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Lifelines and Deadlines

I am in the midst of a pretty intense time of creative laboring and as I have told my friends I feel like the time has come to give birth and I am having triplets!  The first creation was the intensive class I taught last week on Contemporary Expressions of Monastic Spirituality with a wonderful group of students who were a gift to journey with through our days of prayer, study, and discussion.  Their papers are due today so I will be making some time this week to be present to their personal explorations of the material and get the

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August 3, 2009

Mandalas

My newest article at Patheos on Mandalas (Part 1 of 2): (photo of rose window at Notre Dame © Kayce Hughlett) Mandala is the Sanskrit word for circle and the great psychologist Carl Jung called it an “archetype of wholeness.” Archetypes are those basic patterns and symbols which repeat across cultures and traditions, emerging from a collective unconscious or shared well of images.  Jung saw mandalas as expressions of the deep self’s longing for integration and a visual map toward our own spiritual centers.  He would spend time each morning creating mandalas in response to his dreams and advised his patients

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July 29, 2009

Invitation to Poetry: Summer’s Sweet Slowness

Welcome to our 38th Poetry Party! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add them in the comments section and a link to your blog (if you have one).  Make sure to check the comments for new poems added and I encourage you to leave encouraging comments for each other either here or at the poet’s own blog. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog if you have one and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint

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July 27, 2009

Abbey Updates and Links

Life has been full here at the Abbey this summer.  I am very hard at work this week getting ready to teach an intensive class on Contemporary Expressions of Monastic Spirituality for the School of Theology andMinistry next week.  I am so delighted to immerse myself in the coming days in discussion and exploration of the Benedictine life for contemporary times.  The intensive nature of the class means everything needs to be ready ahead of time but also means that we will get to experience the rhythms of monastic life and prayer as a part of our learning. I am also

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July 23, 2009

Monet Refuses the Operation

Doctor, you say there are no haloes around the streetlights in Paris and what I see is an aberration caused by old age, an affliction. I tell you it has taken me all my life to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels, to soften and blur and finally banish the edges you regret I don’t see, to learn that the line I called the horizon does not exist and sky and water, so long apart, are the same state of being. Fifty-four years before I could see Rouen cathedral is built of parallel shafts of sun, and

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July 22, 2009

Summertime Slowness

It’s summertime which means an invitation to indulge in some of summer’s pleasures.  Despite the fact that I have been hard at work writing a second book and preparing to teach, I still take breaks for some of summer’s finer gifts.  Let’s celebrate slowness.  Some things that should be done s-l-o-w-l-y: Taking a long swim in the open water, feeling the stretch of your muscles. Eating fresh sweet berries and juicy peaches. Cooking a meal with complete loving attention to each chop, sprinkle, and stir. Napping in a patch of sunlight. Hiking deep in the emerald woods. Listening to the rhythms

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July 20, 2009

Creating Personal Altars

Here is my latest article up at Patheos on Creating Personal Altars, enjoy!: ______________________________________________________ In the heart of every Catholic Church you enter you will find the altar, the place where we celebrate Holy Communion and break bread and drink wine together. It is where we experience God breaking into the community each week. Often around the church you will also find other small altars. Perhaps there is one in front of a statue of Mary where people have left a rosary or holy card or some other offering. Another might be an altar for the dead erected for the month

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July 14, 2009

Invitation to Photography: Listen With the Ear of Your Heart

Welcome to the our second Abbey Photo Party!  This is a new experiment and sort of a twist on the regular Poetry Parties.  Instead of my selecting a theme and image and inviting you to respond with words, I select a theme and poem and invite you to respond with images.  Since you can’t post images directly in the comments section here, I invite you to add them to the Flickr Group I have created.  Please do leave a comment below to let us know you have joined the party and feel free to link back to your own blog and post your image there too.  If possible

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July 13, 2009

The Four Directions

“The perceptions that the cardinal points have distinct qualities that can be called forth to shape the outcome of human effort has been common to societies throughout history. . . “But for those humans who do see the sun rise from the darkened bed of the earth in the East as they arise from their own bed, and who can call that rising morning, dawning, ascending, arising, and for those who see the sun set in the opposite horizon, having had the sun as their companion throughout the labors of their day, we see the cooling sun return to its

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July 12, 2009

The Last Wolf

The last wolf hurried toward me through the ruined city and I heard his baying echoes down the steep smashed warrens of Montgomery Street and past the few ruby-crowned highrises left standing their lighted elevators useless Passing the flicking red and green of traffic signals baying his way eastward in the mystery of his wild loping gait closer the sounds in the deadly night through clutter and rubble of quiet blocks I heard his voice ascending the hill and at last his low whine as he came floor by empty floor to the room where I sat in my narrow

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July 2, 2009