Dan asked me about how and why I experienced a call to the priesthood. Since I tend not to have dramatic moments of revelation, I described a series of events and insights—from Afghanistan to a Buddhist retreat—that led me to become a monk, and then a priest. We also talked about what attracted me to Carmelite spirituality, about our new American pope, my work with Cross Catholic Outreach, and my life as a “desert rat.”

We ended with my reciting my poem “Weird Stuff I Love,” and a reminder to take time to be silent and solitary, especially in nature, as a way to stay sane and serve in a world of chaos and soul-dulling digital inundation.

Some of you may have known me for a part of my life. Or maybe we just met. If you’d like an overview, Dan and I covered my adult life at about fifty years per hour!