Your Online Monastery for Your Spiritual Practice

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 from the community. Read on for Jodi Blazek Gehr’s reflection on her word for the year. Choosing a word to focus on each year has become a nourishing, soulful ritual. I love participating in an ancient practice of contemplation recommended by Christine Valters Painter: “This tradition (for desert mothers and fathers) of asking for a word was a way of seeking something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime…A word was meant to be wrestled with and slowly grown

August 14, 2024

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Calling on the Sacred Feminine ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, This coming Thursday is the Feast of the Assumption which is a day set aside to honor the archetype of Mary as Queen. She has been given the titles of Queen of Heaven, of Angels, and of Saints and her sovereignty is a gift and inspiration to us all. I will be leading a mini-retreat with singer and retreat leader Nóirín Ní Riain on calling on the sacred feminine in times of unravelling. We will explore Mary as Mother of the Keen, an Irish tradition of imagining Mary as the one who gifted the Irish people with that

August 11, 2024

Dancing Monks Icon Series

Dancing Monk Feast Day: St Clare of Assisi

Sunday August 11th is the feast of St Clare of Assisi (1194-1253). We are pleased to offer a reflection, creative prompt, and prayer to guide your celebration of this remarkable saint. We become what we love and who we love shapes what we become. Clare was born and raised in Assisi, where she lived her entire life. She was the oldest daughter of a local nobleman but gave up her wealth and position to follow a life dedicated to prayer and service. While Clare is often known as a friend of Saint Francis, she was a spiritual force all her

August 9, 2024

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sarah Pickering

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sarah Pickering’s reflection Creating a way through. Creating, a way through.(because punctuation matters). Spring is happening all around me, the trees are exploding with the limiest of greens and I want to move with the season, I would love to bloom into spring, but I live in winter. I was born on the winter solstice and on the first full day of my life there was a snow storm that brought London to a standstill. I understand

August 7, 2024

Abbess love notes

2024-2025 Programs ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We hope you have had a restful summer. We always cherish this time of quiet reflection and dreaming into the new academic year of programs. I have savored having some time to simply be and deepen into the sacred rhythms of life. Some of my time this summer has been spent working on a book about seven medieval women mystics. It is a tremendous gift to have some expanses of time to savor their visions and listen for their wisdom to us. Out of this wellspring of rest, flows forth our calendar for the coming months

August 4, 2024

Abbess love notes

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Dearest monks and artists, Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order. The spirituality of Ignatius has played a huge role in my own unfolding. When I started undergraduate studies at Fordham University in philosophy I was at best agnostic (and the daughter of two agnostics raised in a completely non-religious household). My required course in Liberation Theology amazed me that I had not heard of this deep commitment to justice in the Catholic Church before. My service work in the South Bronx with at-risk youth and also in environmental restoration led me

July 31, 2024

Abbess love notes

Summer Sabbatical and Self-Study Sale

Blessing for Sabbath*Sanctifier of holy rest,on the seventh day you paused,laying down the work of creationand entered into sacred stillness.Let us remember we were freed from slaveryin Egypt and you continue to call us to be people of liberation.Kindle in us the strength to say noto a world of perpetual busyness.Inspire us to set aside our plansand goals to receive the lavish giftof rest for ourselves,to rediscover the Paradise within.Let the Sabbath be a time of profound renewal,a gushing forth of the holy well,a time of intimate connection with You,and a rekindling of our sacred desires to be of service.Sustain

June 23, 2024

Abbess love notes

Summer Solstice Blessing

Summer Solstice Blessing*Radiant One,creator of the cosmosand the luminaries which light our way,bless this day of longest lightand the gift of the sunto bring warmth to our livesand abundance of growth,sweetness of blueberries,refreshment of lemons,nourishment of kaleand a thousand other kinds of food.We sing in gratitudealong with the sparrows and robinsrising each morningto celebrate another day.Help us rememberthe universe came into being14 billion years ago,with ancient skies unfurling,stars spilling across the heavens,and manifesting in every living thing.Light is our inheritance,calling us to be bearers of radiance,bringing new lifefrom the fertile darkness.*written by Christine Valters Paintner from a future book of

June 20, 2024

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Clymer Landis

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sharon Clymer Landis’s reflection on the wisdom and love of a foster dog. I’m fostering a dog named Ladybug. She was caught on a property after her owners abandoned her. The county condemned and burned the house on the property since it was a health hazard. She lived on the land there with another dog, also abandoned, and scavenging for food. As a result, Ladybug was severely under-socialized around humans. I wrote this on day 39 of

June 19, 2024

Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 7 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Today we release the final day of the Soul of a Pilgrim video podcasts on the theme of Coming Home. We hope you enjoy these resources which we offer as a free gift to this wondrous community. If you are able to offer financial support so we can continue creating these resources, please click here. We are enormously grateful for all of your support in so many ways. I am pondering this pilgrimage theme of coming home in light of our featured book for the Lift Every Voice book club this month, Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and

June 16, 2024

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jodi Blazek Gehr

Calling on the Sacred Feminine ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dancing Monk Feast Day: St Clare of Assisi

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sarah Pickering

2024-2025 Programs ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Summer Sabbatical and Self-Study Sale

Summer Solstice Blessing

Monk in the World Guest Post: Sharon Clymer Landis

Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 7 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

Monk in the World Guest Post: Maureen Callahan Smith

Holiness of Work ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Monk in the World Guest Post: Judith Jessop

Imbolc and Brigid Blessing ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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