Blessing of the Willow

Blessing of the Willow 

I have gathered my prayers

Rich sans script text on cotton rag

Bound in tooled Italian calfskin

Attributed, acknowledged, abridged

But not what I wanted to pray.

I have gathered my prayers

Iconic imagery in detailed stone,

Paint on canvas, hand carved wood.

Visualised, tactile, idealised

Yet not what I wanted to pray.

I have gathered my prayers

Exotic incenses, fragrant candles,

Oriental oils and balms

Perfumed, aromatic, miasmic

Still not what I wanted to pray.

I stood at the window

Dumbstruck, tongue-tied

Full of unspeakable words

And I saw her in the garden

Praying.

Complete in herself

Firmly planted in the earth that

Gave her life.

Arms raised to the light of Heaven.

Bare faced against the elements.

I watched as her heart called out

To the God who made her

In joyful thanks

For her place in the Pattern

For her chord in the Song.

I felt the Spirit bless her

Loving fingers through her hair

Along the length of her body

Whispering Creation’s secrets

Sharing in the Word of Life.

Then I went into the garden

Words pouring from heart and mind

A true call from self, from longing

I spread my arms beside the willow tree

And joined her in her prayer.

wordinthehand2012

Shield of the Morning

Be my Shield

I call on the Sacred Three

To be with me this day

To be Life so that I may live

To be Love so that I may love

To be Hope so that I may hope

I call upon the Father

To be my shield and my breastplate

To give me the strength to do my duty

As the defender of what is true

And to know my duty is to Life

To protect the weak and the helpless

To seek the better Way.

I call upon the Son

To be my Path and my Pathfinder

To find the roads of the Kingdom

To give me a heart that sees the truth

In a world where truth is led astray

To see beneath the grime of distrust

To the shining light of goodness.

I call upon the Spirit

To be my eyes and my sentinel

To give me wisdom and courage

So that I may act with integrity

To be a hand of mercy

To bring hope in darkness

To do what is right

The Sacred Three to be with me

To be my shield

This day and forever.

Amen

wordinthehand2012

To the Holy Spirit

O Thou, far off and here, whole and broken

Who in necessity and in bounty wait,

Whose truth is light and dark, mute though spoken

By Thy wide grace show me Thy narrow gate.

Wendell Berry

Feast of St Laserian

                                                      

                

St. Laserian  was born around the year 566, the son of Cairel and Blitha,

of the Ulaid, Irish Celts. Laserian was sent to Scotland to be educated by the Abbot St Murin. 

As a young man he lived as a hermit on the Holy Island off  the Isle of Arran. This island became known as Molaise's island - Molaise is a 'pet name' for Lasieran. He worked many miracles there including bringing water to flow for the mill and there is a Holy Well still attributed with healing qualities. The water was also used to seal an oath and would cause an illness on anyone who broke it. 

This island is now owned by a Buddhist Community and used as a retreat centre and religious community - not to be confused with the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.
  

From Holy Island,  Laserian travelled to Rome. He was ordained by  Pope Gregory the Great. He then returned to Ireland.

God led him to found a monastic community at Old Leighlin in South Leinster. It's said that the local landowner promised him the amount of ground that his cloak would cover - when Laserian took off his cloak it spread to cover enough land for the building of his monastery.  St. Patrick too, is associated with Leighlin. There is a St. Patrick's Well at Ballyknockan near Leighlin. The monastery at Leighlin continued to grow and attracted the company of other holy men such as  St. Finbar of Cork and also St. Molua, who had a monastic settlement at Clonfertmulloe in County Laois.

A Synod was assembled in March 630, in the White Fields. St Laserian supported the Roman working of when to celebrate Easter against St Munnu.  St Laserian made another journey to Rome where Pope Honorius ordained him Bishop and legate in Ireland. After he returned, the time of observing Easter was reformed in the south of Ireland.

According to tradition, he is the Laisrén who is depicted in the Old Irish prose narrative The Vision of Laisrén, one of the earliest vernacular pieces of vision literature in Christian tradition. The legend tells of him leaving the monastery of Clúain to 'purify' the church of Clúain Cháin in Connaught. After a three nights' fast, his soul is taken up by two angels, who escort him to Hell to show him the horrors that await sinners. The angels explain to one devil that their guest is granted the vision in order that "he will give warning before us to his friends."

St. Laserian is said to have died between the years 638 and 641. A story concerning his death refers to his meeting with St. Sillán. The tradition tells that a person who would see Sillán's eyebrow would die immediately. St. Laserian on meeting with St. Sillán tried to pluck out the hair but he was struck down. This could be a variant of the "Evil Eye" tale in folklore. There is a variety of opinion as to where the Saint's resting place lies - some say he was buried under his church at Leighlin or under the High cross in Leighlin and others say that it may have been at Lorum. 

wordinthehand2012 

Blessing of the Eighth Day

The Eighth Day is not about starting all over again.

After the Day of Rest, God looked out on the universe that he had made. God saw the ripples and the rhythms; the flow and the ebbing of all Creation. Here and there, God saw that there were eddys in the flow and sometimes the tide was turned aside or even back on itself.

God called the archangels and sent them to visit Creation and tell of what they witnessed.

Gabriel spoke of the music of the spheres, the birdsong; the call of the wolf and the midnight song of the nightingale; the rustle of leaves and the thunder of waterfalls; it was all good.

Raphael spoke of the growing of life; the play between the butterfly and the bee; the patterns of the flowers and grain; the colours of the coral reef and the rainbow of the myriad sealife that moved across it; it was all good.

Uriel spoke of the sunrise and sunset; of clouds racing across desert skies; of the midnight sun sparking off glaciers; of death and how new life came from death; it was all good.

Michael stood silently for a moment; frowned; opened his mouth then closed it again. His eyes went up to the higher heavens and then he sighed.

'Michael', God said, 'speak of what you saw.'

'Almighty, You are good and everything you do is good. It's just the little ones; the humans -they don't seem to know their place; they don't seem to know how to 'be' good. They wander here and there; they build homes only to destroy them; they dig up the earth only to plant something else; they love - they love wonderfully but they hate as wonderfully as they love. They don't seem to know You; they don't seem to know themselves. They seem - unsettled - unfinished somehow.'

Michael opened his eyes wide, lost for what else to say, and looked across at the other archangels.

'You made them last of all, Wondrous One,' murmured Gabriel, 'perhaps they are not quite ready?'

'I made them last of all , but I love them most,' replied God, 'and I have given them so much. Maybe they could do with some guidance; some support; maybe someone to watch over them?'

The archangels bowed in agreement. 'Maybe more than one?' suggested Uriel.

'Then,' said God, 'I am sending you, Uriel, to watch over their days and nights and show those with eyes that see, signs of my presence. Gabriel, you will speak to those with ears that hear, of my love for them. Raphael, you will teach those who are willing of the healing power of my creation and guide them on the right paths.

And Michael, Michael, you will watch over them - if you have seen their weakness then others will have too and I will not lose even one. You will guard them whilst they live and, at the end of this Day you will bring them Home to me.'

The archangels bowed deeply to their Almighty Beloved and turned in formation to take up their guardianship.

'I have a feeling,' commented Michael, 'this is going to be a really long Day.'


wordinthehand2012

Blessing of the Seventh Day

2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

² By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. ³ And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Blessing of the Seventh Day 

Be still

Just once - stop

Enough

More than enough

All that you can do

And still more to do?

I know...I know

But now

Now  - stop 

If I can do it 

Why can't you?

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Blessing of the Sixth Day - God of All

²⁴ And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. ²⁵God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

²⁹ Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Blessing of the Sixth Day
O Father; each day you worked on your patterning
The weaving of seasons; the setting apart of the sea and sky
You orchestrated the tides and the flow of the planets
You tuned the song of the spheres and the chirrup of the cricket 
You spun the gossamer of spiders and dandelion clocks
Painted spots and stripes and added hair
here and there 


O Mother; you played the matchmaker
God Mother to a myriad children; Grandmother to their mothers
You nursed them and named them, each to their own
You taught them to sing, to dance, to leap and run
To swim, to soar, to wriggle and glide
You taught them to dig deep, hold fast, grow strong
here and everywhere 


And then you imagined us; wrote us on your hand
So you wouldn't lose even one - and let us go
You hover over us; shine before us 
Burn into us and wash us
You replace our hearts, open our mouths
Place our feet in the good paths 
Hold our hands in the dark.


This is your universe
We are your people 
You are our God


Blessed be




wordinthehand2012