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

Reflections

Filter

Celebrate the Summer Solstice ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, In the northern hemisphere we approach the celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day. The seasons are connected to the different cardinal directions, as well as the four elements. Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine Abbess, allied the direction of the south and the season of summer with the element of fire. We find a similar connection in the Native American Cherokee tradition. We might think of summer as the season of fire and stoking our passions. It is the season of coming to fullness connected to the Hour of noon and midday,

Read More

Monk in the World guest post: Isaura Barrera

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Isaura Barrera’s reflection on praying the hours to connect with Infinite Light and Love. When I decided to explore submitting a guest blog, I looked up the word “monk” on Wikipedia and found the following quote from St. John Klimakos: “Angels are a light for monks, monks are a light for laymen.” These words echoed my belief that being a monk in the world is about light—finding it, reclaiming it, sustaining it, sharing it—not in contradiction to darkness but as a

Read More

Monk in the World guest post: Nancy Agneberg

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nancy Agneberg’s reflection Mindful Moments. Sometimes. I would have preferred to sleep a bit later this Sunday morning, but I am one of the presenters at the Adult Forum between services at our church, and we will attend the early service first. I have prepared my brief talk, a quick three-minute one, and am not nervous, but nonetheless, that is on my mind as I head to the lower level of our house to take a shower. I walk through

Read More

Join us for Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, June 9th is the feast of St. Columcille, one of Ireland’s three patron saints, and the founder of the monastic community in Iona. Above is Marcy Hall’s wonderful dancing monk icon of him. On June 13th we begin a summer online journey through my book The Artist’s Rule called Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist.  Out of all my books, this one is still the best selling title, I think because it taps into this deep hunger for integrating contemplative practice with creative expression. When I started the Abbey 10 years ago I had

Read More

Monk in the World guest post: Tim Olivieri

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tim Olivieri’s reflection on not overthinking compassion. In my early 20’s I lived as a member of a Roman Catholic religious order. Once, while traveling to visit family, a woman in the Philadelphia airport began to make conversation with me. A the time, I was reading  In The Spirit of Happiness by the Monks of New Skete. She told me how her employer had called her to Philadelphia only the night before. She arrived that morning, was unceremoniously fired, and put on the

Read More

St. Kevin and Holy Yielding ~ A love note from your online abbess

St. Kevin and the Blackbird (after Seamus Heaney) Imagine being like Kevin, your grasping fist softens, fingers uncurl and palms open, rest upward, and the blackbird weaves twigs and straw and bits of string in the begging bowl of your hand, you feel the delicate weight of speckled blue orbs descend, and her feathered warmth settling in for a while. How many days can you stay, open, waiting for the shell to fissure and crack, awaiting the slow emergence of tiny gaping mouths and slick wings that need time to strengthen? Are you willing to wait and watch? To not

Read More

Monk in the World guest post: Susan O’Connell

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Susan O’Connell’s reflection “Listening and contemplation.” Listening to the silence is truly one of the great spiritual practices, in which we tune into a deeper level of being and of experience. Silence in nature can facilitate that deeper connection to ourselves through allowing us to listen more deeply to our hearts and bodies. Nature or wilderness can provide a holding environment so that we can relax the ways we chronically constrict ourselves. (Hutton, 2003, p. 250) Having an affinity for communication and service, it came

Read More

Pilgrimage ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, It is hard for me to believe that ten years ago this month I first started writing the blog that became Abbey of the Arts and a global community. It is also hard for me to believe that four years ago my husband John and I were wrapping up the details of our life in Seattle, to go on a midlife adventure and pilgrimage to Europe and see where we would land.  It is impossibly delightful that we have rooted ourselves here in Galway and now offer pilgrimages to others. I offer you this reprise

Read More

One space just opened in our September 20-28, 2016 Ireland Pilgrimage!

We just had one space come available for the September 20-28, 2016 dates of our Soul’s Slow Ripening itinerary out of Galway where we explore Celtic wisdom for discernment. Imagine 8 nights on the wild west coast of Ireland exploring monastic ruins with kindred souls. Please get in touch with me if you are interested in joining us or have any questions. Full payment for the program will be due at the time of registration. Program details here>>

Read More

Monk in the World guest post: Mary Thomason-Smith

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Thomason-Smith’s reflection on the homily of birdsong. All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres—Maltbie D. Babcock Stepping on my deck for a deep, belly breath full of fresh air, the tranquility of an Indiana summer morning invites me to stillness, to receive the peaceful offerings of dawn.  Green morning glory vines noodle their way through the wooden rails and posts that frame my space for prayer.  A rabbit nibbles on clover just beyond the

Read More