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Matthew Desmond — speaking Oct. 9 at Catholic Charities of Baltimore’s second annual “Journey to Social Justice” symposium, offered some answers, as well as hard truths, about the high cost of being poor in the United States.

Each year, churches around the world commemorate World Mission Sunday to highlight, encourage and promote the Catholic Church’s missions around the world.
The day, which was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1926, is observed on the penultimate Sunday of October, and a worldwide collection is made to provide financial support for the Pontifical Mission Societies and its missions in some 1,100 dioceses worldwide. This year’s commemoration takes place Oct. 20.

Our Heavenly Father takes our discarded bits and pieces them together, making a masterpiece of our scraps. Catholics are called to do this for each other.

If we are to be a synodal church, we must do this; we must show that the church is listening, and has heard the reverberating cries of our victims, and of those who have left the pews out of disgust for our sins, and that it is genuinely and demonstrably repentant.

In light of such great suffering, Catholics should respond to the plea of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and dedicate this Oct. 7 to prayer, penance and fasting.

On a dusky fall evening, I take a walk down a familiar neighborhood street. Ahead of me, a small deer looks my way at the same moment I spot him. Freezing, I realize he’s being followed by seven companions. They dash across the street and disappear into a backyard.

Meyer: Where do I do some of my best praying, especially prayers of thanksgiving? On my bike and in my kitchen.

As we move into the heart of autumn, let’s take a moment to really see the falling leaves for what they are — a summons to surrender.