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“I believe we all carry grief that has gone unnamed and unmourned,” writes best-selling author Christine Valters Paintner. “Nothing in our culture prepares us to deal with darkness and grief. We are told to cheer up and move on, to shop or drink our way to forgetting the pain we carry. Yet I believe that being faithful to our own dark moments is the path of true prayer.” In her book, A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness, Paintner offers an invitation to enter the wisdom of holy darkness and to find there a path toward hope and spiritual maturity. Paintner has experienced multiple journeys through grief that have brought her face-to-face with what she calls the “midwinter God”—the seeming absence of the God of life in dark and fallow seasons of loss. She has learned to confront her own terror in that darkness and to approach it with curiosity to see what it has to teach her. This endeavor has illuminated a path for her to embrace a life of profound depth, one that honors both the trials of suffering and the richness of joy. With her characteristic integrative and creative practices, Paintner, abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts, guides her readers to view darkness as a place where seeds of holiness begin to germinate. Each chapter of this book unfolds as an invitation to grow in understanding of holy darkness and also meditate, reflect, and create with these elements: Paintner’s reflections on various themes of loss and acceptance Insights on a scripture passage written by Paintner’s husband, John A guided meditation to bring the teachings into your heart Prompts for an expressive arts practice to process these insights through creativity Reflection questions to integrate what you have experienced Writing samples from people who have worked through this material in an online retreat Autumn and winter are vital to the health of nature and to our own bodies. It is a time of releasing and letting go—a season that invites us to slow down, to welcome the growing darkness, and to grow stiller and quieter. Darkness can be an uncomfortable and uneasy place, but it is also a place of profound incubation and gestation, a source of tremendous and hard-wrought wisdom. With Paintner as our guide, we can encounter this midwinter God with vulnerable courage that leads us to hope-filled wholeness.
How can we meet God in our everyday lives? In Earth, Our Original Monastery, Christine Valters Paintner, bestselling author and online abbess for Abbey of the Arts, shares how living contemplatively with an appreciation for the natural world can make you more aware of the presence of God in every aspect of your life. She explores monks, mystics, and saints who have experienced the goodness of the Divine in nature and invites you to find solace and spiritual revelation in the wonder of God’s creation. The purpose of contemplative living, Christine Valters Paintner suggests, is to allow you to integrate the pieces of your life within yourself, in your community, and in the world around you. When you pay attention to each moment, you nurture your ability to see God’s actions in those moments. In Earth, Our Original Monastery, Paintner invites you to begin the journey of contemplative living by focusing on the image of the earth as your original monastery—the place where you learn your most fundamental prayers, participate in each day’s liturgy of praise, and experience the wisdom of the seasons. Paintner provides seven ways of seeing the earth in light of faith and pairs each one with a practical invitation to a practice. These include: the earth as original cathedral—where you first learn to worship and feel God’s presence around us, paired with the practice of stability the earth as original saints—plants and animals live their calling without trying to be something they’re not and inspire you to do the same, paired with the practice of gratitude the earth as original icon—nature can serve as a window to the holy in the same way that icons do, paired with the practice of lament As you explore what these connections between the earth and faith mean for how to see God in the world around you, you can also look at saints and mystics who experienced nature and the flow of the divine in similar ways.
Do you long to feel more alive, to see the vibrancy in your daily life? Do you feel the seeds of a new calling tugging at you? Look to the Blessed Mother for help. In Birthing the Holy, Christine Valters Paintner--abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts--invites you to better know Mary and her heart through thirty-one of her titles, and, along the way, you'll nurture the new growth in your life. The Blessed Mother is known by many beautiful titles, some of which are familiar--Virgin, Queen of Peace, and Star of the Sea--and some we may not be aware of--Vessel of Grace, Greenest Branch, and Our Lady of Silence. Paintner offers a flexible format to reflect on Mary's titles through a thirty-one-day personal retreat, a series of novenas, or with visio divina exercises using striking images by printmaker Kreg Yingst. As you reflect on Mary in her role as Mother of Good Counsel, Woman Clothed with the Sun, Mystical Rose, Mother of Sorrows, Queen of the Angels, and other titles, Paintner invites you to hear what God calls you to develop in your life, help that dream or vision grow, and then nourish it in the world. Whether you're meeting Mary for the first time in these magnificent titles or revisiting her as a beloved companion, Birthing the Holy invites you to see the exploration of Mary and your life as a spiritual and creative act, one that can help deepen your faith even as it sparks new growth within you.
Beware of what you ask for... Ayla returns, ready to help the clans prepare for what's coming. But will the new mages be ready in time?
Discover how to practice God's presence at all times and see His glory in every facet of life. Includes Spiritual Maxims--two classics in one!
The distorted view of the perfect female body created by popular culture, television, movies, and the media often causes women to become uncomfortable with their own bodies. Christine Valters Paintner, popular author of nine books and abbess of the online retreat center Abbey of the Arts, draws from Celtic, desert, and Benedictine traditions to help women connect with their bodies through writing, visual art, and movement. In The Wisdom of the Body, Christine Valters Paintner focuses on the true meaning of the Incarnation--God became flesh--and points to the spiritual importance of appreciating the bodies God gave us. Each of the book's ten chapters is a mini-workshop designed to lead us to new ways of being in relationship with our bodies. Starting with the senses and shifting toward emotions and desires, Paintner explores their role as thresholds to discovering the body's wisdom. She draws from Christian tradition to offer principles and practices such as stability, hospitality, and gratitude to lead us on a journey that ends with a sense of deep peace and self-acceptance. Through expressive arts and creative movement, Paintner demonstrates a new a language and way of integrating and sharing our discoveries. By exploring the lives of women in the Bible and in the Christian tradition--including Eve, Mary, Hildegaard of Bingen, and Amma Syncletica--Paintner introduces us to companions that accompany us on our journey.
Stephen Long opens his erudite discussion of theology and ethics with the insistence that moral critique must emerge from a particular location, rather than from the fluid values of any "neutral" observer. Long sets out to put theology and ethics--as well as the church--in proper relation to one another. Ethics must be based in theology, not the other way around. Our "finite participation in the infinite makes possible participation in a goodness beyond us." That goodness comes to us in the flesh of Jesus Christ, and the church is indispensable in drawing all people toward God's goodness. The church, a social ethic in itself, gives purpose and order to other social institutions, including family, government, and the market.
When ARKANE Archivist Martin Klein joins the Vatican digital archiving project, he finds an ancient letter mistakenly scanned along with the medieval papal decree Militia Dei, Soldiers of God. It points to a dark secret the Knights Templar once tried to erase from existence, hidden in a medieval fortress under the heart of Paris for almost a thousand years. As Martin follows the trail to the hidden Templar crypt, aided by biblical scholar Camara Mbaye, they discover something unspeakable in the vaults below Paris. Who are the Soldiers of God and why must they rest until needed? This is a short story featuring Martin Klein and Dr Camara Mbaye from my ARKANE world. It fits after Tomb of Relics, book 12 of the ARKANE action-adventure thriller series, but can be read as a stand-alone story.
Walking With The Gods is the result of Dr. Wilkerson's 3-year long ethnographic survey of 120 contemporary Western polytheists that offers a startling, intimate and detailed view of this emerging religious practice and raises important theological questions about our culture's assumptions regarding Deity, faith, religion, nature, and humanity's relationship with each. Through thorough analysis and articulate ethnography, Dr. Wilkerson demonstrates how these emerging religious practices constitute a unique religiosity that substantially differs from the concerns of a contemporary Western culture that is dominated by a monotheist perspective.
Father Andrew M. Greeley, one of America's most popular and trusted storytellers, has long charmed readers with his chronicles of the crazy O'Malleys, an irrepressible and resilient Irish American family caught up in the rush of modern American history. A Midwinter's Tale is the first book in the Family Saga series Stationed in Bamberg, Germany, in the chaotic aftermath of WWII, pint-sized Charles "Chucky" Cronin O'Malley can't seem to keep himself out of harm's way. Whether it be with black marketeers, border patrols, or even his commanding officer, Chucky always seems to land in impossible scrapes, relying on a quick wit and blind luck (or is it Heavenly intervention?) to save his hide. And until the day he meets beautiful seventeen-year-old Trudi, a girl on the run from smugglers and the U.S. Army, he manages to keep himself in one piece. Trudi needs Chucky's help. If he isn't careful though, she may also make off with his heart. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.