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A Midwinter God Named a Best Spiritual Book of 2024

Christine’s book A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness was named A Best Spiritual Book of 2024 by Spirituality & Practice! Jon M. Sweeney of Spirituality & Practice also wrote a lovely review. “No one combines teaching wisdom with spiritual practice quite like Christine Valters Paintner does in her books. This one is designed for anyone who’s grieving a loss and desires to thread that loss through their lives for meaning.” ~ Jon M. Sweeney, Read the full review at Spirituality & Practice

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Melinda Thomas

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Abbey Program Coordinator Melinda Thomas’s reflection and poem Synonym. It is my great privilege to serve the Abbey as Program Coordinator and get to know all of you, our dear, dancing monks. One of our guiding principles is a commitment to community. As an introvert and someone who often finds it difficult to reach out, I value the wisdom of how there are different ways to be in community. Whether we gather online or in person, in

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Earth Psalter: Writing Psalms for the Anthropocene ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, This Friday we are delighted to welcome Wisdom Council member Cassidhe Hart and her teaching partner Grant Showalter-Swanson for a creative mini-retreat on Earth Psalter: Writing Psalms for the Anthropocene. Read on for their reflection on this spiritual practice. My (Cassidhe’s) family moved frequently as a child, and as a soul who even then longed for a monastic sense of stability, I was often overwhelmed by the constant change in setting. When I was about 11 years old, I remember comforting myself with bible verses such as Genesis 8:22 about the regularity of the seasons

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Betty Vandervest

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Betty Vandervest ‘s reflection Flowing with the Holy Spirit. I believe the act of creating artwork is tapping into the Divine. The Holy Spirit is with me as I move into the flow of color and image. Time stands still. Whether I’m painting a flower or an abstraction, it’s all God’s creation that I’m focusing on, paying attention to, and contemplating. I’m a convert to Catholicism, and I’ve always been fascinated by Catholic images. I’m also a

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Imbolc and Brigid Blessing ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Imbolc and Brigid Blessing*Spirit of the rumbling ground,help us attune our ears to the renewal taking formbeneath the winter earth,snowdrops and crocusesin white and purple-petaled wonder,hedgehogs and bearsbeginning to stir from sleep.Let Brigid be our guideas we navigate the way from rest to slow emergence,support us in nourishing the fragile seeds of possibility.May her birds, the oystercatcherslift our hearts on currents of love,may her devoted cowremind us of generous abundance,may her perpetual flame kindle our own sparks,may her mantle embrace usand offer protection,may her waters of the sacred wellsbless and refresh us for the journey ahead. As the bellies of

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Mary as Mother of Mercy

I was inspired to share this reflection on Mary as Mother of Mercy by the brave words of Bishop Mariann Budde speaking truth to power: Holy Mary, mother of us all,we see a world filled with violence toward one another,we ask for mercy.We see children and the elderly dwelling in poverty,we ask for mercy.We see the earth being slowly choked and poisoned,we ask for mercy.We live in a culture that values people onlyfor what they produce and achieve,we ask for mercy.We recognize the ways our ownmoment by moment choices contributeto the above realities, we ask for mercyIn your gracious mercy

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Samhain Retreat + Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 3 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing of the Saints* May the communion of saintsshower you with blessings,may you seek their guidancein moments of illness, confusion, gratitude.We remember their own struggles,living their humanity, enfleshed and tender.We ask those across the threshold to pray for usknowing what it is to be wounded.Call on the canonized saints,Benedict, Francis, Ignatius, Hildegard,Thea Bowman, Oscar Romero,and the saints of spirit,Howard Thurman, Dorothy Day,and thousands of otherswho witnessed to another way of being,who helped to build a community of love.Let them tether us to their earthiness,and remind us of the holinessof bone and blood, the grace of our bodiesin bringing love to

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