“Centesimus annus” was a call to think about free politics and free economics as more than mechanisms. Democracy and the market, the Pope John Paul II insisted, are not machines that can run by themselves.

The need to freshly understand the meaning of our humanity is as important — if not more important — than ever.

Over these 75 years, I have experienced the vocation of sanctity in so many ways, each of which has left its imprint on my soul and my spiritual life.

Pardon the Latin-rooted neologism, but if “patricide” works for murdering your father and “regicide” for taking out a king, why not “ecclesiacide” for trying to kill an entire Church?

This Mother’s Day, if your parish adds anything to Mass, let it be words of love. Prayers that celebrate motherhood as a calling.

Once you hold the host in your hands, and realize that the gift of the Eucharistic presence came from what looked like absence, you realize the paradox of every powerful love.

The Church’s pastors should avoid causing further confusion by helping God’s people embrace the mysteries of faith in love.

I had a couple of lengthy and, I thought, productive e-mail exchanges with one of the authors of a recent Wall Street Journal Saturday Essay” before its publication. I reprise those exchanges here.

It’s good to remember this Holy Week that we are empowered to get up and continue the journey because Christ got up from his three falls.