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

Login Here

Reflections

Category: Angels, Saints, and Ancestors

Filter

The Love of Thousands ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, My book, The Love of Thousands, came out two years ago because of my deep belief in the presence, support, and witness of the angels, saints, and ancestors.  At its foundation, it is a journey of opening our hearts to the love of all those sacred beings who dwell in spiritual form across the veil. Our western minds may tell us that what we see is all there is, but the religious and mystical imagination knows a deeper truth. Various religious traditions have taught about the existence of angels, saints, and ancestors for millennia. The

Read More
November 9, 2025

Christine Interviewed on the Podcast Find Your Center, Find Your Feet

Christine was interviewed on the podcast Find Your Center, Find Your Feet: Going Deeper in the Spiritual Life produced by the Moravian Seminary. She had a lovely conversation with hosts Pam Rotelle Robertson & Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, Director of the Spiritual Direction Training Program at Moravian Seminary about writing, expressive arts, ancestors, and her new fairy tale Journey to Joy. Listen here.

Read More
May 19, 2025

Gratitude Blessing + The Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle Day 7~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Gratitude Blessing*Spirit of Generosity,we come to you with hearts overflowing with gratitudefor your abundant creation.As we awaken each morning, help us to remember this day is a gift,this breath is grace,this life a wonder. Remind us with every flower we see,every act of kindness,every moment of connection to something so much biggerthan ourselves,to whisper thank you. Cultivate in us a sense of aweand trust in your lavish grace. Let each word of thanks we offer expand our heartsuntil delight inhabits usand we know loveas our sustenance. Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, The 5th century monk and mystic Benedict of

Read More
November 24, 2024

What I Know + Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 5 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, There is much uncertainty and unknown right now. Many of us are in deep grief and I encourage you to bestow lavish hospitality on all of your feelings – let your rage, sadness, despair, confusion, and more have space in you. Move your body, let her speak its wisdom, and give yourself the gift of as much rest as possible.  What I do know is that our commitment to a contemplative path does make a difference. Keep showing up with presence to what is real and true. Cherish what is beautiful and kind. Commit to the slowness

Read More
November 10, 2024

Hospitality + The Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 4 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Hospitality* Holy Presence of God,you shimmer in every stranger I encounterwhether in the world or in my heart.When you came in human formyou sat at table with all those who walked the edgesof life and knew their presence as sacred.Create in me a space to welcome inall that is hard and disorienting,those moments when I feel lost, angry,heartbroken, overwhelmed, ashamed,joyful, grieving, or in love with life.Help me to honor the guests who arrive at the door,to usher in the grace that newness offersand find Christ’s compassionate presence there.May your infinite compassion grow in methe way sunlight spills across a field,and

Read More
November 3, 2024

Samhain Retreat + Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 3 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing of the Saints* May the communion of saintsshower you with blessings,may you seek their guidancein moments of illness, confusion, gratitude.We remember their own struggles,living their humanity, enfleshed and tender.We ask those across the threshold to pray for usknowing what it is to be wounded.Call on the canonized saints,Benedict, Francis, Ignatius, Hildegard,Thea Bowman, Oscar Romero,and the saints of spirit,Howard Thurman, Dorothy Day,and thousands of otherswho witnessed to another way of being,who helped to build a community of love.Let them tether us to their earthiness,and remind us of the holinessof bone and blood, the grace of our bodiesin bringing love to

Read More
October 27, 2024

Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 2 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Blessing for Wrestling with Angels*You have knownthe long nights of wrestlingwith mysterious beings,your breath hard and fast,your heart poundinglike furious wings. The dark seems to stretch foreverand you wonder how longyou will be in the gripof this powerful stranger,how long you will have to hold on. Then slowly the black pool above yougives way to violet, fuchsia, tangerineand you feel your hip wounded,throbbing, pulsing with pain,know you will be limpingfor many years to come,but before letting goyou make your demand: Bless me, your voice thundersand the being erupts into golden lightso glad that you had finally asked.A new name

Read More
October 20, 2024