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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  • 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…

    READ MORE
  • Melody Gee: Conversion and Community

    By Colin Wambsgans

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  • Anxiety at the Crossroads: Where We End and God Begins

    By Angela Paviglianiti

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  • Why contemplation is messy

    By Sister Julia Walsh

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Justice Prayer Family Environment non-violence Franciscan life

Equity and Justice

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  • God, the Ocean

    A little over a week ago, I got to be near the ocean. I didn’t get to see it. I didn’t get to tuck…

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  • Molly Burhans: Mapping power and justice

    By Colin Wambsgans

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  • Prayer in a Time of Chaos

    By Sister Sarah Hennessey, FSPA

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  • Beverly Lanzetta: The Freedom of Surrender to the Divine

    By franciscansisters

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  • ‘Save the ArQ’ in Jerusalem is a story of nonviolent resistance

    By Cassidy Klein

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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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  • 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…
    Read More
  • Anxiety at the Crossroads: Where We End and God Begins
    The couple sits next to one another on the two-seater couch in my office, not minding the imposed closeness, arms intertwined.  They have worked hard for and in this relationship,…
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  • Why contemplation is messy
    I’ll admit it. Even though I am a Franciscan Sister, I sometimes struggle with prayer. I mean, how am I supposed to contemplate when I’m busy and the world is…
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  • Hope the size of a hazelnut
    I don’t pray much anymore, in the traditional sense. But in times of trouble, there are certain recitations I return to. One I’ve been repeating lately comes from the Medieval…
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  • Prayer in a Time of Chaos
     I can’t anymore. Sometimes urgently, sometimes softly but persistently, several times a day these words echo in my brain. They seem like an interruption and they need to be heard. …
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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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