Sunday, March 31, 2019
1716-1719: After 150 Years, It's Natural.... from Lincoln County Watch
By Anna Von Reitz
After 150 Years,
It's Natural.....
It's natural
that when Americans are faced with the news that they have to reorganize and
restore their government, people assume that we are talking about the
"government" they are familiar with ---- but we aren't.
We are talking
about the government of the People, for the People, and by the People. We've
never seen it in our lifetimes. Our States were last assembled during our
Grandparent's and Great-Grandparent's lifetimes.
Worse, we were
never told much about our actual government by those who were making their
fortunes off of [mis]administering our assets.
In the Public
Schools of this country all we were ever taught was the history of the Federal
Government and the Federal States of States.
We were told
about the British Territorial Government operating out of the District of
Columbia and its structure and its "constitutional democracy".
We were told, if
we were sharp enough to catch it, about the Municipal Government operating out
of the Municipality of Washington, DC, and its Fascist Roman-Style oligarchy.
But we
studiously were not told a word about our own "missing" Federal States of States
and the Federal Government that we are actually owed.
We certainly
weren't told a word about the actual American Government that is our heritage.
That was never
mentioned at all, unless you had the good fortune to have been ---- like I was
---- the youngest daughter of the youngest daughter of the youngest son. My
Grandfather was born in 1865. He remembered the dirt. He told his wife. She told
her daughter. And her daughter told me. And now, I am telling you.
You already know
that the "national assembly" effort headed up by the Michigan General Jural
Assembly failed and was sidelined and co-opted. They included "US Citizens" as
members and that automatically voided their efforts to organize an American
State----if in fact that was ever their intention.
The only parties
that can organize American States are American State Citizens. Our actual
geographically-defined States don't allow Dual Citizenship.
Anything that
"US Citizens" organize is by definition a "State of State" also known as a
"Confederate State", but we are not confused.
We know what
kind of State we are organizing --- an actual, factual, geographically defined
State of the Union, which is a member of the Federation of States known as The
United States of America [Unincorporated].
So, now here
comes another such misguided effort, headed up by TeamLaw.com:
They are trying
to elect "State" Governors, and advertising that these are "de jure" Governors
of our States. But that can't be, either.
Governors, like
Presidents, are CEO's operating in international jurisdiction, and depending on
whether they are elected to serve the international jurisdiction of the land
[our American State Governors] or elected to serve the international
jurisdiction of the sea [British Territorial "Governor"], they are defined
accordingly.
So, in fact,
since 1868, the only kind of "Governor" we have had, are British Territorial
United States "Governors" of State of State organizations. Not actual American
land jurisdiction State Governors.
They use
semantic deceits and call themselves "State Governors" because their State of
State corporations, like the State of New Jersey, are all "Confederate States"
---- inchoate, non-physical, incorporated "States"----but none of it actually
has anything to do with us or our lawful American Government or our geographic
States of the Union.
So, again, we
face the "Cuckoo Bird Switch" in which the British Territorial Government
substituted itself for our lawful American Government and conveniently never
told us a word.
They substituted
their sea jurisdiction "Governors" for our land jurisdiction "Governors".
And again, only
American State Citizens can elect a land jurisdiction State Governor.
If US Citizens
elect a Governor, he is by definition a sea jurisdiction State of State [aka
Confederate State] Governor.
So what TeamLaw
is doing----- soliciting volunteers to fill vacant Governor-ships, however
well-intended the effort may be, is invalid from the perspective of the actual
States and People unless:
(1) the
individuals involved have made the effort to record their paperwork and formally
reclaim and declare their birthright political status as American State
Citizens--because we have all been issued British Territorial Birth Certificates
and mis-identified as "US Citizens" otherwise; and (2) they have assembled their
actual States, populated their States, and elected a Governor who is a State
Citizen.
Then, and only
then, do we have actual land jurisdiction State Governors competent to wield the
Powers of our States and People.
You may have
noticed how, for the most part, the US Presidents boss the State of State
Governors around. This is because the Governors are in fact running corporate
franchises that are ultimately under the President's thumb. See all the
information I have provided about the States of States having EINs, TINs, CAGE
numbers, and Dunn and Bradstreet ratings as corporations.
By definition,
no incorporated entity can be sovereign. Our actual States are sovereign. So you
can see right there that their "States" are not our States and vice versa.
There is no
actual Checks and Balances between the powers of a sea jurisdiction State of
State and the Federal Corporation chartering it. Such a "State of State" [aka
Confederate State] is dependent on the parent corporation the same way that your
local Burger King is dependent on Burger King, International.
Thus, the
Governor of your State is actually, legally, ethically powerless to oppose any
directive from the parent Federal Corporation and the constitutionally mandated
Checks and Balances have been undermined and side-stepped by the perpetrators.
As long as we
continue to "acquiesce" to functioning as any sort of "US Citizen" we are in an
invisible trap.
If US Citizens
elect a Governor, that Governor is just the local CEO of a DC franchise
corporation, obligated to protect the interests and profits of that corporation
regardless of the harm it does to us.
It's only when
Americans act as American State Citizens and elect a land jurisdiction Governor
that the pedal hits the metal and Checks and Balances clicks back into place.
Only then do our
Governors inherit the power to "hire and fire" the DC Bureaucrats.
I don't blame
people for being confused. I have the utmost sympathy. If I had not had the good
fortune to be born into a politically aware family that was devoted to the
American Government ---- and therefore preserved memory of it across more than a
hundred years--- I'd be just as confused as most other people appear to be.
As it is, I am
not confused; I have joined together with others who are not confused, and we
are trying our best to explain the circumstance and the jargon and the means by
which we have been deceived and over-lorded by our own employees in hopes of
getting through to other Americans.
The republican
states that control the soil jurisdiction of this country don't even have
"Governors". They have State Assembly Chairmen and the State Assembly Chairmen
tell the Governors what they want done.
Thus the Pecking
Order in the American Government is exactly the opposite of the Pecking Order in
the Federal Government. We are bottom up and the Federal Government
organizations we are all familiar with are top down, whether they are British
Territorial corporations or Roman Municipal corporations.
If we put our
minds to it and remember who we are, we can assemble our actual States, and
restore the American Government we are owed.
That's why we
started The American States Assembly and booted up the new website and
teleconference: https://theamericanstatesassembly.net/ .
Please spread
the word and explain the situation so that we can ---finally---- get the
Americans organized and up to speed and moving in the right direction, acting in
the right capacity, and exercising our birthrights effectively.
I am not
suggesting that anyone join the TeamLaw effort on this one, because they need a
proper State Assembly and State Elections by qualified State Nationals and State
Citizens. Rather, I am telling you that they are off-track on this one and we
need to reach out and explain why.
So long as these
men are acting in good faith and are truly intending to fill the land
jurisdiction Governorships, there is no reason that they can't join the State
Assemblies as American State Citizens or American State Nationals and be elected
to serve.
----------------------------
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Update on the Money Situation
By Anna Von Reitz
As at least some of you know, March
29 was the Drop Dead date for countries to be Basel III compliant and
post a gold-backed currency. The Territorial Government under the
direction of Donald Trump managed to do that, just barely.
The situation with the British
Brexit and the impact on the European Union remains up in the air until
April 12. This is viewed as a necessary reprieve, both to allow the
Brits to get their panties sorted and the rest of the EU nations to face
up to the realities of dealing again in national currencies backed by
actual assets. Or the necessity of backing the Euro --- which is all
but impossible absent an act of both God and the German Parliament.
So, at least the Territorial
Government is swimming forward and will participate in what has been
dubbed the Global Currency Reset (GCR).
We, the American States and People,
have no need to worry about "transitioning" to the gold and silver
standard. We never left it. Our gold Eagles and silver coinage and all
the certificates and bonds based on the same will simply have a new
valuation relative to other currencies in the world and will be
recognized as "cash values".
The same is happening within all the Central Banks --- a switching of gears.
For many decades they have been
sitting on the gold and silver stockpiles and not counting those assets
---- ignoring their existence as assets on the bank ledger. Now they
have all been kicked into gear and forced to admit that, yes, we have
all these assets.
They still haven't been brought to
bay and forced to admit who or what those assets actually belong to --
but that, too, is coming.
As a result of all this, the Bank of
International Settlements (BIS) will be announcing new currency
standards, also known as values, based on gold being "the" standard
commodity.
As of March 30, all the World Banks adopted Basel IV and gold became a world currency.
Based on this new (and highly
arbitrary) valuation scheme and the return to the old Gold Standard,
people will be dealing in actual money instead of commercial script, and
a great deal of the fraud and counterfeiting and "money" laundering
that has gone on will fade away.
The Americans, who never went off
the gold standard, have nothing to lose and the accruals of ten decades
to gain. The Municipal "United States" hegemony has been liquidated to
back the change. The Territorial "United States of America" is sliding
along just off the lee shore in a gale, thanks to Donald Trump and the
faithful elements in the US Military.
As a result of the double-dealing
and bankruptcy protection schemes that went on at the turn of last
century (1898 to 1934) and the Japanese Rumba during World War II, a lot
of our actual American gold is in Indonesia and the Philippines.
At least some of that stash-- which
actually belongs to the American States and People-- has been
underwritten by the Chinese and credited to "the" United States of
America on an emergency basis to allow this country to maintain a basis
of trade with the rest of the world.
Count it as "Baby Steps" allowing us
to continue to function and make the necessary correction of our
political identity and processes. Make no mistake --Americans are rich;
it's the US Citizens who have been spent into oblivion.
So now we have to moderate all that imbalance -- release the US Debt and deliver Offset Credit to the Americans.
For all those Junk Bond Traders who
sunk their Penny Stock Dreams in Zim and Iraqi Dinar, the pay off is
coming ---- not as good or as bad as the extremes of various
prognosticators, but coming nonetheless, probably this week.
Be careful how you sign the
paperwork. Retain your copyright on your own names. Use a private
copyright Notice after your signatures --- a small "c" surrounded by a
circle.
The States will be enforcing the
Constitutions and the Lanham Act, which should discourage a lot of
Municipal Freebooters and other vultures.
As everyone who knows me is aware
--- I don't believe in money. The worldwide addiction to money is the
worst kind of idolatry and it needs to end, but for the moment, to
prevent worldwide disaster, we need a means to trade and this is what
has been worked out to allow that.
That doesn't mean that there is no way to design an honest form of asset-backed money. It just means we aren't there" yet.
I look forward to the day when we are.
----------------------------
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Linus Pauling Was No Fool
By Anna Von Reitz
Linus Pauling was one of the most
acclaimed and celebrated scientists in recent generations, he was wined
and dined and toasted and awarded up the wazoo for decades, and then,
something happened. The same media that had draped him in every laurel
leaf and accolade turned against him and decried him as a Tin Hat and a
fool.
Ever wonder why?
Because he told people to start mega-dosing Vitamin C.
This was a betrayal of the New World
Order, which has been intent on poisoning our water for decades, and
using this silent means to erode our health and net themselves and their
commercial corporations billions upon billions of dollars worth of
medical and dental service fees.
Heart disease and arteriosclerosis
are the major killers of Americans past age 40. What are both of these
conditions caused by? Well, there ARE many factors --- genetics, diet,
lack of exercise, etc. --- but the glue that cements these factors
together and makes them lethal is chronic lack of Vitamin C.
Most Americans suffer from Scurvy,
which is ironic, because they are also being misidentified as British
sailors and Merchant Mariners.
How is this possible in the modern
age, when we have ready access to vast quantities of citrus fruits and
other sources of Vitamin C?
Because the water we drink and cook
with and wash with has almost universally been "treated" with poisons
that leach Vitamin C out of our bodies at a tremendous rate ---
Fluoride, which is a waste product of the Aluminum industry, and
Chlorine, a waste product of the Petrochemical industry.
You see now that the guilty
commercial corporations are making profits on both ends of this deal.
First, they sell off their noxious by-products instead of having to
dispose of them responsibly, and then they profit more from the diseases
and chronic ill-health these poisons cause as they build up in our
bodies.
Scurvy is well-known to cause gum
disease, muscular and skeletal degeneration, cardio-vascular and nervous
system disorders, and ultimately, predictably, death.
So now you have bleeding gums and
gum disease, which means you have to go through all sorts of pain and
spend thousands of dollars on dental fillings and bridges and root
canals and implants. The chronic infection in your mouth then also
triggers systemic chronic inflammatory response.
This then triggers inflammation of
the joints and destruction of cartilage in the joints as a result of the
inflammation (arthritis)..... and so it goes ---- downhill. We exercise
less because we are in pain, and that just makes things worse.
The chronic lack of Vitamin C also
messes up the Calcium Cycle in our bodies and leads to calcium being
leached from our bones (osteoporosis) and re-deposited in our veins and
arteries, causing arteriosclerosis: hardening of the arteries due to
calcified fatty acid deposits.
They are killing us for profit via
their "water treatment programs", and Linus Pauling blew the whistle on
them. That's how he went from being a Media Darling to Tin Hat.
He blew his whole career, his reputation, and his funding to save our lives.
Linus Pauling really was a hero.
So, what are you going to do about it?
You are going to go to the store and
buy a shower head that contains a filter that removes Chlorine and
Fluorine from your shower water. It will cost you around $80 and the
filters have to be replaced every few months, but that is a small price
compared to the cost and misery of even one chronic illness. These
shower filters are available at hardware stores and on the internet.
You are also going to go get a
supply of food grade Vitamin C crystals or powder in a big bag, and add a
couple teaspoons of this to your bathwater every time you take a
bath.
Why is this so important? Because
your skin soaks up Chlorine like a sponge. A single bath can absorb as
much Chlorine into your body as drinking 68 cups of chlorinated water.
This is because your stomach acid destroys a good deal of the crud when
you drink it, but you have no such defense when you bathe in it.
Now if it irritates you (it
irritates me) that they are charging you good money to poison you, and
then you are having to spend more money to buy antidotes to the same
poisons that shouldn't even be in your water in the first place --- and
they are selling all this on the basis that Fluoride stops cavities,
when it also makes your gums bleed and your teeth fall out as a result
of leaching Vitamin C and all this then promotes chronic low-level
inflammatory response throughout your body --- hey, put on your Tin Hat
and wear it with pride.
At least you aren't stupid enough to
believe their self-interested lies-for-profit any more. At least you
have recognized one of the most pervasive and inescapable threats to
your health. At least you have the awareness to take action to defend
yourself.
As more Americans wake up and join
their State Assemblies, the AMA and its Evil Half-Sister, the American
Dental Association, are both going to get kicked to the curb over this
atrocity, and so are all the Municipal Governments.
In the meantime, if you are stuck
with a polluted water supply, make sure you are supplementing your diet
with lots of Vitamin C -- both Vitamin C supplements and Vitamin C in
your bathwater, and a good filter on your shower heads.
Thank you, Linus. We are in your debt.
----------------------------
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Adrenalin Addiction Crisis
By Anna Von Reitz
My Mother was an Adrenalin Addict.
She had been abused as a child and developed a totally unconscious need
for the Adrenalin that helped her over those crisis points. In the
absence of any threat, she still unknowingly craved the "high" that
Adrenalin gave her, and so, she learned how to trigger release of the
internally manufactured drug by working herself up into rages and fear
responses.
It was very ugly and predictable to watch.
Thankfully, I was able to watch
instead of participating in her self-induced drama, because my older
Sister protected me from her onslaughts when I was very small, and my
stalwart Father wouldn't allow any such nonsense in his presence. He
would just sweep her up in a Bear-Hug and she'd immediately calm down.
Past about age seven, I could always outrun her and leave the house long
enough for her to calm down.
Thus, I escaped the worst impacts of
being the child of an Adrenalin Addict, yet I saw --- mostly as a
Witness --- the horrifying impact and logic of the illness.
It's an insidious addiction because
no drugs are actually taken. The body produces Adrenalin naturally in
response to threats -- both real threats and imaginary ones, so it isn't
as if there is an obvious pill or syringe or powder involved. You
can't point at an Adrenalin Addict's stash, because it is hidden inside
their own body.
The onset of an episode with those
afflicted has typical warning sings. They will start acting erratically,
have lapses of attention or memory, for example--- stop answering
direct questions like, "Where's the ketchup?" --- and seem to withdraw
from the present world. They get a taut, worried look, and either stare
at nothing or start furtively glancing around as if to identify
threats.
They may or may not have their own
telltale physical symptoms of needing a fix. My Mother's giveaway was
when she started quietly flexing her fingers and tapping them together.
Other people I have known with the same addiction have done things like
narrow their eyes into tiny slits, pace randomly, clench fists, or
assume an uncharacteristic posture.
To bring on the Adrenalin attack
they will often initiate a paranoid internal dialogue and let their
imagination run wild, so that they create the necessary threat and the
resulting fear that will trigger Adrenalin release.
My Mother's favorite was the unknown
assailant, the burglar or the rapist sneaking up the back stairs in the
middle of the night. She would prowl around the house at night
whenever my Father was away, on eternal watch (with a shotgun no less)
for criminals who never came.
Looking back on it, it all seems so
sad and predictable. The abused child unconsciously learned about---
and took refuge in--- Adrenalin, so the adult still felt the physical
and mental need for that excitement, that sudden charge of overwhelming
power.
She was actually a good woman, but
like all addicts, she was in the thrall of something that she could not
control and that led her to do many destructive things to herself and
others. My older Sister still suffers the after-effects and a tragic
sense of loss, and as for me, I was never able to be truly close to my
Mother because of it.
My Mother knew that there was a
separation between us, and grieved over it, but I don't think she ever
actually knew why. Like all addicts, the addiction seemed --- to her at
least --- to just be part of who she was, and she felt I should be able
to accept her as is, which I did, albeit in an eternally guarded
fashion.
It's a terrible thing to have to
watch your own parent like a science experiment, and always be on guard,
but millions of children who grow up in families afflicted by
alcoholism, drug addictions, and mental illnesses have to face this
reality every day.
My best friend in Grade School duly
noted my Mother's peculiar rages and behavior. I shrugged and said,
"She's crazy." But she wasn't crazy. She was addicted to Adrenalin
and unconsciously self-medicating.
Today, there are millions of war
veterans, millions of abused women and children, millions of war
survivors, millions of people from all walks of life and social classes,
who are unconsciously addicted to Adrenalin.
Much of what doctors are calling
"PTSD" and "Rage Syndrome" and "Anti-Social Behavior" is Adrenalin
addiction that is not being diagnosed and treated.
The various efforts to treat this
addiction with mood elevators and sedatives, with meditation
and "dis-sociative" activities like arts and crafts, can help--- but not
cure and not squarely address the actual problem. Until we realize
that these people are addicted to Adenalin we won't be able to find a
cure.
Unfortunately, some Vermin among us,
have clued-in to the problem in the sense of marketing products that
the addicts crave as stimulation. They produce endless movies that
provoke Adrenalin response --- horror films, shoot 'em-up, bang-bang
live action films, gruesome war stories, endless "threat" movies of one
kind or another.
The Adrenalin Addicts among us
gobble it all up like popcorn and candy. They also gobble up the
"Nightly News" --- and for the same reason and for the same sales pitch:
death and destruction, disease and sex crimes. It all serves to pluck
away at our adrenal system, like a guitar player strumming our strings.
And we don't even realize that we are being played.
The last time I saw my Mother she
was in a nursing home surrounded by all the machinery and monitors and
stainless steel implements of modern medicine. She had been doped up and
was disoriented at first, and then she realized that it was really me
and that I had come all the way from Alaska to see her.
It had been a grey rainy day with
thick cloud cover, but at that exact moment of realization, a brilliant
ray of sun broke through and illuminated the joyous smile on her face.
She was still beautiful when she smiled, even at 96.
I couldn't help but feel the wrench
of pain: all the love and all the good times lost because of her
unconscious addiction, all the closeness and joy that could have been.
Maybe at one time, I could have
explained it to her, brought it into her conscious knowledge, so that
she could recognize what was going on and maybe --- just maybe --- she
could have learned to control it; but, I was 30 or 40 years old before I
actually understood what was going on, and by that time, she was in her
late seventies or eighties.
She'd been an Adrenalin Addict since her own sad childhood.
It was too late for her to change
and too late for me to salvage a natural relationship with her, but
maybe it's not too late for others reading this to become aware of the
silent scourge of Adrenalin Addiction that is gripping America and the
rest of the world, too.
Veterans? War refugees? Domestic
violence survivors? Abused children? Almost anyone who has suffered
certain kinds of prolonged psychological or physical trauma is at risk
of developing an addiction to Adrenalin.
Please, for the sake of all these
suffering people and for all their families who suffer along with them,
take the time to stop and think --- to recognize the symptoms and think
about how those suffering from this plague have been exposed to violence
and threat and developed an addiction to Adrenalin.
Think about what you can do about
it. Bring it to the attention of the medical professionals. Take
whatever action you can to promote conscious awareness of the damage
this unseen "invisible" addiction is causing.
Shame the newscasters for providing a
steady diet of threats and despair and pretending that it is news.
Shame the "entertainment" industry for feeding all the Adrenalin junkies
and making the situation worse.
Take action to prevent Adrenalin
Addiction from spreading from household to household and generation to
generation. Make people aware of it.
Without my Father and my much older
Sister to protect and underwrite my mental and emotional development, I
could have been abused by my Mother and could have become an Adrenalin
Addict, just as she did.
Adrenalin exists for good reasons,
but like every other gift of God, can be twisted and corrupted into
something evil. My Mother spent her whole life in near-constant turmoil
and caused untold damage to others without ever consciously meaning to
harm anyone, and without knowing why. Millions of other people
worldwide are in the same condition.
Help them. Help yourselves, too.
Guard your children. Counsel our veterans and their families. Let the
survivors of domestic abuse know that they are at risk. Make it a
little "mini-ministry" to help heal and calm and spread the word.
What these people need, as my Father
so long ago demonstrated when he would Bear-Hug my Mother, is not
another ping-pong rush of Adrenalin. What they need is to be loved and
reassured, and weaned away from destructive stimuli and behaviors.
----------------------------
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Fourth Sunday In Lent
Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's
The Church's Year
No c
The Church's Year
The Introit of this day's Mass, which begins with the word Laetare, is as follows:
INTROIT Rejoice,
O Jerusalem, and come together all you that love her; rejoice with joy
you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the
breasts of your consolation. (Isai: LXVI. 10. 11.) I rejoiced at the
things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.
(Ps. CXXI. 1.) Glory
be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in
the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
COLLECT Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who justly suffer for our deeds may be relieved by the consolation of Thy grace. Through
our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in
the Unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end, Amen.
EPISTLE (Gat.
IV. 22-31.) Brethren, it is written that Abraham had two sons; the one
by a bond-woman and the other by a free-woman. But he who was of the
bond-woman was born according to the flesh; but he of the free-woman was
by promise: which things are said by an allegory. For these are the two
testaments. The one from Mount Sina, engendering unto bondage, which is
Agar: for Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that
Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But that
Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. For it is
written: Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not: break forth and cry,
thou that travailest not; for many are the children of the desolate,
more than of her that hath a husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of promise. But as then he that was born according to
the flesh persecuted him that was after the spirit, so also it is now.
But what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond-woman and her son: for
the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the
free-woman. So, then, brethren, we are not the children of the
bond-woman, but of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ hath made
us free.
EXPLANATION
It was the common custom, in the days of the patriarchs, for a man to
have more than one wife. This was permitted by God, partly because they
and their descendants would hardly have been satisfied with one
marriage, (Matt. XIX. 8.) partly because bigamy was a means of promoting
the increase of the people of Israel, typical of the future increase of
the children of God. Thus Abraham had two wives, who had each a son; of
these Ismael was born to Abraham from his bond-woman Agar, in the
natural way; the other, Isaac, the son of the free wife Sara, was born
in a supernatural manner according to the promise, (Gen. XVIII. 11. 14. )
that she by the grace of God, although aged, would give birth to a son.
These two women with their sons were types, as St. Paul says, of the
two Testaments: Agar the bond-woman typified the Old, Sara, the
free-woman, the New Testament; the son of Agar, the Jews, the son of
Sara, the Christians; for the Jews, like Ismael, are descendants of
Abraham by natural descent, but the Christians, like Isaac, by grace.
The Old Testament gave birth only to servants; for the Jews obeyed the
commandments of God through fear of punishment, and in hope of temporal
reward; the New Testament, the Jerusalem from above. that is, the
Christian Church, gives birth to children who willingly and through love
obey the commandments of God. Although the Christian Church, the New
Jerusalem, chosen from heathenism, was in the beginning barren, as was
Sara, she gives birth, by the grace of God and through His apostles, to
more children than the Jewish Church, which was so long the Church of
God, that is, more were converted to Christianity from the Gentiles than
from the Jews. The latter even hated and persecuted the Christians, as
did Ismael his brother Isaac. For their hardness of heart they were
cast out by God, like Agar and her son; that is, after the destruction
of Jerusalem the Jews were dispersed to all parts of the world. Let us,
therefore, give thanks to God, that through Jesus we have become the
free children of our heavenly Father, who through love fulfill His holy
will by which we shall be saved.
ASPIRATION Give
me the grace, O Jesus, that by prayer and fasting, and patience in all
adversities and persecutions, I may be made less unworthy of Thy
passion; that I may not, one day, be cast out by Thee, but become worthy
of Thy divine promise and Thy eternal consolation in the heavenly
Jerusalem.
GOSPEL (John
VI. 1-15.) At that time, Jesus went over the sea of Galilee, which is
that of Tiberias; and a great multitude followed him, because they saw
the miracles which he did on them that were diseased. Jesus therefore
went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. Now the
pasch, the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. When Jesus
therefore had lifted up his eyes, and seen that a very great multitude
cometh to him, he said to Philip: Whence shall we buy bread that these
may eat? And this he said to try him; for he himself knew what he would
do. Philip answered: Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient
for them, that every one may take a little. One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, saith to him: There is a boy here
that hath five barley loaves and two fishes: but what are these among so
many? Then Jesus said: Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass
in the place. The men therefore sat down, in number about five thousand.
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed
to them that were set down: in like manner also of the fishes, as much
as they would. And when they were filled, he said to his disciples:
Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost. They gathered
up, therefore, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five
barley loaves, which remained over and above to them that had eaten. Now
those men, when they had seen what a miracle Jesus had done, said: This
is of a truth the prophet that is to come into the world. Jesus
therefore when he knew that they would come to take him by force, and
make him king, fled again into the mountain himself alone.
Why did Christ try St. Philip?
To
test his faith and confidence; to instruct us that before seeking
supernatural means, we should first look for natural ways of providing;
that the miracle of the multiplying of the loaves should be more
marvelous to the people from having seen there was no provision; and
that we may learn to trust in God, who is a helper in due time in
tribulation. (Ps. IX. 10.)
What signs did Christ make use of in this miracle, and why?
According
to St. Matthew (XIV. 19.) He lifted up His eyes to heaven, by which He
showed that all good gifts come from above; He gave thanks, thus
teaching us to give thanks to God for all His blessings. "The table,"
says St. Chrysostom, "that is approached and is left with prayer will
never know want, but the more richly yield its gifts." He blessed the
bread showing us that the divine blessing increases all things.
Why did Christ require them to gather up the fragments that were left?
That
they should not be wasted or destroyed; that the greatness of the
miracle should be made evident by the quantity of the fragments; and
that we might learn to honor the gifts of God, even the most
insignificant, and if we do not ourselves need them, give them to the
poor.
Why did Christ, after this miracle, flee from the people?
Because
after this miracle the people recognized in him the Messiah, and would
have made Him king. He wished to teach us to flee from praise and honor,
and in all our actions seek not our own, but God's glory.
CONSOLATION IN POVERTY
This
gospel gives the account of Christ providing for those who followed and
listened to Him, which is indeed consoling for the poor. God from the
beginning of the world has always cared for His own. For the aid and
comfort of His chosen people in time of famine God sent Joseph, the son
of the Patriarch Jacob, in advance into Egypt: (Gen. XLV. 5.) for forty
years He fed the children of Israel in the desert with bread from
heaven; (Deut. VIII. 2. 3.) He fed the Prophet Elias by a raven; (III
Kings VII. 6.) and thought of Daniel in the lions' den. (Dan. XIV. 37.)
In the New Testament God shows His merciful care for His own, because in
great need He fed them marvelously through angels, men, and even
animals, as we frequently see in the lives of the saints. Truly has
David said: God forsakes not the just, I have been young, and am now
old: and I have not seen the just forsaken, nor his seed seeking bread,
(PS. XXXVI. 25.) that is, one who sincerely serves Him, and seeks before
all the kingdom of God and His justice, as Christ commands. (Luke XII.
31.) Strive to be a faithful child, and you will have God for your
father, and with King David you can cast your care upon the Lord, and He
will sustain you. You must not think it is enough to pray and trust in
God, He demands that you should use your strength to receive help, for
if any man will not work, neither let him eat. (II Thess. III. 10.)
ASPIRATION In
Thy omnipotence and goodness, O my God, I put my trust, firmly
believing that if I fear Thee, serve Thee faithfully, and avoid evil, I
shall not be abandoned in poverty, but receive many good things. Amen.
INSTRUCTION ON PREPARATION FOR EASTER
Now the Pasch the festival day of the Jews, was near at hand. (John VI. 4.)
If
we would sing a joyful Alleluia with the Church on the festival of
Easter, we must fulfill her desire, and prepare ourselves to celebrate
it worthily. Therefore, we should shun improper, clamorous meetings, and
retire often to pray in solitude, especially to meditate on the bitter
sufferings of our Saviour, for when man is alone, God speaks to his
heart. (Osee. II. 14.) We should carefully examine our conscience, and
consider how we stand before God, for upon this day shall be the
expiation for you, and the cleansing from all your sins: you shall be
cleansed before the Lord; for it is a Sabbath of rest, and you shall
afflict your souls, that is, by fasting, watching, and praying. (Lev.
XVI. 30-31.) From this Sunday until Easter we should fast more strictly,
give more alms to the poor if we are able, or if poor ourselves, bear
our poverty more patiently, offering it to Christ in union with His
poverty, His hunger, thirst, &c. ; we should make a sincere and
contrite confession, and purify our heart from the old leaven of
iniquity, that we may keep the Easter meal with Christ in the unleavened
bread of purity and truth. (I Cor. V. 7. 8.) For this end we should
incite ourselves to holy desires, and rise from sin, which is the death
of the soul.
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