Monday, January 30, 2012

Lectio Divina by Christine Valters Paintner


Press Release

Nurture your inner monk and surrender to the natural grace and 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 Afterword

Break 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.


Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, is a writer, teacher and the online abbess of Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery dedicated to nurturing contemplative practice and creative expression. She is author of Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements and co-author of Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction. She frequently leads retreats and teaches on the wisdom of Benedictine, Celtic and desert ways of praying. Christine Valters Paintner is available to speak on the following topics:

Desert Monastic Practices And Spirituality
Celtic Monastic Practices And Spirituality
Benedictine Monastic Practices And Spirituality
Lectio Divina And Contemplative Prayer
Spirituality And The Expressive Arts

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Skylight Paths Pub (May 27, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594733007
ISBN-13: 978-1594733000
Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches

The Seven Principles of the Monk Manifesto:
1. I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation.

2. I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others.

3. I commit to cultivating community by finding kindred spirits along the path, soul friends with whom I can share my deepest longings, and mentors who can offer guidance and wisdom for the journey.

4. I commit to cultivating awareness of my kinship with creation and a healthy asceticism by discerning my use of energy and things, letting go of what does not help nature to flourish.

5. I commit to bringing myself fully present to the work I do, whether paid or unpaid, holding a heart of gratitude for the ability to express my gifts in the world in meaningful ways.

6. I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular practice of Sabbath and resist a culture of busyness that measures my worth by what I do.

7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations.