". . . the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

From NCRonline.org - Although the Nuns on the Bus, films such as "Radical Grace" and books like Jesus Feminist have or are gaining some notoriety, in academia, the binary is so acute that little research exists on just how women manage to occupy both identities. One woman who could be considered a model for how faith informs one's feminism: Sr. Lucy Freibert.

I learn so much from my sister Carol. She teaches me about being in the moment and listening. Carol, who was born with Down’s Syndrome, has limited communication skills. If she is in a group and feels left out and “can’t get a word in edgeways” – as my mother used to say – she taps me on the shoulder and says, “Excuse me, excuse me. You are not listening to me.” In the last few weeks there were a number of times when people and events tapped me on the shoulder insistently with “Excuse me, excuse me. You are not listening to me.”

GSR Today - As a member of Maryknoll Sisters, the first U.S.-based congregation of women religious dedicated to world mission, Seattle native Sr. Jean Fallon has spent decades working on peace and justice issues around the world. Last week she received the Sister Christine Mulready Peacemaker Award from Pax Christi Metro New York for her work.

". . . Fill the hearts of mankind with the fire of your love and with the desire to ensure justice for all. . . ."

Following the takeover of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul by Islamic extremists this week, an estimated 500,000 civilians poured out of the city, fleeing bullets and burning wreckage. Yet, in all the chaos, one group remains resolute in its determination to stay in Mosul: the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena, a congregation of Iraqi sisters that has witnessed generation upon generation of war and carnage.

We live a world that is widely divergent from the first-century world. It occurred to me to ask myself, “What image describes the core, the essence, the essential elements of the lived reality that is called ‘religious life’ from my own lived experience?” “What image do I carry around in my head, heart and gut?”

GSR Today - Pope Francis praying at the wall in Bethehem was a simple, yet profound gesture, touching deeply something within me, within us all: a desire for justice, freedom and peace. Written on the wall, just minutes before he arrived, was, “Pope we need some 1 go speak about justice.” His trip elicited memories and emotions from my own experience in Israel and Palestine in 2012.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. . . ."