Christmas is a wonderful time of the year to slow down and reflect on the great mystery of God among us. This year I was reflecting how God shows up unexpectedly in people we might otherwise pass by.

See for Yourself - A new year affords the opportunity to look forward to all the new things one can imagine doing, changing, or becoming. The new year also provides the chance to look back on life.

An attack on religious sisters at a teacher training college in South Sudan has shaken and saddened the church, a church leader said, while urging people of faith to demand the implementation of the latest peace accord to end the civil war.

Notes from the Field - Translating 150 slides can get monotonous, but in the end, it is necessary for farmworkers to get educated about regulations and handling harassment.

"God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. In this is love brought to perfection among us, that we have confidence on the day of judgment because as he is, so are we in this world."

Partners in Benedictine Education, St. Scholastica Monastery's scholarship program, isn't just benefiting 34 girls at Colegio San Benito in Esquipulas, Guatemala. It is also supporting teacher education.

Two administrators from the Benedictine school visited Fort Smith in December to learn more about the American education system, both public and private, and get ideas on how to improve their own programs.

"Just the way that prayer and reflection give them the strength of inner peace, the sisters know that having a peaceful and beautiful home is also essential."

GSR Today - In addition to great year-end roundups by GSR's managing editor Pam Cohen and U.S. liaison Franciscan Sr. Jan Cebula, we’ve crunched the numbers to bring you this list of the 10 favorite Global Sisters Report stories ranked by the total amount of time readers have spent looking at them.

A new year. Ending the old year and welcoming in the new is surrounded by quite a ritual. We watch the bright silver ball drop in Times Square and we make New Year resolutions in hope of changing some of our behavior. We have a sense that the new year brings us another opportunity to try to be better. As I pause to reflect on this "transition" from an evolutionary lens I see some similarities.