Light in our Nation’s Capital: Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!
https://www.youtube.com/@StMonicaChurch
Let me cut to the chase. The whole point of this article is to invite you to subscribe to the “St. Monica Church” YouTube Channel. If you want to know why, continue reading!
On February 2nd, we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. It marks the day that Jesus was presented by Mary and Joseph in the Temple of Jerusalem. It also marks 40 days since we have celebrated the birth of Jesus on December 25th. For many centuries in the past, it was the traditional end to the Christmas season. January is a long month and so celebrations continued throughout this coldest and darkest month of the year. Now our culture seems to do the reverse by celebrating all of November and December…
It is at the beginning of February where the amount of daylight is noticeably longer and the warmth of spring is just around the corner. February 2nd is also known as Groundhog Day. We wait to see on February 2nd if the groundhog, Wiarton Willie, will see his shadow to predict an early or late start to spring. This tradition of predicting an early spring finds its origins though not in a groundhog from Ontario, but in this Scottish phrase: “If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there’ll be two winters in the year.” Candlemas of course is synonymous to this feast of the Presentation of the Lord. Often this day is marked with candlelit processions at the celebration of Mass. In the seminary, it was on this day that we blessed all of the altar and processional candles to be used throughout the year.
All of this talk of light and arrival of spring is meant to remind us of our missionary calling to be a light in our dark world. In Baptism, we have received the light of Christ and we have this responsibility to share that light. The image that comes to mind is that of the Easter Vigil. As a single flame, the Easter Candle enters the church (or gym!). It is then spread throughout the building and creates a beautiful and picturesque scene. We do this liturgically, but what does it look like practically? One place that can be particularly dark in our modern world is the internet. Doomscrolling. Brain Rot. Enough said! Yet social media apps are rich today in a lot of great Catholic content. They are a light in the darkness and the vastness of the world wide web.
In order to more effectively reach our community, and especially our young people, it is important for us (St. Monica and St. Andrew parishes) to have an online presence. The St. Monica Church YouTube channel is one place where there is already lots of momentum. Our channel currently has, as of the writing of this article, 869 subscribers. On it, we currently stream the St. Monica 11 am Mass, funerals, and create short videos to share with St. Andrew and St. Monica parish schools. If we hit 1000 subscribers, additional features are unlocked for our channel such as the ability to live stream from a mobile device and the ability to embed our streamed masses on our website. Features such as these allow us to be a light to the nations, and in particular a light in our nation’s capital! My ask for you today is simple: Help us reach the threshold of 1000 subscribers. Subscribe yourselves and invite your friends and family to subscribe to our St. Monica Church YouTube channel!
Fr. Kevin