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Azriel x Eris
because we love an angry fuck and a smug asshole. commissioned by Acourtofari and the Council of Azris bless 🙏
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FFXIVWrite Day 6 - Ring
This gave me Dragonsong War thoughts, and this is a scene I've actually wanted to write out for awhile. Twintania, sorry your mom has decided to stay in jail.
Don’t know my characters? Here’s a basic breakdown to help you out!
~
Following Midgardsormr’s directions, Kito carefully crossed the the latest island on Azys Lla. He didn’t know what he was expecting to see, but he knew it the moment he saw it. Or rather her, for a deep green great wyrm sat ahead of him bound in Allagan chains.
At the very same moment he gasped, a voice cried out in his mind causing him to stumble.
Mother!
Kito had almost forgotten about Twintania. He’d freed the ancient wyvern from allagan control, but his poorly channeled magic has caused their souls to bind together. She had immediately expressed her distaste at the situation and disappeared, sequestering herself in her own corner of their shared mind space, only offering the occasional remark on the Dragonsong War. Mostly to call Kito’s quest to end it futile.
The sight of the great wyrm had drawn Twintania’s attention though, and for the first time since they’d met her feelings were exposed to him. A chaotic mix of worry and anger that wasn’t his own swirled into Kito’s mind so intensely it took him a moment to separate out his own thoughts.
He hadn’t realized until this moment, but Twintania was actually nearby. Even as he approached the bound wyrm, the ancient wyvern came soaring up from beneath the island to land nearby.
“You were here?” he asked her.
She did not answer out loud, but rather projected her thoughts to him again.
I told thee after the death of Nidhogg. I have been watching thee. Thy words may yet be more than idle hope if thou canst withstand thy final trial.
Out loud, this wasn’t acknowledged at all. Instead Twintania cried out to the green dragon in Dravanian.
“Mother! Canst thou not break thy chains? Thy children still soar these skies without purpose, awaiting thy call!”
The great wyrm - Tiamat, Kito somehow knew without knowing - stared at the two of them for a long moment.
“Twintania, my child…” Tiamat mused.
Before she could finish whatever thought she had, Midgardsormr revealed himself as well, pulling Tiamat’s attention entirely.
“Father? Can it truly be you?” she asked in surprise, looking at the tiny form the father of dragons had taken.
“None other. My form is such that I might journey with Hydaelyn’s chosen. A mortal who desireth to end the war between man and dragon” Midgardsormr assured her.
“A fool’s errand” Twintania grumbled, pointedly looking away.
But Tiamat mused on the idea, mulling over the tragedy of how they still fought so long after her war with Allag. Resolved, the great wyrm decided to tell her tale. And so she told Kito the tale of dragonkind. How Migardsormr had crossed the great expanse with only his seven eggs. How her and the six other great wyrms would hatch from those eggs and spread out across the world. How she and Bahamut had settled south in Meracydia, and had their own brood.
“Of which I am one of the eldest remaining” Twintania offered.
Kito wasn’t sure if she’d decided to join out of a genuine desire to tell him, or out of respect for the older dragons with them.
The story continued into the war against Allag, how Bahamut was slain along with thousands of their children. Memories from Twintania’s mind flashed unbidden into Kito’s thoughts, moments full of violence and bloodshed, moments where dragons fell from the sky never to fly again.
And of course, the summoning of the elder primal in Bahamut’s image. Summoned by a grief stricken Tiamat convinced by the Ascians he could be brought back. It was the Ascians that were the real threat after all. Tiamat was adamant the conflict wouldn’t end unless the Ascians were vanquished.
A depressing silence covered the group until Midgardsormr broke it.
“It hath been five thousand years my child. Wilt thou not forgive thyself?”
“Please mother. Our kin wish to fly with thee again” Twintania pleaded.
Kito could sense her desperation. Her mind showed him a lack of purpose. Dragons that flew the skies aimlessly, a sadness ringing in their songs.
But Tiamat’s guilt was too great. She didn’t want to be freed.
Kito wanted to comfort Twintania, but before he could, he was pulled into a vision.
At last, Hydaelyn restored his blessing of light.
Twintania knew what had occurred instantly, recognizing it from the strange way they were connected.
“Father’s wall hath been shattered. Hydaelyn is with thee once more” she noted with a curious tilt of her head.
“Strong art thou mortal - stronger than any other of thy kind. Thou art worthy to bear her light” Midgardsormr nodded in agreement.
“Thou art certain?” Twintania asked.
“Decide for thyself. Thou art bound to his heart and mind. Cast away thine own suffering and see him as he is” Midgardsormr advised.
Twintania stared at Kito for a long moment, shifting through his emotions and thoughts curiously. He let her do so, wanting her to see he really meant what he said about ending the war. He wanted to break this cycle that had killed so many.
Dost thou understand the burden thou beareth? The hope of my kin and thine? And thou still art convinced thou canst break this circle? Twintania asked him privately in their shared thoughts.
I’m the Warrior of Light. It’s what I do. This has to end here. Kito answered her back.
“I shalt offer thee my wings. Put thy conviction to the proof, and thou mayest yet earn my claws” Twintania decided.
Migardsormr disappeared with an approving nod. Twintania crouched down and allowed Kito to climb on her back. The two of them took flight towards the center of Azys Lla, where Thordan awaited them.
They flew as one, burning with hope that maybe this cycle can finally be broken.
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Are the second generation really meant to mirror the first? I'm helping my sister revise for her end of unit test on it and it's mentioned quiet a bit in her notes but from what I've read (though tbf though- I'm reading certain parts for revision) I'm not really getting the vibe of that tbh. Can you help me understand why people may think this. Thank you.
Disclaimer: I'm certainly not an expert on the book and the criticisms about it - I read about it purely for my own enjoyment and there are many interpretations I’m probably not aware of.
First, I would say they aren’t exact replicas or mirrors but are more like echos or perhaps extensions of the first generation. Certainly all the baggage of the previous generation is placed on them. Catherine Linton and Hareton Earnshaw are much easier to connect to the first generation then Linton is, in my opinion, but some critics have tried to do so - mostly in asserting that there is a love triangle between them similar to Heathcliff/Catherine/Edgar. There are a number of connections that critics make between Hareton/Cathy and Heathcliff/Catherine and some have been told a million times but I’ll try to cover the ones I remember. Let me see if I can keep this organized and not get too off topic.
The similarity of their characters: At first glance you have the repetition of names - “C” and “H” appear repeatedly. Most apparent is that Catherine Linton is named for her mother. Hareton, although obviously an old family name since its been carved above the threshold of the Heights, it does feel intentional in furthering the connection between “C” and “H.” I’ve always found it interesting we have this scene from Cathy II and Linton in Chapter 14, that seems to directly call out the C & H connection:
“We found two in a cupboard, among a heap of old toys, tops, and hoops, and battledores and shuttlecocks. One was marked C., and the other H.; I wished to have the C., because that stood for Catherine, and the H. might be for Heathcliff, his name; but the bran came out of H., and Linton didn’t like it.”
Funnily I don’t think the H is for Heathcliff, I think its more likely meant for Hindley, but of course Heathcliff has been semi-assimilated into the Earnshaw family by being given the name Heathcliff, which was the name of a deceased child. To me at least, none of these feel unintentional, it feels fated since we have these repetitions noted by the characters themselves.
Cathy doesn’t only share a name with her mother, she lives in her shadow. We know from Nelly that, “On the anniversary of her birth we never manifested any signs of rejoicing, because it was also the anniversary of my late mistress’s death.” Edgar seems to cherish her in part because she is a remnant of her mother, even displaying many similar characteristics, although Nelly is quick to note Cathy is softer and more genteel - which makes sense considering she grows up with a loving father in a calm environment that lets her do as she pleases. She doesn't grow up with the harshness of the Earnshaw family, and Joseph's ranting, and it also seems that Nelly may have softened and become more maternal as years have gone by. I’d say she does become more and more like her mother after living at Wuthering Heights though.
Some really great parallels between the two Catherine’s dialog have been made by Ann Dobyns - I’ve posted a few excerpts from her essay here if anyone is interested, it’s a bit more in-depth than this needs to be though.
Hareton has many parallels to Heathcliff as well - this is intentionally done by Heathcliff who, upon Hindley’s death, speaking of his plotting says, “And we’ll see if one tree won’t grow as crooked as another, with the same wind to twist it!” Heathcliff and Hareton have such an odd fated destiny, from the moment Heathcliff saves his life by catching him as his father dropped him over the bannister of second floor. Hareton from the start fears his natural father, “squalling and kicking in his father’s arms,” Nelly even fears Hindley will “frighten the child into fits.” Worlds different the description of a scene of very typical father/son affection described by Nelly during Hindley’s funeral when she says little Hareton, “played with Heathcliff’s whiskers, and stroked his cheek.” Or earlier when she had asked Hareton if he liked Heathcliff and he says:
“Ay!” he answered again. Desiring to have his reasons for liking him, I could only gather the sentences—“I known’t: he pays dad back what he gies to me—he curses daddy for cursing me.
In Hareton’s mind Heathcliff is more a protector than his father, and I suppose in many ways he is better than Hindley’s random obscene violence. As wrong as it is that Heathcliff denies Hareton his inheritance and an education, I think it does say something (not entirely sure what) that he is never physically abusive to Hareton in the way Hindley was with him. Hareton doesn’t ever show any real fear of Heathcliff.
Heathcliff has his own complex feelings towards Hareton, definitely preferring him to his own son - he tells Nelly, “Do you know that, twenty times a day, I covet Hareton, with all his degradation? I’d have loved the lad had he been some one else.” So it seems we have the daughter of Catherine and the wished for son of Heathcliff. Lockwood even mistakes Hareton to be Heathcliff’s son momentarily in Chapter 2.
Some other parallels - Heathcliff notes the similarities between them later on in a discussion with Nelly:
“He’ll not venture a single syllable all the time! Nelly, you recollect me at his age—nay, some years younger. Did I ever look so stupid: so ‘gaumless,’ as Joseph calls it?”
“Worse,” I replied, “because more sullen with it.”
On other occasions Nelly talks about how Heathcliff liked to induce horror from those around him and “he contrived to convey an impression of inward and outward repulsiveness.” Hareton behaves similarly - in one scene after being taunted by Linton and Cathy, he throws Linton from the room to the disgust and fear of Cathy in Chapter 23:
...Earnshaw burst the door open: having gathered venom with reflection. He advanced direct to us, seized Linton by the arm, and swung him off the seat.
“‘Get to thy own room!’ he said, in a voice almost inarticulate with passion; and his face looked swelled and furious. ‘Take her there if she comes to see thee: thou shalln’t keep me out of this. Begone wi’ ye both!’
“He swore at us, and left Linton no time to answer, nearly throwing him into the kitchen; and he clenched his fist as I followed, seemingly longing to knock me down. I was afraid for a moment, and I let one volume fall; he kicked it after me, and shut us out.”
Similarly, when sitting next to him, Lockwood says, “My neighbour struck me as bordering on repulsive.” Even Nelly, who I’d say is typically biased towards Hareton, upon seeing him says he “seemed as awkward and rough as ever.” Lockwood also describes him as being “almost haughty,” similar to Nelly’s repeated references to Heathcliff’s ego and “proud heart.”
Heathcliff further casts light on their parallels when he says he sees Hareton as the “personification of my youth,” adding that, “Hareton's aspect was the ghost of my immortal love, of my wild endeavours to hold my right, my degradation, my pride, my happiness, and my anguish.”
The love triangle: I know some critics have said the dynamic between the Linton/Catherine/Hareton is similar to Edgar/Catherine/Heathcliff - I don't particularly see this. Cathy II is forced into marriage with Linton and at that point doesn't have notable feelings towards Hareton, compared to her mother who knows she loves Heathcliff more and still does have a choice to make even if it isn’t an easy one.
Still, there are similarities in their relationship in that both men (Heathcliff and Hareton) end up feeling the need to better themselves because for their respective Catherine. Nelly says of Hareton, “He had been content with daily labour and rough animal enjoyments, till Catherine crossed his path. Shame at her scorn, and hope of her approval were his first prompters to higher pursuits.” I think this is similar to Heathcliff deciding to run away after years of abuse and to risk everything, including his life, after hearing Catherine says it would “degrade” her to marry him. Hareton does seem to show some jealously over Cathy’s attention and regard of Linton, and again with the presence of Lockwood so I suppose it is sort of love triangle-y?
I also think Hareton shows signs of a growing devotion, similar to what Heathcliff felt towards Catherine. He certainly seems to be enamored by Cathy from the very first time they meet - Nelly says he, “stared at her with considerable curiosity and astonishment” and was, “too awkward to speak; though he looked as if he did not relish my intrusion.”
Something I’ve mentioned before is that Lockwood says about Hareton and Cathy, “Together, they would brave Satan and all his legions,” which feels like a direct parallel to Heathcliff’s assertion to Catherine that, “misery and degradation, and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us.”
Also Heathcliff seemingly attempts to play the role Hindley played in his youth when he tells Cathy, “Your love will make him an outcast and a beggar.” It seems both Catherine and Heathcliff knew their love would result in the same situation as Catherine relays this to Nelly when she says, “did it never strike you that if Heathcliff and I married, we should be beggars?”
There is also, of course, the similarity of social stature - when Cathy first meets Hareton, he has nothing to his name and lives almost as a servant at Wuthering Heights, similar to Heathcliff’s position while Hindley was master. Cathy, similar to her mother, is better educated and has more opportunities - there is no socially accepted reason that she would choose Hareton, seeing as he can’t give her money, status, or respectability.
The circle of events and “The Butterfly:” It does feel, in my opinion at least, that it is no accident that our happy ending is the union of Hareton and Cathy. It couldn’t happen with just any couple or in any other way. It does feel that they are made into the semi-proteges of Heathcliff and Catherine, and the elements of the Linton’s allows for there to be peace between the two families. There is a kind of resolution and unification of their energies.
This is probably the most common narrative of the connection between Hareton/Cathy and Heathcliff/Catherine, and that is rather than just a parallel, critics have noted that the story of Catherine comes full circle with their marriage. The first Catherine wrote out her possible futures on her window sill in the names: Catherine Earnshaw, Catherine Heathcliff and Catherine Linton. Her daughter ends up reversing these different identities being born a Linton, marrying a Heathcliff, and finally an Earnshaw. That can���t be merely a coincidence.
Critic Dorothy Van Ghent deemed Catherine and Heathcliff the “original two” and she said that with the civilizing of Cathy and Hareton, "the great magic, the wild power, of the original two has been lost.” Others say that while poetically it makes sense within the repetition, Catherine and Hareton’s relationship is “improbable” but I disagree. I really liked Carol Ramsden’s take on this that incorporates Emily’s essay “The Butterfly,” and makes the parallel between the 1st and 2nd generation - I have posted this before but to save myself the time of rephrasing it I’ll just post the quote:
In Wuthering Heights, we encounter a destructive principle at work in the love between Catherine and Heathcliff. The principle is manifested fully in Catherine’s mental collapse and Heathcliff’s vindictiveness. However, the love between Cathy and Hareton is allowed to flower and they are both, in their own ways, products of the first lovers. The principle of destruction, as in “The Butterfly”, is transformed into a creative energy. Ultimately, Catherine and Heathcliff are also not deprived of this creative energy. Instead of representing a pessimistic view of life, their love, too, comes to suggest that all things work together towards good.
I think that’s an interesting take, besides just a happy ending for Hareton and Cathy it almost feels like a happy ending for Catherine and Heathcliff? In some ways they burned up only to transform into something better. Not saying that is how it is meant to be read, but I do like it (probably because I like a happy ending).
I feel like there are other points that I’ve forgotten? But these are what I remember at least.
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The Poem Series (4) The Passionate Shepherd to His Love – John Wick
All parts here
John was ecstatic. He was to pick up Diana for their dinner tonight. The goddess had given her peasant a chance to worship her. After the small conversation at the coffee shop, John and Diana parted with Diana giving John her address. John was still in shock as he could not believe that this woman had given him a chance, to be himself. He was wooed into a promise of a new life. John had decided on a quiet and quaint restaurant. He had the resources for anything but he knew that his beloved is a woman of a simple taste and pleasure. She would rather be with a man who engages her mind and heart than be with a man who showers her with material wealth. Of course John would do that. He would do that in ways that would not crowd her. When Diana accepted his decision to not reveal what he does for work, he knew, he would be seen as a man, as John. John’s heart raced again. He put a hand over his thumping heart and listened to its brag, Diana, Diana, Diana, it thumped. John would meet Diana without his hurt, humiliation, and the unspeakable shame that he harbored inside him. He would just be John with her.
John settled on his three-piece black suit. He did not own anything else for outside. He never thought he would ever need it. He checked his cufflinks. He set his tie straight. He wondered if it was too much, but then he also knew that his outfit is the last of the reasons that would be unacceptable for his woman. He smiled at the thought. He had almost not gone to The Continental Club that day. What would have happened if he hadn’t? He would have died a tired lonely, and wounded soul. But fate had taken him there. Something had pulled him there. John sets his hair back in his signature style and thinks. How sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That is the kind of storm that Diana had started in his heart.
It was a violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, there was no doubt about it. It had cut through his heart like a thousand razor blades. John had suffered cuts. He had suffered bleeds. He had suffered wounds and bullets like all the other assassins. He had seen hot, red, caustic blood, and yet, now at this moment, without any wounds, without any cuts, John was bleeding through his heart amidst a storm. He was not the same person.
John was not the only one experiencing a storm. There was his beloved in her own house, wondering about how she was able to show the boldness that she had never shown with a man before. This man, she thought, this man, with eyes that hid a hundred secrets, had made her step out of all her comfort zones. She had gone against every rule she had set for herself about dating a man. Not only had she agreed to go on for a coffee with a complete stranger, she had accepted a dinner with him. It was unlike her. When John had said he cannot tell her what he does, she did not care about the logic of “why” but could only see the desire and sadness in his eyes. Oh! How difficult it must be for him to hide it.
The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things one gets ashamed of, because words diminish them — words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in the head to no more than living size when they’re brought out. But it’s more than that, isn’t it, she thought? The most important things lie too close to wherever John’s secret heart is buried. It was like landmarks to a treasure his enemies would love to steal away. Maybe that’s why John did not want to tell her what he did, and somehow it did not matter for her. It was a revelation for John and it must have been difficult to speak for him because he thought she would not look at him the same way. Diana was sure she saw guilt and sadness about refusing to tell her what he did and she promised herself, that she would not ask. John was an attractive man. John was a mysterious man. John was a quiet man. She knew she would love to converse with him, but she also wanted to make herself desirable for him in appearance. She wondered what she should wear in order to do so. Diana blushed at the thought as she slowly moved her hands over the outfits in her wardrobe. What would a mysterious, attractive, and quiet man like on her? A man like this has probably had women before a lot of women, beautiful women. Diana was young but she looked ordinary. At 5’4” height, she was no match for John’s tall stature. From the appearance of it, he was at least 6’2”. What did a man like him find attractive in her, she wondered. After a lot of thought, she settled on the simplest and the most elegant outfit she could think of, a burgundy blouse, with grey skirt, and heels. She adorned it with a simple necklace and decided to let her hair down. She kept her phone and some money in her clutch and now it was the long twenty minutes wait for John to arrive at her doorstep.
John looked at himself in the mirror one last time and leaves out a breath. He puts on his dress coat, bends down to pat the dog. He then gently says to his buddy, “onto the battlefield now boy”. He walks to his garage and decides to take his favorite Mustang. He is going to pick her up. He is conflicted on how he should greet her, a handshake is too formal and cold, and he is doubtful if he leans in for a kiss, he would have the control to stop. With Diana, he has lost all his control so far. He speaks in half formed words, gives her surreptitious glances, and if not these, then awkward silence wins. He wondered if he should get her flowers, if so what kind. Diana would pay attention to the flowers. She pays attention to everything. Yes, he would make a stop at the flower shop.
At the flower shop, John saw the myriad of flowers placed on different stands and pots. The owner of the flower shop was a young woman, who was not immune to the presence of John, But John was consumed by the thoughts of Diana, who had become the light of his life, the fire in his heart, his sin, his soul. He felt intruded when the flower shop owner came and asked him:
“Sir, May I help you with something”
“I want a bouquet”
“For your girlfriend?”
“Yes”
“Do you know what kind of flowers or should I make one for you?”
“Yes. I want blush roses and red roses, cornflower, sweet William, honeysuckle, ivy, myrtle, and dahlia. Two of each, and please fasten it with a silk red ribbon” John said it in one breath, simply, and like a universal truth. He felt a bit proud of himself. Several years ago, he had bound a book on flowers and their meanings, and out of some vague curiosity, he had read it. He had never thought, it would eventually come to such significance in his life.
The owner of the shop stood flabbergasted with an open mouth. Deep down she felt jealous of the woman who would receive this bouquet. She wanted to know who this woman was and deep down she wanted to be her. She makes the bouquet and hands it over to John.
“That would be 110 dollars sir”
John gives the money. The shop owner, is shocked, he didn’t bargain. He didn’t ask to reduce the cost. Everyone at her shop asks her for discount, even the best of them, but this man. Who is this lucky woman after all?
“Do you want me to write anything on the card?”
“No, keep it”
“Sorry sir?”
“I don’t want the card.”
With this, John takes the bouquet and drives off to his destination leaving a very envious and very confused flower shop owner behind.
As John drove, he felt, something. Was it nervousness, was it worry? He doesn’t know. The feelings that Diana has brought out of him are strange and unknown. They are beyond his control. John sighs and in order to distract himself, he puts on the radio.
“Hello people. How are you all this evening? It is a beautiful evening outside. The sky is clear and you can see the stars. The lovers can do it together and the people who are alone can look at the stars longingly. Much like the shepherd who desires his dame. Is our audience aware of this poem? Well, for the people who are, wonderful, and for those who haven’t heard this beautiful piece of desire, my co-host Jenny will recite now, followed by a song from Smokie”
John increases the volume. His beloved teaches literature. He definitely wants to understand it, know it, talk about it, with her. He hears Jenny’s voice narrating the poem,
“Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.
And we will sit upon the Rocks,
Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow Rivers to whose falls
Melodious birds sing Madrigals.
And I will make thee beds of Roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of Myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and Ivy buds,
With Coral clasps and Amber studs:
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May-morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.”
John sighs for the hundredth time today. Perhaps he is the shepherd for Diana. He wants to bring her the world of flowers, rivers, woods, mountains, and melodies of birds. He wants to make her a bed of roses. He wants to give her all pleasures of life. The boogeyman has become the passionate shepherd. John smiles and stops his car. He has reached his destination.
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Into the Abyss
Thancred/fWoL, 5.0 Shadowbringers MSQ level 80 spoilers.
I’ve had this in my drafts for ages, but finally was in a decent enough mental space to finish it up. And now I think I’ll go and write something fluffy.
Passing mention of the tank role questline. :)
AO3 link
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”Y’shtola, Urianger, I need to know.”
Viana frowned at the elezen scholar where he remained seated on one of the undersea rocks. His head was lowered, whether in thought or to avoid her gaze she did not know. There was a twinge of guilt for the forceful tone she’d taken but this was no time to beat around the bush. Besides, focusing on them was better than letting her gaze stray to the silent, white-clad figure in her periphery that had remained stock still throughout this whole exchange.
Standing next to Urianger, Y’shtola crossed her arms, a disapproving frown of her own on her features. “I will not have you prematurely end your life,“ she responded firmly.
“And I am not planning to,” Viana shot back “But I need to know that you can dispose of me if it comes down to it.” Despite trying not to, her eyes flickered to Thancred for just a second. His head was downturned, hair obscuring his face, but his posture was tense where he leaned against the rock wall. Her chest grew tight, and suddenly it felt hard to speak. Swallowing around the lump in her throat, she returned her attention to Y’shtola and Urianger. “I can’t ask any of you to strike me down - for all we know the Light will just corrupt whoever does it into another Lightwarden.”
As if to remind her, sparks of white suddenly danced at the edges of her vision. She bit back a groan as she closed her eyes, though she already knew it did nothing to lessen the glare of the flashes. “So, tell me, is there a way I could strand myself in the rift where the Light won’t harm anyone?”
“Opening a gate to transport thine there wouldst require preparations,” Urianger’s quiet voice replied. “The Exarch did not share how he planned to accomplish such a feat.”
Prickles of pain skittered up and down her spine, making her muscles tense under the weight of her gunblade and armour chafing against her suddenly hypersensitive skin. Forcing herself to keep her voice steady, she spoke slowly and firmly, “You had days while I lay unconscious.” The dizzying lights danced at the inside of her eyelids, taunting her. For all the things Urianger had concealed, right now she needed that resolve of his to do what was best for the worlds at large. “Don’t tell me you did not think of some way to do what G’raha- the Exarch had planned to do himself, or some other way to subdue me if it came to the worst.”
There was a brief silence. “There… may be some way, yes,” Urianger finally responded. “But I hath not the time to ascertain it to be an assured method to contain the aether thy harbour. If thou truly is able to traverse the Rift to the Source, mayhaps there wouldst be a way to prevent thy from reaching thy destination...”
Gritting her teeth, she nodded. “It’s better than nothing at all.” She wanted to see G’raha rescued, but she could feel the Light grinding away at her very being.
It was disorienting how slow her senses and reflexes were becoming – if they faced more opposition down here in the sea trenches she’d have to let Thancred take the lead in whatever fights there were. Her limbs felt too stiff, as though her skin was already in the process of turning into fine porcelain, and the familiar weight of her gunblade seemed too heavy in her hands.
And it wasn’t just her physical body that was affected. Though she had not said anything to the others, while imbuing some of her cartridges with aether she’d felt like the usually easy task took more effort than usual, like her aether was stagnating. In this state, she’d just be a danger to herself, and more importantly, a hazard to the others if she failed to intercept a blow meant for one of them.
As the flare of pain stilled to a mulling, lingering ache, a numbing, cold sensation of fear flared in her chest in its stead. Would she even be able to see this to the end before whatever Ryne had done to contain the Light failed?
A hand on her arm made her open her eyes to find Y’shtola at her side. Her expression was determined, though Viana had known her long enough to catch the traces of concealed worry in her expression. “Whatever Emet-Selch has in store for us, I for one will fight to see you ridden of this burden, my friend.” She turned her head ever so slightly, glancing back towards Urianger and Thancred. “We all will.”
“I know,” Viana replied quietly. “And I hate asking it of you three…” She sensed the weight of Thancred’s eyes on her then, and swallowed, her throat feeling as dry as if she’d swallowed a mouthful of sand. “But… if I’m turning,” she spoke, slow and firm. Urianger finally looked up and she met his golden gaze. The guilt hung heavily over his features. “I need to know you all will do what is necessary, whatever that may entail. Contain me, seal me away until you can dispose of me.”
He closed his eyes for a moment, but nodded. “Thy will shall be done.”
A small, tired smile tugged at her lips. “Thank you, it eases my mind to know that.”
The sound of the twins’ bickering drifting through the cave made them all glance in the direction of where they and Ryne had gone to scout ahead in the tunnels. It felt wrong to keep this conversation from them, but Twelve, she knew none of them would accept the idea.
Y’shtola cast one discerning glance in Thancred’s direction then turned to Urianger. “Let us hear what they’ve found.”
Urianger nodded and got up, but paused for a moment. “I swore to thee that I wouldst see this made right,” he spoke quietly. “Have faith my friend, and we shall prevail.”
“My faith in you all never waver, Urianger,” Viana replied with a small, reassuring smile. There was a flicker of something akin to relief in his expression, and he finally managed a hesitant smile of his own before following Y’shtola to meet the younger members of their group.
As their steps faded away, leaving her alone with Thancred in the small seafloor grotto, he pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against. When she bridged the gap between them with a few slow steps, he glanced up at her. There was a hard determination to his eyes, but there was pain there too.
Reaching out, she took his hand in hers, not sure what to say. Thancred’s fingers were cold where they were left exposed by his gloves - her own were not faring much better - but it was a welcome skin on skin contact before he laced his with hers. The comforting weight of his other arm settled around her waist, hugging her close so he could press his cold nose against the side of her neck. Inhaling slowly, she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against his hair, wrapping her other arm around his shoulders. The scent of salt, fish and seaweed clung to him, but she could detect that earthy, masculine tone, laced with gunpowder, that she associated with him - a comforting reminder of the few private moments they’d been afforded in the past weeks.
“It won’t come to that,” he broke the silence with a gruff murmur. “You will be fine.”
She knew it was as much to reassure himself as her. Unbidden, her thoughts strayed back to that first morning she’d woken to him tracing the scars on her back. Despite the heavy subject it’d sparked, the intimate warmth of that moment, the joy she’d felt just resting in his arms, the tender look in his eyes and heartfelt smile… it was a sharp contrast to the cold that seemed to have seeped so deep into her bones that she wondered if she’d ever feel warm again. Drawing a slow, shuddering breath she squeezed his hand. Had it truly only been a few weeks since then? Would that she somehow could turn back the clock to be back in that moment with him again.
But the path would lead here again no matter what.
A sudden flare of pain made Viana groan as white sparks once more danced behind her eyelids. Vaguely, she was aware of his hand slipping from hers to hold her steady when her knees threatened to give out from under her. It felt like something jagged was logged in her chest, making it hard for her to draw breath.
“Easy there, I’ve got you…” Thancred’s low voice spoke in her ear. Trembling, she tried to focus on him and not the pain or the panic that bubbled right under the surface of it. The searing pain in her chest continued, her breaths pained wheezes while hot tears stung at her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
Thancred kept murmuring into her ear while holding her steady, even as she leaned more and more of her weight onto him. Had he not, she would probably have tumbled to the hard seafloor as she jerked to the side and finally, after a series of rib cracking coughs, spat out more of that viscous white fluid. Nausea curled in her stomach at the cloying, numbing feeling it left in her mouth. It was like having a mouthful of fine, gooey sand in texture.
With a trembling hand, she reached for the water canteen hanging off her belt, but Thancred’s hand was already on the clasp, and pressed the cool metal container into her hand.
“Here,” he spoke as he quickly unscrewed the top.
Choking out her thanks amidst the waves of pain, Viana took a quick mouthful of the water, eager to clear her mouth of the vile liquid. Thancred said nothing, just kept her steady when she leaned to the side and spat out the white-tinted water.
She felt him press a brief kiss to her cheek as he steadied her once more, arms securely wrapped around her. These attacks weren’t getting any easier. Shivering, she cradled the canteen in her hands and rested her head on his shoulder, wishing for the pain to subside.
“Better sit down for a moment,” he said quietly.
Nodding, still with her eyes closed, she let him lead her. White sparks still danced behind her eyelids and there was an unpleasant, crawling sensation at her back, as if her skin was shifting and changing form.
Thancred knelt in front of her as he helped sit down on a low rock, staying there with his arms wrapped around her while murmuring soothing words in her ear to ease her through the waves of pain. She was not used to feeling small, or vulnerable or weak and fragile. Ever since she’d left Ul’dah as a teen she’d been used to shouldering her own problems, to carry on no matter what happened. But as she curled herself around Thancred’s solid frame, there was comfort in not having to hide her quiet whimpers while she kept her face pressed against the crook of his neck, to just allow herself to be held and supported without fear of judgment or pity.
It couldn’t have been more than a minute or two that they sat there, yet it felt like an hour before the white lights and stabs of pain slowly ebbed away once more and her breaths came a bit easier. Awkwardly, she loosened the vice-like grip she had on his coat sleeve, trying to will her hand not to tremble. “Forgive me,” she whispered harshly as she straightened her back.
She felt one of his hands leave her waist to cradle her jaw, keeping her from rising to her full height. “You are not the one I want apologies from,” he replied as he rested his brow to hers.
Despite his soft tone, there was a hard undercurrent to it that betrayed his anger at the situation, and those who had shepherded her towards this destination.
He shifted slightly, his nose nuzzling against hers - a motion that had quickly become familiar to her. The memory of Tesleen turning flashed before her mind’s eye. A hard jolt of fear made her jerk her head to the side before he could kiss her - fear that some of that tainted ichor might still linger on her lips, of somehow passing on the corruption festering within her to him.
Thancred froze, hazel eyes seeking hers.
Tears stung in her eyes while her heart ached for that small bit of intimacy. Blindly, she set the canteen aside and grasped his wrist, pressing a kiss to the back of his fingers, where they were covered by his gloves. “I’m sorry I just… the Light… it corrupts, I don’t…”
“It’s okay,” he whispered, the harsh, jagged edges of regret and sorrow all too clear in his voice. “I understand.”
All of a sudden, she felt cruel. If that argument in Twine had gone differently, if she had not been angry enough to accidentally let slip what she’d hid away in the depth of her heart, then… then perhaps he would not have kissed her and they would have just kept ignoring this that lay between them. Perhaps then he would have an easier time to let go of her, to just mourn her as a friend, rather than something more - forever a ‘what maybe could have been’ instead of something real and tangible, something that felt good, and sweet and right that was cut short by the cruelty of the universe.
A hot tear rolled down her cheek. Death was something she had made peace with a long time ago. Yet, this primordial force that was threatening to break free and twist her very being into something wretched and relentless, it scared her to her very core. It would not be clean, or final. Some part of her would linger, like fragments of a cup that had been shattered against the wall, its contents still barely clinging to the shards.
The mere thought of turning on him and the others made nausea twist and coil in her stomach. Thancred was smart - he must know that it was a very real possibility that he might have to fight her, to buy the others time to contain her were she to suddenly lose control. Even if she knew for sure that striking her down would not corrupt the next person into another Lightwarden, she could not ask that of him. Not after seeing first-hand how that act of putting down a loved one had festered and eaten away at Granson nearly to the brink of ruin.
Regret and grief were such potent emotions.
Drawing a slow, shuddering breath, she closed her eyes. “Thank you, for everything, Thancred,” she whispered. “They’ve been dear to me, these past few weeks.” Would that she had had more time with him.
Thancred moved slightly, slipping his hands from hers to cradle her jaw. His thumbs brushed over her cheekbones as he held her gaze. A turmoil of emotions swirled in his eyes, his brow furrowed and jaw clenched. “I’m not going anywhere yet,” he spoke firmly. “So don’t you dare try to tell me good-bye now. Not when we still have a chance to defeat that Ascian and somehow fix this.” There was a flicker of despair over his features, a momentary crack in his stern facade. “Just don’t.”
Viana blinked at him, then slowly nodded as she swallowed. “You’re right.” When she woke in the Crystarium, she had not planned on quitting, to just go quietly and let whatever Emet-Selch said come to pass. She’d fight for this world, and herself. For Thancred, the twins, Y’shtola, Urianger, Ryne and G’raha. For the Source.
Faint though it was, hope did remain.
A small smile curled the corner of Thancred’s mouth, though it did not reach his eyes. Leaning up, he pressed his lips to her forehead. “There’s that determined look I know so well.”
Huffing out a tired laugh, she nodded. “Alright, let’s do this then.”
Viana gathered up her canteen and returned it to her belt, then stood up on only slightly unsteady legs. Thancred squeezed her hand reassuringly as they left the small grotto to find the others. She’d draw her strength from his support, and that of her friends’, as they pushed onwards, further into the darkness.
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Ikemen Vampire: Language of Flowers - William
Flower: Eglantine
Meaning/Symbolism: Poetry, I wound to heal
Word Count: 818
Contrary to what everyone else at the mansion thought when William first brought you to his villa, you actually didn’t think of the situation as a kidnapping. Sure, there’s something strange about him, but worrying about it wouldn’t have done any good in your situation then since you’ve just arrived in 19th century France and have absolutely no idea to get back to the mansion even if you wanted to.
So instead of aimlessly mulling over your situation, you decided to make better use of that time by getting to know the outcasted playwright who had taken interest on you. Despite having what probably was a one-sided unnerving conversation with William, there’s something uniquely enthralling about the way he views life and tragedy, that by the time Comte has found you, you’ve already made up your mind that you want to spend the rest of your waiting period at the playwright’s residence… much to the pureblood’s distress, of course.
William hadn’t really asked for anything in return, but you figured out you could repay him somehow by taking charge of the meals. Other than that, there wasn’t really much that can be done in his villa. So you spent most of your days observing him with sheer curiosity whenever you had the chance, and listened carefully whenever he felt like vocalizing his thoughts.
“Thou art a curious little one, aren’t thee?” William’s voice brought your attention from the script he had been writing to the mirthless smile on his face. Perhaps it’s been three minutes since you fell silent after he had casually and nonchalantly revealed some of the atrocities he’s done for his plays.
“Why?”
“Thou just hath heard a man confessth his crimes, yet thy expression hast not faltered in the slightest.” It’s true that you’re quite good at keeping a poker face on certain situations, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t shaken up on the inside.
William put down his pen and walked over to where you sat across him on the writing table.
“Art thou unafraid?” Cupping one side of your face, he lifted your head up. “Or perhaps thou art so terrified that thee hast lost useth for words?”
There’s a dangerous glint in his eyes, but instead of flinching from the sudden contact, you found yourself leaning in to his touch. A barely audible gasp escaped his lips from your unexpected reaction.
“I don’t know. I’m more curious as to what you’re trying to achieve by telling me all this.” You looked him in the eye, seeking confirmation on your hunch that he may have been trying to scare you away.
And that was exactly William’s intention– he wanted to extinguish the kindlings of attachment and affection that’s slowly burning through him.
“Doth thee really want to know?” This time, the hand cupping one side of your face moved to angle up your chin as William leaned in dangerously close, your lips a hair’s breadth apart.
You could see the turmoil in his eyes– and to be fair being a playwright meant that he probably never struggled to express himself through words, so if things are going to proceed in the direction you’re anticipating it to… then it must be something that he himself had deemed to be too much to express in words.
Unlike your heart which had been beating loudly in your chest, your response came out in a breathy whisper. “Tell me all about it.”
That’s all it took for the little flame inside him to burst into a wildfire, and the playwright won’t allow himself to burn all alone; he’s taking you down with him. Everything happened so fast and the next thing you knew you were laying against the table as William’s lips ravaged your lips with unparalleled ferocity.
By the time the playwright was done with you, your lips were swollen and bruised, ads he had a sadistic smile as he ran his thumb over your lips, as though admiring his work.
“Scared yet?” William asked as he searched the sweetest spot on your neck with his mouth, threatening to bite. You accepted his growing madness over you with a smug grin.
“You’ll have to do better than that.”
Things quickly escalated from that point, and in the heated moments that followed, Willliam had written on your skin with bite marks and tiny cuts and scrapes from running his fangs over it the intensity of feelings you have ignited in him.
“Are you perhaps being vengeful?” You asked him as he finally undid the ropes he bound your hands with.
“What for?”
“You told me your heart solely belongs to your passion for writing. It may be presumptuous of me to say this, but I believe I have committed a crime as well. The crime of stealing one’s heart.”
William kissed the fresh marks the ropes had left on your wrist. “That maketh us accomplices then.”
Kami-sama I can’t believe I managed to pull this off and yes I may or may not have literally used an online english to shakesperean translator asdfghjkl help
More on this series: [[Napoleon]] [[Mozart]] [[Leonardo]] [[Arthur]] [[Vincent]] [[Theodorus]] [[Isaac]] [[Dazai]] [[Jean]] [[Comte de Saint Germain]] [[Sebastian]] [[Vlad]]
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Last Request
When a tall, dark, mysterious man shows up at the funeral of sweet little old Beatrice Davies, speculation abounds about the elderly woman’s possible paramour. (1422 words; Warning for one slightly, mildly suggestive mention)
“Kimberly? Darling?”
“Yes?” The grieving woman sniffs. She blots cry-puffy eyes with a handkerchief, then turns towards the voice. When she sees the woman coming up behind her, her eyes light up for the first time all day. “Oh, Lydia!”
“Kimberly! I am so so sorry for your loss!”
“Thank you.” Kimberly takes her friend’s hand in hers and gives it a squeeze. “And thank you so much for coming out here on such a dreadful day. I know you have your hands full, what with your grandchildren visiting.”
Lydia smiles. “I wouldn’t miss it. Your aunt Beatrice was such a lovely woman. So kind and caring …”
“And lonely.” Kimberly sighs, wiping a warm tear from her cold cheek. “No husband. No children. Such a shame. She had so much love to give, too.”
“Well, she may not have had kids of her own, but she had us lot.” Lydia bumps Kimberly’s shoulder playfully with hers. “Always dropping in unannounced, raiding her pie cupboards and tearing through her garden.”
“Probably why she didn’t have children after all.” Kimberly chuckles but sadly. “I bet we soured her on the idea.”
“Kimber! Lydie!”
The women glance up as a third friend rushes over, stepping into their circle and grasping their arms.
“Bianca! Oh, darling!” Kimberly greets her with a kiss on the cheek. “It’s been a dog’s age! Thank you so much for coming!”
“Absolutely! I loved your aunt Beatrice! Admired her a great deal.”
“That’s so kind of you to say. She would have loved to hear it.”
Bianca sighs, a specter of guilt clouding her grey-green eyes. “I wish I had told her when she was alive.”
“I know what you mean.” Kimberly looks at their joined arms, then over at her aunt’s casket waiting for the mourners to leave so it can be lowered into the ground. “There are so many things I waited too long to say. And now, I won’t ever get the …” She stops, her eyes unfocused as she stares into the distance, through the fine mist falling on the lush green grass, past the grey head stones, around the mourners huddled in groups, paying their respects. Lydia and Bianca watch their friend patiently, waiting for her to finish her sentiment, but when the pause goes on too long, they begin to get concerned.
“Kimber?” Bianca says. “Dearest? Are you alright?”
Kimberly’s eyes narrow, peering hard, peculiar thoughts jumbling about her head. A beat longer and she shakes herself, returning back to the conversation.
“Yes,” she says, oddly winded, breathless in a beguiled sort of way. “I’m fine. I … who is that?”
Lydia and Bianca’s heads pop up, turning in the direction Kimberly had been staring. They see the man right away. Amid a sea of black suits and dresses, bowed heads and umbrellas, it’s not hard to tell whom she’s referring to. Both women are privately surprised they hadn’t noticed him before – tall and slim in stature; wearing an expensive suit and shoes being sacrificed to the rain; a black Panama hat shielding his somber face; fire red hair; and sunglasses too stylish for such an occasion, their obsidian lenses hiding his eyes so completely nothing can be seen of their color. He stands beyond the ring of family and friends, lovingly caressing a long-stemmed white rose, the petals so pure in color it glows in his gloved hands.
“Do you recognize him?” Bianca asks, suddenly conscious of her slumped shoulders. She pulls them back, rectifying her posture.
“Not a hair,” Kimberly replies, briefly considering pulling her compact out of her purse and adding a hint of color to her cheeks. “I’ve never seen that man before in my life!”
“Are you certain?” Lydia adjusts her pillbox hat, lifts the veil covering her face.
“Was he a friend of Bea’s?”
“If he knew my aunt, she didn’t mention him. And I definitely didn’t invite him.”
“He’s quite the dish, isn’t he?”
“Bianca!”
“Well, he is!”
Kimberly stares at her friend, blue eyes scolding, but the grin she’s fighting manages to break through. “All right! He is!”
“Shh! Don’t look now, girls! He’s coming this way!”
But they don’t avert their eyes. They can’t stop staring. He has a commanding presence; walks with a strange, sinewy gait; pulls the attention of everyone near and far. The party falls silent, parting as the man walks through. He has an unusual effect on them. The men suck in their stomachs. The women lengthen their necks. But he doesn’t seem to notice them, walking straight to the mahogany casket bathed in flowers without stopping to address anyone or offer his condolences.
He stops at the casket, breathes in poignantly. He reaches out and rests a hand on the wood. He remains quiet for a long time, head bowed as if in prayer. Then his chest shudders.
“Oh, Beatrice,” he whispers in a broken voice. “My beloved Bea. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest. May the road rise up to meet you, and Heaven open its gates to embrace you. I know they will but … they don’t deserve you.”
Slowly, he brings the rose to his lips. He kisses the bud gently, his lips lingering on it, making a few of the more enchanted mourners swallow hard, then lays it atop the other flowers on the casket. He tarries a moment longer, undeterred by scrutinizing eyes, then straightens, turns, and walks away.
The family watches as he leaves the way he came, without a word to anyone, and with that same exaggerated hip sway, heading to where a vintage car waits, parked beside a distant curb. Regardless of the curiosity eating up their insides, not a soul dares follow him to inquire after his identity. Whoever he is, there’s an air of danger around him, one that demands they keep their distance.
And they do.
Speculating is more fun anyhow.
With any luck, he came to the service and signed the guest book. Once they have his name, the sleuthing can begin.
It seems that they may not have known sweet, conservative Beatrice Davies as well as they previously thought. Could their eighty-nine-year-old relation possibly have taken a younger lover later in life? If so, is there any evidence of him? They’ll have to comb through everything – pictures and letters and journals back at Beatrice’s house to try and find it.
If nothing else, discussing it will be a great diversion from their sadness for the remainder of the afternoon.
***
Crowley opens the driver’s door to his car and slides into the front seat. He takes off his hat and, with a flick of his wrist, miracles it away. Sitting in the seat behind him, a little old lady in a smart black frock beams, gazing at him the same way Icarus once looked at the sun.
“That was beautiful,” she gushes.
“I’m glad you liked it. You deserve it.” He finds her reflection in his rearview and gives her a wink.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Crowley. You are a lovely demon, helping out an old lady like this.”
“My pleasure, Beatrice.”
“Yes. And your eulogy was quite the touch.” Sitting in the passenger seat, Aziraphale rolls his eyes, but he can’t help the soft smile lifting his lips. Crowley acting the part of the mysterious mourner, possibly even a secret paramour, may have been a bit tacky for Aziraphale’s tastes, but no harm done. If anything, the scandal of it all will keep Beatrice’s name on her family’s lips for years to come.
Besides, it made her so happy to finally have this one moment in the spotlight.
“And you, Mr. Fell …” Beatrice puts a hand on the angel’s shoulder, gives it a delicate squeeze “… thank you for letting me hide out in your bookshop. It really is a wonderful place.”
“You’re very welcome.” He places his hand over hers and pats it fondly. Of all the ghosts that wander in and out of his bookshop, Beatrice has been one of the nicest, the most polite. He doesn’t get too many requests from his spiritual visitors. They’re mostly content to haunt passively, maintain some small connection to the living. But Beatrice’s request to see her family gathered together one last time, he couldn’t resist.
Unbeknownst to him, she went to Crowley with the rest.
And he’d been more than happy to oblige.
“But we need to get along now, my dears. Let’s get Miss Beatrice back upstairs where she belongs.”
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"Runaway Nun" [Bakugou x Reader]
summary: the esteemed priest, Shouto Todoroki molested you. You were incognizant that the demon of lust, Asmodeus; corrupted the heterochromia cleric. Hurtling off the synagogue; you rammed into the well-known thief in your solemn village. The noted mugger which petrifies town-folks, Katsuki Bakugou.
contains: medieval europe, offensive to catholics, sadism, sexual-harassment, smut, demons, explicit, may trigger! read at your own risk
[Start]
His tight grip on your tighs echoed in your corrupted memory. The way he forcefully brushed in his hard throbbing member on yours. His serrated fangs you were unaware about, nibbling your tender tegument. He thrived for schadenfreude, as he scrutinized your bleeding coats.
You vamoosed; hastily breaking out the hell-hound, so called house of worship. Your portentous white veil slipping off your silky looms; the symbol of virginity and virtuousness washed away by the honoured reverend. Warm blood was crawling throughout your body, habit marinated with sweat and the red-fluids spiralling at your soft untouched skin.
The tranquility of the village as the glooming moon lit above kept you concealed. 'Where shall I go now I neglect the tabernacle?' Your barefoot was bleeding as it hit the rough cemented road; you catch for air, panting at a side of a pantry shop. 'The mountains is such a proper place to build a new life, raise animals, plant vegetables for daily meals—'
"Oi! You there! Lady!" A husky voice roared, making you stumble in surprise. Can it be the ecclesiastics on forage to seek you? Your body was stupefied, eyeballs round at the thought of setting foot at the synagogue once again, "Are you deaf?!"
The shivering hands of yours mumbled silent prayers. Your faith was shattered moments ago, but you grasped at the one last hope you have, a miracle, "I am no deaf. I can hear thou clearly. I command you stay away from me, Sir, please," you pleaded still not turning back. Being meters away from a male, made you reminisce about the dominie.
He clicked his tongue, "I can deal with that. Why are thee out of the shelter this time—" the male squinted his eyes, scrutinizing your barefoot washed in your own red-fluid, "Gadbudlikins! Lady, are you bleeding?!" The male grabbed you on the shoulders, "Oi!"
"Halt!" You pushed him, feeling his muscular figure. Your eyes gazed at him, adjusting at the illuminated location, "Are you who I'm thinking it is?"
The male glared at your blood marinated temples, his crimson-red eyes went round, following the direction of your dripping blood, "(Y/N)?! Bloody hell! What happened to—" his rough hands swayed your hair, leering at your scars.
"Halt thief! Do not come near me! I got nothing!" Your voice cracked, shifting your eyes to the crucifixion necklace resting on your bloody neck, "All I have is this gold necklace! Please let me offer this to thou Bakugou, do not touch me!"
"The amount of fucks I give to thee is none," The ash-blonde hissed, furrowing his brows at your petrified state, "What happened? How may I offer a help—" A clash of metal knocked on the pastry-shop's door. The Ash-blonde gave you an alarming look, pulling you flat on the wall.
Your bruises brushing on the rough cemented wall, struggling at his tight grip. Is he going to perform what was done to you lately? "Do not lay your hands—"
Bakugou cupped your mouth with his warm palm, "Hush. Now is not the time to act like a cunt! Those are the the insufferable armoured Watch aiming for my head," You silenced, obliging to avoid being caught also.
The pastry-shop's door opened; a female gasped at the sight of the metal armoured pack, "Sirs, our bakery is not open this time around!"
"Our presence isn't here for thy pastry; but to ask some questions," one of the Watcher coughed, "Have thou sighted Sister (Y/N)? The mademoiselle was lost; the high-priest, Father Endeavor instructed us to search for her,"
The female baker blinked, "I have not descry on Sister (Y/N). However, I will inform the convent if ever I sighted her. An offering to strengthen my faith in God is to help those who are instruments of his miracles. I shall lend all of what I can do to help Father Endeavor,"
Bakugou gazed at your petrified state, the two of you harking on the conversation, "(Y/N), come with me and I shall hide thee,"
"Can I be hidden? The convent must be in search of me! All of them are seeking for me, and I do not want to be found!" You rasped, "Shall I die? Is this the end of my presence here in this sinful world?" She sighed, "How can thou keep me hidden?! You cannot,"
The Ash-blonde clicked his tongue, "How do you think I stayed uncaught? I'm the village's mightiest known thief,"
— • —
Your blood-marinated body rested on the soft, cushioned mattress. The shrouded underground room of his, radiated by the candles displayed around his breezy habitat. Your aching head gleamed up on the town's well-known thief, "I give my thanks to thee for keeping me in. Though it does not veil thy sinful soul for violating the seventh-commandment," you growled.
"What the sard is the seventh-commandment?!" The ash-blonde roared, badging your wounds with a cloth, "You look like butt-arse. Can you dip in the tub?!"
"I refrain to glimpse on I, wearing nothing," you mumbled, "You do not have my trust Bakugou; I may not know what happened to you that caused you to become such sinful person. Yet, I plead for you to don't touch me in any manner. I shall ask for thy attention if I do not feel that well. However for now, I need some time alone,"
The ash-blonde scoffed, "May I know why in the bloody world you're covered in blood atleast?!"
Your head went completely blank, shooking your head to convince yourself that the incident with the heterochromia cleric didn't occured, "Now is not the time for thee to grasp the information. Yet I shall indeed tell thee the reason I eventuated into a bloody nun, soon,"
The creaky wooden door slammed open, you gripped on the Ash-blonde's muscular arms for protection; you thought both of you were the only one in the isolated habitat. A red-haired and blonde peeked, eyes-widening. Bakugou clicked his tongue, gazing at your stupefied expression, "(Y/N), shall I give you your command which states that you fancy some time alone?"
"It's Sister (Y/N)," your eyes rolled, correcting him. You were not used to not being honored as a server even though your faith is shattering, "Are... are those Kirishima and Kaminari from astrology and rhetoric class?" Your head tilted, releasing your tight clasp on his arms, "I am not aware you keep in touch with them; knowing also thy burglar actions on synagogues and on affluent villagers," Katsuki clicked his tongue, standing up to reach the door, leaving you alone inside the concealed room.
"Is that Sister (Y/N)?!" Eijirou eyed his Crimson-red eyed friend.
Bakugou rolled his eyes, "Affirmative, you butt-arses!"
Kaminari scratched the back of his head, "Kacchan, don't thy think that you are taking 'stealing' from Catholic-fucks to far?" He cackled, "Sister (Y/N) really? Thou
shall not just steal her off just because she's your—"
"Shut-up you penis!" Bakugou growled.
The red-haired gagged, "You are well aware that they are seeking for her?"
"I am," Katsuki nodded, "I forbid you penises to enter my room. She... she seems startled about seeing people,"
— • —
A week had slip through, yet you were still traumatized with the agonizing moment with the heterochromia reverend. You did managed to tidy yourself up, changing your habit nun outfit with the cloak, the petrifying thief provided you. The ash-blonde indeed cared, supplying you with your needs, restraining as you preferred. Your eyes glared at him, "Katsuki," you mumbled.
He froze on the spot, "You need something else Sister (Y/N)?"
You chuckled, "Thee shall forget about my moronic Nun phase," her eyes rolled, "Don't you think that Nun honorific makes me sound like a hag? It was just a couple of years since I went in the covent,"
Bakugou raised his eyebrows, "Alright, (Y/N)," his tongue clicked, "Do thee need something else to comply with thy needs?"
You shook your head, "I am fine. Just wanted to thank you," you gave him a smile, "Thy love may evaporated long ago but ye managed to serve and respect I,"
Bakugou's tongue clicked, "My love for you never evaporated," his crimson-red eyes glared intensely at you, "(Y/N)... I shall not deny, I still do care for thou,"
You were agape, "I am still longing for you too," your mouth went dry, "The synagogue might change who I am; but you're the piece before my Nun-phase that never withered,"
The ash-blonde pinched the bridge of his nose, "Then why did thou turn into a fucking Nun?" His jaw clenched, "Thou have no idea how I check up on you on how you are doing in the convent! Those fuckers!" Bakugou roared, "I thought you wouldn't let go. We talked about growing together," his deep voice cracked.
"Do not let that slip of your mind that we also talked about our parted ways," A tear was breaming down your cheeks, "Katsuki... Thou are also the reason why I went in the convent. I couldn't... I couldn't get you out of my thoughts," you catched for air, "I thought serving the all-mighty would help me to get thou out of my heart,"
Bakugou grunted, "I— I ask for thee forgiveness. It was both our reckless decision to separate. Yet, after a month of parting, I was indeed upset when you decided to serve the basilica. I was melancholy... I am deeply aware that that decision of thee would mean I can no longer call you mine,"
"Why shall you do sinful actions then? It was agonizing! I could not bear the fact that the man I love was hunted by tons of villagers. Katsuki... they want your head," Your voice suddenly cracking.
His tan head shook, "That's why those Christian butt-arses are a pile of shit!" He groaned, "Those corrupt leprechauns' are bathing on golds! Indulgence— eat shit! I steal and give it to the needy; those who deserve it,"
You blinked, "Thou investigate on the synagogues' dark side? Since when?"
He roared, "Since you came in that convent. I would want to be informed what happens inside it," he coughed, "Also unseen ladies after performing a room confession? Telling the village they might be taken by 'god.' Those misogynistic penises should die! They're probably harassed—" He ceased as he gazed at your thunder-stricken expression.
"I...umm... the day thou sighted me blood-coated, I escaped the clutches of the house of worship. Because I was molested," you gulped.
Bakugou's crimson-red eyes shot, "HAHHHHHHHH?! Who did—"
"Father Todoroki," You monotonously announced.
"WAIT UNTIL I RIP THAT—"
"Katsuki, please don't," you sighed, "I want to burn it, until that scene can no longer be pictured in my mind. As if it never happened," you glared at the raging male, "I shall not go back to the convent and plan to continue a tranquil life on the mountains," you sat up, "Can thou come with me?"
— • —
"You need punishment for being a bad, bad, boy, remember?" Your hands grasped on a rope, knotting his wrists at the wooden headboard, moving on his ankles to tighten the rope.
Bakugou growled, "I didn't know you like it with ropes," he spat. You shook your head, crawling on his tummy; gazing at the clothing veiling his abs. You licked your lips, as you slid your hands under the cloth that serves as the barrier from your skin to his. Your soft fingers curved as you felt every hard ab slid through.
Your eyes turned to the tied ash-blonde, lust etched on his eyes, "How shall I get rid of thy clothing if thy arms are tied?" You tilted your head, zooming at the desk; a sharp scissor caught your attention, "Might as well cut it?" You grabbed the serrated scissors, pinching it on while you bite your lips; parting it on half, as his bare chest gleamed your eyes. A sly smirk etched on Bakugou's face, letting you do whatever's in your mind.
Moaning at the sight of it, your tongue licked every ab, nuzzling, biting; while your hands played with his tits. Your tongue spread out, leaving no part untouched. You earned a moan from the male; as you grind on the squeaking mattress. Your pussy pressured on his v-line, making the Ash-blonde moan. You grind faster, and harder; Feeling his hardened cock under his pants, you hummed. Grinding more, you licked his v-line, making him shiver. Until you licked all the way up, nibbling and biting on his neck, giving him hickeys. A moan of pleasure released his mouth, biting down his skin, as you pulled his soft hair. You bit his ears, "Thou cannot move, can you? Poor, poor, boy,"
His muscular body tensed, attempting to escape the ropes. To have a turn to touch you. The wrists of his trembled, making the headboard bang on the wall. You giggled at how thirsty he is; how hard he desires his cock to be in your wet vagina. Your lips slapped his mumbling mouth, aggresively. You bit his lower lip, biting and licking until you tasted his blood. You licked his teeth to tease, until your tongue collided with his. A smirk etched on his face, finally, tasting you. His tongue knotted your lips, releasing soft moans, "(Y/N)... please let me go. I want to make thou feel how you're making me feel right now," You shook your head, nuzzling on his neck once again, as you crawled under his pants. His hips hopped, as you pushed his pants down; licking your lips at the size of his member. You licked his shaft, he trims his hairs down there, and it really turned you on. His hips buried on the squeaking mattress, as you explore his member licking it down to his muscular legs. You brushed his penis with your clothed vagina. Your hole even though covered, felt how hard he is for you. Your body felt floating as you licked his shaft once more, glaring at the veins spiralled on it. Crawling back to the Ash-blond's chest you stamped a smirk, "Fine, I shall let you go! Thou hard throbbing penis gave me sensation, and I want it in me," You crawled onto his lower part, releasing the knot, while you completely slid off his pants. You bit his tighs as you wriggled to work on his tied wrists.
You sighed, as his wrists breathed, smacking you down the bed, "Sweetheart, it's time for thy punishment," his rough hands aggressively tore your clothing. In a blink of an eye, your were quickly stripped. His warm palms cupped your breast while he bit your lips, also making you bleed. Bakugou then licked your neck, nibbling and giving you love-bites. He sucked you breasts, while you moaned at the painful pleasure. He wasn't joking around when he said punishment because he started grinding on your tighs as you felt his tip poking your clit. His tongue zoomed, licking your wetness; while he positioned himself inside, "Punishment for being so sexy," Your fingers grasped the sheets, while his hard member went in your tight hole. Moans of pleasure escaped your mouth as his cock fully entering you. He started pumping, your hands grabbed his Ash-blonde looms for support, "I'm... cumming— Ahhhh bloody hell!"
---
[ prolly an hour after tHoU had sex ]
The scent of pottage stew circulated your cozy cottage at the halo-white mountain. You would never be weary of the branches creaking while the brisk wind spiralled outside. Bakugou and you moved here three-years ago; it was the sublime lifestyle you longed for. An unsophisticated cottage, farm animals, your exquisite garden. Not to mention Katsuki Bakugou with you.
A thumping on the door made you jump in surprise, "Who may that be?"
The Ash-blonde scoffed, "It's just Shitty hair and Dunce face on their daily visits,"
You nodded, sprinting on the door to see the expected guests. Though, the person who knocked certainly isn't an expected person. Your eyes went round, legs trembling, as you felt tears running down your cheeks, "Todoroki,"
END | Reblog for continuation
part 2 contains: the demon of lust, Asmodeus; the basilica's mysteries; High-Priest Endeavor, the unknown father of Shouto the cleric
—
I kinda made some research for tHyYy to read a kinda accurate medieval story lol
credits to the artist for the featured photo
more lemons: [tap synagouge emojis] ⛪️ ; ⛪️ ; ⛪️
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A simple question I need an answer for is 'I just want to believe in Quran". If I just acknowledge other books which extend Islamic values further like sunnah or related with 'Fika-Jafaria' or any other books but at the same time I do not have blind "Faith" on these books as they have never been written by any prophet. What would be the criteria to justify your answer my question?
When there were disintegrations in the history of Islam and when people moved away from the spirit of the Quran, Islamic scholars searched for and found the solution in the Sunnah because the one to describe the Quran is doubtlessly the Prophet.
All of the Islamic scholars accepted the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) as the primary source in explaining the Quran. Is there a truth that it is based on?
Yes, the duty of prophethood does not end by only bringing the Quran; to explain it, to show how it will be applied are also the duties of the Prophet. For instance the following verses define some of the divine duties of the Prophet:
“We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) clear to them.”(Ibrahim,14-4)
“Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (Scriptures);― in the Law and the Gospel;― for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil: he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him honor, him, help him, and follow the Light which is sent down with him― it is they who will prosper.”(al-Araf, 7-157)
“It is not fitting for a Believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision: if anyone disobeys Allah and His Messenger he is indeed on a clearly wrong Path.” (al-Ahzab ,33-36)
“But no, by thy Lord, they can have no (real) Faith, until they make thee judge in all disputes between them, and find in their souls no resistance against thy decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.” (an-Nisa, 4-65)
“He who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah: but if any turn away, We have not sent thee to watch over their (evil deeds).”(an-Nisa, 4-80)
“Take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear Allah; for Allah is strict in Punishment.”(al-Hashr, 59-7)
“Say: "If ye do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Aal-e-Imran, 3-31)
Yes, those verses above and similar verses states that the duty of our Prophet is not limited with conveying the Quran to people.
Can we clarify it a bit?
1. One of the duties of our Prophet is to explain the concise verses: For instance, the Quran says, “Perform prayers”, but how shall we perform prayers? It says “Perform ruku (bow down) and sajdah (prostrate)”, but it does not tell us in detail how to perform them. There is no detail as to how to perform qiyam (standing). Our Prophet explains the verse in form and content, and shows how to perform it by saying “Perform prayers as I do”. Our Prophet explains the concise commands of the Quran like prayers, fasting and hajj.
2. Explaining the verses that are hard to understand is also one of the duties of our Prophet.
For instance, the following is stated in a verse, “Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into (the hearts of) the enemies of Allah and your enemies and others besides whom ye may not know but whom Allah doth know” (al-Anfal,8-60). In that verse, the phrase “make ready your strength and steeds of war” is used. The Companions asked the Prophet: “What is strength?” Our Prophet said, “Know that strength is throwing, strength is throwing, strength is throwing” three times. He ordered us to catch up with the changing throwing instruments of each age speedily, without losing any time.
3. The Prophet also limits and reserves the limitless and general verses of the Quran. For instance, the following is stated in the Quran, “Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury” (al-Baqara, 2-275). According to that verse, the trade of everything is halal (permissible). However, our Prophet limited it and forbade the trade of pigs and alcoholic drinks. Thus, he explained the limits of the legitimate trade. Another example is the following verse: “It is those who believe and mix not their beliefs with wrong― that are (truly) in security, for they are on (right) guidance.”(al-An'am, 6-82) When that verse was sent down, the companions asked our Prophet: “All of us do wrong to our souls. O Messenger of Allah, is there anyone of us who does not do wrong?” Our Prophet (pbuh) reminded the verse “Polytheism is indeed the highest wrong-doing” and explained that the wrongdoing here is polytheism. Therefore, our Prophet explains the verses of the Quran that are hard to understand.
4. The events in the Quran were also confirmed and approved by the Prophet by repeating them. Thus, he made people understand them better, which can be mentioned here regarding the issue.
5. Our Prophet also has the authority of legislation, that is, enacting laws that are not present in the Quran. For instance, the food items that are haram (forbidden) are mentioned in two verses. However, the flesh of donkey is not mentioned in any of them. Our Prophet forbade eating the flesh of domestic donkeys during the expedition of Khyber.
Why were they not explained in the Quran but left to our Prophet?
If the Quran had given all of the details, it would have been a book of many volumes. It would have made it difficult for us to benefit from it. Therefore, the Quran left the explanations of some issues to our Prophet. There are some other reasons why the explanations were left to our Prophet. Some issues were abrogated in the course of time.
Some of the hadiths reached us as weak hadiths. Acting in accordance with those weak hadiths brought about disagreement. Disagreement is mercy for the umma. If Allah had mentioned all of those issues definitely in the Quran, the probability of disagreement would have decreased. The flexibility of our religion against changing conditions of the time and society would have decreased. As a matter of fact, one of the superior aspects of our religion, I think, is that it opens the way to new interpretations in accordance with time and place, which is something good.
That is not all. Our Prophet left a margin for scholars. It is the beauty of our religion. Scholars determined some fundamental rules and methods in making judgments acting upon the Quran and Sunnah. Scholars have made interpretations for new issues with those methods. Thus, we can make our own laws for new conditions without needing any other legal and cultural system and without importing laws. As a matter of fact, all of our new needs that occurred until the last period of the Ottoman State were made into laws based on the Quran and Sunnah and they were collected into a book within the framework of our own values.
How will our people learn the Quran through hadiths? For instance, we all read the Chapter Ya Seen a lot. If we want to find out “how did our Prophet interpret that chapter?”, how will we find it? Is there a way or method of it?
First of all, the Quran is interpreted through the Quran because one verse explains another verse. An issue is explained in one aspect in a verse; in another verse, another aspect of that issue is explained, etc. However, there are a lot of interpretations of our Prophet about the Quran. One of the largest parts of Bukhari is Tafsir (interpretation). Furthermore, there are also hadiths related to interpretation that are not present in Bukhari and Tirmidhi but are present in other resources.
Applying the science of mathematics, I sometimes say: a line passes through two points. Similarly, the Quran is the point of origination about a meaning that we deduce from the Quran. If we do not refer to the hadiths as a second point, there may be thousands of views originating from one point. However, what is religion? It is the religion of oneness and togetherness. People cannot deduce different interpretations on their own from that verse but interpretations in accordance with the truth. We will search for what the Prophet said regarding the issue. If there is nothing regarding it in the words of the Prophet, then we will search for what Sahaba (the Companions of the Prophet), Tabi’in (people who met Sahaba) and Atbaut Tabi’in (People who met tabi’in) said; we will take into consideration what they said. They had more opportunity than us in understanding the Quran in accordance with its original.
To what extent are hadiths reliable?
There is no reason why we should not rely on hadiths. As we have mentioned before, the Quran directs people to the Prophet saying, “Take what the Messenger assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you”. That is, the Quran always points to the Prophet as the secondary resource.
Secondly, the Prophet points to himself; he attracts attention to his Sunnah and states that Islam will continue with his Sunnah. For instance, Hazrat Prophet sends Muadh to Yemen. The Prophet asks him, “How will you act there?” Hazrat Muadh says, “I will act in accordance with the Quran”. Our Prophet asks, “What if you cannot find something in the Quran?” He says, “With your Sunnah and if I cannot find it in your Sunnah, with my ijtihad (deriving laws from the original sources)”. Our Prophet becomes pleased with his answers. That hadith is an evidence for the scholars of Islam. It is proof that Sunnah is evidence and that ijtihad is necessary. Thus, when the Prophet was alive, Sahaba knew hadiths as the secondary source.
Hazrat Umar narrates: “I have made a contract of alternation with a brother of mine. One day, he goes to the field and takes care of the field; I go to the Messenger of Allah and listen to him. In the evening, I inform my brother about what I saw and heard while I was with the Messenger of Allah. The next day, I go to the field and take care of the field; my brother goes to the Messenger of Allah and listens to him. In the evening, he informs me about what he saw and heard while he was with the Messenger of Allah. Thus, we have the opportunity to follow the Messenger of Allah closely.”
A Companion says: “I used to write whatever I heard from the Prophet. Some people said to me, ‘the Messenger of Allah is a human being too. Sometimes, he speaks when he is angry and sometimes, when he is calm. It is not true to write whatever he says.’ Thereupon, I gave up writing. However, I started to forget what I heard from the Prophet. Therefore, I went to the Prophet and told him about the issue. ‘O Messenger of Allah! I hear good things from you and I write them down but some people from Ansar said something. Therefore, I gave up writing. However, I feel uneasy when I do not write. What shall I do?’ the Messenger of Allah showed his blessed mouth and said, ‘Nothing other than truth comes out from this mouth. Write.’
Some people came to the Messenger of Allah and complained about their memory. He said to them, “Ask the help of your right hands” advising them to write down.
Let me say something else. Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated a lot of hadiths and he is one of the seven people who narrated most hadiths. In a hadith I read in Mustadrak, Hazrat Anas says, “I wrote down hadiths from the Messenger of Allah during the day and I read them to him at night so that he would correct them.” That is, our Prophet corrected what he had written. After that, in the science of hadith, the students took the hadiths that they learned to their teachers and presented the hadiths to them. The students read the hadiths that they wrote and memorized before their teachers; the teachers corrected them and then gave the students diplomas.
Can we say that all hadiths are the interpretations of the Quran?
Yes we can. Our Prophet (pbuh) put the Quran into practice through his lifestyle. Therefore, the ideal lifestyle that the Quran wants from men is manifest in our Prophet (pbuh). If we consider it from the point of view of worshipping, our Prophet showed it how our worshipping towards Allah should be perfectly. Our Prophet carried out all kinds of worshipping in the perfect way. The worshipping of our Prophet is the perfect way of the worshipping that the Quran wants from us in all aspects. The same thing is valid for human relations too. Our Prophet showed us the best examples in his relationship with people and his neighbors. He also showed the best examples of husband and wife relationship. He showed us how to act towards children.
Thus, our Prophet (pbuh) represented practiced and showed the ideal of the Quran in all phases, sections and moments of his life. Muslims can take them exactly from the Prophet to the extent that they can. In a hadith, Hazrat Aisha expresses the ethics of the Prophet as, “His ethics was the ethics of the Quran.” Therefore, our Prophet explained the ethics of the Quran in terms of ethics. Maybe, he did not explain everything verbally but he practiced it. Every word, act and attitude of the Prophet is the interpretation of the spirit of the Quran.
On the other hand, he explained the stories about the previous nations. In hadiths, we can find some events about Hazrat Ibrahim (Abraham) that are not present in the Quran. Thus, we can find all of the lessons that the Quran wants to mention, to bring to mankind in terms of law, ethics and lifestyle in the life of Hazrat Prophet sometimes in his words, sometimes in his deeds and sometimes in his analyses.
The following is stated in the Quran, “eat and drink: but waste not by excess”. In another verse, squandering is forbidden. Squandering is the brother of wasting. Let us look at the practice of the Prophet to understand those two verses better:
Our Prophet put a clear limit to wasting; the most living example of it is wudu (ablution). When he made wudu, he used the water carefully so as not to waste it. He commanded us two wash our organs with three handfuls of water during wudu. To use more water is makrooh (abominable). He puts that limitation. One of the companions becomes surprised and asks: “O Messenger of Allah! Is it to save water?”. He answers, “No, even if you are near a river, you will wash your organs three times.”
I saw a narration from Abu ad-Darda in hadiths: “Once, our Prophet arrived at a river on the way to somewhere. They brought him a bowl of water from the river. He made wudu with it and some water remained. We would normally sprinkle it around. However, our Prophet says, “Go and pour it back to the river. It may be the drink of a creature in the future.”
If we eat more than we need, speak more than necessary, spend our time in vain, we waste them. They are the wasting that we cannot bring back. Lighting a match is also wasting. They are makrooh. The fact that our Prophet told us not to waste water while making wudu five times a day, he gave us the lesson of respecting nature. He teaches us that wasting is also a serious issue in other fields of life through the example of wudu.
Now, let us have a look at the explanation of the verse, “waste not by excess”. Thus, when we read a verse, we need to refer to the hadiths to see how that verse is explained. The larger our hadith culture is, the better we will understand the Quran. Can I say something like this as a conclusion? When we read a verse from the Quran, we should try to understand it from the translations and interpretations of the Quran. However, it should not be enough for us; we should increase our hadith culture. We should learn many hadiths and form our life through them. When we read the Quran like that, it will be as if we are learning the meaning of the Quran from the Prophet.
Absolutely. Our scholars who understood it like that, for instance, Tabari, wrote all of the hadiths that he remembered about a verse. Some people criticized Tabari because he reported many hadiths. Most of his interpretation of forty volumes is full of hadiths. However, when we refer to hadiths, we understand the verses better. The light that a hadith gives is different from the meaning that we deduce by contemplating. In my opinion, it is the best way to try to understand the Quran through hadiths.
What is the Sunnah?
The Sunnah is what the Prophet did, said and all of his acts and attitude. Then, we can say that what he did during his lifetime is the Sunnah.
The word sunnah used in fiqh books means “there is reward if we do it but there is no sin if we do not do it.” For instance, eating with the right hand, cleaning the teeth, not to eat while standing, etc.
However, when we consider the word sunnah in its broad sense, it includes everything that our Prophet did. In that case, the wishes and prohibitions of Allah are also included in the Sunnah. For instance, did our Prophet perform prayers? Yes. Then it is sunnah to perform prayers.
Accordingly, it is necessary to divide sunnah into parts.
Fard: Everything that Allah definitely wants us to do or to avoid. It is our Prophet who carries out the commands and prohibitions of Allah in the best way and who serves as an example. We should follow him in order to carry out the commands and prohibitions of Allah. Such as performing prayers, fasting, avoiding fornication and not eating anything haram (forbidden).
Wajib: The wajibs of our religions: for instance, it is wajib to perform the prayer of witr as three rakats.
Nafilah: The things other than fard and wajib that we carry out while performing prayers. For instance, to read some verses from the Quran while performing prayers is fard but to read subhanaka prayer is nafilah.
Adab: If we do as the Prophet did while doing our daily tasks like eating, sleeping, entering the mosque or toilet, etc, we will have done them in accordance with their procedures. A person who does not act accordingly is not regarded to have committed sins.
It means we can divide sunnah as fard, wajib, nafilah and adab. It is the order of the superiority of the parts of sunnah.
We can think of it like a human body. Man has necessary organs to live: for instance, the brain, heart, head, etc. The principles that we must believe in are like the heart and brain of our spirit.
Our body has sense organs like eyes, ears, hands, feet, etc. Fards are like them. They are the eyes, ears, hands and feet of our spirit. A person who does not perform fards is like a person without hands, feet, eyes and ears.
We also have some beauties and adornments like fingers, eyebrows and hair in our bodies. We can live without them. However, if we have them, we will be perfect. Similarly, the nafilah and adab parts of sunnah are the adornments and beauties of our spirit. If we perform them, we will receive many rewards; if we do not perform them, we will not receive any sins.
To sum up, the fard and wajib parts are the sunnahs that are obligatory to be performed. We will receive many rewards if we perform the nafilah and adab parts.
As for harams, we must protect our spirits from killing and poisoning harams as we protect our bodies from killing factors like aids, poison and fire.
Are the Sunnah and hadiths binding?
Does the Sunnah, the life of our Prophet bind Muslims; do they have to follow it?
We will deal with that issue in accordance with hadiths and the views of scholars.
1. The Quran: There are some verses showing that Hazrat Prophet receives revelation other than the Quran too.
Some of them are as follows:
1- It is understood from the following verses that our Prophet was given wisdom along with the Book: ‘Messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the Signs of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom’, ‘sent down to him the Book and wisdom’, .
Those two words have both similarity and difference. Accordingly, since what is meant by the Book is the Quran, wisdom has to be something else. The probability that it is the Sunnah prevails. It is the point of difference. The point of similarity is that both of them originate from revelation.
2- The promise stated in the following verse was given to Muslims but it is not stated in the verse what it was: “Behold! Allah promised you one of the two (enemy) parties, that it should be yours: ye wished that the one unarmed should be yours”. It proves that it is informed through another kind of revelation.
3- The following verse proves definitely that there exists revelation apart from the Quran: “When the Prophet disclosed a matter in confidence to one of his consorts, and she then divulged it (to another) and Allah made it known to him, he confirmed part thereof and repudiated a part. Then when he told her thereof, she said "Who told thee this?" He said "He told me who knows and is well-acquainted (with all things)."” Although there is no explanation about the disclosure of the secret in the Quran, the Prophet knows about it. It becomes clear that there exists revelation which is not included in the Quran since he cannot know it on his own and since it is stated that Allah informed him.
2. Hadiths:
1- According to the narration of Miqdad b. Ma’dikarib, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said the following: “...I was given the Book and the like of it”.
2- Qudsi Hadiths: The following phrases that are present in those kinds of hadiths: “the Messenger of Allah stated the following in the hadith that he reported from his Lord”, “Allah stated the following in the hadith that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) narrated” and the fact that those hadiths started with the words “O my slaves” prove that Hazrat Prophet received revelation other than the Quran.
3- The famous event that is known as the Jibril (Gabriel) hadith:. Jibril came in the form of a man, asked some questions and received answers; Hazrat Prophet told his companions that it was Jibril and that he had come to teach them the religion.
4- The expressions of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) like ‘certainly my Lord revealed to me, I was ordered, I was forbidden, and the fact that he said Jibril taught him some things prove that revelation exists other than the Quran too.
The fact that Hazrat Prophet said “actually I did not know about them but Allah informed me about them” when he answered the questions of a Jewish person ”supports that issue.
3. Views of the Scholars:
The Companions of the Prophet knew that our Prophet (pbuh) received revelation other than the Quran from his practices, explanations and words. They expressed it many times. Scholars also expressed their views about the origin of Sunnah based on hadiths and the expressions of the companions; most of them expressed that the source of Sunnah was based on revelation.
Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said that there was revelation about Hazrat Khadija and that she was given a manor in Paradise.
The expression that is present in narrations: Jibril brought down the Sunnah as he brought down the Quran shows that there exists revelation other than the Quran. In addition, the fact that the Prophet received the information like treating the neighbors well, making wudu (ablution), performing prayers, calling out the talbiya, performing prayers in the sacred Aqiq Valley, the times of the prayers, the gate of paradise through which the umma of Muhammad will enter, the name of Hazrat Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) being written on a tablet by the beings of the sky shows that there exists revelation other than the Quran.
Tawus says that he himself has a written text that was sent by revelation about diyah (blood money, ransom) and that decrees about zakat and diyah came by revelation.
By saying, “when a hadith from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) reaches you, never make judgments contrary to it; because the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was a conveyor from Allah, the Exalted” , Awzai stated that sunnah was based on revelation.
As we have mentioned before, a person who made important explanations about the issue was Imam Shafi. According to the understanding that he bases on a person whose knowledge he relies on and that he himself also accepts, the Sunnah is either revelation, or the statement of the revelation or something that Allah handed him. It is based on his prophethood that is peculiar to him and the wisdom that Allah inspires him based on it. No matter which one of the above alternatives is accepted, Allah ordered people to obey the Messenger of Allah and act in accordance with Sunnah. The explanation of the Quran by Sunnah takes place either by the prophethood coming from Allah, or by inspiration or by the “command” that was given to him.
Ibn Hazm, who agrees on the same views, defines the sunnah as non-recited (ghayr matluw) revelation and says that it is necessary to obey the sunnah, which is the second revelation as it is necessary to obey the Quran. They are the same in that they are binding and they come from Allah.
Ghazali states that the sunnah is based on revelation and that it is non-recited revelation.
If the whole sunnah is regarded as revelation, it becomes spontaneously clear that Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) cannot change the Sunnah as he cannot change the Quran.
There arises an important issue along with the understanding that the whole sunnah is based on revelation just like the Quran. If Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) waited for the revelation of sunnah like the verses of the Quran for every situation and event, how are his ijtihads and consultations to be dealt with? There were definitely some times when he waited for revelation but to think and accept that he acted like that in every phase of his life will cause problems.
Due to those situations, some scholars had the view that not all of the sunnah but some of it was based on revelation and some of it was based on situations like ijtihad and consultation.
For instance, Ibn Qutayba says the following, dividing the source of the sunnah into three:
a) the sunnah that Jibril brought from Allah.
b) the sunnah that Allah left to His Messenger (pbuh), that He wanted him to explain his view.
c) the sunnah that the Messenger of Allah practiced for adab; the sunnah that one receives rewards when one performs but does not receive any punishment when one abandons.
Sarakhsi of Hanafis, who adopts the same view, says that the judgments that Hazrat Prophet made based on his opinion and ijtihad are like revelation:
Revelation consists of two parts:
1- Apparent revelation. It is divided into three.
a) The revelation that comes through the tongue of the angel, that is perceived by the ear and that is certainly known to be coming from Allah. That part is the revelation of the Quran.
b) The revelation that is explained to the Prophet by the angel through signs, without any words.
c) Inspiration. It is the divine manifestation in the heart of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) without any doubt. A light arises in his heart and the judgment about the issue becomes clear.
2- Esoteric revelation: Calling it as “ma yushbihu’l-wahy” (resembling revelation), Sarakhsi says that there are judgments that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) reached through his opinion and ijtihad. The fact that he is not left free to make mistakes and that he is always under the control of revelation makes that kind of judgments like revelation. The ijtihads of other people from his umma are not like the ijtihad of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) since there exists the probability of making mistakes and it is impossible to correct them through revelation.
That explanation of Sarakhsi means all of the acts of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) are beased on and are corrected by revelation. The act or word of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) is either true or wrong. If it remains as it is, it becomes apparent that it is true because Allah will not let a wrong act or word continue.
Shatibi says the following:
Hadith is either pure revelation coming from Allah or an ijtihad by Hazrat Prophet (pbuh). However, in that case, his ijtihad is either based on a sound revelation in the Book or sunnah or has been checked by it. Even if the view that Hazrat Prophet can make a mistake in his ijtihad is accepted, he will never be left on a mistake; it will be corrected at once. In the end, it will become true. Therefore, there is no probability of mistakes in anything that comes from him.
Acting upon those views, it can be said that those who say all of the sunnah is revelation do not exaggerate because all of the sunnah is checked by revelation; it is either left as it is or corrected. That is, since we cannot accept the existence of an application that is not checked by revelation, we can say as a conclusion that all of the sunnah is based on revelation. However, when we say that all of the sunnah is based on revelation, we mean the sunnah that was determined during the age of the Messenger of Allah and that reached us as sound.
4. Silently approved (taqrir) revelation
What we defined as taqrir sunnah when we explained sunnah is the silent approval by Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) of some actions or words that he saw or heard. That is, when the companions did or said something based on their Jahiliyya applications or their own opinions, Hazrat Prophet sometimes corrected them, sometimes changed them and sometimes did not say anything. The companions regarded his silence as approval because it would not be appropriate for a prophet to leave a mistake as it was. Therefore, his silence meant that action or word was not wrong.
The companions were under the control of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh); similarly, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was always under the control of revelation as a necessity of the attribute of ismah (innocence). Therefore, it should be known that his mistake would not be left without correction and that the warning would be made at once, without any delay . Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) differs from everybody else and from those who are authorized to make ijtihad.
It is known that he was warned because of some of his actions even before he became a prophet.
Once, when he wanted to take off his izar (outer garment) in order to throw stones but he was prevented. In another occasion, he wanted to take off his izar to help his uncle Abu Talib for the repair of the Zamzam Well but he fainted. He said someone with white clothes told him to cover himself when he came to.
His body was protected to save him from exposing the parts that are not suitable to show to others; he was also protected from some unpleasant applications of that period. According to his own statement, he wanted to watch some games and entertainment in the places where marriage ceremonies were held but he fell asleep and could not watch or hear them; after that, he did not commit any bad things till he was appointed as a prophet.
Can it be thought that a person who was under protection even when he was not a prophet and when he was not appointed as an example for his umma and humanity yet would not be protected in a period when he became an example in all aspects for his umma and humanity and that his errors and mistakes would not be corrected?
As a matter of fact, we see some examples of it in the Quran.
Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) were worried about the protection of the revelation and Allah, the Exalted, eliminated his worry by saying there is no need to worry about it.
He was warned about the issues like the guidance of men, people’s obeying the command of Allah, that his duty was only to convey the message of Allah that guidance depended on Allah’s will and that the result depended on the will of Allah; he was warned about Abu Talib, whom he asked for forgiveness and he was forbidden to pray for his uncle.
On the other hand, he was stopped from cursing his enemies after the Battle of Uhud from his wish of mutilation after what was made to Hazrat Hamza (may Allah be pleased with him) .
Furthermore, he was warned about releasing the prisoners of war in return for ransom after the Battle of Badr ; he was prevented from the application he wanted in order to win the hearts of hypocrites (munafiqs) ; he was also warned when he made himself haram what Allah had made halal due to the wishes of the prisoners of war
Those verses above and similar verses are clear indications that Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) was corrected when what he did was not in compliance with the divine consent. Allah, the Exalted, first leaves him free and wants him to make ijtihad or consultation with his companions. Then, if it was in compatible with Allah’s consent, it was left as it was; if it was not, he was corrected. As a matter of fact, the fact that he first said the children of the polytheists were like their fathers and then he said that they would go to Paradise, that he first said the lizards were cursed Jews and then gave up that idea due to the warning by revelation, that first he said the view about torture in grave was a Jewish mischief and then accepted the existence of torture in grave due to the warning by revelation and he took refuge in Allah from it in his prayers, shows that he was warned and corrected outside the revelation of the Quran too.
As it is seen, it is impossible for the Messenger of Allah to continue a wrong deed, act or word that he saw or was informed about because that kind of silent approval is followed by umma; it is also impossible for the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to continue the wrong acts or words in the presence of Allah; whatever he did during his lifetime is an example and something to be followed for us.
Then, Allah, who is All- Knowing, All-Aware, All-hearing, All-Seeing and Wise, either corrected all kinds of words, deeds and acts of the Prophet or approved them and left them as they were. Whether we call those things that Allah did not change and left as they were as esoteric revelation as Hanafi scholars called them or as silently approved revelation, we can say that the sunnah of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) is based on revelation.
Acting upon that fact, we think that we should accept that the continuation of some of the customs and traditions of the community the Prophet lived in were checked by Allah and since they were silently approved, it is not correct to regard them as only customs and traditions. Besides, we had stated that they were based Hazrat Ibrahim (pbuh) or other prophets.
Then, even if the attitudes and acts of the Prophet had existed in the same form in the period of Jahiliyya, they would have been corrected by revelation if they were wrong. It can be said that those that were not corrected were approved.
NARRATIONS THAT PERMITTED HADITHS TO BE WRITTEN
There are many narrations showing that it was permissible to write hadiths. One of the narrations belongs to Abdullah Ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him); the hadiths he wrote were transmitted to the generations coming after him in the form of books. He says:
“I used to write what I whatever I heard from the Prophet in order to memorize them. Quraishis forbad me to write saying: ' 'You are writing whatever you hear from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) ; however, the Messenger of Allah is a human being too. Sometimes, he speaks when he is angry and sometimes, when he is calm. Thereupon, I gave up writing. However, I informed Hazrat Prophet about the situation. The Messenger of Allah showed his blessed mouth and said, ‘Write! I swear by Allah that nothing other than truth comes out from this mouth."
A narration confirming that Abdullah Ibn Amr (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote hadiths systematically belongs to Abu Hurayra and it is recorded in Bukhari. Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) says the following: "Nobody can outdo me in knowing hadiths of Hazrat Prophet except Abdullah Ibn Amr; because he used to write but I did not. "
The narrations that express permission about hadiths are not only those that we have mentioned. The fact that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said to the people who complained about their memory: “Ask the help of your right hands”, “fasten the knowledge by writing”, that he gave the written texts of his speeches to some people who wanted them in the written form, that there exist about 300 letters (that is written documents) that are all hadiths and whose lengths vary from a few lines to a few pages proves that it was permissible to write hadiths. Even if only the letters are considered, it will be understood that Hazrat Prophet did not oppose systematically and insistently to the writing of things other than the Quran and that he gave great importance to the usage of writing in civil life.
AS-SAHIFA AS-SAHIHA (SOUND PAGES) OF ABU HURAYRA: In some narrations, it is stated that Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him) wrote the hadiths that he heard from the Messenger of Allah (pbuh). The name of that page is as-Sahifa as-Sahiha. Al-Hasan Ibn Amr Ibn Umayya ad-Damri narrates: " I reported a hadith near Hazrat Abu Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him). However, he denied it by saying: " 'there is no such a hadith.'' I said to him that I heard it from him. Then, he said, "If you have heard it from me, it must be present with me in writing" and took me by the hand to his house. There, he showed me a lot of books in which the hadiths of Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) were written. He found the hadith that I reported and said to me: "Did I not tell you that if I narrated a hadith, it is present with me in writing?"
COLLECTING HADITHS:
The second important period of hadith history consists of works called “tadwin as-sunnah” (documentation and recording of hadiths in written form”. It covers the second century of Hegira.
WHAT IS TADWIN?
In the dictionary, tadwin means to compile and collect into a book. As a hadith term, it means recording of hadiths in written form officially and collecting into a book. The word “officially” is very important here. As it is seen in the previous parts, the recording of hadiths started during the period of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) individually and privately. As a matter of fact, the MESSENGER OF ALLAH himself left many written documents and they are all called “sunnah”. However, none of them can be included in the act of “writing” expressed by the word tadwin because in tadwin, the writing of the all of the hadiths is in question. Then, we can define tadwin perfectly as follows: "the activity of writing of all of the hadiths carried out in the second century of Hegira under the auspices of the state”.
HOW DID IT START?
The activity of tadwin started with Umar bin Abdulaziz, an Umayyad Caliph. Umar bin Abdulaziz (may Allah have mercy upon him), who is famous for his piousness and devotion to the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), started to worry about hadiths as the generation of the companions who knew sunnah very well and great scholars started to die one after another. He thinks about making the scholars write the hadiths in order to prevent the risk of the loss of hadiths. Therefore, he sends commands and circular notes to governors as the Caliph.
The text of the one of the letters that Umar bin Abdulaziz sent is recorded in Bukhari. It is the letter sent to the governor of Madinah, Abu Bakr Ibn Hazm:
“Search for, collect and write the narrations about Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) in your city. I fear that the science (hadiths) will be lost and scholars will disappear. While doing it, only the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) should be accepted. Scholars should sit in famous places open to public like mosques, spread knowledge and teach those who do not know. Science will not disappear unless it is kept secret.''
According to the narration that Ibn Sa’d recorded, Umar Ibn Abdilaziz (may Allah have mercy upon him) had the following extra phrase in the letter he wrote to Ibn Hazm:
"...a current, known sunnah or the narrations of Amra Bintu Abdirrahman should be accepted..."
The following extra phrase is present in the narration of Darimi:
“Write the narrations that are certain to be coming from Hazrat Prophet (pbuh) and from Hazrat Umar that you have (or that are present in your region)".
According to what Abu Nuaym recorded in Tarikh Isfahan, Umar Ibn Abdilaziz sent that letter to all Islamic cities.
Thus, by taking the various narrations that mention tadwin into consideration, we have a more holistic idea about the issue. In order to appreciate that attempt of Umar Ibn Abdilaziz, we need to mention the following words of Muhammed Ibnu Shihab az-Zuhri, who was the person with the greatest service in the activity of tadwin and who gave that activity the name of tadwin:
“We did not regard it appropriate to write the knowledge until the administrators forced us to do it. When we started to do it (as a result of the enforcement and intervention of administrators), we believed that we should not prevent any Muslim from writing. ''.
REASONS THAT CAUSED THE COLLECTION OF HADITHS
It will be useful to look closely at the real factors that caused the hadiths to be written and collected into books:
1- With the unanimous agreement of scholars, one of them is the following reason that is stated in the letter of Umar Ibn Abdilaziz: The anxiety that hadiths will disappear with the death of scholars: It is really an important issue. Although hadiths were written by individuals, they were written in order to be memorized; when they were memorized, they were burned; or they were advised to be burned after one’s death. The narration above that we quoted from Zuhri is enough to understand the worry and anxiety among the scholars.
Besides, that period was a period in which political turmoil and civil anarchy prevailed. The death of Said Ibn Jubayr, the famous hadith scholar of the period, who was killed by Hajjaj az-Zalim, was enough to worry Umar Ibn Abdilaziz that hadiths would disappear. What is more, the same events caused the death of Talq Ibnu Habib; The famous scholar Mujahid narrowly escaped death but was sent to prison.
2- Although it was not reflected clearly in the letter of Umar Ibn Abdilaziz, the second important factor that started tadwin was the increase in the activities of fabricating hadiths due to political and madhhab disagreements. The following words of Zuhri (may Allah have mercy upon him) certifies and confirms it: "If it had not been for the unknown hadiths that came from the east and that were rejected by us, I would have never written a single hadith nor would I have let anybody write one."
Suyuti says the following in order to state the role of the activity of fabricating hadiths in tadwin: "In a period when scholars were dispersed and the fabrications and innovations (bid’as) of Kharijites and Rafidis increased, the sunnah was written and collected into books by combining the words of Sahaba and the fatwas of Tabi’in."
HOW TADWIN TOOK PLACE:
The narrations show that Umar Ibn Abdilaziz did not find it enough to send a circular note; he followed and checked the activities of tadwin meticulously. For instance, he hired special clerks to work for tadwin in the center; he allocated two clerks to Hishm Ibn Abdilmalik, and Zuhri. They wrote the hadiths of Zuhri for a whole year.
Umar Ibn Abdilaziz, the Caliph, himself took part in the activities of tadwin; he went to mosque with a pen in his hand for prayer and joined the lessons after the prayer, writing hadiths from Awn Ibn Abdillah and, Yazid Ibnu'r-Raqqaşi.
During tadwin, not only the narrations dating back to the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), but also the words and actions of Sahaba and Tabi’in were included by some hadith scholars into the concept of sunnah.
The hadiths that were written upon the command of the Caliph were sent to the center in the form of books; they were duplicated there and were sent to Islamic cities. An important narration documenting that issue comes from Zuhri: " Umar Ibn Abdilaziz (may Allah have mercy upon him) ordered us to collect the sunnah and we wrote it in books. Umar Ibn Abdilaziz (may Allah have mercy upon him) sent a book to the every city that he dominated."
It is certain that the books that were sent were the duplicated copies of the original books in the center.
Some narrations state that the hadiths collected in the center were checked by scholars: Abu'z-Zinad Abdullah Ibnu'z-Zakwan narrates: "I saw Umar Ibn Abdilaziz bring together fiqh scholars. Fiqh scholars had collected a great amount of hadiths. He read them together with the scholars and when a sunnah that was not carried out was read, he said: “It is extra; there is no deed based on it."
It can be said that the copies that were sent to the cities were duplicated after the examination of that committee.
An important characteristic of tadwin activities is that hadiths were not written under any classification like sunan, sahih or musnad. What was important in tadwin was to write them, to put them into writing not any other style or purpose. Therefore, marfu (traced back to the Prophet), mawqut (timed), maqtu (cut-off) narrations were written together with hasan (well authenticated) and daif (weak). Their distinction and classification would be dealt with in the next century called the period of tabwib (dividing into chapters).
THE ROLE OF ABU BAKR IBN HAZM:
We do not have any document indicating that the governor of Madinah, Abu Bakr Ibn Hazm, wrote any hadiths personally upon the command of although he was a great hadith scholar. He may have found it enough to force the scholars to work for tadwin as the governor. As a matter of fact, Zuhri, who adopted the work of tadwin and played the primary role in it, is a scholar of Madinah and it is certain that he started to work upon the command of Abu Bakr Ibn Hazm.
Although the life of Umar Ibn Abdilaziz was not long enough to see the fruit of tadwin activities, we reported above from Zuhri that the books that were collected in his period reached enough amounts to be duplicated and sent to big cities. Therefore, Islamic scholars agree unanimously that the first tadwin started during the age of Umar Ibn Abdilaziz (may Allah have mercy upon him), in the last years of the first century Hegira.
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SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
In the Introit of this day's Mass the Church calls upon all creatures to thank God for the Incarnation of His only-begotten Son.
INTROIT Let all the earth adore Thee, O God and sing to Thee: let it sing a psalm to Thy name (Ps. 65:4). Shout with joy to God all the earth, sing ye a psalm to His name: give glory to His praise (Ps. 65:1-2). Glory be to the Father.
COLLECT Almighty and eternal God, Who disposest all things in heaven and on earth: mercifully hear the supplications of Thy people, and give Thy peace to our times. Through our Lord.
EPISTLE (Rom.12:6-16). Brethren: We have different gifts, according to the grace that is given us: either prophecy, to be used according to the rule of faith, or ministry in ministering, or he that teacheth in doctrine, he that exhorteth in exhorting, he that giveth with simplicity, he that ruleth with carefulness, he that sheweth mercy with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Hating that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good: loving one another with the charity of brotherhood: with honor inspiring one another: in carefulness not slothful: in spirit fervent: serving the Lord: rejoicing in hope: patient in tribulation: instant in prayer: communicating to the necessities of the saints: pursuing hospitality: bless them that persecute you: bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep: being of one mind, one towards another: not minding high things, but consenting to the humble. Be not wise in your own conceits.
EXPLANATION. St. Paul in this epistle exhorts every Christian to make good use of the gifts of God; if one receives an office, he must see well to it, so that he can give an account to God of the faithful performance of his duties. He exhorts especially to brotherly love which we should practice by charitable works; such as, receiving strangers hospitably, giving alms to those who are in need, and to those who by misfortune or injustice have lost their property; he commands us, at the same time, to rejoice in the welfare of our neighbor, as we rejoice at our own good fortune, and to grieve at his misfortunes as we would over those which befall us.
How is brotherly love best preserved?
By the virtue of humility which makes us esteem our neighbor above ourselves, consider his good qualities only, bear patiently his defects, and always meet him in a friendly, respectful, and indulgent manner. Humility causes us to live always in peace with our fellowmen, while among the proud, where each wishes to be the first, there is continual strife and dissatisfaction (Prov. 13:10).
INSTRUCTION FOR SUPERIORS
Those have to expect a severe sentence from God, who merely for temporal gain, seek profitable offices, and thrust themselves therein whether capable or not, and if capable care very little whether they fulfill the duties required, or perhaps make the fulfillment of them depend upon bribes. Of such God makes terrible complaint: Thy princes (judges) are faithless, companions of thieves: they all love bribes, they run after rewards. They judge not for the fatherless; and the widow's cause comes not into them (Is. 1:23). A most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule (Wisd. 6:6).
ASPIRATION Grant us, O Lord, Thy grace, that according to Thy will, we may follow the instructions of St. Paul in regard to humility and love, have compassion upon all suffering and needy, think little of ourselves, and descend to the lowest, that we may, one day, be elevated with them in heaven.
GOSPEL (Jn. 2:1-11). At that time there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee: and the mother of Jesus was there. And Jesus also was invited, and his disciples, to the marriage. And the wine failing, the mother of Jesus saith to him: They have no wine. And Jesus with to her: Woman, what is it to me and to thee? my hour is not yet come. His mother saith to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye. Now there were set there six water-pots of stone, according to the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three measures apiece. Jesus saith to them: Fill the water-pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And Jesus saith to them: Draw out now, and carry to the chief steward of the feast. And they carried it. And when the chief steward had tasted the water made wine, and knew not whence it was, but the waiters knew who had drawn the water; the chief steward calleth the bridegroom, and saith to him: Every man at first setteth forth good wine; and when men have well drank, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee: and manifested his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
Why was Christ and His mother present at this marriage?
In order to honor this humble and God-fearing couple who, with faithful hearts, had invited Him and His mother to their wedding; to give us an example of humility; to assist them in their poverty, and save their good name by changing water into wine; to reveal His dignity as the Messiah to His disciples by this miracle; and to sanctify by His presence the marriages that are contracted in the spirit of the Church.
Alas! how few marriages of our time could Jesus honor with His presence, because He is invited neither by fervent prayer, nor by the chaste life of the couple: He is excluded rather, by the frequent immorality of the married couple and their guests.
Why was Mary interested in this married couple?
Because she is merciful, and the Mother of Mercy, and willingly assists all the poor and afflicted who fear God. From this incident, St. Bonaventure judges of the many graces which we can hope for through Mary, now that she reigns in heaven; "For," says he, "if Mary while yet on earth was so compassionate, how much more so is she now, reigning in heaven!" He gives the reason by adding: "Mary now that she sees the face of God, knows our necessities far better than when she was on earth, and in proportion to the increase of her compassion, her power to aid us has been augmented." Ah! why do we not take refuge in all our necessities to this merciful mother, who although unasked assists the needy?
Why did Christ say to Mary: Woman, what is it to me and to thee?
This seemingly harsh reply of Christ was no reproach, for Mary had made her request only through love and mercy, and Christ calls those blessed who are merciful, but he wished to show that in the performance of divine work, the will of His heavenly Father alone should be consulted. He meant to remind her that He had not received the gift of miracles from her as the son of woman, but from His eternal Father, in accordance with whose will He would do that which she asked when the hour designed by God would come. Though the hour had not come, yet He granted the wish of His mother, who knew that her divine Son refused none of her requests, and so she said to the servants: "Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye." Behold the great power of Mary's intercession! Neglect not, therefore, to take refuge in this most powerful mother!
What are we taught by the words: My hour is not yet come?
These words teach us that we should in all things await God's appointed time, and in things belonging to God and His honor, act only by divine direction, without any human motives.
What does the scarcity of wine signify?
In a spiritual sense the want of wine may be understood to signify the lack of love between married people, which is principally the case with those who enter this state through worldly motives, for the sake of riches, beauty of person, or who have before marriage kept up sinful intercourse. These should ask God for the forgiveness of their sins, bear the hardships of married life in the spirit of penance, and change the wrong motives they had before marriage; by doing so God will supply the scarcity of wine, that is the lack of true love, and change the waters of misery into the wine of patient affection.
Why did Christ command them to take the wine to the steward?
That the steward, whose office required him to be attentive to the conduct of the guests, and to know the quality of the wine, should give his judgment in regard to the excellence of this, and be able to testify to the miracle before all the guests.
ASPIRATION O my most merciful Jesus! I would rather drink in this world the sour wine of misery than the sweet wine of pleasure, that in heaven I may taste the perfect wine of eternal joy.
INSTRUCTION ON THE HOLY SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
What is Matrimony?
Matrimony is the perfect, indissoluble union of two free persons of different sex, for the purpose of propagating the human race, mutually to bear the burdens of life and to prevent sin (I Cor. 7:2).
Who instituted Matrimony?
God Himself, the Creator of all things (Gen. 1:27-28). He brought to man the helpmate, whom He formed from one of the ribs of Adam, that she who came from his heart, might never depart therefrom, but cling to him in the indissoluble bond of love (Gen. 2:18, 24). To this original, divine institution Christ refers (Mt. 19:4-6), and the Church declares the bond of marriage perpetual and indissoluble.
Is Matrimony a Sacrament?
Yes; according to the testimony of the Fathers, the Church has held it such from the times of the apostles, which she could not do, had Christ not raised it to the dignity of a Sacrament. St. Paul even calls it a great Sacrament, because it is symbolical of the perpetual union of Christ with His Church; and the Council of Trent declares: "If any one says that Matrimony is not really and truly one of the seven Sacraments of the Church instituted by Christ, but an invention of men that imparts no grace, let him be anathema" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, can. 1).
What graces does this Sacrament impart?
The grace of preserving matrimonial fidelity inviolate: the grace of educating children as Christians; of patiently enduring the unavoidable difficulties of married life, and of living peaceably with each other. Married people are indeed greatly in need of these graces, in order to fulfil their mutual obligations.
What is the external sign in the Sacrament of Matrimony?
The union of two single persons in Matrimony, which according to the regulations of the Council of Trent (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV, can. 1), must be formed publicly in the presence of the pastor, or with his permission before another priest, and two witnesses.
What preparations are to be made to receive the grace of this Sacrament?
1. The first and best preparation is a pure and pious life. 2. The light of the Holy Ghost should be invoked to know whether one is called to this state of life. 3. The parents and the father-confessor should be asked for advice. 4. The choice should be made in regard to a Christian heart, and a gentle disposition rather than to beauty and wealth. 5. The immediate preparation is, to purify the conscience, if it has not already been done, by a good general confession, and by the reception of the most holy Sacrament of the Altar. Before their marriage the young couple should ask their parents' blessing, should hear the nuptial Mass with devotion, with the intention of obtaining God's grace to begin their new state of life well, and finally they should commend themselves with confidence to the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her spouse St. Joseph.
Why are there so many unhappy marriages?
Because so many people prepare the way by sins and vices, and continue to sin without interruption, and without true amendment until marriage, therefore always make sacrilegious confessions, even perhaps immediately before marriage. Besides this many enter the married life on account of carnal intentions, or other earthly motives; in many cases they do not even ask God for His grace; without any proper preparation for such an important, sacred act, on their marriage day they go to church with levity and afterwards celebrate their wedding with but little modesty. Is it any wonder that such married people receive no blessing, no grace, when they render themselves so unworthy?
Why did God institute married life?
That children might be brought up honestly and as Christians, and that they should be instructed especially in matters of faith; that married people should sustain each other in the difficulties of life, and mutually exhort one another to a pious life; and lastly, that the sin of impurity might be avoided. For they who in such manner receive matrimony as to shut out God from themselves, and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse and mule which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power (Too. 6:17).
'With what intentions should the married state be entered?
With such intentions as the young Tobias and his bride had, who before the marriage ceremony, ardently prayed God for His grace, and took their wedding breakfast in the fear of the Lord (Too. 14:15). Hence God's blessing was with them until death. If all young people would enter the married state thus, it would certainly be holy, God-pleasing and blessed, and the words of St. Paul, spoken to wives, would come true unto them: Yet she shall be saved by bearing children, if she continue in faith, and love, and sanctification with sobriety (I Tim. 2:15).
Why are the banns of marriage published three times in Church?
That all impediments which would render the marriage unlawful may be made known. Such impediments are: consanguinity, clandestine marriages, etc. Therefore, any one who is aware of such impediments, is bound to make them known to the pastor.
Why is the marriage performed in the presence of the parish priest?
Because the Catholic Church expressly declares that those marriages which are not performed in presence of the pastor, or with his permission before another priest, and two witnesses, are null and void (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXIV can. 1)1; and because the blessing of the priest, which he imparts in the name of the Church, gives the couple, if they are in a state of grace, strength, fortitude and grace to be faithful to each other, to endure all trials patiently, and to be safe from all the influences of the evil enemy."
Why do they join hands before the priest, and two witnesses?
By this they bind themselves before God and His Church to remain true to each other, and to be ready to assist each other in all adversities. The bridegroom puts a ring on the bride's finger which should remind her of her duty of inviolable fidelity; to this end the priest signs and seals this holy union with the unbloody Sacrifice of the New Law.
Can the bond of marriage be dissolved in the Catholic Church?
A valid marriage, contracted with the free consent of each of the parties, can according to the plain doctrine of the Scriptures, the constant teaching and practice of the Church, be dissolved only by the death of one of the parties. If the pope or a bishop, for important reasons, gives a divorce, this is only partial, and neither can marry again while the other lives. Such a marriage would not be valid. How pure and holy are the doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church in this the most important and sacred of all human relations, preserving its inviolability and sanctity; while, on the contrary, by means of the wanton doctrine of the heretics, which for trivial reasons entirely dissolves the marriage contract, this sacred union is made the deepest ignominy of mankind, and the play-ball of human passions and caprice!
What is thought of mixed marriages, or marriages between Catholics and Protestants?
The Catholic Church has always condemned such marriages, because of the great dangers to which the Catholic party is unavoidably exposed as well as the offspring. Such marriages promote indifference in matters of religion, by which the spiritual life of the soul is destroyed; they are a hindrance to domestic peace, cause mutual aversion, quarrels, and confusion; they give scandal to servants; they interfere with the Christian education of the children, even render it impossible, and they frequently lead to apostasy and despair. But the Catholic Church condemns especially those mixed marriages, in which either all or a number of the children are brought up in heresy, and she can never bless and look upon those as her children who do not fear to withdraw themselves and their own children from the only saving faith, and expose them to the danger of eternal ruin. Therefore, those Catholics who enter the matrimonial union with Protestants, although the marriage if lawfully contracted is valid, commit a mortal sin if they permit their children to be brought up in heresy, and should it not be their full intention to bring up their children in the Catholic faith at the time of their marriage, they would commit a sacrilege.
What should the newly married couple do immediately after the ceremony is performed?
They should kneel and thank God for the graces received in this holy Sacrament, in such or similar words: "Ratify, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that which by Thy grace Thou hast wrought in us, that we may keep that which in Thy presence we have promised unto the day of our Lord Jesus Christ." That they may keep their promise made at the altar, they should always remember the duties laid down to them by the priest at the time of their marriage, and the exhortations which are taken from the epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians (Eph. 5:29, 31), wherein he instructs married people how they should comport themselves towards each other, and recalls to them as an example the union of Christ with His Church, and His love for her. To the husbands he says, they should love their wives as Christ loved His Church, for which He even gave Himself up to death; from this is seen, that men should assist their wives even unto death, in all need, and not treat them as servants. To the wives St. Paul says, that they as the weaker should be in all reasonable things obedient to their husbands, as the Church is obedient to Christ; for as Christ is the head of the Church, so is the husband the head of the wife. Experience proves there is no better way for women to win the hearts of their husbands than by amiable obedience and ready love, while, on the contrary, a querulous, imperative deportment robs them of their husbands' affections, and even causes them to be regarded with aversion. St. Paul says further; that husbands should love their wives (and consequently wives their husbands) as their own bodies, because married people are, as it were, one. They shall be two in one flesh; no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as also Christ doth the Church (Eph. 5:29, 31). How unjustly and barbarously do those act, who, instead of loving one another, rather hate and outrage each other, and cause the loss of their property, and by detraction steal their honor! These do not consider that he who hates and disgraces his partner in life, hates and disgraces himself; while according to the words of St. Paul he who loves her, loves himself. If married people would remain in constant love and unity, it is most necessary that they should patiently bear with each other's infirmities, wrongs, and defects, exhort one another with mildness and affection, keep their adversities, trials, and sufferings as much as possible to themselves, and complain in prayer only to God, who alone can aid them. By impatience, quarrels, and complaints the cross becomes only heavier and the evil worse. Finally, not only on their wedding day, but often through life, they should earnestly consider that they have not entered the married state that they may inordinately serve the pleasures of the body, but to have children who will one day inhabit heaven according to the will of God; as the angel said to Tobias: "For they who in such manner receive matrimony, as to shut out God from themselves and from their mind, and to give themselves to their lust as the horse and mule, which have not understanding, over them the devil hath power" (Tob. 6:17).
PRAYER Most merciful Jesus! who didst work Thy first miracle at the wedding in Cana by changing water into wine, thereby revealing Thy divine power and majesty, and honoring matrimony: grant we beseech Thee, that Thy faithful may ever keep sacred and inviolate the holy sacrament of Matrimony, and that they may so live in it truthfully, in the fear of the Lord, that they may not put an obstacle in the way of obtaining heaven for themselves, and their children.
1. In all such dioceses of the United States, where the Council of Trent has not been published, civil marriages are considered valid. The Catholic, however, who becomes married by civil authority commits a mortal sin, except in case of extreme necessity. To be married by a sectarian preacher is looked upon as a denial of faith, and incurs excommunication.
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This ritual is about introducing you to the powers and spirits of the world at large, rather than purely about initiation or dedication. It is really quite a simple ritual, despite how lengthy it appears in print. It is meant to establish communication and to begin a relationship with the spirits of your region. The Witch Lord is only one component of your local landscape. He should be viewed as a mentor and guide, rather than as a deity or being to worship. He may visit your dreams or be seen in the leaves of the trees on a breezy silent night, but he is most surely your first step into the world of the Craft.
You will need these items to perform the rite:
-An offering bowl (if you are working indoors)
-A navigational compass
-A bag of small, shiny objects, like glass beads
-A bottle of locally produced red wine or a reasonable substitute
-A small loaf of locally baked bread
-A pair of scissors
-A red cord roughly ¼ inch in diameter and cut 24 inches longer than you are tall.
Perform this rite on a full moon in a secluded outdoor location. If this is not possible, you can perform the rite indoors. If outside, wear dark clothes to take advantage of the cover of night.
On your way to the space, see if you can find a suitable stick or branch about waist height and bring it with you. Do not remove the branch without asking permission of the spirit of the wood. Explain your need and wait for an answer. If you feel it is permissible, leave some of the shiny objects you brought with you—but don't lose your car keys! Verbally thank the branch and the space, and continue on your way with the branch. If you are unable to procure a branch or stick, or know in advance you will not be able to find one, bring a staff or cane with you. The stick/ branch is not required to perform the rite and there's always a way to substitute any ritual component.
Once at the site, make peace with your surroundings and ask permission of the land and its accompanying spirits to proceed. If you are not welcome in that space, you will. Facing east, sit in silence upon the earth for several minutes, feeling the solitude and embracing the local sounds of the night. Sit for several more minutes, experiencing this sensation of being a point in space. Once you have reached this point, stand up. If you have a branch or stick, bring it with you as you take a step and a half forward toward the east. Pause for several breaths before beginning the second part of the ritual—
THE CROSSROAD RITE
This is a short ritual to create a crossroads wherever you happen to be. Depending on why you are performing the rite, it can be modified to fit your intent and to fulfill a variety of functions. Here, the rite is being used to create an intersection to fulfill the role of an actual crossroads, a liminal space. It is also emblematic of the phrase “the Crooked Path,” which is another label for witchcraft itself. The rite delineates a working area by heading in different directions and forming a Solar Cross. In other paths, this same symbol is also referred to as the Mark of Cain.
Standing slightly east and forward from where you were just seated, face the east. If you have a branch or staff, hold it in your left hand with one end touching the ground. Say the following aloud, addressing the space as you do so:
From the east, I go to west.
Turn and take three steps to the west, dragging the branch so that it inscribes the ground, marking a trail. Now, standing three steps to the west, turn right and say:
About to north.
Continuing to drag your branch or foot, walk one-quarter of a circle around to the north. Then turn right, face the south, and say:
And then to south.
As you take three steps, crossing the center of the space where you were originally seated in meditation, say:
Crossing roads as I go about.
Facing south, turn right and, continuing to drag your branch or foot, walk one-quarter of the way around the circle to the west and say:
Laying the ground for a witch’s work.
In the west, turn right and walk three steps to the east. Say:
Down at the crossroads is where I vow.
In the east, turn right and, continuing to drag your branch or foot, walk one-quarter of the way around the circle to the south. Say:
To meet with she and he and they and thou.
In the south, turn right and walk three steps to the north. Say:
Upon this night, and in this hour.
In the north, turn right and, continuing to drag your branch or foot, walk one-quarter of the way around the circle to the east, completing the rite. Say:
I call upon thee to beseech thy power.
HAILING THE WITCH LORD
Once the crossroads is established, walk from the east to the center of the space. Knock or stomp three times upon the ground (or floor), then pause and call upon the Witch Lord using the following words (or something spontaneous of your own devising):
Hail the dread Lord of witchcraft, the wilderness and night! I, (state your full name), call upon you, To visit and recognize me as a wanderer, And new disciple of the Crooked Path. I stand before you of my own free will, In silence and in secret, To know the wonders of your ways. Lord of Wild Abandon, Uniter of Worlds, Grant me your passion, permit me your blessing, As I embark upon this journey on this full moon night. From this time forth, be my guide to the greater realms, Throughout, about, above, and below, As I desire—it is so!
Take out the bottle of wine you brought with you. Open it and say:
With this wine, the blood of the land—May it fill me with your passion and thus—It is so.
Take a drink of the wine, then pour some on your left index finger and anoint your forehead. Pour out the rest of the bottle onto the ground around you while turning clockwise. If you are performing this rite indoors, pour the wine out four times into the offering bowl instead. Then take out the bread you brought with you, hold it before you, and say:
With this bread, made of the land, May it fill me with your blessing and thus—It is so.
Eat a single piece of bread, then scatter pieces of it to the east, south, west, and north. If you are performing this rite indoors, break off four pieces of bread, hold up each in turn to its appropriate direction, then place them into the offering bowl. Once the offering is complete, proceed to the final portion of the rite—creating the witch’s cord.
THE CORD OF SOVEREIGNTY
The Cord of Sovereignty is the witch’s cord of initiation. It is made by tying knots along the cord, from foot to head. Once the last knot has been tied, the cord is cut. To begin, tie a knot in one end of the cord. Hold this knot under your left foot between your big toe and your index toe. Thread the cord between these two toes so that your foot is holding the knot to the floor. Once this is done, say:
With this first knot, may I always be grounded, walk a balanced life, and stand strong against any threat or tyranny.
Draw the rest of the cord up and tie another knot level with your groin. Say:
With this second knot, may I maintain dominion over my own being; I am my own person, now and evermore so.
From the groin, draw the cord up and tie a knot level with your belly. Say:
With this third knot, may I always be full of food and drink, as well as with knowledge, wisdom, and life.
From the heart, draw the cord up and tie a knot level with your throat. Say:
With this fifth knot, may I forever hold sway over my own speech and may I honor my oaths and any words that I speak henceforth.
From the throat, draw the cord up and tie a knot level with your third eye—a spot on your forehead between your brows. Say:
With this sixth knot, may I see and know beyond the veil and in life. And with this sight, may all be revealed unto me.
From your third eye, draw the cord up and tie a knot level with the crown of your head. Say:
With this seventh knot, may the Witch Lord and Witch Queen aid and empower me in all that I do.
Using the scissors, cut the cord an inch or so past the final knot and, while holding the cord, say:
With this Cord of Sovereignty, may I seize governance over my own self through wherever this path will take me. May I be empowered to pursue my dreams and to succeed in attaining them in accordance with my Will. So mote it be!
You can wear the cord as you see fit. Tie it around your waist, drape it around your neck and over your shoulders, or wrap it around your left arm—whatever is most comfortable and practical for you. Once the cord is in place, sit down, close your eyes, and relax. Take a few minutes to allow this moment to sink in. During this time, you may receive information through mental images. Instead of trying to clear your mind, explore the random thoughts that present themselves. You may be visited by the Witch Lord himself; you may be given a new name; you may make contact with a familiar spirit, or with something more. These conversations and experiences, whether they occur mentally or verbally, are significant. So be sure to keep an open mind and be observant.
When the time feels appropriate, get up from your meditation and thank the Witch Lord. Knock or stomp three times upon the ground (or floor) and then depart. Be sure to take the empty wine bottle with you. Leave some glass beads as additional thanks and either leave the branch you found, thanking it for its service, or, if you feel an affinity for it, bring it home to turn into a wand or staff, depending on its size and shape. If it has any leaves, be sure to save them, as they will help you identify what type of wood the branch is. Different varieties of wood hold different meanings or associations, and all things have their own voice. So be sure to begin paying attention to these sorts of messages or directions, if you don’t do so already.
If you performed this ritual at home, clean up the space and go outside for some fresh air. Re-engaging with the rest of the world outside your ritual space can be a little disconcerting, so it is always a good idea to reground yourself. If you keep a journal, write down your thoughts and experiences for later reflection. For the next month, you may want to sleep with your cord under your pillow to further enhance your relationship with it. Witches’ cords are powerful tools, as they embody the witches themselves and their will. After sleeping close to your cord for a month, keep it in a secret location and wear it whenever you do a working.
For more on the practice of modern traditional witchcraft, read the book used as source material for this post. It is a very insightful work!
Christopher Oraphello and TaraLove Maguire. 2018. “Besom, Stang, and Sword”.
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The Heart of a Hero: Chapter 2
For more information about this fic, check the links on my tumblr.
Chapter 2: Adventure Calling
"Hey, are you listening to me?"
Link was, in fact, not really listening to the fairy trying to get his attention yet. Nor was his friend, apparently. At the moment, he was only focusing on her appearance. She was a smaller fairy. Her body let off a pale blue-white glow, reminding Link of the Kokiri's guardian fairies. But she was not yet close enough for him to get a whiff of her scent and figure out if she actually was one of the Kokiri Forest fairies. Still, it was rare to find a single fairy by themselves in this area. Maybe she had become separated from her Kokiri?
The fairy did not seem happy about being ignored. She erratically flew up close between his and Skull Kid's faces, until the two were finally forced to acknowledge her. Skull Kid raised a hand up to wave her away from his face.
"Okay, okay fine!" Skull Kid grumbled. "What is it?"
"You two are skull kids," The fairy stated matter-of-factly. "Are either of you a Link. Or do you know a Link?"
Skull Kid paused for a second, then slowly raised up a hand and pointed to his friend. "That's Link."
The fairy turned to look to Skull Kid, then to Link, seeming to calm just slightly. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought it would take me hours to find you." She fluttered over to Link and flew a couple circles around him as he stood up and tilted his head to the side. "The Great Deku Tree sent me to find you," she explained. "I'm Navi, a fairy in his service. I've been asked to bring you to him. Right away. So please, follow me. It's urgent."
Without waiting for a response, Navi zipped off to the edge of the clearing, before turning back to look at Link expectantly.
Link looked over to his friend, then back to Navi. Skull Kid shrugged and stretched before standing up, offering a hand out to Link. "I say check it out. It's so rare that a fairy comes to give any of us skull kids attention, you don't pass up that kind of opportunity. Besides, it could be fun. And I'll come too!"
Link finally nodded and accepted his friend's hand, climbing to his feet. He paused for a moment to stash his flute back in his pocket, and to pick up the sword from before, then scurried after Navi and his friend.
The fairy zipped through the woods, leading them through clearings and twists and turns at a rapid pace, the boys having to run to keep up. Fortunately, they had already been on the edge of the lost woods, only a short jog from the Kokiri Forest.
Upon their arrival, the fairy continued to make a beeline directly for the far end of the area the Kokiri called home. As Link followed her, he heard some startled cries and gasps from behind him. It wasn't the first time he'd entered the Kokiri Forest, but it was the first time he'd come in broad daylight in a long time. And although there was no ill will between Kokiri and skull kids, his kind tended to avoid wide open spaces with few places to hide, like this place.
As they reached the end of the clearing, Link had to skid to a stop to avoid stumbling into a Kokiri standing in his way. Navi just fluttered on past the child. Skull Kid, on the other hand, did not stop in time and slammed right into Link. The two tumbled to a ground in a heap, then looked up to the other child, who stood in front of them with his arms crossed.
As the two climbed to their feet, the Kokiri spoke up with an impatient edge to his voice. "Why are you two here?" The boy asked, tapping his foot.
"Mido, the Great Deku tree asked for them to come," Navi responded for the two, having circled back to see what the holdup was.
"Oh yeah?" Mido narrowed his eyes, unconvinced by the fairy's words, and swept his gaze between the two skull kids. "Why would he ask for either of you instead of me, the great Mido. The leader of the Kokiri? I don't care if you are Saria's friends, I'm not letting you pass!"
Skull Kid gave the Kokiri a blank, silent, unnerving stare for a long moment. Then he leaned over to Link, and with one hand cupped to the side of his mouth whispered just loud enough for Mido to hear. "Hey. Are we supposed to know this guy?"
Mido seemed to falter for a moment. But his resolve was strengthened when he locked eyes with the sword at Link's side. "Hey! Isn't that my sword?"
Link turned his gaze to his friend, who giggled nervously and rubbed the back of his head, eyes darting back and forth. He "found" it, huh? But before he could question his friend, suddenly, Skull Kid jerked an arm out, pointing to a spot behind Mido. "Hey look, here comes Saria!"
"Huh, where?" Mido twisted to look in that direction. Immediately Link felt a push at his back; Skull Kid gave him a quick shove before taking off past Mido himself. Getting the idea, Link quickly took off after him, the sound of Mido calling after them quickly fading as they left him behind. Skull Kid laughed, and even Link found himself fight back a giggle.
Navi zipped along behind the troublemaker, quickly taking the lead as they finally reached the tree spirit. The trio found themselves in a great clearing, grass spreading as far as the eye could see. In the center was the great guardian spirit of the forest, a tree whose branches stretched far into the sky, covering the entire field in a canopy of leaves.
"Great Deku Tree… I'm back!" Navi exclaimed. "And I found the boy you asked for!"
The tree was quiet for a moment, then in a voice that crackled with age, he slowly spoke, his voice reverberating in the trio's heads. "Oh… Navi… Thou hast returned…" There was another pause. "Link… Welcome… And you as well, other child of the forest… Thou must forgive me, for I know not your name…"
The skull kid blinked once, then laughed and placed his hands behind his head. "Aw that's okay, I don't know my name either! Everyone just calls me Skull Kid, or Skully, like Link here usually does." The boy gave Link a quick pat on the back, then turned his attention to the Great Deku Tree as the spirit began to speak again.
"Whatever thy name may be… as a child of the forest, thou art welcome here... All children of the forest are under mine own protection." With the pleasantries out of the way, the tree then focused his words on Link.
"Listen carefully to what I tell thee… Link, thy sleep these past moons must have been restless and full of nightmares."
Link let out a small gasp of surprise and took a step back but nodded in confirmation.
The Great Deku Tree chuckled. "Oh ho, thou must be wondering how I would know that… There will be a time for that later... For now, time is short… As servants of evil gain strength, a vile climate pervades the land, and causes nightmares to those sensitive to it. Verily, thou hast felt it."
Skull Kid tilted his head and reached a hand up to place it on Link's shoulder. "...Link? Have you been having nightmares lately? Why didn't you tell me?"
Link considered it for a moment, and nodded in response, following it up with a shrug. He had not a clue why he had not told his friend about the dreams. Perhaps it was because he considered it unimportant? He could not say for sure. Whatever it may have been, it was unimportant for now. He turned his attention back to the tree.
"Link… the time has come to test thy courage…" When the boy only tilted his head in response, the tree continued. "I have been cursed… I need thee to break the curse with thy wisdom and courage. Dost thou have the courage to undertake this task?"
Link looked away. "That's a lot to take in," he finally mumbled, letting one arm hang and reaching the other up to grip his elbow. On one hand, this was not his fight. This was not really his home. But on the other hand, he'd always felt some sort of connection to the Kokiri Forest. And if something happened here that he could have prevented? Well, he'd feel pretty terrible. Besides, like the tree had said, even the skull kids out in the Lost Woods, like him, were offered some level of protection by the spirit. So he let his hands rest at his side and nodded.
Again, a silence hung in the air, and then there was a creaking. Slowly, a part of the front of the Great Deku Tree slid down, leaving a great entryway more than spacious enough for Link to be able to walk through.
"Then enter, brave Link… And thou too, Navi… Navi, you must aid Link… Link, listen well to Navi's words of wisdom."
Link gave a nod, and Navi bobbed up and down in response as well. As the two stepped forward though, Skull Kid spoke up.
"Hold on!" He exclaimed, prompting Link to turn his head. He reached into his pockets and removed his flute. It wasn't much of a weapon, but he knew how to use it like one. "Wait for me, I'm going with you." He trotted to catch up to the two, and gave Link a light nudge "What, you think you could just leave me behind? I can help too!"
Link flashed his friend a toothy smile and gave him an enthusiastic nod. The three stood together at the base of the tree for a moment, then together, the two skull kids and Navi stepped inside.
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It Sounds Familiar - Chapter 7
This is the Marichat May prompt #20- I thought I’d lost you. This takes place right during chapter 10 of Something Familiar.
Also on AO3
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Snug in a nest made of his sling and Marinette's red and black capelette, Chat Noir lounged beside his witch as she finished up a sketch. She designed such lovely things; his father would be jealous of her natural talent. He looked up at the Eiffel Tower excited by the possibility that he would get to visit it someday with her.
"Time to head home," she said, reaching down to run a hand over his back. "Do you like it here?" she asked.
It's nice, he replied. There were a lot of people around on the Trocadero, and even more over by the tower. She'd found them a quiet place for her brainstorming. Less busy here. The view was nice enough, though clearly didn't draw the tourists the way others did.
"I usually come here a couple times a month." She scratched his head, then stood up. "There are a few other places I go, too. You'll see. I hope you like them, too."
Of course I will. He let out a sniff as he got up so she could drape the sling across her body. Sometimes she was silly. As if he could dislike any place she was fond of. I like any place you are. Especially if it makes you happy.
"You sweetheart." She slipped on the ladybug patterned shawl she'd finished last night, pulling it to hang over the sling. She'd explained that she was fond of ladybugs, and she wanted something that allowed him privacy in his carrier, if he wanted it. She'd been so concerned about helping him settle comfortably into his new role. She rubbed one of the reinforced shoulders. "Where do you want to ride?"
Before he could answer, he felt the electric prickle of powerful magic in the air. It was unpleasant, though different from his father's, and he felt his fur fluff up tugging against his skin. Trouble! He leaped to her shoulder, his tail curving about her neck wondering if there was any way his presence could protect his witch.
Marinette started heading back the direction they'd initially come, clearly planning on getting home. Surely the Paris police force's arcane emergency unit could handle whatever this was, but he worried this presence would reach them first. The foul magic was getting closer and he heard screaming and crashing a few blocks over.
A woman with a stroller came running around the corner, dashing down the street away from them. She was closely followed by a yellow and blue striped demon. Chat felt his hair stand completely on end, a low growl rumbling out from behind his teeth.
"I know, kitty," Marinette whispered, her voice shaky. She was scared but determined. "But we have to help." She moved a little closer to the Seine's levy; and he could feel her preparing to use her magic. She yanked off her shoes to stand barefoot on the cold sidewalk, her knees slightly bent. "Can you get its attention?"
On it. Chat Noir bounded from her shoulder. He couldn't refuse her, because she was right. They had to help. But he desperately hoped he boosted her magic as much as Callie suggested when they talked in the wee hours. He let out a howling battle cry as he flew down the sidewalk, reaching the demon as it was swiping at the woman.
Feeling strength from the rise of his witch's magic, he grew bold. He leaped onto the demon's leg, engaging his claws as he shot up the creature's body. He had its attention, but he needed to be sure. He slashed one paw across its face before jumping of the demon's shoulder and racing back toward Marinette.
Incoming! He warned, watching a breeze pick up around her.
Marinette met his eyes before focusing on the creature chasing him. Swinging her hands in wide circles, his witch chanted. "With air, I confine thee. With fire, I bind thee. With water, I douse thy flame." The river rose up in a water spout that sprayed everything within 45 meters. "And with earth, I crush thee." The demon staggered, unable to move forward or pull back. "You were brought here in error. You must go back."
It shrieked at her, struggling against her binding. Though she had it fast, he could feel the magic draining her. This wasn't something she could sustain for long, and yet he didn't even hear emergency sirens.
Marinette, his amazing witch, surprised him with her next action. "With air and fire, water and earth, I rescind your invitation, and banish you from this plane." She brought her hands together, her clap a sharp crack of thunder. The demon vanished in a spiral of fire. A shock wave of wind shot out from the scorched sidewalk knocking Marinette backward into the Seine.
Chat darted to the edge of the levy, frantincally searching from her, feeling her rising panic as she thrashed beneath the surface. Shrieking into the link, desperate to find her, Chat immediately shifted and dived in to find her.
He didn't notice the coldness of the river, his mind solely focused on finding her. His witch. His Marinette. Their bond pulled him to her and he caught hold of her capelette to yank her into his arms. She was so still and limp as he pulled her out of the water. As she lay there on the cement he realized he was facing the potential of a world without her.
"No, no, no," he whispered, dropping to his knees beside her. "Marinette?" He shook her, but she didn't respond, even in his head. He leaned ever her, listening for breathing while two fingers searched for a pulse in her neck. He found neither.
Tipping back her head, he latched his mouth over hers and exhaled, watching her chest rise and fall. He repeated the breath then scrambled next to her torso, running two fingers down the center of her chest. Placing the heel of one hand where he decided her sternum was, he set the other on top,locking his fingers together. "One and two and three and four…" he whispered the count, moving at the rapid pace he'd learned and practiced in a first aid course his father had found completely unnecessary though he allowed it anyway.
At thirty compressions, he relaterted the cycle of two breaths, but only go to fifteen compressions when she gasped and started choking. He rolled her onto her side in case she threw up, furious and desperate that there were still no sirens screaming through the air. He needed an ambulance now. They had to take care of his Marinette. As she coughed and gagged, he fished in her bag for her phone. His witch was clever and had spelled her backpack against water, probably because she had a tendency to forget her umbrella. He'd watched her with her phone, so even though he'd never used a cell phone, he could figure it out.
"Emergency services," a calm woman answered. "What is the nature of your emergency?"
"There was a demon attack along the seine," he said quickly. "We need an ambulance."
"We have received a report about a demon," the woman replied. "Ambulances will be dispatched as soon as the response team issues the all clear."
"We don't need a response team," he insisted. "My… witch, she banished it. It's gone. But she fell in the river, and I don't think she can swim."
"Is she still in the river?" the woman asked.
"No," Chat answered. Why was she asking questions? Why couldn't she just send the help? "I pulled her out." Marinette made a horrible retching noise, as her lungs worked to evict the water that had gotten in. He patted her on the back.
"Is she breathing?" the operator asked
"She is now," he answered.
"And the demon isn't there?" she asked again.
"No. It's gone. I told you. She banished it, and now she needs help. Please," he begged.
There was a moment of silence. "I've confirmed that the ambulance is in its way."
"Thank you," he whispered, hanging up and turning his attention to his witch. She was alive. He was pretty sure he was crying.as he rubbed her back.
"Chat?" she whispered, once her breathing was steady.
He heaved a sigh of relief. She could talk! "I thought I'd lost you," he cried. "I can't lose you." He lightly caressed her cheek as he had when she had bad dreams. "Lie still, my Marinette." He crouched over her, wanting nothing more than to bury his face in her hair. "Help is coming."
I'm planning on getting the last chapter of this Marichat May return to the Familiar Story done tomorrow. I have to reassess the prompt and my plan to make sure this works without needing additional wrap up after that.
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Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures
King Solomon: the wisest man to ever live, builder of the temple, beautiful poet and national leader--he was a man who seemed to have it all. Yet, at the end of his life, he penned these words in Ecclesiastes 2:11:
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Study
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures In The Bible
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verse
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verses
“When I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”
1 Kings 1:1-53 ESV / 14 helpful votes. Now King David was old and advanced in years.
Song of Solomon inspired worship. If you sit down to read this book, you may notice a few verses are lines in a popular worship song titled, You Won’t Relent. It was one of the first songs I.
1 Kings 11:9-13 ESV / 29 helpful votes. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart. Solomon wrote numerous passages of Scripture. Solomon is responsible for writing a great amount of Scripture (1 Kings 4:23-34). He wrote Ecclesiastes, Proverbs (Proverbs 1:1), and Song of Solomon. Some believe that Proverbs 30 and 31 were written by others. Solomon was wise, but Christ is 'Wisdom.' Solomon built a Temple, but also altars to false gods overtopping it across the valley; and his Temple was burned with fire. But Christ is the true Temple as well as Priest and Sacrifice. Solomon was by name 'the peaceful,' and his land had outward rest, darkened at the last by war and rebellion.
Solomon was a complex man. He had his victories and defeats, just like us. We may have heard stories about this great king, but there are a few things left to uncover.
Icom m700 service manual. Here are 9 Interesting Things You Might Not Know about King Solomon:
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Lesson 31: The Wisdom of King Solomon
Lesson 31
“Lesson 31: The Wisdom of King Solomon,” Primary 6: Old Testament (1996), 135–39
To strengthen each child’s desire to become more like Jesus Christ by developing wisdom and an understanding heart.
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Study
Preparation
Prayerfully study:
1 Kings 1:39—Solomon is anointed.
1 Kings 2:1–4—David charges Solomon to keep the commandments.
1 Kings 2:10, 12—David dies; Solomon is king of Israel.
1 Kings 3:3–15—Solomon asks for an understanding heart.
2 Chronicles 1:7–12—Solomon asks for wisdom and knowledge.
1 Kings 3:16–28—Solomon determines the mother of a child.
1 Kings 4:29–30, 34—God blesses Solomon with wisdom and understanding.
Chapter headings for 1 Kings 5–8—Solomon builds and dedicates a beautiful temple.
Study the lesson and decide how you want to teach the children the scripture account (see “Preparing Your Lessons,” p. vi, and “Teaching from the Scriptures,” p. vii). Select the discussion questions and enrichment activities that will best help the children achieve the purpose of the lesson.
Materials needed: a Bible for each child. Online forms microsoft.
Invite a child to give the opening prayer.
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures In The Bible
Enrichment Activities
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verse
You may use one or more of the following activities any time during the lesson or as a review, summary, or challenge.
Write knowledge, wisdom, and an understanding heart on the chalkboard. Discuss the meaning of each one. Explain that knowledge is learning gained through study or experience; wisdom is using what we have learned in the best way to make right choices; and an understanding heart enables us to know how others feel.
Have the children suggest situations, such as the following, where they might ask Heavenly Father to bless them with knowledge, wisdom, or an understanding heart:
A younger brother or sister is hurt or afraid.
A friend has hurt your feelings.
Someone has a problem and asks you for advice.
Help the children realize that they can receive these gifts if they seek them and live worthy lives.
Refer to the children’s ideas on the chalkboard of what gifts they might ask for (see the attention activity). If the ideas listed are spiritual gifts, discuss how to develop them and use them. If some or all of them are worldly gifts, have the children suggest spiritual gifts in place of the worldly ones before discussing them.
Explain to the children that David, Solomon’s father, had wanted to build a temple but was denied the privilege. The Lord instead chose Solomon to direct the seven years of construction. When the elaborate temple (much of it was overlaid with gold) was finished, the priests carried the ark of the covenant, which contained the two tablets of stone the Lord gave Moses, “to the most holy place” of the building (1 Kings 8:6). Then the glory of the Lord filled the temple (see 1 Kings 8:10–11), and Solomon offered the dedicatory prayer (see 1 Kings 8:22–53.)
Show the picture Temple Baptismal Font (Gospel Art Picture Kit 504; 62031). Point out that each temple today has a baptismal font resting on twelve oxen, similar to that in Solomon’s temple. In Solomon’s day this font was used to baptize the living; in our temples today the fonts are used to perform baptisms for the dead.
Have the children find the book of Proverbs in their Bibles. Explain that most of these proverbs (wise sayings) were written by Solomon, and because of his great wisdom, these sayings can help us today.
Choose some of the following passages from Proverbs and write their corresponding letters on separate pieces of paper. Place the papers in a container and have the children take turns choosing a letter. Read the proverb or have the children find it in their Bibles and read it. Help them state it in their own words. Then help them decide how it applies to them. The children may want to mark some of these proverbs in their own Bibles.
“Hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother” (1:8).
“If sinners entice thee, consent thou not” (1:10).
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (3:5–6).
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding” (3:13).
“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight” (12:22).
“A soft answer turneth away wrath” (15:1).
“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance” (15:13).
“The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous” (15:29).
“How much better is it to get wisdom than gold!” (16:16).
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (16:18).
“Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (16:24).
“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty” (16:32).
“A friend loveth at all times” (17:17).
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine” (17:22).
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (20:1).
“Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right” (20:11).
“As he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (23:7).
“Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me” (24:29).
“A faithful man shall abound with blessings” (28:20).
“Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe” (29:25).
Help the children choose one of the proverbs to write down or memorize and share with their families.
Sing or read the words to “Love One Another” (Children’s Songbook, p. 136; or Hymns, no. 308) or “A Special Gift Is Kindness” (Children’s Songbook, p. 145).
Solomon And Saturnusrejected Scriptures Verses
Invite a child to give the closing prayer.
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An Ordinary Commentary by Ordinary Men
“Living to Glorify God Brings Satisfaction to the Soul”
#Christianity #Church #Bible #Commentary
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Types of Righteousness and Religion Matthew 6:1-18
Our Lord warns His followers against counterfeit spirituality seeking to be seen and praised by men.
Harvey Goodwin—Verse 1: “In these verses our Lord applies to the subject of almsgiving, to what we commonly call in these days charity, the same spiritual principles according to which He has already explained and expanded several of the Laws of the Old Testament. All the men of our Lord’s time would admit almsgiving to the poor to be a great duty; but then many of them held or seemed to hold that there was virtue in the mere giving, independently of the spirit in which it was done, so that a man might make his charitable doings redound to his own praise, sounding a trumpet when he was going to distribute his alms, and the rest. Our Lord declares that, of which we can have no doubt when we hear it asserted, namely, that in the sight of God such almsgiving can have no virtue, no beauty, no excellence: the spirit which can alone render almsgiving pleasing to Him who sees the heart is the simple spirit of love, which withdraws itself from observation, seeks not its own, is unselfish, desiring to do what is charitable for the sake of charity only.
But mark the awful emphasis, and something like irony, with which our Saviour says of those who make parade of their charity, Verily I say unto you, They have their reward; yes, they have their reward; they wish to gain the attention of mankind, and they gain it; they wish for applause, and they have it; they are pleased when they hear people say, ‘What a liberal man he is! and they have plenty of pleasure such as this. But what does it all amount to? what treasure is laid up in heaven by mere earthly applause? what satisfaction can it be to have cheated men into the belief of our excellent qualities, if the rottenness of our hearts is open and undisguised in the sight of Him who sees in secret, and who knows the thoughts and intents of the heart? They have their reward, have it already in this present world, and a poor unsatisfactory delusive reward it is.” 42
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Verses 2-4: “'2. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.' We must not copy the loud charity of certain vainglorious persons: their character is hypocritical, their manner is ostentatious, their aim is to be seen of men, their reward is in the present. That reward is a very poor one, and is soon over. To stand with a penny in one hand and a trumpet in the other is the posture of hypocrisy. ‘Glory of men’ is a thing which can be bought: but honour from God is a very different thing. This is an advertising age, and too many are saying, ‘Behold my liberality!” Those who have Jesus for their King must wear his livery of humility, and not the scarlet trappings of a purse-proud generosity, which blows its own trumpet, not only in the streets, but even in the synagogues. We cannot expect two rewards for the same action: if we have it now we shall not have it hereafter. Unrewarded alms will alone count in the record of the last day.
3, 4. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: that thine atms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shalt reward thee openly. Seek secrecy for your good deeds. Do not even see your own virtue. Hide from yourself that which you yourself have done that is commendable; for the proud contemplation of your own generosity may tarnish all your alms. Keep the thing so secret that even you yourself are hardly aware that you are doing anything at all praiseworthy. Let God be present, and you will have enough of an audience. He will reward you, reward you ‘openly’, reward you as a Father rewards a child, reward you as one who saw what you did, and knew that you did it wholly unto him.
Lord, help me, when I am doing good, to keep my left hand out of it, that I may have no sinister motive, and no desire to have a present reward of praise among my fellow-men” 43
William Nast—Verse 5: “Verse 5. The Jews attached to prayer a still greater importance than even to fasting and almsgiving, but had reduced it to a mere mechanical performance. They prayed three times a day, at nine o'clock, A.M., at twelve o'clock, and at three o'clock, P. M., and resorted to the synagogue for prayer on the Sabbath, on Monday, and Thursday. Many a zealous Jew spent nine hours a day in prayer. Nor did they go for public prayer only to the synagogue, but, like the Roman Catholics, also for private prayer, because greater efficacy was ascribed to prayer in the synagogue. The Pharisees managed it so—this is implied in ‘they love’—that they were overtaken by the hour of prayer while on their way to the synagogue, that the people might see them pray and praise their piety. It is evident from the context that these remarks of our Lord are not directed against common or public prayer—a duty resting on express Divine command—but against performing private prayer in public places..” 44
Adam Clarke—Verse 6: “But thou, when thou prayest. This is a very impressive and emphatic address. But thou! whosoever thou art, Jew, Pharisee, Christian—enter into thy closet. Prayer is the most secret intercourse of the soul with God, and as it were the conversation of one heart with another. The world is too profane and treacherous to be of the secret. We must shut the door against it: endeavour to forget it, with all the affairs which busy and amuse it. Prayer requires retirement, at least of the heart; for this may be fitly termed the closet in the house of God, which house the body of every real Christian is, 1 Cor. iii. 16. To this closet we ought to retire even in public prayer, and in the midst of company.
Reward thee openly. What goodness is there equal to this of God! to give, not only what we ask, and more than we ask, but to reward even prayer itself! How great advantage is it to serve a prince who places prayers in the number of services, and reckons to his subjects’ account, even their trust and confidence in begging all things of him!” 45
James Morison—Verse 7: “But, in addition to secrecy as regards men, take heed as regards another matter, namely, the fitting mood of mind in relation to God, when engaged in praying, use not vain repetitions: ‘Battering’ away at God, as it were, and ‘blattering’ (Luther has it, viel plujypern). ‘Babble’ not in prayer, in the spirit of those worshippers of Baal ‘who called on his name from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us’ (1 Kings xviii. 26), or of those worshippers of Diana who ‘about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians’ (Acts xix. 34). As the Gentiles do; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking: They think that in heaping word upon word, and persistently holding on with their speechifying, they shall secure attention and a hearing. Such multiplication of speaking is utterly in vain. ‘It proceedeth,’ as good David Dickson remarks, ‘from a base misconception of God.’ It is well observed however by Augustin that there is a great difference between much speaking and much praying. And even repetitiousness, when it is not wordiness but the expression of intensity of desire, will not be unacceptable to the Hearer of prayer. Such repetitiousness will not be immoderate. It is found in many of the psalms; and it was characteristic of our Saviour’s own prayer in the garden of Gethsemane, when He again and again ‘prayed, saying the same words’ (Matt. xxvi. 44).” 46
James Glentworth Butler—Verse 8: “Your Father knoweth what ye need. Prayer is the preparation and the enlargement of the heart for the receiving of the divine gift; which, indeed, God is always prepared to give, but we are not always prepared to receive. In the act of prayer there is a purging of the spiritual eye, which thus is averted from the things earthly that darken it, and becomes receptive of the divine light—able not to endure only the brightness of that light, but to rejoice in it with an ineffable joy. In the earnest asking is the enlargement of the heart for the abundant receiving; even as in it is also the needful preparation for the receiving with a due thankfulness; while, on the contrary, the good which came unsought would too often remain the unacknowledged also. Prayer is not designed to inform God, but to give man a sight of his misery, to humble his heart, to excite his desire, to inflame his faith, to animate his hope, to raise his soul toward heaven, and to put him in mind that there is his Father, his country, his inheritance. He is a Father to whom we pray; let us go to him with confidence; he knows our wants; let us remove far from us all anxious disquiet and concern.” 47
Edwin Wilbur Rice—Verse 9: “After this manner, or ‘thus.’ Jesus gives a pattern or specimen of true prayer. Thus it was understood by nearly all the early fathers and by the majority of evangelical Christians. Some hold that he gave this as a formula always to be used. Others say this is against his teaching in v. 7; and that he did not make the use of this particular form obligatory on his followers. There is no historical evidence, so far as known, that it was used as a formula of prayer by the apostles themselves. It is to be accepted as a proper mode of prayer, and it may be used in the worship of God privately or publicly, but always and only in accord with the principle already declared by Jesus—not to use display or vain repetitions in praying.
Onr Father. ‘The Lord’s Prayer,’ so called because the Lord gave it as a pattern, might more accurately be called ‘The Model Prayer.’ It is usually divided into three parts: 1, preface; 2, petitions.; 3, conclusion. The Latin fathers and the Lutheran Church make the number of the petitions seven. The Greek and Reformed Churches and the Westminster divines make the number six, by making only one petition of the first part of v. 13, while the others divide it into two petitions. The works written on this ‘Model Prayer’ would make an immense library. The Preface is literally ‘Father of us, who art in the heavens;’ ‘our,’ not my, implying the brotherhood of the human race, especially of believers. The ‘fatherhood of God’ was an old thought in the Jewish worship. It seems a common thought of the race. The Vedas of India, the Zend-Avesta of Persia, Greek literature, as Plato and Plutarch, and the older Baal worship, have the same idea. It seems to be a relic of God's earliest revelation of himself in patriarchal times. But Jesus brings it into a new form and touches it with a new life.
First Petition. Hallowed he thy name. That is, help us and others to revere, hallow, sanctify and make holy God’s name and being. Reverence lies at the foundation of all true prayer. 48
Phillip Schaff—Verse 10: “Thy kingdom come (second petition). The Messiah’s kingdom, which in organized form had not yet come, but was proclaimed by the Lord Himself, as at hand. It did speedily come, as opposed to the Old Testament theocracy; but in its fulness, including the triumph of Christ’s kingdom over the kingdom of darkness it has not yet come. For this coming we now pray and the prayer is answered, in part by every success of the gospel, and will be answered entirely when the King comes again. A missionary petition, but not less a prayer for our own higher sanctification and for the second coming of Christ. —Thy will be done as in heaven, so on earth (Third petition). ‘Heaven’ and ‘earth,’ put for their inhabitants. As by pure angels, so by men. The idea of human doing is prominent, our will subordinate to God’s will. ‘As’ expresses similarity in kind and completeness.” 49
Matthew Henry—Verse 11: “Give us this day our daily bread. Because our natural being is necessary to our spiritual well-being in this world, therefore, after the things of God’s glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the necessary supports and comforts of this present life, which are the gifts of God, and must be asked of him,—Bread for the day approaching, for all the remainder of our lives. Bread for the time to come, or bread for our being and subsistence, that which is agreeable to our condition in the world, (Prov. 30.8.) food convenient for us and our families, according to our rank and station.
Every word here has a lesson in it: (1.) We ask for bread; that teaches us sobriety and temperance; we ask for bread, not dainties, not superfluities; that which is wholesome, though it be not nice. (2.) We ask for our bread; that teaches us honesty and industry: we do not ask for the bread out of other people’s mouths, not the bread of deceit, (Prov. 20.13.) not the bread of idleness, (Prov. 31.27.) but the bread honestly gotten. (3.) We ask for our daily bread; which teaches us not to take thought for the morrow, (ch. 6.34.) but constantly to depend upon divine providence, as those that live from hand to mouth. (4.) We beg of God to give it us, not sell it us, nor lend it us, but give it. The greatest of men must be beholden to the mercy of God for their daily bread. (5.) We pray, ‘Give it to us; not to me only, but to others in common with me.’ This teaches us charity, and a compassionate concern for the poor and needy. It intimates also, that we ought to pray with our families; we and our house-holds eat together, and therefore ought to pray together. (6.) We pray that God would give it us this day; which teaches us to renew the desire of our souls toward God, as the wants of our bodies are renewed; as duly as the day comes, we must pray to our heavenly Father, and reckon we should as well go a day without meat, as without prayer.” 50
John Bird Sumner—Verses 12-13: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. We are, then, trespassers: we need forgiveness. Our hearts must be ill-instructed in the divine law, if they do not tell us that it is so. And he who lives through mercy, must show mercy. An unforgiving spirit would mar the effect even of this Christian prayer, because it would betray a most unchristian state of mind.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. There are temptations which ‘are common to men.’ We see throughout all Scripture, that it is God’s will that his people should be tried. But who, that knows his frailty, and the infirmity of his best purposes, will not pray that he may be kept from temptation, and delivered from the evil one?” 51
Joseph Addison Alexander—Verses 14-15: “14. For, if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15. But, if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. The next two verses, as already stated, purport to give a reason for something in the previous context, which can only be the last clause of v. 12. As if he had said, ‘In asking for forgiveness, you must stand prepared to exercise it also, for unless you are, you cannot be forgiven, not because the one is the condition of the other, but because the two must go together, and the absence of the one proves the absence of the other.’ The verb four times repeated here is the same with that in v. 12; but instead of the word delts another figure is employed, that of a fall or false step, rendered in the English versions, trespass, and intended to express the same idea, that of sin, which may be considered either as a debt due to the divine justice, or as a lapse from the straight course of moral rectitude. The fulness and precision with which the alternative is here presented may appear superfluous, but adds to the solemnity of the assurance, and would no doubt strengthen the impression on the minds of the original hearers. In this, as in the whole preceding context, God is still presented in his fatherly relation to all true believers; as if to intimate that even that relation, tender as it is, would give no indulgence to an unforgiving spirit.” 52
Charles John Elliott—Verse 16: “(16) When ye fast.—Fasting had risen under the teaching of the Pharisees into a new prominence. Under the Law there had been but the one great fast of the Day of Atonement, on which men were ‘to afflict their souls’ (Lev. xxiii.27; Num. xxix.7), and practice had interpreted that phrase as meaning total abstinence from food. Other fasts were occasional, in times of distress or penitence, as in Joel i.14, ii.15; or as part of a policy affecting to be religions zeal (1 Kings xxi.9, 12); or as the expression of personal sorrow (1 Sam. xx.34; 2 Sam. xii 16; Ezra x.6; Neh. i.4; et al.). These were observed with an ostentatious show of affliction which called forth the indignant sarcasm of the prophets (Isa. lviii.5). The ‘sackcloth’ took the place of the usual raiment, ‘ashes’ on the head, of the usual unguents (Neh. ix.1; Ps. xxxv. 13). The tradition of the Pharisees, starting from the true principle that fasting was one way of attaining self-control, and that as a discipline it was effectual in proportion as it was systematic, fixed on the fasts ‘twice in the week,’ specified in the prayer of the Pharisee (Luke xviii.12); and the second and fifth days of the week were fixed, and connected with some vague idea that Moses went up Mount Sinai on the one, and descended on the other. Our Lord, we may note, does not blame the principle, or even the rule, on which the Pharisees acted. He recognises fasting, as He recognises almsgiving and prayer, and is content to warn His disciples against the ostentation that vitiates all three, the secret self-satisfaction under the mask of contrition, the ‘pride that apes humility.’ The very words, ‘when thou fastest’ contain an implied command.
Of a sad countenance.—Strictly, of sullen look, moroseness of affected austerity rather than of real sorrow.
They disfigure their faces.—The verb is the same as that translated ‘corrupt’ in verse 19. Here it points to the unwashed face and the untrimmed hair, possibly to the ashes sprinkled on both, that men might know and admire the rigorous asceticism.” 53
Charles Rosenbury Erdman—Verses 17-18: “Very popular with the Jews among whom Christ lived, was that of fasting. If this is practiced in order to show to God our sorrow for sin; or if it is involved in our devotion to his service, it is right and commendable; but if it is employed as a means of winning the approval and praise of men, it is hypocrisy and pretense. Jesus insists that fasting, and all forms of self-denial, should be in secret; we are not to parade our sacrifices; we are not to make capital out of our devotion. We are to have regard only to the Father who is in secret, who sees in secret and who surely will reward.” 54
Endnote:
42 Harvey Goodwin, A Commentary on the Gospel of S. Matthew (Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Company, 1857), 93-94.
43 Charles H. Spurgeon, The Gospel of the Kingdom: A Popular Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1893), 32.
44 William Nast, A Commentary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark (Cincinnati: Poe & Hitchcock, 1864), 262.
45 Adam Clarke, The New Testament of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew to the Acts), Volume 1 (New York: Lane & Scott, 1850), 84.
46 James Morrison, A Practical Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1895), 88.
47 J. Glentworth Butler, The Bible Work (or Bible Readers Commentary) The New Testament, in Two Volumes, Volume 1 (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1889), 157.
48 Edwin W. Rice, Commentary on the Gospel According to Matthew (Philadelphia: The American Sunday School Union, 1897), 79.
49 Philip Shaff, A Popular Commentary on the New Testament, Volume 1 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1891), 67.
50 Matthew Henry, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Volume 5 (Philadelphia: Edward Barrington & George D. Haswell, 1825), 67.
51 John Bird Sumner, A Practical Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark, in the Form of Lectures (London: Hatchard & Son, 1831), 70.
52 Joseph Addison Alexander, The Gospel According to Matthew (New York: Charles Scribner, 1861), 176.
53 Charles John Ellicott, A New Testament Commentary for English Readers (Matthew-John), Volume 1 (Edinburg: The Calvin Translation Society, 1884), 26.
54 Charles Rosenbury Erdman, The Gospel of Matthew: An Exposition (Philadelphia: The Westminister Press, 1920), 56.
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The writings of Luke the physician starting with his version of the gospel - Luke 11:1-12 comments: a model prayer to go by
Luke 11:1 ¶ And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. 11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
In a great passage on prayer one of Jesus’ disciples asks a logical question about how His followers should pray. Jesus replies with a model that starts with identifying to whom you are praying, God the Father in Heaven. He then praises the Father and prays that the name of God be hallowed, holy, set apart. Of course, in our world His name is all too often used as a curse word with no reverence or respect with even Christians using substitutes for God and Jesus Christ like gosh, golly, and gee whiz. I heard a child once say that when you love someone their name is safe in your mouth. Using God’s name flippantly as a curse word or exclamation does not show love at all, of course.
Jesus then tells the disciple to pray for the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Heaven, to arrive on earth, to be fulfilled, and that God’s will, clearly His perfect, directive will rather than just permission, be done on earth as it is in Heaven. He then brings the prayer down to asking for God to supply daily needs. In history, for the common man at least, hunger and starvation were constant threats, as well as the disease that consumed a body weakened by day-in and day-out hunger. When Jesus was giving the great sermon popularly called ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ He noted;
Matthew 6:25 ¶ Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
After asking for what was needed in that day Jesus told the disciple to pray for their sins against God to be forgiven in the same manner that they forgave sins committed against them. This rather radical statement says that we are not worthy to have our sins forgiven if we are not willing to forgive others. Peter questioned such a command.
Matthew 18:21 ¶ Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.
Certainly, the nature of our forgiveness is a little different than God’s due to our finite and weak position. When God forgives He restores fellowship with Him. We dare not always do that. The shop-owner who forgives the cashier who stole money from them would be an idiot to put that person back on the cash register if the person was even kept in the employment at all. They might forgive the person and wish them no harm but dismiss them from their job for prudence sake.
In the same respect if a person in a position of trust and authority harms a child sexually or physically in some other manner it is possible to forgive them but it is never acceptable to ever let them be in a position of trust and authority again where they can hurt children. And, if the offender were a Christian they would never want to be put in that position again or ask to be.
So, our forgiveness does not always involve restoration although it could. A spouse may forgive an adultery and restore their cheating spouse to the marriage or they may forgive and simply acknowledge the irreconcilable breach caused by the adulterer and move on.
But, regardless of the ability or willingness to restore or not, it is essential that we forgive those who sin against us, even the most egregious sins against our person or soul. One of the greatest causes of mental illness is the unwillingness to forgive or to be forgiven. It will eat you alive and ruin your life even more than the actions of the perpetrator. By not forgiving them you give them power to hurt you again and again and again.
Christ calls us to forgive trespasses against us. It is not only a command but it is a healthy thing to do lest bitterness consume us. This statement of Christ underscores that we are in a time before the Resurrection and this is still a very Jewish prayer that suggests you will not be forgiven if you do not forgive. Jewish and Gentile Christians are not saved or lost based on their willingness to forgive but on their faith in Christ and in His righteousness, the fact that He forgave them, to get to Heaven. Be careful how you apply this verse and this prayer although it is a great prayer for us all to remind us of our need to forgive and how much Christ has forgiven us.
Then, we come to a very confusing statement for those people who do not read and cross-reference their Bible. What is a temptation? Biblically defined a temptation is a test, a trial, a proving of your faith and trust in God. The Devil tempts us in the hopes that we will fall away from Christ and reject Him, while God tempts and tries us to reveal our faith.
James 1:13 ¶ Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
So, a temptation can be sin itself as it leads you away from God. Many people, especially young people, have abandoned their faith when the lusts of youth demanded their attention. A noted evolutionary biologist, Edward O. Wilson, wrote a book entitled Consilience in which he writes in chapter one about the joy he felt when he found and believed in the theory of evolution and the unity of all sciences with that atheistic determinism as their foundation, well unquestionable fact more than theory to him with the following as part of his journey to atheism;
On a far more modest scale, I found it a wonderful feeling not just to taste the unification metaphysics but also to be released from the confinement of fundamentalist religion. I had been raised a Southern Baptist, laid backward under the water on the sturdy arm of a pastor, been born again. I knew the healing power of redemption. Faith, hope, and charity were in my bones, and with millions of others I knew that my savior Jesus Christ would grant me eternal life. More pious than the average teenager, I read the Bible cover to cover, twice. But now at college, steroid-driven into moods of adolescent rebellion, I chose to doubt.
It can also be suffering that puts pressure on your faith and, if you are not grounded in God’s word, can lead you away from Him in your pain and anguish.
Galatians 4:14 And my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
And it can be persecution that forces you, in order to be accepted by people or to keep from losing life, liberty, family, employment, or property, to consider turning your back on God. Essentially, though, a temptation is a test, a time of trial, and it can be caused by many different circumstances. It is rarely a pleasant experience and if our faith is weak and not grounded it can lead to disaster.
Evil, synonymous with a temptation here, can be in context simply trouble, the calamity that comes to our lives from giving into temptations or the trouble that comes to us naturally living in fallen bodies in a fallen world. It can also be judgment’s consequences.
Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Genesis 47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
In this prayer that which challenges our faith is a malicious event that can bring us down. The person praying was pleading to be delivered from all such harms, griefs, disappointments, and discouragements that challenge faith.
Then, Jesus gives a short parable on being persistent in prayer, promising that God will provide your needs. As Jesus said in regard to our basic needs in Luke, chapter 12, and in Matthew, chapter 6, quoted above.
Of course, your cellphone service payment and the mortgage on the house at the beach don’t count as needs. We’re talking about what is needed to get by from day to day. God uses other people sometimes to provide our needs and needs are met most assuredly while we are doing our part. I have always been amazed at Christians who are struggling and yet refuse employment, refuse to improve their work skills, or insist that not only do they need someone to give them something but want to have the right to demand exactly in what form it is given.
With regard to temptation Paul offered this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
1Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
In the context of verse 13 evil is that capacity to be malicious and hard-hearted, capable and willing of doing harm.
Genesis 37:33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Genesis 50:20 But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
We know this is an accurate description of even the best of people at their core from our own experience if we are honest and from the Bible.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
The point here is that God will answer this prayer if made sincerely, persistently, and within the confines of what we know to be His will. This is a promise we are challenged to press for the fulfillment of, being constant in prayer. We ought to pray it every day.
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