In the Celtic way of prayer, the divine glory was intertwined with the ordinariness of everyday events like the patterns on carvings and in illuminated Gospels.
The modern prayers in this book beautifully recapture that tradition. They were composed in a small parish in the north of England to help individuals and groups rediscover the use of life's simple rhythms in their worship of the Eternal Presence.
Here are prayers for individual devotions and for corporate worship, as well as for quiet days and retreats.
The poem 'Walking with grief' (from the 'In the shadow of death' section of Celtic Daily Prayer) was written by Andy Raine, one of the founders of the Northumbria Community. It has proved to be of enormous help to countless people all over the world who are struggling with loss, particularly bereavement. This presents the words in the form of a bookmark that can easily be given to somebody in these circumstances, so that they may often remind themselves of the words.
There is a traditional saying of ancient wisdom: 'A threshold is a sacred thing. In some places of the world, in some traditional cultures and in monastic life, this is still remembered. It is something, however, that we often forget today. To take time to pause at a threshold - be it a place, or a moment between one action and the next - is to show reverence for the handling of space and time, and respect for those who we meet. Pausing allows us to let go of all the demands and expectations of the previous activity, and to prepare for the encounter with another. Esther de Waal explores what this ancient wisdom has to teach us about our public lives in the world today.
Simplicity – The Freedom of Letting Go by Richard Rohr
St Francis’s ancient call to the simple life of freedom and happiness, as seen by America’s foremost Franciscan. Richard Rohr shows you how to:
Recognize your radical dependence on others
Understand why less is more
Break through to contemplation
Embrace a deeper spiritual freedom
“Rohr’s kind of contemplation is an adventure in the wilderness, letting God call me by name and take me to a deeper place of peace that the world cannot give.”St. Anthony Messenger
Beautiful print