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Praying, Singing, and Dancing with Monks and Mystics

If you love the twelve dancing monk icons, you will love this series of multimedia resources we have created! Praying with Monks and Mystics offers a full-color reproduction of each icon along with Christine’s poetry and song sheets in the back to accompany the music created for each dancing monk. Singing with Monks and Mystics is a CD or MP3 download of 13 songs, each inspired by one of the dancing monks in our series. Perfect for meditation, retreat, and sharing with groups! Dancing with Monks and Mystics is a DVD created by Betsey Beckman, who choreographed simple dances and

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“We Dance Wild” – A Poem for the Abbey by Joel McKerrow (a love note)

Dearest monks and artists, We have had an amazing spring full of travel and teaching. In March we led a group of young adults on a pilgrimage to Glendalough. In April, I went back to the Northwest U.S. for three weeks of leading retreats and trainings. May brought us to Vienna to lead a monastic pilgrimage there, and in June we led a group of pilgrims here in Galway. The season has felt richly blessed. This work is at heart about relationship, and to spend time with so many beautiful souls in such amazing places feels abundant beyond measure. Summer

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The Soul of a Pilgrim Summer Blog Book Tour

For the next eight weeks I am on a blog book tour for The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within, offering guest posts or interviews at a different stop each week. This first week I am interviewed at Carl McColman’s website. Here is a brief excerpt: Can you briefly share with the readers the story of the book? Was it directly a result of your own move/pilgrimage, or what other factors may have contributed to its gestation? Yes, it has really been the fruit of several years of embarking on what my husband and I call ancestral

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Monk in the World guest post: Jacqui Avery

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jacqui Avery’s reflection on the living as a monk in the world in the midst of anger: Despite numerous attempts over the years to create a more dramatic and exciting persona, the two words most commonly used to describe me continue to be ‘nice’ and ‘calm’. Whenever it comes up in conversation with people that I am interested in contemplative prayer, or that I can think of nothing more refreshing than going on a silent retreat, or that I get

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The Practice of the Holy Pause (love note from your online abbess)

Dearest monks, artists and pilgrims, Modern life seems to move at full speed and many of us can hardly catch our breath between the demands of earning a living, nurturing family and friendships, and the hundreds of small daily details like paying our bills, cleaning, grocery shopping. More and more we feel stretched thin by commitments and lament our busyness, but without a clear sense of the alternative. There is no space left to consider other options and the idea of heading off on a retreat to ponder new possibilities may be beyond our reach. But there are opportunities for

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The Soul of a Pilgrim NEW Printable Graphics

This beautiful graphic was created by Ave Maria Press to offer a visual summary of the eight practices in The Soul of a Pilgrim. Printable PDF versions are available at this page in both large format and bookmark size. Feel free to print them out and share these with others!

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Monk in the World guest post: Heidi Hewett

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Heidi Hewett‘s reflection on the contemplative practice of doing puzzles: I have a variety of spiritual practices I use either daily or throughout my week: lectio divina, centering prayer, creativity, silence, and walking meditation, but one thing I am adopting into my “when I need it” spiritual practice toolbox is doing puzzles. Normally, I do not choose to do a puzzle, which is why I felt a divine nudge with this particular experience—and how it turned into an opportunity for

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The Sacred Art of Living (a love note from your online Abbess)

John and I are leading a pilgrimage in Ireland this week, so we offer another jewel for you from the Abbey Archives: Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I was sitting in St. Ephrem, a small Orthodox stone church near the Sorbonne in Paris, listening to the sublime solo suites for cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. The young man playing did not have sheet music; he knew this entire piece by heart. His eyes were closed as he stretched the bow back and forth in a kind of dance, his whole body was alert and engaged in this act of offering

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Carl McColman reflects on The Soul of a Pilgrim

My newest book The Soul of a Pilgrim is being featured at Patheos’ Book Club for the first half of June. Carl McColman, blogger at A Contemplative Faith offers these beautiful words in reflection: “Christine Valters Painter is one of the most creative and visionary of spiritual directors with a meaningful online presence. Her website, Abbey of the Arts, functions as a sort of “cyber-cloister,” a place of quiet presence and spiritual nurture where participants are invited to encounter God not only through the words and practices of contemplative spirituality, but also — and perhaps more significantly — through creative expression.” Click here

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Monk in the World guest post: Kristen Kludt

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kristen Kludt‘s reflection on being a Monk on the Move: I am a millennial. I am of a generation of transplants: leaving our homes at eighteen, many of us never return outside of holidays and vacations. We are like succulent plants – able to be snapped off and replanted again and again, multiplying and spreading wide. We are adaptable, versatile and flexible, but I long for deep roots. I am a monk on the move. For the last eight and

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