Weekly Message
Today is May Day, a day long celebrated as the halfway point between spring and summer. The bright days are growing longer, the weather is growing (somewhat) warmer, and we are ‘on the turn’.
Our Celtic ancestors across Great Britain and Ireland celebrated the festival of Beltane (likely the original May Day festival). They would light bonfires to ward off evil and ensure the fertility of the herd as they drove their cattle into summer pastures. It was a time for feasting, singing and dancing, decorating trees and homes, and celebrating growth and fertility. Many customs took root like dancing around the MayPole and washing your face in the May Day morning dew to increase attractiveness (the Edinburgh Evening News reported that 2,000 people climbed Arthur’s Seat on the morning of May 1st in 1983 so they could do the same.)
I find it helpful to mark the changing seasons. It’s an opportunity for reflection and gratitude for the gifts each season brings. It’s also a way to honour the wonder of creation around us and the cycle of death and resurrection that is at the heart of our world and our faith. We are always ‘on the turn’ with Christ at the centre.
The late Irish priest and poet John O’Donohue wrote a lot about the changing seasons of our lives. His books are full of beautiful blessings for the transitions we encounter, ones we welcome and ones we do not. This is one of my favourites that he wrote for his mother, Josie.
Beannacht (Blessing)
By 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 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.
May Day blessings,
Elaine
Elaine Whelan, Parish Administrator
Our Celtic ancestors across Great Britain and Ireland celebrated the festival of Beltane (likely the original May Day festival). They would light bonfires to ward off evil and ensure the fertility of the herd as they drove their cattle into summer pastures. It was a time for feasting, singing and dancing, decorating trees and homes, and celebrating growth and fertility. Many customs took root like dancing around the MayPole and washing your face in the May Day morning dew to increase attractiveness (the Edinburgh Evening News reported that 2,000 people climbed Arthur’s Seat on the morning of May 1st in 1983 so they could do the same.)
I find it helpful to mark the changing seasons. It’s an opportunity for reflection and gratitude for the gifts each season brings. It’s also a way to honour the wonder of creation around us and the cycle of death and resurrection that is at the heart of our world and our faith. We are always ‘on the turn’ with Christ at the centre.
The late Irish priest and poet John O’Donohue wrote a lot about the changing seasons of our lives. His books are full of beautiful blessings for the transitions we encounter, ones we welcome and ones we do not. This is one of my favourites that he wrote for his mother, Josie.
Beannacht (Blessing)
By 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 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.
May Day blessings,
Elaine
Elaine Whelan, Parish Administrator
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