Daniel

There have been rains of frogs and fish and other weird stuff, but I would generally consider a rain of dismembered genitalia to be a pretty bad and alarming thing all around…

A minority of people, regardless of political orientation, are committed to absolutes and unable to tolerate compromise and unwilling to accept anything less than perfection. To a degree, that passion is beneficial - but in this terminally online era, it’s just exhausting.

I view it as simply rejecting the false dichotomy that you have to choose between the truth of the Creeds and fully welcoming women and LGBT people. That false dichotomy is shared by both traditional conservatives and Spongians/progressives.

“The Light of the Seven” is exquisite!

Cersei Lannister drinking wine as the Sept of Baelor explodes on the author’s living room TV

When I’m feeling down, I’ll pour myself a glass of wine and watch the first 20 minutes of episode 10 of season 6 of Game of Thrones ⛪️ 🔥 🍷

I’m working on my resumé, but I’m not sure how to frame it for my dream job of “Younger son of a Marquess.”

Paddington Bear escorts the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic down a road into the sunset

The SL of Iran was not the “top religious leader of the second largest religion in the world.” He was *A* Shi’ite cleric who had risen to the top of the Islamic Republic’s regime. He wasn’t the Pope of all Shi’ites, and Sunnis and Shi’ites hate each other.

Good riddance to bad rubbish

Who knows not Love, let him assay,
And taste that juice, which on the crosse a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
If ever he did taste the like.
Love in that liquor sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as bloud; but I, as wine ⚓️

I do not need to see anything more about the USA men’s hockey team unless and until they go full Heated Rivalry.

If I were Emperor of the Gays, I would outlaw Grindr and all its offspring and force men to actually meet somewhere in person to find someone to hook up with.

“What am I doing wrong?” I ask into the void. Allegedly 318 people are following me but I get <5 engagement on any given skeet - often only 1 or 0.

J. Edgar Hoover is looking up from hell and wondering why no one told him that his job perks included partying with hockey players in a locker room.

I would recommend cassock and surplice. Cassocks are not liturgical garments; they’re just the day wear of clergy so wearing a cassock alone is equivalent to street clothes. Surplices are liturgical garments that can be worn by anyone, lay or clergy.

I can relate. The fear of death and the non-negligible chance that there is nothing afterward often grip me in the middle of the night like an icy fist around my heart. I hate it.

I am mercifully ignorant of Hillsong 😊

There’s “Eternal Father, *strong* to save…”

Yep, he certainly looks Polish between the legs ❤️

Ferdinand Habsburg is also doing the Hallow app that Marky Mark is promoting, but I downloaded it and I can’t find him.

I sort of imagined it was like Catholic Grindr or something.

I just realized that half my trip to Paris was spent visiting graves, so that’s my “memento mori” for Ash Wednesday.

Thank you so much. This was a very thoughtful and helpful response!

The Saga Begins is my runner up.

A social media fast is really kind of absurd these days: for a lot of people it’s not just a fun thing one wastes time on but an essential tool for staying in touch with people.

They’re specifically tied to the seasons of the year in the Holy Land, and so we’re in the same boat as Jews who have found themselves in South America, South Africa, and Australia. We can meditate on the spring-new birth angle, but it’s the Passover connection that’s important.

I refuse to fast. The practice does nothing for me but make me resentful and miserable.

Can you point me to an article or book or something that explains how giving up things we enjoy is helpful? From my POV, life is so miserable that it makes no sense to make it worse by denying ourselves any of the meager pleasures we can find in this world.

I see nothing in BCP1979 that makes Lenten discipline mandatory.

The Calendar on p17 is descriptive, not prescriptive (these days “are observed,” not “must be”).

On p265 we’re “invited” to a Holy Lent, not commanded.

Lent isn’t a Baptismal vow.

It seems Lent is optional, at least for laity⚓️

I refuse to body-shame this day by calling it “fat.”

To me, it’s just “Tuesday.”

It’s not “binding” because it doesn’t actually bind. It states that those days “are observed by XYZ.” That’s just descriptive fact. If it said something like “clergy and laity should observe these days with XYZ,” that would be different. The Exhortation “invites” but doesn’t command.