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Category: Abbess love notes

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Prayer Cycle Day 6 Morning and Evening Prayer ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to share Day 6 of our Birthing the Holy Prayer Cycle with you which honors Mary as Theotokos (God-Bearer/ morning prayer) and Mystical Rose (evening prayer). The video above is another one created by our filmmaking friends in Galway, Morgan Creative, to bring this beautiful song to life. We invite you to pause for a meditative moment. If you have any rose tea on hand (either rose hips or rose petals or both!) consider brewing a cup to inhale and sip slowly while contemplating the images.  The song itself is based on an old traditional German

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June 12, 2022

Prayer Cycle Day 5: Morning and Evening Prayer

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We continue to share the release of our 7-Day Prayer Cycle to honor Mary and the sacred feminine with Day 5 which focuses on Mother of Sorrows and Greenest Branch.  The first reading for Morning Prayer on Mary as Mother of Sorrows is from Clarissa Pinkola Estes: Even yet in the midst of all our bandages and broken spirit-bones, [Mary] calls us to stop mis-thinking that we stand alone in our challenges, when in fact, she ever stands with us. We ought ever flee to her side, ever hide under her shoulder, ever shelter under

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June 5, 2022

Prayer Cycle Day 3: Morning and Evening Prayer ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We continue this week with an excerpt from Day 3 of our new Birthing the Holy prayer cycle exploring Mary as Star of the Sea and Vessel of Grace. Below is an excerpt of the Prayers of Concern from Morning Prayer.  O Creator of the Cosmos, thank you that you have placed a Star in the sky who remains a constant presence, ready to guide us no matter how perilous our journey, if only we look up. Forgive us when we focus on the waves and the force of the wind. Help us know that Stella Maris is there

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May 22, 2022

Jewish Mysticism + Prayer Cycle Day 2 Morning and Evening Prayer ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are delighted to release the audio podcasts for Day 2 of the Birthing the Holy Prayer Cycle featuring the titles of Mary as Untier of Knots, and Mustafia. Mustafia is one of Mary’s Islamic names and means “She Who Is Chosen.” Here is the opening to evening prayer. Mary, Mustafia, chosen by God to birth the holy, help us to answer our unique calling in the world. May your love heal divisions with those we “other” and reject based on culture, skin color or belief. Guide us this evening to a path of peace, kindness, and compassion. This Saturday

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May 15, 2022

Prayer Cycle Day 1 Morning and Evening Prayer

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We are thrilled to release our third prayer cycle with the theme of Birthing the Holy! Inspired by my latest book Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal, this free resource honours 14 of the 33 names of Mary explored in the book. The text for all seven days of the prayer cycle is available now. We will release the companion audio podcasts for morning and evening prayer weekly for the next 7 weeks. The video podcasts will be available in winter 2023. We are also releasing a Birthing the Holy companion album which includes 16 songs for Mary, 14

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May 8, 2022

Embrace the Wisdom of the Sacred Feminine ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am back home in Ireland now after my six weeks away for surgery and recovery in Vienna. I am really grateful to be back with sweet Sourney and the quiet rhythms and comforts of home. My body still needs more healing time so I will keep going slowly in the weeks to come. I continue to be enormously grateful for your prayers.  This time away has been so many things. A welcome return to an ancestral city I love so much after two years of pandemic-restricted travel. A season of grieving the loss of

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May 1, 2022

Cause of Our Joy: She Who is the Source of Delight ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, On Monday, May 2nd we will be hosting a contemplative prayer service that will also serve as a launch of my new book, the companion album, and our wonderful new prayer cycle on Mary and the Wisdom of the Sacred Feminine.  In celebration of these resources being birthed into the world, I offer you an excerpt from my book Birthing the Holy on one of my favorite of Mary’s titles – Cause of Our Joy: When the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he tells her to “Rejoice!” When Mary and Elizabeth meet while they are both pregnant, John the Baptist leaps with rejoicing in

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April 24, 2022