HUNDREDS of restaurants in Pennsylvania stayed open over the New Year's weekend, defying Gov. Tom Wolf's "order" that they must close. This little girl supported the cause. Meanwhile, the war against small businesses continues:
"PHILOSPHERS have explained space. They have not explained time. It is the inexplicable raw material of everything. With it, all is possible; without it, nothing. The supply of time is truly a daily miracle, an affair genuinely astonishing when one examines it. You wake up in the morning, and lo! your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of the unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. A highly singular commodity, showered upon you in a manner as singular as the commodity itself!" --- Arnold Bennett, How to Live on 24 Hours a Day; 1908
ANONYMOUS writes:
There is absolutely no doubt that “happiness” is not a key ingredient in what the “Elites,” or “Globalists,” or “Puppet-Masters” are planning for us this year! They might well try to wrap their plans and actions with “happy wrapping paper” ― but once you open the package, you will find that “happiness” is not in this New Year package.
Yet does that rule out and destroy our spiritual happiness? The answer is: Not at all. In fact, it is just what we need to boost our well-being and peace.
Holy Scripture says: “We know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints” (Romans 8:28).
Our Lord tells us to find comfort in suffering: “Blessed are they that suffer persecution for the sake of justice―for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly, for My sake! Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in heaven. For so they persecuted the prophets that were before you!” (Matthew 5:10-12).
St. Paul says: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).
As Christians, what on earth do we expect from the world? Love? Adulation? Praise? Our Lord makes it abundantly clear what we must expect: “He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for Me, shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39). (more…)
ONE OF the deep pleasures of Christmas is the stream of memories. One by one, the people we have known and loved appear before us. We don't have much to give them. But if we ask, He will bestow the presents we can't give. The baby in the lowly manger --- and we are born anew.
THE testing swab broke in the child's nose. He reportedly died after surgery to remove it.
DEBBIE HICKS, 46, of Gloucestershire, England has been arrested for posting a video she took at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital on the Internet. The video showed empty corridors and units at a time when the government has reported overcrowded hospitals. Hicks was released on bail pending a hearing on Jan 21 for a public order offence.
THE famous Von Trapp family portrayed in the movie The Sound of Music was not all that much like its Hollywood counterpart in style of singing or in many of their biographical details. The singing siblings were classically-trained vocalists who toured Europe and later the United States in the 40s and 50s. They sang folk songs, madrigals, sacred music and Christmas carols.
https://twitter.com/JoshLekach/status/1343257477127708675?s=20
FROM The Christmas Holly (Sheldon & Co, 1897) by Marion Harland, in which a wife speaks to her husband as the children overhear: “I have mince-pies and turkey for tomorrow!” was the curt reply. “I knew you would not be satisfied unless you had as good a dinner as your neighbors. But as for dough-nuts—they are oily, rank, indigestible abominations, fit only for an ostrich’s stomach, and one doesn’t get the smell of the hot fat out of the house in two weeks after they have been cooked. I never mean to make another while I live.” Two pairs of sorrowful eyes stole a glance of mutual pity at one another, when this announcement was made; two pairs of cherry lips took a piteous curl, for a second; two curly heads bent lower over the plates set before their owners. Not that there was any dearth of sweet things in the Dryden larder, or that Ally and Nettie, the proprietors of the eyes, lips, and heads aforesaid, were gormandizers. But this matter of frying doughnuts was great fun to them, as it is to most other small people who have ever been permitted to stand by and see the rings, leaves, birds, circles, triangles, and the endless variety of nondescript figures leave the kneading-board pale, flat surfaces of soft dough, and, upon being thrown into the bubbling fat, sinking, like leaden shapes, with a tremendous splutter and “fizz,” arise slowly and majestically…
FREEMASONRY is a quasi-religion made up of clubs with elaborate rituals and ceremonies. The "brotherhood" believes, among other things, that numbers have mystical powers -- a belief that goes back to ancient mystery religions. The use of particular numbers can invoke hidden powers in the universe. It is no secret that the number 33 is of especial symbolic significance to Masons. Here is an explanation by a Mason of its symbolism. Wherever you see the number 33 being used out of all proportion to its normal occurrence, you can be assured that Masons are at work. The number 33 is found with astonishing frequency throughout public announcements and studies about COVID-19. This video offers some good examples from the news, but just scratches the surface. When I googled "33 Covid cases," I received 837 million results. The growth of the "Deception State" is due, in part, to the doctrines of Freemasonry, which hold that it is ethical to lie to achieve greater goals. Masons swear, on pain of death, to keep their activities secret from the world. Masons, initiated over time into an ascending order of "degrees" or hierarchical ranks, seek the union of all religions under one Ur-religion that will allegedly bring peace to mankind. At the lower degrees, Masons are often innocent of the larger political and religious agenda and are instead drawn to "brotherhood" and the favors Masons confer on each other, particularly in some careers.
EARLIER THIS YEAR, Kidist Paulos Asrat at Reclaiming Beauty in a post titled "The Three Wise Men in the Modern World" wrote about the anti-American flavor of E. Michael Jones's references to the Magi who visited Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus. Miss Asrat's points are consistent with the recent essay of Andy Sloan at Fitzpatrick Informer which raises deep and legitimate concerns about the popular author's agenda. Miss Asrat wrote on January 12, 2020: E. Michael Jones is referring to the Three Wise Men as "The Three Wise Persians." This is both biblically and historically incorrect. It appears that Jones' insistence on the Persian origin of ALL the magi may be to give credence to the current, Islamic, anti-American, regime in Iran and to connect the birth of Christ with a Persian legacy, and to legitimize the "Death to America" chants of Iranians in Tehran. The Persians after all acknowledged the birth of the Messiah, and even brought him gifts. The world is becoming anti-American, anti-West, and anti-Christian. Jones should know this. No ancient gift would expiate the ruthless aggression of this "Death to America" or its subtext, "Death to Christian America," proclamation. And why doesn't Jones understand, or acknowledge this? Perhaps he does wish "death to America," in an innocent desire to abate what he believes is now a sinful, Godless, country, and to start afresh with a country which he believes could be re-positioned closer to God. Here are some…
AN unidentified restaurant owner in Pennsylvania, where all restaurants have been "ordered" closed to indoor business until at least January 4th (Jan. 15th in Philadelphia), tells others in the business at a meeting of Entrepreneurs Against Tyranny that things are only going to get worse unless there is organized resistance. In fact, these "orders" are not orders at all. Governors and health departments do not have the authority to make laws. And there is no law in Pennsylvania or any other state prohibiting businesses from remaining open during the outbreak of a flu.
THIS version of the French Christmas carol "Il Est Né, Le Divin Enfant" ("He Is Born, the Divine Child") is sung by opera tenor Roberto Alagna. This charming carol was first published in the 19th century but is older in origin. A translation can be found here.
“HE WAS was taken to Rome in the year 95, during the reign of the cruel Emperor Domitian, and cast into a kettle of boiling oil; by divine assistance he was preserved in a wonderful manner, but was banished by the emperor to the island of Patmos, now called Palmosa. Here he received those marvellous revelations, called the Apocalypse, which are included in the holy Scriptures, and foretell the fate of the Church of God. After the death of Domitian, St. John returned to Ephesus, where at the prayer of the faithful, and to refute the heresy which denied the divinity of Christ, he wrote his gospel, in which he soars like an eagle to the subject of Christ’s divinity, and proves it indisputably against the heresies of Ebion and Cerinthus. (more…)
By St. Alphonsus Liguori
Mary sings, the ravished heavens
Hush the music of their spheres;
Soft her voice, her beauty fairer
Than the glancing stars appears;
While to Jesus, slumbering nigh,
Thus she sings her lullaby:
“Sleep, my Babe, my God, my Treasure,
Gently sleep; but ah! the sight
With its beauty so transports me,
I am dying with delight;
Thou canst not Thy mother see,
Yet Thou breathest flames to me. (more…)
SERIOUS physical illness exists out there, but the social manifestation of COVID is overwhelmingly mental.