We communicate with the dead when we pray to the saints, canonized or not. So it is not a far stretch to believe that souls are close by and in touch.

I grew to know him as a friend, a fervent advocate for the poor, and as a quintessential leader and civil rights icon who fought for justice and equality for all, especially those he served.

Memo to handwringing adults: Ghouls and goblins and various ghostly apparitions don’t exist, but lust, greed, pride, envy and anger most certainly do. And they are far more frightening.

I’ve been thinking lately about prayers for the sick.

A mother and father share their reasons for supporting their son’s exploration of the priesthood.

There is a special kind of humiliation (and humor, if you’re a good sport), reserved for pregnant women who skew a little bit above the average age of moms in this country.

Simply put, humility is knowing God’s place in our success.

Recollection is the practice of gathering those things together again to see the self in full.

Reports from around the country show that all of us, whether Mexican Americans, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Central or South Americans or Caribbean peoples, feel less safe, whether our roots in lands now in the U.S. go back, as mine, 325 years, or whether we are recent immigrants.

We need to be a better nation, too, and, with arms open like Jesus on the cross, be there to offer hope and healing and hospitality to our neighbors, our family in need.