The Morning Offering

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) readings & commentary

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time readings & commentary

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle A) Bible Study

We Are Blessed So As To Bless Others: Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time readings & commentary

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, February 8, 2026

Sunday Reflections, 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, 8 February 2026

Daily Gospel

Pass the Salt and Turn on the Lights – A Homily for the Fifth Sunday of the Year

To Be the Salt of the Earth

The Formidable Forgiveness of Josephine Bakhita

Homily at the Mass of Blessed Josephine Bakhita

Sermons for Everyday Living - Ss John of Matha & Josephine Bakhita 2/8/26

February 8, 2026

Morning Prayers

Divinum Officium

Sexagesima Sunday propers & commentary

Sexagesima Sunday propers & commentary (Gueranger)

Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's instruction on Sexagesima Sunday

Daily Gospel

WDTPRS – Sexagesima Sunday: Some will make it but many will not

Colligite Fragmenta – Sexagesima Sunday

The parable of the sower: meditation on Sexagesima Sunday

Saint John of Matha Founder

St. John of Matha

Sermons for Everyday Living - Ss John of Matha & Josephine Bakhita 2/8/26

Audio version of Gueranger
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As followers of Jesus Christ we are to love all people, no matter who they are, or where they are from, or what they have done, or how they treat us or others we love. We are to hate the evil that people do, and we should never pacify evil nor those making evil (sin) their practice. For to love also means speaking the truth to people, in love, calling sin what it is, and calling all to repentance (death to sin) and to walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands, by his grace, via God-provided faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

For this is not fleshly love being spoken of here, but this is agape love which prefers what God prefers, which is all that is righteous, holy, upright, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord’s commands. This is the kind of love Jesus had for us when he willingly surrendered to being put to death on a cross in order to put our sins to death with him, so that, by faith in him, we will now die to sin and live for Jesus in living holy lives, pleasing to God. For love does for others what is ultimately for their good.

And loving our enemies and those who do evil against us engages us in praying for them, for what is for their good (good in the eyes of God), for their salvation (deliverance) from slavery to sin so that they can now serve the Lord in walks of obedience to his commands. And we should pray for their physical needs to be met, and for opportunities to show them love and kindness, according to our giftedness, and our means, and the ways in which the Lord would have us show kindness to them, which won’t all be the same.

And love for others must be given even if it is not reciprocated. For this is not “I do for you, and then you do for me, and then I…” We love others whether or not they ever love us back, and even if they do evil against us, and even if they speak lies against us. We do good for others even if they never do good to us, and even if they grossly sin against us. And we keep loving no matter how many times they sin against us, too, and we keep forgiving, too. But forgiveness is not permission for them to keep sinning. Forgiveness is refusal to punish and an invitation to make things better.

Now, with regard to being perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect – the word means spiritually mature, complete, whole, holy, as we ought to be as followers of Jesus Christ, doing the will of God, walking in his footsteps, obeying his commands, in practice, no longer making sin your practice. It doesn’t mean that we will never sin (1 John 2:1-2), but that we should be becoming more and more like Jesus daily in following him wherever he leads us in doing all that he commands, loving God, and loving other humans.


[Proverbs 24:17-20; Proverbs 25:21-22; Matthew 5:8-12,43-48; Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:27-36; Luke 10:27; John 13:33-35; John 15:12; Romans 12:9-11,14-21; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8; 1 Corinthians 16:14; 1 John 4:7]

Remain in Him

Based off of John 15:1-17
An Original Work / September 23, 2011
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Walk in fellowship with Jesus, Savior and friend.
He’s invited you to be His servant again.
Obey all His commands and do all that He says.
Sit at His feet each day. Worship Him for always.
Call Him master and King. Obey Him in all things.
Turn from all of your sins. Live in vict’ry again.
He’ll restore you today if you call Him and pray;
Forsake all of your ways; take up your cross today;
Follow Him for always.

Follow Jesus your friend where He leads you today.
Abide always in Him. Let His words dwell within.
If you remain in Him, bearing fruit from within,
God will answer your prayers, because for you He cares.
Be His followers now. Remain in Jesus’ love.
You will know peace within; comes from heaven above.
Love your neighbors and friends, and your enemies, too.
God will call you His friend. He will ne’er forsake you.
He has appointed you.

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Love The Sinner, Hate The Sin
An Original Work / February 8, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Valletta said:

“While many individuals are peacefully protesting, some agitators have engaged in unlawful behavior, including damaging property and throwing ice chunks,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a public safety update Saturday. “A Deputy was struck in the head, and a squad vehicle windshield was broken.”

Unlawful assembly declared, over 50 arrested outside Whipple building after deputy was 'struck in the head'

A protest outside the Whipple Federal Building in St. Paul has been declared an unlawful assembly after a deputy was reportedly struck in the head with ice.

kstp.com

These people need to do some serious jail time.

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Catch and release. It’s their norm.

essentialsaltes said:

As far as I know, the county has issued a 'no trespass' order to the couple with respect to the church, but I don't know of any charges.

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That may be a cool headed resolution but I’d like to see actual charges brought, a conviction, and then the victims ask for leniency for the guilty perps. Same in Minneapolis.

Pommer said:

Should Christian Nationalists gain true power, pretty soon it’d be limited to the “correct kind of Christian”.

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I've watched Mike Winger's apologetic and Bible teaching sermons for years and gained the upmost respect for his Biblically sound teaching/preaching. I've also watched his videos over the past few years on Benny Hinn, Todd White, Rob The Poligamy Guy, Brandon Biggs, Micah Turnbo, Bill Johnson, Shawn Bolz, and Bethel Church in general. I think his exposure of these frauds. is thorough, sound, and a necessary check upon the leaders of our Christian faith.

Most people won't have the patience or interest to delve into the cases YouTubers detail about false preacher/teachers of our day, but I'd encourage all believers to start paying more attention - particularly to any on the hit list influencing your faith personally. In other words, if you're one of the misguided sheep attending the wrong church, as millions are, you need to wake up and start being more discerning about what leader you're following. It's not hard finding the evil ones if you just care enough to look.

Kudos to Mike Winger and his good work.

I remember when his book about dating came out, not sure if I read it, possibly , that was so many years ago. I am shocked and saddened to hear he turned away from God! I always think when this happens they didn't know Jesus (God) in the first place.

Read posts 14 and 15 in this thread:


NEVER give up! God loves you!

Valletta said:

D.C. went three weeks in 2026 without a homicide as violent crime drops
The president, police chief and D.C. Council members all say they played a role in reducing crime in the city. The reversal is in line with national trends.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2026/02/01/crime-dc-homicides-january/

There is no question that the crime drop has been dramatic in large cities that have fully cooperated with the Trump administration, such as Memphis and New Orleans.

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It being the dead of winter didn’t have nothing to do with this stat?
Okay.

Ellesmere said:

......, When prospective Justice Department employees apply for a job, for example, they are asked to detail a Trump executive order or policy that is significant to them and how they would advance that initiative. The question is also asked of people applying to other executive branch agencies.

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Yes, this is “normal” for now. Whether the next President devices to stick with this sort of “policy”, well, there’s the question.

Ellesmere said:

View attachment 376303


Given that this was a FOX NEWS POLL, the numbers are probably on the high side when compared to other polls!

The nation would be much better served if Trump was removed from the White House and forced to spend the next 3 years golfing full time - never to return!

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Noted. Trump’s going to stay in the Office even if it (ends up) killing him.
The Nation will have him at the helm of the ship-of-state for three (ish) more years, if it doesn’t.

We will be okay, we can survive this little spat.

Once the Baby-Boomers are off of the scene, things will settle down.

Ellesmere said:

Its oblivious that President Trump refuses to accept the fact that almost everything he touches has turned into a total disaster!

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He obviously sees things differently and he’s the one who makes the decisions, so, of course, they’re going to “turn out good”.
That’s the “default”.

askesis said:

The best help would be for the Christian right to stop supporting Trump. No Trump; no Fuentes. Easy peasy. Well, it might be too late now. Sad, very sad.

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Anyone paying attention to the evolution of the Religious Right over the past 60 years already knows that this is, more-or-less, the plan.
Thinking this has anything to do with religion itself, as though this is "conservative Christianity" ignores what has largely been deliberate political maneuvering and manipulation since the Civil Rights era. Evangelicalism was hijacked, and over decades of deliberate propaganda this is the result.

As someone who grew up in 80's and 90's Evangelicalism, and only started to have the blinders fall off ~2004. I know that I, personally, have been talking about this stuff for literally over 20 years. And it goes well before my time. I've been watching my religion taken hostage for decades now.

“Light is sown like seed for the righteous..” (Psalm 97:11 NASB1995)

What is light? It is the opposite of darkness. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World. And light is truth and righteousness. The message of the gospel of our salvation is light, and light is true knowledge and understanding. Light also reveals truth while darkness hides it. For darkness is opposed to the light. For darkness is all that is evil, wicked, sinful, and full of deception. Darkness not only hides the light, but what truth it allows it alters and it twists so that it speaks lies instead of truth. So we must seek after the light to find it and to let the light shine in the darkness to expose what is evil.

For Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

“..And gladness for the upright in heart.” (Psalm 97:11 NASB1995)

The Light of the World, Jesus Christ, and the gospel of our salvation – of deliverance from addiction to sin, and the hope of eternal life with God – should make those of us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ glad at heart. For we who now believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior, in truth, have been delivered from our slavery to sin so we can now serve the Lord Jesus in walks of surrender and in obedience to his commands. Therefore, we are the upright in heart, but only by the grace of God, and only as we submit to the Lordship of Christ over our lives, making him our Master.

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

“Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones..” (Psalm 97:12 NASB1995)

Who are the “righteous ones”? They are all who have been made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ. Yes! But they are also all who are living righteously, by the grace of God, as followers of Jesus Christ. For to be righteous in the eyes of the Lord means that, in the power of God, we are living, in practice, in conformity to God’s standards, to his will, to his commands. So, to be glad in the Lord is not all this “feel good” “happy-happy” stuff of human flesh that is all surface level. It is rather a deep-seated joy that comes from knowing we have been set free from slavery to sin to now serve God with our lives.

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (See Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)

“..And give thanks to His holy name.” (Psalm 97:12 NASB1995)

We who are righteous in the eyes of our Lord, by faith in Jesus Christ, who are living righteously, by the grace of God, in walks of obedience to our Lord’s commands, in surrender to his will for our lives, should give thanks to Him who rescued us out of our sinful lives, who renewed us by His Spirit, and who has given us new lives in Christ Jesus to be lived for his glory. We should give him thanks daily that he did not leave us in the darkness but that he brought us into his wonderful light and he rescued us from what enslaved us so we can now live holy lives, pleasing to God, in service to him.

For we learn in 1 John 1-3 that if we claim that we have fellowship with God, but yet we walk in darkness (sin), we are liars. If we claim that we know God, but we do not obey his commandments, in practice, we are liars. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Give Me Jesus

Oh, What Gladness!
An Original Work / December 2, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Give me Jesus. He’s my Savior.
I’ll walk with Him in His favor.
I’ll abide in His love always;
Follow His ways to the end.

Jesus is the Son of God.
He died upon a cruel cross.
He’s forgiven all my failures
By His mercy and His love.

Give me Jesus – His compassion,
And His mercy; loving kindness.
Let Him teach me how to love Him,
And to please Him. He’s my friend.

Jesus died for all our sin
So we could have eternal life.
He will free you from your bondage
If you trust Him with your life.

Give me Jesus. Let me trust Him.
May I listen to His teachings.
May I follow where He leads me
In His service. He’s my Lord.

Jesus Christ will come again
To take His bride to be with Him.
Oh, what gladness; free from sadness
When I meet Him in the air.

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Light is Sown Like Seed
An Original Work / February 8, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Isaac the Recluse said:

I visited their site quite often when I was finding my way back to faith, around 2016. I was trying to understand where Flat Earthers were coming from.

In those days they ran "courses" - series of articles with a quiz at the end. They were useful for gathering all the biblical "FE evidence" together. I remember there being courses on prophesy - Revelation, Daniel, and other topics. They were very keen on home churches, the writings of Ellen G. White, and something they called the Creator's Calendar - for calculating a Sabbath that reset every lunar month. I don't remember anything about Jesus not being God, that might have spooked me.

Most of their stuff didn’t take root with me, but my Faith in Christ strengthened, Glory to God.

I seem to remember there being some connection to an Asian businessman. Not Kim Dot Com, but I don’t remember a name. Critics at the time were saying the site was bankrolled by him as some kind of retaliation against the SDA. I don't know the truth there.

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Thank you. It almost sounds cult like to me. I’m just glad there are those out there that know more of the background to this group. I had never heard of them before.

jas3 said:

Again, according to you; the Amish believe that even photographs of people are violations of the commandment against images. How could you justify your preferred kinds of images to them as not being condemned by this commandment? There's no record in the Bible of God commanding the creation of the likeness of a person. One could then argue that generic images of angels or plants might not be idols, but a picture of a specific person would still be condemned.

The point here is not to get into the weeds about arguing against a hypothetical strict Amish iconoclast, but to show that your definition of "idol" is arbitrary, or more specifically, circular, because you start with the assumption that images of saints are condemned by this commandment and then use the part about bowing down as your rule for what is and isn't an idol, so that what you want to be condemned is condemned, and what you want to be allowed is allowed.

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The amish have it wrong, as do you.
And no, my definition comes from the context of scripture, which I can see you are unfamiliar with.
I'm merely applying the scripture and its meaning, as did the man they persecuted.

Memory eternal.

Today, EPA Administrator Zeldin announced the following actions:

today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin.

• Reconsideration of regulations on power plants (Clean Power Plan 2.0)
• Reconsideration of regulations throttling the oil and gas industry (OOOO b/c)
• Reconsideration of Mercury and Air Toxics Standards that improperly targeted coal-fired power plants (MATS)
• Reconsideration of mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that imposed significant costs on the American energy supply (GHG Reporting Program)
• Reconsideration of limitations, guidelines and standards (ELG) for the Steam Electric Power Generating Industry to ensure low-cost electricity while protecting water resources (Steam Electric ELG)
• Reconsideration of wastewater regulations for oil and gas development to help unleash American energy (Oil and Gas ELG)
• Reconsideration of Biden-Harris Administration Risk Management Program rule that made America’s oil and natural gas refineries and chemical facilities less safe (Risk Management Program Rule)
• Reconsideration of light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicle regulations that provided the foundation for the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate (Car GHG Rules)

My parents were professing Christians but they didn't go to church and didn't live Godly lives.

I went to church by myself as a child. Other people lead me to the Lord. I have maintained my faith without my family.

God pursues people regardless of what their family does. Each person is responsible for their own decisions and we are all to work out our own salvation. That applies whether or not our parents raise us in church.

Is it easier? Maybe. As far as teaching and encouragement, it can be. Or if done in a bad way or a way the kid can't perceive what is meant, it might do more harm than good. I've known plenty of people who came to know the Lord or claim their faith as their own after leaving their family of origin or not having a Christian upbringing.