SOUTHWEST TOUR REPORT 2007
November 6, 2007

Peace and Good in Christ!

AMARILLO, TX

Our west coast tour is off to a wonderful start in the Southwest. First we were sponsored by a non-Catholic community in Amarillo, where we had 750 people in their new state-of-the-art concert hall. We got a chance to meet some old friends in the community of The Disciples of the Lord Jesus. I have a long standing friendship with their foundress, Mother John Marie. It was so good to see her again, as well as some of the other first generation of sisters.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM

After that it was off to Albuquerque, NM. There we played to a smaller group of about 300. The ministry was strong as several reported an apparition of Mary above me as I sang. This is not the first time I have heard of this, but I never see it. Nor do I believe that such apparitions are the result of any merit on my part. All is grace. There was also a report of a healing from fibromyalgia.

ST MARY'S MISSION, TOHATCHI, NM

The greatest surprise came at St. Mary's Mission in Tohatchi, NM on the Navajo Nation reservation. We had been invited by the bishop of Gallup to play at the Cathedral, where I have sung before. Unfortunately the bishop took a spill down some stairs and has been in the hospital and under medical care for several months. One of our domestic brothers, and a Franciscan Friar, Fr. John Mittlestadt, invited us to St. Mary's. It was special for me to sing in the little St. Mary's Church as it was the first time for a concert there to the Navajo, instead of them being asked to go into Gallup. The evening opened with traditional Navajo chants of the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. I was deeply moved by this as I sat in the little sacristy waiting to be introduced. I felt as if I was being connected to the sacred ground of the reservation.

As the concert in Mesa, AZ was canceled a week or so ago, the folks at Tohatchi arranged a couple of days of ministry with the Navajo. Today we went out to take communion to some shut-ins. What a privilege to enter into these Navajo homes and hogans! The dirt floors and eight-sided dwellings keep one connected to the sacred earth and the entire creation of God. In particular we met two sisters in their 90's who had lost their husbands recently. It was quite moving to hear them pray the liturgy in Navajo and to share in their holy communion through prayer. The tears they shed during our prayers were sacred to God as well.

St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School

This afternoon I sang for the elementary school kids at St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School, where one of our domestic members, Mary Ann Frank, is principal. It is always a joy for me to share with the youth. They respect honesty, so if one is honest with them about faith, they respond with great trust. It was fun getting them to raise hands with various songs, and to share Jesus with them, and to hear their remarkable answers to questions about Jesus.

I feel very connected to this Mission as we have three domestic members in residence there, and it is often the place used by our southwest region of the BSCD to gather for retreats and prayer. I pause each time I come here, thinking about building a little hogan hermitage up the hill from St. Mary's Mission.

In Jesus,

John Michael Talbot

John Michael Talbot

Founder and Spiritual Father

The Brothers and Sisters of Charity at Little Portion Hermitage