“The anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked what she regarded as the earliest sign of civilization,” Father Jerry shares in this morning’s homily, “Was it an axe blade, an arrowhead, a fish hook, or something more sophisticated, such as a musical instrument, or a ceramic bowl? Her answer surprised her questioner: A healed human femur. Not something made by a human, but something actually human. Not an artifact, but a part of someone who once lived, and walked this earth, who was hurt, and healed.” To help and to heal… that is civilization.