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Earth Monastery Virtual Book & Album Launch (Recording available)

[siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] On Earth Day 2020 Abbey of the Arts hosted an Earth Monastery Virtual Book & Album Launch  (recording above) Christine Valters Paintner was joined by Abbey of the Arts Wisdom Council members Betsey Beckman, Simon de Voil, and Richard Bruxvoort Colligan for this free hour-long event. Christine introduced and shared a meditation from the book Earth, Our Original Monastery, Simon and Richard shared songs from the album, Betsey led us in embodied prayers, and Christine read poems from her forthcoming collection, The Wisdom of Wild Grace. Celebrate with us these important resources for our times! [siteorigin_widget

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Pat Leyko Connelly

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Pat Leyko Connelly’s reflection, “Cleaning as a Contemplative Practice.” My husband and I retired and moved from Northern New Jersey to Weston, Vermont seven years ago. I had spent most of my career in parish ministry and my husband was a teacher. After almost 40 years of visiting and making retreats at Weston, Priory, a Benedictine Monastery in Southern Vermont, we knew in our hearts that this was where we wanted to retire. Our friendship with the

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Renewing a Love for Earth in Challenging Times ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists, and pilgrims, This week’s love note is an excerpt from a written interview that Bearings, the journal of the Collegeville Institute, posted with me this week about my newest book Earth, Our Original Monastery. _____ In the book’s introduction you identify your vocation as contemplative. How do you engage with the existential dread and anxiety of climate change? Being a contemplative is the only thing that saves me from complete despair. Yet, even so, I still experience those feelings of dread and anxiety. There are beliefs which are the core of my contemplative practice: one, a deep

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Monk in the World: Conversion 2 ~ Scripture Reflection by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior

Dearest monks, artists and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle 7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations. Jeremiah 31:31-34 A New Covenant The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Susan Fish

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Susan Fish’s reflection on creative work as offering in the midst of trying times. I’ve never been to Paris but when I saw the cathedral on fire this week last year, I held my breath. I like knowing that iconic sites like the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame de Paris are there. It is enough for me that they stand in my mind as signs and symbols, pointing. When Notre Dame began to burn, I recognized that

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Easter Blessings from Abbey of the Arts ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

How to Be a Pilgrim – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, Lent is a powerful season of transformation. Forty days in the desert, stripped of our comforts, and buoyed by our commitment to daily practice so that we might arrive at the celebration of Easter deepened and renewed. In many ways this Lent was far more austere than any of us anticipated. Often, we arrive at the glorious season of resurrection and celebrate for that one day, forgetting it is a span of 50 days, even longer than the Lenten season through

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Monk in the World: Conversion 1 – A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. 7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations. “Translations vary, but in our modern day, conversatio morum suorum generally means conversion of manners, a continuing and unsparing assessment and reassessment of one’s self and what is most important

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Lita Quimson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from Wisdom Council member Lita Quimson entitled, “Kindred Spirits: A Divine Encounter.” My Name is Lita, and I am the founder of On the Third Day (OTTD) Renewal and Formation Center, an ecumenical ministry of spiritual formation and accompaniment in the Philippines. The first time I came across Christine’s book, “The Soul of a Pilgrim”, I instantly connected with her heart. I immediately went to the Abbey of the Arts website and got even more excited because I found in there everything I was

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Let art, poetry, and music hold you in the paradox of these times ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

In a Dark Time Do not rush to make meaning. When you smile and say what purpose this all serves, you deny grief a room inside you, you turn from thousands who cross into the Great Night alone, from mourners aching to press one last time against the warm flesh of their beloved, from the wailing that echoes in the empty room. When you proclaim who caused this, I say pause, rest in the dark silence first before you contort your words to fill the hollowed out cave, remember the soil will one day receive you back too. Sit where

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Monk in the World: Sabbath 6 – Questions for Reflection and Closing Blessing

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. Each week will offer new reflections on the theme and every six weeks will introduce a new principle. Principle 6: I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular practice of Sabbath and resist a culture of busyness that measures my worth by what I do. This week I invite you to ponder the following questions as guides for your Sabbath practice. What happens when you allow yourself to receive the full grace of Sabbath rest?

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