A Spiritual Lesson From the Salamanders
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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 years. We were looking for the freshwater spring where, every day, no matter the weather, the two of us filled jugs with cold water and…

Sister Teresa Maya: Building a Common Home
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Sister Teresa Maya: Building a Common Home

Episode 56 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS | More “Community extends beyond just a group I belong to… we need to extend that belonging to fellow human beings, no matter who they are.” –Teré Maya IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, Sister Julia…

Dorothy Fortenberry: Climate and Creation
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Dorothy Fortenberry: Climate and Creation

Episode 55 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS | More “We all will be affected by climate change… can we learn how to understand each other as shared participants in this project of being on earth together?” –Dorothy Fortenberry IN THIS EPISODE In this episode of Messy Jesus…

Caring a Hair for the Birds of the Air
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Caring a Hair for the Birds of the Air

Since I began homeschooling my children last year, I’ve felt compelled to raise them as amateur naturalists.  We take walks together as a family. I casually acknowledge the lifeforms we pass if I happen to know their names, trying not to intrude too much on our experience by making it sound like a lesson.  “Hello…

We are endangered species, but Franciscan values could save us
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We are endangered species, but Franciscan values could save us

At my new home in Chicago, I can visit the shore of Lake Michigan, and I like to go there to pray. From my spot on a concrete slab, all that is visible to me that is “natural” is water and sky. Everything else — the concrete, the fence, the shoreline — has been constructed…