“Prepare for great battles. Know that you are now on a great stage where all heaven and earth are watching you. Fight like a knight, so that He can reward you. Do not be unduly fearful, because you are not alone.
Before I come as a just Judge, I will first open wide the door of My mercy. Those who refuse to pass through the door of My mercy must pass through the door of My justice.”
Maria Faustina Kowalska, Divine Mercy in My Soul
"Despite knowing of God, they refused to honor him as God, or give Him thanks. As a result, they became vain in their thinking, and their uncomprehending hearts became hardened."
Romans 1:21
“Evil when we are in its power is not felt as evil, but as a necessity, or even a duty. Sin is not a distance, it is a turning of our gaze in the wrong direction. Human beings are so made that the ones who do the crushing feel nothing; it is the person crushed who feels what is happening. Unless one has placed oneself on the side of the oppressed, to feel with them, one cannot understand. Power is as pitiless to the man who possesses it, or thinks he does, as it is to its victims; the latter it crushes, the former it intoxicates. The truth is, no one really possesses it."
Simone Weil, War and the Iliad, 1939
"All the world marveled at this, and gave their allegiance to the Beast. And they worshiped the dragon for giving such power to him. as they also worshiped the Beast. 'Who is as great as the Beast?' they exclaimed. 'And who is able to resist him?' And the Beast was allowed to commit great blasphemies against God, and to exercise its authority for forty-two months."
Revelation 13:3-5
"When a society fails to restrain the worst behaviours of those who prey on others through the abuse of power or money, their example brings out the worst in a much larger subset of the population. This is why romantic notions about markets and societies without law and transparent regulation are so harmful. They turn the power of the markets and the laws over to the least scrupulous and self-controlled in a society. This is why any social system without checks and balances, without transparency and restraints, will eventually deteriorate into a dysfunctional system of self-interest and looting."
Jesse, Without Empathy or Remorse, 13 August 2016
"The kings of the earth, the nobles, the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags. They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their judgement has come, and who can stand against it?”
Revelation 6:15-17
"The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about."
Fulton J. Sheen
I have an appointment at 4:45 so no commentary tonight, just charts.
There will be a stock option expiration tomorrow.
March is a triple witch occasion as I recall.
And a cautionary word, about the things that matter the most.
Have a pleasant evening.
