Pope Francis is suffering from “a painful sciatica.”

As is so often the case with old songs, the middle verses bear the greater load of meaningful content (and are also, incidentally, the first forgotten.)

‘I rediscovered crossword puzzles. A way to feel like I’m putting some pieces in place that stay there.’

‘I found that I was able to live more ‘monastically’ than I had ever thought possible.’

“Covid swept away a number of our distractions and so, at least in principle, allowed us to wrestle with the questions that really matter.”

‘You surrender to what is. Covid taught me this.’

‘Hope is an active verb. You don’t have hope if you just stand on the sidelines.’

She has faced ultra-powerful, god-like monsters. This time the true opponent is quite different.

From three 20-somethings, here are the musical selections that have helped us to remember and thank 2020.

A conversation with Michael Kurek, author of “The Sound of Beauty: A Classical Composer on Music in the Spiritual Life.”