{"id":2605,"date":"2007-09-07T00:30:57","date_gmt":"2007-09-07T00:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2007\/09\/friday-is-for-celtic-friends.html"},"modified":"2007-09-07T00:30:57","modified_gmt":"2007-09-07T00:30:57","slug":"friday-is-for-celtic-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/09\/friday-is-for-celtic-friends.html","title":{"rendered":"Friday is for (Celtic) Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the word “prayer” is said to you what comes to mind? This is a question Tracy Balzer asks in her book Thin Places<\/a>\"\". Guilt? Longing? Confusion? Consolation? Desolation? Prayer is important and her chp on prayer provides a way to add depth and perspective and variety to our prayers.
\nWho taught you to pray and what did that person teach you to pray? What do you think of the habit of blessing the ordinary tasks of your day, including your keyboard or your dishes or your walking the dog or your driving the car? Do you regularly pray any of the Celtic prayers? Make any use of the Celtic blessings?
\nTracy’s chapter is a nice survey of the themes of Celtic prayers. Kris and I sometimes use Celtic Daily Prayer<\/a>\"\", especially in the evening for compline prayers. So we have come to appreciate Celtic prayers.
\nHere are three themes: the Trinity and a three-fold pattern; all activity can be consecrated to God; and the celebration of the immanence of Christ. In addition, the Celtic Christians prayed the Psalms and they were famous for the elegance and power of their blessings. Here’s one on washing the face each morning with three palms of water:
\nThe palmful of the God of life,
\nthe palmful of the Christ of love,
\nthe palmful of the Spirit of peace,
\nTriune
\nOf grace.<\/em>
\nShe has a wonderful sampling of Celtic prayers and draws on Carmichael’s famous Carmina Gadelica<\/a>\"\". When I was reading her chapter I wished that I had included an entire chapter just on Celtic prayers in my Praying with the Church<\/a>\"\".
\nI want to include one of her prayers, called St. Patrick’s Breastplate. I know it is long, very long in fact, but do read it. It’s worth it and is a great sample of Celtic prayers. Any comments on it?
\nI bind to myself today
\nThe strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
\nI believe the Trinity in the Unity
\nThe Creator of the Universe.
\nI bind to myself today
\nThe virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
\nThe virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
\nThe virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
\nThe virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.
\nI bind to myself today
\nThe virtue of the love of seraphim,
\nIn the obedience of angels,
\nIn the hope of resurrection unto reward,
\nIn prayers of Patriarchs,
\nIn predictions of Prophets,
\nIn preaching of Apostles,
\nIn faith of Confessors,
\nIn purity of holy Virgins,
\nIn deeds of righteous men.
\nI bind to myself today
\nThe power of Heaven,
\nThe light of the sun,
\nThe brightness of the moon,
\nThe splendour of fire,
\nThe flashing of lightning,
\nThe swiftness of wind,
\nThe depth of sea,
\nThe stability of earth,
\nThe compactness of rocks.
\nI bind to myself today
\nGod’s Power to guide me,
\nGod’s Might to uphold me,
\nGod’s Wisdom to teach me,
\nGod’s Eye to watch over me,
\nGod’s Ear to hear me,
\nGod’s Word to give me speech,
\nGod’s Hand to guide me,
\nGod’s Way to lie before me,
\nGod’s Shield to shelter me,
\nGod’s Host to secure me,
\nAgainst the snares of demons,
\nAgainst the seductions of vices,
\nAgainst the lusts of nature,
\nAgainst everyone who meditates injury to me,
\nWhether far or near,
\nWhether few or with many.
\nI invoke today all these virtues
\nAgainst every hostile merciless power
\nWhich may assail my body and my soul,
\nAgainst the incantations of false prophets,
\nAgainst the black laws of heathenism,
\nAgainst the false laws of heresy,
\nAgainst the deceits of idolatry,
\nAgainst the spells of witches, and smiths, and druids,
\nAgainst every knowledge that binds the soul of man.
\nChrist, protect me today
\nAgainst every poison, against burning,
\nAgainst drowning, against death-wound,
\nThat I may receive abundant reward.
\nChrist with me, Christ before me,
\nChrist behind me, Christ within me,
\nChrist beneath me, Christ above me,
\nChrist at my right, Christ at my left,
\nChrist in the fort,
\nChrist in the chariot seat,
\nChrist in the poop [deck],
\nChrist in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
\nChrist in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
\nChrist in every eye that sees me,
\nChrist in every ear that hears me.
\nI bind to myself today
\nThe strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
\nI believe the Trinity in the Unity
\nThe Creator of the Universe.
\nI have taken this prayer from a Catholic online encyclopedia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the word “prayer” is said to you what comes to mind? This is a question Tracy Balzer asks in her book Thin Places. Guilt? Longing? Confusion? Consolation? Desolation? Prayer is important and her chp on prayer provides a way to add depth and perspective and variety to our prayers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":298,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-prayer-and-formation"],"yoast_head":"\nFriday is for (Celtic) Friends - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2007\/09\/friday-is-for-celtic-friends.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friday is for (Celtic) Friends - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the word “prayer” is said to you what comes to mind? 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