Notes from the Field - There is a Haitian proverb that translates to "Follow your heart," and this island and its people provide plenty of opportunities to do just that in a manner that is true to self and remembers where you came from and what shaped you.

There is no better way to begin this year's Lent than to show love to our brothers and sisters. God is wise; indeed God is wisdom herself. What better way to begin Lent if not by being charitable to my fellow pilgrims on earth?

We have a sense of the direction into which religious life is moving as seeds of a rich diversity are budding into a growing internationality and interculturality in religious communities in Canada and the United States. 

"As long as there are people in our world who are bound unjustly, oppressed, hungry, homeless and naked, Lent cannot be just for me, or just for you. These 40 days call us to much more."

Not since 1945 has Valentines' Day and Ash Wednesday fallen on the same day. I found myself intrigued by this. First, I remembered from my childhood how eager I was to see how many valentines I would receive and from whom and the weighty decision as to whom I would ask, "Would you be my Valentine?"

"The only case that we make is on behalf of the Gospel and our obligation as a community of faith to tend to the least among us. And I think that's a message that all Catholics, regardless of where they stand in the political spectrum, can hear."

As we receive from our elder sisters, so too we need to be willing to reverse mentor to share our gifts and skills of our youth with them. Through meaningful conversation, we can share with them what it is like to discern a vocation today.

"Solidarity means we're going to stay together, even when we disagree. We're not going to walk away from each other."

A global sisterhood will be strengthened by the intentional living of our congregational charisms and purposeful sharing of it with each other. As younger sisters who desire to do this well, it is important for us to know the deep stories of our charisms.

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.