Spring 2026

HARD Have you ever gone through a time in your life when everything seems hard? When nothing goes right? When it seems as though God is far, far away, and though you call out for God, there seems to be no response? Winter 2019 Newsletter in PDF format (1.3MB)

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)

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…

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…

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