God Under my Roof: Celtic Songs and Blessings (Fairacres Publications Book 87) by Esther de Waal

Author:Esther de Waal [de Waal, Esther]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Christianity
Publisher: SLG Press
Published: 2019-04-16T04:00:00+00:00

THE PATH OF GOD

As the men set our for their day’s work, leaving home to fish or farm, they would say a short prayer, singing or intoning it sometimes in an almost inaudible undertone. They could assume the companionship of God with such confidence that they were actually laughing as they went:

My walk this day with God

My walk this day with Christ

My walk this day with Spirit

The Threefold all-kindly

Ho! ho! ho! the Threefold all-kindly.

My shielding this day from ill,

My shielding this night from harm,

Ho! ho! both my soul and my body,

Be by Father, by Son, by Holy Spirit,

By Father, by Son, by Holy Spirit.

Be the Father shielding me,

Be the Son shielding me,

Be the Spirit shielding me,

As Three and as One:

Ho! ho! ho! as Three and as One.

(III, 48–9)

So much time, particularly for men, was spent in journeying, in driving the animals, in walking to the fields, that journey prayers are common. Journeys always become a time for them to walk with God and for God to walk with them. The presence of God, always keenly felt, is here seen in a most practical, immediate sense.

I on Thy path O God

Thou O God, in my steps.

(II, 158–9)

God, bless the pathway on which I go,

God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole.

(III, 178–9)

Those lines from a journey prayer were used however short the distance or small the errand. Time and again the songs follow a similar form:

Bless to me, O God

The earth beneath my foot,

Bless to me, O God,

The path whereon I go.

(III, 180–1)

There are many herding songs which the men sang as they drove their cows and sheep to pasture. Everyone knew that the Kind of Shepherds would watch over both men and flocks as he had always done, to protect them from the many dangers of the hills and bring them safely home. So this was a common refrain when talking to the animals:

Be the herding of God the Son about your feet,

Safe and whole may ye home return.

(I, 276–7)

Sometimes God is not simply herdsman, but also friend: ‘the friendship of God the Son’ to bring them home, with ‘lovely Mary keeping them’ and Christ himself at the end of their way. When a man had brought his flock to the pasture in the morning he would take leave of them tenderly, waving his hands towards them in patriarchal blessing and commending them to the keeping of Christ and the saints:

The herding of Bride to the kine

Whole and well may you return.

The prosperity of Mary Mother by yours

Active and full may you return.

The safeguard of Columba round your feet,

Whole be your return home.

Be the bright Michael King of the angels

Protecting, and keeping, and saving you.

The guarding of God and the Lord be yours

Till I or mine shall see you again.

The herding of the fair Mary

Be about your head, you body, and aiding you.

(I, 272–3)

In the yearly cycle of work the preparation of seed-corn was important and certain rituals were always observed. Three days before the actual sowing the seed

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