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Hours of a Day, Hours of a Life

Last weekend I was down in Oregon for the last weekend of a training program I participated in all last year on the Art of Supervision of Spiritual Directors.  It was a great program and supervision is one of my professional growing places, something I believe deeply in, not just for spiritual directors, but for all those in forms of pastoral ministry.  The word “supervision” doesn’t really do justice to the process — which is a way of deepening self-awareness and growth in response to encounters in work and ministry.  It is a place to set down our roles and

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Blooming

Poppies greet morning with orange wonder and mirth, I begin to bloom. -Christine Valters Paintner *** Make sure to visit this week’s new Photo Party! *** © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook, follow this blog on Facebook, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

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Invitation to Photography: Summer Solstice

Welcome to the very first Abbey Photo Party!  This is a new experiment and sort of a twist on the regular Poetry Parties.  Instead of my selecting a theme and image and inviting you to respond with words, I will select a theme and poem and invite you to respond with images.  Since you can’t post images directly in the comments section here, I invite you to add them to the Flickr Group I have created.  Please do leave a comment below to let us know you have joined the party and feel free to link back to your own blog and post your image there too. 

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Liturgy as a Feast for the Senses

I will be writing a regular weekly article for Patheos on Art & Spirit in the Church. Click the link for this week’s feature, see the links below for previous articles.  It is for the Catholic Gateway, but much of what I write is accessible to an ecumenical audience. Liturgy as a Feast for the Senses The Christian imagination and experience of the world are shaped by a God who becomes fully human – who steps into what it means to be flesh with all of its joys and wounds. In the Gospels, we often find the person of Jesus sharing meals,

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Are you listening?

Growing up in New York City, my favorite place was The Cloisters (a branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art with art from medieval European monasteries). I had fallen in love with the aesthetic dimension of monastic tradition long before I understood what that way of life really meant. The art, architecture, music, and illuminated manuscripts all made me swoon.  It wasn’t until graduate school that I really did begin to understand and fall further in love.  Hildegard of Bingen was my entrypoint.  Always having had a love of art and spirituality, I wanted to know more about this incredible woman who

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Beauty and Spirituality

Have you checked out Patheos yet? (the great new site exploring different religious traditions)  I will be contributing to them regularly on the topic of art and spirituality and my latest article is here — Beauty and Spirituality — so pour yourself a cup of tea and contemplate the role of beauty in your own spiritual practice and then head on over to this week’s Poetry Party  for more creative inspiration!

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Visual Meditation: Light & Shadow

  ** Make sure you visit this week’s Poetry Party  on Shadow & Light (these are a few more of the images from my photographic journey last week)** ______________________________________________ © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts Become a fan of the Abbey on Facebook, follow this blog on Facebook, friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter

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Invitation to Poetry: Light & Shadow

Welcome to our 36th Poetry Party! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add them in the comments section and a link to your blog (if you have one).  Make sure to check the comments for new poems added and I encourage you to leave encouraging comments for each other either here or at the poet’s own blog. ADDED NOTE: Mister Linky is acting kind of funny and not loading properly and slowing down the loading of my blog, so for now we’re doing this the old-fashioned way and posting the poems

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