What have I done to alienate myself from God and others, and what have I failed to do? Take a moment to ponder these questions.

Are we good people or bad people? Many of us would readily identify with our good side. Occasionally we are impatient or selfish or deceitful, it’s true. But basically we are honest, decent, hardworking people who wouldn’t dream of doing something criminal or morally objectionable.

“When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left.

For many years, I played a small part in making dinner once a month for a local shelter for homeless women. Making and serving that dinner was a group effort—sometimes I made chicken, sometimes a dessert or a salad, or sometimes I delivered the food to the shelter and stayed to serve it.

Out of Howard Hawks’ epic Western Red River comes one of the great lines of filmdom, spoken by Walter Brennan to John Wayne: “You was wrong, Mr. Dunson.”

Mourners proceeded slowly toward the grieving mother who stood beside the casket of her son. This very young man had died in a tragic accident. Everyone who had gathered to pay their respects ached inside, wondering what they might say to this sorrowful mother.

I can’t remember when I learned how to play chess. I wonder if children today are learning the game. To them, chess must seem incredibly quaint, old-fashioned, and slow. It uses a whole different set of skills, relying on thinking ahead and getting into your opponent’s thoughts rather than hand-eye coordination.

The Lord rescues us, gives us rest, and heals us.

. . . Everyone must consider one's every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all life and the means necessary to living it with dignity, so as not to imitate the rich man who had no concern for the poor man Lazarus.