Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

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    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
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  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
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      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
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    • Walk the Ancient Paths: Pilgrimage
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      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
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      • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color
      • The Way of the Hermit:
        A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times
        with Kayleen Asbo, PhD
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
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Advent Christmas Epiphany, Patheos

Advent Practices: Following the Fire (Week Two)

This is the second reflection in a weely series I am writing for Patheos on practices for Advent to nurture our intimacy with creation:

Every being is praising God
The fire has its flame and praises God.
The wind blows the flame and praises God.
In the voice we hear the word which praises God.
And the word, when heard, praises God.
So all of creation is a song of praise to God. 

 -Hildegard of Bingen

In the first week of our Advent series we focused on the scriptural image of awakening and the gift of breath as our connection to creation.  This second week of Advent the scripture readings call us to prepare the way for our journey toward the Holy One.  We are invited to follow the fire in our hearts toward the passion which calls us to be fully alive.

In Cherokee tradition, the element of fire is connected to the midday sun and the season of summer.  Fire calls us to celebrate the fullness of life, those times when all of our needs are satisfied and we experience the fecundity of the earth.  One of my primary spiritual practices is taking a contemplative walk each day.  In the ancient contemplative tradition of lectio divina, I bring myself present to the world as my feet kiss the earth, and I listen for what is shimmering in creation.   Through my practice, I approach nature as an illuminated manuscript – and I believe the brilliance of sunlight dancing across water and leaves was the inspiration for those ancient monks to generously apply gold leaf to the pages of sacred text – and if I listen closely I can discover how the fire in the world is calling me to respond.

In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard writes: “the extravagant gesture is the very stuff of creation…The whole show has been on fire from the word go. . . everywhere I look I see fire; that which isn't flint is tinder, and the whole world sparks and flames.”  When St. Benedict had a mystical experience near the end of his life, he saw the whole world gathered into a single ray of light.  As Hildegard of Bingen describes in the opening quote, all of creation participates in one unending hymn of praise, and our own liturgy arises from this eternal song. 

Fire is a primal element and the image of light carries us through Advent.  We light candles each week to symbolize the growing flame within us as we approach the birth of Light.  The Spanish mystic John of the Cross described God as the “living flame of love” who burns within our hearts.  Fire urges us toward the One whose radiance is expressed through our own acts of love. 

There is a wildness to fire.  The path we are called to prepare for the coming of the Divine Light is not the path of our pre-planned expectations or paved with consumer frenzy.  Fire purifies and burns away excess.  On the road to birthing the sacred in our midst, we must leave behind what is not necessary.  The season of Advent demands that we surrender the excesses which keep us from following the way unfolding before us.  Creation is crying out for us to release our worship of consumption and return the fire of our hearts to a compassionate embrace of all living things.  We are called to kindle and spark our inner flames, and then unleash the passion which rises and allow it to move out into the world.  Teilhard de Chardin suggested that one day we will “harness for God energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world we will have discovered fire.”

Stop by Patheos to see the rest of this article (including suggested practices)>>

Follow these links to find the whole Advent series:

Week One – Tending Creation>>

Week Two — Following the Fire>>

Week Three — Water's Wisdom>>

Week Four — Considering Our Earthiness>>

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1 Comment December 1, 2010

Upcoming Programs

The Way of the Hermit:
A Spiritual Survival Guide for Dark Times

January 22-24, 2021
with Kayleen Asbo, PhD

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Recent Reflections

  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales One: Dia dhuit, is mise Hildy! by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior
  • Celebrate the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle podcast with us!

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