OUR LADY OF LOURDES

Are you as surprised as I am that we are (already) preparing to celebrate the SIXTH “Sunday of the Word of God?” Or, perhaps, are you more surprised that this could be the first time you are hearing about the “Sunday of the Word of God?” For regular readers of this column, I think that I may owe you an apology because I don’t think that I have referenced or written about Pope Francis’ establishment, on Sept. 30, 2019, of an annual “Sunday of the Word of God,” on the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time.

If “a picture is worth a thousand words,” what is the value of a really wonderful and inspirational video? During the day on New Year’s Eve, I picked up a book that had been sitting on my bookshelf for some time. The title of the book is Sr. Clare Crockett: Alone with Christ Alone.

The end of one year and the beginning of another is a very appropriate time to “look back” and “look forward.” Here in our diocese, as we come to the close of 2024 and look forward, with the whole Church, to the New (Jubilee) Year of 2025, there is a special reason for us to “look back” with gratitude and “look forward” with great hope.