The School Sisters of Notre Dame sponsored Judith Odero, now 34, to get a high school education when her family could afford to educate only their sons. Now, she's giving back with her own school. This is the story of how one scholarship beneficiary created a ripple effect reaching far beyond what the sisters could have imagined.

Sr. KC Young, a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa, works with inmates and ex-inmate through the Freedom Project in Seattle, an educational program that teaches mindfulness and nonviolent communication courses in five prisons throughout Washington. The project was initially founded to work solely in prisons, Young said, but "we realized that because this is transformational work and we're talking about connection, then we need to be connecting with those post-prison as well."

"We do not so much follow Christ as the life of Christ flows from us, as we become united to the Spirit of love, drawn ever more deeply into the mystery of God."

The consolidated parish called La Santísima Trinidad, Most Blessed Trinity, took an empty church building, removed the pews, and filled it with food. Families in all shapes and sizes, the elderly on a fixed income, those offered citizenship and those denied it, those with homes and those without are all invited to receive food.

"Mercy, unlike pity, is not simply a passive experience; it is an active virtue. The merciful one will seek first to relieve misery but will not stop there. The causes need to be addressed, and the person supported in the struggle to attain fullness of life."

Three Stats and a Map - Zika, a virus spread primarily through the bite of the Aedes mosquito, has been making headlines recently because it has spread to 23 countries across Central and South America. It has no cure to date, but its origin can be traced back to 1947.

If there is one person who immersed herself in the "peripheries" Pope Francis is drawn to, it was Blessed Teresa of Kolkata. For many people, the Catholic Church's Year of Mercy will reach its culmination when Pope Francis canonizes Mother Teresa Sept. 4, recognizing the holiness of charity, mercy and courage found in her.

Christian life anchors itself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Discipleship has been the hallmark of the committed Christian, inspired by the words of Jesus, "Follow me." Almost 2,000 years later and millions of committed followers, the good news of Jesus is still like seed on rocky ground. The winds blow and the seed is scattered. After many years in religious life, I have begun to wonder if following Jesus is the whole story and if this, indeed, is the mark of religious life.