It is finally here! We have created a book for the 52 dancing monk icons created by Marcy Hall for our community. Each icon has a short summary of their life, followed by a creative invitation and beautiful prayer (these were written by Melinda Emily Thomas, Christine and John Valters Paintner wrote the summaries). Immerse yourself in a vibrant journey of faith and creativity in this essential resource from Abbey of the Arts. Featuring 52 colorful, playful icons of saints and mystics, each icon offers reflections, creative invitations, and prayers that explore the depth of contemplative living. Organized around the

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Krissy Kludt’s reflection and poem Of Dust and Water. Several years ago, I texted my father from a snowbound house in Tahoe, where I was spending a weekend away from my Bay Area home: “I miss winter so much it hurts.”  “Of course you do,” he told me. “You have a deep sense of place, fully integrated with your sense of self.” Wisconsin-raised, I’d known lakeshores, streams, and maple forests from childhood. I was born in the

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Barsanti’s reflection on kinship with creation and poem “Ice Storm.” I find myself connected to all that surrounds me – human and nonhuman.  In reverence and reciprocity, I find the Divine. Earthwork is my everyday work of attention and appreciation. I try to be attentive to God’s work in all that surrounds me. I am in awe and stand in gratitude. I believe that God is in all things. I was inspired as I both witnessed and

May 22–29, 2026 and September 4–11, 2026A few places remain Our good friends Nóirín Ní Riain and Owen and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin are once again offering in-person pilgrimages to Ireland. Rooted in music, poetry, story, and sacred landscape, these journeys invite participants into a slower, more attentive way of walking; with place, with one another, and with the movements of the soul. Many of you have shared your longing for the kinds of pilgrimages Abbey of the Arts once led. While Abbey no longer hosts these journeys directly, we wholeheartedly recommend this pilgrimage with Turas d’Anam as a meaningful and resonant alternative.