#Why the Sovereignty of God Should Comfort All Believers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coffeeman777 · 3 years

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@ruaken

Before I reply to your statement from yesterday, let me again say that while I disagree with some elements of Reformed theology, I am not at all an enemy of Calvinism or Calvinists. I have many Calvinist friends, and I owe my love for theology to my old Chaplain from the Marine Corps, who is a staunch Calvinist. Some of my favorite preachers are Calvinists. There's a lot of truth in the Reformed perspective, and I like to consider myself more Reformed than not. I mean no offense to any of my Calvinist brothers and sisters.

I am up for having a friendly in-house discussion between brothers and sisters in Christ, but I don't want this to devolve into an angry, vitriolic argument. If things start going that way, we should end the discourse.

Let's go.

Yesterday, you said:

"I mean, Jesus clarified His own words in John 3:16 in the same monologue a few verses later. We all are constrained by our natures. Just as God, by definition, cannot sin, so sinful man, apart from God, cannot do good. Every expression of faith, that faith which is a gift from God, by His grace and not by our effort or merit, is itself made possible by God first breathing spiritual life into the dead sinner."

I completely agree. Molina (the theologian for whom Molinism is named) would also agree with everything you've said here. "Like Calvin, Molina believed that the human mental faculty to do spiritual good on their own power had been eviscerated in the Fall—namely, the doctrine of total depravity." (Dr. Kirk Macgregor, from an article titled, "Can One Be Both a Calvinist and a Molinist?")

Libertarian free will can be had by fallen man; the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. All libertarian freedom requires is that a person be able to choose between a range of options consistent with one's nature, without being driven by some outside force. A fallen human cannot choose good because that would be inconsistent with their nature, just like how a human cannot choose to fly by flapping their arms. But a fallen human can choose between a range of options that are all consistent with their fallen nature; that's libertarian free will.

Like Molina, I believe that choosing righteousness requires an impartation of God's grace; God enables us, by His grace, to choose what would otherwise be inconsistent with our fallen nature. His grace opens the option to us and lets us decide. Based on John 12:32 and Deuteronomy 30:11-19, I believe that God grants prevenient grace, which enables fallen humans to choose righteousness, an option which we may or may not choose to use.

You said:

"The existence of "free will", which molinism seeks to harmonize with God's sovereignty, is itself presumed to exist by the theories which attempt to justify it. If you discard the assumption that free will, of God or man, exists, you will find that your first problem is not harmonizing free will and God's sovereignty, but attempting to prove the existence of a thing God in His Word flatly refutes! It is not comfortable to think we are damned not for our choices but merely by our natural state, but only if you wish to ascribe to God a character that is comfortable to the sin nature we are conceived of."

Now this part, I do deeply disagree with. No passage of Scripture explicitly states that humans don't have free will, and a vast number of passages imply that we do; Deuteronomy 30:11-19, Joshua 24:15, Ezekiel 18:20-32, John 7:17, Galatians 5:13, just to offer a small sampling. The Bible is packed with instances where humans are called by God to make choices, which make no sense at all if humans have no capacity to make choices; if we can't choose, why would God tell us to do so? Why would God offer us choices if He intended from eternity past to unilaterally control what we do all the time? Why would God tell us that something is within our grasp if in fact it isn't? That's at best disingenuous; and we know God does not lie.

There are also numerous passages that clearly express God's Sovereignty, and I completely affirm what they say. God is the supreme authority over all; God will do whatever He pleases; God's power is unrivaled, and if the Lord means to do something by His power, nothing at all can stop Him from doing that thing. God exalts, and God puts down. God establishes, and God destroys. God has authority over all things, and nothing can challenge Him. Molina believed this, too; he wrote, "Not a leaf falls to the ground apart from God's will or permission." I believe the best way to uphold both categories of Biblical texts is to simply acknowledge that God permits our freedom within parameters that He sets, and He allows us to make our choices, intervening whenever He chooses.

I can't speak for others, but for myself, my only goal in all of this is to uphold and affirm the plain reading of Scripture in a logically coherent way. I have no trouble affirming God's Sovereignty or total depravity (to inlcude total inability), and I have no trouble affirming human libertarian free will and God's prevenient grace. I have no trouble affirming God's predestination of the elect, and His genuine, universal salvific desire. And the means by which I affirm all of these things in a logically coherent way, without disregarding the plain reading of any passage of Scripture, is Molinism.

You said:

"Ask yourself this: if man has no free will, is God less sovereign? If God is constrained by His nature, is His nature less glorious? One further question: will it comfort sinners writhing in eternal firey torment to think they are not there because God sovereignty withheld His grace, but because they "chose" to reject Him?"

To the first question: If God didn't want to make free people, then the fact that humans aren't free wouldn't lessen Him in any respect; God did exactly as He pleased. But humans lacking freedom doesn't agree with what the Scriptures explicitly say, as noted above, and the inescapable logical conclusions we would have to draw about God given the existence of evil would be blasphemous. There is no logically coherent way to reconcile divine causal determinism with what is revealed about God in Scripture. God is not in any sense evil, but if divine causal determinism is true, then God is the sole power in existence and only He moves the bound will of man, which means God alone would necessarily be directly guilty of literally all the sin that ever was or would be.

Now, if God actually wanted to create free people and couldn't, then yes, in fact, God would be less Sovereign. His power and glory would be impuned. There are plenty of Scriptures that show God limiting Himself; it isn't logically inconsistent with God's nature for Him to constrain Himself. We couldn't therefore say that God is omnipotent, since creating a free person isn't logically incoherent, and would be something that falls within God's nature.

And to the second question: I doubt it will comfort them at all. In fact, I think the knowledge that they could have been saved and lost out because they chose to reject the offer will be an added torment to them.

#christianity #molinism

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stephiime · 3 years

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to look back

August 11, 2021

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged for #faithwalk, but hopefully I’ve made records of my ebenezers at least somewhere so I can look back on them. Looking back at my own posts has been helpful for me to remember how God has been faithful to make Himself known to me. I can trust that whatever I’m going through right now, whatever hardness of heart, whatever sorrow that causes me to say ‘where are you, God?’, God says He knows me and has never and will not forsake me.

I’ve been in emotional turmoil since February this year. For several months, I don’t think I could count a day where I didn’t cry, didn’t ask why, didn’t think I’d have the courage or will to live through another day. All the while, it’s hard not to compare, not to think of suffering in small or large doses, not to think of transformation as something that’s supposed to be proportional to the pain. Being reminded that other people suffer also (and I try not to say suffer to a greater degree) is temporarily comforting, but not validating of my own pain. Pain is pain, and Jesus knows this (Heb 4:15). He knows when the journey is too much for us (Elijah, 1 Kings 19). He will wipe away every tear and pain and suffering will be no more (Rev 21); he is our present hope in a world full of brokenness.

I won’t dive into details, but this year I’ve found myself in the darkest valley I’ve been in so far. I phoned my now therapist with an introduction of “I’m at my lowest point” - maybe dramatic? But not untrue.

Grief, loss, sin - I’m not a fan, however, leading up to my loss, I recall that God has been my Immanuel - God with us. He has been faithful, tender, and gracious to reveal Himself to me through Joseph’s story in the Old Testament, through my mentor, through godly friendships formed in the past year, through unlikely friends, through old friends I’ve lost contact with for some time, through family, through God’s word.

The decision was made in obedience to a conviction from God. I wrestled with the conviction. It grieved me. It grieved me that we had the freedom to do as we pleased, and yet it would still be within God’s sovereignty. Because then what? Is there right or wrong? It grieved me that there is no right or wrong, but that there was a godly one that the Holy Spirit himself gives me. It grieved me that I had to be the one to decide. It grieved me that the godly choice would be excruciating for me. I was reminded that his sheep know his voice, and I knew I had to make room for God in my life and in his life.

In my wrestle with the conviction, the prayer changed from “God do you want me to end this or stay in this?” to “but who will protect me, love me, and care for me?”. In my heart, I knew God’s answer was “that has always been me, and he has not been those things for you”. Arguably, no one should be the only source of those things for us … and no one is capable.

It was not the conflict, the hurtful words, the hurtful actions, the hurtful inaction, the unloving that caused me to come to this decision (as I’m so tempted always now by the devil to believe); it was the conviction.

It’s just a little difficult to recall those good things I learned about God now because my mind is clouded by grief. My desire to obey and please God was the morality in me that cast a shadow over what true freedom in the gospel might look like, I think, so my desire was to obey, but I’m really sad about it. I feel like a shell of the person I used to be … and at the same time unsure of who I was before ... so finding the shell that I am a very foreign one.

In many ways, I think I can describe this loss as losing the life I thought I would have: the children, the house, the future dog, the future adventures, the picture perfect family. Most of all, I feel that I’ve lost my best friend, my confidant, my life partner. I’ve lost someone who’s known me most intimately. I admit, I feel really lonely despite my community coming together to help me, especially as time goes on. I lost things God never promised I would have.

But maybe ‘losing’ helps me to gain Who I’ve needed most. I have never been brought to God’s feet the way I have been this year. I need His grace and mercy for me each day and I’m growing in awareness of my need.

So right now I’m just trying to reconcile the grief to the truths without growing bitter or frustrated with the whole process. A good friend reminded me that sanctification is as much a grace as justification is - and this isn’t to say I should just sit around in defeat, but it’s comforting and validating because although I’m struggling, I haven’t been running away in the midst of all the emotional turmoil. I understand intellectually that there is a hope, grace, mercy, joy to be experienced in the now because of the gospel. I understand that it’s okay to be in pain because Jesus empathizes with our weaknesses.

It just takes time for my heart to understand it. If you read this, please pray for me.

I still love him very much. I have great compassion for him and my prayer remains the same that freely he would come to God. All of this reminds me of the concern I should have for my own relationship with God. But I also know that God is sovereign and good and jealous. The glory will only be to God. I just don’t know what I can do now ... what is allowed and what isn’t allowed.

Til next blog. Sorry that this blog probably doesn’t make much sense without context.

#faithwalk

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wisdomrays · 3 years

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QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: What is Jihad? Part: 6

Having borne persecution of every kind for years, the believers responded with enthusiasm. Only the Hypocrites refused to present themselves when the Prophet summoned the Muslims to fight the Makkans. The Hypocrites either sat idly in their homes or fled the battlefield, for they were slaves to their carnal selves and base desires. By contrast, all sincere Muslims hastened the battlefield whenever they were summoned to fight, for jihad was the means of reaching God and eternity. Therefore, they were as enthusiastic in their response as if they had been invited to Heaven.

Everyone considers death disagreeable, and some of the Companions were no exception. As we read in the Qur'an: Fighting is ordained for you, though it is hateful unto you. But it may happen that you dislike a thing although it is good for you and it may happen that you love a thing although it is bad for you. God knows; you do not know (2:216). Such dislike is a natural human characteristic. But the Muslims never actually disobeyed God and His Messenger, and in return God granted them success and victory. These victories gave the believers new strength and energy and, while attractive to the neighboring tribes, caused the Makkans great distress.

The Muslims kept their belief vigorous and active by means of jihad. Those who abandon jihad gradually become hopeless pessimists, for they have deprived themselves of the spirit and stop preaching the truth. Those who persevere in jihad never lose their enthusiasm and always try to increase the scope of their activities. Since every good deed results in a new one, Muslims are never deprived of good: As for those who strive for us, We guide them to our path. God is with the good (29:69).

There are as many paths leading to the Straight Path as there are numbers of breaths drawn in creation. Whoever strives for His cause is guided by God to one of these paths, and is thereby saved from going astray. Whoever is so guided lives a balanced life, neither exceeding the limits in their human needs and activities nor in their worship and other religious observances. Such balance is the sign of true guidance.

However great the sacrifices made in fighting unbelievers, they nevertheless all constitute the lesser jihad. This aspect of jihad is lesser only when compared to the greater jihad. The lesser jihad should never be underrated, for it enables Muslims to acquire the of holy warrior of Islam or the rank of martyr. Such titles open the gates to Paradise and secure God's approval.

The lesser jihad consists of striving to discharge religious obligations as perfectly as possible, whereas the greater jihad requires us to fight against our destructive drives and impulses, such as arrogance, vindictiveness, jealousy, selfishness, self-conceit, and all carnal desires.

Those who abandon the lesser jihad are liable to spiritual deterioration, due to their vulnerability to worldly weaknesses. But they can recover. Pride and love of comfort and ease may captivate Muslim soldiers returning from a victorious battle, for they may think that now it is time to relax and indulge in such things. To fight this tendency, the Prophet warned us through his Companions. Once, when returning to Madina after a victory, he said: "We are returning from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad."

The Companions were as fierce as lions on the battlefield, and as sincere and humble as dervishes in worshipping God on the other. They used to spend most of the night praying to God. Once when night fell during a battle, two of them took turns standing guard. One rested while the other prayed. Becoming aware of the situation, the enemy shot many arrows at him. He was hit and bled profusely, but continued to pray. When he finished, he woke his friend, who asked in amazement why he had not woken him sooner. His reply was: "I was reciting Surat al-Kahf and did not wish to interrupt the deep pleasure I found therein."

The Companions went into a trance-like state of ecstasy when in prayer, and would recite the Qur'an as if it were being revealed directly to them. Thus they never felt the pain caused by arrows hitting their bodies. Jihad, in its lesser and greater aspects, found complete expression in them.

The Prophet combined these two aspects of jihad in the most perfect way. He displayed monumental courage on the battlefield. 'Ali, one of the most courageous Muslims, admits that the Companions took shelter behind the Prophet at the most critical moments of the fighting. Once when the Muslim army experienced a reverse and began to scatter in the first phase of the Battle of Hunain, the Prophet urged his horse toward the enemy lines and shouted to his retreating soldiers: "I am a Prophet, I do not lie! I am the grandson of 'Abd al-Muttalib, I do not lie!"

He was just as devoted when it came to worshipping God. He was consumed with love and fear of God in his prayer, and those who saw him felt great tenderness toward him. He frequently fasted successive days. Sometimes he would spend the whole night in prayer, which would cause his feet to swell. Once when 'A'isha thought his persistence in prayer was excessive, she asked him why he exhausted himself so much considering that all his sins had been forgiven. "Shall I not be a slave grateful to God?" was his only reply.

The Prophet was so courageous that when several Makkans came near enough to discover him and Abu Bakr while they were taking shelter in the cave of Thawr, he simply said: "Don't fear; certainly God is with us." On the other hand, he was so tenderhearted that he wept profusely when reciting or listening to the Qur'an. He once requested Ibn Mas'ud to recite a passage. The latter excused himself, saying he could not recite to the one to whom the Qur'an was being revealed. But the Messenger insisted, saying that he enjoyed listening to someone else recite the Qur'an. Ibn Mas'ud then began to recite the Surat al-Nisa'. When he reached: But how will it be with them when We bring of every people a witness, and We bring you (O Muhammad) a witness against these? (4:41), the Prophet asked him to stop because, for fear of God, he could no longer bear it. Ibn Mas'ud narrates the rest of the story: "The Messenger was shedding tears so profusely that I stopped reciting."

The Prophet was as tenderhearted as he was courageous. He asked forgiveness from God at least 70 times a day, and repeatedly urged upon his community the need for asking forgiveness from God.

Those who succeed in the greater jihad are almost certain to succeed in the lesser jihad, but the reverse is not true. 'A'isha narrates: "One night the Messenger asked my permission to perform his supererogatory midnight prayer. I said: 'However much I wish for your company, I wish still more to do what you wish.' Then he performed his ablution (wudu') and began to pray. He recited: In the creation of Heavens and the Earth and (in) the alternation of night and day are tokens (of His sovereignty) for people of understanding [3:190] over and over again, shedding tears until daybreak."

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ivy-kissobryos · 4 years

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hi, im kinda new to witchcraft and i dont really know anything (prayers, rituals, beliefs, etc), plus there's a lot of contrasting info online so i don't know what i should go with. could you please briefly explain how you view witchcraft and what you do? i'm going around asking this to a lot of other blogs to get a general sense of things. thanks!

Before we begin I just wanna point out that when you say prayers and beliefs, I think of paganism. When I hear ritual and witchcraft, I think of magic.

Religion and magic is intertwined but you do not have to be pagan or wicca or whatever to be a witch, or vise versa. For me, a witch is someone who practices magic, whether it be simple things like jar spells or folk magic or traditional witchcraft or anything ceremonial or ritualistic (although some ceremonial magic practitioners prefer the term magician over witch, which is up to them). A diviner is someone who uses divination tools such as tarot or pendulums to seek knowledge (and again, you can be a diviner without ever touching witchcraft). Spirit work and hedge work is also another area for you to look into.

You can be a pagan - lighting incense, praying and making offerings - without being a witch either. Some say there is inherent magic in worship, but personally, if you just worship but don’t practice witchcraft (do spells etc) then you’re just a follower of a pagan religion. And there is nothing wrong with that. Of course, you can also be all that I mentioned above simultaneously too, but there is no hurry to quickly define yourself when you’re starting out. Changing the way you label yourself or your craft as you grow (or foregoing a label in the first place) is equally valid too.

More info on some beginner tips + my views on witchcraft below.

If you’re starting out some times I’d give are:

Learn how to protect yourself. Energy work and shielding techniques is how I started, or calling on Archangels if you believe in them. Once I was more comfortable I began learning how to use witch bottles to defend myself, how to banish (look up the LBRP) and more.

Read and read and read! Not on Tumblr but actual books (the legit ones, not the trendy money-milking ones) and historical sources. If there are contradicting sources, use your gut and your brain. Check for author bias and cross-check with other sources. Listen to your intuition yet use critical thinking and discernment too.

Record and test your divination and spells. See if a prediction comes true. Test if a spell manifest the desired result within the given time frame. If you do a wealth spell, then the spell’s success will be confirmed by increased wealth. Try altering your methods, and note if you become more successful or accurate and adapt accordingly.

Don’t be pressured to spend loads of money on your craft especially when you’re starting out. Of course, you may want to give fancy wine as an offering to your god, but if that isn’t feasible then a home cooked meal alongside traditional offerings such as bread would be alright too. Also with books, of course it is good to support occult publishers but try borrowing from libraries, find e-books and use your university account to borrow them, or find PDFs of them online.

Personally, it may not be suitable for complete beginners but I recommend books by Troy Books for witchcraft info. For learning Lenormand, the Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook by Caitlin Matthews is the best. I know it’s 600+ pages but I swear it’s so good.

For me, witchcraft is about power. When you feel like there isn’t anywhere else to go, when your friends seem distant or unable to comprehend what you’re struggling with, when the law has failed you and corruption has won, witchcraft is a way to redirect your life and regain your sovereignty. Which is why I also believe in hexes and, in some context, curses (although I know it’s a can of worms to open and I’ll make posts on hexes and curses one day).

Divination is used to give you guidance and insight into something that may take you forever to figure out by yourself. It is also a way to communicate with the divine. What I am against though, is using divination to spy on others, as you’re essentially destroying other people’s rights to privacy. Claiming 100% accuracy is also an act of hubris, which is why I always say that my readings are reasonably accurate because in the end, free will triumphs over all and even the strings of fate has many threads.

If your relationship with a deity is rooted in transaction, then it can be said that you are working with them, not worshiping or devoting yourself to them. A devotional pagan relationship between oneself and one’s deity can be transactional too (eg: I worship Dionysus and he helps me with giving me opportunities to grow, along with giving guidance on my path) but what is more important is the devotion - the love and bond - you have with said deity.

Where the line between witchcraft and paganism blurs is when you involve deities in your spell or divination.

When I was young I used to dismiss the incantations that the monks in my country use. However, one day I went to a ceremony where almost a hundred monks gather and pray, casting their spells in unison, and even with my initial derisive views towards conventional Buddhism I felt something that day. Now, I realize when certain words have been spoken and imbued with power and continues to be recited with fervent faith for hundreds or thousands of years, power becomes inherent in those words. The same goes for rituals and spells.

This is why a beginner who had never managed to manifest anything properly can screw up when doing ceremonial witchcraft and end up bringing misfortune into their lives. Those ceremonies are meant to be performed that way, invoking those gods, for a reason. Best case scenario when you mess up is they don’t work. Worse case is they bite you back. Same goes for spirit work and especially so regarding demon work. I was curious about the Ars Goetia in the past, and I am immensely grateful that my naive, idiotic past self had enough brains not to attempt any summoning. If you want to prove to yourself that the magical world is real, there are better ways to do so.

Do I believe the gods are literally real? That Buddha walked his first step and a lotus flower bloomed under his feet? That Dionysus wrapped a ship in vines and turned the disbelieving pirates into dolphins? I don’t think so. But I have faith in my gods the same way one can be a Christian without believing that the Earth is 9000 years old. And I believe in magic because I have felt it and observed the evidence.

Maybe it was easier for me to believe because I grew up in an animistic and spiritual country, where things like divination and spirit work is ‘normal’ (although people do fear and respect the supernatural). Making offerings to household spirits is something my family does weekly. Hell, almost every family has a mini spirit house in their property that hosts the spirit of land guardians. Going to shrines and praying to our local version of ‘dryads’ and ‘tree ghost’ is common for if you want good luck or a bargain.

Messing with corpses is now outlawed, but witch doctors in my country have been known to make consecrated oil from the corpses of women. As recent as 2012, stillborn fetus had been used in ceremonies which turn them into household spirits to bring luck - if they are pleased and fond of you. Of course, magic of these types are against the law because the actions required to perform them are illegal, but the point is, it shows that magic is very real and still believed in where I come from.

If you’re coming from a western worldview where all of this is ‘weird’ or ‘primitive’ or ‘crazy’, it might feel difficult to trust in your supernatural senses, to have faith or to find your path. But if you keep practicing and refining your skills, you’ll find that magic is something that will always draws you back to it, that it is something you cannot live without.

#about me #witchcraft #paganism #hellenic #dionysus*#tarot #lenormand #energy work #witchblr

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imacrowcawcaw · 4 years

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Eyes of Juniper Ch. 1 (A Metallica Fic)

Ao3 Link

Author (as known on Various sites): Lady Lover- Rockfic, Luluthechoosingcrow - AO3, theladylovingcrow - Deviantart and Wattpad, @sammy_bluebells - Instagram, @imacrowcawcaw - main Tumblr, @insannywestan - Sanny shipping Tumblr Pairing: Lars Ulrich/James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett/Cliff Burton, Lars/Female Character (briefly), Lars/Male Character (kinda, more just awkward one sided flirting then Lars gets rescued by his knight in a ratty Motorhead shirt) Fandom: Metallica Tags/warnings: Sex-swap AU, early 80s era 'tallica, smut, gay smut, also het smut since the whole gender switch thing, drinking and alcohol, lots of cussing and profanity, should warn that Lars goes into detail about taking a piss cuz ya know it's new to him, Idk I'll add tags per chapter as I think of shit

Notes:

1. Okay, so I spent like months thinking about whether to do this or not. On the one hand, yes this has so much potential to be fun (and I've seen some other sex swap stories i like). On the other hand, a lot of the whole sex/Gender swap thing is really stereotypical gender shit and goes against what I personally believe. But, creative juices won out and I'll try to keep true to character as much as possible while also making this funny and not too misogynistic (if that's possible).

2. This is a work in progress! I started it a year and a half ago, and now a friend is helping me continue

3. This story is inspired by the song 'Jewel of the Summertime' by Audioslave (on their album Revelations) I love this song and it is awesome you should totally go listen to it.

4. The witch-lady is inspired by Aine, Celtic goddess of love, summer, wealth, and sovereignty. I literally just googled 'goddess of love' then scrolled through a list to find someone other than Aphrodite (don't get me wrong I love Greek mythology but it just wasn't right for this fic) and came across this girl. I only did a quick Wikipedia read, I'm not planning on going too heavy into her myth and more just using her for the plot but.... If anybody is more well versed in Celtic mythology and I seem to get something wrong, please feel free to comment and I'll try my best to make it accurate!

5. Woo damn that was a lot of stuff, I don't blame you if you didn't bother reading it. Now, on with the show!

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1984 (Lars' POV)

The first thing I felt when I woke up was this odd sense of.... well, just something being fuckin' off. Like I was missing something, but also like I had gained something? I felt like a brand-new person, although in my gut I was still me.... Man, I must have had WAY too much Jager last night, it's fucking with my head.

I slowly peeled the itchy fleece blanket off of my body and rolled onto the floor, which was about a foot from the bare mattress. We really needed to invest in some sheets, especially if we wanted to keep bringing chicks back to the house. Apparently, most girls are not at all impressed by stained, lumpy mattresses with almost no bedding on them.

Speaking of girls and mattresses, didn't I bring one home last night? I raised my head slightly from its position from the threadbare carpet and looked at the bed, trying to see if Anna (Was that her name?) was still there. Yep, there was a naked hippy still passed out in my bed, sweet!

I groaned quietly as I stood and shuffled my way out the door and down the hall to the bathroom. It was then I noticed that I didn't really have the usual alcohol-and-early-morning-and-piss induced erection, but my bladder was still straining. Huh, weird.

Whatever. I just wanted to pee, get rid of that feeling in my gut, and get that dead possum taste out of my mouth. Pushing open the door and wincing as the creaky hinges screeched through my headache, I pulled down my boxers and reached for my dick.... What the fuck?

WHAT THE FUCK?

WHERE WAS MY MOTHERFUCKIN DICK?!

Trying not to panic, I looked down, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment so I wouldn't have to see right away. But, of course, that kind of defeated the purpose of looking down, so I opened them again. No dick. The hell was going on?

Taking a deep, calming breath, I tried to think through this rationally. My dick, for whatever reason, was not where it was supposed to be. But, my bladder was still full and begging to be released, so obviously my system or whatever was still working. That need to pee was turning into a burning pain, so I tried to come up with a solution. If I don't have a cock, then I can piss through....what, exactly? Is there anything down there at all? What is even going on!?

Pulling in another deep breath through my nose, I let it hiss out between clenched teeth as I slowly, so slowly, touched my fingers to my abdomen and moved them downwards, dreading what I would find. Annnnnd....... Yep, there it was.

Velvety soft lips, slick, pungent juices; anatomy I knew so well but never, EVER expected to feel on myself. My crisis would have to wait a minute, though, 'cause my bladder was going to explode and no dick be damned I needed to do something about it.

Gingerly sitting my ass down on the toilet (god, so weird sitting down just to piss) I tried to slowly let it out. The feeling was...well there was certainly relief of the pressure, but it also felt strange in a way I couldn't really describe. I could possibly get used to it, not that I'm planning on staying like this or anything.

Cringing as I wiped, I slowly pulled the boxers back up to my hips that I just now noticed were a little wider than usual. And my hands, were they smaller? Softer? My chest too....HOLY SHIT I HAVE BOOBS! That, I might be able to get used to.

I turned to the mirror, and was quite shocked at what I saw. There was a girl standing there, with large, doe-like green eyes staring back at me from underneath brown bangs. She had a nice tan on her upper body, although her breasts were still pale where she clutched at them, small rosy nipples poking through her fingers. A pair of black cotton boxers stretched tight around the small curve of her hips, but hung loose around her milky thighs that almost touched. And this...this chick was me. ME.

Shaking my head, I splashed some water onto my face and rubbed my eyes, hoping it was just a fucked up dream. No such luck.

I was considering hiding in the bathroom forever, because no way in hell could I let the guys see me like this, let alone figure out how to explain, when I heard a scream. It sounded a lot like Kirk's voice, so I pushed my problems to the back of my head and ran into the hallway, stopping dead in my tracks at what I saw.

Anna, or whatever her name was, stood at the top of the stairs, dressed in flowing black robes with green Celtic designs all over them. She had jewels and charms hanging from her waist, wrists, neck, and ears, each tinkling as she tossed some sort of... Powder onto a very shocked looking Kirk. Or at least, I was pretty sure it was Kirk. He (she?) seemed to be in the same boat as me as far as bodies were concerned at the moment.

With a final dusting of powder, witchy-chick turned to me and smirked. "I hope you learn your lesson, I'll be back in a week. And as for you...." She turned to Kirk, "Well, you're just too damn cute! I couldn't resist seeing what a pretty girl you'd make!"

"This is your fault? You bitch! " I yelled. "Why the hell did you do this to us? Who are you? Change us back, then get the fuck out! I don't wanna be a damn girl, and neither does Kirk!" God this was fucking insane, that chick was crazy!

She hissed at me, eyes flashing in a way that could not be human. "Now you listen, GIRL. You'll stay like this for as long as I deem fit. You need to learn some respect for women, and being one is the best way to do that. I suppose you don't remember what you did last night?" She asked, looking bored and ready lo go fuck up someone else's life.

I thought hard, then it came creeping back to me. The bar, the Jager, the flirting with a group of girls, copping a feel and getting slapped, then her changing her mind and coming home with me, talking dirty in her ear, then unworldly sex, her whispering what sounded like a spell in my ear as I came... Holy shit.

"Is this about me grabbing your ass? I'm sorry! Please don't do this!" I begged, finally starting to let the situation sink in and desperation set. This could not be happening.

"Hmph," she snorted, "Begging isn't going to get you anywhere. I've seen humans beg for much less, and they still didn't get it. No, you'll love your life as a woman for a week, both of you, and hopefully you'll come to realize the struggles and terror that comes with it. If you've learned your lessons and are truly sorry, then you will be turned back. If not... Well you'll just have to stay like this until you do."

And just like that, she turned with a flourish and disappeared into thin air. My morning could not get any crazier, I was sure if it. But, because I wasn't actually sure and was suddenly doubting all logical occurrences in the world, I knocked on the wooden railing. That done, I turned towards Kirk.

He (seriously, do I call us he's or she's now? This is so fucked up) was shaking like a leaf, looking like he'd fall over any moment. I went over to grab him, calm him down, something.

"Shh shh, it's all right, Kirk," I muttered in his ear, awkwardly patting his back. I never thought I'd need to, but it really fucking sucks I can't comfort him any better than this. It was like this sour feeling in my chest that nestled in right next to my heart, whispering how awful I was at this and how he's probably mad at me for getting him into this situation.

Before I could ask him if he wanted to punt me out of a window, though, I heard some shuffling and talking coming from downstairs. James and Cliff were headed up here. As much as I wanted to hide for a week until my fuckin' "lesson" was up, I couldn't exactly drag Kirk into the hall closet in his current state, so I stood my ground.

"Hey, ladies, we do appreciate the service you've done our ugly ass friends, but could you keep the cat fight down until you've left the house?"

Ah, James, the man still didn't know how to talk to women after all this time. He was either too shy to form a sentence, or he put on this macho bravado that turned him into a drink asshole. Either way, this lady was not pleased.

By now I guess the guys had reached the landing Kirk and I were at and saw me hugging him, because Cliff chimed in, "Aww, they've made up! Good! Now, can I ask what exactly you two were telling about so loudly that it woke me and my boy James up? Did Lars do something?"

My back straightened at that, and I turned my head to him indignantly. "I did fucking not!" I retorted, even though apparently this whole situation was my fault. No need for them to know that, though.

"Holy shit, Lars!?!" James screamed.

I sighed. "Hi, Jamie."

----------

Chapter 2

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theholycovenantrpg · 3 years

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CONGRATULATIONS, ALI! YOU’VE BEEN ACCEPTED FOR THE ROLE OF ORIAS.

Admin Cas: Ugh, there’s so much I loved about your application, Ali. Orias is a tricky nut to crack, I think, because it would be easy to mistake their desire for worship as a desire for power, or their want of a legacy for sovereignty, but you didn’t. Their magic and incantations are such an important part of who they are — in fact, it’s the very essence of them — and you didn’t shy away from that. I think what particularly impressed me was the way that you weaved together all their separate motivations and related them to their status as the Vice of Greed: you said it best yourself, although Orias takes and takes and takes, they are also always building. I genuinely can’t wait to see what you do with our self-proclaimed False Prophet! Please create and send in your account, review the information on our CHECKLIST, and follow everyone on the FOLLOW LIST. Welcome to the Holy Land!

OUT OF CHARACTER

Alias | Ali.

Age | 23.

Personal Pronouns | She/her.

Activity Level | 5/10. I’m finishing up my last year of nursing school so there’s certainly days where I need to buckle down and focus. My lectures and clinical hours also happen to be quite long, so I’ll most likely pop up around the nighttime.

Timezone | EST.

Triggers | REMOVED.

How did you find the group? | It was whispered to me in my sleep (Rosey gave me a lil’ rec).

Current/Past RP Accounts | Insert ‘it’s been 84 years’ meme here.

IN CHARACTER

Character | Orias.

What future plots do you have in mind for the character? |

I. THOU CHOSE TO FEED THY DEMONS.

Greed, as fitting as it is, has made Orias insatiable above all else. Their heedful, yet steady rise to conquer a sense of blood-curdling worship, succession, and power is absolutely inevitable. Whether it’s by a cunning, violent force of hand or simply mere influence among distant, anguished wanderers, Orias has lived enough lives to know where they stand among a world full of futile creatures – or so they believe. I love the idea of Orias acknowledging the strength and power they hold between bared teeth and nimble fingertips. The idea of them feeding into that thought, turning a slight nose up at the inconsequentiality of their fellow demons, angels, and gifted mortals. In their own sense of the word, they are some sort of God and they’ll be gaped at as if they were one – whether you condemn the thought of their depraved divinity or not. I’m interested to explore how far their greed pushes them into believing they can modestly oversee all factions with the intent of enforcing the certainty of their future, heredity, dark sorcery, and lineage onto all beings. What will they give up in return for bleeding, unwavering worship? Will they ever be fully satiated? How callously will they tip toe the line of thunderous, earth-shattering power? Who will they decide to turn away from in the process – especially when no one is keeping a close eye on their every waking gesture? Will they succeed? Or will they fall just like Lucifer once had? Only time will tell.

II. THOU CHOSE INSATIABLE GREED ABOVE ALL ELSE.

When Lucifer had fallen from his own grace, Orias knew what they must do in order to continue their destiny, their succession, and everything in between. It took nearly little to no thought when they began to pry pieces of themself from the flesh of his skin – from the very carved bones of his ribs. You must carry on, as you were always meant to do, they thought. And that is exactly what they did, as they carried their invocations and prophecies under granite-grey feathers and silver veils. Now, don’t be so foolish. If Orias was able to look at the fall of Lucifer as a mere inconvenience to their overall plan, why would it not be the same for Damien?

I want to explore and test the idea of Orias’ loyalty to Damien (as well as the other Vices) for the sole fact that he is the Leader of the Vices. A title they do not believe he should be able to harness for as long as he lives – a title they believe could belong to them. To Judas. It is an idea that could potentially further ensure their destiny – a position that would bleed into the pages of their legacy, along with all of their ink-stained balms and primordial secrets. If woven correctly (and approved by Judas’ and Damien’s mun, as well as the admins), this could potentially be a piece to the puzzle of their character arc. In this, I would want to explore the probability of Orias gradually turning their back on Damien and the Vices as a whole. The manipulativeness behind their biting, eloquent syllables as they speak cunningly ill of his leadership to others. Perhaps Orias even convinces Judas that the two of them could rule in equal measure – that they could promise to take the Realm of Infernum to beautiful, earth-shattering heights and smother the idea of Damien’s iron-clad God complex (and maybe – just maybe Orias fucks over Judas in the process). And all but bone-achingly slow, Orias sinks Damien’s stature a little further. To get to this point, Orias knows that they must be weary of Abaddon, Judas, and Azazel – that they must study Damien and play the part of an abiding, loyal Vice, whether they’re able to execute the will of their leader or not. But alas, Orias awaits the vision that depicts his downfall – whether it is by their force of hand or not.

Overall, I want to ensure and promise adaptability on my end when plotting with other muns. I’m wholeheartedly open to changing/altering anything mentioned – I’m even more open to Orias failing miserably, considering how tightly woven Abaddon, Judas, Azazel, and Damien are. I’m very much just interested in developing and exploring their subtle ruthlessness, gilded serpent-like ways, and sheer manipulativeness behind all covetous actions – no matter the outcome.

III. THOU CHOSE WAVERING COMPANIONSHIP.

As much as they wield their witchcraft and gape at unexpecting, anguished wanderers for some sort of promised lineage in return, it rings true that Orias has never expected anything from Azazel. I would love to explore the overall theme of this dynamic considering that Orias has never really seemed to love anything at all – nor have they granted another being without a heavy price. To have a creature of Orias’ extent love you so deeply, so openly, so raw – it’s dangerous. I so badly want to tap into that side of them, even if it’s just for a quiet moment in time. You see all of the greed, the give-and-take, the tug-and-pull – but you never see the honest grit and rose-tinted tears that go into protecting someone so fiercely. For someone that is so used to taking without caution, how does this meld into everything they’ve ever known? Will their loyalty to each other face as a haunting barrier (I would love to explore the extent of their loyalty – perhaps even test how far they would be willing to go for each other considering Orias has never quite remained loyal to anything)? Would Orias’ biting love for Azazel take precedence over their desire for heredity? For a legacy? For worship and a nearly promised destiny? And if something ever happened to Azazel, would Orias burn everything to the ground? Or would they pry the shattered pieces of themself from her ribcage just like they had once done with Lucifer? And in retrospect, would they guard Azazel the same way if they knew she may not even be able to burn her very own kingdom for them?

I’m really so interested to see how Orias molds to this connection. The initial rise as they climb over clambered skeletons to reach a state of absolute influence and raw worship – will they bring Azazel along and respect her own vocations? Will they clutch onto the first creature that has made them feel full and so devoutly satiated? Or will they forget where their loyalties lie and extinguish the splintering fire that Azazel has pitted in their core?

Are you comfortable with killing off your character? | If it was detrimental to the flow of the plot then absolutely.

IN DEPTH

Driving Character Motivation | What motivates your character’s actions? How does it define them? Where does this motivation stem from?

It starts with Lucifer, clutches to Judas, sinks its bared teeth into the flesh of the Vices – but always ends with them. At large, there are a multitude of staples that contribute to Orias’ actions. As beautiful and as wickedly raw as they are, nothing that comes from their steady hand is sincere – and everything they offer the Holy Land is all but a mockery. Each passing conversation, each calculating glance, each faux notion – it’s all woven from the extenuating pillars they have built upon.

The entirety of their driving motivation seems to inhabit the notions of sacrilegious “greed”, divine “worship”, a bleeding sense of “power”, and a promised “lineage”. Whispered at the sky, the moon, and the stars, it is believed that this is all but what truly keeps the feathers of their wings stirring across the holiest of lands. Never their fellow creatures, never the Realm of Infernum, never any external force – but the outwardly prominent self-factors that dare to devour them whole.

Interestingly enough, I also believe that Orias is motivated by their abilities (the power they harness, the ability to receive something promising in exchange for it, etc.) – prognostications, incantations, the subtle but forceful touch of a wicked alchemist. They’re very much aware of their potential as the Original Witch and in turn, I think somewhat of a God complex, as well as festering greed, became a main driving force for them. It’s also no secret that Orias is convinced they’re meant to leave a blistering mark on everything they touch – and for a heavy price. Because if they weren’t, why would they be granted such heady capabilities?

To sum this absolute mess up, Orias was never brought into this world to want or need anything besides things that contributed to their own personal gain – worship (whether it’s honest or not), a molded destiny, and a warm body to carry all of their new rites and tomes (a very one-track mind if you will). So, these outright motivations, goals, desires – it all derived from their wants, their needs, their abilities and I truly believe that’s what makes them such an unwavering force (as well as extremely selfish).

Character Traits | OPTIONAL. Please list 3 positive traits and 3 negative traits that you identify in the character you’re applying for.

Positive – Calculating, Influential, Authoritative, Meticulous, Entrancing.

Negative – Insatiable, Patronizing, Egocentric, Despotic, Duplicitous.

In-Character Para Sample | There is no minimum or maximum word count to this para sample, but we do encourage that you highlight your character’s VOICE and MANNERISMS within it.

Macerating chaos. Outlying, starving howls that would bleed onto canvases for eons to come. The unrestrained syllables of Judas advising the rise. The uproar – the new age. But Orias heard nothing of it. Not even the unbridled rage that flooded past Lucifer’s lips, as the pillars he built upon began to deteriorate underneath his unsparing touch.

And despite the utter destruction that threatened to swallow them whole, Orias almost looked angelic against the ruins – because not all carnivores came in teeth and claws. Nor did the loss of such features extinguish their want for blood – for starving glory. There are carnivores that hunt in stillness, in elegance, and in false prophecies. They come in heavenly entities, spines exposed to the moon’s bridal-white burn in webs of elaborate lace, throats armored in a rib of emeralds gleaming wet with starlight, the moon cut down and born as moonstones, and strangling silk ties that pooled like opaque salt water.

There is distraction in their decadence and they are apart of the living breeds of predators that mask themselves in the distraction that innocuous beauty and debauchery allows – the drip of bleeding meat on the mouth dies out to rose-tinted lips, granite-grey wings and silver veils devouring all suspicion in its extravagant darkness.

Good. Let that be a warning.

Orias, whose frame was snug in translucent silk and drooping pearls, drifted over and neared the entirety of his putrescent stature. Their last encounter felt almost sincere but it was anything but. He gaped at them expectedly – as if they were meant to go to war for him. How foolish, they thought. But they’ll allow the sentiment to die with him and his kingdom.

Fingertips reached out to nimbly splay over the crescents of his jaw, their wings nearly caging them in – almost as if to protect the disingenuous moment from prying eyes. “Oh Lucifer.” Bared teeth. A hollowed coo. “You must have known this was your fate all along, no?” An unholy smile that did not quite reach the sable of their eyes. “It is best if you accept it.”

He clutched onto them. They recoiled in revulsion.

“Oh but you see, I cannot stay.” I am taking every piece with me.

Aching silence – accompanied by a tight-lipped plea and a knowing stare. But Orias did not flinch.

Instead, they removed themself from his demoralized hold, granite feathers spanning behind them in the process – as if they were mirroring the image of an eclipsed halo.

“May you find harmony with all you encounter.” A desolate hiss. A depraved leer. A vacant heart. And then they were gone.

And darkness followed soon after.

#accepted #accepted: orias

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 2 years

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A Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God

by William Mason

Morning Devotional for June 15th

We that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. - 2 Corinthians 5:4

It is a sore temptation, that saints of God in all ages have fallen under, that, upon a survey of the outward ease, pleasure, and prosperity of the ungodly, "they have called the proud happy,"- Malachi 3:15 -and under a sense of their inward groanings, burdens and sorrows, have been led to think, it is vain to serve God, and call in question his love to them and care for them. Such sentiments as these, at times exercise their minds: ’I called by grace! Is my soul quickened and made alive to God? have I fled to Jesus for refuge? am I a child of God by adoption, through the faith of Jesus? Surely it cannot be. Was it so, should I be thus plagued all the day, and chastened every morning? should I groan thus under oppression from Satan, tribulation from the world; and be thus burdened with the lusts of the flesh, and the carnal workings of corrupt nature? Surely if ever I have known any thing of Jesus in spirit and power, it is all come to an end: verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency to no purpose.’ Thus doth the subtle serpent artfully steal into the mind, and borrows the tongue of saints. But this is very injurious to the soul, as we see in the experience of the Psalmist, 73rd Psalm. And it is highly resented by our loving Lord and Saviour, as very dishonorable to him. (See Malachi 3:13).

Saints’ burdens are creature allotments; believers’ groans are Jesus’ concerns; children’s sorrows reach the Father’s heart; they are the lot of God’s people in every age. Prophets, apostles, martyrs, and confessors of Jesus, none exempt while in this tabernacle. Yea, they evidence the life of the soul: and also, under the Spirit’s influence, work for the profit of the soul. Hereby it is instructed in self-knowledge, so as to bow to the sovereignty of God in humility and dependence on Jesus. Prayer is excited, faith is called into exercise, God’s word is searched, promises are prized, exhortations become pleasant, carnal hopes are cut off, worldly joys become irksome, earth is less loved, and a sinful body groaned under, makes perfect freedom in glory longed for. O there is a blessed writ of ease and rest, issued out from the court of heaven! Soon it will be served upon us. Then, down tabernacle: up soul to the presence of thy Lord. Farewell groans. Welcome eternal triumphs. Here is a sweet portion of comfort; drink of the brook by the way, and lift up thy head; "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved." - Psalms 55:22.

Now let my Lord my Saviour smile, And shew his name upon my heart; I would forget my pains a while, And in the pleasure lose the smart.

O why, my soul, why these complaints? Still while he frowns his bowels move; Still on his heart he bears his saints. And feels their sorrows and his love.

#A Spiritual Treasury For The Children of God #devotional #William Mason #2 Corinthians 5:4 #morning #June 15 #2022

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jdgo51 · 1 year

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Thank God That I Am Not God

Today's inspiration comes from:

Depression, Anxiety, and Other Things We Don't Want to Talk About

by Ryan Casey Waller

"'Do you remember the scene in the movie Rudy when he’s trying to get accepted into Notre Dame but it's not looking good so he goes to a priest for some advice? The priest says that in thirty-five years of religious studies he’s only come up with two hard, incontrovertible facts: “There is a God. And I'm not Him.”

When I first saw the movie I thought that was the most pathetic answer ever. You're a priest and that's all you got? Come on, man.  Over the years, however, the priest’s answer has grown on me, because as I’ve grown in both years and spirit, I've discovered that one of the more challenging and comforting aspects of faith is the realization that I am not God.

Confessing I’m not God is challenging  because while I say I believe in God I mostly live as though I were God. I am the expert, I know what to do, I am the one upon whose shoulders rests success or failure. I choose what it is right and what is wrong based upon my education, my experience, and my gut.

My words say there is a God. My actions say that God is me.

Setting aside my ego to actually trust in God’s sovereignty is a daily struggle.

On the other hand, confessing I’m not God is wildly comforting each time my depression and anxiety rears its ugly head to torment my body and soul.

You see, I count myself among the 1 in 4 Americans who struggle with their mental health each and every year. There are days when I wake in the morning only to be met by an immediate and unprovoked ocean of anxiety flooding my brain.

Other days I wake and discover I have neither the desire or strength to get myself out of bed.  I did not choose to suffer these maladies nor did I do anything to bring them upon me. Rather, they are simply aspects to the reality that is my life.

"Thanks be to the God of all healing!"

— Ryan Casey Waller

Why do these harsh realities help me find comfort in the declaration that I am not God? Because in this admittance comes the realization that

I need not — nor can I — save myself.  So I thank God that I am not God.

But what, exactly, does that mean?

Can I pray the depression away? Can I attend enough church services to convince God to heal me? Can I increase my faith to the point where I’m so filled with the Holy Spirit that I transcend my suffering?

No.

And… no.

That’s not to say I don’t bring my depression to God in prayer or beg God for healing in my moments of pain. I do! What I don’t do is ignore the resources that God — the Ultimate Healer — has provided for healing.

For me, and many others who battle their mental health, that means availing myself to therapy, medication, and a strong support network of a trusted community.  For too long Christians have hyper-spiritualized mental illness by marginalizing these healing tools. As a result, countless children of God have suffered in ways that could have otherwise been otherwise.

We would never ask a believer to forgo chemotherapy for cancer or a diabetic to skip out on their daily injections of insulin.

Likewise, we must avoid the temptation to characterize issues of mental health as wholly spiritual issues. Instead, we need to acknowledge depression, anxiety, and other forms of psychological distress are every bit as bodily as any other form of disease.

Fortunately, we have a God who chooses to rescue us in our bodies with His own body. When God decided it was time for humanity to more fully understand His very nature, He chose to come in a body. It was in this body that He taught us, loved us, died for us, and rose again in power to redeem us. Of all people, Christians should be the first to embrace the idea that our deepest suffering need not wait to be relieved in the life to come but in the life that is here and now with the tools given to us by the here and now.

Gone are the days when mental illness was seen as a mysterious force that could only be treated by mysterious means. These days we know a great deal about how to help people think, feel, and act better.

We go to therapy. If appropriate, we take medication prescribed by trained physicians. We allow people we love to hear us, us love us, and normalize our pain.  If the body of Christ is to be truly serious about treating all the bodies that belong to Christ then we must not be afraid of the means by which these bodies find their healing.

Encouraging Christians to seek out the resources offered by the mental health community is not of minor importance but in many cases, quite literally, a matter of life and death. All of which brings me back to the wise old priest Rudy went to see.

I am not God, for which I say, “Thanks be to the God all healing!”'

Written for Devotionals by Ryan Casey Waller, author of Depression, Anxiety, and Other Things We Don’t Want to Talk About.

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banana-with-a-bow-tie · 4 years

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So i was trying to explain to another believer that christians should wear masks during the pandemic and he called me faithless because in psalms and deutronomy, it says God will protect us from disease. So i have the question, if God says he will protect us from diseases, why do we get sick?

God doesn’t promise that everyone who believes in Him will never get sick. That’s prosperity theology. It sounds to me like this person was taking some verses out of context. Every verse should be interpreted by understanding the surrounding passage, acknowledging to whom the passage is addressed and how they would have understood it, as well as understanding other passages in Scripture that inform that text. For example, the Psalms cover a lot of territory, but one psalm in particular gets bandied about a lot on this topic, namely Psalm 91. This Psalm ascribes praise to God for being our refuge and encourages His people to trust Him because He is looking out for us.

This does not give us license, however, to live recklessly and do whatever we want because we have a Psalm 91 life insurance policy. It’s funny, because in Matthew 4, Satan used this exact Psalm, which commands us to not be afraid because God is trustworthy, to tempt Jesus to jump off a building, effectively weaponizing God’s promises to make Him prove Himself. This passage is telling us about God’s sovereignty, that every protection, every comfort, every breath we have comes from Him, and one of the ways He keeps us breathing is through basic common sense.

Now whether or not anti-maskers are being reckless or not following common sense is a different conversation and beside the point. The point is we don’t get to decide how God fulfills his promises or how he takes care of us. He knows what’s best and we are called to rest in his care. That means being faithful and obedient, doing what we can with the resources God has provided and leaving the outcome up to Him, knowing that whatever happens is for our good and for His glory (Rom 8:28-29).

So in answer to your original question, we get sick sometimes because God loves us and is doing what is best for us. It’s not because we sinned or lacked faith and God is punishing us, it’s not because we did something stupid by leaving our house, it’s because God is working all things together to conform us to the image of Christ. You don’t have to fear getting corona because either God is going to keep you alive and healthy, or He is going to use it to help you grow into the person He wants you to be. (This is a helpful resource if you’re interested)

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frmartinshomiliesandreflections · 4 years

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15th August >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Luke 1:39-56 for The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary: ‘The Almighty has done great things for me’.

Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Luke 1:39-56

The Almighty has done great things for me

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

And Mary said:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.

Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,

for the Almighty has done great things for me.

Holy is his name,

and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

He has shown the power of his arm,

he has routed the proud of heart.

He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy

– according to the promise he made to our ancestors –

of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.

Gospel (USA)

Luke 1:39-56

The Almighty has done great things for me; he has raised up the lowly.

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

And Mary said:

“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

for he has looked upon his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his Name.

He has mercy on those who fear him

in every generation.

He has shown the strength of his arm,

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

He has cast down the mighty from their thrones

and has lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has come to the help of his servant Israel

for he remembered his promise of mercy,

the promise he made to our fathers,

to Abraham and his children for ever.”

Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

Reflections (6)

(i) Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We have had wonderfully sunny weather recently. For billions of years, the sun has been giving out massive amounts of light and heat, and will continue to do so for billions of years to come. How does it continue to generate all that energy? I don’t know enough about the science of the sun to answer that question with any clarity. In today’s first reading, there is a vision of a woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head as a crown. Statues of Our Lady often depict her standing on the moon, with a crown of stars on her head. The sun element of the vision, ‘adorned with the sun’, doesn’t feature very often. For the author the woman in question was probably a symbol of the church. The woman faced with a second sign, the huge red dragon, was a symbol of the church faced with the oppressive power of the Roman Empire that stood ready to devour the church’s children. However, from the earliest years, believers also understood the woman as a symbol of Mary who, according to the reading, gave birth to a son who was to rule all the nations. It is a glorious image of Mary which is very suited to today’s feast of the Assumption.

The dogma of the Assumption of Our Lady was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII in 1950. In making this proclamation, the Pope was making official what had been the belief of the church for centuries. From earliest times, believers understood that because Mary had a unique relationship with Jesus, she must also have a unique share in his glorious life. As her body carried the Lord in her womb, now her body, her whole embodied self, reigns with the Lord in glory in a unique way. In other words, from earliest days believers understood that Mary’s death was an extraordinary event, befitting an extraordinary person. Because she belonged to the Lord in a special way, she already enjoys the fullness of new life with him. In the words of Mary in today’s gospel reading, ‘the Almighty has done great things for me’.

Today’s feast is not just about Mary. It is about all of us. The great things that God has done for Mary God desires to do for us all. The transformation that Mary now enjoys is the hope of us all. In the words of today’s Preface, Mary is a ‘sign of sure hope’. As Paul says in today’s second reading, ‘all will be brought to life in Christ’. Mary may have belonged to the Lord in a unique way, but we all belong to the Lord through our faith. Our belonging to the Lord does not cease with death. We will continue to belong to him in eternity, as we come to share in his risen life. That is the hope which our faith gives us, and Mary’s glorious assumption nurtures that hope. As God has done great things for her, we look forward in hope to the great things that God will do for us.

Yet, God is already doing great things for us here and now. At the beginning of his letter to the Philippians, Paul expresses his confidence that God who ‘began a good work among you will bring it to completion’. God’s good work is ongoing, within us and among us. What is God working to do in our lives in the here and now? Just as Mary’s glorious assumption shows us the completion of God’s work, Mary’s earthly life shows us what the good work God wants to do in our lives here and now looks like. Reflecting on Mary’s earthly life shows us the good work that God wants to do for all of us.

If the first reading gives us a glimpse of Mary’s glorious life, the gospel reading gives us a glimpse of her earthly life. The scene comes just after Mary said ‘yes’ to God’s choice of her. God chose her and, in response, she chose God, she opened herself up to God’s purpose for her life. Through Jesus, God has chosen each one of us, and, like Mary, we are invited to choose God by choosing Jesus. Her ‘yes’ to God’s choice of her created a space for Jesus to live within her. She invites us to make a safe space for Jesus to live within us. Insofar as that happens, God’s good work will be accomplished in our lives. Making space for Jesus in her life inspired Mary to visit her cousin Elizabeth in her need. When we create a space for the Lord in our lives, he will inspire us to visit our loved ones in their need, and even to visit total strangers in their need. According to the gospel reading, Mary’s making space for Jesus to live within her inspired her to pray, to acknowledge God as the source of all that was good in her life. Making space for Jesus in our lives will inspire us to pray in the same way Mary prayed, acknowledging our dependence on God for all that is good. Mary’s earthly life and her glorious assumption reveals to us God’s good work in our earthly lives and the completion of that work beyond this earthly life.

And/Or

(ii) Feast of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary

The belief in Mary’s assumption body and soul into heaven had its origin in the popular faith of Christians from very earliest times. Christians could not believe that Mary’s body could decay after the unique role she played in sacred history. As today’s gospel shows, she carried in her womb the King of kings and Lord of lords, which is why Elizabeth could greet her as ‘the mother of my Lord’. From the moment of Jesus’ conception in her womb, Mary became the mother of the one who, in the words of today’s second reading, would do away with ‘every sovereignty, authority and power’. Because her body carried and nourished the Lord of all, the faithful came to believe that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven. Even though the dogma of Mary’s Assumption into heaven was only proclaimed in 1950, the Assumption had been taught in the church for centuries as a truth that emerged from the faith of the people. Mary’s assumption points to what we believe God will do for us. We believe that our whole person, body and soul, will be raised to a new existence which will be a sharing in the Lord’s own risen life. In the words of today’s second reading, ‘all will be brought to life in Christ’. Mary’s assumption proclaims our own ultimate destiny as believers, as well as God’s desire for all humanity. That is why, in the Preface of today’s Mass, we pray to God, ‘for today the Virgin Mother of God was assumed into heaven as the beginning and image of your Church’s coming to perfection and a sign of sure hope and comfort to your pilgrim people’.

As we travel on our earthly pilgrimage, we can look to Mary as the image of our ultimate perfection as members of the church, and, so, she is a sign of hope and comfort to us on our pilgrim way. There is a very close association between the ultimate destiny of Mary, which we celebrate today, and the ultimate destiny of the church, of each and every one of us. That is why the image in today’s first reading of the woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head, has been understood from the church’s earliest days as an image not only of Mary but also of the church, the community of believers.

May not only gives us hope about our ultimate destiny beyond this earthly life, but she also gives us hope in our struggle to live as the Lord’s disciples today. She speaks to our present life of faith as well as to our future life of glory. She shows us not only who we are to become in eternity but who we are called to be in this present time. In today’s gospel reading, Mary is portrayed as visiting her cousin Elizabeth in her need. She sets out on a journey to visit someone who needs her presence. We are told that she stayed with Elizabeth three months before returning home. She physically brought the Lord, who was in her womb, to Elizabeth, but, more fundamentally, she brought the Lord’s love to Elizabeth by setting out on this long journey of love. She shows us that our calling as the Lord’s disciples is to travel towards each other in love, and, in so doing, to bring the Lord to each other. Mary’s visit was a great blessing for Elizabeth. The gospel reading says that as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, she was ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’. Mary’s visit brought the Holy Spirit more fully to life within Elizabeth. There is a wonderful image here of our own calling. We are to be present to each other in ways that allow the Holy Spirit to come more fully to life in each other. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, because of the ways we are present to each other, we were all that little bit more ‘filled with the Holy Spirit’

Just as Mary’s way of being present to Elizabeth was a blessing for Elizabeth, so Elizabeth’s way of being present to Mary was a blessing for Mary. Because of the way Elizabeth received Mary’s visit, Mary’s heart was lifted in prayer. Elizabeth inspired Mary’s prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God. Again, wouldn’t it be wonderful if how we were present to each other somehow led to a deepening of each other’s prayer life. Mary’s prayer has become part of the official evening prayer of the church, but we can all pray her prayer at any time. It is a prayer that can give us hope in our struggle to live now as the Lord’s disciples. It speaks of a God who wants to do great things for all of us. If that is to happen, all God needs is something of Mary’s openness to God’s presence, something of her lowliness, her humble acknowledgement of her dependence on God. Mary sings of a God who can lift up such lowly people and who can satisfy their deepest hungers. Mary’s God is very much the God whom Jesus reveals by his life, death and resurrection. Such a God can keep us hopeful and joyful on our pilgrim way.

And/Or

(iii) Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We can all think of occasions when we went on a journey to visit friends or family members. If we were well received and welcomed, the visit did us good. We came away the better for the visit. We can also probably think of times when people visited us. If we received them in a welcoming way, they would have left in some way blessed and graced by their visit to us. When we visit someone or when someone visits us, something worthwhile can happen. The Lord can touch our lives.

Today’s gospel reading tells the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Luke describes a visit that left both the visitor, Mary, and the one visited, Elizabeth, greatly blessed. As a result of Mary’s visit, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of the way Elizabeth received Mary’s visit, Mary herself was filled with a spirit of prayer and praise, uttering her great prayer, the Magnificat, a prayer that Christians have made their own through the centuries.

In response to Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth addressed Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord’. She recognized that in welcoming Mary she was also welcoming the Lord whom Mary was carrying. Elizabeth was aware that the Lord himself was visiting her through Mary, and so she declared Mary blessed. That is why we too - all generations - declare Mary blessed, why we honour her. We recognize that it was through her that the Lord visited his people and, having visited them, remained with them until the end of time. We honour Mary because she was the gate through whom the Lord came to us. As the one though whom the Lord first came among us, Mary has a unique relationship with the Lord, and, because of that, she shares uniquely in her Son’s risen and glorious life. That is what we celebrate on this feast of the Assumption, Mary’s complete sharing in her Son’s triumph over death. In the words of today’s second reading, she has been brought to life in Christ. Like Christ, she has been raised body and soul to the glory of heaven.

However, this feast is not only about Mary. It is also about ourselves. What Mary has become, we hope to be. The great things that God has done for Mary is a pointer to the great things that God wants to do for all of us. We believe that God will raise us too, body and soul, to new life after our own death. The doctrine of Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven brings home to us that our bodies are destined to be gloriously changed after death. How this will be is utterly mysterious. We have tended to think of the soul and body as two separate things. At death, the soul leaves the body and dispenses with it, as it were. However, this is not the way that Jesus and his followers would have thought. For them, the soul and the body were distinct, but they were not separate. The body was understood as the material expression of the soul. In other words, when we look at someone’s body, we are looking at their soul in some sense. We often speak of the eyes being a window to the soul. As the soul expresses itself in a physical body in this life, we believe that the soul expresses itself in a glorious body in the next life, and that our future glorious body will have a very close relationship to our present physical body. We are only complete as soul and body, both in this life and in the next. In any life we must be both. For this reason we believe that the life that God gives us after death will be a life of soul and body.

This way of understanding the human person as embodied soul has important implications for our attitude to our bodies. At the very least, it must mean that our bodies are fundamentally good. God saw what he had made and it was good. Within the history of Christianity there have been heretical movements that took as their starting point a dislike and disgust of the human body, regarding the body, and material reality in general, as deeply flawed and even evil. Such an understanding is contrary to what we find in the Scriptures. St. Paul, for example, reminds the Corinthians that their bodies are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. If we believe that our bodies, as the expression of our souls, are destined to share in eternal glory, and that, because of baptism, they belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit in a special way, it follows that we must treat our bodies and those of others with the utmost respect and, even, reverence.

Today’s gospel reading tells us that Mary brought the Lord to Elizabeth in a very embodied way. She literally carried the Lord to Elizabeth in her body, in her womb. We too are called to embody the Lord, to allow the Lord to reveal himself to others in and through our bodies, and how we use them. The Word seeks to become flesh in us. Recognizing that the Lord comes among us in embodied ways also means that we will be concerned about the welfare of people’s bodies. When in today’s gospel reading Mary sings of God as one who exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, she acknowledges God as one who is deeply concerned about people’s bodies, about their physical well-being. Today’s feast calls on us to make that concern of God our own, and to give expression to God’s concern in practical ways. One way we are invited to do that this weekend is by contributing to the special collection for the people of Darfur in Sudan that replaces the Share collection at all the Masses.

And/Or

(iv) Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We have all experienced, to some degree, the value of visiting others or being visited by them. We can probably think of times when we went on a journey to visit friends or family members. Such visits generally do us good. We come away the better for having made the visit. We might also be able to remember occasions when friends, neighbours, family paid us a visit and, again, we experienced it as a blessing.

In today’s gospel reading we hear the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Luke describes a visit that left both the visitor and the one visited greatly blessed. As a result of Mary’s visit Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and because of the way Mary’s visit was received by Elizabeth, Mary herself was filled with the spirit of prayer and praise, the Holy Spirit. Luke describes a visit that was truly life-giving for both women.

Elizabeth addresses Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord’. She recognized that in welcoming Mary she was welcoming the Lord whom Mary was carrying. Elizabeth was aware that the Lord was visiting her through Mary, and so she declared Mary blessed. That is why we too honour Mary. We recognize that it was through her that the Lord visited us. Later on in Luke’s gospel the crowds come to say of the adult Jesus, ‘God has visited his people’. The really significant visitation is God’s visiting us in the person of Jesus, and it was through Mary that this visitation came about. It was through this woman of Nazareth that the Lord visited his people and having visited us remains with us until the end of time. The first reading today speaks of the woman who brought into the world the son who was to rule all nations. We honour Mary because she was the gate through whom the Lord came to us. That is why, as she sings in her Magnificat, all generations have called her blessed.

Because she is the gate through whom the Lord first came to us, Mary has a unique relationship with the Lord. It is because of that special relationship with the Lord that she shares uniquely in his risen and glorious life. That is what we celebrate today on this feast of the Assumption. We celebrate Mary’s complete sharing in her Son’s triumph over death. In the words of Paul, in today’s second reading, she has been brought to life in Christ because she belongs to him in a special way.

What Mary has become, we hope to be. The great things that God has done for Mary is a pointer to the great things that God wants to do for all of us. She is, therefore, a sign of hope for us on ‘our pilgrim way’, as today’s Preface puts it. Mary’s life also indicates how we are to travel that pilgrim way. Like her, we are called to be channels of the Lord’s visitation to others. As Mary brought the Lord to Elizabeth, and to all of us, we are called to bring the Lord to each other, so that those who meet us might come to say, ‘The Lord has visited his people’. This is the best way to honour Mary and how she would want to be honoured. If we honour Mary in this way, we can be assured that, at the end of our pilgrim journey, the Lord will honour us as he honoured her. He will do the same great things for us that he has done for her. Like her, we too will come to share fully in Christ’s risen life.

And/Or

(v) Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

We can all think of occasions when we went on a journey to visit friends or family members. If we were well received and welcomed, the visit did us good. We came away the better for the visit. We can also probably think of times when people visited us. If we received them in a welcoming way, they would have departed blessed and graced by their visit to us. When we visit someone or when someone visits us, something worthwhile can happen. The Lord can touch our lives.

Today’s gospel reading tells the story of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Luke describes a visit that left both the visitor, Mary, and the one visited, Elizabeth, greatly blessed. As a result of Mary’s visit, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Because of the way Elizabeth received Mary’s visit, Mary herself was filled with the Spirit of prayer and praise that found expression in her great prayer, the Magnificat.

In response to Mary’s greeting of Elizabeth, Elizabeth addressed Mary as ‘the mother of my Lord’. She recognized that in welcoming Mary she was also welcoming the Lord whom Mary was carrying. Elizabeth was aware that the Lord himself was visiting her through Mary, and so she declared Mary blessed. That is why we too declare Mary blessed. We honour Mary because we recognize her as the one through whom the Lord came to us. As the human being though whom the Lord first visited us and came among us, Mary has a unique relationship with the Lord, and, because of that unique relationship, she shares uniquely in her Son’s risen and glorious life. That is what we celebrate on this feast of the Assumption, Mary’s complete sharing in her Son’s triumph over death. In the words of today’s second reading, she has been brought to life in Christ. Like Christ, she has been raised body and soul to the glory of heaven.

This feast is not only about Mary. It is also about ourselves. What Mary has become, we hope to be. The great things that God has done for Mary is a pointer to the great things that God wants to do for all of us. We believe that God will raise us too, body and soul, to new life after our own death. The doctrine of Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven brings home to us that our bodies are destined to be gloriously changed after death. How this will happen is utterly mysterious. We have tended to think of the soul and body as two separate things. At death, the soul leaves the body and dispenses with it, as it were. However, this is not the way that Jesus and his followers would have thought. For them, the soul and the body were distinct, but they were not separate. The body was understood as the material expression of the soul. In other words, when we look at someone’s body, we are looking at their soul in some sense. We often speak of the eyes being a window to the soul. As the soul expresses itself in a physical body in this life, it is the faith of the church that the soul will expresses itself in a glorious body in the next life, and that our future glorious body will have a very close relationship to our present physical body. We are only complete as soul and body, both in this life and in the next.

This way of understanding the human person as embodied soul has important implications for our attitude to our bodies. At the very least, it must mean that our bodies are fundamentally good. God saw what he had made and it was good. Within the history of Christianity there have been heretical movements that took as their starting point a dislike and disgust of the human body, regarding the body, and material reality in general, as deeply flawed and even evil. Such an understanding is contrary to what we find in the Scriptures. St. Paul, for example, reminds us that our bodies are members of Christ and temples of the Holy Spirit. If we believe that, through baptism our bodies belong to Christ and the Holy Spirit in a special way and that they are destined to share in eternal glory, it follows that we must treat our bodies and those of others with the utmost respect and, even, reverence.

Today’s gospel reading tells us that Mary brought the Lord to Elizabeth in an embodied way. She literally carried the Lord to Elizabeth in her body, in her womb. We too are called to embody the Lord, to allow the Lord to reveal himself to others in and through our bodies and how we use them. The Word who became flesh in Mary’s womb now seeks to become flesh in all of us who are members of Christ’s body, the church. Recognizing that the Lord comes among us in embodied ways inspires us to be concerned about the welfare of people’s bodies. When in today’s gospel reading Mary sings of God as one who exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, she acknowledges God as one who is deeply concerned about people’s bodies, about their physical well-being. Today’s feast calls on us to make that concern of God our own, and to give expression to God’s concern in the way we relate to others, especially to those who are broken in body or spirit.

And/Or

(vi) The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Dragons are the stuff of children’s folk tales. They are there to be slain by the hero of the story. We find a dragon in the first reading for today’s feast, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns. The reading is taken from the Book of Revelation, a book full of vivid images and symbols. In this book the red dragon is a symbol of the Roman Empire; the seven heads of the dragon are suggestive of the seven hills of Rome. Over and against that very negative and destructive symbol or sign there is the other sign of a woman adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. This woman seems to be a symbol of the church. She gives birth to a child, the Messiah, whom the dragon wishes to devour as soon as it is born. This deadly conflict between the red dragon and the woman is the author’s way of giving expression to the conflict between the Roman Empire and the church at the time the book was written, especially in the Roman province of Asia to which the book is addressed, corresponding to the western part of modern day Turkey. Towards the end of the first century there was pressure on all inhabitants of the cities in that part of the Empire to take part in the worship of the Emperor. Those who failed to do risked hostility and even martyrdom. In that context the reading proclaims that the members of the church will be preserved from ultimate harm. The woman, the church, will be taken into the desert where God has made a place of safety ready. In the deadly conflict that is underway, the readers are being assured that the victory has already been won through the death and resurrection of Christ. He has triumphed over the powers of evil and death and they already share in that victory.

That brings us to today’s feast, the feast of the Assumption. Today’s celebrates the good news that Mary has come to share fully in Christ’s victory over sin and death. That is why the image of the woman in the reading has been understood from the earliest centuries of the church as an image of Mary in her risen glory, sharing fully in the risen glory of her Son. Today’s feast points us towards the mystery of the resurrection. On this feast of the Assumption we look to Mary as one who has been fully conformed to the image of her risen Son. We see in her our own eternal destiny. Our own sharing in the resurrection of Jesus begins at our baptism; we are baptized into Christ’s risen life. Baptism calls us to live this risen life here and now in preparation for that moment when we will live it to the full in eternity. Mary shows us our ultimate destiny, but she also shows us how to journey there. She shows us how to live our risen life here and now. The gospel reading for today’s feast features Mary as a young woman from the village of Nazareth still pregnant with her child, Jesus. Mary is portrayed there as a young woman who sets out on a journey of care. She wants to be with her older cousin Elizabeth so as to support her in her own pregnancy. Her journey is one we are all called to make as disciples of Jesus. Whenever we journey towards those who are vulnerable and in need we are giving expression in our lives to Mary’s visitation. When Mary arrived to Elizabeth and greeted her, her greeting caused the Spirit of God to stir within Elizabeth. Here again Mary models for us what it is to live the risen life of the Lord into which we have been baptized. We are to be present to others in ways that causes the Holy Spirit to stir within them. Mary’s loving way of being present to Elizabeth and to others was rooted ultimately in her faith. Elizabeth declares Mary blessed because she believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled. She received God’s word of promise and in spite of some initial confusion she went on to trust that word completely. Again she models for us how to live our risen life here and now. Like here we are to take the Lord at this word; we are to entrust ourselves fully to that word and allow it to shape our lives. Saint Paul in one of his letters speaks about faith working through love. Mary’s faith found expression in love, a love that was life-giving for others. She models for us authentic faith. Her faith also found expression in prayer. According to our gospel reading, when Elizabeth declared Mary blessed Mary immediately deflected that blessing onto God; she acknowledged God as the source of her blessing, ‘the Almighty has done great things for me’. Her prayer is all about God, not about herself. She praises God for what God has done and is doing. Her prayer is a lesson in prayer for us all. Today, on this feast of the Assumption we celebrate Mary’s assumption as the ultimate goal of our earthly journey. We also celebrate her as the pilgrim who shows us how to journey towards that destiny.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

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kakuzuisabigidiotwholoveshidan · 5 years

Link

Summary: The god of pain and the god of money fight over their sovereignty in a hospital room.

Rating: Teens and Up

Pairing: Kakuzu/Hidan

You can read the fic on AO3 or under the cut!

For eons, pain has been the driving force of life. Every living being knew pain and every living being did all it possible could to avoid it. But sooner or later, Hidan caught them all. He loved the game, loved the chase, the spike of adrenaline and the quickening heartbeat when he finally materialized in their presence.

So maybe it came as no surprise that the gods of comfort, well-being and happiness all hated him – most gods did. He hurt their beloved creatures, stifled growth, interrupted the systems they were all so keen on protecting. Hidan’s arrival meant something was wrong, terribly wrong, and gods, especially old gods, did not like being disturbed.

Even death disliked him. All people wished for was for him to come alone, without Hidan. But more often than not, the two of them were inseparable, the mention of one made humans immediately think of the other and sometimes, when Hidan had been there long enough, they begged for his companion to arrive as well.

Life – life was difficult. She liked him way more than she led on, was grateful for his presence when he allowed her to continue her work, allowed her to ward off her relentless twin by reminding humans of her value. Hidan might be as annoying and as loud as a smoke detector and just as hard to ignore, but he saved endlessly more lives.

As much as the other gods disliked him, he was one of the old ones. Maybe not an ancient one, like stone and heat, but not far behind. Definitely much, much older than Kakuzu. Kakuzu was a man-made god, a second-tier being fully dependent on the concept of civilization to survive. Pathetic. Utterly useless.

Which was why he found it hard to accept that the god of money was currently looming over him, taller and broader and stronger than the god of pain. Dark and unyielding, legs rooted firmly to the ground, he appeared reliable and stable, stable enough to count on, especially in contrast to Hidan’s wavering form in front of him, flicking in and out of existence in time with the rhythmical beeping of the heart monitor in the room.

But Hidan knew better. Knew of Kakuzu’s fickle nature, his erratic temper, subjugated to fluxes and waves. Instable and insatiable, he was only worth as much as humans believed he was worth. He had to listen to their every whim – although Hidan had to admit that Kakuzu had done an admirable job at obscuring this fact in the last centuries, inverting the power imbalance in his relationship with those sickening creatures.

“You’re such a pain in the ass,” he grumbled. Every so often, his body turned translucent, even vanishing from the room for a few fleeting moments, only to return with the same angry glare as before.

The tall figure before him emitted a low chuckle.

“What?” Hidan snapped, irritated.

“Don’t you see the irony in that sentence? You don’t even know what pain feels like.”

The god of pain scoffed. “I know pain. I understand it intimately. In all its shapes and colors and disguises.”

Kakuzu shook his head slowly. “You know it. You don’t feel it. Not like we do.”

Hidan flinched, his mind racing back to love punching him in the face, tears streaming down their face as they screamed at him that he didn’t know what damage he was causing, couldn’t possibly know, would never know, not as they did. It was an uncomfortable memory.

“You think you’re tough shit just because the filthy humans are already treating you like a god without even knowing that you actually are one,” the god of pain spit.

“But you know what? They will die. They will get too greedy and they will fight and they will die. And you will die with them. Nobody will be around to remember you. Or use you. Or understand you.”

Kakuzu shrugged, unfaced. “Even hell runs on money.”

“It runs on pain and you know it,” Hidan countered.

Ever since the privatization of hospitals, their spheres of influence had started to overlap immensely and Hidan had to look at that ugly mug more and more often. That horrifying, disfigured mug that grew more monstrous every day. He still remembered a young Kakuzu from a few millennials ago, a sweet, curious deity with shining eyes, still amazed by the things he could do, and his heart did something it was not supposed to do.

“Her family paid for her treatment. Your reign here is over,” Kakuzu proclaimed.

Hidan bared his teeth, seething, knowing full well that he would not be able to overpower the god of money right now, but unwilling to admit it.

“If I’m strong enough, they will give as much of you away as they can just to make me stop,” he hissed.

“They will also go through excruciating amounts of you just to get to me,” Kakuzu countered.

The impertinence! Clenching his hands, the god of pain wanted nothing more than to bury his fist in that strong, ugly jaw and wipe the smirk of that handsome, hideous face. Kakuzu would feel the impact – he wouldn’t.

“Greedy bastard.”

Gritting his teeth, Hidan slowly extracted his essence from the hospital room. Another loss.

At some point in the future, money would die a painful death and Hidan would be there, watching Kakuzu fade from this realm, ignoring the piercing sensation in his chest that had never been there before and that he should not be able to feel.

#hidan #kakuzu #kakuhida #hidakaku #gods au #my writing #let me know what you think!#bingo prompt #godforsaken

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they-are-not-just-stories · 6 years

Text

Imagine:

A/N: Second part to this imagine! Enjoy! @talinalani @venitia89

You sat on the windowsill of your room. Gazing out into the vast array of the lands of Asgard. You didn’t know why it bothered you so much. To show the God of Mischief your vulnerability. You were used to it by now, but this was different.

You hear a slight click from the entrance of your room and flick your head to see who it is. Loki.

“What do you want?” You spat at him.

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior...I-I didn’t know.”

“Why should you? You God’s are so self involved you don’t give damn about anyone else.” You turned away from him and went back to looking out the window. You didn’t want to listen to his lame excuse for an apology. They were all the same, that’s what got you here in the first place.

The footsteps approaching next to you caused you to tense up. You weren’t afraid of him, but you weren’t comfortable either. You could feel his curiosity though, he wanted to know more and why you weren’t like the other’s. But were you ready to let him in?

“Y/N...I understand if you don’t want to talk now, but I have to ask...what happened?” He was met with silence. You didn’t know how to tell him that it was people like him that took everything from you. That is was the selfish attitude of his kind that brought you nothing but pain. He wouldn’t understand if he tried, but a voice in the back of your head told you that you should try anyway. You took a deep breath, not knowing what to even say first, but the band-aid has to come off.

“I was 6. I didn’t really know what was going to happen just that I was desperate to do something. My father was an absentee and my mother was there, but not really. I was just starting to understand my abilities, but I was alone. When my mother was out one night she met a man. The first time I saw him I knew I didn’t like him, I knew he was something that I couldn’t feel safe around, but I had no choice. It was fine for a while, but then it got bad when he came home drunk. He kept saying these awful things and there was so much yelling, I was....” You started to cry and your heart ached from the painful memories. Loki kept his distance wanting to know more, but was patient enough to let you take your time.

“I couldn’t control it, not really” You continued. “I ended up hurting them so badly the doctors didn’t know if they would make it. They had never seen something like that before. I watched them in there hospitals beds, black veins decorating their bodies, their hearts barely pumping. At six years old you wouldn’t expect me to believe in much after all of that, but something I heard at school gave me just a shred of hope, and after all that I didn’t really have more to lose.” Loki’s heart dropped at that. You were so fragile, but also strong. Why should anything bad happen to someone like you? “So I prayed to a God. A God like you.” He looked at you with surprise. He was starting to realize what this was about, but he stayed silent to listen to you.

“I wasn’t really sure what was happening and I definitely wasn’t sure if it would work, but the next day it did. They were ok, I was ok. It was ok again for a while and I had tried to control whatever this is inside me, but I always had to hide it. But one day I was practicing in the woods, that’s when he encountered me. He made a deal with me that for the safety of my family, I would have to take different lives to exchange them. I told him no, that I can’t take lives to save lives, but he wasn’t gonna take that for an answer. He sent me somewhere I didn’t know and in order to escape I had to take every life he commanded of me or he would kill my family. But that wasn’t enough. Battle after battle. Thousands of lives were lost, and soon my family too. Everything I did was for nothing because I didn’t appease a selfish God! The evil I had done to save the people I love from myself wasn’t enough for people like you! What is it with your kind? Huh?! Thinking because we don’t have power and sovereignty like you that we aren’t worthy of happiness or safety?” You wiped the hot anger from your cheeks. Standing up to spit your hate in his face. You watched him as he shrunk back unable to defend himself because he knew you were right.

Loki didn’t know. He knew there were God’s out there that all they enjoy is to trick humans for their own gain, that was what he did most times too. He was the God of Mischief, but what Y/N went through, that is something he wouldn’t wish on anyone and it hurt him that it had happened to you. Loki watched as you walked back to the window to cool down. He wanted to fix it, but it was too late. He could only hope your family was in Valhalla.

“Y/N. I understand your anger. I cannot begin to know what you went through, at such a young age. But I am here now. And I wan- I need you to know that I will do everything to help you. I know that you can’t trust me and I understand that. But I know you’ve met my brother, and you like him. He’s compassionate and funny, strong and loyal. I see how easy you are with him. That doesn’t fix what happened, but it’s a start.” He stood next to you again. You could feel his calm presence. You did like Thor. And he was a God and you started to trust him. What happened, happened. And having Loki here now telling you it was ok and he would help, that’s all you wanted. He was a God, but he made himself humble and was telling you he was willing to serve you, a human.

You turned your head to him, wiping the last of your tears. You gave him a weak smile and scooting so he would sit with you.

“I’m sorry I got angry with you, it’s jus-”

“No. Don’t. I understand. Don’t ever apologize. Not to me.”

“Thank you for being here. I don’t tell many people you know. You would be the first. Loki, I can’t trust you for what you are, but you haven’t given me a reason not to like you. But thank you for being here. Yes I do like Thor, but the moment I met you, there was a part of me I saw in you. I just hope I won’t be a fool to believe in it this time to be some kind of saving grace.” Averting his eyes, you hoped that things could be different. You like Loki, there was something alluring about him, but you couldn’t let yourself get too far. Not again. He took your hand in his, the contrasting temperatures startled you a bit. You slowly looked up into those icy blue eyes.

“Sometimes belief is the beginning to something great. And it would be my honor to give that to you Lady Y/N.” He bent down to kiss your hand. You blushed a little. Maybe he’s different, but part of you still held back, but you had to let yourself heal. Two broken people, could do more help than people who never knew how beautiful a painful memory could make you.

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