#vineyard prayer tower

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Our Daily Homily by F.B. Meyer

"What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?" — Isaiah 5:4

This is what the Owner of all souls will say of his dealings with each when the discipline and husbandry of time are over. Each of us is God’s vineyard, and for each God has done the beat possible. At the end of all things God will have no reason to feel that had He adopted some other method, the barren waste of some heart would have brought forth fruit. It will be seen then, Omniscience itself being witness, that every soul of man had the chance of becoming a fruitful vineyard; and if he became the reverse, it was due to no failure in either the wisdom or grace of God.

It is hard to believe this, hard to think that you would not have done better in some other circumstances; but it is nevertheless true that God could not have done better or more. He has trenched for water, gathered out stones which had hindered your fruitfulness, and planted you with slips from the True Vine. There has been the tower of his protection, and the wine-press of suffering! Ah, how eagerly He has looked that you should bring forth grapes! The pity of it is that there has been nothing but the wild growth of nature! But God cannot take the blame for this. He could not have done more than He has done. Alas that we should have so often thwarted Him!

"When I looked." "The Father seeketh," our Savior said. He comes down the garden path full often, seeking from us the fruits of the Spirit, the grace of prayer and supplication, the plants of his delight. "Let us see," He says, "whether the vine hath budded, and its blossom be opened, and the pomegranates be in flower." Too often it is as when Jesus looked for figs—there was nothing but leaves!

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

8th October >> Mass Readings (USA)

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A

(Liturgical Colour: Green: A (1))

First Reading Isaiah 5:1–7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel.

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend’s song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 80:9, 12, 13–14, 15–16, 19–20

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

A vine from Egypt you transplanted; you drove away the nations and planted it. It put forth its foliage to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Why have you broken down its walls, so that every passer-by plucks its fruit, the boar from the forest lays it waste, and the beasts of the field feed upon it?

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted, the son of man whom you yourself made strong.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name. O LORD, God of hosts, restore us; if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Second Reading Philippians 4:6–9 Do these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation cf. John 15:16

Alleluia, alleluia. I have chosen you from the world, says the Lord, to go and bear fruit that will remain. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel Matthew 21:33–43 He will lease his vineyard to other tenants.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

”The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes?

“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Tuesday 21 April 1840

7 ¾

12 ½

breakfast over at 10 ¼ at which hour R9 ½° and fine morning – unpacking my bag – all afloat when an English a Mr. Allingham before 11 came to call upon us as being English – it was he who had sent the man who had just before been to offer as interpreter in Persia and who could only speak Russian and Persian and .:. would be of no use to us – an artist it seems – a portrait painter here who would have grumbled against Russia but he found us quite on the opposite site of the question – paralytic, or speaks so that I had great difficulty in understanding him – Madame Chvostoff called and luckily send him off – poor woman! she told the story of the loss of her infant by its Georgian nurse giving it opium customary with the Georgian nurses – since this loss does not visit much – will send for us at 7 this evening – then came her husband and staid some time after her – mentioned our Persian plans of change of dress – Mr. Chvastoff thought it would not be worthwhile – then came Madame Scallon for 3 or 4 minutes – then Madame Mendt, sister to poor Madame Vassilkovsky, the un peu timbre questioner on Sunday evening at Madame Golovins’ – who so posed me by her questions at to the English liking Napoleon and despotism etc. – then Madame Latchimoff, and then Madame and Mademoiselle Kotzebue, and just before them had come Mr. Besoc and Captain Tolstoy – Mr. B- so much engaged difficult to know when he can come – probably at 1 p.m. tomorrow w- he had seen a merchant who wanted see our billets de change and gave him back with him no. 8597 to shew the merchant – asked what I wished to have for it – I said Mr. Marc gave me 21/. assignats per £1 sterling – of course, did not sign the bill – no opportunity of talking much to Mr. B- .:. want to see him tomorrow - the Kotzebues’ staid till 2 ¼ - and Captain T- only went away a few minutes before – Mr. Chvastoff staid a little while after his wife who after a long visit went away at one to take a bath – wrote the above of today till now 2 50/.. – dawdling over 1 thing or other – dinner rice and eggs and barley bread and wine and water – over at 4 ½ - began a note to countess Panin – Madame Latchimoff came at 5 ¼ and brought a young person (Sophie) with her – A- who had not before intended going went with us to the Golovins’ garden – walked about there – nice vineyard-garden crossed in all directions by well-kept gravel walks – a small piece of water and swans, and broad gravel walk with Turkish like sort of temple at each end besides a sort of belvidere tower from which fine view of the town – we were soon joined by young Golovin for a little while and by Mademoiselle Kotzebue and Messrs. Krusenstiern and the brother of Madame du Hamel wife of the Russian ambassador at the court of Persia – he has just come from Tehran in 18 days – terribly fatigued – advised us by all means not to go – Madame L- went to prayers at the Golovins’ at 6 – Mademoiselle Kotzebue and the 2 gentlemen walked home with us, and we came in at 6 ¾ - dressed – the Chvostoffs’ carriage came for us at 8 10/.. – off immediately – very civil and attentive – tea soon after our arrival – and Mr. Kaoun our little interpreter, there to meet us and talk over the Persian journey C- mentioned the great fatigue of travelling by night – some of the stages 9 [?] of 7 versts each – Madame C- and A- left us 3 at the tea table talking matters – Mr. C- will give permission, and thinks he can answer for M. Golovins’ making no objection .:. the matters rests between K- and myself C- would by all means have us travel by caravan – agreed that we should be 7 months en route and should take not less than 1,000 ducats with us = 10,000/. – K- went away and count............came who has been in Persia – advised our not going – C- thought K- would ask 100 ducats per month – home at 11 – very fine day – no wind

[catolinewsdailyreadings]

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Readings of Sunday, October 7, 2023

Reading 1

IS 5:1-7

Let me now sing of my friend, my friend's song concerning his vineyard. My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside; he spaded it, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest vines; within it he built a watchtower, and hewed out a wine press. Then he looked for the crop of grapes, but what it yielded was wild grapes.

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard: What more was there to do for my vineyard that I had not done? Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? Now, I will let you know what I mean to do with my vineyard: take away its hedge, give it to grazing, break through its wall, let it be trampled! Yes, I will make it a ruin: it shall not be pruned or hoed, but overgrown with thorns and briers; I will command the clouds not to send rain upon it. The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished plant; he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed! for justice, but hark, the outcry!

Responsorial Psalm

PS 80:9, 12, 13-14, 15-16, 19-20

R./ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

A vine from Egypt you transplanted; you drove away the nations and planted it. It put forth its foliage to the Sea, its shoots as far as the River. R./ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Why have you broken down its walls, so that every passer-by plucks its fruit, The boar from the forest lays it waste, and the beasts of the field feed upon it? R./ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Once again, O LORD of hosts, look down from heaven, and see; take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted the son of man whom you yourself made strong. R./ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Then we will no more withdraw from you; give us new life, and we will call upon your name. O LORD, God of hosts, restore us; if your face shine upon us, then we shall be saved. R./ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Reading 2

PHIL 4:6-9

Brothers and sisters: Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.

Gospel

MT 21:33-43

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: "Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.  Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.  But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned.  Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way.  Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit."

[childofchrist1983]

Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. - Matthew 21:33-35 KJV

But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? - Matthew 21:38-40 KJV

Jesus let the chief priests and Pharisees understand that He was speaking about Himself, and them. God gave the promise to the Israelites, and they rebelled at every turn. He had given them the Law so that they would understand what was required of them and when they turned away, He sent the prophets. Time and time again, they ignored them and often killed them. And now, Father God Almighty - the Lord of the Vineyard - has sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Do they listen to Him? No! Their reaction to Jesus will be the same as to the prophets. They will have Him rejected, beaten and crucified. What they don't realize is that this will only be the beginning of the His reign. Jesus will rise from the dead and the world will never be the same. Because the Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, the Apostles turned to the Gentiles who were welcoming of this new Way of believing. This parable did not influence the chief priest and the Pharisees to change their minds about Jesus; it made them angry and more determined to kill Him.

How do we feel when friends or family call us on our actions which may not be how we are called to live? If we are not always truthful, do we admit to it and try to change? Or does it make us angry and possibly walk away from friends or relatives? It's often the child who is most like ourselves that we have problems with, because we see in them what we don't always like in ourselves and it bothers us. Most of us do not like to be reminded of our faults! But just like the chief priests and the Pharisees, we too need to be called to account for our actions so that we can repent, ask for forgiveness, and return to the open arms of God. He wants all of His creation and children to be home with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven. May He remind us often of our sins, so that we won't stray from Him and the path He has chosen for us.

Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven (John 3:5, 14:6), the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12, Ephesians 2:8-9) and He is resurrection and the life (John 11:25-26). As true and born-again Christians, we believe in Him and His Holy Word. We know though our mortal bodies should die, He will raise us up and into new and glorious bodies (The Rapture). We who are truly His and alive at His second coming will never die, and our bodies will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and so shall we ever be with Him in His Kingdom of Heaven forevermore (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). This is one of many promises given to us by God Himself. Thank God for His strength and guidance when we are faced with sin and temptation. Thank Him for His mercy and grace. Through Bible study and prayer, God reveals His wisdom and guides us to see opportunities to grow closer to Him and grow spiritually. He gives us direction to live our lives according to His Holy Word and will. We must make God top priority everyday! May we be motivated to spread God's Holy Word and Gospel Truth to all the Earth, knowing that it is the only hope of all those lost in their sins. Let us not hold out a false hope for men to be saved without the Gospel, but instead, strive to do our part to get the Gospel out to a lost and dying world.

Leaning on Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ through prayer and His Holy Word and Spirit strengthens us and our knowledge and wisdom about God and His Gospel Truth, exposing these imposters. May God help us to seek and lean on Him daily to gain the strength, wisdom and spiritual discernment needed to expose Satan and his imposters who seek to destroy us and God's ultimate Truth. Everyday, we must remember to share Jesus Christ's Gospel Truth with the world and to thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for the grace that He poured out for us on the cross at Calvary. He has freed us from the burdens of sin and from the eternal damnation of Hell. In all we say and do, may all praise, honor and glory always be given to Him and His Kingdom of Heaven.

With renewed minds, hearts and wills, let us serve Him humbly and faithfully out of pure love and grateful rejoicing. May He remind us of His presence and to remain at peace, fully knowing that all will be well because He is always with us. Let us seek Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ today and everyday with all our heart and being, looking for His love, light and will for our lives with each step we take. Let us seek to please Him with our thoughts, words, and deeds and seek to advance His Kingdom of Heaven and His glory with our lives. Let us seek Him from a pure and humble heart, and when we so seek, we believe Him and His promise that we will find. May He help us all to be more sensitive to the teaching ministry of His Holy Word and Spirit, relying on Him and allowing Him to speak to us and guide us every step of our Christian journey.

God gave us the Holy Bible - His living and Holy Word - to let us know of Him and His abiding love and care as well as guide and prepare us for all our lives. May He help us encourage one another as we continue our walk with Him and our duty to Him daily. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for being present for all our new beginnings and all our lives. May He redirect any anxiety we feel as He provides countless opportunities for growth and change. May we humble ourselves before God always, asking Him to forgive our sins and make our hearts and lives anew through His Holy Word and Spirit. May He help us make Him and His Holy Word top priority, so we can grow spiritually and grow in our relationship with Him as we apply it to our daily lives. Thank God that we can focus on Him and everything about Him, for that is what keeps us sane and at peace. May our words and actions always be a reflection of Him and His Holy Word and Spirit and will.

May He help us to always walk in His grace and Holy Spirit, not by our own measure. May He give us the humble humility to know that our freedom and eternal salvation is found only in Him, so that His grace may sustain us, and we may never lose sight of His love and light and mercy. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for calling us to Him and to serve Him. May He equip us to do all that He has called us to do so that as He works through us, He may use us to produce fruit, to reach others, and to encourage all brothers and sisters in Christ. May He work all of these things in us and through us for His Kingdom and His glory. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all His creation, for His miraculous ways and for everything He does and has done for us! Keep the faith and keep moving forward in your walk with Jesus! He loves us and He knows what is best for us. Seek, follow and trust in Him - Always!

Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Word and for sending His Holy Spirit so that we might have His grace, not only to awaken us and transform our hearts in our spiritual rebirth and guarantee our eternity with Him, but to also call upon Him whenever we are in need. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for all the reminders of His love and mercy and faithfulness within His Holy Word. He is bigger than any challenge or circumstance in our lives. Knowing this within our minds and our hearts, nothing can deter our faith in Him and His Truth. May we all accept Him and His eternal gift of salvation and ask that He would transform our hearts and lives according to His will and ways. Thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His Holy Spirit who saves, seals and leads us. May we always thank Father God Almighty and the LORD Jesus Christ for His almighty power and saving grace. For He is our strength, and He alone is able to save us, forgive our sins and gift us eternal salvation and entry into His Kingdom of Heaven.

May we make sure that we give our hearts and lives to God and take time to seek and praise Him and share His Truth with the world daily. May the LORD our God and Father in Heaven help us to stay diligent and obedient and help us to guard our hearts in Him and His Holy Word daily. May He help us to remain faithful and full of excitement to do our duty to Him and for His glorious return and our reunion in Heaven as well as all that awaits us there. May we never forget to thank the LORD our God and our Creator and Father in Heaven for all this and everything He does and has done for us! May we never forget who He is, nor forget who we are in Christ and that God is always with us! What a mighty God we serve! What a Savior this is! What a wonderful LORD, God, Savior and King we have in Jesus Christ! What a loving Father we have found in Almighty God! What a wonderful God we serve! His will be done!

Thanks and glory be to God! Blessed be the name of the LORD! Hallelujah and Amen!

[thebard490]

Paladins: Order Undivided Chapter 15: Battle of the Turning Sword

            I am the Bard, who has seen each war since the First. Many were righteous, many more unrighteous. Few were great, all were terrible. So it has been and shall be. 

            Under the moonlight, the paladins rode, bearing word of coming doom. Under the moonlight, the halflings followed, and came by them to the first village. There, they did not rest, but labored intensely to make ready for a red dawn.

Despite their best efforts and the best of their infiltrator Jort, the paladins did not yet know just how mighty a blow the Legate had reached out to smite them with. That night, four decanum, and fifty Singulares prepared to march out at dawn. On their left flank were twenty soldiers, skilled and ruthless, led by the veteran Primus Pilus Scythia, and on their right twenty more, led by a Judas yet unknown. In the center, fifty goblins slavered for blood, the dancing madness of the jester and sorcerer Fimbiblius bringing them to a fervor. As the dawn bloomed across the blackest sky, the fading vineyard of dark ichor throbbed with expectation. It was a blood dawn, a red dawn, the dawn of a day for slaughter!

The thud of boots trampled, as four columns marched smartly down, the beat of drums keeping every soldier marching in time. The red morn glinted on their weapons and armor, some old yet well maintained, and others freshly forged of bronze that once rang proudly from a high tower, today the bell broken would ring out on dwarven steel!

Behind them the flat green feet of lesser goblins pattered infrequently, any stragglers finding the sharp crack of the whip and the snarl of a cursing overseer. While they might grovel and cower, their wicked hearts beat hotly, long tongues lick thin lips as rusted daggers and dented scimitars glinted in the glades. Today they would strike their hated foe, and tonight they would feast on their still warm flesh!

A stag lifted its head at the sound of the war beat and quickly rushed away, light hooves leaping gracefully through wooded fen to atop grassy knoll, the light of the moon and unnatural cleverness in its eyes. As it bounded it bugled out a warning, a planned signal that its lady would know.

Yndri meditated in the coming dawn, aside from the village, sat cross legged in a favored tree, lips speaking silent prayers to her gods. “Creator, grant me victory, Maeve, guide my arrows, Heavens, shield these little ones from the ravages of the dark gods.” When she heard the warning, her amethyst eyes opened. There was a sort of excitement to them, a momentary taste of the thrill of battle, to feel the blood of her foes upon her blades and charge once more in the name of her goddess. She rose and dropped from tree to shadow, and as she prepared to depart, she offered a silent, singular prayer to a goddess her mind no longer knew but her soul would always remember. “Watch over me again…”

“Watch over me once more, dark mother…”

Silver hair ran in dark shadow, blurring across the dawning day, back down into the village, a warning on her lips. “Arise! Arise halflings! Arise my comrades! Evil came upon us! A day for battle dawns!”

In the village, warriors roused themselves from their breakfasts and donned what armor they had, padded shirts and wooden shields swiftly sewn and hewn. Ancient weapons reborn and the blades that once so harshly oppressed came to hands as they assume their positions.

Already, their champions were arisen. Kazador and Senket left their tent and set their separate ways. He would go to the forest, to ride out again and break the enemy with his mighty hammer. She would remain, to rally the defenders and hold against the tide, an immovable anvil for the foe to break upon.

The bone hilts of Avoree laid warm in the hands of his champion. Peregrin, ancestor of Bolgar the Horserider, stood at the center of the trench line. He would not depart from his people, godless though they might be. Godless again stood the son of the heavens, with blade an echo of his father’s in his hands. Aside Kazador and War Pig he rested atop his mighty steed until the time came for the lord of conquest to ride forth and shatter the foe.

“Death.” Swore Jort. “Death.” Swore the loyal betrayer, death to his foes, death to those besides him, death to his false comrades, death for the sake of the one whom he still owed loyalty, even beyond the gates of hades.

Silver and red made a beautiful tragedy as the crimson light blossomed across the readied stand of Silverthorne. Strung and mighty was her shaven bow, and silver were her arrows. Readied were her favored blades, openly worn, for the boot was too far to risk now. By her stood the hunters, their deadliest prey coming unto them with slaughter in heart.

They could all hear the drums now, and all stand ready as the force stepped from the woods to the clearing. What they saw was hardly what had been expected. The green before them was cut bare, and before them stood a thin line of halflings, armed and armored best as they might, with weapons in hand and paladins at their head. Scylla paused, and looked at this in some confusion, and the legionaries murmured amongst themselves. They had expected perhaps an ambush, but certainly not open battle, or open war against the halflings themselves. But they saw among them the devil’s daughter and elven amazon, and were greatly confounded and enraged.

Scylla watched carefully. These were the self-same warriors who had contested them during their tribute expedition, and now they stood alongside the halflings. A glance informed her that these halflings were not merely the inhabitants of this village, but of several others. This was no mere resistance, it was open rebellion, headed by the hated elves. Forth she sent an emissary, and drew up her lines for battle.

“Halflings!” The emissary called. “His sovereignty, Imperator Legate Pompey, has sent us to offer you sanctuary in these times of trouble. Lay down your arms, and yield to us, and you and all yours shall be taken safely into Bloodstone Abbey for the duration of the crisis. Do not be deceived by elf or devil, for they are your enemies. They shall seek your enslavement, and bring ruin to your people.”

Then Jok, the leader of the halflings, answered him. “You say that they seek our enslavement, and you our protection, yet what have you done for us? You have come and only taken, and given naught in return. Our people have suffered much indeed before you, and now how much more with you? You come and would starve us, and take us from our homes, with all armies and savagery. But here stand these few who have fought for us, and asked nothing of us in return. How then can you say one is a slaver, and you protector? When insofar as any of us can see, you are no friends to liberty, but slavers, even enslaving yourselves. Therefore I bid you in turn, go out from the abbey, and depart from these lands, for we who dwell in them have grown sick of you!”

The emissary, being a soldier and not a diplomat, lost his temple. “Why you ungrateful little shit.” He drew his sword, as if to come across the plane of diplomacy and cut down the halfling where he stood.

A shaven bow sang, and in that song was the promise of a new age, an age without the terror of the conqueror, an age of peace and prosperity. Perhaps this was the promise that this song of rebellion brought, but it sounded the creaking of ancient and terrible gates. Henceforth peace departed, and blood came upon the land, for the gates of Janus were open, the dogs of Mars bayed havoc, for henceforth, there was only war.

Scythia watched as her emissary fell, an arrow in his throat. “So be it.” The bloody maid stated. “Let there be death!” She cried as she raised tall the banner of the goblin god and ordered forwards her force.

“DEATH!” She was answered, though not by her troops, but by the valorous small, a cry of defiance, of hatred, and of cold acceptance that today there would be no quarter. “DEATH!” again the halflings cried. For the briefest moment, even the hardened butcher gave pause at this most unusual sight, then she shook it free and donned her dragon helm as the legion advanced. The goblins came up the middle, with the hobgoblins on either end. It would be a tactic of envelopment, pinning the foe with the goblins in the center, and then striking from either flank to overwhelm and roll up their presumably less disciplined foe. Scylla commanded the left, Fim the center, Jort the right.

Jort headed his own flank, wearing no helm and marching forwards with no fear on his face, merely a hard-set determination. Behind him his men had long grumbled at their leader being naught but the eightieth before today, but even they saluted his courage. Now he stood along them the youngest officer, but noble in his countenance. Almost naturally, he stood at the head of his men, like a hero of the ancient republic, leading from the front among the other young men. The same could not be said for the goblins, who hesitated at first at the sight of even these slapdash defenses. The whips cracked and the jester urged them forwards. “Stab! kill! Stab! kill! All glory to me!” Henceforth they began to charge.

“Fire on the leftward arm! Give Senket and your comrades as much aid as you can!” Yndri shouted as she let fly into the oncoming wing of the retaliatory force. Silver slashed red as a soldier fell mid-charge and was stepped over by his brothers. The halfling archers followed suit, and the sun twinkled between the shadows of falling shafts. Shields were raised, protecting most of the force, but still some small shafts slipped through to wound. Blood spattered the grass.

Through the shower of projectiles, Scythia charged on. Clad head to toe in full plate, she was all but invulnerable to the halfling’s assault. Onwards she plunged with two at her left and two at her right into the halfling’s flank, hoping to break through there. From there they could circumnavigate the defenses and roll up the rebels with the other flank while the goblins held them in the middle. Doing so, they would crush the impudent midgets in jaws formed of sturdy hobgoblins.

The paladins, under the command of Julian, had prepared a strategy of their own. The halflings had dug out a hidden trench the night before, and filled it with sharpened stakes. Any charge against their lines, as might be expected to break them, would hit the trench and be slowed and wounded, leaving them easy prey for the halflings. Soon, the efficacy of this would be tested, as the line of goblins surged towards the thin line of the militia.

On the left, the jaws of defeat would find themselves broken upon the indomitable iron that was Chult’s rejected daughter. At the edge of the halfling line to counter any such oblique attack was Senket Zarathustra, the immovable knight of devotion. Gladius and Morningstar clashed, and shield locked against banner. Hoof and boot stepped forwards and dragon helm slammed into horned head. Eyeball to eyeball the two warrior women strained against one another.

 “So, the slaves think to sell their souls for freedom.” Scythia remarked before shoving back, forcing Senket to retreat and deflect two slashes so swift that they seemed as blurs. “I am afraid to inform you that those are not theirs to sell. The halflings belong to me and the horde, mind, body, and soul!” She declared before lashing out with the standard. It struck Sen in the face, bruising it.

The infernal paladin was undeterred and responded with her mace. While Scythia slipped the first blow, the second struck her armor, blunt force crunching it to leave a serious bruise of her own on her forearm. “They never have, and they never will!” She responded, clarion voice raising her challenge above the field of battle. 

The hobgoblins moved around them. On their left, a pair discovered the hidden trench by falling into it. The halflings were upon them in a moment, restored maces turning bloody again as they crunched through armor. Two more tried to go around, only to be denied by Senket’s striking shield and seeking mace, sending one to the floor and the other to the grave.

The goblins hit the trench and fell, only for their friends to step on their heads to get over. The halflings descended and met them. Physically they were almost evenly matched, likewise both sides had salvaged weapons and next to no armor. Despite this, it was no stalemate, not only did the trench grant the goodly folk an advantage, today is their day of retribution. What skill could not provide sheer fury would instead, as the hatred of the halflings left them unrecoiling from wounds, instead striking on through to deliver telling blows. Blood flowed deeply as superior numbers and superior morale strained against one another.

On the left, Jort moved more slowly, a careful advance behind the goblins with shields raised to avoid casualties from arrow fire. Seeing the trench, he began to lead his men around in a wide flank to circumvent it, and to isolate them from the rest of the army. He spied Peregrin opposite him, and Yndri in the center. That meant that the decisive firepower of Kazador and Julian were still unaccounted for. If he failed with this gambit, then the two of them would be able to swiftly fall upon his isolated unit. Once they were safely away, he called a halt and turned.

“Brethren.” he said calmly. “The halflings are correct.” The statement made the others around him take pause, and he stepped forwards, turning so that he might look his men eye to eye. “I have been in long consideration, regarding the approach of our current legate. It is wrong. I do not say this merely from my own personal distaste for the man, my bias is easily understood. But I say this, having seen a better way. Look to them now, see how courageously they fight, how many come together without the need of whips and blades. How is it that they have obtained this? It is because their cause is just, and justice in a manner that is clear to the hearts of all.”

“As for us? How are we outmatched in the strength of spirit by farmers, by those we once condemned as weak? Are we so diminished in spirit? Forever we have sought to restore the empire, but in doing so, we have diminished our hearts. We cling to old propaganda, and walk as only ghosts. Is this what it means to be hobgoblins, to murder those who refuse our protection? What are we protecting them from then, if not ourselves? Such hypocrisy. We said once we were the unifiers and protectors of the world, but now here are those unified without, nay, against us, and seeking protection from us. All that we have aspired to is forgotten now, for the ambition of a few men of blood and ruthless ambition. I shall not die for this, far less so kill for it. Come, my brothers, let us be done with this folly, and seek justice and righteousness once more, true justice, and true righteousness, and not the propaganda of emperors long past.”

The other hobgoblins stared at him like he’d gone completely and utterly mad. The younger ones, nearest to him, considered his words carefully, and looked honestly upon what was happening. Had they not after all been sent to protect these people, why then were they being fought against? It seemed like madness. But as for the elder hobgoblins, their stunned silence gave way to hardly quiet anger, and one of them stepped forth. “I see now that Pompey was indeed a fool.” He remarked, and gave Jort brief hope. “A fool to place such a coward and traitor as you in any manner of command. We rule, we lead, and the rest follow or die, that is how it has always been and must ever be. To turn against this is nothing short of treason to our entire race, and blasphemy before our god.”

Jort stood, weapons ready. “If this be treason, make the most of it.” And the triari came forth to indeed make the most of it. The eldest third of the unit pushed past the others, and moved on the younger hobgoblin. The one who spoke first rushed Jort, and their blades clashed against one another’s shields. Their weaponry and armor was equal, but Jort had the strength of youth, and his foe the wisdom of age. They pushed against one another briefly, before the older man gave ground, only to pivot and slash at Jort’s throat. Jort blocked, falling back. The elder pursued, and thrust his blade forwards at Jort’s sword-arm to disarm him. In the blink of an eye, Jort swapped his shield and sword to the opposite hands, and deflected the strike. His opponent had no time to process this unexpected ambidexterity before Jort retaliated and slashed open his throat.

Despite this swift victory, Jort swiftly had to fall back, giving ground before the oncoming forces. He was vastly outnumbered, but fortunately, he’d isolated himself from the rest of the army. About two thirds of his own unit were now trying to surround him and cut him down, but he moved swiftly, baiting them nearer to the halfling lines and keeping up a defense. He took a momentary advantage, and landed a lethal thrust again one of his purusers, but the blade became trapped. Another stepped in, and landed a cut across his arm, forcing him to drop his blade. With no weapon, they pressed in on him more confidently, landing blows on his armor that winded him and drove him further back, until one slammed their shield into his chest, throwing him to the ground.

Swiftly, they made to execute the fallen spy, and four blades fell for his throat. Then, in a flash, all four were turned aside. In another moment, four blades hit the ground, hands followed shortly thereafter. Peregrin had entered the fray! As the maimed hobgoblins fell back, trying in vain to stem the bleeding from their lost limbs, others pressed forwards. Peregrin danced into their midst, using his smaller size and the enemy’s advantage in numbers to his advantage. Amongst them, he used his own enemies as cover, preventing them from all swinging against him effectively. All the while, his own blades danced, each one fighting a different hobgoblin at once, covering the ground in blood as he struck for crucial tendons and joints, weak points in armor that left his foes falling to the ground crippled. As more turned to face him, they found themselves suddenly assaulted from behind, as Jort picked up a dropped sword, sans hand, and hacked into his former allies’ backs.

Then, just as the hobgoblins rallied, from the forests charged two mighty beasts, a great black steed like nightmare, the devil in its eyes and midnight in its coat. By its side was a great boar, with cold winter in its heart, from which the mortals quail, drawing together by hearths beneath totems of pine and tinsel. Astride them rode two champions, captains of man and dwarf. In one was a blade like a holy avenger, with the wings of an angel for the hilt, the voice of the divine was in his mouth, terror all about him. In the other silver axes gleamed in the hands of a dragon. Fire was in his heart and justice in his eyes. About him was clad dwarven steel of fine make, and at his voice the stones trembled from the craftsman’s tongue.

“Justice! Justice for the sons of Esther!” Kazador roared in the tongue of his true father as he fell upon their lines. Axes cleaved and the anvil rang out, followed by the thuds of corpses hitting the earth. War Pig bellowed, bane of Baratheon, tusks gored and bulk crushed. He smashed directly into the center of their formations, hewing about with utter ferocity.

“A breaking! An ending! And a new world from the ashes!” Julian roared in celestial as blades physical and phantom cleft the foe, who scattered before that beginning of wisdom, terror of the holy. The war horse whinnied, wrathful beyond its kin, hooves cleaving and trampling once more in wicked glee. “All who heed him, flee, for all who stand this day shall perish!” He declared, and unleashed a surge of his power and authority. Red light covered the battlefield, as he struck against the hearts and minds of his foes. Their movements slowed, becoming spasmatic, allowing him to easily unleash devastating blow upon devastating blow from horseback.

A shout went up from the halflings as they saw the right flank begin to fall, and the pressure relieved. Redoubling their attacks, the goblins looked ready to break already, such was their cowardice, but the whips drove them on. Seeing this, Yndri called upon her forces anew. “The whips! Fire on the whips!” She demanded, delivering two silver streaks to two faces, and two souls to Acheron. The hunters responded, and while they lacked her skill, numbers would suffice as several whips were turned to pincushions. The goblins wavered, and then pulled back at the jester’s cry. “Run! flee!” He ordered, and the cohort pulled back, a shade too controlled for a full rout.

The triumph beginning on the right had not seemed to reach the left though, as Hobgoblins swarmed Senket. Despite her impeccable defenses, attacks from every angle struck her. Scythia took advantage, lashing out with her gladius she rent through the coat of plates and cleft the paladin grievously, before striking her in the jaw with the standard, forcing her to a knee. “Down! I shall not be delayed by some infernal whore! Bend the knee and die already!” Her blade descended like an executioners, only to be stopped by a shield emblazoned with a burning sword.

“I am the heir of Arvidor, knight of the burning blade and servant of the high heavens.” Senket growled as she rose, forcing back the blade despite several wounds, her sanguine flesh soaked in blood, both hers and her enemies. “I shall not kneel, save before my lord at the end of my duty.” Her eyes flared, and she lashed out with her shield. Golden fire surged and Scythia screamed as the paladin flung her back. “AND ONLY IN DEATH DOES DUTY END!” Senket roared as she pushed on. Her morningstar became the blazing sun itself, rending plate and bone in radiant fire. Inspired by her courage, the halfling flank hurled itself at the hobgoblins. “DEATH!” they roared their terrible cry anew, forcing the hobs to turn their attention from Senket.

A wicked grin filled Fimbimbulus’s face as his jester bells jingled. “Now! KILL THE BOSSES!” He screamed with a mad laugh as he hurled a bolt of wild magic into the hobgoblins on the left. It slew one and jumped to another, burning her flesh in electricity and acid. The sadistic goblin laughed like a maniac at her dying screams. The goblins turned and fell upon the hobs with glee. Even Scythia stumbled as a goblin struck her heel.

“Treachery.” Scythia hissed as she lashed out at the goblins around her. With a single sweeping blow, she struck the heads from two, and then slew another pair before one dove under her attack to plunge a dagger into her heel. She turned and saw Senket’s mace descending. With her wounded leg she could not hope to evade, so she closed her eyes and braced for death, only to be surprised as Senket instead crushed the goblin, before flattening another and kicking a third into the mud.

“Wretched creatures! Do not defile this contest between warriors with your treachery!” She ordered the green skinned creatures back. Cowed by her fury, the goblins slunk to find other prey, joining with the others to destroy the remaining hobgoblins. Scythia looked at Senket confused before the latter reached out and caught her arm as it pulled away. A light touch of healing magic flowed between the two and mended the Pilus’s heel, before Senket let go and stepped back, readying herself again.

For a moment the two warriors look at one another. “Why?” Scythia asked finally.

“You face me as an equal, and while you yourself might welcome outside interference, my honor demands that I face you honestly.” Senket responded.

Scythia looked at her, and in spite of herself, smiled. “Honor? A thing I thought long dead. I had thought to capture you and see you brought low for your defiance, but in light of such a rare treasure, I shall merely slay you. I would have your name though, that I might remember our contest.”

“I am Senket Zarathustra, and I would have yours to remember you by.”

“I am Scythia, Pilus of Pompey’s Legion. It was a privilege to face you. Go swiftly to your gods without disgrace.”

“And you also, to the glory of Acheron.”

For a moment, the two warriors, each badly wounded to near death, prepared, each knowing that the next wound they received would be their last. Even among the chaos and butchery, there was a peace. Then boot ground and stepped, hoof leapt, and trails of scarlet flowed behind twin blurs of steel-orange and burgundy. There was a ringing, and then a sound like breaking glass, as Senket not only blocked Scythia’s blow, but shattered her blade altogether. In the instant before her death, Scythia closed her eyes at total peace, before morningstar and golden fire blasted her head from her shoulders and her body to ashes, leaving only a faintly glowing and slightly mangled suit of armor. The banner of the legion fell, and broke in two, the blood of its soldiers drowning the red hand of the goblin god in a sea of untraceable stains on the once white cloth.

Yndri observed the turning tides, and furthermore the cruelty of the jester. It was then that she decided that such a creature would not be allowed to live, and advanced, firing two arrows at the mage that caught his attention and sent him scrambling before the pale slayer. As the jester Fimbimbulus scrambled away from another silver arrowhead, he turned to Yndri with hate in every fiber of his being. “This is not over elf-thing!” He hissed before he vanished into invisibility and ran into the woods.

Between the goblins and halflings, the remaining hobgoblins were butchered. They neither asked nor gave any quarter, save those few who had heeded Jort’s words, and fled into the woods. The paladins pulled back and focused on healing the wounded, but Senket refused to be healed until all others were cared for. When it was all said and done, they had no spells left to heal, so Senket finally allowed herself to fall unconscious and be carried inside.

In the aftermath of the battle, it was found that twelve halflings and thirty goblins had died, along with all the hobgoblins. Without any leader, the goblins agreed to aid Jort in defeating the Legate on the provision that they would be allowed to live in the abbey afterwards, which Kazador agreed to after much grumbling. They had to go to Sen’s bedside to talk with him, as he, along with Yndri, refused to leave. After Sen finally regained consciousness and was healed, they finally set out to recover the weapons. The slaughter was such that all could be armed twice over.

Kazador on the other hand vanished again, having last been seen carrying Scythia’s suit of plate armor. After some searching, they found him back at the chapel repairing it before he ordered Yndri, who found him, to go and get Sen.

”Lass, if yer planning on continuing tae do such daft things as fight off an entire enemy army’s flank by yerself, yer gonna need better armor and ye and that goblins woman are about the same size.” He insisted. “Besides, you’ll freeze in that southern gear.”

Senket was somewhat uncomfortable to change her gear but agreed. After another day and night of constant work, Kazador had refitted the armor to fit the Tiefling. During this, Julian prepared new plans for assault, Yndri and Peregrin trained their troops, and within the bloodstone abbey, Pompey sat upon his throne, one eye pouring over the maps of his defenses. So, the traitor had shown his true colors, and had paladins to boot, one of whom had even slain his beloved Scythia. It was inevitable that they would attack his abbey. Let them come. He would be ready.

#bard #creative works #creative writing #i wrote it #order undivided #paladins #writing

[kzong-ngajato]

#heaven and hell #hell is real #repent #repentance #accept truth #Accept Christ #Jesus Saves #Jesus is Life #Yeshua #Yeshua Hamashiach #Holy Spirit #vineyard prayer tower #christian quotes #christians #God is Good #Turn to God

[skarsgard-daydreams]

La Scapigliata

Part III

{ one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen }

Description: Deep in the heart of Tuscany, Eric met a lady with disheveled hair.

Notes: Look, we’re all just embracing the Eric Northman renaissance now and I’m 100% here for it.  This will become 18+ in future installments.

Magdalena couldn't be certain why she agreed to indulge the strange prince from the north. If questioned, she would say that the summer heat had clouded her judgment. But in her heart, she feared that there was something darker within her that longed to be defiant. The walls of her chamber had grown closer in recent weeks, and she had begun to feel cloistered. Sometimes she thought that life in a nun’s habit would not be so different from the life she had now, except that she wouldn’t be made to endure the evenings when her husband came to her bed, red in the face and too full of drink to accomplish his task.

She knew should have admonished the stranger, said her prayers, and gone to sleep. Instead, she had donned her cloak and allowed him to boost her over the towering stone wall in the dead of night. A sleek grey stallion without a saddle waited on the other side, grazing on sweet grass along the edge of the orange grove. Eric dropped down from the wall behind her, landing catlike on his feet. Magdalena glanced at him over her shoulder, her fingers idly tracing the shape of the ruby cross she wore around her neck.

“Where are we going?” she asked as Eric stroked the horse’s neck and fed it a strawberry from his pocket.

He looked back at her with a mysterious smile. “You’ll see.” He stretched out a hand, clad in a black leather glove, and beckoned her closer. It was too late to turn back now, she reasoned. Magdalena took a step forward and placed her hand in his. “This is Sleipnir,” he said, guiding her hand to pat the horse’s nose.

“He’s beautiful,” she said in wonder. “Like starlight.”

Eric watched her quietly. He was fascinated by this woman whose blood ran hot with each flare of passion. The horse nuzzled into her hand and Magdalena laughed, her mezzo voice warm and melodic. Her dark hair hung wildly about her shoulders and she wore a sumptuous dress made of burgundy silk brocade that was cut low enough he could see the peaks of her breasts spilling out from her bodice. He longed to know how she tasted—to sink his fangs into her soft flesh and take a part of her for himself—but inspiring fear in his prey no longer appealed to him. Terror, he had found, made a human’s blood taste like sour ale. Lust, however, gave them the flavor of honeyed mead, and Eric was craving something sweet, laced with oranges.

Magdalena gave a surprised yelp as Eric suddenly lifted her up and set her on top of the horse. He swung himself onto the horse’s back with ease, settling behind her and snaking an arm around her waist. With a click of his tongue, he spurred the horse into a canter and rode into the night, past the orange grove and over the green hill that led to the neighboring vineyards. Her legs hung over one side and she found herself pressing her back into his chest, afraid she might slip and be trampled underfoot. Her heart thundered in her chest as he tightened his arm around her.

“I won’t let you fall,” he murmured in her ear. His voice was warm and enchanting, inviting her to believe his words with the same blind faith demanded by holy men and husbands.

She sank back against him and repeated his words. “You won’t let me fall.”

@scxrsgxrd @grandpa-sweaters @stevesharrlngtons @loliwrites @skrsgardspam @hausofobsession @bskarsgardlove92 @ateliefloresdaprimavera

#true blood #historical eric #eric northman #alexander skarsgard #eric x oc #eric northman fanfiction #true blood fanfiction

[evangelistdag]

Going deeper by the art of repetition

1. Go deeper in knowledge. Read books over and over again.   2. Go deeper in the riches of wisdom. Colossians 4:16 And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea. 3. Go deeper into correction 2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established., Jeremiah 7:28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. Proverbs 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: 4. Go deeper into fruitfulness by repeatedly removing ungrateful people. Mark 12:1-12 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.  Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner:  This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way. 5. Go deeper in God by repeated prayers. Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 6. Go deeper into the will of God. 1 Chronicles 14:14 Therefore David enquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 7. Go deeper into new dimension/commandment.1 John 2:8 Therefore David enquired again of God; and God said unto him, Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.

Listen to Going Deeper and Doing More: By the art of repetition on Podcast and Podcast Addict

[badolmen]

real talk, when did shit get really real for the botanist when the woods began to take over?

👀 well since you asked and I’m incapable of answering anything normally...

There was a time when Aleks liked cutting down small trees by hand, when they found peace in hacking down stems no wider than their wrists. Now it was a tedious chore, a daily reminder of how quickly their world was changing. Their axe cleaved another tree to its stump, but the fast growing plant needed a push to reach the ground.

At the very least, they would never have a shortage of firewood so long as the forest kept this pace.

“Run out of gas again?” Even though the voice was familiar, the botanist couldn’t help but tense their grip on the axe in their hands. These were dangerous times.

“I’m saving it for the generator. From the sounds of it they won’t be getting the power lines back up any time soon.” Aleks explained, picking up their discarded jacket and tucking it under their arm.

“I heard the same.” Kalina sighed wrapping her shawl tighter around her shoulders.

“What are you doing here? Not that I – not that, uh, I don’t enjoy the company, but you usually send a message.” The botanist asked, walking around to the front of their home with the nun.

“That’s actually why I’m here,” She said, voice soft. “The birds won’t fly over the woods. We’ve tried everything. They’re afraid.”

“Everyone is,”

“Come now, you know better than anyone that those birds would rather fly from here to the village than stay cooped up in their nests under any other circumstances.” The nun said, shaking her head as she looked at the where the sun peeked between gathering clouds. “Just, come look at them. Sister Ada thought they might be broody but…better safe than sorry.”

“You’re right about that. Give me a minute and we’ll be on our way,”

The pair walked through the woods, weaving between trees and occasionally glancing at the dark canopy above. Aleks pretended not to notice when Kalina held their arm, sticking closer to the botanist as they followed the overgrown trail deeper into the woods.

There were whispers of men going mad in the village, abandoning homes and taking up the role of brutal savages deep in the woods, somehow surviving the horrors of night without light or fire. But no such savages had made it this far north in the woods, as far as they knew.

“…There’s also the bees, which are as strange as the birds these days.” Kalina continued, listing the news from the past week. Sister Sonia had spent every waking moment in the shrine, while Mother Hedwig assured the sisters that they were safe within the abbey. The priest, Father Kos, had left to the Archbishop in the east just two weeks ago, to bring concern for the forest to wider authorities.

“I meant to ask you about that – the hive in my greenhouse has been in a swarm mood despite the season.”

“Same with ours. The east hives have already swarmed – we can’t find the new colony, not that we’ve looked far.” Kalina paused as the steeple of the abbey came into view between the tree crowns. “Do you think it’s the trees?”

“If it is, I don’t understand how. Not yet.”

The pair walked through the open gardens, other nuns hacking away at the encroaching woods with axes sharper and larger than Aleks’ own.

“Sister, for the hearth.” A nun addressed Kalina, handing her a basket of tinder branches. “Mother wishes to speak with you, now that you’re back.”  

“Of course, Maria,” Kalina took the basket and pulled Aleks toward the abbey gates. “The birds are in the steeple, do you remember –”

“I know the way, meet me there.”

The familiar stonework of the abbey that was usually busy with song and clergy lay dusty and silent, save for the occasional cough and quiet murmur of the nuns. Another sound was missing from the empty building – the typical cooing of doves no longer echoed from the tower above, even as Aleks climbed the spiraling stone stairs.

The steeple held nothing but feathers and dead doves.

“Christ the King,” They muttered, picking up one of the limp birds, still warm to the touch but no hum of life under its skin.

“What’s – oh Lord,” Kalina stepped beside the botanist, peering over their shoulder. “What happened to them? They were fine, well, mostly fine this morning…” She reached past them to pry a still twitching bird from its nest. “It’s…it’s having a hard time breathing.”

Aleks had set one of the dead birds on the ground, knife steady as Kalina whispered prayers and comforts to the dying animal in her hands. Birds never bled much, and that they were grateful for as they sliced through the delicate skin and easily cracked the fragile ribcage.

“We’ve never burned candles up here…and its so well ventilated here in the steeple, I don’t know how…” There was a whimper from Kalina, Aleks hardly hearing her soft whisper. “Oh, I’m sorry little one.”

“It wasn’t anything you burned,” Aleks said, eyes seeing but brain struggling for an explanation of how they were seeing what lay before them in blood and feathers. Kalina crouched to their level, still cradling the dead bird to her chest.

“Fuck…” She breathed, though she briefly made the sign of the cross. “What in the name of God is that?”

“It…it looks like a mycelial mat, but, but somehow growing…filling the lungs.” Aleks was not thrilled by the thoughts swirling in their mind. “Where did you last send a bird?”

“East, to…to Father,” Her dark eyes were searching for meaning in the dead animals around them. “The bird never delivered its letter…”

“What are you two – doing…up here?” Sister Ada’s harsh tone faded as she saw the birds and the blood. Aleks sprung up to their feet.

“I need to talk to Mother Hedwig, now.”

---

“Are you sure you’re alright to walk home by yourself?” Kalina’s smile was honest, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Now that’s a question I haven’t heard since university,” Aleks said, trying to force their own smile to match. “I’ll be fine. Thank you and the Sisters for letting me stay the night.”

“Alright,” She tucked a stray curl of hair beneath her habit, eyes unfocused as she stared across the gardens where the other nuns were already at work tending the vineyard and attacking the ever growing woods. 

“Hey,” The botanist said, leaning into her. “At least your bees are okay. A little confused about the season, but they’ll settle down once we get a hard freeze.”

“You’re right, you’re right…” Kalina sighed, leaning against them. “Let me know how your hive is doing once you get down the greenhouse,”

“Will do. Might take a bit longer if I have to catch the Courier and convince her to head up your way.” The botanist said, standing from the abbey steps and stretching. “I’ll visit again soon,”

#ra speaks #darkwood #darkwood fic #the botanist #the apiologist #the abbey of st gobnait #me. hoping to avoid all work today: what's this? an excuse to write about the garden gnome and their hellworld? absolutely. #what's that old saying...a canary in a coal mine? a dove in a tower? hmmm??? #the italics just mean this happens all in the past relative to all the other times I write the botanist

[laynefaire]

Live a Thousand Lifetimes by Layne Faire

The Sanctuary at Rising Phoenix Vineyards, a large wrought iron sign proclaimed next to an open gate. A luxurious farmhouse in the distance overlooked rolling acres of fields gone fallow at the end of the growing season and a large barn with several horses meandering in a corral adjacent to it. The surrounding copse of trees still wore their autumn finery - branches in vibrant shades of red, orange and gold stretched into the expansive sky unmarred by the towering skyscrapers and hazy smog of the city he’d left behind. With a deep breath and a prayer, he made the turn onto the gravel covered road, and approached the one unresolved question from his past that continued to haunt him years after it had become a footnote to everyone else. 

The gravel had given way to a circular cobblestone drive with a small car park near the main door of the inn. Liam parked the nondescript Hyundai Tucson and took another deep breath to settle the sudden flurry of butterflies in his gut. He could do this. Nevermind that. He had to do this if he stood any chance of finding the peace that had eluded him for so long.  He removed his aviators and hooked them in the unbuttoned neck of his long sleeved henley as he exited the vehicle.  He pulled a duffle bag and a backpack from the backseat and took a minute to calm himself while he took in where he’d be staying for the next ten days. A wide covered porch ran in front of the beautiful bed and breakfast, appearing to wrap around the building. Charming rockers and wicker sofas were spaced to invite intimate gatherings and conversations. Baskets of late season flowers and ivy hung in the arches, lending to the air of reflective solitude on offer. 

Liam shouldered the backpack and approached the entrance, double wooden doors with full length oval stained glass that gleamed in the afternoon sun. The leaded glass panels depicted twin images of a blazing phoenix twisting into the air, a rainbow cascade of feathers falling away from its wings. Even in an unfamiliar medium, the artwork was unmistakable, and it sent another jolt of trepidation through him. He opened one of the heavy doors and entered an exquisitely appointed reception and seating area. Turn of the century wing chairs in a deep wine brocade flanked a stone fireplace with a thick cherry mantlepiece, the roaring fire contained within chasing the chill from the vaulted room. He turned slowly, absorbing the understated elegance of the room and how much it reflected the exquisite taste of its owner.

coming May 19 for the @onedirectionbigbang

cover art by the lovely, talented @haztobegood

subscribe here

#mine #Live a Thousand Lifetimes #onedirectionbigbang #coming soon #fanfiction #ziam fanfiction #ten years later

[orthodoxydaily]

Icon,Saints& Reading: Wed., Nov, 25, 2020

Commemorated on November 12_ Julian Calendar

Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria (620)

     Saint John the Merciful, Patriarch of Alexandria, was born on Cyprus in the VII Century into the family of the illustrious dignitary Epiphanios. At the wish of his parents he entered into marriage and had children. When the wife and the children of the saint died, he became a monk: strict at fasting, prayer and love for brother.      His spiritual exploits gain him reknown, and when the Patriarchal cathedra-seat at Alexandria fell vacant, the emperor Heraclius and all the clergy besought Saint John to occupy the Patriarchal throne.      The saint worthily assumed his archpastoral service, concerning himself over the moral and dogmatic welfare of his flock. During his time as patriarch he denounced and drove out from Alexandria the heresy of the Antioch Monophysite Phyllonos.      But his chief task he considered to be charity and beneficence towards all those in need. At the beginning of his patriarchal service he ordered an accounting of all the poor and downtrodden in Alexandria, which turned out to be over seven thousand men. To all these unfortunates the saint daily distributed food, gratis and for free. Twice during the week, on Wednesdays and Fridays, he emerged from the doors of the Patriarchal cathedral, and sitting on the church portico, he received everyone in need: he settled quarrels, aided the wronged, and distributed alms. Three times a week he visited in the sick-houses, and rendered help to the suffering. It was during this period that the emperor Heraclius led a tremendous army against the Persian emperor Chosroes II. It resulted with the Persians ravaging and burning Jerusalem, and taking a multitude of captives. The holy Patriarch John gave over a large portion of the church treasury for their ransom.      The saint never refused suppliants. One time along the road to the sick-house he encountered a beggar and commanded that he be given 6 silver coins. The beggar, having made a change of clothes, ran on ahead of the Patriarch and again began to entreat alms. Saint John again gave him 6 silver coins. When however the beggar a third time besought charity, and the servants began to thrust away the obtrusive fellow, the Patriarch ordered that he be given 12 pieces of silver, saying: "Is Christ not indeed putting me to the test?" Twice the saint gave money to a merchant that had suffered shipwreck, and a third time gave him a ship belonging to the Patriarchate and filled with grain, with which the merchant had a successful journey and repaid his obligations.      Saint John the Merciful was known for his gentle attitude towards people. One time the saint was compelled because of some offense to remove from the Church a certain clergyman. This fellow was angry at the Patriarch, and so the saint wanted to summon him and talk it out, but it slipped his mind. But when he was celebrating the Divine Liturgy, the saint was suddenly reminded by the words of the Gospel: when thou bringest forth thine gift to the altar and do recollect, that thine brother hath something against thee, leave hold thine gift and first make peace with thine brother (Mt. 5: 23-24). The saint came out of the altar, called over the offending clergyman to him, and falling down on his knees before him, in front of all the people he asked forgiveness. The clergyman, shaken with surprise, repented his doings and afterwards became a pious priest.      Likewise there was a time when a certain citizen insulted George, a nephew of the Patriarch. George asked the saint to avenge the wrong. The saint promised to reward the offender, in a manner that all Alexandria would see. This calmed George down, and Saint John began to instruct him, speaking about the necessity of meekness and humility, and then, having summoned the insulter, he declared, that he would release him from payment of a church tax on his land. Alexandria indeed was amazed by such a "revenge", and George learned the lesson in the teaching of his uncle.      Saint John, a strict ascetic and man of prayer, was always mindful of his soul, and of death. He commissioned for himself a crypt-coffin, but he did not bid the master-craftsmen to finish it off, instead each feastday he would have them come and ask, if it was time to finish the work.      Shortly before his death, Saint John through illness was compelled to resign his cathedra and set off to the island of Cyprus. On the ship-journey the saint in his illness had a sign: in a sleep-vision a resplendent man appeared to him and said: "The King of kings doth summon thee unto Himself". The vision announced the impending death of the Patriarch. Having arrived at Cyprus, in his native city of Amaphunteia, the saint in peace expired to the Lord (616-620).

The Holy Monk Nilos the Faster

     The Holy Monk Nilos the Faster, a native of Constantinople. He lived during the V Century and was a student of Saint John Chrysostom. Having received a fine education, the saint while still a young man was appointed to the important post of prefect of the capital. During this period, Nilos was married and had children. But the pomp of courtly life bothered the couple. Saint John Chrysostom exerted a tremendous influence upon their lives and their strivings. The spouses decided to separate and devote themself to monastic life. The wife and daughter of Nilos set out to one of the women's monasteries in Egypt, and the Monk Nilos and his son Theodoulos went to Sinai, where they settled in a cave dug out by their own hands. For forty years this cave served as the dwelling of the Monk Nilos. By fasting, prayer and works, the monk attained to an high degree of spiritual perfection. People began to come to him from every occupation and social rank – from the emperor down to the farmer, and each found counsel and comfort from the saint. In solitude the Monk Nilos wrote much. A letter of his is known of – in which there is an angry denunciation of the emperor Arcadius, who had exiled Saint John Chrysostom. And widely known are the ascetic works of the Monk Nilos: they are perfectly executed in form, profoundly Orthodox, and filled with sincere sense and clear thought.      The Monk Nilos suffered many a misfortune in the wilderness. Thus, for example, Saracens captured his son Theodoulos, whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to their pagan gods. Through the prayers of the saint the Lord saved Theodoulos, and the monk found him with the bishop of Emessa, who had ransomed the young man from the barbarians. And this bishop ordained both of them as presbyters. After ordination they returned to Sinai, where they asceticised together until the death of the Monk Nilos.

All texts© 1996-2001 by translator Fr. S. Janos.

Icon: the "Merciful" ("Kykkiotisa", "Milostivaya")

Commemorated on November 12, December 26_ Julian calendar

     The Icon of the Mother of God, named the "Merciful" ("Kykkiotisa", "Milostivaya"): This icon was written, according to tradition, by the holy Evangelist Luke. It received its name "Kykkiotisa" from Mount Kykkos, on the Island of Cyprus. Here it was situated in an imperial monastery, in a church named after it. Before its coming to the Island of Cyprus, the wonderworking image of the Mother of God long wandered about through the will of God: at first it was situated in one the earliest Christian communities in Egypt, and then it was taken to Constantinople, where it remained during the time of Alexius Comnenius (end-XI to early-XII Century). During these years it was revealed to the hermit-elder Isaiah through a miraculous sign, that by his efforts the wonderworking image written by the Evangelist Luke would come to reside on the Island of Cyprus. The elder exerted much toil into fulfilling the Divine revelation. When the icon of the Mother of God arrived on the island, many a miracle was worked by it. From of old through the present to the monastery of the Mother of God the Merciful there throng those from every side afflicted by every sort of infirmity, and they receive healing through faith. In the miraculous power of the holy icon believe not only Christians, but also those of other faith who hearken to it in misfortune and illness. Inexhaustible is the mercy of the MostHoly Mother of God, Mediatrix for all the suffering, and Her image accurately bears the name, the "Merciful". The wonderworking "Kykkiotisa" Icon of the Mother of God possesses a remarkable peculiarity: from what time-period is unknown, but it is covered by an half shroud from the upper left corner to the lower right, such that the faces of the Mother of God and the Divine Infant no one is able to make bold to see. The depiction of the Mother of God appears to be of the Hodegetria type, as is also the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God. The head of the Mother of God is adorned with a crown.      At present a copy of this icon is particularly venerated at the women's Nikol'sk monastery in the city of Mukachev.

Luke 13:1-9 

1There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 6 He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' 8 But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 'And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.'  

Thessalonians 2:13-3:5

13But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth,14 to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our LordJesus Christ.15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.

1Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified, just as it is with you, 2 and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men; for not all have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4 And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, both that you do and will do the things we command you. 5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ.

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

8th October >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A 

(Liturgical Colour: Green: A (1))

First Reading Isaiah 5:1-7 Against the Lord’s vineyard.

Let me sing to my friend the song of his love for his vineyard.

My friend had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug the soil, cleared it of stones and planted choice vines in it. In the middle he built a tower, he dug a press there too. He expected it to yield grapes, but sour grapes were all that it gave.

And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I ask you to judge between my vineyard and me. What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done? I expected it to yield grapes. Why did it yield sour grapes instead?

Very well, I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge for it to be grazed on, and knock down its wall for it to be trampled on. I will lay it waste, unpruned, undug; overgrown by the briar and the thorn. I will command the clouds to rain no rain on it. Yes, the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel, and the men of Judah that chosen plant. He expected justice, but found bloodshed, integrity, but only a cry of distress.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 79(80):9,12-16,19-20

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

You brought a vine out of Egypt; to plant it you drove out the nations. It stretched out its branches to the sea, to the Great River it stretched out its shoots.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Then why have you broken down its walls? It is plucked by all who pass by. It is ravaged by the boar of the forest, devoured by the beasts of the field.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

God of hosts, turn again, we implore, look down from heaven and see. Visit this vine and protect it, the vine your right hand has planted.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

And we shall never forsake you again; give us life that we may call upon your name. God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.

R/ The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Second Reading Philippians 4:6-9 If there is anything you need, pray for it.

There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving, and that peace of God, which is so much greater than we can understand, will guard your hearts and your thoughts, in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise. Keep doing all the things that you learnt from me and have been taught by me and have heard or seen that I do. Then the God of peace will be with you.

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation John 15:15

Alleluia, alleluia! I call you friends, says the Lord, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father. Alleluia!

Or: cf. John 15:16

Alleluia, alleluia! I chose you from the world to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last, says the Lord. Alleluia!

Gospel Matthew 21:33-43 This is the landlord's heir: come, let us kill him.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

[harveywritings92]

Soulmate AU Ezio Auditore x reader 2/2

Soulmate AU: heterochromia one of your eyes is the color of your Soulmates. Note: if your eyes are the same color as your bonded one's eyes you are blind in that eye until you meet them, like it's dull and clouded.

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

hours later after Y/n had left the winery ...

"What the hell do you mean she's missing?!" Ezio demanded furious the stabled boy flinched at his tone terrified as the mercenaries look down at their feet, see an hour ago the horse they had lent Y/n had come back sans rider, the stable master alerted the boy who went to go tell the mercenaries patrolling around the tailor shop who told Ezio of the situation,

 Needless to say the assassin was pissed and terrified that something had happened to her... he talked to blacksmith who pointed the assassin to the vineyards he hopped on the horse the Y/hc woman was last riding and prayed nothing had happen to her!

Meanwhile Y/n was cold, wet, and very sure her left shoulder was broken, after the horse got spooked by lighting, it tossed her off! knocking her out...when she woke up the horse was long gone and the storm was still going, The y/ht woman gasped in pain when she tried to move her left shoulder biting the inside of her cheek she forced herself to stand and held her lame limb with her good arm and looked around spying an old watchtower with a rotted wooden door.

The hurt woman used her cane to help her up and limped over to the tower and forced the door open by pushing her weight and good shoulder into to a few times before it collapsed, Y/n let out a pained cry as she hit the stone floor, after a few seconds of catching her breath the seamstress pulled herself up and looked around the old tower she could see some old tools a pile of dead leaves and a fire pit; she shivered and started pulling pieces of the door sweeping the leaves towards the pit. 

She then checked the tools sighing when she found a fire-striker and some flint; however she was very stumped on how she was going to start a fire with one hand? the Y/hc woman looked at the tower's stone work. before finding some bricks that had come loose and used those to hold the flint for her, she struck it a few time before sparks started flying off the tiny block and on to the dead leaves in the pit soon a nice fire formed and Y/n sat down cradling her bad arm as the warmth slowly started returning to her body.

Hopefully Franco noticed she was gone longer then she said she'd be! and sent someone out to look for her? Luckily for her someone was searching and had noticed the smoke leaving the old watch tower. 

Ezio had left the farm Y/n had delivered to; the daughter kept trying to get him stay. but he ignored her advances, when his nose caught something in the air...smoke? His brows furrowed bemused it was close by and rode off to where the smoke was coming from and saw one of the old towers being used his eyes faintly saw the muddy y/fs steps and holes leading up to the tower and followed them to the now broken down door. 

Ezio nearly collapsed to his knees when he found Y/n alive, the Y/hc woman looked up at him incredulously as he ran up to her and hugged her tight only to pull away quickly when she yelped in pain and noticed her arm. "Why are you here.." she croaked bemused as he scrutinized her arm "I'm your soulmate, why wouldn't I be here?" he frowned Ezio may not be a doctor, but he's hurt his shoulders enough times to recognize a dislocation when he sees one... "I mean shouldn't you be busy with some diseased harlot?" she spat before gasping as he tried rotating her arm just to make sure it really was a dislocation and not a fracture...

"Look, I was just as shocked as you were when we met..." 

"Bull crap, you didn't even stop! You perver-ngh.."

"Mi dispiace... I left as soon as it hit me, Leonardo then told me who you-"

"How do you know Leonardo?"

Y/n demanded suspiciously surely her friend wasn't involved with this womanizer? she got her answer as her soulmate explained that he and the inventor had been best friends for years, the inventor's helped him out through out the years...He frowned realizing he was going to have to reset her shoulder. "Bite my shoulder." He ordered suddenly said causing Y/n to freak, and try and struggle away from him, but Ezio kept his grip on her stayed firm.

"I don't mean for that!..I going fix your arm, but it's going to hurt." the assassin explained the injured woman was skeptical as he pulled her close and started counting backwards from ten, he stopped at three and popped it back in without warning; he frowned hearing Y/n shriek painfully while biting down on his leather shoulder guards she started sobbing into his shoulder.

"Mi dispiace...mia bella." he cooed rubbing her back before letting her pull away from him then noticed tiny specks of red on the back of her shirt. "Were you hurt anywhere else." He asked keeping a calculated gaze on her, the Y/hc shook her head. 

"My pack took most of the impact..." she nodding at a broken carry frame leaning against the wall, that didn't put his mind at ease she could have sustained injuries and not realize it because of shock.

 She was freezing too...Ezio brought his cape over her letting her leech off his body heat deciding there to take her to the doctor just to be sure...

His sensitive hearing heard the rumbling getting farther the storm was passing, he put the fire out using an old jug left outside "Come on it should be safe now.." he said before Y/n could even try stand the assassin had already sweep her off the floor and carried her to the horse, after the sun was setting in the distance as the ride back to Monteriggioni was relatively silent until Y/n mustered the courage to speak up.

"you're the one who left the flowers on my doorstep?"

"Oh, you got them bene! I was worried someone else would've taken them."

"So my assumptions are correct then, you're the reason everyone's treating me oddly."

"The Townsfolk have been mistreating you?" 

Ezio asked inquisitively thrown off that the town might be ostracizing his soulmate, they put him on a high pedestal so seeing a lowly seamstress as his soulmate and not some strong warrior or delicate noble may have disheartened them, Y/n shook her head "Not really half are too helpful to the point of overbearingness and the other half avoids me like I'm diseased." Y/n explained as simply as she could the next words out of her mouth nearly caused Ezio to choke on his spit.

"You must be very important to garner such a reaction Mr.." She noticed him staring at her awestruck, the y/hc woman shifted uncomfortably as he stammered out. "You..you don't know who I am?" and chuckled when Y/n shook her head Introductions weren't exactly exchanged when they met given the circumstances."do you know who the Auditore are?" She nodded saying she's lives next to their family crypt and knows about Mario he visits the Blacksmith a lot and little about his relatives moving in with him, but she hasn't really encountered them, she knows Claudia often orders from the shop. but her boss delivers them to the villa.

"I think his nephew is the landlord now, uh Elio?" she heard her soulmate snort trying his hardest not to laugh. "It's Ezio actually." he said clearing his throat. "Oh." Ezio... that's the name everyone muttered around her whenever she walked by, the man who got Abilio fired and the same man the customers daughter gushed about, Now that she thought about it Y/n may have spotted Ezio a few times; walking by the shop, but she really couldn't say, because he always wore these hooded white rob-... 

The y/ht woman's eyes widened to to size saucers as she eyed what the man who was holding her was wearing! It took a few moments for Y/n to connect the dots and realize who her soulmate was! She saw a knowing smirk grace his lips. 

  "Ezio Auditore da Firenze Per favore, fai la tua conoscenza"

Y/n l/n da Firenze..." {non Italian reader: Y/n L/n da parti sconosciute...} 

[If reader is Italian: Ezio blinked surprised that they were from the same city yet never encountered each other..."Odd I don't ever recall seeing you around." Y/n sighed saying it was no surprise considering she was from a lower class family, so there was a chance they would've never met, that and she was profiled as an uneducated orphan so that put her on an even lower bar than him.]

[Reader is half Italian: Ezio tested her name a few times it sounded odd and must've felt odd to him. "You and your are name very... exotic." he said she could hear the confusion and curiosity in his voice. "Foreign by name Italian by birth, my [parent of choice] was from [country] they traveled here for work/education met their soulmate [other parent.] and had me. unfortunately they both passed when ship they were on sank.] 

[Reader isn't Italian: "That's an odd introduction, I take it you moved here when you were young?" Ezio asked The y/hc woman hummed in confirmation."I know I'm from [Country]...But when I was little my family sold me to some rich old man to be his bride." Ezio took a sharp breath his hands tightened on the reins, she may have just set him off as she continued. "Luckily he died before he had done anything, killed by a man with robes like yours, he brought me to Firenze, set me up with a nice lady who became my grandmother." She felt him relax as she smiled fondly at the memories. "He would stop by sometimes to play chess and to see how I was doing...I think his name was Giovanni?" Y/n heard Ezio gasp then mutter prayers and gratitude towards his father.] 

The assassin was happy for the first time in weeks! he wished this was how they met instead of at the brothel. "What brought you to Monteriggioni?" He asked curiously her grandmother died the bank took their house, she would've been on the streets if Leonardo hadn't taken her in, she worked for him as an assistant for a while, then she met her boss's wife.  

The old woman had ripped her dress and Y/n mended it for her, she showed it to her husband next thing Y/n knows he's offering her an apprenticeship and she accepted,moved out of Leo's and moved in with them. When about three years later, her boss heard that there was an there was a tailor shop in Monteriggioni in need of workers, he decided to pack and move to the small village.

as it turns out she moved out of Leo's the day his father was betrayed; just an hour shy of Ezio and Maria arriving to Leonardo's... it was bewildering! had she waited a little longer, they would've met then and there, and who knows what would've happened? No... Ezio knew exactly what would've happened, he frowned thinking back to what he had to leave behind in Firenze and knew she would've been one of them.

Monteriggioni soon came into place Ezio helped Y/n off the horse and carried her on his back to the doctor. "Mr. Auditore what seems to be the problem today?" the doctor asked before noticing the injured woman on his back. "Y/n? oh dear what's happened?" the old man went to the door to let them inside and the doctor cleared a table for them and had Ezio set her down and the doctor got to work on Y/n while her soulmate observed to the side, the doctor asked how she got hurt Y/n explained the horse being spooked, her getting thrown off and her arm and back bothering her.

The old man lips formed a thin line as he scrutinized her shoulder then complimented Ezio on fixing it, but elevated it in a sling informing her it'll have to stay on for a week or so, then check her both the doctor and Ezio winced seeing her back was was all scratched up a large bruise shaped like the carry-frame marred her skin an ugly purple.

The y/ht hissed as the doctor cleaned out the scratches "that my dear could've been much worse, but I suggest you don't do any heavy lifting for month, hopefully that buffoon you call a boss will abide or he may find his performance in bed lacking..." The doctor huffed as he ranted that he had clearly told her boss let Y/n off while he was gone, in case just such a thing happened, that man was too stingy and paranoid to hire more workers, Hell, his wife had to jump through flaming hoops to even consider taking Y/n on as an apprentice! someone cleared their throat the doctor turned to see both Ezio and Y/n giving him a look the old man backtracked. "Erm, sorry I got off topic now, please don't do any taxing. rest, Doctor's orders."

With that he let Ezio handle it from there, the assassin carried Y/n back to her home despite her claims that she could walk! the y/hc woman's face was on fire as people shot her and Ezio looks some of amusement others of vexation and envy, her home wasn't hard to find, it was right next to his family's crypt, Y/n explained the townsfolk think the alley is haunted, so rent is cheap and no nosy neighbors.

Ezio chuckled feeling a sense giddiness he hadn't felt since he was a child, when he heard the description of the fantasma there's a good chance he might be the culprit. Y/n didn't really think much of it she just assumed Ezio was laughing at people's superstitions, She suppose it was kind of funny if she didn't mildly believe in the supernatural as well! Neither of them slept that night they stood up talking mainly about themselves.

Ezio told her about his father and brothers how he'd been fighting to bring their deaths to justice, Y/n was mainly about her parents their death, her how grandmother's health mind slipping away as she got older the old woman would often forget who Y/n was or mistake her for her [parent.] then breakdown crying/apologizing when Y/n reminded her that [parent] was gone or who she was. 

When they did finely fall asleep Ezio was awoken abruptly by Y/n's door being harshly pushed open, he looked down at Y/n who was still passed out hugging his waist, then turned to glare at whoever woke him up and saw the tailor gawking at him with a deer in the cross-hairs look, No words were spoken as the assassin watched the old man backed out of the house and quietly closed the door..."Hmm?" Y/n lifted her head up bemused Ezio gently pulled her back down. "Go back to sleep cara." the Italian man cooed running ad through her hair, knowing no one will bother them for a while.  

----------

Per favore, fai la tua conoscenza = please to meet your acquaintance.

da parti sconosciute = From parts unknown.

Fantasma = ghost

#assassin's creed x reader #Assassin's creed 2 #Ezio auditore x reader #soulmate au

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

4th October >> Fr. Martin’s Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 21:33-43 for the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: ‘The stone rejected by the builders... became the keystone’.

Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

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

Matthew 21:33-43

This is the landlord's heir: come, let us kill him

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, ‘Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner, who planted a vineyard; he fenced it round, dug a winepress in it and built a tower; then he leased it to tenants and went abroad. When vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his servants, thrashed one, killed another and stoned a third. Next he sent some more servants, this time a larger number, and they dealt with them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them. “They will respect my son” he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?’ They answered, ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the produce to him when the season arrives.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Have you never read in the scriptures:

It was the stone rejected by the builders

that became the keystone.

This was the Lord’s doing

and it is wonderful to see?

‘I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 21:33–43

He will lease his vineyard to other tenants.

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’ They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?” They answered him, “He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

”The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

by the Lord has this been done,

and it is wonderful in our eyes?

“Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

Reflections (5)

(i) Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

In the course of the work on our parish church, the workmen removed the concrete based external render from the walls. In doing so they revealed the original rough limestone surface of the walls, going back to when the church was built in the late 1830s. As I looked at those regular and irregular shaped pieces of limestone that make up the walls, I thought about the story they could tell if they could speak. How were they first formed? How long were they in the ground before those who built our church made use of them? Jesus once spoke about the potential of stones to speak. As he entered Jerusalem on a donkey and his disciples were acclaiming him, his opponents insisted that Jesus silence his disciples. In reply, Jesus said, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out’. In recent times, we have learned to listen more to nature, especially during this season of creation which concludes today, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. There is no reason why our listening to nature could not extend to natural stones.

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of a stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. The reference is probably to an irregularly shaped stone that builders found unsuitable for use on a straight wall they were building. However, it was discovered, perhaps by other builders, that it’s irregular shape served it well as the keystone for an arch or a corner. Jesus was really speaking of himself there. He was the stone rejected by the builders, put to death on a cross. Yet he went on to become the keystone, the cornerstone, of a new spiritual building, the community of faith, which we call the church. Human rejection of God’s Son did not have the last word. God overturned that rejection by raising Jesus from the dead and offering him anew to all humanity, including those who crucified him. That image of human rejection of God’s Son is powerfully expressed in the parable Jesus speaks in our gospel reading. The tenants of a vineyard, having rejected the vineyard owner’s servants in a very violent manner, then reject the vineyard owner’s son, throwing him out of the vineyard and killing him. In a similar way, Jesus, God’s Son, would be thrown out of the city of Jerusalem and crucified just beyond the city walls. The parable is a brutal story of rejection.

Yet, the message of the gospel reading is that the story of human rejection is contained within the greater story of God’s persistent loving initiative towards us. In the parable, the vineyard owner does not give up on the vineyard, even if he gives up on the tenants who had charge of it. He finds other tenants who will deliver the fruits of the vineyard to him in due season. Likewise, the stone that was rejected goes on to have a vital role to play in the work of the builders. God continues to invest in his vineyard, in all of us, even when our lives do not bear the fruit that God desires. The Lord will not be found wanting when it comes to his investment in us, his loving initiative towards us. He could well say in the words of today’s first reading, ‘What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done?’ That question was asked hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, before God did something more wonderful for us, sending his Son as the fullest revelation of his love, and, even when he was rejected, sending him again as our risen Lord, and then sending the Spirit of the risen Lord, the Holy Spirit, into our lives. In the wake of that extraordinary initiative, God could certainly say, ‘What could I have done for my vineyard that I have not done?’

Yet, as we know, humanity has not always fully responded to God’s loving investment in us. There is no shortage of what the first reading refers to as ‘bloodshed’ and the ‘cry of distress’ in our world today. They are to be found close to home, in our own streets. We can sometimes get discouraged that our own lives are not bearing the fruit that God has a right to expect because of his loving investment in us, what Saint Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit, which he names as, ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. Yet, when I look around this parish and the people who live here, I can see plenty of evidence of those wonderful qualities that are so life-giving for others. Paul gives a different list of the fruits that God looks for from us, in today’s second reading, ‘everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, and everything that can be though virtuous or worthy of praise’. Again, those qualities are not completely absent from our lives and, yet, we all sense that we could grow into them more fully. That is where prayer comes in. We need to pray that we would become more fruitful, more richly endowed with the fruit of the Spirit. As Paul reminds in our second reading, ‘if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it, with prayer and thanksgiving’.

And/Or

(ii) Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Most of us will have experienced disappointment at some time in our lives. Something we put effort into did not work out as we had hoped. More often than not, it is other people who disappoint us. We invest something of ourselves in people. We have some expectations of them on the basis of that. They let us down. My father had numerous little sayings that he tossed off from time to tome. One of them was, ‘Eaten bread is soon forgotten’. I felt that this saying expressed for him his own sense of disappointment when people he cared about took him for granted and made little or no return for his efforts on their behalf.

 Most of us learn to live with that experience of being disappointed by others. The realization that we ourselves have probably disappointed others many times may help us to accept others who disappoint us. It can happen, of course, that the repeated experience of disappointment can leave us deeply discouraged and disheartened. We retreat into ourselves and settle for less. We become slow to trust and disinclined to give too much. Learning to deal with the experience of disappointment in ways that do not diminish us is one of the tasks and challenges of life.

 The first reading and the gospel reading today shine a light on the experience of disappointment. In the first reading, a vineyard owner is disappointed by his vineyard. In spite of generous investment of work and resources on his part, the vineyard offered him back sour grapes instead of good grapes. Although the parable Jesus speaks also focuses on the disappointment of a vineyard owner, the experience of disappointment it explores is much more traumatic and painful. Here the disappointment of the landowner is not with his land but with the people to whom he entrusted his land. Not only do the tenants not offer him the produce of the land, but they maim and kill the messengers he sent in his name, including his own son. The story Jesus tells has a sinister element not present in the sad song that Isaiah sings.

 Yet the sad song and the story of betrayal and murder both give expression to God’s disappointment with his people. God has invested heavily in us. God has given us his Son and has poured the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. What greater investment could he make in us? Yet, the first reading and gospel reading bring home to us the uncomfortable truth that our lives do not always bear the kind of fruit that such an investment has a right to expect. We do not always fulfil God’s hopes for us.

 Where does that leave us? I suggest it leaves us on our knees asking God to help us to open up our hearts to the many gifts God is always giving us, so that those gifts can truly shape our lives and make of them a gift to God and God’s people. In the second reading, Paul encourages us: ‘There is no need to worry; but if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving’. Paul himself knew that he had disappointed God. He may have had little difficulty identifying with the tenants in today’s parable who killed the landowner’s son. Writing to the Corinthians, he states: ‘For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God’. Yet, he immediately goes on to add: ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain’. Paul knew from experience that God continues to invest in us even after we have failed and disappointed him.

 Jesus reveals a God who works to bring new life out of our failures, who can turn a rejected stone into a keystone. We catch glimpses of this God in those who continue to journey with us even when we have repeatedly disappointed them. We reveal this God to others when we ourselves keep faith with those who give us little reason to go on believing in them.

 The conviction that God remains faithful to us even after we have disappointed him many times does not leave us complacent. Rather, this conviction keeps fresh our desire to live lives that are truly fruitful, full of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It encourages us to keep seeking the Lord whose power at work within us can do immeasurable more than all we can ask or imagine. Seeking the Lord entails filling ‘our minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure... everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise’ (Second Reading). A lot of talent, effort and money is invested in filling our minds and hearts with rubbish. Yet, we have choices. We can decide in what ways our minds and hearts will be filled. We pray today that we will make the kinds of choices that will create a space for God’s continued investment in us to bear rich fruit, both in our own lives and in the lives of those with whom we journey.

And/Or

(iii) Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Nowadays we expect to get a good return for any investment we might make. Those who have money to spare will often put it into property on the understanding that the value of the property will increase over time. When we invest time and energy in some project or other we expect that we will see good results for our efforts. Those who study hard expect to do well in examinations. When we invest time, energy and money in people, we expect that they will give some return for what has been invested in them. Parents who invest themselves generously in their children hope and expect that they will do well in life.

 Yet, we know from our own experience that we do not always get a return that is proportionate to what we have invested. The property market can collapse unexpectedly and the money we have invested does not give us a good return. Those who study hard can get a blank on the day of the exams and may not do themselves justice. People in whom we invest a great deal will often disappoint us. We give them resources that can benefit them and they do not use those resources well. People can be given a lot and yet give back very little.

 It is that kind of experience of a poor return for a good investment that is reflected in today’s first reading. The landowner loved his vineyard and invested generously in it, doing all that was required to ensure that it produced a good quality crop. He had an understandable expectation that it would yield good grapes, and, yet, it yielded sour grapes. For the prophet Isaiah this story was not just about a vineyard. It told the story of God’s relationship with his people. God had invested greatly in his people and, yet, the return for God’s loving investment was disappointing in the extreme, bloodshed in the land resulting in a great cry coming from the oppressed, instead of justice and integrity.

 The very disappointing return on God’s investment in his people did not lead God to reject them. Instead, he invested more heavily in them, by giving them his son, as the parable Jesus speaks in today’s gospel reading makes clear. Even when that investment was met with violence and rejection, God did not take back his investment. Rather, in the words of the gospel reading, the rejected stone became the corner stone of a new community, to which all people were invited to belong. God, having given his Son only to see him crucified, gave him again as risen Lord and invited all people to become his followers, and, thereby, find life. The readings suggest that God is slow to give up on us. God continues to invest in us even when the return is small. Most of us are only prepared to invest for so long when a return is not forthcoming. God is much more persistent than we are. God keeps on offering us the gift of his Son; he keeps on sending his Son to us. Every time we celebrate the Eucharist, God puts before us the gift of his Son anew, holding him out to us as the bread of life. The Eucharist is, in a sense, the sacrament of God’s persistent love.

 Although God continues to invest in us and although his investment is not dependant on the return that we give, God does, nevertheless, expect some return for his investment. In the words of the two parables in today’s readings, God looks to us to bear the kind of fruit that God’s investment in us has a right to expect. In the gospel reading, Jesus refers to the fruit of the kingdom of God. Such fruit would certainly include the justice and integrity that the first reading refers to. It also includes all that Paul refers to in today’s second reading – ‘everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that can be thought virtuous and worthy of praise’. Elsewhere in one of his letters, Paul refers to the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the kingdom, as ‘love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. This is a sample of the fruit that God looks to our lives to bear, in response to the great investment that God has made and continues to make in us.

 That fruit of the kingdom is evident in all our lives, to some extent. We have all experienced kindness and generosity in others, just as others have experienced it in us. Yet, we are all aware that our lives could be more abundant in that fruit of the kingdom that our readings speak about. That is why we need to look towards God to keep on investing in us. Without God’s ongoing investment in us, our lives cannot become all that God desires them to be. It is above all in prayer that we invite God to keep on investing in us. St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, ‘if there is anything you need, pray for it, asking God for it with prayer and thanksgiving’. Paul encourages us to look at our lives and to see in what way they are lacking in the fruit of the kingdom, and then to ask God for the fruit that we need. There is bound to be something in all our lives that is not really worthy of the kingdom. It is that lack which Paul invites us to make the focus of our prayer of petition. We pray for what we need. Paul calls on us to make our petition with thanksgiving. As we ask for the fruit of the kingdom that is lacking in lives, we give thanks in anticipation that such a humble prayer will not ultimately go unanswered.

And/Or

(iv) Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

 Since I came to the parish of Clontarf I have been struck by the number of very old stone walls that are to be found here. In fact, there is one out in the back garden of the presbytery; it divides my garden from the garden of the house next door. I have noticed these old stone walls in other parts of the parish. When I see an old wall it always gets my imagination going. I begin to wonder if the wall could speak what it might say, what stories it might tell of times past. Occasionally you might see a wall in rather bad repair; some of the original stones may be lying around at the bass of the wall and you hope that someone with the appropriate skill will be able to restore the wall using its original stones. The stones lying around can have the look of discarded or rejected stones, serving no useful purpose, but you sense that they could still serve a very vital purpose in the restoration of the wall.

 I was reminded of all of that by Jesus’ image in today’s gospel reading of the stone rejected by the builders which became a keystone or a cornerstone. Jesus was quoting one of the psalms there, and he was really speaking about himself. He was the rejected stone. In the immediately preceding parable he clearly identified himself with the rejected son, the son who was seized by the tenants, thrown out of the vineyard and killed. Jesus knew what it was to be rejected, discarded as serving no useful purpose. Those who crucified him were saying that he was fit for nothing but the most shameful and degrading of deaths. Yet, Jesus, the rejected son, the rejected stone, was raised from the dead by his Father and he became the keystone, the cornerstone, of a new spiritual building or temple, the church, the community of faith. Writing to the church in Corinth some twenty five years or so after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul says to them, ‘Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?’ and he declared a few verses earlier that the foundation of this temple was Jesus Christ, Jesus crucified and risen, rejected by people but chosen by God.

 Jesus did not reject those who rejected him. Rather, as risen Lord he worked through his followers to proclaim the gospel of God’s love and grace even to those who had brought him to the cross and were responsible for his crucifixion. The gospel reading today speaks to us of God’s pursuit of humanity, regardless of how God’s outreach towards us is received. In the parable that Jesus told, when the landowner sent servants to collect the produce of the vineyard from the tenants and those servants were beaten and killed, he immediately sent another group of servants in the hope that they would be better received. When the second group of servants were treated no better than the first group of servants, he then sent his son in the hope that his nearest and dearest would be respected by the tenants. There is an allusion here to the prophets that God sent to the people over many centuries culminating in the sending of God’s Son. When the son was thrown out by the tenants this precious stone that was rejected became the cornerstone of a new initiative by God towards humanity, the initiative that finds expression in the church, the community of faith, the body of God’s Son, in and through which God is present to the world in a unique way. God, it seems, is not dissuaded by our unwillingness to respond to the many initiatives that God takes in our regard. God keeps going when we humans would have given up a very long time ago. We can be very slow to keep in touch with people who do not respond to our repeated efforts to keep in touch with them. The temptation can be very strong to give up on such people, to wash our hands of them, even though, down the road, they could benefit greatly if we refused to give up on them.  God, however, keeps seeking us out even when we have given God very little reason for remaining faithful to his pursuit of us.

 God continues to grace us even though we fail to respond to his many graces. That is one aspect of the message of today’s gospel reading. Yet, the other dimension of its message is that God expects us to co-operate with his abounding grace. God continues to invest in us but God also expects to see some return on that investment. God looks to us to bear fruit in response to the many initiatives that God takes towards us. In the first reading, Isaiah declares that God expects the fruit of justice and integrity. In the second reading Paul makes reference to everything that is true, that is noble, that is good and pure, everything that can be though virtuous or worthy of praise. These are the fruits that God looks for in response to God’s faithfulness to us. These are the fruits that God’s abounding grace in our lives makes possible. This is what we are capable of because of God’s investment in us.

And/Or

(v) Twenty Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

 I am sure many of us will have had the experience of giving of ourselves to someone or to some project without appearing to get anything in return. When our giving does not appear to bear any fruit, we might find ourselves asking if our investment has been a waste. When our efforts seem to bear little result over a long period of time, we begin to wonder whether we should give up, even though what we are doing appears worthwhile. It can be hard to sustain our giving, when all we encounter is repeated disappointment.

 That appears to be the human experience that is touched upon in the first reading and the gospel reading this morning. The first reading is a song about the loving investment of a vineyard owner for his vineyard. He spared no effort to ensure that the vines produced a good crop of grapes. However, in spite of his energetic investment, the vines only produced sour grapes. For the prophet, this song tells another, bigger story, the story of God’s loving investment over many generations in his people Israel. The return God received for his investment was pathetic, bloodshed in place of justice, a cry of distress in place of integrity. The song ends on that sad note.

 In the gospel reading, Jesus tells as story, very similar to Isaiah’s song, and, yet, different in some significant ways. Once again a landowner invested heavily in his vineyard. The loss to the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable is much greater than in Isaiah’s song. He didn’t just lose his crop; he lost his servants, and most tragically of all, he lost his son, killed by the tenants. If Isaiah’s song is a sad song, Jesus’ story has all the makings of a tragedy. Yet, while Isaiah’s song ends in sadness, Jesus’ story does not end in tragedy. In spite of all he has lost, the vineyard owner does not give up on his vineyard. He leases it to other tenants who deliver the produce his investment deserves when the season arrives. Human perseverance wins out over human resistance. Immediately after speaking the parable, Jesus emphasizes this message using another, different image. The stone rejected by the builders became the keystone. What looked like a terrible waste was the beginning of something new. Once again Jesus’ story about the vineyard tells another, bigger story. Jesus is saying something to us about how God relates to us. He is suggesting that God continues to invest in us, even when the response God hopes for from us is not forthcoming. God does not turn his back on humanity even after we continually turn away from God and go our own way. We may have done our best to make ourselves a rejected stone in God’s sight, but God works in our lives to turn that rejected stone into a keystone, something vitally important.

 The readings this morning suggest that the reason God continues to invest in us, to draw near to us, is because he wants us to live fruitful lives. God has a great desire for our lives. God wants us to be fully alive with all those qualities that are a reflection of God and of his Son, Jesus and that make us fully alive. Today is the Day for life. Some of those life-enhancing qualities are mentioned by name in today’s readings. The reading from Isaiah speaks about justice and integrity. in the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, we have that wonderful list of human qualities at their best ‘everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour, everything that can be thought virtuous or worthy of praise’. In another of his letters Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit as ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’. God invests in us so that our lives can bear this kind of fruit. His greatest investment is the gift to us of his Son and the Holy Spirit. It is above all through our relationship with his Son and our openness to the Spirit that this full, wholesome, life becomes possible for us, as individuals and as communities, as families.

 It is above all within the family that we are helped to arrive at this quality of life that God desires for us. That is why the extraordinary Synod on the family which begins in Rome tomorrow is so important. Last night at a prayer vigil for the Synod in Saint Peter’s Square, Pope Francis said, ‘The communion of life assumed by spouses, their openness to the gift of life, the mutual protection, the encounter and the memory of generations, educational support, the transmission of the Christian faith to their children . . . With all this, the family continues to be a school without parallel of humanity, an indispensable contribution to a just and united society’. Towards the end of his homily he prayed a lovely prayer for the work of the Synod which we might make our own this morning, ‘May the wind of Pentecost blow upon the Synod’s work, on the Church and on all of humanity. Undo the knots which prevent people from encountering one another, heal the wounds that bleed, rekindle hope’.

Fr. Martin Hogan.

[made-me-deep-blue]

the rising of a bloodkeeper vampire.

In celebration of Bloodbound’s Book 3 releasing this weekend! Enjoy x

-

Amy found herself in a room.

The ceilings and walls were nothing more than a mere mass of darkness swirling, poised to attack, but the floors looked like they were lit under good lighting.

“You’re weak, Amy.”

The amber-haired girl flinched and immediately swivelled her head around to search her surroundings for that voice.

“If you don’t do something, you might as well just rot inside the casket they placed you in. You can’t keep on staying here and die as a human,” the voice mocked. “Look at me, you’re so unfriendly.”

Amy felt a presence reaching towards her back, but she was too terrified to smack that hand away. 

“You know you need me,” the sounds of chains clinking came closer from her back, but Amy could do nothing to stop it. “Look at me, you’re so unfriendly.”

A weight then lunged itself at Amy’s back, and cold hand pressed against her shoulder, the hot breath against the nape of her neck. It was no hallucination or an illusion because she was hearing her own self speaking next to her ear, chanting like a prayer.

“Do it, accept me. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on…”

Amy clenched her fist and blurted out a question instead. “Why?”

“Why…?”

“Why should I accept you?”

The voice cackled and purred into her ear. “Why, you ask?” A pair of hands spun Amy around. The weight behind her was a woman slightly taller than her, with tresses of brown ombre hair. The way she dressed and with the familiar golden jewellery immediately sparked a memory in Amy’s mind.  

“...Rheya?” The name rolled off her tongue effortlessly as if she spoke of it a million times. Of course not, instead, it haunted Amy in her sleep when her eyes were closed.

The woman gave out a hearty laugh, before shaking her head with a crooked grin. “Oh well, I can’t blame you for that, we both do look alike in the end. I’m Rashida, Rheya’s sister.”

“You were the one Rheya mentioned when she was confronted by Xenocrates.”

“So you do know,” Rashida clicked her tongue. “As expected of someone from my lineage.”

The Bloodkeepers. 

Jameson had revealed it to Amy when she was kidnapped by him and Gaius. Humans who have every single memory of every vampire who walked the earth. However, the scholar didn’t mention whether it was from a single line of women or they were simply scattered across the earth. The answer was right in front of her. Her ancestor.

Then, their location changed immediately. Now, they were sitting on top of a radio tower looking over New York City. From where they were, Amy could see Kamilah pointedly staring out of her office window, looking down at the nightlife below her, absentmindedly swirling her red wine in hand. 

The queen was drained of emotions and despite her nocturnal nature, dark circles were evident underneath those dull, hazel brown eyes. Kamilah’s cheekbones seemed more evident, and that jawline was sharper. More lethal, Amy would say.

“You could enjoy a new life together with your beloved,” Rashida said. “If you embrace your new abilities and your identity as a Bloodkeeper. As much as you are the very first Bloodkeeper in our line to turn into a vampire, it is a waste if you disregard that chance to live again.”

To live. What it meant to be alive.

Kamilah had explained it to her even, at that vineyard in Greece near Elias’ villa. How much she had wasted being alive under Gaius’ control, under his whims and touch. How much she yearned to just let it all go and meet her family behind the doors of the afterlife.

But then, Amy Ashryver and Kamilah Sayeed had found each other, amidst all of the chaos happening in not hers, but their world. Where they had lived on the same earth, breathed the same air, and crossed paths on that fateful day at Amy’s first board meeting as Adrian Raines’ executive assistant.

Live.

Live.

“I never would’ve thought,” Amy scoffed, kicking her legs slightly in the chilly air. “I have the chance to be awakened at my own deathbed.”

Rashida chuckled with amusement, the glow of her spirit projection pulsed along with the shimmering sound carried into the sleepless night of the bustling city. “You, my child, are gifted with a gift that humans do not have. You’re special, Amy Ashryver, and I want you to remember that.”

Their surroundings changed again. Amy found herself in darkness, and the yawning chasm between herself and Rashida was evident. She could feel it.

“So,” Rashida stepped closer. “Will you embrace the blood, or fight it?”

There was no need for hesitation. The answer was clear in her mind.

“I will embrace the blood.”

“Good answer, my child,” Rashida then pulled Amy into her embrace and placed a kiss onto her forehead. That felt warm, and that sensation continued spreading throughout her body, could feel it through every single vein, artery and capillary to ever exist in her old body that was about to be reborn.

When Rashida released Amy, she didn’t panic and fly out her hands to hold onto the spirit’s arms, she just fell deeper into the darkness that now welcomed her with open arms. 

“Sleep well, Amy Ashryver.”

________________________________________________________________

Amy felt like she was slowly regaining consciousness in her physical body, but she felt claustrophobic.

As her body started to function, something else flickered inside of her. A new power that now flowed through her veins. She could feel the transformation moulding her body into someone new. The birth of a vampire.

After the heat started to simmer, Amy subconsciously reached out and slid open the cover of the sarcophagus where her body was being kept it, slowly stepping out of it to make the minimum or no noise at all. No one paid attention to the clicking of her heels that echoed throughout the corridor as she made her way out of the underground passage with familiarity.

This was her boss’ company building, of course, she knew every single place, crook and cranny.

“...hey, did you hear that?”  Amy heard a distinctive male voice from further down the hallway.

“Yeah, I sure did,” another male voice replied. “But it’s probably because the place is haunted, like what the big boss said.” They must be the guards who were appointed to look after Amy’s sarcophagus.

Without even moving a muscle, Amy managed to extinguish all of the flaming torches that were supposed to light up the dark, stone passageway, only leaving two alit where the doors awaited her grand entrance.

“Who’s there?” The guards snapped, whipping their weapons towards the sound of the heels were coming from.

“Awaken, Amy Ashryver.”

There was only a seductive, yet sinister laughter which answered them at the end of the passageway, and a pair of crimson red glowing eyes turning predatory with delight, at the sight of the two vulnerable men.

#playchoices #choices #choices: bloodbound #bloodbound #kamilah sayeed #kamilah sayeed x mc #kamilah sayeed fanfiction #lily spencer #adrian raines #bb3 #a little angst #awakening #rebirth #vampire