OUR SPIRITUALITY

Our Order  is guided by a Celtic Christian spirituality.  By "Celtic Christian spirituality" we refer to a spirituality resulting from the cross-fertilization of views of Celtic and Christianity, and which is characterized by:

  1. Love for nature and all of creation
  2. Recognition of the presence of the divine residing in everything and everyone
  3. Devotion to and love of learning
  4. Yearning to explore the unknown
  5. Love of silence, solitude, prayer, and meditation
  6. Mystical concept of time and space
  7. Appreciation of ordinary life and time as holy
  8. Value of kinship relationships and especially soul friends (anamchara)

Due to the ancient Celts' wide distribution throughout Europe, there are many people of European descent who have some Celtic ancestry without realizing it.  However, one needn't be a person of Celtic ethnic descent to appreciate the distinctive spirituality of the Celts.  Saint Brendan's welcomes to its community all who feel an affinity with its spirituality, regardless of race or ethnicity.

For more on Celtic Spirituality, you may wish to read Church of Scotland minister Peter Neilson's article on the Celtic Way, Andrew Dunn's summary of Celtic Christianity.

Here also is a sampling of Celtic prayers from the nineteenth century collection, Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, collected in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Alexander Carmichael.

God's aid

God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.

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 hands,
God in my heart.

God in my sufficing,
God in my slumber,
God in mine ever-living soul,
God in mine eternity.

The sun

The eye of the great God,
the eye of the God of glory,
the eye of the King of hosts,
the eye of the King of the living,
pouring upon us
at each time and season,
pouring upon us
gently and generously.

Glory to thee,
thou glorious sun.

Glory to thee, thou sun,
face of the God of life.

The Lightener of the stars

Behold the Lightener of the stars
on the crests of the clouds,
and the choralists of the sky
lauding him.

Coming down with acclaim
from the Father above,
harp and lyre of song
sounding to him.

Christ, thou refuge of my love,
why should not I raise thy fame!
Angels and saints melodious
singing to thee.

Thou Son of the Mary of graces,
of exceeding white purity of beauty,
joy were it to me to be in the fields
of thy riches.

O Christ my beloved,
O Christ of the holy blood,
by day and by night
I praise thee.

FRONTPAGE

ECUMENICAL ORDER OF SAINT MORGAN © 2009