A few weeks ago, I served with Bishop Sheridan and Father Kirk Slattery of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in a COVID-delayed Confirmation Mass for 53 young people.

 Most of the time I worry about getting the sequences, prayers, and actions right as a deacon. What struck me at this Mass was the homily of the Bishop. The exact words escape me now, but his opening words to the young people were “Are you ready?”

This year, in our diocese, we lost between 10 and 20 percent of our ash trees. While that may not seem like a lot, it really is. Fluctuating temperatures are a major factor to consider while living here and trying to decide what to plant in our landscapes. Recent record-breaking lows with snow in early September can have a major impact on what survives and what will perish in the garden.

Several popular myths about COVID-19 vaccines have been gaining traction on social media in recent months, particularly in regard to messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines being developed by Moderna, Sanofi, Pfizer and a handful of other companies. I would like to consider five of these myths:

We were newlyweds, and as a late wedding gift, a priest friend invited us to attend our bishop’s annual fundraising gala. A black-tie affair, my husband needed a tuxedo and I a gown. Off to the department store we went, a bit reluctant to spend money on fancy clothes we thought we’d never wear again.

The color-coded books first caught my eye.

It’s become one of my favorite flourishes in interior design, one that always stops me in my Instagram scrolling. And here it was, on the cover of a book titled “Theology of Home: Finding the Eternal in the Everyday.” Four built-in shelves held coordinating books: reds, whites, greens and blacks. From there, my eye wandered to the massive stone fireplace with a Blessed Mother icon above it and a crackling fire below. 

One solace we find in times of testing and during a global pandemic is the comfort of spiritual reading. From the Sacred Scriptures to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, from books about and from the saints, from the wise priest or the careful and diligent scholar, we cherish the gift of the printed page (and in whatever else an electronically read or audibly listened form it may take), we abide in Christ, gird the loins of our spirit, and ponder life’s mysteries with words that those wiser can provide. Is it thus true that in reading, we can be guided into heaven at the end of our days? The authors of the three books reviewed here would argue that we can.

Whether you call them Glads, Sword Lilies, Gladiolas, Gladiolus, or just pretty, these exotic- looking stalks are showing off their spectacular flowers all around town. If you happen to spot some, consider the time and talent from the dedicated gardener. Then get your camera ready.

A principal reason why the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was so successful both morally and practically was that it was led largely by people with a strong religious sensibility. The most notable of these leaders was, of course, Martin Luther King.