Are grand structures for worship necessary? If those who built those majestic churches had paid attention to building human communities, wouldn't that have made a difference? Instead of providing a place for religious rituals, what if they had developed a community center promoting an activity-oriented practical spirituality geared to liberating the poor?

See for Yourself - As I was organizing music for the inter-faith Christian Sunday afternoon service in the chapel of a local physical therapy and rehab center, an older couple walked in. Lou was pushing his wife, Anna, in a wheelchair. They came over to the piano where I was and asked, "Is there a church service this afternoon?"

As the news cycle brings more swirling storms, we want to hunker down, close the doors, and stay safe and warm, away from all the crazy. This is a natural response, and sometimes the right course of action for a time, but it cannot be our default position.

"In the effort to draw us close, God will use anything from stars and prophecies to poetry or restlessness. If we are open to the grace of seeing, anything and everything can be an epiphany."

Sr. Sonia Zuleta Ruiz prayed that God would let her get assigned to work at the Hogar Acogida de Belen, a girls orphanage in Medellín, Colombia. But after almost a year working at the orphanage, she knows this is where she belongs.

Paris - The Bénédictines du Sacré-Coeur de Montmartre are eager to engage in conversation and welcome anyone who comes to the sanctuary of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. To make this welcome easier, a sister often sits on a bench, folding bulletins. If a pilgrim does not speak French, the sisters use English and Spanish. "When visitors see me doing something, they find it easier to come and sit by me, perhaps start a conversation," Sister Anne-Christine said. The church is the site of perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, unbroken since 1885.

"You cannot teach peace. You have to lead and see it done practically. The people who suffered so much are the very ones who can become teachers of peace."

Notes from the Field - Christmastime in the Holy Land for me was special this year. It included singing in concerts in Arabic, visiting the sisters in Cremisan, Bethlehem, and going to midnight Mass at the Nativity Church of Bethlehem. It was so special to be there that it took me one hour to pray one rosary.

I was fortunate to participate in "Nuns and Nones," an energetic gathering of women religious and millennials (nones being younger persons with no stated religious affiliation). Gathering on a Sunday afternoon, we learned that our agenda was to "hang out and see what happens." And so we did.