Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • 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
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • 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
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • 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)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • 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
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Marlene Kropf

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Marlene Kropf's reflection on practices of solitude, shared prayer, and contemplative walking.

Monasteries are favored retreat spaces for my husband and me.  When we travel, we seek out monastic communities along the way and sometimes book a couple of retreat nights in the midst of our itinerary.  Whether in the United States, Canada, Scotland, England, or Ireland, we’ve enjoyed warm hospitality and peaceful, beautiful settings in many communities of prayer.  Usually we spend our days in solitude – praying, journaling, resting, eating mindfully, and walking in the monastic gardens, nearby forests, or along rivers or shorelines.  At the end of the day we share an hour of reflective conversation, discerning together how we’ve been moved by the Spirit.

Because of the ways we are nourished by solitude and communal prayer, we look for ways to incorporate monastic rhythms into our everyday life.  One way we do this is by sharing morning prayer together, using a variety of Daily Office guides from contemplative communities.  We pause after breakfast to sing a chant, listen to sacred texts, and offer our prayers of thanksgiving and intercession as the day begins.

Recently we’ve engaged in a new practice:  contemplative walking in a nearby nature reserve.  With 150 acres of Northwest woodlands and gardens, Bloedel Reserve, located on Bainbridge Island (WA), offers a welcoming environment for prayer and contemplation.  With an annual membership, we are able to visit regularly – many times with guests but often by ourselves.  When it’s just the two of us, we take advantage of the opportunity to engage in a contemplative walking retreat.  For us, that means strolling through the gardens in silence, opening ourselves to sights and sounds unfolding along the way:  ducks and geese floating peacefully on a pond, the unfurling of ferns in springtime, a profusion of colorful blossoms along the trail, reflections of passing clouds in a reflecting pool, sunlight dancing on textured moss and tree bark, birdsong drifting above us, and a panoramic view of the waters of Puget Sound. Each season brings new delights.

Beyond absorbing the beauty and wonder of this special place, we listen deep within for the Spirit’s voice of comfort, guidance, and challenge.  At the end of our walk, we pause to talk with each other about what we’ve seen and heard.  We return home with hearts and bodies refreshed.

Though we can’t always get away to a monastery, the practices of solitude, shared prayer, and contemplative walking can enliven ordinary life with the same kind of awareness we experience when visiting a monastic community.


Marlene Kropf, who lives in Port Townsend, Washington, is a spiritual director, retired seminary professor, and ordained Mennonite minister.  For the past twenty years she has regularly led Celtic Pilgrimages to sacred sites in Scotland, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Wales.  She and her husband Stanley enjoy contemplative walking.

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Leave a Comment August 15, 2018

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

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

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • 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

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