Columns

RALPH HIMSL

Second Sunday in Easter
April 7, 2013

Surprisingly, the concluding verse of the Gospel reading for today contains an apology of sorts, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book."

LASHA MORNINGSTAR

The kiss of spring wafts by a rosy cheek. A glance at the mounds of snow makes a soul wonder how one is thinking about warmth and a new season although March 20 – the official start of that blessed season – has come and gone.

DR. GERRY TURCOTTE

Even the most disinterested person will have been riveted by the lead up to one of the holiest times in the Church calendar.

Do I Believe Christ will come again to Judge the living and the dead?

The worldwide outpouring of joy-filled tears over the election of Pope Francis should be a sign to all that the pope is much more than the CEO of the world's largest organization. He is our spiritual father, the Holy Father. We did not know this man, yet from the first moment he received the warmest embrace of the Catholic faithful. We yearn for his fatherhood.

FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

How do we lift our darkest, most depressed, most lonely moments up to God? How can we pray when we are most deeply alone, helpless and our whole world seems to be collapsing?

JOHN CONNELLY

Easter Sunday
March 31, 2013

There is a saying that I really appreciate, "Let your life speak." It originally came from the Quakers but it applies to all of us.

GORDON SELF

One of my former English literature professors used to say that you can tell a society's hangups by its swear words. If this is true, I leave it to the readers' imagination to consider where our own societal discomforts may lie.

FR. ROBERT BARRON

I had an excellent vantage point for the presentation of Pope Francis to the world, for I was doing commentary for NBC News from a perch above St. Peter's Square. I will confess that my initial impression was negative, not because he was a relative surprise or because he wasn't from the United States, but because, for more than a minute, he stood ramrod straight, hands at his side and not smiling.

MARK PICKUP

A hallmark of the modern age is an obsession with individual rights. It seems that every other day somebody is demanding his or her rights. Some people even demand rights that are not even written down anywhere or recognized by any legislature or court. Self-interest reigns supreme.