A Christmas Blessing*
This blessing dances at the doorway
of light and dark, knows both as sacred:
fertile womb space, miracle of blooming.
This blessing breathes
through those moments of labor
when you too birth the holy
into this fragile, luminous, hurting world
as Mary did two thousand years ago,
eyes wide, hands gripping,
waters breaking like crashing waves
of the primordial sea
sending a prayer through time
that echoes still,
pulsing like starlight
in an enormous sky.
This blessing rests a hand
on the back of the lonely
disoriented
lost
hungry
despairing
persecuted
to say your humanity is not an obstacle
but a threshold, to remind you
that the wound is a portal
through which your gifts pour forth,
that raw ache you feel
is the terrible wonder of being alive
calling you into a communion
of veil-lifters, catching glimpses
of a world where the greeds
and horrors are turned upside down.
This blessing comes as an Annunciation:
the world needs *you* wild edge-dweller
where the wind cries out,
where the stone endures,
your hands a bowl,
your heart a cave,
your eyes a mirror,
bringing a drink of water,
an ancient song,
a shimmering light
reflecting all that we miss
in days of rushing.
This blessing creates a resting place
to gather your strength
between the diastole and systole
of the heart,
to learn to trust
in roses and pomegranate,
in sparrows and dragonflies,
in the electricity of the storm.
This blessing says:
know this birthing is not
once and for all
but again and again,
erupting like moonlight between
bare branches,
like a hearth fire lit for
all who have been exiled.
This blessing calls you home.
Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,
This has been a wonderful year and we continue to be so deeply grateful to every single one of you who shows up in various ways to support our programs and participate with our community. And we are committed to continue showing up for you in the new year with lots of wonderful programs like our contemplative prayer services (our January 6th theme is kinship with creation), the companion retreat for my newest book A Midwinter God, and a Lent retreat on the women mystics. We also have a brand new prayer cycle coming later in the spring on Cultivating Seeds of Liberation.
We are delighted to walk the way of the monk and the path of the artist together. We witness to a different way of being in the world, one rooted in slowness, spaciousness, deep love, and profound care.
Whatever and however you celebrate the winter holy days, the whole team at Abbey of the Arts – Christine, John, Melinda, and our amazing Wisdom Council – wish you blessings of peace and new birthing.
We will be taking a break from our daily newsletters from now until January 4th.
With great and growing love,
Christine
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE
*Blessing written by Christine for a book of blessings (due to be published in spring 2026)
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