The sun was setting as we wrapped up a delicious meal at a local park with some new family friends. A couple of the youngest daughters from the Ahmed family walked slowly by the side of my daughter, JoyAna, on her first attempt at riding a hoverboard. JoyAna’s body was shaking, her knees bent, as…
There was a time when the questions caused me a lot of agony, when the diversity of spiritualities and religions worldwide caused confusion and doubt. How could there be such a wide variety of religions and spiritualities throughout the world? What is The Truth? Am I am fool for being a Christian — a committed…
“Well, what do you want? What do you desire?” At the start of my final year as a student at a Jesuit University, I felt like a spiritual mess. I had recently returned from studying abroad for four months in El Salvador through a service-based educational program that effectively upended what I knew about myself…
Last week, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community. This advisory comes in response to a national “loneliness epidemic,” which is profoundly impacting both our collective emotional and physical health. Dr. Murthy speaks not only as a medical professional but as one who has…
As we enter into Triduum and the celebration of Easter, Messy Jesus Business invites you to experience this reflection from Sister Julia Walsh, first published in 2018. 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 had unexpectedly died….
When the multitude of disciples welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, they shouted, “Hosanna!” Hosanna — a word meaning “Save us.” In desperation for freedom from the oppression of their time, the people called out to Jesus, “Save us!” and were confident in his ability to do so. This Palm Sunday, for the second…
I spent my entire last year of college waiting to get into the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, your typical, post-graduate year of service program. I thought that I would love it. I didn’t. The top floor bedroom, that was mine, was sweltering. The city was noisy, dirty, disorienting. My foot broke. And the children at my…
Recently I watched the “The Fisher King” for the first time. For those unfamiliar with this 1991 film, it stars Jeff Bridges as a Howard Stern-esque shock jock who tells people “how it is.” One day a man called Edwin phones in. He is a repeat caller and a bit of a loser. Today he…
I started dumpster diving because of free boxes. I live on the edge of Hyde Park, an affluent neighborhood surrounding the University of Chicago on Chicago, Illinois’ south side. My boyfriend and I used to go for neighborhood walks and stop to pick through curb-side boxes, often left by students moving out of their school-year…
Loss. It’s a strange word. It implies that you once had a thing and now, not only is it gone, but you can no longer find it. Last night I lost my mom. And yet, is she lost? Is she even gone? My mom was a powerhouse of a woman, and now, she’s gone. Truth…
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