Iconograffity, By Alexandr Tsypkov

God comes through my open window every night, presses His body against mine, and tells me that love will destroy me if i let it; and i must let it. i go back to sleep

Praying is not a way to get what you want. Prayer is the extension of your soul into the world and beyond. To pray is to surrender yourself to the mystery of the divine, and to open yourself to a response you may never have anticipated or wanted. Prayer is an act of humility and acknowledgement that we are part of an infinite cycle centred not on us, but on God. We join with the prayers of those who came before us and those who are yet to come. Our prayers live on even when we have ceased to be. In a way, to pray is to become eternal.

as much as the concept of Jesus being a fairly normal lad has its charms, im personally very intrigued by the idea of him being just… extremely weird. not even in a mystical sense, just…….staggeringly BIZZARRE. 

you go to the well to get some water, and here’s Miriam’s boy, staring at the sky, completely still. his expression is unreadable. you hazard a hello and ask how he’s doing, and he slowly, unblinkingly, lowers his gaze on you (he’s 8 and is missing his frontal teeth, not that this is making you any less uncomfortable) and says “I cannot speak of the state of my being, Nathan son of Saul, my brother, but rejoice for the water you shall take today will be as pure as the soul of the children of Heaven”

…you start sweating

I feel like Catholics and other Christians tend to hold up the Holy Family as the ideal role model of a nuclear family; but Mary was pregnant outside of wedlock, and Joseph was not Jesus's bio dad. The Holy Spirit (the One Who conceived Jesus) is referred to with feminine language in the original text of the Scripture. According to the Church, Mary and Joseph never consummated their relationship; instead adopting more kids. At Jesus' request, John the Beloved took in Mary as his own Mother--that's chosen family.

None of these things exactly fits the ideals of a nuclear marriage and family which Christians espouse--in fact, it would be considered scandalous. But they were a Holy Family nonetheless. It's almost like family can be complicated and not fit into lines or boxes, and still be built on love and honoring to God

Recently I realized how easy it was to worship God. Prayer isn't always a woman in her knees, arms lifted into the sky and crying out her love. It can be that, yes, but it doesn't have to be that. Going hiking. A parent kissing their child. Staring at the ocean. A hug from a friend. Watching lighting strike during a thunderstorm. Baking bread. God makes miracles, yes, but you can also find Them just as often in the mundane.

“The Gospels insist upon two antithetical truths which express the tragedy of the human condition: the first is that if you do not love you will not be alive; the second is that if you do love you will be killed. If you cannot love you remain self-enclosed and sterile, unable to create a future for yourself or others, unable to live. If, however, you do effectively love you will be a threat to the structures of domination upon which our human society rests, and you will be killed.”

— Fr Herbert McCabe (via onancientpaths)

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”

St. Teresa of Avila

God is no stranger to pain. When you cry to Him, He isn’t looking down on you and saying, “Here we go again.” He’s leaning down, feeling every tear of betrayal, anxiety, and grief that you are crying, and saying “I know. I remember. I know.”

Are you like the only guy who hasn’t been in Jerusalem this weekend? still one of the funniest beats in Scripture

Christian transphobia is so funny sometimes

Surely no one in the bible ever changes their name and identity to live a more fulfilling life