Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Reflections

Category: Abbess love notes

Filter

Sacred Time (new book coming from Christine) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, I am really thrilled to announce that I have another book coming out on February 19th! Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life is being published by Ave Maria Press (see the end of this love note for a special discount code for those of you in the U.S.) and has been in the process of writing for some time now. Some of you may even have read early versions of it many years ago in a couple of online retreats about the seasons of the soul. The book begins with the moment of each

Read More

Blessed Feast of St. Brigid – Join us for the Spiral Way! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, I am really excited to be offering a brand new online retreat starting tomorrow through the Rowe Center in Massachusetts. The Spiral Way: Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination will be an exploration of Celtic stories and practices which help to cultivate and nourish our creative imaginations. The program will be delivered through four 90-minute live weekly sessions with me and will include meditation, teaching, writing exercises, song, and poetry. I am especially delighted to begin this journey on the Celtic feast of Imbolc which is also the feast of St. Brigid, one of the wondrous

Read More

Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists, On my first trip to Ireland in 2007 with my husband John, I read Thomas Cahill’s now-classic book How the Irish Saved Civilization, in which he describes the essential role of the Irish monks and their work on illuminating manuscripts during the Dark Ages. I was captivated especially by the idea that Ireland was outside the Roman Empire and a form of Christianity developed early on that was more indigenous and localized. Because Christianity was introduced into Ireland without violence, it also preserved older traditions and practices of the pagan culture and the Druids. Eventually, Irish

Read More

Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

The Way of the Hermit with Kayleen Asbo from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo. Dearest monks and artists, * * * * * Please see the note below about joining us today for our live prayer service (we love gathering together in real time). The video above is from Dr. Kayleen Asbo who is offering a retreat on The Way of the Hermit next weekend. * * * * * This year of pandemic, political instability, and continued climate crisis has shaken most of us. We feel unsteady, overwhelmed, perhaps struggling to find hope in the midst of continual difficult news,

Read More

New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 7 Evening Prayer from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo. Listen to the Audio Podcast Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 7 Evening Prayer Dearest monks and artists, We have lots of wonderful things in store for you this year! Lift Every Voice Book Club One of our new offerings will be a monthly book club called Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color. The Christian contemplative tradition is largely dominated by the European mystics. With the rise in awareness around the rich diversity of voices available to us, we wanted to explore what our understanding

Read More

Join us for A Midwinter God & Epiphany! ~ A Love Note from Our Online Abbess

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 7 Morning Prayer from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo. Day 7 Morning Prayer: Earth Monastery Pray Cycle Audio Podcast Day 7 Morning Prayer: Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle Dearest monks and artists, Happy New Year! We begin our Midwinter God online retreat tomorrow. I offer you this reflection on the spiritual practice of being uncomfortable which is at the heart of the journey of descent: Part of my daily contemplative practice these last several years has been yin yoga. In yin yoga, the poses are held for long periods of time (anywhere from 3-20 minutes).

Read More

Solstice and Christmas Blessings ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 6 Evening Prayer from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo. Day 6 Evening Prayer: Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle – Audio Podcast Day 6 Evening Prayer: Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle Please note that we are taking a 2-week break from our weekly love notes (including next Sunday) and we will return on January 3rd. Dearest monks and artists, It has certainly been a disorienting year for us all. So much grief and loss. So much change. So much uncertainty. It is challenging to make room for it all when we likely just want to hold onto

Read More