I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Carol Delmonico’s reflection and poems For Living Close to Death and For Surgery. Writing has been one of my early morning contemplative practices for years. This particular form came when my partner Kevin was diagnosed with cancer. As we navigated these new waters of illness and the medical system, a blessing would often come through my pen in the wee hours of the predawn morning, before he awoke. When he did rise, we’d sit in our usual

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Dr. Kellie Brown’s reflection A Liturgy for the Mini Jesus. I’ll admit that when the one-inch molded plastic Jesus figurines began to circulate a few years back, I rolled my eyes. I thought they were tacky, and there was something about how they casually but intentionally showed up in places that reminded me of the evangelical tracts from my childhood with their garish type that yelled from the cover—JESUS SAVES. When I looked theologically at this plastic Jesus’s representation

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jennifer Miller’s reflection and poem Winged Teachers. One of the best lessons from the pandemic was the art of slow living. My backyard became my sanctuary, and everything happening in it was suddenly much more interesting to me. The less human contact I had, the more kinship I felt with all the animals who lived just a few steps away. My greatest teachers during that time were a pair of Eastern bluebirds. As the female brooded for

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Paula Hogue’s visual art reflection. Drawing and painting have always been an important part of my contemplative practice. When I go into my studio, my breath slows down, my shoulders release and my mind quiets. As I enter into the project I lose all sense of time and space and I feel that I go deep inside myself. My imagery often relates ideas and themes that I have been exploring and working to heal within myself. Art

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for PattiJoy’s reflection and poem Introduction to Stillness. The poems in my Book of Hours trace the subtle movements of the day — not by clock or ritual, but by breath, presence, and the shifting of light across the natural world. I call these Hours Before Dawn, Early Morning, Night Watch, and First Light, for they mark the soul’s quiet thresholds. Stillness belongs among them as a meditation on the ways nature teaches without effort: moonlight, fireflies, the stirring of the