Reflections

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Ally Markotich’s reflection on recovering a creative practice. I’m not sure when it began. Possibly winning third place in a community-wide art contest for the local Fire Hall in fourth grade. Or, maybe when friends and family would “ooh” and “aah” over recently created artwork. However, early on, I believed myself an artist. This label both delighted and concerned me. On my best days, time suspended as I created in the moment and on my worst days, I compared my art to

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sherri Hansen’s reflection on composting as a spiritual practice. [Jesus said,] “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”—John 12:24 Spring in Upper Midwest is highly welcomed after long months of cold dark nights and seemingly endless snow. As ice melts and the world becomes green, I never ceased to be amazed and grateful at this promise of rebirth. Like many gardeners,

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Linda Lyzenga’s reflection on the practice of hospitality in the face of illness.  I had no idea when I signed the Monk Manifesto here at Abbey of the Arts three years ago how a broadened, deepened practice of hospitality would free me from much struggle and anxiety. Seven years prior, following St. Benedicts example, I had written my own rule of life when I began a course in spiritual formation followed by a spiritual direction practicum. There had been much unlearning to

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Gerry O’Neill’s poem about ways to practice the sacrament of Communion. Strange Communion No altar, No bread or wine, No priest, No word spoken To stir the dangerous memory of Jesus (John Baptist Metz) The drama is enacted Under a different form: Paper cup, coffee and hot roll, Offered up In a liturgy of love. The salivated cup passes, From lip to lip, Measured bites so all may have food For the journey To the sheltered workshop. Real presence in