We arrived in the Eternal City with the dawn. On the in-flight screen, as we flew through the darkness, I could see the sun racing towards us. It reached Rome the same time as we did.

Isn’t it funny that the liturgical year starts with a period of waiting? Every year we get things going, by waiting. We wait for the birth of Christ through the season of Advent. I think this is fascinating and worthy of contemplation. Recently I found a source for such a contemplation in our country’s two official languages.

Jonathan Castillo is a cartonero in Argentina — a collector of discarded recyclables.

It’s 4:30 a.m. and I cannot sleep. I am too excited. Same thing happened yesterday. I am sitting up in bed in a Comfort Inn in North Bay, Ont. My brother is beside me, also awake. In several hours we will head into Algonquin Park back country for four days in search of brook trout. It is supposed to rain the whole time. And yet, I am still excited.

“We didn’t have any houses destroyed.”

I was recently inspired by Venezuelan goalkeeper Wuilker Faríñez. My jaw dropped as he saved shot after shot in a 0-0 draw against heavily favoured Colombia in the COPA America football tournament, currently being played in Brazil.

“When something grows, it gets bigger, but when it develops, it gets different.” These are the words of ecological economist Herman Daly.

“Paid Sick Days.” This phrase keeps showing up in my social media and news feeds. Mostly it comes from Catholic social justice and labour union friends as well as from my local MPP (a member of the New Democratic Party). The Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association has been calling for paid sick days in Ontario for some time as part of their COVID-19 advocacy. As far as I can see, they are the only significant Catholic institution that has been doing so. Does our Catholic faith support this position? Absolutely.

“You say you care about the poor … then tell me, what are their names?”

I come like a beggar with a gift in my hand. These are the opening lyrics to a song by Sydney Carter that I learned as part of the Toronto Catholic Worker community many years ago. As we enter the season of Lent and its call to prayer, fasting and almsgiving, I find myself quietly singing it to myself. The song continues, “By the hungry I will feed you, by the poor I’ll make you rich, by the broken I will mend you, tell me which one is which.”