"If people have to give up meat on Fridays in Lent, do vegetarians have to give up veggies?" "Do I have to give up things for Lent that I really love, like funny cat videos on YouTube?" We receive many questions like these at A Nun's Life Ministry as Lent approaches. People are eager to learn new ways to deepen their spirituality through the age-old practices of fasting as well as prayer and almsgiving, the three pillars of Lent.

GSR Today - Although I began my journalism career some 20 years ago, my toughest assignments came in the past year while covering the activities of some Catholic religious women for Global Sisters Report.

"By reading the scriptures I am so renewed that all nature seems renewed around me and with me. The sky seems to be a pure, a cooler blue, the trees a deeper green. The whole world is charged with the glory of God and I feel fire and music under my feet."

Notes from the Field - What does it mean to be a "Spirit-led, Spirit-intoxicated, Spirit-empowered people?" Our community had a midyear retreat March 3-5 in San Felipe, where the Good Shepherd Sisters established their first house in Chile over 160 years ago.

"Water belongs to us all. Nature did not make the sun one person's property, nor air, nor water, cool and clear."

GSR Today - In a scenario that plays out across the globe, Sr. Kathleen Melia was attacked outside her convent — violence some suspect was related to Columban sister's work with the Subaanen people in their battle against large-scale mining.

Let us be the women who attune our inner ear to the heartbeat of God, who listen for the whir of wings on the way to prayers, and who find presence in the most empty spaces.

The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious publishes a Vocations Directory in paper, online and in an app — enlivened with photos to give "a feel for the community" to women deciding whether to make lifelong vows.

"Being an orphan is not a choice, but if you have purpose in your life, you don't have to feel alone."