Your Online Monastery for Your Spiritual Practice

Mid-Way through Lent: Beginning Again

For the next few weeks I will be offering you some gems from the Abbey archives as I create the space I need to finish several writing projects and prepare for spring’s teaching. In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself astray in a dark wood where the straight road had been lost sight of. —Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are approaching the midpoint of our Lenten journey through the desert. This is a ripe moment to pause and reflect on the commitments we made in earnest almost a month ago as

March 15, 2015

Invitation to Poetry: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

Welcome to Poetry Party #86! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below or join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one), Facebook, or Twitter, and encourage others to come join the party! (If you repost the photo, please make sure to include the credit link and link back to this post inviting others to join us). We

March 15, 2015

Monk in the World guest post: June Mears Driedger

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for June Mears Driedger’s reflections about spiritual direction and the contemplative life: Following the call of being a monk in the world through spiritual direction. I enter the room for spiritual direction. My director, J. is there, lighting a candle and smiling as she greets me. I meet with her about every four-six weeks, depending on our schedules. This is a discipline I practice to deepen my relationship with God and enables me to be a monk in the world. With

March 12, 2015

Making Space for the Divine: The Gift of Silence

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) For the next few weeks I will be offering you some gems from the Abbey archives as I create the space I need to finish several writing projects and prepare for spring’s teaching: It was said of Abba Agathon that for three years he lived with a stone in his mouth, until he had learnt to keep silence. (Agathon 15) The silence of the desert elders is called hesychia, which means stillness, silence, inner quiet. However, it is much deeper than just an external quiet.

March 10, 2015

Invitation to Photography: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

Welcome to this month’s Abbey Photo Party! I select a theme and invite you to respond with images. We began this month with a Community Lectio Divina practice with our reflection on Kinship with Creation (the fourth principle of the Monk Manifesto) with a quote from Psalm 104 (read them here). I invite you for this month’s Photo Party to hold these words in your heart as you go out in the world to receive images in response. As you walk be ready to see what is revealed to you as a visual expression of your prayer. You can share images you already have which illuminate the theme, but I encourage you also

March 8, 2015

Monk in the World guest post: Carmen Brown

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Carmen Brown’s poetic wisdom on living as a monk in the world: During a particularly difficult loss in my life, I discovered the path of the contemplative. This dark night of the soul caught me unexpected, unaware—grasping and gasping for relief and answers. Divinely, I met Christine Valters Paintner through her website and later her books. For the first time in my life, I felt home — a place where the expression of my soul found a voice, resonance, and

March 5, 2015

Sit in Your Cell: Desert Reflections for Lent (a love note from your online Abbess)

For the next few weeks I will be offering you some gems from the Abbey archives as I create the space I need to finish several writing projects and prepare for spring’s teaching. Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The road of cleansing goes through that desert. It shall be named the way of holiness. —Isaiah 35:8 If the desert is holy, it is because it is a forgotten place that allows us to remember the sacred. Perhaps that is why every pilgrimage to the desert is a pilgrimage to the self. There is no place to hide and so we

March 2, 2015

Invitation to Community Lectio Divina: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

With March we offer a new invitation for contemplation. Our focus for this month is Kinship with Creation. We are continuing our monthly exploration of each theme of the Monk Manifesto. Our focus for this month is Kinship with Creation — How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness? The fourth principle reads: I commit to cultivating awareness of my kinship with creation and a healthy asceticism by discerning my use of energy and things, letting go of what does not help nature to flourish. We invite you into a lectio divina practice with some words from Psalm 104 (see below). How Community Lectio Divina works: Each month there will be

March 1, 2015

Monk in the World guest post: Dianne Jones

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Dianne Jones’ wisdom on living as a monk in the world: Stop Breathe Believe – A Beginning to a New Way of Being Several years ago I began PrairieFire, a three-year program of spiritual formation, to learn to walk alongside others in the process of slowing down and discovering the heart of their spirituality. My classmates and I often called ourselves the Monkettes. We learned together, we cried together, we dared greatly together, we shared deeply with one another, we listened

February 26, 2015

Invitation to Dance: Community – Who is your tribe?

We continue our theme this month of “Community — Who is your tribe?” which arose from our Community Lectio Divina practice with the story from the Third Principle of the Monk Manifesto and continued with this month’s Photo Party and Poetry Party. I invite you into a movement practice. Allow yourself just 5 minutes this day to pause and listen and savor what arises. Begin with a full minute of slow and deep breathing. Let your breath bring your awareness down into your body. When thoughts come up, just let them go and return to your breath. Hold this question of “Who is my tribe?” as the gentlest of intentions, planting

February 22, 2015

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Mid-Way through Lent: Beginning Again

Invitation to Poetry: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

Monk in the World guest post: June Mears Driedger

Making Space for the Divine: The Gift of Silence

Invitation to Photography: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

Monk in the World guest post: Carmen Brown

Sit in Your Cell: Desert Reflections for Lent (a love note from your online Abbess)

Invitation to Community Lectio Divina: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?

Monk in the World guest post: Dianne Jones

Invitation to Dance: Community – Who is your tribe?

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A Blessing for Creativity + Sabbatical Announcement

Monk in the World Guest Post: Teresa Calpino

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Marie Cribbin

Brother Lawrence and the Practice of the Presence + Prayer Cycle Day 6 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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