I’d much rather talk about love this week than rejection. What Paul says about love is so much more exalting than the discouraging story of what happened in Nazareth when Jesus preached there.

Hope is a beautiful thing. Stop and consider: What do you hope for these days? The end of winter? A fresh new semester? Lower heating bills? Health for an ailing family member? A better job? A raise? A change of scenery? A change of heart? Peace on earth? Freedom from fear?

January is the least appealing month of the year for weddings. Fewer than 5 percent of couples choose to marry at the start of the year, compared with more than 10 percent each in June and August. More couples tie the knot in March—during Lent!—than in January (although most of them probably aren’t Catholic). So it may seem a little untimely to talk about weddings six months off peak season.

What if you knew absolutely for a fact that God is calling you to do something? Would you do it? If you’re a believer, of course you would. The hitch lies somewhere in the terrain of knowing “absolutely for a fact.” First, you have to know for sure it’s God who’s calling. Not some manifestation of guilt or righteous indignation or human sympathy. But really and truly God.

When someone hurts us, what do we most want? Healing, or revenge? Reconciliation of the relationship, or the humiliation of the one who caused us harm? Even if we’re nice, gentle souls, there might be a tinge of grievance in our injured hearts that seeks some retribution before things can be made right.

Babies and small children are like sponges. They absorb everything you give them: food and love, stimulation and life lessons of every kind. Children are eager for instruction, new experiences, opportunities to stretch and explore. They thrive within carefully crafted limitations that help shape their souls and character.

SOMETHING IN THE human spirit exults in the come-from-behind victory. We cheer for the underdog at the movies. We delight in knowing Einstein was a lousy student in school, that a lot of saints were all but dispelled from seminaries or rejected by convents as unsuitable candidates. We love the log-cabin-to-Oval-Office backgrounds of some presidents.

IF YOU'VE EVER WATCHED the movie Legally Blonde with the fabulous Reese Witherspoon, you know why some presiders are timid about donning the rose-colored vestments this weekend. Pink is—how shall I say this?—such a chipper hue.

DO YOU KNOW how the Old Testament ends? The final book is Malachi, which is not a featured reading for today. Malachi’s prophecies, written in the fifth century B.C., conclude on an expectant but ominous note.

THE BEGINNING OF something new always feels suspiciously like the end of the world. That was how each new school year affected me as a kid: like the death of another wonderful, liberating summer. Each birthday reminds us we’ll never be 10, 20, 50 again. What will we be is yet to be seen, but we know for sure the old year’s gone for good.