As I read the readings for next Sunday, I didn't focus so much on the content of those readings, but rather what came to my mind was the blessing of being literate. I wondered what my life would be if I had never learned to read because that had been one of my passions throughout my life. I remember in my seminary days that I always had a book or two or three within easy reach so I could use every free moment to read on. Have you ever stopped to think what your life would have been like so far or how it would be if you had never had the privilege and opportunity of learning how to read?

    Books have been some of the best gifts I have received throughout the years and this Christmas was no exception. Knowing how much I had enjoyed Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, they gave me Stones Into Schools, his latest book. Mortenson, I believe, has performed miracles by constructing 131 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan that provide an education for 58,000 students, with practically half of them girls in those countries where oftimes it is forbidden for girls to go to school.

    I found it quite interesting how Mortenson got into the business of building schools in these isolated villages. In the introduction to his current book, he writes, "This story begins in Pakistan in 1993, the year I attempted to climb K2, the world's second highest mountain, only to be forced to turn back 2,000 feet shy of the summit. After making my way back to K2 base camp, I then got lost while trekking down the 39-mile Baltoro glacier and wound up staggering into a little village called Korphe, a place so destitute that one in every three children perish before the age of one. It was in Korphe that I was provided with shelter, food, tea, and a bed. And it was in Korphe one afternoon during my recuperation that I stumbled across 82 children sitting outside writing their lessons with sticks in the dirt and no teacher in sight. One of those young students was a girl named Thocho and she somehow got me to promise the community that I would someday return and build them a school." His story has touched so many people that he has been able to build 131 schools. He is the co-founder of the nonprofit Central Asia Institute. I don't think we can imagine how excited those children have become at the prospect of having a school building even without electricity and plumbing. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times is quoted on the cover of Mortenson's new book, "This week ... I watched Greg Mortenson open one of his schools for girls in a remote Afghan village in the Hindu Kush mountains. I must say after witnessing the delight in the faces of those little Afghan girls crowded three to a desk waiting to learn, I found it very hard to write "Let's get out of here."

    I reviewed my own journey. I started school at age 5 at Sacred Heart School. The building had 6 classrooms but by doubling up two of the grades, we went up to the eighth grade. I remember each classroom had a pot-bellied stove and I remember how all the boys volunteered to go to the basement to get a bucket of coal. Of course we had no PE, but we did have a recess where creativity reined in devising enjoyable games of one sort or another. In the 7th and 8th grade I attended Five Points public school where we did not yet have permanent classrooms. We had an outdoor basketball court and outdoor restrooms. I attended St. Mary's High School for 2 years and then left for the seminary. I was in school for 20 years. After reading the books by Mortenson, I am more grateful than ever for the education I received. That has made my life a wonderful adventure.

    I enjoy reading the scriptures, especially for my Reflections. The bible was written over the course of a thousand years so every time I read any part of it, it seems that I am transported to another time and place, but never far from the presence of God. As the years go by and I grow in my appreciation of my faith and my culture, I cannot help but think of the many people who shared these blessings with me and the many who will never even be able to read.

    Today, the feast of The Baptism of the Lord, reminds us of our own baptism and how that reality has touched our life. I am reminded so vividly that God loves every member of the human family with an unconditional and infinite love and that no one should be excluded from our many basic rights, especially our faith, freedom and education.

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