WORKSHOP IN ABIQUIU, NEW MEXICO

I am blessed with many opportunities to enlarge my world each year. It seems many of them revolve around the state of New Mexico. Here's a glimpse of what will be my front door view next week.

I'll be attended a weeklong workshop at Ghost Ranch Conference and Retreat Center led by J. Philip and Alison Newell, former wardens of the Iona Community in Scotland.

I was blessed to have my paths cross with these 2 folks earlier this year on Sanibel Island. They were leading a Celtic weekend at the Episcopal church on the island. It was then that I learned of their association with Ghost Ranch. Each year, they spend some time in Abiquiu laying the groundwork for what they hope will eventually be an intentional desert community (Casa del Sol)organized under the principles and tenets of Celtic Spirituality.

Here is a glimpse of my upcoming week:

"THE GLORY OF LIFE IS YOURS"

The Casa del Sol Prayer of Jesus expresses the vision and commitments of the young Community of Casa del Sol and its spirituality center in the high desert of New Mexico. One of the prayer’s phrases, "The glory of life is yours," speaks of the light of the Living Presence within every person and creature, and within every culture and nation. This integrated week between Casa del Sol and the Ranch will consist of meditative prayer at the beginning and end of each day of teaching and singing in the Agape Center in the mornings, of rest and silence in the afternoons, and of further song and embodiment of our week’s theme in the evenings.

Philip just recently published a new book, "Christ of the Celts," which gives a wonderful overview of Celtic Spirituality. I was fortunate enough to have discovered this book during my stay at Christ in the Desert Monastery this past May. The words

resonated so deeply with me. If you believe in a loving God who created us in his/her image abounding in truth, beauty and grounded in the earth, I urge you to check out this book.

With free afternoons next week, I hope to get in some good walking, writing and prayer and contemplation. I expect that at least one day, I'll make a trip over to visit the brothers at Christ in the Desert.

Over the years, New Mexico has become like a second home to me. They say the desert will call you if you are meant to be there. I hear the song of the desert siren. Pray for me.

PAT WELLBURN

IONA ABBEY, SCOTLAND

JUNE, 2003

Soft white pincurls framed her sweet face,
where a smile broke through like a sunrise;
a smile like the thousands she'd generously blessed
on a full lifetime of family and friends.

In an instant, she spoke her name, Pat;

seemed more like a Violet or Camellia to me,
but in a deeper way, its briefness fit,
no pretense or filler, just cut to the core.

We spoke of prayer and favorite things.
Soon Pat shared the story of a workman,

arriving all gruff and about his business,

she thought, until he entered her garden.

Beauty is not content to stay a stranger,
and so she introduced her companions.
The workman stooped over and spoke to a Rose,
"How can one look at a flower and not believe in God?"

Pat wasn't present as she finished her story,

she'd returned to that precious memory

when truth paid a visit in overalls and joined beauty

in a turn on her garden dance floor.