Lectio divina, which means sacred reading, is an ancient contemplative practice of listening deeply to the voice of God in sacred texts. In recent years there has been a reclaiming of the riches of contemplative prayer forms of Western traditions. Through the practice of lectio divina you become present to each moment in a heart-centred way. Gradually, the practice of lectio expands your capacity to sense God's presence until all of life becomes a cascade of prayer. Drawing on her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner breaks open the movements of this spiritual practice. She makes them accessible to the contemporary reader who longs for a more pervasive experience of the holy in the everyday but lives far away from the sanctuary of a monastery.

Lectio Divina - The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images Into Heart-Centered Prayer

Christian Books & Bibles

Paintner, Christine Valters

Christian Living

SPCK Publishing

Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness offers a unique prayer resource that provides a thorough grounding in the different moments of the lectio experience: listening, reading, savoring, responding, and then contemplating God s Word. It will act as a guide for those who have a desire to pray more deeply into this ancient practice and invites readers into a spirituality that encompasses a way of being with God and the whole of life. Lectio Divina, grounded in Benedictine tradition, provides an accessible approach to praying with scripture as well as several concrete and creative ways of praying lectio with different texts such as poetry, icons, and movies. The book also explores ways of bringing lectio into scripture study and integrating lectio into busy lives. It concludes by offering the reader an exploration of the transformational value of lectio divina and a way of using lectio to pray with life experience.

Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening and Awareness

Wynkoop OSB, Lucy

Catholicism

Paulist Press

The new resource is designed to help spiritual directors and others use expressive arts in the context of spiritual direction. It is the latest book in the unique SDI series, designed for professional spiritual directors, but also useful for clergy, therapists, and Christian formation specialists. The Spiritual Directors International Series – This book is part of a special series produced by Morehouse Publishing in cooperation with Spiritual Directors International (SDI), a global network of some 6,000 spiritual directors and members.

Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction (Spiritual Directors International)

Beckman, Betsey

Ministry & Evangelism

Morehouse Publishing

The desert fathers and mothers were ordinary Christians living in solitude in the deserts of Egypt, Palestine, Syria and Arabia who chose to renounce the world in order to deliberately and individually follow God s call. This probing and personal SkyLight Illuminations edition opens up their wisdom for readers with no previous knowledge of Western monasticism and early Christianity. It provides insightful yet unobtrusive commentary that describes historical background, explains the practice of asceticism and illustrates how you can use their wisdom to energize your spiritual quest.

Desert Fathers And Mothers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings-Annotated & Explained

Religion & Spirituality

ReadHowYouWant

Nurture your inner monk &amp; surrender to the natural grace &amp; rhythm of your heart's deepest longings.''''The whole world is, in fact, a text of sacred revelation. All experience has the potential to be revelatory, and God is singing one unending song seducing each of our hearts. So the call is to listen, to attune to the words God utters in the world.'''' - from the AfterwordBreak open this ancient contemplative practice of listening deeply for God's voice in sacred texts. Drawing on her own experience as a monk in the world, Christine Valters Paintner introduces the foundations for a practice of lectio divina. She closely examines each of the four movements of lectio divina as well as the rhythm they create when practiced as a process. She then invites you to expand your practice beyond traditional sacred texts to a sacred reading of the world through image, sound, nature, and life experience.Whether you want to start a contemplative prayer practice or deepen your experience of lectio divina in new ways, you are invited to savor the gifts lectio divina has to offer your heart and spirit.

The Lectio Divina-The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images Into Heart-Centered Prayer

Product Description 
Whether reciting the gathas in Buddhist practice, the Shema in Judaism, or the Jesus Prayer in Christianity, for centuries the practice of breath prayer has helped center people from a variety of faith traditions on the sacred in everyday life. Through brief words of prayer or petition said silently to the rhythm of one's breath, this simple, meditative act combines praise for the divine with focused intention, creating a profound spiritual connection in the quiet, and even mundane, moments of the day . 
In Breath Prayer, Christine Valters Paintner, online abbess of Abbey of the Arts, introduces us to this spiritual practice and offers beautiful poem-prayers for walking, working, dressing, cleaning, sitting in silence, doing the dishes, living in community--breathing the divine into our daily lives. Over time these recitations become as natural as breathing. We don't so much recite the prayers as the prayers recite us, guide us, and open our hearts to the everyday sacred. 
With each of the forty prayers, Paintner includes reflections on life's ordinary beauty and heartfelt advice for discovering the sacred all around. Breath Prayer concludes with guidance for creating your own breath prayers to deepen your practice. 
 Review 
"Breath prayer--harmonizing the sacred rhythm of the body with words that sing to the soul--is a practice both ancient and universal. Christine Valters Paintner has blessed us with an insightful guide to reclaiming this practice of the heart, in every moment and setting of the day." --Carl McColman, author of Eternal Heart and The Big Book of Christian Mysticism 
"This book is an invitation to the sacred intimacy of breath prayer, welcoming us to the grace and stillness available in the here and now. Slowing down, we become a healing presence in our own life and the lives of others. Such is the gift of this book." --Ando, spiritual director, silence coach, and poet 
"In this lovely book, from one of the most profound spiritual writers of our time, Christine Valters Paintner invites us into the ancient, yet ever-new practice of breath prayer--linking it to breathing in the sacredness of the holy ordinary of our daily lives. What a blessing this book is." --J. Brent Bill, author of Holy Silence and Sacred Compass 
 About the Author 
Christine Valters Paintner is the online abbess at the Abbey of the Arts, a virtual global monastery without walls, offering retreats, classes, books, and resources to nurture contemplative practice and creative expression. A writer, artist, spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and teacher, she earned her PhD in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union at Berkeley and is a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator (REACE). Paintner is author of The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom. She and her husband, John, live on the west coast of Ireland, where together they shepherd Abbey of the Arts and lead pilgrimages.

Breath Prayer: An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Alternative Medicine

Broadleaf Books

Clarify your true hungers--and nourish your soul. Fasting is not just the physical practice of giving up food. Fasting can also be a way to combat our culture of endless distractions and busyness. Fasting is an act of letting go, of making more internal space to listen to the sacred whispers of our lives. Join Christine Valters Paintner, online abbess of Abbey of the Arts, on a spiritual journey through seven different kinds of fasts, including fasting from control, from our attachments, from our grasping, and more. When we practice these fasts, we can discover unexpected spiritual gifts, as well as answers to deeper questions, leading us to ask: "What is my true hunger?" Perfect for Lent, or any period when a deeper intention to clarify your true hunger is needed, A Different Kind of Fasthelps us enter our hearts, stripping away old patterns and habits. Featuring striking woodcuts from artist Kreg Yingst, the book draws on the wisdom of the desert elders, Paintner offers practical contemplative practices like lectio divina, breath prayer, visio divina, meditation with desert wisdom, contemplative walks, and creative rituals. As we fast from rushing, planning, being strong, holding it all together, seeking certainty, and control, we can softly reorient ourselves toward that which nourishes and fulfills us, for the reflective Lenten season and beyond.

A Different Kind of Fast: Feeding Our True Hungers in Lent

The poems in Dreaming of Stones are about what endures: hope and desire, changing seasons, wild places, love, and the wisdom of mystics. Inspired by the poet’s time living in Ireland these readings invite you into deeper ways of seeing the world. They have an incantational quality. Drawing on her commitment as a Benedictine oblate, the poems arise out of a practice of sitting in silence and lectio divina, in which life becomes the holy text. No stranger to poetry, Paintner’s bestselling spirituality titles have often included poems. In this first exclusively poetic collection, she writes with a contemplative heart about kinship with nature, ancestral connections, intimacy, the landscape, the unfolding nature of time, and Christian mystics. It can be read for reflection to spark the heart and to offer solace and inspiration in difficult times. Breath This breathing in is a miracle, this breathing out, release, this breathing in a welcome to the unseen gifts which sustain me each moment, this breathing out a sweet sigh, a bow to my mortality, this breathing in a holy yes to life, this breathing out a sacred no to all that causes me to clench and grasp, this breathing in is a revelation, this breathing out, freedom.

Dreaming of Stones: Poems (Paraclete Poetry)

Paraclete Press

At the core of this collection are 30 poems inspired by the stories of kinship between saints and animals. They come mostly from the early Christian desert and Celtic traditions, but also feature later medieval saints like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Julian of Norwich. These stories point to a reverence for a different way of knowing and being in the world, one our world is hungry for. Each poem in this collection is meant to be a doorway to intimacy with our inner wilderness, a call to sit and be present to what we discover beyond the borders of our neatly controlled worlds.&nbsp;

The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems (Paraclete Poetry)

Literature & Fiction

Poetry

<div> <div> Love Holds You is a collection of poetry and devotions from beloved author Christine Valters Paintner. Amid the daily grind, the pain and loss, the fears and doubts, you can lose sight of the firm bedrock of love beneath your feet. Christine weaves together reflections from her own life with her signature poems, encouraging you to find your own new path forward as you start to see the beauty and wonder all around you.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; </div> <div> As Christine reflects on the moments and events that shaped her, she invites you to:&nbsp;&nbsp; </div> <div> <ul> <li> Recognize the tangible expressions of love that can be found even in the midst of grief&nbsp; </li> <li> Reclaim hope and healing after times of turmoil&nbsp;&nbsp; </li> </ul> </div> </div> <div> <div> <ul> <li> Discover the strength that God gives you through the beauty of creation&nbsp; </li> <li> Nurture your inner poet, artist, and spiritual pilgrim&nbsp;&nbsp; </li> </ul> </div> <div> A compassionate and experienced retreat leader, Christine has cultivated a following of artists, poets, and spiritual seekers through her Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery and global community based in Ireland. Love Holds You is an excellent gift for friends during times of loss, life transition, or uncertainty, or simply a gift for yourself.&nbsp;&nbsp; </div> </div>

Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty

Self-Help

Death & Grief

Iron Pen

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Books by Paintner, Christine Valters