Get it on, eh? Or not, your call. We're so back.
Your Old Pal,
LSP
Sunday, January 19, 2025
A Short Sunday Sermon
We celebrate the second Sunday of Epiphany today and with it the first of our Lord's signs, the miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana. How is this an epiphany? Most obviously, in that it demonstrates Christ's divine power. He can change water to wine and I cannot, which is doubtless a very good thing, but let's go a bit deeper. Per Benedict XVI:
Let us briefly recall the events that occurred during that wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. It happened that there was not enough wine and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, pointed this out to her Son. He answered her that his hour had not yet come; but then acquiesced to Mary’s request and, having had the six large jars filled with water, he transformed the water into wine, an excellent wine, better than the previous one. With this “sign” Jesus revealed himself as the messianic Bridegroom come to establish with his people the new and eternal covenant, in accordance with the prophets’ words: “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you” (Is 62:5). Moreover, wine is a symbol of this joy of love; but it also alludes to the blood that Jesus was to pour out at the end to seal his nuptial pact with humanity.
It also alludes to the blood that Jesus was to pour out at the end to seal his nuptial pact with humanity. Yes, the blood of the new Covenant, shed for us on Calvary for the remission of sins. This is prefigured in the miraculous wine at Cana and made present at the Last Supper, and in the Sacrament of the Altar through which we find union with Christ as a bride to a groom.
New wine which flows from the purifying, enlivening water of Baptism, undergirded and held by stone, the rock of faith. All this in fulfillment of the six ages of prophecy: Adam to Noah, Noah to Abraham, Abraham to David, David to the Exile, the Exile to John the Baptist, and John the Baptist to the end of the world. (Augustine)
Wine which is given to us by Christ in the Mass as we kneel to make our communion with Him. A miraculous communion that is a participation in and foretaste of the heavenly banquet, the marriage feast of the Lamb in paradise. All this prefigured at Cana.
Rejoice in that and give God the glory who has given us so great a gift, His blood shed for us for the forgiveness of sins and our union with Christ to eternal life.
Bless You All,
LSP
Friday, January 17, 2025
Freedom Convoy
Remember how the Canadian truckers rose up, briefly, in protest of Vax Tyranny? I do, and hats off to all those truckers who dared to drive in the face of Justine's despotism. They got pretty far, all the way to loathsome lib Ottawa. Then the State clamped down because, you know, we're living in the free world. Here's a vid, lest we forget:
Stirring stuff, right? Man, was there ever such a total, despotic scam foisted on us by our Beloved Rulers and their agitprop lackeys in the media. Far... out, I'm being polite. Stay inside with your rabbits foot mask on and take Pfizer's weirdo untested MRNA vax or you'll lose your job, you anti-state peasant.
What utter inanity, and everyone went for it except, in the end, the Canadian truckers. They got seriously hammered by Justine's rainbow tolerance coalition, perhaps you remember. Debanking, anyone, martial law? Justine's out now, let's hope someone remotely sane will replace zhir.
LSP
Down With The Eagle Up With The Cross
Go right ahead, give your vote to State Central Control outta Washington. Sure, give your voice and vote to secular, GloboHomo, statist, usurious, deep fake tyranny. Go right ahead, but don't be surprised when people resist and attack you, on account of liberty.
2A,
LSP
Inflation And The Fall Of Rome
Why did the Western Roman Empire fall? Moral degeneracy, decline of martial spirit in it's ruling quondam officer class, barbarous invasion, declining birthrates? Perhaps all that and more, not least financial.
From the 3rd century A.D. until the 5th, Rome was plagued by inflation, brought on by: A massive increase in military and bureaucratic spending, increasingly worthless issues of fiat currency, crushing taxation, attempted price controls, and the disappearance of middle class landowners, the Decurion class. The latter were essentially taxed into oblivion and walked away from their land, which was swallowed up by an increasingly wealthy few.
Sound familiar? Check out Joseph Peden's compelling and clear must read Mises Institute address. It's not long and here's his conclusion:
By justice he meant a just system of taxation. Salvian tells us, and I don’t think he’s exaggerating, that one of the reasons why the Roman state collapsed in the 5th century was that the Roman people, the mass of the population, had but one wish after being captured by the barbarians: to never again fall under the rule of the Roman bureaucracy.
In other words, the Roman state was the enemy; the barbarians were the liberators. And this undoubtedly was due to the inflation of the 3rd century. While the state had solved the monetary problem for its own constituents, it had failed to solve it for the masses. Rome continued to use an oppressive system of taxation in order to fill the coffers of the ruling bureaucrats and soldiers. Thank you. [applause]
History may not repeat but it does appear to rhyme, don't you think?
Ave,
LSP
PS. "Barbarians were the liberators" -- see the swift collapse of the Eastern Empire to the Moslem war bands. The Koranic tax was less burdensome than the Imperial one. Saying that, let's have Constantinople back.
Thursday, January 16, 2025
Rest in Peace
Have you been to a country cemetery in Texas? I'm sure some of you have and I like them, right out there in the fields, complete with old shade trees under a big sky. Saying that, it can seem a little odd officiating at the graveside in such a place wearing Anglican Choir dress; Old England meets the frontier, sort of thing. But I wasn't taking the service, a young pastor was, and he did a good job, for which I thanked him.
Say a prayer for the repose of the soul of Marian W, who passed away in her early 80s and was an innocent, humble, faithful soul. She was a FORTRAN coder by profession, which I always found remarkable, and a diligent pianist. You could tell, on meeting her, that she was on the right side of God and heaven. May she rest in peace and rise in glory.
God Bless,
LSP
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Shameless Jacobite?!?
Just for Kix,
LSP
PS. Off topic, but can any of you find a Margaret Sanger/Havelock Ellis/Aleister Crowley smoking gun? They were, I'm pretty sure, all in Bloomsbury/London at the same time, along with Crowley, who was then young, rich and fit.
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