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In Praise of Circles (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) In Praise of Circles “I live my life in growing orbits which move out over this wondrous world.” – Rainer Maria Rilke Friends around the dinner table their mouths making “o”s of delight and laughter, plates piled with new potatoes, pearl onions, and pork loin. Time softens the edges of river stones, the arc of waves reach for shore, celestial orbiting spheres keep cosmic time. There is the saffron yolk, blood oranges and blueberries, the coins in my purse that let me buy fresh

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Community Lectio Divina: “Return to me with your whole heart”

With March comes a new invitation for contemplation. As Lent begins this month (on March 5th – join our online retreat here.) I invite you into a lectio divina practice with words from the first reading for Ash Wednesday from the prophet Joel. How Community Lectio Divina works: Each month there will be a passage selected from scripture, poetry, or other sacred texts (and occasionally visio and audio divina as well with art and music). For the year I am choosing an overarching theme of discernment. I feel like the Abbey is in the midst of some wonderful transition, movement, and expansion. How amazing

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Monk in the World guest post: Rachel Regenold

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community.  Read on for Rachel Regenold’s wisdom about the power of rhythm to bring more presence to life: Drumming Myself into the Present Moment I have frequently read about the power of being present as a means to live a more peaceful, contemplative life. Yet, I find myself whining, “Isn’t there an easier way?” While on retreat in the fall I succumbed to the beauty of being present when I didn’t have to worry about the details of everyday life. But when I

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Creative Joy (a love note from your online Abbess)

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The 8th principle of the Monk Manifesto reads: I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.” I share some of the reflection here this week as a reminder for each of us to practice gratitude, contentment, good zeal, and cultivate the creative joy, freedom, and love which we are called to embrace as part of being a monk in the world. “What is more delightful than this voice of the Holy One calling to us? See how God’s love shows us the

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Invitation to Dance: Soul Friend

We continue our theme this month of “Soul Friend” through the practice of dance (please visit our Community Lectio Divina practice, Invitation to Photography, and Invitation to Poetry which all explored this theme for February). I invite you into a movement practice.  Allow yourself just 5-10 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 the theme of soul friend gently in your awareness, planting

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Monk in the World guest post: Jason Jones

I am delighted to share another submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jason Jones’ wisdom about listening with the ear of our hearts.: Hospitality of Listening “He listens,” is what a new friend told me when we were both on retreat together.  We both had daily times to visit with a retreat leader, and my friend asked how my session went.  “Good,” I told him.  “It was good.  How about you?”  “He listens,” is how my friend replied.  The two words he listens said there was hospitality, openness, welcome, and safety in that time.  My friend’s

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“Please can I have a God” (a love note from your online Abbess)

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Please can I have a God (after Selima Hill) not fossilized, hardened, stiff, unshaken, not contained in creeds and testimonies, judgments and stone tablets, but in the wound breaking open. Please can I have a God who asks me to worship at the altar of mystery, to lay aside certainty, and curl up in the hollow of a great stone down by the river, to hear the force of it rushing past. Please can I have a God with questions rather than answers, who

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Invitation to Poetry: Soul Friend

Welcome to Poetry Party #75! (Does that make it our diamond jubilee?) I select an image (*photo above by Lynn Weekes Karegeannes) 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

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Dancing Monk Icons now available as prints!

If you have loved the dancing monk icon series, you can now order prints directly from artist Marcy Hall of Rabbit Room Arts. The prints are made by a local printer in the town of Erie on archival quality mat board, so your purchase supports the artist, a local printer, and half of the profits go to support the Earth Monastery Project. Will you choose Mary Mother of God, St. Benedict, St. Hildegard, St. Brigid, or maybe one of each? (Discounts when you buy 2 or all 4!) Prints are 6 inches wide x 10 inches high and are mounted on an

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Monk in the World guest post: Valerie Hess

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community.  Read on for Valerie’s wisdom about signposts and ancient practices: This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16 I am a signpost. I am called to stand at the crossroads and offer direction and guidance to people. I share what I know of the ancient path to walk on, a good path,

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