John 2:5

M. 32. Catholic. Taking baby steps down the road to Christian perfection, one day at a time.

[gothicapologist]

[gothicapologist]

“We have only short moments of this life to work for God’s glory. The devil knows this and that is why he tries to make us waste time in useless things. O, let us not waste time! Let us save souls! Souls are falling into hell innumerable as the flakes of snow on a winter day. Jesus weeps! Instead of consoling Him we are brooding over our own sorrows…” - Saint Thérèse of Lisieux

[seraphim-eternal]

My soul is sorrowful, even unto death.

Matthew 26:38

[gothicapologist]

Oof. Just finished an exhausting round of resisting a foul temptation. I’m ready to put on the Armor of God and FIGHT BACK.

[seraphim-eternal]

In the world, you will have trouble. But take heart; I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

[gothicapologist]

[thenightwhisperer-deactivated20]

[gothicapologist]

Not me using a work policy to defend myself against alleged violation of the same work policy despite no clear evidence in said policy supporting their justification to reprimand me, but on the contrary, bringing to light their harassment as no such rules exist.

[gothicapologist]

I really don’t want to go to work tomorrow, so I refuse to go to sleep. That’ll show them…

[miriam-farish]

[gothicapologist]

The devil works hard to disrupt my plans, so I know I must be doing something right.

[robertthemonk]

[olicrosse]

[dorrance30]

The Holy Face of Jesus.

[michaelswifeyy]

I believe that God chose Mary because she was special not because she was sinless or a pure virgin.

Was she sinless? I don’t know but for me God sees more than our sins whenever we are sinless or not. Jesus hung out with the sinners and he viewed them more as sinners

What do you think?

[sacredheart-stigmata]

my personal thought process is that while Mary was 'without sin', she wasn't born 'sinless' or uniquely different than the rest of us. no immaculate conception. She was without sin by choice-- that's the important part. she was a normal human being, faced all normal human temptations of life, but still had the strength of faith and strength of heart not to follow through with those temptations. she was sinless through her dedication to God and to her love of the world around her. That's why god chose her. because out of all humanity, her heart was the one that leaned on him and loved him to the point where she never stumbled. she had the most complete faith of any human. what better person to raise the son of god than someone who trusted god to that degree, ya know?

still, i'm not sold on this idea, or any idea really, and i think it is extremely important to highlight her humanity and humanness. this is where my brain goes for now, i guess ?

[autisticandcatholic]

I really like this explanation actually! She truly is one of a kind, blessed among all women, that she could manage to choose against sin her whole life.

One of the most powerful ways she's blessed is not because no man has touched her, but because she is the most humble, most bravest woman, to understand what her yes meant, and to walk behind Jesus as He carried His cross.

[gothicapologist]

While the views shared don’t appear to be malicious, this is just incorrect. Mary was conceived without sin and that was God’s plan for her. This is literally part of the Catholic Church’s dogma and is evident in her apparition to St. Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes where she presents herself as the Immaculate Conception. Logically, there is no reason why the Mother of God, perfect in all virtues, would lie to her and the world considering how many people know about this apparition. She received the Grace from God to remain pure from the very beginning through the merits of Our Lord’s suffering on the Cross. Without such unbelievable levels of Grace, there is absolutely no way any person can remain in complete submission to God’s Will given the suffering she endured while on Earth. I know it’s difficult for us to fathom what this looks like as we have no visual example by which we can compare Our Blessed Mother to, but please don’t reduce her to just a mere woman who happened to have perfect faith. Original Sin leaves all of humanity weak. There’s no way God would choose a random woman who happened to have great degrees of faith to be the Ark of the New Covenant if she wasn’t perfect from the very beginning.

[sedesapostolica]

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Leandro Bassano (Italian, 1557-1622) Last Judgment, ca.1596-1605 Birmingham Museum of Art