From Christine’s newest book being released in May 💚☘️
How to Pray (Excerpt)
Remind your body how it says yes
to blossom, fruit, release, and rest,
each its own kind of prayer.
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE, Love Holds You: Poems and Devotions for Times of Uncertainty (to be released May 9th by Paraclete Press)
What aliveness calls you to prayer?
Verse of the day
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
– Hebrews 13:16
Voice of the day
Lent … [is] not about one person making a short-term sacrifice but about collective choices to generate momentum and heal our relationship with the land and each other. This Lent, those choices feel both embodied and communal with shared stakes for us all.
– Mallory McDuff, “My Family’s Lenten Practices Prepared Us for Green Burial”
Prayer of the day
It is tempting to co-opt Lent as a siloed time of self-improvement; this is not your vision, Lord. May we throw off the temptation to be centripetal during these next weeks.
“Practice can feel tedious at times because we want immediate results. The desert elders remind us to take the long view. Discomfort is a sign we are being stretched into new territory.”
— Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE, The Soul’s Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
Where do you feel tedium or discomfort in your practice today?
A self-study online companion retreat to this book is available>>
“Poverty and need have a very close relationship with a degraded environment. . . . When you talk about the problems, you tend to disempower people. You tend to make people feel that there is nothing they can do, that they are doomed, that there is no hope. I realized that to break the cycle, one has to start with a positive step, and I thought that planting a tree is very simple, very easy—something positive that anybody can do.”—Wangari Maathai
“Love God, serve God; everything is in that.”—St. Clare
Verse of the day
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
– Psalm 36:6
Voice of the day
Criticisms I’ve received personally in the church [imply] animal welfare is a peripheral issue. The fact is these are God’s creatures who are suffering, and we’re responsible, as part of our Christian vocation, to be stewards of our earth and of all the animals.
– D. Rebecca Dinovo, “Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the Christian Call to Animal Welfare”
Prayer of the day
Lord expand our vision to know how to better care for the other animals and creatures in our midst; though we are special in that we are made in your image, may we not use that as a way to dominate cruelly over what you have asked us to steward well.
“Let the love you have in your hearts be shown outwardly in your deeds.”
—The Testament of St. Clare
“We must remove the landmines in our hearts which prevent us from making peace. The landmines in the heart are greed, hatred, and delusion. We can overcome greed with the weapon of generosity; we can overcome hatred with the weapon of loving kindness; we can overcome delusion with the weapon of wisdom. Peace-making starts with us.”—Maha Ghosananda
Verse of the day
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
– Philippians 4:8
Voice of the day
Life and faith are never easy. The books our students read shouldn’t be either.
– Ryan Duncan, “How Book Bans Hurt Kids and Hinder the Gospel”
Prayer of the day
On this National Read Across America Day, Lord we are grateful for the gift of words and literature; may we not be afraid to engage with works that challenge us.
Verse of the day
For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, because we are members of his body.
– Ephesians 5:29-30
Voice of the day
If we are worth anything, it is not because we have more money or more talent, or more human qualities. Insofar as we are worth anything, it is because we are grafted on to Christ’s life, his cross and resurrection. That is a person’s measure.
– Monseñor Oscar Arnulfo Romero
Prayer of the day
Guide our hands and feet as we care for members of your body; give us an expansive view of people’s worth.
Pastor Michael Moore's Blog 