I needed my beloved son to teach me once more to gaze with desire upon the Blessed Sacrament, to receive with joy the body and blood of Our Lord.

Coming to the Catholic Church was not so much a radical departure from everything I had known before; it was a new chapter that allowed me to embrace and build upon it.

St. Óscar Romero’s words asking us to value our sufferings as Christ did invite me to see my struggles as something I do not need to hide.

It has been almost 20 years since I left New Orleans to join the Jesuits, and there are few things I miss more than Holy Week at my home parish.

As part of that small number of parishioners able to take the Eucharist, I felt that holy burden to be present in the Presence for those who could not be there.

My generation has never known what it is to exist without the possibility of death by firearms at school, at the movies.