Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Abbess love notes

The Spirit of Jubilee: A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Fling wide the gates,
open the ancient doors,
and the Holy One will come in!

—Psalm 24

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,

In preparation for our Jubilee year of sabbatical I have been reading Maria Harris’ book Jubilee Time: Celebrating Women, Spirit, and the Advent of Age. She begins with the image of Crossing the Threshold which has been a potent one for me for many years, perhaps because I have felt my life to be a whole series of thresholds summoning me to new mysteries and adventures. She draws from the biblical text which John explored for you in last week’s love note. Jubilee is a time of both letting go and deepening into freedom.

Approaching my 50thyear I feel grateful every morning for this life I lead, with a wonderful husband, in a beautiful landscape, with many collaborators, and meaningful work with open-hearted participants. I feel as though the year ahead offers me a chance to savor even more, to rest into spaciousness and discover what awaits me there. Maria Harris describes the 50thyear as an orientation time. She mentions the ancient practice of orienting churches along the east-west axis so that the altar faces the dawn and the time of new beginning. This is a time to begin again. She also includes the quote from Psalm 24 above in her text and I read in it an invitation to make space for the sacred to enter my life in new ways.

I enjoy getting older and the wisdom that life experience brings with it. I cherish the keen awareness I have of my limited days on earth and how I want to inhabit this time. The season ahead is an opportunity to realign myself with what makes my heart sing the loudest and to see where perhaps my energy no longer needs to be directed.

Maria Harris writes: “Saying no is a significant Jubilee moment. It symbolizes turning away from external demands on our time and acknowledging we have a right, even a duty, not to say yes to every request that comes our way.” I have long been a fan of the word no, of setting clear boundaries so my energy can thrive. But sometimes a pause is necessary to reevaluate, to see where there have been perhaps too many yeses.

Many of you might be familiar with the concept of peregrinatio which I have written about many times. This Celtic form of pilgrimage involves stepping into a boat without rudder or oar, and letting the currents of divine love on the wind and water carry them to the place of their resurrection. This year ahead feels in many ways like a practice of setting aside my own agenda as much as possible. I have been asked many times by folks what we’ll be doing during our sabbatical. And while there are some practical answers to that question – a book I am committed to write on Sacred Time, a couple of pilgrimage experiences that have called to our hearts – mostly I am hoping for time to just listen deeply to where the currents of my life are carrying me now. My planning mind wants to figure out what this time ahead will mean. My intuitive heart knows better to rest into the mystery of things and allow for holy surprises to emerge.

What plans might you release to let yourself be carried to the shores of your heart’s unfolding?

We would be really honored and delighted if you were able to support this time ahead in some way, especially to continue our website and email newsletters which cost a lot to maintain. Anything at all you can contribute is most welcome as well as your prayers and blessings!

Everyone who signs up for Level 2-4 of our Jubilee program before June 24th will be entered to win a prize – two people will be selected in a random drawing to receive the audiobook version of The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred. Winners will be contacted the week of June 25th.

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

Photo © Christine Valters Paintner

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Leave a Comment June 9, 2019

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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