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Reflections

Category: Monk in the World

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Words of the Heart

To see the word cloud enlarged either click on the image or click here Nearly 300 of you responded to my invitation to allow a word to choose you which you might live into for the coming year.  The responses have been inspiring, beautiful, and profound.  Pour yourself a cup of tea and linger over them and listen for your own stirrings in response.  The image above is a Wordle (word cloud) created from all the words shared.  You can click here for a larger image or here for a PDF Version. (*Please note: the word size is in proportion to the number of

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Monk Manifesto now available in Spanish

I am very grateful to Nicolás Crespo for translating the Monk Manifesto into Spanish! Click here for a PDF version of the Manifiesto del Monje.  Please feel free to pass it along to friends who might appreciate this. Manifiesto del Monje ¿Quieres unirte a mí para comenzar la revolución del monje? ¡Difundamos un compromiso con la contemplación, la compasión y la creatividad a lo largo y ancho del mundo! Monje: Del griego monachos, que significa solo o solitario, un monje en el mundo no vive apartado, sino inmerso en la vida diaria con una presencia plena y sin reservas, esforzándose siempre

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Monk Manifesto – Reflections and Musings

The idea for the Monk Manifesto emerged several months ago while I was away on a retreat.  Last spring was a very full season of my life and I was claiming a few days of silence to listen.  I was in a threshold space, moving into my own work more fully, and I knew my call was to spread ways of being a Monk in the World to as many people as I could. Many of you who signed indicated that having so many others to join with in a public declaration is supportive and hope-filled. Indeed that was part of my motivation

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Summer Renewal

This summer has offered many things to my heart: renewal, restoration, healing, and an invitation into a wide and wild imagination.  I look forward to sharing some of those stories here in the coming weeks. For now, just an image which are speaking to me in these August days of presence to the gifts in this moment now.  I find myself in late summer longing for the cool crisp days of autumn, but I call myself back, remembering that this season has its own grace.

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A Monk in the World

One of the ways we become intimate with the fire in our lives is to explore our passions, our deepest desires, the commitments which make our hearts burn with love.  The mystics across traditions describe God as the spark or flame dwelling in each of our hearts, the source of infinite compassion.  When we live from the heart – which is where Ignatius of Loyola said that God plants our deepest desires – we become a temple of fire and reveal the splendor of God to the world. I feel deeply blessed to be intimate with my own deepest desires,

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