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Reflections

Category: Mystics and Saints

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St. Francis and the Gift of Song ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Canticle*They sat in the convent gardenbreathing in rosemary and thyme,Francis ill and frail, his vision obscured.Clare had lost use of her legs,both their faces markedby lines that told stories—how their chosen povertyhad intensified their love,had freed them from unnecessary burdens.They talked for hours,stretched like a tent above them,their laughter and weepinghung in the air like rose garlands,interrupted by moments of stillnesswhen they paused and listenedto the way the breeze rustledthe world, coaxing forth its song.And when sunlight emergedthey turned their faces toward it like daisies,and when rain pouredthey huddled under the roofto hear how its rhythm echoed their hearts.As summer

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Feast of Sister Thea Bowman ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, Today is the feast day of Sister Thea Bowman, an amazing woman whose vibrancy still radiates to us today, calling us to shine our lights in a world that is often hard to bear. Even in the midst of a slow and painful death from cancer, she embodied joyful living, knowing that joy and delight must be cultivated in the midst of injustice and suffering.  These last few months we have been creating a resource and sharing it with our Sustainers Circle. For each of our dancing monk icons (created by the wonderful Marcy

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Seven Gates of Mystical Wisdom for Lent ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,  As someone with chronic illness, I became entranced when I discovered that many of the medieval women mystics also dealt with their own experiences of serious illness. Hildegard of Bingen is thought to have suffered from migraines, Clare of Assisi possibly from multiple sclerosis, Julian of Norwich was brought to the brink of death from illness, among many others.  While there are many portals to the liminal realm, including dreams and creative expression, illness remains one of the most powerful. I want to make clear from the start that there is a significant difference

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The Medial One and the Women Mystics ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, For Lent I am so excited to finally share the wisdom of seven medieval women mystics who lived through their own challenging times.  These visionaries received their insight and images from waking dreams, voices, and bodily sensations that often overcome them in the moment. Toni Wolff, who was Carl Jung’s colleague, first called this way of knowing “medial.” She described the medial woman as one who stands in the liminal realm, receiving visions for personal and collective healing. While Wolff calls this archetype the “medial woman,” I prefer to change it slightly to the “Medial One” to

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Threshold, Liminality, and the Way of the Mystic ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, For Lent this year we will be offering a retreat that focuses on 7 of the medieval women mystics, to see what wisdom they have for us. These were women who lived in their own dangerous times and many of whom struggled with experiences of illness as well.  The medieval women mystics have fascinated me since my time in graduate school when I was invited to deepen my study of them. Hildegard of Bingen seized my imagination first, a mystic and visionary, writer and composer, preacher and healer, she was one example of many of a

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The Path of Devotion ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, This Friday, February 14th, our Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas is leading a mini-retreat on Bhakti Yoga and the Inexpressible Delights of Love. Read on for her reflection on bhakti yoga and the path of devotion. There were times in my early yoga days when I heard people talk of their singular focus on the Divine Beloved. I could not relate. When I read of the Christian mystics who had their own singular gaze on the Beloved, I could not relate. Instead I felt rather inadequate. So why then, do I want to offer a retreat

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Hospitality + The Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 4 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Hospitality* Holy Presence of God,you shimmer in every stranger I encounterwhether in the world or in my heart.When you came in human formyou sat at table with all those who walked the edgesof life and knew their presence as sacred.Create in me a space to welcome inall that is hard and disorienting,those moments when I feel lost, angry,heartbroken, overwhelmed, ashamed,joyful, grieving, or in love with life.Help me to honor the guests who arrive at the door,to usher in the grace that newness offersand find Christ’s compassionate presence there.May your infinite compassion grow in methe way sunlight spills across a field,and

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