This week has brought us all into close contact with human suffering. We are all like the man on the side of the road in the story of the Good Samaritan, beaten and bloody.

Rolling blackouts and more bad weather on the way have most Texans hunkering down under blankets and trying to stay as warm. Conditions on both sides of the border were challenging.

Refugees “can’t obtain the Brazilian documents,” one local bishop said, “but they keep needing shelter, food and healthcare.”

A global hunger crisis, foretold in the beginning days of the Covid-19 crisis, is being realized.

Catholic Charities USA and the Felician Sisters of North America have each contributed $1 million to a new fund to benefit people “in extreme danger of losing their homes this month.”

Chuck Feeney donated the last of his fortune this year, writes Mary Beth Powers of the Catholic Medical Mission Board, and set an example for others to act now rather than later.