faith – Spiritual accompaniment

Insights along the journey of faith come sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly

July 11, 2026

Ten years ago, I had a re-conversion experience that has born much fruit, bringing about something of an inward emotional re-arrangement (some elements of that story are told here). In the period following that re-conversion experience, I had an extended sense of God loving me. Directly and personally.

How, though, do we explain such experiences? I recently wrote in a paper for my Master’s in Theology that “In recent years, I have been challenged in effort to foster meaningful dialogue about how we each experience our personal faith journeys. Insufficient dialogue on these topics has been a point of frustration and emotional isolation.”

Periodically, I have found “bits and pieces” of how to articulate such experiences. At one point, I heard a parish priest speak of having an “encounter with God” outdoors one afternoon in the American Southwest when he was in his twenties. “Oh, okay,” I recognized – “I can tell people that I had an encounter with God” to partially tell of my experience. Other tidbits of how to talk of my experience come along occasionally. Also, I occasionally find people “in the pews of churches” who are undergoing some kind of an inward emotional re-arrangement that is being wrought by God. I have met two such people in the last five years. All I knew to do was to be present with them. They and I would try to “talk around” what they were experiencing as neither they now I knew how to fully articulate it (thought they were very clearly hungry for conversation and community around what they were experiencing). When Teresa of Avila was told in the 1500’s to write her story – of mystical experiences, etc. – she likewise had to invent a way of describing her inner experiences (she did a great job!).

I discovered a couple of months ago that Augustine wrote about “interiority.” “Ah ha,” I thought! Perhaps, I hoped, the writings of this early church father and theologian might help me to learn to better foster dialogue about how we experience the “interiority” of how we experience our inner faith journeys. I explored this in a paper for school. The paper proved to meander somewhat. In working on that paper, I was better able to articulate the parameters my own questions and came across a few gems of insight about communicating what I mean by spiritual interiority. For example, the Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confession tells us:

“Augustine directs his readers’ attention to the soul as an inner world, an interior space of the self that is not literally a place, but rather a dimension of being in which truths may be found, including God as the eternal truth that has always been present both within and above the soul as its creator. Yet, the self comes late to God within itself, because as sinners we keep turning our attention outward, trying to find happiness in external things.”

In order to go inward, the Cambridge Companion to Augustine’s Confessions (above) also communicates about turning away from external distractions toward your own consciousness. Then, springboarding into transcending oneself becomes possible by connecting with the God who lives within us.

I have experienced these statements; now the written statements above as reference to more fully articulate what it is I want to discuss within faith communities. Great. It took ten years to find these statements.

Our own interiority, I think, is individual and hard to communicate. Other folks have corroborated in their own ways that such interiority can be hard to communicate. But the likes of Teresa of Avila and Augustine manage to communicate their experience!

I would like for “everyday people in church pews” to be able to talk about our interior faith experiences. Building community around sharing our encounters with God – and simple every day faith maturation – should be the privilege of everyone who is on a faith journey. I think, perhaps, that some people come to sharing such easier than I do…..

In two other books I am currently reading, I am finding more gems that offer insights into describing the experiences of religious interiority:

In his book Doors to the Sacred, Joseph Martos writes that what we experience in religious sacraments are doors that open for us the experience that which is sacred. Wow. What a way to help us articulate our experiences.
Stephen B. Bevans writes in his book Community of Missionary Disciples (a book we are reading for school) that contemplation is “God ‘gazing’ on us in love, as Pope Francis often says.” I just read this today. I needed that statement last week. I had sent my recent academic paper (above) to the priest I got matched up with to offer spiritual guidance as I do my Master’s program. He had asked me to explain verbally what I meant when I said that I had experienced God directly loving me. All I could say last week that it was like God was present as person within the space of my inward “personal space” loving me.
In Joseph Martos’ Doors to the Sacred book, I also came upon the phrase “mystical metaphysics.” I Googled that phrase. Reading the search results and tweaking my subsequent search queries led to the phrase “Catholic mystical metaphysics” and the word “ontology”(the branch of philosophy that investigates the nature of existence).

So, maybe what I am really interested in is ontology of Catholic mystical metaphysics. Hmmm….. Am I thinking to hard in trying to find a way for we “everyday people in the pews to talk to each other?” Do I just communicate less readily than other people? I have any number of books written by saints, nuns, etc. who have described their own prayer journeys and mysticism. Maybe I just need to communicate more freely. Perhaps. Yet, I also want to hear more dialogue from “every day people of faith” about how we experience our faith journeys. What’s it like when you turn to God in prayer? What’s it like when you feel God loving you? What does it feel like when you respond to those occasional “nudges” we all get occasionally that might be the Holy Spirit trying to get our attention? (and, I am still getting asked what I mean when I say “interiority,” even after writing the paper mentioned above).

We have writers such as Thomas Merton, Teresa of Avila, Edith Stein, and John of the Cross to read. Should we just satisfy ourselves with reading what they have to say about the spiritual life?

I still want to figure out how to talk more freely about the ontology of Catholic mystical metaphysics. Maybe I think too much. But, I want to build community around this topic. The U.S. Surgeon general says that we have an “epidemic of loneliness” and the subsequent health consequences of that “epidemic of loneliness.” I don’t think we are suppose to be lonely. Church buildings become places of community when we talk to each other. Even the mystic Teresa of Avila – now a Doctor of the Church – had to figure out how to articulate her experience. Surely, we “every day people” can figure out how to share with each other the experiences of our inner religious experiences to build community around the experience of our faith journeys.

I will continue working on this…..

More on “Prayer – wordless sighs of the heart”… and “hearing from you”

May 21, 2026

In a previous post, “Prayer: Wordless Sighs of the Heart,” I mentioned that the Benedictine monks of Saint Meinrad Monastery mention in their book The Tradition of Catholic Prayer that “wordless sighs of the heart” is a type of prayer available to us. I love this type of prayer. Human language simply falla short for having a meaningful interaction with God in prayer. Vocabulary simply isn’t needed when we pray – we can simply be present with God. Prayer, at its’ most intimate – and therefore meaningful, is about presenting ourselves fully to the fullness of God.

In my readings, I recently came upon Paul’s letter to the Roman’s – Romans 8:26. I came upon it three times within about two weeks! Romans 8:26 says “…we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit intercedes [for us] with groanings too deep for words.” Super! Paul was touching on this same important theme in the early decades of Christianity!

Regular readers may have noticed that I often blog about prayer. Why? While prayer is deeply personal (it is about each of us being intimately present with God) means it takes a particular type of creativity to describe prayer well, I want everyone to experience the richness of experiencing God’s presence in prayer. Because I want everyone to have a rich experience of prayer, I have started compiling a reference list of my blog posts on prayer to make it easy for readers to find a list of my blog post on prayer. You can find that list here (please check it out!). FYI, you will see that I am also compiling other topical lists of my blog posts on that same page……

Speaking of “what matters to each of us in our faith journeys,” I am expanding the “input” of this faith blog. In addition to you – readers – receiving blog posts on faith topics I choose to write about, this blog is being opened up to hearing from you. Is there a spirituality topic that you’ve been pondering for a time? Ask us about it. Is there a faith topic you have been pondering but you haven’t found an answer? Submit your question to this blog….. A Dear Hermitage Within” page has been added to this blog’s website so you can reach out with your question. Have a question about prayer? Ask. Want to know something about Christian liturgy? Ask. Curious about some aspect of religious history? Ask. Want to inquire about some aspect of theology? Ask. If you submit a question and we plan to write about it on this blog (you would remain anonymous, of course!), we will be sure to let you know by email. FYI – I will write some blog responses to submitted questions and may sometimes invite trusted faith writers to provide insights – pastors, theologians, etc….. Be sure to visit the “submit your question” page above when you would like to submit a faith question!

The Genesis creation stor(ies), Jesus’ parables, chaos, stability, change

May 2, 2026

During this first term in my master’s in theology program, we’ve been reading through the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah/Pentateuch), the four canonical gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Book of Revelation.

Our two courses – one on the Hebrew Bible and one for the New Testament – were chosen as our first two classes to lay a groundwork. Tear down “what we thought we new about the Bible” and learn to look at it in fresh ways through the insights provided through Biblical Studies.

The two combined classes and the class textbooks have – indeed – percolated an interesting combination of insights that has captured my imagination.

In Greek – the language through which the complete Bible first came to us – the word COSMOS (order) is opposite of the word CHAOS.

In the time of Old Testament at at the time of Jesus, water represented chaos.

When Genesis tells of God creating the world (there are actually two versions of the story), the water – chaos – was separated from land. In creating the world, God created order out of chaos. God can create order in the world and create a world in which we can inhabit.

In the New Testament stories when Jesus walked on water toward the disciples and calmed the tempestuous water storm(s), these weren’t just physically miraculous. Walking on water and calming storms on the sea likewise represented calming chaos. Jesus calms the chaos in our lives.

Yet, Jesus is also the disrupter.

While the Genesis creation story is told in the ways in which tell us of order being created in our world, Jesus spoke in parables.

I learned to consider parables in more depth this term from writer Bernard Brandon Scott in his book Hear then the Parable (a commentary on the Parables of Jesus). Parables, it turns out, developed as a distinct form of communicating lessons in the geographic area of Christ during the time of Jesus. Jesus was among the first people to use parables. In telling parables, Jesus brought about social disruption. He used parables to take us from “here is something with which you are familiar (A, B, C.)” to “I hereby compare A, B, or C to ‘a better way to live’ and/or ‘X is how to get to heaven.'” He disrupted our famliar ways of living to show us his path.

All of this still applies today. When we encounter storms in life, we can turn to our God who loves us and who shelters us amidst the chaos of storms. Yet, the God who loves us as we are – as the saying goes – “loves us too much to leave us the way we are.”

It is up to us to allow God to change us into the people we are meant to be. No easy undertaking. This is involves surrender. I am not the master of my destiny. Personally, I’m attracted to the person I come closer to being when I allow God to shift me toward becoming the person I am meant to be.

Our social order comes closer to the world God wants for us when more of us spend more time allowing God to transform us toward being the people we are meant to be.

People of faith, becoming Easter people….

April 29, 2026

When I taught baptism preparation classes for parents and godparents, talking about baptism inherently required talking about Adam and Eve and “The Fall.” When we are baptized, we are given grace that helps us to reduce our tendency to sin – this human tendency to sin dates back to humanity’s fall in the Garden of Eden. When I would very quickly start talking about “The Fall” in these baptism prep classes – so that I could then get to the good part of explaining grace and baptism – I would tell parents and godparents that “the longer I am in church, the more convinced I am that ‘The Fall” happened with Adam and Eve. If you’re not sure that humanity’s ‘fall’ happened in the Garden of Eden, just turn on the news and listen to all the crazy things that we humans do. Humanity’s fall with Adam and Eve actually does an effective job of explaining our collective human faults……”

I have come to notice that the “church people” I most admire share a common quality. One way or another, each of them really, genuinely draw a connection between being people of faith to recognizing the darkest parts of themselves and facing-and-overcoming/improving those dark parts of themselves within the context of their faith. And, they talk about it. Often, this “talking about it” comes up in one-on-one conversations. I’ve heard people talk about overcoming depression, getting over being terrible to their spouses, about how there was a time when “they shouldn’t have had children” (and didn’t) to now being people who are visibly caring toward the people in their lives. The list goes on. Personally, I tend to talk about my challenges within prayer groups (a great place to find contemplative prayer groups is Contemplative Outreach).

This process of overcoming our darkest corners really pays off. We’ve all got dark corners in our lives. These are the parts of ourselves that we wouldn’t want to see described in the newspaper….. Being honest about this stuff takes courage. I think most of us are aware of the darkest parts of ourselves – whether we simply feel pulled down by it and don’t know what to do about it (that really does drag a person down emotionally) or if we take a hard, honest look at it “in the light of day.” Sometimes, getting honest about this stuff happens out of some kind of necessity (i.e., one’s particular form of darkness becomes manifest in some way that ends up requiring that it be addressed). Sometimes, people just want to become better people. No matter what path we take to really facing up to the darkest parts of ourselves, there is liberation to be found in letting God transform us. And, it really is God who transforms us. The best and most liberating transformation comes through our God who can – and will – bring about salvation.

Surrendering to letting God change our innermost selves can sometimes be terrifying. “My innermost self is ‘Who I am.’ What’s going to happen if I let God tamper with my innermost self?” What happens is that we become the people we are meant to be. We become better people. Transformation and freedom happen.

A couple of days ago, I had one of those “Murphy’s law” afternoons when “everything that can go wrong” does go wrong” (or, “things go wrong in ways that we couldn’t have even thought of”). I started coming unraveled. I recognized the unraveling when I shouted about that day’s version of “Murphy’s Law” and realized that my behavior was going to upset my cat (who had no control over my behavior). “Oh, my cat doesn’t need to be subjected to my unraveling.” I’ve been “doing church” long enough to know that this “unravelling” is no longer necessary when Murphy shows up and imposes his law. Further, I have experienced the process of God improving me enough to be able to shift toward that transforming process. I emotionally sat down and tapped into the transformative process I have learned in church. The unraveling began to reverse. There’s freedom in that. We don’t have be stuck in the worst parts of ourselves. We can become the people we want to see described in the newspaper (or, the church bulletin).

We are currently in the Easter season – the fifty days from Easter to Pentecost. God died for our sins and rose again so that we can join “the Risen Christ.” Our surrender in which we allow God to transform us means tapping into Jesus’s death and resurrection. This is truly beautiful. Transformative. It’s freely available to all of us. God wants to be in our lives. “Being the people we were meant to be” is an available option. Happy Easter.

Kim Burkhardt blogs about faith at The Hermitage Within. Thank you for reading this faith blog and for sharing it with your friends. While you are here, please feel welcome to provide support to sustain this blog ($$). You can also $$ support this blog by clicking here here to do your Amazon shopping (if you click here before you start your Amazon shopping, Amazon pays us a commission when you shop via the link provided).

“Be not afraid”

April 14, 2026

We church goers like to think of ourselves as faithful people.

If one spends enough time in church, one is bound to hear about trusting in God. “Bring all of your challenges to God.”

I periodically ponder the presence of fear in people’s lives (both in my life and in the lives of other people). Everyone is afraid of something. Fear of getting seriously ill. Fear of losing a job. Fear of being alone. Fear of being publicly shamed. Fear of losing one’s home. Fear of being attacked at night on a “scary street corner.” Fear of making a wrong decision. Fear if making a major change in one’s life. There’s an endless list of things people fear…..

Perhaps I am able to ponder the topic of fear because the topics I fear sometimes differ from other people. This brings fear into stark perspective. I’d rather volunteer in a federal prison than carry a cell phone to “protect myself in an emergency.” I prefer traveling alone (this makes it easier to give my full attention to experiencing the place I am visiting), while apparently many people want to be social while travelling and some people are “afraid to travel alone.” A couple of years ago, several friends protested when I told them I was going to go camping alone ‘off road” with no cell phone (excuse me, but there’s no cell phone reception where I was going anyway…..) – one friend was so concerned that he insisted on paying my campground fees if I would go to a campground instead so that I could risk camping next to a crazy troublemaker instead of going-it-alone (the pay-campground-fees friend reads this blog – I can imagine the phone call I’m going to get…)….. My sisters also go camping off-road alone – maybe it’s a quirky family trait…. A couple years ago, another friend commented on his admiration of my willingness to occasionally pack up alone and move to a new city (I haven’t got the foggiest idea of how to be afraid of doing that – I like the adventure….). Sometimes I don’t understand why the people around me are afraid of things that don’t scare me, while other people don’t understand why I am afraid of the things I fear……

At present, I – as a condo dweller – am learning about condo association boards. I’ve been told that there are condo boards (not mine, fortunately) who drag their feet on making decisions about various matters affecting their condo communities. I suspect that this dragging-of-feet happens for various reasons – ranging from lack of knowledge about how to make certain decisions to fear (fear of not knowing what to do, fear of making the wrong decision, etc.).

In any event, most-or-all of us sometimes let fear stop us from doing things that are in our best interest. Myself included. There is an adage that perhaps “fear ought to be classed with stealing. It seems to cause more trouble.”

Yet…

One cannot truly be a person of faith – faithful – if we make decisions based on fear. When we let fear immobilize us, we are not trusting God. “My fear and/or the-thing-I-fear is bigger than God’s ability to get me through the-thing-I-fear.” “My fear belongs to me. My fear is mine – it’s intrinsically part of me. I’m not going to surrender my innermost self and/or my most gripping fears to God. God can’t have my innermost self.”

Truly being a person of faith means allowing God to walk us through our fears. God is for real and God is not smaller than our fears. Allowing God to walk us through our fears is often unlikely to result in us experiencing “the worst case scenario of what we fear” (i.e., “I’m afraid I’m going to experience ‘X-or-Y tragic outcome’ if I don’t sit at home immobolized by my fear”). I have experienced in recent years is that some of my best growth has happened when I surrendered to letting God walk me through something difficult challenge. Solutions are often found and I get through challenges in happier ways that I could have on my own. While some situations are not fixable, trusting God in difficult situations often ends up with me maturing in good and useful ways…….

Many are familiar with the popular hymn Be Not Afraid. This isn’t just a “nice song for church on Sunday” or a comforting song to listen to at funerals (while it is those things). Truly being a person of faith has to mean letting God walk us through the things we most fear.

Moses and Religious Symbolism

March 7, 2026

Many of us learn the religious symbolism of the Exodus. The Israelites fleeing slavery in Egypt for the freedom of the Promised Land represents spiritual transformation. On the way from Egypt to the Promised Land, the parting of the red sea symbolizes leaving slavery. Wandering for 40 years in the desert before entering the Promised Land was punishment for disobeying God. In spiritual transformation, we are freed from our personal bondage of emotional/mental/life slavery for the transformational freedom God provides us. When we don’t fully follow God today, we wander in a personal desert rather than enter the Promised Land promised via a full relationship with our God.

Beyond already being familiar with the symbolism of Exodus, I’ve been struck by learning in this week’s theological studies about how Moses’ demographics represent a multiplicity of ethnic and religious symbolism that fully allowed him to be the leader leading his fellow Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. For example:

As a Hebrew adopted into Pharaoh’s royal Egyptian household by Pharaoh’s daughter and then growing up to marry a Midianite wife, Moses was in a distinct position to mediate between these varying ethnic groups.
As a Levite, Moses belonged to Israel’s priestly tribe. This qualified him to be Israelite’s spiritual leader. He was therefore qualified to mediate between his fellow Israelites and God [including receive the ten commandments), unite the twelve tribes (a nation-building rite of passage toward a unified Israel), and to lead his fellow Israelites out of slavery].

In the end, though, Moses himself died before the Israelites made it to the Promised Land. I find myself wondering if is representative of we humans falling short (i.e., we know that it is only God who can fully lead us to Promised Land)?

During this Lenten season, we can ask ourselves what we are doing to approach the Promised Land. How do we – individually and collectively – remain in bondage that keeps us from a full relationship with God and from being in better relationship with the people around us? How are we failing to allow God to turn us into the people that God intends for us to be? Really answering these questions and grappling with what this implies can be uncomfortable. Not answering these questions – and remaining where we are – would ultimately be more uncomfortable (and, really, irresponsible). To truly be (or to become) people of faith, we must step up and do what’s necessary to allow God to bring us to the Promised Land.

Matthew 22:34-40: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. Anything that doesn’t measure up to loving God, loving our neighbors, and becoming the person we are truly suppose to be is going to prevent us from allowing God to bring us to the Promised Land.

Redemption, hope, Lent…..

February 13, 2026

When I had a re-conversion experience in 2016 (that story is told here), I had a profound experience of being loved by God. Love brings about hope.

More recently, in my master’s in theology program we’ve been reading through the first five books of the Hebrew Bible (the Torah/Pentateuch), the four canonical gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles. In reading the gospels of Mark and Matthew, I started getting discouraged. I thought, “Such a high degree of righteousness, self-sacrifice, etc. is required to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll never make it.” That discouragement is unnecessary, of course, because it is possible for us to do what’s presented to us – but I wasn’t seeing that. Further, I normally don’t take an interest in the future “Kingdom of Heaven” – I normally take the attitude that “Life is challenging. Forget about later – I need God now.” Then, someone changed my recent perspective yesterday – a reminder that our faith journey is meant to be done in community. We learn and apply charity in community. We learn to be faithful in community. Faith and spirituality are not a “me and God” endeavor – it’s socially about “us together in a faith community.”

What was said yesterday to change my perspective about feeling discouraged (“I’ll never make it to heaven – I’m not up for this righteousness business”)? A priest asked me about my theological studies. I told him, “We are trudging through the ‘who begat who’ in the Old Testament.'” He replied, “That’s important information, actually. You’ll notice that in Jesus’ lineage, it was mostly men who are listed in Genesis. But four of Jesus’ female ancestors are specifically listed.” That had also come up in class….. He reminded me, “All four of those women were pivotal. And, each of them did things that weren’t righteous. Jesus’ ancestors weren’t perfect – we don’t have to be either” [I forget how he worded this – something to the effect of these four women not being righteous].

All four of these women experienced some king of vulnerability. And, each of them did something unrighteous. Without them, there wouldn’t have been the historical lineage that brought us Jesus Christ.

One of the resources we’re using at school, Bible Odyssey, has this to say about these four women: “Tamar, daughter-in-law of Judah, was twice-widowed and childless. In Gen 38, she disguised herself, seduced her father-in-law, and conceived twin sons. Judah accused her of promiscuity, but ultimately even he recognized her as righteous. Rahab was a Canaanite prostitute, who was approached by Israelite spies (Josh 2, 6). By securing their safety she secured a future for herself and her family among the Israelites. Ruth was a Moabite and a childless widow (Ruth 1–4). She provided for herself and her mother-in-law by spending the night with their relative, Boaz, on the threshing floor. They married, and, with him, she carried on the family line. Bathsheba was already married when King David ordered for her to be brought to him. When she conceived David’s child, he had her husband killed and married her. Their first child died, but Bathsheba later ensured a place for herself and her family through their second son, Solomon (2 Sam 11–12; 1 Kgs 1).”

This comes back to what Christ said during his time on earth. “I didn’t come for the righteous. Those who are well don’t need a doctor. I came for sinners – the likes of the tax collectors and the prostitutes.”

Even Jesus’ ancestors did things that we wouldn’t want mentioned in the newspaper if we did those same things today. Yikes – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba (Jesus’ ancestors) didn’t just get a current events news story for their actions that would be forgotten in weeks or years. Their activities are in print for all future generations to read! Yet, we got Jesus Christ among their future descendants…..

Hmmm….. As for my earlier comment about “Forget about the future Kingdom of Heaven, I need God now.” We can have good lives today. Christ actually intends for our current social fabric – and our own lives and the lives of the people around us – to better than the difficulties that we often experience. If we truly apply the “Be-Attitudes” that we heard about in the Sunday readings a couple weeks ago, we can each contribute to a better world today.

Ash Wednesday is coming up next week. For Lent this year, I’m going to continue giving up something that I’ve recently started working to give up. I’m giving up continued frustration over a previous life difficulty that I neither caused nor had any control over. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” It’s up to us to contribute to the world we want to live in. It is up to us to do “the heavy lifting.”

What are you giving up for Lent this year? In other words, what have you got to gain this year?

Symbolism in the Gospel of Mark

January 30, 2026

In my Master’s in Theology program, we are reading the Gospel of Mark this week. Mark is thought to have been the first of the four canonical gospels to have been written – probably in about year 70 (the year of the destruction of the temple). The other two synoptic gospels (i.e., similarly fashioned gospels) – Matthew and Luke – are thought to have drawn from Mark.

When I sat down this morning to read Mark’s gospel, I saw it with fresh eyes. I previously read the entire Hebrew Bible and New Testament from the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelation, but that was well prior to having much biblical instruction. I then took a several-weeks class on Mark perhaps seven or eight years ago. Yet, I am still seeing it anew.

The first chapter of Mark – the beginning of the message of Christ in writing – leads us directly into redemptive symbolism.

Mark begins with a prophetic Hebrew Bible quote from Isaiah: “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.” (Mark 1:2-5).

So much symbolism to unpack in one short paragraph. Isaiah is part of the Old Testament; the Old Testament foreshadows the New Testament, the New Testament fulfills the Old Testament. The preparer of the way – Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist – is to be “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” (he was literally in the physical wilderness). Symbolically, when we are not living in relationship with God we are “in the wilderness” – an emotional/psychological/spiritual wilderness…… As an aside, wilderness is still used as a literary device in literature to symbolize being in a fearful or unruly psychological state away from a well-ordered societal environment where we feel safe. Think of the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.

Then, there is Mark 1:9-11: “In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him. ¹¹And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved;^[h] with you I am well pleased.”

The River Jordan is where the Israelites had crossed in the Old Testament from slavery in Egypt and from wandering in the wilderness for 40 years for disobeying God to enter the promised land. In baptism, we are freed from slavery and from life in the wilderness (i.e., from our confused darkness wandering) to enter into the promised land.

Immediately upon Jesus’ baptism, the Gospel of Mark writes, “And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him (Mark 1:12-13).”

Whenever we are provided God’s grace (as in baptism), Satan wishes to tempt us away from living in loving relationship with God. And, again there is the number 40. The Israelites had been sent into the wilderness (the untame place) for disobeying God, Satan tempted Jesus for 40 days. In biblical literature, a period of 40 (40 years, 40 days) is a period of purification and cleansing.

After Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, he began drawing people to God: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:14-15). In subsequent passages, Jesus began healing people and driving out unclean spirits. In other words, drawing us to God and healing us.

Prayers of Praise and Thanksgiving

January 11, 2026

My prayer life in recent years began with a gifted period of contemplative prayer (as told here). Hands-down, my two favorite pray-ers are the contemplative mystics Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross (I still recall being at daily mass one day when Fr. Bryan Dolejsi mentioned Teresa of Avila being a Doctor of the Church. “What?” I wanted to know, “What is a Doctor of the Church and who is Teresa of Avila?” Those questions sent me off on a follow-up inquiry for which I am grateful). I experience joy within contemplative prayer and a movement toward becoming more of the person that God wants me to be.

An additional form of prayer recently entered my daily routine when I enrolled in theological studies. We were told to start daily participation in the morning and evening prayers of Liturgy of the Hours (see my previous post about this daily set of prayers that are prayed collectively by the Universal Church).

I am still finding my way into being consistently prayerful within the set daily structure of Liturgy of the Hours. In my previous post about Liturgy of the Hours, I mentioned being told that Liturgy of the Hours is meant to be a tool for prayer than a a straight jacket dictating how we are to pray (hmm…. I thrive prayerfully within a structured mass, why I am having to find my way within the structured Liturgy of the Hours?). I discussed this recently with a priest I see once a month – he told me to find one phrase in each day’s Liturgy of the Hours that I can grab onto and basically do Lectio Divina with that one phrase……

I recently took note that Liturgy of the Hours (also called “Divine Office”) starts with us asking God to come to our assistance – followed by the Glory Be and an Alelluiah.

Hmmm….. Within contemplative prayer, I experientially appreciate God’s loving presence and appreciate that God is acting to bring about positive change within me. Basically, adoration. A relational experience and receiving. I a starting to see a new opportunity within Liturgy of the Hours – learning a new way of appreciating God via the Glory Be and an Alelluiah. Contemplative adoration is a relationship, while the Glory Be and an Alelluiah are about praising God for God’s own sake. (Life’s not “all about us!!!”). Contemplative prayer and Liturgy of the Hours are complimentary – receiving in one, praising God for God’s own sake in the other. We hear at mass that God has no need of our praise, but that our praise is itself our gift to God.

There a good many ways to praise God. There are songs of praise, a thank you during the day, and – most importantly – thanking God by being of useful service to God’s children. Living a life of faith becomes living a life of gratitude. Alleluiah!

Book Review: The Music of Silence

January 6, 2026

I somehow keep encountering Benedictine spirituality. The first monastery I ever visited was Westminster Abbey in Mission, B.C. [I was four and had just recently been baptized. My parents decided we would visit Westminster Abbey where we attended a Latin mass ( a lot to take in for a post-Vatican II four-year-old who was still new to attending mass….)]. In 2016, I joined St. Benedict parish in Seattle. Since 2016, I have read several books on contemplative spirituality written by Benedictines. I give people copies of The Tradition of Catholic Prayer from the Benedictine St. Meinrad Monastery. I am now enrolled in a Master’s in Theology at a Benedictine university (St. Martin’s University) ….And so it goes….

Most recently, I came upon – and ordered a copy of – The Music of Silence: Entering the Sacred Space of Monastic Experience. When the book arrived, I was both surprised and not surprised that the authors are O.S.B. – of the Order of St. Benedict.

This book is proving to be everything I hoped for. Goodreads (the Internet Movie Database – IMDB – of published books) describes this book simply: The Music of Silence is “[a] collection of meditations describes the sacred nature of the monastic chant, the qualities of faith, and the peace-inducing properties of silence and listening.”

A vibrant faith life must – by definition – include both an outward life of service and an inner stillness in which we encounter God’s presence. The Music of Silence is among the written music articulating an inner environment of nurturing a personally-enriching stillness and encountering God’s presence.

Much to my gleeful surprise, this book comes with a CD of Gregorian chant (yes, I still buy and listen to CDs….). While I have occasionally listened to Gregorian chant over the years, I am now finding a richer receptivity for such chant. Perhaps my local library has CDs of Gregorian chant…..