El Mensajero (English)

On Thanksgiving Day in America, perhaps the only time of the year when this happens, everyone is concerned that all be able to sit down to a sumptuous meal. That is why special dinners are prepared for the poor, homeless and other disadvantaged people. A recent story in my local paper described efforts of a local state legislator to organize a Thanksgiving meal for veterans.

The monthlong celebration of Hispanic heritage opened Sept. 15. African-Americans have their month in February, and other groups have similar observances throughout the year.

At the athletic club where my wife and I workout, the janitor in the men's locker room is named Juan, and his counterpart in the women's locker room is named Maria. Ask them how they are, and their response is always the same: "working."

New Year's traditionally stirs hopes for better times. But with so much "partisan extremism and government by rage" in 2010, a phrase from a recent New York Times editorial, it may seem futile to be hopeful.

The carol titled "I'll Be Home for Christmas" touches the powerful yearning we feel at this time. As such, it evokes nostalgia for things past, and that is all to the good, although there is more, much more to Christmas.

To help a stranger on the side of the road is admirable. All of us have been beneficiaries at one time or other, as when my pickup's engine died recently 20 miles from home.

At the recent commencement ceremony at Westchester Community College in Valhalla, N.Y., Jasiel Morales, 18, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was the youngest graduate. And although she came to Yonkers, N.Y., just five years ago and found a new language and culture "challenging," she was the top student in the class of 2010.

"Another year of grace! Yes, we face crises like never before, but crises stimulate hope, and with hope come efforts for truth, justice and peace. That effort breeds optimism and even joy. Some saints say that Jesus on the cross, though crying out in desperation, experienced a deep interior joy at a work accomplished."