• Lent with the Desert Fathers: Is it Yours?

    Lent with the Desert Fathers: Is it Yours?

    A Word From the Desert “The same Abba Agathon was walking with his disciples. One of them, finding a small green pea on the road, said to the old man, ‘Father, may I take it?’ The old man, looking at him with astonishment, said, ‘Was it you who put it there?’ ‘No,’ replied the brother. Read more

  • Celebrating St. Gregory the Great

    Celebrating St. Gregory the Great

    Today, March 12, is the feast of St. Gregory the Great also known, especially in the East, as St. Gregory the Dialogist because he wrote a book entitled The Dialogues in which he extolled the Italian saints. Gregory served as pope from 590 until his death on March 12, 604. Though often seen as Augustinian Read more

  • Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detachment and Simplicity

    Lent with the Desert Fathers: Detachment and Simplicity

    A Word From the Desert Abba Zosimos said, “In time, through neglect, we lose even the little fervor that we suppose we have in our ascetic renunciation. We become attached to useless, insignificant, and entirely worthless matters, substituting these for the love of God and neighbor, appropriating material things as if they were our own or Read more

  • Lent with the Desert Fathers: How Should One Fast?

    Lent with the Desert Fathers: How Should One Fast?

    A Word from the Desert “Abba Joseph asked Abba Poeman: ‘How should one fast?’ And Abba Poeman said: ‘For my part I think it is better that one should eat every day, but only a little, so as not to be satisfied.’ Abba Joseph said to him, ‘When you were younger, did you not fast Read more

  • Lent with the Desert Fathers: A Series on Fasting and Simplicity

    Lent with the Desert Fathers: A Series on Fasting and Simplicity

    Each Friday through Lent I will be posting about a particular aspect of the practices of fasting and simplicity as seen through the lens of the desert tradition. The posts will include a saying from the desert fathers, a reflection on that saying, suggestions for applying the saying to our lives, and a prayer. This Read more

  • Welcome to the Human Race – An Ash Wednesday Sermon, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

    Welcome to the Human Race – An Ash Wednesday Sermon, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

    A couple of years ago I was talking with a women who is and has been for many years my therapist, counselor, mentor, and teacher all rolled into one. I told her that I worked really hard to always get it right, to have the answer, to always know what to do, to speak the Read more

Fr. Mike

My name is Mike Marsh. I am a priest of the Episcopal Church. I retired from active parish ministry in 2025 after serving twenty-two years in The Episcopal Diocese of West Texas.

Spiritual Direction

I am available for spiritual direction online and in person. I have been doing spiritual direction for nearly twenty years. It is one of the aspects of my priesthood about which I am most passionate.

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© Michael K. Marsh and Interrupting the Silence, 2009-2025, all rights reserved. Please contact me for permission to use content from Interrupting the Silence.

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