On the Feast of the Annunciation, Helen Prejean, C.S.J., reflects on encounters with everyday annunciations.

How do you know if your soul is healthy?

Editor’s note: The historic interview with Pope Francis (Am. 9/30) has generated a great deal of dialogue in the church and in society at large. We asked several writers to offer their reactions to the pope’s words. Selections from these responses are printed below. The full versions of

Learning lessons from history, there two mistakes to avoid. The first is ignorance of the past; the second, supposing that it was inevitable.

“It is not a figure of speech, a literary genre. I am a sinner.”

Parables are meant to change our perspective, and that is no small thing.