Visit the Abbey of the Arts online retreat platform to access your programs:

Login Here

Reflections

Filter

Invitation to Poetry: Words for the Heart

Welcome to our Poetry Party #43! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add your responses in the comments section.  Feel free to take your poem in any direction (ie, you can break the “rules” suggested below) and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one) and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the image if a link is provided back to this post) On Friday, January 15th, I will draw a name at random from those who participate and send

Read More
January 11, 2010

The Exquisite Tenderness of Bodies

This article also appeared over at Patheos (click on the link and to the right of my piece you can see a whole list of articles for their discussion this week on religion & the body): Here I am. This is the body-like-no-other that my life has shaped. I live here. This is my soul’s address. -Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World: A Geography of Faith Two summers ago I was traveling in Austria and visited the tiny village of Hallstatt. Perched between a mountain and a lake, Hallstatt is best known for its early Celtic heritage and

Read More
January 7, 2010

Winter Solstice Meditation: Each of Us is the Midwife of God

If You Want If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say… “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, My time is so close.” Then, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us. Yes, there, under the dome of your being does Creation come into existence eternally, through your woman, dear pilgrim – the sacred womb of

Read More
December 17, 2009

Invitation to Poetry: Sharing Our Deepest Joy

Welcome to our Poetry Party #42! I am posting this week’s Poetry Party since the third week of Advent begins today! 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. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog if

Read More
December 13, 2009

Advent: The Road is Made by Walking

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 filled and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” When Luke quotes Isaiah in this

Read More
December 5, 2009

When I began to wake

*The invitation of the first week of Advent is to awaken (click the link to read last Sunday’s reflection)* © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

Read More
December 2, 2009

Advent: Uncovering What Has Been Hidden

Every year for the first Sunday of Advent we read a version of Jesus’ description of the end of days.  In the Gospel reading from St. Luke this week, Jesus’ language is filled with apocalyptic images of fear and trembling and signs “in the sun, the moon, and the stars.”   The word apocalypse essentially means revelation and is from the Greek for “uncovering what has been hidden.” In other words, apocalypse is about the revelation of a new truth in our lives.  And Jesus’ reminder to “beware that your hearts do not become drowsy” is well-heeded in a time when

Read More
November 28, 2009

Invitation to Poetry: Expanding the Heart in Gratitude (and Book Giveaway!)

Welcome to our Poetry Party #41! 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. Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog if you have one and encourage others to come join the party! (permission is granted to reprint the

Read More
November 23, 2009

What is God’s will for a wing?

(Photo taken in Squamish, BC – quote discovered while on pilgrimage) * Crossing the Threshold: New Year, New Beginnings will be available early next week – order your copies for holiday gifts today! * © Christine Valters Paintner at Abbey of the Arts: Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

Read More
November 20, 2009

Taking Flight

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 me, appearing to me constantly during my travels and reminding me of that heart-transcending moment months before. The crow in particular became significant.  I have always loved these black “glossy and rowdy” creatures, and since moving to Seattle over six years ago I have become

Read More
November 18, 2009