“There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen, and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his sores.
Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
But Abraham said to him, ‘My son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Luke 16:19-31
"The sin of the rich man in the parable of Lazarus was not that he had been given great wealth, even though has no gratitude, and thinks that it is all because of his own merits. No, his sin is that he allowed his preoccupation with worldly possessions to blind himself to the suffering of Lazarus, his poor brother, who sat every day on his doorstep. And he gave him nothing.
It was only in the torment of the afterworld that the rich man's eyes were opened, and looking across the great gulf finally sees holy Abraham and Lazarus. And the first thing that the rich man does is to beg for comfort for himself, and ask for favors. He feels no repentance, never once saying that he is sorry. For even as his eyes were opened, his heart remained hardened, and firmly in the grip of his sins. His sins were the chasm that separated them; the door to his torment was locked from the inside.
So too, nations that have been blessed can sometimes blind themselves to their excesses and offenses. And so they misuse their power and wealth and great fortunes, granted to them by God, to oppress and subjugate others, merely to suit their own vain purposes. They would mount themselves aloft to rule over all.
And in their hardened hearts they hold their rapaciousness high, profanely, as the greatest good, the exceptional— even as they oppress and plunder and murder. Until at long last God humbles them, and breaks the backbone of their power.
Let us thank God then, for both our consolations and our trials, which cause us to pause and reflect, and keep a righteous understanding of who we are and whom we serve. For both good and ill come with the ease of His good Providence, from the endless ocean of His incomprehensible love.
Truly one has come back from the dead and spoken, spoken plainly to we who abuse the weak and murder our prophets, if only we can open our hearts, and listen."
Jesse, The Blind Among the Fortunate, 21 March 2019
'What is truth?' asked Pilate. And then turned and washed his hands of it.
Stocks took a healthy bounce back after their recent drubbing.
Relief rallies in bearish markets tend to be violent and impressive- and short lived.
Gold and silver gave up some ground, although gold hit an intraday new all time high, hitting my long term chart objective at 3018.
They did managed to scrape up some gold to add to the physical inventory in Hong Kong.
But the metals remain under pressure on supply and demand.
If this blows up, and the banks come with their hands out for a bailout, I certainly hope they don't get it. But I am less hopeful of this than you might imagine.
VIX of course fell.
The Dollar wallowed what was clearly a risk back on reaction.
Let's see how things develop.
"When a man takes an oath, Meg, he's holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then— he needn't hope to find himself again."
Robert Bolt, A Man For All Seasons
Lawlessness and the trampling of the truth seems to be the fashion amongst our betters in many places these days. They seem to be drinking deep of the heavy intoxicant of nihilism.
"A true opium of the people is the belief in nothingness after death, the huge solace, the huge comfort of thinking that for our betrayals, our greed, our cowardice, our murders, we are not going to be judged.”
Czeslaw Milosz, Discreet Charm of Nihilism
The worst lies are the lies that people tell themselves to justify their lawlessness, in order to get whatever it is that they want.
If I had no hope in God, I would have no hope.
Need little, want less, love more.
For those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.
Have a pleasant weekend.
