Reflections
Leave the Profit. Take the Joy.
My friend Adam Bucko has written a beautiful reflection on our human capacity to imagine a way of life that revolves around solidarity instead of capital. He describes ours as a world “where profit overrides life.” As I grow older, I feel this more keenly. I have made very little profit in my life. I was a volunteer for thirty years. So now,...
Caravans: Friendship Summer 2025
We celebrate twenty years as wilderness and urban hermits exploring desert wisdom. Thank you, friends, for two decades of support. "They who abide in friendship," wrote 12th-century Cistercian monk Aelred of Rievaulx, "abide in God, and God in them." Our latest Caravans newsletter focuses on the glory of friendship and includes a montage of our 20-year adventure. Read it here.[dipl_tilt_image image="https://sandandsky.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/20thAnnivFlat.webp" alt="Tessa and Fr. Dave...
Easter 2025: Life Is Set Free
POOR DEATH, where is your sting?Poor hell, where is your triumph?Christ steps out of the tomb and you are reduced to nothing.Christ rises and the angels are wild with delight.Christ rises and life is set free.Christ rises and the graves are emptied of dead.[dnxt_next_color_motion text_color_motion="Oh yes, for he broke from the tomb like a flower, " color_motion_text_duration="7s" color_motion_color_one="#004966" _builder_version="4.27.4" _module_preset="default"...
Affliction and Glory
Take a deep breath. What follows is not light. But neither are death and Resurrection. April is National Poetry Month in the United States. This year, it includes the final weeks of the Christian season of Lent, with Easter celebrated on April 20. Holy Week, the days immediately preceding Easter, overlaps Passover. April 24 is Holocaust...
Creative Extremists
In 1980, Poland's Solidarity movement became the first labor union in Soviet bloc countries. The "Solidarność" banner became iconic. In November 2024 United States citizens elected a president who relishes chaos and vengeance. My anguish over the suffering this administration’s wrecking crew inflicts leads me...
Working My Way Toward the Star
A source of joy is my discovery of Fix the News. Mainstream media still run...
Happy Feast of the Incarnation!
Christmas greetings from the Desert Foundation! In a season of darkness, a star glistens. Light bursts from a makeshift crib in a small town in an occupied land on the ragtag margin of an “eternal” empire. Now we can say: The midst of the earth is a raging mirthAnd the heart of the earth a star. --G.K. Chesterton--Art by Leslie McNamara
Christmas Joy and Gladness
The photo above shows Advent wreath candles, and we light the pink candle...
Winter Caravans: A Fruitful Year
Our Winter 2024 Caravans newsletter is now available here. We celebrate a fruitful 2024 and look forward to celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary with you in 2025. Read about Tessa’s joyful experience as World Wisdom Teacher at Naropa University. Ponder Dave’s reflections on the nightmare of Gaza, with suggestions for how to help. Fortify...
Thanksgiving: A Constant State
When I think of gratitude, pilgrims are not my first thought. Nor even my grandmother’s deliciously unhealthy Thanksgiving dumplings. Instead, I remember the voice of our old friend Bro. David Steindl-Rast, with its melodic Austrian accent. He insists that true gratitude can become a constant state of mind. It isn’t that I’m grateful for this...