SAINT PAUL wrote of the "obligation" he felt to preach the gospel--that is, he was talking about his vocation.

A few weeks ago we celebrated the Feast of Light, Epiphany. Christ's light shines in our lives. We all have our problems and concerns. And sometimes they can wear us down just as Job was worn down. We forget that Jesus' healing presence is with us, that the gospel will give us what we need to get through the darkness.

WHEN the architect Louis Sullivan was a young student in Europe, he visited Rome for three days and spent a good part of two of them in the Sistine Chapel.

One of the earliest pictures my brother took was of me back in 1955, a half century ago, dressed in my Hopalong Cassidy outfit with hat and six shooter and holster. I was kneeling as my brother Tony, an Indian, shoved a lance through my body.

WHY FOLLOW JESUS? Because he asked. It is as simple as that.

In her autobiography The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day, the cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, told many stories of how people came to be part of the Worker.

Hurricane Katrina did more than damage buildings, flood neighborhoods, and affect energy costs. It also drastically changed the lives of thousands of residents of "The Big Easy."

A COUSIN of mine relates how when she was growing up her mother would fall back on a default strategy for the times when her five children could not resolve their differences peacefully: "Sit down and shut up!"

Caught up in the fervor of a high-school retreat, I lay awake asking God how I could be of service. After a while, I came away with a very clear message: Spread my Word.

If you are like me, you find it frustrating when someone you are talking to on the phone cuts you off and puts you on hold because another call has come in.