A Blessing for this day

An unusual St Patrick’s Day when people are fearful, and gatherings are not allowed, in church or in the pub. We need to find resources and blessings within and then extend those blessings to all who are afraid and especially those most vulnerable at this time. 

When the canvas frays in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow wind work these words
of love around you, an invisible cloak to mind your life.

John O’Donohue, Beannacht

Beannachtai na Féile Padraig oraibh go léir: The blessings of  Saint Patrick’s Day to you all.

Sunday Quote: No time to them

These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God today. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Love letters

We complain a lot about the ever-changing weather in Ireland; this week alone storms and snow, cold and fog…

Every day, priests minutely examine the Teachings
And endlessly chant complicated sutras.
Before doing that, though, they should learn
How to read the love letters sent by
The wind and rain, the snow and moon.

Ikkyu, 1394–1481

The best time

 

If your mind isn’t clouded

by unnecessary things,

this is the best season of your life.

Wumen Huikai, 1183 -1260

It’s the little things

Ask the large questions, but seek small answers.

A flower,

or the space between a branch and a rock,

these are enough.

Kent Nerburn

Sunday quote: Within

Today is the Feast of Candlemas, which echoes themes found in many traditions around this time – new life, the first budding of plants, the return of the sun – light and warmth at the halfway point between the winter and the spring solstices.

We need constant reminders of the presence of light.

We are stars wrapped in skin,

The light you are seeking has always been within.

Rumi