Contemplative Life

Contemplative Outreach

Contemplative Outreach is an international network of individuals and small faith communities committed to living the contemplative dimension of the Gospel. They also publish and distribute the wisdom teachings of Fr. Thomas Keating and other resources that support the contemplative life.

Holy Hill Hermitage

A place of retreat where people of all faiths can immerse themselves in silence and solitude amid the beauty of the mountains and sea of the west of Ireland as well as a community of men and women living a communal life based in the Carmelite contemplative tradition.

The Holy Monastery of the God-trodden Mount Sinai

Saint Catherine’s Monastery, at the foot of Mount Sinai, is the oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery, with a history that can be traced back over seventeen centuries—a living example of enduring harmonious coexistence with its Islamic surroundings. The monastery predates the divisions of the Christian world, and is home to an important number of ancient manuscripts.

Neumz: the complete Gregorian Chant

Neumz is the largest recording project ever undertaken: the complete Gregorian Chant, in a long term collaboration with the community of Benedictine nuns of the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Fidélité of Jouques, in French Provence.

Order of Buddhist Contemplatives

An international monastic order in the Serene Reflection Meditation tradition of Buddhism, also called Soto Zen. Their lineage goes back to Japan and Malaysia through the late Reverend Master Jiyu-Kennett. Their website hosts a wealth of free articles, books and media, including translations of Buddhist classics and links to the library of Shasta Abbey and other affiliated monasteries.

Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappist Order) 

Centralised website for this Roman Catholic contemplative religious order, consisting of monasteries of monks and monasteries of nuns. Part of the larger Cistercian family which traces its origin to 1098.

Society of the Friends of Mount Athos

“Dedicated to the study and promulgation of knowledge of the history, culture, arts, architecture, natural history, and literature of the Orthodox monasteries of Mount Athos.”

Sogenji Monastery 

Rinzai Zen temple in Okayama, Japan, headwaters of One Drop Zendo, a worldwide Zen Buddhist community. Their abbot, Shodo Harada Roshi, welcomes people from all over the world who are interested in serious monastic practice.

Turvey Abbey 

“The life of the Olivetan Benedictine nuns at Turvey Abbey has many activities and areas of interest but only one purpose: to seek God.” This they do by following the Rule of St Benedict and thus living the vows of stability, obedience, and conversio morum (“conversion of manners”). Among its other activities, this community in Bedfordshire hosts a variety of special ecumenical and interfaith gatherings every year.

The Veil: Contemplating the Christian Mysteries 

Related to the Maryvale Institute, “The Veil seeks to provide essays and texts for those interested in an ongoing formation in faith – what in the early church was called mystagogia – a deeper contemplation of the Mysteries of Christian Revelation.”