Fall 2018

PRAYING Perhaps most of us learned as children to pray by way of the Our Father or Hail Mary or the Rosary, or the Divine Mercy chaplet. We were taught that this was how to pray. Perhaps we never were taught, never learned, anything beyond that—yet now that is not enough. Winter 2022 Newsletter PDF

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)

TAKING TIME What a great relief it was to be away from the responsibilities, from the nearly constant demands on my time and attention. I was just sitting. Just being. Just quietly grateful for the loveliness of God’s creation, for the priceless gift of quiet, of time, of empty space. Fall 2023 Newsletter (1.1 MB)

For some time now, during my morning hour for prayer and lectio, I sit and wait, in emptiness. Perhaps idleness? I don’t know. And yet it doesn’t feel ‘dry.’ Fall 2025 Newsletter in PDF (1.5MB)

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…

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…