Before praying the Angelus prayer Sunday, Francis reflected on the day's Gospel reading, in which Jesus is approached by followers of John the Baptist and asked if he is the savior John had been preaching about.

Jesus replies: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised."—Joshua J. McElwee  This is the time for some of us to remember, “Make firm the knees that are weak” (Isaiah 35:3), particularly in the snow.

More importantly for yellow-dog Democrats, in this era of The Donald, “Lord, come and save us’ (cf. Isaiah 35:4) and have mercy on those in the Middle East and on us for whatever our responsibility may be in international affairs for what is happening there due to machinations of the United States of America.