GUYS

ITS HIM

HES RIGHT THERE

09/29/2023

Happy (almost) feast day of the most remarkably unremarkable saint!  St. Thérèse of Lisieux comics all October long!

___

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first repost I've done for Tomics (Tomics Resurrections don't count; get a life).  It was first posted last year, but there was an error in the original.  Like dear Thérèse, I am, by nature, a proud and sensitive soul, so I suffered greatly from this humiliation.  Thus, I resolved to repost the corrected version THIS year, along with a month of St. Thérèse cartoons to make up for my failure.  I just listened to "Story of a Soul" to prepare, and I think I'm ready.  Pray for me, for if I err again, my heart may collapse. JOKE-OGRAPHY: Also known as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, she was a stubborn, emotional little girl who led a surprisingly normal life.  Inspired by her older sisters, she entered a convent earlier than was usually allowed.  She died young of tuberculosis, but during her short life, she grew remarkably humble and wise.  Her dedication to showing love in the smallest details of everyday life has led some to say that she -- more than many lofty theologians -- rediscovered the Gospel, and in the simplest way.

Peace be with you!

Every time we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we proclaim the Good News of His Resurrection. While the month of April is devoted to the Holy Eucharist, and while the National Eucharistic Congress is ongoing, we invite you to join us for an online retreat on the gift of the Eucharist:

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The Lord invites us and urges us to receive him in the Eucharist.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:51)

When we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, he transforms us. He helps us so that we can receive more and more the gift, the graces and the love of the Father.

He makes a gift of Himself and invites us to also offer what we have back to Him.

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There were so many awesome moments during the retreat I had, but one that really stood out to me was near the end of Benediction. We were allowed to go to the Communion rail to kneel down. Our priest came over to each of us for a minute holding the monstrance with the Eucharist right up close to our faces. We were allowed to touch the garment held between the monstrance and hands of the priest, a symbol of the woman who reached out to touch the garment on Jesus because she had faith that Jesus could heal her bleeding. After all that I had personally experienced that day, to have that happen, I didn’t want to shut my eyes looking upward. I stared at our Lord in awe. He was right there truly present, only a a few inches from my face. ‘Here I am my Lord and my God’, I thought as my eyes -unblinking- teared up happily, gently holding the garment. I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life. It felt like time stood still. I didn’t want it to end.

being catholic is sliding notes under the connecting door to the boys in the room beside you when the door is completely locked because you think they’re cute

Confirmation or Child Wedding

an Anonymous Contribution

I just played music at what I hope is my last Confirmation mass. And for all the Catholics and ex-Catholics not talking about it, Confirmation mass is a strange fucking phenomenon, right? Though I could go on for hours, I just want to bring up one thing. 

Confirmation mass feels a lot like a cultish child wedding. From the girls’ perspective specifically. 

A group of thirteen-year-old girls, all in pure white dresses. An older man anoints their heads with oil while touching their faces. Two of these girls bring baskets of fruit to the altar during the preparation of the gifts (it’s giving… dowry). They commit their lives to a man (the cult leader himself) whose teachings they are not to question, and at whose feet they are told to worship. All wrapped up in a coming of age ritual. 

***

Years ago on a Confirmation retreat, I was assigned the “girl’s talk”. For those who don’t know, the girl’s talk will almost always involve some kind of message regarding the importance of virginity and otherwise moral purity for Catholic girls. But in an attempt to avoid this topic (partly because I was tired of it and partly because I genuinely liked sex and didn’t feel like lying), I thought I would give a whole presentation comparing their upcoming Confirmation to a big white wedding. 

All the aesthetic parts of a wedding were there: the church, the flowers, the white dresses. But thematically, I feel my presentation got away from me. In my Catholic delusion, I implied that - at the end of the big wedding-y Confirmation mass, their “spouse” would be God. I, of all people, was telling a bunch of teenage girls to marry God. I was only four or so years older than most of these girls, and I cringe to think of how weird and misled my girl’s talk was. That is, if they even remembered it. At this point, I myself have repressed most of the nonsense I spewed in my time as a youth leader. But I remember very keenly one thing I said during this girl’s talk:

“You don’t have to find a man who loves you so much he would die for you. Because I know one who already did.”

I literally want to throw up just reading that. It’s certainly a compelling line, and I remember it sticking with a lot of people. But that’s the power of organized religion. It artificially inseminates people - sinful, flawed people like myself - with the power to say pretty much whatever they want. We’re all sinful and flawed, so why was I up on a stage propagating purity and devotion when I could have been reassuring these girls that sin and flaw don’t make them bad people? This seems to be a recurring theme in Catholicism: having every opportunity to relate and connect with one another in our innate human faults, and instead leveraging that moment to bring guilt and insecurity upon others. 

If I could go back and give that talk again, I would keep the first half of what I said and probably scrap everything else. You don’t have to find a man who loves you so much he would die for you. Find yourself. You’re sixteen. Your Confirmation will not and should not be like a wedding. It will be crowded and long and forgettable. And you will not marry God. I’m embarrassed to think that I was so far up the church’s ass that the best, most prized celebration I could think of for a girl was a wedding. 

I remember wondering, as I was talking and talking on that retreat, if I was even making sense. But I was so turned on by my own conviction that I didn’t even stop to check if I believed what I was saying. I hope those girls I was preaching to are smarter than I was, that they stop to check if they believe what they’re saying. I hope they see themselves as more than lost brides. And I hope they find themselves, whether that involves faith or not. 

I’m tired of not talking about the archaic traditions that the church still practices and upholds. Sure, there is power in tradition and ritual, but at what cost.

Love how Catholics are just obsessed with suffering, like yes you child please oh please kill yourself for Jesus please be a martyr it’s so awesome and cool all the other kids are doing it🥺🥺🥺

sharing a hotel room w 3 people im barely acquainted with . augh .

meanwhile in austria

adoration views at school <3

Man I had a c*tholic get mad at me today because I said I would never forgive the church for what it did to me and my family/friends, and its enabled position in the abuse of children/participation in conversion therapy when THEY ASKED ME to expand on why I left lmao you asked!!!! Now we're both having a bad time

09/30/2022

Happy (almost) feast day of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the most remarkably unremarkable saint!

___

JOKE-OGRAPHY: Also known as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, she's another young female saint, but unlike some of the others I've done cartoons about, she didn't torture herself, fast herself to death, or get murdered for her beliefs.  Apparently, Thérèse led a very normal life, though she died young of tuberculosis.  She was an emotional little girl who was eventually inspired to join a convent, and while she was much younger than was normally allowed, her persistence got her accepted.  Her dedication to showing love in the smallest details of everyday life has led some to say that she, more than many lofty theologians, rediscovered the Gospel, and in the simplest way.

Peace be with you!

Pope Benedict XVI said that Lent is like a retreat during which we can more closely listen to the voice of God. 

As Lent approaches, we invite you to join us for the Pray More Lenten Retreat where we will help you do just that!

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The Pray More Lenten Retreat will be just like an in-person retreat that you can experience at home -- anywhere, anytime. 

It's an online retreat. If you sign up, you'll hear from four speakers, each of them giving a few video presentations that will help you be more dedicated to prayer in your everyday life this Lent -- and onward. :)

You'll also receive a transcript of their talks along with reflective study guides for each.

And, you will be able to download the presentations so you can listen to them anywhere. 

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All of the materials will be released on Wednesday, February 14th, the first day of Lent. That's just weeks away!

We hope they will help you to prepare to commemorate the Lord's Passion, death, and the celebration of His Resurrection at Easter. 

God bless you!

John-Paul & Annie - PrayMoreNovenas.com

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speaking of catholicism and being weird about it. i remember when i was 8-10 i scammed a catholic studies club for two years, because if you joined it you'd get a box full of gifts at the end of each year and it was full of stuff we couldn't afford at the time, ranging from toys to stuff i needed for school and even household items, so what i did was i went to that club twice a year (once for each semester) so they couldn't kick me out because i DID participate, i never did my homework and every time the club leader (teacher) asked me a question the best answer you'd get from me was "huh?"

P.S. the teacher didn't like me obviously but like, no one liked her either, even her son i think. he moved from our small village in eastern europe to US and the speed of his instagram changing from being unused to being full of pictures of hot women and alcohol is almost so impressive that i didn't believe it was a guy who used to be called an egg because of the way his mom stiled his hair and clothes in school.

well damn that sounds like a great and effective plan. i should've been doing that as a kid instead of learning bible stories unironically and raising my hand for every question during our church's version of sunday school. i didn't even get toys for it

me: omg theres a street in zgz named balaguer? how cool🥺

i look closer and its for fucking escrivá de balaguer😐