Gospel living is messy.

Christian discipleship is a life of struggle, as we advocate for social justice, live simply, serve others, practice contemplation and live in community. Welcome to the mess.

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  • How to be holy AND messy
    To contemplate the sacredness of messiness, start with the natural world. Step into the forest and study the rotting logs. Examine the erosion. Notice the tiny and the grand, how transformation and evolution have designed the landscapes, and the simple and small. See the surrender of one creature to another, the wildness of complete metamorphosis…
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  • Whitewashed Mary and White Supremacy

    What image of Mary. the mother of God, do you remember seeing as a child? When you close your eyes and imagine Mary today,…

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  • Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki

    By Steven Cottam

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  • “Good Inside”: A restorative Christian approach to parenting and beyond

    By Emily Cortina

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  • Pádraig Ó Tuama: The Language of Lightness, Darkness and Love

    By franciscansisters

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Justice Prayer Family Environment non-violence Franciscan life

Equity and Justice

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  • Scapegoating Eve

    I’ve been thinking about misogyny and the church even more than usual. A week ago, an ICE agent shot and murdered a woman named…

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  • Good Fences Make Good Neighbors?

    By Eileen McKenzie

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  • Australian crime drama removes plank in my eye

    By Sister Sarah Hennessey, FSPA

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  • Casting away demons

    By Emily Cortina

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  • Toddler Tantrums and the Kingdom of God

    By nicolio13

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ENVIRONMENT

  • Preserving Dangerous Memories 

    Maura Rocks

NON-VIOLENCE

  • Rules for a messy and holy creative practice 

    Cassidy Klein

FAMILY

  • The invisible, embodied holiness of parenting

    Emily Cortina

Prayer and Spirituality

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  • Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki
    “Death comes for us all, Oroku Saki, but something much worse comes for you … for when you die, it will be without honor.” ~ Master Splinter, to the Shredder, in “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie” (1990). At the climax of one of my favorite films, the 1990 cinematic masterpiece “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,”…
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  • Pádraig Ó Tuama: The Language of Lightness, Darkness and Love
    In this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh and poet, public speaker, teacher and theologian Pádraig Ó Tuama explore the light, the dark, and the infinite complexities of…
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  • How to be holy AND messy
    To contemplate the sacredness of messiness, start with the natural world. Step into the forest and study the rotting logs. Examine the erosion. Notice the tiny and the grand, how…
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  • A Spiritual Lesson From the Salamanders
    Over Christmas break, after the brutal winter storm gave way to unseasonal warmth, my sister and I made a clandestine visit to the property where we lived during our teen…
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  • Activist Kathy Kelly: We are all Part of One Another
    In this powerful episode of Messy Jesus Business, Sister Julia Walsh talks with author and activist Kathy Kelly about her journey as a peace activist, how militarism doesn’t offer true…
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  • Yo Soy Una Guadalupana (I Am A Guadalupana)
    Posted by guest blogger, Sister Sarah Hennessey A Story of Marta “I’m nervous because I’m here illegally.” Marta held out her arm for a blood pressure check. The nurse in the free clinic and I quickly reassured her that everything was confidential and she had nothing to fear. Marta continued, “I’m nervous because I am illegal…

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