(i'm French)

The strange and fascinating world of early 20th-century French Catholic writers.

A while back, I started working on a second blog dedicated to French Catholic writers from the early 20th century, many of whom all knew each other in one way or another.

I’m lucky enough to own a large collection of books published during that era, including several remarkable works that were printed only once in a few dozen copies.

I also have plenty of books of correspondence (the WhatsApp of the early 20th century).

Much of what I plan to publish is extremely scarce online or IRL.

My goal is to paint a clear portrait of it all, including the relationships and the writings.

If you own rare texts from that period or simply want to get in touch, feel free:

[email protected]

See ya later, alligators.

Hey guys, I am in THE MOST difficult spot and I have no where else to turn right now, here’s the story:

I attended New Life Church back in Colorado Springs, I slipped up and ONLY said something once in a group setting (I’m NOT saying I did the right thing). I just merely said one statement about college and the trades NO CUSSING, NO YELLING, etc. (I say this because keep this in the back of your mind for what I am about to share). NOBODY asked me to apologize what they did next made my life SO hard. Then a girl SCREAMED at me for saying that and I said, “Please be patient with me, I have Asperger’s Syndrome.” She rudely states, “Asperger’s Syndrome doesn’t excuse you!” So I insulted her back (again not saying this was the right thing to do). I left the group after that. Then the group leader who’s a guy defended HER and he SCREAMS AND YELLS, “ASPERGER’S SYNDROME DOESN’T EXCUSE YOU! YOU I DON’T NEED TO APOLOGIZE (with a smirk 😏 on his face), I EXPECT ONLY YOU TO BE PERFECT IN THE GROUP AND NO ONE ELSE! YOU WERE BEING SELISH AND IMMORAL!” This was a CONTINUOUS thing and it happened at the Church ⛪️, he did NOT say it just once, it was THE DEEPEST of wounds. I was patient with this man 🧍‍♂️, I tried explaining to him what I meant by this and MY side of the story but he just says, “I don’t NEED to apologize with a smirk 😏 on his face.” He also stated, “I don’t NEED to hear your side of the story!”

Please note: this was a CONTINUOUS pattern of behavior from this man, he would NOT leave me alone and apologize. I went to Church ⛪️ authority told THEM all that had happened, THEY did nothing, I went to my parents about taking this man to the police 👮‍♀️ I told them that THIS was discrimination. My parents and EVERYONE around me said, “That’s NOT discrimination! That’s FREE SPEECH!” And I told them that THIS WAS discrimination. I wanted to go to the police 👮 about this but the Pastor said, “No! Don’t go to the Police 👮, I’ll talk to him.” Then he proceeded to tell me in an email to “forgive” the man who did those things to me. It turned out he NEVER confronted the guy and the guy lied 🤥 and said, “I NEVER said any of those things! I just said the remark in the context of what she just said!”

My patience was at its breaking point, so I finally have had enough and vandalized the man’s property in anger 😡. I shattered his windshield and spray painted the side of his car and house. EVERYONE was in shock 😳that I did that, Police 👮‍♀️ took HIS side EVEN THOUGH he admitted to discriminating against me. They talked to him and decided to charge me. But court came and took MY side through The Neighborhood Justice Center.

In court: So he was REALLY upset 😢 and started crying 😭 in court, the mediator told him, “You KNEW full well of what you were doing, you yelled insults about HIS protected class, he gave you PLENTY of chances to stop 🛑, apologize and make it right, but YOU chose to do wrong. Why didn’t you just stop 🛑? Why didn’t you just apologize?” Then the guy said, “No, an apology wouldn’t have worked in that situation, because HE was being off topic and that means ‘stop!’” He even told me, “You’re SUPPOSED to forgive me and let it go no matter what I say or do!” But court didn’t look at it like that, THEY told him that I did NOT do anything to deserve THAT level of behavior. They ALSO noted that the Pastor, My Parents, etc. ALL knew what to do but decided NOT to do the right thing and the justice system ruled in MY favor saying that the guy who yelled those insults at me were NOT JUSTIFIED by any means and that someone SHOULD HAVE stepped up and told me, “Yes, get the police 👮 involved.” THEN I yelled ALL of those insults BACK at him and ONLY with a slur and then 😏 smirked on my face in the same matter. He told me “This is SO wrong on all levels! You’re breaking the law right now against me! Apologize!”Then I said, “Now PUT YOUR FEET 👣 IN MY SHOES and think about how you made me feel with what you said to me.”

He 👀 looked at me and said, “I can’t!” Then I told him, “Then FORGET me apologizing to you!” Then I said, “I am not SUPER sorry for damaging your property, just only a LITTLE sorry.” Then he looks at me with a 😳 shocked face, “You damaged my property over that?!?” Then I said, “You discriminated against my disability over that?!?”

So you see, NO ONE held this man accountable for his actions EVERYONE was liberal on him, and please note, like I said above, I TRIED apologizing to him. I had been apologizing to this man spiritually for what I had done for years. But this man’s sin was NOT a papercut, it had infected me SO deep to the point where just these past couple of weeks, I went to the Lord about it, The Lord opened my eyes 👀 to fairness and scriptures on fairness. I told God, “Well Lord, I tried, this man is saying I OWE him an apology but HE WILL NEVER apologize himself for HIS selfish behavior and actions. So I think and believe it’s fair I NOT apologize to this man for MY actions anymore.” I further told the Lord, “Let the Angels write this down Lord, I’m ok with with this. All I’m asking is that you see it from MY perspective BEFORE you condemn me and judge 🧑‍⚖️ me accordingly. I don’t NEED to apologize to this man anymore, this man has TORMENTED me for being disabled. He NEVER once considered how I felt about the situation and NEVER apologized.” So something in between God and I is I am asking about my place in Heaven, I keep hearing words in the back of my mind such as “Safety, Protection, Forgiveness” when I ask him.

Now my question is this, is it fair to NOT apologize to someone like this after I gave him SEVERAL chances to apologize for what he had done? The Justice System DID say I reacted out of provocation and NOT pure evil or pre meditation.

Recently I stumbled across this Wikipedia article on Jewish Deicide. It seems to be the doctrine of a collective guilt/charge on what I take to be rabbinic Jews for the death of Jesus.A piece of Scripture that is often used to support it is Matthew 27:25 where the Jewish crucifixion mob at Jesus trial say that the blood of Jesus should be on them and their children.

Other references include the likes of Acts 13:27 and 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15

I have researched it, but it appears Google is filled with either Jewish or Zionist sources complaining about this doctrine and labelling it as antisemetic. On the linked wikipedia article, it even criticises the legitimacy of the New Testament itself as an attempt to attack the idea.

Now, first off, and as a moderator of this community, calling for the harm of Jewish people is not tolerable nor Christian, nor by the rules of this site. Personally, if I were to take this doctrine as true, I would see it as a display/magnification of God's Love and Grace, as Jews are sinners like everyone else and can be forgiven, despite, for the sake of argument, bearing such a charge. Since we are both sinners, made in the image of God, etc, etc, it won't be acceptable at all to try and persecute Jews due to this doctrine.

If this doctrine were true, it doesn't justify the persecution of Jews.

However, as I said, the articles criticising the idea mainly seem to cite the antisemetism that people used this doctrine to justify. I don't think this is correct theological exegesis, as we should be determining our theology from The Bible foremost, with perhaps some Christian writings as well if they lay it out clearly. Essentially, I don't think I can reject this doctrine based on eisegesis.

Also, my mind is not made up on this doctrine, that's why I'm asking here.

I'll say it again, I will punish any displays of hatred towards Jewish people. It has no place in this community. But whether or not they bear the weight of this charge is strictly a theological matter. It doesn't make them any less eligible to God's Grace, who would forgive them even if they were collectively guilty of this (which is powerful). Nor does it invalidate the fact that they are made in the image of God and should be loved and protected like every other human.

I also think there's an aspect that we're all guilty of killing Jesus. So that's also worth throwing in there.

Also, please only really answer this post if you want to have a somewhat productive conversation about this.

Antichrist is at it again!

Worth noting that it's not completely indisputable (although hasn't been disproven) that the purported blood is in fact human blood by all studies (although many studies do support it), but still worth a great consideration

Happy and blessed Easter everybody. <3

For various reasons, I just went to a Protestant pseudo-“Ash Wednesday” service.

At communion I was passed white grape juice. I know a lot of denominations do grape juice instead of wine, but shouldn’t it at least be red?

They didn’t call it the body or the blood either, which I thought was odd.

Apparently Mormons will do whatever bread is available and water.

hi

I saw someone recommend this techno lent idea a few years ago that I really liked: **give up Color for lent. **

You might not be able to completely give up screens or the Internet. You might not even be able to give up social media. But one thing you can probably give up is Color. All mainstream OSes have a "grayscale" option. It's typically for color blind people and found under your OS's accessibility settings. But if you turn it on, you'll find that your brain gets a far lower dopamine hit when looking at a grayscale screen than a full bright color screen. Nevertheless, the features you actually need will still mostly work just fine.

Worth noting anyone stumbling in here who's non-christian: My views on this topic have little to do with my political views. I believe in religious freedom for the secular world, which includes maintaining the legal recognition of same sex marriage as legalised in the United Kingdom in 2020 by a democratically elected government, but I obviously want the Church to adhere to Biblical teachings and not kowtow to the secular world.

Anyone here who is deceived by common lies that homosexuality is not a sin (and sin, as defined in Christianity, going against God as found in The Bible):

Yes, Paul was talking about homosexuality

And yes, it was about consensual activity

Romans 1:27

and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

There is nothing in the greek that indicates this had anything to do with paedastry or child abuse either.

Eg - what is required to be saved?

Is it solely faith - saying something like the Sinner’s Prayer and “giving your heart to Jesus”? Or do works/sacraments matter? Or is there universal reconciliation?

What about those who die in ignorance of Jesus and don’t get the opportunity?

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/54852888

They were both 37 years old, murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis, less than three weeks apart. On January 7, Renee Good was sitting in her car when she was shot three times, including once in the head. On January 24, Alex Pretti was filming federal agents with his cell phone, exercising his First Amendment right to protest their presence peacefully. They shoved him to the ground and several of them beat him. An agent removed a handgun from Alex’s waistband, which he carried legally, and a few seconds after disarming him, 10 shots were fired in five seconds into his prone body on the ground.

Senior administration officials quickly labeled both Renee and Alex “domestic terrorists,” claiming that federal agents were defending their lives. Go watch the videos online. Alex never drew his weapon. Renee was unarmed, moving her vehicle very slowly. Once shot, agents did not attempt to stop their bleeding or resuscitate them. Administration officials swiftly declared the shootings “justified,” without even investigating them; didn’t start investigating until public outcry proved too much. You can find plenty of videos online of peaceful protesters being shoved to the ground or beaten by a mob of agents or pepper-sprayed in the face.

There’s a pattern building here of arbitrary and gratuitous violence, of lies and cover-ups.

“Equal under the law” apparently no longer applies to anyone anymore; neither does the idea that no one is above the law. Is this who we’ve become? Where will it lead? Are we being groomed for much worse to come, being desensitized into a new normal, like the proverbial frog being boiled in water?

For those who will accuse me later of preaching a “political” sermon, a “partisan” sermon, this transcends politics. Our federal government, by sanctioning unwarranted lethal force, has made this a matter of faith, of basic morality and decency. This goes well beyond politics. We worship Jesus Christ, an innocent man arrested, beaten, and then put to death by the Roman state on false charges just because it wanted to, because it could, because killing him was more convenient.

Jesus was mocked too by those who tortured him, who took perverse pleasure in his suffering, arrogantly assuming they were untouchable. In their lifetimes, they probably assumed correctly. But I wonder how they fared before the great judgment seat of Christ, where all will answer for their sins.

It leaves us wondering what to do now, and what to do next? How can we possibly respond in a way that’s both effective and reflective of who we are as faithful followers of Jesus? Where do we even start? We start where we always start, with Scripture, and we’ll go to the Gospel first.

Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple, an important moment in their family’s life. Imagine their surprise when they were accosted without warning by two elderly prophets, Simeon and Anna, whose wisdom, gleaned from long faithful lives, gave them insight. They saw how special Jesus was and shared what they saw, in word and deed, with Mary and Joseph. The words of Anna aren’t recorded, just her joy. But we hear Simeon declaring, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be opposed.”

These dark words might feel inappropriate on such an auspicious occasion, but prophets influenced by the Holy Spirit tend to tell it like it is, and Simeon, even in his great joy, saw what was to be: the struggle, the sacrifice to be suffered by Jesus and his parents—“and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.” And indeed, Simeon’s prophecy proved true.

Many resisted Jesus’s message, especially those who had the most to lose, those obsessed with domination and control. To them, Jesus was a threat because they knew that their lies would not long survive the light of his liberating truth. His message of unconditional love was a menace, and they would go and did go to great lengths to smother what he brought to give, but they failed.

They tried Jesus falsely, humiliated him publicly, told lies to undermine him, and finally killed him, but he rose again on the third day, proving that the love of God always wins. Those who oppose the truth of love, who rely on lies and cruelty and brutality, strive to induce us to abandon our principles, and they do it slyly by contriving to make us hate instead of love.

We all know the temptation. We watch the videos and read the stories. Our outrage rises rightly at the injustice, and before we know it, the consuming fire of hatred surges in our hearts. We despise the people responsible, and maybe even fantasize about vengeance, which is precisely what the hateful in our world want most from us and for us. The hateful want us to hate so that we can be miserable and puny just like them. It’s also the only game they know how to play. Refusing to hate confuses and disorients the hateful.

We must stay disciplined in Christ’s unconditional love, disciplined in prayer for those who persecute us and others, disciplined in our desire for the repentance and redemption of the hateful and cruel and brutal, disciplined in our witness that there is a different way, a way of forgiveness and reconciliation given to us by Jesus, who died on a cross and rose again.

In that discipline, fueled by grace, we find strength, a strength that refuses to stay silent. Jesus didn’t stay quiet. He stayed clever, but never quiet, even though his life would have been a lot easier and safer and longer if he would have just shut up. Jesus always advocated for the Kingdom, and brought it to bear against the selfish, tyrannical kingdoms of this world. If we follow him faithfully, then we too need to act and speak out, however we can, when oppressive forces seek to crush the innocent, the weak, and the truth.

Just as the Psalmist first prayed to God millennia ago, we too prayed this morning, “Happy are those people whose strength in in you! Whose hearts are set on the pilgrim’s way. For the Lord God is both sun and shield; he will give grace and glory. No good thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk with integrity.” And integrity cannot be taken away, no matter how much force is brought to bear; integrity is only ever given away.

We can act and speak with Christian integrity, even as we now know that our government might malign, beat, and even kill us for nothing more than simply showing up and asking questions and speaking truth. We can act and speak because we know that Jesus is with us—not only in this sacred space, but in every time and place where we call upon him. And we know that he understands what we’re going through.

That’s part of the whole purpose of Incarnation, of “God with us.” Hebrews is quite clear that “because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested”; “He himself shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”

In Jesus, God walked the earth, in part to know how it feels to be human: to suffer and to be limited, frustrated, apprehensive, intimidated. That’s the quality of love God has for you and me and everyone. The cross was the pinnacle of sacrifice, yet the Incarnation involved a sacrifice too. Just being here with us entailed loss, and by being here with us, Jesus offered a model for how to show up and be present for others, how to resist temptation and evil, how to live faithfully even when it’s hard and scary.

If we fail to act and speak, then who will? It’s tempting to ignore it all and focus on day-to-day exigencies, tempting to be comforted by modest mollifying gestures, tempting to forget how power-hungry governments consistently throughout history have retreated in a crisis, only to surge back with even greater outrages once people are distracted by something else.

Our sole comfort and strength come through Christ. What the months and years to come might bring, no one knows, and things might get worse before they get better, but our hope will not waver, “because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested,” and Christ has proven through his cross and Resurrection that God’s love always wins. Amen.

How do you live in this world - filled with wars and chaos - with no hope of redemption or things getting better, and just thing "yep, this is all there is, life is good". As Christians, we have assurance, certainty and comfort in that Jesus is coming back to judge the world, destroy all the wicked and bring us to eternal life. Atheists don't have that. Even worse, some even prefer to insult this God. What's keeping me grounded in this life is the knowledge that God dictates when my life ends- not me.