Frank Sutton’s fifteen-year-old cat seemed to enjoy rousting him   from sleep only on Saturdays when he had the day off and could stay in bed an extra hour. Today was no exception. Fully awake, he shooed the beast from his chest with a muttered curse and dressed quickly – khakis and a starched button-down with an ink stain on the pocket. He was thinking of leaf-filled gutters, bacon and eggs, the divorce Cheryl had threatened last week right after church, for no good reason.

When we practice generosity and forgiveness, we reflect the image of God. – Mac Canoza I was sitting on the toilet when I got the...

Four weeks in, as a petition for absolution, I hiked, occasionally encountering other pilgrims as we weaved France’s verdant, wooded,...

The white GM box truck with ‘J Corduroy, Antiques – Collectibles’  on the side in scraped brown paint bounced us as the big tires rolled...

Which is the more difficult thing to do—love your immediate surroundings for the way they nurture you? Or hate them for all that they’ve...

(content warning: this story includes references to domestic violence.) As a cradle Catholic, I always knew you needed your faith to do...

“This is my favorite part of the drive,” said Alberto. We were cruising over the 18-mile span of the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, en route...

Stewart came from a town where the water was abundant but never clean. Lillian came from a town where there wasn’t enough water to keep...

1. Vin stood in front of the bathroom mirror studying the lump protruding from his left shoulder. Pinching it between his thumb and index...

Adrian Reynosa awaited his final appointment of the day. He was weary of urine tests, paperwork, perfunctory questions with equally...

As a labor and delivery nurse of 25 years, I worked with many doctors. One of the anesthesiologists I worked with for 20 years placing...

1 It was a cool fall evening, the sky gray and the air still. I tied the goldenrod with a blue ribbon and held it in my hand as I walked,...

Henry opened his eyes to sunrise slanting beneath the overpass. Summer humidity clung to his skin like wet cotton. From the distance,...