Lent is almost here here. John the Baptist, the locust-eating ascetic dressed in camel hair, stands on the banks of the Jordan to usher us into the Lenten season of repentance and denial on … Valentine's Day, the annual celebration of love, relationship and romance.

"An open heart is a heart broken open; and a broken heart is opened up to fuller loving. Package deal."

The collaborative governance model helps congregations in need of financial and leadership assistance. The civil corporations from two or more congregations create a third corporation, which handles insurance, human resources, property management, legal issues, and all other tasks the congregations require. This frees up congregations' leadership to focus on spiritual issues.

In Conversation - Global Sisters Report's Chris Herlinger on anti-trafficking efforts in Haiti and at the U.N.; Srs. Sarah Kohles and Susan Francois talk about their new book.

See for Yourself - "I'm raising a felon. He's only 7 months old but he's already perfected the art of stealing." I responded to friend Mimi, "Sounds like you have a new dog."

I have long known that love is a package deal, complete with overflowing tenderness as well as overwhelming vulnerability to pain. What caught me up short was the sheer capacity of a single heart to hold equal portions of joy and pain simultaneously.

"God does not dispense the grace of healing from the heavens. We — God's incarnate presence on earth — are responsible to bring God's healing to our brothers and sisters in pain."