As I write this, my son is at St. Mary’s in Altoona, loving every minute of his Totus Tuus week with one of three Diocese of Superior crews. It’s a school of sorts – without really feeling like it – and as he runs and plays and meets new kids, he’s also learning about his faith.

I hope your holidays were rich with love and joy.

I spent most of the first full week of June tuned into the Catholic Media Conference, the annual gathering of the Catholic Media Association.

Looking across a barren field on a frosty morning, I see an abstract quilt of colors and textures. Scraggily golden cornstalks, dark stripes of ploughed land, stripped grayed soybeans, dried-down alfalfa.

In 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown was executed for treason and murder after leading raids and uprisings. Raised in a Calvinist, anti-slavery home, he was so moved by an 1837 abolition meeting that he swore to dedicate his life to ending slavery. Many lives were lost – including three of his sons – as he launched his guerilla warfare.

Last week, a family member posted a June 6 CNN article on Facebook: “My friend chose an assisted death in Switzerland. Her dying wish was to tell you why.”

This is a time for reflection, creativity and conversion, to summarize Pope Francis’ comments to journalist Austen Ivereigh in an interview published April 8.

Ah, an election year. A marvelous time to pack up, set sail and drop anchor near some South Sea island, perhaps. Take a long vacation. Until, say, mid-November.

Advent is an opportunity to examine one’s conscience – all the penance services and confession sessions are an excellent reminder of inevitable human failing – and even bathed in the beauty of the Christmas season, we are all aware (especially if we have small children!) of the potential pitfalls of the holidays.