if you personally feel that Friday abstinence during Lent is not enough of a sacrifice to be spiritually beneficial for you, you are certainly free to incorporate another penitential practice in addition to abstinence on Fridays.

Both Stanley Rother and Alexei Navalny exemplified the cardinal virtue of courage, which is also a gift of the Holy Spirit.

God can and does use anything and everything to reach us, to communicate his love, to connect us to one another. It seems that a mission to spread the joy of the Gospel can be conducted by mail.

There are two major policy goals needed at this time. We need not only better border management, but also the distinctive compassion of past immigration policies, such as family reunification and attention to our labor needs and to immigrant workers.

It takes spiritual maturity to become the sign rather than, like a hopeful child, demanding one.

To come home to ourselves, we need silence. We need to pray in secret. We need to be open, welcoming to God who wants to dwell in us. We need to trust that he knows us best, loves us most and gives us what we need.

As we turned to leave Mass, I saw that a little boy in the back had snagged a balloon.

A few months ago, I noticed that our grocery store no longer had hand-held shopping baskets. If you wanted to shop, you had to use one of the large rolling grocery carts.

To listen to Christ is not merely to obey, but to hear deeply, in the place where daily conversion can occur. In this declared “Year of Prayer,” it is not too much to consider that listening is very much a part of the act of prayer.

Generosity is a key part of our Christian journey, having a direct impact on our relationship with God and neighbor.