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Perhaps in its ideal form, innocence might be described as a human heart stripped of ego and lust, something akin to what James Joyce describes in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man when his hero, young Steven, sees a half-naked girl on a beach and instead of being moved by sexual desire is moved only by an overwhelming wonder and admiration.

As we celebrate, honor and pray for our new holy pontiff, Pope Leo XIV ­­– who has cool Louisiana familial connections and who is calling all if us to be a missionaries in our own states of life, I can't help but recall some Eucharistic missionary experiences I've had in the past.

What do you do when a wound or a loss leaves you hopelessly disconsolate and there’s nothing you can do to amend the situation?

This Memorial Day is very special for me, as I reflect upon the innumerable ways in which veterans have contributed to all of us in this country and around the world.

As we are all threading through Lent with prayer, fasting and almsgiving efforts in our own states of life, it may well be helpful to review how we can specifically strive to incorporate works of mercy through the people we are blessed to meet - like Melissa taught me in the past.

Several years ago, a Presbyterian minister I know challenged his congregation to open its doors and its heart more fully to the poor. Initially the congregation responded with enthusiasm and a number of programs were introduced to invite people from the less-privileged economic areas of the city, including a number of street-people, to come to their church.

Signs and symbols have always been significant in anyone’s faith walk. The Star of David for Jews, the Crescent for Muslims and the Cross for Christians to name a few.

“People are always impatient, but God is never in a hurry!” Nikos Kazantzakis wrote those words and they highlight an important truth. We need to be patient, infinitely patient, with God. We need to let things unfold in their proper time, God’s time.

“You can talk turkey for chicken feed but a little bit of scratch is all you need!” As we approach Thanksgiving, I'm reminded of this old tv car dealership commercial jingle that we used to hear when I was a kid in New Orleans.

At the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the Eucharist he chose to use two elements, bread and wine. The images are now so deeply ingrained in our consciousness that we never stop to ask, why bread and wine? Among all the things Jesus might have chosen, why these two?

“Linda, would you like to join me tomorrow in giving out candy this Halloween?” - I asked my former late neighbor a few years ago on Halloween Eve as she was walking her wonderful Labrador retriever dog, “Stormy,” in our neighborhood.

As we are just about to enter into the season of fall and the leaves are beginning to drop, I'm reminded of a poignant moment in my past.

One of the great religious stories in history is the biblical story of the Exodus, the story of a people being set free from slavery, passing miraculously through the Red Sea, and finding themselves standing in freedom, on a new shore.