Perpetual Advent

"Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and author, remarked that life is a perpetual Advent. He sensed that in that waiting, trust began to grow. Trust in God, trust in the Holy One who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trusting and waiting allow the loving-kindness that is the essence of God's own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected."

To read the rest of Mary Earle's short article, go here.

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.
(199)

Mary Earle

Mary Earle, an Episcopal priest, spiritual director, and author, writes often for ExploreFaith.org. I also heard her speak about the Desert Ammas last month. (She also provided the quote from the post below this one.)

Today I received the ExploreFaith.org newsletter, and she had an excerpt entitled “A Celtic Christmas: Celebrating the Sacred in All Creation” from which the following quote is from. Go back to the article to read the rest of Mary Earle’s article.

“The first time I went to Wales in 1994, Patrick Thomas, Welsh author and Anglican priest, told us that in every Welsh nativity scene, a washerwoman accompanies Mary, Joseph and Jesus at the manger. For the Welsh tradition, if Jesus isn’t born daily into the common household, then there’s really no point of celebrating the birth at Bethlehem. Jesus’ birth, singular as it is, also shows us the sacredness of each child, knit together in the mother’s womb by God’s own Spirit. Jesus’ birth reminds us that each household is dear to God.”

Watch for the light

Desert Ammas

Mother Syncletica (4th century).

On Saturday, I am going to San Antonio to hear Mary Earle speak on the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Abbas and Ammas), which I mentioned in Waiting in Silence. To finish my master's degree in theology at Oblate School of Theology, I must finish three scholarly papers. I originally did research, now forgotten, on desert mothers, specifically Syncletica and Theodora. I am hoping to be renewed in this quest at the lecture tomorrow.

Eight Desert Mothers.