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JB Hodl

Catholic Christian. Dad. Husband. Freedom lover and truth seeker. God wins.

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“It is better to limp along the way than stride along off the way.” Saint Thomas Aquinas

“A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is his delight.” Proverbs 11:1

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2024-05-02 14:50:56

Saint Athanasius was heroic in his defense of the glorious truth of Christianity…that Jesus was and is God Himself!
Thursday 2 May 2024
Saint Athanasius, Bishop, Doctor
on Thursday of the 5th week of Eastertide
About Today
Year: B(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: White.
Saint Athanasius (295 - 373)
He was born in Alexandria. He assisted Bishop Alexander at the Council of Nicaea and later succeeded him as bishop. He fought hard against Arianism all his life, undergoing many sufferings and spending a total of 17 years in exile. He wrote outstanding works to explain and defend orthodoxy.
Athanasius’s passion for the truth seems tactless to many of us today, to the point where some Catholic devotional works even express embarrassment over it. This is grotesque. Before we congratulate ourselves on being more gentle and civilised than Athanasius and his contemporaries, we should look at the lack of charity that characterizes academic controversies today (from string theory to global warming) and the way that some of the participants are willing to use any weapon that comes to hand, from legal persecution to accusations of madness to actual assault. The matters in dispute with the Arians were more important than any of these scientific questions. They were vital to the very nature of Christianity, and, as Cardinal Newman put it, the trouble was that at that time the laity tended to be champions of orthodoxy while their bishops (seduced by closeness to imperial power) tended not to be. The further trouble (adds Henry Chadwick) is that the whole thing became tangled up with matters of power, organization and authority, and with cultural differences between East and West. Athanasius was accused of treason and murder, embezzlement and sacrilege. In the fight against him, any weapon would do.
Arianism taught that the Son was created by the Father and in no way equal to him. This was in many ways a “purer” and more “spiritual” approach to religion, since it did not force God to undergo the undignified experience of being made of meat. Islam is essentially Arian, granting Jesus a miraculous birth, miracles, death (though not crucifixion) and a resurrection, but all as a matter of God demonstrating his power by committing more spectacular miracles than usual.
Arianism leaves an infinite gap between God and man, and ultimately destroys the Gospel, leaving it either as a fake or as a cruel parody. It leaves the door open to Manichaeism, which mixes Zoroastrian, Buddhist and Gnostic elements into Christianity, so that God is good but creation is bad (or at worst, a mistake) and the work of an evil anti-God. Only by being orthodox and insisting on the identity of the natures of the Father and the Son and the Spirit can we truly understand the goodness of creation and the love of God, and live according to them.
________
Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
who raised up the Bishop Saint Athanasius
as an outstanding champion of your Son’s divinity,
mercifully grant,
that, rejoicing in his teaching and his protection,
we may never cease to grow in knowledge and love of you.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Liturgical colour: white
White is the colour of heaven. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate feasts of the Lord; Christmas and Easter, the great seasons of the Lord; and the saints. Not that you will always see white in church, because if something more splendid, such as gold, is available, that can and should be used instead. We are, after all, celebrating.
In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form.
The Easter Alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Tap here to listen. If you want to hide this box, go to the Settings screen and turn off the "Offer Easter Alleluias" switch. It is near the very end of that screen.

2024-04-14 17:08:35

This reading always amazes me. Justin Martyr lived just over 100 years after Christ’s resurrection. How he describes what church/mass was like 1900 years ago is incredibly similar to what we do today. Amazing!
Second Reading: Saint Justin, Martyr (- 165)
Justin was born at the beginning of the second century in Nablus, in Samaria, of a pagan Greek family. He was an earnest seeker after truth, and studied many systems of philosophy before being led, through Platonism, to Christianity. While remaining a layman, he accepted the duty of making the truth known, and travelled from place to place proclaiming the gospel. In 151 he travelled from Ephesus to Rome, where he opened a school of philosophy and wrote defences and expositions of Christianity, which have survived to this day and are the earliest known writings of their kind. In the persecution of 165, in the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, he was denounced as a Christian, arrested and beheaded.
Justin treats the Greek philosophy that he studied as mostly true, but incomplete. In contrast to the Hebrew tendency to view God as making revelations to them and to no-one else, he follows the parable of the Sower, and sees God as sowing the seed of wisdom throughout the world, to grow wherever the soil would receive it.
From the first apology in defence of the Christians by Saint Justin, martyr
The celebration of the Eucharist
No one may share the Eucharist with us unless he believes that what we teach is true, unless he is washed in the regenerating waters of baptism for the remission of his sins, and unless he lives in accordance with the principles given us by Christ.
We do not consume the eucharistic bread and wine as if it were ordinary food and drink, for we have been taught that as Jesus Christ our Saviour became a man of flesh and blood by the power of the Word of God, so also the food that our flesh and blood assimilates for its nourishment becomes the flesh and blood of the incarnate Jesus by the power of his own words contained in the prayer of thanksgiving.
The apostles, in their recollections, which are called gospels, handed down to us what Jesus commanded them to do. They tell us that he took bread, gave thanks and said: Do this in memory of me. This is my body. In the same way he took the cup, he gave thanks and said: This is my blood. The Lord gave this command to them alone. Ever since then we have constantly reminded one another of these things. The rich among us help the poor and we are always united. For all that we receive we praise the Creator of the universe through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.
On Sunday we have a common assembly of all our members, whether they live in the city or the outlying districts. The recollections of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as there is time. When the reader has finished, the president of the assembly speaks to us; he urges everyone to imitate the examples of virtue we have heard in the readings. Then we all stand up together and pray.
On the conclusion of our prayer, bread and wine and water are brought forward. The president offers prayers and gives thanks to the best of his ability, and the people give assent by saying, “Amen.” The eucharist is distributed, everyone present communicates, and the deacons take it to those who are absent.
The wealthy, if they wish, may make a contribution, and they themselves decide the amount. The collection is placed in the custody of the president, who uses it to help the orphans and widows and all who for any reason are in distress, whether because they are sick, in prison, or away from home. In a word, he takes care of all who are in need.
We hold our common assembly on Sunday because it is the first day of the week, the day on which God put darkness and chaos to flight and created the world, and because on that same day our saviour Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For he was crucified on Friday and on Sunday he appeared to his apostles and disciples and taught them the things that we have passed on for your consideration.

2024-04-08 13:32:33

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation! I had forgotten as it has been moved from March 25! Such an awe-some feast! True God became true man! Blessings on your day!
The Easter Alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Monday 8 April 2024
The Annunciation of the Lord - Solemnity
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
The Annunciation of the Lord
From a letter of Saint Leo the Great, pope
The mystery of man's reconciliation with God
Lowliness is assumed by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity. To pay the debt of our sinful state, a nature that was incapable of suffering was joined to one that could suffer. Thus, in keeping with the healing that we needed, one and the same mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, was able to die in one nature, and unable to die in the other.
He who is true God was therefore born in the complete and perfect nature of a true man, whole in his own nature, whole in ours. By our nature we mean what the Creator had fashioned in us from the beginning, and took to himself in order to restore it.
For in the Saviour there was no trace of what the deceiver introduced and man, being misled, allowed to enter. It does not follow that because he submitted to sharing in our human weakness he therefore shared in our sins.
He took the nature of a servant without stain of sin, enlarging our humanity without diminishing his divinity. He emptied himself; though invisible he made himself visible, though Creator and Lord of all things he chose to be one of us mortal men. Yet this was the condescension of compassion, not the loss of omnipotence. So he who in the nature of God had created man, became in the nature of a servant, man himself.
Thus the Son of God enters this lowly world. He comes down from the throne of heaven, yet does not separate himself from the Father’s glory. He is born in a new condition, by a new birth.
He was born in a new condition, for, invisible in his own nature, he became visible in ours. Beyond our grasp, he chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, he began to exist at a moment in time. Lord of the universe, he hid his infinite glory and took the nature of a servant. Incapable of suffering as God, he did not refuse to be a man, capable of suffering. Immortal, he chose to be subject to the laws of death.
He who is true God is also true man. There is no falsehood in this unity as long as the lowliness of man and the pre-eminence of God coexist in mutual relationship.
As God does not change by his condescension, so man is not swallowed up by being exalted. Each nature exercises its own activity, in communion with the other. The Word does what is proper to the Word, the flesh fulfils what is proper to the flesh.
One nature is resplendent with miracles, the other falls victim to injuries. As the Word does not lose equality with the Father’s glory, so the flesh does not leave behind the nature of our race.
One and the same person – this must be said over and over again – is truly the Son of God and truly the son of man. He is God in virtue of the fact that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He is man in virtue of the fact that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
________
The ferial reading for today:
Monday of the 2nd week of Eastertide
From an ancient Easter homily by Pseudo-Chrysostom
The spiritual Passover
The Passover we celebrate brings salvation to the whole human race beginning with the first man, who together with all the others is saved and given life.
In an imperfect and transitory way, the types and images of the past prefigured the perfect and eternal reality which has now been revealed. The presence of what is represented makes the symbol obsolete: when the king appears in person no one pays reverence to his statue.
How far the symbol falls short of the reality is seen from the fact that the symbolic Passover celebrated the brief life of the firstborn of the Jews, whereas the real Passover celebrates the eternal life of all mankind. It is a small gain to escape death for a short time, only to die soon afterwards; it is a very different thing to escape death altogether as we do through the sacrifice of Christ, our Passover.
Correctly understood, its very name shows why this is our greatest feast. It is called the Passover because, when he was striking down the firstborn, the destroying angel passed over the houses of the Hebrews, but it is even more true to say that he passes over us, for he does so once and for all when we are raised up by Christ to eternal life.
If we think only of the true Passover and ask why it is that the time of the Passover and the salvation of the firstborn is taken to be the beginning of the year, the answer must surely be that the sacrifice of the true Passover is for us the beginning of eternal life. Because it revolves in cycles and never comes to an end, the year is a symbol of eternity.
Christ, the sacrifice that was offered up for us, is the father of the world to come. He puts an end to our former life, and through the regenerating waters of baptism in which we imitate his death and resurrection, he gives us the beginning of a new life. The knowledge that Christ is the Passover lamb who was sacrificed for us should make us regard the moment of his immolation as the beginning of our own lives. As far as we are concerned, Christ’s immolation on our behalf takes place when we become aware of this grace and understand the life conferred on us by this sacrifice. Having once understood it, we should enter upon this new life with all eagerness and never return to the old one, which is now at an end. As Scripture says: We have died to sin – how then can we continue to live in it?
________
Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich
14. THE SIXTH REVELATION
“The life of every man shall be acknowledged before him in Heaven, and every man shall be rewarded for his willing service and for his time”
After this our good Lord said: I thank thee for thy travail, and especially for thy youth.
And in this Showing mine understanding was lifted up into Heaven where I saw our Lord as a lord in his own house, which hath called all his dearworthy servants and friends to a stately feast. Then I saw the Lord take no mere place in His own house, but I saw Him royally reign in His house, full-filling it with joy and mirth, Himself endlessly to gladden and to solace His dearworthy friends, full homely and full courteously, with marvellous melody of endless love, in His own fair blessed Countenance. Which glorious Countenance of the Godhead fulfilleth the Heavens with joy and bliss.
God showed three degrees of bliss that every soul shall have in Heaven that willingly hath served God in any degree in earth.
The first is the worshipful thanks of our Lord God that he shall receive when he is delivered of pain. This thanking is so high and so worshipful that the soul thinketh it filleth it as though there were no more. For methought that all the pain and travail that might be suffered by all living men might not deserve the worshipful thanks that one man shall have that willingly hath served God.
The second is that all the blessed creatures that are in Heaven shall see that worshipful thanking, and He maketh his service known to all that are in Heaven. And here this example was showed: A king, if he thank his servants, it is a great worship (honour) to them, and if he maketh it known to all the realm, then is the worship greatly increased.
The third is, that as new and as gladdening as it is received in that time, right so shall it last without end.
And I saw that homely and sweetly was this showed, and that the days of every man shall be known in Heaven, and he shall be rewarded for his willing service and for his time. And specially the days of them that willingly and freely offer their youth unto God, passingly are rewarded and wonderfully are thanked.
For I saw that whene’er what time a man or woman is truly turned to God, for one day’s service and for his endless will he shall have all these three decrees of bliss. And the more the loving soul seeth this courtesy of God, the more it desires to serve him all the days of its life.
There is no modern word for Julian’s “homely”, but its meaning is not difficult to grasp, so we have kept it. “Homely” is how you are when you are at home, or when you “feel at home with” someone. It means intimacy and a lack of formality or ceremony.
________
The Easter Alleluia
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Tap here to listen. If you want to hide this box, go to the Settings screen and turn off the "Offer Easter Alleluias" switch. It is near the very end of that screen.

2024-03-30 15:24:52

- reply

https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/jesus-is-god/divinity-jesus-revealed-new-testament/

2024-03-29 15:01:00

Friday 29 March 2024
Good Friday
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Good Friday
From the Catecheses by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop
The power of Christ's blood
If we wish to understand the power of Christ’s blood, we should go back to the ancient account of its prefiguration in Egypt. “Sacrifice a lamb without blemish,” commanded Moses, “and sprinkle its blood on your doors.” If we were to ask him what he meant, and how the blood of an irrational beast could possibly save men endowed with reason, his answer would be that the saving power lies not in the blood itself, but in the fact that it is a sign of the Lord’s blood. In those days, when the destroying angel saw the blood on the doors he did not dare to enter, so how much less will the devil approach now when he sees, not that figurative blood on the doors, but the true blood on the lips of believers, the doors of the temple of Christ.
If you desire further proof of the power of this blood, remember where it came from, how it ran down from the cross, flowing from the Master’s side. The gospel records that when Christ was dead, but still hung on the cross, a soldier came and pierced his side with a lance and immediately there poured out water and blood. Now the water was a symbol of baptism and the blood, of the holy Eucharist. The soldier pierced the Lord’s side, he breached the wall of the sacred temple, and I have found the treasure and made it my own. So also with the lamb: the Jews sacrificed the victim and I have been saved by it.
“There flowed from his side water and blood.” Beloved, do not pass over this mystery without thought; it has yet another hidden meaning, which I will explain to you. I said that water and blood symbolised baptism and the holy Eucharist. From these two sacraments the Church is born: from baptism, “the cleansing water that gives rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit,” and from the holy Eucharist. Since the symbols of baptism and the Eucharist flowed from his side, it was from his side that Christ fashioned the Church, as he had fashioned Eve from the side of Adam. Moses gives a hint of this when he tells the story of the first man and makes him exclaim: “Bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh!” As God then took a rib from Adam’s side to fashion a woman, so Christ has given us blood and water from his side to fashion the Church. God took the rib when Adam was in a deep sleep, and in the same way Christ gave us the blood and the water after his own death.
Do you understand, then, how Christ has united his bride to himself and what food he gives us all to eat? By one and the same food we are both brought into being and nourished. As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.
________
Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich
6. On prayer (1)
“The Goodness of God is the highest prayer, and it cometh down to the lowest part of our need”
This Showing was made to teach our soul wisely to cleave to the Goodness of God.
And in that time the custom of our praying was brought to mind: how we use for lack of understanding and knowing of Love, to take many means whereby to beseech Him.
Then saw I truly that it is more worship to God, and more very delight, that we faithfully pray to Himself of His Goodness and cleave thereunto by His Grace, with true understanding, and steadfast by love, than if we took all the means that heart can think. For if we took all these means, it is too little, and not full worship to God: but in His Goodness is all the whole, and in it there faileth nought.
For this, as I shall tell, came to my mind in the same time:
We pray to God for the sake of His holy flesh and His precious blood, His holy Passion, His precious death and wounds: and all the blessed nature, the endless life that we have of all this, is His Goodness.
And we pray Him for the sake of His sweet Mother’s love that bore Him; and all the help we have of her is of His Goodness.
And we pray by His holy Cross that he died on; and all the virtue and the help that we have of the Cross, it is of His Goodness.
And in the same wise, all the help that we have of special saints and all the blessed Company of Heaven, the precious love and endless friendship that we have of them, it is of His Goodness.
For God of His Goodness hath ordained means to help us, full fair and many: of which the chief and principal mean is the blessed nature that He took of the Maid, with all the means that go afore and come after with regard to our redemption and to endless salvation. Wherefore it pleaseth Him that we seek Him and worship through means, yet understanding that He is the Goodness of all.
Continued…
________

2024-03-28 12:28:59

Good morning. It’s Maundy Thursday, the Triduum is upon us.
Have a great day friends
Thursday 28 March 2024
Maundy Thursday
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Maundy Thursday
From an Easter homily by Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop
The Lamb that was slain has delivered us from death and given us life
There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s destroyer, death, a fatal blow.
He was led forth like a lamb; he was slaughtered like a sheep. He ransomed us from our servitude to the world, as he had ransomed Israel from the hand of Egypt; he freed us from our slavery to the devil, as he had freed Israel from the hand of Pharaoh. He sealed our souls with his own Spirit, and the members of our body with his own blood.
He is the One who covered death with shame and cast the devil into mourning, as Moses cast Pharaoh into mourning. He is the One who smote sin and robbed iniquity of offspring, as Moses robbed the Egyptians of their offspring. He is the One who brought us out of slavery into freedom, out of darkness into light, out of death into life, out of tyranny into an eternal kingdom; who made us a new priesthood, a people chosen to be his own for ever. He is the Passover that is our salvation.
It is he who endured every kind of suffering in all those who foreshadowed him. In Abel he was slain, in Isaac bound, in Jacob exiled, in Joseph sold, in Moses exposed to die. He was sacrificed in the Passover lamb, persecuted in David, dishonoured in the prophets.
It is he who was made man of the Virgin, he who was hung on the tree; it is he who was buried in the earth, raised from the dead, and taken up to the heights of heaven. He is the mute lamb, the slain lamb, the lamb born of Mary, the fair ewe. He was seized from the flock, dragged off to be slaughtered, sacrificed in the evening, and buried at night. On the tree no bone of his was broken; in the earth his body knew no decay. He is the One who rose from the dead, and who raised man from the depths of the tomb.
________
Revelations of Divine Love
Julian of Norwich
5. “A little thing like a hazel-nut”
“God, of Thy Goodness, give me Thyself;—only in Thee I have all”
In this same time our Lord showed me a spiritual sight of His homely loving.
I saw that He is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us: He is our clothing that for love wrappeth us, claspeth us, and all encloseth us for tender love, that He may never leave us; being to us all-thing that is good, as to mine understanding.
Also in this He showed me a little thing, the quantity of an hazel-nut, in the palm of my hand; and it was as round as a ball. I looked thereupon with eye of my understanding, and thought: What may this be? And it was answered generally thus: it is all that is made. I marvelled how it might last, for methought it might suddenly have fallen to naught, for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasteth, and ever shall, for God loveth it. And so All-thing hath the Being by the love of God.
In this Little Thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it, the second is that God loveth it, the third, that God keepeth it. But what is to me verily the Maker, the Keeper, and the Lover, I cannot tell; for till I am in substance oned to (made one with) Him, I may never have full rest nor true bliss: that is to say, till I be so fastened to Him that there is right nought that is made betwixt my God and me.
We must have knowing of the littleness of creatures and hold as nought all-thing that is made, to love and have God, that is unmade. For this is the cause why we be not all in ease of heart and soul: that we seek here rest in those things that are so little, wherein is no rest; and know not our God that is All-mighty, All-wise, All-good. For He is the True Rest.
God willeth to be known, and it pleaseth Him that we rest in Him; for all that is beneath Him sufficeth not us. And this is the cause why that no soul is rested till it is made nought as to all things that are made. When it is willingly made nought, for love, to have Him that is all, then is it able to receive spiritual rest.
Also our Lord God showed that it is full great pleasance to Him that a helpless soul come to Him simply and plainly and homely. For, as by the understanding that I have in this Showing, this is the natural yearnings of the soul, by the touching of the Holy Ghost: God, of Thy Goodness, give me Thyself: for Thou art enough to me, and I may nothing ask that is less that may be full worship to Thee; and if I ask anything that is less, I am ever in want; but only in Thee I have all.
And these words are full lovely to the soul, and they touch full near the will of God and His Goodness. For His Goodness encompasseth all His creatures and all His blessed works, and surpasseth without end. For He is the endlessness, and He hath made us only to Himself, and restored us by His blessed Passion, and keepeth us in His blessed love; and all this of His Goodness.
“One” is one of Julian’s favourite verbs, as in “oneth”, “oneing”, and so on. We have kept it because it is so characteristic of her and a key to her thoughts. It means something close to “to make one”, “to unite”.
________

2024-03-17 14:48:55

From the Confession of Saint Patrick, bishop
Through me many peoples have been reborn in God
I give unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing. Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trials. I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power? You did all this so that today among the Gentiles I might constantly rejoice and glorify your name wherever I may be, both in prosperity and in adversity. You did it so that, whatever happened to me, I might accept good and evil equally, always giving thanks to God. God showed me how to have faith in him for ever, as one who is never to be doubted. He answered my prayer in such a way that in the last days, ignorant though I am, I might be bold enough to take up so holy and so wonderful a task, and imitate in some degree those whom the Lord had so long ago foretold as heralds of his Gospel, bearing witness to all nations.
How did I get this wisdom, that was not mine before? I did not know the number of my days, or have knowledge of God. How did so great and salutary a gift come to me, the gift of knowing and loving God, though at the cost of homeland and family? I came to the Irish peoples to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others.
If I am worthy, I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for his name. I want to spend myself in that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favour. I am deeply in his debt, for he gave me the great grace that through me many peoples should be reborn in God, and then made perfect by confirmation and everywhere among them clergy ordained for a people so recently coming to believe, one people gathered by the Lord from the ends of the earth. As God had prophesied of old through the prophets: The nations shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and say: “How false are the idols made by our fathers: they are useless.” In another prophecy he said: I have set you as a light among the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
It is among that people that I want to wait for the promise made by him, who assuredly never tells a lie. He makes this promise in the Gospel: They shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is our faith: believers are to come from the whole world. https://image.nostr.build/10e2a6e1b8aefca54966ce192419dc2106d890d0005dd342d35c68e8f9a7492a.jpg

2024-03-16 22:39:57

So I want to present about bitcoin to non coiners (Christian). I have an hour. I’m not the best speaker so I’m looking to play a video. What are some videos you’ve seen that really made the case for newbies? Thank you

2024-03-07 14:49:24

Good morning friends!
Thursday 7 March 2024
Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent
(optional commemoration of Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs)
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Thursday of the 3rd week of Lent
From the treatise On Prayer by Tertullian, priest
The spiritual offering of prayer
Prayer is the offering in spirit that has done away with the sacrifices of old. What good do I receive from the multiplicity of your sacrifices? asks God. I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and I do not want the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats. Who has asked for these from your hands?
What God has asked for we learn from the Gospel. The hour will come, he says, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. God is a spirit, and so he looks for worshippers who are like himself.
We are true worshippers and true priests. We pray in spirit, and so offer in spirit the sacrifice of prayer. Prayer is an offering that belongs to God and is acceptable to him: it is the offering he has asked for, the offering he planned as his own.
We must dedicate this offering with our whole heart, we must fatten it on faith, tend it by truth, keep it unblemished through innocence and clean through chastity, and crown it with love. We must escort it to the altar of God in a procession of good works to the sound of psalms and hymns. Then it will gain for us all that we ask of God.
Since God asks for prayer offered in spirit and in truth, how can he deny anything to this kind of prayer? How great is the evidence of its power, as we read and hear and believe.
Of old, prayer was able to rescue from fire and beasts and hunger, even before it received its perfection from Christ. How much greater then is the power of Christian prayer. No longer does prayer bring an angel of comfort to the heart of a fiery furnace, or close up the mouths of lions, or transport to the hungry food from the fields. No longer does it remove all sense of pain by the grace it wins for others. But it gives the armour of patience to those who suffer, who feel pain, who are distressed. It strengthens the power of grace, so that faith may know what it is gaining from the Lord, and understand what it is suffering for the name of God.
In the past prayer was able to bring down punishment, rout armies, withhold the blessing of rain. Now, however, the prayer of the just turns aside the whole anger of God, keeps vigil for its enemies, pleads for persecutors. Is it any wonder that it can call down water from heaven when it could obtain fire from heaven as well? Prayer is the one thing that can conquer God. But Christ has willed that it should work no evil, and has given it all power over good.
Its only art is to call back the souls of the dead from the very journey into death, to give strength to the weak, to heal the sick, to exorcise the possessed, to open prison cells, to free the innocent from their chains. Prayer cleanses from sin, drives away temptations, stamps out persecutions, comforts the fainthearted, gives new strength to the courageous, brings travellers safely home, calms the waves, confounds robbers, feeds the poor, overrules the rich, lifts up the fallen, supports those who are falling, sustains those who stand firm.
All the angels pray. Every creature prays. Cattle and wild beasts pray and bend the knee. As they come from their barns and caves they look out to heaven and call out, lifting up their spirit in their own fashion. The birds too rise and lift themselves up to heaven: they open out their wings, instead of hands, in the form of a cross, and give voice to what seems to be a prayer.
What more need be said on the duty of prayer? Even the Lord himself prayed. To him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen.
________
Other choices for today:
Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs
The martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicity and others, from the Menologion of Basil II, c.1000.
From the story of the death of the holy martyrs of Carthage
Called and chosen for the glory of the Lord
The day of the martyrs’ victory dawned. They marched from their cells into the amphitheatre, as if into heaven, with cheerful looks and graceful bearing. If they trembled it was for joy and not for fear.
Perpetua was the first to be thrown down, and she fell prostrate. She got up and, seeing that Felicity was prostrate, went over and reached out her hand to her and lifted her up. Both stood up together. The hostility of the crowd was appeased, and they were ordered to the gate called Sanavivaria. There Perpetua was welcomed by a catechumen named Rusticus. Rousing herself as if from sleep (so deeply had she been in spiritual ecstasy), she began to look around. To everyone’s amazement she said: “When are we going to be led to the beast?” When she heard that it had already happened she did not at first believe it until she saw the marks of violence on her body and her clothing. Then she beckoned to her brother and the catechumen, and addressed them in these words: “Stand firm in faith, love one another and do not be tempted to do anything wrong because of our sufferings.”
Saturus, too, in another gate, encouraged the soldier Pudens, saying: “Here I am, and just as I thought and foretold I have not yet felt any wild beast. Now believe with your whole heart: I will go there and be killed by the leopard in one bite.” And right at the end of the games, when he was thrown to the leopard he was in fact covered with so much blood from one bite that the people cried out to him: “Washed and saved, washed and saved!” And so, giving evidence of a second baptism, he was clearly saved who had been washed in this manner.
Then Saturus said to the soldier Pudens: “Farewell, and remember your faith as well as me; do not let these things frighten you; let them rather strengthen you.” At the same time he asked for the little ring from Pudens’s finger. After soaking it in his wound he returned it to Pudens as a keepsake, leaving him a pledge and a remembrance of his blood. Half dead, he was thrown along with the others into the usual place of slaughter.
The people, however, had demanded that the martyrs be led to the middle of the amphitheatre. They wanted to see the sword thrust into the bodies of the victims, so that their eyes might share in the slaughter. Without being asked they went where the people wanted them to go; but first they kissed one another, to complete their witness with the customary kiss of peace.
The others stood motionless and received the deathblow in silence, especially Saturus, who had gone up first and was first to die; he was helping Perpetua. But Perpetua, that she might experience the pain more deeply, rejoiced over her broken body and guided the shaking hand of the inexperienced gladiator to her throat. Such a woman – one before whom the unclean spirit trembled – could not perhaps have been killed, had she herself not willed it.
Bravest and happiest martyrs! You were called and chosen for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2024-02-24 16:20:47

Amazing article:
https://open.substack.com/pub/beltoftruth/p/monetary-plumbline?r=e960g&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post

2024-02-17 17:18:53

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Looks nice

2024-02-17 15:06:26

Saturday after Ash Wednesday
From the treatise "Against the Heresies" by St Irenaeus
The friendship of God
Our Lord, the Word of God, first drew men to God as servants, but later he freed those made subject to him. He himself testified to this: I do not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead I call you friends, since I have made known to you everything that I have learned from my Father. Friendship with God brings the gift of immortality to those who accept it.
In the beginning God created Adam, not because he needed man, but because he wanted to have someone on whom to bestow his blessings. Not only before Adam but also before all creation, the Word was glorifying the Father in whom he dwelt, and was himself being glorified by the Father. The Word himself said: Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world was.
Nor did the Lord need our service. He commanded us to follow him, but his was the gift of salvation. To follow the Saviour is to share in salvation; to follow the light is to enjoy the light. Those who are in the light do not illuminate the light but are themselves illuminated and enlightened by the light. They add nothing to the light; rather, they are beneficiaries, for they are enlightened by the light.
The same is true of service to God: it adds nothing to God, nor does God need the service of man. Rather, he gives life and immortality and eternal glory to those who follow and serve him. He confers a benefit on his servants in return for their service and on his followers in return for their loyalty, but he receives no benefit from them. He is rich, perfect and in need of nothing.
The reason why God requires service from man is this: because he is good and merciful he desires to confer benefits on those who persevere in his service. In proportion to God’s need of nothing is man’s need for communion with God.
This is the glory of man: to persevere and remain in the service of God. For this reason the Lord told his disciples: You did not choose me but I chose you. He meant that his disciples did not glorify him by following him, but in following the Son of God they were glorified by him. As he said: I wish that where I am they also may be, that they may see my glory.
**** Note how old the above writing is, how long ago he lived and how God used him, a Bishop, to help define the books of the New Testament…the Church predates the Bible and comes forth from her
About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:
Second Reading: St Irenaeus (130 - 202)
Irenaeus was born in Smyrna, in Asia Minor (now Izmir in Turkey) and emigrated to Lyons, in France, where he eventually became the bishop. It is not known for certain whether he was martyred or died a natural death.
Whenever we take up a Bible we touch Irenaeus’s work, for he played a decisive role in fixing the canon of the New Testament. It is easy for people nowadays to think of Scripture – and the New Testament in particular – as the basis of the Church, but harder to remember that it was the Church itself that had to agree, early on, about what was scriptural and what was not. Before Irenaeus, there was vague general agreement on what scripture was, but a system based on this kind of common consent was too weak. As dissensions and heresies arose, reference to scripture was the obvious way of trying to settle what the truth really was, but in the absence of an agreed canon of scripture it was all too easy to attack one’s opponent’s arguments by saying that his texts were corrupt or unscriptural; and easy, too, to do a little fine-tuning of texts on one’s own behalf. Irenaeus not only established a canon which is almost identical to our present one, but also gave reasoned arguments for each inclusion and exclusion.
Irenaeus also wrote a major work, Against the Heresies, which in the course of denying what the Christian faith is not, effectively asserts what it is. The majority of this work was lost for many centuries and only rediscovered in a monastery on Mount Athos in 1842. Many passages from it are used in the Office of Readings.

2024-02-14 16:01:51

Ash Wednesday
Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting
this campaign of Christian service,
so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.
Ash Wednesday
From a letter of Pope St Clement I to the Corinthians
Repent
Let us fix our attention on the blood of Christ and recognise how precious it is to God his Father, since it was shed for our salvation and brought the grace of repentance to all the world.
If we review the various ages of history, we will see that in every generation the Lord has offered the opportunity of repentance to any who were willing to turn to him. When Noah preached God’s message of repentance, all who listened to him were saved. Jonah told the Ninevites they were going to be destroyed, but when they repented, their prayers gained God’s forgiveness for their sins, and they were saved, even though they were not of God’s people.
Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the ministers of God’s grace have spoken of repentance; indeed, the Master of the whole universe himself spoke of repentance with an oath: As I live, says the Lord, I do not wish the death of the sinner but his repentance. He added this evidence of his goodness: House of Israel, repent of your wickedness. Tell the sons of my people: If their sins should reach from earth to heaven, if they are brighter than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, you need only turn to me with your whole heart and say, “Father,” and I will listen to you as a holy people.
In other words, God wanted all his beloved ones to have the opportunity to repent and he confirmed this desire by his own almighty will. That is why we should obey his sovereign and glorious will and prayerfully entreat his mercy and kindness. We should be suppliant before him and turn to his compassion, rejecting empty works and quarrelling and jealousy which only lead to death.
Brothers, we should be humble in mind, putting aside all arrogance, pride and foolish anger. Rather, we should act in accordance with the Scriptures, as the Holy Spirit says: The wise man must not glory in his wisdom nor the strong man in his strength nor the rich man in his riches. Rather, let him who glories glory in the Lord by seeking him and doing what is right and just. Recall especially what the Lord Jesus said when he taught gentleness and forbearance. Be merciful, he said, so that you may have mercy shown to you. Forgive, so that you may be forgiven. As you treat others, so you will be treated. As you give, so you will receive. As you judge, so you will be judged. As you are kind to others, so you will be treated kindly. The measure of your giving will be the measure of your receiving.
Let these commandments and precepts strengthen us to live in humble obedience to his sacred words. As Scripture asks: Whom shall I look upon with favour except the humble, peaceful man who trembles at my words?
Sharing then in the heritage of so many vast and glorious achievements, let us hasten towards the goal of peace, set before us from the beginning. Let us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the Father and Creator of the whole universe, and hold fast to his splendid and transcendent gifts of peace and all his blessings.

2024-02-12 14:22:51

https://image.nostr.build/cc452c52665fefde535c0d199df562665aac2bf27f7eae5790592f425b74156b.jpg

2024-02-03 02:04:28

Friday 2 February 2024
The Presentation of the Lord - Feast
From a sermon by Saint Sophronius, bishop
Let us receive the light whose brilliance is eternal
In honour of the divine mystery that we celebrate today, let us all hasten to meet Christ. Everyone should be eager to join the procession and to carry a light.
Our lighted candles are a sign of the divine splendour of the one who comes to expel the dark shadows of evil and to make the whole universe radiant with the brilliance of his eternal light. Our candles also show how bright our souls should be when we go to meet Christ.
The Mother of God, the most pure Virgin, carried the true light in her arms and brought him to those who lay in darkness. We too should carry a light for all to see and reflect the radiance of the true light as we hasten to meet him.
The light has come and has shone upon a world enveloped in shadows; the Dayspring from on high has visited us and given light to those who lived in darkness. This, then, is our feast, and we join in procession with lighted candles to reveal the light that has shone upon us and the glory that is yet to come to us through him. So let us hasten all together to meet our God.
The true light has come, the light that enlightens every man who is born into this world. Let all of us, my brethren, be enlightened and made radiant by this light. Let all of us share in its splendour, and be so filled with it that no one remains in the darkness. Let us be shining ourselves as we go together to meet and to receive with the aged Simeon the light whose brilliance is eternal. Rejoicing with Simeon, let us sing a hymn of thanksgiving to God, the Father of the light, who sent the true light to dispel the darkness and to give us all a share in his splendour.
Through Simeon’s eyes we too have seen the salvation of God which he prepared for all the nations and revealed as the glory of the new Israel, which is ourselves. As Simeon was released from the bonds of this life when he had seen Christ, so we too were at once freed from our old state of sinfulness.
By faith we too embraced Christ, the salvation of God the Father, as he came to us from Bethlehem. Gentiles before, we have now become the people of God. Our eyes have seen God incarnate, and because we have seen him present among us and have mentally received him into our arms, we are called the new Israel. Never shall we forget this presence; every year we keep a feast in his honour.

2024-02-02 03:05:39

Why does everything cost so much? https://video.nostr.build/c0a5be886b34258ea48f6e95c5e1f7f8036e7c1947706d979df07160a5c8fe57.mp4

2024-01-29 01:54:43

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Thanks man!

2024-01-29 01:48:43

Trying the pizza oven for first time! #foodstr #pizza #fathead https://image.nostr.build/426f45332a8b37efcdcbf25fd7f260b130cc3c400138c6bf034b345ac530a339.jpg

2024-01-28 20:47:04

Sunday 28 January 2024
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor
Painting by Carlo Crivelli, 1476, from the large 'Demidoff Altarpiece' made for the high altar of San Domenico in Ascoli Piceno, east central Italy, now in the National Gallery, London.
From a conference by Saint Thomas Aquinas, priest
The Cross exemplifies every virtue
Why did the Son of God have to suffer for us? There was a great need, and it can be considered in a twofold way: in the first place, as a remedy for sin, and secondly, as an example of how to act.
It is a remedy, for, in the face of all the evils which we incur on account of our sins, we have found relief through the passion of Christ. Yet, it is no less an example, for the passion of Christ completely suffices to fashion our lives. Whoever wishes to live perfectly should do nothing but disdain what Christ disdained on the cross and desire what he desired, for the cross exemplifies every virtue.
If you seek the example of love: Greater love than this no man has, than to lay down his life for his friends. Such a man was Christ on the cross. And if he gave his life for us, then it should not be difficult to bear whatever hardships arise for his sake.
If you seek patience, you will find no better example than the cross. Great patience occurs in two ways: either when one patiently suffers much, or when one suffers things which one is able to avoid and yet does not avoid. Christ endured much on the cross, and did so patiently, because when he suffered he did not threaten; he was led like a sheep to the slaughter and he did not open his mouth. Therefore Christ’s patience on the cross was great. In patience let us run for the prize set before us, looking upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who, for the joy set before him, bore his cross and despised the shame.
If you seek an example of humility, look upon the crucified one, for God wished to be judged by Pontius Pilate and to die.
If you seek an example of obedience, follow him who became obedient to the Father even unto death. For just as by the disobedience of one man, namely, Adam, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one man, many were made righteous.
If you seek an example of despising earthly things, follow him who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Upon the cross he was stripped, mocked, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and given only vinegar and gall to drink.
Do not be attached, therefore, to clothing and riches, because they divided my garments among themselves. Nor to honours, for he experienced harsh words and scourgings. Nor to greatness of rank, for weaving a crown of thorns they placed it on my head. Nor to anything delightful, for in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. https://image.nostr.build/a0439129782af0872606b37b8ceba5e34937bc4f03f0ba4fea791f242958a029.jpg

2024-01-27 16:11:53

Saturday 27 January 2024
Saturday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
or Saint Angela Merici, Virgin
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Saturday of week 3 in Ordinary Time
From the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et spes" on the Church in the modern world
The mystery of death
In the face of death the enigma of human existence reaches its climax. Man is not only the victim of pain and the progressive deterioration of his body; he is also, and more deeply, tormented by the fear of final extinction. But the instinctive judgement of his heart is right when he shrinks from, and rejects, the idea of a total collapse and definitive end of his own person. He carries within him the seed of eternity, which cannot be reduced to matter alone, and so he rebels against death. All efforts of technology, however useful they may be, cannot calm his anxieties; the biological extension of his life-span cannot satisfy the desire inescapably present in his heart for a life beyond this life.
Imagination is completely helpless when confronted with death. Yet the Church, instructed by divine revelation, affirms that man has been created by God for a destiny of happiness beyond the reach of earthly trials. Moreover, the Christian faith teaches that bodily death, to which man would not have been subject if he had not sinned, will be conquered; the almighty and merciful Saviour will restore man to the wholeness that he had lost through his own fault. God has called man, and still calls him, to be united in his whole being in perpetual communion with himself in the immortality of the divine life. This victory has been gained for us by the risen Christ, who by his own death has freed man from death.
Faith, presented with solid arguments, offers every thinking person the answer to his questionings concerning his future destiny. At the same time, it enables him to be one in Christ with his loved ones who have been taken from him by death and gives him hope that they have entered into true life with God.
Certainly, the Christian is faced with the necessity, and the duty, of fighting against evil through many trials, and of undergoing death. But by entering into the paschal mystery and being made like Christ in death, he will look forward, strong in hope, to the resurrection.
This is true not only of Christians but also of all men of good will in whose heart grace is invisibly at work. Since Christ died for all men, and the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, that is, a divine vocation, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being united with this paschal mystery in a way known only to God.
Such is the great mystery of man, enlightening believers through the Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ light is thrown on the enigma of pain and death which overwhelms us without his Gospel to teach us. Christ has risen, destroying death by his own death; he has given us the free gift of life so that as sons in the Son we may cry out in the Spirit, saying: Abba, Father!
________
Other choices for today:
Saint Angela Merici, Virgin
Saint Angela Merici (1474-1540) as a teacher, devotional picture (pastel on paper) by Pietro Calzavacca (1855-1890), Merician Museum, Brescia, Italy.
From the Spiritual Testament by Saint Angela Merici, virgin
He has disposed all things pleasantly
Mothers and sisters most dear to me in Christ: in the first place strive with all your power and zeal to be open. With the help of God, try to receive such good counsel that, led solely by the love of God and an eagerness to save souls, you may fulfil your charge.
Only if the responsibilities committed to you are rooted firmly in this twofold charity will they bear beneficial and saving fruit. As our Saviour says: A good tree is not able to produce bad fruit.
He says: A good tree, that is, a good heart as well as a soul inflamed with charity, can do nothing but good and holy works. For this reason Saint Augustine said: Love, and do what you will, namely, possess love and charity and then do what you will. It is as if he had said: Charity is not able to sin.
I also beg you to be concerned about every one of your daughters. Bear them, so to speak, engraved upon your heart – not merely their names, but their conditions and states, whatever they may be. This will not be difficult for you if you embrace them with a living love.
Mothers of children, even if they have a thousand, carry each and every one fixed in their hearts, and because of the strength of their love they do not forget any of them. In fact, it seems that the more children they have the more their love and care for each one is increased. Surely those who are mothers in spirit can and must act all the more in the same way, because spiritual love is more powerful than the love that comes from a blood relationship.
Therefore, mothers most dear to me, if you love these your daughters with a living and unaffected charity, it will be impossible for you not to have each and every one of them engraved upon your memory and in your mind.
I beg you again, strive to draw them by love, modesty, charity, and not by pride and harshness. Be sincerely kind to every one according to the words of our Lord: Learn of me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Thus you are imitating God, of whom it is said: He has disposed all things pleasantly. And again Jesus said: My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
You also ought to exercise pleasantness towards all, taking great care especially that what you have commanded may never be done by reason of force. For God has given free will to everyone, and therefore he forces no one but only indicates, calls, persuades. Sometimes, however, something will have to be done with a stronger command, yet in a suitable manner and according to the state and necessities of individuals; but then also we should be impelled only by charity and zeal for souls.

2024-01-12 17:15:40

I meant this quote, sorry! https://image.nostr.build/3baa96c5da269630ea0ca0faba85525b81ce323944c627ef4b7c3121c03ee641.jpg

2024-01-12 17:09:02

https://t.me/SimplyBitcoinTV/149393

2024-01-11 17:15:16

https://image.nostr.build/bad6040ff476f6cb526d289a9b373033d5f35aa898e95699f75026bd6a1be0e0.jpg

2024-01-10 03:05:31

Heard of Chris Paul? Brilliant dude. Love his podcast.
https://pca.st/episode/bb3f92e4-c80d-417c-8b24-754230f58d5d

2024-01-09 03:47:21

Monday 8 January 2024
The Baptism of the Lord - Feast
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
The Baptism of the Lord
The Baptism of Christ, by Piero della Francesca, c.1450-60.
From a sermon by Saint Gregory Nazianzen
The baptism of Christ
Christ is bathed in light; let us also be bathed in light. Christ is baptized; let us also go down with him, and rise with him.
John is baptizing when Jesus draws near. Perhaps he comes to sanctify his baptizer; certainly he comes to bury sinful humanity in the waters. He comes to sanctify the Jordan for our sake and in readiness for us; he who is spirit and flesh comes to begin a new creation through the Spirit and water.
The Baptist protests; Jesus insists. Then John says: I ought to be baptized by you. He is the lamp in the presence of the sun, the voice in the presence of the Word, the friend in the presence of the Bridegroom, the greatest of all born of woman in the presence of the firstborn of all creation, the one who leapt in his mother’s womb in the presence of him who was adored in the womb, the forerunner and future forerunner in the presence of him who has already come and is to come again. I ought to be baptized by you: we should also add, “and for you,” for John is to be baptized in blood, washed clean like Peter, not only by the washing of his feet.
Jesus rises from the waters; the world rises with him. The heavens, like Paradise with its flaming sword, closed by Adam for himself and his descendants, are rent open. The Spirit comes to him as to an equal, bearing witness to his Godhead. A voice bears witness to him from heaven, his place of origin. The Spirit descends in bodily form like the dove that so long ago announced the ending of the flood and so gives honour to the body that is one with God.
Today let us do honour to Christ’s baptism and celebrate this feast in holiness. Be cleansed entirely and continue to be cleansed. Nothing gives such pleasure to God as the conversion and salvation of men, for whom his every word and every revelation exist. He wants you to become a living force for all mankind, lights shining in the world. You are to be radiant lights as you stand beside Christ, the great light, bathed in the glory of him who is the light of heaven. You are to enjoy more and more the pure and dazzling light of the Trinity, as now you have received – though not in its fullness – a ray of its splendour, proceeding from the one God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.
________
In other parts of the world and other calendars:
Saint Peter Thomas, Bishop
From 'The Life of St Peter Thomas' by his secretary Philip of Mézières
The patriarch's last days on earth
As the feast of Christmas drew near, my father presided in person at the divine services. In the middle of the night which ushered in the feast he made his way from the Carmelite monastery where he was staying to the cathedral of Famagosta for the solemn celebration of Matins. He celebrated with full solemnity the three Masses of Christmas, but was affected by the cold and caught an infection in the throat, for he was weakened by fasting and vigils and wore only light clothing, following the example of the holy fathers of the desert.
During the following days he offered Mass daily but was evidently trying to conceal his illness. On the Tuesday the fever became critical. He made a general and particular confession, and spoke affectionately with his household. Then turning to the cross he adored and kissed it, and with joined hands fervently asked forgiveness of all his confreres, a gesture which moved them to tears. “My brothers and friends,” he said, “what toils and dangers you have met with in my service – hunger and thirst, cold and unexpected trials. I have never given you the recognition or the recompense you deserve, and yet you were kind enough to bear with me and my shortcomings. How often for me you faced real risk of your lives! How can I repay you? Forgive me; I beg you to forgive me.”
Then he asked that the sacred Body of the Lord be brought to him, and he received communion with reverence and unfeigned faith. At the end of that day, at the sixth hour of the night, he asked that the bishop of Laodicea, who was vicar of the diocese of Famagosta, should come in his pontifical vestments accompanied by the clergy of the cathedral to anoint him with the oil of the sick. Meanwhile he summoned his own household and put on the symbols of his episcopal office. Despite his weakness he sought out the office of anointing with his own hand and, having found the right place, followed attentively the preliminary prayers. After this he lay down on some sackcloth spread on the ground and waited calmly for the arrival of the bishop.
When they heard the bishop coming with all his clergy he began to recite the penitential psalms in a loud clear voice suggestive of a man in full health: “Lord, rebuke me not in your anger.” With those around him making the responses he continued till about half way through the seven psalms. At last, however, his strength gave out, though his mind remained clear, and he signalled to his vicar-bishop to join in and support him, and thus the whole seven psalms were completed. As the vicar anointed him with the holy oil he managed to make all the responses of the ritual, striving to keep from the eyes of others the threadbare tunic and scapular he always wore.
When the anointing was finished, my father devoutly recited the Confiteor and received absolution from the bishop. He humbly asked forgiveness of him, his household and all the assisting clergy if he had in any way offended them in the exercise of his office; and at the same time he requested them to ask on his behalf the same pardon of all the inhabitants of Cyprus and elsewhere. Finally, he gave up his soul to the God who made him. It was the sixth day of January in the year of our salvation thirteen hundred and sixty-six.

2024-01-07 23:28:09

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💯 %

2024-01-07 21:06:40

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Who knows. No doubt we will keep getting closer. Cloning. Neurochips. Etc. I think equating perfect knowledge of and manipulation of human DNA and proteins with perfect control of human life is a mistake. We are more than our bodies. (We are more than our solid and we are more than our bodies. We are both soul and body.) I think that’s my main point. I think we are a thousand years or more from making a healthy human body from scratch. I think our biology is infinitely more complex than most biologist think. So I doubt we get there. But even if we did, we don’t have the power to create a person which a soul and body. And the attempt to do so is immoral.

2024-01-07 20:27:54

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Suuuure😂

2024-01-07 19:49:07

https://pca.st/episode/b46309c1-c103-4f5d-9256-ebfd48fb8e58
Fascinating.
I do see a disturbing trend though. I forget the time stamp, but Jeff (who is one of my favorite thinkers in this space, just brilliant) discusses the “Jeff AI bot” he is building to help make company decisions and same time. Like a “mini Jeff booth”. It attends meetings, takes notes, looks like Jeff.
Creepy enough. But probably common in near future.
Then they discuss how the models will make our mini me AIs more and more like us. After 20 years, they will almost be us. Then they discuss when we die, our families will have a “copy of us” to
ask questions to, talk with. Forever.
They discuss that, without mentioning that it is…crazy, creepy, unhumam, wrong?
Bizarre.
We are not our knowledge. We are not our ideas. We are not our image. We are body/souls (must have both to be human) made in the image of God. We are physical, corporeal. It’s why God took in a body to save us. We die, but we were not made to die. We will live forever with Him, and He has risen from the dead, and all will rise one day.
AI bots are NOT us. Not even close. Even if it looks, talks and thinks like you. Just 1s and 0s. That ain’t you. I fear the Christian truth of what it means to be human is getting lost in the conversations. And when Jeff mentions this I realized many people might be starting to get comfy with insane ideas.
We are going to be dealing with some crazy stuff very soon. Let’s not get lost in the false promises. Live forever on the chip? No, no, no.

2024-01-07 18:48:38

https://image.nostr.build/f0abfffd59b556311a34de245a725f61e0f7927d983d08a183aa4d717433c00f.jpg

2024-01-07 18:46:02

Father Mike is brilliant in this homily. Worship is everything. We were Mede to worship God. And, Catholics believe, the worship he asks for is the Mass. Are we giving God what he desires of us when we worship. Blessings this Sunday.
https://pca.st/episode/5b26fe33-7f2b-4bab-a290-bb8e7b2e842d

2024-01-04 16:47:37

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Time traveler. Wow!

2024-01-01 23:28:15

Intriguing
https://news.gab.com/2024/01/gabs-vision-for-2024-an-uncensored-ai-platform/

2024-01-01 16:38:23

Happy and Blessed New Year friends!
Happy Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God. May she intercede for us and for all this new year.
Monday 1 January 2024
Mary, the Holy Mother of God - Solemnity
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Mary, the Holy Mother of God
From a letter of St Athanasius
The Word took our nature from Mary
The Word took to himself the sons of Abraham, says the Apostle, and so had to be like his brothers in all things. He had then to take a body like ours. This explains the fact of Mary’s presence: she is to provide him with a body of his own, to be offered for our sake. Scripture records her giving birth, and says: She wrapped him in swaddling clothes. Her breasts, which fed him, were called blessed. Sacrifice was offered because the child was her firstborn. Gabriel used careful and prudent language when he announced his birth. He did not speak of “what will be born in you” to avoid the impression that a body would be introduced into her womb from outside; he spoke of “what will be born from you,” so that we might know by faith that her child originated within her and from her.
By taking our nature and offering it in sacrifice, the Word was to destroy it completely and then invest it with his own nature, and so prompt the Apostle to say: This corruptible body must put on incorruption; this mortal body must put on immortality.
This was not done in outward show only, as some have imagined. This is not so. Our Saviour truly became man, and from this has followed the salvation of man as a whole. Our salvation is in no way fictitious, nor does it apply only to the body. The salvation of the whole man, that is, of soul and body, has really been achieved in the Word himself.
What was born of Mary was therefore human by nature, in accordance with the inspired Scriptures, and the body of the Lord was a true body: It was a true body because it was the same as ours. Mary, you see, is our sister, for we are all born from Adam.
The words of St John, the Word was made flesh, bear the same meaning, as we may see from a similar turn of phrase in St Paul: Christ was made a curse for our sake. Man’s body has acquired something great through its communion and union with the Word. From being mortal it has been made immortal; though it was a living body it has become a spiritual one; though it was made from the earth it has passed through the gates of heaven.
Even when the Word takes a body from Mary, the Trinity remains a Trinity, with neither increase nor decrease. It is for ever perfect. In the Trinity we acknowledge one Godhead, and thus one God, the Father of the Word, is proclaimed in the Church.

2024-01-01 15:11:49

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Awesome! You traveling or live down there?

2023-12-30 20:16:36

This is so excellent. Brilliant woman.
https://pca.st/episode/cc94d89f-db5f-4541-9031-9873261dbc92

2023-12-29 02:15:50

Excellent BTC explanation. His book is great.
https://pca.st/episode/add75ce6-da58-4468-87e5-7239923e07d4

2023-12-29 01:09:15

Next up on my reading list. Looking forward to it. Recommended by several people. Howard was also instrumental on my path to the Catholic Church with his Evangelical is Not Enough book. https://image.nostr.build/fd78d9b658021d2282cfb20b4057a0a7a800500b327113cb6be47b78e9d46cec.jpg

2023-12-28 01:26:07

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If you are going to read one of the Gospels, John is an amazing place to begin.

2023-12-28 01:24:47

Saint John the Apostle, pray for us. https://image.nostr.build/8f53e2c3ac397f11542c4837e016996edb80e64f5ca678d7e43e3b5dadd8dbf6.jpg

2023-12-27 23:28:22

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I haven’t read. Maybe I’m wrong. I just don’t trust the ETFS.

2023-12-27 23:19:44

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Ah thanks

2023-12-27 23:13:36

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Tell me about Fidelity. Why are they different. Regardless, I guess the point is, the ETF ain’t BTC. I’m sure Fidelity won’t back each ETF BTC with an actual BTC?

2023-12-27 22:57:46

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And the masses will think BTC is like any other investment, and be rugged, until they self custody. Planned. And easy money for the BlackRocks. Why is it so hard for people to take ownership of BTC?

2023-12-27 22:52:22

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Clearly not BTC

2023-12-25 15:07:30

This really is an excellent brief summary of Saylors orange pilling ideas! #note1fnv…h7jl

2023-12-25 14:57:02

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Beautiful icon!

2023-12-25 14:46:37

Merry Christmas everyone!! 🎄🎅🎁
There is so much to be thankful for! Big things and little things…God is good and the truth shines in the darkness.

2023-12-24 19:16:14

The antiphons for Christmas are beautiful (from the Universalis app):
Christmas is close! https://image.nostr.build/f1d2483e938c052ac8d1ce2b24a30b71c958358dac63209a874531a28bd46d9c.jpg

2023-12-19 19:32:12

How did I miss this from JP - perfection!!
https://youtu.be/eC21gC0Wjtg?si=mNcBZ5_jEhEaCv4T

2023-12-10 13:00:34

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Donde

2023-12-09 21:37:00

Saturday 9 December 2023
Saturday of the 1st week of Advent
or Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
About Today
Year: B(II). Psalm week: 1. Liturgical Colour: Violet.
Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474 - 1548)
— A painting by Miguel Cabrera (1695 - 1768).
He was born in about 1474 in Cuauhtitlan in the kingdom of Texcoco, part of present-day Mexico. As an adult he embraced Christianity and he and his wife were baptized. In 1531 the Mother of God appeared to him, on the hill called Tepeyac near Mexico City, and told him to ask the bishop to have a church built on the spot. Through the purity of his faith, his humility and his fervour, a church was built, in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe (whose feast is celebrated on 12 December). He left everything and devoted himself to the care of the sanctuary and the reception of pilgrims until his death in 1548.
________
Collect
O God, who sent your Only Begotten Son into this world
to free the human race from its ancient enslavement,
bestow on those who devoutly await him
the grace of your compassion from on high,
that we may attain the prize of true freedom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
About the author of the Second Reading in today's Office of Readings:
Second Reading: St Cyprian (210 - 258)
Cyprian was born in Carthage and spent most of his life in the practice of the law. He was converted to Christianity, and was made bishop of Carthage in 249. He steered the church through troubled times, including the persecution of the emperor Decius, when he went into hiding so as to be able to continue looking after the church. In 258 the persecution of the emperor Valerian began. Cyprian was first exiled and then, on the 14th of September, executed, after a trial notable for the calm and courtesy shown by both sides.
Cyprian’s many letters and treatises shed much light on a formative period in the Church’s history, and are valuable both for their doctrine and for the picture they paint of a group of people in constant peril of their lives but still determined to keep the faith.
________
Liturgical colour: violet
Violet is a dark colour, ‘the gloomy cast of the mortified, denoting affliction and melancholy’. Liturgically, it is the colour of Advent and Lent, the seasons of penance and preparation.
Liturgical colour: white
White is the colour of heaven. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate feasts of the Lord; Christmas and Easter, the great seasons of the Lord; and the saints. Not that you will always see white in church, because if something more splendid, such as gold, is available, that can and should be used instead. We are, after all, celebrating.
In the earliest centuries all vestments were white – the white of baptismal purity and of the robes worn by the armies of the redeemed in the Apocalypse, washed white in the blood of the Lamb. As the Church grew secure enough to be able to plan her liturgy, she began to use colour so that our sense of sight could deepen our experience of the mysteries of salvation, just as incense recruits our sense of smell and music that of hearing. Over the centuries various schemes of colour for feasts and seasons were worked out, and it is only as late as the 19th century that they were harmonized into their present form. https://image.nostr.build/3d7fbe042decf334ed879dce9d8ece6b939ed4501171214e8beb504a4f339c27.jpg

2023-11-05 23:28:39

I love my podcasts. And surprisingly I listen to some non bitcoin ones even!
Been looking for Catholic ones that are trying to grapple with the psy ops and confusion of the last 3 years. When nobody even mentions the craziness of the last few years I start to question their intelligence and authenticity to be honest. Also to be effective out faith has to be applied in the real world, and current events.
Don’t get me wrong - the theology and liturgy ones are great and essential. But looking for new ones too.
I stumbled upon Avoiding Babylon. Highly recommended! Looks like they were jarred awake from the psy ops going on and aren’t afraid to discuss, from a Catholic take. Excellent.
I’m also checking out A Catholic Take, Crisis Point, John Henry Westen show along with the ones I check into regularly: Rules for Retrogrades, Taylor Marshall, Thank God for Bitcoin.
Any recommendations? https://image.nostr.build/93dfdb8bd9dc99f0373402c8af0d158d0ac14e0eb580b26f9fc0ec8821c9643b.jpg

2023-11-04 19:20:46

Father Mike is excellent today regarding same sex attraction/homosexuality. Extremely difficult issue. He covers it with wisdom and compassion. Not popularity.
Key point - every single one of us is broken, straight and gay. Every one of us is broken and sinful. We all have our crosses and we all seek Gods goodness and mercy. No condemnation here.
https://pca.st/episode/3db5325d-1522-4d3a-9136-848c032584c9

2023-11-01 20:49:07

Happy Solemnity of All Saints https://image.nostr.build/1603f3f48b76fae2b1b65cd9e8f7e6ebef84268cbebfaec39d35d5e52f3ee4bb.jpg

2023-10-31 14:32:20

Especially good and clear take on the meaning of our bodies, male and female, in this crazy time:
https://pca.st/episode/51bf5ccb-5e3c-482c-924c-55bde26a9e01

2023-10-25 18:03:38

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So glad you guys are on the case!

2023-10-21 17:36:50

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🤮

2023-10-21 04:10:15

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😂

2023-10-21 03:58:09

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The Old Testament yes

2023-10-21 01:53:05

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Yes

2023-10-20 17:17:42

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Interesting I didn’t know the Jewish part.
This all, for me, destroyed solo scriptura.
If the Church birthed the scriptures, then it can’t be solo scriptura. In fact the word is in some ways secondary. The Word became flesh. The very presence of God, now sacramental, is the fount of the Church. The Eucharist is the “source and summit” as JP the Great stated.
So knowing the writers of the New Testament were either priests consecrating at mass or at least attending mass, it makes you look
at John 6, and all the other Eucharistic passages, in a much clearer light.
The Church is Christs continued presence on earth, the Incarnation continued in a way.

2023-10-20 15:05:31

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I remember my nearly shocked state when I really absorbed that the Church predated the Bible. It didn’t drop from the sky all ready to go, then birth the Church. The Church wrote the New Testament. The Church selected the canon. The Church, who clearly from the early fathers, was sacramental (real presence, maybe stated differently), bishops, deference to Rome. All there, first.

2023-10-20 06:09:01

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Well stated

2023-10-18 13:06:59

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And with thousands of tombs and relics and chapels in Rome it’s certainly hard to keep it all straight!
Indeed relics are powerful. It’s part of that incarnational part of our faith that is so important. We aren’t just souls with bodies that don’t matter. We are soul/bodies, our bodies are so important that they will rise again after death. So seeing a relic is truly being with that saint.

2023-10-18 00:50:05

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Really? Great choice! I saw his relic (bone) one time. I was really moved.

2023-10-17 23:56:12

https://image.nostr.build/855b093ad6cc5ef1499a3efc10135e0103f14108dab5d335541f2fb4ce2b4de5.jpg

2023-10-17 23:07:06

Today is the memorial of St Ignatius of Antioch. He died in the year 107. Less than 70 ish years after Christs death. This fact amazed me in my journey from Protestantism… reading the writings of some of the earliest Christians. The basics of the faith, so much if it, were fairly settled earlier than I had thought. And dare I say, Christians, the Church was more Catholic than I expected, or wanted to see, at the time. And so started my journey to the Catholic Church.
This excerpt is quite intense as he expresses his desire for martyrdom. But an amazing Christian. St Ignatius, pray for us!
——
Tuesday 17 October 2023
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr
on Tuesday of week 28 in Ordinary Time
About Today
Year: A(I). Psalm week: 4. Liturgical Colour: Red.
St Ignatius of Antioch (- 107)
He was the third bishop of Antioch, the first being St Peter until he moved to Rome, and the second being Evodius. He was arrested (some writers believe that he must have been denounced by a fellow-Christian), condemned to death, and transported to Rome to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. In one of his letters he describes the soldiers who were escorting him as being like “ten leopards, who when they are kindly treated only behave worse.”
In the course of his journey he wrote seven letters to various churches, in which he dealt wisely and deeply with Christ, the organisation of the Church, and the Christian life. They are important documents for the early history of the Church, and they also reveal a deeply holy man who accepts his fate and begs the Christians in Rome not to try to deprive him of the crown of martyrdom.
He was martyred in 107 and his feast was already being celebrated on this day in fourth-century Antioch.
———-
Tuesday 17 October 2023
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr
on Tuesday of week 28 in Ordinary Time
Spiritual Reading
Your Second Reading from the Office of Readings:
Saint Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr
From St Ignatius of Antioch's letter to the Romans
I am God's wheat and shall be ground by the teeth of wild animals
I am writing to all the churches to let it be known that I will gladly die for God if only you do not stand in my way. I plead with you: show me no untimely kindness. Let me be food for the wild beasts, for they are my way to God. I am God’s wheat and shall be ground by their teeth so that I may become Christ’s pure bread. Pray to Christ for me that the animals will be the means of making me a sacrificial victim for God.
No earthly pleasures, no kingdoms of this world can benefit me in any way. I prefer death in Christ Jesus to power over the farthest limits of the earth. He who died in place of us is the one object of my quest. He who rose for our sakes is my one desire.
The time for my birth is close at hand. Forgive me, my brothers. Do not stand in the way of my birth to real life; do not wish me stillborn. My desire is to belong to God. Do not, then, hand me back to the world. Do not try to tempt me with material things. Let me attain pure light. Only on my arrival there can I be fully a human being. Give me the privilege of imitating the passion of my God. If you have him in your heart, you will understand what I wish. You will sympathise with me because you will know what urges me on.
The prince of this world is determined to lay hold of me and to undermine my will which is intent on God. Let none of you here help him; instead show yourselves on my side, which is also God’s side. Do not talk about Jesus Christ as long as you love this world. Do not harbour envious thoughts. And supposing I should see you, if then I should beg you to intervene on my behalf, do not believe what I say. Believe instead what I am now writing to you. For though I am alive as I write to you, still my real desire is to die. My love of this life has been crucified, and there is no yearning in me for any earthly thing. Rather within me is the living water which says deep inside me: “Come to the Father.” I no longer take pleasure in perishable food or in the delights of this world. I want only God’s bread, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, formed of the seed of David, and for drink I crave his blood, which is love that cannot perish.
I am no longer willing to live a merely human life, and you can bring about my wish if you will. Please, then, do me this favour, so that you in turn may meet with equal kindness. Put briefly, this is my request: believe what I am saying to you. Jesus Christ himself will make it clear to you that I am saying the truth. Only truth can come from that mouth by which the Father has truly spoken. Pray for me that I may obtain my desire. I have not written to you as a mere man would, but as one who knows the mind of God. If I am condemned to suffer, I will take it that you wish me well. If my case is postponed, I can only think that you wish me harm.
________
Collect
Almighty ever-living God,
who adorn the sacred body of your Church
with the confessions of holy Martyrs,
grant, we pray,
that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,
which we celebrate today,
brought him eternal splendour,
so it may be for us unending protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

2023-10-16 05:29:23

I got a bunch of apparent bots with random phrases in bio like “transcend competencies”. No posts. Few followers. Others seeing this? Getting slightly more realistic but still lame guys. https://image.nostr.build/06bff7c3b30787472ecee9e7d30667305d6eaaa3195e0b6632532395771a9be3.jpg

2023-10-14 22:48:15

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I saw the Pulisic goal then looked back a bit later and 3-1??

2023-10-14 18:42:04

Does anyone know about listr? I’d love to make lists of accounts I follow. I tried it but it only seems to make a list of the accounts, not a feed of all the notes from
each grouping? Is that possible?

2023-10-14 18:35:03

#eclipse
Cloud cover here but the clouds turned into a pretty good filter! https://image.nostr.build/8a041c46d6495ff6cd8a9feee0dd8de8ae3ed6a7279605b8df814303e1c4080d.jpg https://image.nostr.build/ef7cabd3d49106baa48a0cefaebc7b0a9d3a11721ede4d8fcd8fb38cc48f8c48.jpg

2023-10-07 04:19:08

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🤣

2023-10-05 21:22:10

I like not woke, not vulgar comedy I can watch with my teen kids. Here’s my list. Any recommendations?! There’s some good ones here!
The last 3 years would have been way more depressing without comedy to lighten the load. Some of these guys are extremely brave for tackling the no no issues. Thank goodness somebody is. They play a huge role in keeping us humane and hopeful. Comedy, and Bitcoin of course! https://image.nostr.build/533de6d45092f2f5670ae8fa34b597988856fb40f936cc9b891bf3e5c54bada6.jpg

2023-10-05 21:18:48

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Just rote. About half way there in 15 minutes. Plan on doing weekly test. What’s memory palace

2023-10-05 20:09:43

Finally memorizing seed phrase 🤙🏽

2023-10-05 04:57:04

Finally listening to this now. Excellent explanation.
https://pca.st/episode/77db85ee-256a-4ca6-8bb9-0e24a6221d22

2023-09-16 17:30:08

Today is the memorial of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian. They were contemporaries during the Roman Empire, Cornelius a pope Cyprian a bishop.
Although sometimes awful to consider, the faith, witness and example if the martyrs is encouraging. They gave all for their faith in Christ. In reading the accounts of the martyrs they are often fearless, peaceful and forgiving to their executioners. Just amazing.
Below is an historical account of Saint Cyprians execution. Saint Cyprian - pray for us.
Saturday 16 September 2023
Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
on Saturday of week 23 in Ordinary
________
St Cyprian (210 - 258)
He was born in Carthage and spent most of his life in the practice of the law. He was converted to Christianity, and was made bishop of Carthage in 249. He steered the church through troubled times, including the persecution of the emperor Decius, when he went into hiding so as to be able to continue looking after the church. In 258 the persecution of the emperor Valerian began. Cyprian was first exiled and then, on the 14th of September, executed, after a trial notable for the calm and courtesy shown by both sides.
Cyprian’s many letters and treatises shed much light on a formative period in the Church’s history, and are valuable both for their doctrine and for the picture they paint of a group of people in constant peril of their lives but still determined to keep the faith.
________
Collect
O God, who gave Saints Cornelius and Cyprian to your people
as diligent shepherds and valiant Martyrs,
grant that through their intercession
we may be strengthened in faith and constancy
and spend ourselves without reserve
for the unity of the Church.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
________
Liturgical colour: red
Red is the colour of fire and of blood. Liturgically, it is used to celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit (for instance, at Pentecost) and the blood of the martyrs.
________
The proconsular Acts of the martyrdom of St Cyprian, 258AD
I have no need to deliberate: the issues are clear
On the morning of 14 September a huge crowd gathered at Villa Sexti as the proconsul Galerius Maximus had ordered. The proconsul commanded that Bishop Cyprian be brought to trial before him as he sat in judgement in the court called Sauciolum.
When the bishop appeared the proconsul asked him: ‘Are you Thascius Cyprian?’
The bishop replied: ‘I am.’
‘And have you acted as leader in a community of impious men?’
‘I have.’
‘The sacred emperors have ordered you to sacrifice.’
‘I will not sacrifice.’
‘Consider your position.’
‘Do what is required of you. I have no need to deliberate; the issues are clear.’
Galerius consulted briefly with his advisers and reluctantly pronounced sentence in the following words: ‘You have lived in an irreligious manner for a long time now and have gathered about you a large congregation of criminals and unbelievers. You have shown yourself hostile to the gods of Rome and the rites by which they are worshipped. The pious and sacred emperors Valerian and his son, Gallienus, and the right noble Caesar, Valerian, have been unable to recall you to the practice of the official religion. Furthermore you are the instigator of abominations, a veritable standard-bearer for criminals and as such you have been brought before me. Your death will be an example to those whom you have gathered into your criminal conspiracy. Your blood will uphold the law.’ He then pronounced the following sentence from his wax tablet: ‘It is our decision that Thascius Cyprian be put to death by the sword.’
Bishop Cyprian simply said, ‘Thanks be to God.’
When sentence had been passed the assembled brethren cried out: ‘Let us be beheaded with him!’, and followed him in a huge and tumultuous crowd. Cyprian was brought to the plain of Sextus. There he removed his cloak and kneeling down he humbled himself in prayer to God. He disrobed and gave his dalmatic to the deacons. Clad only in his linen tunic he awaited his executioner.
When the executioner arrived Cyprian told his followers to give him twenty-five gold pieces. His brethren spread before him linen cloths and towels. The blessed Cyprian blindfolded his eyes with his own hands. The presbyter Julian and the subdeacon Julian tied the ends of the handkerchief since he was unable to do so himself. So died blessed Cyprian.
His body was exposed nearby to satisfy the curiosity of the pagans. During the night the body was removed by the light of wax candles and torches, and with prayer and great pomp it was brought for burial to a piece of open ground belonging to the procurator Macrobius Candidianus near the reservoirs on the Mappalian Way. A few days later the proconsul Galerius Maximus died.
The blessed Cyprian suffered martyrdom on 14 September, under the emperors Valerian and Gallienus, but in the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honour and glory for ever. Amen.

2023-09-11 17:17:14

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Also - the ONLY video of a “plane” hitting the Pentagon, most secure building in the world, is a grainy shot of what looks like a missile about 10 feet off the ground. Come on

2023-09-11 17:13:56

Painful to realize the level of evil at work in the world. Things seemed “off” that day of course. Surreal. I remember them finding the passport of one of the high jackets laying on a Manhattan street. Come on. But I moved on and didn’t know how to process. A year or two later I checked some of the truther websites, and without a doubt, none of this added up to what the media was saying. Learning about WTC 7 was the nail in the coffin as far as mainstream narratives for me.
But continuing to research and speak and share truth is only way forward. I’m actually encouraged that 9/11 discrepancies won’t go away in the public mind. #note1cuv…zjeq

2023-08-31 02:34:52

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Wow this is amazing! Great work.

2023-08-30 05:22:24

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Wisdom

2023-08-28 17:48:08

https://cdn.nostr.build/i/90bf26292914ae428a37d095a205206dda845c802feab1a047f4efd82d07666d.jpg

2023-08-27 21:21:55

#proofofgoal
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/messi/lionel-messi-must-see-goal-continues-inter-miami-fairytale

2023-08-27 19:54:02

I know I’m late on this…
But, are they even trying anymore?
What. The.
https://youtu.be/dim8elzo5vE?si=K4KrsYcCn6_guXIP

2023-08-27 17:40:29

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I converted in 2000. Discovered the Liturgy of the Hours. Then the Office of Readings. The Second Reading from the Office is amazingly rich! I feel like not enough Catholics know about it - hundreds of short, powerful, inspiring excerpts from the saints of the past. Just awesome!

2023-08-27 15:53:34

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Absolutely. So calm. So chill. Sees deeper and further along than those around him. He’s bullish and optimistic, with the receipts. Love it.

2023-08-27 15:34:01

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Yep indeed. Count me among the bad Catholics!
I forgot you mentioned you were Catholic in your bio. I just saw you reference the office of readings. I’m a big fan of the office of readings, as odd as that sounds.
Pope Benedict from your neck of the woods?

2023-08-27 13:18:03

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Are you Catholic?

2023-08-27 03:19:24

😂
https://twitter.com/GoRemy/status/1695081548939174312?s=20

2023-08-27 00:20:27

Jeff Booth. Catching up on episodes I’ve missed. Can’t get enough of Jeff Booth. This ones REALLY good…
https://pca.st/episode/c0ab6b34-ab76-4329-bc8c-2f3be75a2d1e

2023-08-25 17:55:00

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Great article. Terrifying stuff. I’m
Looking for one of those bags. Leave us alone you crazies

2023-08-25 17:35:14

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Makes me think of how we use our own military…

2023-08-25 13:52:59

Good morning!
Robert Breedlove was excellent on Rugpull Radio (linked in earlier post). Recommended interview.
He highly recommended reading this book about money in the Bible, and the basics of Austrian economics. I plan on reading. From Mises:
https://mises.org/library/honest-money

2023-08-23 15:08:47

Good morning! Just watched this Luke Broyles video. He was using this website for bitcoin data, impressive site!
https://youtu.be/zIFf6CDx2Xw
https://www.lookintobitcoin.com

2023-08-21 18:32:25

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Back at you!

2023-08-21 18:30:21

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Wow!! What a great share. There is nothing new under the sun, this guy saw the debasing of coins during his time, hundreds of years ago. This is truly a moral/ethical issue which the Church should be leading on. Not sure this Pope is up to it, sadly. I will read the link, thank you. Great find.

2023-08-21 18:21:54

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What. The.

2023-08-20 17:45:05

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Yes definitely. Sure looks like it’s going that way. Hold on.

2023-08-20 17:42:45

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Curious, what information/news sources, podcasts etc do you follow? DM if you want