Even when your father wound is to deep or too violent to revisit, it must not break the sacred father image for you. What Kierkegaard describes in almost archetypal terms is that every one has an idea of the dive origin of “fatherliness.” It has redeeming powers.

Jun 18
Jun 18 On Covid, existential angst, and our longing for a spirit moment

Almut Furchert

The experience of falling ill with Covid reminds us of the vulnerability of all life. Paired with the pandemic of mass shootings existential angst becomes hard to bear. Retreating into the present moment becomes a mode of survival.

Jun 18
Jun 18 Walking with Child: A Father's Day practice (not only for fathers)

Chuck Huff

Today we invite you to take a walk, and be gently and graciously aware of the gifts you carry. Cradle what you find in your heart as it would be a baby child.

Jun 18

Jun 18 Invitation to Solitude. Sit in your cell

Chuck Huff

Let’s visit the desert father Abba Moses and see what we can learn from him.

Apr 8
Apr 8 "Come ye daughters, share my mourning.” Entering Passion Week in a plagued world

Almut Furchert

Passion Week

With his Passion JS Bach has created a grand lamentation. He does not to believe that coping with our fears and sorrows means to keep them in check in order to quickly get over them. Instead his music gives us a container for our sorrows and seduces us into the beauty of lamentation. Joining in this orchestrated experience of mourning can actually be self-soothing and a strategy for resilience in the face of tragedy.

Apr 3
Apr 3 Retreating to the Garden. Monastic Gardens as places of nature, nurture and contemplation

Almut Furchert

Mar 19
Mar 19 Welcoming Spring in a Pained World

Almut Furchert

Mar 19
Mar 19 How to walk the desert this Lenten season? A Blessing of Encouragement

Almut Furchert & Chuck Huff

Lenten reflection

Mar 13

Mar 13 A Time for Cursing Psalms

Chuck Huff

lesson from the monastery, Lenten reflection

I gave a talk on the cursing psalms the day after Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists attacked multiple targets in the USA. In these days of renewed war in Europe, what shall we do with our sorrow, our despair, and our anger at such naked aggression, mass slaughter, and soulless calculation for war? Poetry gives us words for our unspoken, and unspeakable, feelings.

Jan 6

Jan 6 Beginning anew. A Farewell

Almut Furchert & Chuck Huff

12 Days of Christmas

Some women point out rightly that if it had been three wise women, they would have brought different gifts to the holy child, perhaps a blanket and some food, and they might have watched the baby so Mary could sleep. But when we translate the story into our own inward journey, bringing our most precious gifts might not be so inappropriate, after all.