Hospitality, Trust Tending, and Soul Nourishment
This month’s theme at the Abbey is hospitality. You can find more reflections here, here and here. There are lots of wondrous resources to share and upcoming classes to consider in support of your own journey of inner hospitality: Live it to Give it If you are a soul care practitioner in need of some support in […]
New Review of Desert Fathers and Mothers (and Living Spiritual Teachers Project)
I am really honored by Spirituality and Practice‘s review of my latest book Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings — Annotated & Explained: In her absolutely brilliant introduction to the desert fathers and mothers, Paintner does a wonderful job explaining the desert as a place of deep encounter; the significant figures in this […]
Silence as a Door to Reverence:
A CinemaDivina Prayer Offering
The theme for September here at the Abbey is silence based on the first principle of the Monk Manifesto: “I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation.” (Please consider stopping by to sign the […]
Autumn Equinox: Honoring Harvest and Release
Oh autumn, how I love thee so. . . these next few months make my soul come alive in ways that summer never does. I like to think of autumn and winter as true monk months – the time of releasing, letting go, surrendering into silence and stilless, of waiting and dwelling in Mystery. The […]
Happy Feast of St. Hildegard!
Underneath all the texts, all the sacred psalms and canticles, these watery varieties of sounds and silences, terrifying, mysterious, whirling and sometimes gestating and gentle must somehow be felt in the pulse, ebb, and flow of the music that sings in me. My new song must float like a feather on the breath of God. […]
The Call of Retreat: Silence (the Abbess is away until August 25th)
This week I follow the call to sink into the silence and stillness. Solitude calls my name and shows me my reflection as a sacred offering. In this place the forest will ask me to embrace my truth once again. The hummingbird will invite me to sip holy nectar, the egret to stretch out my wings, the sparrows to remember […]
Threshold: “ripened until it is real”
Transition (Excerpt) You are not surprised at the force of the storm —you have seen it growing. The trees flee. Their flight sets the boulevards streaming. And you know: he whom they flee is the one you move toward. All your senses sing him, as you stand at the window. . . Through the empty […]