Welp, 2023 is shaping up as a year of adventure.

Next month I’ll be flying east to participate on a panel at the New York Encounter.

SAT, FEB 18, 2023
12:45 PM ET | FLOOR 2

“You cannot love what shocks you” 
(Nathaniel Hawthorne):

Testimonies to the mystery of suffering and its relief and redemption in light of the life and writings of Lorenzo Albacete.

March I’m visiting San Miguel de Allende for a week. This is supposedly “pleasure” but will be pocked by the ceaseless stream of…oh, you, know, the ceaseless stream. I’m very grateful. The place looks to be saturated with Catholic churches, colonial architecture, walking, gardens, and I’m sure tchotchkes of the Sorrowful Mother, Bleeding Heart of Christ et cetera. I am going to look for a really good crucifix whilst there..

April I have booked four nights at the Holy Cross Retreat Center Hermitage, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Here I plan to map out THE REST OF MY LIFE ONCE AND FOR ALL.

May I will give a couple of morning retreats on prayer to the Maryknoll missioners at their place in Los Altos, California, and have begged a few extra nights to explore the nearby nature preserve and if all goes, well, the Gardens of Alcatraz Prison.

First weekend in June I’ll be (once again, having visited over Thanksgiving) at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, giving a writing workshop to the monks, oblates, and whoever else might want to attend. That will be available on zoom as well, flyer and links forthcoming.

Then I’m REALLY going to start traveling. Will spend from mid-July to mid-September in Oughterard, Ireland, just outside of Galway, then the last two weeks of September at Kylemore Abbey in Connemara.

My big dilemma is whether to head over to Europe even earlier so as to dip into Belgium and Scotland.

Be careful what you ask for! Obviously, an embarrassment of riches.

I just finished reading Martha Gellhorn’s very entertaining Travels With Myself and Another. But she mostly went solo, too.