Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,
In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to the divine 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.
As in past years, we are 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 the Sunday, December 5th email and at the bottom of each Sunday following.)
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 6th!
- One space in the Virtual Celtic Pilgrimage: The Wisdom of the Irish Saints Brigid, Ciaran, & Gobnait
- Four people will win their choice of our self-study online retreats (with 18 to choose from!)
- One signed copy of Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
- One signed copy of The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems by Christine Valters Paintner
- One signed copy of Dreaming of Stones: Poems by Christine Valters Paintner
Please share your word with us in the comments on this post (and it would be wonderful if you included a sentence about what it means for you).
Share the love with others and invite them to participate. We will announce the prize winners on January 9th.
Please join us tomorrow for our Contemplative Prayer Service to celebrate Advent. And join me next Saturday for a retreat on The Spiral Way: Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE
PS – You can read three of my poems in the current issue of Impspired online: Corcomroe Abbey, I Stand at My Mother’s Grave, and I Dream of My Mother.
12 Responses
My word is surprise. Letting go of all expectations- own to surprise in all areas of my life.
From Lorene: Acceptance