Ora Pro Nobis

“Here’s to the friends who fear the confessional. Maybe you fear judgement. Maybe you were told it isn’t necessary. Maybe you have been wounded by a priest in confession. Maybe you feel your sin is too much. Maybe you just don’t understand.

I hear you. But here’s a reminder that going to confession is encountering the person of Christ, the one who loves you. He wants to draw near to you. He wants to redeem you. He wants to restore you. He wants to renew you. No sin is too grave for Him to forgive. No fault is too far to be reached. Run to the confessional. Allow Him to pour His ocean of mercy upon your darkest stains and wounds. Reconcile with the Lord.”

Took a bunch of candles from my church’s Christmas service because I am CRIMINAL

They were probably late teens to early 20s, given the time and the description and some Biblical passages.

They were not ancient old men with long beards and wrinkles at the Last Supper.

Probaly they were all underage except for Peter. In Exodus 30:14-15, Jewish law states that every male over the age of 20 is to pay a half-shekel as census offering when they visit the temple of God. In Matthew 17:24-27, Jesus instructs Peter to “fish up” this tax. Peter finds a shekel in the mouth of the fish he catches; enough to pay the tax for two men, himself and Jesus. You could conclude that the others were underage and did not need to pay.

In Matthew 11:25, Luke 10:21, and John 13:33, Jesus calls his disciples little children .

We learn that Peter had a wife when Jesus healed his mother-in-law. In those ancient times, a Jewish man receives a wife after the age of 18. Again, no other disciples’ wives are mentioned, so they are unmarried and probably under 18.

Jewish children began intensive study at young ages, but education for most concluded by age 15. For those bright (or wealthy) enough, higher education consisted of studying under a local rabbi. If they didn’t find a rabbi that accepted them as a student then they entered the workforce by their mid teens. The disciples, already working-men, must have been rejected  by other rabbis when Jesus hand-picked them for further education as his disciples. In light of this, a younger age is more probable than older. A youth would be in the mindset of continuing his education. A man over 30 leaving his trade to follow a rabbi would be counter-cultural , although not impossible.

The behavior of the disciples, as detailed in the gospels, fits well with the zealous nature and foolishness of adolescence. Picture a gang of teens instead of work-hardened men in the boat when the storm hit, fear-stricken and waking up Jesus for help. The forgetful and distracted nature of youth helps me understand how they could hear Jesus say he would die and come back to life, yet act as they did when these things happened. When we age them under twenty, we can understand Jesus’ patience with them, his low expectations of their behavior, and his teaching style.

This whole “Don’t be a Karen thing” has gotten annoying, to the point where I’m overhearing people being shamed because they dared to ask for what they paid for and that’s “being a Karen.”

If your food is wrong and you ask politely for your correct order that is not being a Karen.

If you don’t like the color on your nails after your nail tech does one finger and you ask politely for a different one that is not being a Karen.

If you order something online and it’s damaged and you politely ask customer service for a refund that is not being a Karen.

If you hire a contractor and he did bad work so you ask him politely to fix it that’s not being a Karen.

Like what is it with people thinking that the only way to be a good customer is to just smile and accept anything? It’s not. If you paid for something then you deserve what you paid for, nothing more and nothing less.

"The Son of God became man for our salvation but only in Mary and through Mary."