These hearing aids have not created any sounds. They simply allowed me to hear what was already existing. Just because we don’t “hear” some sound, does not mean that it doesn’t exist.

I don’t often think of it. But one of the courses that influenced my life was a history course.

Some words stay with you for a lifetime! Sometimes front and center. Other times they sit just beneath the surface… like a quiet motor doing its job unnoticed.

At first glance, it may seem like quite a stretch to connect Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, and Systemic Change. But hear me out. Actually, it is not that hard.

Over a lifetime, we each learn the stories of where we fit and don’t fit, and who are our good and bad guys.  Sadly, at least in the eyes of God, for most of us, it is becoming increasingly difficult to avoid the trap of building walls instead of bridges.

Contemplation was something I had difficulty relating to. That is until I first came across the Jesuit Walter Burghardt’s description. “Contemplation is taking a long, loving look at the real.”

I “knew” it for many years. Who can forget the images of St. John Paul struggling with this progressive disease?

I wonder how many people in Catholic marriages are aware of National Marriage Week (February 7-14) and World Marriage Day (Sunday, February 9).

A parish community, no matter how it is formed, is the “Body of Christ. We are more than a group of individuals who happen to be physically in the same space.

One of the buzzwords among internet literati is “social media influencer.” That’s “digital speak” for someone who has an impact on what others think, say, and do.