To the little boy from Rosario 🇦🇷,
One who was once too quiet, too fragile, too weak, too small - with a body that betrayed him but with dreams strong enough to power through.
The little boy from Rosario who left home before he was ready, burdened with the hopes of millions before he was old enough to carry his own.
To that little boy, I write as tonight might be your final dance. 🇦🇷 🇪🇸
You conquered Europe, conquered every record that they said would never fall - to the world, you were an undisputed genius but everytime you put on the Argentine camiseta, he felt like a curse trailed you.
One final lost after another. What mattered to you the most, to bring joy to the cot that cradled you was constantly out of your reach.
Every defeat you suffered kept reminding us, that maybe, you're just as human as we are.
Every time you cried from the bench with swollen feet, we watched and are reminded, maybe you're just as human.
You retired and we thought your story was over - we could still make peace with the joy you've given us from club spectacle.
Like the Phoenix that you are, you rose from the ashes that was designed to bury you - you walked back into storms that was orchestrated to sink you.
My dear little boy from Rosario 🇦🇷,
you walked back to the pitch - fingers pointed to your grandmother who first believed, doubled the joy you've always brought us, fulfilled your lifelong dreams, made new records and broke your own records.
I'm not even Argentine but you've spurred me to permanently chant:
"Soy hincha de la Selección,
La aliento con el corazón
Ganamos la tercera con Lionel
Queremos ser campeones otra vez"
Tonight is not just another final, Muchacho. Tonight is not just about the hunt for another trophy, Lionel.
Tonight is about the compression of a 2-decade story line from 2006 to 2026.
All the tears, heartbreaks, all the doubts & how you repeatedly resurrected with no points left to prove.
We might not have existed in the times of Shakespeare, Alexander the Great, Michangelo, Plato, Isaac Newton - but it's been the absolute privilege of our lives to have existed while you did, the absolute honor of our lives to have been your audience.
Long after stadiums rot into the ground in silence, and goals get forgotten - we will always remember how you made us feel.
One day when we're all frail and rottening in our grandpa era, our grandchildren will feel electric surges just from touching us - and it will be difficult for us to explain that it was your gift to us 70 years back.
Maybe your last dance, maybe one more dance - but we're privileged to be dancing with you again, Mi Capitan.
🐐 🇦🇷
SOME THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT MARY MAGDALENE
1. Mary Magdalene was not the woman caught in the act of adultery neither was she a prostitute.
The Bible never says she was a prostitute nor identified her with the woman caught in the act of adultery in John 8:1-11.
2. Jesus cast seven demons out of her.
This is the first thing Scripture tells us about Mary Magdalene. (Cf. Luke 8:2; Mark 16:9).
3. Mary Magdalene was not the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet.
The sinful woman in Luke 7 is never named, and the Gospel immediately introduces Mary Magdalene in Luke 8 as a different person. (Cf. Luke 7:36-50; Luke 8:1-3).
4. Mary Magdalene was not the Mary of Bethany.
Mary of Bethany, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, is a different woman from Mary Magdalene. (Cf. John 11:1-2; 12:1-8).
5. She was one of Jesus’ faithful disciples.
She travelled with Jesus and helped support His ministry. (Luke 8:1-3).
6. She remained with Jesus at the Cross.
While many disciples fled, Mary Magdalene stayed near the Crucifixion. (Cf. Matthew 27:55-56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25).
7. She witnessed Jesus’ burial.
She was one of those who stayed with Jesus until He was buried. She knew exactly where Jesus was laid. (Cf. Matthew 27:61; Mark 15:47).
8. She was the first witness of the Resurrection.
She discovered the empty tomb and encountered the risen Christ. (Cf. John 20:1-18; Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-11).
9. She was sent by Jesus to announce the Resurrection to the Apostles.
For this reason, the Church has long called her the “Apostle to the Apostles” (Apostola Apostolorum). (Cf. John 20:17-18).
10. Mary Magdalene is honoured as a saint by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.
Her liturgical memorial is celebrated on 22 July, and in 2016 it was elevated by the Holy See to the rank of a Feast, highlighting her unique role as the first witness of the Resurrection.
Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch
I made a post about my son seeking consent even before hugging a girl, and one man with "Dr." to his name called him a moron. He read a story about a boy asking "Can I hug you?" before touching a girl, and his first instinct was to mock it as weakness or "liberal rubbish."
We need to pay attention to that reaction, because it tells us something important.
Anyone who is irritated by the idea of asking before touching is a person who has, at some point, benefited from not asking.
Men who champion "implied consent," the idea that a visit, a gift, a chat, or a silence somehow grants permission, are rarely confused about what consent means.
They understand it perfectly well. They are just hoping the girl in front of them does not.
It is strategy.
A man who mocks clear consent is often a man who has learned to profit from unclear consent. He needs the grey areas, he needs her confusion, her fear, her politeness, and even her silence, because those are the very things he intends to later call "agreement."
He is the type who will get irritated when a girl asks questions or sets boundaries, because boundaries interfere with his plan.
He will insist that certain actions, visiting him, accepting a gift, staying out late, already "mean something," so that whatever happens next can be blamed on her instead of him.
He will mock the idea of asking for consent as unnecessary or "overthinking," because a man with nothing to hide has no reason to resent a simple question.
He will grow impatient with a girl's hesitation, rather than respecting it, because her hesitation threatens his narrative.
He knows what he is doing.
A man who truly respects you will never be irritated by your need for clarity, instead, he will welcome it, because he has nothing to gain from your confusion.
The men who mock consent the loudest are very often the ones counting on someone never fully understanding it.
The ‘Resurrection of Christ’ tapestry in the Gallery of Tapestries at the Vatican Museum contains the same optical illusion as the Mona Lisa. As you walk past, the eyes of Christ appear to follow you. Like “I’ve got my eyes on you!” You can just start confessing unprovoked. 😀