MSI Press Blog

  Justice, compassion, community, and humility — these are not separate virtues but four movements of one sacred rhythm, according to Steven Greemebaum ( An Afternoon's Dictation , see below). To live justly is to live in harmony with the divine pulse that animates all creation. Each aspect calls us to align our daily choices with something larger than ourselves. 1. Act with justice toward all Justice is love made public. It’s how mercy takes form in the world. Acting with justice means seeing every person — not just the agreeable ones — as worthy of fairness and dignity. It asks us to look beyond convenience and comfort, to stand where truth and compassion meet. Justice is not vengeance; it’s restoration. It’s the courage to repair what’s broken and to protect what’s vulnerable. 2. Love compassion and embrace community To love compassion is to recognize that our lives are intertwined. “My life is about us, not me.” Community isn’t something we tolerate; it’s something we embrace. ...

“My grace is enough for you, For in weakness power reaches perfection.” --St. Paul   I’m in the business of compassionate healing. As a psychologist, my patients come to me in emotional and mental pain. They feel broken and want to be whole. They want relief from their suffering--their depression, anxiety, tempers, compulsions, and disturbing obsessions. Coming to me, they ask me to witness their suffering and bring them relief. Two questions often haunt them: “Why is this happening to me? How can I fix it?” In their desperation, they look for answers from me, whom they consider “the expert.” Contrary to their expectations, I direct those questions back to themselves and assure them, “You have the answers, but don’t know it yet.” I invite them to pay close attention to their own experience, to listen to the subtle voices speaking within, and to engage in open and honest dialogue with themselves. For many, that is a new experience. These voices have been drowned out by the...

  From Morning Prayer: “Encourage each other daily while it is still today." (Hebrews 3:13) How are we to understand this exhortation? The Original Context Who Said This?  “Encourage each other daily while it is still today” comes from Hebrews 3:13 , a letter written to a community of early Jewish‑Christian believers sometime between 60–90 AD. The author is unknown — traditionally attributed to Paul, but modern scholarship sees it as the work of an early Christian teacher steeped in Jewish Scripture, Greek rhetoric, and pastoral concern. Who were the recipients? A community under pressure: Some were discouraged. Some were drifting away from the faith. Some were facing persecution or social exclusion. Some were simply tired — spiritually, emotionally, communally. Why this exhortation? The writer is warning them about hardness of heart — not in the sense of being “mean,” but in the biblical sense of becoming numb, cynical, spiritually sluggish, or disconnected from one another....