We have to be careful when it comes to how we speak about suffering, because while there is a call to suffer it is not the goal and we must never confuse the means with the ends. Suffering is an evil to be avoided when possible, but not one to be avoided out of fear. There are moments when we will be called to suffer for the sake of another, and in those moments we must stand tall. We also can look to Christ when we are suffering for solace, knowing that it is a means of drawing closer to Him. But suffering is not the end, and must never be made an end unto itself.

Bible verses can be multi-fold. Yet more often the first and foremost fold is literal. Abraham's story is factual, only based on this that allegories can be built.

xser88 said:

We're learning more about this guy every day ... but the picture isn't becoming much clearer on his motivation.

Click to expand...

Login to view embedded media It has now become very clear!

mark46 said:

Society needs to be less enamored with college degrees?

1) That change has already happened. The market favors those who are plumbers and electricians. Those who go to technical schools make more than those graduating from 4-year colleges. Polls show that it is parents that don't want that for their children. They want their children to have college degrees and have high-class job.

2) Those graduating from a 4-year college have a much poorer job market and it will continue to get much worse. With the aid of AI, one person can do the entry level work of what 2 or 3 (or more) workers did in the past.

3) With regard to whether companies should require college degrees. that is something for companies to figure out. College can provide many useful skills. In any case, some employers will continue to require colleges, some won't. I don't see that as a problem.

Click to expand...

The current data and forecasting would suggest otherwise

And just to make sure there's clarity on what was meant by "less enamored with degrees"

I didn't mean "happy with the end result after getting a degree"

I meant "the mentality that degrees are practically useful for many jobs"

Or to put it in other terms

Complaint #1: "I paid $80k to get this 4-year business degree from a liberal arts college, and this market rep job I got only pays $50k/year, and it took me a while to find the job"
vs
Complaint #2: "I don't think one needs to have a 4-year to do this job, I'm using very little of what I learned there at this job, why did I have to waste money and time?"


The fact that there's a cohort of people that aren't asking questions about #2, and are purely focused on grants, revising acceptance standards, and pressing for increasing public funding so more people can go for cheaper, exclusively focusing on Complaint #1, tells me that they're still enamored with college degrees.

Notre Dame reversed itself;

Notre Dame Returns ‘Catholic Mission’ to Its Core Values After ‘Confusion’​

Valletta said:

Why working-class voters have been shifting toward the Republican Party​

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5183060/why-working-class-voters-have-been-shifting-toward-the-republican-party

Click to expand...

What a difference a year makes!

www.npr.org/2024/11/14/nx-s1-5183060/why-working-class-voters-have-been-shifting-toward-the-republican-party

The Liturgist said:

That’s not Eastern Orthodox doctrine.

You are aware the Orthodox Church officially rejected chiliasm at the second ecumenical council in Constantinople in 381 AD?

Click to expand...

How is this related? The first resurrection is about the patrician families of Rome, the plebs come after. This was simply my point.

Login to view embedded media No one is above the law!

Its strange how the very things that people called Trump or accused him of doing were being done by his accusers. This is usually the case. Funny how we see ourselves in others.

When someone is fixated on someone elses behaviour its usually because they are seeing that behaviour in themselves. The old saying 'don't throw stones if you live in a glass house'. Or 'take the massive log out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck in your brothers eye'.

Homily Monday, November 24 2025

34th OT



Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20

The question of food in Daniel's time is not an issue for Catholics. Except for meat offerings to idols.



The example we can draw from this is to distance ourselves from evil and allow ourselves to be loved by God.



Allowing ourselves to be loved by God, drives away evil.



Luke 21:1-4

What Jesus says here is a lesson in itself:

"Those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."



As we know, Jesus wants to guide us to the realities of heaven.



The "surplus wealth" is a danger of pride.



But, for the little woman, she is present with her heart, and in her heart is peace.



Let us be like this little woman who allows God's Love to go ‘round.



Let us allow all people to discover simple joy within themselves.



God's Love is in all hearts.



Biblical texts: NAB-RE

Normand Thomas.

In the United States of America, where I live, marked on our calendars is a yearly day of celebration and thanksgiving to God. Evidently, one of our former presidents by the name of Abraham Lincoln, who was later assassinated, declared it a national holiday in 1863 during the Civil War. “Lincoln’s proclamation was a way to unify the nation during the war by establishing a day for ‘Thanksgiving and Prayer’” (source Google AI). And this day of celebration will be this Thursday, November 27, 2025.

But for us who have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, every day should be a day of “Thanksgiving and Prayer.” Every day we should be giving thanks to the Lord for the breath of life and for his love and forgiveness, and for saving us from our sins, and for giving us new life in him to be lived for his glory, and for his purposes, and for his praise. And this is not to be verbal only, but from our hearts of gratitude, and shown in how we live our lives in submission to God and to his purpose for our lives.

For thanksgiving to God is not in words only or it is not true thanksgiving. For if we are truly thankful that he saved us from our sins, and that he has given us new lives in him to be lived for his purpose, then we should be following him with our lives in doing what he commands. We should be walking in obedience to his commands, and sin must no longer be our practice. This doesn’t mean that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2), or that we will never fail, but day by day we should be following Jesus with our lives.


Yes! As Jesus’s true sheep (followers) we are to be listening to (heeding, following, obeying) his voice, and we should be following (obeying, abiding by) his teachings and his commandments (New Covenant). And we are those to whom he gives eternal life, and we will never perish, and no one can snatch us out of his hands and the hands of God the Father because we pay close attention to our Lord’s words, and we love and obey our Lord and his teachings, and we follow him wherever he leads us in doing what he says.

And that is the best thanksgiving and praise that we can give to God, is when we bow to him in submission to his will and we follow him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands that we must do as his followers. Yes, I am certain that he loves to hear us sing praises to him and to give him verbal thanks and praise, but provided that our praise is sincere and that it is accompanied by genuine submission to him as Lord of our lives. For the praise that he desires most is our surrender of our lives to him as our Lord.

And this will be evidenced by us serving him with our lives in doing what he has called us to do collectively and individually. And it will be shown through our humility in recognizing that all we have is from the Lord and not of our own doing, and when we become his true and abiding sheep (followers). For true thanksgiving to God is not in lip service only, but in surrender to his will in doing all that he commands that we must do as his followers. And the Lord is good, and his lovingkindness and faithfulness is everlasting. Amen!

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

My Sheep

Based off John 10:1-30 NIV
An Original Work / June 24, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My sheep hear me. They know me.
They listen to my voice and obey.
I call them and lead them.
They know my voice, so they follow me.
They will never follow strangers.
They will run away from them.
The voice of a stranger they know not;
They do not follow him.

So, I tell you the truth that
I am the gate, so you enter in.
Whoever does enter
Will find forgiveness and will be saved.
Nonetheless whoever enters
Not by the gate; other way,
He is the thief and a robber.
Listen not, the sheep to him.

Oh, I am the Good Shepherd,
Who laid his own life down for the sheep.
I know them. They know me.
They will live with me eternally.
The thief only comes to steal and
Kill and to destroy the church.
I have come to give you life that
You may have it to the full…

They know my voice, so they follow me.

Login to view embedded media
The Sheep of His Pasture
An Original Work / November 23, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

As a young Christian and someone who was into Led Zeplin, Floyd, Hendrix, and Cream ect Phil Keaggy filled that gap well. Even better as even his guitar work sounded Christian lol. I remember having the Sony Walkman and listening walking down the street or on a bus. It was great.

My favorite song was 'Time'

I love the studio version of the original album 'Love Broke Through'. But I also like this later version from a few years ago.

Login to view embedded media

But you can't be blessed and oppose the 10 commandments, can you? You can't sin and be blessed? One has to go with the other, right? Maybe both need displayed. Always half stories and this is how we've lost our way, IMO

Login to view embedded media

Day 6... 11/23/25

O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of Our Lord Jesus and our Mother, penetrated with the most lively confidence in your all-powerful and never-failing intercession, manifested so often through the Miraculous Medal, we your loving and trustful children implore you to obtain for us the graces and favors we ask during this Novena, if they be beneficial to our immortal souls, and the souls for whom we pray.

(Privately form your petitions here.)

You know, O Mary, how often our souls have been the sanctuaries of your Son who hates iniquity. Obtain for us, then, a deep hatred of sin and that purity of heart, which will attach us to God alone so that our every thought word and deed may tend to his greater glory. Obtain for us also a spirit of prayer and self-denial, that we may recover by penance what we have lost by sin, and at length attain to that blessed abode where you are the Queen of angels and of men. Amen.

partinobodycular said:

I don't know if the internet is the cause, but I find it almost impossible to watch more than 10 or 15 minutes of a movie or tv show before I have to find something else to do. Yet I'd watch YouTube! shorts for hours if I'd let me. I've got the attention span of a three year old.

Click to expand...

Yeah that might have ruined us. But then again it seems to me that flipping through yt shorts isn't much different than channel surfing. A little while ago I saw that Roku has Law & Order. But it's live streaming and I didn't want to be tied down to sitting through a whole episode without being able to pause it.

Angeleyes7715 said:

I don't feel like I can pray right anymore. I'm scared I'm going to hell. I hallucinated audible demons. I have diagnosed schizophrenia but it felt so real.

Click to expand...

I pray that God directs a pathway for you, both spiritually and physically, and pray that in Jesus' name.

Are you on a prescribed medicine, and taking it ?

The Barbarian said:

Koalas simply outran the cheetahs, and got to Australia first.

Click to expand...

No they are too stoned on eucalyptus leaves lol. Its the Roos, the Red Kangaroo who can outrun Cheetahs. Or is at least the fastest land animal.

essentialsaltes said:

Inside the DOGE Succession Drama Elon Musk Left Behind

Click to expand...

Inside the DOGE Succession Drama Elon Musk Left Behind

SWEET!

Headlines from a few papers do not clarify what the actual situation is like compared to say 10 years ago.
Sensationalism to cloud the mind, hey?

But compare it all to decades and decades of data and see what you get.

Also - just let Trump send the military in anywhere he wants to - and see what you get!

Be careful what you wish for!

If I produce or sell Ferrock, would I be guilty of anti-cementism?

Please remember Taco Tuesday.

TUES

Some hippies do marijuana daily.

MARIJ