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Tuesday, January 13, 2026

International Public Notice: Chatham House Smoke

 By Anna Von Reitz

Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents; Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals. 

Susan Kokinda's only problem is that she doesn't go back far enough in history to dig out the root of the dandelion, but she makes a good start: 


As we just signaled to Mexico yesterday, the "Americans" don't owe them anything, but Britain and the US Corp do.  

We have to keep track of the Slimy Limeys so that they don't hang their debts on Third Parties who have already been victimized enough.

Britain is the Enemy and not just the Enemy at our gates, but the Enemy of virtually every other nation on Earth.  

Britain never gave up its colonial empire, it simply changed the jurisdiction it was operating in --- a matter of putting on a blue Territorial uniform and using Admiralty Law instead of Land Law. 

Nobody caught on.  Things appeared to go on as before.  And here we all are, 160 years later, facing the biggest con game and racketeering scheme in human history, all brought to us by.... the Brits. 

There's a reason that Britain has been the fulcrum and focus point in two World Wars: Britain caused both of them, and wants to start a third. 

Why? 

They start the fight, they finance both sides of the fight, then they collect "war" reparations from the winner.  They don't care about the loss of human life, because they aren't really British, either.  

It's an odd national-level reprise of the scandals rocking the Royal Family.  

Most of us only have to wonder who our Father is.  The Royals, as it turns out, not only have that traditional worry, but have to worry about who their Mother is, too.   

For those who don't know, Meghan Markle tried to pass off two totally surrogate children as Royal heirs, which set off a rash of DNA tests.... and, true to form, nobody is who they say they are. 

Even Prince Philip appears to have fathered a Royal Bastard and posthumously granted his own half-Austrian grandson (masquerading as Prince Edward's son) his personal estate and heirship.  And Philip was the only true Royal in the house. 

In the same way, they have a wife-swapping government.  The British Government is actually a German/Continental Government, not British, just as the U.S. Government is British, not American. 

This morning we awakened to the emissaries of Chatham House, the "British" Think Tank, trying to position Donald Trump as an irresponsible madman and "America" as a threat to European security.  

Trump's sin is that he has recognized the true Enemy of Humanity and is making a break with Europe and refusing to continue an arrangement that would leave this country paying for 96% of European Defense costs -- a situation that has persisted since the Second World War.   

Trump isn't a madman for doing this, but he is mad in the sense of being angry.  He now sees how the British Government -- or what substituted itself for the British Government -- has deceived and bullied and defrauded this country, enslaved its people using "lawfare" and operated what appeared to be our government as a storefront, just as the same parties gained control of the Roman Catholic Church and used it as a storefront for infamy. 

He also discovered the Letters of Marque that the British Monarch issued to the City of London and its Bar Associations in 1829, allowing them to prey upon the American people.  This is basically a Royal License legalizing inland piracy against Americans, at the same time that they were under contract to protect us on the High Seas and Navigable Inland Waterways.    

Pope Francis removed similar Letters of Marque issued by the Vatican.  That occurred in 2013.  Up to that point, both Federal Service Vendors had been treating this country as a giant piece of meat to be carved up and used as chattel for their commercial and municipal corporation debts.  

The same parties did the same thing to the British Isles, Canada, Australia, Western Europe, Japan, the Philippines.... and every other country they gained influence over.  It's a form of violent colonialism that we have dubbed "Corporate Feudalism" executed under color of law and conditions of secrecy and deceit. 

The chief enforcement mechanism that ensured their success was the silent weaponization of the legal system and in this country, the so-called "district courts" operated under False Presumptions in the States of the Union.  That's why we have required that these "district" courts be removed from the States of the Union and restricted to the District of Columbia. 

Donald Trump has used his Office as Commander-in-Chief, a Naval Office, to try to bring an end to 160 years of gross criminality and breach of trust masquerading as a justice system.  As the name "District Court" suggests, these are courts of the District of Columbia that have operated in the States of the Union and been used to illegally confiscate American assets and to terrorize and subject the American people.  

The same basic system of racketeering, misrepresentation, impersonation of the victims, and imposition of foreign law using courts and court personnel as undisclosed Foreign Agents, has served to practice personage and barratry against helpless civilian populations throughout the world. 

This situation has prompted the Federal Postal Court to issue Orders to arrest employees of the court system, Bar Attorneys and Judges, Clerks and Police hired by the courts to enforce their decrees, and authorized their internment in FEMA camps: 


Under Admiralty Law, the same persons who have indicted Donald Trump and latched upon his property are facing charges for Treason.  Under Postal Law, they have violated numerous fundamental international laws and codes.

This explains why they are so hot to trot to impeach Trump, seize upon his assets, and use their "lawfare" system against him.  

This includes members of the U.S. and United States Congresses, employees of the Department of Justice/DOJ, and members of the International and American Bar Associations, and members of Agencies and Police Forces employed by them as enforcers of this racketeering system. 

The Letters of Marque authorized by British Monarchs almost two centuries ago have finally been withdrawn and the entire scheme in gross breach of trust has been exposed.  

This institutionalized racketeering scheme has resulted in the illegal confiscation of trillions of dollars-worth of assets and labor, and the peonage and enslavement of millions of people worldwide. 

Donald Trump is only one of the most recent and famous victims of this criminal legal cartel run by the Inner City of London.  

So, Donald Trump has them for treason and they have him (they think) for what they are describing as fraud; true to form, they are blaming the victim for the crimes they are committing themselves. 

What they are trying to spawn is another "civil war" in which government bureaucracies take up arms against each other, but we are not allowing that.  

Both these Federal Service Vendors are our employees, and ultimately, they both belong to the Pope.  

We do not grant our permission for our federal employees to take up arms in any kind of mercenary conflict disguised as a "war" on our shores.  

We do authorize the deployment of military and naval forces to conduct the immediate arrest and internment of all undeclared Foreign Agents, Territorial and Municipal, as criminals engaged in racketeering, fraud, personage, barratry, and unlawful conversion.

They are all being arrested initially under 18 USC 1001, popularly known as the Federal False Statements Statute.  This is because they have used fraudulent conveyance of language to commit property crimes and promote both peonage and enslavement. 

These and even more serious crimes of fraud and misrepresentation resulting in crimes of state have been routinely committed by members of these foreign courts acting under False Legal Presumptions. 

Though Municipal Employees will argue that Territorial Code does not apply to them, The Constitution of the United States --- their Service Contract --- does.  So do the general principles and agreed-upon conventions of international law, including postal and commercial law, which their operations have violated. 

These are not political matters.  They have nothing to do with race or religion.  They are simply crimes against humanity by commercial and municipal corporations and their personnel, all seeking coercive power and unjust enrichment.     

The British Municipal Government, which is ultimately vested in the EU Parliament and serves Continental European interests, not British interests, has been draining the British Union and the Anglican Church dry for generations. 

Keir Starmer's treason against the interests of the British people and the Constitutional Monarchy and against the results of Brexit are "legal" in the foreign jurisdiction of the air, where he found himself by virtue of the same fraudulent conveyances of language and false appointments discussed above, resulting in the same situation that Donald Trump is in: facing treason in one jurisdiction, and fraud charges in another.  

Given the options, we consider that Donald Trump made the wiser choice, even though it put his own property assets at risk.  Being condemned by criminals means exoneration by the righteous. 

This period of history is drawing swiftly to an end, amid chaos in which identities, roles, and jurisdictions have been deliberately misrepresented, blurred, and confused by the Masters of Deceit.  

Chatham House's attempt to identify "the Americans" and Donald Trump in particular as a "threat" to European security, has been duly noted; we find this particularly obnoxious because Chatham House, pretending to be a British Institution, is representing the same EU criminals who are responsible for enslaving generations of British people, denigrating them, defrauding them, and denying them the guarantees and protections that they are contractually owed by these same Perpetrators.  

This misrepresentation of the victim as the threat, is typical of the diabolical lies used to promote and protect institutionalized fraud and injustice, enforce non-consensual citizenship obligations, and promote unjust enrichment via illegal and unlawful asset seizures. 

As things stand, hundreds of millions of innocent people all over the world have been surreptitiously coerced into peonage and enslavement rackets misrepresented as citizenship obligations -- and this has gone on for six generations.  

Chatham House needs to blow it's own smoke up its own rump; nobody is deceived anymore, and anyone caught supporting, aiding, or abetting the Undeclared Foreign Agents involved in the Great Fraud will find themselves in the position of being accomplices to the most virulent, longest lasting, and most damaging organized crime spree in history.  

These crimes against humanity as a whole have been conceptualized by the Roman Curia, implemented by the British Crown, and enforced by the Inner City of London.  

However, this brief recitation is not sufficient, because the Roman Catholic Church was used as a storefront by the Roman Curia, the British Crown was used as a storefront by the European Union -- and the Inner City of London acted as both the Servant and the Master. 

Before his death, Pope Francis admitted that the entire Social Pyramid Scheme and the use of corporations to impersonate people was adopted in the early 1200's because the Church needed a new Schtick and means to pay off its Crusade debts -- and all the "legal fictions" created ever since, with the single exception of natural trusts, are void.  They simply don't exist and never did. 

Corporations are literally as fictional as Pippa Longstocking. 

What remains are the natural trusts --- the trusts we have with and in each other, the trusts we create when we name living Guardians for our children, when we express our Will regarding ourselves and our assets, and when we knowingly name specific living trustees to act for us upon our absence, death, or permanent disability. 

These simple trust agreements created between living men and women and living trustees (people not acting as officers of a court or elected officials of a government)  supersede any contract or treaty or law existing in the realm of trade or commerce.  

This is why the announcement and pronouncement of the Federal Postal Court against the Undeclared Foreign Agents (that is, primarily foreign court officers and agents) included prohibitions against Powers of Attorney.  

There can be no Powers of Attorney applicable to a living man. 

Living men retain their identity and their agency, which is an inviolable law of nature.  They have the right to contract and the right to refuse contract as well; it is this latter Point of Law which has finally been sharpened and driven into the heart of the beast made of paper and greed. 

We are getting down to the gut level of an ancient and horribly destructive Fraud Scheme, one that has been used for generations to purloin the wealth and steal the productivity of millions of innocent people for the benefit of corrupt institutions and guilty so-called elites.  

"But nothing shall be hidden....that will not come to light." 

Donald Trump has now endured the injustice and danger suffered by every other  American, every Brit, every Aussie, every Frenchman, every German, every Japanese, every Filipino, every Libyan, every Native American --- he has become a victim of the corrupt "legal" system, has lost his beautiful home and his business enterprises, but take heart.  He has saved his soul.  

The corrupt legal system and those promoting it, are being torn apart and facing justice at last, and in days to come, we shall all know the blessings of lawfulness and peace again for the first time in six generations. 

Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents; Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals. 

Issued by: 
Anna Maria Riezinger -- Fiduciary
The United States of America
In care of: Box 520994
Big Lake, Alaska 99652

January 12th 2026

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Monday, January 12, 2026

Special Consignment Sale of 500 Ounces of .999 fine silver rounds.

 From Paul Stramer

We have an order of 500 ounces of our Prospector divisible rounds on consignment and available for immediate delivery from our customer in Montana. 

These won't last long. The owner will pay the shipping by UPS ground with full insurance, and your price is only $85.00 per ounce. That is below spot price today. 

So  the total is $42,500.00 shipped right to your door for 1 box of 500 ounces in the original packaging from the mint. They are in tubes of 20 rounds, and 25 tubes in the box.

These won't last long. These are .999 fine silver.

Please contact me to order these. I will get your email address and send you detailed instructions about how to send the funds.

First come, first served.  

Paul Stramer  pstramer@gmail.com  406 889 3183




International Public Notice: About the State Show, Silver Derivative Bust, Etc.

 By Anna Von Reitz

Imagine that you are a hard-working mouse in a laboratory setting, learning a maze.   At first, it was pretty simple.  You used your nose to route your way the maze to a lever and, after a little futzing around, you learned to push on the lever, which then released a kernel of corn.  

Over time, the kernel of corn was replaced with a fake kernel of corn made from Purina Rodent Food.  You wrinkled your nose, but you ate it.  And you kept pushing the lever as usual.  

Then, they substituted the Rodent Food "kernels" with corn-flavored cellulose "kernels", which have almost no nutritional value, but you ate them just to have something in your stomach.  Eventually, your body starts to fail, because you are malnourished.  Yet you are working just as hard, maybe harder. 

This is what the European banksters and their American co-conspirators did with your money.  They kept you hard at work running your maze, pushing your lever, and slowly, they cut their operational costs and plumped up their profits by degrading your "food" -- what you get in exchange for your "performances".  

You started out with real corn (gold), and then, got corn-shaped Purina Rodent Chow (silver), and then, you got corn-shaped cellulose (plated silver coins).   In this way, the actual, factual value  of "your" money has been siphoned away.  What you have in your pocket has become increasingly worthless. 

They have purloined your precious metals under False Pretenses and color of law, creating huge stockpiles of precious metals under their control and in the legal sense, "ownership" -- while you, the actual owners stand denigrated and defrauded.   

Now, you are hearing phrases like "structural deficit in silver".  What this means is that there are more people holding receipts and futures contracts and certificates for exchange and delivery of physical silver than there is physical silver. 

This Ponzi Scheme is never exposed until someone shows up with a contract for physical silver and asks for it --- and the bank doesn't have enough silver to cover it.  This is what happened last weekend.  JPMorgan received a margin call they couldn't meet.  All of a sudden the Emperor had no clothes.  

JPMorgan was able to recover and bring forward enough silver to cover the draw-down against JPMORGAN, but Pandora's box was leveraged open.  People all over the world woke up in a sweat, thinking --- what if this certificate for silver that I am holding in good faith, is only "paper silver"?  What if there is no actual physical silver attached to this piece of paper? 

So, of course, they started looking at the "margins" --- the fluid edges of the trading market, where supplies of commodities are forever in motion as people and institutions that have the physical commodity for sale bring it forward for sale, and buyers compete for it.  They started looking at the Futures Market and the "exposure" created by all those contracts that could, theoretically, all require physical silver, not just a rollover of assets on paper.  

One way to look at this is that silver was grossly undervalued -- which we know, because traditionally, silver sells in open markets for 65% on average of whatever the gold price is. 
 
Using that knowledge, silver should be selling in today's market at $2972 per ounce, not something slightly over $80.  

The difference between these two prices is artificially created by market manipulations, but at the end of the day, silver is silver, and paper is paper. 

Silver prices have been grossly manipulated and suppressed for the better part of a hundred years.  Why?  Because the FEDERAL RESERVE, now a brand name owned by JP Morgan, owes us, Americans, silver in return for all the silver they borrowed from us under the 1934 Emergency Banking Act.  Plus interest. The banks want to buy cheap and sell dear, so they have purposefully suppressed the price of silver while they were buying it.  Now that they want to sell (while avoiding all mention of their debt to us and pretending we don't exist) the silver back into the market, they will do everything they can to increase the price of silver. 

On the other side of the commodities market, similar manipulations lead to gross overvaluation of stocks and securities being traded on the exchanges --- and one of the biggest "bubbles" ever has just burst.  

Millions of investors and even huge pension fund associations have been sucked into "promise the world" narratives associated with the development potential of Artificial Intelligence technologies.  These narratives have been very exciting and successful --- but haven't yielded the results.  The investment to benefit ratio is nothing like what the proponents have advertised and there is a sharp decline in repeat investment yield.  

For example, the cost of developing Grok 3 was very substantial, yet yielded very little practical utility benefit or "value" over Grok 2.  The same can be said for Grok 3 to Grok 4 investment parameters. 

Simply pouring gross amounts of money into something does not make it valuable, in the same way that having a contract for future deliveries of physical silver does not put silver in your hand.  

The eerie similarity of both the undervaluation of silver and the overvaluation of AI stocks is rooted in the same thing: manipulation, lack of corrective oversight, and lack of accountability.  

Millions of people are going to wake up tomorrow, January 12th 2025, and they will find that -- over the weekend -- the U.S. Congress passed legislation that appears to allow the central banks to seize savings and checking accounts--- and they can do it very easily, using the conversion of all the private bank accounts to FedNow accounts that already took place in June of 2023. 

Everything that you have in banks beginning tomorrow is "eligible" for seizure and the only remedy or restitution available will be the issuance of Central Bank Digital Tokens.  We have now arrived at corn kernels made of cellulose and dust. Just like the imposition of the Federal Reserve Note, the CBDT will be rammed down the throats of consumers under threat and duress, and color of law ---and this will give the Central Banks a new, unlawful and illegal monopoly on another currency. 

It's time to use your voice and your feet --- now. 

We have already objected to the takeover of all the accounts and recasting them as FedNow accounts.  

Issued by: 
Anna Maria Riezinger -- Fiduciary
The United States of America
In care of: Box 520994
Big Lake, Alaska 99652

January 11th 2026

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International Public Notice: Reply to Richard Wolff

 By Anna Von Reitz

Please keep in mind that the Americans and the American Government never stole anything from Mexico, not gold, not silver, not oil; those actions, if and when and where they occurred were all carried out by "the US" Incorporated, or "the USA" Incorporated, or both, two foreign federal service vendors that impersonated us and pretended to act for us.  

The Spanish-American War (1898) was actually a Spanish-USA War.  

And the USA, Inc, then as now, was a British Crown Corporation, not a country.  

The USA, Inc. claimed -- or let it be assumed--  that it was acting under delegated power "for" us, but please note, we and our Congress never authorized any war against Mexico and we never acted as a colonialist power, either. 

We are the ones that fought Britain for eight long years precisely to overturn their colonial expansions and abuses in North America.  We were colonists ourselves --- colonists who famously rebelled and successfully overturned the colonial system. 

So, in 1898, it was Great Britain, wearing our uniforms, and abusing our Title IV flag, and pretending that they were exercising our delegated powers--- that attacked Spain. 

Now, Richard Wolff is claiming that "we" owe Mexico $4.7 Trillion in essentially, reparations for colonial extraction of Mexican resources -- but we never received those resources or any benefit from them. 

Any purloined assets went into the pockets of the USA, Inc., and the British Monarch.  

So, we suggest that Mr. Wolff should get the identities straight and take it up with the British Parliament and the British Monarch ---  instead of slandering the American People and our lawful Government.  

We believe that Mr. Wolff, like his Spanish predecessors, has -- as they had -- ample cause to know the truth.  Everyone on Earth can  read our Service Contracts with the USA, Inc., and see that: (1) they are limited to defending our country's commercial shipping on the High Seas and Navigable Inland Waterways; (2) administer developing Territories until they are enrolled as States of the Union; (3) have a say in international trade policies and agreements --- and very little else.  As a result, if their "Congress" declares "war" it can only be within the context and jurisdiction of their contracts.  

The Spanish Government apparently knew this and refused to turn over gold assets of the Guadalupe Hidalgo Trust to them.  Gold is a land jurisdiction asset, and the USA, Inc., is a sea jurisdiction government service provider.  The Spanish Government cashiered the gold in an account in the Central Bank of Mexico where it sat for the better part of two centuries, serving as an asset base for the Central Bank of Mexico.  

Now, technically, the Guadalupe Hidalgo gold was owed to the land jurisdiction government of this country, but we were not in Session; this is the whole reason the gold remained with the Central Bank of Mexico and served its benefit all these years instead of providing  infrastructure and services and agricultural investment in seven (7) western American States that the funds were earmarked to benefit.  

The value of this land jurisdiction gold trust was estimated at 33 Trillion ten years ago.  And it is supposed to benefit our States of the Union as settlement for land bonds issued by the Spanish Government.  The Central Bank of Mexico had the benefit of these gold assets all these years, not us. 

So --- no, not only do "the Americans" not owe Mexico any reparations for stolen resources, but the Central Bank of Mexico appears to owe us a very large amount of gold.  We are the ones who stood good for those land bonds issued by the Spanish Government, not England, not Spain, not Mexico.  

The actual Balance Sheet of our accounts with Mexico stand at something north of $90 Trillion in gold owed to us by Mexico's Central Bank, and zero owed on our side, for any purloined natural resources.  Those were stolen by British Territorials. 

In this case and in all similar cases worldwide -- remember -- the actual Americans don't need your resources.  We are not a colonialist power now and never were.  So the story and the narrative Mr. Wolff is trying to spin, isn't about us.  

It's about the British Territorial United States Government and the USA, Inc. --- Federal Service Vendors that "went into business for themselves" as of 1861.

Please note: we know that Mexico is a poor country and we have sympathy for them and the resources stolen from them, because we have suffered the same mistreatment from these run amok "service providers" who have operated under color of law and conditions of deceit.    

That said, we are still "holding the bag" on trillions of dollars worth of land bonds issued by the Spanish Government and our people have never seen any benefit from this non-consensual arrangement, so in fairness to all concerned: (1) settlement of Mexican-British Territorial United States accounts is a completely separate matter to be held apart from (2) settlement of Mexican-American United States accounts and issues.  

These are matters that require us to engage in internationally negotiated treaty settlements to officially cancel any unredeemed Spanish land bonds issued prior to 1898, and honor both the public trust indentures and the needs of humanity.  

We are not here to cheat or steal from Mexico or anyone else; in the same token, we don't expect to be the Fall Guys for the Brits and the Roman Pontiffs.

Issued by: 
Anna Maria Riezinger - Fiduciary
The United States of America
In care of: Box 520994
Big Lake, Alaska 99652

January 11th 2025

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Sunday, January 11, 2026

Urgent! Red Alert! Get Your Savings OUT First Thing Tomorrow!

 By Anna Von Reitz

The silver derivative fall-out has caused the problem.  
China is keeping the 25% of world silver they normally sell. 
The Pentagon is short of the physical silver and hoarding. 
Tesla and all the industrial buyers, too. 

You don't have to believe us --- this young man explains it in detail: 


Very fast changes in law occurred literally overnight, allowing the banks to Bail In to save the banks.  Then they offer you a Central Bank Digital "Token" as the only consideration "in exchange" for your savings. 

Buy any metal or physical asset that you can possibly buy and make use of --- that includes food, drink, trade goods, extra fuel, and donations to us to keep our work going in the interim. 

The "paper" silver fraud is imploding head on with reality.  And that is without us demanding return of our silver that has been kept on deposit by the "FEDERAL RESERVE" --- that is, JPMORGAN.  

They don't want a bank run, but you'd better run just the same.  

Hyperinflation is not just predicted.  It's tied up to the dock, ready to unload.  

Granna

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First Sunday After Epiphany- Feast of the Holy Family

 Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's

The Church's Year

In the Introit of the Mass of this day the Church exhorts us to a joyous adoration of Christ by the following words:

INTROIT Upon a high throne I saw a man sitting, whom a multitude of angels adore singing together: behold Him the name of whose empire is to eternity (Is. 6). Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve the Lord with gladness (Ps. 99:2). 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 Attend, O Lord, we beseech Thee, of Thy heavenly mercy, to the desires of Thy suppliant people; and grant that they may both perceive what they ought to do, and may have strength to fulfill the same. 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 (Rom. 12:1-5). Brethren, I beseech you by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God, your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind: that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. For I say, by the grace that is given me, to all that are among you, not to be more wise than it behooveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety: and according as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith. For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office: so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another in Christ Jesus our Lord.

EXPLANATION The apostle entreats, even conjures us by all the mercies we have received to bring to God a living sacrifice; namely, the mortification of our carnal desires, and the practice of every virtue, a holy, pure and immaculate sacrifice agreeable to God, intended for His glory alone; not a dead sacrifice as the Jews offered by killing animals, nor an unholy one as the Gentiles offered by polluting their bodies. This living, holy, God-pleasing sacrifice should be the offering of our body; but this does not exclude the sacrifice of our spirit, because all our actions, the corporal as well as spiritual, should be directed to God, the end for which we were created. The sacrifice of the spirit is made when we overcome pride, anger, impatience, etc., and by avoiding willful distractions during prayer and divine worship. Like David we should have a contrite and humble heart to present to the Lord; this is a most pleasing sacrifice in His eyes, one which He will never despise. Thus we render a reasonable service, and are, as St. Peter says (I Pet 2:9), a kingly priesthood, because we govern, like kings, our evil inclinations, and offer with body and soul a continual sacrifice to God. The apostle further exhorts us not to become like the world, that is, not to follow the corrupt manners and principles of the children of the world; not to desire those things at which the world aims; not to love that which the world loves; not to act as the world acts; but rather seek constantly to change our evil disposition, by combating our corrupt and evil inclinations and by practicing virtue instead. We must cease to be the old worldly man, and become a new heavenly man; to be such, we must carefully seek to know in all things what is pleasing to God, and therefore perfect and good. This is the necessary science to which St. Paul alludes, when he says that we should not wish to know more than is proper. All worldly arts and sciences will not help us to gain heaven, if we do not endeavor to learn thoroughly that which faith teaches, and what God demands. Even if we have made great progress in this holy science we should not presume to think more of ourselves than what we really are, nor violate charity by contempt of others less instructed, for God gives to every one, in some measure, the gift of faith. This gift of faith we should use in order to continually glorify the body of Christ, His Church, Whose members we are, and enable us to lead such a life that others, being edified, may be brought into the true fold.

ASPIRATION Grant, O Jesus, that by mortification, humility, and contrition, I may offer my body and my soul as a living, holy, and pleasing sacrifice to Thee, and that I may never defile them by impurities.

GOSPEL (Lk. 2:42-52). And when Jesus was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast, and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not. And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance. And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers. And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? did ye not know that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wis­dom, and age, and grace with God and men.

Why did our Savior go with His parents to Jerusalem to the temple?

Because God commanded (Deut. 16:16) that all the male Israelites should appear, three times a year on certain festivals, and offer sacrifice to Him in the temple; Jesus fulfilled this commandment to set us an example that we, according to the will of the holy Catholic Church, should willingly and devoutly be present at the services of the Church on Sundays and holydays of obligation. Neither the distance from the church nor the difficulties of the way should prevent our attendance, since Jesus did not shun a three days' journey to the temple.

Why does the gospel say according to the custom of the feast?

That we may understand, that like Mary and Joseph, we should be punctual in observing the ecclesiastical festivals and holy usages, and like true Catholics, should observe them. Parents should require their children at an early age to take part in prayer, attend church and school, and see that they conduct themselves quietly and reverently while there. Mary and Joseph took the holy Child Jesus with them to the temple.

Why did the child Jesus remain in Jerusalem?

Because of His love of prayer and communion with His Heavenly Father, and to show, even then, some rays of His divinity, by which to make known that He had come for the glory of His Father, and to procure our salvation. The glory of God and the salvation of our souls should be our chief object in life.

Why did Mary and Joseph search so diligently for Jesus?

Because they were fearful lest they should lose Him Whom they loved so exceedingly. We should learn from this, how careful we should be not to lose Jesus by sin, or having lost Him, how anxiously we should seek by penance to find Him. The parents of Jesus, by their diligent search and inquiries for the divine Infant, teach and rebuke those parents who care less for the Christian education of their children than for their temporal advantages, who pay no attention to the persons with whom their children associate, nor to the places which they frequent, whether they learn things that are useful to them, and who for the sake of some temporal advantage permit their children sinful intimacy with evil-minded persons. From these parents God will one day demand the souls of their children with severest justice.

Why was our Savior found in the temple in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions?

To teach us that we ought to seek the knowledge necessary for our salvation, and attend carefully to the sermons and instructions on Christian doctrine; we should by no means be ashamed to ask questions of our pastors when we are in doubt, and should listen to their answers. Was Christ, the Eternal Wisdom, ashamed to ask questions and to answer? Why should we ignorant people hesitate? It is much to be regretted that persons who have many important things concerning their spiritual welfare on their minds, through pride and false shame, would rather go to perdition than ask advice, solely for fear of showing their ignorance.

Why did Mary say: Son, why hast thou done so to us?

These words were forced from her by pain at the absence of her Son, Whom she loved above all things, and not by indignation, for He was blameless. Mary's conduct should teach parents to remember their duty of caring for their children, and punish them when they do wrong.

INSTRUCTION ON THE VIRTUE OF OBEDIENCE

He was subject to them (Lk. 2:51).

From this all Christians should learn to be obedient to the commandments of God and of the Church. God has united life or death, blessing or malediction with obedience or disobedience to His commandments, and the Bible (I Kings 15:22) shows that obedience pleases God more than sacrifices or the fat of rams, and that He despises disobedience as He does witchcraft and idolatry. We must be obedient to the Church, because Christ Himself with His holy Spirit lives in her, and governs her, and has said: Who hears not the Church, let him be to thee a heathen and a publican, therefore, shut out from eternal life. We must be obedient to our parents, because they are placed over us by God, and we are indebted to them, under Him, for life and many benefits. Those children who do not assist their parents when they are old, poor, and helpless, or are ashamed of them, have reason to be afraid, since even Christ Jesus, the God-Man, was obedient and subject in all things to His poor mother, and to a humble mechanic who was only His foster-father. Cursed be he that honoreth not his father and mother (Deut. 27:16); how much more cursed those who despise, deride and abandon their parents? Their eyes will one day be picked out by ravens (Prov. 30:17). If God commanded obstinate and disobedient children to be stoned (Dent. 21:20), what do those not deserve who even strike or abuse their parents?

How did Jesus advance in age, wisdom and grace?

He showed new effects of the wisdom and grace with which He was filled, as He advanced in years, and thus teaches us to progress the more in virtue, and fulfill the duties of our state in life that we may attain perfection hereafter.

ASPIRATION Most amiable Jesus! Who in the twelfth year of Thy age, didst permit Thyself to be found in the temple by Thy parents, and, as an example for us, wast humbly obedient to them, grant that we may diligently attend to the important affair of our salvation, willingly carry the yoke of Thy law from our youth, and be always obedient to the laws of Thy Church, to our parents, and superiors. Prevent uneducated youth from growing reckless, and preserve them from a scandalous life. Give parents wisdom and grace to educate their children according to Thy will in all virtue. Grant to us all, that we may never lose Thee by sin, or if we have lost Thee, anxiously to seek Thee, happily find Thee, and with Thy grace more and more increase in wisdom and in virtue. Amen.

TRUE PIETY

They found Him in the temple (Lk. 2:46).

Many people deceive themselves in regard to true piety, because their imagination represents it to them according to the effect produced by their passions or disposition of mind. He who fasts often and willingly believes that he is pious, though in his heart he nourishes a secret hatred, and while he fears to wet the tip of his tongue with wine, even with water, lest he should not live temperately enough, finds pleasure in detraction and slander, that unquenchable thirst for the blood of his neighbor. Another, because he is accustomed daily to recite a long string of prayers, esteems himself pious, though he gives vent afterwards to haughty, bitter, offensive language, hurting people at home and abroad. Another keeps his purse open for the poor, but keeps his heart ever closed to the love of his enemy, whom he will not forgive; another forgives his enemy with all his heart, but will not pay his creditors, until forced by law. All these think themselves pious, and are perhaps so regarded by the world, but in truth they are far from being pious. In what then does true piety consist? In the perfect love of God. This love is called the beautiful love, because it is the ornament of the soul, and attracts to itself with complacency the eyes of the Divine Majesty. When it strengthens us to do good, it is called the strong love; when it causes us to do that good quickly, carefully, and repeatedly, it is called piety. The ostrich has wings, it is true, but never uses them to fly; the chickens fly heavily and not high; but the eagles, the doves, and the swallows, fly high and swiftly, and do not easily tire. The sinners are but earthly people, they creep upon the ground; the just, who are still imperfect, rise, it is true, towards heaven but seldom, and then but slowly and heavily. But there are some, true, pious souls, who like the doves and the eagles soar high on strong, swift wings to God. In a word, piety is nothing else than a certain active, swift energy of the spirit, with which the strong love in us, or we with it, performs, as far as it is possible to us, all good. As the strong love urges us to keep God's commandments, the perfect love, that is, piety, urges us to keep them carefully and with all possible zeal.

No one is just or pious who does not keep all God's commandments without exception; for, to be just we must possess the strong love, and to be pious we must possess besides, a certain eagerness to profit by all the occasions of doing good, that present themselves. Thus St. Francis de Sales writes in his Philothea, from which it is seen that true piety consists not in special devotions, or the practice of special good works, but in the zealous, earnest, continuous obedi­ence to the commandments and performance of duty for the love of God.