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Category: Abbess love notes

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Summer Sabbatical and Self-Study Sale

Blessing for Sabbath*Sanctifier of holy rest,on the seventh day you paused,laying down the work of creationand entered into sacred stillness.Let us remember we were freed from slaveryin Egypt and you continue to call us to be people of liberation.Kindle in us the strength to say noto a world of perpetual busyness.Inspire us to set aside our plansand goals to receive the lavish giftof rest for ourselves,to rediscover the Paradise within.Let the Sabbath be a time of profound renewal,a gushing forth of the holy well,a time of intimate connection with You,and a rekindling of our sacred desires to be of service.Sustain

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Summer Solstice Blessing

Summer Solstice Blessing*Radiant One,creator of the cosmosand the luminaries which light our way,bless this day of longest lightand the gift of the sunto bring warmth to our livesand abundance of growth,sweetness of blueberries,refreshment of lemons,nourishment of kaleand a thousand other kinds of food.We sing in gratitudealong with the sparrows and robinsrising each morningto celebrate another day.Help us rememberthe universe came into being14 billion years ago,with ancient skies unfurling,stars spilling across the heavens,and manifesting in every living thing.Light is our inheritance,calling us to be bearers of radiance,bringing new lifefrom the fertile darkness.*written by Christine Valters Paintner from a future book of

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 7 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Today we release the final day of the Soul of a Pilgrim video podcasts on the theme of Coming Home. We hope you enjoy these resources which we offer as a free gift to this wondrous community. If you are able to offer financial support so we can continue creating these resources, please click here. We are enormously grateful for all of your support in so many ways.  I am pondering this pilgrimage theme of coming home in light of our featured book for the Lift Every Voice book club this month, Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 6 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing for Beginning Again*Spirit of the fresh morning air,allow us to see all the places where newness is being born into the world,the bud of a flower just breaking open its petals,the turning of the sea’s tides,a gaze into the eyes of another and seeing their beauty,the river stone being rubbed smooth. Help us to remember that we are always being called to begin again, like the Prodigal One returning hometo a loving parent’s embrace, hold our shame or heartacheat wandering so far from you, reveal to us the feast you prepare where tables are piled high with the sweetest

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 4 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing Each Step*Journeying One,you help us to navigate the path, placing one foot in front of the other, even when the way ahead is not visible. We set aside our desire for maps, GPS, and guidebooksand surrender to an inner knowing and directionsparked by the deepest longings of our hearts. We know the desire for new life we feel has been kindled by you.May we surrender our need to steer the courseand let every step we take carry us into greater intimacy with you.Help us to see others as fellow pilgrims on the waywith their own fears and struggles.Compel us

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Queering Contemplation + Soul of a Pilgrim Video Podcast Day 3 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, Blessings on this Feast of Pentecost! To read a reflection on Pentecost and holy surprise from our archives, please click here.  Today we release the Day 3 video podcasts for our Soul of a Pilgrim prayer cycle. The themes for morning and evening prayer are The Practice of Crossing the Threshold.  On Friday we are hosting Cassidy Hall who will lead a program for us called Queering Contemplation. We invited her to explain what she means by “queering” and how everyone is invited to join us:   Read the reflection below or listen to Cassidy in an audio version. Hello dear artists, monks, poets, theologians, wanderers,

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Soul of a Pilgrim Video Podcast Day 2

Blessing for Packing Lightly*Winnowing God, you ask us to release, let go, surrender, and yield all that we canin service of making space for what is most essential. The more we set aside that which burdens us and takes up too much spacethe more room opens within us for wonder and gratitude to flourish,the more we find the freedom to see the world as enchanted. Sustain us on the path of simplifying our livesand traveling on this Earth more lightlyso that we no longer live beyond what can be sustained.As we continue on the pilgrim’s path, unencumbered by so many

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