FR. RON ROLHEISER, omi

After Jesus had fed a crowd of more than 5,000 with five loaves and two fish, he asked his apostles to gather up the fragments that were left over, scattered here and there on the ground. They did as he asked and ended up filling 12 baskets with leftovers.

The contemporary German Protestant theologian Jurgen Moltmann has developed an understanding of the Holy Spirit as "the power of creation and the wellspring of life."

SR. LOUISE ZDUNICH, NDC

Why don’t we have bells rung at the Consecration any more? It seems to me that the Consecration, said without any special emphasis, tends to blend in with the rest in such a way that it is easy to miss it, especially if one gets distracted.

RALPH HIMSL

Forty years ago good fortune brought me a friendship which endures to this day despite the separations of time and distance.

KATHLEEN GIFFIN

My children all remember me doing my Mick Jagger imitation when they were young. In response to their complaints when things didn't go the way they wanted, I would sing, "You can't always get what you want . . . you get what you need."

MARIA KOZAKIEWICZ

The priest and the Levite in today's Gospel were not heartless people. They simply could not afford to be in close contact with the dying because such people often ended up really dead - and on the very hands of the rescuer.

To these two men - not the Samaritan, however - that would be a disaster, not mere unpleasantness.

Bet you didn’t know that the world is now in a new dark age? After all, the last century, indeed the last 10 years, has been the greatest period of technological advance in human history. More than that, increasing numbers of people are receiving advanced education and the amount of scientific research is unparalleled. Prosperity has spread from the Western world and is showing clear signs of spreading across nations such as China and India.

It’s a gift to the eyes and to the senses. Mary’s Garden at Holy Family Church is a beautiful place filled with flowers, plants and trees that allow one to experience God’s creation, and that invites prayer and contemplation.

The simplest explanation of the apostolic nature of the true Church is in terms of apostolic succession. The bishops today and throughout history are true successors of the apostles because of the unbroken chain of consecration - the laying on of hands from one generation to the next.