Celtic Spirituality - Week 2 - led by Lindy Sanford-Martinez

Intro to Celtic Spirituality: Seeing the Holy One in All Creation

Week Two

Blessing Each Moment

A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal and strengthen.  John O’Donohue 

“Like billowing clouds,

Like the incessant gurgle of the brook

The longing of the spirit can never be stilled.”

Hildegard of Bingen

(Open with discussion of what we have seen in Nature this past week.)

     Blessing Each Moment is a Celtic practice that helps bring loving attention to daily life by using little prayers to celebrate ordinary tasks we do each day. There is a beautiful book of Scottish blessings called the Carmina Gadelica, collected by Andrew Carmichael in the 19th century in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. It is filled with blessings of the day’s unfolding.

       Celebrating ordinary tasks with short prayers are expressing gratitude for the activities of the day.  The Jews use a mezuzah on their doorways to act as a constant reminder of God's presence. Some Christians wear a necklace with a cross or a fish on it as a reminder of their faith and gratitude.   The steam rising from my coffee, sunrise, a bird singing from a tree branch outside, the doorbell announcing a friend’s arrival, remembering that every meal that nourishes my body. Getting into the car, turning on the range to cook dinner, walking the dog, laying down to rest.   Gratitude for all these things bring us closer to God. 

Practice: 

      Consider using a short prayer of gratitude or two you already know this week.  Or you might write a brief one or two that you would like to use.  My first prayer each morning is “Blessed be God, blessed be God forever.”  as I take my first sip of coffee!  

       

      Did Blessing Each Moment brighten your days?  How did expressing your commitments and your gratitude affect you?  Write a paragraph or two in your journal about this practice.

We rise today,

Through the strength of heaven:

Light of the sun, radiance of the moon.

Splendor of fire, speed of lightning,

Swiftness of wind, depth of sea,

Stability of earth and firmness of rock.

We rise through the strength of heaven

We rise today