Daring Steps from Darkness to Light offers a comprehensive spiritual roadmap to readers seeking deeper faith and transformation by the working of the Holy Spirit. It is a Catholic work of spiritual formation that presents the Christian life as an interior pilgrimage modeled after the Camino de Santiago, Spain. Rather than inviting readers on a geographical journey, the book leads them into the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Scripture, sacred art, prayer, and meditation. Written for readers of all backgrounds, it offers a path toward a deeper understanding of the Gospel and a more intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.
The book is organized around the Kerygma, the Church's core proclamation of the Gospel. Each chapter explores one of its essential themes: God's love, the reality of sin, Christ's saving death and resurrection, repentance and faith, the gift of the Holy Spirit, life in Christ, participation in the sacramental life of the Church, and the call to become missionary disciples.
A distinctive feature of the book is its integration of sacred icons, original artwork, Scripture, and meditations written in the literary voice of Jesus. These meditations foster prayerful reflection on the Gospel and a deeper awareness of Christ's personal love. The icons serve as visual signposts, guiding readers through conversion, healing, and spiritual growth while inviting contemplation of the mysteries of the Christian faith.
The Blessed Virgin Mary accompanies readers throughout their pilgrimage as Mother of the Church and model of discipleship. Guided by Mary and the Holy Spirit, readers are led toward a deeper encounter with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is presented as the source of conversion and renewal, drawing believers into prayer, silence, and attentive listening.
The sacramental life of the Church is central to the journey. The sacraments are presented as encounters with the living Christ, through whom believers receive grace for continual conversion, healing, and spiritual strength.
Prayer is the foundation of spiritual life. Traditional Catholic devotions, including the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, are woven together with original meditations that invite readers into a personal dialogue with Jesus. The book also presents suffering as participation in Jesus Christ's redemptive love, revealing how Divine Mercy, forgiveness, and hope in the Resurrection bring healing.
By uniting theology, sacred icons and art, Scripture, prayer, and meditation, Daring Steps offers a spiritual roadmap for lifelong Christian discipleship. Its central message is that every person is invited to journey from spiritual darkness into the light of Christ, discovering within His Sacred Heart the fullness of truth, goodness, beauty, mercy, and divine love. The reader may realize for the first time they may have been interrupting Jesus as He was speaking to them with the noise of the world or, the deafening sound of their self will.
About the Author :
As the Icons in Daring Steps from Darkness to Light reveal, my biography is not so much about where I have been on pilgrimage or served in mission, what I have studied or accomplished, but who I have come to see myself and others to be through the eyes of Jesus, Mary and his Holy Family. Throughout the book, as you gaze into the icons or read the reflections found within, you will hear Jesus say many times to you, "I love you more." At the end, you will perhaps see and come to accept as I do, that Jesus loves you most! This is what is presently causing my heart to burn at the end of my life, several years past forty years of ordained ministry. Like the two pilgrims at their beginning on the road to Emmaus, this daily living encounter with the Risen Lord continues to lead me to share the Good News and celebrate the Mass in all the places where I have been called to serve as Pastor and spiritual director of so many beautiful souls. The beautiful colors in the icons not only reflect the variety of people and personalities I have met along the way, but also the actual oceans and lands I have crossed especially to the Philippines and Africa while on mission. Without exception, all around the world, I have come to meet Jesus; feeding him, giving him drink, finding him in the most distressing disguises of the poor as he found me. Called to follow Jesus as a priest, I have served in several capacities. Within the role of Pastor, I have walked with seminarians as a member of the St. Paul Seminaries spiritual direction team and while at Mary, Mother of the Church, it is an honor to be a member of the chaplain team that responds to police and fire emergencies in Burnsville, Minnesota. The other ministries to which I have been called to serve, have even more intimately drawn me within the Heart of Jesus and into His Holy Family. As an iconographer, it is a joy to reflect the breadth, length, depth, and height of God's Love I have found along the way and seek to reveal what I too have come to see through the eyes of Jesus. Seeking to practice the presence of God in each moment of my life has allowed my life and Priesthood to be captured by the Gospel. Even more amazingly, expressed through the icons the Holy Spirit has written, and to which I am most humbled to lend my hand and now share with you. May your biography too be seen in a new way, through Jesus' eyes and so made even more fruitful within His Sacred Heart. As the writings in Daring Steps from Darkness to Light reveal in my biography, mine is not so much about where I have been on the journey, but it is about what happened when Jesus took control of my life. Although I am a cradle Catholic and have always tried to live my faith, I stepped onto a new path which began at about the age of thirty five. I would be awakened at night and inspired to write what had filled my mind. Those inspirations are found within this book. I did not hear a voice but it was a comforting encounter of knowing it was Jesus with me, I could not stop writing. I continue to write from the same inspiration. At some point I realized that through faith and the Holy Spirit, I, a cradle Catholic, became the cradle holding Jesus after every Communion. I believe I was allowed to hear these inspirations and therefore share them through writing, because Jesus had so much to say to all of us that He trusted me to listen to Him and take notes. I began receiving inspirations after enduring suffering. I would place myself at His feet on Calvary. Yes, suffering was the call from Jesus to find Him. You will see how deeply He loved me and how He pulled back the darkness to reveal the Light of His beauty. I was called to follow Jesus as a mother and as a witness to Jesus' cry is to become One with each one of us. As I took many daring steps in my life, there were many times I fell but Jesus always helped me to get up again as He walked with me directly into His Sacred Heart. Now, with Father Perkl sharing his divine inspirations we collaborated to write Daring Steps from Darkness to Light together.
