Anyone who has had a loved one diagnosed with cancer knows how painful and scary it is. Yet, in that moment and throughout my four years in Rome, the Holy Spirit placed a resounding message in my heart: God will provide.

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is remembered as one of the most influential and innovative evangelists in American history. Once dubbed “God’s microphone,” Sheen announced God’s truth in a nonconfrontational, yet no less life-giving, manner to untold millions through radio, print and television.

Besides the rite of major exorcism, the church also has several “minor exorcisms” in her treasury of prayers. A minor exorcism is a prayer for protection against and deliverance from evil spirits which can be prayed by any priest in scenarios other than demonic possession.

I was thinking about how often people share with me their reasons for leaving a particular parish.

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.

Thanks to the availability of instantaneous, global communication and our addiction to it, 21st century humans are permitted — perhaps condemned is a better word — to witness daily episodes of brutality and violence and, particularly over the past few months, horrendous killings.

The Liturgy of the Hours is a repeating four-week cycle of psalms, biblical canticles, prayers and Scripture readings that has been part of the church’s public prayer — in one form or another — almost from the beginning. The prayers vary in accordance with the liturgical season and also — like the Mass — commemorate the feasts of the church calendar.

Described as an exercise in “continuity” with Pope Francis, the apostolic exhortation is an ode to the 265th Successor of Peter while at the same time a further indicator of the priorities of the 266th.

A person who willingly abandons their spouse for sinful reasons is probably not a Catholic who takes the faith seriously enough to be swayed by their pastor’s admonishments or to be concerned about the sacramental consequences of their actions.

What I find most impressive in Justice Barrett’s book, however, is not its depth of knowledge or its readability but its tacit display of public service lived vocationally: not as a matter of career enhancement, not as a means of acquiring wealth, and certainly not as performance art.