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

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

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

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims, We have two free gifts for you today! It is with great joy that we start to release the video podcasts of our Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle this week. The theme for our Day 1 morning prayer is the archangels and for evening is the guardian angels. Here one of the prayers of concern for morning written by our Wisdom Council member Claudia Love Mair: “Creator/Creatrix, you sent the Archangel Gabriel to visit Mary and herald the arrival of Jesus. Send them to us that we may give birth to music, dance, and art, to