"The high, the low of all creation, God gives to humankind to use. If this privilege is misused, God's justice permits creation to punish humanity."

Horizons - As I sit in discussions about the future we try to live today, questions arise: Can we try something new without the guarantee of success? How free are we to live the mission and not just leave a legacy?

See for Yourself - A young physician who grew up in the parish was my cantor for the Saturday afternoon Mass. I was the substitute musician and didn't know my way around the music books and where everything was kept.

"The church should be not just a place of comfort but a place where we confront our discomfort. We sit there in the pews and stare at a crucified body. The least we could do is turn our attention to the people who are being crucified in our midst today."

A planned refugee camp opened in Jordan in 2014 offers health care, education and food to encourage people fleeing from Syria's war not to settle permanently in urban areas — where 81 percent of them live today. Meanwhile, sisters help make connections to ease refugees' lives in the cities, sometimes being able to do little more than lend an ear.

• All the Seeking Refuge series stories can be found here.

"Through contemplation, one can become aware of how one sees the world. One realizes that everyone views reality with blinders on, and over time, through the developmental process, those blinders can be cut back — broadening the worldview from which one engages reality."

Contemplate This - These past weeks, a number of things have happened in the United States that signal to me we are entering a critical soul-searching time as a nation. Can this be the moment to pause as a nation and enter the "space" that seems to divide us and converse with each other in new ways? Can we ask what our common humanity is trying to call forth in us? Can we reclaim the best of who we are as Americans and who we want to be in the future?

European Union leaders and religious and academic leaders from around the world have criticized the Israeli government's decision to demolish a Jahalin Bedouin village of about 190 people and relocate its residents close to the al-Azaria Palestinian village, on the edge of a garbage dump.

"We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community."

When I am tired of arguing in defense of immigrants, of calling my legislators, of documenting what's happening via social media, I think of the refugees I have met in the temporary shelters. They are tired, too.