The greater people’s faults, the more difficult it becomes to see the good in them, which is why we must practice this skill in little ways with all those we encounter.

“Since I am doing your work as well as mine and know everything about the accounting system, why can’t I be his boss?”

There’s a phrase in Juvenal’s “Satires” that might be translated as “Who will guard the guardians?” That’s the right question to ask for both police racism and clergy abuse.

The older I get, the more in awe I am of the witness and self-sacrificial love parents have for their children.

Grief is absolutely essential to being human, to being fully alive. When we cannot experience, own and befriend our grief, we cannot sustain our hearts.

The Church, in the powerful peace and peaceful power of the Spirit, will get her public witness back when she finds her way again like the first disciples to breathe deep and speak fire.

Hundreds of years later, she inspires more questions than nearly any saint in history.

Now more than ever, we must deepen the relationships around us, which afford us an opportunity to encounter God anew.

Every step, every milestone, no matter how small, is such a joy because I know what it took for my son to get there. Every smile and every hug are a gift, and I’m keenly aware of this since it did not come naturally at first.

Let this five years’ marking of Laudato Si and 50 years’ celebration of Earth Day impel our desires to know and accept our sacred place like never before.