No one wants to be at a funeral. It means that a loss has occurred, hearts broken. But there are few other instances in which doing something we dread so deeply can mean so much.

“Sometimes we live in a spirit of a ‘parking lot’; we stay parked, without the impulse of desire that carries us forward. We do well to ask: where are we on our journey of faith?”

My dad was and is an alcoholic. Al-Anon gives me a framework for naming my situation, taking responsibility for my actions and making changes so that I can live a (more) emotionally sober life.

Can we ultimately trust the smirking ones in our midst, the sarcastic with a clever quip for our every move, for each vulnerable moment?

A hint from Father James Martin: Start with just 15 minutes a day.

I wanted children to hear the story of the nativity through the eyes of a child, not the experience of an adult. And so the character of Leah began to take flight in my imagination; I wanted my young readers to see the first Christmas through her eyes.