There are a lot of new things blossoming here at the Abbey.  Just last week I accepted a halftime position as the Program Coordinator for the Ignatian Spirituality Center that begins later this summer.  I am delighted to be a part of the mission of this organization.  While I reflect a lot here on Benedictine spirituality, Ignatian […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Creativity | 10 Comments »

The Hammock
When I lay my head in my mother’s lap
I think how day hides the star,
the way I lay hidden once, waiting
inside my mother’s singing to herself. And I remember
how she carried me on her back
between home and the kindergarten,
once each morning and once each afternoon.
I don’t know what my mother’s thinking.
When my son lays […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Pilgrimage | 8 Comments »

“But when the shadow is given conscious recognition we will find that it has much of positive value to add to our personality, often giving us the earthiness, or instinctuality, or zest for living, or humility that is exactly what we need to complement our personality and become a complete human being.” -John A. Sanford, Dreams: […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Abbey Bookshelf | 4 Comments »

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Dropping Keys
The small man
Builds cages for everyone
He
Knows.
While the sage,
Who has to duck his head
When the moon is low,
Keeps dropping keys all night long
For the
Beautiful
Rowdy
Prisoners.
-Hafiz
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(a simple meditation this week — photo is of a collection I have of old keys from Austria) 
-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
** Come back Monday for our next Poetry Party […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Visual Meditation | 6 Comments »

Into the Wild
The cancer began so small,
just a hummingbird
caught in the house.
It could be gently removed
without much fuss,
flying from the window, opened.
But, a whole other nest was found.
Hiding in the corner,
this cancer was not so innocent.
As the eggs cracked
and babies grew,
they brought a frenzy and chaos within.
Although these were
just small wrens,
the surgeon wielded his knife.
Poison […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Visual Meditation | 10 Comments »

 -Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(photos taken along the shore of the Hood Canal)
The winner of this week’s Poetry Party drawing will be announced later today! There’s still time to add your poem — currently up to 23 participants which is a wonderful outpouring of creative energy.

Posted in Photos, Season by the Sea, Visual Meditation | 11 Comments »

-Christine Valters Paintner @ Abbey of the Arts
(photos taken over the Christmas holiday while at Whistler, British Columbia)

Posted in Photos, Visual Meditation | 10 Comments »

The Earth will be going on a long time
Before it finally freezes;
Men will be on it; they will take names,
Give their deeds reasons.
We will be here only
As chemical constituents-
A small franchise indeed.
Right now we have lives,
Corpuscles, Ambitions, Caresses,
Like everybody had once-
Here at the year’s end, at the feast
Of birth, let us bring to each other
The […]

Posted in Photos, Poetry, Epiphany | 10 Comments »

The Inukshuk is an Inuit symbol of welcome and you find them frequently in Canada.  Sometimes they point the direction of safe passage or mark an important place.  This one is near the top of Whistler Mountain.  We spent a couple of days over Christmas at Whistler and it was quite a magical place to […]

Posted in Photos | 11 Comments »

***** 
Blessings to you dear readers in these winter days when the trees invite us to contemplate our essence and the faint light traveling low across the sky beckons us to rest.  The Winter Solstice is tomorrow, when the earth begins her slow tilt to welcome back the light. 
The Abbey is on sabbatical until the New Year.  Christine, John, and Tune […]

Posted in Photos, Visual Meditation | 21 Comments »