Liliana Gomez is just the kind of person the organizers of the National Catholic Sisters Week conference on discernment hoped to attract: passionate about her faith and social justice, and open to the idea of religious life as a future path. Gomez was one of about 60 students and sisters who attended the NCSW kickoff conference March 6-8 at St. Catherine University. Its theme of discernment seems tailor-made for her, with its focus on learning how to negotiate a direction when two paths are equally attractive.

"Some people love the world, but they don't love people. You have to respect the dignity and worth of every human being. Love everybody."

GSR Today - Both gratitude and hope welled up within me as I saw photos and videos of the mass of people crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Sunday in Selma. Gratitude for all those who have gone before us, paving the way: for their courage and willingness to lay down their lives. Hope in the coming together, in the youth and the road ahead.

Three Stats and a Map - Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice released the findings from its investigation of the police department in Ferguson, Missouri. Although the Justice Department did not find strong enough evidence to indict the officer who killed Michael Brown, they did find many problems with the Ferguson Police Department and the municipal court system.

January 30 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Merton, known simply as Father Louis to his brother Trappists, but to the world as a young intellectual who heard the voice of God and followed it into cloistered monastic life. His memoir The Seven Storey Mountain, published in 1948, became a best seller. A spiritual “shot heard round the world,” it is a conversion story still resonating with seekers in our fast-paced age. By this and numerous other works Merton fathered the contemplative living and prayer movements of our time.

From A Nun's Life podcasts - What does it mean to say that discernment is a way of life?

"The ice lace gives way to ice melt and the disappearance into nothingness?"

Sr. Chantal Desmarais lives a life of contrasts. The Canadian Sister of Charity of Saint Mary spends a lot of time in prayer and contemplation. She also spends a lot of time playing hockey in a Sunday-night women’s league in Boucherville, northeast of Montreal.

GSR Today - The Selma anniversary was an impetus for reflection on the last 50 years of race relations in the United States. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis took to Twitter to publically reflect. In The New York Times, veteran journalist Gay Talese wrote about what’s changed since he was in Selma to cover the original march. Here at Global Sisters Report, we’re reflecting, too.