#bystanders

What’ll it be? What’ll you have?

It doesn’t matter how you ask it. The answer to the bartender’s eternal question? It has consequences.

It marks the designated driver. It shows wisdom in an unexpected place, revealing someone who knows their limits.

And it can separate a night you’ll want to remember, from one you’ll always regret.

Today’s Gospel is the parable of the sower. Well, really just the last part of it. Where Jesus tells us what the good soil represents, what the rocky soil represents, etc.

This one shows up a lot in the readings. So we get to hear this one a lot in church.

But whether it’s the explanation by Jesus that we get today, the short version we hear at Mass during the week, or the long version we hear on Sundays. There’s something missing from every version of this parable.

Bystanders.

The truth of the parable of the sower is that in this life, there are no bystanders.

There is no safe place to stand out of the way. No matter how much we’d rather not get involved, we already are.

We’re stuck. We have a choice to make. We don’t just get to pick which type of soil we’re going to be.

We have to pick which type of soil we’re going to be.

And just like the bartender’s eternal question, our answer to that question has consequences. Eternal consequences.

So what’ll it be?

Phoenix police rescued a toddler, who’d been taken from her home in the middle of the night, after bystanders saw an Amber Alert and reported seeing the missing girl, authorities said. Kehlani Rogers, 3, had last been seen by her parents late Friday night before they reported missing from her home in Avondale on Saturday morning, prompting local authorities to issue an Amber Alert, officials…

🎬 Title: The Bystanders Story: Dive into an eccentric comedy that explores the lives of the Bystanders—immortal beings who remain unseen as they observe and sometimes meddle in the lives of humans. ⭐ Rating: 0 (0 votes) 📅 Release date: October 16, 2023 ⏱️ Runtime: 1 hour and 38 minutes 🎭 Genres: Comedy, Fantasy 🎬 Director: Gabriel Foster Prior ✍️ Writer: Gabriel Foster Prior 👥 Cast: Seann Walsh…

I can remember the day this fully clicked. I was in 8th grade and had been bullied for most of my middle school years. There was one event where I got publicly bullied in front of classmates (no teachers) and not one of them stepped forward.

Thinking you’re alone and knowing you’re alone are two different things. I had went from thinking I might be alone to knowing in that singular moment. Seeing them look away or look nervous during the scene, it made me feel cold inside.