On May 17th, 2025, the 100th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Therese of Lisieux, we celebrate the ordination of Father Richard Withers of the Holy Spirit and All Saints to the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He will be assigned to the Hermitage of Saint Joseph.

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and upon the tombs He is bestowing life!

Holy week never seems to give us enough time to truly comprehend all that we witness. On Palm Sunday, no sooner do we greet the Messiah on His entrance into Jerusalem, than we cry out "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" There is little time between the curtain of darkness that overcame the world with the death of Christ, and the lighting of the Paschal candle at the Easter vigil.
Mercifully, the Church gives us an octave for the Resurrection, and 50 days of the festal season of Paschaltide to contemplate the living, resurrected, Christ.

This year's Paschaltide is particularly celebratory as we will receive a new priest. God willing, Deacon Richard will be ordained on the 100th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Therese of Lisieux, in Philadelphia, considered by many to be the birthplace of devotion to Saint Therese in the United States.

Join us in prayer that God's will be done in the Hermitage of Saint Joseph and that we will be docile to the voice of the Holy Spirit for the good of the Church and salvation of souls, for Deacon Richard's ordination to the priesthood, for the peaceful repose of the soul of Pope Francis, and the election of a new and holy vicar of Christ to be a wise and faithful shepherd to guide the Church through rough waters.

Advent has vanished into the mist and Christmas has flown away.  Ash Wednesday is fast approaching - a months time will come to pass before we know it. In the last week, which was spent well below freezing, winter offered many of its most delicate and ephemeral gifts of pastel skies and glassy sheets of ice across Rock Run and the nearby lake. For anyone who has not heard the eerie and strange resonance of a rock skipping across a frozen lake, I highly recommend it!

The mystery of the Nativity is often shrouded  and overrun by the noise of the world and our own weakness and sentimentality. Maybe, it is most appropriate to say very little on or about this great feast, only that the next eight days, this octave of Christmas, are days which are best spent in the winter silence, gazing intimately on the mystery of the Word made flesh.

Merry Christmas and happy new year.

The evanescence of autumn is hard to take in before it fades into the grasp of November, a month which has a unique beauty all its own but much more subtle than the last hurrah of nature’s colorful displays before a long sleep. Looking out there is an overwhelming display of highly saturated and fiery hues of orange and yellow blazing up into the cloudless sky, which on some days is the most brilliant azure providing a perfect contrast to this hot inferno of foliage. Other times, the sky is a silvery grey, creating a foil, muting the colors and foretelling the grayness to come.

Bringing the focus back into the world underfoot to what was covered in green leaves and vines just a few weeks ago, there are countless hidden treasures that become the focal point of life like reddening rose hips and inconspicuous wasps visiting the last flowers of the year - asters and joe-pie weed. Many species of mushroom bookend the year, emerging in spring and re-emerging in the fall. Looking up, the birds are quickly losing the dense canopy and thick underbrush that once offered them cover.

Even roadsides have a captivating beauty which can be appreciated only by living life at the pace of our own feet.

Hiding behind the anonymity of the screen is much more comfortable than putting yourself out there, but sometimes it is necessary to step out into the light. About a year ago, Brother Richard handed the responsibility of the website over to my care, and since making some updates, there have been several inquiries about vocations to the eremitical life in general as well as to the Hermitage of Saint Joseph.

While it was so good to see interest and hear from different people, I could not help but to be just a little disappointed that they were all men, but how was anyone supposed to know that the vision of the future Laura is to be of both brother and sister hermits living in separate housing? I was told to introduce myself, and I dragged my feet for a while...

We are all grateful for the continued blessing of God, support of the Archdiocese, and the hard work of Brother Richard who was ordained to the transitional diaconate on May 11, 2024, and ask for continued prayers as he makes his way toward the priesthood.