VIEWS

It’s that time of year when Americans turn their hearts toward home and prepare for a Thanksgiving feast, one that brings us around the table to celebrate.

I was in the middle of a root canal when I began to think about gratitude.

In the earliest centuries of the Christian faith, the rite of Baptism with its powerful gestures, words and symbolism had a strong emphasis on conversion, a radical reorientation of one’s whole life away from sin and toward God.

En los primeros siglos de la fe cristiana, el rito del Bautismo con sus gestos, palabras y simbolismo potentes, tenía un fuerte énfasis en la conversión, una reorientación radical de la vida del pecado y hacia Dios.

The wind whipped our faces and a steady rain fell as we stood aboard the simple fishing boat that had set sail on the Sea of Galilee.

When we hear the word “stewardship,” our mind can easily think of time, talent and treasure — which are true and important.

This summer I was blessed with being a part of the USCCB’s delegation at the five-day “‘Humanae Vitae’ Congresso Internazionale — The Fecundity of a Letter From the Future” which was organized for the 50th anniversary of Pope St. Paul VI’s prophetic document, in Brescia, Italy.

Cualquier peregrino que llegue ante de la Basílica de San Pedro en Roma inmediatamente siente una sensación de alegría y majestad, ante las inmensas proporciones y calidad excepcional del arte y la arquitectura.

Any pilgrim arriving before St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome immediately feels a sense of joy and majesty, before the immense proportions and exceptional quality of the art and architecture.

Tumultuous. That’s the word that comes to mind when I ponder the unfolding crisis in the Catholic Church.