Morning Offering

A Morning Offering

 

I bless the night that nourished my heart
To set the ghosts of longing free
Into the flow and figure of dream
That went to harvest from the dark
Bread for the hunger no one sees.

 

All that is eternal in me
Welcome the wonder of this day,
The field of brightness it creates
Offering time for each thing
To arise and illuminate.

 

I place on the altar of dawn:
The quiet loyalty of breath,
The tent of thought where I shelter,
Wave of desire I am shore to
And all beauty drawn to the eye.

 

May my mind come alive today
To the invisible geography
That invites me to new frontiers,
To break the dead shell of yesterdays,
To risk being disturbed and changed.

 

May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love,
To postpone my dream no longer
But do at last what I came here for
And waste my heart on fear no more.

 

~ John O'Donohue ~

Everything

“Though the human body is born complete in one moment, the birth of the human heart is an ongoing process. It is being birthed in every experience of your life. Everything that happens to you has the potential to deepen you. It brings to birth within you new territories of the heart. Patrick Kavanagh captures this sense of the benediction of happening:

'Praise, praise, praise

The way it happened and the way it is.'"

O’Donohue, John. Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998. 6.

Sentimental Celtic Christianity?

MadPriest commented on the post below about the tendency to sentimentalize and glorify the "Celtic Christianity," which I observe to be a wide American phenomenon. I loved Mary Earle's presentation on Saturday. She is a learned Episcopal priest and an excellent speaker. However, I need to remember how each of us speaks through our filters of preferences and dislikes, just the way I listen, too! Every person does this, so there is no escaping, except for the awareness that we do so. That is why community is so important--different angles are observed by various people to present a larger (but not complete) image.* So I am appreciative of MadPriest for pointing out the tendency to paint a "golden age" of Christianity. I have a lot to learn!

Now here I am quoting someone I found through google, not know anything about her except that she wrote a book--Visions and Voyages: The Story of Celtic Spirituality by Fay Sampson. However, she says that she wrote yet another book on this topic because:

"There is a tiresome amount of sentimentality about Celtic Christianity. Many people are searching for a golden age which never existed. I wanted to show them something as close to the reality as I could get. The Celtic saints were often hot-tempered and wrong-headed, but at their best gloriously in love with God and utterly careless of their own welfare. This book expresses my enthusiasm for them, but also shows they could be pretty uncomfortable to live with. Yet they have insights of real and lasting value to offer us, truths which for centuries were suppressed. Today their values resonate with people outside as well as inside the Church."

Now here's another avenue of exploration for me. . . .books by Ian Bradley are the first to find.

Still, from Saturday's talk, I gratefully take the nuggets of truth that hit me--everything is holy and I am never alone.

*HOW we see shapes WHAT we see!

Celtic Christianity

On Saturday I went to San Antonio with my friend MB to hear Mary Earle speak about "Celtic Christianity," which was the last session of Year 1 of Christian Mysticism: History, Wisdom and Insights. It was worth the drive of 120+ miles, even leaving at 6 am. I've vaguely heard about Celtic Christianity, but never delved into it, but now want to learn much more!

Some insights that intrigue me:

• Our lives are to be prayer
• Spirituality and prayers are of the ordinary things of life
  
• Whole creation is full of the Presence of God
• Gospel of John was very important to them with language of mutual indwelling
• We are words ourselves uttered by God
• How we see shapes what we see
• Theology of accompaniment: always accompanied by Presence of God and the saints with us
• All that is is in the Holy Undivided Trinity: We are never alone
• Life of God is in all, even the worst
• Deep invitation is to trust the current of Love
• St. Brigit: A person without a soul friend is like a body without a head.

Let me know if you've read a really good book about Celtic Christianity, ok? I resurrected an ancient copy of Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations from the Gaelic by Alexander Carmichael, which I'd barely looked at it when I bought it years ago. Today I read and prayed some of the prayers. There's always the "right" time for something, and here is the time for that book.

And here is one of the prayers from this book that I find to be so lovely:

Bless to me, O God,
Each thing mine eye sees;
Bless to me, O God,
Each sound mine ear hears;
Bless to me, O God,
Each odor that goes to my nostrils;
Bless to me, O God,
Each taste that goes to my lips;
Each note that goes to my song;
Each ray that guides my way,
Each thing that I pursue,
Each lure that tempts my will,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The Three that seek my heart,
The zeal that seeks my living soul,
The Three that seek my heart.
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