Counting on her fingers to keep track of points in an ice-breaker game she was playing with a young woman at the Fiat Days discernment retreat, an aspirant for the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco rattled off the names of various scents from the Bath & Body Works collection: "Cucumber Melon," "Lavender Vanilla," "Country Apple."

You can understand a lot about a particular group of people by getting to know their proverbs. From my time in South Africa, I remember one saying in particular that shines a light on African culture.

The overwhelming majority of those pursuing vocations in Catholic religious life in the church were born into the faith. But a small, steady stream of men and women choose first to become Catholic and then, in what is perhaps an even larger leap of faith, choose religious life itself.

"There is no American or Guatemalan. There is no English-speaker or Mam-speaker. There is no immigrant or citizen. We are all one in Christ Jesus. We belong to Christ and one another."

Dominican Sr. Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, grew emotional talking about the harrowing stories she heard from immigrants about the life they left behind to seek refuge in the United States.

When our group of 12 teachers and pastoral workers from the Cincinnati Archdiocese traveled to a parish in Huispache, Guatemala, we became a bridge between loved ones who had not seen one another in too many years. With each encounter, the globe seemed to shrink un poquito.

See for Yourself - The larger cities in China have many things in common, especially traffic congestion and vehicles everywhere. This causes a lot of pollution.

"God dares us to believe that the raw ingredients of our lives contain the seeds of the kingdom of God."