Brian Mueller Welcome to Follow Me to the MROP, a podcast dedicated to the journey of the masculine soul and the transformative power of initiation. My name is Brian Mueller. I live in suburban Dayton, Ohio, and I made my rites at Pilgrim Park in Illinois in 2014. I'm your host, and in each episode of our show, I'll sit down with one man who has made his rites, and I'll invite him to tell his story. This won't be an abstract explanation or a theological lecture, just a real conversation about what it was like to cross that threshold at the rites and what changed afterward. Before we begin, a quick word of gratitude. This podcast is brought to you by Choosing Presence. We believe that the greatest gift a man can give his community is his own presence. In a world of constant distraction, Choosing Presence provides the tools to help you stay grounded in the now. If you'd like an easy way to begin learning about the practice of presence, you can download the free Practicing Presence app at choosingpresence.org. Now, the Men's Rites of Passage, or MROP, is an experience designed to help men move from the first half of life into the second, shifting from a focus on ego and achievement to a life of meaning and soul. On this show, we just don't talk about the rites in theory, we talk to the men who have walked the path. Today, we are joined by a man who has made his rites, and we're going to hear exactly what that journey looked like for him. My guest today is Bob Calarisi. Brother, I'm really glad you're here. Thanks for making the time and for being willing to share your story. I'm honored that you wanted to hear me. Bob, tell us where you're from and how you spend your time these days. Bob Colaresi Well, I'm a native of Connecticut. I grew up in Connecticut Yankee in a very Italian community, Italian ghetto. And then I joined the Carmelites, and I've been a Carmelite priest for 58 years. And I've been a Carmelite for about 66 years. So I joined Religious Life, and it's been interesting. life and I've done a lot of things, you know, in my life. I did a lot of education and been a lot of development and stuff and retreat work. So that's kind of what I do mostly, you know, in different parts of my life, you know, that I've been challenged. And Carmelites had a way of tapping into some of my organizational skills and I ended up being the administrator of a lot of things as I look back on life. And it's hard to let go of it these days. Well, I also know you've been really involved with the men's work with Illuman. Very much so. It's been one of the joys of my life. I wish I had done it all earlier, but yeah, no, Illuman has been a real blessing in my life. I've lived with the male communities, but sometimes we don't always share well. And I think a place where a lot of my good friends and people I've trusted more have been my Illuman brothers, you know, here, especially in Illinois, but even around the world, because somehow we know that life's more than sports and what we're eating today and, you know, and politics itself. Brian Mueller Well, great. Thank you. Let's go ahead and dive in and talk about the men's rites of passage. The MROP is a unique experience. It's not a retreat or a workshop. It's an initiation. Many men arrive at the rites at a crossroads in their lives, looking for something they can't quite name. Before we dive into the why and the how, let's start at the very beginning. Bob, where and when did you make your rites? Well, I made my rites in August, the first week of August, 2005. Bob Colaresi I had heard of Richard Rohr. I mean, I do a lot of talks and I work at a retreat house. So I had heard of him for a long time. And, you know, and I've heard about the men's rites and I didn't get real excited for a while, you know, but I was doing more of his biblical stuff. But he was really speaking to something in me. But then I did finally decide to go, although it was funny as we were planning. And I wanted someone else to go, and there was a guy I was working with, and he was interested, so we were going to go. But I made the mistake. This is a funny thing about me. I made the mistake. I read Adam's return. And you know what? That got me nervous because I said, you know what? I'm going to be somehow up there in Minnesota being eaten alive by mosquitoes. You know, that was really hit me. And I almost backed out. It was really funny. But I had a wonderful spiritual director. She was a woman that was a real big part of my life. And what happened was, and she had encouraged me, but I didn't do it for her. But she was very happy when I told her I was doing it because she was aware of Richard Rohr and the more mystical approach to religion. But it was really funny. So I had pretty well decided not to go about two months before. I said, what the hell? I can see if I get my money back. Well, she arrives with a beautiful drum with whatever animal skin it was. She had spent five weeks making this drum. And I didn't have the heart to tell her I wasn't using it. It wasn't going. Well, that got me first day. And of course, then the same thing was. And then, well, I can't look to it. But if I had to go and then it wasn't going to fit in my bag, you know, you don't bring a lot of stuff. And I said, she'll never know. And I said, oh, she'll know. So I took it. Well, it blew me away. I'll tell you. I was glad it was in Minnesota. There were 80 of us guys there. And the drumming that first day just got, you know, it gets the rhythm inside you. There was something going on there. just the drumming. And I didn't, there wasn't a big drummer kind of thing. And I even asked some one of our drummers at the, uh, at our parish, I said, what's this drumming about? And he said, oh, it's about you just getting inside yourself. And I said, what does that mean? You know, but anyway, but it worked and it was really incredible, but it also was a very threatening. I just want to say this, I'll tell you after I said, after a day and a half, they were sending me into areas that I didn't want to look at in my life. It's the reason I went. And I'll tell you the reason I went, because when they asked you, what are your bop? It dawned on me. I've been very successful. The Carmelites have put me in places, and I made things work. I'm an Enneagram 3, and I'm a doer. I get things done, and I want them to look right. That doesn't mean they're always correct, but I make them look good. And so that was all part of it. But you know what the point was? at that point in my life, I was getting into my fifties and I just, there was something empty inside. Everybody said, well, you've got a golden and everything. And I said, but down deep. And I went to a few of my friends and my spirit director, I felt empty. There was something restlessly empty inside. And so that's what kind of drew me to the whole thing. And then even though I was panicking, because I didn't really, I wanted to know what was causing it, but I didn't. You know, I thought it would just go away if I just worked harder you know that kind of was all about me so that that was kind of one of the issues of this restless emptiness and uh but it became no you can ask more questions but it just became I'm glad I stayed if I had been too close I would have gotten the car and come home right you know it's a got little too dangerous but I couldn't and so I did and I'll tell you, it blew me away. I mean, I still look at it as one of the one, two or the one or two most Brian Mueller powerful transformative experience of my life. That's great to hear. Now, let's go back a little bit to the moment that you kind of arrived in Minnesota for the rites. What was the first thing that comes to your mind when you, you, as you entered the rites? I don't know. Well, Bob Colaresi suddenly we were in this little cabin up there and oh my God, I'm sleeping in a room with a bunch of other guys, you know, and I haven't done that for a long time, you know, and, uh, it really hit me in the woods looked good. I mean, I always have liked life nature, but there was something about what did I get into? And I was sitting there. And, uh, so it just, I don't know what it was, but it was a certain fear. Like I told you probably by the second day, I might've just gotten in a car and disappeared without telling anybody, you know, because somehow I, I knew it was doing probably what I was looking for, but didn't want to go there. You know, that kind of, that, that's something I wrestle with on my own self. So, uh, that's what it was. And, but it seemed good. And then we had that first, my, we were going around that, and I was really impressed with what guys were saying. I said, well, okay, they're all safe, seem like safe people and good people, but you know, so it, it, they invited me into it. I will say that, you know, even though There was a guy above me in the bunk, and he was almost falling through on me at the time. And I'm going, what are we doing in bunks out here? Brian Mueller Can we find a hotel? You've already said there was maybe about 80 guys at your rites. Who was the weaver? The weaver was Richard Rohr. Richard was still up. Bob Colaresi And Steve Pico was the elder, you know, the ritual elder. And it was great to me. I heard Richard before, and it was great to be with him. And it was just some wonderful stuff. There's a lot of things I could talk about. But you know, those rituals had a way of grabbing your heart and grabbing your attention. They were something, they still are. Even when I worked on them so many other times before, there's still something that those opening rituals and right that first day and a half, that's probably what mesmerized me the most. It wasn't the talks, but it was just that. And Richard was all over the place in those days. I mean, he wasn't consistent, but I knew that part of him. Yeah. Brian Mueller Yeah. So was there a particular ritual or a particular moment without getting anything that's too confidential or personal, but was there something in particular that really stood out to you during the rites? Bob Colaresi They all grabbed me, but probably there is one a day of a grief ritual that kind of grabbed me more than any other time. And in the middle of it, because you spend time in nature and some of the things they were doing. I really got in touch with myself. What was going on in me? Because I was really looking for this empty restlessness inside me. What's going on here? I mean, I could count, you know, so many things, but it wasn't filling me. But the grief ritual, and I'll tell you what really happened to me there without, we're telling a lot of things, but in the middle of it, we were invited, if you want, in our small group or the big group to say something, what was in your mind? And I said, inadequate son. What were you grieving? Inadequate son. And I put my hand over my mouth. I said, I'm not inadequate. I'm the most competent man in the world. But see, it came out. It just came out once it was there. And so when we had that day alone in the woods, it was incredible. And two things happened, I just want to say. One is we were lining up to go out there for the day we had been fasting for, you know, about a day before. And somebody came out and there was two. I said, Blaine, Blaine, Blaine, don't be there. He said, come here. And they pulled us out of line. I'm thinking, what did I do wrong? know. And well, the guy said, Hey, you're the diabetics. I don't want, I want. So come here. He took me to the kitchen and he gave me an apple and a peanut butter sandwiches. I don't want something to happen to you out there, you know, cause the long hours are going to be out there. Well, then I looked and I said, God, three years ago today, I buried my father. He had died. That was his funeral, August 5th. I'll never forget it. Well, that triggered something. My dad was in the middle of it, but that triggered me off on what became probably the most significant thing was that, and I just want to talk about, but when I went out there and we had some things to read and stuff, but I just wanted to be there in that confined space out in the woods. And it was incredible. I love being out there. And I was hanging from trees, playing Tarzan sometimes. You can't leave the, you know, the six feet thing and watching who came and the animals and stuff. It was just incredible. But, but at one point what really surfaced is I was kind of hanging there thinking I was Tarzan, you know, was, Dad, was I ever good enough? And what really happened to me was, and suddenly my dad smiled. I mean, I was very aware, the funeral, his funeral and his death. And then what happened to me was I remembered something I'd forgotten. Three years, about three years before that, he had had a stroke and I went back to Connecticut several times. But the last time I went to see him, because my dad, I'm going to say this, my dad had a sixth grade education. They were Italian immigrants. He was he could fix anything, but he was passed over at the job because he in the 50s, you know, he ran this company. He was with Stanley Works and he was he was very, very good. And he ran this whole area, about 200 men. And then they were going to make a superintendency out of it. And everybody thought he was going to get it, but he didn't get it because at that time the companies were professional. He had to have a B.S. degree. He was passed over. And what he did, the result was me, I'm the oldest boy of the family. I'm the second child, but oldest boy. So he suddenly realized education is everything in this country. So he'd always say to me, when I came home with four A's and a B, and I was a good student, all he ever said was, why'd you get a B? And he said it often enough that I began to, because I trusted my dad. He was the one training me to how to be a man. And he was a wonderful, kind guy, but I wasn't good enough. And so I really, the false self that I developed over the years was that I was inadequate. I was never good enough. And I kept trying harder. Well, that makes me messianic. My personality is, well, I'll prove to you. Everybody became a project to fix or improve or, you know, that's why I was so good at administration. I was getting things done. I could mobilize people. And so suddenly I was there. But the last thing that happened was the last day I saw him, because when I left, I was leaving. I had been there for a couple of days. I went and he was always either sitting or talking, but I went to his room because I was going back to Darian. And I just said, dad, I was talking and suddenly he wasn't in the room. So I was worthy. So always probably in the community room. You know, your dad. So I go in there and he's in a wheelchair with all these people around. And this nurse comes up and she says, sir, only family in here. And I said, my father, I'm Quinto's oldest son. Oh, she said, well, I haven't been here. You're okay. And he looked up from that chair and he said, that's Father Bob, my son. He screamed. Well, you know what? Typical me being poor. I said, God, I'm so much like my dad. Am I going to end up in a wheelchair? Which is what's happening right now. That's a different thing. But I walked away, driving to the airport, I'm thinking, God, am I going to end up in a wheelchair? Well, I forgot it, but I'm sitting there hanging from the stand. And I remembered what he said. He told the whole damn world. That's what I said with the biggest smile ever. What I've been waiting for all my life. I mean, he wasn't the kind that said, I love you and that stuff. He worked his butt off for us. He gave himself, emptied himself totally in a lot of ways. And so suddenly that, and then I, you know, I was sitting there and I was so overwhelmed. It's like heaven's smile. And then, you know, the other piece of that, which is so hard, I couldn't talk about it for years because, but the universe opened up and I became one with the universe hanging there. At that point, I had stripped my clothes down. I wanted to be totally naked before God. And it was amazing. And something ripped through me. I don't know whether it happened for five seconds, five minutes, or five hours. But it just poured through me. This false self I've had created, and I was living from, making me messianic to get everything done. It was all about me. But suddenly, I was beloved of God. It was so hard. And for years that kept up, you know, this part of the hemorrhaging. But I had to get over my identity, what I was living from, what Merton would call the false self, was that I was inadequate. And it was the driving force of my life. And suddenly, no, I was the beloved. I was beloved of God and my dad. You know, and it began, I stopped hemorrhaging a bit. It didn't totally go away. There's still inadequacy inside me. The wrong things to get me. But it was just one of those experiences that I'll never forget it. Part of it early on in that experience, I don't know how long I was out there, hours. I was hanging there. At one point, I kept, this is dumb. This felt dumb. It wasn't, it was threatening. And there was no wind, but this branch came and slapped me across the face. I don't know, what the hell? And about 15 minutes later, I did it again, twice. So when I went back before I was leaving, I took out a piece of that branch because it was trying to awaken me. You know, nature was very active in my experience, hanging there. And I've never forgotten it. And I still go back to it. I mean, sometimes it was an experience that transformed my life. And now I have to watch it that you're not a project that I'm supposed to fix. You're a brother I'm supposed to know and love. And that's a big thing. And it still struggles. There's a piece of me inside. That messianic thing was so well-owned in me that I want to turn everybody into an object of what I can do to fix them or prove them. Right. But that kind of thing. And that was life-changing for me. Brian Mueller Bob, it really is exciting for me to hear about your experience and just the wonderful things that happened and that you went through on the rites. I want to keep in mind that some of the guys that are going to be listening to this are not going to have any familiarity with their rites. And so first I want to say, you know, we're talking a little bit about your experiences at the rites. And just kind of funnily, you know, not everybody's going to be taking off their clothes or swinging from the street. Bob Colaresi And I didn't know. Nobody told me to. I just had that urge. That was me. That's me, Bob Colerici. Brian Mueller And there is time at the rites that men will be able to spend some time alone in nature. And so that's where some of that comes from. Go ahead. Bob Colaresi I was going to say, no, it's huge. I think, you know, a couple of things. There was the rituals we had. There were those short talks. The small group stuff sharing was incredible. It was an incredible group. But that time in nature out there, there was something. I think I always liked it, but somehow it became more alive to me to go out there. Then they teach you how to be. be who you truly are. And they were very participant, even though trees slapping me twice. I mean, I just couldn't believe it. But yeah, no, I think those were the huge pieces of when I look back that time alone, there was not just those times, but the other times we went out and quiet and listened to, you know, to what was going on inside me, you know, be still and know that I'm God. And somehow nature has a way of instill has silencing us and making us open to Brian Mueller listen instead of what am I doing to do to fix this or strange issue. I really love the enthusiasm you have for sharing your story. I do want to talk a little bit about expectations, one, your own, and then other guys, if they're hearing you and having this expectation that they're going to have this same sort of transformative experience that you had, or what would you just say about that, about your expectations and advising other on there as a heading into the rites? Bob Colaresi I didn't know what I was looking for. I know where I went, which was this restless emptiness inside me. I didn't even name it the inadequacy until it came out of my mouth. But somehow the whole process of the guys being there, the drumming, the talks, the rituals, the time in nature, that came out of something beyond me. It wasn't from me because I would never say I was an etiquette, but I knew it, that it became a revelation and awakening. And I'd say, anybody, go with that. That's why I didn't know what I wanted. I just knew why I was there. And, but, but it was a revelation to me. And else, you know, that like, wow. And so I think his goal, just trusting, just trusting the experience and trusting the people that are there and trusting nature. Nature is the first revelation of God. And somehow that that God is going to help reveal our truest self. If you just learn to be still, our expectations get away and they become a vehicle of disappointment a lot of times. Brian Mueller Well, it sounds like, too, you had to trust that initial calling, that initial urge inside you to sign up at the very beginning. Bob Colaresi It did. And it was, you know, and it's only, I remember reading something about that, but about this emptiness. I had to acknowledge it. I had been doing that with therapy and stuff and spiritual attraction before. But suddenly it was there. I had to acknowledge something. Most people would say, there's one of the commonwealths always said, Bob, you know, the reason we gave you all those jobs, you're too damn proud to fail. Thank you. Well, it's true. you know and suddenly i had to get through that and so and that those five days were incredibly instrumental for me i still think back on them i've even gone back and read my notes and some things i wrote after and i've been journaling ever since then but it's back to what was happening and but it was an awakening to what was already present within me and i've told other people that i know when i was trying to get some of the men at the parish going and one of these women well i don't know he's gonna come back because he went to one of those you know whatever thing and thing you know, a man's in charge. And I said, no, he's going to come back more of the man you love. He's going to be more alive and to his own truth. And later she said, yeah, why was I afraid? No, I believe that. You know, I think sometimes we're all afraid of our own truth. It's so powerful. And yet that's what it's called to be. We're here to be what God knows us to be. And we have to learn to trust that. And even when I fall back and detour and let the other stuff, that demonic kind of stuff inside me, I just say, come on, get back. Brian Mueller And before you decided, before you came, when you first signed up for the Men's Rites of Passage, you told your spiritual director, Susan, and she made you this wonderful drum and everything. But did you tell anyone else or was this something you kind of held close? Bob Colaresi I held it close. I told people I was going on a kind of retreat vacation. In fact, the problem was when I came back, because, you know, when I came out of it and I did fly back with my friend on a plane, we had to be there and he at least started talking. I don't know what his experience was, but he started looking, and I just started tears framing it on my face. And I said, oh, God, what's going on? And so when I came home, you know, that night, there was electricity was off in the area of my own house. But I tried to go to the office the next morning, which was Monday. And I just, they'd say, hey, how was your time in the woods? And I just started crying. I just teared up. For two days, I teared up. It was, I was just embarrassed to see what was happening. But I'm saying, Lord, what's going on? you know, what's going on. But it was, um, it's hard to go back. I look back, it feels so silly now. And, uh, what was your conversation like with Susan afterwards? Well, it was weird. Let me, this is a funny piece of it. When one of the things that was on my home phone was that a cup, a lady I knew her son had just died while I was gone. And I'd known her and he was always, he was a druggie. He was trouble. He actually overdressed. So there was a thing about that Monday and Tuesday was her, the wake and funeral. So I said, well, I better get, I can't, I knew Tuesday I had something. So I said, I'm going to go. So I went over to the church to go to the wake and she was there and I was talking. But what I noticed was I wasn't looking at people. I knew them all. I've been that parish for 20 years at the time. And it was really funny. And so I went over to Pat for a while and talked with her. And then I figured, oh, so I'm driving home and I said, well, there's Susan's house. She's going to want to know. So I wanted to tell her that that drum was very significant. So I go to the door in her house and she's, what do you got your collar? I And so she's looking at me and then, you know, she's looking and I said, I just want to talk. How was it? And I said, I said, it was incredible. I don't have the words to explain it. You know, I'm very wordy usually. And she said, why aren't you looking at me? And I said, it's okay. No, it's great. You know what? That drumming thing was incredible. I mean, thank you for that drum. It was really a gift. Why aren't you looking at me? I said, Susan, I'm not, I don't know. The words are going to shrink this experience. So I can't, I don't have anything to say about it. and this went on for like about 10, 15 minutes, and I said, Susan, I got to go, I got to go, I go. And she said, don't, don't do darn leave until she's looking at me. I stayed outside her door. She's standing at the door. And so she said, Bob, please look at me. I don't know what's going on with you. Because I do look at people when I'm talking to them. Brian Mueller Yeah. Bob Colaresi And I looked up at her, and she flew back against her, where her door was, there was a stairway, and she flew into that wall. I just got in my car and went home. I'm a strode. What's going on here? So this was an important piece of it. And so about 8 o'clock that night, I get a phone call. You know, we didn't have cell phones. You know who was calling? So I pick it up. Yeah. Bob, Mr. Susan. Yeah. I said, she, and I said, Susan, I'm sorry. I don't know what's going on. She said, just listen to me. I know why Moses veiled his eyes after he saw God. And I said, what? She said, when you looked at me, I looked right into the heart of your soul. Wow. I said, oh my God. But I'll never forget that. You know, she always, and then later, you know, she died two or three years later, but I remember she's, you never told me about it. I said, I can't talk enough. Words don't explain it. Brian Mueller Yeah. Bob Colaresi You know what it was. And I said, but you helped me understand that somehow something had happened deep within me. and own it because she was, it was very important, you know. And one of the last things she said before she died, I had to do her funeral. I remember that point. And she said, you never told me about what really happened on the MRAP. And I said, you saw the result of it. Okay. Brian Mueller Bob, that's a wonderful story. I mean, it also illustrates for us the importance of needing some time after the event to kind of wake up. Yeah, to what's really. Bob Colaresi I agree. I agree. Brian Mueller And what's changed now since you've made your rites and it's been, you know, 20 years since you've done that. Yeah, it's fun. And, you know, what are the substantive changes, the transformation that you feel like took place maybe because of or since those rites, since that experience? Bob Colaresi Well, firstly for me, I think I'm much more aware when I'm doing things so people will like me or I'm trying to fix them. you know, instead of out of a genuine love, an empty, self-emptying love. I think I become more generative, but I get the type because there's a piece of me, I practiced that for 40, 50 years. It doesn't go away. I think I'm much more aware when I try to fix things or try to figure out what's wrong with you or what I'm supposed to be doing about it. No, it's just to listen to you. I think I listen more to people now and know that God is working in them as well as in me. And I like that. So I think I'm much more personal. I mean, people in the office even said that because I had a quick temper and, you know, things. And something happened. Something happened. And it does. I think when I start looking at people as people and instead of a project that I got to work on, see, that whole thing of reducing you to an object as opposed to being with you, that's that whole thing. And I think it's in great with the men we work with here and our in-person councils and stuff. I think it opened a side of me that I didn't know well, because I was operating out of my need to prove me or self. My inadequacy was the driving force. And now I really believe it's the divine. Abba, our Father, that's the way I pray to God, that Abba is working in and through me. And that changes everything about the way I look at you, deal with you, listen to you, instead of reducing you to something that I want to control by fixing you. See, that's a subtle, it's very subtle, but it's very powerful in a personality like mine. Brian Mueller Yeah, and you said that before the rites. I mean, of course, you were familiar with the concept of male initiation and you had read Adam's Return. Now that you experienced it, not only that, but you've given so much of yourself over the past 20 years to creating that experience for men in Illinois and in the surrounding areas, regions. You know, what would you say? How is your understanding of masculinity initiation? How have those changed over time? Bob Colaresi Well, I think it's been great having like around here, Illinois males. We've been, we used to be Illinois males, but now the women of Illinois, the name changing. but there are guys who are sincere and there are guys who challenge you, love you, listen to you. I mean, it's really great having a brotherhood. And I live in the male communities all these years. And one of them one day said, you're so involved with those guys. I said, we talk at a different level. We don't just talk about sports and the weather or politics, you know, and it was really interesting. And I believe that. And it's just been a real support in my life. I think I joined the Carmelites. I didn't become a Diocesan priest because of the loneliness factor. I joined to have community. And I've had some wonderful communities, but lately we've gotten so individualized. There seems to be, if you don't have some close friends, you know, you're alone. And so I think it's helped that a lot. Illuman of Illinois all these years, I was even convened or at it for a long time. I've just met guys that you can share your life with and listen. And I share their life. And I'm interested in them. It makes me bigger than who I think I am because I thought it was the center of the damn universe. You think you're God when you're messianic. Brian Mueller Right. That's a wonderful endorsement and, you know, very much a reason to advise men to participate in the men's rites. And so finally, you know, I'll just put a point on it. You know, what counsel would you invite, would you offer to men considering participating in the rites? Bob Colaresi Listen to your heart and go for it and step through any fears. You know, there's that wonderful song we just sang at Mass. Come back to me with all your heart. Don't let fear keep us apart. I was afraid that I was nothing. I believe that. And that's all I do. And I've tried to convince a number of people to go. And some have had a great time. Some aren't sure what they got into. Other people are afraid of it, you know, because I talk too much about it sometimes, maybe. But, you know, I did. But I think take the risk. I took the risk at it, even though at that point I had terrible doubts about it. Right. Because my fear got in the way. I'm going to be eaten alive by mosquitoes out of the woods. Brian Mueller Well, Bob, thank you so much, brother. Really, I love you and I appreciate your honesty and your courage for giving us a window into your experience of the MROP. Thank you. Bob Colaresi Thanks for asking and thank you for the work here. We need to spread the word. I think a lot of guys deserve to go on an MROP. Brian Mueller Amen. Amen. Amen. For those listening who are now feeling a tug in their own soul and are curious to learn more, allow me to share a bit about the history of these rites. The Men's Rites of Passage was originally developed by Fr. Richard Rohr and was first offered at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico in 1996. While it was supported for many years by the Center for Action and Contemplation, since 2012, Illuman has been the steward of this work, preserving and adapting the rites for men all over the world. To learn more about the history and the theology behind this work, I highly recommend reading Adam's Return. by Richard Rohr. If you are ready to make your rites, there are four opportunities in the United States and another in the United Kingdom in 2026. The first is in Northern California, May 13th through the 17th. The second in the United Kingdom, July 22nd through the 26th. And in Illinois, August 12th through the 16th. There's one on the East Coast in New Jersey, September 16th through the 20th. And the final one of the year is in Texas, which is an MROP and Umbrales, are Spanish language rites, September 30th through October 4th. You can find details and registration information at Illumane.org slash MROP or Illumane.org slash events. Additionally, mark your calendars for Awaken, the annual national gathering of Illuman, taking place November 5th through the 8th in New Mexico. You can find more at Illuman.org slash awaken. Finally, a special thank you to our sponsor, Choosing Presence. If today's conversation moved you, I encourage you to bring more intentionality into your daily life. Download the Practicing Presence app for free at choosingpresence.org app. It's a simple but profound way to stay connected to the journey we've discussed today. Thank you for listening to Follow Me to the MROP. Until next time, brothers, stay present.