Thank you to everyone for sharing your word for the year! The winners of the prize drawing are: Self Study Retreat of Your Choice Maryrose Coughlin – Divine Kat Dub – Transform Betty Cooper – Becoming Grace McGuire – Listen Donna Summerford Bennard – Healthy One signed copy of The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred by Christine Valters Paintner Segads – Nourish One signed copy of Dreaming of Stones: Poems by Christine Valters Paintner Crystal – Generous One signed copy of Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder & Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature by Christine Valters Paintner (this book will be

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2018 Give Me a Word invitation! We had almost 360 participants take the online retreat to help a word choose you. Above is a word cloud made from all the words submitted by January 5th. Please note some appear larger when they were submitted more frequently. Some are quite tiny but are there in the spaces between. We have done our random drawing and are delighted to announce the winners: One space in our upcoming New Year’s online retreat – The Wisdom of the Body Eva Micirua – Believe One space in our Lent

SHARE YOUR WORD FOR 2018 In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner’s fire and be stripped down to one’s holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word –  this word or phrase would be something on