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Tuesday, February 6 – The Father-Child Relationship

05 Feb – Memorial for St. Agatha, martyr

St. Agatha (c. 250) was young, beautiful and rich, and lived a life consecrated to God. When the Roman emperor Decius announced the edicts against Christians, the magistrate Quinctianus tried to profit by Agatha’s sanctity; he planned to blackmail her into sex in exchange for not charging her. He handed her over to a brothel, but she refused to accept customers. After rejecting Quinctianus’ advances, she was beaten, imprisoned, tortured, and her breasts crushed and cut off. She told the judge, “Cruel man, have you forgotten your mother and the breast that nourished you, that you dare to mutilate me this way?” Imprisoned further, then rolled on live coals, she was near death when an earthquake struck. In the destruction, the magistrate’s friend was crushed, and the magistrate fled. Agatha thanked God for an end to her pain, and died.

- Patron Saint Index
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2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14, 24-25, 30 – 19:3

Absalom happened to run into some of David’s followers. Absalom was riding a mule and the mule passed under the thick branches of a great oak. Absalom’s head caught fast in the oak and he was left hanging between heaven and earth, while the mule he was riding went on. Someone saw this and told Joab. “I have just seen Absalom,” he said, “hanging from an oak.” And Joab took three lances in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive there in the oak tree.

David was sitting between the two gates. The look-out had gone up to the roof of the gate, on the ramparts; he looked up and saw a man running all by himself. The watch called out to the king and told him. The king said, “Move aside and stand there.” He moved aside and stood waiting.

Then the Cushite arrived. “Good news for my lord the king!” cried the Cushite. “The Lord has vindicated your cause today by ridding you of all who rebelled against you.” “Is all well with young Absalom?” the king asked the Cushite. “May the enemies of my lord the king,” the Cushite answered, “and all who rebelled against you to your hurt, share the lot of that young man.”

The king shuddered. He went up to the room over the gate and burst into tears, and weeping said, “My son Absalom! My son! My son Absalom! Would I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!” Word was brought to Joab, “The king is now weeping and mourning for Absalom.” And the day’s victory was turned to mourning for all the troops, because they learned that the king was grieving for his son. And the troops returned stealthily that day to the town, as troops creep back ashamed when routed in battle.
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Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered round him and he stayed by the lakeside. Then one of the synagogue officials came up, Jairus by name, and seeing him, fell at his feet and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is desperately sick. Do come and lay your hand son her to make her better and save her life.” Jesus went with him and a large crowd followed him; they were pressing all round him.

Now there was a woman who had suffered from a haemorrhage for twelve years; after long and painful treatment under various doctors, she had spent all she had without being any the better for it, in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him through the crowd and touched his cloak. “If I can touch even his clothes,” she had told herself, “I shall be well again.” And the source of the bleeding dried up instantly, and she felt in herself that she was cured of her complaint. Immediately aware that power had gone out of him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” His disciples said to him, “You see how the crowd is pressing round you and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” But he continued to look all round to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. “My daughter,” he said, “your faith has restored you to health; go in peace and be free from your complaint.”

While he was still speaking some people arrived from the house of the synagogue official to say, “Your daughter is dead: why put the Master to any further trouble?” But Jesus had overheard this remark of theirs and he said to the official, “Do not be afraid; only have faith.” And he allowed no one to go with him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. So they came to the official’s house and Jesus noticed all the commotion, with people weeping and wailing unrestrainedly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and crying? The child is not dead, but asleep.” But they laughed at him. So he turned them all out and, taking with him the child’s father and mother and his own companions, he went into the place where the child lay. And taking the child by the hand he said to her, “Talitha, kum!” which means, “Little girl, I tell you to get up.” The little girl got up at once and began to walk about, for she was twelve years old. At this they were overcome with astonishment, and he ordered them strictly not to let anyone know about it, and told them to give her something to eat.
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The relationship between a father and his child is something that is most special in the life of a man. Every father wishes that his son would become like him when he grows up. For a son, his father is the most important man in his life, because it is from this man that the child will learn what it is to be a man. For every daughter, the first love in her life is her father. For a daughter, it is her father that she will come to measure against every man that she will love in future.

In today’s first reading, we see David weeping for his son Absalom, even though Absalom had been trying to kill him. We see the love that a father has for a son in an incredible way, and yet, it is the love that every father should have for his son. In the gospel reading, we see Jairus going all out to find Jesus to cure his daughter. It is the same love that David had for Absalom.

But in the gospel reading, we see another father-child relationship that might not be so obvious. We see Jesus calling the woman who touched him, “Daughter”. This is rather unusual, because Jesus rarely ever called someone “son” or “daughter”. We might wonder: why was it important for Jesus to see the woman who touched him? Perhaps it was important for the woman to see Jesus. We know that Jesus is the full revelation of the Father, and perhaps it is this revelation that Jesus wanted to show the woman – that her heavenly Father loved her.

And indeed it is this relationship between our heavenly Father and us that is today, and has always been, under the greatest attack. Right from the time of Eden, the evil one has been severing the relationship that we have with God our Creator and Father. This relationship is severed through disobedience. Disobedience comes about when we think we know better what is good for ourselves than our heavenly Father does. Similarly, disobedience to our parents comes about when we think we know better what is good for ourselves than our parents do.

This is why when we look at the Ten Commandments, we see that the first commandment that is not directly linked to God is the commandment to honour our father and mother. This commandment comes before other commandments like “You shall not kill”, “You shall not steal”. Why? Because the relationship that we have with our parents, especially our father, is going to set the stage for our relationship with our heavenly Father. If we are disobedient towards our earthly parents, how will we ever be obedient to our heavenly Father?

Today is the last day before the start of Lent. I invite you, my friends, to spend this Lent rediscovering the parent-child relationship between you and God. It is the most important relationship you’re ever going to have.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Lord, we ask that this coming Lent be a time of rediscovering our relationship with you as your child, and you as our Father. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: A wonderful father.

Upcoming Readings:
Wed, 06 Feb – Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18; Ash Wednesday
Thu, 07 Feb – Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9:22-25; Weekday after Ash Wednesday
Fri, 08 Feb – Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15; Friday after Ash Wednesday
Sat, 09 Feb – Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32; Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Sun, 10 Feb – Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11; First Sunday of Lent
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Monday, February 4 – Got A Problem?

04 Feb

Dear OXYGEN reader,

We, the contributors of this daily devotional email have a gift for you this Lent and Easter. We will be providing daily reflections for these two liturgical seasons in advance to those who request for it. If you are interested in receiving them, please leave a comment at this post.

For those who have already requested it, you will receive the first batch of reflections tomorrow.

Peace,
Daniel
on behalf of the OXYGEN team now consisting of
Nicholas Chia, Regina Xie, Aloysius Ting, Gerardine Yee, and Sister Jean-Marie Andrews, FMDM
____________________

2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13

A messenger came to tell David, “The hearts of the men of Israel are now with Absalom.” So David said to all his officers who were with him in Jerusalem, “Let us be off, let us fly, or we shall never escape from Absalom. Leave as quickly as you can in case he mounts a surprise attack and worsts us and puts the city to the sword.”

David then made his way up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, his head covered and his feet bare. And all the people with him had their heads covered and made their way up, weeping as they went.

As David was reaching Bahurim, out came a man of the same clan as Saul’s family. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he came he uttered curse after curse and threw stones at David and at all King David’s officers, though the whole army and all the champions flanked the king right and left. The words of his curse were these, “Be off, be off, man of blood, scoundrel! The Lord has brought on you all the blood of the House of Saul whose sovereignty you have usurped; and the Lord has transferred that same sovereignty to Absalom your son. Now your doom has overtaken you, man of blood that you are.” Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Is this dead dog to curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut his head off.” But the king replied, “What business is it of mine and yours, son of Zeruiah? Let him curse. If the Lord said to him, ‘Curse David’, what right has anyone to say, ‘Why have you done this?’” David said to Abishai and all his officers, “Why, my own son, sprung from my body, is now seeking my life; so now how much the more this Benjaminite? Let him curse on if the Lord has told him so. Perhaps the Lord will look on my misery and repay me with good for his curse today.” So David and his men went on their way.
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Mark 5:1-20

Jesus and his disciples reached the country of the Gerasenes on the other side of the lake, and no sooner had he left the boat than a man with an unclean spirit came out from the tombs towards him. The man lived in the tombs and no one could secure him any more, even with a chain, because he had often been secured with fetters and chains but had snapped the chains and broken the fetters, and no one had the strength to control him. All night and all day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he would howl and gash himself with stones. Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and fell at his feet and shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Swear by God you will not torture me!” – For Jesus had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit.” “What is your name?” Jesus asked. “My name is legion,” he answered, “for there are many of us.” And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the district. Now there was there on the mountainside a great herd of pigs feeding, and the unclean spirits begged him, “Send us to the pigs, let us go into them.” So he gave them leave. With that, the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs, and the herd of two thousand pigs charged down the cliff into the lake, and there they were drowned. The swineherds ran off and told their story in the town and in the country round about; and the people came to see what had really happened. They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his full senses – the very man who had had the legion in him before – and they were afraid. And those who had witnessed it reported what had happened to the demoniac and what had become of the pigs. Then they began to implore Jesus to leave the neighbourhood. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed begged to be allowed to stay with him. Jesus would not let him but said to him, “Go home to your people and tell them all that the Lord in his mercy has done for you.” So the man went off and proceeded to spread throughout the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed.
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In a book I just read last month titled “Secrets of a Millionaire Mind”, author T. Harv Eker writes that everyone experiences problems. How big a problem appears to a person depends on how big the person is. For example, a Level Two person facing a Level Five problem might see before him a very big problem, but a Level Ten person seeing the same Level Five problem might not even see a problem. It might appear to him an everyday occurrence as common as brushing his teeth.

In the first reading, we see David coming across a guy who was cursing and ranting at him. Is this man a problem for David? Abishai – the guy who was with David when he stood in Saul’s tent and had the opportunity to kill his predecessor – apparently thought so, and asked David for permission to kill the guy – same as with Abishai did with Saul. But to David, the ranting and raving guy was not a problem. David recognised that although the man was cursing him, he wasn’t a big problem for him nor could David really solve the problem, so he just walked away from it and let things be.

Often we like to try and solve problems that are not ours to solve, and sometimes we end up making things worse, or we end up frustrated because we can’t solve the problem. I know I’ve done it many times before, and I guess I’ve got to learn from David to just walk away if it isn’t a big problem, and not try to be a busybody and try to solve a problem that I have the solution to.

In the gospel reading, we see another raving lunatic. The trouble with raving lunatics is that they rant and rave at everyone, and eventually end up in isolation. No one wants to be around the lunatic who raves constantly. The people saw the lunatic as a problem so they cast him out the community and into the hillside where he could rave to himself all he wanted. They didn’t actually solve the problem of the raving guy, but they did with him what David did with his own raving problem – they just ignored it.

Come Jesus into the picture and he doesn’t ignore the problem; he goes on to solve it, because:

1. He has the power to solve it;
2. He knows the root of the problem – an unclean spirit;
3. It is his problem to solve.

So, my friends, before we set out to solve problems, we must be sure that we have the power to solve it, that we know the root cause of the problem, and that it’s our problem to solve. Otherwise, we might just end up making things worse, and end up frustrated. If we are lacking in any of these, then just walk away, and ask the Lord to send someone else to solve the problem.
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Lord, grant us the humility to realize that we can’t solve all the world’s problems by ourselves, and to remember that discretion is the better part of valour. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: A lesson learnt in humility.

Upcoming Readings:
Tue, 05 Feb – 2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30 – 19:3; Mark 5:21-43; Memorial for St. Agatha, martyr
Wed, 06 Feb – Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18; Ash Wednesday
Thu, 07 Feb – Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9:22-25; Weekday after Ash Wednesday
Fri, 08 Feb – Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15; Friday after Ash Wednesday
Sat, 09 Feb – Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32; Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Sun, 10 Feb – Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11; First Sunday of Lent
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Sunday, February 3 – How to be happy?

03 Feb – Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our Nothingness

Yes, we can celebrate today our nothingness in the eyes of the world, because God has looked on our humility and lowliness and given us the wisdom, virtue and holiness of Christ. He alone is our boast.

- the Sunday Missal
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Louis Mayer

Louis B. Mayer was the dominant figure in the film industry, from the silent era through the talkies revolution. While the other early moguls were simply trying to make the best movies they could, young Mayer was an ideologue intent on using the power of the new medium to exert what he considered the proper moral influence on the public. For Mayer the words family values had real meaning, Motherhood, the national flag, and God were equal parts of a lifelong strategy. One can trace his convictions to his early upbringing.

Mayer once told about an experience in his childhood that reveals a slice of his character. Louis had a fight with another boy and returned home with bruises on his face. While his mother was attending to his injuries, he explained that the other boy was completely to blame for starting the fight. His mother did not say anything, but when she finished, she took Louis by the hand out the back door of their home. Facing them were several hills that created distinct echoes. She told him to imagine that the hills were the boy who had beaten him up, and instructed him to shout out, at the top of his voice, all the nasty names he would like to call his ‘enemy’. Louis did so, and the bad names were all echoed back to him.

That done, his mother said, “Now shout, ‘God bless you’.”

He did so and back came “God bless you”. Mayer never forgot that lesson.

- What thoughts, feelings, occurred to you while you went through the story?
- What do you think is the ‘moral’ of the story?

- taken from “Persons Are Gifts”, by Hedwig Lewis, SJ
____________________

Zephaniah 2:3,3:12-13

Seek the Lord
all you, the humble of the earth,
who obey his commands.
Seek integrity,
seek humility:
you may perhaps find shelter
on the day of the anger of the Lord.
In your midst I will leave
a humble and lowly people,
and those who are left in Israel will seek refuge in the name of the Lord.
They will do no wrong,
will tell no lies;
and the perjured tongue will no longer
be found in their mouths.
But they will be able to graze and rest
with no one to disturb them.
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1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Take yourselves, brothers, at the time when you were called: how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families? No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning; those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are nothing at all to show those who are everything. The human race has nothing to boast about to God, but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom. As scripture says: if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.
____________________

Matthew 5:1-12

Seeing the crowds, Jesus went up the hill. There he sat down and was joined by his disciples. Then he began to speak. This is what he taught them:

“How happy are the poor in spirit;
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Happy the gentle:
they shall have the earth for their heritage.
Happy those who mourn:
they shall be comforted.
Happy those who hunger and thirst for what is right:
they shall be satisfied.
Happy the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them.
Happy the pure in heart:
they shall see God.
Happy the peacemakers:
they shall be called sons of God.
Happy those who are persecuted in the cause of right:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.”
____________________

Last week, something disturbing happened to me. You know how I always sign off with “Peace” in my emails? Someone picked up on it last week, and accused me of not really showing peace to him. He said I was pretending to offer peace and didn’t really mean it. Although it was just a casual email, thanking him for a favour he did, it has since erupted into yet another fight between me and this guy, and has robbed me of my peace.

Today’s gospel reading is telling me that I should be happy, since people are indeed abusing me and speaking all kinds of calumny against me just because I tried to be Christian. Against my better judgement, I tried to reach out in a Christian way to this person even when everyone else around me has been telling me to ignore this trouble-maker.

But in spite of all that, Jesus says, be happy. How to be happy? I am sure you have faced such things before in your own ministries. How to be happy? This is why Jesus’ message in these Beatitudes is so important, and sounds so ridiculous to the worldly. Jesus points us to the happiness that is found not on earth, but in heaven. He points us to the bigger picture, the bigger plan, which involves bringing us to heaven.

Happy we are indeed when we do all these things, and face all sorts of persecution, because we try to be like Christ. Happy we are indeed, because all these things also happened to Christ. If it were not for Christ, would we be doing this? Happy we should be indeed, especially when we focus on the bigger picture – that doing these things makes us suffer in the way Christ has suffered, and it is through the cross that we find resurrection and eternal life.

Of course we don’t suffer for the sake of suffering. But neither do we run away from it and try all sorts of ways to avoid it because this type of suffering has a meaning. It means that we are following the way of Christ, the way of the cross. It is a suffering that has a purpose to it – to make us more like Christ. We wanted to be like Christ, so we imitated him in what he would have done. Consequently, we also bear the sufferings as he had suffered for the things he did, and that makes us even more like Christ.

There are many nasty things I’d like to say to this person, but inspired by Louis Mayer, the only thing I will say to him from now on is: God bless you!
____________________

Prayer:
Dear Lord, I pray for the person that is persecuting me, that God may bless him and his family. Amen.

Give Thanks to the Lord for: The Beatitudes, which bring meaning to suffering.

Upcoming Readings:
Mon, 04 Feb – 2 Samuel 15:13-14, 30; 16:5-13; Mark 5:1-20
Tue, 05 Feb – 2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30 – 19:3; Mark 5:21-43; Memorial for St. Agatha, martyr
Wed, 06 Feb – Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20 – 6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18; Ash Wednesday
Thu, 07 Feb – Deuteronomy 30: 15-20; Luke 9:22-25; Weekday after Ash Wednesday
Fri, 08 Feb – Isaiah 58:1-9a; Matthew 9:14-15; Friday after Ash Wednesday
Sat, 09 Feb – Isaiah 58:9b-14; Luke 5:27-32; Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Sun, 10 Feb – Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11; First Sunday of Lent

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Saturday, February 2 – Light Amidst The Darkness

02 Feb – Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is also called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, and Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. This Church feast of February 2 is in honour of the purification of the Virgin Mary, and commemorates the offering of the infant Jesus in the Temple. Popular in centuries past, candles were blessed and carried in procession, signifying the entry of Jesus as the light of the world.

- Patron Saint Index
___________________

Malachi 3:1-4

Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts. Who will be able to resist the day of his coming? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire and the fullers’ alkali. He will take his seat as refiner and purifier; he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and then they will make the offering to the Lord as it should be made. The offering of Judah and Jerusalem will then be welcomed by the Lord as in former days, as in the years of old.
___________________

Hebrews 2:14-18

Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, Christ too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself descent from Abraham. It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God’s religion, able to atone for human sins. That is, because he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted.
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Luke 2:22-40

And when the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten the pagans
and the glory of your people Israel’.

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare’.

There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.

When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
____________________

I read from the testimonies of those that have near death experiences of the bright light that they experience in the darkness they witness as they hover in a dark void. This light is warm and draws them towards it. In the same way, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is like this light that has been made manifest throughout the whole world.

The light that Christ may seem warm and welcoming but after experiencing it at some length; it begins to cut our hearts deeply for it cannot stand the darkness present in our hearts. It will force us to make the difficult decision to choose either God or the way of the world, resulting in the “secret thoughts of many [being] laid bare”. We read in the first reading that the Lord’s coming is similar to the refiner’s fire and fuller’s alkali. These fire and alkali are intense and concentrated substances that are meant to purify the impure metal ores. It is an analogy to the light of Christ who purifies our heart intensely to make it worthy to worship God.

This light was required to deliver Israel because it was stuck in the state of sin. Whilst economically prosperous, it was nevertheless suffering from spiritual decay because the worship offered to God was ritualistic with the incorrect intentions. God requires us to make a total and unconditional commitment towards him. When we ask Him to enter into our lives, we agree to let Him take over entirely and not partially. I invite the reader to examine in their hearts whether they have been guilty of committing this sin of indifference and lack of reverence and to ask the Lord to pierce their hearts so as to lay bare their secret thoughts to Him.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nick Chia)
____________________

Prayer:
Lord, we pray for the courage to face up to our sins and allow us to offer them up to you when we are incapable of solving them. Amen.

We give thanks to the Lord for: The many people that bring light into our souls.

Upcoming Readings:
Sun, 03 Feb – Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 5:1-12a; Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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