"May healing be hear to our hurt!"
___Eoghan Ruadh Mac An Bhaird,
in Osborn Bergin, Irish Bardic Poetry (trans. CM)
At moments of crisis or action, there is no time for long-winded utterances or beautifully written invocations, only for a swift arrow of prayer to pierce the veil between the worlds and beseech assistance. The prayer 'God between me and all harm!' and the observation 'God is nearer than the door' are examples of the Celtic trust in the immediacy of help and spiritual assistance.
The help or healing that is near to us may not always be obvious or seem available. But even if we do not know who our spiritual allies are, they know who we are and will find us soon enough. The important thing is to ask for help or healing, so that we create a pathway down which help can come.
Many of us feel that we are personally and solely in control of our lives, that we should be able to manage without intervention, that we are capable human beings who do not need help.
The healing that lies near to our hurt needs our assistance to be manifested: we must be able to ask for it without setting limits on its action. Rarely given in an instantaneous miracle, healing makes us whole over an organic period of time. But we must cooperate with and trust the healing, not pick off the band-aid every hour to see how the wound is doing! To trust the help or healing, we must learn to trust the spiritual allies who provide it.
"Make your own short invocation for help or healing. Meditate upon the help that you need and upon your own receptivity to healing. Make an act of trust in your own spiritual allies and their ability to heal."
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
Helpful post for so many and one of my favourite illustrations from a favourite book.
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