  We present a new approach to extracting continuum quasi distributions from
lattice QCD. Quasi distributions are defined by matrix elements of a
Wilson-line operator extended in a spatial direction, evaluated between nucleon
states at finite momentum. We propose smearing this extended operator with the
gradient flow to render the corresponding matrix elements finite in the
continuum limit. This procedure provides a nonperturbative method to remove the
power-divergence associated with the Wilson line and the resulting matrix
elements can be directly matched to light-front distributions via perturbation
theory.
