Each year, I find that I know more and more people on the other side of this earthly journey than the previous year. As we approach All Saints Day and All Souls Day, I frequently consider where those loved are now.

The Kiplinger Program based at Ohio University in Athens each year hosts a fellowship with a different theme. This year, that was “Saving Local News,” with an emphasis on concrete solutions for community news outlets. Catholic Review editor Christopher Gunty was selected as a fellow for this year’s program.

We need to tone down the rhetoric and see each other as people – flawed and fearful, but also hopeful and holy.

Sometimes, you even plant unintentionally, by the way you live your life. If you live like a follower of Jesus, that should show in what you do and say. By being kind and not adding to the divisiveness we experience today, you can be an example for others on how to treat our fellow humans.

Pope Leo grew up with remarkably the same kind of life I did. Who would ever have thought such a thing would be possible? Certainly not me. 

If the state wants to show that reducing caps for those who sue the state for abuse is not “just about the money,” then Gov. Moore and other state officials need to go on a listening tour and meet face to face with victim-survivors, particularly those who were abused in state-run institutions.

The Archdiocese of Baltimore will offer six pilgrimage sites in Baltimore, Emmitsburg and Cumberland, as well as jubilee passports to check your progress in participating in the jubilee year.

Getting one gun off the street may not have a great impact all by itself, but people such as Monsignor Nalepa and Father Murphy know that sometimes you must try to make a difference. Little by little, gun by gun, we can.

We need support poles and decking to give our faith life some structure. Those are other sacraments, including reconciliation/confession, and devotionals such as praying the rosary, the Angelus, Divine Mercy chaplet or morning and evening prayer.

The things that weigh us down in this life – fatigue, difficult jobs, pain, injustice, our sins – will all be gone in heaven.