The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 12 July 2020
Van Gogh’s “The Sower” from Wikimedia Commons.
It is a very lovely Sunday with Jesus Christ continuing to shower us with his good seeds to make us fruitful despite the many setbacks we may have had lately due to the COVID-19 pandemic and sad turn of events.
His parable of the sower proclaimed today in all churches throughout the world reminds us that inasmuch as we have to be a good kind of soil, we need to examine the kind of seeds we have become.
Seeds are so small that we often take for granted, like our very lives and most especially God.
In a sense, Jesus is telling us today what Des’ree sang in 1994, “You Gotta Be”…..
Listen as your day unfolds Challenge what the future holds Try and keep your head up to the sky Lovers, they may cause you tears Go ahead release your fears
Stand up and be counted Don’t be ashamed to cry
You gotta be You gotta be bad, you gotta be bold You gotta be wiser, you gotta be hard You gotta be tough, you gotta be stronger
You gotta be cool, you gotta be calm You gotta stay together All I know, all I know, love will save the day
You Gotta Be was first released as a single in 1994 and instantly became a hit worldwide staying on top of almost every chart in the US, Europe and Australia. Music is warmly smooth, at the same time infectious with a sort of hypnotic effect from its sophisticated upbeat set in the cool and soothing voice of Des’ree who also wrote its lyrics.
I have used the song in my classes in our school for girls a decade ago and in many recollections and retreats to young people as it presents to us this great mystery of life packed in a seed that must fall and die to give way to new life and eventually bear fruit.
You gotta hear and feel it to appreciate this wonderful music that sounds like Jesus Christ’s parable of the sower.
I have uploaded the video with lyrics so you can follow and sing. And dance if you wish. Have a blessed day!
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Week XV, Cycle A in Ordinary Time, 12 July 2020
Isaiah 55:10-11 >><}}}*> Romans 8:18-23 >><}}}*> Matthew 13:1-23
“The Sower” painting by Van Gogh, photo from Wikimedia Commons.
Parables constitute the heart of Jesus Christ’s preaching. From the French para bolein which means “along the path”, parables are simple stories with deep realities that must be cracked open through prayers and reflections to uncover its meaning.
In fact, every parable by Jesus is a word of God that is like a seed that must be received, planted, and nurtured so we may eventually see and experience what is within it who is God himself!
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”
Beginning today until the last Sunday of this month of July we shall hear different parables by Jesus taken from this 13th chapter of the gospel according to St. Matthew.
It is very interesting that as Jesus now begins to preach in parables, we also notice his usual usage of this image of the seed, especially of the mustard seed to stress to us what we have mentioned earlier about the significance of parables as simple things with deeper realities. Every seed is so small, easy to overlook and taken for granted. Yet, we all know how every seed is also the presence of what is to come in the future, of something so big and huge that we can never imagine.
That is how Jesus would always portray the Kingdom of God, which is himself, his very person who is always taken for granted but full of mysteries that later in the fourth gospel he would reveal a deeper reality of this seed akin his Cross:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
John 12:24
That is the mystery of the seed, the mystery of Christ: something so ordinary we take for granted with immense possibilities when given up, when it dies. In this parable of the sower, Jesus shows us a hint of this profound truth about himself as a mysterious seed, someone who must be broken to die in order to grow and bear fruit.
If we read the full text of today’s gospel, we find Jesus explaining the meaning of this parable and we discover that he himself is both the sower and the seed: he goes out everyday to bring us the good news of salvation, providing us with seeds we must plant so we can have food in the future.
Every seed Jesus sows in us is always good as the first reading assures us.
Thus says the Lord: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful… so shall my word; my word shall not return to me void.”
Isaiah 55:10-11
Most of the time, we reflect on this parable on the importance of the soil on which the seed is sown.
This Sunday, let us reflect on what kind of a seed are we, of how we waste or put into good the enormous potentials packed in each of us by God.
“A sower went out to sow. As he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up.“
Jesus the sower does not make distinctions on different kinds of soil; he just scatters the seeds freely. His words concern everyone.
Unfortunately, there are some of us who do not care at all, as hardened as the path or pavement.
These are the people who has no plans in life, no directions, spending their lives watching days pass without knowing that they are really the ones passing by.
Sometimes, they just go wherever the winds would lead them while once in a while, they step out of themselves a little to join friends or peers wherever they may be going. Eventually they leave when the journey gets farther.
They are literally wasting their lives.
“Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots.“
They are the “spur of the moment” type who eventually end up as what we call ningas-cogon (a kind of local grass when dried is highly combustible; quick to start fire but quick to extinguish too).
Beware of them who are at the beginning very enthusiastic in every project and endeavor but when the goings get tough and difficult, they are the first to leave.
No roots, no foundations in life. Easy to give up. Just as hard as those seeds on the pavement.
Photo by author at Petra, Jordan, May 2019.
“Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it.”
These are the people who thrived a little but eventually the “thorns of the world” choked them that they eventually dried and died.
They are the kind of people we lament and sometimes grieve, wondering what have happened within them that their hearts have suddenly turned away from God and others with their noble causes we used to share with them at the beginning.
Oh, they are well represented in Congress, especially the party-list representatives of various advocacies for the marginalized and less privileged who eventually come out with their true colors and ugly features. Some of them simply stopped thinking and feeling the other persons, blinded with power and wealth selling off their souls completely to any golden calf willing to pay them.
The modern Judas Iscariots.
“But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.“
Photo by Ms. Jo Villafuerte, flower farm at Atok, Benguet, 2019.
We now come to the better seeds (because all are good seeds, remember?).
They are the ones who fell on rich soil and produced fruit because they were the ones who willingly gave themselves up to the Sower. They are the ones who let go and let God, those who let themselves “die” and fell on the ground to give way to new life.
They are fruitful, not successful; the former relied on the powers of God, patiently bearing all pains and sufferings while the latter relied on their own powers, own intelligence and even connections that on the surface may seem to have the upper hand but totally empty inside.
The fruitful seeds are those willing to fall and be broken by God according to his divine plan. Many times, what is fruitful to God may be failures to us humans. Being fruitful is not about results and accumulations we have made but what have we become.
Fruitful people are focused on with the future glory to revealed by God through our pains and sufferings as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading today.
Let us not put into waste this good seed sown in us by Jesus Christ, allow it to be cracked open and broken to let the new life within us spring forth and lead us to becoming fruitful. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-11 ng Hulyo 2020
Kaya pala himpapawirin nagdilim
bandang alas-tres pa man din
oras ng kanilang patayin
doon sa Krus nakabitin
si Hesus na Panginoon natin
nang kanyang sabihin
katotohanang hindi maatim
ng mga tao na ang puso ay ubod ng itim.
Bandang hapon ko na rin napagtagni-tagni
pangyayari bago magtanghali
nasunog matandang simbahan
ng Sto. Niño sa Pandacan
kabila ng Malacañang:
hindi ba nabuwang Haring Herodes
nang marinig niya balitang sumilang
Banal na Sanggol kaya mga bata pinagpapaslang?
Hindi ko nga malaman
sino nga ba aking tatangisan ---
apatnaput-dalawang binawian ng buhay
nitong COVID-19 na tunay na kalaban
o mga Kapamilya na tinanggihan kanilang
prangkisa ng mga hunghang
na tuta at alepores ng bagong Herodes
na walang malay gawin kungdi lahat ay patayin.
Bayan kong ginigiliw
bakit nga ba kung minsan
ang hirap mong mahalin?
Hindi mo pansin panloloko
ng mga matsing?
Aking dalangin
sana ikaw ay magising
o mahimasmasan iyong pagkalasing!
Matatala sa ating kasaysayan
pangalawang Biyernes Santo sa taong ito
ang ika-sampu ng Hulyo, dalawang libo dalawampu;
pinagluluksa natin hindi lamang
pagpatay sa prangkisa ng ating Kapamilya
kungdi pati na rin pagyurak sa ating dangal bilang tao
maging sa mga sandigan ng ating sambayanan.
Umasa at mananalig tayo kay Kristo
sa pagsapit ng Pasko ng Pagkabuhay;
bagaman ito'y natatagalan, hindi kailanman
natalo ng kadiliman ang liwanag,
o ng kasinungalingan ang katotohanan,
kung tayo ay lilingon sa slogan noon:
"Ako ang simula" ng pagbabago
dahil kung tinalo nila tayo kahapon sa boto,
bukas talo sila sa ating boto!
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Friday, Week XIV, Year II in Ordinary Time, 10 July 2020
Hosea 14:2-10 <*{{{><< <*{{{><< + >><}}}*> >><}}}*> Matthew 10:16-23
Photo by author, Wailing Wall of Jerusalem, May 2019.
Your words today, dear God, hit us hard, very hard especially after we have gravely sinned against you when we have “collapsed through our guilt” (Hosea 14:2). Indeed, without you on our side, everything ends.
And the sad part of this reality is we refuse to listen to you. We have grown so accustomed to our sinful ways, believing more to our selves that we can get away with everything. How foolish, indeed, O Lord that we would not stop until everything collapses and crumbles before us. We have been so drunk with the fleeting pleasures of the world, thinking they are the “real things” we badly need.
Open our eyes, our minds, and our hearts to your love and mercy, Father.
Teach us to be wise to understand your ways and your teachings, your offer of redemption to start anew because with you, everything continues despite some setbacks sometimes.
Let him who is wise understand these things; let him who is prudent know them. Straight are the paths of the Lord, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them.
Hosea 14:10
Let us take into our hearts the assurance given us by your Son Jesus Christ not to worry about what to speak or say when persecuted because it is the Holy Spirit who shall be speaking for us, fighting our battles.
Most of all, teach us how to be “shrewd as serpents and simple as doves” (Mt. 10:16) especially in this world and time where sin and lies are glorified and seemingly to be having the “upperhand” in everything, whether in our personal lives or life as a community and a nation.
May we see beyond this world where our lives and stories live on, continuing in you through eternity. Amen.
Lawiswis ng Salita ni P. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Ika-09 ng Hulyo, 2020
Larawan kuha ni G. Jay Javier, 2020.
Kapansin-pansin
mula nang dumating sa atin
itong COVID-19:
pairalin at palaganapin ba naman
kabobohan at katangahan
kaya't karahasan at kasamaan
unang naranasan at nasaksihan
ng mga mamamayan
kesa ang karamdaman.
Alalahanin paanong maliitin
ng mga upisyal banta ng COVID-19:
nahiyang patigilin pagdating
ng mga dayuhan sa atin
patriotism daw ang pairalin
uminom ng maraming vitamin,
resistensiya palakasin,
nagbanta pa ang magaling
kanya raw itong sasampalin?
Nang ang virus ay kumalat
sumambulat kapabayaan at kawalan
ng ano mang plano nitong pamahalaan
datos ng mga bilang ng nahawahan
hanggang ngayon walang kaliwanagan;
halos walang pinatunguhan mahabang lockdown
ekonomiyang pinahahalagahan
pilit binubuksan habang sarado naman
mga isipan ng mga hunghang, mamamayan nahirapan.
Social distancing pinagdiriinan
sa atin na parang alipin
hindi nila alintana ang kaba
ng mawalan ng kikitain at pagkain;
kay hirap bang isipin
face mask ay hubarin
kung ika'y kakain o mayroong iinumin?
Wala silang ibang gustong gawain
kungdi sisihin ng sisihin pati na rin mga dolphin!
Napakaraming pinahihirapan, pinagmamalupitan
hanggang humantong sa kamatayan ng ilan
pagdiriinan ng mga patakaran
gayong silang nasa kapangyarihan
ang palaging lumalabag
walang kahihiyang nangangatuwiran
upang pagtakpan kanilang kapalaluan
kaya hindi maramdaman kanilang slogan
"we heal as one" na malayo sa katotohanan.
Itong kabobohan at katangahan
uri ng kasamaan, pinagmumulan ng kasalanan
parang isang sakit na asymptomatic:
hindi alam o ayaw malaman
na mayroong karamdaman kaya nagkakahawahan;
at ang masaklap na katotohanan
akala ng mga sunud-sunurang karamihan
karunungan, kahusayan kanilang nasasaksihan
gayong pare-pareho lang silang walang nalalaman!
Magkaiba ang tanga
at mahina ang isipan;
nahahasa, napapatalim
mapurol na isip ngunit ang katangahan
ay kalagayan na kung saan
biyaya ng isipan ay sinasayang, pinababayaan
dahil sa katamaran at kasakiman
sariling kaluguran at kapakanan lang pinahahalagahan
walang pakialam kung mayroong masaktan o mahirapan.
Kung ating pagninilayan
ang mga santo at santa ang mga tunay
na marurunong dahil sa kanilang kaisipan
walang nanaig kungdi kabutihan;
wala sa pinag-aralan ang karunungan
kungdi sa busilak ng kalooban
kaya naman huwag nang pagtakhan
itong mga puno ng kasamaan
ay puro katangahan at kahangalan!
Mga larawan kasama na yaong sa itaas ay mga kuha ni G. Raffy Tima ng GMA-7 News, Abril 2020.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Thursday, Week XIV, Year II in Ordinary Time, 09 July 2020
Hosea 11:1-4, 8-9 >><}}}*> >><}}}*> >><}}}*> Matthew 10:7-15
Photo by Mr. Jim Marpa, 2019 in Carigara, Leyte.
This is the fourth straight day, O God when you have come to me in the most touching and personal manner through your prophet Hosea. It is so comforting to dwell on the tenderness of your love for me but at the same time so embarrassing too at what I have given back to you.
Thus says the Lord: When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they were from me, sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who thought Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms. I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks. Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know I was their healer.
Hosea 11:1-7
These expressions are so true and so lovely, O God! I could feel your personal closeness to me as my Father, feeling all your love and concern for me, teaching me how to walk, taking me into your arms. And most especially that part of being fostered and raised like an infant to a father’s cheeks.
That’s how close you have been to me in many instances but sadly, it is true that the more you called me to stay closer to you, the more I drifted apart from you in sin and evil.
Forgive me, dearest God our Father, in taking you for granted in the same manner we I disregard the love and affection of those closest to me.
And that is where I feel most your personal love for me — when despite my sinfulness and turning away from you, you prefer not to give vent to your “blazing anger” to me because you are God, not human.
In fact, when your Son Jesus Christ came, his first order to his disciples was to cure the sick among us, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and exorcise those possessed by evil spirits. You only have our good always in your mind that we always fail to see or even refuse to accept and believe.
Today, Lord, we ask you for the grace to bask in your goodness and grace! Amen.
Photo by author, Church of the Our Father outside Jerusalem where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Wednesday, Week XIV, Year II in Ordinary Time, 08 July 2020
Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 <*(((><< >><)))*> Matthew 10:1-7
Photo by Dr. Mai B. Dela Peña, statues of the Twelve Apostles on the facade of the Church of our Lady of Montserrat in Spain, 2019.
How beautiful are your words today, dearest God our Father. You never fail to surprise me with your deep personal involvement with us all that you can capture exactly what is inside us without any doubt at all.
After praising Israel’s great achievements that have brought them material prosperity, you remain impartial and fair in pronouncing your judgement:
Israel is a luxuriant vine whose fruit matches its growth. The more abundant his fruit, the more altars he built. The more productive his land, the more sacred pillars he set up. Their heart is false, and now they pay for their guilt. God shall break down their altars and destroy destroy their sacred pillars.
Hosea 10:1-2
Indeed, only you can read our hearts, our inmost beings.
How many times have we been deceived by outward appearances like material prosperity in life, thinking these are the crowing glory of one’s great efforts in balancing prayer and work only to be rejected by God for their hard headedness and pride?
A heart that is false is also a heart that has turned away from you, O God; sometimes, these are not evident right away because a heart can always fake outside what is inside.
A heart that takes pride in its grand designs and visions is a heart that is false. Most of all, a heart that refuses to look into the pains and hurts of others, their shortcomings and sins, is a heart that is false because it denies humanity, its being a human flesh tormented by love amidst pains and sufferings. A heart that is false is a heart that refuses to see other hearts with many hurts because it believes more with its self than with God’s love and mercy.
A heart that is false is a heart that has refused to grow and outgrow its previously held convictions and beliefs, more intent in looking at its own heart than into Christ’s meek and humble heart, eventually betraying Jesus and loved ones.
Incline our hearts into the Father’s loving heart, dear Jesus, and give us a heart that is both true and humble, accepting our many limitations, full of hope in becoming a better person in you like your Apostles who started out like us all with imperfect hearts. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday, Week XIV, Year II in Ordinary Time, 07 July 2020
Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13 >><)))*> <*(((><< Matthew 9:32-38
Photo by author, 2019.
Forgive us, O Lord, for the many times we have played gods, knowing too much when in fact we know nothing at all. So often, we never consult you and rely more in our limited understanding and perception of things that in the end lead to more woes and problems for us.
Thus says the Lord: They make kings in Israel, but not by my authority; they established princes, but without my approval. With their silver and gold they made idols for themselves, to their own destruction. Cast away your calf, O Samaria! my wrath is kindled against them. How long will they be unable to attain innocence in Israel? The work of an artisan no god at all; destined for the flames — such is the calf of Samaria! When they sow the wind, they shall reap the whirlwind; the stalk of grain that forms no ear can yield no flour; even if it could, strangers would swallow it.
Hosea 8:4-7
When will we ever learn, Lord?
We always have our own golden calf to worship, turning away from you, the only true God, fount of all life and meaning, grace and fulfillment. We keep doing things according to our plans, each of us desiring to outdo each other, turning away from you.
How sad that whenever you try to intervene and save us or bring us back into the right course of life, we see you more as coming from the devil. Forgive us, Lord, in making it so difficult even for you to be in the right place in our lives for we are so full of ourselves.
And that is really how it is with us: we always feel so troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd but would never admit it, replacing persons with material things not realizing that life is meant to be lived with people not with things.
Create in us an awareness of your presence, of your love so we may be more attuned with you and the people around us. Amen.
Photo by author of plants growing on rocks at the Holy Land, 2019.
The Lord Is My Chef Breakfast Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Monday, Memorial of St. Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr, 06 July 2020
Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22 >><)))*> >><)))*> >><)))*> Matthew 9:18-26
Photo by author, procession cross, 2019.
Today, O God our loving Father, your words have invited me to reflect about “separations” — something we are always afraid of, sometimes beyond our control, but one thing for sure, many times needed in life.
Usually, we dread separations because it means being detached, being away from people we love or, situations we are familiar with.
Like with death, the ultimate separation in this life.
While Jesus was speaking, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, “My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live.” Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.
Matthew 9:18-19
Death as a separation is most painful when committed in cold blood, like the martyrdom of the young St. Maria Goretti who was only 12 years old when an older neighbor stabbed her to death in their home near Ancona, Italy after she had refused to give in to his sexual advances in 1902.
Death as a separation is painful and sad because it is “the end” in our running story, when we lose somebody so special, so close to us with whom we have special plans and dreams to be together but suddenly gone.
Sickness and diseases also separate us from others.
Often, people regard sickness as a kind of slow death. And here lies its agonizing pain when due to some medical conditions we are separated from others, unable to fully interact and relate with them even if they are near us. Its worst part is how we can only look from afar at the activities and things going on among our brothers and sisters because we are bedridden, stuck on a wheelchair, disabled, or sometimes deep inside us cannot fully integrate because of the sickness within like bleeding or some form of cancer or deafness.
A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak. She said to herself, “If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured.”
Matthew 9:20-21
Thank you for sending us your Son Jesus Christ who have not only come to lead us to life eternal but also to heal our sickness and mediate in bridging the gaps among us and within us.
By giving himself on the Cross, Jesus has made us whole again, brought us together in unity both in time and eternity for nothing can now separate us from you and from others through his immense love poured upon his death.
Photo by author, Petra in Jordan, 2019.
Give us the grace, O Lord of heaven and earth, to seek and follow your voice always, that sometimes, we on our own separate from our daily routines, from others to be one with you in the desert so we may know you more, love you more and follow you more.
Thus says the Lord: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the Lord.
Hosea 2:16, 17, 22
There are still other forms of separations we experience in life, both good and bad.
Grant us the grace of courage, dear God our Father, to face every separation in life we experience, whether good or bad, permanent or temporary, our choice or imposed upon us — always trusting in the uniting power of your Son Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music by Fr. Nick F. Lalog II, 05 July 2020
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
If there is anything we all wish this first Sunday of July 2020, it must be rest from all the worries and burdens in this time of the corona. We all want something that would be lighter in this second half of the heaviest year we have ever had in decades or even a generation.
Being light does not mean being worry-free, no problems nor sufferings. Dr. M. Scott Peck insists in his book Road Less Travelled that “life is difficult” – the sooner we realize and accept this, the better for us (see our homily, https://lordmychef.com/2020/07/04/we-are-disciples-of-a-meek-and-humble-lord/).
Being light is having a companion to share with our burdens and woes in life because having these all by ourselves is so difficult and impossible. Most of the time, our problems need not be solved at all but simply be accepted and shared with someone who loves us, cares for us, and believes in us.
Jesus Christ is that only companion par excellence we can have for he is meek and humble of heart.
Van Morrison’s lovely ballad Someone Like You released in 1987 captures this essential desire among us all to seek and forge many relationships.
I've been searching a long time
Someone exactly like you
I've been traveling all around the world
Waiting for you to come through
Someone like you makes it all worth while
Someone like you keeps me satisfied
Someone exactly like you
Though the song has become a staple in many weddings and in many romantic movies covered by various artists, Someone Like You sounds more like a spiritual song longing for God through our loved ones for he is always faithful and loving to us despite our many weaknesses and sins.
I've been doin' some soul searching
To find out where you're at
I've been up and down the highway
In all kinds of foreign lands
Someone like you makes it all worth while
Someone like you keeps me satisfied
Someone…
May Van Morrison’s song bring you closer to God through your loved ones as we continue to hurdle the many obstacles and trials ahead in this time of COVID-19.
