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Suzanne and I recently returned from leading two "silent directed retreats" at Casa de la Rosa
Retreat Center in Marfa, Texas.  This extraordinary place is also called "The Threshold" and
that is very apt for it is a sacred place of liminal space; a threshold when you are not in the old
place and not yet in the new.  It is a place to leave behind the anxieties and demands of our
everyday world and "be" in the presence of the Holy One, who holds us in love, extends to us
mercy and grants us peace everlasting.

Like the prophet Elijah of old I went there expecting to hear God speak in new ways to my heart.
Just like Elijah I looked for Him in the powerful dust storm that obscurred our view, but He wasn't
in the dust.  Then I looked again for Him to move in the mighty (70 mph) wind that blew across the
desert, still He was quiet.  When the rain blew through and the mountains were left covered in
snow, I thought surely God was there, but still He hid.

Just then the bell rang, the one that called us to the Chapel for prayer four times each day and
like Elijah, I recognized His Presence in the sound of the bell.  I remembered all of those years in
my past, when the "vox Dei", voice of God, called me to prayer and silence through the sound of
the bell and I knew that I was at home.  Home once again in the loving arms of a most merciful and
faithful Father; home again sitting at the table with my selfless and obedient Brother Jesus; home
again wrapped in the embrace of the Spirit.

In the silence there was peace!  And God spoke!