Word for Today: Freedom Asceticism, at its heart center, is about letting go of everything that keeps us from God and moving us along a journey toward authentic freedom. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: What things distract you from focusing on God? What can you do to increase the level of silence in your life so that you might hear God more clearly?   Next steps: Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag  #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media. Join the Holy Disorder

Word for Today: Discern Pilgrimage demands preparation. There is much letting go that needs to happen. Packing bags means we need to discern what to carry with us and what to leave behind. This is one of the great gifts of pilgrimage; an invitation to discern what is essential. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: What keeps you from the great adventure life is calling you to? What kinds of attitudes, beliefs, expectations and stories you tell about yourself need to be released to travel more lightly? Next steps: Let the word,

Word for today: Pause The monk in the world knows that holy pauses are essential for discovering the meaning of our experiences. There is no map. We can only drop deep into our hearts to guide us through our next steps. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: Reflective Question: Where do you find space for silence and solitude so that you can listen to the whisperings within?   Next steps: Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice today. (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media. Join the Holy

Word for today: Touchstone We need practices to act as touchstones so they can sustain us during the journey. They help remind us that the journey will take us beyond our narrow visions and connect with the sacred ground of being. We open our hearts and minds to a more intimate connection to the One who created us and in the process we start to discover our created purpose. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: What intentional practices, (e.g. art-making, meditation, chanting, yoga,) could you commit to in order to help cultivate

Word for today: Discovery Art-making as pilgrimage helps us to understand the arts as a process of discovery about ourselves and about God. When we enter the creative process with the intention of listening for the movements of the Spirit, we discover new insights about ourselves and God. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: Can you allow yourself to view your art-making as a meditation practice, and in this way let yourself be led by the divine impulse within? Can you leave behind your preconceived ideas and inner critical voices, and enter the unknown

Word for today: Yes The feast of the Annunciation remembers Mary’s own pilgrim journey of saying “yes.” She walked into the unknown with only her trust in God to carry her…..What we are not told in the story is the long interior journey of the heart Mary went through before she said yes. This is where our imagination must enter the story and make it our own. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: Can you imagine Mary pondering the possibilities and weighing the options before reaching her decision, resisting her “yes”, even while