https://open.substack.com/pub/donavonlriley/p/it-is-upon-me-a-lenten-meditation?r=3ly85t&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post-publish
In that old world, the self was not an island but a wide field, open to the wind and the Word. And so, what came upon a person—sorrow, joy, fear—was not owned, but witnessed. Not claimed, but endured.
Words are never just words. In Scripture, they build worlds. They bless. They curse. They bind and they loose. And in the same way, the words we speak about ourselves can either open us to healing or shut us up in sorrow.
To say, “I am despair,” is to cast a kind of spell. A self-binding. A spoken snare. But to say, “This despair is on me,” is to leave the door open for grace. For change. For Christ...
In that old world, the self was not an island but a wide field, open to the wind and the Word. And so, what came upon a person—sorrow, joy, fear—was not owned, but witnessed. Not claimed, but endured.
Words are never just words. In Scripture, they build worlds. They bless. They curse. They bind and they loose. And in the same way, the words we speak about ourselves can either open us to healing or shut us up in sorrow.
To say, “I am despair,” is to cast a kind of spell. A self-binding. A spoken snare. But to say, “This despair is on me,” is to leave the door open for grace. For change. For Christ...
Substack
“It Is Upon Me” — A Lenten Meditation
In the old tongue, they didn’t say, “I am anxious.”
A new episode is available now!
Podcast Link: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/donavon-riley/episodes/0228-Midweek-Debrief—It-Is-Upon-Me-e31e9cf
…when we say, “I am depressed,” we start to believe the sorrow is the whole of us. That it’s etched into the skin, like a birthmark. That it’s our name now. But when we say, “The sorrow is on me,” we leave room. Room for the truth that this thing might lift. That it might pass. That we are more than what presses us down.
There’s a similar pattern in Scots Gaelic, in older English, in Hiberno-English still found in country places. You’ll hear it in the way people used to talk:
“The fear came over me.”
“A sadness was upon her.”
Those turns of phrase weren’t just poetic, they reflected a whole way of understanding the soul. That feelings are visitations. Weather fronts. Shadows that fall, and then pass. Spirits, maybe, fleeting, but strong.
In that old world, the self was not an island but a wide field, open to the wind and the Word. And so, what came upon a person—sorrow, joy, fear—was not owned, but witnessed. Not claimed, but endured.
Podcast Link: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/donavon-riley/episodes/0228-Midweek-Debrief—It-Is-Upon-Me-e31e9cf
…when we say, “I am depressed,” we start to believe the sorrow is the whole of us. That it’s etched into the skin, like a birthmark. That it’s our name now. But when we say, “The sorrow is on me,” we leave room. Room for the truth that this thing might lift. That it might pass. That we are more than what presses us down.
There’s a similar pattern in Scots Gaelic, in older English, in Hiberno-English still found in country places. You’ll hear it in the way people used to talk:
“The fear came over me.”
“A sadness was upon her.”
Those turns of phrase weren’t just poetic, they reflected a whole way of understanding the soul. That feelings are visitations. Weather fronts. Shadows that fall, and then pass. Spirits, maybe, fleeting, but strong.
In that old world, the self was not an island but a wide field, open to the wind and the Word. And so, what came upon a person—sorrow, joy, fear—was not owned, but witnessed. Not claimed, but endured.
Spotify for Creators
0228: Midweek Debrief - It Is Upon Me by The Warrior Priest Podcast
...when we say, “I am depressed,” we start to believe the sorrow is the whole of us. That it's etched into the skin, like a birthmark. That it's our name now. But when we say, “The sorrow is on me,” we leave room. Room for the truth that this thing might…
Forwarded from Election Wizard
Happy Lazarus Saturday!
“By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your Passion, You confirmed the universal resurrection, O Christ God!”
“We cry out to You, O Vanquisher of Death,
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!”
“By raising Lazarus from the dead before Your Passion, You confirmed the universal resurrection, O Christ God!”
“We cry out to You, O Vanquisher of Death,
Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord!”
Forwarded from Insider Paper
JUST IN - A declassified document posted to the CIA’s website is raising eyebrows with claims of an alleged UFO attack on Soviet forces, Fox News reports
@insiderpaper
@insiderpaper
https://open.substack.com/pub/donavonlriley/p/do-not-leave-the-feast?r=3ly85t&utm_medium=ios
"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." —Revelation 19:9
When the Bridegroom comes bearing life, do not let the world draw you away. Stay, and be fed by the mystery that heals and holds. —D.
"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." —Revelation 19:9
When the Bridegroom comes bearing life, do not let the world draw you away. Stay, and be fed by the mystery that heals and holds. —D.
Substack
Do Not Leave the Feast
"Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." —Revelation 19:9
https://open.substack.com/pub/donavonlriley/p/the-moment-mercy-leaps?r=3ly85t&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post-publish
"The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." —Psalm 145:18
The enemy trembles when sinners cry for mercy, because in that very breath, grace rushes in—and he will do anything to pull you away before it arrives. —D.
"The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." —Psalm 145:18
The enemy trembles when sinners cry for mercy, because in that very breath, grace rushes in—and he will do anything to pull you away before it arrives. —D.
Substack
The Moment Mercy Leaps
"The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth." —Psalm 145:18
https://open.substack.com/pub/donavonlriley/p/christ-the-torai?r=3ly85t&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=post-publish
Last night I learned a wonderful word in Irish—Tóraí. It sent me off, chasing meanings through my mind’s thickets and backroads, until I found myself standing before Jesus. So I wrote this… —D.
Last night I learned a wonderful word in Irish—Tóraí. It sent me off, chasing meanings through my mind’s thickets and backroads, until I found myself standing before Jesus. So I wrote this… —D.
Substack
Christ the Tóraí
Last night I learned a wonderful word in Irish—Tóraí.
Nikolai Berdyaev: "Man’s hatred for man and for a whole class of men is sinful and deserving of blame, but we must not forget that this hatred was the psychological effect of the arrogance and contempt which the governing classes, noble and bourgeois, showed for the working people. "
I've known a lot of so-called "Marxists" over the course of my academic career. The one trait they all hold in common is absolute contempt for the working-class. —Michael Martin
I've known a lot of so-called "Marxists" over the course of my academic career. The one trait they all hold in common is absolute contempt for the working-class. —Michael Martin
https://open.substack.com/pub/donavonlriley/p/waking-from-the-dream?r=3ly85t&utm_medium=ios
"While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." —Romans 5:6
The world’s promises are a dream that never delivers. Only Christ can break the spell and call us back to life. —D.
"While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." —Romans 5:6
The world’s promises are a dream that never delivers. Only Christ can break the spell and call us back to life. —D.
Substack
Waking from the Dream
"While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly." —Romans 5:6
"The place of the worst barbarism is that modern forest that makes use of us, this forest of chimneys and bayonets, machines and weapons, of strange inanimate beasts that feed on human flesh."
~ Bordiga
~ Bordiga
Christianity without tears—that’s what soma is." — Aldous Huxley