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Spaces Available for 2016 Ireland Pilgrimages

Last week we added one last set of dates for pilgrimage in Ireland this coming year: August 30-September 7, 2016.  We filled several of those spaces and had a bit of shifting around from other dates, so right now we have the following availability: (click links to go to pages with descriptions) Writing on the Wild Edges in Ireland – May 3-11, 2016 (ONE SPACE) Monk in the World: Pilgrimage to the Sacred Edge of Ireland – August 30-September 7, 2016 (THREE SPACES) The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Monastic Wisdom for Discernment – Pilgrimage in Ireland – September 20-28, 2016 (TWO SPACES

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Monk in the World guest post: Jean Wise

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jean Wise’s reflection on the power of silence: Rediscovering Silence I love words. I love taking sounds and syllables and dance with them on a page either in my journal or in my work as a writer. My ears tingle with the sound of words as they roll from my tongue in speaking or in song. Words have their benefits. They form a container for me to hold reason, a sense of control and clarity and dare I say, my ego. We

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Abbess love notes

Give Me a Word 2016: 7th Annual Abbey Giveaway

SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2016 In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word –  this word or

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Monk in the World guest post: Jodi Blazek Gehr

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jodi Blazek Gehr’s the sacred pilgrimage of driving country roads: A Country Road Contemplative My country drives are a sacred experience, a contemplative, scenic journey through four counties of Nebraska.  Driving country roads has become a pilgrimage of its own as I travel to St. Benedict Center, a Benedictine retreat center and monastery seventy miles northwest of my home. Once or twice a month, I receive spiritual direction, participate in or lead retreats, attend Oblate meetings or pray with the monks. It’s where I go

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Thomas Merton and Embracing Your Inner Monk ~ A love note from your online abbess

“Whose silence are you?” After Thomas Merton The single eye of the sun long shut, world deep asleep like a sunken ship loaded with treasures, full moon’s fierce shadows illumine the way for miles, stars glint like coins dropped to the well’s black bottom, last apple fallen from the tree in a slush of honey and crimson. I walk barefoot across wet grass, night’s questions relentlessly wrestling in my mind’s knotted weave. I look for answers written by salmon in the stream, or a snail’s slither of streaming silver. I prostrate myself at the gnarled foot of the ash tree.

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Monk in the World guest post: Susan Heffron Hajec

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Susan Heffron Hajec’s reflection on living as steadfast love: Walking in Faithfulness “For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in faithfulness to you.”  Psalm 26:3 I am an ordinary person who is immensely grateful for the gift of living an extraordinary life. At the age of 72, I recognize the steadfast lovebefore my eyes that has accompanied my journey all along the way. At my age, life’s responsibilities are simplified and I love that. But even during the frantic

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Join us for Sacred Time this Advent

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Today we begin our journey into the holy season of Advent with our online retreat. The theme this year is Sacred Time: Embracing the Slow Rhythms of the Season. Here is a brief excerpt from the first week’s reflection: “The seasons, whether of the day, week, month, year, lifetime, or cosmos, invite us into a profound respect for thresholds. In our usual day to day awareness, one moment isn’t especially different from another. In seasonal time, we become aware of the continual invitation to cross a threshold into a deeper awareness. Dawn, day, dusk, and

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More Reflections from the Wild Edges

In early September 2015 we had 13 pilgrims join us for a very special pilgrimage and writing retreat on the wild edges of the world. We stayed on the islands of Inismor and Inisbofin, off the coast of Connemara and let the landscape inspire our creative process. I am grateful to these dancing monks for sharing their inspiration so freely with the community. Pour a cup of tea and then savor these reflections from Randy Pierce and Eileen Harakal. A Desert Owl I am like a desert owl, like an owl among ruins. —Psalm 102:6 Reading Psalm 102 brings to mind

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A Celebration of Gratitude ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The United States celebrates the feast of Thanksgiving this week. I have always loved this time of gratefulness and sharing with loved ones. My heart overflows with gratitude for this beautiful community we have created together. I delight daily in knowing there are dancing monks all over the world. I share with you an adaptation of a reflection I recently wrote for Spiritual Directors International on gratitude as a spiritual practice: The 5th century monk and mystic Benedict of Nursia counsels in his Rule for monastic life an attitude of contentment among his community. Whatever

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Listen to Christine’s Interview on Soul of a Pilgrim

This past week Christine appeared on the radio show “Out of the Fog” with Karen Hager where she discussed her latest book Soul of a Pilgrim.  Tune into the recording where they discuss welcoming in discomfort, preparing for the journey, and coming home again. Click here to listen to the program>>

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