What is Blossoming Within You? ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks and artists, It takes time to see. Around us the world is exploding in a celebration of new life and we may miss much of it in our seriousness to get the important things of life done. Lynn Ungar has a wonderful poem titled “Camas Lilies” in which she writes: “And you—what of […]
Easter Blessings: Practicing Resurrection ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks and artists, Lent is a powerful season of transformation. Forty days in the desert, stripped of our comforts, and buoyed by our commitment to daily practice so that we might arrive at the celebration of Easter deepened and renewed. But often, we arrive at the glorious season of resurrection and celebrate for that […]
Spring Equinox Blessings ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
Dearest monks and artists, The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. —Isaiah 35:1-2 I believe deeply that the seasons have a great deal of spiritual wisdom to offer us if we make space to […]
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 […]