Ian Barth: “She’s Dead!” Susong’s from-the-gut account of caring for a disagreeable elderly family member manages to be both hilarious and moving. With assisted dying increasingly promoted as an option that avoids suffering and loss of dignity, we need such reminders of the value of acts of love (however imperfect) to those who need it most.

Leah Sargeant: “My Daughter Exists” In this wonderful essay, a child who seems far from “normal” reveals to her mother what is most core to being human.

Sam Hine: “The Redemption of Lam Trang” A teen gang member lands behind bars, but that’s not where this story ends.

Joy Marie Clarkson: “Crafting Beauty” Three artists reflect on what beauty means in their work. For one it is a provocation, for another a simple delight that the sophisticated art world hardly recognizes, for another divine comfort in the face of grief.

Coretta Thomson: “The Killer in Our Choir” This short yet profound personal forgiveness story also touches on rural life, Black history, and how communities are sustained through the quiet decisions of each member.

Peter Mommsen: “Deerassic Park” A high school teacher in a low-opportunity area in western New York gets his students into the outdoors, teaching them to hunt and fish – and coaching them to believe in themselves in the process. This reported piece is, for me, among the most memorable in the Plough genre “profiles of people just doing good stuff.” By the end, a quadriplegic teenager has shot his first buck.

Shana Goodwin: “My Mother’s Hidden Radiance” The author learns a different way to see beauty when mental illness tries to steal his mother’s spark.

Maureen Swinger: “The School Principal’s Prayer” This piece is a prayer on behalf of all people who show up, every single day, to do the same, mundane, indescribably important, and often invisible work. Especially when undertaking such work for the sake of children, we must hold to “a belief that this work, done well and done with care, is sacred.”

Maria Hine: “The Fishermonk of Athos” This photo essay takes you on a pilgrimage to a rocky peninsula in Greece to meet the monk whose daily liturgy takes place out on the waves.

Alan Koppschall: “Your Friends Are Not in Your Phone” With the proliferation of essays “written” by large language models, a philosophy professor describes the difficulties and, more importantly, the blessings of giving up her phone and rediscovering what it means to be an embodied person.

Caitrin Keiper: “Can a Painting Save You?” A wild spiritual odyssey comes to a head in a coffee-table book of Christmas pictures. The flash of revelation has illuminated the author's mother's whole life, and his.

Dori Moody: “Dealing with Difficult People” From the creator of Narnia, some down-to-earth advice on a most unmagical topic: how to get along with people who are just plain awful. C. S. Lewis offers no convenient wardrobe to escape from the worst person of all – your own fatally flawed self.

Joe Hine: “Mind Your Own Scapegoats” A thought-provoking introduction to René Girard’s influential theory of why we like to find scapegoats.

Wilma Mommsen: “Children of Terabithia” Reading this article feels like a beautiful if searing visit to a place where the perimeters are set above and beyond this world’s standards. Caitrin shows how each human life counts for something.