Sunday/The Ascension

The national debt is a constitutional crisis. A government of free men requires a balancing responsibility, and we have met only half of our requirements.

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The Liberation Caucus describes itself as “a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist caucus in Democrat Socialists of America.” That is to say, they believe in an inherent destructive conflict of castes among men which can be resolved only by the extermination of one class, their children, and their future.

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NASA's Psyche spacecraft flew by Mars on Friday (May 15). The precisely timed maneuver was not designed to study Mars, but rather to use the planet as a celestial slingshot on its journey to its namesake, the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. The spacecraft passed within about 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) of Mars to boost Psyche's speed and, more importantly, to shift its trajectory toward its destination, the asteroid 16 Psyche, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter.

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Mortgages are up, and talk is appearing about the national debt as if it is something recent. 

A typical 30-year mortgage costs over $500 more per month than it did in 2019. When the Federal Reserve cut rates by a full percentage point in late 2024, mortgage rates barely moved. Treasury yields, pushed up by the government’s relentless borrowing, overwhelmed the Fed’s easing entirely. The same dynamic drives up auto loans, credit card rates, and small business borrowing costs.
That is called "crowding out." It is not going to improve.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighbouring Uganda a “public health emergency of international concern” after the virus killed nearly 90 people.

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Sunday/The Ascension

The otherworldly Ascension of Christ is a curious event as reported in the gospels. It is the last event of Matthew's gospel. In Luke, it is mentioned but is elaborated on later in the Acts of the Apostles. More than miraculous, it is a culmination, the culmination, one would think, that would be emphasized. But the management of the Ascension is strangely distant. Almost unsure. Added on. Indeed, the old Church celebrated the period from Easter to the Ascension as a single event, as a unit.

The reporting during this period reflects the humanity of the reporters. What were they to think? The complexity of Christ's message, His spiritual world, was overwhelming. Revolutionary. Now the Messenger was gone. 

As always, there is humor in this relationship, a strange, understanding irony, gentle and personal, that prods us.
"While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?" 

Things have shifted. To you. This is just the beginning. There is so much more to come.

The Ascension is described by men who have seen the Resurrection, yet seem stunned.