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Monk in the World Guest Post: Karen Kinney

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Karen Kinney’s reflection Joy in “What Is” adapted from her book Doorways to Transformation: Everyday Wisdom for the Creative Soul. “Whatever arises, love that.” —Matt Kahn My husband and I climb the ancient stone steps of the 17th-century church, reaching the balcony that overlooks the orchestra and choir below. I am excited because we are coming to hear the complete rendition of Handel’s Messiah, and it has been decades since I listened to the entire work. And, it will be

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April 5, 2023

Origins + Mourning Pages ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to share I have a third poetry collection being published on May 9th from Paraclete Press titled Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty.  This poem is a series of questions that emerged from a moment of reverie and wondering for me. The whole collection is on the theme of love and in writing it, I found myself encountering love in all corners of this beautiful world.  What is the impulse for a robin’s song? What is the source of a flower’s fragrance? Where do my own words come from? And

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April 2, 2023

April Tea with the Abbess

I so enjoyed our Tea with the Abbess session. Since I can’t pour you a cup of tea myself I led a brief meditation then shared some of our programs for April and answered a lot of great questions. Such a joyful time with our wonderful community. We have a number of resources to support you in your contemplative journey including:  April Lift Every Voice Book Club Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness with Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort Christine’s forthcoming collection – Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty Abbey of the Arts Prayer Cycles – a free

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March 31, 2023
Lift Every Voice Book Club

Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – April 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.  This month’s selection is Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness Will Transform Your Faith by Mihee Kim-Kort. Click here

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March 31, 2023

Monk in the World Guest Post: Dena Jennings

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Wisdom Council member Dena Jennings’ reflection Boundaries and Borders in Contemplative Life. I imagine that modern walls of monastic cells, perimeters of abbeys, and the spaces to which cloistered monks retreat are not meant to confine as a prison, nor to keep the  world out, but to allow recesses for spiritual nourishment and focus. They serve as  physical boundaries to remind one of the dedication to this life. Being a monk in the  world calls for a different kind of boundary

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March 29, 2023
Abbess love notes

The Meaning of Manna ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to welcome poet and author Nikki Grimes for a poetry reading tomorrow from her new collection Glory in the Margins.  For today’s love note we are sharing one of her poems below from this collection. It is a poem about what we need to be truly nourished and how so many of us are weighed down by the multiple and conflicting demands of life.  I invite you to begin by taking three slow deep breaths, let them out with a sigh and with each breath see if you can soften your body a bit more.

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March 26, 2023
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Jodi Blazek Gehr

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Jodi Blazek Gehr’s reflection on being a Benedictine oblate. St. Benedict is special to me for a few reasons. First, we share a birthday. I admit I was disappointed when I first discovered this. My parents had given me an illustrated book of the “Lives of the Saints” to commemorate my Confirmation. As any nine-year-old would do, I immediately looked to see who the saint was for July 11, my birthday. Perhaps Elizabeth, Mary, or Theresa would be my special saint.  Instead, I

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March 22, 2023

Corcomroe Abbey ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am delighted to share I have a third poetry collection being published on May 9th from Paraclete Press titled Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty.  This poem was inspired by one of my favorite monastic sites near Galway. Corcomroe Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in the 12th century and is a magnificent structure. There are dozens of these “ruins” within an hour’s drive from where we live and each inspires a profound connection to ancient wisdom. I always feel the presence of the prayers that thousands have prayed within these walls and

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March 19, 2023
Uncategorized

Hildy Tail: The Weary Prophet (1 Kings 19:1-10)

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

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March 17, 2023
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Roy DeLeon, OblSB

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from Roy DeLeon. Roy is a fellow oblate at St. Placid Priory, dear friend of the Abbey, and presenter in the self-study retreat Exile and Coming Home. Read on for his reflection “An Oblate Artist.” On a cold, sunny Saturday in February, I am holding a cup of hot coffee from Vita Cafe at the KEPX radio station located in the Seattle Center. My fellow Urban Sketchers (Seattle chapter) are already set up and sketching what caught their eyes. I walk around, scouting

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March 15, 2023