The Sister of Mercy's 39-acre Mercy Farm in Benson recently had a "BioBlitz" — a 24-hour period of intense biological surveying in May to attempt to record all the living species on the farm.

"The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity . . . and some scarce see Nature at all. But, to the eyes of the man of imagination, Nature is imagination itself."

The chaos of China's Cultural Revolution dispersed the St. Therese of the Child Jesus congregation in the 1960s. In 1988, the congregation was reborn, and Sr. Ma Suling, who joined in 1992, today is superior general of 100 St. Therese sisters, who thrive by being "creative and active."

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing."

GSR Today - One thing I love about my work at Global Sisters Report is meeting sisters who live and minister on the margins. Their invisibility, vulnerability and marginality struck me forcefully on a recent visit to Fiji to visit friends.

My Dad, a World War II veteran, passed along to me by way of example the spirit of the virtue of patriotism. Though in many ways our nation has not lived up to its full potential as "an agent of peace with justice for all people," there are some patriotic ways to celebrate July Fourth.

When Sr. Mary Rose Mukukibogo first approached women in Gisagara, southern Rwanda, about starting an agricultural association, they were furious. It was 1997, three years after the 100-day genocide in 1994 that killed more than a million people during the fighting and the chaos afterwards. Mukukibogo, a member of Les Soeurs Auxiliatrices (Helpers of the Holy Souls), remembers walking from house to house in the district near the southern city of Butare, asking them if they'd like to join a farming cooperative.

"Ask the animals — and they shall instruct you; ask the birds of the air — and they shall tell you; ask the plants of the Earth — and they will teach you and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of our God has done this? In God's hand is the life of every living being and the breath of humankind."

The Panama Canal, the highlight of our last day, was a study in contradictions after the full immersion in the natural world of Darién. In the context of the Web of Life, I think beyond this place and this moment, where 3,000 people will visit with their cameras and iPhones and take selfies in front of the moving machines. I think of the 30,000 people who died in the creation of this canal. I think of the mountains moved, the thousands of acres of forests flooded and wetlands drained, and the millions of gallons of fresh water being flushed into the sea with the movement of every ship.

The day was one of transition. Two earlier presenters, Hermel López, regional environment ministry representative for Darién, and Osvaldo Jordán of the Alianza para el Desarrollo y Conservación shared reflections about the future for Matusagaratí and its meaning as a microcosm of the larger picture. Participants joined in a thought-provoking reflection , then the group immediately jumped into a series of activities until nearly 10 p.m. in Panama City. Today, Friday, is the last day, and we will go to see the Panama Canal and then have an integration ceremony.