We recently received this piece from Moab HUPC member, Fr. Rick Sherman:

From the mid 1980s to 1994 I embarked on a spiritual journey that led me from a career in banking to the Catholic priesthood. My frequent and extended visits to the Uintas and my involvement with the Utah Wilderness Association were an integral part of that journey. I submit this progression of thought and prayer:

“I have often thought that wilderness is to the earth as the soul is to the body.”
Fr. Rick Sherman
St. Pius X Parish, Moab

“I will lead you into the wilderness
and speak to your heart.”
Hosea 2:16

“(The) mystical Wisdom occasionally so engulfs souls in its secret abyss that they have the keen awareness of being brought into a place far removed from every creature. They accordingly feel that they have been led into a remarkably deep and vast wilderness unattainable by any human creature, into an immense unbounded desert, the more delightful, savorous, and loving, the deeper, vaster, and more solitary it is.”
St. John of the Cross, 16th Century Spanish Priest, Mystic and Doctor of the Church, from a commentary on the Dark Night of the Spirit