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
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • 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
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
      • 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
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Peter Nagle

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Peter Nagle's reflection on retiring to the edge.

My life partner Joy and I are from New Hampshire and Ct. We’ve been married 20 years coming up and worked together in our former business: A Private Financial Advisory Firm. It was a 38 year career for me. I always considered what I did a ministry. But both of us longed to find a quieter, more simple life. That opportunity presented itself 3 years ago when, out of nowhere, a larger company offered to buy us out. We took the offer and retired.

Finally we had our chance to live the quiet faithful lives we yearned for, and to live them on the edge.

Though we lived and worked in CT, we had had a home in Hawaii for the winters as well for 6 years. Hawaii (Oahu in our case) is an incredibly beautiful place. Warm, lush, green – I described it as a womb-like place. But we knew we couldn’t retire there. I know this sounds incredible but it’s just too beautiful, too separated from the rest of the world, and as such unchallenging. We needed to be someplace on the edge. Someplace spiritual that would challenge us to become who we were meant to be.

We found that place in Northern New Mexico. I was trained there to be a Spiritual Companion and also attended the Living School there. So we had occasion to come here often. It’s mountains and desert here. Starkly beautiful, with a huge horizon, and not a little danger. If you go out into the desert unprepared, you’re unlikely to come back. The desert is not forgiving. Scripture stories of Jesus going into the desert to pray bring to mind how purifying the desert is. It is definitely living on the edge here, and we love it.

We live like monks really, I’ve said that for years. The atmosphere in our home is soft, quiet, with beautiful sacred music. People always comment how calm and soothing it is in our home.

Joy is a certified yoga instructor and that is a big part of her belief system and life. She teaches Yoga weekly at Dancing in the Desert in El Rito and continues to study her craft very deeply. I am a Spiritual Companion and it is very meaningful to me, to help people sort out their spiritual lives. I have a private practice, and also do spiritual companionship for Richard Rohr’s Living School, as well as for Ghost Ranch.

Together we care for pilgrims that come our way, Joy with her yoga and healthy nutrition, and me with spiritual guidance, and of course, the land. We have a retreat house that is quiet, secluded, and with wonderful views and lovely hikes of all kinds. Our house faces the West and we witness the amazing sunsets nightly. Silence is a close companion here. The kind of silence that allows you to explore your inner depths to discover who you are and what God created you to be.

We also travel the West to witness its incredible beauty and people.

I want to say one other thing. In addition to the desert being on the edge, the people and life here are very much “on the ground”. People live close to the land here, the earth. Many people are poor and have little in the way of material possessions. It’s quite a contrast to Fairfield County CT where we lived for so long. But it feels so much more real here. People are real. They are kind and love to talk story.

We still keep an open mind for our place of resurrection. This may be it, who knows? We are listening for the call and are definitely hearing it now. In the meantime we continue our search, along the edge, with faith and love.


Peter Nagle’s life has been guided by deep faith and spirituality, and he loves to help people with their own spiritual path. Peter is certified as a Spiritual Companion and lives in Ojo Caliente NM with his wife Joy, a yoga instructor. He is a retired financial advisor. He holds a Masters in Religion from Yale Divinity School where he graduated cum laude in 1996. Peter is a Spiritual Companion for Richard Rohr’s Living School Students, and he graduated from that program in 2016. Peter is currently focusing on building his Spiritual Companion practice (also known as Spiritual Direction). He and his wife, Joy, have four daughters and four grandchildren. Visit him online at Soulwork.Faith

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Print
«
»

Leave a Comment January 9, 2019

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

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • 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

Connect with the Abbey

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
JOIN THE HOLY DISORDER OF DANCING MONKS
SIGN UP FOR UPDATES
DONATE TO SUPPORT OUR MINISTRY

Copyright © 2021 BY ABBEY OF THE ARTS · WEBSITE PRIVACY NOTICE

Copyright © 2021 · Flourish Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in