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| Celtic Spirituality |
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| Ancient and Contemporary Celtic Spirituality | ||||||||
The spiritual journey into the 21st century integrates ancient wisdom with a new exploration and contemporary expression of the Spirit in our daily life. Celtic Christianity of the 5th -10th centuries speaks with an uncanny relevance to our modern search for meaning. Their love of the land and positive attitude toward nature parallel our concern for the environment. Their culture was non-hierarchical and promoted equality among women and men, also 21st century values. The Celtic Church was more a community of prayer than an organization. It was a way of life that developed on the edges of the Christian world far away from the influence of the mother church. For the Celts the material world and the spiritual world were not separate realities, they were both expressions of the Holy. The physical world of action and the spiritual world of contemplation were informed and enriched by each other for a full life experience. Every aspect of life was approached as an opportunity for union with the divine...no part of life was too ordinary, mundane, or routine for God to be present in it. Their faith was rooted in blessing. The Celts had a blessing for everything...house, hearth, birth, death, travel, waking and sleeping. They were very much aware of evil in the world but chose to focus on the gifts of forgiveness, the love of Christ and the power of the Spirit to protect them. Twenty-first century Celtic Spirituality emphasizes the belief that the Holy presence exists within us and around us. Even though we can block it out, be unaware of it, or even deny it, there is nowhere we can go that will take us away from this presence. When we invite the Spirit into our lives, our consciousness is expanded and we awaken to see, hear, and experience God in all things. The choice is ours. The body, mind, and emotions are all portals for the Spirit of God. Celtic spirituality embraces a positive attitude toward the physical body, believing that it can both express and receive the Spirit. Celtic Spirituality is filled with metaphor, story, poetry, and myth which expand our consciousness and allow us to enter the Holy dimension that is in our midst. We find ourselves moving into deeper places where all is one, where there is a divine connection, and all of life finds a common cause. This is about synthesis rather than analysis; about moving beyond the rational and intellectual to the experience and images that express our faith-life. The Celts valued pilgrimage. Although the community was the source of nurture, purpose and satisfaction, they believed it was necessary to leave the familiar from time to time to renew the soul. Likewise, in our life there is a need for physical movement that expresses our inner flow. Pilgrimage is not just moving about or taking a holiday, it is a journey intentionally taken to be open to God. The destination is not as important as the journey. It is along the way that we are healed and transformed. |
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May 2, 2007 7:07:07 PM