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Abbess love notes

Blessing Our Lives ~ A Guest Post at New Eden Ministry

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to offer this excerpt from my guest post at New Eden Ministry titled “Blessing Our Lives.” Blessings can be like warm bread for the hungry, a cold drink for those who thirst. They can offer hope and encouragement, steep us in gratitude, nurture our courage. Blessings bring us present to the grace of each moment. The word comes from the Latin, benedicere, which means to speak well of. Blessings help to remind us of the love and beauty of the Holy One in our lives and assist us to take nothing for granted.

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Abbess love notes

Celtic Spirituality Retreat + Day 3 Mary Prayer Cycle ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We continue this week with the release of our Day 3 Birthing the Holy video podcast that accompanies my book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal. Day 3 Morning and Evening Prayer take the themes of Star of the Sea and Vessel of Grace.  Here is an excerpt from Day 3 Morning: Opening Prayer Stella Maris, Mary, Star of the Sea, we look to the night sky to see your brilliance shining upon the world. Be with us as a guiding light and safe harbour on our journey of surrender and trust. Show

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Michael Kroth

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Michael Kroth’s reflection on walking as a keystone, contemplative practice. Around the mountain Again flowers, birds, views, winds My feet hurt, heart beats ~Written 8-7-22 Vince and I pulled into the nearly filled parking lot. A thin, serious-looking runner standing behind his open car trunk stretched one leg behind himself, and then the other. Two cars down, a couple pulled mountain bikes off their car racks, swung small hydration packs onto their backs, adjusted their helmets, clipped

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Abbess love notes

Day 2 Mary Prayer Cycle – New Video Podcasts! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Last Spring we created a prayer cycle and audio podcast series to accompany my book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal. Today we continue our release of the companion video podcasts with Day 2 Morning and Evening Prayer. The full prayer cycle is available here. Each day of the prayer cycle focuses on thematic and archetypal energies associated with a different name for Mary. Today’s video podcast for Day 2 morning and evening prayer takes as its theme Untier of Knots and Mustafia. In her role as Untier of Knots Mary invites us to consider those places

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Hildy Tails

Hildy Tail: Excuses, Excuses, Excuses (Exodus 3:1 – 4:17)

This week we are featuring one of our Hildy Tails. This series of essays were composed last year for our Sustainers Circle. They were dictated to John by the Abbey’s mascot, Hildy the Monk-ey. Hildy is a bit of a free spirit who likes to entertain and doesn’t normally feel constrained by conventional story structure . . . or grammar, in general. She lives by the motto that “all stories are true; some actually happened.” We wanted to share them with you, our wider Abbey community, to give you a small monkey-sized, humorous perspective on some biblical passages and stories

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Patri Hernandez

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Patri Hernandez’s reflection “Why the Islands Have Captivated My Heart.” Feeling I needed to strengthen my spiritual connection to Goddess, I travelled back to the Canary Islands a few years ago and found Her there, waiting for me. She revealed herself so beautifully and simply! I was born in one of the islands 53 years earlier, but somehow could not understand the nature of the world or the nature of my own heart. Goddess had always been there when I

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Abbess love notes

Mary Prayer Cycle – New Video Podcasts! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Last Spring we created a prayer cycle with audio podcasts to accompany my book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal. I am delighted to share the first companion video podcasts lovingly produced by Betsey Beckman. We will release the video podcast series weekly over the next seven weeks. The full text and audio for the prayer cycle is available here. Each day of the prayer cycle focuses on the thematic and archetypal energies associated with a different name for Mary. Today’s video podcast for Day 1 Morning and Evening Prayer is on the theme Queen

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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Patricia Leyko Connelly

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Patricia Leyko Connelly’s reflection on talking and listening to God. I remember that as a child of 10 or 12, I used to walk to school and church about 7 blocks to and from my home.  Sometimes I’d walk with other family members or some neighborhood kids but most of the time I was walking alone.  On those walks I imagine I would think about many things…maybe “why didn’t I finish my homework” or how much I

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Books

Watch the Love Holds You Poetry Book Launch Recording

We had a wonderful gathering of dancing monks to help launch my third poetry collection Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty which releases tomorrow, May 9th. I enjoyed spending this hour of music, storytelling, and poetry with our community. A deep bow of gratitude to Simon de Voil for sharing his gift of song with us. You can order your copy of Love Holds You here. I am most grateful for your support! With great and growing love, Christine Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

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Julian of Norwich in Her Sick Bed ~ A Love Note and Poem Video from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to share I have a third poetry collection being published on May 9th from Paraclete Press titled Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty.  I have long loved the wisdom of Julian but like many, when the pandemic arrived, she became my patron saint of lockdown and compassionate retreat. She herself lived during times of plague, so knew the fears of times like that. Her gift to me was as a companion during the long quiet days full of the ordinary graces of life.  Since then I have had my own

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