 10 - 20 female goblins. A destructive earthquake allows them to escape into the surrounding mountain forest. (Eve was left behind in the only, small cocoon grown to the tiny World Tree that decided to live after the Fall. She escapes some time later, when the other goblins try and fail to recover the small World Tree.)

This group of females lives hidden in the forests of the mountains. The other rakash are not immune to the presence of females and flock around them. The females have the upper hand in intelligence and communication and they run their tribe and developing society with iron fists, so to speak. They have very tribal structures, with the Eldest being the head of the tribe and surprisingly in these critical first years of their existence, disagreements between the females are rare as they share the same existential desires.

The males protect the females at all costs and do little more than hunt for food and wait nearby to be on hand to be a lucky chosen one for the next mating season. Breeding is strictly organised. One female may have several, but strictly the same partners. Their children don’t get to pick and choose. Partners are chosen according to the greatest genetic difference among them (even if they do not know exactly how they make that decision consciously) and cheating/adultery is met with violent death of the next child born to the female.

All knowledge comes from the Elder Females. Many things are instinct, such as knowing that shelter is necessary and being clothed helps to protect from the elements. But making tools and weaving etc comes from their orc lives and they slowly teach the males and their children in these tasks. Basic tools can be crafted and huts can be built. Leaving the tribe is generally forbidden but those who do despite of that, may never return or face being killed. So knowledge from the outside cannot come (back) in. The Elder females are very strict. Since the rakash are going to be around for some time, you may see confused young males wondering why their dads all look the same and can’t speak. But these mute forefathers are certainly always kept in loving memory of every goblin born.

These goblins are Amber creatures and use Amber from the growing Tree in the laboratory. However, they are not as dependent on it as elves are and use it surprisingly not to the extend they could. Thus, these goblins have a lifespan of around 80 years.

Eventually, with the help of Styx, this goblin tribe opens up more and allows knowledge to come in. Aiken brings in the craft of writing and drawing, Styx gives their leather and wood work a boost, Eve can teach them new hunting methods … and well, eventually the goblins start to have contact to other races and maybe a century later they have established trade deals going on and maybe another century later, the first goblins are allowed to enter a human or orc university. xD

Food

I think goblins are primarily raw food eaters and omnivores, with their preferred food being fish, chicken and other small animals and insects, as well as nuts, fruits, vegetables and mushrooms. While Styx and Eve can use fire to cook they actually rarely do so. Lesser intelligent goblins may also have discovered fire for cooking but them too, are not inclined to use it for cooking purposes. When any goblin ‘steals’ food, they don’t take the plate from a nobleman's dinner table… they grab the fruits and fish from the market stalls.

One advantage this has is their oral health. They rarely need to brush their teeth and just take basic care such as removing bones and other large food objects for healthy gums.

Food could be preserved by leaving it to dry, or coating it in a layer of thick Amber or submerging it in an Amber solution (pickled). But generally goblins don’t think ahead like that and don’t preserve food. They aren’t gourmets either.

Goblins CAN eat human as well (see rakash in SoD Prologue). However, they aren’t at all their preferred source of food. They are big and cumbersome to move, to prepare and eat. Preference always goes towards smaller animals.

Since all rakash can throw up stomach content to poison other food, they are naturally protected against most poisonous food that would otherwise kill the eater. Such as certain frogs or mushrooms that humans stay away from, have little effect on goblins.

Health

Since rakash are ‘born’ as adults, leaving the Amber environment behind, they grow old and die eventually. I set that at around 50 years. The Amber will help them over injuries and sickness but as they do not, like the elves, continue their exposure to Amber, they will lose that element of eternal youth.

Age of rakash: 50 years Age of “normal” goblins: 80 years Styx and Eve: Couple of centuries (their intensive training and knowledge allows them to ‘regenerate’ their Amber and use it’s rejuvenation qualities. Not forever, like the elves, but for a long time.)

Amber skills

Both males and females can utilise the Amber flowing in their body, albeit in different ways.

Females can secret Amber like spit in their mouth, which they can use to:

feed others with it (give them an energy boost)

thicken the texture of Amber and create a sticky glue (like bee propolis)

the thicker textured Amber can also be used as an antibacterial and wound-healing substance (that is why it is part of the health potion Styx mixes in SoD) and no-one bats an eye when a female spits into wounds or licks over them

spit on/lick other creatures to temporarily control them / read their thoughts (this requires a lot of training and intelligence)

Males and Females can:

Use Amber vision with a bit of concentration

Become invisible (after training)

Throw up their stomach content to poison

Styx alone can vomit a clone (and with is use the re-materialising through one of his clones skill as in SoD). This is probably linked to him being a directly mutated orc, first generation goblin so to speak.

For some reason, within Styx, the Amber does not display it’s ‘wireless Twitter’ function. This might be because the World Tree from which the Amber came from that is now running in every goblin’s blood, is no longer alive. There is no radio tower anymore, so to speak. Nonetheless, the Amber came from the same source and I think it does still create a connection between the users, especially if they were to actually exchange their own Amber fluids with each other, like during mating. It would be more of a sensual connection, where the emotions, pleasures and pains of the other become clear and part of your own for a limited time.

Mating and Birth

Goblins have an actual mating season at the start of the year. Females are able to get pregnant only around 1-2 weeks during that time. Of course, sexual contact is possible at any other time, too, but during mating season it can be a bit more hectic than usual. xD After around 6 months the ladies give birth to usually one child. Twins are possible but one usually remains underdeveloped and dies after birth. Young are born in a soft/solid amber cocoon, which must be opened straight after birth and is then consumed again by mother or father. This also means, there is no after-birth, it all comes out in one go.They are fed their mothers milk (with a good dose of Amber, obviously) until they are ½ year old.

When a female hasn’t conceived she would in the course of a day, get her period and discharge the empty amber cocoon. This also, she would eat.

While the act of copulation is a private one, the mating season as a whole is celebrated and goblins look with excitement towards the new matches made and the first timers in this this year. Similarly, since all females will give birth to the kids at roughly the same time, the Birthing Season is equally celebrated and well prepared for.

Goblins smell. Surprise. xD No, I mean, pheromones, invisible smells. Lone females, if they dare to travel (Eve….) will always be found somehow by the lads. It is a good idea not to pee anywhere near your resting place, or else the males will have sniffed you out in no time. Although, in all honesty, they just surround the female and start to protect her, bring food and make maybe some mild advanced outside mating season but that’s it. Females can have their sad-SoD-rakash harems.

Also, for males: Amber is part of their body and so also present in their semen. Whether this liquid causes harm to humans and other non-amber creatures, however, I haven’t decided yet. I think it doesn’t turn out as bad as Aaron’s disfigurement, since this Amber may not be the exact same as raw Tree sap. Still, contact with it might cause skin irritation, burning sensation, maybe also some form of intoxication similar to the drug abuse of Amber and other minor side effects. Another little detail: I suppose females enjoy male semen as much as males like the Amber breastmilk or spit of females. Gobs are truly all over each other.

Growing Up

Goblets develop quicker than human children, especially their motor skills. After around a year (when typically the next child can come) they are able to eat, drink, pee/poo, walk, run and climb on their own. Doesn’t mean they don’t need the supervision though. They are like small tiny chimpanzees, they like to play hide/seek, wrestling, brawling, making others fall etc. I think 15 is an age where they’d be treated like adults, the 5 to 6 years prior to that as the age of adolescence. Styx left his tribe at age 30, finally being regarded as an adult free from his father’s reign, but I think that signified more the intellectual independence to know enough of life now to make good decisions. The first century for sure, the goblins don’t ever get that freedom. You are part of the tribe forever, with your small, precise, restricted but safe place within it.

#Styx #styx: master of shadows #Styx: Shards of Darkness #my styx lore

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pamphletstoinspire · 4 years

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Today is Passion Sunday

(by Fr. Prosper Gueranger 1870)

Today, if ye shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.

The Holy Church begins her Night Office of this Sunday with these impressive words of the Royal Prophet. Formerly, the faithful considered it their duty to assist at the Night Office, at least on Sundays and Feasts; they would have grieved to have lost the grand teachings given by the Liturgy. Such fervour has long since died out; the assiduity at the Offices of the Church, which was the joy of our Catholic forefathers, has now become a thing of the past; and, even in countries which have not apostatised from the faith, the clergy have ceased to celebrate publicly Offices at which no one assisted. Excepting in Cathedral Churches and in Monasteries, the grand harmonious system of the Divine Praise has been abandoned, and the marvellous power of the Liturgy has no longer its full influence upon the Faithful.

This is our reason for drawing the attention of our readers to certain beauties of the Divine Office, which would otherwise be totally ignored. Thus, what can be more impressive than this solemn Invitatory of today's Matins, which the Church takes from one of the psalms, and which she repeats on every Feria between this and Maundy Thursday?

She says: Today, if ye shall hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts! The sweet voice of your suffering Jesus now speaks to you, poor sinners! be not your own enemies by indifference and hardness of heart. The Son of God is about to give you the last and greatest proof of the love that brought him down from heaven; his Death is nigh at hand: men are preparing the wood for the immolation of the new Isaac: enter into yourselves, and let not your hearts, after being touched with grace, return to their former obduracy, for nothing could be more dangerous. The great anniversaries we are to celebrate have a renovating power for those souls that faithfully correspond with the grace which is offered them; but they increase insensibility in those who let them pass without working their conversion. Today, therefore, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts!

During the preceding four weeks, we have noticed how the malice of Jesus' enemies has been gradually increasing. His very presence irritates them; and it is evident, that any little circumstance will suffice to bring the deep and long nurtured hatred to a head. The kind and gentle manners of Jesus are drawing to Him all hearts that are simple and upright; at the same time, the humble life he leads, and the stern purity of his doctrines, are perpetual sources of vexation and anger, both to the proud Jew that looks forward to the Messias being a mighty conqueror, and to the Pharisee, who corrupts the Law of God, that he may make it the instrument of his own base passions. Still, Jesus goes on working miracles; His discourses are more than ever energetic; His prophecies foretell the fall of Jerusalem, and such a destruction of its famous Temple, that not a stone is to be left on stone. The doctors of the Law should, at least, reflect upon what they hear; they should examine these wonderful works, which render such strong testimony in favour of the Son of David, and they should consult those divine prophecies which, up to the present time, have been so literally fulfilled in His person. Alas! they themselves are about to carry them out to the very last iota. There is not a single outrage or suffering foretold by David and Isaias, as having to be put upon the Messias, which these blind men are not scheming to verify.

In them, therefore, was fulfilled that terrible saying: He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come (St. Matth. xii. 32.). The Synagogue is nigh to a curse. Obstinate in her error, she refuses to see or to hear; she has deliberately perverted her judgment: she has extinguished within herself the light of the Holy Spirit; she will go deeper and deeper into evil, and at length fall into the abyss. This same lamentable conduct is but too often witnessed now-adays, in those sinners, who, by habitual resistance to the light, end by finding their happiness in sin. Neither should it surprise us, that we find in people of our own generation a resemblance to the murderers of our Jesus: the history of His Passion will reveal to us many sad secrets of the human heart and its perverse inclinations; for what happened in Jerusalem, happens also in every sinner's heart. His heart, according to the saying of St. Paul, is a Calvary, where Jesus is crucified. There is the same ingratitude, the same blindness, the same wild madness, with this difference, that the sinner who is enlightened by faith, knows Him Whom he crucifies; whereas the Jews, as the same Apostle tells us, knew not the Lord of Glory (I. Cor. ii. 8.). Whilst, therefore, we listen to the Gospel, which relates the history of the Passion, let us turn the indignation we feel for the Jews against ourselves and our own sins: let us weep over the sufferings of our Victim, for our sins caused Him to suffer and die.

Everything around us urges us to mourn. The images of the Saints, the very crucifix on our Altar, are veiled from our sight. The Church is oppressed with grief. During the first four weeks of Lent, she compassionated her Jesus fasting in the desert; his coming Sufferings and Crucifixion and Death are what now fill her with anguish. We read in today's Gospel, that the Jews threaten to stone the Son of God as a blasphemer: but his hour is not yet come. He is obliged to flee and hide himself. It is to express this deep humiliation, that the Church veils the Cross. A God hiding Himself, that he may evade the anger of men, what a mystery! Is it weakness? Is it, that he fears death? No, we shall soon see Him going out to meet His enemies: but, at present, He hides Himself from them, because all that had been prophesied regarding Him has not been fulfilled. Besides, His death is not to be by stoning; He is to die upon a Cross, the tree of malediction, which, from that time forward, is to be the Tree of Life. Let us humble ourselves, as we see the Creator of heaven and earth thus obliged to hide Himself from men, who are bent on His destruction! Let us go back, in thought, to the sad day of the first sin, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because a guilty conscience told them they were naked. Jesus is come to assure us of our being pardoned! and lo! He hides Himself, not because He is naked, He that is to the Saints the garb of holiness and immortality, but because He made Himself weak, that He might make us strong. Our First Parents sought to hide themselves from the sight of God; Jesus hides himself from the eye of men; but it will not be thus for ever. The day will come, when sinners, from whose anger He now flees, will pray to the mountains that they fall on them to shield them from His gaze; but their prayer will not be granted, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with much power and majesty (St. Matth. xxiv. 30).

This Sunday is called Passion Sunday, because the Church begins, on this day, to make the Sufferings of our Redeemer her chief thought. It is called also, Judica, from the first word of the Introit of the Mass; and again, Neomania, that is, the Sunday of the new (or, the Easter) moon, because it always falls after the new moon which regulates the Feast of Easter Day.

Lesson of Epistle of St. Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews. Ch. IX.

Brethren: Christ being come, an High Priest of the good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, neither by the blood of goats or of the calves, but by His own Blood, entered once into the Holies, having obtained eternal redemption. For, if the blood of goats and of oxen, and the ashes of an heifer being sprinkled, sanctify such as are defiled, to the cleansing of the flesh; how much more shall the Blood of Christ (Who by the Holy Ghost offered Himself unspotted unto God), cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And, therefore, He is the mediator of the New Testament; that by means of His death, for the redemption of those transgressions which were under the former testament, they that are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

It is by Blood alone that man is to be redeemed. He has offended God. This God cannot be appeased by anything short of the extermination of His rebellious creature, who, by shedding his blood, will give an earnest of his repentance and his entire submission to the Creator, against Whom he dared to rebel. Otherwise, the justice of God must be satisfied by the sinner's suffering eternal punishment. This truth was understood by all the people of the ancient world, and all confessed it by shedding the blood of victims, as in the sacrifices of Abel, at the very commencement of the world; in the hecatombs of Greece; in the countless immolations whereby Solomon dedicated the Temple. And yet, God thus speaks to His people: Hear, O my people, and I will speak: O Israel, and I will testify to thee: I am God thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, and thy burnt-offerings are always in my sight. I will not take calves out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks. I need them not: for all the beasts of the woods are mine. If I should be hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof. Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink the blood of goats (Ps. xlix. 7-13.)? Thus, God commands the blood of victims to be offered to Him, and, at the same time, declares that neither it nor they are precious in His sight. Is this a contradiction? No: God would hereby have man understand, that it is only by Blood that He can be redeemed, but that the blood of brute animals cannot effect this redemption. Can the blood of man himself bring him his own redemption, and appease God's justice? No, not even man's blood, for it is defiled; and even were it undefiled, it is powerless to compensate for the outrage done to God by sin. For this, there was needed the Blood of a God; that was the Blood of Jesus, and He has come that He may shed it for our redemption.

In him is fulfilled the most sacred of the figures of the Old Law. Once each year, the High-Priest entered into the Holy of Holies, there to make intercession for the people. He went within the Veil, even to the Ark of the Covenant; but he was not allowed to enjoy this great privilege, unless he entered the holy place carrying in his hands the blood of a newlyoffered victim. The Son of God, the true HighPriest, is now about to enter heaven, and we are to follow Him thither; but unto this, He must have an offering of blood, and that Blood can be none other than His own. We are going to assist at this His compliance with the divine ordinance. Let us open our hearts, that this precious Blood may, as the Apostle says in to-day's Epistle, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

The Gospel according to John Ch. VIII

At that time: Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: Which of you shall convice me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, heareth the words of God. Therefore, you hear them not, because you are not of God. The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him: Do not we say well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and you have dishonoured me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. Amen, amen, I say to you: If any man keep my word, he shall not see death for ever. The Jews therefore said: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art thou greater than our Father Abraham, who is dead! And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself? Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of Whom you say that He is your God; and you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I should say that I know Him not, I should be like to you, a liar. But I do know Him, and do keep His word. Abraham your father rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. The Jews then said to him: Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at him. But Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.

The fury of the Jews is evidently at its height, and Jesus is obliged to hide Himself from them. But He is to fall into their hands before many days are over; then will they triumph and put Him to death. They triumph, and Jesus is their victim; but how different is to be His lot from theirs! In obedience to the decrees of His heavenly Father, and out of love for men, He will deliver himself into the hands of His enemies, and they will put him to death; but he will rise victorious from the tomb, He will ascend into heaven, He will be throned on the right hand of His Father. His enemies, on the contrary, after having vented all their rage, will live on without remorse, until the terrible day come for their chastisement. That day is not far off, for observe the severity wherewith our Lord speaks to them: You hear not the words of God, because you are not of God. Yet there was a time, when they were of God, for the Lord gives his grace to all men; but they have rendered this grace useless; they are now in darkness, and the light they have rejected will not return.

You say, that my Father is your God, and you have not known Him; but I know Him. Their obstinacy in refusing to acknowledge Jesus as the Messias, has led these men to ignore that very God, Whom they boast of honouring; for if they knew the Father, they would not reject His Son. Moses, and the Psalms, and the Prophets, are all a dead letter to them; these sacred Books are soon to pass into the hands of the Gentiles, who will both read and understand them. If, continues Jesus, I should say that I know Him not, I should be like to you, a liar. This strong language is that of the angry Judge Who is to come down, at the last day, to destroy sinners. Jerusalem has not known the time of her visitation: the Son of God has visited her, He is with her, and she dares to say to Him: Thou hast a devil! She says to the Eternal Word, Who proves Himself to be God by the most astounding miracles, that Abraham and the Prophets are greater than He! Strange blindness, that comes from pride and hardness of heart! The Feast of the Pasch is at hand: these men are going to eat, and with much parade of religion, the flesh of the figurative lamb; they know full well, that this lamb is a symbol, or a figure, which is to have its fulfilment. The true Lamb is to be sacrificed by their hands, and they will not know Him. He will shed his Blood for them, and it will not save them. How this reminds us of those sinners, for whom this Easter promises to be as fruitless as those of the past years! Let us redouble our prayers for them, and beseech our Lord to soften their hearts, lest trampling the Blood of Jesus under their feet, they should have it to cry vengeance against them before the throne of the Heavenly Father.

by Bishop Ehrler, 1891

God, in creating us to His own image and likeness, has given us an immeasurable, almost infinite, scope for the cultivation and development of our souls. Our will, especially, possesses capabilities that can elevate us to the highest degree of perfection, and debase us into the most profound abyss of vice. By the assistance of God's grace, it is ours to decide so firmly and unalterably on the side of virtue that we rarely falter in its practice; but we may also wander so far away from God, and lose ourselves in sin, that we appear to be irredeemably lost to Him and to His holy kingdom.

Today's Gospel refers to this latter state–obduracy in sin. “Which of you shall convince me of sin?” said our Lord Jesus to the Jews, a short time before His crucifixion: “I seek not my own glory, but, of my Father. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that He is your God.” They could not answer Him; and again he said to them: “Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day; He saw it and was glad. Amen, Amen, I say unto you, before Abraham was made, I am.” But the unbelieving descendants of Abraham took up stones to cast at Him. And “Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” The downfall of the Jewish nation was sealed by their hardness of heart.

Of obdurate sinners, the Inspired Writer declares: “They leave the right way, and walk by dark ways: they are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things.” (Prov. 2: 13, 14.) In all ages, there have been such men, who never arose after they once fell. All the admonitions and reproaches of their conscience are in vain; all the exhortations of the Church to penance, and amendment of life are fruitless; all God's threats fall ineffectually upon hearts enclosed, as it were, in a coat of mail. The happiness the Lord sends them, in order to touch them by His benefits, makes them frivolous and misfortunes, instead of converting, embitter them. Without prayer, or contrition for their crimes, without the fear of God or the use of the holy Sacraments, they go through life like beasts, given up entirely to the lusts of the flesh.

That you may not be as these abandoned sinners, that you may not imitate the hard-hearted Jews, but listen with fruit to the admonitions of holy Church calling you at this solemn time to fasting and repentance, I will explain to you today,

I. The causes of obduracy in sin; and II. The lessons we should draw from it for our own instruction.

I. To sin is easy. Numberless are the dangers and attractions to evil, which surround us on all sides. We carry the inflammable material of the passions constantly within our bosoms, and it needs, at times, but a tiny spark of temptation, to cause them to blaze up into a raging and destructive fire. At first, however, sin, especially sensual sin, creates a loathing and abhorrence in a hitherto innocent soul. At the opening of a vicious life, there arises in the sinner a longing to be freed from the gross and leprous weight of increasing sin. He is ready to cry out with the royal penitent of old: “My iniquities are gone over my head: and as a heavy burden are become heavy upon me. I am become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end.” (Ps. 37 : 4, 6.) But if he goes on groveling in habitual sin, if he continues turning a deaf ear to the holy inspirations of divine grace, he grows accustomed, by degrees, to his terrible state; and, sinking lower and lower in crime, he ends by becoming utterly obdurate and callous in evil; insensible, deaf, and dead to the motions of the better part of his soul. That which one sin is unable to accomplish, is effected by a longer chain of evil, and a continued habit of wrong-doing.

1. Look into your own hearts, my brethren, and realize there the sad truth of my words! When we were little innocent children, how disturbed we were over the most trifling sin! A rash jest, an unbecoming word, the mere sight of evil terrified us then! Would, alas! that our delicacy of conscience, our prudent tenderness and anxiety of soul had increased with our years! Oft repeated sins have made us familiar with evil, and consequently indifferent to it! “The wicked man when he is come into the depths of sin, contemneth; but ignominy and reproach follow him.” (Prov. 18 : 3.) “Thy heart shall utter perverse things; and thou shalt be as one sleeping in the midst of the sea, and as a pilot fast asleep when the stern is lost.” (Prov. 23: 34.) It is on this account that St. Chrysostom says: “The evil of sin is two-fold:–first, the injury it inflicts on the soul; and secondly, the tendency it engenders to always become worse.” Habitual sin, like the octopus, grasps its victim firmly with its myriad arms, and rarely releases him until he has breathed his last.

Understand me, my dear Christians, God is not wanting to the sinner. Divine grace surrounds, and presses even the most hardened to repentance. At one time, it speaks to the unjust man in soft, mild words; again, it warns and threatens him by sufferings and severe afflictions.

2. But the struggle against evil demands labor and energy. Even the most faithful servants of God need to combat continually the insidious and powerful enemy of their souls. For the habitual sinner, therefore, the warfare is doubly desperate. Darling inclinations must be renounced; evil habits stripped off, which cling as close as the fabled shirt of fire. That which has been passionately loved and desired, must be thoroughly detested and abandoned; sinful companions must be given up, after the intimate intercourse of many years; restitution must be made of ill-gotten goods; lies and calumnies against one's neighbor must be contradicted; and long-standing feuds and enmities brought to a happy end. All this involves self-sacrifice, self-denial, humiliation, and a thousand bitter battles with proud, corrupt nature. One's whole way of life must be completely changed. And this is why our Lord tells us that the Angels of heaven rejoice more over the conversion of one sinner than of ninety-nine just who need not penance.

The struggle for conversion is such a long and tremendous one. The pleasures of sin are ever ready to allure the man whom divine grace moves to escape the toils. Satan whispers with pleading tenderness in his ear: “How can you ever renounce that charming companion? How can you restore that money, those precious goods, that valuable property, to their rightful owner? You will leave yourself and your family poor and dishonored. And as to reconciling yourself to that hateful enemy, or taking back the lies you have uttered against so-and-so,–such humiliations are not to be thought of!” If the sinner consent to these suggestions of the evil one, all hope of a change for the better usually dies out. He goes on heaping sin upon sin, scoffing at every admonition of God and of His grace. He sinks rapidly from one abyss of vice into another, until he falls at last into the bottomless pit of obduracy, impenitence, and eternal perdition. In vain, at the hour of death, the priest has been summoned–in vain, the consolations of our holy religion have been offered to the dying sinner. By stratagem or gentle force, the good friends and relatives have sought to secure the holy Sacraments for the departing soul–but, to the bitter end, the obdurate man rejects the grace of God. As Holy Writ declares: “The sinner hath been caught in the works of his own hands; the wicked shall be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God.” (Ps. 9: 18.) “The pride of them that hate thee ascends continually.” (Ps. 73: 23.) “Thou hast bruised them, and they have refused to receive correction; they have made their faces harder than a rock, and they have refused to return.” (Jer. 5: 3.)

3. It is the doctrine of our holy Church that, without the grace of God, we can do nothing good. “Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves, as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God.” (2 Cor. 3:5.) “God worketh in you both to will and to accomplish according to His good-will.” (Phil. 2 : 13.) You know also that the ordinary grace of God, humanly speaking, does not suffice for the overcoming of very great temptations or powerful obstacles. At such moments, we need a stronger and more efficacious grace. What the sun is to the life of the earth, that the grace of God is to the soul. The blessed beams of heaven are the strength of our lives; penetrating our hearts; they rouse therein every good impulse, and nourish and ripen them to maturity. Grace is a free gift of God. It is given according to His good pleasure, as St. Paul says; and that stronger and more powerful grace which God owes in no way to man, is simply the effect of his pre-eminent love and special predilection.

4. But will Almighty God continue to offer this extraordinary grace to the man who despises even ordinary inspirations? No: He will either, as a punishment, withdraw His grace completely from him; or give him merely that insufficient grace by which he can not overcome greater temptations and dangers. Finally, that condition of soul will set in, of which the holy Scripture says: “God Himself will harden the heart of a man.” He takes from his reason the light of knowledge, so that he can no longer see nor understand anything conducive to salvation, and He deprives his will of the power of discerning correctly the good, and striving to do it. In His wrath, he tears asunder the bonds which unite Him to that man, and lets him live on undisturbed in the depths of his sins. “They have mouths and speak not; they have eyes and see not; they have ears and hear not.” (Ps. 113: 5, 6.) “God,” says St. Augustine, ” does not harden the sinner as to malice, but He justly refuses to grant him mercy.”

Look at King Pharaoh, in whom this unhappy condition was realized. In his pride, he opposed God's will and would not allow the people of Israel to go forth. Desiring to soften his hard heart, God permitted wonderful and hitherto unheard-of miracles to happen in his presence. But Pharaoh would not yield to grace. “Who is the Lord,” he asked of Moses, “that I should hear his voice and let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go.” Thereupon, the Lord said to Moses, “I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servant.” (10 : 1.) Pharaoh remained deaf to all the divine admonitions, and sank with his hosts into the Red sea. The magician Elymas withstood the grace of God which was offered him in the sermons and discourses of St. Paul, and he endeavored to hinder the governor of Paphos from believing. Then St. Paul said to him, “O, thou, full of all guile and of all deceit, son of the devil, enemy of all justice, thou dost not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord. And now, behold the hand of the Lord upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a time. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness, and going about, he sought some one to lead him by the hand.” (Acts 13 : 10, 11.) Corporeal blindness was the visible sign of that wretched man's interior or spiritual darkness. “He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts: that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted and I should heal them.” (John 12 : 40.)

II. What lessons should we draw from these considerations upon the obdurate sinner? We shall find them fraught with certain holy admonitions for our own personal instruction.

1. The first is, to fly from the first approach of sin; and if you have already sinned, to hasten with all possible speed to reconcile yourself with the Lord your God, so that no sinful habit may take root within you!

Never dally with evil; it is dangerous sport to play with fire or with deadly weapons. You may be maimed or disfigured for life, even if you are not instantly killed. Would you make a pet of a rattlesnake, or carry a tarantula around in your bosom? Act toward the soul as you do toward the body. Do not wait until the fire has scorched you or the revolver has been discharged. Do not suffer the snake to crawl around your feet. “Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent.” (Ecclus. 21 : 2.) Remedies taken in the beginning are always the best and most salutary. One sin begets another. The brood of Satan is a prolific one. As in a chain, link is joined to link, so the fetters of hell, sin by sin, bind the unhappy sinner a captive for all eternity! St. Augustine says: “As, when a stone is thrown upon the mirror-like surface of the sea, at first only one circle appears, then two; the second forms a third and so on, up to the very brim of the water, in like manner, will each sin become the occasion of a greater one to the hardened sinner; he falls from one sin into another, until, at length, it is almost impossible for him to cease sinning.”

2. He who does not tremble at the first step on the road to vice, and does not at once make efforts to return to his outraged Lord and God, by means of the Sacrament of Penance, will soon sink more and more hopelessly into the abyss of vice and crime. Behold the avalanche of the Alps rolling menacingly and destructively down into the smiling valleys! The most trifling movement, the dropping of a little stone, yes, often merely the gentle flight of a bird are sufficient to cause the downfall of that massive weight of ice. In the beginning, it was only a handful of snow; but little by little, the ice and snow began to accumulate and grow in volume, until at last, the avalanche, rushing from its dizzy height, breaks down trees like straws, and sweeping along, like a torrent, overturns into the abyss houses and entire villages. A single flake of snow is the cause of all this ruin and widespread destruction! In like manner a single wrong step often suffices to ruin the soul of a man eternally. The theft of a few pennies has aroused the cupidity of the highway robber. A thought of revenge not subdued and overcome in the outset, has produced murder. An impure desire not promptly banished has plunged its victim into the slough of licentiousness. Is not Judas, the traitor, a sorrowful example of this terrible truth ?” He loved money,” says the Evangelist. From the love of money originated avarice and covetousness; from these, robbery, then betrayal of his Lord and Master, which ended in suicide and his eternal reprobation!

Do we imagine it impossible for us to fall so low? Do we think that we never could sink as others have done, into such an abyss of ruin? Alas! like our neighbors, whose fall we lament or censure, perhaps–we bear within us, weak, unsteady, and naturally corrupt hearts. The same dreadful abyss is at our feet, its gloomy depths only veiled from us by the screen of the divine permission. The same spiritual dangers beset us that have ship-wrecked others. The same fire of lust rages within our veins. We are not holier than King David, wiser than Solomon, nor stronger than St. Peter. We are not as fervent as thousands of uncanonized saints and servants of God who have fallen into sin and vice through their imprudence and self-confidence. Nothing but vigilance and flight, prompt conversion and amendment of life after the first fall, will save us and keep us from the abyss of ruin, as St. Paul says:–” Let him that thinketh himself to stand, take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10: 12.) “Watch ye and pray that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit, indeed, is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26: 41.)

3. It certainly requires a hard struggle for one who has been a slave to sin for a long time to free himself from the wicked bondage of bad habits, and become reconciled with his Lord and God. Great labor and much moral courage are demanded, after a long period of impenitence, to descend into the depths of one's conscience, and scrutinize and unravel the sins of years or of a life-time. It is a great tax on a proud man not only to confess his hidden secret sins and vices in the holy tribunal, but, furthermore, to extinguish by years of penance and satisfaction the evil consequences of those sins. It is a battle so difficult and fierce that none but an heroic soul, a heart filled with the love of God and supported by His grace, can come forth victorious from the struggle. But the combat is necessary, nay, most indispensable. Does not everything that is good in this life cost us labor and pain? Has not our Lord said: “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away?” (Matt. 11: 12.) And if the battle is fierce and long-continued, we have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Whoever has feasted upon the pleasures of sin, who has drunk in iniquity like water, must do penance for it, by the pains of the conflict, and he who has committed an injustice during his life must make good his error, with all his might; or he will never obtain pardon here, or eternal bliss hereafter. Even if the sinner continue in his evil courses, his sins will cause him woe and suffering to which the warfare in the cause of virtue can not be compared. The latter is child's play contrasted with that which vice necessarily begets in man's heart. Outwardly, the sinner may appear prosperous, happy, and peaceful; but if you could penetrate to the interior of that guilty soul, and there behold the stings of conscience which scourge it like cruel lashes;–if you could hear the interior groans of despair which issue therefrom in moments of peril or suffering, or in the quiet watches of a sleepless night, you could cheerfully embrace all the pains and labors of the penitential warfare, sooner than live in sin and endure the agonizing torments of Satan's bondage. Penance has its sweetness and its consolation, no matter how bitter the work of self-denial may appear at first to the newly-converted soul. The grace of God softens all austerities, and graciously conducts us to the grandest and most glorious victory. But the struggles of the vicious man will become hourly more horrible and will be but the commencement of eternal misery.

4. To these admonitions, I will add another; do not oppose a single inspiration of grace, for thereby you withstand your Lord and God, and incite him to pour forth upon you the vials of his wrath. Dallying with sin and evil is dangerous sport; but to trifle with God and His grace, His love, and His justice, would be a sacrilege, that must invariably end in ruin. Grace is offered to us according to a certain measure, and that measure none save our Lord Himself can determine. “Lo! I stand at the door and knock,” He says of Himself; repulsed and despised, He repeats again and again His calls to salvation. He goes out like the householder of the Gospel, up to the eleventh hour, inviting laborers into His vineyard. But a day will come when he will cease to call, cease to knock at the door of our hearts. These words of mine, to-day, dear brethren, may be your last chance of grace. Will you thrust from you this golden opportunity of salvation? Shall we reply to him who calls us, perhaps, for the last time: “Come again, and then, possibly, I may listen to you?” God's love to us is great, infinitely great, but His wrath is infinite as well, and He who despises and contemns His love, will certainly feel His anger!

Free-will may be to man either a wonderful blessing or a terrible curse. Bound by the fetters of an unchangeable and urgent necessity all lesser creatures obey the will of God; man alone can say to this all-powerful Sovereign of heaven and earth: “Non serviam–I will not serve Thee!” He alone can oppose His commands. To him, it is given of his own free choice either, like a brilliant heavenly star to revolve forever around its true center, the eternal Sun of Justice, or to leave the appointed orbit, and like a fiery comet rush afar off from its Creator into eternal destruction. God has given us this capability of exercising free-will for His greater glory and our own great reward, making us thereby as kings resembling Himself. And do we dare as His chosen children, as the sons of a heavenly Lord and Master, to do what the meanest slave in our household would not undertake to do? The love of God, His gratuitous, undeserved love, would be, in that case, our utter reprobation and ruin, inevitably precipitating us a thousand fathoms deep into the abyss of hell! But if we follow joyfully the calls of grace with our free-will, then we shall mount the celestial ladder to the infinite heights of eternal glory.

In these holy days, when in the world of nature, Spring struggles with winter; and, in the world of grace, thousands of the faithful battle with the powers of sin and evil in their own hearts, let us, if we have hitherto been insensible and dead to God and His kingdom, begin this warfare for the salvation of our souls. Let us drive out all sin from our hearts by a worthy reception of the Sacrament of Penance, that Jesus may not hide Himself or flee away from us. May the sunlight of His mercy shine forth warmly and benignly in the depths of our souls, and there awaken by true penance and amendment of life, the germs, blossoms, and fruits of all the Christian virtues! Amen.

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