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I'm an IT person and have definitely been called a wizard before

Well this was an interesting line: if you do not know what you are reading, the devils certainly do and tremble.

We often draw a careful line between our spiritual lives and the economic and political realities of everyday existence—as if God somehow stops paying attention when we open our laptops or balance our budgets. But Jesus, like the prophet Amos before him, finds the divine in the intersection of faith and finance. The tragedy of the Rich Man is less about him burning in Hades and more about the way he had constructed his life to be cut off from reality, from feeling compassion in the face of suffering, from the joy of sharing what we have, from the satisfaction of being able to see dignity in the faces of those whom we might turn away from seeing, like a man with a dog licking his open sores. Jesus is retelling a classic folktale of his era. He uses a classic storytelling technique about an imaginary future to provoke a change in his listeners. Jesus focuses on images of the future to help us become more conscious of how we are living now. He speaks about the kingdom of heaven, not as an ethereal destination where your soul goes after you die; it is, rather, how God intends this world to be when we have our priorities right and follow God’s will for our lives. Remember that line, “on earth as it is in heaven?” A parable is a parable because there is always more meaning than just the plain sense. Some of “the more” in this parable is that God’s Kingdom has a special affinity for the least, lost, last, and lonely. And Lazarus certainly is among the least and last, but maybe the Rich Man is among the lost and lonely. The Rich Man lives behind a wall with a gate. We know very little about him but that he dresses sharply and feasts sumptuously every day. The Rich Man, who is nameless, knew Lazarus by name but didn’t help him. Did the Rich Man no longer even see Lazarus at the gate? Maybe most of us have a little of the Rich Man in us. After all, we’re often glued to our screens, staring at social media or strings of texts related to our family’s emotional drama. All of that buffers us from noticing and being available to what actually is. Charles Taylor, the Catholic philosopher contrasts the buffered self with the porous self, a person who is open to the transcendent, to being encountered by reality that may be surprising, uncomfortable, and, of course, beyond our ability to control. With the buffered self, the Holy Spirit works overtime to get our attention, to pull us out of ourselves. But thank God, the Spirit does finally poke holes in our defences. We might call those conversion processes. So, to stay with the imagery of the parable, while his death and confinement in Hades might have poked a few holes in the Rich Man’s buffer, I suspect that the chasm between him and Lazarus will remain until he can see the full humanity of Lazarus, until the scope of his concern for others’ wellbeing extends beyond his family. But you know, while his brothers may be so buffered they won’t be able to say “yes” to repentance, to the fullness of God’s grace, to opening themselves to the miracle of someone rising from the dead, hope abounds. Because that chasm that separates the Rich Man and Lazarus in Hades is bridged by the One who spans the chasm between heaven and hell: Jesus. Of course, Jesus came to bring good news to the poor, to the last and lost like Lazarus. And he came to set the captive free, like the Rich Man captive to his wealth, likely lost and lonely, unable to engage reality. Friends, Jesus invites us through this teaching to let our guards down, keep our gates unlocked, our ears unplugged, our eyes wide open, so that our souls may become less buffered and more and more porous to the flow of Spirit’s generosity. Today’s Liturgy is a call to repentance—to heed the warning of One who was raised from the dead. To lay hold of the eternal life He promises, we must pursue righteousness, keep the commandment of love, as Paul exhorts in today’s Second Reading. “The Lord loves the just,” we sing in today’s Psalm.

What is the end?

It would be fun if there was a discord server.

I miss all the good banter, too

I wish I was apostolic and I wish trying be didn’t have so many practical barriers trying to get to liturgy, or I wish I didn’t know how much I seem to have the capacity to care.

I took a picture of my daughter with the bishop who was visiting today.

It’s a mixed bag.

Yeah, but it’s not dead yet. remember back in the day when this was super busy? I miss those days.

Nobody stays at this phorum, can't you tell?

Weird churchy stuff is soooo cringe, am I right?

Actually, when I encountered the sales girl, I was shopping at Walmart, she appeared to be a perfectly respectable (not always the case at the store) young lady . I wasn't sure what the correct pronoun or politically correct phrase to use so used "Miss" My only other option would be to use "ma'am" but that seemed to be inappropriate for a young lady I meant no disrespect

When does it feel normal when it’s been years away?

I did t think you asked me to go away. I just thought you thought I was nothing but an annoying troll. My faith understanding is a rusty pile of pieces that once held together more that those around me hold to, left abandoned in early parenthood and a mixed family, under deep review in case maybe it can hold something it once touched. Thank you for putting all this together for me. I will surely review it.

Here's a link to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the section on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation Here's a link to the Catechism, paragraphs 14-20-1426, which also deal with Penance and Reconciliation. https://www.catholiccrossreference.online/catechism/#!/search/1420-1426 Here's a link to a 20-minute video "The Catechism in a Year - Day 195: Penance and Reconciliation" taught by Father Mike Schmitz. He discusses paragraphs 1420-1426. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1yAPFE0Z4o - I think you'll have to copy and paste the URL because I just got a message saying the link couldn't be embedded. See also others 'days' in Fr. Schmitz's catechism in a year, especially 'days' 197 to 201. Here's the link to the playlist. Hope this helps.

This board is for debate. The Sacrament of Penance is non-debatable - the theology of it has been done to a fine fare-thee-well. It's also one of the standard warhorses that all anti-Catholics drag out when they want to denigrate the Church, along with Mary, and the saints, and priestly celibacy, and the papacy, and... and... and... And I don't know enough about your faith understanding to prove you wrong. I didn't ask you to go away or even suggest it. What I said (scroll up just a little) was "Just stop."

My threads reflect where I am at, not malace. I am messy and maybe a little irreverent, but sincere when I ask things.

No, I want to be proved wrong for my own faith understanding. I am not trying to annoy Dust. I just asked the same thing on discord. I am sorry I bothered you. I can go away.

I don't know if this annoys Dust, but it does annoy me. Just stop.

G3.10 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen

Confession to a priest is just a feel-better way of soothing fears about failure and doesn’t have a real biblical basis, and is just a way for the church to enforce power over people. Please prove me wrong.

Is believing all the weird churchy stuff a prerequisite to joining again, not communing yet, but being part?

G3.9 Je vous salut Marie, pleine de grace, le Seigneur est avec vous, vous etes benie entres toutes les femmes et Jesus, le fruit de vos entrailles est beni. Sainte Marie, Mere de Dieu, priez pour nous pecheurs, maintenant et a l'heure de notre mort. Amen