Both of us are Catholic, one by birth and one by choice, are committed to interfaith dialogue and experience, and believe that a fundamental truth informs all the great religions—that, for all their diversity, they share the search for the Ultimate and the vision of human transformation through selflessness, service and awareness—all based on listening to the voice which is sometimes heard best in the desert.

God loved/loves (John 3:16) the world.  The more we grow in union with God, the more we love it too.  Besides, we’d better; we’re part of it.  You don’t run to the desert because you’re fed up with “the world”.  As John’s Letter reminds us, one who says he loves God and hates his brothers is a liar.  Still, sometimes the world we have constructed is too much with us–especially today’s world of multiplying contradictory demands, media bombardment and general rampant passions.  And the noise is nearly as much within as without.

We can set limits on it.  Depending on our obligations—our real ones–we can reduce the attention we pay to the media, reduce time spent running about, even reduce getting and spending.  We can set aside time and space for silent prayer or meditation and attend to what is vital.  Simpler living IS possible.  And there comes a time to withdraw more fully and find a quiet place of few distractions—where there is extended time and stillness to hear ourselves think and then, even better, hear what we don’t think.  When one’s own voice quiets, one may better hear the “still small voice”.

  “If you love truth, be a lover of silence,” said Isaac the Syrian.  “Silence, like the sunlight, will illuminate you in God.”

Some will seek such an environment for periodic retreats, others for a lifetime.  On our patch of desert you hear the wind, the birds and a deep stillness.  This is the purpose of what we call Open Sky Hermitage—to tune out the noise and tune in to the greater reality—and offer others a time and place to do so.