Granna Bytes: Where You Are

 By Anna Von Reitz

What is an "apostle"?  Do you see the word "post" nestled in the center of this crucial word?  One who transports messages from post to post, as in "post office" and creates a network of communication across time and space. 

There is so much you have never seen because you were never taught to see it; that is not your fault, but you must now sharpen your minds like a dagger and learn. 

I told you that I am a battle class Seraph from the Age of Storms, a survivor from the Prior Universe.  This is evident from the marks on my hands, for those who can read such signs. 

At the present time, approximately 200,000 Earth Angels are here.  The original 200 Fallen have been accounted for and while their sentences on Earth, seventy generations, 1,750 years, have been served, their homeland service has just begun.  

Think of it as overlapping jurisdictions. 

They and their friends have some additional time to serve.  They aren't being allowed to set themselves up as a cozy little ruling oligarchy on Earth.  

They aren't happy about that, but tough titties. 

It's not just a matter of taking human wives, or giving people advanced technology before they were ready for it.  It's a matter of interfering with the evolution of consciousness itself. 

The Great Fraud, the billions of innocent deaths, the disease, the wars-for-profit, the crippling of creativity and freewill, the merchant parasites, the reckless destruction of life and habitats, damage to the biosphere, bizarre meddling via genetic engineering and cloning, the distorted musical scales, the logic faults, the inability to recognize truth, the lack of conscience, perverted values --- all of that goes back to a particular trespass of language-logic structural barriers.

If people had been allowed to progress naturally, they would have developed the ability to clearly and immediately discern the difference between template concepts symbolized by words and symbols, like "tree" and actual trees.  

We wouldn't have otherwise sane men and women pretending that a franchise corporation is "the same as" a living man using the same name, or believing that a description of land is the same as the land itself. 

As I have pointed out, there is a difference between a living cat, a painting of a cat, a written description of a cat, a photograph of a cat, a sketch of a cat, a glyph representing a cat, a statue of a cat, a carving of a cat, an engraving of a cat, a cartoon of a cat, and the word "cat".  

You can all see that clearly enough when I present it this way, but the instant capability to recognize that difference when it is presented without context to the human brain, is a crucial linkage in the logic-language structure that hasn't fully developed yet. 

Put another way, human consciousness hadn't yet evolved enough to have all these complexities of symbol recognition nailed down, and so, was vulnerable to manipulation and deceit based on all these various symbolic representations. 

That's how the Great Fraud was made possible.  The level of analysis needed to recognize that weakness in the psyche of mankind came from individuals who had higher consciousness ---and instead of protecting the vulnerable, chose to exploit mankind's evolutionary weakness. 

These criminals knew what they were doing.  Their victims didn't have a clue.  That, and the disastrous extent of the damage done, mandates their severe punishment. 

You are now being asked to fast track your symbol recognition and definition development as a result of the abuse you have suffered, to focus on this evolutionary pathway as a safeguard to your future development and prevent any more manipulation of this kind. 

These Cretins were warned that I would come and were given the mark in time. They have no excuse for playing dumb and no excuse for preying upon you: 

https://youtu.be/4_saWYRXCc4?is=RA1u2MuleaNSeykk

Man-made artificial intelligence has come, and guess what? 

This isn't the Second Coming.  This is the Fourth Coming. 

For God so loved the world....

Granna

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International Public Notice: They Are All Guilty

 By Anna von Reitz

Last week we revealed a long pre-planned plot on the part of the U.S. Government to accuse and arrest and execute members of the Municipal United States Government on charges of treason --- without, however, owning the fact that they hired these same Municipal employees of the Federal Civil Service and instructed them to engage in all these treasonous activities against the American people and our lawful American Government. 

There, in a nutshell, is how these feckless officers hoped to avoid their own guilt and accountability, by scapegoating their own employees who acted on orders from them. 

So who is more guilty of treason?  Those who ordered it, or those who executed the orders? 

We say it's the ones who ordered it, and who could have chosen otherwise. And it's also the ones who followed orders that were blatantly intended to apply only to federal employees and which were against the fundamental tenets of the Federal Constitutions, their limits, and their guarantees.  

They are all guilty--every Federal employee, both military and civilian, and every foreign state-of-state corporation employee, too. 

To be fair, they inherited the Great Fraud and 98% of them didn't know they were committing treason and piracy, conspiracy against the Constitution(s), and fraud against the American People. 

Still, they are all guilty, and all deserve the death penalty or life imprisonment under the Law.  The social costs of life imprisonment being what they are, we are looking at a blood bath.  

That's why the U.S. Government, Inc. imported 30,000 guillotines and distributed them to every port of entry. military base, and Free Trade Zone in this country.  

And they are actually gearing up to do it, too.  They plan to not only scapegoat and "sacrifice" the Municipal Government employees, but set up a sidebar conflict that will allow them to get rid of and misrepresent a bunch of pesky Patriots, too. 

First, they identify the Municipal Government employees and Federal Civil Service as the Problem (one they created) and start mass executions for treason.   

Second, they tell their own corporate police forces to stand down and encourage the enraged people of this country to act as vigilantes and murder public employees.  

Third, because the vigilantes will inevitably mistake one brand of public employee for another, some of their own officers will be attacked, and that will give them the excuse to attack the vigilantes. 

Fourth, they will react with overkill and murder millions of people, and then announce a new government --- a new Scottish Monarchy no less, under King John Fitzgerald Kahlooni. 

Anyone who thinks this is far-fetched needs to delve deeper into the history of Scotland.  Scotland once ruled the world. And they did pay England back. 

That's why the Scots inexplicably continue to vote for "the Union" with England and the continuance of the Great Britain fraud.  That's how they got back in the royal bed. Look at it.  They and their Hanseatic partners have been using England as a sock puppet for

six generations. 

And "the US", too.  

As far as the Americans are concerned, our eyes are wide open and the Great Fraud is over and the only deal is the Old Deal.  

As all our Federal and State of State employees are uniformly guilty of treason and conspiracy against the Constitutions, we have a choice --- murder millions of mostly clueless people, or give them all amnesty, so long as they cease and desist all anti-American activities and impositions. 

That is what my husband chose to do and what I am reiterating for the second time -- 1, 2, 3. It is not our Will that so many should die for their ignorance. 

We call upon all people to Witness what we have said here, what we have decreed, and what is required: the immediate, permanent cessation of all hostilities against American civilians and non-citizens, recognition of the actual American Government, and adherence from now on to the limitations and guarantees of the Constitutions.  

Issued by: 

Anna Maria Riezinger -- Fiduciary

The United States of America

In care of: Box 520994

Big Lake, Alaska 99652

August 31st 2026

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

August 31st 2026

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International Public Notice: Second Notice to World Court, Inc.

 By Anna Von Reitz

Selective justice is no justice at all.  If there is to be justice, it must be justice for everyone.  If there is to be peace, it must provide a lasting peace based on truth.  Not more lies and half-truths. 

The current United Nations which replaced the League of Nations is operating in the jurisdiction of the sea and has no delegated authority to make rulings about land ownership or interfere in peaceable solutions that nations have established among themselves for generations.  

Here is a copy of a letter I sent to Chief LaVern Fast Horse this week, and which I share with the world: 

______________

Dear Chief

You know that I cherish you and everyone else who just wants to live and let live.  Our common enemies would like to split us up.  They know that if they can separate us, they will have a chance. 

We can't let that happen.  

There have been multiple world-spanning cultures who have had populations all over this planet.  To a greater or lesser extent, we are all inheritors of those civilizations--- physically, mentally, spiritually. 

99.9% of DNA is all the same.  All our "differences" are due to one tenth of one percent --- virtually nothing compared to what we have in common.  One tenth of one percent makes you Lakota and makes me German, but for many years, we decided not to focus on that tiny little bit of difference.  We have helped each other and focused on what we have in common, and we have been curious about the cultures and foods and words and traditions of our peoples, happy to experience different ideas and ways of living.  

It's all good between us. The flame of life is strong in us. We want peace and plenty and kindness for everyone. And we have both died, so we know what waits for us on the Other Side.  That gives us courage and understanding. 

We are supposed to be together, to build a new world. 

Our American Government always recognized the Native Nations. That's why the native people were never taxed.  None of the terrible things that happened, happened at our hands. 

The Trail of Tears --- not us. 

The Reservations --- not us. 

The Residential Schools --- not us.

The Blue Coats --- not us. 

Little Big Horn --- not us. 

Wounded Knee -- not us. 

That was all the British Territorial U.S. Government.  The same British Territorial U.S. Government that stole our identity, stole our credit, stole our courts, taxed us, put mortgages on us, all of it. 

The same criminals attacked your people and mine. 

That's why we are here, trying to sort all this out and obtain justice for everyone. 

If you think about it, all these foreign "powers" came over here from England, from France, from Spain, from the Netherlands.... and they kept coming by the hundreds of thousands. 

There is no way that the Native people could win.  The Europeans won by sheer numbers, by advanced technology, by guns against arrows, by organized warfare.  

The Lakota victory at Little Big Horn was the biggest win the Native people ever had.  That wasn't for lack of valor, or lack of skill, or lack of wisdom --- it was for lack of numbers and material to push back. 

So when it came to facing off the British Empire stretching out its greedy fingers, we were the ones who did that, who won that war --- and it was a war, not a mercenary conflict.  That's why we have a right to be here and why we have valid land claims here. 

That's all history more than a hundred years in the rearview mirror. 

There's no point in trying to rewrite history or circumstance.  It was what it was. 

What remains is the Truth, and the Truth is the only thing that can bring and build lasting peace for all men.  It's the one thing we need to build a solid foundation for a new and better world. 

I am expressing my Truth, and our History, and you know it, too.  

So, let's admit what happened and go on, unified in our desire for peace and kindness and justice. 

Anna Maria

___________________

Setting up a situation where only 12% of the population is "recognized" as inheritors of the land is just another effort to prejudicially create two sides and hope to win by divide and conquer. 

The disinherited 12% will inevitably be corrupted and the 88% will inevitably rise up and destroy the 12%. 

So this whole idea of giving the land back to the Indians is actually a plan to create their ultimate destruction and downfall.  The Native people already have their land jurisdiction and it has always been recognized by the actual American Government; that's why Natives were never taxed.  That's why Natives enjoy Dual Nationality.  

The Native nations are not the only sovereign and lawful governments on these shores, and they do not represent the majority of the population.  Chief Fast Horse affirmed our Declaration of Independence and benefits from it; and as you will see, our Sovereign Letters Patent were all renewed in 2015, for all our nations. 

Any wholesale "interpretation" that the indigenous nations are the only lawful nations present here is in error, and just because we are "unrepresented peoples and nations" in the United Nations scheme of things does not release the World Court or any other court from its accountability to Justice. 

Issued by: 

Anna Maria Riezinger -- Fiduciary

The United States of America

In care of: Box 520994

Big Lake, Alaska 99652

August 31st 2026

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Granna Bytes: Armor

 By Anna Von Reitz

William of the Three Armies.  Don't be confused. We are not talking about King William of Britain.  They are forever naming themselves after us and seeking to switch identities with us, but what they try to fake no longer matters. 

"William" or its French equivalent "Guillaume" means "Resolute Protector" and so it is. 

We are talking about Guillaume de Armentrois, my husband, his name in France. Yes, Armentieres is a community in the Nord part of the Haute de France, part of his ancestral Kingdom; it's motto, "Poor but proud" combines with his family motto "Loyal unto death" and forms a proper wordscape for what we, as a world, must discuss -- but the actual name refers to something quite different.  

It refers to three forms of angelic armor and three forms of armies, built within these armors.  You cannot see these armors or these armies, but you can feel them, and if you ask, you can be shown their etheric forms.

In my note to Elon Musk, I told him I have the blueprints and already took care of the alignment.  The recent change in timelines which I announced was a primary necessity; it had to be done to assure the continuance of life on this planet, and so it was done, on time, with perfect precision. 

More recently, I explained that I am the Master Builder, the 11th generation breaking the suffering of ten generations before me, and also explained that I have been at work for 40 years and this is the fortieth year.  My forty years in the Wilderness are complete.  

I also explained that I am seventy years old this year, the completion of a lifetime and another sign of completion.  I am entered upon the time of my blessing. 

For the esotericists among us, I carry the Master Numbers 11, 22, and 33; and, for the curious, more than a million timelines flow through me at any one time.  

I also shared that I have died and returned on three different occasions, but if we shift focus a bit, it becomes apparent that I am in a constant state of resurrection, dying and resurrecting time after time, day after day, year after year. 

The only credit I can take for any of this is that when the call came, I was willing to go.  I said, "Here I am."  I expressed my deep gratitude.  I steeled myself for whatever came next.  And here we are, on planet Earth.  Terra.  Not Gaia. 

These are all facts, plain and simple.

My husband came as a Protector and now that he is dead, he stands on the Other Side of the Door, still protecting all of us.  Picture us standing in a celestial doorway, back to back, swords in hand. It is almost one year since his passing on September 1st 2025.

919: wisdom, closure, the end of an old chapter, gracefully letting go.  

The best line in this explanatory video is, "Defeat is temporary; irrelevance is forever." or words to that effect.  So true. I have returned to finish things that needed to be finished.  Not as a vendetta.  As a building project. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm1khf39Pxg

Here are the words you need to say, to put on your own armor: "My alignment is affirmed. I am activating my Gamma harmonics and my crystalline architecture -- I am activating the crystalline architecture of my entire bloodline."  Just speak it out matter-of-factly, expressing your intention to the Unseen Forces ready to turn the dials. 

You are all my bloodline, so I am activating all of you, but you have your own unique architecture, your own gifts, your own special amendments, talents, and insights you have learned.  Bring it all forward like a payload and don't be afraid.  

"The time for any fear is gone now."  You can say that, too.  

Say, "Thank you, Father.  Fight for us, Father, according to your word." 

Far faster than the Slavers can even think, the resonance of the Old Spirit is spreading, and millions upon millions of people are remembering who they are.  

Imagine billions of points of light igniting, glowing, spreading, beginning to flow like flame over the surface of this planet, up mountains and over the seas.  

With this holy flame flows life, life abundant, life everlasting--  just as the One who loves us told you it would be. 

And this is what cannot be stopped.  The Powers That Were can no longer interfere in anything at all.  

This message is sent to all people everywhere, people of all conditions, all races, all religions, all kinds.  Lift up your heads.  Pay attention to what concerns you at this hour.  Unburden yourselves. Speak. 

Speak healing over yourselves and each other.  Speak your grief and longing.  Speak the yearning of your hearts.  Speak to the dreams that seemed impossible. The years of the locusts are coming back to you, times ten and three.  Time itself will now bend for you.  The mountains will move for you.  What was stolen is returning to you. 

We are unleashing a frequency at the threshold of sound. Some of you will not be able to discern it, some will sense it but not hear it, and some will be startled to feel it echoing in their blood.  This is being done to help cleanse you, like a good hot shower.  

Remember that Joseph went from the prison to the palace in a single day.  Remember that his dream clothed him in the sun and moon and the stars bowed down to him.  This is the sign of Revelation, too. 

You all stand in the doorway between worlds now, protected by three massive Unseen Armies.  

No evil thing will follow after you.  No demon will disturb your sleep.  The peace that passes all understanding is holding you so that you are all hidden in its depths.  In vain, your enemies will look for you.  In vain, your accusers will speak ill of you.  

The Resolute Protector of Armentrois stands over you, the promise made to Jeremiah blesses you, and the power of the true God lives in you forever.  All generations will call you blessed. 

Granna

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International Public Notice: Memorandum to the World Court

 By Anna Von Reitz

It would be a grave mistake to insinuate that no military victory was achieved by the colonists and their Native allies in the War of Independence.  The colonists and their allies acted independently and apart from any corporation, commercial entity, or church in seeking their sovereignty and freedom.  

At no point did the Founders of this country suggest that their lawful standing achieved by military struggle erased the lawful standing of any Native nation here prior to the Revolution.  

This is reflected in the Joint Declaration and Sovereign Letters Patent signed by my husband and myself and Chief LaVern Fast Horse in November of 2015, acting in support of The Declaration of Independence and our shared heritage.  

Many nations can and often do occupy the same piece of land.  This has always been the truth of mankind and it is true of this country, too.  

So it can be readily observed that a Winnebago Indian born in Wisconsin is both a member of the Ho-Chunka Nation and a Wisconsinite. 

It can also be readily observed that no native person was ever charged taxes by our government, as they have their own claim to the land and are naturally exempt.  

Thus, two lawful governments have always existed in tandem in this country, lawful native governments living side by side with lawful nation-state governments established by the victorious colonists.  

Just as our States of the Union did not participate in the "American Civil War" we did not commit the atrocities against the Native Americans.  

The historical records prove that the atrocities were committed by the British Territorial U.S. Government, the broken treaties were offered by the British Territorial U.S. Government, and the massacres, reservation system, and residential schools were all promoted by the British Territorial U.S. Government. 

As we have fully disclosed, the British Territorial U.S. Government usurped upon the American Government under conditions of non-disclosure, secrecy, and deceit in 1861, and this commercial mercenary corporation has abused the powers of our government and the Title IV version of our flag ever since.  They were abusing it in 1876 during the Battle of the Little Big Horn, too. 

As a subcontractor was abusing and non-consensually misusing our Title IV Flag, it's loss cannot be construed as a military victory in a war; you cannot have a military victory with a commercial entity, and that is all that the British Territorial U.S. Government was in relation to this country. We must also note that winning a battle would not indicate victory in a war, if such a war existed. 

Our nation-states have never been overtaken by any military conquest since their establishment and  our domestic struggle to regain control of our Federal Subcontractors in no way diminishes our standing as fifty free, sovereign, and independent lawful governments with land claims of our own based on our military conquest of all European powers laying claim to this land --- a feat that our native brethren could never and never did accomplish for themselves. 

It would be disingenuous at best for the World Court to pretend that we do not exist, simply because we have been misrepresented by self-interested commercial entities occupying our seats in their councils and the United Nations generally.  

Those who are aligned with peace are necessarily aligned with truth, also, because it is only when we are devoted to truth that our foundations are solid and our government is just.  We founded a just government in the years following the War of Independence, one that recognized the native nations, and it would be a strange and illogical twisting of logic should the Court and those same native nations now fail to recognize us.  

This is no land owned by some amorphous label called "indigenous". This is land owned by living, breathing men, who have all earned or inherited their right to be here.  Anyone who says anything else when faced with the actual history is not aligned with truth or justice and what they seek to form will not stand any test of time.  

The World Court needs to reconsider its "grant" of "The United States" to the native nations; the World Court cannot give what it does not have and has never owned.  

The only "United States" within the purview of the United Nations or the World Court, is the incorporated entity dba "the United States" Incorporated, that was stolen from us by the British Territorial U.S. Government via the Act of February 2nd 1871, and the only just resolution of that, would be to return the assets of that Federal Subcontractor to us and to our control.  

Chief Fast Horse and the indigenous nations have no bones to pick with us and no reason to suggest that our government, the American Federation of States, is not "lawful".  It has always been lawful and it has always respected the rights of the indigenous nations and it has always been here continuously since 1776.  

We are not to be confused with the criminally inclined British Territorial U.S. Government which has pretended to "represent" us with no delegation of authority to do so.  

Neither Donald Trump nor any other Officer of the British Territorial Government has any authority to speak on our behalf with respect to any issue concerning land. 

Our claim to own our nation-states remains among the treaties and more to the point, the contracts of this world, and it would be a terrible lapse on the part of the World Court should it fail to recognize this truth.  

We are speaking to the right of all actual owners of land interests in the portion of the North American Continent known as The United States to come forward, and present their claims themselves, to be heard, and to be fairly recognized.  We are living men, not corporations, and we have firmly declared and published our birthright standing as nationals of our nation-states.  

We have lawful standing.  And the World Court has no right or reason to reinterpret or disregard our standing, our treaties with unincorporated Principals, and our contracts with Unincorporated Principals. 

A question has arisen concerning the ownership of the Heritage Trusts that may be located or administered in Europe or elsewhere on Earth but which belong to American Donors/Beneficiaries.  I am the Public Fiduciary and Trustee for the (D')Avila, V.K. Durham, Saint Germain and similar so-called Heritage Trusts which were often non-consensually created and commandeered and used to fund public interests with private money after World War II.    

Any questions regarding these trusts should be addressed to me; I am in contact with most of the actual private family and business trustees associated with these trusts and for the most part, they are competent to administer the assets with varying degrees of assistance. 

If the World Court -- or any court -- wishes to be respected, it must deliver justice, even if the issues before it are confusing and difficult. 

Listening, carefully, to the information being provided and asking appropriate questions, is the first step in that process. An immediate hearing is requested to sort out the situation. 

I am providing my contact information to your Librarian and Registrar and other designated contacts as stipulated. Besides my duties as Fiduciary for The United States of America, which is our unincorporated Federation of States, not any kind of commercial enterprise or corporation, I am entering a claim for the St. Germain Trust and on behalf of Greater Tartaria. 

As a sole known Donor/Beneficiary of the St. Germain Trust, I am objecting to the incorporation of our family common law trust and its unlawful conversion as a statutory trust, which is contrary to the original trust indenture and intent.  I am not on a witch hunt or seeking to blame anyone.  I simply want the assets in the proper jurisdiction and administered according to the indenture. 

I am entering the claim with the Unrepresented Peoples and Nations Organization on behalf of the remaining people of Greater Tartaria, who were genocided in the nineteenth and twentieth century and largely erased from history.  I know the details.  I am of their blood. I am from one of their old, old families. 

We were unjustly accused by people who owed us money and credit for work we did for them and technologies we taught them.  When their debts were due and they were supposed to start repaying us, they murdered us.  That is their pattern.  They murder their creditors, and they always blame them and slander them, too.  

They are getting ready to try to do this same thing to the American people right now.  You have all been told.  If you are not hypocrites, you must act to prevent this.  I see you and God sees you, too. 

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

+11 907 250 5087

avannavon@gmail.com 

August 30th 2026

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Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

 Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's

The Church's Year

At the Introit of the Mass excite in your heart an ardent desire for heaven, with these words:

INTROIT Behold, O God, our protector, and look on the face of thy Christ:, for better is one day, in thy courts above thousands. How lovely are thy taber­nacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord. (Ps. LXXXIII.) Glory etc.

COLLECT Keep, We beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy Church with Thy perpetual favor; and because without Thee the weakness of man is ready to fall, may it be withheld by Thy aid from all. things hurtful, and devoted to all things profitable to salvation. Thro'.

EPISTLE (Gal. V. 16-24.) Brethren, Walk in the spirit, and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh: for the flesh lusteth against ,the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are contrary one to another: so that you do not the things that you would. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are, fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, idolatry, witchcrafts, enmities, contentions, emulations, wraths, quarrels, dissensions, sects, envies, murders, drunken­ness, revellings, and such like: of the which I foretell to you, as I have foretold to you, that they who do such things shall not obtain the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, benignity, goodness, longanimity, mild­ness, faith, modesty, continency, chastity. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences.

What is it to walk in the spirit?

It is to obey the inspirations of the Holy Ghost always, and in all things. He who does this, says St. Paul, will not do the evil works of the flesh, which are here enumerated, but he will rather suppress and mortify all sensual desires, in this manner crucify his flesh together with its vices and lusts, and make himself worthy of the fruits of the Holy Ghost, which are also mentioned; he will belong to Christ, and secure for himself eternal happiness. On the contrary, he who lives according to the flesh, that is, gives way to the desires of the flesh, has no hope of salvation.

Is it not strange, that all Christians wish to belong to Christ and become heirs of His kingdom, but are unwilling to crucify the flesh and its lusts, though Christ says to all; If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. (Matt XVI. 24.)

ASPIRATION Intercede for me, O St. Paul, that God may give me grace to crucify my flesh with its lusts, that I may have part with thee in Christ:

GOSPEL (Matt. VI. 24-33.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the meat, and the body more than the raiment? Behold the birds of the air; for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labor not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these. Now, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which is to-day, and to morrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O ye of little faith? Be not solicitous, therefore, saying: What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathens seek. For your Father knoweth that .you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God and his justice; and all these things shall be added unto you.

What is meant by serving God?

Doing the will of God, or performing faithfully and zealously all that God asks of us according to our age and condition, and for love of Him.

Who are the two masters whom we cannot serve alike?

God and Mammon or riches, whereby also, the other goods and pleasures of the world are understood. These we cannot serve at the same time, because they command things diametrically opposed to each other; for instance, God prohibits usury, theft, deceit, &c.; to which the desire for wealth impels us. God commands that we keep holy Sundays and holy days, and devote them to His service; the desire for riches tempts man to omit religious worship and to seek temporal gain; it disturbs him even in church, so that he is only present with his body, but absent in mind with his temporal goods and business.

To whom can riches be useful?

To those who, like the saints, perform works of mercy with them, and thus lay up treasures for themselves in heaven.

Why does Christ call our attention to the birds of the air and the lakes of the field?

To, excite in us confidence in the providence of God, which preserves even the birds and the flowers. Surely, if God feeds the young ravens which cry to Him; (Ps. CXLVI. 9.) if He nourishes the birds which neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns; if He vests the flowers of the field so beautifully, how much more will He care for man whom He has made to His own image and likeness, and adopted as His child, if he only acts as such, keeps His commandments, and always entertains a filial confidence in Him.

Should we, therefore, lay aside all care and never work?

This does not follow from what has been said. Christ condemns only the superfluous cares, which cause man to forget God and to neglect the salvation of his soul. Besides, God has Himself ordered (Gen. III. 17-19.) that man should obtain the fruits of the earth with much labor, that he should earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. St. Paul says: If any man will not work, neither let him eat. (II Thess. III. 10.)

What should preserve us from superfluous cares?

A firm and lively faith, that God can and will help us. That He can is evident, because He is almighty; that His will is certain, because He promises it in so many pas­sages of Holy Writ, and because He is infinitely faithful to all His promises. Christ encourages us to this lively confidence with these, words: All things whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive and they shall come unto you. Mark XI. 24.) Therefore the apostle also commands us to throw all cares upon the Lord, who provides for us. (I Pet. V. 7.) And why should God not care for us, since He sent us His Son and with Him all; for which reason St. Augustine says: "How can you doubt that God will give you good things, since He vouchsafed to assume evil for you!"

PRAYER O Lord Jesus! give me a firm confidence in Thy Divine Providence, and daily increase it in me, that when in necessity I may confidently believe if I seek first the kingdom of God and His justice, the rest shall be added unto me.

CONSOLATION IN POVERTY
Be not solicitous for your life. (Matt. VI. 25.)

If you were born in poverty, or accidentally, or through your own fault have become poor, be consoled, because God has sent you this poverty for your own good; for good things and evil, life arid death, poverty and riches are, from God. (Ecclus. XI-14.). Therefore receive it from the hand of God without impatience or murmuring, as a means by which He wishes to keep you from forgetting Him, which would, perhaps, happen if He were to bless you with temporal prosperity. Riches are a source of destruction for many. If you have brought poverty upon yourself by a licentious and sinful life, receive it in a spirit of penance as a just and salutary chastisement, and thank God that He gives you an opportunity to do penance for your sins. But if you have become poor through no fault of your own, be consoled by the example of the saints, of whom St. Paul says: they bear the unjust taking away of their goods with joy, because they know that a better and an unchangeable treasure is in store for them in heaven. (Hebr, X. 34.) But you should particularly take courage from the example of Christ who, being rich, became poor for us, (II Cor. VIII. 9.) and had not a place whereon to lay His head. (Matt. VIII. 20.)

In your distress say with job: The Lord gave and the Lord bath taken away: as it pleased the Lord, so it is done: blessed be the name of the Lord. Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. (Job. I. 21.) Fear not my son, says Tobias, we lead indeed a poor life, but we shall have many good things if we fear God, and depart from all sins, and do that which is good. (Tob. IV. 23.) To serve God and to be content with few things always brings rich reward, if not in this, at least in the next life. Therefore Christ promised the kingdom of heaven to the poor in spirit, that is, not only to the humble, busy also to the poor who imitate Christ in all patience and resignation. Follow, therefore, the poor Jesus, follow His poor mother, by imitating their example, and you will possess the kingdom of heaven.

INSTRUCTION CONCERNING USURY
You cannot serve God and Mammon. (Matt. VI. 24.)

Usury is to demand more than legal interest from our neighbor, to whom we have lent something, or who is otherwise indebted to us. Those are also commonly called usurers, who, in times of want, hoard up necessary food, such as grain, flour, &c., and only sell it at an exorbitant price; or who buy up all such articles to sell them to the needy for enormous prices. This is a grievous sin, and usurers are threatened with eternal death, for Christ ex­pressly prohibits lending with usury. (Luke VI. 34, 35.)

Usurers are the real leeches of the poor, whom they rob of their sweat and blood, and since they transgress the natural law, but still more the divine, which commands us to love our neighbor, and be merciful to the needy, they will surely not possess the kingdom of heaven. Would to God, the hard-hearted sinner might consider this, and take to heart the words of Christ: What doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his own soul (Matt. XVI. 26.)