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Category: Abbess love notes

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2024-2025 Programs ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We hope you have had a restful summer. We always cherish this time of quiet reflection and dreaming into the new academic year of programs. I have savored having some time to simply be and deepen into the sacred rhythms of life.  Some of my time this summer has been spent working on a book about seven medieval women mystics. It is a tremendous gift to have some expanses of time to savor their visions and listen for their wisdom to us.  Out of this wellspring of rest, flows forth our calendar for the coming months

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August 4, 2024

Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Dearest monks and artists, Today is the feast day of St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order.  The spirituality of Ignatius has played a huge role in my own unfolding. When I started undergraduate studies at Fordham University in philosophy I was at best agnostic (and the daughter of two agnostics raised in a completely non-religious household). My required course in Liberation Theology amazed me that I had not heard of this deep commitment to justice in the Catholic Church before. My service work in the South Bronx with at-risk youth and also in environmental restoration led me

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July 31, 2024

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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June 23, 2024

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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June 20, 2024

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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June 16, 2024

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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June 9, 2024

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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May 26, 2024

Upcoming Programs

To Be is a Blessing: An Online Retreat for Advent
To Be is a Blessing: An Online Retreat for Advent
1 Dec 24
Contemplative Prayer Service: Community
Contemplative Prayer Service: Community
9 Dec 24
Centering Prayer
Centering Prayer
18 Dec 24

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