Reflecting on John Henry Newman’s stress on personal influence, I am beginning to connect it more clearly in my mind with the obligation (or should I say honor?) of Catholics bearing witness with their lives to what we believe.

During the past week, I have been thinking about last week’s column in which I claimed that David Brooks’ book “The Road to Character” is one of the best books I have ever read.

I probably can only describe David Brooks’ “The Road to Character” with superlatives. It is one of the best books I have ever read. I only hope that in sharing the ideas and insights of Brooks (who recently left The New York Times and took a new position as a writer for The Atlantic) with readers of this weekly column, I can convey why I consider the book great.

As I am ending this series of columns on offering our deaths as a gift to others, I keep thinking of the word “chiaroscuro.” The word means a mixture of light and darkness. My experience is that when I reflect on a mystery, either a philosophical mystery or a religious mystery, my insight seems like a light penetrating the mystery that leads to some understanding of the mystery. 

Morris West is one of my favorite Catholic novelists. I vividly recall when I first read one of his novels. I was a seminarian recovering from the flu. The title of the novel was “The Devil’s Advocate.”

My second reading of Father Ronald Rolheiser’s new book “Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years” has helped me not only to better understand Rolheiser’s insights but to appreciate just how important they are. This is really a book that could profoundly change a person’s life.

Ronald Rolheiser’s thoughts on vocations are beautiful, but are they true? All who read his book will have to answer for themselves.

Father Ronald Rolheiser’s book has helped me to see what a great blessing close friends are and also the gift to them that my death can be.

All those who participated in presenting the Festival of Lessons and Carols at the Immaculate Conception Center gave us a wonderful gift.

Recently, I had a fascinating experience in one of my classes at St. John’s University. The class may have been the outstanding class of the fall semester. I had read that a contemporary Catholic philosopher wondered if poetry might be a good way for people in our very secular society to experience the transcendent, to discover a sense of the mystery of being human, a mystery often overlooked or even denied in contemporary society.