Isaiah 29:13-15
"The mystery of Providence is a grace that gives those who accept it a power that is incomprehensible to the calculating mind of this world, that knows only what it can see and measure according to its own pride and willfulness. And it confounds the ever-fading powers of the restless servants of wickedness in high places.
His call occurs, and for our part we must rise and follow. His yoke, though gentle, both constrains our natures, and at times leads us through the desert, those inevitable periods of dryness and self-denial. But as we may need them, unexpectedly, there are consolations, His gentle kindness and tender mercies.
This is no complacency, no retreat from the world, no quiet acceptance of evil, but rather a call to action. We are directed not to linger, to watch and wait for ever more signs and wonders, gifts and consolations, not an endless menu of comforts so that we may be carried effortlessly to heaven, but to bear up with what we have been given, and to do His work, with love. We are called to a love which is transformative when it is living for others, but a vain preoccupation and a kind of twilight of lingering misery and despair when it is not.
We will contemplate the face of God in the next world, but in this, we are called to action and His work in His creation and among His creatures. This is the implication of the Incarnation."
Jesse, Providence Is the Hidden Hand of God, 13 December 2015
"Then Jesus said to his followers: ‘The things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown in the sea with a millstone around their neck, than to lead one of these little ones to sin.'"
Luke 17:1-2
"This empire, unlike any other in the history of the world, has been built primarily through economic manipulation, through cheating, through fraud, through seducing people into our way of life, through the economic hit men."
John Perkins, Confessions of an Economic Hitman
"We are a generation made drunk with power and a perverse individualism that has been foretold for increasingly dark times.
May God have mercy on any who provide provocation and false teachings to others, and scandalous examples to their brothers and sisters, children and grandchildren, especially because of their willful selfishness, stubborn greed, and foolish pride. And you know who you are, if you are not already completely dead to the life of the Spirit."
Jesse, To a Power Drunk Generation, the Vista of Eternity, 19 January 2015
There was a lot of edgy positioning today in the markets, ahead of the consumer inflation data tomorrow morning.
The charts that show today's action are below.
Tomorrow morning's data may set the tone for the week.
Have a pleasant evening.
