Christine Valters Paintner's Blog, page 10

Samhain Retreat + Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 3 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Blessing of the Saints*

May the communion of saints
shower you with blessings,
may you seek their guidance
in moments of illness, confusion, gratitude.
We remember their own struggles,
living their humanity, enfleshed and tender.
We ask those across the threshold to pray for us
knowing what it is to be wounded.
Call on the canonized saints,
Benedict, Francis, Ignatius, Hildegard,
Thea Bowman, Oscar Romero,
and the saints of spirit,
Howard Thurman, Dorothy Day,
and thousands of others
who witnessed to another way of being,
who helped to build a community of love.
Let them tether us to their earthiness,
and remind us of the holiness
of bone and blood, the grace of our bodies
in bringing love to the world
and the presence of heaven here and now.

Feel them stretching themselves
back across the veil toward us,
in sacred friendship
eyes shining, hearts radiant,
wisdom pouring like rainfall,
after months of drought,
coming with a reminder
that you are never alone,
never forsaken
and you dance in those life-giving
showers, celebrate Love as a visible
and invisible force, animating the world.

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,

Today we continue our release of the video podcasts of our Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle. The theme for Day 3 morning prayer is Embodied Love and evening is Saints & Pilgrimage. Here is one of the prayers of concern for morning prayer written by Wisdom Council member and my Lift Every Voice book club conversation partner Claudia Love Mair.

Lover of our soul, how often we get in a frenzy doing too much. We take on more than is necessary, and fail to rest and replenish our bodies, minds, and spirits. Sometimes we act as if everything is all on us. When we show up in this way, bring to mind Sister Thea Bowman, who was content to do her little bit. She said that if each one would light a candle, we’d have a tremendous light. Remind us that all we need to do is light our candle. Sister Thea, pray for us. Help us to understand that doing our little bit is an act of humility, and to give thanks for it.

This Friday, November 1st, I will be joined by Simon de Voil, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and Nóirín Ní Riain to Honor The Love of Thousands on the feast of All Saints and the Celtic feast of Samhain. We’ll pause together and honor our beloved ancestors and all the wise and well ones who have passed through the veil. Through ritual, song, teaching, meditation, and sharing we will weave a container together to hold our prayers and longings, and receive the gifts the saints and ancestors have to offer us for the season ahead. Join us!

I am also excited to share that we have a new dancing monk icon of Mary Magdalene by Marcy Hall! View the icon and order prints here.

With great and growing love, 

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE

P.S. My latest book, A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness, has been reviewed by Jon M. Sweeney at Spirituality & Practice. Click here to read the review.

* Blessing by Christine Valters Paintner from The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Therese Taylor-Stinson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member and Centering Prayer leader Therese Taylor-Stinson’s reflection Silence and the Oppressed. This article was originally published on NextChurch.net and is reprinted with permission from the author.

People of color have engaged in contemplation since the beginning of time, though the term used in a broad sense for spiritual practice is relatively new. The Desert Ammas and Abbas were people of color from the Middle East who fled to the deserts to escape the empire and are not only known as among the first contemplatives but also the first psychologists, as they tested the limits of their human condition in the desert. Contemplation is defined as deep, prolonged thoughtfulness. A contemplative, then, is one whose life is devoted primarily to prayerful pondering, and there are two broad forms of contemplative prayer — apophatic and kataphatic.

Apophatic prayer — noted as a higher form of communion with God by a 14th century anonymous monk called “the cloud” for his foundational book entitled The Cloud of Unknowing — is a willing surrender into mystery: that which cannot be fully known and is closer to the true nature of God. It means emptying the mind of words and ideas and simply resting in the presence of the unknown. Apophatic prayer has no content but is full of intention, such as with a practice called centering prayer.

Fourth century Roman Catholic Bishop Gregory of Nyssa wrote about “apophatic” ways of being. Gregory was born in Cappadocia (present day Turkey) and held his bishop’s dominion in Nyssa — both in the Middle East. So, Gregory was likely a brown person as well, whose central argument is that God as an infinite being cannot actually be comprehended by us finite humans. God is not a white dude with a long white beard who sits on a cloud and grants wishes, and wants your sports team to win. God is something transcendent and alien whose thoughts we cannot properly grasp or explain.

Kataphatic prayer, on the other hand, has content; it uses words, images, symbols, and ideas. Ignatian prayer, such as lectio divina, the daily examen, and the Ignatian process for discernment is mostly kataphatic. Other forms of kataphatic prayer may be writing, music, dance, and other art forms.

Medieval Spanish priest (now saint, as was Gregory) Ignatius of Loyola, a spiritual director, was a prominent figure in the Roman Catholic “counter-reformation,” during the same period or starting a little before the Protestant reformation. His most influential work was Spiritual Exercises, still used by many today. His prayer was “Soul of Christ, make me holy.” And he wrote of himself in Spiritual Exercises, “Without seeing any vision, he understood and knew many things, as well spiritual things as things of the faith.” So, Ignatius too knew apophatic ways of being with God, but his Spiritual Exercises was full of kataphatic prayer forms to assist in ushering oneself, as well as others, into the presence of mystery.

In both Gregory, whom begins with unknowing, and Ignatius, whom engages the mind, I see both an apophatic and kataphatic approach that leads to a fully embodied intention for the Holy. Gregory writes, “We know some things that God is not, but we are incapable of understanding what God is. However, we can observe God’s ‘energies’ projected into the material world by God’s creation of the universe and God’s grace or love entering it. It is just as in human works of art, where the mind can in a sense see the author in the ordered structure that is before it, inasmuch as he has left his artistry in his work. But notice that what we see here is merely the artistic skill that he has impressed in his work, not the substance of the craftsman. So too, when we consider the order of creation, we form an image not of the substance but of the wisdom of Him Who has done all things wisely.”

As an example of a practical application of Gregory’s apophatic theology, he argues that slavery and poverty are unethical. The idea is that humans have a unique value that requires respect, because they alone are made “in the image of” the unknowable and unworldly God. Poverty and slavery are inconsistent with the dignity and respect due the image of God in all people. *[Referenced from an anonymous source.]

So, that brings me to the pervasive idea among white contemplatives who dominate the ideas of modern-day contemplation that for the most part, African Americans and other people of color don’t practice contemplative prayer, which they view as predominantly silence. Silence certainly has its place, but as the writer of Ecclesiastes notes in chapter 3:1, everything has its time: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” One of the few recognized black mystics, Howard Thurman, wrote, “Do not be silent; there is no limit to the power that may be released through you.”

This is an idea the oppressed understand well. In their contemplation, there may be seasons for silence, but there are also seasons and reasons for shouting, dancing, expressive emotion, and even protest, ushering in the presence of God to guide and protect; leaning on that God for constant direction; releasing toxic emotions.

For example, the enslaved taken from Africa across the Middle Passage and brought into chattel slavery were silenced from the time of their capture and separation from all others whom spoke their language and shared their customs. To be silenced is to cause trauma. On the slave ships, they ushered in the presence of God and community through the “moan” — the name given it by the slaveholders. The enslaved became one in their suffering by joining together in their sighs and groans of pain too deep for words. Their separation and silencing continued when they reached land, were warehoused, and sold to slave masters, separated from their children, spouses, and other relatives. Again silenced, they found ways to communicate their suffering and garner support through music, dance, and shouting, as they secretly met in the hush hollows, the abandoned shacks in the woods, and suppressed their sounds by shouting into barrels or pots, and sharing in each others suffering by turning the day’s suffering into song that was joined in a call and response by the others present. They were silenced. Their narrative was not known, but God knew, along with those gathered with them in subversion.

Albert Rabateau tells a story in his book Slave Religion through a third person about the silencing of the enslaved and their knowledge and faith in a Supreme Being. The observer notes how, though the enslaved could not read, they had ways of knowing God, and when they were finally introduced to the Bible, they already knew who God was! The observer also notes that some of the enslaved believed the Bible should not be read until after one has gained that inward knowing.

The oppressed around the world — mostly people of color — have been silenced from control of their own narratives, while the dominate culture dictates a narrative to be both disseminated to the world and absorbed by the oppressed that centers whiteness and devalues the lives and culture of people of color across the globe, leaving them silenced, oppressed, and struggling to know and to value their own heritage.

Silence may be needed in some cases among the dominant culture in order to allow the narrative of the oppressed to emerge; in order for them to come face-to-face with their own complicity in silencing people of color in order to enjoy the privileges of dominance. However, silence is not the only way to encounter God. Silence is not the only way to embrace Mystery. Silence is not the only way to deep pondering and profound prayer. Silence for the oppressed should be embraced on their own terms and their more kataphatic ways of being and prayer embraced more fully by contemplatives of every culture, unless it remains a tool to keep the narrative of the oppressed untold.

Therese Taylor-Stinson is a retired U.S. Federal Senior Program Analyst, formerly an expert in Federal Regulatory Activity, and she remains on the roster of the U.S. Federal Interagency Shared Neutrals Program as a lead mediator for Equal Employment Opportunity disputes. Therese is also a seasoned spiritual director, an award-winning author-editor, and an ordained deacon and ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and served as Moderator for National Capital Presbytery 2014 through 2017. Therese, the organizer, won an award in 2018 as a Collaborative Bridge-Builder presented by Grace and Race, Inc., an Indie Author Legacy Award for her edited work Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Stories of Contemplation and Justice, and a second author award for her most recent authorship Walking the Way of Harriet Tubman: Public Mystic and Freedom Fighter. Therese is also the co-founder and organizer of the Racial Awareness Festival based in Washington DC, which recently closed after its sixth annual event and seventh organizing year. Therese is the Founding Managing Member/President of the Spiritual Directors of Color Network, Ltd., now incorporated 10 years after 6 years of organizing. In addition to the above, she is a certified pastoral caregiver and an Emotional Emancipation Circle Facilitator, while remaining on the roster as a lead mediator for Equal Employment Opportunity. Therese is married to Bernard Stinson. They have a daughter and two granddaughters.

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Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 2 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

A Blessing for Wrestling with Angels*
You have known
the long nights of wrestling
with mysterious beings,
your breath hard and fast,
your heart pounding
like furious wings.

The dark seems to stretch forever
and you wonder how long
you will be in the grip
of this powerful stranger,
how long you will have to hold on.

Then slowly the black pool above you
gives way to violet, fuchsia, tangerine
and you feel your hip wounded,
throbbing, pulsing with pain,
know you will be limping
for many years to come,
but before letting go
you make your demand:

Bless me, your voice thunders
and the being erupts into golden light
so glad that you had finally asked.
A new name sings out through the ether
like the most exquisite melody,
a chant for the new season ahead,
a name which reminds you of the long night
and how you would not relent,
how courage and hope and stubbornness
carried you through.

May you find endurance
when you are lost and disoriented,
may your wounds be reminders
of your willingness to struggle,
may you demand a blessing
as light begins its breaking,
and may your new name
call forth the gifts already inside you,
an offering of love to others
still wrestling in the dark.

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,

Today we continue our release of the video podcasts of our Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle. The theme for our Day 2 morning prayer is wrestling with angels and for evening prayer is we are all called to be saints. Here is one of the prayers of concern for morning written by our Program Coordinator and Wisdom Council member Melinda Thomas:

Godde of Outcasts, you call us to love all who live on the margins, just as Jesus did. Open our minds and our hearts to the stories, struggles, and triumphs of those we call “other” and recognize them as beloved by You. We know this work of facing our wounded and wounding places is like wrestling with angels – those beings who know our full capacity for love. Strike open our hearts so we may stand with people of all colors and creeds, amplifying the voices of those who have been silenced and ignored. Give us the grace to live in love.

On Friday, November 1st I’ll be joined by Simon de Voil, Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, and Nóirín Ní Riain for a mini-retreat on Honoring the Love of Thousands at Samhain. We will celebrate the feast of All Saints and the Celtic feast of Samhain to pause together and honor our beloved ancestors and all the wise and well ones who have passed through the veil. Join us!

With great and growing love, 

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE

PS – I am delighted to be in good company for the upcoming online Contemplative Summit hosted by Spiritual Wanderlust (October 24-27) including teachers Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Omid Safi, Tia Norman, Kaira Jewel Lingo, Randy and Edith Woodley, James Finley, James Martin, and many more! Learn more here.

*Blessing by Christine Valters Paintner from The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness  

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The Soul of a Pilgrim Translated Into Braille

The Xavier Society for the Blind in New York City recently translated Christine’s book The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within into braille! Since 1900, Xavier Society for the Blind has been providing free braille, large print and audio books to blind and visually impaired people worldwide in order for them to learn about, develop, and practice their faith.

The Xavier Society has been around for 124 years and offers thousands of books available in braille and audio and serve clients of all ages and faiths, from Ireland to Australia. They are trying to serve more people in new and innovative ways during these challenging times.

We are excited to learn about their services and share this resource with the community. To learn more or request a copy please visit XavierSocietyfortheBlind.org or on Facebook or Instagram.

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The Contemplative Summit hosted by Spiritual Wanderlust

I am delighted to be in such good company for the upcoming online Contemplative Summit hosted by Spiritual Wanderlust including teachers Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Omid Safi, Tia Norman, Kaira Jewel Lingo, and Randy and Edith Woodley. The event is free. When you use the link below to register, Abbey of the Arts receives support for its scholarship fund:

https://tinyurl.com/ContemplativeSummit

October 24-27, 2024

Whether you’re new to the contemplative path or have been journeying for years, there’s something here for everyone. This Summit is about living the questions:

What do the mystics teach us about becoming whole?

How can we embody the teachings of mysticism in everyday life?

What can our bodies teach us about our inner journey?

Join us!

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A Midwinter God Reviewed by Spirituality & Practice

My latest book A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness has been reviewed by Jon M. Sweeney at Spirituality & Practice.

“No one combines teaching wisdom with spiritual practice quite like Christine Valters Paintner does in her books. This one is designed for anyone who’s grieving a loss and desires to thread that loss through their lives for meaning.

The message of A Midwinter God is one of self-compassion and locating meaning in what we usually find inexplicable — suffering and death.

Paintner tells of her own grief, illnesses, and losses, and how they have slowly changed her. An early summary employs these metaphors: “I once was a child of summertime, relishing the long days of brilliant sunshine and intense heat. I used to love the way summer would illuminate everything, making it seem filled with possibility. Now I am a child of winter and moonlight.”

The spiritual wisdom that’s available to those who suffer loss, what other Christian mystics have referred to as a kind of “holy darkness,” Paintner calls “the Midwinter God.” This is the divine in the cold and dark, bare of easy comforts. Paintner explores classic and essential aspects of this vision of God, focusing mostly on Christian sources, looking for instance at the Via Negativa, or Way of Unknowing; the “dark night of the soul”; Jesus on Holy Saturday descending to the underworld; and the divine feminine in the Virgin Mary as Mother of Sorrows and the Black Madonna.

All the things that frighten people most — loss, death, isolation, darkness — are shown to be wisdom teachers.

In a final chapter, Paintner dives into three archetypes from literature and mythology that are embedded in our unconscious experiences of loss across cultures and time periods. These are the archetypes of Orphan, Destroyer, and Sovereign, and addressing them is a way to reach our shadow side. (See the excerpt accompanying this review for a sample of this.) Paintner finds them in sources ranging from The Wizard of Oz and the Bible to the Greek myth of Persephone and the writings of James Hillman and Carol Pearson.

A series of “Creative Explorations” concludes each chapter, of several pages each. These include questions in response to material that’s been introduced, ways to connect to a lesson through embodied action, art projects, evocative poems (written by those who have attended the author’s retreats), journaling prompts, and guided meditations.”

Visit Spirituality & Practice online.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Kayce Stevens Hughlett

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member Kayce Stevens Hughlett’s reflection Being a Monk in the World .

“The moment of pause, the point of rest, has its own magic.” Howard Thurman

In the wee hours of the morning, I sit and remember how essential the moment of pause is for living as a Monk in the World. This October I am grateful to take a respite from travel and sink into the magic of turning leaves and dry-ish temperate days at my home here in Seattle. 

When the Abbey invited me to share my own experience of being a Monk in the World, I knew these words would bubble up in this threshold season between Summer and Fall, Fall and Winter. And between my callings to be out in the world: Europe in September followed by November in Australia. It is a dance I do as a Monk—loving the cozy nourishment of my home hermitage and feeling the strong call to follow ancestral threads and artistic callings in other corners of the Universe. 

One might think of a trip with packed suitcase and airplane tickets as its own pause—a vacation or vacating of one’s life, but, for me, travel (whether in my mind or on another continent) is a time of inhabiting and sinking more deeply into the exquisiteness that is available if only we have the eyes to see. If I can inhabit, infuse, ingest, and integrate the magical moments of pause when I’m out in the world, then it becomes infinitely more accessible when I return home.

Even the idea of “home” has changed its tenor as I continue to live as a Monk in the World. I take my home with me wherever I go. My footsteps, journal, paints and poems all come alive in the moments of pause. Like in music, the pause is both a thing in and of itself, and it is the prelude to what follows, to the spiraling more deeply inward so I can be more present to the world outward. That is why I stroll, rest, paint, write, create, pray, and travel—to move more fully into who I am, on behalf of the greatest good. When I allow space to listen to the still small (and sometimes loud) voice that lives inside me, I am building resilience, connection to the Divine and others, and my own magic. I am following my path as a Monk in the World. 

Kayce Stevens Hughlett, MA LMHC is a soulful and spirited woman. In her roles as ponderer extraordinaire, spiritual director, life muse, author, creative coach, and speaker, she invites us to playfully and fearlessly cross the thresholds toward authentic living. A strong proponent of compassionate care in the world, Kayce’s live and online work focuses on the principle that we must live it to give it.

Kayce’s official titles include: Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Spiritual Director, Life Coach, Speaker/Facilitator, and co-creator of SoulStrolling® ~ a movement for mindfulness in motion, at home or abroad. She is the author of three books, including her body-mind-spirit travel memoir, SoulStroller: experiencing the weight, whispers, & wings of the world.  Kayce is a member of Abbey of the Arts Wisdom Council and co-leader of Awakening the Creative Spirit.

Visit Kayce’s website here>>

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Love of Thousands Video Prayer Cycle Day 1 ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Dearest dancing monks, artists, and pilgrims,

We have two free gifts for you today!

It is with great joy that we start to release the video podcasts of our Love of Thousands Prayer Cycle this week. The theme for our Day 1 morning prayer is the archangels and for evening is the guardian angels. Here one of the prayers of concern for morning written by our Wisdom Council member Claudia Love Mair:

“Creator/Creatrix, you sent the Archangel Gabriel to visit Mary and herald the arrival of Jesus. Send them to us that we may give birth to music, dance, and art, to ideas, writing, and teaching, and whatever creative thing we set our heart and mind to create. Help us be who we are, and be that well, following the North Star that you placed before us. We are listening for your divine messages. Help us to always hear you with clarity.” 

The video podcasts invite you into gentle movement so you can let your body lead the prayer. We are so grateful to Betsey Beckman for producing these podcasts and we will be releasing one day each week for the next 7 weeks. These are entirely free resources and if you find them valuable we would be most grateful for any financial support you are able to offer. 

To celebrate the podcast release we have created a brand new free reflection guide for my book The Love of Thousands: How Angels, Saints, and Ancestors Walk with Us Toward Holiness.

Please feel free to share these prayer and reflection resources with friends who would be enriched by praying with angels, saints, and ancestors. 

I also continue to celebrate the release of my newest book A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness. You can listen to a conversation with me about the book at the Faith Conversations podcast. 

This coming Saturday, I am leading a mini-retreat for our wonderful friends at Spirituality & Practice on Gifts of the Underworld Journey of Descent. One of the most powerful aspects of mythic understanding is seeing how the journey to the underworld is present across time and traditions. It is part of our human experience to experience seasons of our lives when everything we thought was certain and secure is stripped away. While I do not ever believe the Holy One “gives” us these experiences, I do believe we are companioned throughout and gifted with wisdom which helps to broaden our understanding of the divine and cultivate greater compassion for ourselves and others. 

If you are wrestling with an underworld season of life, I would love to have you join me. As a reminder too we have a free reflection guide for my book available here. 

These last two books I have written – The Love of Thousands and A Midwinter God – were both initially sparked by my mother’s death over 20 years ago. I was plunged into an underworld of doubt and unknowing and opened to a deeper intimacy with those beyond the veil. The mystical and mythic traditions have such richness to help us navigate the challenging terrain of being human. 

If you want to connect with the ancestors through the creative practice of writing then you might want to register for Writing with the Ancestors, our newest self-study. Use code ANCESTORS20 to take 20% off through October 31st.

I’d love to see you Saturday for the Gifts of the Underworld Journey of Descent and we hope you enjoy the free resources we are sending out today with blessings and much gratitude to you for being a member of our community! You are also invited to join Therese Taylor-Stinson for Centering Prayer this Wednesday, October 16th.

With great and growing love, 

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE

P.S. I was also interviewed on the Liturgical Rebels podcast with host Christine Sine. We had a conversation about Celtic spirituality, living with chronic illness, and A Midwinter God.

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Christine Interviewed on The Liturgical Rebels Podcast

I was invited to join Christine Sine on her podcast The Liturgical Rebels to have a conversation about Celtic spirituality, living with chronic illness, and my newest book A Midwinter God. 

* * * 

The Liturgical Rebels podcast is for spiritual seekers who no longer feel comfortable with a traditional approach to Christian religious observances. It empowers followers of Jesus to creatively reconstruct their faith and spiritual practices. 

* * *

Christine Valters Paintner shares her journey through life, which she describes as reminiscent of the Celtic saints. She discusses her experiences living in different places, including Ireland, and the challenges and joys of following a pilgrimage-like path. Christine also talks about her love for Benedictine and Celtic spirituality, the importance of nature in her spiritual practice, and the significance of circles and circling prayers. She describes herself as a monk in the world and discusses the Abbey of the Arts, her online monastery. Christine also shares about her book, A Midwinter God, which explores encountering the divine in seasons of darkness.

Christine Valters Paintner is a Benedictine oblate and the online Abbess at Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery integrating contemplative practice and creative expression. She is a poet and the author of more than 20 books on the spiritual life. Her newest book is A Midwinter God: Encountering the Divine in Seasons of Darkness. Christine lives on the wild edges of Ireland with her husband John and dog Sourney, where they lead online programs for a global community.

* Following a pilgrimage-like path can lead to a life reminiscent of the Celtic saints
* Nature is an important aspect of spiritual practice, and the Celtic tradition sees it as the original sacred text
* Circles and circling prayers are powerful symbols of wholeness and can be used in prayer and meditation
* Living with chronic illness can be a teacher and lead to a deeper understanding of oneself and the divine
* Abbey of the Arts offers resources and community for those seeking a contemplative and creative path

You can find more about Christine Valters Paintner and her work at AbbeyoftheArts.com | Transformative Living through Contemplative and Expressive Arts

* * *
Listen to the conversation here.

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Rosemary McMahan

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rosemary McMahan’s reflection and poem Today.

As a monk and artist, my primary medium is poetry, crafted in response to the wise instructions of our spiritual ancestor, Pelagius, who advised, “Write down with your own hand on paper what God has written with his hand on the human heart.”  Perhaps there is no more appropriate time for the creation of poetry, or any of the arts, than right now while our world trembles and smolders.  Poetry becomes the microcosm in the vast macrocosm of endless and often empty words where we flounder to stay afloat. It is the “spontaneous overflow of powerful passion” (William Wordsworth) shaped so precisely that it can pierce the heart, heal the soul, arouse conviction, shake apathy, offer solace, and, yes, even impact the world. If a picture can paint a thousand words, a handful of words can paint a picture of a moment, an experience, a transcendence, a reality, a tragedy, a miracle.  In the following poem, that is what I’ve tried to do, balance the tensions of our present existence, so that as monks and artists, we can retain our humanity and our spirituality which become more precious by the moment.

Today

Today, a pregnant woman across the world
worries about giving birth in the midst of
a sniper-laden war zone.
I walk past a quince bush birthing
blooms in mellow tangerine.
Today, another young girl,
another young boy,
is sold into slavery, trafficking
and driven
into the unspeakable.
I bend to lift
the shy lavender face of
a Lenten rose
from the dirt and raise it
to the sun.
Today, the fidgeting murmurs of
nuclear war whisper over
a ruler-straight horizon while
plump pink bulbs
like fat red robins
perch on a silent magnolia tree.
Today, raging rebels overturn
poor governments
on distant islands
and desperate families
seek flight.
I notice the purple sapphires
crowning the slender silver limbs
of the redbud.
A Mexican man, trimming trees,
stops his work to chat with
me as I take my morning
walk. He is earning money
to go back home
next year to the cerulean
waters of the Caribbean
while today the vortexes
of green-striped hostas
begin
the unwinding
of hope and
the copper-colored dog
wags its tail
on the other side
of the invisible
fence.

Rosemary McMahan is a retired Presbyterian minister and poet. A graduate of the 2021 “Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist” seminar, she continues to meet monthly with five others who have remained in community continuing to explore the interplay of spirituality and creativity.

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