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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  • Appropriately disturbed and loving my distant Aleppo neighbor

    Along with many people far and near, I have been terribly disturbed by images from the Syrian war recently. Appropriately disturbed. Early last week,…

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

    By Emily Cortina

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  • How to be Hot for God

    By Sister Julia Walsh

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Justice Prayer Family Environment non-violence Franciscan life

Equity and Justice

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

    In the walled-in Old City of Jerusalem, in the Armenian Quarter, sits a large pile of rubble with an Armenian flag planted at the…

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  • Australian crime drama removes plank in my eye

    By Sister Sarah Hennessey, FSPA

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  • The awkwardness of being a long-distance aunt

    By Sister Julia Walsh

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  • Deacon Pablo Perez: Finding Faith Behind Bars

    By franciscansisters

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  • Sister Eileen McKenzie: The Complexity of the Call to the Way of Christ

    By Sister Julia Walsh

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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 Hot for God
    Being Christian is not for sissies, I have heard some say. We must be bold, courageous and purposely enter into experiences of encounter that might make the average person squirm. For starters, this is a life of serious love. And for us Christians, love is a verb, not a feeling. We have to love our enemies,…
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  • Ellen Salmi van Cleef and Joshua van Cleef: Missionaries Rooted in Presence
    Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS “The mess and the beauty are really tied together.” – Joshua van Cleef Season 4, Episode 5 of…
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  • Deacon Pablo Perez: Finding Faith Behind Bars
    Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: Spotify | Email | RSS Season 4, Episode 9 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. “I go, and I…
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  • 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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  • 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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