The Pennsylvania state lottery has, as its spokesperson, a talking groundhog. This supersized rodent shows up with his criminal gang of faux carolers every December. They then hijack the airwaves and rework the lyrics of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” into a siren song for gambling. And why not? When the holiday snow glistens, so the marketing hypnosis suggests, everyone can afford to risk a few (or more than a few) dollars on the prospect of winning mythically fantastic wealth. And winning can, and occasionally does, happen, just like miracles. The heart secretly knows that some fairy tales, like a pot of lottery gold, can come true; after all, Jack did pretty well trading his cow for those magic beans.
Somebody
has to have the ticket that transmogrifies his or her life.
POPE FRANCIS TO CONFER NEW LAY MINISTRIES FOR FIRST TIME IN ST. PETER’S BASILICA
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will confer the ministries of catechist, lector, and acolyte upon lay men and
