Tag: faith

Teamwork

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Lent

communication is communion

Greetings on this the Friday of the First Week of Lent
Readings: Ezekiel 18:21-28; Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8; Matthew 5:20-26

Summary of Teamwork

The Prophet Ezekiel captures the teamwork necessary to become righteous. Our Job: Cast away your sins and create for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. The Lord’s Job: I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit. It is the mystery of the divine logic. We must choose right living, work for right living and be right living even as the Lord provides the divine aid to choose right living, work for right living and be right living.

Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 18:31).

I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26).

Reflection on the Psalm

Again the Psalmist brings us clarity of the issue, teamwork: If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand? To which we must find trust. I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word. For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption (PS 130:5, 7).

Change is a team effort

Jesus puts the question to its very core. Half-truth v truth. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors (incomplete)… But I say to you (complete). The list below is dealt with in the conclusion of the teaching of Jesus: going to court – i.e., judgment. So his teaching has two levels: (a) the effects of our errors and (b) the shared responsibility of our errors.

The ‘a’

  1. whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment (i.e., shunning).
  2. whoever says to his brother, Raqa, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin (i.e., law).
  3. whoever says, ‘You fool,’ will be liable to fiery Gehenna (i.e., hell).

The ‘b’

In a plot twist much like the Jonah story of Wednesday, Jesus gives us the the truth of our blindness and guilt even as we accursed another (the ‘b’).

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny (Mt 5:23-26)”.

Who is guiltless before the Lord? Nobody. Who should we be merciful to? Everyone.

Prescription

The Lord’s Work

  • Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication (PS 130: 2).
  • But with you is forgiveness (PS 130: 4).
  • I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word (PS 130: 5).
  • For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption (PS 130: 7).

My Work

  • Let my ears be attentive to the supplication of others.
  • Let me be forgiving.
  • Let me learn to trust people again.
  • Let me be kind and help restore proper order among men.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031425.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Finding Joy Through the Solar Plexus Connection

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Lent

Solar Plexus

Greetings on this the Thursday of the First Week in Lent
Readings: Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25; Psalm 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8; Matthew 7:7-12

Summary

A clean heart create for me, O God;
give me back the joy of your salvation (Psalm 51:12a, 14a).
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you (Matt 7:7-8).

Reflection

Ultimately Joy is a state of being. Beyond mere feels and beyond intense emotion, joy is a type of equilibrium that requires no adjustment and no need beyond remaining in itself.

Our psalmist describes it as a clean heart. In ancient times and even today we say the heart is the center of the person. Today, we think of it as the heart muscle as the heart of a human and that is fine thinking. Actually, for the ancients, it is the area of the solar plexus as these two nerve bundles regulate the sensory stress response and the regulation of vital GI organ. When your solar plexus is calm you have no stress sensations and your GI system is running fine.

Our psalmist isn’t getting at anatomical and health truth but the essential truth. Our peace comes from the Divine One. Our solar plexus informs us of our State of Being. Salvation brings joy. You may think of salvation as forgiveness and establishing a right relation with one another and with the Divine.

What is your solar plexus telling you?

Personal Reflection

So Jesus advises us, we are loved. Let us then have the confidence to be bold is our outreach.

  • Ask Questions. Establish a dialog with the Divine (prayer) and also with those who you have offended (forgiveness – our daily bread).
  • Seek Reconciliation. How can I change the reality to be more just? (alms giving – our fish).
  • Knock on doors you’ve thought closed. Be the change. Knock on doors that seem closed. You’ll be happy to have the door opened to the good.

The Good Things

Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him (MT 7:9-11).

Solar Plexus video: https://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-the-solar-plexus-definition-function-location.html
Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031325.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Lessons from Jonah: Repentance and Forgiveness

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Lent

Jonah at Nineveh

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
Readings: Jonah 3:1-10; Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11:29-32

Summary – Our need as person and society

Our Psalmist sets the stage for understanding the Old Testament and Gospel portions today.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

The great city of Nineveh – the capital of the Assyrian empire

Jonah (and his famous fish belly encounter) was in no mood to preach repentance to this city. The capitol city of the archenemy of the people. His attitude is due to a well documented defeat and occupation of a most brutal form. Nevertheless the Lord demands of his followers to teach and preach repentance. And more directly for today.

We each, person and society, need to be a forgiving people. It is not a trivial almost casual thought in our modern age. A slogan, at best. We are tempted to discount, disregard and dispute with the Lord any necessity to forgive. Even go so far as to demand a sign. Today more than ever the greatest resistance to holiness is our demand for a sign.

While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

Judgment is the penalty

It is most revealing that the words of Jesus show the depths of the need to repent, much like the people of Nineveh and only hinted at for Jonah’s response.

At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here."

Understand the conversion wasn’t a conversion of one religion for another but one way of thinking and action to another. Honesty before God and right relation among men. This is at the level of person and society.

Personal Reflection

As we continue our Lent observance, may we repent. Repent in the (1) first case of doing wrong (Nineveh) and in the (2) second case of not forgiving (Jonah).

There is NO AVOIDING the requirement to forgive. The sign is self-evident. Without forgiveness we ARE the ultimate destructive force.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031225.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Lent Reflection: Acting on Jesus’ Commandments

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Lent
The Law of the Lord

Greetings on this the Monday of the First Week of Lent
Readings: Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18; Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 15; Matthew 25:31-46

Summary

In today’s gospel portion we encounter an excellent and poor response to the needs of others. The consequences are significant, both for the person in need and those who act or fail to act.

Good Samaritan – Eyes that can see

Response A to the question: When did we see you?

Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs? (Matt 25:44).

What is blocking your eyesight?

Response B to the question: When did we see you?

Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you? (Matt 25:37-39).

Which was the Righteous response, A or B?

Perhaps you see no difference with your eyes?

The command of the LORD is clear, enlightening the eye (PS 19:9b).

The answer is B. Why?, just from this we can make that guess?

Their answer contains resolutions, solutions and action.

Hungry -> Feed.
Thirsty -> Drink.
Stranger -> Welcome.
Naked -> Clothe.
Ill -> Visit.
Prison -> Visit.

Response A is unrighteous. It is a short summary of needs and only a vague reference to the action of ‘minister’ to your needs, whatever that may mean. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like (Jas 1:23-24).

Reflection

Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another.

Personal Reflection

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD, your God, am holy (LV 19:1-2).

Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deluding yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, then goes off and promptly forgets what he looked like. But the one who peers into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres, and is not a hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, such a one shall be blessed in what he does (Jas 1:22-25).

Today’s Goal

  • Let me be a doer of the word. Let me not forget what I look like and what the needs of others are – and just walk away!
  • Rather embrace the persons in their true needs. You don’t see the need if you cannot imagine a solution you can provide.
  • Pick an item from the list to try and do today:
    • Hungry -> Feed.
    • Thirsty -> Drink.
    • Stranger -> Welcome.
    • Naked -> Clothe.
    • Ill -> Visit.
    • Prison -> Visit.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031025.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Understanding Divine Virtues Through Jesus’ Temptation

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic, Lent
Jesus Temptation

The Temptation of Jesus

Greetings on this the First Sunday of Lent
Readings: Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Psalm 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13

Summary

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil (LK 4:1-2a).

  1. It is written, One does not live on bread alone.
  2. It is written, You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve.
  3. It also says, You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.

Reflection

It is remarkable that even Jesus had to face the Tempter even after being filled with the Holy Spirit. Somehow it is unsettling to me. Yet the fact is the Church is filled with the Holy Spirit after Pentecost and she surely has to deal with these same temptations.

These temptations have a centering theme of obedience to the Father as a mark of true sonship and rebellion being the option offered by the Tempter. Yet the temptations correlate perfectly to the Divine Virtues.

The Divine Virtues

  1. Faith the Lord will provide for body and soul as he revealed to Moses and through Jesus.
  2. Love in return to love.
  3. Hope in the course of our life without fail.

Faith, hope and love are the divine virtues.

Our Old Testament reading today puts the question of trust (faith) to the evidence.

When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us, imposing hard labor upon us, we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and he heard our cry and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. He brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm, with terrifying power, with signs and wonders; and bringing us into this country (Duet 26:6-9).

Trust in the revealed love for Moses and his people. And you.

Our second reading echos the same with: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom 10:13).
Our psalmist has us repeat as as to remember: Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble (PS 91:15b).

Personal Reflection

On this the First Sunday of Lent, let us all remember the promises made to Moses and to all. The Lord is with you, good times and bad.

More Traditional Reflection

For a more traditional reflection click here: https://deacongerrypalermo.blog/2022/03/06/what-faithful-looks-like/

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030925.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

How Pope Francis Inspires Compassion in Times of Crisis

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Chair of Saint Peter

Greetings on this the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
Readings: 1 Peter 5:1-4; Psalm 23:1-3a, 4, 5, 6; Matthew 16:13-19

Chair of Saint Peter

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter said in reply,
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Our Shared Responsibility

Peter as head of Church has a job to do. He is to be the foundation on which to build the kingdom on the ‘territory’ of the netherworld. He/we/us are to bind the wounds and loosen the fetters. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners (Lk 5:32). It is Christ, the Son of the living God, who is the master builder.

We are in the midst of contested territory. The hearts and souls of humanity. Wounded, chained in a sort of prison. This will not stand. We call out to hear one another to find each other. We dedicate our life to the restoration of this chosen race, humanity.

Mode of Operation

Saint Peter in his first letter describes the mode of operation.

Tend the flock of God in your midst,
overseeing not by constraint but willingly,
as God would have it, not for shameful profit but eagerly.
Do not lord it over those assigned to you,
but be examples to the flock.

The Church has no need to align with fascists and dictators. Only the poor. Stand up to Caesar. Stand up to the Emperor.

Pray for Pope Francis

Pope Francis is a person who puts the relational model ahead of all other understandings of the Church and her role to bind and loosen. So often he teaches us to step into (compassion means to enter into the passion of another) the reality of another and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fashion a freedom not even considered before – a solution not designed by men but by God.

Pope Francis came in an Age of Rage and a Season of Emotions. He counsels us to stop deciding based on our instinctive, guttural feelings but on the objective reality of the Subject. Humans are the subject of all endeavors. Objectively understanding them and in context of divine love is what loosens and binds.

Offer your compassion! Are you not or will you not be old one day? Are you not or will you not be sick one day? How can it be that we have eyes but cannot see? Or have ears but cannot hear?

In the midst

We are in the midst. Let us be first and foremost be com-Passionists.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262353/pope-francis-is-fragile-and-not-out-of-danger-say-doctors

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022225.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Understanding the Warning of Leaven in Scripture

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Leaven can be defined as to permeate and modify or transform.

Greetings on this the Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Genesis 6:5-8; 7:1-5, 10; Psalm 29:1a, 2, 3ac-4, 3b & 9c-10; Mark 8:14-21

Leaven Warning

Leaven can be defined as to permeate and modify or transform.

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Jesus enjoined them, “Watch out,
guard against the leaven of the Pharisees
and the leaven of Herod.”
They concluded among themselves that
it was because they had no bread.

Jesus’ caution to us is to be wary of what we allow to permeate and modify or transform us.

Disciples Misunderstand Jesus

The disciples had forgotten to bring bread,
and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
They concluded among themselves that [the warning]
was because they had no bread.

Jesus reminds the disciples that his warning is not about going hungry for bread for the belly. Rather for that question he reminds them of the superabundant events of the feeding miracles.

And do you not remember,
when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand,
how many wicker baskets full of fragments you picked up?”
They answered him, “Twelve.”
“When I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many full baskets of fragments did you pick up?”
They answered him, “Seven.”

Twelve is the number of tribes of Israel and Seven is the number of nations – meaning the blessing is for all people.

Understanding

When he became aware of this he said to them,
“Why do you conclude that it is because you have no bread?
Do you not yet understand or comprehend?
Are your hearts hardened?
Do you have eyes and not see, ears and not hear?
And do you not remember?
He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”

The Wary Leaven

  • What does the leaven of the Pharisees give you? The Tradition of the Elders being more important than the commandments. Empty and controlling without good purpose.
  • What does the leaven of Herod give you? The senseless execution of John the Baptist had already occurred.

The Divine Leaven

  • From our first reading, the Ark of Noah, to protect us from the ravages of the world. We have the rainbow to remind us.
  • From our gospel portion, the feeding of the five thousand and the feeding of the four thousand. We have the Eucharist to remind us.
  • We know of so many other examples just outside of our reading portions today. We have the sacred Gospels to remind us.

Remind us that: Good leaven changes you in the best ways.

Leaven Choices

In the end, Jesus leaves us with a choice of two types of leaven:

1. Leaven of death. Murder and empty worship.

2. Leaven of life. Love and fullness of blessings.

What will we allow to permeate and modify or transform us?

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021825.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Understanding the Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith in God

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith.

Greetings on this the Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Genesis 2:18-25; Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5; Mark 7:24-30

Summary

The gospel story of faith today brings into focus the inalienable right to speak with the divine and to make your requests no matter who you are and no matter what the world says about you.

The Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith.

She replied and said to him,
"Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."
Then he said to her, "For saying this, you may go.
The demon has gone out of your daughter."
When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed
and the demon gone.

Story of Precedence and Faith

The story of the Syrophoenician Woman’s Faith is not necessarily easily absorbed by the modern American understanding of merit and choice. Some really struggle with honorific designation of ‘Chosen People’ or the horrifying designation as a ‘dog’. Definitely not the language of modern polite society used in the wrong context or given with denigrating purpose.

It does allow us to track the divine-human exchange by way of a particular people given particular tasks. The story of the Hebrews and Jewish people from antiquity (Abraham) to the Exodus (Moses) to the magnificent temple re-built by Herod the Great (time of Jesus). Peoples, tribes and persons bring to light the evolving story of the divine love caring for his people – and by extension – all people.

The Syrophoenician Woman brings us back further and more foundational.

We are all children of God. Our first reading (in series) has been tracking the creation story of Genesis. Today, in particular, the creation of man and woman. Bone of bone and flesh of flesh. One creation. And in our basic understanding of self – man and woman this basic fact: The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame.

Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.
She came and fell at his feet.
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,
and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

The Syrophoenician Woman exercised her foundational right to speak with the divine, make requests of the divine and to wait patiently for the divine to respond. There is NO SHAME and there is NO LAW that precludes this basic right given by the divine to reach the divine will.

Testing the Worldly Logic

He said to her, "Let the children be fed first.
For it is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs."
She replied and said to him,
"Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's scraps."

Here we have the test of faith. Jesus is asking her… what do you believe? Do you believe the world’s designation… dog? She says, NO! And, wonderfully narrated, if we must use that name, then remember even dogs eat scrapes from the Master’s table. Brilliant!

There is NO OUTSIDER to the INSIDE of God.

Personal Reflection

The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame. We are naked before God. Period. End. There is NO SHAME in that. Rather, it is our liberation. Lord, I am naked before you, heal me as you can see what I cannot. Amen.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021325.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Reflecting on Inner Morality: A Call to Action

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic
Breathe

Greetings on this the Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Genesis 2:4b-9, 15-17; Psalm 104:1-2a, 27-28, 29bc-30; Mark 7:14-23

Summary

“But what comes out of the man, that is what defiles him.
From within the man, from his heart,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.
All these evils come from within and they defile.”

Reflection

Our first reading today speaks to the wonder of creation. We know we are from the earth and star dust. Yet the mysterious part of us, called the soul and spirit, has no biological or chemical explanation except as mechanics not purpose.

Yes, there is a purpose.

The LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground
and blew into his nostrils the breath of life,
and so man became a living being.

We are from the Earth, the Stars and from the very breath of the Living God.

Personal Reflection

In our gospel portion today, Jesus wants us to own our mistakes. Fee up, as it were. Because like any medicine, identifying and owning the problem is the first step to a solution. It’s a long list!

  1. evil thoughts,
  2. unchastity,
  3. theft,
  4. murder,
  5. adultery,
  6. greed,
  7. malice,
  8. deceit,
  9. licentiousness,
  10. envy,
  11. blasphemy,
  12. arrogance,
  13. folly.

What is stronger

The LORD God formed man … and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. The breath of God is stronger than all our faults.

BREATHE! And EXHALE!

Exhale the bad – into the latrine!

May these evils leave us and never return!

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021225.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry

Understanding the Forest for the Trees

by Gerry Palermo, posted in Catholic

Forest because of the Trees

Greetings on this the Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings: Genesis 1:20—2:4a; Psalm 8:4-5, 6-7, 8-9; Mark 7:1-13

The Tradition of the Elders.

This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines human precepts.
Some details not needed – especially about others

Sometimes our traditions substitute for the presence of the Lord. We push Him aside for these good but inferior things. Our inferior motives are to push away the Lord, and control others.

Forest for the Trees

Sometimes we miss the forest for the trees (blocking our view). It’s the irony. The forest is the trees. The trees are the gift that make the forest. You are the gift that makes the Church. People first. Tradition second.

The Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem
gathered around Jesus,
they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals
with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

A subordinate reality to the presence of Jesus. Missing the point, focusing on the secondary and trivial.

You nullify the word of God
in favor of your tradition that you have handed on.
And you do many such things.

So intense can our traditions be that we go so far as to nullify the word of God.

The Forest

God created man in his image;
in the divine image he created him;
male and female he created them.
God blessed them, saying:
"Be fertile and multiply;
fill the earth and subdue it.

Personal Reflection on the Forest

It is easy to make our own idols wrapped in the ornamentation of the Church. It’s tragic but easy to do. But the Book of Genesis reminds us that God made the heavens and the earth. God made all living things. God made us in his image and called to his likeness.

Our prayer should be like the Alleluia verse today.

Incline my heart, O God, to your decrees;
And favor me with your law.

Amen.

Sacred Readings full text: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021125.cfm

Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry