Quote:This passage from the Acts of the Apostles, read on such a day as this, and in such a place, is most appropriate. Peter, the Vicar of Christ, is speaking to some Jews, who have been converted to the Christian Faith. Several Gentiles, who are present, are touched with grace on hearing Peter preaching, and they profess themselves believers in Jesus, the Son of God: the moment is come for the Apostle to throw the Church open to the Gentile world. Knowing that the Jewish converts would be tempted to jealousy, he appeals to the Prophets. What say these Prophets? That all, without distinction, who shall believe in Jesus, shall receive forgiveness of their sins in his Name. While Peter is thus arguing with his audience, the Holy Ghost removes every objection by falling, as he did on the day of Pentecost, on these humble and believing Gentiles. As soon as the Jewish converts perceive the miracle, they are astonished, and exclaim: “What! is the grace of the Holy Ghost poured out on the Gentiles also!” Peter replies: “Who dares to refuse Baptism to these men, who have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?”—and without waiting for an answer, he gives the order, as Head of the Church, that Baptism be immediately conferred upon these privileged Catechumens.

We repeat it: nothing could be more appropriate than this passage of Sacred Scripture, read as it was in Rome, the center of the Gentile world—and in the presence of the newly baptized, who had so recently received the gifts of the Holy Ghost. We, also, have our lesson to learn from this Epistle: we must fervently thank our Heavenly Father for his having vouchsafed to call our ancestors to the true Faith, and make us also partakers of the graces of the Holy Ghost.

Quote:The Holy Ghost creates Faith within our souls, and by Faith we obtain life everlasting; for Faith is not the Intellect’s assent to a proposition logically demonstrated, but a virtue which proceeds from the Will vivified by grace. Nowadays, Faith is rare. Pride of Intellect is at its height, and docility to the Church’s teachings is far from being general. A man calls himself a Christian and a Catholic, and yet he has his own views upon certain subjects, which he would very reluctantly give up, were they to be condemned by the only authority on earth which has power to guide us in what we are to hold or reject in matters pertaining to Faith. He reads dangerous, sometimes even bad, books, without thinking of inquiring if the laws of the Church forbid such books. His religious instruction has been of a very meager kind, and he seems to wish it to remain so, for he takes no pains to come to a solid and perfect knowledge of his religion; the result is that his mind is filled with the fashionable prejudices of the world he lives in and, on more than one point, he may depend upon his having imbibed heretical nations. He is looked upon as a Catholic; he satisfies the exterior obligations of his Religion, either because of his early training, or because the rest of his family do so, or because he feels more satisfied to do than to omit them: and yet—how sad it is to say it!—he is not a Catholic, for his Faith is gone.

Faith is the first link that unites us to God; for as the Apostle says, he that cometh to God, must believe. Our Savior here tells us that he who believeth is not judged: and the reason is that he whose Faith is what our Gospel implies it to be, does not only assent to a doctrine, but he embraces it with his whole heart and mind; he believes it because he wishes to love what he believes. Faith works, and is perfected by Charity; but itself is a foretaste of Charity. Therefore does our Lord promise salvation to him that believeth. This Faith meets with obstacles, because of our fallen nature. As we have just been told, Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the Light. In this our age, darkness is prevalent. Even false lights are seen to rise up, and they mislead thousands. We repeat it: Faith—that Faith which brings us to God and saves us from his judgments—is now rare. O Divine Spirit! deliver us from the darkness of the times in which our lot has been cast. Humble the pride of our minds. Save us from that false Religious Liberty, which is one of the idols of our generation, but which keeps men from the true Faith. We wish to love and possess and keep within us the glorious Light: we wish to merit, by the docility and child-like simplicity of our Faith, to enjoy the full cloudless vision of this divine Light in heaven.

Quote:The panel of eleven is far from “independent”. Two are associated with the elitist Trilateral Commission, two with United Nations agencies, one member of the Communist Chinese Party who was a principal in the COVID outbreak in China and all are UN ideologues. To my knowledge and study, when the United Nations calls for “independent” or “high level” panels, they are signaling the exact opposite. Those elitist/ideologues who populate such panels always and only promote one thing: Sustainable Development in all its forms and control over society.

Quote:The world cannot afford to focus only on COVID-19. It must learn from this crisis, and plan for the next one. Otherwise, precious time and momentum will be lost. That is why our recommendations focus on the future. COVID-19 has been a terrible wake-up call. So now the world needs to wake up, and commit to clear targets, additional resources, new measures and strong leadership to prepare for the future. We have been warned.

Quote:Why did the Holy Ghost come upon the Apostles in the form of fiery tongues?

The appearance of fiery tongues indicated the gift of language imparted to the apostles by the Holy Ghost, and inflamed their hearts and the hearts of the faithful with the love of God and their neighbor.


Why did a mighty wind accompany the descent?

To direct the attention of the people to the descent of the Holy Ghost, and to assemble them to hear the sermon of the Apostle Peter.


What special effects did the Holy Ghost produce in the apostles?

He freed them from all doubt and fear; gave them His light for the perfect knowledge of truth; inflamed their hearts with the most ardent love, and incited in them the fiery zeal for the propagation of the kingdom of God, strengthened them to bear all sufferings and persecutions, (Acts v. 41.) and gave them the gift of speaking in various languages, and of discerning spirits.

Quote:For cases with a known RT-PCR cycle threshold (Ct) value, submit only specimens with Ct value ≤28 to CDC for sequencing. (Sequencing is not feasible with higher Ct values.)

Quote:As of May 1, 2021, CDC transitioned from monitoring all reported vaccine breakthrough cases to focus on identifying and investigating only hospitalized or fatal cases due to any cause. This shift will help maximize the quality of the data collected on cases of greatest clinical and public health importance. Previous case counts, which were last updated on April 26, 2021, are available for reference only and will not be updated moving forward.

For what these 'predictions' are worth ...