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Reflections

Category: Abbess love notes

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A Song Among the Stones ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

a day out of clean silkwashed like a child that’s lived for daysin fever, the light pure and perfectand nothing troubled left in all the worlda day to love a neighbourto see in the young field’s promiseGod rippling and strong, unquestionablefour men gathered from the islandwent down to the shoreready for the vessel, eyes full and wideand the moon rose over the rim of the earthand fell like fish upon the seatheir moon road north ~ Kenneth Steven, excerpt from A Song Among the Stones Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Tomorrow we are excited to welcome Simon de Voil and

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January 18, 2026

New Podcasts and an Article from Christine Valters Paintner

Christine was recently interviewed about Give Me a Word and Breath Prayer. She also has an article about Mechthild of Magdeburg in U.S. Catholic. Mechthild of Magdeburg: Poet of Divine Love ~ Article in U.S. Catholic Image: Peter Paul Metz, Mechthild of Magdeburg, 1896, St. Gordian und Epimachus church, Leutkirch im Allgäu, Germany, Photo by Andreas Praefcke/CC-BY-SA-3.0 Liturgical Rebels Podcast: Conversation about Give Me a Word Artists for Joy Podcast: Conversation about Give Me a Word Artists for Joy Podcast: Conversation about Breath Prayer

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January 15, 2026

Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

For Glimpses of Heaven Here and Now*Sacred Source of Joy,help us to see glimpsesof heaven all around us,in the urgency of each spring’s blooming,in the simple gifts of waterto bathe in and drink,in our morning tea or coffee,with steam rising like this prayer,in the dog’s pleading eyesor the warm embrace of a friend,in the food that nourishes usand the herbs given freely for healing.May we behold wonder in the waysunlight illumines and moonlight glows.May we treasure moments of laughter andsee paradise shimmering forthwherever we look.Help us savor momentsof ease and hope in whatever forms they take.Strengthen and nourish usto share

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January 11, 2026

A Blessing for Creativity ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Blessing for Creativity*Spirit of Holy Imagination,we ask you to bless our visionwith the wisdom to see what is possible.Help us trust our desire to createthrough color, word, shape, gesture, and song.When our fingers trembleat picking up a pen or marker,connect us to the joy of playingon the white page,drawing, doodling, dabbling, dreaming,letting our livesbe a canvas for expression.When judgments ariseand the inner critic yells,guide us to hear our intuitionswhispering the way aheadwith quiet confidence.When our feet feel restless,inspire us to play musicand dance freelyuntil peace descends again.Connect us to the freedomof making somethingfor the love of it.Speak to us

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January 4, 2026

A Christmas Blessing ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Christmas Blessing This blessing dances at the doorwayof light and dark, knows both as sacred:fertile womb space, miracle of blooming.This blessing breathesthrough those moments of laborwhen you too birth the holyinto this fragile, luminous, hurting worldas Mary did two thousand years ago,eyes wide, hands gripping,waters breaking like crashing wavesof the primordial seasending a prayer through timethat echoes still,pulsing like starlightin an enormous sky.This blessing rests a handon the back of the lonely disoriented lost hungry despairing persecutedto say your humanity is not an obstaclebut a threshold, to remind youthat the wound is a portalthrough which your gifts pour forth,that

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December 21, 2025

Winter Solstice: An Invitation to Deep Rest ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, This Friday, December 19th we are delighted to offer the Deep Rest Winter Solstice mini-retreat to help you slow down and savor the gifts of this time of year as we wait for the tipping point of darkness to light in the northern hemisphere and from light to darkness in the southern.  I love the quiet invitation of this time of year to descend into stillness. There is a primordial invitation to listen in the heart of the fertile darkness. Imagine the ancient Celtic people – over 5,000 years ago – constructing the many stone monuments that

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December 14, 2025

The Wisdom of Mary ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, During Advent we consider Mary in a special way, especially her role as the one who birthed Jesus into the world. This image of birthing the holy has long been close to my heart.  Our featured self-study retreat for December is the companion retreat to my book Birthing the Holy in which I explore 31 archetypes and images of Mary. Simon, Jamie, and I will also be leading a contemplative prayer service tomorrow on the theme of Mary as Mirror of Justice.  Here is an excerpt from the book: Mary appears throughout the Gospels, most notably at the beginning

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December 7, 2025