Love Holds You
$21.99
From the introduction by Christine Valters Paintner
Most of these poems were written during the time of pandemic. The call to compassionate retreating came naturally for my strong hermit side. I found myself, rather then getting bored with home, falling more in love with the mundane aspects of my life. The boxes on our patio growing herbs, the way my favorite chair has shaped itself to my body, my dog’s daily eagerness for walks and cuddles. As I lingered more than usual I found deep appreciation for the radical ordinariness of my days.
In the heart of a season filled with anxieties around personal health and well-being, around economic impact, around tremendous collective grief and loss, I found that there was one thing I wanted to remember daily. My prayers were calling me back to the ground of love that I believe undergirds us all. This isn’t always easy to remember, and sometimes reading the news I question whether it is even true. Writing poems about love became an act of cultivating trust. The moments that trust dissolved, I would pick up my pen and try and remember what I loved or how love had been made visible to me that day.
Most of these poems are not directly about the pandemic per se. They are love poems that arose out of a desire to pay close attention when things seemed to be falling apart and to name what it was that endures. Many of the poems are dreamlike settings, where a new reality erupts into the everyday.
Love doesn’t make our struggles vanish. It doesn’t mean carrying perpetual optimism into our days or even having to believe that everything will be okay. Those things are not seductive for me in a world when so many have so much to grieve. It does mean that I believe Love is the foundation of everything and holds us in our sorrow as well as our delight. This is in large part why I write poems, to hold this tension of living in a world that can be so devastating and also so staggeringly beautiful.
SKU (ISBN): 9781640607323
ISBN10: 1640607323
Christine Paintner
Binding: Trade Paper
Published: May 2023
Publisher: Paraclete Press
You must be logged in to post a review.
Related products
-
Twas The Season Of Lent
$19.99Add to cart‘Twas the Season of Lent is a 40-day devotional and storybook that explores the life, words, and works of Jesus and encourages families to draw closer to God during the Lenten Season. From beloved author Glenys Nellist, this book focused on Jesus’s mission to the least, the lost, and the lonely, with each story and accompanying prayer prompt encouraging children to try to be more like Jesus and to do what God calls them to.
Written in both prose and poetry, this gorgeous picture book shares the true story of the days leading up to Christ’s death and resurrection. The read-aloud rhymes and stunning illustrations by Elena Selivanova make this a perfect read for the whole family during the Lenten season. With an eye-catching cover decorated in shining foil and embossing, this book is designed to be a treasured tradition for families and church ministries for the Lenten season for years to come.
‘Twas the season of Lent, when for forty whole days
The people were trying to think of new ways
To be more like Jesus–to love, care, and give,
In hopes that they’d choose the right way to live.‘Twas the Season of Lent:
*Is written by Glenys Nellist, author of the beloved The Wonder That Is You, and the Snuggle Time and Love Letters from God series
*Is told in the lyrical style of Clement Moore’s iconic poem–“‘Twas the Night before Christmas”
*Explores what the season of Lent is all about and how we can draw closer to God during this time
*Features a familiar rhythm and rhyme that children ages 4-8 will love
*Brings to life the story of Jesus’s ministry and the days leading up to his death and resurrection through Elena Selivanova’s beautiful, rich illustrations
*Is the perfect way for adults to share the powerful meaning of the Lenten season with the little ones in their lives leading up to the Easter holiday
-
Handbook For Todays Catholic (Revised)
$6.99Add to cartHandbook for Today’s Catholic, popular for decades, is now even more valuable. This revised and updated edition includes a new introduction, the current list of the Holy Days of Obligation observed in the United States, the prayer for vocations favored by Pope John Paul II, a new section on how to prepare for a sick call, and much more.
Handbook for Today’s Catholic, Revised Edition, retains all the features of the previous edition presented in easy-to-understand language, with content divided into the following four sections: Beliefs, Practices, Prayers, and Living the Faith.
-
He Leadeth Me
$16.00Add to cartCaptured by a Russian army during World War II and convicted of being a “Vatican spy,” Jesuit Father Walter J. Ciszek spent 23 agonizing years in Soviet prisons and the labor camps of Siberia. Only through an utter reliance on God’s will did he manage to endure the extreme hardship. He tells of the courage he found in prayer–a courage that eased the loneliness, the pain, the frustration, the anguish, the fears, the despair. For, as Ciszek relates, the solace of spiritual contemplation gave him an inner serenity upon which he was able to draw amidst the “arrogance of evil” that surrounded him. Ciszek learns to accept the inhuman work in the infamous Siberian salt mines as a labor pleasing to God. And through that experice, he was able to turn the adverse forces of circumstance into a source of positive value and a means of drawing closer to the compassionate and never-forsaking Divine Spirit.
He Leadeth Me is a book to inspire all Christians to greater faith and trust in God–even in their darkest hour. As the author asks, “What can ultimately trouble the soul that accepts every moment of every day as a gift from the hands of God and strives always to do his will?”
-
Mining The Meaning Of The Bible
$7.99Add to cartMining the Meaning of the Bible: Beyond the Literal Word is a simple user guide for older children and adults to cut through the literal reading of the Bible, and to get to the meaning and message of the Scriptures. It is a primer, a very simple approach to getting to the meaning of the Scriptures, beneath the literal words and mining the true riches of God’s message.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.