MSI Press Blog

photo by Stacey Gentry: Sula, parish cat at Old Mission/MSI Press "author" in the creche Shared by Dr. Dennis Ortman , author of a number of award-winning books -  CHRISTMAS STORY “ And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory. ” --John 1: 14   Even as a child, I knew that Christmas was about more than Santa Claus coming and getting gifts. The baby Jesus was born. In addition to the Christmas tree and outdoor lights, we set up a Nativity scene in our home. Our parents told us the story and introduced the characters. At school, we re-enacted the Christmas story. We all vied to play Mary or Joseph, but I ended up being a sheep. The nuns explained that the story was about the birth of Jesus, the Son of God, who came to save us from our sins. I wasn ’ t sure what that meant, but I knew it was a very happy occasion. We sang joyous Christmas carols at church and in the neighborhood. At home the family gathered to share a meal and exchange...

  Arthur Yavelberg, author of the award-winning book, A Theology for the Rest of Us , shared on his blog post an article he penned for the Arizona Daily Star and reposted on his blog, "What you are seeking is already yours." Here it is in full, but do take a look at his blog for other thoughtful essays. For more posts by and about Arthur and his book, click HERE . In the wonderful fantasy movie, “ The Wizard of O z,” the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Lion and Dorothy are all seeking something they believe is lacking: a brain, a heart, courage and the way back home.  While they lacked the terminology to discuss their despair as “existential angst,” their predicament is certainly not rare in spiritual literature.     In the  Hindu  classic, “ The Bhagavad Gita ,” the hero,  Arjuna , is forlorn at the prospect of going into battle against enemies who are all relatives.  Anticipating so much death and destruction, he is tempted to turn away....

  Excerpt from  Forget the Goal, the Journey Counts  (Stites)  Absorbing the ‘20s! (2)      Around the middle of the 1920s some head-in-the-clouds guy (that’s what Dad called him) put out the slogan “Every Day in Every Way I am Getting Better and Better,” and for a number of years it seemed the whole country stood in front of the bathroom mirror every morning and repeated that saying over and over. Everybody got better and better, and so did the country until they all got so much better that on Tuesday, October 29th in 1929, they all collapsed with being so great. They called it Black Tuesday because a lot of rich people lost a lot of money. Not enough to make the rich people real poor, of course, just poor enough to make them cancel the par ties they had lined up through to New Year’s. But it made the middle-class folks really bad off and the poor people just about done in.  There are few people around who remember when it seemed that alm...

  Excerpt from  When Liberty Enslave  by Jerry Aveta Book Description: There is a common experience between our experiences today and those before the Civil War many years ago.  The effect of the intersection of faith and politics during these two experiences has had on our elections and our governance is uncanny in their similarities.  Both times an election insurrection was stopped by the sitting vice president.  Both times had people of the same faith on both sides of the social issues of the day claiming God’s favor and willing to divide the nation over those competing positions. Part 1 of this writing focuses on the Civil War era and how liberty centered around the issue of equality.  Some people of faith believed all men were equal, some did not. Part 2 focuses on our present times and how liberty centers on the sanctity of life concerning abortion and gun control.  Some in our nation feel enslaved by the liberty of others. Part 3 describes ...