Feast of St. Patrick ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Holy Mountain* I want to climb the holy mountain ascend over weight of stone and force of gravity, follow the rise of a wide and cracked earth toward eternal sky, measured steps across the sharp path, rest often to catch my heavy breath. I want to hear the silence of stone and stars, lie back […]
Love and Radical Hospitality ~ A love note from your online abbess
Dearest monks and artists, A few days ago I received an email from a woman who is writing her dissertation and asked me to respond to the question: “If you had to choose one spiritual practice that is a non-negotiable for spiritual growth in the 21st century, what would it be and why?” My answer […]
Join us for an online retreat this Lent ~ A love note from your online abbess
Dearest monks and artists, I am delighted that John Valters Paintner will be taking the lead on our Lenten retreat online. He has a great love for the scriptures, and taught them at the high school level for many years. The upcoming retreat is the fruit of years of his reflection on exploring some overarching […]
Imbolc and the Feast of St. Brigid ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
St. Brigid and the Fruit Tree There was the moment you could bear it no more. Your eyes brimming with great glistening drops summoned by the hunger of the world, the callous and terrible things men and women do to one another. Your tears splashed onto cold stony earth, ringing out like bells calling monks […]
Coming Home to Your Body ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks and artists, I was first diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 21 years old. The only other person I knew at the time with this disease was my mother and her body had been ravaged by the effects of deterioration, with multiple joint replacements and eventually use of an electric wheelchair for […]
New Year Blessings + Wisdom of the Body (starts in a week!)
Dearest monks and artists, It is a quiet Christmas season for us here in Galway. After returning from a beautiful trip to Prague and Vienna for ancestral pilgrimage, John and I both promptly got the flu. I spent all of Christmas day in bed with a fever, barely able to stand up. We were planning […]
Christmas Blessings ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
The Risk of Birth This is no time for a child to be born, With the earth betrayed by war & hate And a comet slashing the sky to warn That time runs out & the sun burns late. That was no time for a child to be born, In a land in the crushing […]