Earth as the Original Monastery ~ A Love Note from your Online Abbess
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, This spring I have completed the manuscript for my next book due out in spring 2020 tentatively titled Earth as the Original Monastery. I have been working with this image for several years now and have taught retreats both live and online to explore a deepened intimacy with the earth. […]
Wisdom Council: Guest Post from Michael Moore
I am delighted to share another beautiful submission from one our newest Wisdom Council members. Read on for Michael Moore’s “Reflections on the Contemplative Life.” What is Contemplative Life? When I first became aware of the term, I associated it with Monks and Nuns in Monasteries and Convents who lived in relative isolation from the outside world. To […]
A Celebration of Poetry ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I hope you have enjoyed the series of poetry videos we have produced in collaboration with Morgan Creative. One of our great joys here at the Abbey is bringing artists together whether through these videos, the albums we are creating, or the icon series we commissioned. When time and resources […]
How to Be a Pilgrim (new poetry video) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
How to Be a Pilgrim Air travel is like ancient pilgrims walking on their knees, flight delays and narrow seats offer their own kind of penance. You jettison excess baggage, leaving behind the heavy makeup case, knowing the rain will wash you free of artifice. Books you wanted to carry left too, no more outside […]
Featured Poet Series: Barbara Crooker
We are launching a new series this spring with poets whose work we love and want to feature! Our next poet is Barbara Crooker, whose work is deeply inspired by paying attention to how God whispers in the world. You can hear Barbara reading her poem “Sanctus” below and read more about the connections she makes […]
Requiem for Myself ~ Poem Video: A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Requiem for Myself When I die plant a pinwheel in an open field where winter’s wind and rain march forcefully across in battalions, and you can stumble out there to meet me one late afternoon when you feel the world must surely be ending. You, soaked from tears and storms, kinship with dark sky. Me, […]
Easter Blessings + Take My Hand (new poetry video) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Take My Hand Please don’t plant me neat rows of rosebushes and tulips at attention, no manicured gardens or crystal vases of cut stems. Instead, take my hand, lead me onto rain-softened grass which undulates like a boat on a summer lake, lie down with me in a quilt of sunlight and shadows among yellow […]