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

Reflections

Category: Abbess love notes

Filter

Embrace your inner sovereign ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics will be released very soon! I am very excited to share this work exploring twelve monks and mystics and the archetypes they embody and invite us to live more fully into. This week I share another excerpt from the book, this time on the archetype of the sovereign from the chapter on King David: There is a story about Sir Gawain and Lady Ragnell which expresses the heart of sovereignty well. Sir Gawain must decide whether he wants Lady Ragnell to remain beautiful by day

Read More

Illuminating the Way will be here soon! ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am so excited that my ninth book will be out by the end of this month, Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics (you can pre-order at the link). Here is an excerpt from the introduction: My husband John and I pray lectio divina most mornings together. We also pray what is known as lectio continua, or the ancient practice of choosing a book of the scriptures and then praying through a couple of verses each day until we reach the end. It is a version of monastic stability, of staying

Read More

Be nourished by the wisdom of Celtic monasticism – join us! ~ A love note from your online abbess

Yahweh says this: Put yourselves on the ways of long ago Enquire about ancient paths: Which was the good way? Take it then, and you shall find rest. -Jeremiah 6:16 Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The overall theme for our upcoming Soul’s Slow Ripening online retreat is one that has been emerging in me for several years. I love the image of ripening as an organic and slow process. Discernment calls us to tend to those moments of ripeness, and when we want to pluck the fruit before it is ready, and so hasn’t developed its full sweetness. The ancient

Read More

Easter Blessings! ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, We have arrived at the celebration of Easter and resurrection. What Holy Week teaches me is that surrender leads to the fullness of life, yielding our own agendas brings us to new possibilities we couldn’t have dreamed of for ourselves. The story of St. Kevin and the Blackbird is perhaps one of my favorites of all the Celtic saints. He was a 6th century monk and Abbott, and was soul friend to many, including Ciaran of Clomacnoise. After he was ordained, he retreated to a place of solitude, most likely near the Upper Lake at

Read More

Honoring the Equinox + Embrace Mystery ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, The spring equinox has arrived (either last night or this morning depending on where you are in the world). I offer an excerpt from my reflection for Sacred Seasons, which is our yearlong self-study retreat which invites you through the 8 Celtic thresholds of seasonal wisdom. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. —Isaiah 35:1-2 I believe deeply that the seasons have a great deal of spiritual wisdom to offer us if we make

Read More

Celebrate the Feast of St Patrick ~ A love note from your online abbess

Holy Mountain I want to climb the holy mountain ascend over weight of stone and force of gravity, follow the rise of a wide and cracked earth toward eternal sky, measured steps across the sharp path, rest often to catch my heavy breath. I want to hear the silence of stone and stars, lie back on granite’s steep rise face to silver sky’s glittering points where I can taste the galaxies on my tongue, communion of fire, then stand on the summit and look out at the laboring world. I want to witness earth’s slow turning with early light brushing

Read More

Embrace Attention and Presence for Lent ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I continue my Lenten series at Patheos this week on A Different Kind of Fast. This week I explore fasting from multitasking and embracing attention to a single thing at a time. It can be so tempting to think, that in our busy lives multitasking will somehow make us more efficient and productive. We bemoan not having more hours in the day, but the hours we do have our attention is scattered, always trying to keep up. We spread our gaze between so many demands that we may get many things done, but none of it is

Read More