By Lucia A. Silecchia Recently, I got the ominous “heads up” that my work computer is scheduled to be replaced this summer. For most, this should be the most welcome of news. A new computer is faster, unclogged with old files, updated with the latest and greatest software and, in most objective ways, an improvement over the technology that it replaces. But, my first reaction […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia Two days in early February, one beautiful and one tragic, forced me to think deeply on the meaning and nature of compassion. First, the beautiful. February 11, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, was also the 34th World Day of the Sick. For the occasion, Pope Leo XIV issued a […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia Recently, my neighbor died. When I was at the funeral home and when I arrived at work late after his funeral, I was asked how I knew the gentleman who passed away. It was almost sheepishly, or with a note of apology that I said he was “a neighbor.” It was almost as though I thought that to mourn for one who […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia Recently, I have been the frequent, unwilling viewer of an interesting advertisement. In short, the advertisement begins by presenting the modern catastrophe of a family ordering dinner delivered to their home and discovering, to their horror, that each member of the family wants a different type of cuisine. To the rescue is the delivery app touted by the ad. It can save these poor people from […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia Pope Leo XIV recently released the first extensive document of his papacy, Dilexi Te, an Apostolic Exhortation on love for the poor. Almost immediately, pundits responded, some thoughtfully and others with partisan “hot takes” that pulled a mere line or two from the document to illustrate how it aligned perfectly with their […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia As September dawned, eyes turned to Rome with joy to celebrate the canonizations of two young men — Saints Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis. In a particular way, many hoped that the holy lives of these two new saints would have a special appeal to young people who would see […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia I was visiting a parish not my own when a young girl of about five greeted me. With a shy smile and the quiet encouragement of her family, she handed me a hand-colored greeting card welcoming me to her parish. I do not know if this card-making was a class project […]
By Lucia A. Silecchia The petals were dusty yellow and flecked with white. They emerged with timid strength from a nearly invisible crack in the blacktop of a nondescript driveway. In the midst of the dark pavement, a spunky petunia bloomed. The contrast between the delicate bright beauty of the flower and the cold ugliness […]
By IHE Scholar Lucia Silecchia Many of my deepest childhood memories are the timeless ones about family traditions, school events, summer vacations, late 1970s fashions, my cat, and adventures with friends. Along with these, I remember the significant place of the American Bicentennial in my earliest memories. I remember our family mailbox filled with literature from […]
As the familiar strains of Christmas hymns fill the air these days, it occurs to me that, in the canon of our most popular Christmas songs, Saint Joseph is inexplicably missing. As these songs describe the earliest witnesses to the Nativity, we sing of angels, wise men, little drummer boys, shepherds, sheep, and barnyard animals […]
