Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
    • 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
    • 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
      • Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Book Club – March 2021)
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • 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)
      • 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
  • Reflections
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Uncategorized

 Monk in the World Novena ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest monks and artists,

A year ago the news of the pandemic’s spread around the world started becoming dominant news and countries were shutting down to prevent its rampant spread. We had no idea how the year that followed would unfold and how many hours we would spend in compassionate retreat to protect those most vulnerable among us (perhaps ourselves included).

I awoke early one morning around that time with the thought of hosting a Novena for Times of Unraveling so our beloved community could gather together for nine days in prayer and reflection. I knew the monastic practices we hold so dear could offer much steadying to our hearts.

This pandemic has brought so much loss and grief, so much upheaval in our lives, so much disarray and disorientation. We were all hoping it would be short-lived and hadn’t imagined a year later we would still be in the midst of its demands.

Like every landscape of sorrow, there are also moments of grace that erupt when we pay close attention and hold dear ones close (metaphorically speaking). The grace for me has been to deepen into my sense of Abbey of the Arts as a true community, as a place where many come for their primary spiritual nourishment. In response to this we led the Novena, we created a 7-day cycle of morning and evening prayers (on the theme of Earth, Our Original Monastery), we led a weekly contemplative prayer service during Advent, in addition to offering many online retreats and programs (along with lots of scholarship support for those in need), and we continue to open for ways to bring you sustenance from the contemplative way.

We are already at work on our next 7-day prayer cycle on the theme of becoming a Monk in the World inspired by our Monk Manifesto and the 8 foundational principles we follow together as a community.

We decided to introduce this new prayer cycle to you through another Novena on the same dates as last year – March 17-25 – from the feast of St. Patrick to the feast of the Annunciation.  We will be praying with each of the principles below as a way of deepening our commitment to this rule or way of life and listening for how they are speaking to us in these difficult days. Then in April and May we will be releasing our audio podcasts for you to pray with on your own. (The video podcasts will be on their way this fall, but in the meantime you will have the Novena recordings.) We have also created a new Monk in the World album with many of the songs we will be hearing included there.

Monk: from the Greek monachos meaning single or solitary, a monk in the world does not live apart but immersed in the everyday with a single-hearted and undivided presence, always striving for greater wholeness and integrity

Manifesto: from the Latin for clear, means a public declaration of principles and intentions.

Monk Manifesto: A public expression of your commitment to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.

  1. I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation.
  2. I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others.
  3. I commit to cultivating community by finding kindred spirits along the path, soul friends with whom I can share my deepest longings, and mentors who can offer guidance and wisdom for the journey.
  4. I commit to cultivating awareness of my kinship with creation and a healthy asceticism by discerning my use of energy and things, letting go of what does not help nature to flourish.
  5. I commit to bringing myself fully present to the work I do, whether paid or unpaid, holding a heart of gratitude for the ability to express my gifts in the world in meaningful ways.
  6. I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular practice of Sabbath and resist a culture of busyness that measures my worth by what I do.
  7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations.
  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)

Please join us for our 2021 Novena for Times of Unraveling with a focus on becoming a Monk in the World. I am delighted to be joined by musician and minister Simon de Voil for each day’s live session and my husband John will be sharing written scripture reflections. We will have one or two other guests with us during this time. This is a free offering although we gratefully accept donations to support this work, especially all the work involved in creating the prayer cycle resources. We do plan to continue creating these, ideally we’d love to have four weeks of daily prayer to offer this community. All the sessions will be recorded.

There are two other opportunities this week to join me as well:

Paraclete Press (who published my poetry collections) is offering a free online celebration for St. Patrick’s Day which you can register for here. I will be sharing a few of my poems as a part of this event.

The wonderful folks at the Breath and Clay Conference are hosting their annual event online this year from March 17-21, 2021. I will be leading a one-hour session on Friday, March 19th on The Re-Enchantment of Vision where we will explore the practice of visio divina together. This conference is sliding scale, so pay what you can afford to access it.

I very much hope to see you at the Novena, or perhaps at the Paraclete event or Breath and Clay conference. It will be a full week for me, but one where I get to share the joys of contemplative practice, poetry, music, and art with kindred souls so my heart feels full as well.

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

Photo © Christine Valters Paintner

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Leave a Comment March 14, 2021

Upcoming Programs

  • The Two HT’s Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman on Being Free with Therese Taylor-Stinson
    • Apr 17, 2021
  • Writing Into Bloom with Christine Valters Paintner
    • May 1, 2021
  • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • May 13, 2021
  • View All Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Greta Kopec
  • Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – April Video Discussion and Book Group Materials Now Available
  • Hildy Tails 12: Is ait an mac an saol ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Easter Blessings + An Elemental Journey ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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