The Eastern Rites have stories we need to hear in the West.

One of the things I love about Mother Natalia's weekly presentations is the unique spin she puts on very familiar Biblical passages. We have been exposed to these passages so often, and heard homily after homily on them that we often grow numb to the notion that there may be alternate ways to look at these passages that further illuminate truths about the human condition as it relates to God. Thank you, Mother Natalia, for shedding new light on well known Biblical stories, whose meaning we often take for granted.

Please don't stop making these, Mother Natalia, you have much wisdom to share :)

That tradition about “potentially” Mark was beautiful. I really like that story. I know it’s partly speculative… but it feels like it has an air of truth. 😊

I remember reading a story about Jesus and the good thief meeting as children when I was little… can’t wait to watch to see if that’s it!

Raymond Arroyo wrote a children’s picture book about this legend. it is called “the thief that stole heaven”. That is, if this is what you’re talking about

It's my understanding that Dismas was the first Saint. As a Ruthenian who grew up in a Melkite church I have been taught this tradition my whole life. Thanks for sharing it!

Yes, Mark is not only the Author of this Gospel but the Richman himself. Just as John's Gospel who reflected his own as being loved from Amongst the 12. And yeah, that anonymous young man in the night of betrayal, was no other than the author of the Gospel himself who for the last moment sacrificed to offer the only thing (linen) that is left of him after giving up everything (his wealth) except the fine linen, but now he gave up, even his last fancy to offer it to the Sorrowful Passion of his LORD.

This is so beautiful! And even if the story itself is not necessarily historical, it's a historical tradition - midrash is the Jewish exegesis of scripture, and often includes additional "extra-scriptural" stories about the events that *are* contained in Scripture, that help interpret the text and understand it better. Stories like these that Mthr. Natalia has so graciously told us today, and stories like Veronica wiping the face of Christ in the Stations of the Cross, and other stories of this nature are, in my opinion, a beautiful continuation of the midrash tradition but in an authentically Catholic way. These stories teach us how to love Christ more and how to be more Christlike. He is risen, let us rejoice!

These stories are so beautiful. It would be such a wonderful surprise if one day Jesus reveals the hidden parts of his life. Thanks for sharing, Mother Nathalia

I love you Jesus! I’m so sorry for what I’ve done and how I’ve lived. I hate my own wretchedness and I hope that you will forgive me for the evil that I’ve done.

Thank you Mother, for that very beautiful interpretation of the Rich Young Man being John Mark and loosing ALL his posessions fleeing from Gethsamane and the Hopeful Dismas story.

Thank you for sharing this profoundly inspirational story of St. Mark and the Good Thief! It's too beautiful not to be true!

Thank you for sharing. The story of the rich young man has a place in my heart and this interpretation is a blessing. I've also always wondered about that verse about the young man who ran away without his linen cloth. ❤ We belong to each other and are meant to lift up one another.

It is not enough to be loved. I often mistake platonic for romantic and overplay my hand to those who only want to be my friend... pray for me.

Thank you Mother Natalia, please pray for me to shed my sins. I greatly look forward to your videos please continue. Love from Ireland.

Hi Mother Natalia, thank you for another wonderful video. If anyone has any doubts regarding confession, this is the one to watch. God bless from Derry Ireland

Blessed Catherine Emmerich saw in vision what is somewhat related in this story, it is in her book about the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Emmerich describes Dismas was the child of the Thief described in this story and he was cured from a disease when summerged in the water with which our blessed Mother had bathed baby Jesus.

St Dismas is my patron Saint but I have never heard this story. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you, Mother! Your videos have all touched my heart and provoked me to ponder God’s Word more deeply. Praise God! There is always more! I’m so glad you’ve joined Pints with Aquinas. You are a treasure ❤

I recall a tradition that St. Dismus, the Good & Wise Thief, first encountered Christ either when the Holy Family fled to Egypt or on the return home. He and his band of robbers were going to jump the Holy Family. . .mind you they had some treasures from the Magi. . .but he hesitated and called off the sting. It has similar storylines to this beautiful story.

I like to imagine Joseph as really strong and tough rather than an old man

This was so beautiful. Thank you.

I remember reading (?Anne Catherine Emmerich) said that Dismas was a baby when Jesus was an infant. Dismas’ mother asked Mary to let her use Jesus’ bath water to heal her son.

Every one of these is a blessing. Thank you, Mother Natalia.

Oh Mother I love these stories!!! I had heard about St Mark but not Dysmas. I pray that it's true and even if it isn't, I can't wait to him God willing, when I get to heaven and find out his story. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!

Loved this completely! ❤️💙

I needed to hear this today, thank you.

Thank you for reaching out to those who think they're too far gone!

Needed this, sister!❤️

St Mark, the first streaker

honestly, what a beautiful video

For the Sake of His Sorrowful Passion please have Divine Mercy on Us All ☝️🙏 Viva Cristo Rey

Another fire episode from Mother Natalia! 🙏🏻👏🏻 keep em coming sister!!

Thank you for sharing these stories! They are, like you, such a gift! ❤

Wonderful stories! Thank you!

Beautiful teachings! Preach it sista!

Thank you mother, God bless you and continue to use you for his glory. A like is not enough for these beautiful stories ❤

Beautiful. Love these weekly videos

Love these videos! I always look forward to the prayer at the end.

Thank you, Mother Natalia. Thank you so much.

Very insightful!

It is never too late - that is, why St. Dismas, although we know very little of him, is one of my favourite Saints

thank you for your wisdom, mother.

i love this!

Thank you so much

Great lesson.

Thank you so much Mother. We never hear too much about Saint Dismas . After Christ laid down his life be became boundless; In the tomb with the body and in hell with the soul, / in paradise with the thief / and on the throne with the Father and the Spirit,/// wast Thou, O boundless Christ, filling all things.

This is interesting! I will explore it further!

13:50 As said, that name is where I cannot continue joining with your prayer.

Blessed Catherine Anne Emerich had a vision of this story also

11:41 If you recall that St. Dismas actually started out to mock Our Lord, I think he may have recognised the Theotokos first. And only _then_ turned around once again to God, and recalled that boy.

Thanks Mother! Luvu!

Thank you

Christ's love, grace, and mercy really shines through in this contemplative message. Thank you!

Bl Anne Catherine Emmerich also tells of this story of the Good thief. I don't know all the details well, so I'm not certain if all of them match exactly, but I know that she attaches the early parts of his life, the Holy Family's time in Egypt!

Just wanted to confirm as a Coptic Orthodox, while I didn’t learn about St. Mark being the rich man, I did learn from my church that he was the naked man with the linen.

I think i know this one. Very interesting.

The gaze of love- We need to be depositories of Love to ALL- the light of the world- our world is hungry for our Lords Love and Mercy

Sorry Thursday... So cute ❤

I remember a story of the good and bad thief meeting the holy family. The good thief was allowed to hold the baby Jesus

I saw this story in little angel reader based story

Only Saint Joseph can create simple wooden statues/sculptures, to symbolize poverty and humility. And so believers will then make them in simple stone and marble.

St. Dismas story was covered by Raymond Arroyo in his Book. Check that out.

Amém 😊

❤

Source? I heard it somewhere and I liked it.

Sister Agreda.

It’s beautiful to have a feminine perspective

There is something about this story (of the good thief) that actually seems to make sense! Not sure why but it 'feels' right...

"...Mary slept little that night; she sat still on her couch most of the time. They left early in the morning, well supplied with provisions. The people of the place accompanied them a short way, and led them past many trenches on to the right road. When the robbers took leave of the Holy Family, the man said with deep emotion: “Remember us wherever you go.” At these words I suddenly saw a picture of the Crucifixion, and saw the Good Thief saying to Jesus, “Remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom,” and recognized in him the boy who had been healed. The robber’s wife gave up this way of life after some time, and settled with other honest families at a later resting-place of the Holy Family, where a spring of water and a garden of balsam shrubs came into being." - Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich

I enjoyed that interpretation. However, i always thought Dismas serves as a reminder of '...the one who comes at the 11th hour' maybe the message is the same - 'even those who met God are still welcomed at the 11th hour.'?

Byzantine Nuns are awesome! 🙏❤️

Well, it does seem to be true that the writers of the gospels did sometime embed themselves in their own gospel accounts. Which if we are talking about the Gospel of Mark, this would be the second alleged occasion where the author Mark has embedded himself in the story as in Mark 14:51-52. On the other hand unless you are claiming a personal revelation, you might be changing the gospel, adding to the account of the gospel unnecessarily.

é lindo ser católico!

What the apocryphal story about the good thief illustrates is that sometimes ideas that have no historicity can convey moving and profound ideas to us better than actual history. While we must acknowledge that they are a fabrication, that in no way makes them less important in animating us to do what is right.

God's timing is perfect

Mother. I think that Simeon was blind when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to him and he was healed.

Byzantine Christianity is genuinely interesting to me!

I have read, based on historical evidence of the times, St John Mark would have been wearing only a linen cloth because he was an Essene, the Jews who implored God in prayer and asceticism and awaited the Virgin birth of the Messiah on Mt Carmel since the days of the prophet Elijah. Iirc the Essenes also were the only sect at the time holding to the spirit of the Law (I am probably butchering this part tbh), some sources also indicate the Last Supper was held on the Essene calendar.

I heard that the man that ran away naked was Lazarus

8:39 I have heard it with exactly one difference. He did not protect simply by giving orders, but by paying 30 coins of silver. The exact same coins that Judas received, Dismas had given to buy the Holy Family safe passage. I also don't recall _"if God were to take upon __8:03__ himself the Flesh of man he would not be __8:06__ more beautiful than this"_ but I definitely can see a connexion between Mary on the right side of the Cross and the promise God's Mother had made to Dismas. If the story is in general terms true, Our Lady told Our Lord this, more than once, and under the Cross said "this is the man" ... She would have recognised him even with the aging, Our Lord in natural human memory would hardly have much of a glimpse of the event, unless it were precisely because of retelling.

A collection of coptic texts has the robbery taking place at a mountain probably west of Meir, after they have been in Basatah, Tell al Bastah. They robbed and stripped Joseph, Mary, Jesus, Salome and left them. But when the Egyptian of the two brigandd saw the Theotokos cry and a radiance on their faces he regret what he has done and returned his share of the loot. And yeah, in this version too he rejoined his companion and continued a life of crime. "And these two brigands whom thou seest , one will be crucified on my right hand and the other on my left hand...and the brigand who hath returned our garments will confess Me and believe in Me on the cross and he will be the first to enter paradise even before Adam and all his descendants"

If you take away anything. Look at this woman’s face and listen here @10:53.

@pintswithaquinas Mother Natalia, please forgive my selfishness. This question has nothing to do with your topic, which is beautiful, by the way. It will be kind of long. I was in mass (N.O.) on Sunday and realized the Precious Blood had been spilled on the floor. Another parishner noticed it as well. There is an entire story to this I would love to tell you if given the chance, but... the other parishner who noticed went and knelt beside our Lord. Meanwhile, a third parishner went and got some purification cloths and covered what she could see. Someone got the attention of our deacon and he and our priest made the decision to go to the aid of our Lord after mass. I remained kneeling through the mass. I then went to the woman kneeling and told her thank you for remaining beside our Lord and we both pretty much broke down. You can imagine what was happening to our Lord until he was taken care of. The deacon came over to 'clean it up' and seemed very irritated. I feel like he insinuated that we had made a bigger deal than what was necessary. My question is this: at what point do we become fanatics? Did I do something wrong? Did the parishner who knelt beside our Lord?

Jesus have mercy on me Amen 💜✝️💜💙✝️💙🤍✝️🤍

Do you think Dismas was in his 50 plus years????? Not likely....

michel-ange 33 dents jésus... 👽💨

In the book "The Poem of Man God" also known as "The Gospels as revealed to me" the author Mystic Maria Valtorta is shown by Jesus His crucifixion and the following is taken from them ...." But the robber on the left hand side continues to insult from his cross. He seems to have summarised all the curses of the other people and he repeats them all, and ends by saying: «Save Yourself and save us, if You want people to believe You. You the Christ? You are mad! The world belongs to crafty people, and God does not exist. I do. That is true and everything is permitted to me. God?... Nonsense! Invented to keep us quiet. Long live our egos! Man's ego alone is king and god!» The other robber, who is on the right hand side with Mary almost near his feet, and looks at Her almost more than he looks at Jesus, and for some moments has been weeping murmuring: «My mother», says: «Be silent. Do you not fear God even now that you suffer this pain? Why do you insult Him Who is good? And His torture is even greater than ours. And He has done nothing wrong.» But the robber continues to curse. The Face already has the aspect we see in photographs of the Holy Shroud, with the nose diverged and swollen on one side; and the likeness is increased by the fact that the right eye is almost closed, owing to a swelling on this side. The mouth, instead is open, with the wound on the upper lip by now turned into a crust. His thirst, caused by the loss of blood, by the fever and by the sun, must be burning, so much so that He, with automatic movements, drinks the drops of His perspiration and His tears, as well as those of blood, that run down from His forehead to His moustache, and He wets His tongue with them... The crown of thorns prevents Him from leaning against the trunk of the cross to help the suspension on His arms and lighten the weight on His feet. His kidneys and all His spine are curved outwards, detached from the cross from His pelvis upwards, owing to force of inertia that makes a body, suspended like His, hang forward. 12 The Judaeans, driven beyond the open space, do not stop insulting, and the unrepentant robber echoes their insults. The other one, who now looks at the Mother with deeper and deeper compassion, and weeps, answers him back sharply, when he hears that She also is included in the insult. «Be silent. Remember that you were born of a woman. And consider that our mothers have wept because of their sons. And they were tears of shame... because we are criminals. Our mothers are dead... I would like to ask mine to forgive me... But shall I be able? She was a holy woman... I killed her with the sorrow I gave her... I am a sinner... Who will forgive me? Mother, in the name of Your dying Son, pray for me.» The Mother for a moment raises Her tortured face and looks at him, the poor wretch who through the remembrance of his mother and the contemplation of the Mother moves towards repentance, and She seems to caress him with Her kind gentle eyes. Disma weeps louder, which raises even more the mockery of the crowd and of his companion. The former shout: «Very well. Take Her as your mother. So She will have two criminal sons!» The latter aggravates the situation saying: «She loves you because you are a smaller copy of Her darling.» 13 Jesus speaks for the first time: «Father, forgive them because they do not know what they are doing!» This prayer overcomes all fear in Disma. He dares to look at the Christ and says: «Lord, remember me when You are in Your Kingdom. It is just that I should suffer. But give me mercy and peace hereafter. I heard You speak once and I foolishly rejected Your word. I now repent. And I repent of my sins before You, the Son of the Most High. I believe that You come from God. I believe in Your power. I believe in Your mercy. Christ, forgive me in the name of Your Mother and of Your Most Holy Father.» Jesus turns round and looks at him with deep compassion, and He smiles a still beautiful smile with His poor tortured lips. He says: «I tell you: today you will be with Me in Paradise.» The repentant robber calms down, and as he no longer remembers the prayers he learned when a child, he repeats as an ejaculation: «Jesus Nazarene, king of the Jews, have mercy on me; Jesus Nazarene, king of the Jews, I hope in You; Jesus Nazarene, king of the Jesus, I believe in Your Divinity.» The other robber continues cursing."

Nope. This is just shalow playing around. Dangerous. Unfolow.