Celtic Roots
In 1995 the Spiritual Life Institute community was invited by Bishop Thomas Finnegan of Killala diocese to establish a home in the Insula Sanctorum (the Island of Saints). In the Ox Mountains of County Sligo on the northwest coast of Ireland we have made our home ever since. Here we have recognized that our way of life is similar to that of Celtic monasticism.
Like the early Irish hermits, we value simplicity and beauty; we aspire to be filled with celebration and oneness with nature.
The Celtic Faith rested in
• An appreciation of God’s Presence in all of ordinary life.
• A love of silence and solitude
• A love of nature and the physical environment.
• A love of learning.
• A yearning to explore the unknown and to travel.
• A valuing of kinship and of “soul friendship”
The eremitical (hermit) way of life fosters communion, the desire to venture into the unknown mysteries of contemplation, and the love of learning.
The Irish retained within their spirituality many pre-Christian traditions: a respect for women, a love of nature, and an appreciation for the interconnected web of life. The Incarnation of Christ present in daily life became the bedrock of the Celtic Christian spiritual path. There was no conceivable separation between their spiritual life and their secular one.
Esther de Waal, in Every Earthly Blessing: Celebrating a Spirituality of Creation, describes the sense of acclaiming God in and through the world, of his creating in and through the material things of daily life, for example, lighting the morning fire.
“I will kindle my fire this morning
In the presence of the holy angels of heaven,
God, kindle thou in my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbour.”
In the daily life of the people there were prayers and blessings for milking the cow, churning the butter, making the cloth, walking the journey to the field, blessing the planting and the harvest and the cloth and the bed and the newborn babe. Nothing was left out. Prayer was not a formal exercise; it was a state of mind.
“Praying is not separated from singing or working or any other aspect of life. Because of the way in which they saw their world they were ready to accept, enjoy, transform whatever lay at hand. The pattern of the day, of the year, and of the whole of life itself, was lived out totally in the presence of God and the saints. There was nothing self-conscious about this; rather, it seemed entirely natural. Life was lived at two levels—the practical tasks of daily life are done for their own sake carefully and competently, but simultaneously they become signs of God’s all-encompassing love. It matters that the butter is made well or that the herds are driven carefully, since God himself is involved.” Esther de Waal
De Waal’s attraction to the Celtic sense of beauty in the Book of Kells and the Armagh chalice alerted her, not only to depths of intricacy and design, but to a sense of harmony and integration which underlay the complexity of their intertwining spirals, whorls, and scrolls. This harmony and wholeness challenge us today to develop an inclusive and non-dualistic way of thinking and relating. The Celtic sense of design and colour inspires us to encourage the arts in our lives.
“It was deeply influenced by the east, drawing much into its monasticism from the traditions of the Egyptian desert, and into its art from Coptic and Syrian sources. It comes out of the wholeness that the Church enjoyed before east and west were torn apart. This Christianity was forged with a fire and a vigour that spoke as much to the heart as to the head. Here is a Christian understanding which is basic and universal, the primal vision which takes us into the heart of earliest Christendom, and which speaks to that primal vision within all of us. It is something which many people today are looking for but tragically are finding that that search is carrying them outside the structures of the institutional Church.” Esther de Waal
Yearning for God’s encircling presence is expressed uniquely in the traditional Lorica prayers of protection. The most famous of these prayers, St. Patrick’s Breastplate:
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my right and on my left,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone that speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me. (Extract)
God is addressed as Ri or King, it is not a term that distances Him but one that brings Him closer. The King belongs by blood relationship to his clan or people. The fact that the Irish ecclesiastical structure was based for so long not on dioceses but on monasteries closely linked to the regional clans explains the strong sense of community in Irish spirituality.
During the late golden age of Irish history when monastic settlements became very busy, the choice for desert, a place of solitude and silence, became common, often a cell on an island, always a place apart. Romantic though it sounds, a life of solitude demanded commitment and endurance as Ireland was a harsh wilderness of dangers .
Let me bless almighty God,
whose power extends over sea and land,
whose angels watch over all.
Let me study sacred books to calm my soul: 
I pray for peace,
kneeling at heaven’s gates.
Let me do my daily work,
gathering seaweed, catching fish,
giving food to the poor.
Let me say my daily prayers,
sometimes chanting, sometimes quiet,
always thanking God.
Delightful it is to live
on a peaceful isle, in a quiet cell,
serving the King of kings.
The Prayer of St. Columba
Celtic prayers have their roots firmly in nature, the seasons, the elements and the beauty of the world around us.
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Traditional Gaelic blessing.
From the Rule of the Spiritual Life Institute
Desert
“The key events of the Bible—the great conversions and revelations—took place in the wilderness.”
“But the desert or wilderness is not a place of refuge from reality and responsibility; it is the atmosphere in which Reality manifests itself, in which God speaks to and transforms his human servants.”
“The heart of our life is the desert experience…The desert teaches us the difference between essentials and nonessentials. It deals a flaming violent death blow to mediocrity. It is no place for diversions, distractions, luxuries, or trivia. The desert offers the clearest light in the world for seeing things as they really are: the act of contemplation”
“One day each week is designated a ‘Desert Day,’ during which nothing is scheduled, not even the community Mass and Liturgy of the Hours. Each monk is encouraged to rest, pray longer and more deeply, adventure freely in the environs of nature, or in the realm of ideas through reading and writing. ”
Community
“True communion and community is never self-conscious. Rather, it is the ecstasy of moving out of a dead space and looking self-obliviously together, beyond ourselves, toward the face of the Father.”
“A lively human atmosphere creates the ideal climate for contemplation… It puts us perceptively and lovingly in touch with the innermost reality of everything because it is a simple intuition of the truth.”
“We eliminate all unnecessary talk in order to hear the Word and to promote deep, significant communion between each other. ”
”Having such towering men and women as Elijah and Our lady of Mt Carmel, St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, St. Colm and St. Bridget as our fathers and mothers, we recognize and celebrate the contributions of both men and women to our communal life.”
Vocation
“Our vocation is to dwell at the radiant sacred center, where the infinitely attractive Fire is. From this vantage point we receive wisdom to discern what God requires of us.”
“What is important is not vast achievement or triumphant victory, but endless effort. St. Teresa said: “Strive and strive and strive; we were meant for nothing else.”
Creativity
“We need the arts. Souls come to a deeper intuition of the glory of God through the arts, and all great art is born out of the leisure that ought to dominate the monastic atmosphere.”
“By nature human beings are artists. The arts are not mere entertainment but an arena of wonder and awe. We are led into adoration through these transperent, iconic means.”
