The Divine Teacher - Divini Illius Magistri

Pope Pius XI wrote Divini Illius Magistri (translated as The Divine Teacher), an encyclical on Christian education, in 1929. Written between the two world wars and at the beginnings of modernity, the document tackles various topics about Catholic education. Pius XI states that the document aims to: "to summarize its main principles, throw full light on its important conclusions, and point out its practical applications" (#3).

To use a popular 21st Century approach to organizations, Sinek's Golden Circle, the document focuses on WHY Catholic education is needed and important, HOW to go about carrying out this mission, and WHAT Catholic schools produce in their students as they accomplish this mission.

WHY.

Anchored in Scripture, Pope Pius XI begins with the words of Jesus from Mark's Gospel (10:14), "Suffer the little children to come unto me" (#1). 

An encounter with Christ, who is the "way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6) is an essential component of an education that is meant to "(prepare humans) for what (we) must be and for what (we) must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which (we were) created" (#7). 

Pius XI continues in paragraph 16 with more commands from our Divine Teacher, "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore teach ye all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" (Mt. 28:18-20). So as to fight against an elitist or insular mentality, Pius XI uses this same mandate from Jesus to remind us that Catholic education isn't just for Catholics or the wealthy or certain people. We are called to embrace "every nation" (#25) extending the Church's mission to educate "equally to those outside the Fold, seeing that all men (and women) are called to enter the kingdom of God and reach eternal salvation" (#26). 

Catholic schools form one of the many ministerial arms of the Church, helping to bring people to fullness of life through an encounter with Jesus Christ. Simply, the mission- Christ's mission - has a Church and schools...and hospitals and universities and shelters and countless other ministries all aimed at establishing the Kingdom of God here on earth while also advancing it in heaven. Pius XI positions Catholic education in step with Christ's mission for the salvation of all souls. 

In this way, Pius XI argues that our means - our HOW - must be as pure as this noble end.  

HOW. 

It is appropriate then, that Pius XI spends most of the document describing how Catholic schools are to execute Christ's commission to us all. Expertly explaining the interplay between the family, the state and the Church, Pius XI leans on natural law often in this text, clearly making the case that the child belongs first to the family, declaring, "existence does not come from the State, but from the parents" (#35). Parents and families, therefore, "are under a grave obligation to see to the religious and moral education of their children, as well as to their physical and civic training, as far as they can, and moreover to provide for their temporal well-being" (Codex of Canon Law, 1917, #1113).  

Pius XI cites the 1925 Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Sisters of the Society of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary when they fought the state of Oregon against compulsory public school education. In a sense, this made possible many of the school choice options enjoyed across our country. 

Yet another reason to celebrate the heroic efforts of women, especially religious women. 

Parents and families turn to both the Church and the state for help with this education. The state, granted its authority from divine law, supports the common good (#42). The state then creates schools and other civic services to help members of society in all matters, including education. The Church, because of the authority She has rooted in divine law, is compelled to ensure that the family's rights are protected and that there are suitable means for the full education of its child(ren). 

And, everything is under the Church's maternal supervision: 

Therefore with full right the Church promotes letters, science, art in so far as necessary or helpful to Christian education, in addition to her work for the salvation of souls: founding and maintaining schools and institutions adapted to every branch of learning and degree of culture.[13] Nor may even physical culture, as it is called, be considered outside the range of her maternal supervision, for the reason that it also is a means which may help or harm Christian education. (#21)

Moreover, this synthesis of faith and reason leads to a synthesis of faith, culture, and life. This important approach to Catholic education will be carried throughout many subsequent documents. 

Combatting the rising tide of nationalism at the time, Pius XI demonstrates that good Christians make good citizens, posing that the Church has contributed to the world in myriad ways: arts, literature, science, education, government. Quoting St. Augustine, the Pope writes:

Let those who declare the teaching of Christ to be opposed to the welfare of the State, furnish us with an army of soldiers such as Christ says soldiers ought to be; let them give us subjects, husbands, wives, parents, children, masters, servants, kings, judges, taxpayers and tax gatherers who live up to the teachings of Christ; and then let them dare assert that Christian doctrine is harmful to the State. (#53)

At multiple points in this encyclical, Pius XI reminds us that grace elevates nature. 

In what might be considered an outdated fashion, Pius XI tackles sex education (#65 - 67) and co-education (#68). 

He also addresses the media - theaters, cinema, books, periodicals and radio! - and how we must safeguard children from being exposed to "the dangers to morals and religion that are often cunningly disguised" therein (#91). While we might once again consider this protection archaic, there is something to be said for keeping our kids sheltered from the rampant violence, sex, and overall disrespect found in the media until they are mature enough to navigate these waters successfully. Even Pius XI advocates for being in the world "forewarned and forearmed as Christians against the seductions and the errors of this world" (#92).  

Pius XI celebrates the important work of the teacher. In the teacher we should find the synthesis of faith, culture, and life. We should find the "bee, which takes the choicest part of the flower and leaves the rest" (#87) as the teacher brings students to fullness of life in Jesus Christ. Teachers will allow the school to accomplish its mission, "Perfect schools are the result not so much of good methods as of good teachers" (#88). 

WHAT. 

In closing, Pope Pius XI gives us a poetic description of the product of Catholic education: 

Hence the true Christian, product of Christian education, is the supernatural (person) who thinks, judges and acts constantly and consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by the supernatural light of the example and teaching of Christ; in other words, to use the current term, the true and finished (person) of character. (#96)

He continues, that this true Christian, this person of character, the product of Catholic education: 

(D)oes not renounce the activities of this life, (he/she) does not stunt (his/her) natural faculties; but (he/she) develops and perfects them, by coordinating them with the supernatural. (He/She) thus ennobles what is merely natural in life and secures for it new strength in the material and temporal order, no less then in the spiritual and eternal. (#98)

In other words, as we go about trying to accomplish our mission for the salvation of all souls, we will create outstanding Christians who use their intellect and their will to honor God by building up earthly society to make it more just, more humane, more loving, more patient, more beautiful, more of a reflection of the world our Divine Teacher intended it to be.

Amazing Grace and Us

"Amazing Grace and Chuck" was a 1987 film about a little league baseball pitcher, Chuck, who decides to stop playing baseball - his self-professed "best thing" - until the disarming of all nuclear weapons. What seems like a childish stunt or phase catches the attention of the nation when a fictional professional basketball player, "Amazing" Grace Smith of the Boston Celtics decides to join Chuck in sitting out of the season until the world is rid of nuclear weapons. 

The President visits the family, other professional athletes join in the cause, children around the world stop talking in protest, leaders from around the world join in the conversation and eventually, nuclear disarmament occurs around the world. 

The closing scene of the movie is Amazing Grace's response to a reporter's question about whether or not he thinks these protests are really going to bring an end to nuclear weapons: 

I don't know, but wouldn't it be nice.

The movie is a fantastical fairy tale - albeit one that reinforces racial stereotypes - but seeing it as a young child, it made me ponder the power of sports and the responsibility that all of us have to work toward a better world. 

All of us committed to a better world. Wouldn't it be nice. 

The NBA and other professional sports leagues sat out of their contests the for two days last week in an effort to draw attention to law enforcement's excessive use of force towards blacks, most recently the shooting of Jacob Blake. There were discussions among the NBA players and stakeholders about boycotting the rest of this COVID-affected season. As people everywhere - myself included - pondered the impact that a potential boycott could have, I was reminded of Amazing Grace and Chuck. 

Can sports really affect societal change? 

I don't know, but wouldn't it be nice.

Money talks and perhaps nothing talks as loudly across America, and potentially even the world, as multi-billion dollar sports leagues. How much would our country listen if sports weren't forced to cancel because of the threat and realities of a global pandemic but rather because of the choices of athletes to draw attention to the threat and realities of the evils of racism? 

There is something, even in the money driven worlds of professional and collegiate athletics, that is pure in sports. There is something about sports, when it is played at the highest levels of competition and with the purest of intentions, that draws us out of ourselves. Similar to the power of art, sports can remind us of the true, the good, and the beautiful. 

Sports can demonstrate to us the power of a group of people united in purpose. Sports can give us glimpses of what humans are capable of - amazing feats of strength, speed, agility, endurance, balance, explosiveness - when inspired to stretch beyond their known limits. 

Sports, when done right, can form us in the virtues of humility and courage, among others. Despite the many ways that athletes and coaches try to gain advantages over opponents within the confines of the rules of the game, sporting participants and their accomplishments are tarnished when they violate the spirit of the game (i.e. deflate-gate, stealing signs, steroids/PED/doping usage). 

Sports, when done right, can bring out the best in us. 

People have yearned for sports since their sudden stoppage in March because sports in their entertainment can act as a diversion. In the midst of the trials and tribulations of our lives, sports can draw us out of our circumstances, and elevate us - even if just for duration of the game - to something higher, something better.

In ancient Greek and Roman literature, sports acted as a recess from war. The Iliad spends countless pages detailing the funeral games held between the Trojans and the Greeks after the death of Patroclus. In the Aeneid, sporting events honor the memory of Aeneas's father. 

In modern times, sports can act as a universal language where groups of seemingly different people come together and compete alongside of and against each other. 

Sports, when properly directed, also pause at various times, like last week, to draw attention to more important matters. To grieve. To heal. 

Yes, there are more important matters than sports. 

Sports, like all facets of life, are impacted by the current trends in society and our world. But, sports also have the immense power to impact our society. When done right, sports can affect society and the world in positive ways.  

Can a two day stoppage of play reverse centuries old systems of racism? What about a season of protest? 

In a word: no. But, that wasn't necessarily the point.  

The solutions leading to a better world will require sustained hard work, innovation, forgiveness and hope.  Athletes will have an ongoing part to play, potentially with more missed games. Politicians are essential. So are police officers, and health care professionals and teachers and lawyers and engineers and construction workers and office personnel and priests and counselors and techies and business owners and actors and farmers and...

Everyone.

You. Me. Us. 

A better world won't come easily, or quickly, or through the actions of one person, or one law, or one movement. 

But when it does come, won't it be nice.

Rivers in the Wasteland

"See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the wilderness I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers" (Isaiah 43:19).

The last two months could adequately be described as a wasteland. The shuttering of our world, countless deaths, physical and social distancing and isolation, fear, anxiety, impatience, unemployment, confusion.

Add on the events that transpired across America last week and wasteland seems even more appropriate than before.

Everyone has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Virtual graduations, delayed or private weddings, funeral-less deaths, on-line school, cancellation of athletic seasons, electronic church gatherings, the politicization of the responses to the outbreak, and countless eye-blurring and headache inducing Zoom meetings have rocked our entire world.

A wasteland.

Now, our country is reeling from yet another killing related to the forces of systemic racism that continue to murder, crush and destroy lives, dreams, hopes, communities and the very fabric of our society.

A centuries-long pandemic of racism heaped upon a months-long pandemic of illness.

Hope seems beyond anyone's and everyone's grasp.

Just before Easter, I came across a short reflection that pondered how the apostles, after the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ, had locked themselves in a room and gathered together alone and afraid. They remained there for some time, and even after the Resurrection, their re-emergence from confinement was not immediate.

Hope must have been beyond even their grasp.

Christ broke through death, conquered it, crashed into their despair, erased it, and ushered in new life.

The disciples received the gift of the Holy Spirit, re-entered the world, and changed it.

When I first read that reflection, during the end of Holy Week and near the beginning of this quarantine, this idea gave me hope. We were huddled with those closest to us yet separated and distanced from the rest of the world. We were and still are afraid, confused and anxious. Our reality mirrored that of the apostles.

As I continue to reflect on coming out of isolation, especially in light of how even more broken and hurting our country is now than it was even just one week earlier, I trust that somehow, someway God is creating a river in this wasteland, a way in the wilderness. He is breaking through, crashing in, and creating something new.

That river is me. That new way is you. Together, we must be something new.

And together, we can and must change the world anew.    

Let's be rivers in this wasteland. Let's be ways in the wilderness. 

Let's be better together.  

This doesn't mean that being wellsprings of this new life will be easy. Rivers in the wasteland can easily run dry, become drained out, get polluted or even dammed (pun intended). Ways in the wilderness will necessitate tripping over roots, cleaning away overgrown brush, encountering wildlife and other dangers, and searching and wandering through darkness and without a clear way forward or end in sight. 

Simply: it will not be easy. Dismantling centuries old systems and structure of racism won't crumble without extreme efforts and a whole bunch of mess, rubble, and destruction. Tearing down our own biases and ingrained ways of perceiving and interacting with the world will won't happen without discomfort, regret, shame and reconciliation (go here and explore your own implicit associations: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html).

Then, we must rebuild... 

But, we can and must do hard things, uncomfortable things, unpleasant things. We weren't made for comfort. We weren't created for an easy life. 

We - all of us - were made for great things, for goodness.

We can and must be better. 

Together. 

Together is Better

Dear ICS Class of 2020:

Congratulations on your graduation from Incarnation Catholic School! Some of you started at ICS ten years ago as students in our PreK-4 program. Your first year at ICS coincided with my first year ever as a principal and my first year at ICS.

So much has changed in the past three months, let alone the past three years since I served as your principal, or even the past ten since some of us entered ICS together for the first time.

I know that the end of your time at ICS was not how you would have written it. No one would have written this part of the narrative of the world. The stories of our lives often get written by authors other than ourselves. Some of you have probably already encountered this reality, and endured and overcome it multiple times over the course of your lives. For others, this pandemic may have been the first time that you experienced a loss of control over how your story goes. Undoubtedly and unfortunately, it will not be the last time. I do hope and pray, however, that it is by far the worst.

As sure as I am that you will face other hardship in life, I am equally sure that you responded to this situation and continue to face it with the grit, determination, grace and solidarity that are hallmarks of Incarnation.

Before I started as principal in July of 2010, I surveyed the teachers, families and some of the students about the best part of ICS. Almost unanimously, the community described ICS as a family. Throughout my time as your principal, this theme of family anchored and inspired my efforts. From establishing Households to hosting morning gatherings, First Friday Morning Assemblies, Mission:Mass sessions and grade level retreats, enhancing the ICS family fueled my leadership. Throughout my seven years, the ICS family demonstrated over and over for me that together is better.

As you celebrate your graduation, albeit in an unexpected way, I hope that this message resonates with you and serves as your anchor as you look ahead to an uncertain future.

Together is better.

Always.

We were created in the image and likeness of a Triune God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and therefore we were built for relationships.

Together is better because there is strength in numbers. I'm sure the distance caused by the pandemic merely served as a way to bring you closer together as a class, as a school, and as an Incarnation community. Linking arms with others, even if just in virtual ways, can allow you to walk toward any obstacle with the bold confidence that you can and will conquer it. A lion will devour a lone individual walking toward it. Link arms with two others and that same beast will run away.

Together is better.

Together is better because when two or more are gathered in Christ's name, even on a computer screen, He is there in our midst (Matthew 18:20). When you join together with others in the name of Christ, you awaken and stoke into flame the Holy Spirit that always courses through your veins. The synergistic effect of a group of people committed to proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ can echo throughout the centuries. It can and indeed is the only thing that has ever changed the world.

Together is better.

In closing, I leave you with a paraphrased form of the charge issued to members of the class of 2020 by the President of the University of Notre Dame, Fr. John Jenkins, at Notre Dame's virtual graduation this past weekend:

My charge to you is simply this: Make this story, the story you may not have intended to write, a tale of resilience and hope, of friendship and solidarity, and of the kind of courage and persistence that conquers despair and disappointment. Make it, too, a story of generosity and goodness. Whatever your hardships, someone else is suffering much more. Be a sister or brother to them. In your family life, your professional life, and your spiritual life, every day of your life, never forget that your charge as (an Incarnation Catholic School) graduate is to be a force for good.

ICS Class of 2020, congratulations on your graduation!

Now, together, and in the face of whatever else life hurls at you, go be a force for good.

Go and change the world.

Goodbye, good luck, God bless and GO IRISH!

Greatness

As a Catholic school principal, I would often remind our students and teachers that they were created for greatness, built for holiness, and destined for sainthood.

Another version of this reminder took this form and tied in a root belief: you were created by God on purpose for excellence. 

I also leaned heavily upon a quote that I thought, until about a month ago, that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had said: “The world offers you comfort. But, you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.”

In preparation for a recent presentation, I searched for the exact language and styling. What I unearthed surprised me. 

From: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Benedykt_xvi.jpg

He never said those words. 

He did, however, proclaim similar messages. From his 2005 address to the German pilgrims who came to Rome for his papal inauguration, Benedict XVI stated:

The ways of the Lord are not easy, but we were not created for an easy life, but for great things, for goodness.
Christ did not promise an easy life. 

Those who desire comforts have dialed the wrong number. Rather, He shows us the way to great things, the good, towards an authentic human life.

In a 2007 encyclical letter to the entire Church, Benedict XVI expounded upon this theme, explaining more about the greatness for which we were created:

Humans were created for greatness - for God himself; we were created to be filled by God. But our hearts are too small for the greatness to which they are destined. They must be stretched. (Spe Salvi, #33)

To me, these authentic statements made by Benedict XVI pose two nuances to the non-quote that I had previously repeated. 

First, Jesus Christ is the greatness we must receive, become, and offer to others. We were created so that we would become and act more and more like Christ. Greatness in this sense is explicitly and unequivocally synonymous with Christ. 

Second, this transformation, this becoming, this stretching requires more than just an absence or lack of comfort. It demands effort, struggle, pain, and even suffering and death.

So, even though he didn’t actually say those words, Benedict XVI probably agrees with the statement incorrectly attributed to him. We were made for Christ and this does not promise a life of comfort and ease. In fact, the Gospel and its message should affect and upset us so that we, in turn, can use the power of the Gospel, the greatness in us that is Christ Himself, to affect and upset the world (St. Pope Paul VI). 

Our purpose, our students’ purpose, our teachers’ purpose, the purpose of all the members of our school communities and of all people everywhere is to come to the fullness - or greatness - of life in Jesus Christ, and in doing so help others come to this greatness as well. 

This greatness dictates that we, like our God in whose image we were created, operate at the highest level of cognitive demand and pursue truth, goodness, and beauty, while developing every capability within us. 

This life in Christ insists that we recognize our “duty to exist for one another” (Consecrated Persons and Their Mission in Schools, #35). Our Triune God exists within the context of relationships; we, too, exist in the context of community. 

This fullness demands sacrifice, emptying, suffering, and dying. As disciples of Christ, our greatness lies in our willingness to lay down our lives, pick up our cross(es), and follow Him. We find ourselves and our greatness only in making ourselves, like our Savior did, a sincere gift to others.    

When we approach our work as Catholic school leaders with this frame, we come to see that our pursuit of greatness necessitates a pursuit of Christ. We come to understand that this pursuit requires struggle. We come to recognize how vital other people are in both our formation as well as the success of the mission of this ministry. 

As such, we purposefully embrace the both-and nature of this work. Struggle and greatness. Trials and joy. Exhaustion and energy. Confusion and learning. Reason and faith. Death and resurrection. Me and Christ. You and Christ. 

Everyone and Christ.

All of us are created for greatness, built for holiness, and destined for sainthood, and Christ doesn’t call us to this - to Himself - and then expect us to do it all by ourselves. He gave us Himself and each other. 

It won’t be easy and that’s okay; we can do hard things, great things, Christ-like things. 

Let’s get to work.

Push Back the Dark

We just endured the shortest day of the year.

Fittingly, Christmas is on the horizon.

Positioned in the midst of the winter solstice, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at a specific moment in the history of the world, a recognition of His Incarnation in our hearts and lives today, and a recognition that He will come again.

We celebrate the Light of the World during a season where we fight against the darkness. We push back at it with Advent wreaths, shining in full glory with all four candles ablaze. We push back at the darkness with lights on our trees. We push back at the long nights with lights on our houses and across our neighborhoods and cities.

From now until the summer solstice, our world will push back at the dark with much success. Each tomorrow will enjoy a few more minutes of light, building upon the gains made by every today.

Let us follow suit: keep pushing back the dark.

Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist, made this connection between light and his Nephew, "In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."

The dawn from on high shall break upon us, to push back the dark. 

In the midst of all the presents and dinners and cookies, let us remember the real reason for Christmas, to push back the dark. 

And, when December 26 dawns, let us realize that the real work of Christmas begins, and that Christmas is a season, not just a day. It is a lifetime, a daily invitation to let our lights shine - His Light within us - for the whole world to see.

After opening all of the packages, and Christmas songs no longer fill our televisions, radios and devices, let us push back the dark. 

In the words of Howard Thurman:

When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.

Keep pushing back the dark. Go light up the world.

Merry Christmas!

His, Now and Forever

"For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever."

In a post last week for the Alliance for Catholic Education, my colleauge Betsy Okello focused our Advent journeys by challenging us to wait in joyful hope, to enact the words prayed by the priest during the celebration of the Eucharist after the Our Father.

In our materialistic world, waiting in joyful hope during the season of Advent for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, is difficult. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, elves, reindeer, and presents fill stores, yards, screens, and hearts. Our to-do lists mount: Christmas concerts, parties, pictures, cards, gifts, cleaning, cookies, outfits, travel.

In the midst of the noise, the traffic, the lines, the distractions...Do you hear what I hear?

Listen. It takes focus, discipline, and effort.

It is faint, far away.

A voice, crying out in the desert, shouts, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Hear it again, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

Attune your senses to an echo from an ancient time, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths!"

See the figure in the distance. As the details become clear, notice clothing made from camel hair, a leather belt, a disheveled beard, a meal of locusts and wild honey.

As he draws closer, observe the crowd behind him, following him, listening to him, imitating him, sensing that he is the return of Elijah, the one to signal the Messiah is coming soon.

Behold how easily he dismisses a group possessing apparent power, authority, and connections as he explodes, “You brood of vipers! Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance." Watch this privileged group turn away, grumbling amongst themselves about how he just blew his only shot at their endorsement.

Absorb his message for all of us, "It's not about me or you. It never has been."

Heed his words as he points us toward Christ, "I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He will fill your life with purpose and meaning beyond measure and make you into who you were created to be. All of this is about and because of Him. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are His, now and forever."

This Advent, may we, like St. John the Baptist have the courage to be different from the world.

This Advent, may we listen to and internalize his words:

Repent. In all of the busyness of this season, make room for Jesus. In prayer, give
Him the first part of your day, your week, your Advent, your Christmas. Return to Him in the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Reconciliation. Allow His grace to overwhelm you with new life.

Make straight the paths. What is most essential right now? What could you courageously leave out of Advent, or intentionally bring into it so that it’s more about Him and less about anything else? What could you do differently to stand out from the world so that you can point to the Cause of our joyful hope when people question just what you’re doing? Turn your cards into messages of evangelization. Take time while shopping to pray for those for whom you’re buying gifts. Recognize traces of the Light of the world in the decorations fighting against December’s darkness. Notice echos of the choirs of angels in the silver bells, jingle bells, sleigh bells and other sounds of the season.

Produce good fruit. The wonder of the season is wrapped up in the wonder of God’s love, wrapped up in a blanket, wrapped up in our humanity, wrapped up in God’s plan to save the world. Follow this example and give Him your finest gift: you. Honor God by giving yourself to others through acts of service, charity, and mercy.  

It’s not about you or me or gifts or cookies or concerts. It never has been.


The kingdom, the power, and the glory are His now and forever.