"Circling round the beauty brings us deeper into the center. What is important in our lives?"

Sometimes when we read the Gospels we find ourselves in the story, relating to one or other of the people there. Reading the story of Martha and Mary for example, we may relate to Mary, the quiet one, or Martha, the one busy about many things. Other times the Gospels lift right off the page and repeat themselves on our streets and neighborhoods, in our homes, even in the doctor's office.

COP21 Paris - "Expectations are very high," Sr. Odile Coirier, Franciscan Missionary of Mary, said, describing the mood at the start of the second day at the Paris climate summit. "But there is also great concern that those expectations may not be met."

"The very act of giving thanks acknowledges that the good things in our lives are not simply the result of our own striving."

Early Dec. 1, Franciscan Sr. Joan Brown, executive director of New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light and a regular Global Sisters Report contributor, boarded a plane to Paris for the United Nations' climate change summit. Brown, who was at the U.N.'s widely lamented climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009, will speak in Paris on behalf of both Interfaith Power and Light and Franciscans International.

COP21 Paris - The line for passport control at the Charles de Gaulle Airport took an hour and a half to navigate, the first sign of tightened security in Paris as thousands of delegates and civilians gathered for the COP21 climate summit, Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

"It appears that at the present moment neither pole is capable of outweighing the other. Our choices then, no matter how small or personal, do matter a great deal because they contribute one way or another to a kind of cosmic balance of power."

Laudato Si' is overly ambitious in trying to address the major problems of our world, including economic, technological and environmental problems. By offering glimpses of a new theology without revisiting the doctrines of the church in light of the new science, the document falls short of providing a reasonable theological ground for change.

A delegation of 117 men and women are in El Salvador Nov. 28-Dec. 5 to celebrate the lives of four women who were murdered by the government 35 years ago. 'Remembering our sisters, carrying their legacy forward' draws connections to today's struggles of women, as well as the state of poverty and crime in the Central American country.

Sr. Louise Lears and 116 others — mostly women religious — are spending a week in El Salvador, visiting the site where three sisters and a lay missioner were killed 35 years ago.