In today's first reading we hear God's Word compared to rain that falls gently, brings life and good things, and then returns to the heavens. Record rains in California's desert regions have provided a shining example.

When Kimani Ng'ang'a Maruge showed up on the first day of class at a remote primary school in Kenya's Rift Valley, he found himself among hundreds of children jostling for admission. What made him different was that he was 84-years-old.

The average work week for most Americans is 46 hours, although 38 percent of respondents in a National Sleep Foundation study admitted they work more than 50 hours per week.

On the eve of the Fourth of July as celebrations are under way, I have a confession to make: I am not very fond of parades. There is nothing more boring for me than to stand on the sidelines as floats and bands pass by.

In the Old Westerns, when the lawman confronts the desperado one of them will say, "This town ain't big enough for the two of us!" That's true for faith and fear as well.

Christ offers us his body and blood, and when we eat and drink, we, in turn, become part of the Body of Christ. That is what we believe about the Eucharist. But that is not the end of the story; it is only the beginning.

When I was 15, my mother would go crazy if she found me staring for long stretches into an open refrigerator. I knew I was hungry, but I wasn't sure for what. I'm sure that the disquieting changes going on in my adolescent self prompted a hunger I couldn't quite satisfy.

Every year at the First Communion liturgy, I bring out the old studio portrait of my First Communion. I am seated on a stool in my new suit holding a rosary and my prayer book. My eyes are downcast as though I were in deep prayer.

In today's first reading, Moses tells the people that their hunger was a gift from God so they can come to know their deeper hunger and dependence on God.

While the Trinity is perhaps the Christian doctrine, it's also one of the hardest to explain. Over the centuries people have used everything from sunbeams to shamrocks to try to describe how three "Persons"--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--can be one God.