I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Teresa Blythe’s reflection on finding God in desire. Desire is not something I was brought up to respect. To insist on fulfilling one’s own desires was seen as selfish, petty and certainly not Christian. Still somewhere deep within me from the earliest of times I can recall I knew that if I operated out of desire, I was joyful, and if I did something because someone made me or pressured me—I was miserable. This is important information for spiritual discernment, but I

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Melinda Emily’s reflection In Protest. It’s been a difficult year. And not just for me. Too many friends and family have been put through the ringer. Marriages crumbled. People moved. Children got sick. Addictions took over. Dreams were shattered. A mother died. A sister died. A baby died. These are just the personal tragedies I am privy to. To say nothing of the state of the nation, the wars of the world, the thousands displaced, and the too many abused. The world

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Michele Chung‘s reflection The Art of Processing Feedback. While a contemplative life is a personal and solitary journey, we are at the same time intended to live in community.  An important part of this relationship is our dialogue with our friends and family.  The feedback we receive, however, can often be a mixed bag of advice ranging from mere personal opinions to wise counsel. It’s often a confusing and messy process to figure out which advice we should listen to. The

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kathleen Maci‘s reflection on restful wandering. “I would never have known,” the HR representative confided to me in our meeting about my age of 63. I had been teaching at a university in Beijing, China for a couple of years and had just received the news that I was ineligible to apply for a Z visa allowing me a yearly work and resident permit. Anyone over the age of 60 is now ineligible to apply. Just like that – no job

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Cheryl de Beer’s reflection titled “Contemplatively Living with Questions”. My contemplative nature was awakened when I was 13.  I was blessed to attend Catholic high school where one of our teachers, a nun, taught our class silent prayer. I took to centering prayer and silence like a duck to water, eager to commune with the divine presence hidden within my heart. Through school I was also introduced to the Catholic Eucharist where I learned that the reality of Christ could be

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Barb Morris’ reflection on the Monk Manifesto and New Cosmology. “Someday we’ll live in a convent.” A dear friend and I have a plan. “One of these days,” we say, “we’re going to have a convent.” We’ve felt this desire since we met more than 30 years ago, when our husbands were Episcopal Divinity School classmates. The timing isn’t clear. Do we wait until we’re clergy widows? That seems just a touch dependent and maybe a little morbid. But if

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for June Mears Driedger’s reflection titled Going Silent. The road sign into The Hermitage property in Three Rivers, Michigan (USA), says, “Begin to drive slowly.”  It is a safety request but it is also a sign of what is to come while I stay at the contemplative prayer retreat facility. My desire is to slow down, to stop pushing, to cease striving, to go silent.  My desire is to pray, to listen, to quiet my inner noise. Often, when I first arrive at The Hermitage,