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Things I Didn’t Know I Loved Poetry Video~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Things I Didn’t Know I Loved – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Things I Didn’t Know I Loved (after Nazim Hikmet) I never knew how much I loved heavy rain on a Sunday morning curled in bed with coffee a Morse code tapping the windows telling me I have no reason to leave. I didn’t realize how much I adored peonies until one May afternoon I spent four hours photographing the bouquet you brought me for no reason on our dining table. I never knew how much I cherished the alchemy taking place in kitchens until I

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Aubade (a new poetry video) ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Aubade – Poem Video from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Aubade The day opens its white page, spreading herself like so much possibility, you take your pen, pausing before you begin so you can hear the jackdaw caw high above your tiny shadow and the snowdrop’s insistent blooming, somewhere is the knowing glance of badger, each unafraid to write their stories on wind and soil and you see they offer ink for your pen in a hundred different colors. —Christine Valters Paintner, The Wisdom of Wild Grace Dearest monks and artists, Like many monks and writers, I love morning time

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The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

The Wisdom of Wild Grace from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. Dearest monks and artists, In these dark and difficult days the one thing that continues to offer me solace and strength is time spent in nature, in growing intimacy with Earth and her wisdom. We try to make time during our weekly Sabbath for a walk in the forest and I am blessed to be able to stroll daily by the sea. Inevitably I return feeling more grounded and centered, more certain how important this Earth-cherishing work is. It has been the dominant theme in my writing this past

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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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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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Praise Song for the Pandemic now in French

? Praise Song for the Pandemic from Christine Valters Paintner on Vimeo. The combined views of our YouTube and Vimeo versions of the Praise Song for the Pandemic video have reached over 150,000 and over a million on Facebook! We are grateful to know many are using this in their online worship services. Diane Ellison wrote to us to ask permission to translate the poem into French which we share gratefully below. Chant de louange durant la pandémie Loués soient les infirmières, les médecins et tout le personnel médical qui prennent soin des humains et qui, par leur présence, réussissent

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More from Christine Around the Web This Week

Christine was featured on the Ave Explores podcast this week to talk about “The Soul of the Artist” Christine has a new poem titled “Spring Ephemerals” in Bearings journal online which celebrates spring’s arrival and our intimacy with the more-than-human world. You can read it here>> St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Arlington, VA is having an online art exhibition in response to the pandemic – here is a collection of poems shared including mine on p. 27 “Always” under the theme of Solace. This poem comes from her second poetry collection The Wisdom of Wild Grace, being published by Paraclete

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