I love Ash Wednesday.  We have so few rituals that are quite so earthy.  Everyone is welcome to come and receive those ashes on the forehead, that reminder that we are from dust and to dust we shall return.  It doesn’t strike me as morbid in the least, but a compelling reminder of the preciousness […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality, Lent, Abbey Bookshelf | 7 Comments »

The equinox is in a week, one of the two dates when the sun hovers above the equator and day and night are equal. In the solar calendar it is also the beginning of autumn.  Here in Seattle we are starting to get hints of autumn’s arrival — cooler days that are getting noticeably shorter […]

Posted in Seasons, Monastic Spirituality | 14 Comments »

I have been tired today and not feeling all that well.  It has been a slow day.  So I make a simple offering tonight — go over to Anchors and Masts where Tess has created a beautiful video of images from Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries. It really is worth the click over (I am even too tired […]

Posted in Resources, Monastic Spirituality | 5 Comments »

A great reflection by Robert Toth at the Merton Insitute: 
“Do you consider yourself a contemplative person? Would you say that you live contemplatively?”
Having asked these questions of hundreds of people, we find that most people do not see themselves as contemplative or feel they are living contemplatively. Most defined contemplative living as leading a less […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality, Contemplative Living | 1 Comment »

I have a deep affinity for crows and ravens as they seem to connect two important parts of my life together.  Ravens and crows are a part of the same Corvidae or Crow family with ravens being larger and perferring wilder places.
Saint Benedict (whose Feast Day is today) is often depicted with a raven by his side […]

Posted in Photos, Monastic Spirituality, Nature and Creativity, Mystics and Saints | 5 Comments »

      
 
Before I left for Ireland I had a dream in which my husband and I return to our old apartment building in San Francisco which was going to be demolished and help to save an old clock tower that rests on top of it (the clock tower is not there in waking […]

Posted in Photos, Monastic Spirituality, Time | 3 Comments »

Self-Portrait
It doesn’t interest me if there is one God
or many gods.
I want to know if you belong or feel
abandoned,
if you can know despair or see it in others.
I want to know
if you are prepared to live in the world
with its harsh need
to change you.  If you can look back
with firm eye,
saying this is where I […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Monastic Spirituality | 11 Comments »

 
This statue is of St. Placid and stands in front of the main building at St. Placid Priory.  Click the link to read the story of this relatively unknown Saint. I love what the sisters say about the anawim and being in solidarity with the least.

Their chapel is very modern and simple.  My favorite part are the […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality | 5 Comments »

 
Tomorrow I head down to the Priory for our annual Oblate retreat, the topic is “The Heart of an Oblate” and I am looking forward to spending time with some of my Oblate friends. 
Sister Lucy asked if I would consider being a mentor this coming year to someone who is becoming an Oblate candidate, which means […]

Posted in Monastic Spirituality | 5 Comments »

  
Camas Lilies
Consider the lilies of the field,
the blue banks of camas opening
into acres of sky along the road.
Would the longing to lie down
and be washed by that beauty
abate if you knew their usefulness,
how the natives ground bulbs
for flour, how the settler’s hogs
uprooted them, grunting in gleeful
oblivion as the flowers fell?
And you—what of your rushed and
useful […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Monastic Spirituality | 4 Comments »