Spring 2019

My One Companion is … darkness. We want joy, peace, happiness. But when these are unattainable, is it possible to make darkness, sadness, grief our companions? Summer 2019 Newsletter in PDF format (1.3MB)

THE WINTER FROM HELL What to do when everything is challenging, everything seems bleak. What to do? Spring 2026 newsletter in PDF (7.1MB)

“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…

As winter approaches, nights are longer and days are shorter, colder, and darker. In late October the leaves begin to fall. In the perennial border, leaves and stems begin to die back. The grass turns yellowish green before going brown and dead. Annual plants die completely. Winter is a stripped down time for trees and…

WATCHING One of my favorite times is very early morning, shortly after I awake, when I sit in my ‘cell’ (monastic term for my room) and watch the clouds go by. My moods and emotions may not only reflect the weather outside, they are in fact the face of the weather inside. Spring 2021 Newsletter…

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…