See for Yourself - I'm very much like nature in the winter. Instead of blooming today, I'm always thinking ahead: What am I teaching next week? Am I ready for the meeting on Friday?

On television this week, I watched the footage of startled and scared travelers from the seven countries banned by President Donald Trump's executive order, finally free after hours of being detained, questioned and, in some case,s even handcuffed by immigration officials, pushing their luggage carts past large crowds of people in baggage claim.

"The women have no rights in this community. They cannot decide anything for themselves without the approval of the men. The elders who are men make all the decisions. They decide who marries their daughters, they decide if they go to school or not, they marry off the girls at a very early age even if the women think it's not right."

Many years ago, a friend gave me a decorative plaque that said, "Well-behaved women rarely make history." I thought in many ways that this suited me; however — and paradoxically — in my mind, I have always been fairly well-behaved.

The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion in San Jose, Costa Rica, focus on education and dialogue as a means to achieve peace. They run a school, youth and women's social programs, and their Center for Biblical Studies and Judeo-Christian Relations at their congregation's headquarters in Moravia, in the northeastern outskirts of San José.

After arriving in West Virginia in 1976, St. Joseph Sr. Gretchen Shaffer co-founded a school for a town that didn't have one. Though retired now, she is still a constant presence in the area, continuing to minister to the powerless.

"You have to be a visionary – to see the beauty, to hold the truth, to see in a way others don’t."

Notes from the Field - Most people would agree that time flies. But for me, it did not. My year of service was slow. The year never seemed to end, but I appreciated that I had more time to enjoy the year and to do the work that I set out to accomplish.

"If standing up for justice and for peace for all people should call us to leave behind what's comfortable and what's safe, will we, too, be compelled?"