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Reflections

Category: Monk in the World Guest Post Series

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Adam Brooks Webber

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Adam Brooks Webber’s reflection and poem on kinship with creation and adventures with God. The fourth point of the Monk Manifesto emphasizes our kinship with creation. That speaks to me strongly, because the earliest religious experiences of my childhood began with that sense of kinship. In the first such experience I can remember, I was about ten years old. I was sitting alone in a willow tree, when suddenly, unaccountably, I knew I was not alone. I

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Tom Delmore

I’m delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tom Delmore’s poems on the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The Kingdom within, is a big shift for me. Raised in the Catholic faith and dad’s mantra of: brownie points and rewards are in heaven only. I am seeing the kingdom in the ordinary. These poems are thresholds to the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of heaven is like All those truths Jesus spoke In Matthew’s gospel, I’m sure. It is also,

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Michael Kroth

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Michael Kroth’s reflection on walking as a keystone, contemplative practice. Around the mountain Again flowers, birds, views, winds My feet hurt, heart beats ~Written 8-7-22 Vince and I pulled into the nearly filled parking lot. A thin, serious-looking runner standing behind his open car trunk stretched one leg behind himself, and then the other. Two cars down, a couple pulled mountain bikes off their car racks, swung small hydration packs onto their backs, adjusted their helmets, clipped

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Patri Hernandez

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series. Read on for Patri Hernandez’s reflection “Why the Islands Have Captivated My Heart.” Feeling I needed to strengthen my spiritual connection to Goddess, I travelled back to the Canary Islands a few years ago and found Her there, waiting for me. She revealed herself so beautifully and simply! I was born in one of the islands 53 years earlier, but somehow could not understand the nature of the world or the nature of my own heart. Goddess had always been there when I

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Patricia Leyko Connelly

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Patricia Leyko Connelly’s reflection on talking and listening to God. I remember that as a child of 10 or 12, I used to walk to school and church about 7 blocks to and from my home.  Sometimes I’d walk with other family members or some neighborhood kids but most of the time I was walking alone.  On those walks I imagine I would think about many things…maybe “why didn’t I finish my homework” or how much I

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Polly Paton Brown

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member and retreat contributor Polly Paton-Brown’s reflection on doll making as prayer. “That’s it. The trees are coming down and the field is going to be sprayed with round up. I’ve had enough!”  I read the words written on a Facebook page dedicated to the condition Atypical Myopathy. This condition causes death in horses who eat the seeds from sycamore trees that have become toxic. It has always been around but in recent years the numbers have rocketed, caused

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Monk in the World Guest Post Call for Submissions

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. Submit your own post from one of the following categories on the general theme of “How do I live

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