Mystics and Saints Archives | Page 4 of 6

The Mystical Heart: Love as a Creative Force ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

The soul is made of love and must ever strive to return to love. Therefore, it can never find rest nor happiness in other things. By its very nature it must seek God, who is love. –Mechthild of Magdeburg (1208-1282) Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I’ve been thinking a lot about love lately. About how I believe it is at the foundation of everything. This deep knowing is what helps sustain me in dark times. Even as we are bombarded by news of violence and destruction daily, Love also helps me to remember the tremendous beauty to be found in

August 21, 2022

St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Contemplative Path ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I am excited that we have been adding to our dancing monk icon series! We had paused for a while but now the creative juices and inspiration is flowing again and Marcy is hard at work. I am not sure when or if cards will be available (we are doing a special limited set of the 10 new cards for our Sustainers Circle supporters), but Marcy will make these available as prints as always. I wanted to introduce Ignatius of Loyola first because his spirituality had a significant impact on me in my early years of

August 7, 2022

Dancing Monk Icons Cards now available for purchase! – ORDERS NOW CLOSED

**Ordering is now closed.** We may open up ordering again in the future which will be announced in our email newsletter. We are delighted to offer for sale a limited number of sets of the dancing monk icon cards. All 18 designs included – the original 12 dancing monks plus an additional 6 we added from the Irish Celtic monastic tradition (see list of names below). These are printed on high quality cardstock, plastic-coated, with rounded corners, and in vibrant colors. Reverse side of all cards is the same design (see image to the right). Size is standard European A7

July 3, 2016

Feast of St Gobnait and a Celebration of Love ~ A love note from your online abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, On the 11th of February this past week was the Feast of St. Gobnait. I only learned about St. Gobnait after moving to Ireland. She is a 5th-6th century monk who fled her home in County Clare and headed first for the island of Insheer. It is not clear why she fled, only that she was seeking refuge on the Aran Islands. Click here to read my reflection on her at Patheos>> I am delighted to have a poem about St. Gobnait published in the online journal Headstuff here. Gobnait features in our upcoming online

February 14, 2016

Order Dancing Monk Icons Prints for Christmas (by November 18th)

Our fabulous artist Marcy Hall is making prints available again for the wonderful dancing monk icon series she has painted for Abbey of the Arts. She also has two new Irish saints added this fall: Kevin of Glendalough and Gobnait of Ballyvourney (patron saint of bees!) In addition she has another beautiful series of Monastic Way/Monastery of the Heart prints for a series she painted for the Erie Benedictines and Sister Joan Chittister. These include figures such as Teresa of Avila, the Dalai Lama, Rumi, Georgia O’Keeffe and more! Discounts when you order multiple images. You can see both series

November 3, 2015

Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics available for pre-order

Christine’s 9th book will be released next spring 2016 through Ave Maria Press and is an exploration of 12 monks and mystics through the lens of various archetypes including Artist, Monk, Warrior, Healer, and more. The cover beautifully brings the dancing monk icon figures created by Marcy Hall to life. It is now available for pre-order on Amazon. When you use our links, a small percentage of the purchase price comes back to us at no additional cost to you, which helps support our scholarship fund. Pre-order your copy here>>

October 6, 2015

Praying with Monks and Mystics book now available for purchase!

We are delighted to announce that we are publishing a series of materials inspired by our 12 dancing monk icons. The book contains poems, reflections, icons and song sheets to celebrate 12 significant Monks and Mystics through the ages including Benedict of Nursia, Hildegard of Bingen, Brigid of Kildare, Thomas Merton, Francis of Assisi and more! Full color reproductions of the gorgeous dancing monk icons painted by artist Marcy Hall, with poems by Christine Valters Paintner, and the song sheets to accompany the 12 songs we commissioned for each monk and mystic CDs and mp3 downloads of the song recordings are now

March 25, 2015

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The Mystical Heart: Love as a Creative Force ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

St. Ignatius of Loyola and the Contemplative Path ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dancing Monk Icons Cards now available for purchase! – ORDERS NOW CLOSED

Feast of St Gobnait and a Celebration of Love ~ A love note from your online abbess

Order Dancing Monk Icons Prints for Christmas (by November 18th)

Illuminating the Way: Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics available for pre-order

Praying with Monks and Mystics book now available for purchase!

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Mary Camille Thomas

Soul of a Pilgrim Video Prayer Cycle Day 1 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Abbey of the Arts Celebrates 18 Years!

Monk in the World Guest Post: Starr Regan DiCiurcio

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