Gospel According to Saint Luke (3:1-6)
John went throughout the whole region of the Jordan,
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
Every valley shall be [...]
Posted in Advent Christmas Epiphany, Pilgrimage | 3 Comments »
As I began this year I had an encounter with a flock of pigeons which lifted my heart unexpectedly and then I found a feather on my doorstep. And so “Taking Flight” became my image for the year ahead. On my recent pilgrimage, winged ones – both avian and angelic – were significant symbols for [...]
Posted in Nature, Photos, Pilgrimage, Poetry | 9 Comments »
Photos taken in Rome, poem excerpted from Rilke’s “Winged Energy of Delight”
© Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts:
Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts
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Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (February 2010)
Water, Wind, Earth, and [...]
Posted in Photos, Pilgrimage, Poetry | 8 Comments »
I think we talk because what lives inside silence scares us.
-Linda Hogan
Where will your own “zona sacra” be found today?
(Photos taken at the Abbey of Montecassino in Italy)
© Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts:
Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts
Posted in Photos, Pilgrimage | 5 Comments »
There is a story from the Desert Fathers where one asks another “what is a monk?” And the response was “someone who asks ‘what is a monk?’ everyday.”
Laurence Freeman, OSB at the World Congress of Benedictine Oblates in Rome began his talk on contemplation with this image and invited us as Oblates to consider the [...]
Posted in Pilgrimage | 7 Comments »
I am leaving again to lead a retreat on Honoring Our Ancestors. These next few days are a threshold time in the Celtic calendar, when the veil between worlds is said to be especially thin. I have been lingering in this thin place for the last month and am eager to join with a group [...]
Posted in Art, Creativity, & Spirituality Retreat, Pilgrimage | 3 Comments »
Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake.
-Wallace Stevens
I began my pilgrimage in Rome arriving late at night after my flight was delayed by several hours and I was bumped to a later connection. The first day of the World Congress of Benedictine Oblates was very full. I remember feeling filled with anticipation and also drained [...]
Posted in Pilgrimage | 8 Comments »
A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.
May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely [...]
Posted in Pilgrimage | 8 Comments »
Christine at Blisschick invited me to reflect on a moment of “unexpected bliss” for her series this week. Stop by to read my reflections on the way language can express the “curves of (our) longing” . . . lovely for me to re-read these words I wrote before my trip as I sit now in [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Pilgrimage | 1 Comment »
The darkness embraces everything,
It lets me imagine
a great presence stirring beside me.
I believe in the night.
-Rainer Maria Rilke in Book of Hours
I write to you from the beautiful city of Vienna. I am in the middle of an amazing time of pilgrimage and journeying to the heart of myself. After many months of hard work [...]
Posted in Family Systems, Pilgrimage | 1 Comment »
