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The other morning I was praying before Mass and I had some thoughts that I would like to share. I was offering all of myself to the Lord. Specifically that morning I was offering him all of my failures, my shortcomings and imperfections. I have heard great saints talk about how their shortcomings is all they have that is truly theirs. Anyway, then I started to feel that maybe I shouldn’t be offering such “trash” to the Lord. Then this hit me.

I am writing this on the feast of the exaltation of the Cross. This seems a strange thing to exalt and celebrate. St. Paul says that the Cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. I know that by the time you read this the feast day will have already passed. However, we proclaim not just Christ, but Christ crucified. The Cross does in fact seem foolishness to the eyes of the world and it is in fact a stumbling block for many.

I hope that everyone was safe and relatively unharmed by Hurricane Ida. We were very fortunate here. It is odd to think about how different so many people are experiencing life right now. I am writing this on Aug. 31, just a day after Ida passed through.

​​​​​​​As I write this column we are on the eve of the first full day of school in our Catholic schools. I know that all teachers work hard and all teachers should be applauded. However, in this space I want to thank those who enter into our schools as ministers of education.

I think most people are familiar with the concept that human beings use both faith and reason to come to knowledge. We usually see this when we are talking about coming to know God. As Catholics we know that we must have faith, but we also know that our faith must be informed with reason. These two faculties work hand in hand.