Learning isn't just for kids. Catechetical Sunday (17) is a reminder that faith formation is a task for all of us. The Season of Creation (September 1 through October 4) is an opportunity to explore more ways to care for our common home.

The demands of discipleship are much on display in this week’s readings. Jeremiah felt caught between his call and its cost.

The gospel, as we know, hit the ground as a story in process. Believers proclaimed it for three decades and more before anyone thought to write it down. Writing, of course, makes a story more fixed and inflexible, and a written work takes on an aura of instant infallibility by virtue of being in print.

Traveling to our familial home in Southern Italy with my mother, brothers, and their families was a learning experience for me. A Roman collar there came with many perks. 

Waiting in line at the funeral home to talk to the young parents who had lost their 11-year-old child in a tragic bicycle accident, I listened as those ahead of me offered their condolences.

Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Being friends . . . love, these open the prison by supreme power, by some magic force. Where sympathy is renewed, life is restored.