I am delighted to share this beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series by Lisa Bozarth Ozaeta. Lisa is joining Abbey of the Arts as our new seminary intern for the next two years. She is in training for ordination in the Episcopal church and we are delighted to have her enthusiasm and gifts in service to this community. She will be involved in several of our programs. Here she shares a bit of her own practice of silence: One of my rituals is to plant myself on my back deck early in the morning. I

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, “The Child’s Way.” The More Than Human World is my Abbey. The sense of our sacred interconnectivity is awakened as I contemplate and cultivate reverence for all living beings. Our tan 1984 Volvo wagon pulls into the dirt parking lot at Shevlin Park. It’s early May,1994. My three year old daughter Phoebe is sitting in the backseat, beginning to unbuckle herself from her carseat. I open the back door and scoop all twenty five

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Roger Butts’s reflection “Thank you, God, for Everything” excerpted from his book, Seeds of Devotion: Weekly Contemplations on Faith. Give us this day our daily bread. Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew 6:11 It was a Friday night, just after dinner. I was at the hospital. My work was slowing down—most people don’t need to see a hospital chaplain after 7 p.m. unless there is a really powerful reason. Then my pager went off. A nurse on the

I am delighted to share a beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Reverend Deborah Goldman’s poem “I Spread My Wings” written during the recent Abbey of the Arts daylong retreat, On Being Free: The Spirituality of Howard Thurman and Harriet Tubman led by Therese Taylor-Stinson. It came as a response to our morning reflections on the embodiment of freedom; my noontime walk, during which I listened repeatedly to Nina Simone singing, “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free;” and to two stirring excerpts from Therese’s upcoming book, Walking the Way

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World Guest Post series from the community. Read on for Greta Kopec’s reflection, “Mary Magic and Miracles.” Once upon a time, I only knew Mary as the mom in the nativity story we heard each Christmas. In the past three years she has become a companion and muse who has taught me many names of the sacred feminine, those names multiplying as I have encountered her in various ways, in different places. She began by inviting me on a journey that would take me to Fatima, Portugal

We welcome you to submit your reflection for possible publication in our Monk in the World guest post series. It is a gift to read how ordinary people are living lives of depth and meaning in the midst of the challenges of real life. There are so many talented writers and artists in this Abbey community, so this is a chance to share your perspective. The link to the reflection will be included in our weekly newsletter which goes out to thousands of subscribers. Please follow these instructions carefully: Please click this link to read a selection of the posts