I’m a Yankee-Doodle Catholic Greetings to The Abbey of the Arts community! My name is John Valters Paintner. I am blessed to be married to your online Abbess, Christine. And I am honored to be joining her in a more direct manner as your online Prior. I just returned from two weeks in Vienna, Austria where I assisted my wife and Kayce Hughett in leading a retreat. But before I begin more work with the Abbey, I’d like to take this opportunity to tell you all a little about myself, my background and my inspirations. I was born on the

. . . Terri Stewart!  Terri, you have won a space in my upcoming online class Eyes of the Heart: Photography as a Contemplative Practice (April 28-June 15, 2013) and a copy of my new book which the class accompanies.  Please email me with your snail mail address for the book and confirm your email for the online class. (Here’s a link to one of Terri’s photos. . .) Please stop by to see all the amazing photos shared.  If you are in the midst of March snow, you might find a little springtime warmth there.  As always, a deep

Abbey of the Arts is delighted to announce the addition of three new self-study retreats/classes along with a sale on the price of individual and multiple class registrations until April 21, 2013. Combined Registration Discount Purchase 3 self-study retreats at the already discounted sale price (Women on the Threshold counts as 2 retreats) and receive a 4th retreat for free! The beauty of self-study retreats is you can start the material at any time!  All three make wonderful possibilities for springtime renewal. Fine print: Simply register for 3 self-study retreats (or Women on the Threshold and 1 other) and then

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) Things to Think Think in ways you’ve never thought before. If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message Larger than anything you’ve ever heard, Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats. Think that someone may bring a bear to your door, Maybe wounded and deranged; or think that a moose Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers A child of your own whom you’ve never seen. When someone knocks on the door, Think that he’s

Dearest monks and artists, I am having trouble finding the words right now to express the things ripening in my heart. Listen to Joel McKerrow‘s gorgeous performance poem Search which expresses so many layers of what this pilgrimage time has been about for me. His words have been reflecting this journey I am on back to me.  Joel says “They say that a girl who walks the edges of this world will find herself if she looks for long enough.”  When we moved to Ireland I knew I wanted to be on the west coast because I feel called to the wild edges.  I

To receive this love note straight to your in-box, subscribe here (and also receive a free gift!) The Swan This laboring of ours with all that remains undone, as if still bound to it, is like the lumbering gait of the swan. And then our dying—releasing ourselves from the very ground on which we stood— is like the way he hesitantly lowers himself into the water. It gently receives him, and, gladly yielding, flows back beneath him, as wave follows wave, while he, now wholly serene and sure, with regal composure, allows himself to glide. —Rainer Maria Rilke, trans. by

The winner of the random drawing for this week’s Photo Party is Julie.  Congratulations Julie, let me know which of the Self-Study Online Classes you would like as your prize (with a choice from Soul of a Pilgrim, Eyes of the Heart, Water Wind Earth & Fire, Seasons of the Soul, or Lectio Divina). Thank you to everyone who participated in the Photo Party this week.  It is always such a gift to be blessed by your images of the sacred.  If you haven’t stopped by to see the photos in response to “Illuminating Lent”, here is the Flickr pool.