Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted Sept. 2-23 EVENTS MASS FOR PEACE, JUSTICE, HEALING , Sept. 5, 7 p.m., celebrated by Father Kyle Dave.

As multitudes of people kept their eyes on the sky on Aug. 21, I let my eyes look around. And what I saw was just as inspiring as the moon eclipsing the sun: communities joining together to experience a truly awe-inspiring event.

Ron BROCATO SPORTS Hurricanes and tropical storms are hardly new to this neck of the swamp. They’ve made periodic visits ever since the area founded by Jean-Baptist LeMoyne Sieur de Bienville and named  Nouvelle Orléans was little more than a plot of wetland occupied by snakes, alligators and mosquitos.

Thank goodness that’s over. That, of course, is the biggest farce in all of professional sports: the NFL preseason. Here’s all you need to know about what a phony the preseason is: The Cleveland Browns were unbeaten after three weeks, and the Atlanta Falcons were winless.

While the world reels from terrorism, natural disasters and division, God weeps with those who suffer and offers the hope of a future full of joy and consolation, Pope Francis said. Recalling the victims of a terror attack in Barcelona Aug. 17, a devastating landslide Aug. 16 in Congo, and “many other” tragic global events, the pope urged Christians to meditate on God’s tenderness when “they report sad news, which we are all at risk of becoming accustomed to.” “Think of the faces of children frightened by war, the cry of mothers, the broken dreams of many young people, the refugees who face terrible journeys and are exploited so many times,” the pope said Aug. 23 during his weekly general audience.

Kelly ADKINS GUEST COLUMN I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that’s what I heard him say one night. He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen.