Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Reflections

Filter

Monk in the World Guest Post: Tarja Cajudo

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tarja Cajudo’s reflection on the spirituality of being an elder sister, an Ate. I am an Ate (pronounced Ah-teh), the eldest sister. People who speak Tagalog use “Ate” as an honorific, a title in front of the names of our older female relatives. We always use it for an older girl or woman because Tagalog is a language that values age. Sometimes “Ate” replaces the elder sister’s name entirely. The Ate of a family is named through the irreplaceable relationship

Read More
Abbess love notes

St. Francis and the Gift of Song ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Canticle*They sat in the convent gardenbreathing in rosemary and thyme,Francis ill and frail, his vision obscured.Clare had lost use of her legs,both their faces markedby lines that told stories—how their chosen povertyhad intensified their love,had freed them from unnecessary burdens.They talked for hours,stretched like a tent above them,their laughter and weepinghung in the air like rose garlands,interrupted by moments of stillnesswhen they paused and listenedto the way the breeze rustledthe world, coaxing forth its song.And when sunlight emergedthey turned their faces toward it like daisies,and when rain pouredthey huddled under the roofto hear how its rhythm echoed their hearts.As summer

Read More
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Polly Paton-Brown

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member Polly Paton-Brown’s reflection“I wanna be where my feet are.” November 6th 2024 was a misty day in the part of the UK where I live. As I walked my dogs, everything in the landscape felt muted and still. I was so aware of my many friends in the US who were waking up to a changed reality. The fear and distress of so many came rolling off the internet in waves. As I walked a

Read More
Abbess love notes

The Art and Wisdom of Savoring ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, My newest book Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year has been published by Broadleaf Books! (You can download a free reflection guide or small group leader’s guide here).  In 2012, the year we moved to Europe, the word that claimed me was savor. I had been reading In the Company of Rilke by Stephanie Dowrick.  The German poet Rilke has been a teacher of mine for many years but that previous year his wisdom became even more necessary for my life.  Each morning as a part of my daily prayer and journaling time I

Read More

Monk in the World Guest Post: Katharine Weinmann

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Katharine Weinmann’s reflection and poem Courting the Mystic and the Muse. Five years ago, with the onset of Covid–19, and grieving the abrupt end of a professional career I had cherished, I found my way to writing poetry. The intensive online retreats hosted by Christine and Abbey of the Arts provided the emotional support, compassionate community, intellectual stimulation, and skillful scaffolding I needed for my self-study into this creative expression. Despite that prolonged period of uncertain, even

Read More
Abbess love notes

Give Me a Word ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, My newest book Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year has been published by Broadleaf Books! (You can download a free reflection guide or small group leader’s guide here.)  The dedication to my book reads:  “For all the ancient and contemporary wild-hearted ammas and abbas who let the desert work its power and who listen for the sacred word of Mystery emerge from within.” That includes you, especially if you are drawn to the wisdom of the desert and how it can support us in living in challenging times. The

Read More
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Dawn Johnson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sharon Dawn Johnson’s reflection Finding My Song, Finding Its Colour. My heart’s deep-down hunger urges me: Enroll in this skincare formulating course! Signing up honours my wild self and her contours—as organic as that of the skincare organization’s eco-sustainability ethos. Lesson by tasty lesson, my heart and mind are nourished and at peace.  Even so, self-doubt’s entangling flip-flops set up creative struggles in me—to keep exercising the sign-up trust that’s digestively sustained and strengthened by each formulating lesson. For

Read More
Books

Christine Interviewed by The Center for Action and Contemplation about Her Book “Give Me a Word”

Christine Valters Paintner sat down with CAC’s Publications Manager Mark Longhurst to discuss themes from her new book Give Me a Word: The Promise of an Ancient Practice to Guide Your Year. How can we receive a “word?” Christine discusses practical tactics like contemplative listening, dreamwork, and embodiment. She also invites you to embrace nature and sacred thresholds to tune into the voice of God. Watch this video to discover more on this unique contemplative practice. Join us for our book launch celebration on Monday, September 22nd!

Read More
Abbess love notes

Autumn Equinox Deep Rest ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We live in times when it often feels like everything is coming undone. The Celtic hinge points of Autumn Equinox, Samhain, the Winter Solstice, and Imbolc offer the wisdom of living into a rhythm that honors the importance of times of rest as essential to our personal and collective wellbeing. This Friday, September 19th, we begin our Deep Rest series of mini-retreats with a gathering to honor the Autumn Equinox and the energy of surrender. Autumn is a time of transition, of the earth’s turning, with the balance of light and dark in the northern hemisphere tilting toward the

Read More
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Melinda Emily Thomas

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Abbey Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas’s reflection on her new book Elements of Being: A Spiritual Memoir in Verse. The poems started out of necessity. I wanted to write and had a story to tell but very little time. While I could not sustain the energy needed to write a prose novel, I could write poetry. Inspired by Nikita Gill’s The Girl and the Goddess, the project began as fiction in verse but quickly evolved into a spiritual memoir blending imaginal

Read More