Grailville, at the time of the creation of these sculptures, was an intentional, spiritual community of Catholic lay women – the U.S. center of the International Grail Movement.

What an impact Grailville has had on my entire life! My memories of those early years are still so vivid... We strove to live out what being Christian was supposed to be in every artistic and practical way imaginable. We milked the cows and did the laundry, made the bread, grew the wheat, meditated and sang with faith and joy – all with the sense that everyday work and life was expressing our relation to God. In the middle of the 20th century, this was a rare experience of splendor - of how life could be integrated within a grand belief in God, mystery, and humble service. The organizing rhythms were the feasts and fasts of the liturgical year of the Catholic Church and the natural cycles of the seasons of winter, spring, summer, and harvest, which correspond so intimately with the church’s year in the Northern Hemisphere.

Over the decades since those days, most of us who shared them have expanded our spirituality to be at home in many places besides the Catholic Church, which was at that time so central to us. But I like to think that it was this very profound experience of going so deeply into one great tradition that has assisted us to. break through to the universal and away from fundamentalism – which strangely seems to sit on the surface of faith – not its depth.

Having been through a period where I wanted to water down expressions of my rich Catholic experience to find a least common denominator, which I hoped would bother no one, I have come full circle. I believe that there is something deep and wonderful in this type of rich experience that can speak to those who are searching deeply on other paths. For many it is not the Catholic story, but the other stories explaining the mysteries of life and death that bring those following faithfully to a fullness of life. For me, it has been within the Catholic tradition, its chant and mysticism and call to social action, where I have most deeply met something great and noble.

I present the reissue of my sculptures in this spirit. There are many ways to God - God is too big for a single box. I believe that if anyone goes deeply enough into their own faith tradition, they can encounter at the heart of it all - love, service, and joy. Let us not miss the inclusiveness that I believe Jesus and the other great spiritual teachers were trying to bring through different books and different languages. In our time we are also beginning to understand the language of the "primary scriptures," the writings of God directly into creation, which preceded and gave a language to the other great books.

In this spirit of the Grail search for meaning, my own spiritual journey, and that of early Grailville, I present these sculptures - newly available after many years of being out of production.

I think the following story of the production of one of these sculptures – the Nativity – expresses not only the spirit behind its creation – but also the spirit behind the rest of the sculptures.

Enjoy, and if possible, be inspired!

~Trina Paulus, August 2002