About Christine Valters Paintner

Christine Valters Paintner Table of Contents There are three identities I currently hold dear Poet: I look beneath the surface to find beauty in all things and then offer that back to others. I seek to cultivate this kind of presence in the midst of ordinary life, finding poems everywhere. Hermit: Silence nourishes me deeply […]

Holy Pause: The Practice of Retreat

Last Friday and Saturday I was at St. Placid Priory leading a workshop and a retreat.   Much of my work is leading retreats – and while I spend a lot of time designing the flow of experiences, ultimately it is about creating and holding sacred space for others.  On retreat the invitation is to cross […]

Practicing Resurrection through the Elements

Our Easter Season E-Course is underway and it is a joy to guide others through the practice of praying with water, wind, earth, and fire as vessels for awareness of the ways God moves through the world. This first week’s focus is on wind.  Click the links below for some blog posts written by participants: […]

Invitation to Poetry: Blessed Be

Welcome to our 45th Poetry Party! I select an image and suggest a theme/title and invite you to respond with your poems or other reflections. Add your responses in the comments section.  Feel free to take your poem in any direction and then post the image and invitation on your blog (if you have one) and encourage others […]

Altar for an Unknown God

I am in the midst of the Novena of Grace, a powerful Lenten retreat in everyday life which I coordinate for the Ignatian Spirituality Center.  Along with teaching my Lenten E-Course on Benedictine Spiritual Practices and Eyes of the Heart: Photography as Contemplative Practice courses, my days are full of rich reflection.  I offer here […]

Saints in Walgreens (Reprise)

Last year I wrote this Lenten reflection on meeting the Saints in Walgreens and I offer it here again in a slightly revised version: ____________________________________________ These have been very full days.  This Thursday the Novena of Grace begins, which is a nine-day preached retreat in everyday life hosted by the Ignatian Spirituality Center where I work […]

Ash Wednesday: Practice Truth-Telling

** Stop by this week’s Poetry Party on Entering the Desert’s Fire ** The reflection below is a slightly edited reprint of something I wrote a few years ago for Ash Wednesday which still calls me to respond to its invitation: _____________________________________________________ Today we leave ordinary time to enter into the journey of Lent through […]