International Public Notice: The Nature of Delegated Powers

 By Anna Von Reitz

A delegated power must first be possessed by the Delegator. 

If John Severn, a professional lawn care specialist, has a delegated power to enter Ronald Dahl's property and a contract to water Dahl's lawn, it is a prerequisite that Ronald Dahl, the owner of the property, possesses the right to water his lawn in the first place. 

Thus, the existence of a delegated power presumes the existence of a Delegator empowered to make such a delegation of power and also that the Delegator is in possession of the right to exercise that power himself.

One cannot delegate a power that one does not possess. 

With respect to the well-known "enumerated powers" delegated via the federal Constitutions, several questions arise: (1) Who or what was the Delegator referred to as "We, the People"?  (2) What gave them the right or the reason to pass on "powers" that they themselves possessed? (3) What happens when their Subcontractors default on their service contract? 

A diligent search for "We, the People" yields the fact that "People" refers to State Citizens living in the States of the Union.  They voluntarily took on the role of Public Servants uniquely dedicated to the welfare of their State and the discharge of its international and global affairs.  

More diligent research reveals that these State Citizens were operating in international jurisdiction and that they possessed the right to operate in global jurisdiction as well. 

All delegated powers conferred via the three Federal Constitutions operate exclusively in international and global jurisdictions. 

The Delegators possessed their right to exercise the delegated powers as a result of military victory in The War of Independence; their reasons for delegating these specific enumerated powers are a mish-mash of obligations resulting from the peace treaties ending The War of Independence, practical circumstances that were of concern at the time, and professional conventions -- postal service, for example, was already a monopolized interest of the Holy Roman Empire.  It was easier to contract for postal service than buck the pre-existing system.

So that tells us who the Delegators were and in what capacity they were acting and the jurisdictions they were operating in at the time they adopted the Federal Constitutions and contracted to allow other Principals to exercise their own native powers within the limitations specified. 

The State Citizens possessed the powers they delegated, fair and square; they set the terms and conditions under which these powers could be exercised, and they stipulated the recipients of these contracts. 

The Delegators also spoke of their "progeny" which can only be new generations of State Citizens, and a "more perfect union" which can only refer to the refinements that the 1787 American Federal Constitution made possible for the original Confederation formed in 1781.  

Indeed, the very name of the 1787 Constitution reveals the meaning of these words "a more perfect Union".  The Confederation of Confederate States (commercial States of States) adopted in 1781 operated under the name "States of America", and the title of the 1787 Constitution is: The Constitution for the united States of America.  

Clearly, our present generations of State Citizens possess the right and responsibility to enforce the service contracts known as the Federal Constitutions. 

Clearly, these earlier State Citizens possessed the powers that they delegated by virtue of military victory, and just as clearly, they were operating in international and global jurisdictions when they set up the Federal Constitutions.  

The reasons they delegated away some of their powers are largely revealed in the multiple peace treaties that settled The War of Independence, or in the context of the times.   The "special relationship" making the British Monarch their Trustee on the High Seas and Navigable Inland Waterways was necessitated by the need to protect the American Merchant Fleet and the fact that the United States Navy was woefully inadequate at the time. 

Once delegated, the continued contractual relationship allowing others to exercise the delegated powers depends on their ability to perform, their performance in good faith, and continuity of performance.   

This brings us to the third question --- what happens when the Subcontractors default?  

Clearly, the American Federal Subcontractor operated as the Federal Republic by the States of America, defaulted in 1861 when the States of America lost a quorum to operate.  

This circumstance requires action by the States of the Union and Union States to reconstruct both the Confederation, dba, States of America, and the Federal Republic doing business as "the United States" operating under The Constitution for the united States of America. 

This Reconstruction was never completed by our States. 

In fairness, however, our States and our State Citizens are not under any obligation to reconstruct the original Confederation, nor are they obligated to recreate the Federal Republic, which are both in default. 

Our States and State Citizens are empowered to water their own lawn, and aren't obligated to delegate any of their powers. Obviously, the Articles of Confederation (1781) failed and so did The Constitution for the united States of America (1787), so we are back to the drawing board.  

The question of whether to reconstruct what was or to do something different will be up to a new generation of State Citizens now preparing to address these issues and many more.  

The remaining foreign Federal Subcontractors operating under The Constitution of the United States (Holy Roman Empire) and The Constitution of the United States of America (British Territorial Government) have a very spotty history and after both these service providers incorporated their operations, both have undergone multiple bankruptcies that have been unconscionably misapplied to the people of this country. 

This bad faith, lack of disclosure, and other acts of misrepresentation, fraud, malfeasance, and usurpation are more than sufficient justification to sever all contractual presumptions and for us to resume direct, non-delegated exercise of all enumerated powers. 

What if John Severn failed to water Ronald Dahl's lawn?  The contract and the delegation of power to perform would both be in default.  Ronald Dahl would have to either water his own lawn, let his lawn dry out, or hire someone new to do the work.  

This is as true now as it was in 1861. 

The State Citizens are assembling and the States of the Union are in Session.  

The British Territorial Subcontractor is hanging on and trying to make amends while struggling to oversee the bankruptcy of the UNITED STATES, INC., the Holy Roman Subcontractor, which has been caught red-handed in almost unimaginable amounts of financial fraud and malfeasance. 

We have all been victimized by a parasitic public employee bureaucracy running with no accountability. 

When we consider the entirety of the circumstance, the bulk of the charges being held, wrongly, against average Americans and other living people throughout the world, have been created by some means of fraud from which the victims did not benefit.  

This is the definition of Odious Debt and it must be discharged. 

Foreign federal employees who insinuated themselves as identity thieves pretending to "represent" our government in matters never entrusted to them,  benefited from keeping the situation obscured and by impersonating us as members -- "citizenry" -- of their foreign organizations. They non-consensually and without disclosure commandeered our assets under false pretenses and have used them as collateral backing their own spending sprees. 

Our employees have illegally occupied our country, illegally seized upon our assets, and evaded their constitutional obligations via an organized and undisclosed effort to register American babies as British Territorial U.S. Citizens and then additionally and without cause conferred Municipal "citizen of the United States" obligations upon the victims of this scheme. 

The obligations of foreign citizenship are precisely the problem that Americans addressed with The War of Independence.  

We hold and accept birthright nationality, not "birthright citizenship". 

Nobody in this country under the age of 21 can act as a State Citizen, and this is the only form of Citizenship recognized within the States of the Union.  

Our nationality derives from our States.  We are Georgians, Minnesotans, and Virginians, Californians, Wisconsinites, Texans, and Floridians.... we are not "United States Dual Citizens" by nature, by obligation, or by knowing consensual agreement.  

These facts are long established. Our public employees and those Principals responsible for their behavior on our shores need to take notice and correction --- immediately and permanently.   

To the extent that the UNITED STATES Municipal Corporation has ceased operations due to bankruptcy and is attempting to reorganize its operations within the District of Columbia, we object to the presumption of any new or further contractual obligations via assumption by any successor corporation.  

It's clear that this organization, the UNITED STATES, INC. and those operating it, were endemically dishonest, prone to violence, and that the Administrators, Agents, and Principals responsible have defrauded their innocent employers for generations. Their current condition of bankruptcy has resulted in a severance of independent performance and no further presumption of Successorship is allowed by the State Citizens party to The Constitution of the United States. 

We rebut any presumption by anyone, whosoever, that we have condoned the Monroe Doctrine or any other similar accommodation made to the Federal Reserve, have participated in a Mercenary Conflict being misrepresented as The American Civil War, or knowingly allowed by acquiescence the numerous undisclosed policies and bad practices of our British Territorial and Holy Roman Empire Federal Subcontractors.  

We are not naturally subject to our employees in any regard and have no reason to review their policies and practices beyond those few, less than 8%, of all federal regulations that may actually pertain to Americans and which are published in the Congressional Record.   

Misrepresentations made about us by our foreign Federal Subcontractors who have usurped the duties, responsibilities, and assets of the American Federal Republic and claimed emergency powers that are unnecessary and which do not contractually exist, are rendered null and void as fraud from their beginnings under Abraham Lincoln. 

Mr. Lincoln had cause to know that our States were in return receipt of their delegated powers that the original Confederation and American Federal Republic defaulted upon in April of 1861. 

It was his responsibility to fully inform his employers and expedite their response, much as it is Donald Trump's responsibility today. 

Lincoln's failure to do so and his illegal and unlawful actions replacing elected members of the Federal Republic Congress with his own British Territorial Appointees speaks for itself. 

This was an illegal and unlawful Gross Breach of Trust and violation of service contract owed by Abraham Lincoln and his British Principals; the resulting mismanagement, malfeasance, fraud, misrepresentation and predatory disservice which we have suffered under their insupportable claim of "emergency powers" never contractually granted to these miscreants, may be the stuff of legends in the annals of fraud and confidence rackets, but it is fraud, gross breach of the trust and dishonor of contract nonetheless. 

Nothing can change the fact that the powers delegated to the American Federal Republic have returned by Operation of Law to their origins and originators --- our State Citizens.  Like Ronald Dahl, we must decide to either (1) forgo those services; (2) provide the services for ourselves; or (3) hire a new service provider. 

It is nobody else's business what we decide to do or how long it takes us to do it, whether we choose to reconstruct, or choose to take a new course altogether.  

The American Federal service provider has been in default since 1861. 

The British Territorial service provider has been in default since 

1861. 

The Holy Roman Empire service provider has been in default since 1871. 

There can be no doubt that the States of the Union and the Union States, bound in the perpetual Union of land and soil, are the only remaining inheritors of the American Government and all failed Federal Subcontractors, too.  

Not only some but all enumerated powers have returned to us as of the above dates, even though we were never given notice or assistance or support which these foreign federal subcontractors reasonably owed, even though we were kept ignorant and even though our loyal officers were subjected to False Accusations and suppression, the facts of the matter remain. 

A delegated power returns to the Delegator upon the first default of performance and those first defaults, though concealed by fraud, happened a long time ago.  Any appearance otherwise has been sustained by fraud. 

Mr. Trump may assume a strictly delineated contract and accept our orders and permissions, but it should be recognized that he is the "President" of a foreign corporation presuming to act as a Successor to The Constitution of the United States of America, a service contract maintained by our State Citizens and the British Territorial Government.  As the Progeny in Office, our State Citizens have the right and responsibility to direct his performance through our unincorporated Holding Company, The United States of America-- and we are doing so.  

After a century and a half of being misrepresented by our British Territorial Subcontractors and robbed senseless by them and their Holy Roman Empire equivalents, we are assuming our rightful and contractually guaranteed positions and directly exercising our own powers.

We have already indicated our Will to end the carnage and genocide in Gaza by forthrightly telling Israel that their access to armaments and intelligence from The United States will be curtailed as a result of their viciousness, over-response, and lack of conscience. We will support their right to exist, but not their right to act as a promoter of genocide. We fought the Nazis and we will fight anyone who acts like a Nazi, anyone who promotes the evil ideas of genetic or racial superiority, anyone who disregards the value of life, anyone who bullies other people and steals from the poor. 

We have also indicated our Will to clean up the mess in Ukraine, up to and including the removal of the puppet Zelensky Regime that was installed by the European CIA Frankfurt Office, the same office complicit in interfering with the 2020 USA, Inc. presidential elections.

This is not a matter of Ukraine opening up a pathway for Russian aggression, it is a matter of ending NATO meddling in Ukraine and constant NATO usurpations against the treaties and agreements put in place against NATO expansions at the time the old Soviet Federation was dissolved. 

We note that the treaties and agreements established as a result of the Soviet Federation dissolving, Russia was given the right to intervene whenever and if ever one of the former Soviet states lacked a government.  The former states that made up the Crimean Republic suffered their entire government walking out on them, and a public election welcomed the idea of rejoining their states to Russian governance.  It's cut and dried, contractually and consensually agreed upon, and nothing that France or any other European government has any cause to even comment upon. 

As for the Zelensky government, we can observe that the same prior guarantees and agreements that pertain to the Crimean Republic states also pertain to Ukraine -- and its NATO's own goddamned fault that it does.  

NATO and its intelligence services conspired to overturn the elected Ukrainian Government and engineered the massacre of the elected Ukrainian Government --- leaving Ukraine without a government. 

The same provisions allowing Russia to intervene kicked in.  Too bad, so sad for NATO which has continued its reckless nonsense and deserves to be dissolved as an entity for incompetence and criminality, if nothing else. 

We fully authorize Donald Trump to withdraw us from NATO membership to the extent that we have ever been involved by proxy in NATO.

Russia did nothing wrong by invading Ukraine and indeed, should have done so the moment that the elected Ukrainian Government officers were machine gunned and Zelensky raised his dirty Florida-based hand.  

Any Federal Subcontractor presuming upon our resources and manpower to pursue unjust and commercial mercenary wars-for-profit needs to stand down and rethink the terms of their contract.  

As things stand, England has what? 10,000 Peacekeepers that Keir Starmer is willing to commit as "boots on the ground"?  We are surprised that Keir Starmer knows what boots are. 

The same kind of ridiculous disarmament exists in Germany and France and throughout the European Union.  

They have taken full advantage of us ever since the end of the Second World War, and have raised a generation of emasculated, self-loathing cowards who don't know which end of a gun delivers a payload. Britain's professional military barely took on the Falklands War and couldn't even do that without American support. 

When we say that our country and countrymen are absolutely the only formidable force representing the interests of the Western Hemisphere, we're not wrong.  France has nukes we gave them for their own self-defense; any other use is not authorized. 

Mr. Trump needs to use his popularity judiciously and justly. 

It is our recommendation that reforms of the FBI be closely followed with similar complete reforms of the CIA, FEMA, and other organizations that have been misdirected and used for criminal purposes while under the hegemony of the United States Government, Incorporated, and we observe that there is nothing sacred about these organizations.  They may be dissolved, repurposed, and reformed however Donald Trump directs, without any nod to any legislative interests or judicial interference. 

Our Constitutions in their wisdom direct that no officer of any other branch of government can interfere in the duties of any other branch. It is the responsibility of the Executive Branch to oversee and control the function of the Federal Subcontractors and it is the responsibility of all United States Trustees to butt out and tend to the bankruptcy issues and only the bankruptcy issues. 

Politically motivated Hired Jurists and even those "elected" in corporation elections need to bow out, and those members of the incorporated entity Congresses need to check their responsibilities. If they pretend to inherit the powers of our Fiduciary Deputies they also inherit the responsibility of Fiduciary Deputies; they have the obligation to track the money they spend "in our names" and make sure that each appropriation is spent according to the allocation and limitations of the respective Constitutions, and not squandered by unelected bureaucrats on payola, crony contracts, and political policy nonsense.  

Gross negligence and dereliction of duty are both actionable crimes and the members of an incorporated entity's "Congress" have no state immunity at all.  

So, we are well and fed up with all that bad behavior and breach of trust and criminality, too.  US Trustees take note.   

Finally, Mr. Trump is graciously instructed to return the so-called "Statue of Liberty" to France upon his earliest convenience; liberty, associated with the same root word as "libertine" does not imply freedom; it implies license in the most evil sense of that word. 

"Liberty" is what British sailors get when they arrive in a port devoted to debauchery, and if that is what France thinks of us and of New York City, specifically, it is more than past time that the Great Whore returned whence she has come. 

Americans, kept like slaves in an artificial information cocoon, may be innocent enough to mistake the intent and meaning of the Grand Lodge of Paris, but we are not.  

As far as we are concerned it was a gross imposition upon our good nature to tolerate "her" presence where she "ought not to stand" for as long as we have in the name of good manners, which the French Government has never had. 

If indeed the Heavenly Host visits the Earth, the target needs to be moved back to France, anyway, and returned to those hypocrites who denigrate women and children, decry any normal sexual function, and who resist any limit to their own depravity.  

Yes, let the Idol of the Great Whore return to France with a vengeance, together with the ill-will and black magic associated with it; the deceptively named "Statue of Liberty" is a man in drag. It misrepresents us just as it misrepresents itself. 

Good riddance.  We would not be offended if upon its return to France, it is sunk in Marseilles Harbor where it belongs. 

Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals; Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents. 

Issued by: 

Anna Maria Riezinger - Fiduciary

The United States of America

In care of: Box 520994

Big Lake, Alaska 99652

March 24th 2025

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International Public Notice: The Issue of Israel

 By Anna Von Reitz

We write in the aftermath of the World Court decision condemning Israel as a state.  And demand made upon all members of the United Nations to enforce this finding. 

Note, they did not deny Israel's status as a nation, but so far as they are concerned, Israel, the nation, had no standing to wage war.  This is an important point, and one that Jacob Rothschild was always at pains to obscure. 

Having gratuitously declared a policy (note that policies are issued by corporations) endorsing a Jewish homeland in Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire at the time; the endlessly meddlesome British Government used this 1917 Balfour Declaration to establish a de facto military protectorate in Palestine. 

Prior to, During, and after World War II, the Rothschilds petitioned the British Government to honor the Balfour Declaration and agree to a 99 year lease on a portion of Palestine known to have historical Jewish significance--- to serve as a home for Jews fleeing the Third Reich.  "Israel" thus acquired a border, a name, and the appearance of a small country; the narrative attached to this was a theme of the Jewish Diaspora being ended.  

The Jews, they and we, were told, were coming home to the Promised Land.  Zionists, members of a pro-Jewish, pro-Jewish homeland political movement, were thrilled.  

However, coming "home" to what in reality"?    An arid land decimated by the fall of the Ottoman Empire, a largely hostile native population of mixed Arabs and Semitic Christians and Jews who never left Judea, a de facto British military protectorate,  and a fragile safety zone where survivors of the Holocaust could scrabble out a new beginning. 

With financial backing from the Rothschilds and other very wealthy Jewish interests, especially support from Zionists who promoted and asserted unique Jewish prior rights to the ancient Capitol of Jerusalem and other ancient sites within the arbitrarily defined borders of "Israel", Zionism became a nationalist movement, in essence, a political party, and it's members set their sites on creating an ever-expanding Jewish hegemony in the Middle East. 

The 1948 "Arab- Israeli War" was, by definition, not a war, but a popular uprising having no lawful standing or legitimacy beyond that which is generally promoted by tooth and claw.  Palestine at the time was more of a British idea promoted by the press than a factual living state, and Israel, to the extent that it existed, was a lease-hold based on more British meddling and usurpation.  

The Israelis were and are opposed in this not only by Palestinians, but by  multiple Muslim countries in the region, and as the World Court decision indicates, a growing international push-back opposed to the overwrought rapacious acts of genocide and wanton destruction that Israelis insist on inflicting on their neighbors. 

It has long ago ceased to be an argument about Israel's right to exist and become an argument about Israel's right to genocide other nations, as it is presently doing in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. 

Nobody likes the Israelis or their war-mongering excuse for a government.  Indeed, they have become what they hate, embodying the Nazi spirit and ethos, complete with claims of racial superiority, denigration of women and minorities, disrespect for any standard of international law, and reckless enterprise.  

They are, right now, in the process of murdering two million Palestinians and hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Syrian victims on the pretext that these unarmed civilians pose a threat to their mini-empire, which is defended by billions of dollars-worth of the latest and greatest military technology provided to them by The United States --- whether we like it or not. 

In the first forty days of Donald Trump's Second Administration, more than $16 Billion dollars worth of armaments were gifted to the Israeli state, and nobody can fathom why. 

To encourage the madmen to unleash another wave of carpet bombing in Gaza?  

To top off an arsenal that is already sufficient to blow up the world several times over in the name of Israeli "defense"? 

All we see is Israeli offensive actions --- and gross overreaction to events that appear to be False Flags.  The lady doth protest too much when Hamas has been paid to stage an attack and Israeli defense perimeters have been disabled by the Israelis to expedite it. 

Hamas butchers killed approximately 1,100 civilians; the Israelis in return have killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions and destroyed the entire infrastructure of the Gaza Strip.  This wanton, gross overreaction has revealed the nature of the Israeli Beast that our support has created. 

They have no conscience. 

They no longer deserve our support.  

Donald Trump quietly funnels billions more in aid to poor little Israel, which would rather pursue war, war, and more war, than feed its own widows, and goes on international news and says-- to paraphrase -- "Tsk, tsk!  What a mess. We ought to clean this up and take advantage of the beach front development opportunities. The Palestinians who used to live here can go somewhere else." 

He doesn't appear to realize how snarky this sounds, when they have been given precious little other choice and when it's their homes and their homeland that he is talking about. 

How would it be, if we just drew a line around New York, carpet bombed it, and told Donald Trump that, "Well, everything's destroyed anyway, so we are going to build a giant 15 minute city where New York used to be, and the New Yorkers can all go somewhere else.  We hear that Nevada still has plenty of empty space...."

The atrocity in Gaza only seems to take on form and meaning for Trump, when we put it on the other foot and give an example that is closer to home, and really, that shouldn't be necessary.  

Grown men and women are supposed to be able to imagine how they would feel and how they would react if they were Palestinians and had this happen to them and to their homes.  

Not think about new luxury spa hotels and profits to be made from maximizing the beach front potential.  

The United Nations Organization, which is by far, not our favorite organization in the world, has nonetheless published good guidelines regarding the need to oppose genocide, in fact and in principle. 

Those guidelines and international law require all member nations to oppose genocide by all means possible.  They call upon each and every one of us to oppose genocide, yet in Britain people are being arrested merely for speaking out against what is going on in the Middle East, a violation of the most basic and traditional rights of the British people, and a tacit approval of the genocide in Gaza and in Lebanon from the British Government --- which created this whole problem in the first place. 

Way to go, Monty.  Again. 

How about a little moral object lesson for Benjamin Netanyahu?  What if we drew a line around Jerusalem and carpet bombed it into oblivion, and then said something like this, "Well, it was just a bunch of old houses and public buildings.  The streets were too narrow and the plumbing was bad.  Too many religious nutcases were fixated on it.  We can clean it up and put in some casinos and make a ton of money, instead." 

How do you feel now, Bibi?   

Not so easy, when it's your tit in the wringer, is it?  

Thanks to unquestioned support from "the US" and Britain, Israel has been allowed to act as not only a bully, but a murderous bully, terrorizing its neighbors and committing acts of genocide with no accountability.  

The price we all pay for this is "eternal" war in the Middle East. 

Not to mention the cost of billions of dollars worth of bombs and missiles and drones and all the rest of it, poured down Israel's war-mongering hole.  Other than passing on mostly false "intelligence" gossip via Mossad, we can't think of a single thing that Israel does for us, and that's not worth $16B. 

So far, Algeria and Yemen are the only countries that have stood up and done anything against the genocide committed by the Israeli Government, so apparently, they are the only ones that deserve any quarter or protection from genocide. 

If we were aliens from another planet trying to account for this grotesque hypocrisy and failure of conscience, justice, and compassion, we could only conclude that a majority of the nations are ruled by lunatics, with no firm values or standards at all. 

We call upon Mr. Trump and his Handlers in London to reflect on their responses thus far and think hard about what those responses reveal.  If Britain, which caused the problem, and "the U.S." which is existing as a thrall nation of "U.S. Citizens" consigned to peonage by the British Crown-- not the Russians -- continue on in this fashion, they will have no moral standing at all.

We call for the immediate shunning of Israel and its government by all other nations; simply cut them off.  Refuse to trade with them.  Deny access to their diplomats.  Avoid them like the pariahs they deserve to be.  Just shake your heads and walk away.  We no longer care what they suffered in World War II, if they continue to cause and promote similar atrocities today.  

Mr. Trump, don't misrepresent our government by supporting Israel and Netanyahu in committing genocide and the Israeli equivalent of Apartheid; any more armaments you send that allow Israel to promote an offensive war in the Middle East had better come out of your private corporate stash and not be applied to our bill under the pretense that these expenditures are made in our defense.  

We never approved of the Monroe Doctrine and we certainly don't approve of the role "the U.S." has played to date in the Middle East. 

Notice to Principals is Notice to Agents; Notice to Agents is Notice to Principals. 

Issued by: 

Anna Maria Riezinger -- Fiduciary

The United States of America

In care of: Box 520994

Big Lake, Alaska 99652

March 23rd 2025

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Third Sunday In Lent

 The Introit of this day's Mass, which begins with the word Oculi, is the prayer of a soul imploring deliverance from the snares of the devil:

INTROIT My eyes are ever towards the Lord: for he shall pluck my feet out of the snare: look thou upon me, and have mercy on me, for I am alone and poor. To thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul: in thee, O my God, I put my trust: let me not be ashamed. (Fs. XXIV.) Glory be to the Father, etc.

COLLECT  We beseech Thee, Almighty God, regard the desires of the humble, and stretch forth the right hand of Thy majesty to be our defense. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, etc.

EPISTLE (Ephes. V. 1-9.) Brethren, be ye followers of God, as most dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath delivered himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God, for an odor of sweetness. But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints; nor obscenity, nor foolish talking, nor scurrility, which is to no purpose; but rather giving of thanks: for know ye this, and understand, that no fornicator, nor unclean, nor covetous person, which is a serving of idols, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For you were heretofore darkness; but now light in the Lord. Walk, then, as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth.

EXPLANATION The apostle requires us to imitate God, as good children imitate their father in well-doing and in well-wishing; besides he declares that all covetousness, fornication, all disgraceful talk and equivocal jokes should be banished from Christian meetings, even that such things should not be so much as mentioned among us; because these vices unfailingly deprive us of heaven. He admonishes us not to let ourselves be deceived by the seducing words of those who seek to make these vices appear small, nothing more than pardonable human weaknesses; those who speak thus are the children of darkness and of the devil, they bring down the wrath of God upon themselves, and all who assent to their words. A Christian, a child of light, that is, of faith, should regard as a sin that which faith and conscience tell him is such, and must live according to their precepts and not by false judgment of the wicked. Should any one seek to lead you away, ask yourself, my Christian soul, whether you would dare appear with such a deed before the judgment-seat of God. Listen to the voice of your conscience, and let it decide, whether that which you are expected to do is good or bad, lawful or unlawful.

ASPIRATION  Place Thy fear, O God, before my mouth, that I may utter no vain, careless, much less improper and scandalous words, which may be the occasion of sin to my neighbor. Strengthen me, that I may not be deceived by flattering words, and become faithless to Thee.

GOSPEL (Luke XI. 14.-28.) At that time, Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb. And when he had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke, and the multitudes were in admiration at it. But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils. And others tempting, asked of him a sign from heaven. But he seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say, that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out devils, doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things which he possesseth are in peace; but if a stronger than he come upon him, and overcome him, he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with me, is against me; and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest; and not finding, he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out: and when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.

Can a man be really possessed of a devil?

It is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the evil spirit most perniciously influences man in a twofold manner: by enticing his soul to sin, and then influencing his body which he often entirely or partially possesses, manifesting himself by madness, convulsions, insanity, etc. Many texts of Scripture, and the writings of the Fathers speak of this possession. St. Cyprian writes: "We can expel the swarms of impure spirits, who for the ruin of the soul, enter into the bodies of men, and we can compel them to acknowledge their presence, by the force of powerful words." Possession takes place by the permission of God either for trial or as a punishment for sin committed, (I. Cor. V. 5.) and the Church from her Head, Jesus, who expelled so many devils, has received the power of casting them out as He did. (Mark XVI. 17.; Acts V. 16., VIII. 6. 7., XVI. 18. &c.) She however warns her ministers, the priests, who by their ordination have received the power to expel the evil spirits, to distinguish carefully between possession and natural sickness, that they may not be deceived, (Rit. ROM. §. 3. §. 5-10.) and the faithful should guard against looking upon every unusual, unhealthy appearance as an influence of Satan, and should give no ear to impostors, but in order not to be deceived, should turn to an experienced physician or to their pastor.

What is understood by a dumb devil?

The literal meaning of this is the evil enemy, who some times so torments those whom he possesses that they lose the power of speech; in a spiritual sense, we may understand it to mean the shame which the devil takes away from the sinner, when he commits the sin, but gives back again, as false shame, before confession, so that the sinner conceals the sin, and thereby falls deeper.

How does Christ still cast out dumb devils?

By His grace with which He inwardly enlightens the sinner, so that he becomes keenly aware that the sins which he has concealed in confession, will one day be known to the whole world, and thus encourages him to overcome his false shame. - "Be not ashamed to confess to one man," says St. Augustine, "that which you were not ashamed to do with one, perhaps, with many." Consider these words of the same saint: "Sincere confession subdues vice, conquers the evil one, shuts the door of hell, and opens the gates of paradise."

How did Christ prove, that He did not cast out devils by Beelzebub?

By showing that the kingdom of Satan could not stand, if one evil spirit were cast out by another; that they thus reproached their own sons who also cast out devils, and had not been accused of doing so by power from Beelzebub; by His own life and works which were in direct opposition to the devil, and by which the devil's works were destroyed. - There is no better defence against calumny than an innocent life, and those who are slandered, find no better consolation than the thought of Christ who, notwithstanding His sanctity and His miracles, was not secure against calumniation.

What is meant by the finger of God?

The power of God, by which Christ expelled the evil spirits, proved himself God, and the promised Redeemer.

Who is the strong man armed?

The evil one is so called, because he still retains the power and intellect of the angels, and, practiced by long experience, seeks in different ways to injure man if God permits.

How is the devil armed?

With the evil desires of men, with the perishable riches, honors, and pleasures of this world, with which he entices us to evil, deceives us, and casts us into eternal fire.

Who is the stronger one who took away the devil's armor?

Christ the Lord who came into this world that He might destroy the works and the kingdom of the devil, to expel the prince of darkness, (John XII. 31.) and to redeem us. from his power. "The devil," says St. Anthony, "is like a dragon caught by the Lord with the fishing-hook of the cross, tied with a halter like a beast of burden, chained like a fugitive slave, and his lips pierced through with a ring, so that he may not devour any of the faithful. Now he sighs, like a miserable sparrow, caught by Christ and turned to derision, and thrown under the feet of the Christians. He who flattered himself that he would possess the whole orbit of the earth, behold, he has to yield!"

Why does Christ say: He who is not with me, is against me?

These words were intended in the first place for the Pharisees who did not acknowledge Christ as the Messiah, would not fight with Him against Satan's power, but rather held the people back from reaching unity of faith and love of Christ. Like the Pharisees, all heretical teachers who, by their false doctrines, draw the faithful from communion with Christ and His Church, are similar to the devil, the father of heresy and lies. May all those, therefore, who think they can serve Christ and the world at the same time, consider that between truth and falsehood, between Christ and the world, there is no middle path; that Christ requires decision, either with Him, or against Him , either eternal happiness with Him, or without Him, everlasting misery.

Who are understood by the dry places through which the evil spirit wanders and finds no rest?

"The dry places without water," says St. Gregory, "are the hearts of the just, who by the force of penance have drained the dampness of carnal desires." In such places the evil -one indeed finds no rest, because there his malice finds no sympathy, and his wicked will no satisfaction.

Why does the evil spirit say: I will return into my house?

Because he is only contented there where he is welcomed and received: those who have purified their heart by confession, and driven Satan from it, but labor not to amend, again lose the grace of the Sacraments by sin, and thus void of virtue and grace, offer a beautiful and pleasant dwelling to the devil.

Why is it said: The last state becomes worse than the first?

Because a relapse generally draws more sins with it, and so it is said: the devil will return with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, by which may be understood the seven deadly sins, because after a relapse into sin conversion to God becomes more difficult, as a repeated return of the same sickness makes it harder to regain health; because by repetition sin easily becomes a habit and renders conversion almost impossible; because repeated relapses are followed by blindness of intellect, hardness of heart, and in the end eternal damnation.

Why did the woman lift up her voice?

This was by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to shame the Pharisees who, blinded by pride, neither professed nor acknowledged the divinity of Christ, whilst this humble woman not only confessed Jesus as God, but praised her who carried Him, whom heaven and earth cannot contain. Consider the great dignity of the Blessed Virgin, Mother of the Son of God, and hear her praises from the holy Fathers. St. Cyril thus salutes her: "Praise to thee, Blessed Mother of God: for thou art virginity itself, the sceptre of the true faith!" and St. Chrysostom: "Hail, O Mother, the throne, the glory, the heaven of the Church!" St. Ephrem: "Hail, only hope of the Fathers, herald of the apostles, glory of the martyrs, joy of the saints, and crown of the virgins, because of thy vast glory, and inaccessible light!"

Why did Christ call those happy who hear the word of God and keep it?

Because, as has been already said, it is not enough for salvation to hear the word of God, but it must also be practiced. Because Mary, the tender Mother of Jesus, did this most perfectly, Christ terms her more happy in it, than in having conceived, borne, and nursed Him.

SUPPLICATION O Lord Jesus! true Light of the world, enlighten the eyes of my soul, that I may never be induced by the evil one to conceal a sin, through false shame, in the confessional, that on the day of general judgment my sibs may not be published to the whole world. Strengthen me, O Jesus, that I may resist the arms of the devil by a penitent life, and especially by scorning the fear of man and worldly considerations, and guard against lapsing into sin, that I may not be lost, but through Thy merits maybe delivered from, all dangers and obtain heaven.