Years ago, when I was learning how to be a teacher, some of my motivations were quite idealistic: I want to change the hearts and minds of youth, and therefore change the world!! Now, when I think back to the workings of my mind in those days, I almost want to scold my younger self,…
On Sunday, I stood in a Church parking lot with about a dozen teenagers preparing for confirmation. I held a pile of paper plates under my arm, a black marker in my hand. The youth all stood behind a line, listening to me as I described their task: moving as a team to another line…
Happy Easter! And, blessed day of the martyrdom of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to you all! Rev. King was shot on this day, April 4th, 1968 — 50 years ago. He was only 39 years old. The night before he was killed he gave his final speech, a prophetic message of ringing with…
As we enter into Paschal Triduum and the celebration of Easter, Messy Jesus Business invites you to experience this reflection from Sister Julia Walsh, first published in 2018. Death encounters On the first day of Spring, I awoke to a voicemail from a friend, her voice cracking with emotion as she said that her mother…
Praying with Fr. James’ Martin SJ’s Examen app recently, I heard the words, “Lent is drawing to a close. For Christians, that means not only is there some anticipation for the celebration of Easter, but also some inevitable disappointment about your Lenten spiritual practices …” “Inevitable disappointment.” The words froze me still. And completely validated…
“It [grace] strikes us when, year after year, the longed-for perfection of life does not appear, when the old compulsions reign within us as they have for decades, when despair destroys all joy and courage.” ~ Paul Tillich, “You Are Accepted” You have to be pretty naive to be a Christian in today’s world. This…
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. –2 Corinthians 6:2 Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. For our failure to protect children, God, have mercy. For our failure to elect leaders who protect lives, God, have mercy. For our failure to…
our bodies make lines and our hearts beat repent, repent make us more honest in forty days conversion time prepare us, Mystery, for an eternity with you, true Love create in us clean hearts draw us closer– Love, we are yours You are our heartbeat You are our way help us fast, pray lines of…
I am not a germaphobe by nature, but this year’s flu season has me in a tizzy of microbial paranoia. Daily news reports about the severity of this specific flu strain and the extent of the epidemic have fueled my anxiety, as did a recent email from my daughters’ school informing us of confirmed flu…
I was first introduced to Pierre Teilhard de Chardin’s cosmology at a bar in Wisconsin. I was a recently graduated senior out to eat with my parents, drinking a beer in public for the first time. I was still 18, but in western Wisconsin the legal drinking age is as obfuscated as Teilhard’s arduous writing….
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