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Category: Monk in the World

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Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Silence & Solitude: Day 1 Morning and Evening Prayer Dearest monks and artists, We are thrilled to be able to start releasing the Monk in the World prayer cycle podcast to you weekly from now through Pentecost Sunday. Each week we will post a morning and evening prayer. This first week is focused on the first principle of our Monk Manifesto Silence & Solitude. I am enormously grateful to dear friend, minister, musician, and Abbey Wisdom Council member, Simon de Voil for putting these podcasts together with such a loving and attentive ear. Many of you have sent us notes

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Monk in the World: Songs for Contemplative Living

We are so excited to be launching our brand new album! We have been working on Monk in the World: Songs for Contemplative Living for about a year now. The Monk Manifesto is a set of 8 principles for contemplative, creative, and compassionate living. It is the Rule of Life for the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks community at Abbey of the Arts. We embrace the practices of Silence and Solitude, Hospitality, Community, Kinship with Creation, Work, Sabbath, Conversion, and Creative Joy. In our last album (Earth, Our Original Monastery) we explored Kinship with Creation. This album is an opportunity

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 6 ~ Reflection Questions and Closing Blessing from Christine

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, Thank you for journeying with us through the Monk in the World reflections this year while we have been on our Jubilee sabbatical. Today I offer reflection questions and a closing blessing for principle 8. Principle 8. I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.”* (*quote from The Rule of St. Benedict.) Questions for Reflection How might a daily practice of gratitude help you to notice the grace of the ordinary in your life? Are there creative pursuits which call

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 4 ~ Guided Movement Practice by Christine – A Love Note from your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. This is our eighth and final principle that we will explore for the next six weeks. Principle 8. I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.” *quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict. Movement Practice Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 3 ~ Special CinemaDivina from Marilyn Freeman

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, The Good Zeal of Monks  is a villanelle inspired by the Rule of Benedict, chapter 72. Good Zeal is from CinemaDivina, contemplative video essays created especially for lectio divina practice. I am so pleased to introduce Marilyn Freeman who is a filmmaker in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. whom I first met at St. Placid Priory in Lacey, WA, where Marilyn and I are Benedictine oblates. She has a true monastic heart and she brings it to a beautiful spiritual practice she calls CinemaDivina. Rooted in the contemplative prayer and listening of lectio divina,

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 2 ~ Scripture Reflection by John Valters Paintner, Your Online Prior

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. This is our eighth and final principle that we will explore for the next six weeks. Principle 8. I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.” *quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict 2 Samuel 6:1-5 David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem David again gathered all the chosen people of Israel, thirty thousand. David and all the people

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 1 ~ Reflection by Christine – A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists, and pilgrims,  During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. This is our eighth and final principle that we will explore for the next six weeks. Principle 8. I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.” *quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict “What is more delightful than this voice of the Holy One calling to us? See how God’s love shows us the way of life.”  —Rule

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