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Abbess love notes

Summer Sabbatical and Self-Study Sale

Blessing for Sabbath*Sanctifier of holy rest,on the seventh day you paused,laying down the work of creationand entered into sacred stillness.Let us remember we were freed from slaveryin Egypt and you continue to call us to be people of liberation.Kindle in us the strength to say noto a world of perpetual busyness.Inspire us to set aside our plansand goals to receive the lavish giftof rest for ourselves,to rediscover the Paradise within.Let the Sabbath be a time of profound renewal,a gushing forth of the holy well,a time of intimate connection with You,and a rekindling of our sacred desires to be of service.Sustain

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Abbess love notes

Summer Solstice Blessing

Summer Solstice Blessing*Radiant One,creator of the cosmosand the luminaries which light our way,bless this day of longest lightand the gift of the sunto bring warmth to our livesand abundance of growth,sweetness of blueberries,refreshment of lemons,nourishment of kaleand a thousand other kinds of food.We sing in gratitudealong with the sparrows and robinsrising each morningto celebrate another day.Help us rememberthe universe came into being14 billion years ago,with ancient skies unfurling,stars spilling across the heavens,and manifesting in every living thing.Light is our inheritance,calling us to be bearers of radiance,bringing new lifefrom the fertile darkness.*written by Christine Valters Paintner from a future book of

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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Clymer Landis

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sharon Clymer Landis’s reflection on the wisdom and love of a foster dog. I’m fostering a dog named Ladybug. She was caught on a property after her owners abandoned her. The county condemned and burned the house on the property since it was a health hazard. She lived on the land there with another dog, also abandoned, and scavenging for food. As a result, Ladybug was severely under-socialized around humans. I wrote this on day 39 of

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 7 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Today we release the final day of the Soul of a Pilgrim video podcasts on the theme of Coming Home. We hope you enjoy these resources which we offer as a free gift to this wondrous community. If you are able to offer financial support so we can continue creating these resources, please click here. We are enormously grateful for all of your support in so many ways.  I am pondering this pilgrimage theme of coming home in light of our featured book for the Lift Every Voice book club this month, Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and

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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Will Boesl

I am delighted to share am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Will Boesl’s reflection Nonduality and Nonbinary. For as long as I can remember, I have been told that I am not manly enough. I’ve been picked on, ridiculed, teased. Middle aged men have even used this argument in trying to win over my spouse, saying things like “you could do better.” There’s something about my sensitivity, kindness, and interest in a different kind of expression that throws people off. It’s strange to them that while I

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 6 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing for Beginning Again*Spirit of the fresh morning air,allow us to see all the places where newness is being born into the world,the bud of a flower just breaking open its petals,the turning of the sea’s tides,a gaze into the eyes of another and seeing their beauty,the river stone being rubbed smooth. Help us to remember that we are always being called to begin again, like the Prodigal One returning hometo a loving parent’s embrace, hold our shame or heartacheat wandering so far from you, reveal to us the feast you prepare where tables are piled high with the sweetest

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jenny Taylor

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jenny Taylor’s reflection “Inspiration on the not-so-wild edge of Suffolk.” Spending nine days on virtual pilgrimage in the company of “dancing monks”, and guided by Christine Valters Paintner’s hypnotic meditations, has stirred something deep in me. As our world yields to the implacable advance of the digital revolution, the real becomes not just more important, but more sacramental. The real is held for ever in the life-giving embrace of the places and stories, the stones and the

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Stretching of the Heart with St. Columba ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Today we release the video podcast for Day 5 of our Soul of a Pilgrim prayer cycle. The theme for morning and evening prayer is The Practice of Being Uncomfortable and Embracing the Unknown. Pilgrimage always demands something from us. If we are not challenged by it, then we are merely on a trip or a vacation.  This Friday, I will be leading an online retreat with two dear friends, Simon de Voil and Kenneth Steven. The retreat is titled Stretching of the Heart: A Celtic Mini-Retreat on St. Columba (known as Columcille in Ireland) and we will explore the ways pilgrimage

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Lori Kellogg

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Lori’s reflection and view her paintings of the archetypes. I am training to become a Creatively Fit Coach, and one of the courses is a meditation and painting course entitled Super Soul Flow. Over the last several weeks, I have alternatively participated in a guided meditation and then painted whatever I receive during the meditations. When I received the last one, I suddenly remembered the retreat on the archetypes that Christine led, and realized that I had received

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 4 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing Each Step*Journeying One,you help us to navigate the path, placing one foot in front of the other, even when the way ahead is not visible. We set aside our desire for maps, GPS, and guidebooksand surrender to an inner knowing and directionsparked by the deepest longings of our hearts. We know the desire for new life we feel has been kindled by you.May we surrender our need to steer the courseand let every step we take carry us into greater intimacy with you.Help us to see others as fellow pilgrims on the waywith their own fears and struggles.Compel us

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