Megan Hoyt has recently published, Hildegard’s Gift, a children’s book about Hildegard of Bingen (whose feast day is September 17th and is, of course, one of our dancing monks!) Here Megan offers a few reflections on the impact of Hildegard for her: I first “met” St. Hildegard of Bingen when a friend shared her chants with me over a quiet cup of tea, during a lull in our conversation. I was a lover of all things Medieval, and my friend knew this about me. She must have known the lilting tones and haunting melody would catch me off guard. I held

I have a guest post at the Spiritual Directors International blog on St. Hildegard: Last May, the process of canonizing Hildegard of Bingen, which began soon after her death, was finally completed. On October 7 she will be made a Doctor of the Church, one of only four women in the Catholic Church given such an honor. I fell in love with Hildegard while in graduate school. Her creative heart dazzled me. I wanted to know more about this monastic tradition that nurtured her and from which she drew so much wisdom. She was my doorway into becoming a Benedictine

Today is the feast day of beloved St. Francis of Assisi! Roy DeLeon is a fellow Benedictine oblate from St. Placid Priory in Lacey, WA and also a yoga teacher.  He offers this beautiful experience of embodied prayer with St. Francis’ “Peace Prayer.”  Let these words and images enter the depths of your own body and see what you discover about not just thinking peace, but being peace.  Let this be an act of gracious hospitality to love, joy, hope, and light. BMPS – Peace Prayer from Roy DeLeon, OblSB. Make sure to stop by this week’s Photo Party on

Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles, these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying, mysterious, whirling and sometimes gestating and gentle must somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that sings in me. My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God. —attributed to St. Hildegard of Bingen Happy feast day of St. Hildegard!  This is an exciting year for those of us who love this fiery, powerful medieval Abbess.  She was finally canonized by the Catholic church on May 10th and on October 7th will be

Today is the Feast of Hildegard of Bingen, here is a reprint from an earlier blog post last year about my love for her: Hildegard of Bingen was my doorway into the Benedictine life.  While in graduate school I was studying for my “History of Christian Spirituality” comprehensive examination (a fearful and awesome task if there ever was one) and actually had a slight disdain for those ancient monks.  My spirituality up until that point had been quite infused by the Ignatian vision of working for justice.  I was turned off by the body-denying practices of monasticism (at least in