Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During July we are sharing some reflections from the Abbey Archives (and in August we will be taking a break from our daily and weekly newsletters for a summer sabbatical): As a Benedictine oblate, I am committed to living as a monk in the world. For me, this means living contemplatively, savoring experience rather than rushing through it to the next thing, focusing on simplicity rather than consumption, and cultivating spaciousness rather than filling my days with endless activities. The natural world is my monk’s cell, the place where I go to receive wisdom and

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During July we are sharing some reflections from the Abbey Archives (and in August we will be taking a break from our daily and weekly newsletters for a summer sabbatical): “The summer night is like a perfection of thought.” —Wallace Stevens “What is summer’s sweetness / but an invitation to respond?” —Lynn Ungar John and I are blessed to have a lot of control over the rhythms of our year, and summer is a time when we step back from the intensity of work and allow more time for dreaming and incubation for the year

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During July we are sharing some reflections from the Abbey Archives (and in August we will be taking a break from our daily and weekly newsletters for a summer sabbatical): As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them means letting their spirits inspire us in our daily lives. They can become part of our spiritual communities and gently help us as we make decisions on our journeys.

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, During July we are sharing some reflections from the Abbey Archives (and in August we will be taking a break from our daily and weekly newsletters for a summer sabbatical): Modern life seems to move at full speed and many of us can hardly catch our breath between the demands of earning a living, nurturing family and friendships, and the hundreds of small daily details like paying our bills, cleaning, grocery shopping. More and more we feel stretched thin by commitments and lament our busyness, but without a clear sense of the alternative. There is

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, In the northern hemisphere we approach the celebration of the summer solstice, the longest day. The seasons are connected to the different cardinal directions, as well as the four elements. Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th century Benedictine Abbess, allied the direction of the south and the season of summer with the element of fire. We find a similar connection in the Native American Cherokee tradition. We might think of summer as the season of fire and stoking our passions. It is the season of coming to fullness connected to the Hour of noon and midday,

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, June 9th is the feast of St. Columcille, one of Ireland’s three patron saints, and the founder of the monastic community in Iona. Above is Marcy Hall’s wonderful dancing monk icon of him. On June 13th we begin a summer online journey through my book The Artist’s Rule called Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist.  Out of all my books, this one is still the best selling title, I think because it taps into this deep hunger for integrating contemplative practice with creative expression. When I started the Abbey 10 years ago I had