When I was in first grade, I made a stapled-together picture book about the pear tree in our yard called “My Friend the Tree.” I drew her in each of the four seasons with me, a smiling face attached to legs, right alongside her. I sensed that before I knew how to talk about it…
Episode 3, Season 5 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. “The spiritual life is a journey in discipline.” – Dr. C. Vanessa White LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, Dr. C. Vanessa White and Sister Julia Walsh talk about what healthy spirituality looks like, the…
“Let yourself be broken. Let yourself suffer. Cling to Christ through it.” – Tessa Bielecki Season 4, Episode 6 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, hosted by Sister Julia Walsh. LISTEN HERE: IN THIS EPISODE: In this episode of Messy Jesus Business, Sister Julia Walsh talks with Tessa Bielecki about pain and the healing process: how…
When people meet me and learn that I am a Catholic Sister, some respond with surprise, excitement or intrigue. Others, I notice, shift uncomfortably as if realigning their filter to “only things I can say in front of a nun” mode. Although I have no formal theology background, many assume my place in the world…
During my first visit to a foreign land there was an earthquake, but I was unaware of it until after the fact. I was an exchange student, staying with a host family in Mexico City. Within the first few days that I was there adjusting to everything — change of language, culture, climate, lifestyle and…
In the light of the epiphany star and the glowing headlines this week, the Spirit is convincing me that it’s time for us to get back to basics, to recenter on the core values of the Christian faith. It seems that from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed, the…
What image of Mary. the mother of God, do you remember seeing as a child? When you close your eyes and imagine Mary today, who do you see? What color is her hair? Her eyes? Her skin? What type of clothes is she wearing in your imagination? As a kid growing up in a tight-knit…
In 2002, during the months in which the The Boston Globe released the findings of its investigation into wrong doing on behalf of the Catholic clergy in the Diocese of Boston, I was a high school junior preparing for confirmation. The investigation exposed a widespread pattern of sexual abuse from several Catholic priests, five of…
Imagine you were violently attacked and dropped off a balcony into a dark alley, and somehow you survived. Your body is broken, bloody, mangled; you are twisted and contorted into a mess upon cracked asphalt. Your arms and legs are shattered. The most private parts of you have been violated. All of your muscles ache…
the ice drifted out fish, otter, loons released lake ripples broadly green gradually overcomes brown building up diversity’s wisdom awoke, rising, bold every budding leaf shows how justice demands change love is feeding others love is breakfast on the beach love…
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