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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 6 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing for Beginning Again*Spirit of the fresh morning air,allow us to see all the places where newness is being born into the world,the bud of a flower just breaking open its petals,the turning of the sea’s tides,a gaze into the eyes of another and seeing their beauty,the river stone being rubbed smooth. Help us to remember that we are always being called to begin again, like the Prodigal One returning hometo a loving parent’s embrace, hold our shame or heartacheat wandering so far from you, reveal to us the feast you prepare where tables are piled high with the sweetest

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jenny Taylor

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jenny Taylor’s reflection “Inspiration on the not-so-wild edge of Suffolk.” Spending nine days on virtual pilgrimage in the company of “dancing monks”, and guided by Christine Valters Paintner’s hypnotic meditations, has stirred something deep in me. As our world yields to the implacable advance of the digital revolution, the real becomes not just more important, but more sacramental. The real is held for ever in the life-giving embrace of the places and stories, the stones and the

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Stretching of the Heart with St. Columba ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Today we release the video podcast for Day 5 of our Soul of a Pilgrim prayer cycle. The theme for morning and evening prayer is The Practice of Being Uncomfortable and Embracing the Unknown. Pilgrimage always demands something from us. If we are not challenged by it, then we are merely on a trip or a vacation.  This Friday, I will be leading an online retreat with two dear friends, Simon de Voil and Kenneth Steven. The retreat is titled Stretching of the Heart: A Celtic Mini-Retreat on St. Columba (known as Columcille in Ireland) and we will explore the ways pilgrimage

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Lori Kellogg

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Lori’s reflection and view her paintings of the archetypes. I am training to become a Creatively Fit Coach, and one of the courses is a meditation and painting course entitled Super Soul Flow. Over the last several weeks, I have alternatively participated in a guided meditation and then painted whatever I receive during the meditations. When I received the last one, I suddenly remembered the retreat on the archetypes that Christine led, and realized that I had received

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 4 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing Each Step*Journeying One,you help us to navigate the path, placing one foot in front of the other, even when the way ahead is not visible. We set aside our desire for maps, GPS, and guidebooksand surrender to an inner knowing and directionsparked by the deepest longings of our hearts. We know the desire for new life we feel has been kindled by you.May we surrender our need to steer the courseand let every step we take carry us into greater intimacy with you.Help us to see others as fellow pilgrims on the waywith their own fears and struggles.Compel us

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Monk Manifesto

New Monk in the World Self-Study Retreat!

We are pleased to announce the release of our revised and expanded Monk in the World retreat! The retreat is an 8 week self-study that explores the principles of The Monk Manifesto. The new version includes: Registration is offered on a sliding scale and all payments for this program go to support our scholarships to keep the Abbey financially accessible, as well as the creation of our Prayer Cycles, and our Lift Every Voice Book Club. We are excited to offer the community this rich resource for study and contemplation. Learn more and register here.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Naimi Gonzalez

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Naimi Gonzalez’s reflection learning to be present through lectio divina. I am in the beginning stages of learning to be more contemplative in my everyday life.  The impetus to be more thoughtful and present came after years of struggling with racing thoughts.  From the moment I wake up to the moment my head hits the pillow the noise in my head has been fairly constant. I remember waking up one morning a few months ago realizing that

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Abbess love notes

Queering Contemplation + Soul of a Pilgrim Video Podcast Day 3 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Blessings on this Feast of Pentecost! To read a reflection on Pentecost and holy surprise from our archives, please click here.  Today we release the Day 3 video podcasts for our Soul of a Pilgrim prayer cycle. The themes for morning and evening prayer are The Practice of Crossing the Threshold.  On Friday we are hosting Cassidy Hall who will lead a program for us called Queering Contemplation. We invited her to explain what she means by “queering” and how everyone is invited to join us:   Read the reflection below or listen to Cassidy in an audio version. Hello dear artists, monks, poets, theologians, wanderers,

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Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kate Kennington Steer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kate Kennington Steer’s reflection Heart of Stone. I arrived at February 2023 in a post-viral fatigue fug, feeling beset by depression, with my ‘tank’ utterly depleted.  Thanks to the Abbey of the Arts scholarship scheme, I was able to join a group of monks making a Lent pilgrimage online, exploring what it might mean to make ‘A Different Kind of Fast’, led by our Abbess and a wonderful, multi-disciplinary team  Each week ended with an invitation to practice a creative act

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Podcast Day 2

Blessing for Packing Lightly*Winnowing God, you ask us to release, let go, surrender, and yield all that we canin service of making space for what is most essential. The more we set aside that which burdens us and takes up too much spacethe more room opens within us for wonder and gratitude to flourish,the more we find the freedom to see the world as enchanted. Sustain us on the path of simplifying our livesand traveling on this Earth more lightlyso that we no longer live beyond what can be sustained.As we continue on the pilgrim’s path, unencumbered by so many

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