Look deep into the current,See what’s real and holy,Look around: see your friends. Study sparkles in their pupils.See how each face is a mirror of love Looking into you.Trust the voices Who will summonYou in the night. Learn their names,their numbers.Plant phone trees.These faces and voices:They are your people.Together you’ll be Pilgrims crossing Jordansand dreaming…
A few years ago one of my friends died suddenly. And, his death taught me more about the meaning of Resurrection than any theology class or Church service I’ve ever attended. Rev. Graham Golden, O. Praem., was the unique sort of person who seemed to be able to befriend and maintain relationships at an exponential…
we inherit historyhistory of horror, heartachethe systemic sinsthe memories of line after lineof penitent, penitentour breath, our skinheavy hearts –no denial, only Truthrepent, repentancestors lamentgaze into flamessmoke, smog, ash:reality invades temptations to escapeyet we must remain, remainso we say Amento mortality, humilityto dust & decayto being todaythe bodiesalong linesof time smearedwith sorrow,with truth,with ash who…
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Messy Jesus Business podcast will feature author Lisa M. Hendey with a recording at Religious Education Conference in Anaheim, California LA CROSSE, WI (February 13, 2025)— The Messy Jesus Business podcast team will convene at Religious Education Congress in Anaheim, California on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, at 1 p.m. to record an interview…
I am writing this two days after the Feast of the Holy Innocents in the octave of Christmas in the year 2024. These words will be published days later when the octave is over and while I am away on a retreat, starting the spiritual exercises. The words will hang on this page for months–…
Merry Christmas and blessings of the season from Messy Jesus Business! Please enjoy this piece from Sr. Julia Walsh, originally published in 2022. There is an ancient story that is our common heartbeat. It speaks to us, deeply, quietly and simply; its whispers are heard in the rhythms of our ordinary lives, in between the…
I. On the lakeshore, I stoop close to the ground studying stones. I am mesmerized by the beauty: the shades of blue, white, red, colors of stones made smooth by their repeated encounters with sand, stones, ice, waves. I place my palms upon the rocks and feel the firmness, the tough texture. Granite. Brick. Limestone….
Let us pray… Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. For our failure to participate, God, have mercy. For our failure to protect the common good, God, have mercy. For our failure to end unjust laws, God, have mercy.For our failure to remain civil and kind, God, have mercy.For our failure to respect diversity,…
we gaze into the horizon we hope for what might bewe check the radarwe worry about stormsthe sky: a giant stagefor the drama of dreams, the potential of disaster,despair, and renewal.with each anxious question comes a chance to returnto who we are, to restinto compassion, to reset our directionthe dawn of each arrivalcan be cluttered…
When I was new to religious life, I sat through so many workshops about transition that the beautiful life cycle of a butterfly became cliché to me. I heard that once the caterpillar becomes a pupa, it basically turns into caterpillar soup: a mush of cells digesting themselves. I vaguely remember reflection prompts from this…
A Special Episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More IN THIS EPISODE During this sacred season of Lent, we invite you to pause and contemplate God’s loving presence in the midst of the mess. As we offer our breath and our bodies to God, as we…
under the ashes under the crease of skin flesh bone brain body air fire water earth metal under the ashes elements of nature nature made by holiness and love under the ashes minds and hearts groan and admit the need to repent as faithful penitents who give, pray, fast in secret, in quiet under the…
