There is a thread I have been following these last few months while living in Vienna which I haven’t yet shared with you, mostly because of my own amazement and wanting to respect the call without putting too many words and explanations to it. It began in late summer when two different online monk friends sent me images of Our Lady of Czestochowa, one of the Black Madonnas found in Poland.  They were drawn to send them, I felt drawn to receive them.  My journey to Vienna has much to do with healing my relatinship with my father, and I

Excerpt I am praying again, Awesome One. You hear me again, as words from the depths of me rush toward you in the wind. . . It’s here in all the pieces of my shame that now I find myself again. I yearn to belong to something, to be contained in an all-embracing mind that sees me as a single thing. I yearn to be held in the great hands of your heart — oh let them take me now. Into them I place these fragments, my life, and you, God — spend them however you want. —Rainer Maria Rilke,

I ask for the gift of a moment to sit by Your side The work that I have in hand I can finish afterwards. Now it is time to sit quiet alone with You and to Sing a re-dedication of my life in this Silent and overflowing joy. —Rabindranath Tagore I have been away on a silent retreat this past week at a small retreat house in lower Austria called Die Quelle (meaning “The Source.”)  I went for a number of reasons: spending time in deep silence is integral to my spiritual life and my call to ministry; I wanted

Transition (Excerpt) You are not surprised at the force of the storm —you have seen it growing. The trees flee. Their flight sets the boulevards streaming. And you know: he whom they flee is the one you move toward. All your senses sing him, as you stand at the window. . . Through the empty branches the sky remains. It is what you have. Be earth now, and evensong. Be the ground lying under that sky. Be modest now, like a thing ripened until it is real, so that he who began it all can feel you when he reaches

This is a guest post from Trish Bruxvoort Colligan, another of my amazing co-creators and collaborators on the upcoming Women on the Threshold program (see Trish’s video post from earlier this week here). Trish and I first met virtually when she was blogging as the Story Midwife and I fell in love with her spirit and music (check out her beautiful songs here – *and* she will be sharing music from her new album Thresholds with participants in our program.) Later I had the gift of meeting her in person at the Spiritual Directors International conference in San Francisco, where she and her

Trish Bruxvoort Colligan is another one of my amazing co-collaborators for this upcoming journey Women on the Threshold (I feel so incredibly blessed to me creating something so beautiful with such wondrous souls). She reflects here about the metaphor of midwife as a potent one for threshold-crossings. . . give yourself the gift of just three minutes to experience Trish’s radiant energy and welcoming presence: abbey thresholds video (direct link to Vimeo) Join us for Women on the Threshold.  Make space to nurture your own call across the threshold.  Let yourself be companioned on this path.  We are saving a space just for you.