Celtic Blessings
August 21, 2005
Sarah’s in Scotland right now, and I just finished looking through John O’Donohue’s book, Eternal Echoes. Some great stuff, especially some of the Blessings at the end of each chapter. I wanted to share some of them with you. May they bless you.
A BLESSING
May you awaken to the mystery of being here and enter
the quiet immensity of your own presence.
May you have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
May you receive great encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
May you respond to the call of your gifts and find the
courage to follow its path.
May the flame of anger free you from falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame and may
anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
May you take time to celebrate the quiet miracles
that seek no attention.
May you be consoled in the secret sympathy of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven
around the heart of wonder.
A BLESSING
Blessed be the longing that brought you here and that
quickens your soul with wonder.
May you have the courage to befriend your eternal longing.
May you enjoy the critical and creative companionship of
the question “Who am I?” and may it brighten your longing.
May a secret Providence guide your thought and shelter your feeling.
May your mind inhabit your life with the same sureness
with which your body belongs to the world.
May the sense of something absent enlarge your life.
May your soul be as free as the ever-new waves of the sea.
May you succumb to the danger of growth.
May you live in the neighbourhood of wonder.
May you belong to love with the wildness of Dance.
May you know that you are ever embraced in the kind circle of God.
A BLESSING
May you listen to your longing to be free.
May the frames of your belonging be large enough
for the dreams of your soul.
May you arise each day with a voice of blessing
whispering in your heart that something good is going to happen to you.
May you find a harmony between your soul and your life.
May the mansion of your soul never become a haunted place.
May you know the eternal longing which lives at the heart of time.
May there be kindness in your gaze when you look within.
May you never place walls between the light and yourself.
May your angel free you from the prisons of guilt,
fear, disappointment, and despair.
May you allow the wild beauty of the invisible world to
gather you, mind you, and embrace you in belonging…
A BLESSING
May you be blessed in the Holy Names of those who carry
our pain up the mountain of transfiguration.
May you know tender shelther and healing blessing when
you are called to stand in the place of pain.
May the places of darkness within you be turned towards the light.
May you be granted the wisdom to avoid false resistance
and when suffering knocks on the door of your life,
may you be able to glimpse its hidden gift.
May you be able to see the fruits of suffering.
May memory bless and shelter you with the hard-earned
light of past travail, may this give you confidence and trust.
May a window of light always surprise you.
May the grace of transfiguration heal your wounds.
May you know that even though the storm might rage yet
not a hair of your head will be harmed.
A BLESSING
May you know that absence is full of tender presence and
that nothing is ever lost or forgotten.
May the absences in your life be full of eternal echo.
May you sense around you the secret Elsewhere which
holds the presence that have left your life.
May you be generous in your embrace of loss.
May the sore well of grief turn into a well of seamless presence.
May your compassion reach out to the ones we never hear
from and may you have the courage to speak out for the excluded ones.
May you become the gracious and passionate
subject of your own life.
May you not disrespect your mystery through brittle words
or false belonging.
May you be embraced by God in whom dawn and twilight
are one, and may your belonging inhabit its deepest
dreams within the shelter of the Great Belonging.
Posted in Theology
Adam Walker Cleaveland: 
August 21st, 2005 at 8:41 am
Shalom! Howdy!
Nice blog! It reminds me of my buddy Taylor Albright who went to Princeton after teaching at a private Christian School with me at my Dad’s church. I’m a PK.
Some of my Jewish friends sent me to your blog in hopes of reasoning with you about the conflict in Israel, but you can read more about that on my blog if so inclined http://formermisfits.blogspot.com I’m Scottish and was on a missionary journey for two months to Scotland in ‘83. Your friend will love the land. It’s so rugged and beautiful. My ancestor got stabbed in the back in a church in Dumfries by Robert The Bruce - who then hunted down my ancestors and whiped out the royal bloodline for those with the right to the Scots throne, not Robert. Church should be a place of love and healing, but as you will find in and out of seminary, many of those who profess to be “christians” are far from it. Those that are truly Christians are known by their love and lifestyle. Pograms, inquisitions, and persecutions of others by Christians in name only have blemished the reputation of the faith.
The Celtic blessings above are rather depressing, rather than inspiring. Of course, you have to consider the source of hundreds of years of fighting and oppression.
Cemetary, I mean seminary, can be a lethal tool of satan to one’s faith. My own father can tell you of the crap he had to vomit up for years afterwards in order to have his mind renewed by Christ. Now he’s a staunch Israel supporter and has been featured on the cover of the Jewish times. He and Mom visited Israel numerous times before she passed on.
Be careful , friend, to cast off the liberal views of the seminary crowd and professors and cling to that which is truth substantiated by the Word, and ask for a Holy Spirit annointing on your life and ministry. Let the H.S. guide you into all truth and keep you and your girlfriend blessed right out of your socks!
As for the Emergent bloggers, I can only say that I’m more interested in what the Ruahx ha kodesh desires in these matters…the Holy Spirit. Mortal man has a limited view and we are truly blown by every wind of doctrine.
-MisFitToy
August 22nd, 2005 at 1:47 am
Be careful, friend, to always cherish the views of the seminary crowd and professors, for much of what they teach is the truth.
August 22nd, 2005 at 3:00 am
Bro,
Great blessings man, thanks for sharing these with us, I hope that people will take as much note of this as they do the other areas of your blog. Really an encouragement, thanks bro…
April 4th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
As with all Celtic blessings, they take real life events and turn them into a blessing. The ancient Celtic church was much closer to the teachings of Christ than subsequent versions of His teachings, more humane, caring. These blessings are relevant to today’s world events and individual experiences.
August 8th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Are you on Facebook? See http://apps.facebook.com/blessing