"The choice between a fresh-cut tree and a synthetic one is a choice between two ideas of Christmas. One is living, innately imperfect and genuine. The other is precise and mass-produced, but empty of the warmth and story that made our cultural habit so meaningful in the first place."
"We’ve gotten good at not finding peace, but constructing illusions of it. We push out regret, sadness and uncertainty, but they don’t go away. Every emotion, no matter how nuanced or uncomfortable, exists for a reason, and therein lies a lesson to be learned."
Around 8 a.m. on Easter Monday, April 21, I woke up and reached for my phone to check my notifications. There were way more than usual, and the first message I read was from a friend: ‘The Holy Father just died.” Pope Francis had passed away at age 88.