Grief as Sacred Journey (a love note)
Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Thank you for the very moving notes so many of you sent me from my reflection last week on chronic illness as pilgrimage experience. I am continuing to break my heart open to you here and offer another difficult journey, that of the grief of losing a loved one. I […]
Sing a Rededication of Your Life (a love note)
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, “A Moment’s Indulgence” Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, I offer you this excerpt from my new book The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Inner Journey. These […]
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 […]