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Earle, Mary C. Celtic Christian Spirituality: Essential Writings— Annotated and Explained. 2011 quality pbk. ed. Woodstock, Vt.: SkyLight Paths Pub., 2011.
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FirstAuthor:: Earle, Mary C.
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Title:: Celtic Christian Spirituality: Essential Writings— Annotated and Explained
Year:: 2011
Citekey:: earleCelticChristianSpirituality2011
itemType:: book
Publisher:: SkyLight Paths Pub.
Location:: Woodstock, Vt.
ISBN:: 978-1-59473-302-4
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Abstract
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Notes
Annotations
Highlights
We find ourselves challenged to handle the creation with a growing awareness of its Source. We discover that no people, no nation, no religion has the final say on distribution of resources and goods, for an infinitely gracious God desires that we emulate God’s own generosity.
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His life as a slave was over, but he never forgot being held against his will and living without the freedom he had taken for granted. As a result, his mature theology denounces any attempt to own or destroy another human being. Saint Patrick’s voice sounds rather like a liberation theologian’s. He is confident that the work of God within us and within society is exemplified by increasing freedom to choose to honor the dignity of every human being.
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answer maintained that humans had become so permanently and absolutely marred by “original sin” that we no longer bore the image and likeness of God. We humans were incapable of acting justly because our sin had eradicated the image of God within us. The argument follows that God became human in Jesus to offer atonement for sin on the cross. Augustine’s writings clearly expressed despair in the human condition and articulated what became the doctrine of original sin.
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Pelagius and his followers, on the other hand, clearly believed that God became human in Jesus to show us what being truly human would look like and to declare that the image of God could never be completely eradicated, because God is the one who fashions humanity in God’s image.
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God’s grace and mercy are offered at every moment to aid us in growing more capable of reflecting the gracious life of the God who breathes us into being.
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Pelagius understands that the whole creation is in and of God, and that God infinitely transcends that creation. Because all matter has a divine origin, we have a sacred duty to care for the earth and for one another, and to share equitably the gifts we have been given.
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Dionysius explicated the process of theosis: being made in the image and likeness of God, and by our own God-given capacity and the generous, ineffable working of God’s grace, humans are transformed steadily into the likeness of God. Dionysius likens this to the process that a sculptor uses—that which is extraneous, which obscures or clutters the essential image hidden in marble, is slowly chipped away by the sculptor. In time, the true image that has been hidden from view is revealed. Something analogous transpires through theosis.
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Maximus the Confessor observed that humans are both “microcosm and mediator.” We stand between the worlds of heaven and earth, and yet the two are conjoined within us. Each of us is a little kosmos—a little universe in which God dwells. Because of our distinctively human place in the vast design of creation, we have a God-given vocation as mediators. We praise and adore God, and lead the whole earth in singing “Glory to you, God on high.” In Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we intercede for all people, countries, creatures, places.
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To this day, Jews and Eastern Orthodox Christians do not have a doctrine of original sin. Eastern Orthodox churches maintain that through the stunning gift of theosis, the Holy Spirit working in us to change us into truly Godlike creatures, we grow ever more fully into the likeness of God. Body, mind, and spirit participate ever more deeply in the uncreated Light that is God’s.
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Our task is to perceive the Light in which all exists, and to live from that perception. When our sight is cleared by tears of sorrow for our forgetfulness, our blindness, our hurt of ourselves and one another, our greed, and our violence, we behold the universe as a sacred whole. As a consequence, our moral life is rooted and grounded in love—not romantic, sappy love, but the love that has brought the whole universe into being.
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From the point of view of Eriugena, when we hurt another person, when we engage in war, when we refuse to honor the common good, we are desecrating the very life of God, present and vital within all that God has spoken into being. This high theological anthropology, which calls us to a life of courageous compassion and hearty generosity, takes sins of omission and commission most seriously. Given this high calling, our failure to respond is a failure of deepest woe. Nevertheless, God is ever present, ready to forgive, heal, and make us whole and strong. God desires for us to grow ever more steadily into the image and likeness of the Holy One who breathes us into being.
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prayers. The created order, from smallest particle to furthest star, is recognized as an active agent of God’s own goodness and mercy. God’s blessing, majesty, and creativity are revealed through earth, sea, sky, wind, plants, and creatures. This spirituality directly refutes any splitting of matter and spirit. Celtic spirituality is notable for its supreme confidence that this cosmos is in God, and that if it were not in God, it simply could not, would not, exist. In this respect, the way of Celtic Christian spirituality follows in the way of the Hebrew Scriptures and in some ways sounds very Jewish. Further, this is a spirituality that confidently affirms that matter is of God—every speck of it, every quark, every not-yet-named particle.
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Celtic Christian spirituality perceives the body to be both a gift and a sign of God’s goodness, and worthy of God’s attention and protection.
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In ways similar to the traditions from the desert mothers and fathers from the third to sixth centuries in Egypt and the Holy Land, Celtic Christian spirituality sees prayer and theology as intertwined and inseparable. Prayer and theology are two faces of a single reality. How we pray shapes our faith and practice.6
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The Celtic Christian tradition is very clear: the human family is made in the image and likeness of God. Because God is infinitely good and creative, we as God’s creation bear those capacities. Whether or not we choose to live out those capacities, to offer them for the common good, is a matter of being humble enough to seek counsel and direction for the trajectory of our lives.
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Each of us needs a soul friend, an anam cara (Irish) or (Welsh), who will guide us in growing in the likeness of God. As we grow in the likeness of God, our life, both as individuals and as communities, is marked more and more distinctly by faith, hope, and love.
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Following in the way of Celtic Christian spirituality opens us to the wonder of life and to the humility to look beyond particular events and moments in the natural world to the God who is revealed in those events and moments. The Celtic Christian path both honors and celebrates the human capacity for learning and study while acknowledging that we are not the authors of all that has been made. This is the blessing of remembering that we are creatures, brought forth into an earthly home not of our making, and heading toward a reunion with the Holy One in whom we dwell and who dwells within us.
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The Celtic Christian tradition distinctively regards the creation as intimately related to humankind. We all come from the same Source, and therefore have a shared origin in God, who speaks all that exists into being. This sense of the natural world being full of kith and kin does not, however, lead to a romanticized view. Far from it. Nature is given its due as other. Although humankind and the natural world are both the creative work of God, the natural world is full of mystery and power.
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Look at the animals roaming the forest: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the birds flying across the sky: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God’s spirit dwells within them. Look at the fish in the river and sea: God’s spirit dwells within them. There is no creature on earth in whom God is absent. Travel across the ocean to the most distant land, and you will find God’s spirit in the creatures there. Climb up the highest mountain, and you will find God’s spirit among the creatures who live at the summit. When God pronounced that his creation was good, it was not only that his hand had fashioned every creature; it was that his breath had brought every creature to life. Look too at the great trees of the forest; look at the wild flowers and the grass in the fields; look even at your crops. God’s spirit is present within all plants as well. The presence of God’s spirit in all living beings is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God’s eyes, nothing on the earth is ugly.37 Pelagius, Letter to an Elderly Friend
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The Celtic Christian tradition, both historical and contemporary, leads us to see that every aspect of life may be brought to speech in prayer. This is a vision of life as ongoing prayer, and of prayer as all of life. It is all-encompassing and startling in its attention to the body, to the totality of the created world, to strangers and enemies. Underlying this vision is a profoundly ordinary contemplative way of seeing and being.
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Fashioned for Joy As the hand is made for holding and the eye for seeing, thou hast fashioned me for joy. Share with me the vision that shall find it everywhere: in the wild violet’s beauty; in the lark’s melody; in the face of a steadfast man; in a child’s smile; in a mother’s love; in the purity of Jesus.16 Traditional Gaelic, translated by Alistair MacLean
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The Banquet of Heaven I would like to have the men of Heaven In my own house: With vats of good cheer Laid out for them.21 I would like to have the three Marys,22 Their fame is so great. I would like people From every corner of Heaven.23 I would like them to be cheerful In their drinking, I would like to have Jesus too Here amongst them. I would like a great lake of beer For the King of Kings, I would like to be watching Heaven’s family Drinking it through all eternity.24 Tenth or eleventh century, traditional Irish
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From the Celtic perspective, matter was revelatory of divine creative action and was, in fact, potentially able to point us toward the Source from which the matter comes. It is hard to find dualistic theology in the Celtic Christian tradition.
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He is light and therefore illumines himself, revealing himself to the world, manifesting himself to those who do not know him.7 The light of divine knowledge departed from the world when humankind abandoned God.8 Now the eternal light manifests itself to the world in two ways, through the Bible and creatures.9 For the divine knowledge cannot be restored in us except by the letters of scripture and the sight of creatures. Learn the words of scripture and understand their meaning in your soul; there you will discover the Word.10 Know the forms and beauty of sensible things by your physical senses, and see there the Word of God.11 And in all these things Truth itself proclaims to you only he who made all things, and apart from whom there is nothing for you to contemplate since he is himself all things. He himself is the being of all things. John Scotus Eriugena, Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of John
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It is only in the human person that this world is found, in whom all creatures are united. For we are composed of both body and soul.14 Holding together the body of this world and the soul of the other world, we form a single universe. The body possesses the whole of corporeal nature and the soul the whole of incorporeal nature; united in a single whole, they constitute the entire universe of the self. That is why “man” is called “the whole,” for all creatures are combined in him as in a vessel.15 John Scotus Eriugena, Homily on the Prologue to the Gospel of John
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The Celtic tradition perceives God’s presence in and through all of the minutiae of daily life. No moment in the daily round is so small that it cannot be an occasion of being encountered by God. No domestic chore is beyond adaptation to a means of prayer. These prayers offer us a vision of ordinary life made holy by an abounding, robust awareness of God’s presence in every moment of every day, at every time in every season.
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Following the rhythms of awakening in the morning and going to sleep at night, the prayers also remind us of the rhythms and seasons of life. They recall for us the intricate and marvelous patterns in nature and in life cycles. We are directed to remember that we did not create those patterns and cycles; we are led to remember that it is God who has made us, and not we ourselves (Psalm 100:5).
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God to Enfold Me God to enfold me, God to surround me, God in my speaking, God in my thinking.22 God in my sleeping, God in my waking, God in my watching, God in my hoping. God in my life, God in my lips, God in my soul, God in my heart.23 God in my sufficing, God in my slumber, God in mine ever-living soul, God in mine eternity.24 The Carmina Gadelica, III, 53
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Night Prayer I lie down this night with God, And God will lie down with me; I lie down this night with Christ, And Christ will lie down with me; I lie down this night with Spirit, And the Spirit will lie down with me; God and Christ and the Spirit Be lying down with me.33 The Carmina Gadelica, III, 333
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Soul friendship is distinctive because it is marked by this kind of love—a love centered in prayer and joy, in sharing the bread of life in its various forms and in mutual disclosure. In the early Celtic churches, the practice of soul friendship was one of mutual encouragement, confession, and penance. A soul friend is a person who will allow you to tell the whole truth of yourself, and encourage you to seek healing and restoration. A soul friend also has the fine gift of being able to share in joy, a gift that our highly competitive culture does not call forth.
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find in the Celtic Christians a distinctive phenomenon: the wandering saints. These were men and women who journeyed “for the love of Christ.”1 They set forth without a particular destination in mind, walking from one place to another, following the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
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This way of pilgrimage demonstrates stunning trust in God’s guidance and an ability to let go of expectation and outcome. When we “get into the coracle” and see “the place of my resurrection,” we hold each day as a gift from God, and wait for guidance as the day unfolds.
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The Earth Beneath My Foot Bless to me, O God, The earth beneath my foot. Bless to me, O God, The path whereon I go; Bless to me, O God, The thing of my desire; Thou ever more of evermore, Bless Thou to me my rest.3 Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my mind, Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my love; Bless to me the thing Whereon is set my hope; O Thou King of Kings! Bless Thou to me mine eye!4 The Carmina Gadelica, III, 181
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The emphatic embrace of the Incarnation leads Celtic saints, poets, theologians, and missionaries to strongly voice the social import of the gospel.
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A society in which people only avoided certain actions, but never did anything good, would be utterly dead; it would be like the valley of dry bones which the prophet describes.1 A society can only live if people love and serve one another. So when you are aware of hatred in your heart, do not simply suppress it, but transform it into love. When you desire to commit a malicious act, do not simply stop yourself; transform that act into a generous one.2 Pelagius, Letter to Celantia
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How can you call yourself a Christian since you do not act like one? “Christian” is the name of justice, goodness, integrity, patience, chastity, prudence, humility, humanity, innocence, and true religion. How can you claim this for yourself when you possess only a few of so many virtues? That person is a Christian who is so not only in name but also in deed; who imitates and follows Christ in all things; who is holy, innocent, and pure; who is uncorrupted; in whose heart there is no place for evil; in whose heart there is only true religion and goodness; who is incapable of hurting or wounding anyone, but can only come to the aid of everyone. That person is a Christian who, with Christ as an example, cannot even hate their enemies but does good to those who oppose them, praying for their persecutors and enemies.8 Pelagius, On the Christian Life
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That person is a Christian who is merciful to all, who is not motivated by injustice, who cannot endure the oppression of the poor before their very eyes, who comes to the aid of the wretched, who helps the needy, who mourns with those who mourn, who feels the suffering of others as if it were their own, who is moved to tears by the tears of others, whose house is open to all, whose doors are closed to none, whose table is familiar to all the poor, whose food is offered to all, whose goodness is known to all, and at whose hands no one suffers injustice, who serves God day and night, who ceaselessly considers and meditates upon his commandments, who makes themselves poor in the world that they may be rich in God, who is without honor in society that they may appear glorified before God and his angels, who seems to have nothing false or untrue in their heart, whose soul is simple and unstained, whose conscience is faithful and pure, whose mind is wholly in God, whose hope is all in Christ, who desires the things of heaven rather than the things of earth, who leaves behind human things that they may have the things of God.10 Pelagius, On the Christian Life
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What is it to walk in blessing? The Celtic pilgrims show us that when we walk in blessing, we are living in a growing awareness of God’s presence and mercy, extended to us with infinite wisdom and grace, because of who God is. We bless God by becoming aware of God’s mercies and goodness to us, receiving that mercy and goodness, and allowing our lives to be transformed into active blessing of others.
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The Ebb and the Flow As it was, As it is, As it shall be Evermore, O Thou Triune of Grace! With the ebb, With the flow, O Thou Triune of Grace! With the ebb, With the flow.5 The Carmina Gadelica, II, 217
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