MSI Press Blog

  Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -27-   Love is another word that is a bit (or a lot) ruined- something we routinely speak of as something we fall into and fall out of. But as a piece of intelligence about what makes us human, and what we are capable of, it is a virtue and way of being we have scarcely begun to mine. People who have turned the world on its axis across history have called humanity to love. It’s time to dare this more bravely in our midst, and dare learning together how love can be practical, creative, and sustained as a social good.   Krista Tippett   Love can change the world. There is the rippling, accumulative effect of treating each person you meet with dignity and grace, but there is more. Creatively applied, love fuels activism that reconfigures the world in the public sphere, as it does among individuals. Jonathan Cedar is a professional...

Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -26-   Not everyone is called to a life of service—at least, not in the most obvious sense of becoming a social worker or volunteering in a soup kitchen. Indeed, many who take that path soon realize that even these activities can become divorced from the rest of your life. Service, defined broadly, can be how you interact with each person and in each situation, no matter what the circumstances are.   Gerald Jampolsky   Before she became a best-selling author, Marianne Williamson had a job for a time as a cocktail waitress. She came to realize that the most important part of this work was not serving up drinks; it was reaching out and making a personal connection, one-by-one, with patrons. Reflecting on this understanding of service, she commented that every business could be “a front for a church.” You see this understanding of servic...

  Today's meditation from  Weekly Soul: Fifty-two Meditations on Meaningful, Joyful, and Peaceful Living   by Dr. Frederic Craigie. -24-   I want to pay tribute to people who have hope, who have always been kind of a minority, who are called “activists.” “Activist” means what? Someone who does an act. In a democratic society, you’re supposed to be an activist… you participate. It could be a letter written to an editor. It could be fighting for stoplights on a certain corner where kids cross. And it could be something for peace, or for civil rights, or for human rights. But once you become active in something, something happens to you. You get excited and suddenly you realize that you count.   Studs Terkel   In my counseling/consultation work, I often invite people to talk about what really matters to them. Consistently, I hear three responses. People often describe spiritual and religious relationships (“God;” “my faith;” “I’m not religious, but my spiritua...