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Read JUST Words volume 21, number 1, the winter 2020-2021 edition. Download the latest edition of JUST Words here.

32 Ways to Live Less Violently
Recognizing our interconnectedness in the cosmos, we have embraced the common call toward communion with God and all creation. Non-violence is an integral part of that journey-a journey which is both inward and outward. Awareness motivates behavior; behavior strengthens one’s internal orientation. Following are a few suggestions for living non-violently in relation to the cosmos, …

Active Nonviolence: To Celebrate, Contemplate, and Live
Recently I was privileged to participate in a Pax Christi United Kingdom workshop on nonviolence. The sessions took place over five weeks and each included prayer, scripture, presentation, reflection, and discussion in small groups. Participants came from across the globe, despite the inconvenience for people in many time zones. This workshop, “Making Active Nonviolence Our …
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The Blessings of 2020: Sister Kathleen Anne Tait Looks Back—and Forward
January is a month to reflect back and look forward. Far from pulling us in opposite directions, this two-way vision provides a valuable perspective on the experience we are now enduring. Much to my delight, my reflection has revealed three precious gifts that came our way in 2020. Dedication. Throughout this pandemic our coworkers at …
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“What Happened Here?” Understanding the Survival Trauma Response as a Step Toward Healing
In scenes of unleashed rage- violence, looting, destruction-if we want peace, we must resist the temptation immediately to determine who is wrong and instead first ask, “What happened here?” This shift in approach is a basic tenet of being trauma-informed, which means we know what trauma is and how it affects individual and community …

Building a Bridge is the Greatest Reward
In 45 years as a respiratory therapist I’ve never seen anything like this. Not AIDS. Not SARS. Nothing.” After “hello,” these were Howard Derrick’s first words to me on a May 1st video call from his office at St. Dominic Hospital, Jackson, Miss. “This” was coronavirus. Howard, a Springfield Dominican associate, and I have served …

Advent and Christmas:
Seasons that Never End
Once Thanksgiving rolls around, there is hardly a resident of the United States who can escape the tidal wave of excess known as “The Holiday Season.” It carries us forward on a momentum of joviality, food, drink, gift-giving, and good will. Not a bad thing in itself, if it doesn’t obscure the foundational event …

SISTER DENISE GLAZIK: VOCATION ENCOURAGEMENT IS “A.I.D.ING”
Sister Denise Glazik says she understood the nature of call early in religious life when she realized she was not called to teaching. Try as she would, she found no life, energy, or satisfaction in that ministry. With the help of others, she discerned a call to pastoral ministry and finally knew she was doing …
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Walking the Talk at Bethany House
Bethany House residents celebrate graduation from the World Relief Job Readiness program. Imagine you are 18 years old (again!)—and have spent fully half of your life searching for a safe and welcoming place to call home. That is Elizabeth’s reality. She fled her home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo at nine years old …

Teen Preachers
Catch St. Dominic’s Spirit
These students from Marian Catholic and Sacred Heart-Griffin High Schools so enjoyed their experience at the 2019 Dominican High School Preaching Conference they resolved to meet up one month later in Springfield to continue their immersion in Dominican preaching life! The schools’ campus ministers made it possible. Had they been able, the students from our …
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JUST Words is a publication that shares the mission and ministries of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois. It is published three times per year and is available in print or digital edition, free of charge to friends, family and supporters of the Springfield Dominicans.
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Read the digital version of JUST Words volume 19, number 2, the summer 2019 edition. Click here here to read the summer 2019 JUST Words as a digital flipbook.