I want to address the topic of sacramentals. Sacramentals can be anything that conveys God’s grace to us. As Catholics we have a vast array of sacramental devotional items, pictures, statues, holy cards, rosaries, crucifixes, etc. etc. However, we have allowed ourselves to be drawn away from this recognition to a much narrower view of the flow of God’s grace. With the increase of literacy and the easy access to information, we have unconsciously come to view grace as only available by knowledge, particularly written words. (Here you are reading in this moment.) Reading, information, and knowledge are all good and very important. But remember, Jesus is the Word made flesh, not the flesh made word. Christ is the complete and perfect expression of God’s word, communication, information, and knowledge. The Word became a human being. It is by His humanness that He has conveyed to us the Word. We have in the Gospels the printed Word that he spoke to reveal His message. The message is essential and complete, but God is even more than printed words. All of creation in some manner reflects its Creator. So, when you are tempted to say, “I prayed, read the Bible, went to Mass, sat before the Sacrament or visited a church but did not get anything out of it”, please consider what you were expecting. Perhaps you were expecting some kind of knowledge and God had something better, greater, or mystical for you. Yours in Christ, Fr. Sid.