Celtic Spirituality

In the Ashland Daily Tidings, Rhoda Maxwell looks to the Celts for spirtiual guidance:

Although the Celts lived hundreds of years ago, their religion is a great help to us to deepen our spirituality.

An early teaching of the Celtic Christians was that they could perceive God reflected in every plant and insect, every bird and animal, and every man and woman. They believed in unity and celebrated diversity as a richness in their lives.  Men and women were considered equal in all ways and held equal positions in Celtic communities.

The Celts had a profound sense of God in their daily life. God was not set aside to pray to only when they needed help or when they gave thanks for a specific blessing. Their spirituality was down to earth; a sense of God that informs and transforms daily life. It is a question of vision, of seeing nothing too common to be exalted, and nothing is too exalted to be common.

Their ideal was to accept unity without uniformity. They had the ability to hold things together by letting God into every corner of their lives. Every act was infused with the presence of God. When the first fire was lit in the morning, the sticks of wood were laid in a cross with thanks to God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They gave thanks to God, not only for their food, but also for their ability to prepare the food; for every act in daily rituals; for every person they met during the day, for the natural world around them. No part of their life was separate from the presence of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Because the Celtic religion knew God, not only in scripture and liturgy, but also in the details of the natural world, the Celtic cross symbolizes this: A Christian cross with a great “O” of creation imposed on it. The circle of the world and the cross of redemption brought together in one whole.