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 that does not change?
STAYING THE COURSE What a challenging year it continues to be—and likely will continue to be as we head towards fall and winter. And so we trudge along in this perilous ‘new normal.’ We endure. But it’s hard. We need to find ways to help ourselves stay the course. Fall 2020 Newsletter in PDF format…
Recently we hosted a weekend preached retreat here at the Hermitage. In setting up times for lectures and discussions with Sr. Donald Corcoran, our presenter, it happened that we left long blocks of free time for people. There were long stretches of free time early Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, again in the evening, and also…
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)
I was raised Protestant, in the United Church of Christ, but in high school I met a teacher who lent me a biography of St. Teresa of Avila. It was love at first sight, and I knew what I wanted to be “when I grew up.” But it wasn’t that easy! Not only was I…
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)
DIFFERENCES Lately it seems that all we hear about is how divided we are in this country, and how different our opinions are on all sorts of things. With such deep differences and divisions, how are we able to hold together? Winter 2025 newsletter in PDF (1.7 MB)
