Beautiful Prayer by St. Thomas More

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St. Thomas More's Prayer when imprisoned in the Tower of London Give me the grace, Good Lord: To set the world at naught. To set the mind firmly on You and not to hang upon the words of men's mouths. To be content to be solitary. Not to long for worldly pleasures. Little by little utterly to cast off the world and rid my mind of all its business. Not to long to hear of earthly things, but that the hearing of worldly fancies may be displeasing to me. Gladly to be thinking of God, piteously to call for His help. To lean into the comfort of God. Busily to labor to love Him. To know my own vileness and wretchedness. To humble myself under the mighty hand of God. To bewail my sins and, for the purging of them, patiently to suffer adversity. Gladly to bear my purgatory here. To be joyful in tribulations. To walk the narrow way that leads to life. To have the last thing in remembrance. To have ever before my eyes my death that is ever at hand. To make death no stranger to me. To foresee and consider the everlasting fire of Hell. To pray for pardon before the judge comes. To have continually in mind the passion that Christ suffered for me. For His benefits unceasingly to give Him thanks. To buy the time again that I have lost. To abstain from vain conversations. To shun foolish mirth and gladness. To cut off unnecessary recreations. Of worldly substance, friends, liberty, life and all, to set the loss at naught, for the winning of Christ. To think my worst enemies my best friends, for the brethren of Joseph could never have done him so much good with their love and favor as they did him with their malice and hatred. These minds are more to be desired of every man than all the treasures of all the princes and kings, Christian and heathen, were it gathered and laid together all in one heap. Amen.

True on both counts . . .

"The smaller the mind the greater the conceit."
-- Aesop

"People who have what they want are fond of telling people who haven't what they want that they really don't want it."
-- Ogden Nash

Are YOU a terrorist, too?

Interesting article (from Conservative Contacts) that outlined what the United States Government has determined to identify terrorists. Interesting that all aspects of this list seems to point to citizens who support the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and freedom. Doesn't hide the fact that the politicians we elected are not viewing the interests of the majority of the American people.

The following characteristics  are actually used in the study advising YOUR GOVERNMENT on how to identify terrorists:
· Americans who believe their "way of life" is under attack;

· Americans who are "fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)";

· People who consider themselves "anti-global" (presumably those who are way of the loss of American sovereignty);

· Americans who are "suspicious of centralized federal authority";

· Americans who are "reverent of individual liberty";

· People who "believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty."

· Americans who are pro-life or otherwise opposed to abortion;

· Americans who are part of "groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers."