Taking Inventory

Anne Lamott tells a story of a little girl who got lost one day. After driving around with a policeman looking for familiar landmarks, she saw her church and said, “You can let me out now. This is my church, and I can always find my way home from there.”

Lamott adds, “And that is why I have stayed close to mine—because no matter how bad I’m feeling, how lost, lonely or frightened, when I see the faces of the people at my church, I can always find my way home.”

More than 400 years ago, St. Ignatius...