Dearest monks and artists, Beltane (which means bright fire) is another of the cross-quarter days, representing the mid-point between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice and it is often experienced at the height of spring. In Ireland it is considered to be the beginning of summer and the beginning of the light half of the year. We can feel the significant shift in light at this latitude and the days are becoming significantly longer. Temperatures are warmer. Flowering has come to its fullness. Birds are singing in full chorus. In Ireland the cuckoo birds start arriving from their winter

Dearest monks and artists, The fertility of spring speaks of an abundantly creative God who is at the source of the potent life force beating at the heart of the world.  Created in God’s image, we are called to participate in this generous creativity ourselves.  Our own blossoming leads us to share our gifts with the world. There is a playfulness and spontaneity to the season of spring, that invites us to join this joyful abandon.  We are called to both listen deeply to the blossoming within ourselves as well as to forget ourselves — setting aside all of our seriousness

Dearest monks and artists, It takes time to see.  Around us the world is exploding in a celebration of new life and we may miss much of it in our seriousness to get the important things of life done. Lynn Ungar has a wonderful poem  titled “Camas Lilies” in which she writes: “And you—what of your rushed and / useful life? Imagine setting it all down— / papers, plans, appointments, everything, / leaving only a note: “Gone to the fields / to be lovely. Be back when I’m through / with blooming.” You might begin this journey of reflection on blossoming

Dearest monks and artists, St. Colman lived in the 6th-7th centuries in County Galway in the west of Ireland. His parents were king and queen of that region, and while his mother was pregnant, his father heard a prophecy that his newborn son would one day surpass him in notoriety. In a jealous rage he had his servants throw his wife into the lake with a stone tied to her. But in a miracle, the stone floated like a cork, and so she was brought safely to shore. Once she gave birth, two priest pilgrims wandered by and she asked