Your Online Monastery for Your Spiritual Practice

Featured Poet: Susan Miller

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Susan Miller, whose work is inspired by the sacred in relationship. Read her poetry and discover more about the connections she makes between poetry and the sacred. Et In Arcadia Ego For Anya Krugovoy Silver Yesterday a new Tom Waits song was released, and I thought of you. In a different world we would have met up this October, our heads together over a cafe table, and we could have sung it like schoolgirls singing the

September 25, 2019

Monk in the World: Hospitality 3 – Reflection by Christine + AUDIO ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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 Two: I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others. St. Benedict in chapter 53 of his Rule writes: All guests

September 21, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Celeste Boudreaux

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Celeste Boudreaux’s reflection “Healing Art.” For Celeste I see you, though you try to hide Blending into the wall Daughter of a defective mother (Whose empty eyes betray her lipstick toothed smile) You lurk in the corner, timid and sad and skinny Child of a deceptive poverty Cinderella’s colorless little sister Dwelling in the big house, eating ashes Bearing in silence your public shame and private anguish Called to be the strong one, the good one Who

September 18, 2019

Monk in the World: Hospitality 2 – Scriptural Reflection by John – A Note from 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 Two: I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others. Genesis 18:1-15 A Son Promised to Abraham and Sarah The LORD

September 14, 2019

Poetry News from Christine

Christine Valters Paintner’s poem “St. Gall and the Bear” has been published in the most recent issue of Crossways which can be read online at this link. This artwork to the right is by the wonderful UK artist David Hollington who we are commissioning to put several of Christine’s poems in a series about saints and animals into visual form. This painting accompanies the published poem above. Christine has also officially signed a contract with Paraclete Press for her next poetry collection titled The Wisdom of Wild Grace and it includes a section of about 35 of these saint and

September 14, 2019

Featured Poet: Bonnie Thurston

Last spring we launched a series with poets whose work we love and want to feature and will continue it moving forward. Our next poet is Bonnie Thurston, whose work facilitates “seeing through” the particular to universals Read her poetry and discover more about the connections she makes between poetry and the sacred. Compassion in a Cold Climate After mild December, sudden cold scalpeled in sharply, dropped snow, a bandage covering wounds. We are all wounded, rent asunder by our intransigent opinions, by our palavering politicians interested in positions of power but not good, ordinary folk who keep the engine of state

September 11, 2019

The Soul’s Slow Ripening DVD now available!

In Fall 2018 Christine Valters Paintner released her book The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred which has been really well received as a wonderful resource to break open Celtic spirituality for the contemporary seeker. We followed that book up with our second album, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Songs for Celtic Seekers (available from CDBaby as a digital download or CD), which includes twelve songs from wonderful musician friends to deepen your experience of Celtic tradition and prayer. We are delighted to announce we now have our DVD available, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: Dancing the Sacred

September 9, 2019

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

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 Two: I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others. “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ,

September 8, 2019

Notes from the Jubilee: Ancestral Pilgrimage to Latvia

During this sabbatical year I have several ancestral pilgrimages planned and we are traveling back now from the first one to Latvia. A few months ago I asked Olga Tomchin of Genealogy Yenta to help me with some research and she found an article online about an oak tree that was planted in 2017 for my great grandfather. It turns out that he was the first Chief Justice of the Latvian Supreme Court when the independent state was formed after World War I and for their centenary celebration they decided to honor his memory in this way. My father was born

September 5, 2019

Monk in the World Guest Post: Cathy Warner

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Cathy Warner’s reflection “Two and a Half Horsepower Zen.” A few months ago I ran an extension cord across the backyard, plugged in my mini-wood chipper, dragged downed limbs and small dead trees into a pile, stood in a sunny spot, and fed branches one at a time into the hopper where a whirling blade chipped, shaved, bit, and spit the cedar, rhododendron, and maple into a heap of garden muesli. Often when gardening or cleaning house,

September 4, 2019

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Featured Poet: Susan Miller

Monk in the World: Hospitality 3 – Reflection by Christine + AUDIO ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Monk in the World Guest Post: Celeste Boudreaux

Monk in the World: Hospitality 2 – Scriptural Reflection by John – A Note from Your Online Prior

Poetry News from Christine

Featured Poet: Bonnie Thurston

The Soul’s Slow Ripening DVD now available!

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

Notes from the Jubilee: Ancestral Pilgrimage to Latvia

Monk in the World Guest Post: Cathy Warner

Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

A Blessing for Creativity + Sabbatical Announcement

Monk in the World Guest Post: Teresa Calpino

Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Marie Cribbin

Brother Lawrence and the Practice of the Presence + Prayer Cycle Day 6 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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