Pope Francis used this year's World Day of Prayer for Creation to comment on the need for humanity to address climate change by refocusing centrality toward Christ and away from our own "consumerist excesses.”

“Capital punishment offers no justice to victims, but rather encourages revenge. And it prevents any possibility of undoing a possible miscarriage of justice,” the pope said in a video message Aug. 31.

I want this for my own children and their classmates, that they will feel the prayers of their community as they navigate a world that views our faith as old-fashioned, ridiculous and even malicious.

Listening to, and seeing, the other are always important. Because no one is really the other. Nothing separates us, because we are the same.

If you feel a longing for God, take heart. You are alert and ready to receive the bridegroom. If you were not, his absence would not burn.

We are all plagued by vices and failings from which we can never seem to break free. The story of St. Mark Ji Tianxiang shows the power of a sincere desire to change and confidence in God’s grace.