The Battle to Come from Carmina Gadelica

“The Celtic missionaries allowed the pagan stock to stand, grafting their Christian cult thereon. Hence the blending of the pagan and the Christian religions in these poems, which to many minds will constitute their chief charm. Gaelic lore is full of this blending and grafting--nor are they confined to the literature of the people, but extend indeed to their music, sculpture, and architecture. At Rodail, Harris, is a cruciform church of the thirteenth century. The church abuts upon a broad square tower of no great height. The tower is called 'Tur Chliamain,' tower of Clement, 'Cliaman Mor Rodail,' Great Clement of Rodail. Tradition says that the tower is older than the church, and the masonry confirms the tradition.

There are sculptures within the church of much originality of design and of great beauty of execution, but the sculptures without are still more original and interesting. Round the sides of the square tower are the figures of birds and beasts, reptiles and fishes, and of men and women representing phallic worship. Here pagan cult joins with Christian faith, the East with the West, the past with the present. The traveller from India to Scotland can here see, on the cold, sterile rocks of Harris, the petrified symbols of a faith left living behind him on the hot, fertile plains of Hindustan. He can thus in his own person bridge over a space of eight thousand miles and a period of two thousand years.”

Alexander Carmichael

AN CATH NACH TAINIG IOSA Mhic Mhoire eighim air th’ ainm, Is air ainm Eoin ostail ghradhaich, Is air ainm gach naoimh ’s an domhan dearg, Mo thearmad ’s a chath nach tainig,      Mo thearmad ’s a chath nach tainig.    Duair theid am beul a dhunadh, Duair theid an t-suil a dhruideadh, Duair sguireas an anail da struladh, Duair sguireas an cridhe da bhuille,      Sguireas an cridhe de bhuille. Duair theid am Breitheamh dh’ an chathair, Is a theid an tagradh a shuidheach, Iosa Mhic Mhoire cobhair air m’ anam, A Mhicheil mhin gobh ri mo shiubhal.      Iosa Mhic Mhoire cobhair air m’ anam!      A Mhicheil mhin gobh ri mo shiubhal!

THE BATTLE TO COME JESUS, Thou Son of Mary, I call on Thy name, And on the name of John the apostle beloved, And on the names of all the saints in the red domain, To shield me in the battle to come,      To shield me in the battle to come. When the mouth shall be closed, When the eye shall be shut, When the breath shall cease to rattle, When the heart shall cease to throb,      When the heart shall cease to throb. When the Judge shall take the throne, And when the cause is fully pleaded, O Jesu, Son of Mary, shield Thou my soul, O Michael fair, acknowledge my departure.      O Jesu, Son of Mary, shield Thou my soul!      O Michael fair, receive my departure!

Morning Prayer from Carmina Gadelica

“'There were many sad things done then, for those were the days of foolish doings and of foolish people. Perhaps, on the day of the Lord, when they came out of church, if indeed they went into church, the young men would go to throw the stone, or to toss the cabar, or to play shinty, or to run races, or to race horses on the strand, the young maidens looking on the while, ay, and the old men and women.' 'And have you no music, no singing, no dancing now at your marriages?' 'May the Possessor keep you! I see that you are a stranger in Lewis, or you would not ask such a question,' the woman exclaimed with grief and surprise in her tone. 'It is long since we abandoned those foolish ways in Ness, and, indeed, throughout Lewis. In my young days there was hardly a house in Ness in which there was not one or two or three who could play the pipe, or the fiddle, or the trump. And I have heard it said that there were men, and women too, who could play things they called harps, and lyres, and bellow-pipes, but I do not know what those things were.'”

Alexander Carmichael

The Soul Shrine from Carmina Gadelica

“The Soul Shrine is sung by the people as they retire to rest.  They say that the angels of heaven guard them in sleep and shield them from harm.  Should any untoward even occur to themselves or to their flocks, they avow that the cause was the deadness of their hearts, the coldness of their faith, and the fewness of their prayers.”

Alexander Carmichael

A CHOICH ANAMA   HE tabhair aithne da f ainghle beannaichte, Cairn a chumail air an staing-sa nochd, Comachadh crabhaidh, tabhaidh, teannachaidh, Chumas a choich anama-sa bho lochd.   Teasruig a Dhe an t-ardrach seo a nochd, lad fein 's an cuid 's an cliu, Tar iad o eug, o gliabhadh, o lochd, ''S o thoradh na farmaid 's na mi-ruin.   Tabhair duinn, a Dhe na fois, Taingealachd an cois ar call, Bhi coimhlionadh do Jagh a bhos, 'S tu fein a mhealtuinn thall.			THE SOUL SHRINE God, give charge to Thy blessed angels, To keep guard around this stead to-night, A band sacred, strong, and steadfast. That will shield this soul-shrine from harm. Safeguard Thou, God, this household to-night, Themselves and their means and their fame, Deliver them from death, from distress, from harm, From the fruits of envy and of enmity. Give Thou to us, O God of peace, Thankfulness despite our loss, To obey Thy statutes here below. And to enjoy Thyself above.

Being Happy

Earlier this week on The Vitruvian Man blog, I posted an article about Anne Frank.  The heart of the post was one of the last entries into her diary:

Wednesday, 23rd Feb 1944

“As long as this exists,” I thought, “and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy.”  The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.  as long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.  and I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

I took Anne Frank's advice this morning.  My wife, Marie was in Maricopa babysitting our granddaughters.  It was too windy for my bike ride, so I decided to take a hike into the Picture Rock Wash.  I was excited to find a new trail, The Prophecy Trail.  It was excellent.  I covered 6.5 miles in all.  Somewhere out there in the middle of the Tucson Mountains, I stopped intentionally to listen to the wind.  I looked all around me, and there was no sign of civilization, and no sound other than the wind and the bird that decided to accompany me up the trail.

Anne Frank was so right even though she could not do what was in her heart:  be alone with the heavens, nature and God.  You will be absolutely amazed at the peace and solace it will bring to you regardless of the troubled waters you may tread.

The Vitruvian Man Project

If you've come across this, my personal blog, I invite you to visit a project I call The Vitruvian Man.

www.thevitruvianman.org

Bearing the Cross

As the Christian world approaches its Holy Week, I am reminded of a piece I read one year ago and posted on this blog.  There are two things I know I will personally do every year at this special time:  I will watch Mel Gibson's film "The Passion;" and I will post this piece by Father Rosica in the hope that Hanna's poem reaches all men of good will.  Father Rosica writes ...

“While I was still Catholic Chaplain at the University of Toronto’s Newman Center, a wonderful, elderly Catholic woman confided to me one Good Friday the struggles that she and her family were having with the acceptance of the cross as the central symbol of the Christian life.  The woman wept as she expressed concern about her own daughter’s troubled faith, and she shared with me a poem that her daughter, Hanna had written about the cross.

“Far from describing a lack of faith, the poem reveals the raw faith and deep love that the mystery of Good Friday elicits from all Christians throughout the world on this day.  The poem reads:

Knight of Faith

I recently read a piece entitled "Zen for the West" by American philosopher and essayist William Barrett (1913 - 1992).  In his essay, Barrett refers to Danish philsopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard, and Kierkegaard's references to the Knight of Faith and the Knight of Resignation.  While my research is quite incomplete, I include this post to encourage others in search of truth to explore his writings, particularly his work Fear and Trembling.  I steal these excerpts directly from Wikipedia to spark your interest.

Slow Down ...

Earlier in the day, I passed on a Thomas Merton quote that appeared as the quote of the day on gratefulness.org

"We must slow down to a human tempo 

and we'll begin to have time to listen."

An hour or so later, I received a terrific email from one of my spiritual mentors, Father Alexei at Georgetown.  Father Alexei related a great story that I want to share ...

In the deep jungles of Africa, a traveler was making a long trek.  Coolies had been engaged from a tribe to carry the loads.  The first day they marched rapidly and went far.  the traveler had high hopes of a speedy journey.  But the second morning, these jungle tribesmen refused to move.  For some strange reason, they just sat and rested.

 On inquiry as to the reason for this strange behavior, the traveler was informed that they had gone too fast the first day, and that they were now waiting for their souls to catch up with their bodies.

Forever Young II

by Bob Dylan

May God bless and keep you always 
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others 
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars 
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous 
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth 
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous 
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy 
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation 
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful 
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young 
May you stay forever young.

Questions and Answers

I've been thinking about this particular piece since I read a bit on a gent's Zen blog last week, and then I was inspired to get this up when I read Jesse's piece on Project Love this morning ...  Jesse makes a good point about recognizing those things that are apt to put a person in a 'funk.'  If a person recognizes those things, he may be able to avoid them, but as Jesse discusses ... some things -- like a rainy day -- you just can't avoid and you have to confront.  He's found a way through prayer and music to fight this particular dragon.  Bravo!

Back to the Zen piece I read last week ... This chap found that he could improve the quality of his life by asking himself questions and then setting about to find the answers.  His questions are not the obvious ones.  He asks himself things like, "What would I feel like if I ate a Vegan diet for 30 days?"  The only way to find out is to eat a Vegan diet for 30 days and he does.  If he feels good, he continues.  He asks, "How fast can I run a mile?"  The only way to find out is to run the mile.

Loyalty

In the past 12 months, I’ve done a lot of contemplative reading that has enabled me to rearrange my brain in what I perceive is a good way.  My reading range from Thomas Merton to Zen to Native American stories [rarely written, always told and ‘related], and I’ve become attentive to minimalism and am trying to make it a part of my life.  As I told one of my friends recently, I’ve concluded that our sole objective in life is to live it as best we can in accordance with God’s will.  I believe that if we do, we will be fulfilled, which, in turn means we lead happy and productive lives.  Father Tom Rosica enriched my thought in his Zenit “Word Made Flesh” essay this morning on the Loyalty of God’s Son.  His thought is something I will contemplate and consider until I get it right.  Father Rosica writes,

“Reflect on your own sense of loyalty this week. Unless you find some sort of loyalty, you cannot find unity and peace in our active living. True loyalty is a positive, wholehearted devotion to those things beyond our own selfish private selves. It is much bigger than we are and no one can be really successful or happy if he lives only for himself. How loyal are you?

“Here is a simple test: Make a list of the simple things in which nearly everyone believes -- family, community, church, country and employer. Ask yourself if since making this list you have so lived that these five things are stronger, better, finer, because of you. If you can answer "yes" truthfully, you know that you understand the full meaning of loyalty -- and, incidentally, the secret of true happiness. It is also the road to holiness.”

No Man is an Island

I just finished reading Thomas Merton's No Man is an Island.  I found it to be a revealing book that encouraged me to look to the depths of my soul.

"There must be a time of day when the man of prayer goes to pray as if it were the first time in his life he had ever prayed ...

"Life is not to be regarded as an uninterrupted flow of words which is finally silenced by death.  Its rhythm develops in silence, comes to the surface in moments of necessary expression, returns to deeper silence, culminates in a final declaration, then ascends quietly into the silence of Heaven which resounds with unending praise."

Thomas Merton

Forever Young

You may find this odd, but here it is.  Yesterday morning in the darkness of the church, I had this calm, but very clear vision/sensation/feeling -- and I even mentioned it to Mom in the evening -- that I was going to live to be a healthy and productive 100-years old.  Maybe it's because the narrator of my new manuscript is 100.  Regardless, when I got up this morning, Brad sent me an email with a quote from the book he's currently reading.

"...this 95 year old man came hiking twenty five miles over the mountain. Know why he could do it? Because no one ever told him he couldn't. No one ever told him he oughta be off dying somewhere in an old age home."

from Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

A Sioux Prayer

This Sioux prayer was translated by Chief Yellow Lark in 1857.

Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds,

Whose breath gives life to the world, hear me

I am small and weak

I come to you as one of your children. 

I need your strength and wisdom.

May I walk in beauty.

Make my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made

And my ears sharp to your voice.

Make me wise so that I may know the things you have taught your children.

The lessons you have written in every leaf and rock

Make me strong!

Not to be superior to my brothers, but to fight my greatest enemy....myself.

Make me ever ready to come to you with straight eyes,

So that when life fades as the fading sunset,

May my spirit come to you without shame.

The Light in the Heart of Darkness

During the two years that I researched and wrote The Hamsa, my belief and understanding of God evolved in a way that I never would have anticipated.  As a youngster, I was raised to believe in a heaven and a hell.  That concept and a father's belt were the fundamental tools used to enforce discipline: an unruly child was threatened with an eternity of roasting in hell and got just a taste of what it might be like with a few good whacks from his father's belt.

Over time, I abandoned the thought of hell, as I drifted from religion and towards spirituality.

I struggled again with the concept as I wrote The Hamsa.  What happened to Hitler?  The more I researched, the more the question plagued me.  Was there anyone ever as evil as Hitler, I asked myself?  What happens to a person like this?  One Sunday, my good friend Father Greg delivered a wonderful sermon in which he canticalized, "This is Jesus my son in whom I am well pleased ... this is the Jordan river in which I am well pleased ... this is Jerusalem in which I am well pleased ..."  His list went on and on.  I met with Father Greg for an hour the following Monday.  "Finish this sentence," I challenged him.  "This is Auschwitz ..."  Could the conclusion possibly me "in which I am well pleased?"

Throughout the conversation and the days that followed, things became clearer to me.  At the core of it all is the fact that God gave us free will.  Virtually everything we do can be accomplished in more than one way.  Some ways are better than others, and some ways simply represent the clear difference between right and wrong.  With that thought in mind, I concluded that God created no 'bad people.'  We are all good people.  The fact is, good people can make bad choices.

The picture became even clearer to me ... If I believe there is no hell, and if I believe there are no bad people, what happens to people like Hitler who make horrendously bad choices?  The answer has become inescapable to me.  As each man takes his final breath, God gives man his final gift.  With each man's final breath, God reveals ALL to him and from that revelation comes the light, even from the heart of darkness.  At that instant in time between life and eternity, each man KNOWS the truth, and it is so clear that it is undeniable.  At that instant when darkness becomes light, each man achieves redemption, passes from life and into the heart of God.

Father Greg also introduced me to the work of the late Thomas Merton.  Recently, I read another revelating statement from Merton that influences me to think I may be getting closer to the truth.  In his book No Man Is an Island, Merton writes, "... the supreme expression of [God's} justice is to forgive those whom no one else would ever have forgiven.  That is why He is, above all, the God of those who can hope where there is no hope."

Like the archangels ...

I am your father, and like the archangels in heaven -- with Raphael, Michael, Gabriel and the others -- I have prayed in your name.

Where am I going ?

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.  I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am  actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Thomas Merton

St. Patrick's Breastplate

St. Patrick's Breastplate is an Irish hymn attributed to St. Patrick during his Irish ministry.  I've posted parts before and have been meaning to put this one up as well.  It is a wonderful way to start your day.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels ...

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth, and
Firmness of rock.

Faith

When I was young, I believed because I was told to.  As I've matured, I believe because I have faith.

"Questioning our faith and even the object of it is a daily, healthy exercise! Faith cannot be shelved until we need it, for then we will discover that it has grown weak and meaningless from disuse and will not sustain us. The virtue of integrity involves a well-exercised faith that will enable us to survive even the most awful challenges. Even the strongest among us can be reduced to helplessness and silence." 

By Father Thomas Rosica, CSB

Blessing for a Journey

In preparation of Stephanie and the girl's trip back to Missouri, I offer this old Irish verse.

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And the rain fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May you be held in the palm of God's hand.