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#11:11 urgent message from god

the-deadrobin · 3 months

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Jason 'died-before-advanced-internet' Todd. He's definitely not at all good with technology as a whole. He's more equivalent to a very old man.

Babs: *appearing on Jason's phone by hacking into it* Sorry Jason, I had to intercept your phone to pass this message.

Jason: *whispers* whaaa??... ahem nah- no, its fine.

Babs:...

Jason:...

Jason: So how... is that even possible?

- 2 DAYS LATER -

Tim: *does the same thing*

Jason: Nope- nope. This. *waves hand at Tim on his phone* Witchcraft.

Tim: *half asleep watching Jason being a dramatic bitch on the huge batcomputer screen* What.

Jason: WITCHCRAFT THATS WHAT.

Jason: Hey Timmers!

Tim: What's up?

Jason: So uh... I got a laptop problem.

Tim: Oh no.

Steph: *from across the room* not again.

Cass: *chilling on the couch* *silently leaves*

Bruce: *also on couch*

Also Bruce: *pulls out phone and puts it to his ear despite no ringtone* oh- yeah? Huh? What's that? Urgent meeting? *leaves hurriedly*

Duke: *Just entering the room*

*hears Jason*

Also Duke: *does complete 180*

Jason: *oblivious* I don't know what's wrong Timmy, it's not turning on.

Damian: *Sitting on the floor with Alfred the cat, the only one still in the room besides Jason and Tim* Have you tried the power button.

Jason: I'm offended.

Tim: Jason. Try the power button.

Jason: *stares into Tim's eyes as he turns it on* *waits* HA! IT DIDN'T WORK!

Tim: Jason- you're supposed to want it to work!

Jason: Dami, Tim is useless. Help me out here.

Damian: Akhi, I'm 11. Have some dignity.

Jason: Yeah, that died with me in the warehouse.

Tim: Okay, did you drop it in water?

Jason: The dignity is dead, not my fucking brain Tim- Why would I drop it in water?? You're supposed to be the smart one.

Tim: *mutters* I think the brains dead too.

Jason: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?

Tim: My god- okay listen...

- 2 HOURS OF INTENSE ARGUING LATER -

Tim: No- Don't shake it like that-

Jason: Any better ideas???

Tim: YES!

Jason: LIKE WHAT??

Tim: NOT SHAKING IT???

- ANOTHER HOUR LATER -

Jason: ...You're such a smartass and you can't even fix this damn thing!

Damian: *calmly* akhi-

Tim: WHY DONT YOU JUST BUY A NEW ONE INSTEAD OF USING A LAPTOP AS OLD AS DAMIAN?

Damian: *sighs* akhi.

Jason: Oh, I'm sorry I'm not rich like you! And it's not as old as Damian, it's a year younger!

Damian: Akhi!

Jason & Tim: WHAT??

Damian: *points to charger, not properly plugged in*

Tim:...

Jason:...

Tim: Jason.

Jason: Just- don't.

Tim: *deep breath* Jason. Did you plug-

Jason: APPARENTLY NOT TIM! BUT HEY WE KNOW THE PROBLEM NOW!

Tim: IT WAS NEVER A PROBLEM- IT JUST DIDN'T HAVE BATTERY!

Jason: I'M SORRY I DIED BEFORE COMPUTERS LIKE THIS-

Tim: OHMYGOD YOU KEEP BRINGING THAT UP-

- CONTINUES TO ARGUE -

Babs: *was silently listening through security feeds and knew the whole time*

Babs: *twitching with frustration* It's like watching one of Dick's soap operas.

But also, it's just Jason sometimes partly messing with them and they know it. Then sometimes he isn't messing with them. That's where the problem is because Jason is so good at lying (and being a menace to society), they can't tell the difference.

Got a bit carried away there💀💀

#jason todd #incorrect batfamily quotes #batfamily #tim drake

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allatariel · 1 month

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Margo opened the file and closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before flipping up through the pages as she had earlier that day. The post-it. She had almost convinced herself it had been a dream, a sudden madness, but there it was just as she remembered it and her heart once again skipped a beat. Sergei’s handwritten equation called to her comfortingly like an old friend.

Careful not to bend or curl it too much, she lifted it from the page and held the equation between her fingers, feeling the grooves of the figures made by the pressure of his hand through the pen. She recalled the gentle yet urgent pressure of those same hands on her face, her neck, her body, and a heated flush climbed out of her memory and up over her chest and neck. Shocked by the intensity of the feeling ten years on and after everything that had passed between, she started, her back straightening as she willed herself back into the moment and to the task at hand.

Replacing the post-it on the page, Margo set about solving for Sergei’s message.

It wasn’t long before she had a time and a location… This is a secret place for you?

Frank’s was adjacent to 11:59, she’d had many a hurried meal there before or after a set over her years with the house band. At least until the club closed up well over a decade prior in the years following the Apollo-Soyuz broadcast. Soyuz-Apollo…

Did he truly want to unearth their meager past? Surely he must have moved on by now?

She had forgiven him years ago. Mourned what might have been. God knew he must have done the same, believing along with everyone that she had died with her colleagues. Wildly she wondered if he had shared a memorial borscht with his family in their honor, in hers? She’d eaten a lot of borscht that first fall in Moscow, learning the true meaning of cold before winter had even officially started. Her nightly memorials did little to warm the chill of grief. She shifted in her chair and swallowed down the old guilt that rose like bile in her throat at thoughts of the bombing.

She had to get up, had to move, shift her weight, her perspective.

#margo madison #sergei nikulov #margo x sergei #sergei x margo #for all mankind #fam #i made this #my writing #wip #work in progress #wip wednesday #ok this is not finished but i like where it's going #this is a companion to the little piece i wrote from sergei's perspective #ok ok that one probably isn't finished yet either—might be the same story i'm not sure yet #i have so many ideas i can't focus on one long enough to make much progress <sigh /> my age old problem

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radiojamming · 3 months

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My ass fell down the Sherlock Holmes tree A G A I N and I am currently hitting every branch on the way down so literally anything you know about sending telegrams is useful information to me. Do they need stamps. How long do they take. Do I have to say Stop after every sentence or is that just a comprehension convention. IS IT A MORSE CODE THING

I AM REVVING MY ENGINES ABOUT THIS ASK AHHH LET'S GO

Telegrams did not need stamps. They were usually sent from one telegram office to another and were distributed outward by dedicated telegram couriers from that company. Most of the time, this system was faster than the mail.

Which is to say--THEY ARE SPEED. At telegraphy's height in the early 20th century, you could easily send a message across an entire country in a day. Telegram messages would get relayed up and down lines from office to office, sometimes passing through places like railroad stations, before arriving at the office closest to the recipient. Transatlantic messages shot across undersea cables in record time! It was bonkers! It's probably Samuel Morse's first message in his code (he didn't invent the telegraph, but the code's important) was: "WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT"

So the STOP thing is funky. There's a myth that people used it because telegraph companies provided the word for free in place of paying for punctuation, but that's probably not true. What is true is that the STOP really started showing up in telegrams during World War I. In this case, the STOP separated sentences clearly so messages wouldn't get misinterpreted and potentially cause things like horrible war disasters if someone read something incorrectly. Supposedly, the public caught onto using STOP and continued using it long after it was no longer necessary. It became a style of convention! It was en vogue!

(An aside is that one of the alternatives to STOP was using the numeral 30 in place of a period. This practice, as far as I'm aware, comes from newspapers using 30 to signal to the typesetter that they were at the end of a column. You can still find clippings of old newspapers that use this method! And sometimes you find telegrams using the same system!)

You, as the sender, would also pay by letter. This is why telegrams sound to us like these choppy, informal messages that are very easy to make fun of. If I remember correctly, the average length of an American telegram was about 11-12 letters. Very few people had the means to send long, flowery telegrams to each other or observe strict grammar rules. It was a whole lot easier to send the word NO than to say "I cannot come to your party, Geraldine, for I have a strong disdain for you as a person". It's also fun to look at some telegrams to see an early form of our text messaging acronyms. Some of them are so short that they're nonsensical to us.

So why send a telegram that says NO, anyway? Why not send a letter or, better yet, call the person? Because at the peak of telegraphy, both of those latter things are expensive and not always reliable. A rural farmer might not have the funds to make a long distance call, or straight-up doesn't have a telephone line! And what if their letter gets lost in the mail? What if the message is urgent? This is partially why a critical announcement of something like thee Armistice herself is delivered via telegram rather than someone calling and saying, "Yippee! The war's over!" Say it in tiny words and say it faster!

To date (and what I love to say to the kids I teach at the museum), sending a telegram is faster than sending a text message. If I sent the word NO through a telegraph line, it's already at its next stop the second I send it. If you texted the same word, you'd have to open the message prompt, type out the letters, send it, encode it, bounce it from a tower to a satellite and back down to another tower, have it go to the recipient's phone, decode it, and wait for them to open the prompt to read it. My NO is already there. :) (Now, I grant, it's going to take longer to get it on paper and sent through a courier to someone else, but if I work at a place like a railroad station and I'm sending a message to another station, then it's faster!)

Depending on the year you're looking for, there are a few different ways to send the telegram itself. There are telegraphic typewriters! Punch cards! Punch ribbons! Some guy wearing headphones and using a pencil! Someone else standing on a post and wildly waving flags around! A thing called a wigwag! Endless options!

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 1 year

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Preach the Word

1 I command you therefore before God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom: 2 proclaim the word; be urgent in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with all patience and teaching. 3 For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts; 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to myths. 5 But you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

6 For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. 8 From now on, there is stored up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

9 Be diligent to come to me soon, 10 for Demas left me, having loved this present world, and went to Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, and Titus to Dalmatia. 11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for service. 12 But I sent Tychicus to Ephesus. 13 Bring the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus when you come, and the books, especially the parchments. 14 Alexander, the coppersmith, did much evil to me. The Lord will repay him according to his works, 15 of whom you also must beware; for he greatly opposed our words.

16 At my first defense, no one came to help me, but all left me. May it not be held against them. 17 But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me, that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the non-Jewish people might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. 18 And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me for his heavenly Kingdom; to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus at Miletus, ill. 21 Be diligent to come before winter. Eubulus salutes you, as do Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers.

22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. — 2 Timothy 4 | New Heart English Bible (NHEB) The New Heart English Bible is in the public domain. Cross References: 1 Samuel 17:37; Psalm 28:4; Proverbs 14:32; Isaiah 30:10; Matthew 5:40; Matthew 12:32; Matthew 13:15; Luke 12:11; Luke 12:58; Acts 10:42; Acts 12:12; Acts 18:1; Acts 18:19; Acts 20:24; Acts 21:8; 1 Corinthians 3:13; Galatians 6:6; 2 Timothy 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:16; Philemon 1:25; 2 Peter 1:14

#preach #preaching #Word of God #crown of righteousness #Lord #righteous judge #the Lord is faithful #2 Timothy 4 #The Epistle of Second Timothy #New Testament #NHEB #New Heart English Bible

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kingdomgracemedia · 8 months

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How to Relate to Evil?

So, I close this chapter with an urgent and practical question: How then should we relate to evil? How should we behave and act in response to evil? The death of a little boy at the attack of a pit bull? The deaths of three valiant miners trying to save their buddies? Five hundred dead in an earthquake in Peru? These are just some of the agonies in the news the week I preached this message. And what about the evil and pain you confront in your own lives? Here is my summary answer.

Eight things to do with evil

On the one hand:

1. Expect evil. "Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange was happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12).

2. Endure evil. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7; cf. Mark 13:13).

3. Give thanks for the refining effect of evil that comes against you. "Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20; cf. 1 Thess. 5:18). "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance . . .” (Rom. 5:3-5).

4. Hate evil. "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Rom. 12:9).

5. Pray for escape from evil. "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13).

6. Expose evil. "Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them” (Eph. 5:11).

7. Overcome evil with good. "Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).

8. Resist evil. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7).

Four things never to do with evil

But on the other hand,

1. Never despair that this evil world is out of God's control. "[He] works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11).

2. Never give in to the sense that because of seemingly random evil, life is absurd and meaningless. "How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable are his ways? For from him and through him and to him are all things. "To him be glory forever" (Rom. 11:33, 36).

3. Never yield to the thought that God sins or is ever unjust or unrighteous in the way he governs the universe. "The LORD is righteous in all his ways” (Ps. 145:17).

4. Never doubt that God is totally for you in Christ. If you trust him with your life, you are in Christ. Never doubt that all the evil that befalls you--even if it takes your life--is God's loving, purifying, saving, fatherly discipline. It is not an expression of his punishment in wrath. That wrath fell on Jesus Christ our substitute (Gal. 3:13; Rom. 8:3). Only mercy comes to us from God, not wrath, if we are his children through faith in Jesus. "The Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:6).

When we renounce the designs of the devil and trust the power, wisdom and goodness of God displayed in the humble triumph of Jesus Christ, we fulfill God's purpose in letting Satan live a little longer. We glorify the infinitely superior worth of Jesus. So, I invite you to trust him and stand in awe of how He saved you and defeated Satan in one magnificent sacrifice of love.

#christian living #beyond evil

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logically-asexual · 2 years

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Where's my fucking teenage dream?

summary:

Last part of this series, two years after the events of the previous part. Logan just finished high school while Janus, Remus and Virgil have been renting a house together since they graduated. Logan decides to move in with them, but adjusting isn't so easy. Logan is ace but does feel romantic attraction (for Virgil). He doesn't know he's ace, though, so the story involves some self-questioning.

Read on AO3

Chapter 11 (last)

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words: 1782

Both adults moved forward and Janus and Virgil stepped aside. They walked and stopped right in front of their son, taking in everything wrong with his appearance.

Logan studied them for a second. “I was participating in a satanic ritual, before you interrupted,” he said with a straight face. His parents weren’t even religious, but they still stared at him with a firm look of displeasure.

“You’re going to watch that attitude of yours,” his father scolded.

“I will not.”

“Come on, sweetheart, let’s go home now.”

His mother grabbed him by his arm, but he pulled away. What even was that nickname? Logan had heard more of those come out of Janus’ mouth today than from his parents his whole life.

“I am not leaving.”

“God, this place smells awful. Have you been doing drugs?” His father pulled out his phone. “I think Dr. Henry won’t be available all weekend so we’ll have to wait until Monday to get an appointment for a magnetic resonance and make sure there hasn’t been any significant damage to your brain.”

He put a hand on Logan’s back and began pushing him towards the door, but once again he moved away.

“Stop touching me!”

His father did withdraw his hand but he didn’t seem to have heard Logan.

“Damn phone, I can’t find the number.”

“Hold on, I think I sent a message to him a few days ago.”

“Tell him that it’s urgent.”

“I will.” Logan’s mother was looking through her messages and sighed. “The fumes here are horrible, I am beginning to feel lightheaded,” she said with a dramatic tone that was hardly credible.

“Let’s get out of here, I’ll call the police.”

“What?!” Several of the boys’ voices exclaimed.

Logan snatched both cell phones out of their hands. That finally got them to look at him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

It was only the second time the others had heard Logan swear, and the first time for his parents.

His father looked at him incredulously. “Don’t you listen? We’re taking you home.”

“You’re the ones that don’t listen. I said I’m not leaving.”

“It wasn’t a question. You’re not in your senses; those delinquents have had a bad influence on you and we must fix it.”

“‘Those delinquents’ are my friends and you’re going to stay away from them!” Logan barely had to raise his voice. He had never talked back to his parents like this before, except for the night when he left. The anger in his tone by itself was enough to show his determination. “And I am staying here.”

His mother tensed up and looked around the messy house. “After everything we’ve given you, this is how you show gratitude? Abandoning all your privileges for… for this?”

Logan’s tone softened slightly as he looked them in the eyes. “You’ve given me so much; it was thanks to that that I could get into a career I could have only dreamed of.” He looked back down at the floor. “But you wouldn’t have allowed that and I… I needed something else.”

“‘Something else’…” His mother rolled her eyes. “You have everything and you exchange it for what? Geology?”

“It’s Earth Science. The field of natural science related to the plane–”

“I just can’t believe it,” his father scoffed. “I didn’t pay for all those courses in leadership and innovation for you to be sitting your ass around staring at… at freaking dirt all day!”

“That’s not what I’m doing!”

“I don’t care what you’re doing! What are your actual career options? It’s not even an engineering degree, at least with those you can make things.”

His mother muttered to herself, “Natural scientists. I’ve seen those pretentious hippies, thinking that a PhD in fruit flies makes them smarter but they don’t even know how to dress themselves for a formal event. I mean, look at you.” She gestured at Logan. “And, for the love of God, please tell me that thing on your face is fake.”

She couldn’t get her hand close to Logan’s eyebrow piercing before he slapped it away.

“I don’t want to be an engineer. That’s the problem, you have no idea what I want, I–.”

“What you should want,” his father interrupted, “is to not waste your life away on something that won’t bring any benefits.”

“Benefits for whom? For marketing businesses like yours that prey on insecure minds to take advantage of them for money?”

“Oh, so now the problem is my job? The one that brings food to your table?”

“I know you want me to be an accountant or an economist but I can’t, there’s nothing about that system that makes any logical sense other than abusing and–”

“You wouldn’t speak like that if you had heard a single thing I’ve tried to teach you about economy–”

“I’ve listened enough!” Logan silenced his father. “Now you’re going to listen to me.”

Everyone stood still, for a moment it seemed like time had stopped. All Logan could hear was his own breathing. In and out.

“I’ve learned a lot thanks to you, and I appreciate that, so much.” It took a lot of effort to not let his voice crack. “However, I have learned more about discipline, responsibility, independence, and socializing here the past months than I ever did trapped behind a desk my entire childhood.” He took another deep breath. “Look at me.”

Both of his parents looked him in the eye. Logan almost shivered at the intense display of their hard-to-capture attention.

“This is what I want. I only ask one thing of you,” he said with his index finger lifted. “That you trust me… which is to trust yourselves, that you raised me to be intelligent enough to thrive doing whatever makes me happy.” He crossed his arms.

His father’s stern expression faltered. He looked around himself at the house. “And this… dumpster makes you happy?”

Logan nodded.

As he did, his mother took a step closer to him. Logan noticed that her eyes were now glassy. “We didn’t come earlier because we thought you’d get over your tantrum sooner. We called some of the universities that you had mentioned and figured out where you were, but we thought that you were staying in the university’s own residences. My friend Liz, the psychologist, told us we should let you cool off and wait until you came back…”

Logan didn’t dare to speak. He had never seen the stoic woman ever show a trace of emotion, not remotely like this.

“But then we were told that you weren’t at the student residences, you were at some punks’ house away from the campus. The image in my mind was awful, but…” she looked around at the other young men in the house. They all had the same wary look in their eyes her son did when she would reprimand him. They didn’t look like soulless criminals. “I’m sorry.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t think of any words.

“Please,” he whispered, “just believe me.”

“Logan,” his father said with a sneer, “if you want to study dirt and rocks so bad then… We’ll pay for your residence at the university.”

Logan looked down once again and fidgeted with his nails. “I’d like to stay here,” he hesitantly said.

“How about a generous multi-purpose allowance?” Janus suddenly intervened, earning a glare from Virgil. “What? I meant for groceries and stuff…”

“No. I can work as a professor’s assistant starting next semester and they will lighten my other classes’ workload in addition to the payment.” Logan didn’t want his parents to be able to use the money as leverage. It would take a lot more for him to really trust them.

His father shook his head, looking at the floor. “Are you sure you want this?”

“I am.”

“Fine,” he finally said, lifting the heavy weight off Logan’s shoulders. “Give me my phone back.” Seeing Logan’s hesitancy, he added, “I promise I won’t call the police.”

Logan handed it to him, then looked towards his mother.

She rolled her eyes. “I won’t, either.”

With a small smile, he gave her her phone, too.

“Let’s go, I can’t stand in this junkyard for another minute.”

They both turned around to leave. Logan walked behind them.

At the door, his mother told him that he could go back if he ever changed his mind. Logan thanked her politely, though hopefully they both knew that his conviction wouldn’t change.

As they drove off, Logan closed the door and leaned his back on it, feeling like he was about to pass out. He willed himself to stay standing, anyway. He wasn’t going to collapse in this hallway again.

The other three approached him carefully. Janus offered to prepare tea, to which Logan nodded. Virgil laid a hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the living room to sit on the couch. He sat in the middle, with Virgil to his left, Remus to his right, and Janus came to sit on the coffee table in front of them. He had made tea for Logan and himself, and brought coffee for Virgil and Remus, as well.

They stayed quiet for a minute. Virgil took one of Logan’s hands in both of his. His other hand held the warm mug close to his chest.

“Hey,” Janus suddenly broke the silence, “did you check the time?”

Confused, Logan looked at his watch. It read 00:11. December 21st. His expression lightened up with a subtle smile. “It’s past midnight.”

“That’s right, darling,” Janus said, before standing up. “I propose a toast.”

Of course he did.

Everyone stood with him, holding their drinks in front of them.

“To the only real family that I have,” Janus pointed his mug towards Logan, “and its newest legally-adult member.”

“Cheers!” They said, bringing the mugs together.

After taking a sip from his tea, Logan spoke up. “I think that’s been enough interruption. You were in the middle of something.” He nodded towards the instruments in the corner of the room.

Remus grinned. “You heard the birthday boy, let’s rock!” he gulped the last of his coffee and smashed the mug into the floor, then ran towards the drumset.

“I’ll have him clean that later,” Janus winked at Logan.

Logan smiled and put his mug down as the other two got in their positions.

They finished playing their set, then played some more. If Logan had been enjoying the music earlier, now he was reveling in every vibration of the air around him.

He was free, and he was going to do anything in his power to keep it that way.

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thank you so so much for reading! if you liked it it would be super cool if you'd leave a comment. im just glad you enjoyed it enough to make it to the end <3

#logan sanders #sanders sides #virgil sanders #janus sanders #remus sanders #dukeceit #analogical #ts #lunas writing

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antagonistchan · 2 years

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a better way to word that rant i had a few days ago

modern Tumblr is overwhelmingly cynical

and in some ways that’s a good thing. that’s the thing that’s kept Tumblr so hostile to Bad Modern Internet Things like influencers and brand accounts and whatnot. and some cynicism is healthy- nay, required- to be a politically aware person

but modern Tumblr is absolutely cynical to a fault

one of my favorite examples to point at and go “hey stop doing this shit”?

there was a post going around about how when you cry, you release the chemicals that make you feel the Bad Emotions through your tears.

this post was fake, and it got so much backlash for being fake. to paraphrase one post i saw about it back in like 2017, “oh my fucking god people are so stupid, that’s literally medieval humorist theory”.

and god, that post pissed me off. the one about how it’s medieval humorist theory, i mean. like, yes, if someone is spreading misinformation, you should try to correct it.

but you don’t gotta be a fucking asshole about it LITERALLY 24/7

sometimes, being aggressive is absolutely justified or even necessary when correcting misinformation! there are some really stupid political beliefs that i held once upon a time, and the main thing that got me to realize i was wrong was people yelling at me about it.

but see, there’s a fucking time and place for aggression.

like, this post wasn’t some deep political message or lifestyle guide or something, it was a fun bit of trivia. a fun bit of trivia being false is INFINITELY less urgent and serious of a problem than a deep political message or lifestyle guide being false.

and also- not only is it less urgent, but people are less likely to vet a fun fact! people are naturally more skeptical of something major like a deep political message or a lifestyle guide, and more accepting of something completely inconsequential like “hey, fun fact, the Turtle Club scene from Master of Disguise was filmed on 9/11 and they actually had a moment of silence between takes for it” (another infamous fun fact that isn’t actually true but who fucking cares, it’s a fun little tidbit about an infamously bad movie that nobody cares about)

so hey, maybe instead of going “you’re all deeply gullible idiots for believing this r/mildlyinteresting thing and i hate you”, you could just simply say “this actually isn’t true, and amusingly, this is actually medieval humorist theory!”

(PS: and yeah i do consider 2017 “modern” Tumblr for the purposes of this post. the only major change to Tumblr culture that’s happened since then is the adult ban, and the adult ban had a pretty massive effect on Tumblr’s ecosystem as a whole but this overwhelming cynicism was left relatively unscathed)

#antagonist originals

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psalmonesermons · 2 months

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Insights into Ezekiel Chapter 7

God is shooting to kill

God now tells Israel via the prophet Ezekiel that it is high time for payback for all their rebellion against Him. Several times in this chapter does the Lord tell Ezekiel to warn the disobedient Jews of impending judgement.

The Canadian preacher D. A. Carson puts it like this ‘God is shooting to kill.' This chapter clearly highlights the need for Christians to urgently preach repentance towards God as part of the Full Gospel message.

God has appointed His church as watchmen to the nations.

Judgment on Israel Is Near

1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel:

‘An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

3 Now the end has come upon you,

And I will send My anger against you;

I will judge you according to your ways,

And I will repay you for all your abominations.

4 My eye will not spare you,

Nor will I have pity;

But I will repay your ways,

And your abominations will be in your midst;

Then you shall know that I am the Lord!’

Several times in this chapter the Lord tells Ezekiel to warn the Israelites that the end has come i.e. they are past the time for repentance and that God has had enough of them. God is angry and will judge them according to their own standards. If the wages of sin is death, then the Jews have been working overtime. The Jews had gone so far in rebellion against God that He has reached stage where He refuses to spare them or indeed show further pity on them. God is going to let them feel the full wrath of His fury on their abominations right in the midst of the people. They will not mistake the source of these judgements and it will be clear they are from God Almighty.

5 “Thus says the Lord God:

‘A disaster, a singular disaster;

Behold, it has come!

6 An end has come,

The end has come;

It has dawned for you;

Behold, it has come!

7 Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land;

The time has come,

A day of trouble is near,

And not of rejoicing in the mountains.

8 Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury,

And spend My anger upon you;

I will judge you according to your ways,

And I will repay you for all your abominations.

The Lord continues his pronouncement of disaster upon the nation of Israel indicating that it has already started. The time of trouble and judgement is now upon them, and they are inescapably doomed for the Lord is going to pour out the full measure of his anger upon them. God will judge their ways and measure his punishment against this.

9 ‘My eye will not spare,

Nor will I have pity;

I will repay you according to your ways,

And your abominations will be in your midst.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord who strikes.

Again the Lord stresses that the Israelites are now beyond Him turning a blind eye or even taking pity on them. He also restates the judgement is on their lifestyles and those abominations amid where they dwell. The Lord will personally strike them suggesting His honour has been profaned.

10 ‘Behold, the day!

Behold, it has come!

Doom has gone out;

The rod has blossomed,

Pride has budded.

11 Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness;

None of them shall remain,

None of their multitude,

None of them;

Nor shall there be wailing for them.

12 The time has come,

The day draws near.

The time of savage judgement has now arrived bringing doom onto the disobedient. Their sin is fully ripened, and they are filled with pride. Violence and wickedness have reached their full measure. Not a single a one of the guilty will escape and no one will mourn their passing.

Pay-back time from God is knocking on the door.

‘Let not the buyer rejoice,

Nor the seller mourn,

For wrath is on their whole multitude.

13 For the seller shall not return to what has been sold,

Though he may still be alive;

For the vision concerns the whole multitude,

And it shall not turn back;

No one will strengthen himself

Who lives in iniquity.

The upcoming judgements will confer no advantage either to buyers or sellers since all the people are coming under God’s judgement. There is no way out of these judgements for any of the guilty and they will certainly be punished. There is no defence against the judgements of God.

#christianity #bible study #bibletruth #blog post #blessings #psalmonesermons #faith #victory #devotional #Ezekiel 7

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shammah8 · 7 months

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RHAPSODY OF REALITIES

📅 SUN. 22ND OCTOBER 2023

THE URGENCY OF THE GOSPEL

📖━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

...preach the Word of God urgently at all times, whenever you get the chance, in season and out, when it is convenient and when it is not. Correct and rebuke your people when they need it, encourage them to do right, and all the time be feeding them patiently with God's Word (2 Timothy 4:2 TLB).

Pastor Chris Says

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We must constantly remind ourselves that the Lord is coming soon. We must work hard as people who are living in expectation of the Lord. Commit yourself to spreading the Gospel as though it rested on you alone to tell it to the whole world. Be committed to it.

We've got to use every opportunity to propagate the Gospel and advance the Kingdom of God. No one's effort is insignificant. It doesn't matter where you are; whether you're in a big city or a small town, ten souls in a small village have the same value to God as ten souls in a big city. It's the same Jesus Christ that died for them.

Where you are is God's headquarters! God cares about where you are and what you do where you are. The message of the Gospel committed to us to preach is the only hope for salvation. Therefore, never be discouraged or distracted; preach it with urgency and conviction.

You're the custodian of this glorious Gospel; it's your responsibility to preach it with the knowledge and power of the Spirit. Think and talk like Paul in the way he personalized the divine mandate to preach the Gospel. In 1 Timothy 1:11, he said, "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."

Notice the latter part; he didn't say the Gospel which is committed to "our trust" but to "my trust!" The Great Commission was personal to Paul. He ran with it as though it depended on him alone to preach the Gospel to the whole world. That's how it ought to be. Be committed to the urgency of the hour. Preach the Gospel irrespective of the tests, trials and persecutions that you might face while at it. Remember, the time is short.

🙏 P R A Y E R

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Blessed be God for His unfathomable grace, wisdom and mercy lavished upon His Church to effectively proclaim the Gospel and establish His righteousness in all the earth in these last days! Thank you Father, for committing this glorious Gospel to my trust; I preach it in season and out of season, hauling many from darkness to light, in Jesus' Name. Amen.

📖 FURTHER STUDY:

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Matthew 28:19-20; And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20. teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

2 Timothy 4:5; But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

Philippians 1:27; Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

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gduncan969 · 8 months

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Lessons on an E-Bike

Matthew 7: 13 - 14 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."

Last May I reported on the tragic accident that happened to my son-in-law’s mother, Marg Tucker, a missionary with her husband, Tom, in Migori, Kenya. Marg was killed when a transport truck carrying a load of gravel lost its brakes and flipped over on top of their car, killing Marg and injuring Tom who has since fully recovered. The morning following the accident, their son, Jeff, (my son-in-law) awoke from sleep to hear his mother urgently telling him I’m fine but you must tell them to enter by the narrow gate and stay on the narrow path that leads to life because the time is short and many will fail to enter and will be lost forever. Jeff called his dad to tell him what he had heard from his mom and the news had tears flowing down Tom’s cheeks because those two verses from Matthew were the very ones Marg would speak on each time Tom called her up to the pulpit to say a few words to the various churches they visited. These two verses have troubled me over the years because they carry a warning to all believers to stay the course every believer must follow in serving the Lord and the course is not a cake-walk but a marathon. We who have committed our lives to Christ find it so easily to become complacent in our walk with the Lord, so much so that we find ourselves sliding off the steep and narrow path that leads to life back on the to the broad path that leads to Hell. We do not want the responsibility that comes with our salvation and prefer to enjoy ourselves and have fun with the rest of crowd. The word “FUN” lies at the heart of so much church activity these days that we have forgotten why the Lord didn’t take us to Heaven the moment we were saved. We know the price He paid for our salvation and know the promises He has given us but we tend to shy away from the responsibilities that such great love demands of us but knowing God’s Love for us is but one side of the Gospel message. The other side—which we are much less attracted to—is God’s Holiness. His Love warms our hearts and gives us a peace that passes understanding as we rest in Him and watch Him work in us and through us but the moment we get a whiff of His holiness we are terrified! Being terrified of His Holiness was the reaction of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai when they told Moses,

“You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19)

It was the reaction of Isaiah when he saw the Lord and declared,

“Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.” (Isaiah 6:5)

It was the reaction of Peter when he agreed to “let down the net” at Jesus’ word (Luke 5:5) and suddenly found he should have “let down the nets” as Jesus actually commanded because his one net was overflowing with enough fish to almost sink the boat. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” (Verse 8).

Finally, it was what motivated Paul and his companions to preach the Gospel (2 Corinthians 5:11)

“11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.”

He preached the Word not just because he wanted to but because he had to. Jesus “died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.(verse 15). Every believer, including you and me, is named in that one phrase, “Those who live”.

How Terrified of God Are You?”

In this present day and age, there is vastly diminishing room for complacency in our walk with the Lord. As society becomes more and more deceived, more and more corrupt, more and more anti-Christian, it is bringing upon itself the wrath of God which we are beginning to see in weather events, earthquakes, etc., that fill our TV screens. Life for the Christian is becoming more and more challenging and for many, that brings the temptation to ignore the narrow gate and follow the broader path of compromise with the world around us just to keep life comfortable. The COVID pandemic showed us that Governments can shut down churches, close schools, restrict our movement, freeze our bank accounts, censure us as homophobic, transphobic and indoctrinate our children as they please and those Christians who stood up against this have paid a hefty price. They continue to force our compliance with their anti-biblical agendas and many believers are only now beginning to waken up to what lies behind all of this.

The Narrow Gate and the Steep Path

God has given His children precious promises that reassure us that nothing comes our way that doesn’t first have to get past Him. What others do for evil intent against us, God works for good but that only becomes true in our experience as we commit ourselves entirely to Him and His purposes. The passage in Matthew 7 about entering by the narrow gate has never been one of my favorite scriptures because it challenges me to examine my life and consider which path I’m really on. When Jesus describes how it will be at the end of the Age (Matthew 24), He didn’t paint a warm, fuzzy picture full of Joy and gladness. Rather, He describes a time of great trial and tribulation such as has never been seen on earth before, a time when “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.” which will challenge every believer to the core. I find that very frightening—even terrifying, but many fellow believers tell me that we will be “raptured” out of all that before it happens because Jesus is coming back twice, once in the air to collect His Saints and then on the earth, so we don’t have to be overly concerned—no need for any of us to even think about the terror of the Lord at that (or is it this?) time. Unfortunately, the parable Jesus told about the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13: 24 - 30) tells me it is the wicked that are taken out first and again in Luke 17 where Noah and his family remain while the wicked are removed as was Lot and his family (minus his wife) while Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and removed (verses 26 - 28). Lastly, concerning the two men in one bed, the two women grinding together and the two men in the field, Jesus said one will be taken and one will be left but the disciples’ curiosity led them to ask, “Where Lord?”—where will they be taken?—and Jesus answered, to where the dead bodies are (verse 37) where they will be picked over by the vultures or eagles (birds of prey). The other one of the two will be left on earth which I trust means you and me (verses 34 - 36) with Jesus.

Riding My E-bike

Realizing the enormity of these end times for the believer and Jesus telling us that many will fall away during them, we need a better understanding of the narrow gate and the steep path Jesus spoke of to make sure we are on the right path. Today, I was riding my little E-bike along one of the many trails around my home town of Woodstock, Ontario. Initially, I traveled along a very smooth and wide path of newly laid asphalt just round the corner from my home (the road led to my local Tim Horton’s! I rode my bike with no concern about ruts, bumps or other obstacles getting in my way so the ride was very easy and unthreatening. However, things changed when I hit the forest trail and the path narrowed to less than a foot wide (see pictures). To get on the path I had to carefully steer the bike through a narrow gate and enter the comfortably wide path beyond but this quickly narrowed and I had a very difficult time keeping the small wheels on my E-bike on the path. My entire attention was on avoiding being thrown off the bike whenever I wandered off track and making sure I reached my destination. There was no room for complacency and my full attention was firmly fixed on staying on the narrow pathway ahead.

When I got home, it hit me I had just been taught a lesson about the narrow gate and the steep path to eternal life in Christ. There was no room for error and though my focus was on staying on the path to avoid the ruts, tree-roots and rocks that threatened to upend me, the journey was still enjoyable because I knew who was watching over me and was confident I’d get there without too much bone-rattling bounces. Also, there was no room for baggage hanging off my bike which would not allow me through the gate. Every non-essential had to be left behind for the trip but the reward was the beautiful scenery I was in the middle of and enjoying.

The end times may be the worst times the earth, including us, has ever seen but for all who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus they are the best of times as we experience his faithfulness, his guidance and His awesome, terrifying power to keep us through every trying circumstance. As we continue to place our trust in Him and stay focused on the journey, we will make it through victoriously and hear Him say, “Well done good and faithful servant..” (Matthew 25:21). The bible says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10) but the end is a joyful eternity in His presence.

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solatgif · 10 months

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TGIF: Roundup for August 11, 2023

I interviewed Matthew D. Kim about his book, Preaching to a Divided Nation. Check out my other interviews with Professor Kim: Finding the Big Idea When Preaching and Teaching, Preaching to People in Pain, and Finding Our Voice: A Vision for Asian North American Preaching.

Our interview with Ruth Chou Simons recently crossed 1,000 views on YouTube! Watch more of our Popular Videos and subscribe to our channel.

This newsletter is one of the many ways you can keep in touch with us. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For more, check out my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group and TGIF Playlist on Spotify. You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram.

Enter to win this beautiful book! Thanks to Harvest House Publishers for providing this book for our giveaway, in partnership with my newsletters for @diveindigdeep and FCBC Walnut. How can singing serve your family? In Timeless Hymns for Family Worship, Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth bring Gospel-centered moments into your home. Read my review.

Articles From Around The Web

1. Daniel K. Eng: Sermon on the Mount: 5 Keys That Unlock Understanding

“As we look forward to the full realization of the kingdom, we submit to our king. For disciples of Christ, we look forward to the end, when our house will stand, when we are characterized by the Father’s perfection, and when we will receive our reward.”

2. Joe Carter: 9 Things You Should Know About Falun Gong and ‘The Epoch Times’

Here’s what you should know about the Falun Gong spiritual movement, its oppression by the Chinese government, and how the group spreads its message in the United States.

3. Elliot Clark: Our Missions Approach Is Too Western

“A consumerist mindset can incline many of us as Westerners to focus on products and processes more than on people.”

Asian American Leadership Conference 2024: “Writing the Next Chapter.” April 23-24, 2024, Orange County, CA. Registration opens on August 28! More info can be found on the conference website: aalc.network.

The vision of this conference is to equip Asian-American leaders with gospel centered, contextual resources that will empower men and women for local church ministry. Our conference strategy is to equip leaders, platform voices, and connect with one another for life-giving relationships.

The theme of our conference is “Writing the Next Chapter: Empowering Asian American Voices for Gospel Ministry”. The Asian American church today is at a unique inflection point with leaders in diverse stations across multiple generations. This conference will be an opportunity to learn from these voices for the sake of continued and future Gospel work together.

Books, Podcasts, Music, And More

1. Jerry Hwang: The Faithful Servant of the Lord

Jerry Hwang preached from Isaiah 49:1-7 at FCBC Walnut.

Related: Rich, In-depth, and Insightful: A Review of Crossway’s “ESV Expository Commentary: Isaiah–Ezekiel”

2. Aaron Lee: Related Works

Book Reviews: Union with the Resurrected Christ by G. K. Beale, Tell Me the Dream Again by Tasha Jun, Family Worship Bible Guide by Reformation Heritage Books. Listen to our TGIF playlist on Spotify. Join my Asian American Worship Leaders Facebook group.

Our new Books and Reviews page is your one-stop resource for all of your reading needs. It features Asian American authors and issues, book recommendations, and interviews.

Featured This Week On SOLA Network

1. Aaron Lee: Preaching To A Divided Nation: An Interview With Matthew Kim

Current political rhetoric and its impact on the current state of affairs, the urgent need to seek Christ-like reconciliation even in the face of disagreement, and the importance of fostering understanding and empathy among diverse perspectives.

2. E.L Sherene Joseph: Immigrant Indian Women, Vocation and Faith

God calls us all to unique and meaningful work, whether in the corporate world, parenting, homemaking, volunteering, or community-building.

3. Kevin Liu: Sitting Around Tables for a Sunday Service?

Let me share with you the silly gimmick of Table Church NYC: We sit at tables.

4. Steven Siu: An Apologetic for Ethnic Heritage Churches

God has and continues to use ethnic heritage churches missionally and intergenerationally, and to provide a spiritual home for ethnic minorities and others.

5. TGIF: Roundup for August 4, 2023

Membership at Metropolitan Tabernacle: Church Polity with Charles Spurgeon / Great Is God’s Faithfulness Towards Parents and Children / How Horror Uncovers Our ‘Holy’ Hypocrisy

General disclaimer: Our link roundups are not endorsements of the positions or lives of the authors.

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roman-catholic-mass-readings · 2 years

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29th October >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Saturday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Colman

Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Saturday, Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

(Liturgical Colour: Green)

First Reading

Philippians 1:18-26

Life to me is Christ; but death would bring me more.

Christ is proclaimed; and that makes me happy; and I shall continue being happy, because I know this will help to save me, thanks to your prayers and to the help which will be given to me by the Spirit of Jesus. My one hope and trust is that I shall never have to admit defeat, but that now as always I shall have the courage for Christ to be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me something more; but then again, if living in this body means doing work which is having good results – I do not know what I should choose. I am caught in this dilemma: I want to be gone and be with Christ, which would be very much the better, but for me to stay alive in this body is a more urgent need for your sake. This weighs with me so much that I feel sure I shall survive and stay with you all, and help you to progress in the faith and even increase your joy in it; and so you will have another reason to give praise to Christ Jesus on my account when I am with you again.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 41(42):2-3,5

R/ My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.

Like the deer that yearns for running streams, so my soul is yearning for you, my God.

R/ My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.

My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life; when can I enter and see the face of God?

R/ My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.

I would lead the rejoicing crowd into the house of God, amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving.

R/ My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.

Gospel Acclamation

cf. Colossians 3:16a,17

Alleluia, alleluia! Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you; through him give thanks to God the Father. Alleluia!

Or:

Matthew 11:29

Alleluia, alleluia! Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, says the Lord, for I am gentle and humble in heart. Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 14:1,7-11

Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled.

Now on a sabbath day Jesus had gone for a meal to the house of one of the leading Pharisees; and they watched him closely. He then told the guests a parable, because he had noticed how they picked the places of honour. He said this, ‘When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take your seat in the place of honour. A more distinguished person than you may have been invited, and the person who invited you both may come and say, “Give up your place to this man.” And then, to your embarrassment, you would have to go and take the lowest place. No; when you are a guest, make your way to the lowest place and sit there, so that, when your host comes, he may say, “My friend, move up higher.” In that way, everyone with you at the table will see you honoured. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

-----------------------------------------------

Saint Colman

(Liturgical Colour: White)

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Saturday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

Either:

First reading

Genesis 12:1-4

All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.

The Lord said to Abram, ‘Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous that it will be used as a blessing.

‘I will bless those who bless you: I will curse those who slight you. All the tribes of the earth shall bless themselves by you.’

So Abram went as the Lord told him.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

OR: --------

First reading Leviticus 19:1-2,17-18 You must love your neighbour as yourself

The Lord spoke to Moses; he said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them: ‘“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. ‘“You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’

OR: --------

First reading Deuteronomy 6:3-9 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart

Moses said to the people: ‘Listen, Israel, keep and observe these commandments, which will make you prosper and give you great increase, as the Lord the God of your fathers has promised you, giving you a land where milk and honey flow. ‘Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is the one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart. You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to them whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising; you shall fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet; you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.’

OR: --------

First reading Deuteronomy 10:8-9 The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to do him service

Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand in the presence of the Lord, to do him service and in his name to pronounce blessing as they still do today. Levi therefore has no share or inheritance with his brothers: the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.’

OR: --------

First reading 1 Kings 19:4-9,11-15 The Lord was not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire

Elijah went into the wilderness, a day’s journey, and sitting under a furze bush wished he were dead. ‘O Lord,’ he said ‘I have had enough. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down and went to sleep. But an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked round, and there at his head was a scone baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again. But the angel of the Lord came back a second time and touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat, or the journey will be too long for you.’ So he got up and ate and drank, and strengthened by that food he walked for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God. There he went into the cave and spent the night in it. Then he was told, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.’ Then the Lord himself went by. There came a mighty wind, so strong it tore the mountains and shattered the rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there came the sound of a gentle breeze. And when Elijah heard this, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then a voice came to him, which said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He replied, ‘I am filled with jealous zeal for the Lord of Hosts, because the sons of Israel have deserted you, broken down your altars and put your prophets to the sword. I am the only one left and they want to kill me.’ ‘Go,’ the Lord said, ‘go back by the same way to the wilderness of Damascus.’

OR: --------

First reading 1 Kings 19:16,19-21 Elisha leaves the plough to follow Elijah

The Lord said to Elijah, ‘Go, you are to anoint Elisha son of Shaphat, of Abel Meholah, as prophet to succeed you.’ Leaving there, Elijah came on Elisha son of Shaphat as he was ploughing behind twelve yoke of oxen, he himself being with the twelfth. Elijah passed near to him and threw his cloak over him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after Elijah. ‘Let me kiss my father and mother, then I will follow you’ he said. Elijah answered, ‘Go, go back; for have I done anything to you?’ Elisha turned away, took the pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He used the plough for cooking the oxen, then gave to his men, who ate. He then rose, and followed Elijah and became his servant.

OR: --------

First reading Tobit 8:4-8 A prayer on the wedding night

On their wedding night Tobias rose from the bed, and said to his wife Sarah, ‘Get up, my sister! You and I must pray and petition our Lord to win his grace and his protection.’ She stood up, and they began praying for protection, and this was how he began:

‘You are blessed, O God of our fathers; blessed, too, is your name for ever and ever. Let the heavens bless you and all things you have made for evermore. It was you who created Adam, you who created Eve his wife to be his help and support; and from these two the human race was born. It was you who said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; let us make him a helpmate like himself.” And so I do not take my sister for any lustful motive; I do it in singleness of heart. Be kind enough to have pity on her and on me and bring us to old age together.’

OR: --------

First reading Tobit 12:6-13 Bless God and utter his praise before all the living

Raphael took Tobit and his son Tobias aside and said, ‘Bless God, utter his praise before all the living for all the favours he has given you. Bless and extol his name. Proclaim before all men the deeds of God as they deserve, and never tire of giving him thanks. It is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right to reveal and publish the works of God. Thank him worthily. Do what is good, and no evil can befall you. ‘Prayer with fasting and alms with right conduct are better than riches with iniquity. Better to practise almsgiving than to hoard up gold. Almsgiving saves from death and purges every kind of sin. Those who give alms have their fill of days; those who commit sin and do evil, bring harm on themselves. ‘I am going to tell you the whole truth, hiding nothing from you. I have already told you that it is right to keep the secret of a king, yet right too to reveal in worthy fashion the works of God. So you must know that when you and Sarah were at prayer, it was I who offered your supplications before the glory of the Lord and who read them; so too when you were burying the dead. When you did not hesitate to get up and leave the table to go and bury a dead man, I was sent to test your faith, and at the same time God sent me to heal you and your daughter-in-law Sarah.’

OR: --------

First reading Judith 8:2-8 The widow Judith was devout and feared God

Judith’s husband Manasseh, of her own tribe and family, had died at the time of barley harvest. He was supervising the men as they bound up the sheaves in the field, when he caught sunstroke and had to take to his bed. He died in Bethulia, his home town, and was buried with his ancestors in the field that lies between Dothan and Balamon. As a widow, Judith stayed inside her home for three years and four months. She had had an upper room built for herself on the roof. She wore sackcloth round her waist and dressed in widow’s weeds. She fasted every day of her widowhood except for the sabbath eve, the sabbath itself, the eve of New Moon, the feast of New Moon and the festival days of the House of Israel. Now, she was very beautiful, charming to see. Her husband Manasseh had left her gold and silver, menservants and maidservants, cattle and lands; and she lived among all her possessions without anyone finding a word to say against her, so devoutly did she fear God.

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First reading Esther 4:17 'I will not bow down to any but you, Lord'

Calling to mind all the wonderful works of the Lord, Mordecai offered this prayer:

‘Lord, Lord, King and Master of all things, everything is subject to your power, and there is no-one who can withstand you in your will to save Israel.

‘Yes, you have made heaven and earth, and all the marvels that are under heaven. You are the Lord of all, and there is none who can resist you, Lord.

‘You know all things: you know, Lord, you know, that no insolence, arrogance, vainglory prompted me to this, to this refusal to bow down before proud Haman. I would readily have kissed his feet for the safety of Israel.

‘But what I did, I did rather than place the glory of a man above the glory of God; and I will not bow down to any but to you, Lord: in so refusing I will not act in pride.

‘Hear my supplication, have mercy on your heritage, and turn our grief into rejoicing, that we may live to hymn your name, Lord. Do not suffer the mouths of those who praise you to perish.’

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First reading Proverbs 31:10-13,19-20,30-31 A perfect wife - who can find her?

A perfect wife – who can find her? She is far beyond the price of pearls. Her husband’s heart has confidence in her, from her he will derive no little profit. Advantage and not hurt she brings him all the days of her life. She is always busy with wool and with flax, she does her work with eager hands. She sets her hands to the distaff, her fingers grasp the spindle. She holds out her hand to the poor, she opens her arms to the needy. Charm is deceitful, and beauty empty; the woman who is wise is the one to praise. Give her a share in what her hands have worked for, and let her works tell her praises at the city gates.

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First reading Ecclesiasticus 2:7-13 You who fear the Lord, trust the Lord

You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; do not turn aside in case you fall. You who fear the Lord, trust him, and you will not be baulked of your reward. You who fear the Lord hope for good things, for everlasting happiness and mercy. Look at the generations of old and see: who ever trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Or who ever feared him steadfastly and was left forsaken? Or who ever called out to him, and was ignored? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins, and saves in days of distress.

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First reading Ecclesiasticus 3:19-25 Behave humbly, and you will find favour with the Lord

My son, be gentle in carrying out your business, and you will be better loved than a lavish giver. The greater you are, the more you should behave humbly, and then you will find favour with the Lord; for great though the power of the Lord is, he accepts the homage of the humble. Do not try to understand things that are too difficult for you, or try to discover what is beyond your powers. Concentrate on what has been assigned you: you have no need to worry over mysteries. Do not meddle with matters that are beyond you: what you have been taught already exceeds the scope of the human mind. For many have been misled by their own presumption, and wrong-headed opinions have warped their ideas. For lack of eyes you want for light; if you are without knowledge, do not attempt to convince.

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First reading Ecclesiasticus 26:1-4,13-16 A perfect wife is the joy of her husband

Happy the husband of a really good wife; the number of her days will be doubled. A perfect wife is the joy of her husband, he will live out his years in peace. A good wife is the best of portions, reserved for those who fear the Lord: rich or poor, they will be glad of heart, cheerful of face, whatever the season. The grace of a wife will charm her husband, her accomplishments will make him the stronger. A silent wife is a gift from the Lord, no price can be put on a well-trained character. A modest wife is a boon twice over, a chaste character cannot be weighed on scales. Like the sun rising over the mountains of the Lord is the beauty of a good wife in a well-kept house.

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First reading Isaiah 58:6-11 Then will your light shine like the dawn

Is not this the sort of fast that pleases me – it is the Lord who speaks – to break unjust fetters and undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke, to share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor,

to clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin? Then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over.

Your integrity will go before you and the glory of the Lord behind you. Cry, and the Lord will answer; call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’

If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed,

your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows become like noon. The Lord will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.

He will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.

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First reading Jeremiah 20:7-9 The word of the Lord has meant insult for me

You have seduced me, Lord, and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. I am a daily laughing-stock, everybody’s butt. Each time I speak the word, I have to howl and proclaim: ‘Violence and ruin!’ The word of the Lord has meant for me insult, derision, all day long. I used to say, ‘I will not think about him, I will not speak in his name any more.’ Then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones. The effort to restrain it wearied me, I could not bear it.

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First reading Micah 6:6-8 The Lord asks only this: to act justly, to love tenderly, to walk humbly

‘With what gift shall I come into the Lord’s presence and bow down before God on high? Shall I come with holocausts, with calves one year old? Will he be pleased with rams by the thousand, with libations of oil in torrents? Must I give my first-born for what I have done wrong, the fruit of my body for my own sin?’

– What is good has been explained to you, man; this is what the Lord asks of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.

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First reading Zephaniah 2:3,3:12-13 In your midst I will leave a humble and lowly people

Seek the Lord, all you, the humble of the earth, who obey his commands. Seek integrity, seek humility: you may perhaps find shelter on the day of the anger of the Lord.

In your midst I will leave a humble and lowly people, and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord. They will do no wrong, will tell no lies; and the perjured tongue will no longer be found in their mouths. But they will be able to graze and rest with no one to disturb them.

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EITHER: --------

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 1:1-4,6

His delight is the law of the Lord. or Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. or The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.

His delight is the law of the Lord. or Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. or The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.

His delight is the law of the Lord. or Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. or The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

His delight is the law of the Lord. or Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord. or The just will flourish like the palm-tree in the courts of our God.

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Responsorial Psalm Psalm 14(15):2-5

The just will live in the presence of the Lord.

Lord, who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks without fault; he who acts with justice and speaks the truth from his heart; he who does not slander with his tongue.

The just will live in the presence of the Lord.

He who does no wrong to his brother, who casts no slur on his neighbour, who holds the godless in disdain, but honours those who fear the Lord.

The just will live in the presence of the Lord.

He who keeps his pledge, come what may; who takes no interest on a loan and accepts no bribes against the innocent. Such a man will stand firm for ever.

The just will live in the presence of the Lord.

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Responsorial Psalm Psalm 15(16):1-2,5,7-8,11

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

Preserve me, God, I take refuge in you. I say to the Lord: ‘You are my God.’ O Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup; it is you yourself who are my prize.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord ever in my sight: since he is at my right hand, I shall stand firm.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence, at your right hand happiness for ever.

You are my inheritance, O Lord.

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Responsorial Psalm Psalm 22(23)

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name. If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.

The Lord is my shepherd: there is nothing I shall want.

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Responsorial Psalm Psalm 33(34):2-11

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise always on my lips; in the Lord my soul shall make its boast. The humble shall hear and be glad.

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me. Together let us praise his name. I sought the Lord and he answered me; from all my terrors he set me free.

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed. This poor man called, the Lord heard him and rescued him from all his distress.

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

The angel of the Lord is encamped around those who revere him, to rescue them. Taste and see that the Lord is good. He is happy who seeks refuge in him.

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Revere the Lord, you his saints. They lack nothing, those who revere him. Strong lions suffer want and go hungry but those who seek the Lord lack no blessing.

I will bless the Lord at all times. or Taste and see that the Lord is good.

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Responsorial Psalm Psalm 102(103):1-4,8-9,13-14,17-18