We cannot simply say, “Have a nice day,” to someone who is clinically depressed, and expect that to change his or her situation. But we can learn to identify warning signs (see box) and get help for those who are hurting.

Summer doesn’t always match the picture-perfect image of summer in my mind. Often, instead, it’s full of dripping popsicles, scraped knees, and overtired children who are up way too late giggling under the covers. But it’s full. And there is a richness to that.

A hot day without air conditioning helps keep things in perspective.

As the rhetoric heats up, people who work at the White House are being kicked out of restaurants. Entertainers make lewd jokes and hurl obscenities at the president. What’s happening to us?

Going away on vacation is always amazing, but I am a huge fan of staycations, which is how the boys and I have spent our week.

As we were walking to our cars, our children were running ahead—the way children do. And we saw them stop to look at what seemed to be a brown leaf floating across the sidewalk.

Bishop Barron wonders whether video might be a better means of communication than texts for U.S. bishops.

I’ve always suspected that at the root of the religious liberty controversies of the last few years is an inherent distrust or even disrespect for traditional religious beliefs.

I started writing these while on an airplane yesterday, but then I didn’t manage to finish them until today. But it felt a little like being in Green Eggs and Ham. “Can you write takes on a plane? Can you write them on a train? In a car or on a tree…?”

I turn 35 tomorrow and have been thinking about how I want to live in this new phase of my life. There are two philosophies that people use as guidelines for making decisions about their life’s experiences. I am posing a third.