"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, Story of a Soul, 1898
“Do not indulge in dreams of having what you have not, but reckon up the greatest of the blessings you do possess, and then thankfully remember how you would crave for them if they were not yours.”
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 180 AD
"To escape the pain caused by regret for the past or fear about the future, this is the rule to follow: leave the past to the infinite mercy of God, the future to His good Providence, and give the present wholly to His love by being faithful to His grace.”
Jean-Pierre de Caussade, L'Abandon a la Providence Divine, 1861
"The stoking of fear and hate ends in the blood of innocents, always. Over time it spares no one. Have we learned nothing? Have we sunk so low that we no longer fear the reproach of civilized people, or the judgement even of God? We seem to have no shame, no sense of history, no compunction about lying and wallowing in lies, and relatively little enough decency left in our public life. It is all about power and money. People are just tools, objects, and collateral damage. When you unleash the madness, the unspeakable, you do not control it— it controls you."
Jesse, Political Power and the Virus of Fear, 10 October 2018
"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 familiarity with all mankind."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 1937
Stocks retreated a bit from their recent bubble highs, despite Treasury Bessent's efforts to front run some new trade deals coming soon.
Gold and silver were under some pressure as the Dollar bounced a little higher into the 97 handle.
VIX came back for a little breather from its sleepwalking.
Bubble end generally badly.
And those who live by bubbles evaporate — back to the nothingness which they have served.
Have a pleasant evening.
