It begins with fear.  A poor village. The kind of place most people pass over without a second thought. Empty granaries. No walls strong enough to protect them. The bandits will return after harvest—it’s only a matter of time. The villagers know they cannot fight back. All they can do is wait… and hope.   Hope that someone, somewhere, will come to their aid .  When I last watched Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai , I didn’t expect it to linger with me the way it did. It’s often

Advent is never meant to be comfortable. It is a season that gently — and sometimes uncomfortably — invites us to look inward, to examine our hearts, and to ask difficult questions about how we live, what we value, and whom we love. In this sense, A Christmas Carol is far more than a festive tale. It is, as many have observed, a profoundly Catholic Advent story — one of conscience, conversion, and concrete acts of charity.  Ebenezer Scrooge’s journey mirrors what Advent asks

I still remember the moment I first read about the tragedy — a small wooden boat, overloaded, drifting in dangerous waters between Thailand and Malaysia. Dozens of frightened families, carrying nothing but hope, had clung to one another as the waves rose. They had set out because staying behind meant persecution or death. But the sea, indifferent and merciless, claimed them. And for many, the world barely noticed.  A Tragedy Unnoticed  In early November 2025, a boat carrying