Maximilian Kolbe
"God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission— I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.
Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us.
He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about."
John Henry Newman, Meditations and Devotions
"Holiness consists simply in doing God's will, and being just what God wants us to be. Our Lord does not look so much at the greatness of our actions, or even at their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. Without love deeds, even the greatest, count as nothing. Our Lord's love shines forth as much in the simplest of souls as it does in the most highly gifted, as long as there is no refusal of His grace."
Thérèse Martin de Lisieux
"Those who have faith had better keep in the state of grace, and those who have neither had better find out what they mean, for in the coming age there will be only one way to stop your trembling knees, and that will be to get down on them and pray. The most important problem in the world today is your soul, for that is what the struggle is about."
Fulton J. Sheen
Stocks managed a bounce today in what was otherwise another wide-ranging day.
The Dollar chopped sideways, at a lofty 108+ handle.
Gold and silver managed to edge higher.
The VIX dropped.
Tomorrow is an option expiration for precious metals on the Comex. Contract-wise it is more significant or silver than gold, but that may have little effect with those who manage the markets.
Jay Powell is speaking at Jackson Hole Fed Symposium on Friday, and the markets seem to be hlding their collective breath ahead of that performance.
I have never been to Jackson Hole or Wyoming.
But I used to really like taking the family on a road trip in the early autumn to visit the Skylands Resort on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We would look at the leaves, make sidetrips to various attractions around the area, and day hike sections of the nearby Appalachian Trail.
Be warned, the leaves turn and snows come early.
In a week or so it will be the fifth anniversary of when I bid a farewell to the queen.
Here's looking at you, kid.
Have a pleasant evening.
