Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Reflections

Filter

Spiritual Wanderlust Podcast Interview

Christine Valters Paintner was interview by Kelly Deutsch on the Spiritual Wanderlust podcast. Together we dive into: 🔸 Why Mary has so many names🔹 Christine’s favorite name of Mary at this season in her life (it may surprise you!)🔸 How Christine ended up the abbess of an online monastery🔹How her love for Jungian thought intersects with her Catholic spirituality🔸 How the passing of her own mother birthed a book on Mary🔹Mary as warrior (an image in stark contrast to the placid woman in blue we usually see!)🔸 What was Hildegard’s favorite name for Mary, and what it has to do

Read More

Hildy Tail: The Birth of the Messiah (Matthew 1:18-25)

This week we are featuring one of our Hildy Tails. This series of essays were composed last year for our Sustainers Circle. They were dictated to John by the Abbey’s mascot, Hildy the Monk-ey. Hildy is a bit of a free spirit who likes to entertain and doesn’t normally feel constrained by conventional story structure . . . or grammar, in general. She lives by the motto that “all stories are true; some actually happened.” We wanted to share them with you, our wider Abbey community, to give you a small monkey-sized, humorous perspective on some biblical passages and stories

Read More

Monk in the World Guest Post: Janeen Adil

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Janeen Adil’s reflection on the holiness of food. Farmland surrounded the small Midwestern towns where my parents grew up. Families there typically had a vegetable garden, including the Victory Gardens of the Second World War era. When my parents married, moved to Connecticut, and began raising a family, a large garden out back became a permanent fixture. Dad tended the plot, Mom tended what it produced, and we kids helped when and where needed. We were living

Read More
Abbess love notes

Give Me a Word 2023 + Prayer Cycle Day 6

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, In November and December, we are releasing our brand new 7-day prayer cycle of morning and evening prayers on the theme of Soul of a Pilgrim. The audio podcasts for Day 6 morning and evening prayer are being released today on the theme of Beginning Again! This is one of the many free resources we offer to our community to help support your contemplative practice and prayer. (If you are able to support this work financially in any way, we gratefully accept contributions at this link.) In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the

Read More
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kathleen Deyer Bolduc

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Deyer Bolduc’s reflection “Mary’s Message: Say Yes to Breaking Open.” I sit in my study, depleted. I have no energy to write or pray or meditate. I light a candle that sits next to an image of Mary I keep close, knowing she understands what it is like, as a mother, to experience a broken heart.  I take a few deep breaths and simply sit in her presence. She stands, eyes cast down, face thin and

Read More
Give me a word

Give Me a Word 2023

In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word – this word or phrase would be something

Read More
Abbess love notes

Thomas Merton + Prayer Cycle Day 5 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, In November and December, we are releasing our brand new 7-day prayer cycle of morning and evening prayers on the theme of Soul of a Pilgrim. The audio podcasts for Day 5 morning and evening prayer are being released today on the theme of Being Uncomfortable and Embracing Mystery! This is one of the many free resources we offer to our community to help support your contemplative practice and prayer. (If you are able to support this work financially in any way, we gratefully accept contributions at this link.)  We continue our pilgrimage through the mystics next

Read More
Mystics and Saints

Abbey of the Arts CD and DVD Buy One Get One Free Sale

In partnership with Wisdom Council Member and Abbey teaching partner Betsey Beckman of The Dancing Word, Abbey of the Arts has produced a series of CD & DVD collections as another resource for contemplation, creativity, and movement. From now through January 30th by one CD or DVD and get a second CD or DVD of your choice for free. This sale applies to CDs and DVDs only, not digital albums. After you purchase your item, please contact us using the link in your order form or by emailing dancingmonk@abbeyofthearts.com and let us know which CD or DVD you’d like as your free gift.  View our

Read More
Lift Every Voice Book Club

Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – December Video Discussion and Book Group Materials Now Available

Join Abbey of the Arts for a monthly conversation on how increasing our diversity of perspectives on contemplative practice can enrich our understanding and experience of the Christian mystical tradition.  Christine Valters Paintner is joined by author Claudia Love Mair for a series of video conversations. Each month they take up a new book by or about a voice of color. The community is invited to purchase and read the books in advance and participate actively in this journey of deepening, discovery, and transformation.  Click here to view or listen to the full conversation along with questions for reflection. This month’s selection is

Read More

Monk in the World Guest Post: Paula Frazier

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Paula Frazier’s reflection “Savoring the And Ten.” Hospitality is a family legacy. There was always room for one more at the table. There was always space for someone who needed a place. My aunts reminisced about my grandfather feeding potato pancakes to all the neighborhood children. When I married, my husband and I continued to open our home to others. We hosted weekly fellowships with food and music. We housed friends in need. Our doors were always

Read More