By John Donvan and Caren Zucker, The Atlantic 

“If the world uses a lens that is only based on deficits and struggle rather than the complexity and nuance that is a part of any human being, including and especially autistic people, that makes true belonging really hard,” Sara Swoboda, a pediatrician in Boise, Idaho, whose daughter has an autism diagnosis, told us over email.

“As global violence continues to threaten the lives and freedom of people around the world, Merton challenges us in his essay ‘The Christian in World Crisis,’ to remember that ‘it is a special obligation of the Christian, who, as a follower of Christ, must be a peacemaker.’ The vocation to peacemaking is not for a select few, but for all the baptized, who are exhorted by Christ himself to be instruments of peace in a world of violence.” 

By Daniel P. Horan, National Catholic Reporter

“Today's readings and world events call us to become Christians of conscience and to act accordingly. After all, we are part of a church entrusted with a global mission of justice, and we must participate in that mission on behalf of all people, whose suffering cannot go unaddressed.”

- By Carol J. Dempsey, National Catholic Reporter