If the pandemic has taught me anything about my life of faith, I hope it has taught me the importance of being still and silent with God, or at least sometimes listening to rather than speaking to God.

In his excellent essay in the November issue of Commonweal magazine, Father Robert Imbelli argues persuasively that to challenge the frightening reality that only 31% of American Catholics believe in the Real Presence and also the disappointing truth that large numbers of Catholics no longer celebrate Sunday Eucharistic celebrations, we need what he refers to as a Eucharistic strategy.

In the September issue of Commonweal magazine Peter Steinfels had a marvelous essay entitled “Separate Challenges,” dealing with the meaning of the Eucharist and what the American bishops should do to meet the crisis — and indeed it is a crisis — about the large number of Catholics who do not believe in the Real Presence of the Risen Christ in the Eucharist and about the large number of Catholics who regularly miss the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist.

I wonder if readers of this column grew up with the same understanding of the Old and New Testaments that I grew up with, which was really a misunderstanding. I thought of the God of the Old Testament as a God of anger and the God of the New Testament as a God of love.

Each year as Thanksgiving arrives, I try to think of the countless blessings for which I should be grateful. Of course, because they are countless, it is impossible to do more than remember some blessings that stand out in my memory.

During the pandemic, all sorts of memories came back to me, some wonderful, some very sad. I received at least one important insight into myself. Often I am in high gear, involved with many projects, pressured to keep a number of commitments, trying to meet various deadlines. What I have discovered about myself is that I easily tend to be impatient. And I mean easily.

As I arrive at the end of the series based on Learning to Pray by James Martin, S.J., I think, indeed I hope, that Father Martin’s insights will stay with me for a long time.

Throughout his book, “Learning to Pray” (New York: HarperOne, 2021, pp. 386, $27.99), Father James Martin stresses the important role that sacred scripture can play as we approach God in prayer. This should not come as a surprise to Catholics since we believe that scripture is the inspired word of God.

The truth that we must die to self must frighten me. Though through faith I can handle my emotional reaction, it strikes me that I should examine my reaction, reflect on it to see if I can understand it better, and perhaps use it to grow.