Circle of Prayer [antikvár]

Authors Note Hundreds of years ago, Celtic Christians in Ireland and Scotland began their mornings with prayer. They woke up asking God to bless the new day. They prayed as they brought the fire back to life, and as they splashed water on their faces, dressed and ate their breakfasts. Throughout the entire day they prayed — as they walked, swept, gardened, wove cloth, cooked, ate, and tended the animals. Their prayers were full of references to nature and to the Trinity — God revealed in three different ways, as God the Father, God the Son (who is Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. Terms of affection for the Trinity, such as My Great Three and My Three of Love, were common. Sometimes these medieval Christians recited their prayers aloud together; sometimes they muttered them quiedy so no one but God could hear; and often they sang or chanted them to lively, rhythmic tunes. In any case, from morning till evening they sensed God's presence, through every week and season of the year. For centuries these prayers were passed from one generation to the next through oral tradition. Even though they were not written down, simple rhymes and metres made them easy to memorize. A person might know hundreds of them, having prayer-poems for every day and occasion; they formed a commonly held treasure of personal and corporate devotion, although they varied slightly from family to family and village to village. Eventually, political instability, together with famine and disease, led to widespread emigration and suppression of the