[siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Button_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] St. Julian and the Cat Stone by stone the wall grew until her cell was sealed, light blocked except for three small windows – one for sacrament another, food and waste a third to give guidance. Each day brought dozens to her praying for their sick and dead, night became time of solace and silence, she could not sleep long in the damp, pulled wool close around her as she sighed into the dark, relief at quiet moments. Then came mewing, leaping, pouncing, the cat left there to catch rats, at first annoyed at disruption she soon found

. I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Katharine Weinmann’s reflection “Holy Alchemy” “Praying. It doesn’t have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don’t try to make them elaborate…” ~ excerpted from Prayer in Thirst by Mary Oliver I pray. Not so often in that formal, elaborate, church going way. But when I think of Anne Lamott’s two favourite prayers, “Help me, help

Christine Valters Paintner gave a 20-minute poetry reading for Paraclete Press on Instagram Live this week and read mostly poems about springtime (you also get a small window into her office and her dog Sourney makes an appearance as well). You can watch the recording of it here. Also Christine’s poem “At the End of Time” was published in Spiritus journal. You can read it here. And in other publishing news my book Earth, Our Original Monastery was named a finalist in the Spirituality category for the Association of Catholic Publishers Excellence in Book Publishing awards! [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget]

When John and I traveled to Assisi in 2019 to participate in a pilgrimage that started our sabbatical year, I went to encounter Francis more deeply. That did happen, but the holy surprise was encountering Clare, who I didn’t know as much about, and falling in love with her contemplative spirit. She was Francis’ treasured companion and she also struggled with poor health and has companioned me through my ongoing fatigue from chronic illness. Then as the pandemic began, like many people I found tremendous wisdom, solace, and inspiration in Julian of Norwich, the patron saint of lockdowns and compassionate

Join monk and artist Linda Courage at Living Spirituality Connections for a guided, 12 month long journey through The Artists Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom. Linda previously led a community course on Earth, Our Original Monastery as part of a mentoring program with us and is a longtime dancing monk and member of this community. Read some of her reflections and learn more about the online gathering here >>

Dearest monks and artists, A year ago the news of the pandemic’s spread around the world started becoming dominant news and countries were shutting down to prevent its rampant spread. We had no idea how the year that followed would unfold and how many hours we would spend in compassionate retreat to protect those most vulnerable among us (perhaps ourselves included). I awoke early one morning around that time with the thought of hosting a Novena for Times of Unraveling so our beloved community could gather together for nine days in prayer and reflection. I knew the monastic practices we