“Myth seeks the ascent of man to spirit; the Word of God seeks descent into flesh and blood. Myth wants power; revelation reveals the true power of God in the most extreme powerlessness. Myth wants knowledge; the Word of God asks for constant faith and, only within that faith, a growing, reverent understanding. The revelation of God’s Word is gentle patience amidst the intractable tensions of life.
So-called 'gnosis’ was an enormous temptation in the early Christian Church. What made it so insidious was the fact that the Gnostics very often did not want to leave the Church.
Instead, they claimed to be offering a superior and more authentic exposition of Holy Scripture, though, of course, this was only for the ‘superior souls’. It inevitably encouraged not only an excited craving for higher initiation, but also an almost unbounded arrogance in those who had moved from mere ‘faith’ to real, enlightened ‘knowledge’.
Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order not to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than truth itself.”
Irenaeus of Lyons, edited by Hans Urs von Balthasar, The Scandal of The Incarnation
“Odor of blood when Christ was slain
Made all Platonic tolerance vain."
William Butler Yeats, Two Songs from a Play
"Only the humble believe in Him and rejoice that God is so free and so marvelous that He does wonders where people despair, that He takes what is little and lowly and makes it marvelous. And that is the wonder of all wonders, that God loves the lowly.
In the Incarnation the whole human race recovers the dignity of the image of God. Thereafter, any attack, even on the least of men, is an attack on Christ, who took on the form of man, and in his own Person restored the image of God in all. Through our relationship with the Incarnation, we recover our true humanity, and at the same time are delivered from that perverse individualism which is the consequence of sin, and recover our solidarity with all mankind."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Repentance - Forgiveness - Thankfulness
These are gifts of the cross, illuminated by the resurrection, the greatest gifts that we may ever hope to receive.
And they have been given freely, to all those who will accept them.
OPEC+ surprised the markets with a million barrels per day production cut, which put a spark under the energy sector this morning.
But the ISM Manufacturing Numbers came in weaker than expected at 10AM, so stocks took a hit from the signs of continued slowing in the real economy.
Expectations are that earnings for the first quarter are going to be dismal for the real economy.
As opposed to the unnatural pricing power of monopolies and cartels like Oil, Big Pharma and eggs. lol.
The Dollar continued to slide.
VIX was elevated but fell again as stocks recovered, and the Wall Street oligarchs took solace in their relative invincibility.
Gold and silver managed to post some gains.
There will be a Non-Farm Payrolls report on Friday.
This will be interesting because the stock market in the US will be closed that day for Good Friday.
It's always something.
Gold is pushing up against a key resistance level as you can see on the chart.
Have a pleasant evening.
