Category Archives: Blog

Home is Right Here: A Revision for our home-bound days

Posted on May 10, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

Home is right here! Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. Robert Frost, The Death of the Hired Man. More than anything else, we long for home. Our deep ache … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Buddha, dreams, Home, New Mexico, Robert Frost, Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Santa Fe, St. Timothy Parish Laguna Niguel CA, T.S. Eliot | 3 Comments

The World’s Best Cup of Coffee: Memories of East and West Germany

Posted on April 30, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

“The man who fears to be alone will never be anything but lonely, no matter how much he may surround himself with people. But the man who learns, in solitude and recollection, to be at peace with his own loneliness, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Aerotherm, Berlin, Carl Heimbs, Checkpoint Charlie, Coffee roasting, CVJM, DDR, East Berlin, East Germany, GDR, Heimbs Kaffee, Herzogin Viktoria Luise von Preussen, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Prussia, Riddarshausen, solitude, St. Andrew's Church Braunschweig, St. Katherine's Church Braunschweig, Stasi, Thomas Merton | 3 Comments

Avant-Garde Priest

Posted on March 31, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

“You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith and … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Fr. Bob Cornelison, Fr. Jim Friedrich, Fr. Pat Tomter, Human Options, Jesuit leadership, Laguna Beach, March on Selma, Mt. Calvary Monastery, Pacific School of Religion, St Pachomius, St. Mark's Altadena, St. Mary's Laguna Beach, Summer of Love, Thomas Merton, Timothy Leary | 6 Comments

Singing Sand Dunes of Death Valley

Posted on March 3, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

“The feeling of it may at times come sweeping like a gentle tide pervading the mind with a tranquil mood of deepest worship. It may pass over into a more set and lasting attitude of the soul, continuing, as it … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged contemplation, Death Valley National Park, desert spirituality, Eureka Dunes, Fred Mercadante, Idea of the Holy, Mesquite Flat Dunes, Rudolf Otto, Sand Dunes, Singing Sand Dunes, Timbisha Shoshone, University of Scranton | 2 Comments

Vinterresa/Winter Journey: Lima, Sweden to Roros Norway

Posted on February 11, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

“From 1854 onward a yearly market shall be held in Roros, commencing the second to last Tuesday in the month of February, and lasting until the following Friday.” Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway. In May 2019, when my … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Dalarna Femund Drivers Association, Lima, Rorosmartinan, Vastagarden | Leave a comment

Desert Angels of Dunmovin

Posted on January 22, 2020 by fatherbrad1971

Bleak, stripped, burned-out shells of rock-walled buildings present skeletal remains of the desert ghost town of Dunmovin, California, on the west side of Highway 395, between Little Lake and Olancha, in the shadows of Mountain Whitney and the Sierra Nevada. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Bedouin, Charles Manson, Desert Fathers, Desert Hospitality, District Attorney Frank Fowles, Dunmovin, Highway 395, Les Cooper, LIttle Lake, No More Deaths, Olancha, Patriarch Abraham, Quran, Ridgecrest, Ruth Cooper, Scott Daniel Warren, Stagecoach, Steve Lupardo | 6 Comments

On The Road: Part III

Posted on August 9, 2019 by fatherbrad1971

“The Desert Fathers believed that the wilderness had been created supremely valuable in the eyes of God precisely because it had no value to men. The wasteland was the land that could never be wasted by men because it offered … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Basil Pennington, Contemplative Meditation, Desert Fathers, Dr. Bob Phillips psychiatry, Dr. Larry Budner child psychiatry, examen of conscience, False Self, Ignatius, Thomas Merton, True Self | 1 Comment

On the Road: Part II

Posted on August 7, 2019 by fatherbrad1971

This is Part II from the workshop on Spirituality for Men, which I presented at the Emmaus Spiritual Ministries Center of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Saturday, 4 August 2019, in Orange, California. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rcqwN7-scI This recording was made … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Blessing Way, Buffered Self, Charles Taylor, chindi, Don Mose, dust devil, Hatali, healing, Holy Sand, Hozho, Mystery Valley, Navajo, Santuario de Chimayo, Valley Fever | 1 Comment

On the Road: Part One

Posted on August 4, 2019 by fatherbrad1971

The following is Part One of my three-part workshop, “One the Road: A Spirituality Series for Men”, which I presented on Saturday 3 August 2019 at the Emmaus Spiritual Ministries Center, sponsored by the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Orange, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | Tagged Augustine, Belden Lane, Emmaus Spiritual Ministires, Father Jim Clarke, Hasidic, Ignatius, Owens Valley, Ron Rolheiser OHM, Rose Springs, Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Spirituality for Men, The Spiritual Exercises | 1 Comment

Good News about Three Independent Southwestern Bookstores

Posted on March 29, 2019 by fatherbrad1971

I am pleased to share with you the good news that three renowned independent bookstores are now carrying my new book, Desert Spirit Places: The Sacred Southwest. Maria’s Bookshop, Durango, Colorado https://www.mariasbookshop.com/ Back from Beyond Bookstore, Moab, Utah http://www.backofbeyondbooks.com/ Between the Covers, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blog | 2 Comments