The Sacred Art of Living (a love note from your online Abbess)
John and I are leading a pilgrimage in Ireland this week, so we offer another jewel for you from the Abbey Archives: Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I was sitting in St. Ephrem, a small Orthodox stone church near the Sorbonne in Paris, listening to the sublime solo suites for cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. […]
Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening Power of God:
A Pilgrimage in Germany
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, OblSB and Betsey Beckman, MM September 11-19, 2022 – ONE TWIN SPACE LEFT (Male) [siteorigin_widget class=”SiteOrigin_Widget_Image_Widget”][/siteorigin_widget] Fire of the Holy Spirit, life of the life of every creature, holy are you in giving life to forms. Rivers spring forth from the waters earth wears her green vigor. –Hildegard of Bingen. Description [siteorigin_widget […]
Ancestral Pilgrimage: Journeying to Places of Family Significance (a love note)
While I am away leading a pilgrimage in Vienna, Austria I offer you this reflection from the Abbey archives: As we grow older we have more and more people to remember, people who have died before us. It is very important to remember those who have loved us and those we have loved. Remembering them […]
May 19: Inner Landscape – Pilgrimage of Resurrection
(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)
Word for Today: Inner Landscape While some physical places and landscapes feel more like home to us, ultimately it is in service to us discovering the primal home within each one of us. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within Reflective Question: What would it be like to move through the […]
Wandering for the Love of God: Shepherd – Pilgrimage of Resurrection through Creative Practice (a love note)
This is the fourth in a series of eight reflections over the season of Easter on making a pilgrimage of resurrection. Word for Today: Shepherd In the gospel reading for this fourth Sunday of Easter, Jesus offers us the image of the good shepherd. Living in Ireland, flocks of sheep are very much a part […]
April 20: Threshold – Pilgrimage of Resurrection
(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)
Word for Today: Threshold [The Desert Mothers and Fathers] journey into the desert was the crossing of a threshold towards an intentional awareness of God’s presence and recognizing that worldly pleasures bring little long-term satisfaction. The aim was to experience God in each moment and activity. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight […]
April 17: Beauty – Pilgrimage of Resurrection
(A Creative Journey through the Easter Season)
Word for Today: Beauty If we’re really honest with ourselves, in a world where terrible things happen there must be room made for doubt. We must give ourselves and others space to wrestle with the essential questions of our lives. Believing in times of beauty and transcendence leads us to the idea there must also […]