John
16, Verse 33
I
have told you this so that you might have peace
in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered
the world.”
This
was the labor of Christ to give us peace with God and to conquer the world of
sin. We have peace in his love. In order to follow our Lord, me must not only
receive and accept His love but pour that love out on others. We must not keep
this love but in courage reach out to others knowing He has already conquered ahead
of us. To be great we must be filled with a foundation of Love. Pray for this Nation
that it may be dedicated to love of life, liberty and then the pursuit of
happiness; thus, being a great Nation founded in love.
Are
lawyers a necessary evil? Celebrate the
contribution of lawyers to upholding a civilised society on Love
Litigating Lawyers Day, no matter how unpopular we generally consider them
to be… #LoveLitigatingLawyersDay
Declaration of Independence in July and
the Constitution in September, let us once again reflect on the marvelous
principles underlying these two documents. The following is a review of these
principles together with a comment or a quote by the Founders. Documentation
may be found in The Five Thousand Year Leap.
Principle 1–The only
reliable basis for sound government and just human relations is Natural Law.
Natural law is God’s law. There are
certain laws which govern the entire universe, and just as Thomas Jefferson
said in the Declaration of Independence, there are laws which govern in the
affairs of men which are “the laws of nature and of nature’s God.”
Principle 2–A free people
cannot survive under a republican constitution unless they remain virtuous and
morally strong.
“Only a virtuous people are capable of
freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of
masters.” – Benjamin Franklin "Character is Destiny"-John McCain
Principle 3–The most promising
method of securing a virtuous people is to elect virtuous leaders.
“Neither the wisest constitution nor the
wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are
universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend to the liberty of his
country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who … will not suffer a man
to be chosen into any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous
man.” – Samuel Adams
Principle 4–Without
religion the government of a free people cannot be maintained.
“Of all the dispositions and habits which
lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable
supports…. And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be
maintained without religion.” – George Washington
Principle 5–All things
were created by God, therefore upon him all mankind are equally dependent, and
to him they are equally responsible.
The American Founding Fathers considered
the existence of the Creator as the most fundamental premise underlying all
self-evident truth. They felt a person who boasted he or she was an atheist had
just simply failed to apply his or her divine capacity for reason and
observation.
Principle 6–All mankind
were created equal.
The Founders knew that in these three ways,
all mankind are theoretically treated as:
- Equal before
God.
- Equal before
the law.
- Equal in
their rights.
- The Freedom
to try.
- The Freedom
to buy.
- The Freedom
to sell.
- The Freedom
to fail.
Principle 7– The proper
role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things.
The Founders recognized that the people
cannot delegate to their government any power except that which they have the
lawful right to exercise themselves.
Principle 8 – Mankind are
endowed by God with certain unalienable rights.
“Those rights, then, which God and nature
have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and
liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every
man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when
declared by the municipal [or state] laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no
human legislation has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner [of
the right] shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture.” –
William Blackstone
Principle 9 – To protect human
rights, God has revealed a code of divine law.
“The doctrines thus delivered we call the
revealed or divine law, and they are to be found only in the Holy Scriptures.
These precepts, when revealed, are found by comparison to be really a part of
the original law of nature, as they tend in all their consequences to man’s
felicity.” – William Blackstone
Principle 10–The God-given
right to govern is vested in the sovereign authority of the whole people.
“The fabric of American empire ought to
rest on the solid basis of the consent of the people. The streams of national
power ought to flow immediately from that pure, original fountain of all
legislative authority.” – Alexander Hamilton
Principle 11–The majority
of the people may alter or abolish a government which has become tyrannical.
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes … but when a long train of abuses and usurpations … evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future
security.” – Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence
Principle 12–The United
States of America shall be a republic.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America, and to the republic or which it
stands….”
Principle 13–A Constitution
should protect the people from the frailties of their rulers.
“If angels were to govern men, neither
external nor internal controls on government would be necessary…. [But lacking
these] you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the
next place oblige it to control itself.” – James Madison
Principle 14–Life and
liberty are secure only so long as the rights of property are secure.
John Locke reasoned that God gave the
earth and everything in it to the whole human family as a gift. Therefore, the
land, the sea, the acorns in the forest, the deer feeding in the meadow belong
to everyone “in common.” However, the moment someone takes the trouble to
change something from its original state of nature, that person has added his
ingenuity or labor to make that change. Herein lies the secret to the origin of
“property rights.”
Principle 15–The highest
level of prosperity occurs when there is a free-market economy and a minimum of
government regulations.
Prosperity depends upon a climate of
wholesome stimulation with four basic freedoms in operation:
Principle 16–The government
should be separated into three branches.
“I call you to witness that I was the
first member of the Congress who ventured to come out in public, as I did in January
1776, in my Thoughts on Government … in favor of a government with three
branches and an independent judiciary. This pamphlet, you know, was very
unpopular. No man appeared in public to support it but yourself.” – John Adams
Principle 17–A system of
checks and balances should be adopted to prevent the abuse of power by the
different branches of government.
“It will not be denied that power is of an
encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing
the limits assigned to it.” – James Madison
Principle 18 –The unalienable
rights of the people are most likely to be preserved if the principles of
government are set forth in a written Constitution.
The structure of the American system is
set forth in the Constitution of the United States and the only weaknesses
which have appeared are those which were allowed to creep in despite the
Constitution.
Principle 19–Only limited
and carefully defined powers should be delegated to government, all others
being retained by the people.
The Tenth Amendment is the most widely
violated provision of the bill of rights. If it had been respected and enforced
America would be an amazingly different country than it is today. This
amendment provides:
“The powers not delegated to the United
States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to
the States respectively, or to the people.”
Principle 20–Efficiency and
dispatch require that the government operate according to the will of the
majority, but constitutional provisions must be made to protect the rights of
the minority.
“Every man, by consenting with others to
make one body politic under one government, puts himself under an obligation to
every one of that society to submit to the determination of the majority, and to
be concluded [bound] by it.” – John Locke
Principle 21–Strong local
self-government is the keystone to preserving human freedom.
“The way to have good and safe government
is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among the many, distributing to
every one exactly the functions he is competent [to perform best]. – Thomas
Jefferson
Principle 22–A free people
should be governed by law and not by the whims of men.
“The end of law is not to abolish or
restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom. For in all the states of created
beings, capable of laws, where there is no law there is no freedom. For liberty
is to be free from restraint and violence of others, which cannot be where
there is no law.” – John Locke
Principle 23–A free society
cannot survive as a republic without a broad program of general education.
“They made an early provision by law that
every town consisting of so many families should be always furnished with a
grammar school. They made it a crime for such a town to be destitute of a grammar
schoolmaster for a few months, and subjected it to a heavy penalty. So that the
education of all ranks of people was made the care and expense of the public,
in a manner that I believe has been unknown to any other people, ancient or
modern. The consequences of these establishments we see and feel every day
[written in 1765]. A native of America who cannot read and write is as rare …
as a comet or an earthquake.” John Adams
Principle 24–A free people
will not survive unless they stay strong.
“To be prepared for war is one of the most
effectual means of preserving peace.” – George Washington
Principle 25–“Peace,
commerce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling alliances with
none.”-Thomas Jefferson, given in his first inaugural address.
Principle 26 –The core unit
which determines the strength of any society is the family; therefore the
government should foster and protect its integrity.
“There is certainly no country in the
world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America, or where
conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated.” Alexis de
Tocqueville
Principle 27–The burden of
debt is as destructive to human freedom as subjugation by conquest.
“We are bound to defray expenses [of the
war] within our own time, and are unauthorized to burden posterity with them….
We shall all consider ourselves morally bound to pay them ourselves and
consequently within the life [expectancy] of the majority.” – Thomas Jefferson
Principle 28–The United
States has a manifest destiny to eventually become a glorious example of God’s
law under a restored Constitution that will inspire the entire human race.
The Founders sensed from the very
beginning that they were on a divine mission. Their great disappointment was
that it didn’t all come to pass in their day, but they knew that someday it
would. John Adams wrote:
“I always consider the settlement of
America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design
in Providence for the illumination of the ignorant, and the emancipation of the
slavish part of mankind all over the earth.”
Make
a good confession today or tomorrow and rest in the arms of the angels.
Fitness Friday-Sleep[2]
Sleep. Something we all need more of, but
never seem to get. (If only we had more time, right?) Today we’re going to cover
how you can. First stop and think!
Sleep is important, and you should get more of it!
“When you lie down, you will not be
afraid, when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.” (Proverbs
3:24)
Before
we cover why sleep is important,
let’s talk about what happens when you don’t get enough For example: If you manage to only get four hours of sleep, a sleep deprived body can actually act similarly to an
intoxicated body.
Getting
less sleep than average regularly? This
is correlated with
increased bodyfat percentage, more issues with insulin sensitivity, and even a
disproportionate decrease in lean muscle mass when eating a caloric deficit. We
all know missing sleep can make us grouchy, miserable, unfocused, and
unproductive. I know I’m going to have a crappy day in the gym when I don’t get
enough sleep the night before. I know not sleeping enough AFTER a workout day
can further hinder the muscle building process.
So, what else happens when you
don’t get enough sleep? “One study found that skipped sleep
led to a shrinking brain.
The heart and
kidneys also take a beating as
does your blood
pressure. You, in
fact, put yourself at continually increased risk for a whole host of lifestyle
diseases, including obesity and
diabetes.
What
is the logical extension of this pattern? Numerous studies link
partial sleep deprivation/disruption and increased
mortality risk!”
Conversely, let’s talk about the awesomeness that is sleep.
Here are the benefits associated with getting enough shut eye:
·
Sleep
will enhance your memory performance and creative problem solving skills.
You know, those things that make you smart.
·
Sleep
can boost your athletic performance.
And we all know appearance is a consequence of fitness.
·
Sleep triggers the release of human growth hormone (HGH),
which plays a huge role in muscle and cellular regeneration.
·
Sleep
cuts your risk for the common cold and other basic illnesses.
Less sick days at work = more productivity, more awesome, more leveling
up.
·
Sleep
makes you more resilient to daily stress..aka more willpower!
Moral of
the story: Sleep is awesome.
Yes, some
adults can function perfectly on only five hours of sleep, while others need 9-10
hours of sleep to thrive. Most people will fall in that 7-9 range for sleeping
needs. So let’s get to the root of the problem for most: “I know I need to
sleep more, but my day is too busy and I just can’t get to bed sooner or wake
up earlier.” First and foremost, you’re not alone. According to a recent report
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly a third of all
working Americans get six hours or fewer of sleep a night.
Does any
of this sound like you? I
am always freaking tired, and I need five cups of coffee to get through the
day. Even on days when I get enough sleep, I wake up groggy. I get to ‘bed’ but
I toss and turn and it takes me forever to fall asleep. I hit snooze half a
dozen times before miserably crawling out of bed.
A perfect night of sleep
Let’s imagine a perfect night:
·
You
go to bed at a time that you’re happy with.
·
You’re
not stressed out because you didn’t just watch The Walking Dead.
·
You’re
reading a good book in bed that’s putting you
closer to sleep rather than checking your smart phone or screwing around on the
internet (damn you Twitch.tv).
·
You
sleep uninterrupted through the night
·
.
You have good dreams.
·
When
you wake up, either naturally or with an alarm…you immediately get out of bed,
without a single snooze, and you feel damn good.
·
You
then crush your morning routine and dominate your day.
If you’re looking at your screen and laughing right
now, you’re not alone. I’d
guess this is a pipe dream for a huge majority of our society because they’re
not sure how sleep actually works, and thus have NOT made sleep a priority.
It’s time to start looking at sleep
as one of your most important tasks.
How to get better sleep
We have a circadian rhythm (a daily biological clock) that ebbs
and flows throughout the day. Our body uses outside stimuli and
our own activity to produce certain hormones at certain times to make our body
more prepared for the required functions at that time (alertness vs restfulness).
·
When the
sun rose, our
bodies are signaled “the day has begun! Get cracking!” We reduce the hormones
that make us sleepy and produce more hormones that allow us to do the things
that need to get done.
·
As the
sun went down, our
body starts to produce more melatonin, which produces that sleepy feeling and
encourages us to rest/recover. Our only option for light back then was a
candle or campfire. If that went out, we’d have moonlight and nothing else.
·
While
sleeping, our
bodies knew to cut back on urine production, decrease body temperature,
decrease heart rate, and muscle activity. Our brains are still highly
active during our sleeping.
Unfortunately,
these days, our bodies aren’t tied to the rise and fall of that giant ball of
gas above us. Instead,
we use electricity, alarm clocks, computer screens, smart phone screens, and
all other sorts of outside stimuli to adjust our natural sleeping schedule. This
means that our bodies often have no effin’ clue what time it is!
Here’s how we can get back to our roots:
Trying to
get to bed sooner or fall asleep sooner? Limit your exposure to the blue glow of your
computer screens, TV screens, and phones later in the evening. Our bodies
look at blue light and think “Sun is up! Sky is blue! Energy! WEEE!” Conversely, lights with a red/orange hue are
more reminiscent of a campfire or candle.
·
If
you are somebody who has to spend time on your computer at night, consider
installing a program like F.lux – it syncs with the sunrise and
sunset in your time zone, gradually shifting your screens hue from Blue and
bright to red and dim. I’ve been using the app for over a week now and
have quickly adjusted to it.
·
Purchase old-man blue blocker glasses which
limits the colors your eyes are exposed to after the sun has gone.
·
Consider
purchasing red lightbulbs to install
in your bedroom.
·
Consider getting black-out curtains for your bedroom
windows, especially if you live in a city.
·
No TV in
bed. This
might be incredibly difficult for you if you’ve been falling asleep to TV for
years. Instead of falling asleep with the blue glow of a TV at the foot
of your bed, read a book – real books or read on a Kindle, no iPads! trust me, it will put
you right to sleep.
·
Have allergies? Try a hypoallergenic pillowcase! Your allergies could be
affecting you while you sleep and having the proper pillowcase can make a world
of a difference.
How to get more sleep
So we’ve
covered how to get BETTER sleep, what if you also need to get more of it? In order
to start getting more sleep, sleep must
become more of a priority. If you constantly stay up too
late because things need to get done, evaluate how your time is spent after
work. Seriously, think about it!
Are you
doing the important tasks first?
Are you
watching late night shows long after they’ve become enjoyable, simply
because your DVR records them?
Are you
checking your smart phone while in bed, watching Vine
videos, or using your laptop to watch more shows you don’t really care about on
Netflix?
Here are the best practical tips for giving you the
greatest chance at getting into bed earlier:
·
Don’t
drink caffeine after lunch if possible. Caffeine can have an effect up to 6 hours
after consumption. We love caffeine for many reasons (in moderation);
however, you want to make sure its not consumed too late or your body will
revolt.
·
Turn off
the electronics sooner. I
have to enforce a “laptops closed by 11PM” or a “TV off after 10PM” rule on
many nights or I never get to bed. I get lost in internetland far too easily.
Putting in actual barriers really helps. If you find yourself
checking Facebook and Twitter and other sites incessantly, BLOCK YOURSELF from
those sites after a certain time.
·
Stop
watching crap TV shows! DVRs
can be helpful, but it’s so easy to record shows without second thought…and
then we end up spending WAY too much time watching TV.
·
Shift
things by 15 minutes every week. If you want to get to bed sooner,
don’t just try to get to bed an hour earlier than normal. You’ll probably lie
in bed for that whole hour wondering why you can’t fall asleep, stressing
yourself out and making things worse. I shifted my pattern by waking up 15
minutes earlier and getting to bed 15 minutes sooner. Then I repeated that
process over a series of weeks. Eventually, you can shift your bedtime by an
hour or two but do it gradually!
How to wake up better
Is
there any more annoying sound in the world than the “beep beep beep” of an
alarm clock? So here you are, dreaming about riding a dragon with
Daenerys Targaryen, doing improv with Liam Neeson, and playing poker with
Iron Man and Spock…and that damn alarm clock wakes you up. You are now
incredibly groggy and miserable.
Here’s
what’s happening: Remember
earlier how we talked about different sleep cycles? Depending on which
cycle you were woken up during, your body can struggle to move from “asleep” to
“wide awake.” Wake up in the right phase and you
can feel energized and ready to go. Wake up in the wrong phase and you will
feel lethargic and sleepy. Because
we’re often waking up at times when we’re not ready to wake up, we need to use
technology to our advantage.
This is why snoozing is a horrible idea!
Instead
of snoozing, set your alarm for 30 minutes later and SKIP snoozing entirely.
If this is an issue for you, put your alarm across the room so you need
to physically get out of bed to turn it off!
I’ve been using the Sleep Cycle App to wake up and it’s
been really interesting. You simply put the time in which you want to wake up,
put your phone on your bed, and it will wake you up slowly and quietly in at
the best point in a 30-minute window. Because it also tracks your sleep
incredibly accurately, it’s probably the best 99 cents I’ve ever spent on an
app. Try a dawn-simulator alarm clock.
Rather than waking yourself up in the pitch black with a disgusting
beeping noise, why not gradually rise as if there was a natural sunrise in your
room?
Still
feeling groggy? Go for a walk first thing; a mile every morning, if you can.
Walking outside and seeing that blue sky can trigger your body to release the
hormones that encourage you to feel more awake and alive.
What about naps?
Although generally not part of a day here in the
states, we’re actually programmed to desire a quick nap in the early afternoon.
In other countries,
naps are more socially acceptable (Siesta? Si, por favor!). If you
feel bad that you get tired in the early afternoon, it’s not because you’re
lazy. It’s because you’re naturally wired for naptime. Now, you might
still be lazy, but it’s not related to your nap schedule.
What about second sleep? Biphasic Sleep is sleeping in two distinct periods. We’re gonna go back in the day again: during
winter months, night time could last 12-14 hours. With our bodies
production of melatonin (the “sleepy time” hormone) kicking into high gear when
that sun drops, people had nothing else to do (no TV, PS4, or iPads) and would
fall asleep early. Then they would wake up for an hour or two in the
middle of the night to read, pray, or think, and then fall back asleep for
another 4-5 hours before waking up for the day.
If
you’ve ever gone to bed at a normal hour, and then woke up in the middle of the
night without being able to fall back asleep for an hour or so, you know what
I’m talking about. Here’s
the thing: this is actually quite natural!
Rather than freaking the heck out and lying in bed wondering why you can’t fall
asleep…consider it something that is more common
than our current sleep schedule. Don’t be afraid to turn on the
light and read a book or use the time for meditation until you can fall back
asleep. This one ‘mental shift’ alone can keep your stress levels down and let
you get back to sleep faster and provide you with BETTER sleep.
"Read
these counsels slowly. Pause to meditate on these thoughts. They are things
that I whisper in your ear-confiding them-as a friend, as a brother, as a
father. And they are being heard by God. I won't tell you anything new. I will
only stir your memory, so that some thought will arise and strike you; and so
you will better your life and set out along ways of prayer and of Love. And in
the end you will be a more worthy soul."
55. Presbyter — Priest — means, literally, an elderly man. If old age
deserves veneration, think how much more you ought to venerate the Priesthood.
·
Please
Pray for soul of Senator
McCain and his family and for the unity of our country; asking Our Lady of Beauraing to
intercede.
[2]https://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/are-you-making-these-mistakes-with-your-sleep/
[3]http://www.escrivaworks.org/book/the_way-point-1.htm
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