Welcome, Pope Francis!
5 Merciful
Because He Meets Us In Trials (poem)
Because He Meets Us In Trials J. Marshall Jenkins This restlessness to rest in God: Many set out with Wordsworth and take it to woods and fields green hazed yellow with daisies, birds a choir in flight. God is there, no doubt. However, such wandering retreats only...
HALT, Welcome, and Be Welcomed
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Participants in Alcoholics Anonymous keep an eye on themselves with the acronym, HALT, which stands for, “Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired.” That experience cues them to call the sponsor, go to a...
Witness Defined: See the Beatitudes
‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ‘Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ‘Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled....
By Mercy (poem)
By Mercy J. Marshall Jenkins Only by mercy do the merciless live another day, and only by mercy does another day come at all. By mercy the rainbow drapes every color over battlefields, and a young sycamore etches spring growth in winter sky. By mercy mortals play at...
A Therapist Queries His Wife, A Pianist, About Silence (poem)
A Therapist Queries His Wife, a Pianist, About Silence J. Marshall Jenkins (for Wanda, Valentine's Day 2024) When musicians talk, what do you say about the silence between the notes? Is it like the silence between us as we sleep and eat or as we segue from talking...
Mother Teresa and the Thirsty Christ
How far must you go to give a drink of water to the poor? Calcutta? Across town? Next door?
“The Miracles at Hand”: Buechner on the Good Samaritan
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). In his sermon, "The Miracles at Hand" (The Magnificent Defeat, pp.136-144), Frederick Buechner offers a compassionate reading of Jesus' greatest parable on compassion, "The Good Samaritan" (Luke...
The Right Use of Freedom
For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery....For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one...
Jesus Versus Belief In a Just World
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy (Matthew 5:7). Psychology of Victim-Blaming and Belief in a Just World In the 1960s, a young psychologist-in-training named Melvin Lerner noticed that many who worked with him to help psychiatric patients tended to...
Joseph’s Forgiveness After the Long Loneliness
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.... Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God (Matthew 5:7, 9). As colorful as his famous coat, Joseph’s story keeps us on the edge of our seats like none other in scripture. The long...
When Forgiveness Is Hard
Hope in the struggle to forgive