i don't see any FRICKING vocal cords!

hahahaha religious r-slurs really are something else. how tf is a snake gonna talk without vocal cords? lmao

Hmmmm.... sounds like God is maybe... uh... fake? hahaha

He was so real for that

Thank You Jesus

This is a reminder to everyone that this year Easter is early (31st of March), which also means a very early Lent- it starts on 14th of February, in less than two weeks.

That is all

!catholics !christians

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First Reading

Job spoke, saying:

Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?

Are not his days those of hirelings?

He is a slave who longs for the shade,

a hireling who waits for his wages.

So I have been assigned months of misery,

and troubled nights have been allotted to me.

If in bed I say, "When shall I arise?"

then the night drags on;

I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;

they come to an end without hope.

Remember that my life is like the wind;

I shall not see happiness again.

-Job 7:1-4, 6-7

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Responsorial Psalm

R. Alleluia.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power;

to his wisdom there is no limit.

The LORD sustains the lowly;

the wicked he casts to the ground.

R. Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted.

-Psalms 147:5-6

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Second Reading

Brothers and sisters:

If I preach the gospel, this is no reason for me to boast,

for an obligation has been imposed on me,

and woe to me if I do not preach it!

If I do so willingly, I have a recompense,

but if unwillingly, then I have been entrusted with a stewardship.

What then is my recompense?

That, when I preach,

I offer the gospel free of charge

so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

Although I am free in regard to all,

I have made myself a slave to all

so as to win over as many as possible.

To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak.

I have become all things to all, to save at least some.

All this I do for the sake of the gospel,

so that I too may have a share in it.

1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23

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Gospel

On leaving the synagogue

Jesus entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

Simon's mother-in-law lay sick with a fever.

They immediately told him about her.

He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.

Then the fever left her and she waited on them.

When it was evening, after sunset,

they brought to him all who were ill or possessed by demons.

The whole town was gathered at the door.

He cured many who were sick with various diseases,

and he drove out many demons,

not permitting them to speak because they knew him.

Rising very early before dawn, he left

and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.

Simon and those who were with him pursued him

and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you."

He told them, "Let us go on to the nearby villages

that I may preach there also.

For this purpose have I come."

So he went into their synagogues,

preaching and driving out demons throughout the whole of Galilee.

-Mark 1:29-39

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Job is so keyed. I find it interesting that there were so many people possessed by demons in ancient Judea, I wonder how many of them were just mentally ill people. Or perhaps demonic possession is the source of mental illness, and modern psychology denying this holds us back from treating many people.

I often post wonders from the distant past. What about the churches we still build today?

These will surprise you (all built in the last 20 years)... 🧵 pic.twitter.com/sFcnLrCsXP

— Culture Critic (@Culture_Crit) February 2, 2024

Here are some recently built churches that are very pretty

The is St. Peter btw

it is ortho but still p cool

On Monday someone at Mass said they had one on order from Ignatius but I can't find any reference to one. My EDC zipper RSVCE so becoming crummy from use and the gilded pages are turning green so I need something new.

I tried this last week carrying one of my NABREs but I don't see much for it on an daily basis and I don't like the changes to the apocrypha and lack of red text for Christ's voice. Not to mention it's not as portable since I like to just toss my zipper Bible in my rucksack for work and not have to worry about damage

If not zipper I could really use something more durable that's complete and not just a psalms/nt abridgment.

!catholics !christians let's rock.

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First Reading

The word of the LORD came to Jonah, saying:

"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,

and announce to it the message that I will tell you."

So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,

according to the LORD'S bidding.

Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;

it took three days to go through it.

Jonah began his journey through the city,

and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,

"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed, "

when the people of Nineveh believed God;

they proclaimed a fast

and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,

he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;

he did not carry it out.

-Jonah 3:1-5, 10

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Responsorial Psalm

R. (4a) Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;

teach me your paths,

Guide me in your truth and teach me,

for you are God my savior.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Remember that your compassion, O LORD,

and your love are from of old.

In your kindness remember me,

because of your goodness, O LORD.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

Good and upright is the LORD;

thus he shows sinners the way.

He guides the humble to justice

and teaches the humble his way.

R. Teach me your ways, O Lord.

-Psalms 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

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Second Reading

I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.

From now on, let those having wives act as not having them,

those weeping as not weeping,

those rejoicing as not rejoicing,

those buying as not owning,

those using the world as not using it fully.

For the world in its present form is passing away.

-1 Corinthians 7:29-31

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Gospel

After John had been arrested,

Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God:

"This is the time of fulfillment.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent, and believe in the gospel."

As he passed by the Sea of Galilee,

he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting their nets into the sea;

they were fishermen.

Jesus said to them,

"Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men."

Then they abandoned their nets and followed him.

He walked along a little farther

and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John.

They too were in a boat mending their nets.

Then he called them.

So they left their father Zebedee in the boat

along with the hired men and followed him.

-Mark 1:14-20

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Jonah is a great casual Bible read. It's only four pages long in my Bible. Jonah doesn't want to preach to the people of Nineveh, because he wants them to die. He flees to what is now modern-day Spain, which I find crazy. I didn't realize just how connected the Iron Age Mediterranean was. Then the whale thing happens, and he repents. And then Nineveh repents. And then Jonah sits outside and pouts about it because he didn't want them to. Jonah is an interesting character, probably the least saintly prophet.

My mom said I would burn in heck if I don't accept Jesus as my savior

I have a right to be mad about her saying that to me right?

I was in the car with her( I forgot what brought it up), and she said he will come down and save us one day. She knows I have never chose to believe in it ( I have stayed respectful to her and the rest of my family), despite sending me to a Cristian private school my entire life. I rolled my eyes after she said that, and she responded with “fine if you choose not to Acept him as your lord and savior then you will just burn in heck.

The thing that hurts the most is that she honestly doesn't see anything wrong with that. I rightfully got mad and asked her if she just told me to burn in heck? And she goes on defense and says I'm twisting her words.

There is nothing to twist, she told me either I choose to not believe or I will burn in heck/ that plain and simple

She follows up with saying if I get so offended by it that must mean I do believe…..no I get offended because my own mom just told me to burn in heck

I just need an opinion on how to evaluate this

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. - Acts 2:38

Your mom is showing how bad religion has manipulated people. She is willing to turn her back on her child because other people told her “it's the right way”. So sad.

imagine caring about your son's salvation

I can't stand it when people do that! I am a Christian and I do believe in God/Jesus. However, I understand that God doesn't want us to love Him solely because we're afraid of going to heck. He wants it to be our choice and He doesn't want that choice to be forced. He doesn't want to be shoved down anyone's throats. It's one thing to teach someone about God, but to try to force them to believe will just continue to push them further away from him or have them believing out of fear and that's not a good thing.

this is how reddit "christians" think

Except there isn't a heck. So, it's not too messed up tbh. Churches are strange with their little storybooks.

i am euphoric.

Your mom is in a cult.

There is no hate like christian 'love'. They insist that everyone must secretly believe what they believe because they just can't fathom that anyone doesn't. They don't understand how people can be good people without the fear of burning in hellfire if they don't - because being kept on a leash with threats is the only thing stopping them from being WORSE people, and they think that they must be wonderful and great and perfect so if THEY want to do those bad things, everyone else must, right? They don't understand that most of us genuinely don't want to hurt others and do bad things, and we don't need the threat of being burned forever to be decent people.

Just ignore her and plan for when you can get out and go LC with her. Once you're out, anytime she starts bringing up religion? Hang up, get in your car and go home, leave. Make it clear that you won't tolerate her crap.

She's been brainwashed and there's not much you can do about that. All you can do is alter how you personally interact with her - which, in the case of cultists, usually means interacting with them less or not at all.

anyone with different beliefs than me is brainwashed

Discuss.

A lot of talk about politics but not a single mention of faith, which is a bit weird coming from a spiritual leader in my opinion.

A bit too neolib-y for my taste, while I don't disagree with the overall message, personally I am wary of introducing means to police and guide businesses for social goals as introducing such measures in the first place opens them for corruption and abuse, allowing the people in power to guide these entities against common social interests just as well. A situation like that would be even more damaging than businesses not being socially involved in the first place, and in my humble opinion is what we're seeing now to an extent.

Sexual pleasure "is a gift from God" which is being "undermined by pornography," Pope Francis told an audience at the Vatican on Wednesday. The pontiff's address came after it emerged that his head of doctrine penned a sexually explicit book in the 1990s.

"Winning the battle against lust, against the 'objectification' of the other, can be a lifelong endeavor," Pope Francis declared, before denouncing pornography as a manifestation of "the demon of lust."

The search for sexual pleasure outside of a loving relationship "can generate forms of addiction" and "turns into a chain that deprives human beings of freedom," the pontiff continued. He called on Catholics to reject "satisfaction without relationship" and practice "pure love in the giving of oneself to the other."

Nothing about Pope Francis' speech broke with the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that anyone involved in producing or watching porn commits a "grave offense." Pornography "offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of spouses to each other," the doctrinal church document explains.

The pontiff may have chosen to focus his speech on the topic in light of a recent controversy, in which his newly promoted chief of doctrine, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, was condemned by conservative Catholics for a book he wrote in 1998 on spirituality and sensuality.

Now out of print, the book featured graphic descriptions of the female orgasm that conservatives argue should have been beyond the knowledge of a supposedly celibate priest, as the cardinal was at the time of its publication.

Fernandez touched on porn in the book, remarking that women could be just as "aroused by hardcore pornography" as men, according to the Catholic News Agency.

The pontiff has broken with Catholic tradition on several occasions in recent years, offering statements of support for LGBTQ activists in 2021 and 2022, and updating Church doctrine in December to allow priests to bless same-s*x couples in some circumstances. Cardinal Fernandez wrote the doctrinal text explaining this change.

Despite liberalizing some elements of Catholic doctrine, Pope Francis has continued to rail against pornography, even within the ranks of the clergy.

Erotica is a vice that has affected "so many people, so many lay people, so many lay women and also priests and nuns," he said in an address to seminarians in 2022. The pontiff called on priests to delete pornographic apps and websites from their phones, warning that "it is something that weakens the soul."

"The devil enters from there," he continued. "He weakens the priestly heart."

Pope Francis' Instagram page, which is managed by the Holy See's media team, made headlines in 2020 after 'liking' a racy photo of bikini model Natalia Garibotto. The papal office launched an internal investigation into the incident, the Catholic News Agency reported at the time.