During dinner, each person shares why he or she admires or appreciates this person. What started out as an obligation when my children were young has blossomed into a meaningful tradition in their adult years.

This month, I want to extend that tradition and honor the Lord for all he has done in the history of The Word Among Us. The body of Christ is made up of so many members, so many ministries, and so many beautiful manifestations of God’s grace. We recognize that The Word Among Us is but one small part of God’s work. Yet any work of the Lord, however small, is important, because everything that God does is important.

So we honor the faithfulness of the Lord, who gave us a mission thirty-five years ago to help Catholics encounter Christ through the Scriptures. We are amazed by the hundreds of thousands of lives around the world whom God has touched through this magazine, and we honor him, the God of the impossible, for what he has done.

Personally, I also want to honor everyone who has ever worked at The Word Among Us, from the very beginning until today. In particular, I want to honor my good brother Joe Difato, who founded the magazine; Fr. Francis Martin, who wrote many early issues and guided Joe; and Tom DiIenno, who left his job as an IBM executive to help bring this dream to life. And I would be remiss if I didn’t honor Leo Zanchettin, who has faithfully served as editorial director for the past twenty years.

Finally, I honor you, our brothers and sisters, who pray so faithfully and bring so much of Christ’s love into this world!

Jeff Smith
President