"Watch. Notice everything with the eyes of God, contemplation in action, as the kingfisher waits."

Forty years ago, St. Francis Sr. James Ann Germuska, of the Neumann communities, left her job as a schoolteacher to begin a ministry for the elderly and those seeking behavioral health services in Brownsville, Pennsylvania. With no experience in geriatric or mental health care, Germuska founded Crosskeys Human Services, a nonprofit organization now with eight locations throughout Fayette County, an area with one of the highest poverty rates in the state.

The season of Advent has always been one of my favorites. It is a time to be quiet and to commit more time to listening; a time to revel in the power of simple flames atop purple candles, casting out the darkness; a time to really ponder all the ways God's presence in our midst reveals itself; a time to prepare for the coming of Christ in ways unexpected, beautiful and ordinary.

"Monastic life — it is not just the wall in itself, which is to mark a certain separation. It should also be a kind of inner attitude. It doesn't mean that you're not interested in what is going on, but that you try to keep a certain distance and try not to be overwhelmed by what is going on outside."

Often in the Garden of Oneness here in rural Zambia, we take moments of silence to honor the core of our being by placing our hand on our heart to feel our heartbeat and to be aware that the Heart of God is beating inside us. It is the same heart that beats in all creation: beings of land, sea and sky.

GSR Today: In November, seven Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Iraq had a chance to do something they had not been able to in more than two years: return home, if only for a visit.

Studying at a university is normal for many people in the world, but it is unusual for Mary Yok Rolak Jrai. In a country where ethnic minorities like Jrai make up 13 percent of the population but account for 40 percent of the people living in poverty, she is an exception. She is one of the young women who have benefitted from staying at the Dominican Sisters' Huong Duong Dormitory while going to college in the city of Da Lat.

"Who is knocking on our door in our interdependent globalized world this Advent season? Who are we willing to let in, to welcome? On whose door are we knocking to be let in to their world?"

Advocates and attorneys for undocumented immigrants aren't waiting until Inauguration Day to assist the millions of people who find their status in even greater jeopardy given the campaign rhetoric by President-elect Donald Trump.

The past month has been a time of questions. In my ministry as a community organizer, I meet daily with folks who are asking questions about how the recent election will impact them: "Will my family be separated? How can our church provide a safe place for our people? How can my children feel safe in their black bodies?"