Dear 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.
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, 2024 and you are automatically entered for the prize drawing (prizes listed below).
WIN A PRIZE – RANDOM DRAWING GIVEAWAY ENTER BY JANUARY 6th!
- One space in our Love of Thousands online companion retreat to the book
- One space in our online Lent retreat on A Different Kind of Fast
- Two people win a space each in their choice of self-study retreats
- Three people will win a digital album of their choice.
- Three people win one of our Dancing Monk Medallions
Please share your word with us in the comments below (and it would be wonderful if you included a sentence about what it means for you)
Winners will be announced on Sunday, January 12th.
If you would love a retreat experience to support you in listening for your word, letting your word ripen, and carrying your word into the year ahead, please join us for our Give Me a Word Advent and Christmas season retreat which begins today! I am joined by many wonderful guest teachers and there is a suggested practice for each day from now until Epiphany!
Join us tomorrow for our Contemplative Prayer Service where I will be joined by Simon de Voil and Polly Paton-Brown to reflect on the gifts of Mary for our journey.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE
P.S. We are delighted to announce the release of Birthing the Holy: Dancing with Mary and the Sacred Feminine! This digital collection of 12 dances and companion teaching videos by Betsey Beckman and guest artists offers another beautiful resource for engaging with the gifts of Mary.
Image paid license with Canva
233 Responses
My word for the year ahead is..Becoming. I have lived most of my life pushing to arrive somewhere, out there in the world. It is only recently that I have truly felt it is an internal journey that is important. My life is an eternal becoming, and from that place of awareness I can better serve others in their becoming also. No stress, no angst, no rush…. just joy and wonder in the process of becoming.
My word is wisdom, claiming it, seeking it, sharing it, recognizing it in others, hearing and internalizing, grateful for it, revering it.
My word for the coming year is Trust
My word is ‘hollow’…. Fool’s Crow spoke of being a hollow bone in order for the Great Spirit to work through him. All of the labels, names and roles that defined him dropped away in order to be fully open to holy presence.
My word for 2024 is Fully. I intend to live life more prayerfully, playfully, gratefully, joyfully, mindfully, and soulfully. I love this quote from The Love of Thousands by CVP, “Prayer is a beautiful way to bring our love more fully into the world by honoring the struggles of others and standing with them in solidarity.” To live fully is to be present in mind, body, and spirit–this is my intention for the new year to use breath and movement to ground myself fully into the present moment. I will surely write more about this–the word just came to me in the past several days in preparing for a retreat I led called The Power of Stories. My word last year was WONDER. It carried me through the year with great joy and in some suffering as well. I write about the WONDER here– https://beingbenedictine.com/2023/01/10/2023-word-of-the-year-wonder/
THANK YOU for all you do, Christine!! LOVED your latest book….well, all of them. :) Jodi
My word is “consent”
All of life in God and others is with and through consent…life, intimacy, and death.
My word to submit for consideration is “wonder” for this next year. This is the first time I have contributed to this and today upon reading the Sunday email from the Abbey I felt compelled to send in this beautiful word “Wonder.”
The word that chose me is “bittersweet.” I have a tendency to life in dualistic terms—good or bad. However, I believe that life is calling me to a place where I embrace life with all its complexities. Life is bittersweet—not just bitter, not just sweet. This is similar to Julian of Norwich’s “woe and well.”
Jesus is real. And because that’s true and I know Him, it affects my whole life, I will be meditating on unshakeable faith and peace because of that truth.
Journey💚🌲