We know nothing of Lila rsquo s parents We meet her in a home for migrant workers where for the most part she is ignored and neglected In the opening words of nbsp Lila nbsp Marilynne Robinson rsquo s new novel ldquo The child was just there on the stoop in the dark hugging herself against

My Mother can still recite the blessing in German nbsp She learned it as a child for New Year rsquo s Day when folks in Rush County in central Kansas would go from house to house offering a benediction in return for food drink or coinIch w nsche Euch Gl ck zum neuen Jahr Gesundheit Frie

No one can love us like family, and no one can hurt like family.

One soldier and then another imitated the one who came among us as an infant.

'Deeper than woman complementing man, Mary is human, as utterly particular and fragile as any one of us.' A reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

Jack Miles is perhaps best known for his Pulitzer Prize winning work nbsp God A Biography nbsp 1996 In the most recent issue of nbsp The Atlantic nbsp Dec 2014 he shares a portion of his own story The former Jesuit seminarian was so impressed by the audacious atheism of the philosopher Bert

Our Lady of Guadalupe "calls a people into a new home. Those who had lost a place of divine communion find it anew."

No less an authoritative voice than that of Michael Caine intones the professorial judgment ldquo We must confront the reality that nothing in our solar system can help us rdquo nbsp The irrepressible Matthew McConaughey responds ldquo Now you need to tell me what your plan is to save the worl

Suppose you have no desire to go on nbsp Suppose the world has oozed into another holiday season but you can rsquo t even feign enjoyment of family and friends nbsp To you the entire season seems hollow and fragile like cheap ceramic ornaments on trees nbsp Suicides go up during the holiday

A reflection for the final Sunday in Ordinary Time.