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Abbess love notes

Resistance, Renewal, and Resilience ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, On Monday, September 8th we begin a four week journey for Resistance, Renewal, and Resilience: Resting into Uncertainty and Harnessing Opportunity with Kindred Spirits led by Wisdom Council members Aisling Richmond, Felicia Murrell, Jamie Marich, and Richard Bruxvoort Colligan. This retreat was created to guide you through contemplative and action-based practices to meet the challenging times in which we live. Through rest and renewal we not only nourish ourselves, we settle into what is most important for our spiritual growth and our capacity for resilience.  Jamie Marich offers this reflection as inspiration. In a Worldby Jamie Marich The

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August 31, 2025
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Monk in the World Guest Post: Laurie vandenHurk

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Laurie vandenHurk’s reflection on praying the Rosary. Sometimes there are no words for prayer. Sometimes silence just opens me to the chatter and anxiety in my brain.  A number of years ago there was a crisis in my inner circle that threw our lives into chaos. How could I support a loved one whose life just fell apart? How could I hold a supportive space for the others who are equally impacted? What do I need for

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August 27, 2025
Abbess love notes

Trust in Abundance ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Blessing for Trust in Abundance*Spirit of generous abundance,remind us there is always more than enough,enough food, enough love, enough time, enough resources. Help us to see how our patterns of livingseparate and disconnected amplifies our scarcity. Bring us into the joy and challenge of communitywhere bread divided multiplies, where laughter shared overflows. Empower us to share freely from our own abundance with others in need. Slow us down to see how time expandswhen we breathe and pay attention. Bless us in our efforts to trust in the goodness and love that pulses through the worldsustaining it moment by moment.

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August 24, 2025
Abbess love notes

Journey to Joy Audiobook!

The audiobook version of Christine’s fairy tale for thresholds and transitions is here! Narrated by Christine and several local actor friends in Galway along with some wonderful songs created by musician and wisdom council member Te Martin to companion the journey. Give yourself the gift of receiving this pilgrimage of the heart through the magic of oral storytelling and song.  You can order the audiobook from Bandcamp You can order the print version with amazing artwork from online and local booksellers  In the coming weeks it will also be available on Audible and Apple books, but to support independent artists, Bandcamp is best.

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August 20, 2025
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Montgomery Schmid

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Montgomery Schmid’s reflection Behold. “Come and see,” she said to me. These were powerful words that called to me like a beacon from a lighthouse. I was sitting in Bible Study one morning, wearing grief like a heavy cloak, when this wise woman spoke these words of invitation to me. Noticing my weary posture, she suggested I walk the labyrinth. Not knowing what a labyrinth was, but trusting this soon to be beloved friend, I did

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August 20, 2025
Abbess love notes

Sabbath and Generosity ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Gratitude Blessing Spirit of Generosity,we come to you with hearts overflowing with gratitudefor your abundant creation.As we awaken each morning, help us to remember this day is a gift,this breath is grace,this life a wonder. Remind uswith every flower we see,every act of kindness,every moment of connection to something so much biggerthan ourselves,to whisper thank you. Cultivate in us a sense of aweand trust in your lavish grace. Let each word of thanks we offer expand our heartsuntil delight inhabits usand we know loveas our sustenance. Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, One of the things that makes contemplative life

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August 17, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Callie J. Smith

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Callie J. Smith’s reflection Yarns and Yams: On Enjoying What My Loved Ones Enjoy. Vivid strawberry, variegated mango with cream and aquamarine, a very soft and buttery yellow–my mother handknits dishcloths in a wonderful variety of colors and patterns. I love seeing her smile each time she shows me her latest yarn purchase and, knowing another dishcloth is coming, I find myself soaking up her enthusiasm for the process. Even when my mother pauses from her knitting,

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August 13, 2025
Abbess love notes

Loving Into Justice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,  We are delighted to begin our 2025-2026 program year and our 20th year of ministry this Friday, August 15th with a retreat on Loving into Justice led by the wonderful Coke Tani. Coke offers this reflection and introduction to what we will explore in our time together. With a heart of creativity and solidarity, I look forward to sharing time with you this Friday at our online mini-retreat, Loving into Justice: Pilgrimage through the Body. I imagine that love, justice, pilgrimage, and the body are not new for you of the Abbey, and for this I bow to

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August 10, 2025
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Rachel Grandey

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rachel Grandey’s reflection on bringing the heart of contemplative practice to research and opening to the questions. In 2023 I left my job of ten years as a teacher in South East Asia, to start the new adventure of a PhD back in my passport country. As I reflect on the past two years, I realise that the practice of persevering in being present to my studies is teaching me just as much about vocation as being

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August 6, 2025
Abbess love notes

The Year Ahead at Abbey of the Arts ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,  We hope you have had a restful and inspiring summer. We always cherish this time of quiet reflection and dreaming into the new academic year of programs. I have savored having some time to simply be and deepen into the sacred rhythms of life. Out of this wellspring of rest, flows forth our calendar for the coming months which you can find here.  Special thanks to our always amazing program coordinator Melinda Thomas for her wonderful work putting that together. So much happens at the Abbey due to her efforts! I am excited for the variety of

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August 3, 2025