Viewpoints

Brian Williams took time from his nightly newscast earlier this month to announce that comedian Russell Brand had filed for divorce from singer Katy Perry, ending a marriage that had barely cleared the one-year mark.

The news was part of a ping-pong pop-culture recap that ended with Williams describing the latest YouTube sensation: a golden retriever bobbing its head to the strumming of guitar.

On the Solemnity of the Epiphany, I heard a sermon -- a rather well-delivered one at that -- about the Magi as religious "seekers." The same note, I'll wager, was struck from pulpits and ambos across the country, perhaps across the world.

But isn't there something a bit askew here?

When he wrote the line, "I have been acquainted with the night," Robert Frost could have been describing the fearful experience of a man whose story I recently learned.

Fearful, yet it left me filled with a strong sense of God's presence.

This story of hope was sent by Sherry Powers. It is appropriate in this month of new beginnings, promises and expectations.

We now find ourselves in what the Catholic liturgical calendar calls "ordinary time." The great Advent and Christmas seasons are behind us. With the feast of the Epiphany, the taking down of the holiday decorations began and came to an end. Even the New Year's celebrations, glamour and excitement are gone.

What still linger in our minds are the New Year's resolutions. Many of us opted, once again, to engage the coming of the New Year as a time for personal inventory and renewal. With our imaginations rolling and our aspirations soaring we made clear resolutions.

In a recent speech to bishops from the state of New York who were making the visit to Rome required of each bishop every five years, Pope Benedict XVI returned to two of the themes that dominated his visit to the United States in 2008: the sexual abuse crisis and the new evangelization. The pope's speech was the first of five major addresses that he will give as the U.S. bishops journey in 15 regional groups to Rome ad limina apostolorum (to the threshold of the apostles).

I have tinnitus.

The more common term for it is "ringing in the ears." It's not a disease but rather a symptom of many, many things.

There's no easy way for me to trace what it is that is causing the persistent, high-pitched sound inside my head. It could be my depression and anxiety; it could be the anti-depressant drugs I take to fight those things. It could be because of my caffeine intake, though an absence of caffeine is on the list of possible causes.