Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life

by Christine Valters Paintner

Overview

We live in a world where there never seems to be enough time for all we want and need to do. In Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life, Christine Valters Paintner guides us as we move beyond our own lives and embrace a world that urges us toward rest, reflection, and growth.

In Sacred Time, Paintner, abbess of the online Abbey of the Arts, shows us how by becoming in tune with the rhythms of the natural world, we can live more intentionally and experience a conversion toward a more expansive way of being. Paintner introduces us to the eight cycles of sacred time that exist in our everyday lives. These cycles that can ground us through our busy lives are

• breath,
• rhythms of the day,
• weekly rhythms and Sabbath rest,
• waxing and waning lunar cycles,
• seasons of the year,
• seasons of a lifetime,
• ancestral time, and
• cosmic time.

Each cycle encourages us to mindfully consider the time that passes as quickly as each breath and as slowly as the passing of generations. Within each cycle, we find wisdom from sacred tradition and the saints, including St. Benedict, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and St. Hildegard of Bingen; room for growth; and the presence of the Divine. Along the way, we are also given scriptural guidance, and we are invited to spiritual practices and creative explorations that will help deepen our understanding of each cycle, allow that understanding to take root in our lives, and expand our lives beyond the pressures of each day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781932057225
Publisher:	Ave Maria Press
Publication date:	02/19/2021
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Christine Valters Paintner is the online abbess for Abbey of the Arts, a virtual monastery offering classes and resources on contemplative practice and creative expression. She earned a doctorate in Christian spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, and achieved professional status as a registered expressive arts consultant and educator from the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association. She is also trained as a spiritual director and supervisor.

Paintner is the author of numerous spirituality titles, including The Love of Thousands; Birthing the Holy; Sacred Time; Earth, Our Original Monastery; The Soul’s Slow Ripening; The Wisdom of the Body; Illuminating the Way; The Soul of a Pilgrim; The Artist’s Rule; Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire; and three collections of poetry.

She is a Benedictine oblate living in Galway, Ireland, with her husband, John. Together they lead online retreats at their website AbbeyoftheArts.com.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

1 The Breath 1

2 Rhythms of the Day 15

3 Weekly Rhythms and Sabbath Rest 31

4 Waxing and Waning Lunar Cycles 49

5 Seasons of the Year 65

6 Seasons of a Lifetime 83

7 Ancestral Time 99

8 Cosmic Time 117

Conclusion 131

Notes 134

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In a season of life when time feels chaotic and uneven—sometimes slow, sometimes racing, sometimes monotonous, sometimes crazy—Christine Valters Paintner’s book reminds me that I do not need to manage time but rather manage myself within the time that I am given: a time marked by cycles and seasons outside my control but beautiful and organic and awaiting my embrace. In Sacred Time, she eases me into a new appreciation for how God is at work in the mystery of time.” —Ann M. Garrido, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Aquinas Institute of Theology

“In a world of increasing speed, work, and distraction, Christine Valters Painter’s Sacred Time is a welcome guide to shifting our spiritual gears into a mode of renewed attentiveness and intentionality. Beautifully written, this book helps readers adjust the rhythms of their lives to align more closely with that of God and creation.” —Rev. Daniel P. Horan, O.F.M., Duns Scotus Chair of Spirituality, Catholic Theological Union, Author of The Franciscan Heart of Thomas Merton

“Christine Valters Paintner’s vision deftly translates the seasons of the heart and cycles of the solar and lunar year into pathways of enlightenment and spiritual growth. As with the online experience out of which this book grew, Sacred Time is a rich feast of wisdom that encourages personal insights and a pilgrimage that leads us intentionally toward ‘time out of time.’” —Moira Anne MacDermaid, Poet and Abbey of the Arts Sacred Time Jubilee participant