Trials can be rich opportunities on our spiritual path if we see them as “discipline,” that is, training in new ways of seeing and living. Can I name a recent trial that helped me be a better disciple?

Being an insider appeals to some aspect of our psychology that loves to be recognized as special. But it’s also highly practical. If you know the password, for example, your call will be answered by a live person instead of a machine.

He went on teaching from town to village, village to town, but keeping on a steady course toward Jerusalem.

When my children were young, I settled their squabbles with the words, “Remember the last will be first.”  In other words, be generous with your sister. Truth be told, I struggle to live that motto myself.

A guy in my men’s group greets any new challenge in his life by asking, “Where’s the lesson to be learned here?” He’ll say this when things go poorly at work, when he struggles with members of his family, or even when something tragic happens.

“Keep your nose clean,” my dad used to say, “and you’ll have nothing to worry about.” That was an Irishman from Chicago’s version of “Strive to enter through the narrow gate.” It is good advice but not easy to follow.

As we come together at the table of the Lord, we turn to God for forgiveness.

God loves and defends those with least economic and social power, and so should we. That is what it means to “do justice.”