Anna Quote for the Day

By Anna Von Reitz

Remember the old adage, "If you lay down with dogs, you rise up with fleas"? 

Well....

If you lay down with Democrats, you rise up with Communists; but if you lay down with Republicans, you get an additional free lecture series about the evils of the John Birch Society. 

People are confused by the existence of these two lobbyist groups. They naturally assume that they must be different and opposed to each other, but no, both are lobbying organizations and both are bent on exactly the same thing: plundering America for special interests. 

The only difference is the constituent group in receipt of the plunder. 

The Republicans give the spoils to the already grossly Fat Cats and receive kickbacks in return, while the Democrats use the proceeds to more directly line their own pockets and to buy votes from the poor. 

So, in any Federal or Federal "State of State" election the only choice is in fact a non-choice.  

Do you want to be raped by Max or Steve? 

Will it be Raspberry Frozen Feces today or would you prefer Strawberry, Ma'am? 

Anyone who thinks about their own experience for more than five seconds knows that this is true. 

So why are we kidding ourselves or putting up with this?  

There is a Third Option. 

Come home. 

Leave Babylon to suffer Babylon's woes and make like Abraham on the road out of Ur. 

Reclaim your Good Name and Estate. Declare and record your your permanent domicile on the land and soil of the State where you were born.  Demand that your name be removed from the Alien Property List maintained by the District Attorneys and USAG. Cancel all "Voter Registrations" and stop "volunteering" to pay taxes you don't owe to Babylon. 

Join with others on the road and form up your lawful Jural Assemblies.  Elect your Justices of the Peace and your Unincorporated County Sheriffs. 

Concentrate all your extra attention and energy on restoring your lawful government and on enforcing the Public Law, and you will both save yourselves and keep the peace. 

Like the Prodigal Son, turn your footsteps homeward and spread the word. 

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Traffic Report for two websites for Anna

We use two websites to get the word out for Anna Von Reitz.

www.annavonreitz.com   and   www.paulstramer.net

We have a way to keep a running tab from week to week on both of those websites.

Here are the reports for just the last week from Monday through Sunday.

For  the www.annavonreitz.com website:

Daily Traffic Breakdown

Page Views Unique Visits First Time Visits Returning Visits Mon 1,631 1,336 842 494 Tue 1,541 1,282 807 475 Wed 3,234 2,741 2,168 573 Thu 1,437 1,200 686 514 Fri 1,390 1,124 638 486 Sat 1,378 1,125 683 442 Sun 1,107 925 534 391 Total 11,718 9,733 6,358 3,375 Avg 1,674 1,390 908 482 For this blog at  www.paulstramer.net   which can also be accessed from  montanablog.us Daily Traffic Breakdown Page Views Unique Visits First Time Visits Returning Visits Mon 2,966 1,796 1,213 583 Tue 3,480 2,153 1,279 874 Wed 4,307 2,916 2,089 827 Thu 2,109 1,241 710 531 Fri 3,508 2,014 1,200 814 Sat 3,081 1,680 959 721 Sun 2,752 1,627 933 694 Total 22,203 13,427 8,383 5,044 Avg 3,172 1,918 1,198 721 That is a total of 33,921 page views over the period of one week, which would translate to over 135,000 page views per month. Just last week 14,741 of those were first time visitors. Last week we sent out 377,920 emails to people, who opted in to one of our ad systems looking for solutions to their problems, especially financial ones. Many were smart enough to realize that what Anna talks about on the websites have a lot to do with the solutions they are looking for and opted to join our mailing list. The numbers on that list are constantly changing. We have people opt out and just go to the website daily to check for new articles. We have others that opt to use our RSS feed to get the announcements, so are not on the mailing list. The mailing list is now well above 5000 and growing.  When we started this effort over 4 years ago we could only get a few results in a search for Anna's name on Google. Now when you type her name into Google there will be over 3/4 of a million results in about a half second depending on how busy Google is at the time. This is a continuous effort that is on going every day and it requires quite a bit of time and some money, which are the limiting factors. We could use some help on both. To save us some time you could help us promote the two websites above by sending those addresses to your circle of influence.  The ads we use to promote the effort are here: http://www.annavonreitz.com/bannerads.html If you can afford to help finance the sending of ads use the PayPal button below. It works even if you are not a member of PayPal.  For a one time donation use the button in the right hand column. Thanks for your help.

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My Predictions

By Anna Von Reitz

Everyone who is upset with all the flak I am getting, please bear in mind four things: (1) you don't catch flak until you are right over the target; and, (2) a lot of Americans are just now waking up, so we are seeing a lot of "Hibernating Bear" responses; and, (3) the Bad Guys are going down. You can't expect that to happen in a Garden Party atmosphere; and, (4) I have already outlined our Action Plan:

(A) Declare and record your correct nationality and political status and (B) Organize your local and State Jural Assemblies and (C) Elect your own Justices, Court Officers, and Sheriffs to enforce the Public Law, and (D) Otherwise, we mind our own business and let the Federales take out their own dirty laundry.

The step-by-step restoration of our lawful government may sound boring to those who crave drama, but it is peaceful and orderly and gives the Vermin no excuse to interfere with us and our affairs. Those who rampaging around like bulls calling for "war" of any kind are playing into the hands of the thieves and murderers responsible for this whole situation.

Be gentle as doves and wise as serpents.

If you are an American, all the nastiness taking place in DC, all the criminal actions and bankruptcies and drama --- all that has nothing to do with you.  That is all the business of your subcontractors, the "U.S. Citizens".  It's their mess.  Leave them to clean it up, while you clean up your side of the fence.

Imagine that you are the Lord of the Manor (because you are) and you are looking out your window.  You see your Lawn Care Company employees and your Waste Management Company employees duking it out on the front lawn. Both companies are in receivership and its a real donnybrook melee.

Does that have anything to do with you?  No. 

Send their bankruptcy trustees a bill for damaging your grass and move on.

You have your own business to attend to.  Keep your pert noses out of the Federales' fights and address your own affairs. 

Many of the "LEOs" --- Law Enforcement Officers --- have been blackmailed and more have been betrayed by leaders and fraternity brothers they trusted. 

It's not a pretty situation. Many of them are still ignorant and have no idea that what they are doing is wrong.

NYPD was asleep and its conscience was stone dead until they got a load of what was on Anthony Wiener's laptop.  It was only when these men could finally see what they were protecting, and what was actually going on, that the worm turned.

Since then the "Revolt against the Revolting" has spread from the NYPD to the FBI to Treasury to DOJ to the USAG to the Inspector Generals.  Good men in all these LEO organizations and in the military are rallying.

Just as the Vermin have deliberately confused America with "the US", they have deliberately confused the United Nations with "the UN" and they have used us and our churches and our lawful institutions as storefronts that they have usurped upon and tried to "eat out" from the inside, like tape worms. 

The only way these commercial criminals could succeed was by deceit and secrecy and by co-opting decent people.  That's why all the "Secret Societies" and "Secret Orders of Knighthood" and "Secret Fraternities", all the payola, all the strict compartmentalization of knowledge exists---to bribe, to entice, to control, to enforce, to blackmail.

Now, people are waking up.  

Mr. Trump and an Alliance of White Hats will clean up the Municipal United States and all the renegade alphabet soup agencies that the Enemies of Mankind intended to use as a mercenary "ARMY" already in place and operating under color of law on our shores. 

Trump will do this in spite of great resistance from guilty members of Congress, some members of the "Senior Executive Service" and guilty senior Agency personnel. 

The ax has already fallen in the "STATE OF ARKANSAS".  I predict that the next bastion of criminality to go down will be the "STATE OF NEVADA".

As the wheels of Justice begin to grind, the extent of the corruption and the horrendous nature of the corruption will be exposed. You will see how good men were drugged and tempted and lied to and then systematically forced to do hideous things by blackmailers. 

You will see how bad men rose to power and how they used political power and legal chicanery to undermine our lawful government, while protecting themselves from the consequences of their own criminality.  

If anyone from the UN CORP wants to complain about it, they will be facing a new coalition of nationalist governments. 

The Territorial United States has been under martial law since 1863, so that is no news at all.  Recent reports that Russia is mobilizing have implied that they are doing so to attack us.  Not so. They are actually sending a very stern message to the EU, especially France and Benelux and Switzerland.  

Russia has saved our bacon on at least three occasions, and is preparing to do so again, because a nationalist America helps preserve other nationalist governments worldwide, including the nationalist government that has developed in Russia over the past four decades.  

The riots you are seeing in France and Germany mark the realization of the rank and file population that they are being taxed to death for no reason, and that this is being shoved down their throats by globalist corporations and political puppets that have no loyalty to France, no loyalty to the French People, no loyalty even to common decency. Ditto the same in Germany.

As these criminal corporate interests are rooted out and exposed to the light of day and the various schemes that they have used to defraud and oppress people under color of law are unraveled, a Great Awakening worldwide will come.

People will finally understand what "self-government" requires of them. They will understand money and credit, too.  All the snake-oil and idolatry of Babylon will be revealed and in the revealing, it will be overcome.

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Day Nine, Grandma's Christmas

By Anna Von Reitz

People sometimes ask me how I got to be so smart.  I prefer to think of it in terms of ---how did everyone miss this?

Now, it's true that I continued to educate myself throughout my life.  I didn't just leave school and never pick up another book, so that is probably part of the story--but,  I actually think that it also has to do with a peculiar kind of mindset that is more common among mathematicians and scientists.

Here is an example of it gleaned from the Christmas Card rack:

"Christmas is a strange season. We sing songs in front of dead trees and eat candy out of our socks." --- John Wagner

There's a dispassionate observer in me that doesn't have a dog in the fight. I can just stand back and look.  And when you do that, it's surprising what you see both in terms of forests and trees. 

This Christmas is going to be different.  No big family dinner.  Probably no Christmas tree, either.  Darn few presents, if any.  I just don't have the energy and "heart" and money for it after all that has gone on here---- but Christmas will come anyway, just like it came for the Whos down in Whoville.

Christmas for us is a time to remember the widows and widowers, the elderly, the sick, the prisoners --- all those who feel forgotten and alone and left out.  It's a time to make sure children have what they need as they face a long winter, not a time to con them with lies about Santa Claus.

So I am writing Christmas cards to men who are falsely detained and imprisoned, away from their families and friends for no good reason.  I am stocking up depleted shelves at the food bank.  I am "making my rounds" to the elderly and the sick and the widowed.  I am lighting my one little candle in the dark.

Mother Theresa was right.  It's not the grand gestures and tons of money that matter.  It's the small things done with love that add up, and that create happiness and peace of mind. 

So I look at our one tattered string of Christmas lights that are still hanging on our porch rails and which, thanks to my husband plugging them in, are shining their bright colors against the December night ---- and I smile.

It's not just what we do at Christmas, it's what we do all throughout the year.  No doubt that is a big reason that I don't feel the stress most people do, and just plod along being pleased with whatever I can do, to smile a little brighter and be a littler kinder this time of year.

That's what I am doing in the midst of the earthquake disaster, and it's what I recommend to all of you.  Just call it quits to all the craziness and be at peace. Wait for the season to come to you. Watch for those times when you can be of service and notice all the people around you, some of whom need some extra care.

Last night as I was leaving the grocery store I stopped to stuff a fiver into the collection pot for the Salvation Army.  When we had the Miller's Reach Fire disaster, they were the first group that came to help and they were the last to go, and now with the earthquake, here they are again.  If I have any change at all in my pocket, their bell-ringers never go without a donation. 

The man doing the collection was old and black as coal and he had been standing there alone ringing his bell for a long time, with all the busy, distracted holiday shoppers rushing past him.  I was the only one in that whole big crowd to stop and fumble with my purse and smile at him as I folded the bill and stuffed it into the familiar metal pot.

"Thank you!" he said.  I paused and looked him in the eye, and said, "Thank you, for being here."  He gave me back a tired smile and a look of rapid understanding. He was standing there for you and me and everyone else, doing our good works for us. 

That's why when I hear the bell-ringers of The Salvation Army, I don't cringe and look away; in fact, I lift my head and feel a little lighter, as if some unseen yoke shifted off my weary shoulder.  There are good people in this world. They might not be fashionable, but they are true, and day after day and year after year, like the Gideons, they quietly serve their mission.

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The Implications for Police

By Anna Von Reitz

Following my apparently earth-shattering comments yesterday revealing that the police are not functioning as Public Law Officers and that they are in fact organized under Pinkerton Laws that allowed the railroads and the Pony Express to establish private security agencies to protect the mail and the transportation corridors (the US Marshals Service is the only legitimate present-day heir to all that specific legislation) there have been a lot of comments asking:

Have you talked to all the Sheriffs and people involved in "law enforcement" about this?

God knows, I've tried.

We have 3,100 elected County "Sheriffs" in this country, most of whom are good and honest men who respect the lives and property of their constituents. Of course, we also have some real cads who have gotten into office, too, and a fair number of what in the military are called, "flat asses"-- men who think that their job is to sit at a desk and mark time.

The cads don't want to hear what I have to say because its bad for business. The flat asses don't care about much of anything. And the good men usually react in denial of the, "That can't be right!" kind.

But I am right about this, and it is true.

They are all "private security personnel" if they are working for incorporated "States of States" or incorporated "Counties" and most if not all of them are acting under color of law.

Most of them don't even know this.

They think that they are Public Law Officers, just like the people assume they are Public Law Officers. They assume that they are occupying an elected Public Office and working under a Public Bond--- and they are not.

Those elections are all private in-house corporate elections decided by "registered voters" --- corporate franchisees, and there is no public bonding for their "State of State" and "County" offices, either.

Why? Because the "State of Tennessee" is a private corporation and so is the "STATE OF TENNESSEE". And so are all their incorporated "Counties". They all have EINs, CAGE numbers, are registered on Dunn and Bradstreet, identified on Thomas.com, on Manta.com, and traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Do we all need baseball bats over the head before the reality of this travesty and lawlessness and ongoing unauthorized plundering of the "Public Trust" sets in?

We have court cases in which the judges (including US Supreme Court Justices) have very flatly told the public that policemen are not obligated to protect their lives or property.

We have the Mack and Prinz v. USA, Inc. Supreme Court case that "allows" private security personnel to enforce the Public Law, including the Constitution, if the individual "Sheriff" feels the whim to do so.

And if he doesn't, well, that's okay, too.

Many of my readers well-remember and my website fully documents letters that I sent to the "County" "Sheriff" in Grant County Oregon and to "County Sheriffs" in general at the time of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Occupation in an effort to explain exactly these issues --- and to encourage the individuals to exercise their "prerogative" guaranteed by Mack and Prinz v. USA, Inc. to enforce the Public Law and uphold the Constitution.

The information fell on deaf ears. The Constitutional guarantees owed to the Bundys and to the others were trampled.

Instead of securing the life, person, and property of LaVoy Finicum, the "County" Sheriffs conspired with equally private and unauthorized "law enforcement agents" working for the "FBI" [which was and so far as I know, still is, owned and operated by the same private municipal corporation as the "BLM"] to ambush and murder a completely innocent American under color of law.

In the aftermath of that shameful and still-unpunished crime, the "County" Sheriffs involved and the FBI all closed ranks and lied through their teeth about the whole operation, which led to two more years of false arrest and detainment and abuse of the Bundys and their Co-Defendants.

Please bear in mind that the Bundys and those with them would still be in jail and being subjected to torture, solitary confinement, etc., etc., etc., if not for one very courageous and determined Witness against this criminality and corruption.

There was still one American left in the FBI who knew his duty to the Public Law----and owned it.

The plain fact is that none of these men-- these "Sheriffs" and "FBI Agents" have any public office at all, and no authority even based on the Pinkerton Laws, because nothing they are doing has anything to do with the mail service or the railroads.

So far as we are concerned, if we call it for what it is, they are simply armed thugs operating under color of law at the behest of private for-profit foreign corporations and their local franchises.

They have, as I told the "Sheriff" of Grant County, exactly the same authority and status as a floorwalker at Walmart-- except for the fact that these "Sheriffs" and "Agents" are operating under color of law, and the floorwalker is being honest about what he is doing.

If you dig a little deeper into the quagmire of racketeering, injustice, and insanity this has inspired, you will find a great many good men being blackmailed because they have in fact committed gross crimes while unaware of their status -- crimes like the murder of LaVoy Finicum, the attack on Ruby Ridge, the Branch Davidians, and literally millions of lesser offenses, like the seizure of private property --- automobiles and home and land, etc., under false pretenses.

Having once stumbled into the mud, it must seem to them that there is no way out and that they have to continue to lie and do the bidding of the perpetrators of all this corruption.

There are in fact several options made available to them by Mack and Prinz v. USA, Inc. and by the actual Public Law of this country.

They can en masse turn "state's evidence" and report all the crimes to the public and plea for amnesty.

They can individually decide to enforce the Public Law and the guarantees of the Constitution and do their Public Duty--- which includes arresting any federally-connected employee who violates the rights or steals the assets of any American.

And that includes the District Attorneys as well as FBI Agents.

We have a real problem in this country that is caused by malfunctioning and corrupt District Attorneys, who protect corrupt "Sheriffs" and attorneys as employees of the same corporations the D.A.s work for, and who also knowingly or unknowingly misdirect the "Sheriffs" and attorneys.

After all, who was it at Waco, directing the fire bombing of the Branch Davidians and grossly violating their right to life as well as their right to religious freedom? Murdering little children and innocent women in the name of saving them?

Janet Reno, USAG.

If she weren't already dead, there are many of us who would happily give her the thumb's down a second time around.

When enough people wake up and remember who is who and what is what and who works for who around here, it won't take "an act of Congress" to arrest these thugs. The moment they step off of actual federal property they will be in the jaws of the actual Public Law and in the hands of the Living God.

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Motors Running

By Anna Von Reitz

Well, well, well! I have finally struck a nerve!

Who knew that the lobbyists had taken charge in DC? Who knew that the police are all acting as Pinkerton Agents? ---aka, hired mercenaries operating under color of law?

I did. I thought everyone knew. But that has proven to be a mistake on my part in the past, so I just thought I'd mention it in passing, and now this is creating a hullaballoo, too.

Apparently, my comment that we should call the Republicans the Capitalist Lobby and the Democrats the Communist Lobby for clarity was the real knee-thumper yell-producer.

Rather than go all "Politically Correct" and apologetic, I will add that changing the names and the understanding of people about which party is which, might also clarify things better for the politicians themselves.

In recent years the Satanist Vermin among us have been pulling their old tricks of infiltrating the ranks of the opposition and pretending to be their opposition.

Thus we have "RINOs" and "DINOs" --- people who are "Republicans in Name Only" and "Democrats in Name Only" and while some of these individuals appear to be genuinely confused or to honestly straddle traditional party lines, most of it is just Satanic horse-play to cause trouble and confusion and see how far they can get.

Renaming the political parties for what they truly are would bring attention to the fact that no, we shouldn't have political lobbies running our government and if you are going to join one, they really should make the effort to trim their gig lines and sell an honest product.

Truth in advertising and all that.

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Let's get some discussion going on this, instead of bashing Anna Von Reitz

 If you come to this blog just to bash Anna, when in fact others are analyzing many of the same problems and calling for solutions, how about commenting on this video. And how about YOU come up with solutions that make more sense than Anna does. In other words put your brain to work in a positive manner instead of a negative one for a change.

Because the dynamics this guy is explaining are Right Here Right Now!



Let's cut to the chase here. We are headed for a Major War on American soil if we don't solve the problems outlined in this video. I won't call it a Civil war, because no war is civil.

What are Your Solutions. If you don't like Anna's solutions Give us your Peaceful solutions!

If you can't come up with better solutions that are peaceful, then you better get some guns because you are going to need them!

Paul Stramer

Second Sunday In Advent

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's The Church's Year On this day the Church not only makes mention in the office of the priest, but also in the Mass, of the two different Advents of Christ, that by His first gracious advent may be gladdened, and by His last terrible coming at the day of judgment we may be impressed with salutary fear. With this intention she cries out at the Introit: INTROIT People of Sion, behold the Lord shall come to save the nations; and the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard in the joy of your heart (Is. 30:30). Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep (Ps. 79). 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 Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Thine only-begotten Son: that through His advent we may be worthy to serve Thee with purified minds; who livest and reignest with God the Father, in union with the Holy Ghost, God for ever and ever. Amen. EPISTLE (Rom. 15:4‑13). Brethren, what things soever were written, were written for our learning, that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures, we might have hope. Now the God of patience and of comfort grant you to be of one mind one towards another, according to Jesus Christ: that with one mind, and with one mouth, you may glorify God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wherefore receive one another, as Christ also hath received you unto the honor of God. For I say that Christ Jesus was minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. But that the Gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and will sing to thy name. And again he saith: Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again: Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles, and magnify him, all ye people. And again, Isaias saith: There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise up to rule the Gentiles, in him the Gentiles shall hope. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, and in the power of the Holy Ghost. What does St. Paul teach in this epistle? The Jews and Gentiles who had been converted to the Christian faith were disputing among themselves at Rome, in regard to abstinence and the use of certain kinds of food, reproaching each other severely; the Jews boasted that the Savior, according to promise, was born of their nation, thus claiming Him from the Gentiles, who, in their turn, reproached the Jews for their ingratitude in having crucified Him. To restore harmony St. Paul shows that each had reason, the Jews and Gentiles alike, to praise God, to whose grace and goodness they owed all; that each had in Him a Redeemer in whom they could hope for salvation; and he warns them not to deprive themselves of that hope by contentions. By these words the Apostle also teaches that we too, have great reason to praise God, and to thank Him for calling us, whose forefathers were heathens, to the Christian faith, and to guard against losing our salvation by pride, envy, impurity, etc. Why should we read the Scriptures? That we may know what we are to believe, and do in order to be saved, as all Scripture inspired by God is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice (11 Tim. 3:16); that we may learn from what Christ has done for us, and the saints for Christ, to be patient in our sufferings, and to be consoled and encouraged by their example. To derive this benefit from the Scriptures, the Catholic must read them by the light of that Spirit through whose assistance they came into existence, who lives and remains for ever with the Church: that is, the light of the Holy Ghost must be sought, that their meaning may be read according to the sense of the Church and not be explained according to the reader's judgment. For he who reads the holy Scriptures by the light of his own private judgment, must, as experience shows, of necessity diverge from the right path, become entangled in manifold doubts, and at last, lose the faith entirely. For this reason the Catholic Church has very properly limited the reading of the Bible, not as has been falsely asserted, unconditionally forbidden it, but she allows the reading of those editions only, which are accompanied by notes and explanations that the unity of faith may not be disturbed, and that among Catholics there may not be the terrible bewilderment of the human intellect which has taken place among the different heretical sects who have even declared murder, bigamy and impurity to be permissible on the authority of the Bible. We are to consider also, that Christ never commanded the Bible to be written or read, and that not the readers but the hearers and the followers of the word of God by which is meant those who hear the word of God in sermons, and keep it, will be saved! Why is God called a God of patience, of consolation, and of hope? He is called a God of patience because He awaits our repentance, of consolation, because He gives us grace to be patient in crosses and afflictions, and so consoles us inwardly, that we become not faint‑hearted; of hope, because He gives us the virtue of hope, and because He desires to be Himself the reward we are to expect after this life. ASPIRATION O God of patience, of consolation and of hope, fill Our hearts with peace and joy, and grant that we may become perfect in all good, and by faith, hope and charity, attain the promised salvation. GOSPEL  (Mt. 11:2‑10). At that time, when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, sending two of his disciples, he said to him: Art thou he that art to come, or do we look for another? And Jesus making answer, said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen. The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them: and blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me. And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind? But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold, they that are clothed in soft garments are in the houses of kings. But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my Angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee. Why was John in prison? He was in prison, and lost his life, because he had rebuked king Herod for his adulterous marriage with his brother's wife (Mt. 14:310). Truth, as the proverb says, is certainly a very beautiful mother, but she usually bears a very ugly daughter: Hatred. St. John experienced that speaking the truth very often arouses hatred and enmity against the speaker. Let us learn from him to speak the truth always, when duty requires it, even if it brings upon us the greatest misfortunes, for, if with St. John we patiently bear persecution, with St. John we shall become martyrs for truth. Why did St. John send his disciples to Christ? That they should learn from Christ, who had become illustrious by His teachings and miracles, that He was really the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world, whom they should follow. Why did Christ say to the disciples of St. John: "Go and say to John, the blind see, the lame walk, etc."? That they should, by His miracles, judge Him to be the Messiah because the prophets had predicted that He would work such miracles (Is. 35:5‑6). "Christ," says St. Cyril, "proved that He was the Messiah by the grandeur as well as by the number of His miracles." Why does Christ add: "And blessed is he who shall not be scandalized in me"? Christ used these words in reference to those who would be scandalized by His poverty, humility and ignominious death on the cross, and who for these reasons would doubt and despise Him, and cast Him away; though "man," as St. Gregory says, "owes all the more love to the Lord, his God, the more humiliations He has borne for him." What was our Lord's object in the questions He asked concerning St. John? His object was to remove from St. John all suspicion of failing in faith in Him; and to praise the perseverance with which, although imprisoned and threatened with death, he continued to fill his office of preacher, thus constituting him an example to all preachers, confessors and superiors, that they may never be deterred by human respect, or fear of man, or other temporal considerations, from courageously fulfilling their duties. Our Lord commended also rigorous penance, exhibited by St. John's coarse garments and simple food, that we may learn, from his example, penance and mortification. Why does Christ say that John was "more than a prophet"? Because St. John was foretold by the prophet Malachias as was no other prophet; because of all the prophets he was the only one who with his own eyes saw Christ and could point Him out, and was the one to baptize Him: and because like an angel, a messenger of God, he announced the coming of the Savior, and prepared the way for the Lord. How did St. John prepare the way for the Savior? By his sermons on penance, and by his own penitential life He endeavored to move the hearts of the Jews, that by amending their lives, they might prepare to receive the grace of the Messiah, for God will not come with His grace into our hearts if we do not prepare His way by true repentance. ASPIRATION O Lord Jesus, by the praise Thou didst accord to Thy forerunner St. John, for his firmness and austerities, inflame our hearts with love to imitate his steadfastness and penance, that we may never do anything to please man which may be displeasing to Thee; grant us also Thy grace that we too, like St. John, may have those who are confided to our care, instructed in the Christian doctrine. CONSOLATION IN SUFFERING "The God of patience and of comfort, the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:5,13). What gives us the greatest consolation in adversities? The strong and fervent belief that each and every thing that happens to us, comes to us for our own good from God, and that whatever evil befalls us, is by the will or permission of God. Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God (Ecclus. 11:14). If we have received good things at the hand of God (Job 2:10), saith the pious job in his affliction, "why should we not receive evil?" We should be fully convinced that without the permission of God not a single hair of our head shall perish (Lk. 21:18), much less can any other evil be done to us by man or devil (Job 1); we should have a steadfast confidence that if we ask Him, God can and will assist us in our sufferings, if it be for our salvation. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? And if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands (Is. 49:15‑16); we should hope for abundant reward in the future life, which we will merit by patience in our sufferings, for that which is at present momentary and light of our tribulation, worketh for us above measure exceedingly an eternal weight of glory (II Cor. 4:17); we should remember that all complaints and murmurs against the dispensation of God are useless, and lead only to harm and shame; Who hath resisted Him, and hath had peace? (Job 9:4) we should have a vivid remembrance of our sins, for which we have long since deserved the eternal punishments of hell - hence the well-known saying of St. Augustine: O Lord, here cut, here burn, but spare me in eternity. No other way leads to the kingdom of heaven than the way of the cross, which Christ Himself, His sorrowing mother, and all the saints had to tread. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so to enter into His glory? (Lk. 24:26) Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:21). And we should not forget that sorrows and adversities are signs of God's love, and manifest proofs of being His chosen ones. Whom the Lord loveth He chastiseth, and He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth (Heb. 12:6. compare 7-11). PRAYER IN SORROW O almighty, kind and merciful God! who hast said: "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 49:15), behold relying upon Thy word, I take refuge in Thee in my trouble. Give honor to Thy name, therefore, and deliver me, if it be pleasing to Thee and beneficial for me, that all may know, Thou art our only help. Amen.