After every six spans of toil and wander, after every six questioning days of, what, agnosticism at best? After every six days of struggling through hope there is a seventh, a dawn of mercy called rest.

When St. Paul prays for the righteousness of God's people, he does not pray that they would begin by cleaning up their act. Stop sinning and be an example. Rather he begins simply: love one another and grow in the knowledge of God. This is exceptionally good news for those of us who feel overburdened and anxious by the news of the day or last night's failures.

It’s the plot point every playwright would kill to add in the fourth act, but who would believe it? "To live is Christ" means that, in one sense, the living have already had their dying.