Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Say Yes (4)

In the center of ourselves
you place the power 
of choosing.
Forgive us the times
we have given that power away,
when we have sold 
our birthright
for that which
does not
satisfy.
And so
in your wisdom
may our yes
be truly yes
and our no
be truly no,
that we may
touch with dignity
and love with integrity
and know the freedom
of our own choosing
all our days.

-Jan Richardson, from Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

** For the season of Advent I am posting a reflection each Sunday on a theme from the lectionary readings and then during the week offering a poem each day to highlight that theme — see this past Sunday here **

You might also enjoy

A Christmas Blessing ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Christmas Blessing This blessing dances at the doorwayof light and dark, knows both as sacred:fertile womb space, miracle of blooming.This blessing breathesthrough those moments of laborwhen you too birth the holyinto this fragile, luminous, hurting worldas Mary did two thousand years ago,eyes wide, hands

Read More »

Monk in the World Guest Post: Tina Thompson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tina Thompson’s reflection on the path to Roman Catholic Women Priesthood. Have you heard of the international movement, Roman Catholic Women Priests

Read More »