Friday, July 9, 2021
Let Freedom Ring: Freedom from Treason
(See Character is Destiny for opposing virtue: LOYALTY)
At a word from You the devil and his minions flee in terror.
You are the source of all truth. You are the source of all strength.
By the power of your Cross and Resurrection, we beseech You, O Lord
To extend Your saving arm and to send Your holy angels
To defend us as we do battle with Satan and his demonic forces.
Exorcise, we pray, that which oppresses Your Bride, The Church,
So that within ourselves, our families, our parishes, our dioceses, and our nation
We may turn fully back to You in all fidelity and trust.
Lord, we know if You will it, it will be done.
Give us the perseverance for this mission, we pray.
Amen
St. Joseph...pray for us
St. Michael the Archangel...pray for us
(the patron of your parish )... pray for us
(your confirmation saint)...pray for us
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, etc.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Heart of Jesus, Son of the Eternal Father,
Heart of Jesus, formed in the womb of the Virgin Mother by the Holy Ghost,
Heart of Jesus, united substantially with the word of God,
Heart of Jesus, of infinite majesty,
Heart of Jesus, holy temple of God,
Heart of Jesus, tabernacle of the Most High,
Heart of Jesus, house of God and gate of heaven,
Heart of Jesus, glowing furnace of charity,
Heart of Jesus, vessel of justice and love,
Heart of Jesus, full of goodness and love,
Heart of Jesus, abyss of all virtues,
Heart of Jesus, most worthy of all praise,
Heart of Jesus, king and center of all hearts,
Heart of Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
Heart of Jesus, in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity,
Heart of Jesus, in whom the Father is well pleased,
Heart of Jesus, we have all received,
Heart of Jesus, desire of the everlasting hills,
Heart of Jesus, patient and rich in mercy,
Heart of Jesus, rich to all who invoke Thee,
Heart of Jesus, fount of life and holiness,
Heart of Jesus, propitiation for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, saturated with revilings, .
Heart of Jesus, crushed for our iniquities,
Heart of Jesus, made obedient unto death,
Heart of Jesus, pierced with a lance,
Heart of Jesus, source of all consolation,
Heart of Jesus, our life and resurrection, .
Heart of Jesus, our peace and reconciliation,
Heart of Jesus, victim for our sins,
Heart of Jesus, salvation of those who hope in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, hope of those who die in Thee,
Heart of Jesus, delight of all saints,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world,
Christ graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us.
Make our hearts like unto Thine.
Almighty and everlasting God, look upon the Heart of Thy well-beloved Son and upon the acts of praise and satisfaction which He renders unto Thee in the name of sinners; and do Thou, in Thy great goodness, grant pardon to them who seek Thy mercy, in the name of the same Thy Son, Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, world without end.
__ Daily reflection and prayers
__ Litany of the day
__ Pray a Rosary
__ Divine Mercy Chaplet
__ Spiritual or corporal work of mercy
__ Fast/abstain (according to level)
__ Exercise (according to level/ability)
__ Refrain from conventional media (only 1 hr. of social)
__ Examination of conscience (confession 1x this week)
The
earlier governors, my predecessors, had laid a heavy
burden on the people, taking from them each day forty silver shekels for their
food; then, too, their attendants oppressed the people. But I, because I FEARED God, did not do this.
A
person that fears God does not oppress
or take advantage of those dependent on them. Evil or power-hungry people love
to get cash cows. In our country the best cash cows are the addicted and many
of these users and abusers do so through legal means. Alcohol, Cigarettes, high
fructose corn syrup, mortgages, taxes are legal. Then there is the illegal even
more deadly, prescription drugs, marijuana, heroin; you name it. Then if that
wasn’t enough there is porn and the internet. Whew…then there is congress and
the education system along with the Drug Cartels slave trade caused by the
democratic issues at the US Border!
Cheating. Cybersexting. Hazing, Drug abuse. Murder[1]
Scanning the headlines of
the latest scandals in America’s schools, it’s quite clear that the problem is
not that there’s too much God in students’ lives. The problem is that there
isn’t nearly enough of Him. With the malfunction of moral seatbelts and the
erosion of moral guardrails, too many kids have turned to a pantheon of false
gods, crutches and palliatives. They’re obsessed with “Slender Man” and
“Vampire Diaries.” Alex from Target’s hair and Rihanna’s tattoos. Overpriced
basketball sneakers and underdressed reality stars. Choking games and YouTube
games. Gossip and hookups. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. It’s all about
selfies over self-control, blurred lines over bright lines. In a metastatic
youth culture of soullessness and rootlessness, the idea of high school teens
voluntarily using their free time to pray and sing hymns is not just a breath
of fresh air. It’s salvation. But leave it to secularists run amok to punish
faithful young followers of Christ. When the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a
religious freedom lawsuit against Pine Creek High School here in my adopted
hometown of Colorado Springs. Chase Windebank, a senior at the District 20
school, had been convening an informal prayer group for the past three years
“in a quiet area to sing Christian religious songs, pray, and to discuss issues
of the day from a religious perspective.”
Windebank and his friends
weren’t disrupting classroom time. They shared their Christian faith during an
open period earned by high-achieving students. Other kids used the time to play
on their phones, eat snacks, get fresh air outside, or schedule meetings for a
wide variety of both official and unofficial school clubs. A Pine Creek choir
teacher had given permission to Windebank and his fellow worshipers to meet in
an empty music practice room. No complaints ever ensued from other students or
faculty. For three years, the group encountered no problems, according to ADF’s
complaint. But in late September, Windebank was summoned to the assistant
principal’s office and ordered to stop praying because of “the separation of
church and state.” The school singled out the young man of faith’s harmless
activities and banned members of his group from discussing current issues of
the day from a religious perspective during an open period in an unobtrusive
meeting place. It defies common sense that in conservative-leaning Colorado
Springs, home to a vibrant faith community and leading evangelical
organizations, students would be reprimanded and deprived of basic
constitutional rights. As a letter from local parents to the school district
decried: “To what benefit does it serve a school to limit the ability for a
student to pray with their friends, fellowship with their friends, or discuss
daily events from a Christian perspective? It is obvious that School District
20 is taking a freedom FROM religion perspective, not a freedom OF religion
perspective.” Think about it: If the high-schoolers gathered in the
cafeteria to listen to Billboard magazine’s No. 1 pop hit “Habits (Stay High)”
— “You’re gone and I gotta stay high/ all the time/ to keep you off my mind” —
school officials would have no issue. If they lounged in a courtyard to joke
about the latest girl-fight videos or off-color joke memes posted on Vine, no
problem. If they discussed the latest “Walking Dead” episode or napped in the
library? All good. But singing “Amazing Grace” and studying scripture? This
subversion must be stopped!
How did we get here? And
in Colorado Springs, of all places — not Berkeley or Boulder or Boston? Blame
cowardice, ignorance and politically correct bureaucrats pledging allegiance to
one nation, under godlessness, without religious liberty, and the occult of
extreme secularism for all.
Pray for our Nation.
Fitness Friday[2]
Is Chocolate Good for You? The Health Benefits of Chocolate
Theobroma Cacao, the Latin name for chocolate, means “Food of the Gods”
for a reason. It’s a heavenly way to lift your performance. There are also some
major health benefits of chocolate.
We’re not talking about junk chocolate in candy bars and sweet desserts;
dark chocolate has a long history as a healing plant, a mood enhancer, and even
an aphrodisiac. So, you’re in luck: you can indeed use high-quality chocolate
to take delicious control of your biology.
7 health benefits of chocolate
You’ve probably read that chocolate affects your brain by causing the
release of the “happiness neurotransmitters” serotonin, dopamine, and
endorphins. Like coffee, chocolate is also a potent source of polyphenol
antioxidants, which can fight damaging free radicals and protect your
mitochondria.
But experienced chocolate hackers also know chocolate to be a useful tool
for improving performance in lesser-known ways. In fact, cacao exerts a
systemic effect on the body, with benefits ranging from improved blood flow and
cognition to beneficial alterations in gut bacteria! Here are some of the most
important benefits of chocolate (besides taste…).
1. Chocolate
for a better mood
Chocolate can improve your mood, especially in high-pressure or stressful
situations. Participants were asked to complete serial subtraction tasks of
threes and sevens (counting down by 3s and 7s), and a rapid visual
information-processing task to test sustained attention. Those who consumed
cocoa flavanol drinks prior to the trial had overall better cognitive
performance and reported less mental fatigue than the control group.
2. Chocolate
makes you eat less
One of my favorite effects of chocolate consumption is a reduction in
appetite. One study quantified this by giving participants a 100 g serving of
either milk or dark chocolate two hours before being served an all-you-can-eat
lunch. Ingestion of dark chocolate was correlated with a 17% lower calorie
intake at the following meal, compared to the milk chocolate group. (I’d
imagine that it’s because the casein in milk binds to the polyphenols in
chocolate, making them unavailable to your body.)
Chocolate may also have a significant effect on mood, as one double-blind
study recorded that subjects were able to subjectively discriminate the effects
of theobromine at doses as low as 100-560 mg.
3. Chocolate
for a healthy heart
Regular chocolate consumption can improve your cardiovascular health.
Notably, the polyphenols in cacao increase HDL cholesterol (often thought of as
the protective kind of cholesterol), which in turns leads to decreased oxidized
LDL cholesterol. Other effects include higher levels of circulating nitric
oxide, and reduced platelet adhesion,, resulting in improved circulation benefits
of chocolate
One study even found the cacao flavanol epicatechin to be responsible for
the rise in nitric oxide, which is essential for vascular health. Bioavailability
of nitric oxide is an essential determinate of vascular health as it regulates
dilation tone, signals cell growth and inflammatory response, and protects
blood vessels from clotting.
Vascular function is also really important for insulin-regulated glucose
uptake. That’s why dark chocolate can also improve/
“Healthy levels of insulin sensitivity.
4. Chocolate
for glowing skin and sun protection
Chocolate can help you maintain healthy skin by modulating healthy blood
flow. In one study, two groups of women consumed either a high flavanol or low
flavanol cocoa powder for a period of 12 weeks. While the low flavanol group
showed no change in markers of skin health, subjects in the high flavanol group
had on average 25% reduction in UV-induced erythema (sunburn) after exposure to
a solar simulator.
The high flavanol group also recorded increased skin density and
thickness, as well as better hydration and less transepidermal water loss.
5. Chocolate
may lower inflammation
Chocolate has inflammation-modulating properties. In one study, obese
mice supplemented with cocoa powder had healthier levels of inflammation and
insulin. These mice also had a 30% reduction in plasma levels of the major
pro-inflammatory mediator interleukin 6. Additionally, a cross-sectional study
of an Italian cohort discovered an inverse relationship between dark chocolate
consumption and serum C-reactive protein.
6. Chocolate
is a prebiotic
While many studies assume that it is the cacao polyphenols acting
directly to modulate biomarkers, it is most likely the case that at least some
of the effect is indirect, and works through interaction with our gut
microbiome. Research suggests that low molecular weight cocoa flavanols such as
epicatechin and catechin can be absorbed directly into blood circulation,
(unless you mix them with milk) but this is not so for the larger polyphenols.
In this case, microflora in the colon work to break down high molecular weight
polyphenols, so that the smaller secondary metabolites may circulate throughout
the body. Cocoa flavanols are processed by gut microbiota, and secondary
metabolites can enter circulation.
benefits of chocolate and effects of cocoa on the immune system
If gut bacteria are feeding on the larger cocoa polyphenols, then it
follows that they can also change the composition of the intestinal microbiome.
In fact, one study did discover a beneficial prebiotic effect of high flavanol
chocolate consumption. After a period of 4 weeks of consuming a high flavanol
cocoa powder, subjects had a significant increase in bifidobacteria and
lactobacilli populations, as well as significantly decreased clostridia levels.
This was accompanied by significantly decreased C-reactive protein (which
correlates to inflammation reduction in the body), which was associated
particularly with changes in lactobacilli.
7. Chocolate
for anti-aging
Last, but certainly not least, cacao can enhance mitochondrial
biogenesis, or, the creation of new mitochondria! If you’ve read about Unfair
Advantage, you know how important it is to have healthy mitochondria, and more
of them. It is the flavanol epicatechin in chocolate which is responsible for
mitogenesis. In one study, oral administration of epicatechin to senile mice
shifted numerous biomarkers towards those of young mice, including sirtuin 1, a
well-recognized regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. In another mouse study,
treatment with epicatechin improved exercise performance by ~50% compared to
controls, and enhanced muscle fatigue resistance by ~30%. The epicatechin group
also recorded significant increases in mitochondrial volume in hindlimb and
cardiac muscles.
Does chocolate have caffeine?
Yes, but in much smaller amounts than coffee. So much less, you could
probably eat a square or two of dark chocoalte before bed without any trouble
falling asleep. The really cool energy-giving molecule in coffee is called
theobromine. Theobromin is the primary alkaloid found in cocoa that is
responsible for multiple positive effects, one of which is similar to the effects
of caffeine. Although theobromine is present in other plants, there’s a high
contentration in dark chocolate, with measures between 237-519 mg per 50g.
The benefits of theobromine
Promotes steady energy: Due to the molecular makeup of theobromine, while
it promotes energy in the body, it doesn’t exert its effects on the central
nervous system – so its effects are a more gentle, feel-good type of energy. Also,
due to its molecular makeup, theobromine takes longer to clear from your body,
which means this calm energy lasts longer.
Better cognitive function: The immediate cognitive effects of chocolate
are primarily accounted for by caffeine and theobromine. A study comparing the
effects of cocoa powder versus an equivalent caffeine and theobromine powder
found equivalent improvements in cognitive and mood assessments.
Addictive taste: It is said that dark chocolate is an “acquired taste,”
and research suggests that theobromine may be the component responsible for our
attraction to dark chocolate. One study demonstrated an increased liking for a
‘novel’ drink when it was mixed with theobromine.
The pitfalls of chocolate
Most chocolate contains sugar
By now you may be interested in picking up some chocolate, but be sure to
choose one with as little sugar as possible or even none.
While research shows that cocoa can have a beneficial effect with regards
to maintaining healthy vascular tone and insulin sensitivity, the reverse is
true for sugar. Eating sweetened chocolate is still not good for you. Beware of
chocolate marketed as “sugar-free” that may contain unhealthy artificial
sweeteners, which are found in the “kryptonite” zone of the Bulletproof Diet
Roadmap. The only recommended sweeteners are Stevia, erythritol from non-GMO
corn, and xylitol from hardwood.
In one study, rats fed a high-fat, high-sucrose diet for 4 weeks
displayed insulin resistance, and decreased endothelial nitric oxide synthase
(eNOS), which is responsible for creating nitric oxide in blood vessels.[29]
Other studies have demonstrated that the detrimental effect of sugar on
vascular function is independent of obesity and insulin resistance, so sugar is
bad for you even if you are in otherwise good health.
Chocolate can contain mold
Unfortunately, due to intensive farming techniques and poor agricultural,
processing, and storage practices, much of the world’s chocolate supply is
contaminated with meaningful levels of mold toxins. One of the more insidious
and dangerous forms of mycotoxin, ochratoxin A, was present in 98% of samples
tested in one study. Of those contaminated with ochratoxin, the study found an
80% co-occurrence of aflatoxin as well. Mycotoxins amplify each other when more
than one is present.
Cacao trees are a tropical crop, making them highly susceptible to fungus
and mold. Roasting moldy beans destroys the actual fungi, but it doesn’t
destroy the fungi’s byproduct: harmful mold toxins. Beans aren’t just
susceptible when they’re on the tree. They can become host to mold and fungi
during pre-processing, so it’s important not to let them sit for long periods
of time.[34] The good news is that one study found that the processing of cocoa
beans into a finished product resulted in a 93.6% decrease in ochratoxin A.[35]
My experience is that mold toxins vary greatly from batch to batch and from
brand to brand, and a brand with “clean” chocolate this month may not be clean
the following month.
Keep the following in mind while selecting and eating chocolate:
Make sure your chocolate is at
least 85 percent dark chocolate
European chocolate tends to be
lower in mold toxins, as they have stricter government limits than the US
Take activated coconut charcoal
with chocolate to bind some of the mold toxins like I always do
How to get more chocolate into your day
Your options are almost limitless. Try these unique options to get more
chocolate into your diet:
Drink cacao tea
Make a Bulletproof Mocha: add
some high-quality chocolate powder to your morning BP coffee
Make Bulletproof Get Some Ice
Cream
Check out The Bulletproof Diet
book for Bulletproof dessert AND dinner recipes that use high-quality chocolate
Daily Devotions
·
Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
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