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Abbess love notes

Mary as Mystical Rose Invites Us to Bloom ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and this is an excerpt from my forthcoming book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal (which will be published April 2022). It contains reflections on 31 names and titles of Mary including Mary as the Mystical Rose. In December 1531 Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant, four times. She spoke to him in his native language and asked him to erect a church on that site in her honor. He went to speak to the Archbishop but was

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December 12, 2021
Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Jane Thorley Roeschley

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jane Thorley Roeschley’s reflection “Give Me a Word.” I was introduced to the practice of choosing a “word of the year” by spiritual directees and others who were saying things like, “My word this year is ‘unfurl’” or “hope” or “surrender.” I didn’t immediately have interest, though I was intrigued by how the directees’ comments about their words suggested that they had found their words to provide a sort of framework for spiritual reflection. I also needed to let

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December 8, 2021
Abbess love notes

Give Me a Word ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, 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

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December 5, 2021
Give me a word

Give Me a Word 2022

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

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December 1, 2021

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sheila Carroll

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sheila Carroll’s reflection, “Stories as Gifts—A Contemplative Practice.” If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. —Barry Lopez, Crow and Weasel As contemplatives we look for ways to deepen our own spiritual lives and make ourselves more available to others. Story is one pathway to deepening our own pilgrimage and blessing the path of others

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December 1, 2021
Monk in the World

Monk in the World Moving with Mystery DVD Now Available

We are delighted to announce that the new Monk in the World: Moving with Mystery DVD is available for pre-order. The Monk Manifesto is a set of 8 principles for contemplative, creative, and compassionate living. It is the Rule of Life for the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks community at Abbey of the Arts. We embrace the practices of Silence and Solitude, Hospitality, Community, Kinship with Creation, Work, Sabbath, Conversion, and Creative Joy. This DVD includes 14 prayer dances for every-body that embody the practices of the Monk Manifesto written by Christine Valters Paintner. The DVD will begin shipping around December 15, 2021.

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November 30, 2021
Abbess love notes

Advent Blessings! Please Join Us on Retreat ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Tomorrow we begin a journey through my newest book Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred. We are so excited to be diving deeply into this beautiful contemplative practice in community with our retreat starting tomorrow. I will be leading a weekly live Zoom session on Mondays (always recorded) with poetry, songs, and meditation. John will be reflecting on scripture passages which highlight breath and Amanda Dillon will be inviting us into sacred seeing with reflections on art that illuminate these passages. Wisdom Council member Jamie Marich will be inviting us into embodied practices each

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November 28, 2021
Uncategorized

Please send us your input for our Book Club

Greetings dear monks and mystics! While we’re taking a short hiatus to honor Claudia’s need for time and space to grieve we thought we’d check in with all of you about how our Lift Every Voice Book Club can better suit your needs. We are very committed to continuing this work in one form or another as it is so vital to these times and we have been deeply enriched by it and are hungry for more. WE’D LOVE YOUR INPUT ON THE FOLLOWING:  1. Do you find the *monthly video conversations* between the author, Claudia, and myself helpful? We

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November 27, 2021

Monk in the World Guest Post: CJ Shelton

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for CJ Shelton’s reflection “Stitches in Time.” As a working artist and monk-in-the-world, solitude and quiet are essential and over the past year, multiple pandemic lockdowns have provided plenty of both. Such an unexpected gift of time has allowed me to wrap myself in a self-made cocoon of reflection, to paint more and embark on art projects that might not otherwise have had room to grow. Along with tending my creative “seeds”, another activity that has provided considerable

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November 24, 2021
Advent Christmas Epiphany

Embrace the Sacred Feminine ~ A Love Note From Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am in the final editing stages of my next book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal which will be published in April 2022 by Ave Maria Press. I love all that this project has inspired – another compilation album of songs we are working on and the next week in our Prayer Cycle series – all coming in the spring.  In the book I focus on 31 of Mary’s names or archetypes which offer windows into those qualities we can call upon in ourselves as well. The sacred feminine is not at the expense of

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November 21, 2021

Upcoming Programs

To Be is a Blessing: An Online Retreat for Advent
To Be is a Blessing: An Online Retreat for Advent
1 Dec 24
Contemplative Prayer Service: Community
Contemplative Prayer Service: Community
9 Dec 24
Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer
18 Dec 24

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