CELTIC SPIRITUALITY
CELTIC SPIRITUALITY
The term Celtic Spirituality is a modern phrase for an ancient reality: a stream of Christian spirituality that characterized Celtic Britain and Ireland in the first few centuries of Christianity. Its birth before Christianity, like other indigenous cultures, welcomed nature as the thin veil of the Supernatural, the Divine and the Holy already present among and around us. It is now enjoying a rebirth of some dimensions.
Distinctive of Celtic spirituality is a keen awareness that we are already spiritual–already immersed in God while living in the material world. Thus we see the holiness of all creation around us, already in our relationships and take seriously our role as stewards.
Apostolic faith and charity, simplicity, hospitality, honor given to family kinship and spiritual friendships, sacramental life, prayer, and a profound respect for all of God's creation--all these mark and form the Celtic Christian life.
Two Themes of
Celtic Spirituality
Celtic spirituality has two distinctive themes. The first is the belief that what is deepest in every human being is the very image of God. This means that God’s passion for love, beauty and justice is already at core of our being. God’s yearning for creativity and new beginnings, for beauty and love, is already deep within the mystery of our souls. Well-being, therefore, is not becoming somebody else but becoming truly ourselves. We are sacred not because we are baptized, or because we have passed through some religious ritual. Rather, we are sacred because we are born. Our spiritual journey is about becoming authentic, from inside out.
The second theme of Celtic spirituality is the belief in the essential goodness of creation. Not only is creation good, it is theophany-a flowering of the mystery of God. Where do we look for God?" In life and love, in our relationships. We look to the heart of all that God has expressed in nature and through us. We simply find the heartbeat of God everywhere.
"That leads the Celtic tradition to say, as one of its modern Scottish teachers, George MacLeod, used to like to say, that matter matters. What we do to matter is at the heart of our spirituality, whether that be the matter of our bodies, the matter of creation or the matter of the body politic and how we handle the resources of our nation and world, because at the heart of the material is the spiritual." --Introduction of Rev. Dr. J. Philip Newell to Scottish Parliament, June 26, 2002.
Two popular writers are John O’Donohue, etc. J. Philip Newell, Anam Cara, Beauty, The Inner Landscape,Listening to the Heartbeat of God, etc. I recommend all of these books and tapes highly.
ere in our SGN meetings in Lexington, Kentucky, we have been studying this approach via several books and tapes. We hope to expand our conversations.
The term Celtic Spirituality is a modern phrase for an ancient reality: a stream of Christian spirituality that characterized Celtic Britain and Ireland in the first few centuries of Christianity. Its birth before Christianity, like other indigenous cultures, welcomed nature as the thin veil of the Supernatural, the Divine and the Holy already present among and around us. It is now enjoying a rebirth of some dimensions.
Distinctive of Celtic spirituality is a keen awareness that we are already spiritual–already immersed in God while living in the material world. Thus we see the holiness of all creation around us, already in our relationships and take seriously our role as stewards.
Apostolic faith and charity, simplicity, hospitality, honor given to family kinship and spiritual friendships, sacramental life, prayer, and a profound respect for all of God's creation--all these mark and form the Celtic Christian life.
Two Themes of
Celtic Spirituality
Celtic spirituality has two distinctive themes. The first is the belief that what is deepest in every human being is the very image of God. This means that God’s passion for love, beauty and justice is already at core of our being. God’s yearning for creativity and new beginnings, for beauty and love, is already deep within the mystery of our souls. Well-being, therefore, is not becoming somebody else but becoming truly ourselves. We are sacred not because we are baptized, or because we have passed through some religious ritual. Rather, we are sacred because we are born. Our spiritual journey is about becoming authentic, from inside out.
The second theme of Celtic spirituality is the belief in the essential goodness of creation. Not only is creation good, it is theophany-a flowering of the mystery of God. Where do we look for God?" In life and love, in our relationships. We look to the heart of all that God has expressed in nature and through us. We simply find the heartbeat of God everywhere.
"That leads the Celtic tradition to say, as one of its modern Scottish teachers, George MacLeod, used to like to say, that matter matters. What we do to matter is at the heart of our spirituality, whether that be the matter of our bodies, the matter of creation or the matter of the body politic and how we handle the resources of our nation and world, because at the heart of the material is the spiritual." --Introduction of Rev. Dr. J. Philip Newell to Scottish Parliament, June 26, 2002.
Two popular writers are John O’Donohue, etc. J. Philip Newell, Anam Cara, Beauty, The Inner Landscape,Listening to the Heartbeat of God, etc. I recommend all of these books and tapes highly.
ere in our SGN meetings in Lexington, Kentucky, we have been studying this approach via several books and tapes. We hope to expand our conversations.
posted by Paschal Baute at 3:51 PM
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