I have been listening a lot these days.  My life feels full and rich and I am also feeling a bit gluttonous for wanting it all, not really wanting to say no to anything.  There is a playful, exuberant little girl inside of me relishing the sheer abundance of possibility.
And yet there is also my inner hermit who […]

Posted in Abbey Bookshelf | 11 Comments »

Poetry Party #17! I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if […]

Posted in Poetry Invitation | 17 Comments »

Excerpted from “Renascence”
The world stands out on either side
No wider than the heart is wide;
Above the world is stretched the sky, –
No higher than the soul is high.
The heart can push the sea and land
Farther away on either hand;
The soul can split the sky in two,
And let the face of God shine through.
But East and […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 6 Comments »

This week’s Sacred Artist Interview is with Naomi Teplow.  I first discovered her work while looking for pieces for the Presence journal (I love how this work gives me an excuse to find artists I love and contact them).  She designs Ketubahs (Jewish marriage contracts) and other illuminated manuscripts, so after last week’s Abbey Bookshelf you […]

Posted in Sacred Artist Interview | 7 Comments »

There are a lot of new things blossoming here at the Abbey.  Just last week I accepted a halftime position as the Program Coordinator for the Ignatian Spirituality Center that begins later this summer.  I am delighted to be a part of the mission of this organization.  While I reflect a lot here on Benedictine spirituality, Ignatian […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Creativity | 10 Comments »

The winner of the drawing for a copy of Praying With the Elements this week is Shaula at Coloring.  Please email me with your snail mail address!
Thanks to everyone’s glorious celebration of illumination this week.  Our next Poetry Party will be on Monday, April 28.

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Sonnets to Orpheus, Part Two, XII
Want the change. Be inspired by the flame
where everything shines as it disappears.
The artist, when sketching, loves nothing so much
as the curve of the body as it turns away.
What locks itself in sameness has congealed.
Is it safer to be gray and numb?
What turns hard becomes rigid
and is easily shattered.
Pour yourself […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 3 Comments »

Today I am continuing our theme this week of illumination.  Several weeks ago I did my Sacred Artist Interview with Jan Richardson.   I shared the kinship I have felt with Jan because of her love of illuminated manuscript and the way they serve as inspiration for her own work.  Several years ago Phil Cousineau edited these two […]

Posted in Abbey Bookshelf | 3 Comments »

Poetry Party #16! I select an image and suggest a title and invite you to respond with your poems, words, reflections, quotes, song lyrics, etc. Leave them in the comments or email me and I’ll add them to the body of the post as they come in along with a link back to your blog if […]

Posted in Poetry Invitation | 25 Comments »

Adam
Marveling he stands on the cathedral’s
steep ascent, close to the rose window,
as though frightened at the apotheosis
which grew and all at once
set him down over these and these.
And straight he stands and glad of his endurance,
simply determined; as the husbandman
who began and who knew not how
from the garden of Eden finished-full
to find a way out […]

Posted in Visual Meditation | 7 Comments »