Dearest monks and artists, I am delighted that John Valters Paintner will be taking the lead on our Lenten retreat online. He has a great love for the scriptures, and taught them at the high school level for many years. The upcoming retreat is the fruit of years of his reflection on exploring ... read more
Invitation to Poetry: Return to Me with Your Whole Heart
Welcome to our Poetry Party! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your own poem. Scroll down and add it in the comments section below or join our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group and post there. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and ... read more
Invitation to Community Lectio Divina: Kinship with Creation – How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing consciousness?
With March we offer a new invitation for contemplation. Our focus for this month is Kinship with Creation. We are continuing our monthly exploration of each theme of the Monk Manifesto. Our focus for this month is Kinship with Creation -- How might you nourish an Earth-cherishing ... read more
Invitation to Lectio Divina: Community – Who is your tribe?
With February we offer a new invitation for contemplation. We are continuing our monthly exploration of each theme of the Monk Manifesto. Our focus for this month is Community – Who is your tribe? The third principle reads: I commit to cultivating community by finding kindred spirits along the ... read more
Community Contemplation & Creativity
(Fall Schedule)
For several years now the Abbey has offered a regular Poetry Party and last year we added in the Photo Parties. These have been invitations into your own creative expression through a particular theme and then sharing it with your fellow monks. We took a break from them over the summer but are ... read more
New Review of Lectio Divina — The Transforming Art
As with The Artist's Rule: Nurturing your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom, reviewed on StoryCircleBookReviews, I savoured Christine Valters Paintner's Lectio Divina as my morning reading practice. Lectio divina essentially means "divine reading" of sacred texts, during which we "enter into an ... read more
Featured Review of Lectio Divina at Englewood Review of Books
Chris Smith at the Englewood Review of Books has featured Lectio Divina--The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer this month! I am very honored by his review, here is an excerpt: What distinguishes Paintner’s work from a host of other recent books on lectio divina ... read more