GSR Today - Easter is my favorite holiday for many reasons, but one of the most conspicuous are the Bible and Jesus specials that take over cable television before Easter Sunday. They’re almost always the worst – the cheesy reenactments and questionable theology are cringe-worthy – still, I cannot get enough of them.

It is Holy Thursday, a day when practicing Catholics (very practicing Catholics) yearn to be in their own parish, their own Motherhouse, their own Newman Center. For older folks, the strains of “Pange Lingua” rise from the past. For younger members, “Jerusalem My Destiny” may evoke similar grace. For all these believers a certain mystical sense of Holy Thursday penetrates the day – the practical mysticism of the washing of the feet, the drying of the feet, and for Pope Francis, the kissing of the feet. It is nourishment, communion and the overwhelming experience of the ritual.

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?