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Summer 2021
RELAXING When we think about trying to follow the Gospel directives, or in old-fashioned terms, the practice of virtue, we normally associate this with a lot of effort. Suppose that what is needed is not more will power, or muscle power, or major inner strategies? Suppose we might need to relax. Relax? Summer 2021 Newsletter…
Simplicity
“Tis a gift to be simple, tis a gift to be free, tis a gift to come down where you want to be….” So runs the opening line of the famous Shaker hymn, hauntingly beautiful and evocative of the Spirit it celebrates. These lines spring readily to my mind as I gaze on the simplicity…
Summer 2022
BEING LOST “I just feel so lost. I thought this was the right place for me, but it clearly is not. I don’t know what to do.” The spiritual journey is a path that leads us by unfamiliar and at times fearful ways. It’s a journey that we can’t control, and we don’t always know…
Summer 2023
STILL PRAYING What happens to us during our prayer time after we’ve been praying, day in and day out, for years? Perhaps we get tired. Or bored. Or just plain distracted, especially if we’re going through a busy time in our lives. If this happens to us—and it happens to all of us at some…
Fall 2019
SILENCE: Resistance and Refuge We are always aware of noise around us, sometimes even in a place like the Hermitage. But when we do silence those cell phones, turn off the gadgets, and unplug ourselves—at least temporarily—from the noise and commotion, what do we find? Fall 2019 Newsletter in PDF format (1MB)
Summer 2025
CHANGE “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” runs an old folk wisdom saying. This saying has never seemed so profoundly true as today. So many things change today: a new president in the White House, the seasons, the death of Pope Francis, and the new pope, Leo XIV. Is there anything…


