“The Book of Boba Fett” explored some classic “Star Wars” themes, including idealism and the importance of family, but ultimately veered away from getting too deeply into them.

Patrick Collins gives a close read of Thomas Merton’s correspondence in “A Focus on Truth: Thomas Merton's Uncensored Mind.”

The pandemic is a terrible reality, but it is not hopeless. James Martin, S.J., offers a few tips drawn from Christian spirituality that have helped him avoid despair.

Jim Forest, who died on Jan. 13, was a lifelong peace activist and the author of numerous books, including biographies of Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton and Daniel Berrigan, S.J.

“Tenderness is something greater than the logic of the world. It is an unexpected way of doing justice,” Pope Francis said in his general audience on Jan. 19.

No one wants to be at a funeral. It means that a loss has occurred, hearts broken. But there are few other instances in which doing something we dread so deeply can mean so much.