I cannot help but imagine what the woman in the picture was thinking or feeling when she received the Cross of ashes the morning of the shooting – what was she hoping to encounter as she journeyed through the desert towards the Resurrection? What did she hope to reconcile as she journeyed towards the Cross?...

Although visits to “the station” allowed me to get a glance of what my dad did day to day as a Texas lawman, I really never understood the importance of the work he was called to do until I noticed a battered sign in his office, one that probably had been there for years, which read:

“Remember, we work for God.” – Lt. Cmdr. Vernon J. Gerberth ,  NYPD

Whether you like or are inspired by it or not, there is no denying that this year’s Vatican nativity has renewed the debate as to whether or not the Church is too focused on the social Gospel – what ever happened to reverence and our deep devotion to Christ through our belief in/understanding of the Incarnation?