We have a new YouTube channel! This is another resources we are pleased to offer our dancing monks where you can follow new posts in our Lift Every Voice book club, our Prayer Cycle series, Poetry Videos, and Tea with the Abbess. Subscribe to the channel.
I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Karen Kinney’s reflection Joy in “What Is” adapted from her book Doorways to Transformation: Everyday Wisdom for the Creative Soul. “Whatever arises, love that.” —Matt Kahn My husband and I climb the ancient stone steps of the 17th-century church, reaching the balcony that overlooks the orchestra and choir below. I am excited because we are coming to hear the complete rendition of Handel’s Messiah, and it has been decades since I listened to the entire work. And, it will be
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to share I have a third poetry collection being published on May 9th from Paraclete Press titled Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty. This poem is a series of questions that emerged from a moment of reverie and wondering for me. The whole collection is on the theme of love and in writing it, I found myself encountering love in all corners of this beautiful world. What is the impulse for a robin’s song? What is the source of a flower’s fragrance? Where do my own words come from? And
I so enjoyed our Tea with the Abbess session. Since I can’t pour you a cup of tea myself I led a brief meditation then shared some of our programs for April and answered a lot of great questions. Such a joyful time with our wonderful community. We have a number of resources to support you in your contemplative journey including: April Lift Every Voice Book Club Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness with Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort Christine’s forthcoming collection – Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty Abbey of the Arts Prayer Cycles – a free
Join Abbey of the Arts for a monthly conversation on how increasing our diversity of perspectives on contemplative practice can enrich our understanding and experience of the Christian mystical tradition. Christine Valters Paintner is joined by author Claudia Love Mair for a series of video conversations. Each month they take up a new book by or about a voice of color. The community is invited to purchase and read the books in advance and participate actively in this journey of deepening, discovery, and transformation. This month’s selection is Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort. Click here
I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Wisdom Council member Dena Jennings’ reflection Boundaries and Borders in Contemplative Life. I imagine that modern walls of monastic cells, perimeters of abbeys, and the spaces to which cloistered monks retreat are not meant to confine as a prison, nor to keep the world out, but to allow recesses for spiritual nourishment and focus. They serve as physical boundaries to remind one of the dedication to this life. Being a monk in the world calls for a different kind of boundary
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to welcome poet and author Nikki Grimes for a poetry reading tomorrow from her new collection Glory in the Margins. For today’s love note we are sharing one of her poems below from this collection. It is a poem about what we need to be truly nourished and how so many of us are weighed down by the multiple and conflicting demands of life. I invite you to begin by taking three slow deep breaths, let them out with a sigh and with each breath see if you can soften your body a bit more.
I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Jodi Blazek Gehr’s reflection on being a Benedictine oblate. St. Benedict is special to me for a few reasons. First, we share a birthday. I admit I was disappointed when I first discovered this. My parents had given me an illustrated book of the “Lives of the Saints” to commemorate my Confirmation. As any nine-year-old would do, I immediately looked to see who the saint was for July 11, my birthday. Perhaps Elizabeth, Mary, or Theresa would be my special saint. Instead, I
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to share I have a third poetry collection being published on May 9th from Paraclete Press titled Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty. This poem was inspired by one of my favorite monastic sites near Galway. Corcomroe Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in the 12th century and is a magnificent structure. There are dozens of these “ruins” within an hour’s drive from where we live and each inspires a profound connection to ancient wisdom. I always feel the presence of the prayers that thousands have prayed within these walls and
This week we are featuring one of our Hildy Tails. This series of essays were composed last year for our Sustainers Circle. They were dictated to John by the Abbey’s mascot, Hildy the Monk-ey. Hildy is a bit of a free spirit who likes to entertain and doesn’t normally feel constrained by conventional story structure . . . or grammar, in general. She lives by the motto that “all stories are true; some actually happened.” We wanted to share them with you, our wider Abbey community, to give you a small monkey-sized, humorous perspective on some biblical passages and stories
