Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

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    • About John Valters Paintner
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  • Books
    • Breath Prayer:
      An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
    • 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
    • Community Online Retreats
      • 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
      • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Sacred Balance:
        Aligning Body and Spirit Through
        Yoga and the Benedictine Way
    • 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)
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
        (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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 (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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
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Abbess love notes, Pandemic Resources

Love Note, Novena, and Praise Song for the Pandemic ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks, artists, and pilgrims,

This is a special love note because these are special times. During this Jubilee year we have been sharing our Monk in the World retreat content in this space and you will find this week's below. But I felt moved to write to you directly. The global disruption happening demands that our usual patterns and rhythms be disrupted as well.

We are experiencing an event unlike anything any of us has ever gone through before. There is much unknowing about the road ahead and where it will take us. We know that there will be more loss of life to come and with it the tremendous grief that accompanies it. Many of us are fearful both about the potential impact on our health and also on our financial futures and livelihood. I sit in this messiness with you. I do not have all the answers.

What I can offer are practices rooted in ancient wisdom. Practices which will help us to navigate the treacherous journey with more kindness, more compassion, more grace, and more hospitality to all of our deeply tender and wounded places. Monasticism flourished in the Dark Ages, when communities centered around attention to the divine and to each other.

I also believe that language is powerful and we might consider reframing the terms "social distancing" as "compassionate retreat" and "isolation" as "solitude." For those of us who are not in essential services (and we are seeing how not only medicine and science is vital right now, but all those who are serving our communities through food production and distribution, waste management, and much more) instead of filling our time with distraction, we have an opportunity to turn inward and do some deep reflection. Like Jesus' 40 days in the desert, we too are sitting vigil in the wilderness of our hearts. Our experience this Lent has been magnified.

My deepest hope is that through this time of compassionate retreating, we might begin to see a new way forward when all of this abates. That we might rebuild a society and culture on profound compassion and solidarity, and one that helps Earth to thrive and be nourished again.

John and I are still technically on sabbatical, but in the midst of this crisis we felt moved to offer a gift to this community – our Novena for Times of Unraveling. We began last week on the Feast of St Patrick and our nine days will end on the Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th). Each day includes a focus on a particular spiritual practice that can help sustain us. and offers a variety of resources including a live session with me that is recorded. Many of you are already joining us and it is a place of true sanctuary and renewal because of the thousands of open hearts gathering together. If you haven't yet registered, you are more than welcome to still join us. You will have lifetime access to those resources.

Another resource we are sharing is Praise song for a Pandemic. It is a poem that came to me early Thursday morning as I took our dog Sourney out and saw the garbage trucks going by and my heart overflowed with gratitude. It felt like a direct gift from the Spirit and seems to be a helpful resource for many. You are most welcome to share it or use it in any context with attribution and you are encouraged to add your own gratitudes to the list. The closing line perhaps best sums it up: "And when this has passed may we say that love spread more quickly than any virus ever could, may we say this was not just an ending but also a place to begin."

I am also thrilled to share several resources that are the culmination of many months of work:

  • My newest book Earth, Our Original Monastery will be published on April 3rd (and Ave Maria Press is having a big sale on e-books, you can order this title for $8.99 now and most of my other titles with them – 7 in all – are on sale in e-book version for as little as 99 cents – see list here)
  • We have a brand new album out that is the collaboration of many wonderful musicians and accompanies my book above with 14 songs to nourish your intimacy with Earth.
  • In October, my second book of poems will be published. At the heart of The Wisdom of Wild Grace (available for pre-order) are 30 poems inspired by stories of the kinship of saints and animal including St. Kevin, St. Gobnait, St Francis, and St Julian.

I plan to host a virtual book and CD launch very soon and will let you know the details.

There are a LOT of other resources in this week's newsletter as well including a meditation on the practice of Sabbath, our newest Monk in the World guest post from Wisdom Council member Kayce Hughlett, and the next in our series on A Different Kind of Fast. Pour a cup of tea and linger over the invitation to pause, to practice stillness for a while, to listen for a deeper voice.

In the meantime, know that we are in this together. My heart is overflowing with prayers for this community and for all who are suffering at this time. Let's draw closer to one another through the remarkable gift of technology.

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

Photo © Christine Valters Paintner

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Leave a Comment March 21, 2020

Upcoming Programs

  • Writing Into Bloom with Christine Valters Paintner
    • May 1, 2021
  • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • May 13, 2021
  • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
    • May 15, 2021 - May 16, 2021
  • View All Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Reverend Deb Goldman
  • A mini-poetry reading from Christine plus other publishing news
  • St. Kevin Holds Open His Hand and Radical Hospitality ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Greta Kopec
  • Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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