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Becoming a Holistic Artist: Embracing Body and Soul in the Creative Process ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, I was commissioned to write the article Becoming a Holistic Artist: Embracing Body and Soul in the Creative Process by Azusa Pacific University. Read the excerpt below then click the link for the full arcticle. The Monk and Artist Archetypes I have spent most of my professional career exploring the connections between two archetypes – the monk and the artist. Archetypes are universal patterns of energy found across cultures. Each of us has an inner monk and artist and we are invited to cultivate those aspects of ourselves. The monk is the part of ourselves that seeks connection with

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Christine Interviewed on Praying at the Speed of Love Podcast

This is the perfect conversation for a time of pandemic and quarantine. Christine invited us to explore how the monastic view embraces all of life—treasures and sorrows, cygnets and compost. She offered rich insights into the practices of Stability, Wild Edges, Grief, and the paradoxical state of Holy Indifference. She took us into a gentle meditation of memory—a heart practice to rediscover the gifts in small experiences. An excerpt from Earth, Our Original Monastery is included as well as a song based on Christine’s poem about St. Columba and his horse. Click here to listen to the podcast>>

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Nancy L. Agneberg

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nancy L. Agneberg’s reflection, “Release Busyness-Embrace Fullness.” One morning several years ago, while exercising at the gym, a friend, recently retired, shared that her daughter had tried to guilt her into setting aside her own plans to babysit yet again, “You’re not busy. I don’t see what the big deal is,” the daughter said to my friend, who was ambivalent about how to respond. “Should I drop what I have planned to do with my day when she

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 4 ~ Guided Movement Practice by Christine – A Love Note from your Online Abbess

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, During this Jubilee year of sabbatical we are revisiting our Monk Manifesto by moving slowly through the Monk in the World retreat materials together every Sunday. This is our eighth and final principle that we will explore for the next six weeks. Principle 8. I commit to being a dancing monk, cultivating creative joy and letting my body and “heart overflow with the inexpressible delights of love.” *quote is from the Prologue of the Rule of Benedict. Movement Practice Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and

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Praise Song for the Pandemic – German Translation

Our dear friend Katharina Resch has translated the “Praise Song for the Pandemic” into German. Dankeslied für die Pandemie by Christine Valters Paintner Dank sei allen, die an Krankenbetten um leidende Körper kämpfen, um gerettete und verlorene Leben, immer im Dienst, was auch auf sie wartet  Dank sei allen, die Felder bestellen, auf den Äckern eine neue Ernte säen – welch Zeichen der Hoffnung in dieser Zeit Dank sein allen, die unsere Häuser reinigen und betreuen, die unseren Müll entsorgen, die Lebensmittel verkaufen, die mit ihren Lastwägen durch lange einsame Nächte fahren  Dank sei allen, die Busse lenken, die Pakete

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Anne Knorr

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Knorr’s reflection, “The Gift of Pilgrimage.” Arriving in Porto, Portugal with carry-on luggage in tow and feeling the anticipation of the adventure awaiting mixed with the fatigue and grogginess from jetlag, my traveling companion and I wandered through the modern airport where large expanses of glass let the warm Portuguese sunlight fill the space and exposed metal beams arched across the ceiling above. We rolled our twin red GoLite bags across the sleek gray tiled floor in

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Writing as a Spiritual Practice
(Zoom mini-retreat on July 11th)

with Christine Valters Paintner July 11, 2020 – 9am-12noon Pacific time Join us for this session where we will explore writing as a spiritual practice. Christine will guide you through different exercises to help you yield to the process of writing as a journey of discovery, rather than holding too tightly to the end product. In this way words become maps and help us to encounter new parts of ourselves, our calling, and our relationship to the divine. We will engage in both free writing and poetry writing and all are welcome regardless of level of experience. This is a

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Monk in the World: Creative Joy 3 ~ Special CinemaDivina from Marilyn Freeman

Dear monks, artists and pilgrims, The Good Zeal of Monks  is a villanelle inspired by the Rule of Benedict, chapter 72. Good Zeal is from CinemaDivina, contemplative video essays created especially for lectio divina practice. I am so pleased to introduce Marilyn Freeman who is a filmmaker in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. whom I first met at St. Placid Priory in Lacey, WA, where Marilyn and I are Benedictine oblates. She has a true monastic heart and she brings it to a beautiful spiritual practice she calls CinemaDivina. Rooted in the contemplative prayer and listening of lectio divina,

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3 New Poems by Christine

Christine has three poems in the newest edition of Impspired Magazine online! Click the link for “St Clare and the Cat,” “St Francis and the Wolf,” and “My Last Poem.” The first two are from her series of saint and animals poems.  Click here to read the poems at Inspired Magazine.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Rita Simon

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World Guest Post series from the community. Read on for Rita Simon’s reflection, “Finding Treasures in Aimlessness.” For where your treasure is, there your heart will be. ~ Matthew 6:21 Walk and touch peace every moment. Walk and touch happiness every moment. Each step brings a fresh breeze. Each step makes a flower bloom under your feet. ~Thich Nhat Hahn I grew up the eldest of nine children in a small Wisconsin town. My mother did not drive until she finally got her license at age 60,

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