Yesterday we prayed this line from the well known St. Patrick's Breastplate, “I bind unto myself today, the strong Name of the Trinity.”
Today I am pleased to share with you a gentle Celtic prayer: “May the Blessing of Light Be Upon You.” This prayer is also well known. It also acknowledges mortality, but does it so I feel consoled as I read it, and I would like to share that sense of consolation with you.
MAY THE BLESSING OF LIGHT BE UPON YOU
L: May the blessing of light be upon you:
May you have light outside you, and light within you.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like a great fire,
so that all, whether stranger or friend,
may come and warm themselves at it.
And may light shine out of your eyes
like a candle in the window of a house,
welcoming the wanderer in out of the storm.
All: May the blessing of the light be upon us! Amen!
L: May the blessing of the rain be upon you -
the blessing of the soft sweet rain:
may it fall on your spirit,
so that all the little flowers may spring up
and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the great rains be upon you:
may they beat upon your spirit
and wash it fair and clean,
and leave there a shining pool
where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.
All: May the blessing of the rain be upon us! Amen!
L: May the blessing of the earth be upon you -
the great round earth.
May you ever have a kindly greeting for those you pass
as you’re going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when you rest on it,
tired at the end of the day.
And may it rest easy over you when,
at the last, you lay out under it;
may it rest so lightly over you,
that your soul may be out from under it quickly,
and up, and off, and on its way to God.
All: May the blessing of the earth be upon us! Amen!
