Reflections

Christine Sine at Godspace so graciously invited me to reflect on how lectio divina has changed my life and view of the world.  Here is a brief except from The Transforming Power of Lectio Divina: A Deeper Look at the Four Movements: After almost twenty years of practicing lectio divina, I see the world differently.  Each moment and thing has the potential to become a vehicle for revelation.  Lectio divina has changed my life.  Instead of being something I practice for twenty minutes each morning it has become a way I experience and move through the world.  Instead of feeling

Elizabeth Scalia who blogs at The Anchoress has a lovely new review of The Artist’s Rule.  Here is an excerpt from her review on my exploration of monastic hospitality: There, I encountered a notion I’d suspected for a while — that difficulty in welcoming others as Christ is rooted in one’s difficulty in welcoming the Christ within oneself — but in Paintner’s gentle voice, this didn’t seem nearly as harsh as it has seemed in my own. Paintner recognizes, and wants the reader to recognize, that our inner selves, our passions, fears, miseries and imaginings all exist and run amok

I am delighted that The Artist’s Rule will be one of the featured books at the Patheos Book Club for the last half of August. Visit the book club page to find: an interview with me about contemplation and creativity an excerpt from the book (chapter 1) a link to a blogger’s roundtable where folks will be posting in response to my book during the next couple of weeks.  The first two are lovely posts by Carl Gregg and Eliacin. I will post updates with links here.

I am delighted to have a guest post up at Anam Cara, the spiritual direction site run by the delightful Tara Owens.  Tara asked me to write about “art, delight, and the spiritual life” and here is an excerpt: When Tara asked me to write about art, delight, and the spiritual life it was really that word “delight” which shimmered for me. Summer for me is a season of savoring sweetness and delight, of relishing the gift of abundance as I walk through our weekly farmer’s market or watch my dog romp and play in wide open fields or cherish long

The lovely Claudia Mairs Burney who hosted my article on The Artist Begins Again and Again also invited me to an “innerview” on the practice of lectio divina.  Here is an excerpt: What do these sacred words do for the soul? Words can illuminate our hearts; they contain the seeds of invitation to cross a new threshold.  Words ripen within us.  We can receive a word and not realize its full impact for our lives for a long while until one day we suddenly see things differently. I often find lines of poems singing in my heart for months after

Image Journal is one of my favorite resources for integrating art, faith, and mystery. Produced by the fine people at Seattle Pacific University and hosts of the wonderful annual Glen workshop (which I have had the joy of attending twice before), I am thrilled to read this beautifully-written review of The Artist’s Rule in their latest email newsletter: The Artist’s Rule, by Christine Valters Paintner, is a work of deft matchmaking between two human archetypes: the monk and the artist. As a Benedictine oblate and spiritual director, Paintner has the gifts needed to distill the wisdom of an ancient monastic

Claudia Mairs Burney is the Abbess at the lovely Sunshine Abbey where I have a guest post today on the wisdom of beginning again: As artists and creative people we are filled with the best of intentions.  We have big visions and a longing to express ourselves freely and fully. We begin a project – whether writing a book, painting a canvas, or composing a song – with enthusiasm and full of confidence.  Then somewhere along the way we find our energy waning, and the artwork we once felt such delight in has now become a source of vexation.  It hangs over