Conversion of St. Paul: A Vessel of Election

Start HERE.

Today’s Epistle comes from Acts 9. Saul was on his way to Damascus to round up and murder some deplorable Christians, as he was wont to do. Saul was a devout Pharisee, and he had a literal ‘license to kill’ from the high priests. He gets stopped in his tracks by a blinding light, and Truth Himself explains a thing or two. (Required reading, Paul recounts in the first person his murderous ways and subsequent conversion in Acts 22 and 26).

Having been carried to Damascus, and now blind for three days, Paul’s conversion is completed in a way I find interesting. St. Luke writes:

Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision: “Ananias,” And he said: “Behold I am here, Lord.” And the Lord said to him: “Arise and go into the street that is called Strait and seek in the house of Judas, one named Saul of Tarsus. For behold he prayeth.” (And he saw a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hands upon him, that he might receive his sight.) But Ananias answered: “Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints in Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that invoke thy name.” And the Lord said to him: “Go thy way: for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” And Ananias went his way and entered into the house. And laying his hands upon him, he said: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus hath sent me, he that appeared to thee in the way as thou camest, that thou mayest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost.” And immediately there fell from his eyes as it were scales: and he received his sight. And rising up, he was baptized. -Acts 9:10-18

Ananias was a devout Jew who had earlier converted. When our Lord calls him, he responds with perfect faith. But once given his task, what does he do? He rebukes our Lord. He relates Paul’s misdeeds, as if Jesus were not aware. How many times has the Lord asked something of us, and our response in incredulity?

“Go thy way: for this man is to me a vessel of election, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”

What a revelation. Now Ananias knows he isn’t sent merely to restore sight to a murderer, but that this man was God’s vessel of election, and that the miracle would be the vector of a great conversion, such that Paul would carry the Holy Name of the one he once persecuted. We also see the earthly reward Paul should expect in return for his commission: “For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake.”

But what need did God have of Ananias? Jesus had struck Saul blind all by Himself. He could have just as easily cured him, with no need of human intervention. Well, this is just one more example of our Lord CHOOSING to act through men. What if Ananias, after Jesus explained the mission, had thrown up his arms and said, “Well I cannot possibly be expected to actually DO SOMETHING. Why should I have to be the one to do it? If Thou think this is so important, then go ahead and take care of it Thyself.”

Act, and God will act.

Saint Paul, pray for us.

Blessed feast, y’all!

Ann and Nurse Claire tackle the third rail

 

Or at least part of the third rail: the untouchable, unmentionable Noahidism.

Listen here

If you’re unfamiliar with what Noahide Laws are, then it’s time to put this on your radar.  These seven laws will be used to set the stage for the beast system & arrival of the big AC.

Is it great that Trump pardoned the pro-lifers so unjustly jailed?  Yes.  But pay attention to the other things coming across his desk.

And what exactly is an “ambassador to Hollywood“?

Pay attention to those who are lining up with Trump, who he surrounds himself with, and what they support.

https://nurseclairesays.com/2025/01/24/ann-and-i-tackle-the-third-rail/

 

How do those who took multiple jabs feel about Fauci’s admission of guilt?

(Accepting a pardon means, by rule of law, you are a criminal. -nvp)


Admission of Fauci’s Guilt

January 23, 2025

“FAUCI, Milley & the Corrupt Congressman are attempting to have their cake and to eat it too. They want to accept the benefit of the phony ‘pardons’ protections WHILE at the same time continuing to proclaim their own innocence. This is a LEGAL impossibility. And if the Trump team doesn’t shut this down by bringing charges against all of them and forcing them to choose admission of guilt & the pardon protection, OR proclaimed innocence & defend in court, then the Trump team is just as complicit in this outrage. The Supreme Court has made it clear. You can’t ‘accept’ the benefits of a pardon AND simultaneously continue to proclaim you’re innocent. “A pardon, in our history, has been used as an act of grace, and its acceptance is an admission of guilt.” Burdick v. US (1915).”

— Legalman

https://www.thinkinghousewife.com/2025/01/admission-of-faucis-guilt/

You’re Fired: DEI nuked from orbit

I refuse to fanboy any of this until we see actual results. And no, you can’t end Birthright Citizenship, aka amend the Constitution, with an Executive Order, nor can you upend 130 years of interpretive precedence with an E.O. So we will see what happens with that one.

But this, this is just wild. DEI ends at 5pm TODAY. Permit me to glory in just the possibilities:

“It was like The Apprentice met The Presidency. Yesterday, Trump signed his second consecutive DEI order, Tuesday’s even more detailed and specific than Monday’s, and his Office of Personnel Management issued a tart memorandum. It informed all federal agencies that, by no later than 5pm tonight, they must close DEI all offices, delete all DEI websites, cancel all scheduled DEI “training,” terminate all DEI contractors, place all DEI staff on paid leave, and then prepare for staff reductions by the end of business on the last day of this month, January 31st… It’s not just performative. They can try to re-name DEI into something else, to try burying it in the bureaucratic depths, but it won’t work this time. Trump’s team is already onto that little game:

image 4.png

They’ve also required every federal agency to list their DEI employees as of November 5, 2024 —election day— just in case they were smuggled into other jobs after Trump’s win in a cryptic effort to save them from getting fired and keep the resistance going.”

https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/board-flippers-wednesday-january

More details: https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/world/trump-signs-executive-order-ending-diversity-discrimination-in-federal-government-private-sector/

 

21 January – “O glorious St. Agnes, intercede with Christ the High Priest for a return of orthodoxy, sanity and sanctity to the Roman Church!”

(Might I add, pray rid us of this wretched antipope. -nvp)


From Father Zed:

For the sake of the Roman Church, let us today invoke St. Agnes, virgin and martyr.

O glorious Agnes who, though weak, was chosen by God to make His own might manifest in your martyrdom, together with the Peter and Paul and the other Roman martyrs and confessors, intercede now before the throne of our Christ the High Priest in heaven and beg a return of orthodoxy, sanity and sanctity to the Church especially in Rome and in particular the Roman Curia at every level.  O holy Agnes, who bravely suffered torments, ask Mary, the Queen of the Clergy, to protect and aid all priests, so that they will all stand up boldly and teach the truth about the Sacrament of Matrimony, the integrity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders, the truth about the Most Holy Eucharist, and beg for the restoration and renewal of our sacred liturgical worship of the Lamb who was slain.  We entrust this to you, blessed Saint Agnes, with all our confidence.  Amen.

I have posted the following in times past, but it bears repetition. Newcomers to this blog may not have seen it.

Behold the skull of Agnes, in situ, in her beautiful church in Rome on the Piazza Navona.

The dies natalis (“birthday into heaven”) of Agnes was recorded in the register of the depositio martyrum as 21 January.

St. Agnes was slain probably during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian in 304. Some say she died during the time of the Emperor Valerian (+260).

Read the rest HERE.