I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Gracia Sears’ reflection on art and service. I sit in  the living room of our condo; I can see the Gulf of Mexico from where I sit. I savor this space.  It is my “cell” for three months of the year.  I read, I walk, and do small watercolors in my attempts to capture the essence of this seascape with its western view, its sunsets.  I have long savored sunsets and like many people seek them in the many places

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathie Hempel’s reflection on being a monk at the grocery store. What is your intention when you go to the grocery store? Years ago I heard a popular television Bible teacher say God had taught her a lot about excellence at the grocery store.  Simple things like taking the cart back or putting things she had decided not to buy back in the spot they came from. Ouch! How do we actually represent our beliefs throughout our day? How do

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Gil Stafford’s reflection on walking the many paths of pilgrimage. I have walked Ireland, coast-to-coast. Alone. I’ve walked the Wicklow Way with several pilgrim groups. I have also walked a pilgrimage with my sister through the physical and mental handicaps of Prader-Willi Syndrome. I’ve walked to death’s doorway with my mom. I’ve walked the failed pilgrimage of being the president of a university. I walked the mid-life career change. Pilgrimages take many forms. Traipsing through the forest of life. Climbing

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Isaura Barrera’s reflection on praying the hours to connect with Infinite Light and Love. When I decided to explore submitting a guest blog, I looked up the word “monk” on Wikipedia and found the following quote from St. John Klimakos: “Angels are a light for monks, monks are a light for laymen.” These words echoed my belief that being a monk in the world is about light—finding it, reclaiming it, sustaining it, sharing it—not in contradiction to darkness but as a

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nancy Agneberg’s reflection Mindful Moments. Sometimes. I would have preferred to sleep a bit later this Sunday morning, but I am one of the presenters at the Adult Forum between services at our church, and we will attend the early service first. I have prepared my brief talk, a quick three-minute one, and am not nervous, but nonetheless, that is on my mind as I head to the lower level of our house to take a shower. I walk through

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tim Olivieri’s reflection on not overthinking compassion. In my early 20’s I lived as a member of a Roman Catholic religious order. Once, while traveling to visit family, a woman in the Philadelphia airport began to make conversation with me. A the time, I was reading  In The Spirit of Happiness by the Monks of New Skete. She told me how her employer had called her to Philadelphia only the night before. She arrived that morning, was unceremoniously fired, and put on the

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Susan O’Connell’s reflection “Listening and contemplation.” Listening to the silence is truly one of the great spiritual practices, in which we tune into a deeper level of being and of experience. Silence in nature can facilitate that deeper connection to ourselves through allowing us to listen more deeply to our hearts and bodies. Nature or wilderness can provide a holding environment so that we can relax the ways we chronically constrict ourselves. (Hutton, 2003, p. 250) Having an affinity for communication and service, it came