Et accesserunt ad eum Pharisaei et Sadducaei tentantes et rogaverunt eum, ut signum de caelo ostenderet eis. At ille respondens ait eis: “ Facto vespere dicitis: “Serenum erit, rubicundum est enim caelum”; et mane: “Hodie tempestas, rutilat enim triste caelum”. Faciem quidem caeli diiudicare nostis, signa autem temporum non potestis. Generatio mala et adultera signum quaerit, et signum non dabitur ei, nisi signum Ionae ”. Et, relictis illis, abiit.
I recently had a chance to visit a Protestant mega-church in the local metropolis of Charlotte, NC during an evening "service." (What exactly do these people serve, or whom? What is meant by "service"?) I was struck by the visual difference between what is displayed in the Protestant "sanctuary" and what is front and center in the sanctuary of a Catholic (or Eastern Orthodox) Church. See the difference in the photos below? Which one displays Jesus and which one displays man? One has no Cross displayed, just the name of the church. Not even the windows are stained glass with images of the saints. The other depicts Christ's Crucifixion, beneath which is the Tabernacle in which the consecrated elements - Jesus Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - rest. And on the windows are displayed the great Saints who as Hebrews 12:1 states are the great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us. I think the answer as to who is revered in each church is obvious: one is man centered, serving man (hence the term "service") and the other Christ centered, serving Christ in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
PS, the "service" on Friday night was about depression and how to combat it - man centered.
Father began by recounting a story of Archbishop Fulton Sheen before the age of television. There was a time when he would travel around the country giving a talk on the importance of the Mass. Having heard the same speech at least 90 different times, Archbishop Sheen's driver said to him that he could now deliver the speech. So on one such speaking engagement the Archbishop and the driver exchanged places, each dressing up as the other, and the driver flawlessly gave the the talk, at the end of which an astute person in the congregation asked a theologically difficult question. The driver (who was in disguise of the Archbishop) stated to the Congregation that the question was so ridiculous and so simple that he would let his driver (the real Archbishop Sheen but unknown to the congregants) answer the question.
Attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation are a requirement for one to be Catholic. Of course, that is not the only requirement as we see from the Beatitudes in today's Gospel reading. However, the Eucharist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and summit of our Faith, giving us the graces that we need to live out the Beatitudes in our lives.
The Mass is not about we we receive but about what we give: our past week, our labors, our sadness, our laughter, our happiness, our pain, our joy, indeed, all our lives.
Our sacrifice without the Sacrifice of Jesus in the Eucharist is offensive to God the Father. As Isaiah 64:6 states:
We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
What we offer to God is presented first during the Offertory as we prepare our hearts and during the offering itself when we give 10% of our income as tithes. Thus these words are said:
PRIEST: Pray brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God the almighty Father.
CONGREGATION: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good, and the good of all His Church.
At every Mass Jesus re-presents his one time for all Sacrifice for all humanity. ASIDE: here an important distinction is to be made for the Protestants who deny the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The Sacrifice which Jesus made on Calvary is made present again, hence the term "re-presented." It is NOT a mere symbol or representation. It is a presence shown to us again in this fashion. END ASIDE
It is to Jesus that we give our hearts and all of our previous week, both the good and the bad. Any focus on discipleship without the Mass is not possible, for in the Mass we receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in order that our souls will be healthy just when we take medication for our physical selves, our bodies will be healthy. And thus, the Mass is about what we are called to live: the Beatitudes of today's Gospel reading. We need the grace necessary to overcome egotism, narcissism, resentment, pride, hubris, backbiting, and all the defects of character and shortcoming separating us from God. And we need the grace to share that which we have received.
Catholics do NOT have "services." We have Mass. While sometimes the Protestant language of the Bible-belt south contaminates our speech, it is important to note that NO Protestant service can possibly compare to what we have: Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Protestants do NOT believe in the Real Presence of Jesus. They deny what John 6:53-58:
53 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.
ASIDE: similarly to Catholics, Eastern Orthodox likewise have a valid Eucharist in their Divine Liturgy and a valid Priesthood to "confect" or "consecrate" the elements - bread and wine - to become Jesus' Body and Blood. It can also be argued that Orthodox Anglicans (those not in communion with Canterbury or the ECUSA) who have a valid Episcopate lineage (e.g., cross-pollination from Eastern Orthodoxy) and who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus likewise have a valid Eucharist. But NO Protestant sect - Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Nazarene, etc. - has Jesus in the Eucharist. This however does NOT mean that they are completely devoid of Jesus. The reader would be well advised to read Dominus Iesus by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concerning the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church. All that is being said is that Protestants, because of their rebellion against the Body of Christ in the 16th century, do not have the fullness of Truth, and most are today in that state due to ignorance of history and Christian tradition before their particular religious denomination (more than 33 thousand now) sprung up. END ASIDE
Now at the end of Mass the celebrant (priest or bishop) proclaims the phrase "Ita Missa Est." From my early Latin days in high school I would translate this as "Go, it is sent," where "it" may refer to the "Congregatio." Father Kirby rather humorously gave this translate: "Get out of here." The point he was making is this: Get out of Mass and shine Jesus' face of light before the world. The Altar where we receive Him in the Eucharist is where we obtain our strength, our food and our mission, and when during the Mass itself the bells ring is where we silent offer Him our bodies, our blood and our wills just as He offered His own to the Father. Thus must we go to share His mission with the world.
Terrestrial Energy has informed the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission of its plan to get its integral molten salt reactor licensed. It intends to submit its Application for Design Certification in late 2019. This type of reactor was built and operated at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the early 1960s. Please see videos below. NuScale Power, LLC will now have some serious competition, and in a free market with a level regulatory playing field competition is always good for the consumer. Of course we wish both companies all success in becoming commercially viable - that's the whole point of the free market: to offer the consumer (or customer) safe and reliable choices which can be made based economic common sense and NOT on Tiberius Caesar prejudicing the outcome in the hostile regulatory constriction of corporate socialism. Unfortunately in these United States the only thing for which the regulations of the US NRC are designed and intended are light water reactors such as PWRs and BWRs. The US NRC has produced quite a long list of Policy Issues Associated with Licensing Advanced Reactor Designs. Of note to the reader are Presentations for DOE-NRC Workshop on Advanced Non-Light Water Reactors - June 7-8, 2016. One would hope that President Trump's declaration to reduce regulatory burden by 75% bears fruit. The Nuclear Energy Institute (an industry trade group) has, however, a Strategic Plan for Advanced Non-Light Water Reactor Development and Commercialization, but such plans are only as good as permitted by the socialist autocracy of the liberal progressive government which Barack Hussein Obama left to President Trump's inheritance.
Nevertheless, without further ado, here are the two videos from Terrestrial Energy.
During Barack Hussein Obama’s reign of terror on the nuclear energy industry, she had often been the lone voice of reason in an organization wholly given over to Dr. Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy:
"Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people. First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisers in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization."
Gregory "I am better than you" Jackzo
Former NRC Chairperson
Svinicki alone had the intestinal fortitude to stand against such a bureaucracy and against the actual, real woman abuse that former NRC Chairperson and anti-nuclear wacko nut case Democrat Gregory Jackzo (whom that man of sin and depravity Barack Hussein Obama appointed to Chairpersonship) perpetrated. He repeatedly and consistently berated, denigrated and left in tears and misery women staff in the US NRC. Svinicki, a Republican, wrote a letter to the White Chief of Staff detailing what was going on in October 2011 just before the 2012 election campaign got off, and that embarrassed godless Obama in his mantra about the Republican war on women such that Obama had to demand Jackzo’s resignation. In the aftermath Obama appointed geologist Allision MacFarlane as Chairperson (her husband was an anthropologist on anti-nuclear activism - yeah, no conflict of interest there - right!).
As for Jackzo's behavior, just see this example from Kristine Svinicki’s testimony to the Committee on Oversight and Government Report in the US House of Representatives – go to page 2 to read about the abominable behavior of Obama’s appointee Gregory Jackzo, former NRC Chairperson:
This kind of stuff NEVER occurred before even under Jimmy worthless Carter and William Jefferson “I did not have sex with that woman” Clinton. I have been in nuclear power since my reactor operator days on a nuclear submarine in 1976, and NEVER have I seen this kind of behavior in nuclear energy till Barack Hussein Obama came on the horizon. NEVER. Here is Representative Darrell Issa’s report on the whole thing.
Something else that isn’t talked about much is that many of my friends in the nuclear industry have stated that she is lesbian. I can’t find any corroboration of this in the popular new media and calumny is always sinful, but frankly I don’t give a darn about what people say. If she is lesbian, then she doesn’t have this Democrat narcissistic need for popular name recognition that goes along with perverts coming out of the closet. And she darn sure doesn’t force that style of life on anyone else. And she’s Republican, too! Further, she keeps her private business private and I respect her for that. God bless her, lesbian or not. Svinicki has courage, integrity, virtue and nobility. As far as I am concerned, she will make a great Chairperson.
Now a few words about that liberal progressive feminist Gregory Jackzo. He was appointed to the NRC during President Bush's Administration (2000-2008) in a deal with Harry Reid. Reid was holding up confirmation of John Roberts as Chief Justice of SCOTUS unless his man Jackzo - an anti-nuclear activist opposed to the Yucca Mountain national used nuclear fuel repository - got into the Commission. So Bush made a deal. And Pete Dominici, a Senator from Arizona, wanted Jackzo's anti-nuclearism balanced with pro-nuke Peter Lyons. So since there were two vacancies at the time, Bush appointed both Jackzo the anti-nuke nut case and Lyons the real nuclear engineer, to the NRC and the Senate confirmed them. Then that Obamanation of Desolation got elected and Obama demoted pro-nuke Dale Klein from the Chairpersonship and put anti-nuke Gregory Jackzo in his place. Then everything went to hell for the nuclear energy industry. The nuclear renaissance that Bush started under his Global Nuclear Energy Program was a dead horse, and for all the talking that the Democrats did about anthropogenic global warming, not a darn one really believes a word of it as they spent billions of tax dollars on failed green energy enterprises like Solyndra while killing the NuStart's plans for a new Areva Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland with untenable US DOE loan guarantees.
Amici, you must know the truth. Democrats will always and everywhere do the following to promote George Soros' global socialist order:
Constrict the supply of energy
Restrict access to health care
Stupidify the education system
Emasculate local law enforcement and the military
Ingratiate with the radical Muslim terrorist enemy
Marginalize and ridicule traditional Judeo-Christian values and people
President Donald Trump, for all his faults, opposes all of that. Yes, Trump makes another good choice. And lawyer bureaucrat Stephen Burns (who as Chief Counsel in the NRC defended Jackzo during the charges of woman abuse) is demoted from Chairpersonship, and Iranian Jeff Baran (think on that, folks, think on that) – the third Commissioner right now – will likely be out when his term ends. Besides Republican Svinicki and Democrats Burns and Baran, there are two other slots open that Obama did not fill (I think the Republican Congress stopped him). Since the law allows three persons from the majority party and requires two from the minority, those slots will be filled by Republicans – appointed by “let’s reduce the regs by 75%” Donald J Trump!
Things are looking good, folks. Contrary to Democrat fears that a fossil fuel enthusiast like Trump would oppose nuclear energy, the opposite may be the case. Why? Because Republicans believe in the Free Market and in availability of low cost, clean energy supply for everyone (black, white, red, yellow, brown, man, woman, adult, child, gay, straight, Christian, Jew, etc.), not in its constriction with useless, worthless solar and wind (green power, black death).
To the Democrats and the anti-nuclear nut cases – one and the same – I say, “You lost. We won. Get over it, cry babies!”
It is with great irony (as I have noted before) that a left coast company among a liberal progressive feminist population devotedly and zealously opposed to nuclear energy may be the first whose novel design could eventually receive approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Such approval is also problematic because:
The regulations promulgated by the US NRC are wholly written for large light water nuclear reactors, not small modular reactors, whether light water, molten salt, liquid metal or gas cooled.
Under former President Barack Hussein Obama, the US NRC staff has been filled with personnel having a decidedly anti-nuclear power bias; as our current President Donald Trump has stated, the swamp must be drained.
Under our current President, the ease with which fossil fuel power plants can be built (whether coal or methane otherwise called natural gas) is favored for purely temporary, transient economic reasons; there is a lack of knowledge of the strong long-term economic benefits of base-load electrical supply from a source immune to fossil fuel price swings.
NuScale 12 Module Facility
I did not list the President's skepticism regarding anthropogenic global warming because I do not believe in such pagan hysteria that worships false goddess Gaia and places the creature above the Creator who is to be glorified, praised and adored forever and ever, Amen. However, only a fool would fail to recognize that indiscriminately dumping billions of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere every year will eventually have unpredictable and unintended consequences, whatever they may be. God gave Adam and Eve dominion over the Earth and that dominion is a responsibility of stewardship. Nuclear which does not pollute and has the lowest mortality rate per terawatt hour of any form of energy production including so-called renewables is therefore the way to go in discharging that stewardship
So of course, one wishes NuScale Power all success in persevering against any and all obstacles. Burning swamp gas (methane), mineral slime (oil) or mineral rock (coal) for energy instead of splitting heavy metal atoms is a step backwards and of no essential substantive difference than what the Neanderthal Man did in burning wood in his cave. And relying on less than 30 percent capacity factor wind and solar is no different than the Medieval Vikings traversing across the north Atlantic in sail boats and the Ancient Sumerians baking mud bricks in the sun - the phrase "Green Power, Black Death" comes to mind.
Thus did Deborah with Barak defeat the army of evil Canaanite General Sisera in Judges 4:1-16.
And Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, finished the job by impaling General Sisera's forehead with a tent peg in Judges 4:17-24.
In Judith 13:1-10 the widow Judith decapitated evil Assyrian General Holofernes.
Queen Esther, a Jewess, was the only one with the intestinal fortitude to confront Persian King King Ahasuerus about the evil plot of Haman the Agagite to wipe out the Jewish people by genocide.
St. Catherine of Siena confronted Pope Gregory XI, admonishing him to return the Papacy back to Rome from its displacement in France and to establish peace among the Italian city-states. No male priest or bishop had the bravery and foresight to do this.
St. Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, was the only one in the 1400s with the courage to lead the Catholic French armies against the English invasion.
And our Mama the Blessed Virgin Mary wears combat boots, beneath whose heel She crushes the evil serpent's head.
No feminists were these women. Yes, I love strong women of valor!
Once again I had the opportunity to attend a service at the Weddington United Methodist Church this last Sunday where the Rev. Dr. Terry Moore gave the sermon. But before I begin discussing that, the one thing I would like to note is what I see on entering the sanctuary at that facility. Directly in front and above the podium area is a large stain glass window showing Jesus with outstretched arms flanked by the Greek letters Alpha on the right and Omega on the left:
Sanctuary at Weddington UMC
I am pleased to see that a depiction of Jesus Christ is front and center. Now true, like most Protestant ecclesial communities, there is sadly no Crucifix nor any Tabernacle where the consecrated hosts - Jesus Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - are kept. And also true, the choir and musical instruments figure prominently. But at least one sees the Reverend dressed in the robes befitting a Christian cleric and the Choir in like apparel, and at least something of basic Christianity is readily and prominently visible instead of this:
A Baptist Rock 'n Roll Theatre
But enough of such comparisons. The point of this blog post is Job: Trouble and Family.The sermon that Rev. Dr. Moore gave was 31 minutes long (it's too bad that most of today's Catholics can't even sit through a 10 minute homily, let alone a 31 minute sermon; one wonder how they would fare at listening to a homily given by one of the early Latin or Greek Church Fathers who were known to go on for an hour or more). The reader can listen to the sermon by left clicking his mouse cursor on the aforementioned hyperlinked text. While I took notes, I am not going to reproduce them here. Suffice it to say that the minister spoke from Job 2:8-10 using the Contemporary English Version:
8 Then Job sat on the ash-heap to show his sorrow. And while he was scraping his sores with a broken piece of pottery, 9 his wife asked, “Why do you still trust God? Why don’t you curse him and die?”
10 Job replied, “Don’t talk like a fool! If we accept blessings from God, we must accept trouble as well.” In all that happened, Job never once said anything against God.
8 And he took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God, and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips
8 Qui testa saniem radebat, sedens in sterquilinio.
9 Dixit autem illi uxor sua:
“ Adhuctu permanes in simplicitate tua?
Benedic Deo et morere ”.
10 Qui ait ad illam:
“ Quasi una de stultis mulieribus
locuta es!
Si bona suscepimus de manu Dei,
mala quare non suscipiamus? ”.
In omnibus his non peccavit Iob labiis suis.
Job's Wife
The minister then offered what I initially thought was a very unique explanation for the statement - curse God and die - which Job's wife made to her husband. Basically, the minister said that Job's wife had also lost her family - her sons and daughters - and her possessions and home when God had permitted Satan to attack him. And she was seeing her husband being tormented by skin boils into abject misery. Surely this affected her feelings too, and for that reason she gave in to human nature and said what she said.
Then I did some research and discovered that what this pastor was saying had been said before by modern-day feminist theologians (no offense intended against the pastor). Today's Christian Woman has an article entitled, "The Most Misunderstood Woman in the Bible." Please, care lector, do read it after you have listen to the minister's sermon. You will find the similarity of phrases and sentences between what was written in 2011 and what was preached in 2017. Now there's nothing wrong with using one's research in preparing a sermon; but my only point is this - viewing Job's wife as being misunderstood is not an idea new in modern theology, but it is an idea new to ancient Christian tradition as the following discussion will explain.
Now concerning the wife, both the article and the sermon claim that "Augustine labeled her 'the devil's accomplice,' Calvin called her 'a diabolical fury,'" and that such titles are unfitting and unfair given the loss which the wife suffered, and given the fact that she stuck out this whole terrible ordeal right past Job chapter 42, so she was demonstrably loyal.
But let us recall what Jesus said to St. Peter in Matthew chapter 16. St. Peter had declared Jesus the Christ and Jesus said to him, "Thou art Rock and upon this Rock I shall build my Church...." Then a few verses later Jesus foretells His death and resurrection, to which St. Peter declares, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" At that point Jesus turns and says, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men." So if Jesus after calling St. Peter the Rock upon whom He will build His Church also calls him Satan for having forbidden the Lord's impending torture and death on the Cross, then why is it so unfair and unthinkable that St. Augustine should describe Job's wife as adiutrix diaboli after she advised Job to do precisely what Satan told God in Job 2:4-5 that he could make Job do?
Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
No, mei amici, we should not buy the liberal progressive feminist exoneration of Job's wife just as Christ Himself did not buy St. Peter's admonition that He should not go through His passion and death. I do fully and completely agree with Rev. Dr. Moore that Job's wife suffered mightily in losing everything. Heaven forbid that that should happen to any of us (me included). I also agree with him that she remained with Job right through the end. May we (especially me) therefore remain loyal and steadfast to our Beloved regardless the tragedy. But when she said to Job what Satan had previously told God he could make Job do, at that moment she was NO different than St. Peter when he admonished our Lord that He should NOT go to His passion and death. And that is the problem I had as I listen to the sermon on Sunday. I am NOT criticizing Rev. Dr. Moore (he was trying very hard to explain something very difficult to the unlearned such as I), but this idea new in ancient Christian tradition that Job's wife has been maligned (especially by St. Augustine) was nagging at me all day long.
So while everything which the pastor said about being prepared in one's relationship before crisis hits is very, very true (and he with humility admitted that he would likely behave similarly to Job's wife in such a crisis), the central point of Sacred Scripture - the Cross - which Luke 14:25-32 talks about I thought was missing from Sunday's sermon:
25 Now great multitudes accompanied him; and he turned and said to them, 26 “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build, and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, going to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends an embassy and asks terms of peace. 33 So therefore, whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
St. John Chrysostom
In summary, therefore, let us consider what St. John Chrysostom (AD 347-407), Doctor of the Church, Bishop of Constantinople, says about Job's wife in sections 4 and 5 within Homily 28 on 1st Corinthians (I always prefer the Patriarchs of the early Church over today's feminist theology - again, no offense to Rev. Dr. Moore). St. Chrysostom (golden tongue in Greek) was rather long winded, but truth cannot always be distilled into a mere sound bite or Facebook meme. And besides, St. Chrysostom is one of my favorites!
4. Hearing therefore all these things, let us both take great care of the poor, and restrain our appetite, and rid ourselves of drunkenness, and be careful worthily to partake of the Mysteries; and whatsoever we suffer, let us not take it bitterly, neither for ourselves nor for others; as when untimely death happen or long diseases. For this is deliverance from punishment, this is correction, this is most excellent admonition. Who says this? He that has Christ speaking in him.
But nevertheless even after this many of our women are so foolishly disposed as even to go beyond the unbelievers in the excess of their grief. And some do this blinded by their passion, but others for ostentation, and to avoid the censures of them that are without: who most of all are deprived of excuse, to my mind. For, lest such a one accuse me, says she, let God be my accuser: lest men more senseless than the brute beasts condemn me, let the law of the King of all be trampled under foot. Why, how many thunderbolts do not these sayings deserve?
Again; If any one invite you to a funeral supper after your affliction there is no one to say any thing against it, because there is a law of men which enjoins such things: but when God by His law forbids your mourning, all thus contradict it. Does not Job come into your mind, O woman? Rememberest thou not his words at the misfortune of his children, which adorned that holy head more than ten thousand crowns, and made proclamation louder than many trumpets? Do you make no account of the greatness of his misfortunes, of that unprecedented shipwreck, and that strange and portentous tragedy? For thou possibly hast lost one, or a second, or third: but he so many sons and daughters: and he that had many children suddenly became childless. And not even by degrees were his bowels wasted away: but at one sweep all the fruit of his body was snatched from him. Nor was it by the common law of nature, when they had come to old age, but by a death both untimely and violent: and all together, and when he was not present nor sitting by them, that at least by hearing their last words he might have some consolation for so bitter an end of theirs: but contrary to all expectation and without his knowing any thing of what took place, they were all at once overwhelmed, and their house became their grave and their snare.
And not only their untimely death, but many things besides there were to grieve him; such as their being all in the flower of their age, all virtuous and loving, all together, that not one of either sex was left, that it befell them not by the common law of nature, that it came after so great a loss, that when he was unconscious of any sin on his own part or on theirs, he suffered these things. For each of these circumstances is enough even by itself to disturb the mind: but when we find them even concurring together, imagine the height of those waves, how great the excess of that storm. And what in particular is greater and worse than his bereavement, he did not even know wherefore all these things happened. On this account then, having no cause to assign for the misfortune, he ascends to the good pleasure of God, and says, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away: as it pleased the Lord, even so it happened; blessed be the name of the Lord for ever. Job 2:21 And these things he said, when he saw himself who had followed after all virtue in the last extremity; but evil men and impostors, prospering, luxurious, revelling on all sides. And he uttered no such word as it is likely that some of the weaker sort would have uttered, Was it for this that I brought up my children and trained them with all exactness? For this did I open my house to all that passed by, that after those many courses run in behalf of the needy, the naked, the orphans, I might receive this recompense? But instead of these, he offered up those words better than all sacrifice, saying, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. If however he rent his clothes and shaved his head, marvel not. For he was a father and a loving father: and it was meet that both the compassion of his nature should be shown, and also the self-command of his spirit. Whereas, had he not done this, perhaps one would have thought this self-command to be of mere insensibility. Therefore he indicates both his natural affection and the exactness of his piety, and in his grief he was not overthrown.
5. Yea, and when his trial proceeded further, he is again adorned with other crowns on account of his reply to his wife, saying, If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil? Job 2:10 For in fact his wife was by this time the only one left, all his having been clean destroyed, both his children and his possessions and his very body, and she reserved to tempt and to ensnare him. And this indeed was the reason why the devil did not destroy her with the children, nor asked her death, because he expected that she would contribute much towards the ensnaring of that holy man. Therefore he left her as a kind of implement, and a formidable one, for himself. For if even out of paradise, says he, I cast mankind by her means, much more shall I be able to trip him up on the dunghill.
And observe his craft. He did not apply this stratagem when the oxen or the asses or the camels were lost, nor even when the house fell and the children were buried under it, but so long looking on the combatant, he suffers her to be silent and quiet. But when the fountain of worms gushed forth, when the skin began to putrify and drop off, and the flesh wasting away to emit most offensive discharge, and the hand of the devil was wearing him out with sharper pain than gridirons and furnaces and any flame, consuming on every side and eating away his body more grievously than any wild beast, and when a long time had been spent in this misery ; then he brings her to him, seasoned and worn down. Whereas if she had approached him at the beginning of his misfortune, neither would she have found him so unnerved, nor would she have had it in her power so to swell out and exaggerate the misfortune by her words. But now when she saw him through the length of time thirsting for release, and desiring the termination of what pressed on him vehemently then does she come upon him. For to show that he was quite worn down, and by this time had become unable even to draw breath, yea, and desired even to die, hear what he says; For I would I could lay hands on myself, or could request another and he should do it for me; And observe, I pray, the wickedness of his wife, from what topic she at once begins: namely, from the length of time, saying, How long will you hold out ?
Now, if often even when there were no realities words alone have prevailed to unman a person, consider what it was likely he then should feel, when, besides these words, the things themselves also were galling him; and what, as it should seem, was worst of all, it was a wife also who spoke thus, and a wife who had sunk down utterly and was giving herself up, and on this account was seeking to cast him also into desperation. However, that we may see more clearly the engine which was brought against that adamantine wall, let us listen to the very words. What then are these? How long will you hold out? Saying, Lo! I wait a short time longer, expecting the hope of my salvation. Nay, says she, the time has exposed the folly of your words, while it is protracted, yet shows no mode of escape. And these things she said, not only thrusting him into desperation, but also reproaching and jesting upon him.
For he, ever consoling her as she pressed upon him, and putting her off, would speak as follows: Wait a little longer, and there will soon be an end of these things. Reproaching him therefore, she speaks: Will you now again say the same thing? For a long time has now run by, and no end of these things has appeared. And observe her malice, that she makes no mention of the oxen, the sheep or the camels, as knowing that he was not very much vexed about these; but she goes at once to nature, and reminds him of his children. For on their death she saw him both rending his clothes and shaving off his hair. And she said not, your children are dead, but very pathetically, your memorial is perished from the earth, the thing for which your children were desirable. For if, even now after that the resurrection has been made known children are longed for because they preserve the memory of the departed; much more then. Wherefore also her curse becomes from that consideration more bitter. For in that case, he that cursed, said not, Let his children be utterly rooted out, but, his memorial from the earth. Your sons and your daughters. Thus whereas she said, the memorial, she again accurately makes mention of either sex. But if you, says she, carest not for these, at least consider what is mine. The pains of my womb, and labors which I have endured in vain with sorrow. Now what she means is this: I, who endured the more, am wronged for your sake, and having undergone the toils I am deprived of the fruits.
And see how she neither makes express mention of his loss of property, nor is silent about it and hurries by; but in that point of view in which it also might be most pathetically narrated, in that she covertly refers to it. For when she says, I too am a vagabond and a slave, going about from place to place, from house to house, she both hints at the loss and indicates her great distress: these expressions being such as even to enhance that misfortune. For I come to the doors of others, says she; nor do I beg only, but am a wanderer also and serve a strange and unusual servitude, going round everywhere and carrying about the tokens of my calamity, and teaching all men of my woes; which is most piteous of all, to change house after house. And she stayed not even at these lamentations, but proceeded to say, Waiting for the sun when it will set, and I shall rest from my miseries and the pains that encompass me, by which I am now straitened. Thus, that which is sweet to others, says she, to behold the light, this to me is grievous: but the night and the darkness is a desirable thing. For this only gives me rest from my toils, this becomes a comfort to my miseries. But speak somewhat against the Lord, and die. Perceivest thou here too her crafty wickedness? How she did not even in the act of advising at once introduce the deadly counsel, but having first pitifully related her misfortunes and having drawn out the tragedy at length, she couches in a few words what she would recommend, and does not even declare it plainly, but throwing a shade over that, she holds out to him the deliverance which he greatly longed for, and promises death, the thing which he then most of all desired.
And mark from this also the malice of the devil: that because he knew the longing of Job towards God, he suffers not his wife to accuse God, lest he should at once turn away from her as an enemy. For this cause she no where mentions Him, but the actual calamities she is continually harping on.
And do thou, besides what has been said, add the circumstance that it was a woman who gave this counsel, a wonderful orator to beguile the heedless. Many at least even without external accidents have been cast down by the counsel of woman alone.
A friend on Facebook has written an insightful and rational essay "About Your March for Women." Please left click your mouse cursor on the aforementioned hyperlinked text to read this important discussion. There is nothing I can add to this person's eloquence or perception or assessment. The only thing I can say is that I likely will never wear a pink colored or rainbow decorated garment again.
Let the reader beware before proceeding that the photographs provided below the following text are disturbing and morally offensive to any civilized human being.
Oremus:
Κύριε, ελέησον
Χριστέ ἐλέησον
Κύριε, ελέησον
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus. Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc, et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.
In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti, Amen!
Yesterday in Washington, DC and elsewhere in the nation, in response to the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th President of the United States, an attack of feminism on the body politic that can only be called satanic was launched. Posted most everywhere on the internet are photographs of less than women dressed as vaginas, carrying signs blaspheming the Blessed Virgin Mary, and advocating bloody sedition against our elected President. These are the kinds of people - men and women - who inhabited ancient Sodom and Gomorrah. Indeed, their men back then in time demanded that Lot turn over to them the angels who had come to visit him so that they could ravage them. For their disobedience, God "nuked" both ancient cities as Genesis 19 records. Concerning these kinds of people in the ancient Roman Empire well does St. Paul write the following in the 1st chapter of his epistle to the Church at Rome:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse; 21 for although they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a base mind and to improper conduct. 29 They were filled with all manner of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them.
Today these less than women, being exactly of this type and nature, are no different in intent and purpose. Words fail me, and the disgust and revulsion which fills me is without bound. People of a civilized Constitutional Republic do NOT behave in this fashion. Behold the diabolical perversion that is liberal progressive feminist democracy.
Verses 18 to 23 of today's Gospel reading record the calling of the first disciples:
As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.
There must have been great surprise here. Jesus simply says, "Come after me..." Without hesitation Peter and Andrew, then James and John left everything else to go. The Lord says the same to us. We must leave everything behind to follow Him. All else is secondary. In order to succeed in doing that, we have the Sacraments, and of particular note are the first two Sacraments of Initiation:
Baptism:We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
Confirmation:Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed." CCC 1285
Sts. Paul and Timothy
Confirmation completes baptism through the descent of the Holy Spirit on the baptized believer. Indeed, in 2nd Timothy 1:6-7 St. Paul chastises St. Timothy with these words:
Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.
In Confirmation we receive the fire of the Holy Spirit. And as Romans 8:11 promises:
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Our desire and yearning should therefore be for this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, an example of which is provided by the following story. There was once a young boy who was about to be Confirmed. He had a younger sister. Throughout their lives what one child was given would be balanced with a gift for the other child. Each child was treated equally and fairly. No one received anything that the other did not receive similarly. So when the younger sister learned that her older brother was soon to receive the Holy Spirit, she too expected the same. Her parents explained to her that she was not yet of the age required for Confirmation. She questioned more and received the same response. At the unfairness of it all she screamed and fell to the floor, wiggling about, having a fit, exclaiming, "But I want the Holy Spirit too!" What a fine Pentecostal she made! Such should ever be our desire and yearning for God's Spirit.
Today's Ruins at Ephesus
Acts 19-1-6 tells an interesting story about St. Paul's first visit to the Church at Ephesus:
While Apol′los was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve of them in all.
The faithful at Ephesus had been baptized, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. By the imposition of the hands of St. Paul, the Sacrament of Confirmation was therefore administered to them.
Now how shall the world know that We carry the Holy Spirit? St. Paul tells the Church at Galatia how in Galatians 5:22-23:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.
If we bear this fruit, then we have the Holy Spirit. The means by which St. Paul on his initial visit to Ephesus questioned the Ephesians on whether or not they had received the Holy Spirit upon first believing is likely because he did not see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. So then we must ask ourselves whether or not people around us see the fruit of God's Spirit in us. The unbeliever naturally doubts God's presence in our lives, and thus we must die daily to ourselves. As Galatians 5:24 states:
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
In this way the world will know that the Holy Spirit has come.
I have had some more thoughts on suffering. Mostly these are simply pieces of wisdom from my AA sponsor when I was new in sobriety some three or so decades ago. When I complained about why God was letting me go through tough times, why all this "shit" was happening to me, and why there was so much pain, my sponsor said:
The pain of growth is required for your maturity. The misery of being an adult child is entirely your option.
Remember that 3rd step where you turned your will and your life over to God's care? Well, what He chooses to do with your life is none of your darn business. You lost your license to run things when your drinking and drugging made your life unmanageable.
You don't like the shit God throws your way? You ought to be grateful for the vested interest He takes in your life. That's His Special High Intensity Training which He in His infinite love for you provides to keep you sober one day at a time.
St. James the Just
Now my sponsor's sponsor was a Franciscan priest and my priest confessor who always seemed to know just when I would get these talks and would be standing right behind my sponsor smiling ever so beatifically as I got told the truth of the matter. Sadly, however, today when I hear ministers, priests or psychologists talk about suffering, it's all pink flowers and luvy-duvy, feel good crap. The truth is rarely forthcoming.
Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
This one post being circulated in the public domain at Facebook explains how Trump "happened," and while it is anonymously addressed, its intended target is liberal progressive feminist eco-activists - Democrats by any other name. And for the record, I voted for Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party, NOT Donald Trump of the Republican Party.
This post is a followup from a previous one - Cum Res Malae Populo Bono Accidunt - earlier this week.I had the opportunity to listen to a sermon given by a Methodist minister on Job 1:1-12. Overall the sermon was rather well delivered. But I was struck by hearing the minister state that Job was one of his least favorite books because of the issue of suffering and the manner in which the Book of Job specifically and the Old Testament in general deals with it. Repeatedly the minister asked with respect to God punishing the disobedient out of His divine anger, "Is that the God we really have?" The answer is yes. Now that said, Job's suffering was clearly NOT punishment for past sins because the beginning of the first chapter in that book makes it clear that God gave Satan permission to afflict Job when Satan challenged God as to Job's faithfulness - that it was due solely to the fact that God has prospered Job. But God answers the challenge because He foreknew that in spite of affliction Job would remain loyal. Therefore, when the Protestant Pastor ascribed suffering to simple random accidents (basing that on what Rabbi Kushner concluded in his book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People"), I frankly felt the explanation unsatisfying and incomplete. While things that happen to us often seem like accidents, there are no accidents with God for He knows everything from beginning to end. Nothing happens without the concurrence of His sovereign will. Sometimes we talk about being in compliance with God's perfect will, and sometimes we talk about God's permissive will, but whatever the case may be, it is God's will that gets fulfilled and we can either comply with that will in our suffering, or wail and bemoan our fate, rebelling against God. Job did the former.
Lactantius
I did some additional research into this issue, and a friend on Facebook provided me with some supplemental information. I therefore encourage the reader to study these intently in the light of the Church's 2000 years of Sacred Tradition:
The entire manner in which the Church Fathers viewed suffering and persecution is remarkably different that the manner in which we post modern people view it. If we say that we want to return to the New Testament Church, then we must think as the men thought who were taught by the Apostles. Here is a taste from Tertullian. Note that he discusses persecution which proceeds from God. To the extent that God permitted Satan to persecute Job, was not Job's persecution then permitted by God, and if yes, then do not the words of Tertullian below apply? See the difference between Tertullian's point of view and that of today's modern Protestant cleric (or even the typical Catholic Novus Ordo Spirit of Vatican II cleric):
Well, then, if it is evident from whom persecution proceeds, we are able at once to satisfy your doubts, and to decide from these introductory remarks alone, that men should not flee in it. For if persecution proceeds from God, in no way will it be our duty to flee from what has God as its author; a twofold reason opposing; for what proceeds from God ought not on the one hand to be avoided, and it cannot be evaded on the other. It ought not to be avoided, because it is good; for everything must be good on which God has cast His eye. And with this idea has perhaps this statement been made in Genesis, And God saw because it is good; not that He would have been ignorant of its goodness unless He had seen it, but to indicate by this expression that it was good because it was viewed by God. There are many events indeed happening by the will of God, and happening to somebody's harm. Yet for all that, a thing is therefore good because it is of God, as divine, as reasonable; for what is divine, and not reasonable and good? What is good, yet not divine? But if to the universal apprehension of mankind this seems to be the case, in judging, man's faculty of apprehension does not predetermine the nature of things, but the nature of things his power of apprehension. For every several nature is a certain definite reality, and it lays it on the perceptive power to perceive it just as it exists. Now, if that which comes from God is good indeed in its natural state (for there is nothing from God which is not good, because it is divine, and reasonable), but seems evil only to the human faculty, all will be right in regard to the former; with the latter the fault will lie. In its real nature a very good thing is chastity, and so is truth, and righteousness; and yet they are distasteful to many. Is perhaps the real nature on this account sacrificed to the sense of perception? Thus persecution in its own nature too is good, because it is a divine and reasonable appointment; but those to whom it comes as a punishment do not feel it to be pleasant. You see that as proceeding from Him, even that evil has a reasonable ground, when one in persecution is cast out of a state of salvation, just as you see that you have a reasonable ground for the good also, when one by persecution has his salvation made more secure. Unless, as it depends on the Lord, one either perishes irrationally, or is irrationally saved, he will not be able to speak of persecution as an evil, which, while it is under the direction of reason, is, even in respect of its evil, good. So, if persecution is in every way a good, because it has a natural basis, we on valid grounds lay it down, that what is good ought not to be shunned by us, because it is a sin to refuse what is good; besides that, what has been looked upon by God can no longer indeed be avoided, proceeding as it does from God, from whose will escape will not be possible. Therefore those who think that they should flee, either reproach God with doing what is evil, if they flee from persecution as an evil (for no one avoids what is good); or they count themselves stronger than God: so they think, who imagine it possible to escape when it is God's pleasure that such events should occur.
Below are the reflections of a friend on Facebook about the Presidential Inaugural Ceremony conducted today for Donald J. Trump. While I voted for a third party candidate - Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party - I nevertheless fully agree with my friend.
I came home tonight and made my two oldest watch President Trump's speech with me. For several reasons.
1. Since Ronald Reagan's first inaugural I don't remember such a pro-American, upbeat, pro-God, and unashamedly AMERICA FIRST speech by a President.
2. Our children need to understand the idea of "free trade" that has been enacted in our life times is anything but that. This country in my life has not practiced capitalism, free trade, and truly American ideals. We have been abused, sold out, lied to, and stolen from. Our interests have not been even considered. Our lives have been viewed as worthless. Our treasure has been given away for nothing.
3. They need to understand that despite the protests, the hand wringing, the assassination talk that HERE in this nation we act in a civilized and honorable fashion. No matter what the least intelligent and disgusting among us do. WE do not act like that. We do not burn and loot. We do not block traffic and threaten people. We may at some point have to take up arms to defend our God given rights but WE as Americans do not act like this.
May God bless President Trump and grant him patience, wisdom, and guidance for the times ahead. May God work thru him and in him. May God grant us all peace and prosperity and the opportunity to once again bring this nation to it's rightful place as the shining example of freedom, prosperity, and protection that it once was.
It is once again Morning in America and I for one just want the opportunity to work, succeed, and prosper.
REMARKS OF PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP – AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY
INAUGURAL ADDRESS
FRIDAY, JANUARY 20, 2017
WASHINGTON, D.C.
As Prepared for Delivery –
Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: thank you.
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.
Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.
We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.
Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent.
Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one Administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.
For too long, a small group in our nation’s Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.
Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.
The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.
Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s Capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America.
This is your day. This is your celebration.
And this, the United States of America, is your country.
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.
January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.
The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
Everyone is listening to you now.
You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before.
At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.
Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves.
These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.
But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.
The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.
For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;
Subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;
We've defended other nation’s borders while refusing to defend our own;
And spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.
We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon.
One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind.
The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world.
But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future.
We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.
From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.
From this moment on, it’s going to be America First.
Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.
We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.
I will fight for you with every breath in my body – and I will never, ever let you down.
America will start winning again, winning like never before.
We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.
We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.
We will get our people off of welfare and back to work – rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.
We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and Hire American.
We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world – but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.
We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.
We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilized world against Radical Islamic Terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.
At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.
When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.
The Bible tells us, “how good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”
We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.
When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.
There should be no fear – we are protected, and we will always be protected.
We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we are protected by God.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.
In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving.
We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action – constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.
The time for empty talk is over.
Now arrives the hour of action.
Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America.
We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.
We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.
A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.
It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.
And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.
So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:
You will never be ignored again.
Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.
Together, We Will Make America Strong Again.
We Will Make America Wealthy Again.
We Will Make America Proud Again.
We Will Make America Safe Again.
And, Yes, Together, We Will Make America Great Again. Thank you, God Bless You, And God Bless America.
