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Love and Hospitality (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!) Dearest Monks, Artists, and Pilgrims, A few days ago I received an email from a woman who is writing her dissertation and asked me to respond to the question: “If you had to choose one spiritual practice that is a non-negotiable for spiritual growth in the 21st century, what would it be and why?” My answer was supposed to be short and succinct. Here was my reply: “I would choose hospitality, both inner and outer, because I believe the welcoming in all of the

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Invitation to Photography: Soul Friend

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 wisdom from St. Brigid.  As I prayed with this passage, I was moved by how essential Brigid considers the role of companions on the journey. She urges us to make finding those with whom we can share a deep kinship of the heart’s longings. With our overall theme of the year at the Abbey as discernment, I love the idea of listening for how we might build a soulful community to support us

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Monk in the World guest post: Patricia Turner

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Patricia Turner’s wisdom: My Practice of Being a Monk in the World: Photo Lectio – The Image as Icon Already I am being brought into a world where significant things are shown as images, and insight comes from shapes and patterns, from the visual rather than from the written word.   – Esther de Waal    To live as a monk in the world for me begins with spending as much time as possible in silent and solitary reflection.  I carve out

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Praying the Heart (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!) Dearest Monks, Artists, and Pilgrims, I have been feeling a bit weary these last few days, fighting something off I think, and offering myself generous hospitality by resting and nourishing myself well with good food and the gift of herbs. I think it might be the transition of seasons, but I am listening in for the invitation and being gentle with my body and soul. I received a book of poems in the mail today, Small Bird by Elizabeth Cunningham, and the poem below

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Community Lectio Divina: Wisdom from St. Brigid

With February comes a new invitation for contemplation. This month I invite you into a lectio divina practice with words attributed to St. Brigid on the wisdom of having a soul friend. We just passed the Celtic feast of Imbolc and the feast day of St. Brigid on February 1st. 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

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Munkemanifestet (Monk Manifesto) now in Norwegian!

One of the things I love most about having a global community is the intersection of languages and cultures. It was my great joy last November to visit Norway for the first time, at the invitation to lead a retreat. I fell in love with the country and the people and am even planning another return trip to do more teaching. Thea Elisabeth Haavet, who coordinated my retreat there last fall, was gracious enough to translate the Monk Manifesto into the Norwegian language.  Now we have Spanish, German, and Norwegian translations. If you speak another language and would like to

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Monk in the World guest post: David Norling

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community (you can read the call for submissions here). Read on for David Norling‘s wisdom about mindfulness and cultivating non-judgmental awareness: The Second Naïveté Judgment limits awareness, awareness limits judgment. I went through a phase in college where, in addition to Birkenstocks, I wore very simple clothing: cotton, loose fitting, monochromatic. There was a girl in one of my classes who asked if I was some kind of a monk. Without thinking, I said, “Yes.” The idea must have appealed to me. To imagine

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Stirring in the Belly (a love note from your online Abbess)

Dearest Monks, Artists, and Pilgrims, I love revealing each of the newest dancing monk icons (created by Marcy Hall of Rabbit Room Arts). This week we welcome in Saint Brigid to our dancing circle. She is one of the most revered saints of Ireland, second only to St. Patrick.  Born in the middle of the 5th century, and carrying the name of one of the ancient goddesses, Brigid performed miracles from an early age and was a founder of many monastic communities, the most influential of which was in Kildare (meaning “Church of the Oak”) and was a double monastery

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Invitation to Dance: Give Me a Word

We continue our theme this month of “Give Me a Word” through the practice of dance. 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 your word for 2014 gently in your awareness, planting a seed as you prepare to step into the dance. You don’t need to think this through or figure it

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Monk in the World guest post: Anneclaire LeRoyer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from Anneclaire LeRoyer (you can read the call for submissions here). She has been involved in the Abbey for several years and even joined us for our Vienna pilgrimage last year.  Read on for Anneclaire’s wisdom: A Monk and Artist in the World I am an aspiring monk and artist and I am on the best possible of adventures. There’s always room to grow! I am blessed to be part of Abbey of the Arts. For several years now I have gratefully drunk in

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