Letting Go During Lent: Seeing Death as our Friend
To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) This is my latest Sacred Seasons column on Patheos, click here to read it there and please share! Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims, Today we enter the long desert of the Lenten season. If you participate in a liturgical […]
Earth Monastery Project: Hospitality Grounds Community Garden
Abbey of the Arts sponsors a small grant program called the Earth Monastery Project. We began the program in 2014 and so far we have funded six wonderful projects which nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness in our world. It is exciting to us to see the creativity at work in the world and how dancing monks are […]
Body-Words of Love
Several years ago, before moving to Ireland, I completed a training to teach yoga. I began the program because I had practiced yoga for many years and longed to dive more deeply into it. I expected to fall in love with my own body even more in the process; what I didn’t expect was how much I would […]
Love and Hospitality (a love note from your online Abbess)
Dearest dancing monks, 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 was […]
Earth Monastery Project: Young Adult Vocational Development
Abbey of the Arts sponsors a small grant program called the Earth Monastery Project. We began the program in 2014 and so far we have funded six wonderful projects which nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness in our world. It is exciting to us to see the creativity at work in the world and how dancing monks are […]
Invitation to Photography: Community – Who is your tribe?
Welcome to this month’s Abbey Photo Party! I select a theme and invite you to respond with images. We began this month with a Community Lectio Divina practice with our reflection on the theme of Community (one of the principles of the Monk Manifesto) and belonging based on a quote by Thomas Merton. I invite you for this month’s Photo Party to hold these words in […]
Crossing the threshold into Lent and the Sacred Seasons
Dearest dancing monks, John and I had the great pleasure of attending the Brigid’s Eve festival procession last Saturday night in Kildare. Over a hundred and fifty people processed with candlelight and lanterns under the waxing moon and a scattering of stars, while singing in chants in both English and Irish. It was quite awe-inspiring. Then we […]