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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
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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
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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
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Healing the Fever of Disconnection – A Sermon on Mark 1:29-39
“Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever” (from Mark 1:29-39, Epiphany 5B). You know what that’s like, right? Picture that in your mind. She’s in bed, flat on her back. No energy. No enthusiasm. She is separated from family, friends, and her usual activities. She’s alive but not really living, certainly not to the… Read more
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Blessing Candles on the Feast of the Presentation (Candlemas)
Forty days after Christmas the infant Jesus was presented in the temple of Jerusalem and placed in the arms of the old man Simeon (Luke 2:22-40) who declared: Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you… Read more
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A Blessing Specific to the Feast of the Presentation
The Book of Occasional Services, one of the liturgical books in the Episcopal Church, offers several blessings specific to seasons and feast days. It does not, however, offer a blessing specific to the Feast of the Presentation, a major feast in the liturgical year. The following blessing has been prepared based upon the collects and… Read more
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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, 2009-2026, all rights reserved. Please contact me for permission to use content from Interrupting the Silence.
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Copyright
Interrupting the Silence is copyrighted as follows:
© Michael K. Marsh and Interrupting the Silence,
2009-2026, all rights reserved.
Interrupting the Silence 