Abbey of the Arts

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 15, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august15-2026

“Mary’s Assumption not only infuses the heavenly realm with the feminine, but because she is assumed both body and soul, it also becomes a marriage between heaven and earth as in the Incarnation.”

—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, "Birthing the Holy: Wisdom from Mary to Nurture Creativity and Renewal"

What are ways you can embrace and honor the sacred feminine and the Incarnation today?

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 14, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august14-2026

A Poem Lives (excerpt)

A poem lives in the trails of joy
carved across sky by birds,
in the open hungry mouth
of a badger cub,

—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, "What Enters Through the Open Heart: Poems"

Where do you see a living poem today?

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 13, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august13-2026

“Taking time to be quiet helps us withdraw to an interior peace, in which we are neither speaking nor listening. We just are. Right there in the moment.”

—Melinda Emily Thomas, "Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way"

You’re invited to allow time to just be today — what does the practice of being feel like for you?

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 12, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august12-2026

“If actions speak louder than words, then may we be people of active compassion, mercy and justice, embodying the Holy loud and clear for the world.”

—Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, Exile and Coming Home: An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures — An Online, Self-Study Retreat

How are you invited to embody the Holy today?

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 11, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august11-2026

Celebrating St. Clare of Assisi's Feast Day:

“[Clare] started the Order of Poor Ladies (later renamed the Order of Poor Clares in her honor). While she was a gentle soul who often struggled with illness, she stayed true to her vision of a new religious order, even in the face of opposition from Church authorities.”

—Abbey of the Arts, "Dancing Monk Feast Days: Reflections, Creative Invitations, and Prayers"

What commitments are so strong in your heart you are willing to fight for them?

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 10, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august10-2026

“Ishvara Prandinaha—surrender to God—leads us to the place where our deepest desires bring great good in the world.”

—Melinda Emily Thomas, "Sacred Balance: Aligning Body and Spirit Through Yoga and the Benedictine Way"

When have you rejected your deep desires? What great good might they bring to the world?

{Abbey of the Arts} : For Deeper Gratitude - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/for-deeper-gratitude-aug9-2026 One of the things that makes contemplative life so counter-cultural is the active resistance against living a life of busyness & exhaustion, of not making that a badge of pride, of making time to ponder, to be more present, & to live life more slowly & attentively. We are called to regularly cease, to trust the world will continue on without us, & to know this embodiment of grace & gift is revolutionary. Nothing else needs to be done.

Daily Nourishment from Abbey of the Arts | August 8, 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/abbeyofthearts/daily-nourishment-from-abbey-of-the-arts-august8-2026

Here, Now (excerpt)

To bless the bones and thorns
and the night sky with a thousand promises,
to feel the expansion and contraction
of every living thing,

—Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, "What Enters Through the Open Heart: Poems"

What is the universe inviting you into here and now?

Join us IN PERSON for a Contemplative Prayer service led by Program Director Melinda Thomas and Wisdom Council member Jamie Marich at the Wild Goose Festival on Saturday, September 5th at 10am!

We’re thrilled to be a part of the festival this year bringing together today's most creative, thought-provoking writers, artists, dreamers, visionaries, peace and justice activists, and status-quo disrupters.

Wild Goose Festival is a transformational, experiential, sing and dance and play and dream and eat and camp and meditate and talk and listen summer experience!

Use code A-AOTA for $50 the price of your ticket. WildGooseFestival.org

Melinda & Jamie will also participate in a panel on mysticism. Jamie will lead multiples sessions including one on memoir writing, and Melinda will offer a poetry reading.