I belong to a small community of contemplative religious women, Poor Clare Nuns, also known as the Sisters of St. Clare. In 1991, the late Bishop of Saginaw, Ken Untener, invited four of us to leave our home monastery in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and come to Saginaw, Michigan, where in the spirit of St. Clare we could be a praying community sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the healing power of prayer with others. The question that we are most frequently asked is, “What is contemplative prayer?”

Nestled beside St. Agnes Church and School, the Carmelite Monastery blends into the brick facades that line a busy stretch of Newburg Road in Louisville. Carpooling families and dwellers of the Highlands area zip by at all hours rushing from one commitment to the next. In contrast, behind the monastery's pale orange bricks, eight women religious – members of the Order of Discalced Carmelites – have only one commitment. They live a quiet, intense life of prayer in the tradition of St. Teresa of Avila, the 16th-century Spanish mystic and doctor of the church.

This Lenten season felt as though it stretched longer than six weeks for me, and perhaps for you, too. Lent has always been a time of sacrifice and penitential practices, a time of “giving up” or fasting from something, a time of uniting ourselves with the sufferings of Jesus. I don’t know about you, but I felt ready to move from a sober and somber Lent to the joys and hopes of Easter. I looked forward to reflecting on the Scriptures of the Easter season.

GSR Today - Catholic opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement grows; there is hope for changing India's culture to make it safer for women; an update from Solidarity with South Sudan looks at the future of the children whose lives have been permanently disrupted.

The era of the classic family farm is long gone, but for more than 130 years one constant in the small city of Concordia, Kansas, has been the Sisters of St. Joseph. In the last seven years, they’ve redoubled their dedication to the city, and the 28 or so sisters who are still in active ministry are creating new and innovative ministries for the 5,400 people who live there. They are, in a word, good neighbors.

"This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad."

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

From a Nun's Life podcasts - When praying the rosary during Lent, should you pray only the Sorrowful Mysteries?

"He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners. . . ."

I pulled into the empty church parking lot a few minutes early as the fresh daylight bathed the world anew. I stepped out of the car and stretched, grateful for the warmth after a long and fickle winter. Standing there, I wondered what the coming hours would bring. Today, I would drive a Guatemalan woman and her young daughter to immigration court in Cleveland, about four hours away. The social worker had told me that this would be the woman’s third trip to immigration court since arriving to the U.S. in November 2014.