Beannacht (New Year Blessing) – John O’Donohue On the day when The weight deadens On your shoulders And you stumble, May the clay dance To balance you. And when your eyes Freeze behind The grey window And the ghost of loss Gets in to you, May a flock of colours, Indigo, red, green, And azure blue, Come to awaken in you A meadow of delight. 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. by John O’Donohue In To bless the space between us: A Book of Blessings
John O’Donohue
Our Half-Lived Lives: O’Donohue Meets Meister Eckhart

…An authentic life is a life that is aware of and willing to engage its own oppositions…. Sometimes, people who are very vociferous and moralistic are people who have erased the tug of opposition from their lives….It is lonely sometimes to hear them talk because,in their certainty, you can hear the hollow echo of a life only half-lived….One of the greatest duties of postmodern culture…is to try to bring the personal and the communal, the individual and the universal, together.
John O’Donohue in a talk delivered for “The Open Mind”
published in Walking in Wonder by John Quinn and John O’Donohue

The eye with which god sees me is the same eye with which I see god. God’s eye and my eye are one. One seeing, one knowing, one loving. Meister Eckhart
There is a space
of potential presence
in god’s eye where we
can reside in peace
with the other, even if
we cannot be with them
in any other place,
in any other way.
If we can believe that
we are one in God’s eye,
we break the wall of dualism
that separates us, even
if just for a moment.
Moments live into
more moments.
Rest in the sacred gaze
of the divine.
Hope Lies In The Chinks
Spiritual Luminescence

Luminescence is spontaneous emission of light by a substance not resulting from heat; or “cold light”. It is thus a form of cold-body radiation. It can be caused by chemical reactions, electrical energy, subatomic motions or stress on a crystal.
Wikipedia
May the divine reactions in our souls emite glorious light to all those we encounter today.
Here We Are. Send Us.

John Quinn closes his book of essays, Walking in Wonder with this poem. Poet and mystic John O’Donohue died in 2008 and this stanza was penned by Quinn after the celebration of his life.
Envoi
Sometimes
A voice is sent
To calm our deepest fears
Sometimes
A hearty laugh
Will banish all our tears
Sometimes
Words will wing
Our dreaming ever higher
And sometimes
A mind will set
Our imagining afire
John Quinn
In Walking in Wonder: Eternal Wisdom for a Modern World by John O’Donohue and John Quinn
Here we are.
Send us.
Welcome Autumn
Last evening, the eve of Autumn, I was comfortably ensconced in my chair listening to the Pacific Northwest seasonal onslaught of rain gently ping against the windows. Sonorous snores from Sherlock, my tubby tabby, provided bass accompaniment and the savory aroma of beef stew on the stove wafted in, peaking my anticipation. As the Germans would say, this was the essence of Gemutlichkeit.
Yet, with autumn comes the denuding of trees and spirit, so this arrival of the season is bitter sweet. This blessing from John O’Donohue has eased me into it. Perhaps it will do the same for you.
photo credit: spoilt.exile <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/96301483@N05/46243352305″>Склон / Slope</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/”>(license)</a>
Finding Truth
For Light
“The Sacred Symmetry of Your Soul”
FOR PRESENCE
Awaken to the mystery of being here and enter the quiet immensity of your own presence.
Have joy and peace in the temple of your senses.
Receive encouragement when new frontiers beckon.
Respond to the call of your gift and the courage to follow its path.
Let the flame of anger free you of all falsity.
May warmth of heart keep your presence aflame.
May anxiety never linger about you.
May your outer dignity mirror an inner dignity of soul.
Take time to celebrate the quiet miracles that seek no attention.
Be consoled in the secret symmetry of your soul.
May you experience each day as a sacred gift woven around the heart of wonder.
from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings by John O’Donohue
____________________________________________________________________________________________
photo credit: PMillera4 <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/48227962@N04/36204074031″>Ireland</a> via <a href=”http://photopin.com”>photopin</a> <a href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)</a>
Blessing for 2017
I am indebted to John O’Donohue once again for this lovely poem. It seems I will forever learn at the soul of this great contemporary mystic. Josie is John’s mother who died after him in 2011.
On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.
And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.
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.
“A New Year Blessing”
Benedictus (To Bless The Space Between Us)
Photo Credit: Pastor Linda Roddis
Waiting for a Green Blade
It is 25 degrees F. in Seattle this morning. The sheets of rain have given way to brilliant sunshine. I let loose a hopeful sigh that soon our spirits may shake off despair and emerge whole and enlightened.
Messenger of Sight
I would send a raven to your window with a green blade
to show you the flood that blinded
is gone down and my eyes can see
the torn sinews of the impoverished
earth gasp in this white, winter light.
John O’Donohue in Echoes of Memory