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Introducing Quotex: Revolutionizing Binary and Digital Asset Trading in India

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Trading Binary Options with Quotex: A Guide for BeginnersQuotex: Revolutionizing Binary and Digital Asset Trading in IndiaThe Advantages of Binary and Digital Asset Trading with QuotexQuotex: A Reliable and Secure Broker for Indian TradersHow to Get Started with Quotex: A Step-by-Step Guide1. Sign up for a Quotex Account2. Explore the Quotex Trading Platform3. Use a Quotex Promo Code for Extra Benefits4. Download the Quotex App for PC or Mobile5. Take Advantage of Quotex Bonus and Promotions6. Start Trading with Quotex7. Consider a Quotex Demo Account8. Set Your Quotex Withdrawal LimitThe Range of Trading Options Available on QuotexUnderstanding Binary Options Trading on QuotexExploring Digital Asset Trading on QuotexQuotex’s Innovative Trading Platform: Features and Benefits1. User-Friendly Interface2. Generous Bonuses and Promotions3. Demo Account for Practice4. Reliable Customer Support5. Flexible Withdrawal LimitsQuotex: Education and Training Resources for TradersWithdrawals and Deposits on Quotex: A Hassle-Free ExperienceQuotex’s Customer Support: Assistance When You Need ItBenefits of Trading Quotex Binary Options on Global Financial MarketsIntroducing Quotex: Revolutionizing Binary and Digital Asset Trading in IndiaTrading Binary Options with Quotex: A Guide for Beginners

quotex Trader is a powerful and innovative trading platform that provides traders with all the necessary tools and features to succeed in the financial markets. With Quotex Trader, traders can access a wide range of financial instruments, including currencies, stocks, commodities, and indices, and trade them with ease.
One of the key features of Quotex Trader is its user-friendly interface, which makes it easy for both beginners and experienced traders to navigate and execute trades. The platform also offers a variety of trading tools, including technical analysis indicators, charting options, and risk management tools, to help traders make informed trading decisions.
Furthermore, Quotex Trader provides traders with access to real-time market data and news, allowing them to stay updated with the latest market trends and make timely trades. The platform also offers a range of educational resources, including video tutorials and webinars, to help traders improve their trading skills and knowledge.
Overall, Quotex Trader is a comprehensive trading platform that caters to the needs of all types of traders. Whether you are a beginner looking to learn the basics of trading or an experienced trader looking for advanced tools and features, Quotex Trader has something to offer you.

Are you looking for a reliable and innovative broker for binary and digital asset trading in India? Look no further than Quotex, the official site for all your trading needs. With its user-friendly interface and extensive range of trading options, Quotex is the go-to platform for both experienced traders and beginners.

Whether you prefer trading on your PC or on the go, Quotex has got you covered. With the Quotex login PC option, you can easily access your account and start trading from the comfort of your computer. If you prefer trading on your mobile device, the Quotex app for PC is available for download, offering a seamless trading experience on your smartphone or tablet.

At Quotex, customer support is a top priority. Their dedicated team of professionals is available around the clock to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have. With Quotex support, you can be confident that your trading experience will be smooth and hassle-free.

Quotex offers a wide range of trading options, including binary options, digital assets, and more. With their easy-to-use trading platform, you can trade with confidence and take advantage of market opportunities. For those new to trading, Quotex offers a demo account where you can practice your trading skills and learn the ropes before investing real money.

When it comes to withdrawals and deposits, Quotex makes it easy and convenient. With a flexible withdrawal limit, you can withdraw your earnings without any hassle. Additionally, Quotex offers bonuses and promotional offers to reward their loyal traders and attract new participants to the platform.

Experience the power of Quotex and take your trading to new heights. Join Quotex today and start trading with confidence. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to profit from the exciting world of binary and digital asset trading in India.

Quotex: Revolutionizing Binary and Digital Asset Trading in India

Quotex, an innovative broker, is transforming the landscape of binary and digital asset trading in India. With its user-friendly quotex app for PC and official website, Quotex provides a seamless trading experience for both beginners and experienced traders. The platform offers a wide range of trading options, including binary options and digital asset trading, allowing users to diversify their investment portfolios and potentially maximize their profits.

One of the key features that sets Quotex apart is its withdrawal limit, which gives traders the flexibility to withdraw their earnings at any time. This ensures that users have easy access to their funds, promoting transparency and convenience. Quotex also provides a secure and reliable trading environment through its regulated quotex broker, giving traders peace of mind knowing that their investments are protected.

The platform offers various promotions and bonuses to incentivize traders, including the quotex promo code that can be used to unlock exclusive benefits. Quotex’s trading platform is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it accessible to traders of all skill levels. The quotex login process is simple and straightforward, allowing users to quickly access their accounts and start trading. Additionally, Quotex offers comprehensive support to its users, ensuring that they have access to the assistance they may need throughout their trading journey.

Traders can also access Quotex through their PC or by downloading the quotex app on their mobile devices. The quotex app provides a seamless trading experience on the go, allowing users to trade anytime and anywhere. Additionally, Quotex offers a demo account for beginners to practice their trading strategies and gain confidence before diving into real-time trading.

In summary, Quotex is revolutionizing binary and digital asset trading in India with its user-friendly platform, secure trading environment, and convenient withdrawal options. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, Quotex offers a comprehensive trading experience that caters to your needs. With its quotex app, extensive support, and range of trading options, Quotex is empowering traders to realize their full potential in the world of binary and digital asset trading.

The Advantages of Binary and Digital Asset Trading with Quotex

Quotex is an innovative broker that offers binary and digital asset trading in India. With its user-friendly trading platform, Quotex provides several advantages for traders looking to enter the world of online trading.

Firstly, Quotex offers a generous bonus program, allowing traders to earn extra funds to boost their trading capital. By using a promo code during the sign-up process, traders can receive a bonus that can be used for trading purposes. This bonus can provide traders with additional opportunities to profit from their trades.

In addition, Quotex provides a mobile app that allows traders to access the platform from their smartphones or tablets. This app ensures that traders can stay connected to the markets and make trades anytime and anywhere. The app offers all the features of the Quotex trading platform, including real-time market quotes, order execution, and account management.

Moreover, Quotex offers a seamless login process, allowing traders to easily access their accounts and start trading. The login process is quick and secure, ensuring that traders can start trading without any delays or complications.

Quotex also provides excellent customer support, with a team of dedicated professionals available to assist traders with any inquiries or issues they may have. The support team can be reached through various channels, including live chat, email, and phone.

Furthermore, Quotex offers a wide range of trading assets, including binary options and digital assets. Traders can choose from a variety of assets, such as stocks, commodities, currencies, and cryptocurrencies, to build diverse portfolios and maximize their profit potential.

Quotex has a user-friendly trading platform that is easy to navigate and provides advanced trading tools and features. Traders can access real-time market quotes, analyze charts, and execute trades with just a few clicks. The platform also offers a demo account, allowing traders to practice their trading strategies and familiarize themselves with the platform before trading with real money.

Lastly, Quotex has a straightforward withdrawal process with a reasonable withdrawal limit. Traders can easily withdraw their profits and funds from their trading accounts without any complications or delays.

In conclusion, Quotex is an excellent option for traders looking to engage in binary and digital asset trading in India. With its generous bonus program, mobile app, user-friendly platform, and excellent support, Quotex provides traders with the tools and resources they need to succeed in the online trading world.

Quotex: A Reliable and Secure Broker for Indian Traders

Quotex is a renowned trading platform that offers a wide range of trading options for Indian traders. As a trusted and reliable broker, Quotex provides a secure and transparent trading environment, ensuring the safety of your funds and personal information. Whether you are a novice trader or an experienced investor, Quotex has all the tools and resources you need to succeed in the financial markets.

With Quotex, you can enjoy a seamless trading experience with its user-friendly interface and advanced trading platform. The Quotex app for PC allows you to trade conveniently from your computer, while the Quotex app for mobile devices enables you to trade on the go. You can easily download the Quotex app from the official site and start trading without any hassle.

Quotex Trading Platform: Quotex offers a comprehensive trading platform that allows you to trade a wide range of assets, including binary options and digital assets. The platform provides real-time market data, advanced charting tools, and a variety of technical indicators to help you make informed trading decisions.Quotex Withdrawal Limit: Quotex has a flexible withdrawal policy, allowing you to withdraw your funds quickly and easily. The withdrawal limit depends on your account type and can be increased by contacting the customer support team.Quotex Promo Code: Quotex offers promotional codes that can be used to claim bonuses and other rewards. These promo codes provide a great opportunity to boost your trading capital and enhance your profitability.Quotex Demo Account: If you’re new to trading or want to test your trading strategies, Quotex offers a demo account where you can practice trading with virtual money. This allows you to gain valuable experience and improve your trading skills before investing real money.Quotex Bonus: Quotex provides various bonuses and promotions to its traders, giving them additional trading capital and incentives. These bonuses can significantly enhance your trading profits and provide you with more opportunities to succeed in the financial markets.

Overall, Quotex is a reputable broker that offers a reliable and secure trading platform for Indian traders. With its advanced features, competitive spreads, and excellent customer support, Quotex is an ideal choice for both beginners and experienced traders. Sign up with Quotex today and start your trading journey with confidence.

How to Get Started with Quotex: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you’re interested in trading binary and digital assets in India, Quotex is an innovative broker that offers a user-friendly platform and comprehensive support. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get started with Quotex:

1. Sign up for a Quotex Account

To begin trading with Quotex, you need to sign up for an account. The process is simple and can be done on their website. Fill in the necessary information, such as your name, email address, and password, to create an account. Once your account is created, you can access the Quotex trading platform.

2. Explore the Quotex Trading Platform

Quotex offers a user-friendly trading platform that is suitable for both beginner and advanced traders. Take some time to explore the platform and familiarize yourself with its features. You can access a variety of trading instruments, including binary and digital assets, and make use of the different tools and indicators available to enhance your trading experience.

3. Use a Quotex Promo Code for Extra Benefits

When signing up for your Quotex account, you may have the option to enter a promo code. Promo codes can offer additional benefits, such as bonus funds or reduced fees. Keep an eye out for any available promo codes and enter them during the sign-up process to maximize the advantages of using Quotex.

4. Download the Quotex App for PC or Mobile

If you prefer to trade on the go, Quotex offers a convenient app that you can download on your PC or mobile device. The app provides the same functionality as the web-based platform, allowing you to trade anytime and anywhere. Simply download the app from the official Quotex website and log in with your account credentials.

5. Take Advantage of Quotex Bonus and Promotions

Quotex regularly offers bonuses and promotions for its traders. Keep an eye on their website or subscribe to their newsletters to stay updated on any ongoing offers. Taking advantage of these bonuses can provide you with additional trading funds, increasing your potential profits.

6. Start Trading with Quotex

Once you have familiarized yourself with the Quotex trading platform and are ready to start trading, you can deposit funds into your account. Quotex supports various payment methods, making it easy to fund your account. After depositing funds, you can choose from a wide range of binary and digital assets to trade and start placing your trades.

7. Consider a Quotex Demo Account

If you’re new to trading or want to test out strategies before risking real money, Quotex offers a demo account. The demo account allows you to trade with virtual funds, giving you a risk-free environment to practice and learn. It’s a great way to gain confidence in your trading skills before diving into live trading.

8. Set Your Quotex Withdrawal Limit

Before you start trading, it’s important to set your withdrawal limit with Quotex. This will ensure that you have control over your funds and can withdraw them whenever you need to. Quotex provides flexible withdrawal options, allowing you to easily access your profits.

With these steps, you can get started with Quotex and begin your trading journey with confidence. Remember to stay informed about market trends, manage your risk effectively, and continuously educate yourself to improve your trading skills.

The Range of Trading Options Available on Quotex

Quotex India is an innovative broker that offers a wide range of trading options for users. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, you will find a variety of assets and instruments to trade on the Quotex platform.

With the Quotex app, you can access the platform anytime and anywhere, right from your mobile device. The app provides a user-friendly interface and allows you to trade on the go. Whether you are using an Android or iOS device, the Quotex app is available for download.

Quotex offers various trading options, including binary and digital asset trading. You can choose from a wide range of assets, such as currencies, stocks, commodities, and cryptocurrencies. The platform also supports different trading strategies, including short-term and long-term trading.

Quotex provides excellent support to its users. If you have any questions or need assistance, you can contact the Quotex support team through live chat, email, or phone. They are available 24/7 to assist you with any issues or concerns.

Quotex also offers attractive bonuses and promotions to its users. When you sign up on the platform, you can receive a welcome bonus or other promotional offers. Keep an eye out for the latest promotions and take advantage of them to enhance your trading experience.

To start trading on Quotex, you need to create an account and log in to the platform. The login process is quick and easy, and you can access your trading account in just a few clicks. If you prefer to trade on your PC, you can also use the Quotex app for PC.

Quotex provides a demo account option for beginners who want to practice their trading skills. The demo account allows you to trade with virtual funds and test different strategies without risking real money. It is an excellent way to learn and gain experience before trading with real money.

For withdrawals, Quotex has a minimum and maximum withdrawal limit. The exact limits may vary depending on your account type and the withdrawal method you choose. Make sure to check the withdrawal limits and follow the necessary steps to request a withdrawal.

As a trusted broker, Quotex ensures the safety and security of its users’ funds and personal information. The platform is regulated and follows strict security measures to protect your data. You can trade on Quotex with peace of mind, knowing that your funds and information are safe.

Overall, Quotex offers a comprehensive trading experience with a wide range of options for traders in India. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, you can find the right tools and resources on the Quotex platform to enhance your trading journey.

Understanding Binary Options Trading on Quotex

Quotex is a leading broker that offers binary and digital asset trading in India. As a quotex trader, you have access to a user-friendly and intuitive trading platform that allows you to trade a wide range of assets, including currencies, commodities, stocks, and indices. The platform is available both as a quotex app and on the quotex site official, meaning you can trade on the go or from the comfort of your own home.

When you sign up as a quotex trader, you can easily download the quotex app on your mobile device or access the quotex site official on your computer. The platform offers a seamless trading experience with advanced features and tools to help you analyze the market and make informed trading decisions. Quotex also provides reliable customer support to assist you with any questions or issues you may encounter while trading.

As you log in to the quotex trading platform, you’ll find a user-friendly interface that allows you to easily navigate and execute trades. The platform offers various trading options, including binary options, which are financial derivatives that allow you to speculate on the direction of price movements within a predetermined timeframe. You can choose whether an asset’s price will go up or down, and if your prediction is correct, you can earn a profit.

Quotex also offers a demo account where you can practice trading without risking real money. This is a great feature for beginners to familiarize themselves with the platform and test different trading strategies. Additionally, quotex provides various bonuses and promotions, such as quotex promo code offers, to enhance your trading experience and potentially boost your profits.

When it comes to withdrawing your earnings, quotex has a withdrawal limit, which may vary depending on your account type. You can easily initiate a withdrawal request through the quotex app or quotex site official, and the funds will be transferred to your chosen payment method. Quotex ensures secure and efficient transactions to protect your financial information and provide you with a hassle-free trading experience.

Exploring Digital Asset Trading on Quotex

Quotex is an innovative broker that offers binary and digital asset trading in India. With their user-friendly platform and a wide range of assets to choose from, Quotex has become a popular choice among traders looking to explore the world of digital asset trading.

Traders can access the Quotex platform through the quotex official site or by downloading the quotex app on their mobile devices. The platform offers a seamless trading experience with a variety of features and tools to enhance trading strategies. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced trader, Quotex provides a user-friendly interface that can cater to your trading needs.

As a trusted broker, Quotex ensures that their traders have access to a wide range of financial instruments, including stocks, commodities, currencies, and cryptocurrencies. With the quotex trading platform, traders can easily execute trades and monitor their positions in real-time. This allows for greater flexibility and control over trading decisions.

Quotex also provides extensive support for their traders, with a dedicated customer support team available to assist with any queries or concerns. Traders can reach out to quotex support through various channels, including live chat, email, or phone. This ensures that traders can have their questions answered and concerns addressed promptly.

Additionally, Quotex offers a convenient withdrawal limit, allowing traders to easily access their funds. The quotex withdrawal process is quick and hassle-free, ensuring that traders can enjoy their profits without any delays or issues.

Whether you prefer to trade on your PC or on the go, Quotex caters to your needs. Traders can choose to log in to their quotex account on their PC or download the quotex app for a seamless trading experience on their mobile devices. This flexibility allows traders to stay connected to the market and manage their trades wherever they are.

In conclusion, Quotex is a reliable broker that offers a user-friendly platform for digital asset trading in India. With their extensive range of financial instruments, convenient withdrawal limit, and dedicated support team, Quotex provides traders with the tools and resources they need to explore and excel in the world of digital asset trading.

Quotex’s Innovative Trading Platform: Features and Benefits

Quotex is a leading broker that offers a cutting-edge trading platform for binary and digital asset trading in India. Their trading platform, available both as a mobile app and on their official website, provides traders with a range of features and benefits to enhance their trading experience.

1. User-Friendly Interface

The Quotex trading platform is designed to be user-friendly and intuitive, making it easy for both experienced and novice traders to navigate. The app is available for download on both Android and iOS devices, allowing traders to access the platform from anywhere at any time. The login process is simple, and traders can quickly start trading and managing their accounts.

2. Generous Bonuses and Promotions

Quotex offers attractive bonuses and promotions to reward traders for their loyalty and encourage them to trade more. Traders can take advantage of various bonus offers, such as deposit bonuses and promo codes, which can boost their trading capital and increase their profit potential.

3. Demo Account for Practice

New traders can benefit from Quotex’s demo account feature, which allows them to practice trading without risking real money. The demo account provides a simulated trading environment where traders can learn how to use the platform, test different trading strategies, and gain confidence before trading with real funds.

4. Reliable Customer Support

Quotex prides itself on providing excellent customer support to its traders. They have a dedicated support team that is available 24/7 to assist traders with any questions or issues they may have. Traders can reach out to the support team via live chat, email, or phone, ensuring that they receive prompt and reliable assistance whenever needed.

5. Flexible Withdrawal Limits

Quotex offers flexible withdrawal limits, allowing traders to easily access their profits whenever they need them. Traders can withdraw funds from their accounts by logging in to the platform and following the simple withdrawal process. The withdrawal limits are designed to accommodate traders of all levels, ensuring a seamless and convenient trading experience.

Overall, Quotex’s innovative trading platform provides traders with advanced features, generous bonuses, reliable customer support, and flexible withdrawal options. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, Quotex offers a comprehensive trading solution to meet your investment needs.

Quotex: Education and Training Resources for Traders

Quotex, the innovative broker offering binary and digital asset trading in India, not only provides traders with a secure and user-friendly platform, but also offers a wide range of education and training resources to help traders improve their skills and make informed trading decisions.

When you sign up on Quotex, you can access a variety of educational materials, including video tutorials, e-books, and interactive courses. These resources cover a range of topics, from basic trading concepts to advanced strategies. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced trader, Quotex has something to offer you.

With the Quotex app, available for download on both Android and iOS devices, you can take your education and training on the go. The app allows you to access all the educational resources, as well as the trading platform, from your smartphone or tablet. You can also use the Quotex app on your PC to have a larger screen for better analysis and trading.

Quotex understands that every trader is unique, and that’s why they offer personalized training and support. You can contact the Quotex support team via email, live chat, or phone call to get answers to your questions and receive guidance tailored to your specific needs. Additionally, Quotex provides a demo account where you can practice your trading skills without risking real money.

Quotex also rewards its traders with promotional bonuses and offers. By using a Quotex promo code, you can receive bonus funds that can be used for trading. The bonus amount depends on the specific promotion and the deposit amount you make.

Overall, with its comprehensive educational resources, personalized support, and promotional bonuses, Quotex is committed to helping traders succeed in the dynamic world of binary and digital asset trading. Sign up on the official Quotex site today and start your trading journey with confidence!

Withdrawals and Deposits on Quotex: A Hassle-Free Experience

Quotex, the innovative broker offering binary and digital asset trading in India, provides its users with a hassle-free experience when it comes to withdrawals and deposits. With its user-friendly interface and intuitive features, Quotex ensures that traders can easily manage their funds without any complications.

One of the key advantages of Quotex is its quick and efficient withdrawal process. Traders can request withdrawals from their Quotex trading account with just a few clicks. The platform offers various withdrawal methods, including bank transfers and popular e-wallets, making it convenient for users to receive their funds securely and promptly.

When it comes to deposits, Quotex offers a seamless experience as well. Traders can easily make deposits into their trading account using different payment methods, including credit/debit cards and e-wallets. The platform ensures that deposits are processed quickly and securely, allowing traders to start trading without any delays.

Furthermore, Quotex provides attractive bonuses and promo codes to enhance the trading experience for its users. Traders can unlock bonuses and promo codes on the Quotex platform, which can be used to boost their trading capital and increase their potential profits.

In addition, Quotex has set a withdrawal limit to ensure the security of traders’ funds. Traders can withdraw a certain amount per day, which may vary depending on their account type and verification level. This withdrawal limit helps protect traders from unauthorized transactions and enhances the overall security of the platform.

Whether traders choose to access Quotex through their desktop using the Quotex login PC or prefer to trade on the go with the Quotex app for PC or mobile, they can always rely on the platform’s seamless support. Quotex offers dedicated customer support, assisting users with any queries or issues they may encounter during their trading journey.

In conclusion, withdrawals and deposits on Quotex are designed to be hassle-free, providing traders with a smooth and convenient experience. From quick withdrawals and easy deposits to attractive bonuses and reliable customer support, Quotex ensures that traders can focus on their trading activities without any worries about managing their funds.

Quotex’s Customer Support: Assistance When You Need It

When it comes to trading binary and digital assets, having reliable customer support can make all the difference. That’s where Quotex comes in. With a variety of support options available, Quotex ensures that customers have someone to turn to whenever they need assistance with their trading activities.

Whether you prefer accessing your account through the Quotex login PC platform or via the Quotex app, customer support is always just a click away. The Quotex app download is available for both iOS and Android devices, allowing you to trade on the go and contact support whenever necessary. In addition, Quotex offers dedicated support for traders in India, ensuring that they have access to the assistance they need in their local language.

When you sign up with Quotex, you can take advantage of their various features and promotions, such as the Quotex promo code, to enhance your trading experience. If you have any questions or issues regarding these features, the support team is there to help. From answering inquiries about the Quotex site official to providing guidance on using the Quotex trader platform, their knowledgeable support representatives are available to assist you.

Furthermore, if you’re new to trading or simply want to test out Quotex’s platform before investing real money, you can make use of the Quotex demo account. If you encounter any difficulties during your trading journey or have questions about using the demo account, the customer support team is ready to provide guidance and address any concerns you may have.

In addition to offering assistance with trading-related queries, Quotex’s customer support team can also help with issues related to account management, such as Quotex withdrawal limits or navigating the Quotex app for PC. No matter what aspect of Quotex’s services you need help with, their support representatives are dedicated to ensuring that you have a smooth and seamless trading experience.

In conclusion, Quotex understands the importance of reliable customer support in the world of trading. The range of support options available, from assistance with the Quotex login process to guidance on using the Quotex trading platform, ensures that customers have access to the help they need, when they need it. With Quotex’s customer support, you can trade with confidence, knowing that assistance is always just a message or call away.

Benefits of Trading Quotex Binary Options on Global Financial Markets

Quotex Trader is an innovative trading platform that offers a wide range of trading instruments and features. It provides a seamless trading experience with its user-friendly interface and advanced trading tools. Traders can invest in various financial markets, including forex, commodities, stocks, and cryptocurrencies. The platform also offers competitive spreads, fast execution, and flexible leverage options. Quotex Trader is accessible on both desktop and mobile devices, allowing traders to access their accounts and trade on the go. With its robust security measures and reliable customer support, Quotex Trader is a trusted platform for traders of all levels of experience.

The post Introducing Quotex: Revolutionizing Binary and Digital Asset Trading in India appeared first on Lin Weeks Wilder.

Lessons in Stupidity from King Herod

“to be old and wise you must first be young and stupid” with cup of coffee notepad and pen background retro styleLessons in stupidity from King Herod

Unfortunately, some of us just get old without losing the stupidity of youth. Like lessons in stupidity from King Herod.

Each August 29th, the Christian liturgy memorializes the beheading of John the Baptist. It’s one of the few Gospel readings that don’t include Jesus– and contains the perfect recipe for ruining our lives:

commit adultery, let the person who cheated on their spouse direct your decisions, throw a birthday party for yourself, inviting all influencersafter a lascivious performance, offer your niece anything she wantsdon’t be surprised when she asks for your soul.

It’s tempting to read this Gospel passage as a distant story in a foreign land far removed from us. But we can’t. At least I can’t. Because I remember all the wicked things I did before I returned to God and His Law. The times that I did something I knew to be morally wrong because of a man. So when I read this story, I feel sorrow and sympathy for King Herod because he mirrors my stupidity.

The sorrow and sympathy is because of the obvious attraction of this presumably atheistic king for truth– and for my younger self.

Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man,
and kept him in custody.
When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed,
yet he liked to listen to him. [Read entire passage]

But there’s far more here.

“The actual description of John the Baptist’s death as it is presented in the Gospels has been radically reconstructed by popular culture and has become a tale of political intrigue and sexual sublimation that is provoked by a religious zealot and a sexy dancing girl. This all seems to me to be a case of reading into the text a meaning that we would prefer, rather than dealing with the text as it is. There is intrigue and sublimation in the story, but it is not the kind that we might think it to be.

[Rene] Girard notes that the Greek of the New Testament text identifies her not a “kore” (young woman) but a “korasion,” or little girl. We are dealing with a child who is being manipulated. This child is learning early in life what we should desire and where our desires should take us. Not only does this detail make Herod’s delight at the girl’s dancing all the more disturbing, but it also illuminates just how insidious the corruption of Herod and his successors really was. John was driven to denounce the wickedness of the royal family not just on the basis of a technicality involving the Mosaic law, but because the dynasty was corrupt to the core. The truncated relationship of Herod and Herodias is just the tip of the iceberg. It is what remains concealed beneath the surface that is really shocking. The actions of the king and queen in regard to the child should cause our skin to crawl.  

Father Steve Grunow-Word on Fire

Herod and Herodias are of a priestly class but from a corrupted family who train their young child in depravity. JJust like today, their corruption would have been well known among the citizens spread through the ancient social media: word of mouth.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus explains the strange intermingling of good with evil:

The value of weeds

is the title of the eighth chapter in Weeds Among the Wheat: Where Prayer and Action Meet, by Thomas H. Green, SJ. The mysterious parable is one of the critical keys to discernment in Ignatian Sprituality.

He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 

but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds3 among the wheat and went a

So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 

And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 

Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, 

Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn

The parable is the most mysterious of the seven parables in Matthew, writes Father Green. Not only does it explain the intermingling of good and evil in the world, but in the individual souls of believers. St. Paul’s thorn, the one he begged to have removed but the Lord deemed it necessary illustrates this truth. Referring to St. Paul’s discussion of the two laws within him in Romans 7, Father Green goes further to suggest that our instinctual and involuntary weaknesses will likely remain in us until we die. “The wheat of our virtues—trust, humility, gratitude, zeal–could not come to full maturity, it seems without the weeds of our instinctual failings.”

Like Paul then, we accept and trust that “My grace is enough for you, my power is at its best in weakness.”

Lessons in Stupidity from King Herod.

Can we mitigate the growing evil?

In a remarkable interview with Rene Girard, Girard replied to that question with brilliance: increase our personal sanctity.

At an invitation from my online friend, Janet Klasson, I signed up for praying an assigned hour of the Passion Clock. I’d read Luisa Piccarreta’s Twenty-Four Hours of the Passion of Jesus Christ before. but the wisdom of organizing a method where we pray one hour daily for seven days is inspired. Because after a couple of times praying that hour, we become familiar with it enough to recall it throughout our day. As is, of course, the point.

The twelfth hour is 4-5 AM. And the soldiers are mocking, insulting and torturing him. Luisa describes his beautiful eyes filled with spit, soldiers even forcing open Our Lord’s mouth to fill it with their spit. And Jesus’ “supernatural love and sweetness” that shines throughout.

And recalls what St. Benedict calls the evil zeal that can take residence in my heart. Something unjust happens to someone whom I love, admire and/or respect and my firmness disappears. Firmness–a peculiar word but one Luisa Piccarreta uses after her inspired vision of the twelfth hour of the Passion of Christ.

Following the explicit and graphic narrative of each hour we pray-ers are asked how we handle situations in which we’re criticized unjustly. Or ridiculed. Or betrayed. Do we exhibit the constancy that Jesus did while enduring people spitting, stomping and brutalizing him?

Firmness is that virtue which makes us know whether God really reigns in us. If ours is true virtue,
we will be firm in trial, with a firmness which is not inconstant, but always equal to itself. The more
we become firm in good, in suffering, in working, the more we enlarge the field around us, in which
Jesus will expand His graces. Therefore, if we are inconstant, our field will be small, and Jesus will
have little or no space. But if we are firm and constant, as Jesus finds a very extensive field, He will
find in us His shelf and support, and the place in which to extend His graces.

Eucharist, sacrament of communion backgroundWe take Communion

and we communicate with God. At the same time, it is more than Communion–it is an invasion by God. To be invaded by God is joy. We plunge into the mystery of love, a reality more real than the air we breathe, than the life we live throughout the day…Here begins the kingdom of God. Through the Holy Eucharist you will fall in love with God. The more you love God, the more you receive God. The deeper your love becomes, the more your heart opens. You and the Trinity are one. Catherine de Hueck Doherty

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Love: How Extrordinarily Wrong We Are About It

Valentines Day love heart in winter in the snow from above. Single red heart on the snow, love conceptLove: how extrordinarily wrong we are about it.

A few years ago, I wrote a piece that recalled an event not long after I converted to Catholic Christianity from decades of mostly atheism. Alone in the church after Mass I sat transfixed by the crucifix. Mesmerized by this ginormous quintessence of agony stretched over the altar of the couple of hundred-year-old church in Putnam, Connecticut. I thought, “Love, I know nothing about it.”

Rereading that piece, I was struck by my mention of On Being’s broadcaster Krista Tippet’s long immersion into living on the “wrong side of love”: She was looking to be loved. Tippet was suffering, she says, from “the poverty of our imagination.” And explains her transformation in a book called Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and the Art of Living.

Cultural influencers, politicians and many of our young people are working diligently to remedy that poverty of imagination and get on the right side of love. Tolerance, diversity, inclusion are increasingly desperate maxims to right the wrongs. Everywhere we look, we see them: critical race theory, legitimizing aberrant sexuality, open borders are just a few of the wildly contentious fixes to an endless list of problems. Our well-intentioned human hearts are in overdrive as we scramble to make total equality a reality. But are these remedies moving us to the ‘right side’ of love?

Tippet’s remark about the dangers of isolation warrants a repeat. Speaking of the nuclear family, she calls it “an unprecedented demand on a couple to be everything to each other, the family a tiny echo chamber: history one layer deep. None of the great virtues … is meant to be carried in isolation.

Indeed.

We know the sole antidote to living the great virtues in isolation is the mystical Body of Christ: living in the Divine Will.

Our plunge into “feelings”

has taken time to become our cultural norm and social media rant.

Back in the nineties–can it really be three decades ago?–an astounding book fell into my lap. You know that feeling; the Aha! of it: this is truth!

My sister’s Episcopalian Pastor, Father Rob Price, used Edwin Friedman’s A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix as the substance for a Sunday sermon. After hearing about the book, I ordered and devoured its content. So entranced with the wisdom of Edwin Friedman, I bought at least ten copies and sent it to friends begging them to read it.

Even the title grabs us, doesn’t it? A Failure of Nerve: we’re so blasted terrified of naming what’s right before us, like laziness. Or pure wickedness.

In the forward to his book, Friedman credits author Gilbert Murray’s book on Greek Religion with his title. In a chapter called “Failure of Nerve,” Murray contends that the rapid rise and even more rapid decline of the Greek civilization was due to a failure of nerve required to replace one set of superstitions myths- the Greek gods dethroned by Socrates- with a new set of beliefs. In prose reminiscent of the Gospel, Murray states that “…there is always an infinite supply of superstitions available to the mind that desires such things, that is the mind that has not trained itself to the hard discipline of reasonableness and honesty, will, as soon as those devils are cast out, proceed to fill itself with their relations.”

Friedman does not aim to comfort but to challenge. The thrust of this book, with its focus on emotional maturity, self-control, personal responsibility is like a drink of cool water on a very hot day to the psyche. Friedman uses ‘cultural camouflage ‘ to describe what I know of as an era where conciliation, obsequiousness and risk avoidance  are rewarded. And where irresponsible even disruptive behavior is tolerated, even encouraged.

Cultural camouflage says it much more efficiently.

How do we define love then?

We orthodox Christians? St. Thomas Aquinas’ classic definition is to “will the good of the other as other.” I’ll wager all of us agree with that definition. Whether we’re on the side of abortion as a right, or abortion as intrinsic evil. Both sides believe we’re willing the good of the other. There’s the rub. Love: How Extrordinarily Wrong We Are About It

This past Friday’s Gospel reading in the Christian liturgy takes up the question. “Teacher, what is the greatest commandment?” It’s an odd question coming from a pious Jew, isn’t it? Jesus is being asked the question in an attempt to trip him up, for each of the commandments is equally weighty.

But how does He answer?

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Only one thing is meant by the good of the other: truth and the salvation of souls.

Bishop Barron explains
Friends, in today’s Gospel, Jesus says that the whole law depends on love of God and love of neighbor. I want to reflect on the love of neighbor. For many, to love is equivalent to being a nice guy, or in Flannery O’Connor’s formulation, “having a heart of gold.”

Now, there is nothing in the world wrong with being a nice guy or having a heart of gold, but you can easily achieve both of those states and not have love.    For love is not really about fitting in and being friendly; it is willing the good of the other as other. It is wanting what is best for another person and then doing something about it.

And this means that real love can be as tough as nails or as disagreeable as a slap in the face—indeed, in Dostoevsky’s phrase, something “harsh and dreadful.”   Compelling an addict to get help or questioning a dysfunctional style of life both involve the willing of the good of the other—and neither will cause people to characterize you as a nice guy.

This is why the God who is love is not a kindly Santa Claus who magically makes troubles disappear.Daily Gospel Reflection 8/25./2023

From Father Boniface Hicks, April 2023

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Even The Dogs: The Canaanite Woman and Us

Even The Dogs: The Canaanite Woman and Us

Initially, perhaps for some, each time we read this Gospel passage, we think that Jesus is being crass, even cruel. But that’s because all too readily, we impose our own motives on Christ.

And yet, it is a curious interaction. So odd that it begs for a third or tenth reflection.

If you’ve not read the passage or have forgotten much of it, here it is again:

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus' disciples came and asked him,"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."He said in reply,"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me." He said in reply,"It is not right to take the food of the childrenand throw it to the dogs." She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scrapsthat fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus said to her in reply,"O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.She is only one of two

non-Jews of Jesus’ time we are introduced to in the Gospels. The other is well known to us Catholics for we recite his words each time before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ: the unnamed Roman centurion. The man at whose words Jesus is amazed:

“I do not deserve to have you enter under my roof, but only say the words and my servant will be healed.

This Canaanite woman is desperate, some might say, obnoxious, like author Carl Olson writes:

“How did the Canaanite woman know about Jesus? We don’t know for certain, but it is apparent that word of Jesus and his deeds had spread beyond Israel. Whatever the case, the woman’s approach to Jesus and the disciples was both obnoxious and remarkable. She literally screamed at them, displaying her obvious desperation and suffering; she was, simply, in serious need of mercy and a miracle—and she knew it.”

Not only female, She’s an outsider, not one of the Chosen People. The disciples try to drive her away.She begs Jesus for his help, not for herself but her child!At first he doesn’t answer. And then condemns her by calling her one of the dogs under the table where the food of God’s children is distributed.

But we’re compelled to ponder this woman: her audacity, persistence and grit.

But more remarkable than all of these traits is her humility. She chooses not to take offense, wallow in hurt feelings or give in to anger. So we know there’s got to be something else going on here, right? Perhaps a major lesson to our reactive, self-absorbed selves about faith and trust.

Israel’s “vocation to the world,”

is one of Bishop Barron’s wholly marvelous phrases. In his Sermon on the Canaanite woman, Bishop Barron speaks of the 100+ homilies he heard on this Gospel passage, all of them wrong. And proceeds to unpack Even The Dogs: The Canaanite Woman and Us.

Using the title of a John Lennon seventies era album called “Walls and Bridges,” a phrase he loves because it’s such a fitting metaphor for reading this Gospel passage.

Is there a great wall around Israel?

Yes!

Walls define, they cement identity. “I’ve come for the lost sheep of Israel.”

But is that wall meant to exclude the non-Israelites?

No.

The Canaanite woman symbolizes those of us who finally understand that our only proper position is on our knees. Even The Dogs: The Canaanite Woman and Us

“Lord, help me.”

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Even The Dogs: The Caananite Woman and Us

Even The Dogs: The Canannite Woman and Us

Initially, perhaps for some, each time we read this Gospel passage, we think that Jesus is being crass, even cruel. But that’s because all too readily, we impose our own motives on Christ.

And yet, it is a curious interaction. So odd that it begs for a third or tenth reflection.

If you’ve not read the passage or have forgotten much of it, here it is again:

At that time, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,"Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon." But Jesus did not say a word in answer to her. Jesus' disciples came and asked him,"Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us."He said in reply,"I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."But the woman came and did Jesus homage, saying, "Lord, help me." He said in reply,"It is not right to take the food of the childrenand throw it to the dogs." She said, "Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scrapsthat fall from the table of their masters." Then Jesus said to her in reply,"O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." And the woman's daughter was healed from that hour.The Canaanite woman is only one of two

non-Jews of Jesus’ time we are introduced to in the Gospels. The other is well known to us Catholics for we recite his words each time before receiving the Body and Blood of Christ: the unnamed Roman centurion. The man at whose words Jesus is amazed:

“I do not deserve to have you enter under my roof, but only say the words and my servant will be healed.

This Cannanite woman is desperate, some might say, obnoxious, like author Carl Olson writes:

“How did the Canaanite woman know about Jesus? We don’t know for certain, but it is apparent that word of Jesus and his deeds had spread beyond Israel. Whatever the case, the woman’s approach to Jesus and the disciples was both obnoxious and remarkable. She literally screamed at them, displaying her obvious desperation and suffering; she was, simply, in serious need of mercy and a miracle—and she knew it.”

Not only female, She’s an outsider, not one of the Chosen People. The disciples try to drive her away.She begs Jesus for his help, not for herself but her child!At first he doesn’t answer. And then condemns her by calling her one of the dogs under the table where the food of God’s children is distributed.

But we’re compelled to ponder this woman: her audacity, persistence and grit.

But more remarkable than all of these traits is her humility. She chooses not to take offense, wallow in hurt feelings or give in to anger. So we know there’s got to be something else going on here, right? Perhaps a major lesson to our reactive, self-absorbed selves about faith and trust.

Israel’s “vocation to the world,”

is one of Bishop Barron’s wholly marvelous phrases. In his Sermon on the Canaanite woman, Bishop Barron speaks of the 100+ homilies he heard on this Gospel passage, all of them wrong. And proceeds to unpack Even The Dogs: The Canannite Woman and Us.

Using the title of a John Lennon seventies era album called “Walls and Bridges,” a phrase he loves because it’s such a fitting metaphor for reading this Gospel passage.

Is there a great wall around Israel?

Yes!

Walls define, they cement identity. “I’ve come for the lost sheep of Israel.”

But is that wall meant to exclude the non-Israelites?

No.

The Caanaite woman symbolizes those of us who finally understand that our only proper position is on our knees.

“Lord, help me.”

Gratitude: Its Essential Presence

Thankful inspirational quote – Gratitude: Its Essential Presence




Lord, we thank you for this heat!

“Lord, thank you for this soaking perspiration each time we go outside, so wet that we need to change clothes down to our skin!” At Monday’s 6 am morning Mass at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Father Paul didn’t say that second comment, just the first. The second is mine, voicing the complaint that comes far too readily to my lips.

The priest reminds us of gratitude: its essential presence in our hearts. Our obligation as Christians to view everything as gift. Father Paul’s message was especially evocative for me not just because of the prolonged heat and drought but the arduous, at times grueling, work of revising my newest book.

But first some background.

Father Paul’s homily relates to the constant bellyaching of our adopted ancestors: the Israelites in the desert. Although we’re tempted to, we know better than judge these people who have been wandering in the desert for thirty days, with everything they have, kids, livestock, elderly and all possessions.

Just like me, when suffering and sacrifice shows up, they forget the miracles the Lord has done. And kvetch that they’d been better off in Egypt, seduced by slavery to the world.

Here’s the reading from Monday’s Christian liturgy:

The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.” Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin. When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil. At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.

When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved. “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the LORD. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.”

It’s impossible to read this

and be unaffected. We identify with both the constant complaining of the Israelites and the impatience of Moses. That is, if we’re honest. We know that after forty days of eating a substance tasting like coriander seed, we would be wailing too. And Moses? His plea, ‘If this is the way you will deal with me then please do me the favor of killing me at once…’

Is there any of us who have not thought that? When we feel we’ve no more to give. Done. Just end it.

Father Paul’s exhortion, “Thank you Lord for this heat” fits this San Antonio summer.

After an absolutely miraculous spring–it rained just about every day–sometime around mid-May, summer hit.  The heat seems to be intensify as the days wear on. And on.

And there’s been no rain. Last week on the way home from grocery shopping the car registered 108 degrees. We know drought often signifies God’s wrath. And we’re surely deserving of it.

But ours is a God of mercy, so I’ve begin asking Elijah to intercede.

“Please help us.” 

Just so, I’ve been praising criticism.

Do I mean it?

In praise of criticism? A wholehearted, unadulterated YES!

Honest feedback is imperative-even when it draws blood. It’s different from asking someone whether they like your new haircut. Most likely, if the haircut is awful and you are asking, they understand you’re merely asking for a reminder that it will grow back.

But with a story created solely out of the ethos, we simply cannot be objective about what we have written, it is not possible.

I wrote this after reading a blistering review of my first novel:

Eight novels later, I return to say, “Thank you Lord for criticism.”  Gratitude, its essential presence especially when we must say thank you for this gift with gritted teeth.

Ive lost count of the

number of times my new novel has been revised. One would think, it gets easier, it doesn’t. After all, isn’t each new book the same?

Write, ask for feedback, rewrite, ask for critique and rewrite?

Yes.

But I forget. Or at least supress the memory enough to do it again.

For me, it still takes time to staunch the hemorrhage. That’s what it feels like when reading editorial comments like, “plot implausible,” “not up to your usual standard,” and the like. But always. Always, once the bleeding stops and the capacity to think returns, I slog through yet another revision, once done and I reread, I’m stunned at the improvement in the story.

It’s a law, I think.

Gratitude: Its Essential Presence

Or at least a rule: humiliation brings grace. Just like the Gospel for Wednesday of this week:

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Our Lord was sent to the Chosen ones,

the Jews. This woman is one of only two non-Jews who ask and receive. We know the other well, for we quote him at each Mass, “Lord I am not worthy…” the centurion. About whom Jesus is amazed, “I’ve not seen faith like this man’s in Jerusalem!”

And this Caananite woman.

Although the disciples try to send her away, and the Lord doesn’t answer, and when he does, is insulting, she persists. She comes and does him homage. “Lord, help me.” She absorbs the insult-” Lord, even the dogs eat scraps.”

Persistence.

Patience.

Trust.

The result? “O woman, great is your faith”  

“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;…

All you powers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Sun and moon, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

All you winds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Fire and heat, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever…

Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

                                                                                                                                               Daniel:3

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A Declaration of Dependence

A declaration of dependence

America’s declaration of independence is fundamentally a declaration of dependence on God wrote Archbishop Fulton Sheen over eighty years ago.  When we read the five-man committee’s words, we cannot help but be moved by their implicit reason and truth.

WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it….The Declaration of Independence

And yet, we’ve thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of us–religious and nonreligious alike– insisting that rights are not God-giiven. But are promoting the perilous lie that the rights of Americans emanate from the Federal government, rather than from our Creator.

But reason’s a scarce commodity

of late, hasn’t it?

But wait, is reason’s absence in the “Intelligentsia” truly recent?

Archbishop Fulton Sheen published his brief and brilliant book, A Declaration of Dependence on July 5, 1941, as war thundered through the world.

He begins by explaining that “The spirit of revolution” has three chararteristics: irrationality, Violence and atheism.

To be rational means to think before acting. We do not just suddenly find ourselves standing in a telephone booth; a reason preceded and determined our presence there. As St. John expressed it, “In the beginning was the Word” — first the Word, the Idea, the Thought, Reason: then the action, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). The irrational is just the contrary. It is the primacy of action over idea: first you act and then you think why you did it. As Goethe put it: “In the beginning was the Deed.”

Reason exists, according to this philosophy, merely to justify action or to rationalize an evil. Ideas have value only as fuel for dynamic action; the history of thought is only the history of aggressive action. Ideas are…, as one jurist in America believes, just “instruments of power”; that is, one uses an idea to further his power, and when it ceases to be useful he scraps it and substitutes another. Not justice but opportunism becomes the rule.

Irrationality developed quickly in the modern world after it lost faith in God. In 1870, the Council of the Vatican had to remind the rationalists that if they used their reason, they could know God. The attitude of the Church rightly was: reason must be either a product of Divine Reason or blind matter. If it is the former, it is an intellectualism that can be complemented by faith; if the latter, then its root is unreason and its deliverances are illusory.

Where do our rights come from?

Always we derive our rights from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Whether it’s educators claiming their right to teach small children about gender identy, communists their right to destroy democracy, or protestors their right to burn cities, this “right” is based on the Declaration of Independence. As if authority, law and order are independent entities, grounded in nothing but our insatiable appetites.

But where do the rights come from asks Archbishop Sheen?

In these days when everyone talks of rights and few of duties, it is important for us Americans to recall that the Declaration of Independence is also a Declaration of Dependence. The Declaration of Independence asserts a double dependence: dependence on God and dependence on law as derived from God.

Where do we get our right of free speech? Where do we get freedom of conscience? Whence is derived the right to own property?

Do we get these rights and liberties from the State? If we did the state could take them away.

Do we get them from the federal government in Washington? If we did, the federal government could take them away.

Whence comes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Read the Declaration of Independence and there find the answer: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Notice these words: The Creator has endowed men with rights and liberties; men got them from God! In other words, we are dependent on God, and that initial dependence is the foundation of our independence.

A few years ago,

Anthony Barr, former Attorney General, gave a riveting speech at the Notre Dame Law School. His talk was reasoned, cogent and informed by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. His primary message? That our democracy could survive only if its citizens were people of faith, belief in virtue and God’s law. It’s a lengthy speech and I’ve embedded it here.

Below is an excerpt of his remarks: words that no reasoned person can refute:

The challenge we face is precisely what the Founding Fathers foresaw would be our supreme test as a free society.

They never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom. The question was whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions.

By and large, the Founding generation’s view of human nature was drawn from the classical Christian tradition.

These practical statesmen understood that individuals, while having the potential for great good, also had the capacity for great evil.

Men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and, if unrestrained, are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community at large.

But the response of the irrational intelligentsia both in religious and secular circles was frenzied. Anthony Barr along, of course, with the former president were vilified. Hysterical comments like Barr being a threat to democracy.were written by the “pundits.”  In truth, the left went beserk.

The greatest evil.

At times, the ease with which we ennoble the foolish, unreasonable and the diabolical is suffocating. But Archbishop Sheen reminds us that the greatest evil has already happened. Nothing any human can conjure up can surpass what we did to Christ.

Nor has humanity ever witnessed greater mercy and love than those last words of Jesus. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Though our days are wicked, they are incapable of ever committing a greater evil than nailing the Son of God to a Cross. And though our world should be converted and live in peace, it would never envisage a greater act of love than that done on Calvary, when Divine Justice forgave those who pinioned Him and then gave them as the nourishment of their lives the very Life they slew. …

The fires that burned on Calvary’s hill were really the fires of His wrath against evil; the flames enkindled by the fierceness of His love for men. God will not be dethroned; injustice and hate will not conquer, though it cost the life of His Divine Son. And in that memorable hour, when as He laid down His life and uttered the cry “It is finished,” something snapped in the universe…

For in that Cross, there is no sentimental affection; there is the sternness of a great love; the severity of a great tenderness; the revolution that is a restoration — the call to all men to “repent,” to follow a course of life, exactly the opposite of what they are doing now. Will enough of us get back to that Cross to save the world? Will enough of us be so dedicated to Truth as to begin to sacrifice where we once enjoyed, to pray where we once sinned, and to love those whom before we hated?

A Declaration of Dependence

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Gratitude: Its Essential Presence

T

 

 

Gratitude concept. Gratitude: its essential presence

Lord, we thank you for this heat!

“Lord, thank you for this soaking perspiration each time we go outside, so wet that we need to change clothes down to our skin!” At Monday’s 6 am morning Mass at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church, Father Paul didn’t say that second comment, just the first. The second is mine, voicing the complaint that comes far too readily to my lips.

The priest reminds us of gratitude: its essential presence in our hearts. Our obligation as Christians to view everything as gift. Father Paul’s message was especially evocative for me not just because of the prolonged heat and drought but the arduous, at times grueling, work of revising my newest book.

But first some background.

Father Paul’s homily relates to the constant bellyaching of our adopted ancestors: the Israelites in the desert. Although we’re tempted to, we know better than judge these people who have been wandering in the desert for thirty days, with everything they have, kids, livestock, elderly and all possessions.

Just like me, when suffering and sacrifice shows up, they forget the miracles the Lord has done. And kvetch that they’d been better off in Egypt, seduced by slavery to the world.

Here’s the reading from Monday’s Christian liturgy:

The children of Israel lamented, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.” Manna was like coriander seed and had the color of resin. When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, which tasted like cakes made with oil. At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.

When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the LORD became very angry, he was grieved. “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the LORD. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? Was it I who conceived all this people? Or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my bosom, like a foster father carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face this distress.”

It’s impossible to read this

and be unaffected. We identify with both the constant complaining of the Israelites and the impatience of Moses. That is, if we’re honest. We know that after forty days of eating a substance tasting like coriander seed, we would be wailing too. And Moses? His plea, ‘If this is the way you will deal with me then please do me the favor of killing me at once…’

Is there any of us who have not thought that? When we feel we’ve no more to give. Done. Just end it.

Father Paul’s exhortion, “Thank you Lord for this heat” fits this San Antonio summer.

After an absolutely miraculous spring–it rained just about every day–sometime around mid-May, summer hit.  The heat seems to be intensify as the days wear on. And on.

And there’s been no rain. Last week on the way home from grocery shopping the car registered 108 degrees. We know drought often signifies God’s wrath. And we’re surely deserving of it.

But ours is a God of mercy, so I’ve begin asking Elijah to intercede.

“Please help us.” 

Just so, I’ve been praising criticism.

Do I mean it?

In praise of criticism? A wholehearted, unadulterated YES!

Honest feedback is imperative-even when it draws blood. It’s different from asking someone whether they like your new haircut. Most likely, if the haircut is awful and you are asking, they understand you’re merely asking for a reminder that it will grow back.

But with a story created solely out of the ethos, we simply cannot be objective about what we have written, it is not possible.

I wrote this after reading a blistering review of my first novel:

Eight novels later, I return to say, “Thank you Lord for criticism.”  Gratitude, its essential presence especially when we must say thank you for this gift with gritted teeth.

Ive lost count of the

number of times my new novel has been revised. One would think, it gets easier, it doesn’t. After all, isn’t each new book the same?

Write, ask for feedback, rewrite, ask for critique and rewrite?

Yes.

But I forget. Or at least supress the memory enough to do it again.

For me, it still takes time to staunch the hemorrhage. That’s what it feels like when reading editorial comments like, “plot implausible,” “not up to your usual standard,” and the like. But always. Always, once the bleeding stops and the capacity to think returns, I slog through yet another revision, once done and I reread, I’m stunned at the improvement in the story.

It’s a law, I think.

Gratitude: Its Essential Presence

Or at least a rule: humiliation brings grace. Just like the Gospel for Wednesday of this week:

And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

Our Lord was sent to the Chosen ones,

the Jews. This woman is one of only two non-Jews who ask and receive. We know the other well, for we quote him at each Mass, “Lord I am not worthy…” the centurion. About whom Jesus is amazed, “I’ve not seen faith like this man’s in Jerusalem!”

And this Caananite woman.

Although the disciples try to send her away, and the Lord doesn’t answer, and when he does, is insulting, she persists. She comes and does him homage. “Lord, help me.” She absorbs the insult-” Lord, even the dogs eat scraps.”

Persistence.

Patience.

Trust.

The result? “O woman, great is your faith”  

“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestors,

praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;…

All you powers, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Sun and moon, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

All you winds, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Fire and heat, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever…

Spirits and souls of the just, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

Holy and humble of heart, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

                                                                                                                                               Daniel:3

 

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A Declaration of Dependence

A declaration of dependence

America’s declaration of independence is fundamentally a declaration of dependence on God wrote Archbishop Fulton Sheen over eighty years ago.  When we read the five-man committee’s words, we cannot help but be moved by their implicit reason and truth.

WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the
political bands which have connected them with
another, and to assume among the powers of the
earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle
them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of
the governed,—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is
the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it….The Declaration of Independence

And yet, we’ve thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of us–religious and nonreligious alike– insisting that rights are not God-giiven. But are promoting the perilous lie that the rights of Americans emanate from the Federal government, rather than from our Creator.

But reason’s a scarce commodity

of late, hasn’t it?

But wait, is reason’s absence in the “Intelligentsia” truly recent?

Archbishop Fulton Sheen published his brief and brilliant book, A Declaration of Dependence on July 5, 1941, as war thundered through the world.

He begins by explaining that “The spirit of revolution” has three chararteristics: irrationality, Violence and atheism.

To be rational means to think before acting. We do not just suddenly find ourselves standing in a telephone booth; a reason preceded and determined our presence there. As St. John expressed it, “In the beginning was the Word” — first the Word, the Idea, the Thought, Reason: then the action, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). The irrational is just the contrary. It is the primacy of action over idea: first you act and then you think why you did it. As Goethe put it: “In the beginning was the Deed.”

Reason exists, according to this philosophy, merely to justify action or to rationalize an evil. Ideas have value only as fuel for dynamic action; the history of thought is only the history of aggressive action. Ideas are…, as one jurist in America believes, just “instruments of power”; that is, one uses an idea to further his power, and when it ceases to be useful he scraps it and substitutes another. Not justice but opportunism becomes the rule.

Irrationality developed quickly in the modern world after it lost faith in God. In 1870, the Council of the Vatican had to remind the rationalists that if they used their reason, they could know God. The attitude of the Church rightly was: reason must be either a product of Divine Reason or blind matter. If it is the former, it is an intellectualism that can be complemented by faith; if the latter, then its root is unreason and its deliverances are illusory.

Where do our rights come from?

Always we derive our rights from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Whether it’s educators claiming their right to teach small children about gender identy, communists their right to destroy democracy, or protestors their right to burn cities, this “right” is based on the Declaration of Independence. As if authority, law and order are independent entities, grounded in nothing but our insatiable appetites.

But where do the rights come from asks Archbishop Sheen?

In these days when everyone talks of rights and few of duties, it is important for us Americans to recall that the Declaration of Independence is also a Declaration of Dependence. The Declaration of Independence asserts a double dependence: dependence on God and dependence on law as derived from God.

Where do we get our right of free speech? Where do we get freedom of conscience? Whence is derived the right to own property?

Do we get these rights and liberties from the State? If we did the state could take them away.

Do we get them from the federal government in Washington? If we did, the federal government could take them away.

Whence comes the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Read the Declaration of Independence and there find the answer: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Notice these words: The Creator has endowed men with rights and liberties; men got them from God! In other words, we are dependent on God, and that initial dependence is the foundation of our independence.

A few years ago,

Anthony Barr, former Attorney General, gave a riveting speech at the Notre Dame Law School. His talk was reasoned, cogent and informed by the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. His primary message? That our democracy could survive only if its citizens were people of faith, belief in virtue and God’s law. It’s a lengthy speech and I’ve embedded it here.

Below is an excerpt of his remarks: words that no reasoned person can refute:

The challenge we face is precisely what the Founding Fathers foresaw would be our supreme test as a free society.

They never thought the main danger to the republic came from external foes. The central question was whether, over the long haul, we could handle freedom. The question was whether the citizens in such a free society could maintain the moral discipline and virtue necessary for the survival of free institutions.

By and large, the Founding generation’s view of human nature was drawn from the classical Christian tradition.

These practical statesmen understood that individuals, while having the potential for great good, also had the capacity for great evil.

Men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and, if unrestrained, are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community at large.

But the response of the irrational intelligentsia both in religious and secular circles was frenzied. Anthony Barr along, of course, with the former president were vilified. Hysterical comments like Barr being a threat to democracy.were written by the “pundits.”  In truth, the left went beserk.

The greatest evil.

At times, the ease with which we ennoble the foolish, unreasonable and the diabolical is suffocating. But Archbishop Sheen reminds us that the greatest evil has already happened. Nothing any human can conjure up can surpass what we did to Christ.

Nor has humanity ever witnessed greater mercy and love than those last words of Jesus. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Though our days are wicked, they are incapable of ever committing a greater evil than nailing the Son of God to a Cross. And though our world should be converted and live in peace, it would never envisage a greater act of love than that done on Calvary, when Divine Justice forgave those who pinioned Him and then gave them as the nourishment of their lives the very Life they slew. …

The fires that burned on Calvary’s hill were really the fires of His wrath against evil; the flames enkindled by the fierceness of His love for men. God will not be dethroned; injustice and hate will not conquer, though it cost the life of His Divine Son. And in that memorable hour, when as He laid down His life and uttered the cry “It is finished,” something snapped in the universe…

For in that Cross, there is no sentimental affection; there is the sternness of a great love; the severity of a great tenderness; the revolution that is a restoration — the call to all men to “repent,” to follow a course of life, exactly the opposite of what they are doing now. Will enough of us get back to that Cross to save the world? Will enough of us be so dedicated to Truth as to begin to sacrifice where we once enjoyed, to pray where we once sinned, and to love those whom before we hated?

A Declaration of Dependence

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