Reflections

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Maci‘s reflection on restful wandering. “I would never have known,” the HR representative confided to me in our meeting about my age of 63. I had been teaching at a university in Beijing, China for a couple of years and had just received the news that I was ineligible to apply for a Z visa allowing me a yearly work and resident permit. Anyone over the age of 60 is now ineligible to apply. Just like that – no job

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Cheryl de Beer’s reflection titled “Contemplatively Living with Questions”. My contemplative nature was awakened when I was 13.  I was blessed to attend Catholic high school where one of our teachers, a nun, taught our class silent prayer. I took to centering prayer and silence like a duck to water, eager to commune with the divine presence hidden within my heart. Through school I was also introduced to the Catholic Eucharist where I learned that the reality of Christ could be

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Barb Morris’ reflection on the Monk Manifesto and New Cosmology. “Someday we’ll live in a convent.” A dear friend and I have a plan. “One of these days,” we say, “we’re going to have a convent.” We’ve felt this desire since we met more than 30 years ago, when our husbands were Episcopal Divinity School classmates. The timing isn’t clear. Do we wait until we’re clergy widows? That seems just a touch dependent and maybe a little morbid. But if

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for June Mears Driedger’s reflection titled Going Silent. The road sign into The Hermitage property in Three Rivers, Michigan (USA), says, “Begin to drive slowly.”  It is a safety request but it is also a sign of what is to come while I stay at the contemplative prayer retreat facility. My desire is to slow down, to stop pushing, to cease striving, to go silent.  My desire is to pray, to listen, to quiet my inner noise. Often, when I first arrive at The Hermitage,