This Monday is Memorial Day, a holiday on which we remember in a special way all of the men and women who served in the armed forces and sacrificed their lives protecting our country and its freedoms. It was originally a day to remember the lives lost in the Civil War, but it was eventually broadened to encompass all wars and armed conflicts. Sadly, there have been many of them over the course of our nation’s history.

While speaking to the College of Cardinals last Saturday in his first official address since his election, Pope Leo XIV explained his choice of papal name, noting that Pope Leo XIII “addressed the social question in the context of the first great industrial revolution” with his encyclical, Rerum Novarum. “In our own day, the Church offers to everyone the treasury of her social teaching in response to another industrial revolution and to developments in the field of artificial intelligence that pose new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.”

Happy Mother’s Day! Today also is World Day of Prayer for Vocations. “Every vocation to the priesthood comes from the heart of God, but it passes through the heart of a mother.” (St. Pius X). I think that applies to other vocations as well, such as a religious sister or brother, a Permanent Deacon, and a spouse/parent in the Sacrament of Marriage. God has a plan for every child. He wants them to be happy, and their true happiness is found in discovering God’s plan for their lives—their vocation—and following it wholeheartedly.

It’s interesting to hear people of different faiths, as well as Catholics, talking about the election of a new pope. Certainly, it seems to have captured people’s imagination, and the news media is captivated by the traditions surrounding the election. There are all kinds of speculation about who the new pope will be and what he will be like. Trusting in the guidance of the Holy Spirit who has been with our Church since Pentecost, we can have great hope that he will be what our Church needs in this present time.