What better moment to reflect on both the brevity and great expanse of time than at the close of one year and the beginning of the next? And Christ is the intersection of East and West—the skygazing mystics of the East came to honor him; his birth occurred in Bethlehem because his parents traveled there to be counted for the Roman census.

The Feast of Pardon, as it is called in Italy, always attracts thousands of visitors and pilgrims to Assisi.

My mother, mother of seven, had inherited from her own mother (of 10) a beautiful statue of Mary. It was one of the few objects in our home that was kept out of the reach of us youngsters. When I was very young, I asked my mother why the statue was so special and she responded simply that Mary was the perfect role model for every mother.

The US Department of Justice reports that one in three black American men can expect to go to prison in his lifetime. One in three: the same proportion as suffer hair loss or weight gain.

The same ratio as those who have insomnia or develop diabetes. One in three. It’s hard to imagine that this stark fact is a fluke rather than a symptom of a larger problem. How can we begin to address the inequalities at the root of this issue? Some have taken the divide-and-conquer approach, and are rallying against one aspect of the racism still endemic in our society.