HeyJaredFollowing the Monastic Impulse
a newsletter that sits between our wisdom traditions, contemporary spirituality, and emerging futures. Written by Katie Gordon, it offers an occasional glimpse into her reflections on living, learning, and experimenting at this intersection.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
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- Sep 28, 2026
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- Jul 7, 2026
Latest issues
Stepping Into the New (opens the original)
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September 21“It totally changed my life.”This was how Judith Lorei began our conversation, when we met on Zoom to talk about how she joined Mary Lou Kownacki on her Peace & Monasticism pilgrimage in 1978. Since I first read it, I have loved Mary Lou’s book based on her diaries from this pilgrimage. The book, Peace Is Our Calling: Contemporary Monasticism and the Peace Movement, is one of the first things I read when I moved into the same community Mary Lou belonged to and started working for her
succisa virescit (opens the original)
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The following shortened reflection is from a letter I wrote for Monasteries of the Heart, an online monastery committed to translating Benedictine wisdom for contemporary seekers. The theme of the letter—in addition to celebrating fifteen years as an online monastery, with over 30,000 memberships created in that time (!!)—has a teaching for us all. The monastic wisdom succisa virescit is one for the ages.<a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!3
Spiritual lessons from a global pop star and a radical mystic (opens the original)
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In the university course I teach on Catholic Spirituality, the students settled into their seats and I pulled up the lyric video for Sauvignon Blanc by Rosalía.“We’re studying the life of Teresa of Avila today,” I told them, “so we’ll be doing lectio divina—rather, musica divina—with a song inspired by her.”The practice was rich as we set lyrics from a contemporary pop star alongside the life and teachings of a 16th century saint. The more I listen, the more I find a profound translation of a my
An ancient monk, a wicked witch, and a different way of thinking about change. (opens the original)
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For Saint Benedict’s Feast Day on July 11, I wanted to share a piece I wrote after watching Wicked: For Good last winter. It offers a different way into his ancient story through the mirror of a contemporary fable, and as a result helps us wrestle with unjust systems and seek ways to make change.What do Benedict and Boethius, Elphaba and Glinda, all have in common?Each pair—the former from sixth century Rome and the latter from the popular movie/musical/novel Wicked—offers us a different way of
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