11 AM

Everything packed and ready to go. 49 degrees F. Leaves falling. When I get back most of the leaves will be on the ground. Rather cool this morning.

I read from Roger Housden's book, Sacred Journeys in a Modern World, last night about his trip to St. Catherine's Monastery at the base of Mount Sinai, where Moses had his burning bush experience. He thoughts of the journey magnify my own:

"I wanted to know what it was like to emerge out of the wilderness and see, as thousands had done before me down through the centuries--before roads, buses, maps, and schedules had altered our vision forever -- the walls of this legendary place shimmering in the desert haze."

PRAYER FOR THE JOURNEY -- MY FAVORITE PRAYER BY THOMAS MERTON

I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton