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

Give Me a Word 2016: 7th Annual Abbey Giveaway

SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2016

In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered.

Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word –  this word or phrase would be something on which to ponder for many days, weeks, months, sometimes a whole lifetime. This practice is connected to lectio divina, where we approach the sacred texts with the same request – “give me a word” we ask – something to nourish me, challenge me, a word I can wrestle with and grow into.  The word which chooses us has the potential to transform us.

What is your word for the year ahead? A word which contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold in your life?

Share your word in the comments section below by January 6, 2016 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).

A FREE 12-DAY ONLINE MINI-RETREAT TO HELP YOUR WORD CHOOSE YOU. . .

As in past years, I am offering all Abbey newsletter subscribers a gift: a free 12-day online mini-retreat with a suggested practice for each day to help your word choose you and to deepen into your word once it has found you. Even if you participated last year, you are more than welcome to register again.

Subscribe to our email newsletter and you will receive a link to start your mini-retreat today. Your information will never be shared or sold. (If you are already subscribed to the newsletter, look for the link in today’s email).

WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ON JANUARY 6TH!

We are delighted to offer some wonderful gifts from the Abbey:

So please share your word (and it would be wonderful to include a sentence about what it means for you) with us below.

Subscribe to the Abbey newsletter to receive ongoing inspiration in your in-box. Share the love with others and invite them to participate.  Then stay tuned – on January 6th we will announce the prize winners!

If this is your first time commenting at the Abbey, or you are including a link, your comment will need to be approved before appearing, which usually takes less than 24 hours.

You might also enjoy

Monk in the World Guest Post: Deborah Foster

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Deborah Foster’s reflection and poem on the dark night experience. I have attempted to describe stages of my contemplative experience with the

Read More »

Monk in the World Guest Post: Elaine Breckenridge

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elaine Breckenridge’s reflection on connection with the wisdom of her body, nature, and the healing presence within. In 2015, I took my

Read More »

712 Responses

  1. My word for 2016 is THRESHOLD. Whether I am going out or coming in I am crossing a threshold. My goal is to be aware of the Divine as I cross these thresholds and allow my soul’d knowledge to guide me as to what these thresholds represent.

  2. My word is Mercy. I was set on a different word, but something was telling me I was forcing it. Then this morning at Mass, Mercy just jumped out at me and immediately it felt perfect in every sense. I know this is the year of Mercy, and was concerned that it may conjure up all kinds of images, but not so… It picked me,

  3. My word was quietly insistent. I resisted it as too cute, too cliche. My cynical side was hoping foe something powerful — warrior, maybe. Or evocative — journey? But my word stood gently before me, encouraging a year that is healing, that is soft. A word that relaxes, eases, heals, genlty explores.
    My word is heart.
    So I will follow “heart” wholeheartedly, in to the heart of the forest, with courage, with soul, to the core of myself.

  4. MAGNANIMITY, n. [L. magnus, great, and animus, mind.] Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects. (Noah Webster dictionary)

  5. My word is “Now.” In the past I have resisted this word. It seemed to be a rejection of past lessons and an avoidance of considering the future. Right now it is speaking to me. “Now” is the culmination of the past, right up to this moment, which if lived fully, will raise up the good and the bad from the past in deeper understanding of the present. Being fully present in “Now” will lead me onto the right path in the future.