How to Feel the Sap Rising (a poem for summer) Walk as slowly as possible, all the while imagining yourself moving through pools of honey and dancing with snails, turtles, and caterpillars. Turn your body in a clockwise direction to inspire your dreams to flow upward. Imagine the trees are your own wise ancestors offering their emerald leaves to you as a sacred text. Lay yourself down across earth and stones.  Feel the vibration of dirt and moss, sparking a tiny (or tremendous) revolution in your heart with their own great longing. Close your eyes and forget this border of skin.  Imagine

About a month ago I was inspired to invite several friends and long-time supporters and participants in the Abbey to join me in forming a Wisdom Council.   To my great delight, all 12 of those I invited offered me an enthusiastic yes in response.  I am looking forward to drawing on their wisdom and insight as the Abbey continues to grow and thrive, and to have others with whom to reflect on the best ways to sustainably serve this community. I asked each of them to send me three words that came to them spontaneously when they thought of the Abbey’s

. . . Beckie Boger!  Beckie, email me with your snail mail address and I will get a signed copy of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice directly from me in Ireland! Such a delight, as always, to savor the poems from this past week’s Poetry Party on the wisdom of creatures.  Pour a cup of tea and linger a while.  My heart is full of gratitude for all of our Abbey poets!

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Earth Your Dancing Place (excerpt) Take earth for your own large room and the floor of earth carpeted with sunlight and hung round with silver wind for your dancing place —May Swenson, Nature: Poems Old and New Dearest Monks and Artists: I have had the great pleasure of sharing Ireland with John’s two sisters these last couple of weeks.  It was their first time here and so everything was a new discovery.  We loved having family so close and exploring this place we have

. . . Wronda!  Please send me your snail mail address and I will get a signed copy of Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the Poetry Party – your celebrations of springtime brought forth a blossoming of the soul.

. . . Sharie!  Congratulations Sharie, you have won a space in the online class Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Contemplative Practice (April 28-June 15, 2013) which starts Monday! So many wondrous images over at the Flickr pool.  Pour a cup of tea and then linger for a while, maybe noticing if one image wants to choose you for some visio divina. As always, a deep bow of gratitude to all of the monks and artists who gather here at the Abbey to celebrate the joys of creative expression.

Dearest monks and artists, I have been back from Vienna for a week now, enjoying settling back into my life in Galway, and listening for how this time away has shaped me.  Pilgrimage always changes us because it always brings us to an encounter with the Holy.  As I return to Ireland, I find myself full of inspiration and dreams.  And I find myself deeply trusting the direction my life is moving. There is a part of me hungry to keep traveling more, living here in Europe with so many cultures and countries on my doorstep.  And while there are some