From 2010 through 2016, I started every day at 0500 or sunrise – whichever occurred first – at the Redemptorist Renewal Center in Picture Rocks, Arizona. Those were special years. My first act of every day was to kneel silently before the icon of Our Mother of Perpetual Help illuminated in the winter months by …
Category Archives: Desert Reflections
Chosen
I learned of a potential physical challenge a year ago in August 2022. From the beginning, I have prayed the leper’s prayer, which he pleaded to Jesus, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” From the beginning, I believe I was chosen to be made clean. That conviction was validated yesterday morning when I …
Palm Sunday and the Third Fall
The fourth part of my personal credo may be the most important… I am called to emulate Jesus… I am reminded of the magnitude of that aspect of my belief most strongly on Palm Sunday as I prepare to share with millions of people around the world the final steps of Christ’s final journey. Up …
Revisiting the Rich Young Man
I was thinking about the story of the rich young man this morning. You know the one… A rich young man asks Jesus how to get to heaven. Jesus tells him to follow the commandments. “I do!” the young man replies happily. “One more thing,” Jesus adds, “Sell everything you have and give the money …
Core Message
Every Saturday morning, the Pray As You Go website presents an examen, a Jesuit tradition involving reflection on and moral evaluation of one’s thoughts and conduct. I find this morning’s examen particularly inviting. In it, I am asked, “If you had the chance to give just one sermon, what would be your core message in …
Happy New Year
May the LORD bless you and keep you; May the LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; May the LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Numbers 6:22-27 Mitakuye Oyasin
Light a Candle
As time passes, I become more grateful for the many blessings bestowed upon me through the grace of God. Many of those blessings come from people, some I know, others may be strangers, but their positive effect on my life is undeniable… like the grace of God. Ten years ago, a young attorney friend who …
A House Built on Prayer
I believe God guided me to the home I reside in, the men who built it, and the small, rural, desert community it is a part of. The house is less than a mile off the extended runway of the local airport, which is home to SkyDive Arizona, arguably the number one skydiving facility in …
Dealing with Challenge
My favorite month is September. As a child of the Berkshires growing up in New England, how could I not revere this special time of the year when the air is crisp and clean… when the trees display their finery in preparation for the winter. As September wanes, I reflect on a challenging 2022. As …
Together
I read a Wendell Berry poem this morning, “They Sit Together on the Porch.” It reminded me of how it should be for people who have shared their lives for decades. Ten years ago when Mrs. tVM and I lived on the edge of the Saguaro National Park with little light pollution, we abandoned the …