Listening for the Song of the Sacred Earth
By Karin Nobile, Program Associate
Posted on
People came from 13 states and Canada to attend the New England School of Celtic Consciousness with John Philip Newell held at and in collaboration with Mercy by the Sea. The second annual gathering drew 170 participants; all seekers wanting to deepen their knowledge of Celtic Christian wisdom.
In 2016, John Philip founded the School of Celtic Consciousness with the conviction that Celtic wisdom is “urgently” needed at this moment in time. “The instinct for seeing the sacredness in all things is rising again,” he said. John Philip also observes a widespread spiritual yearning for a deeper integration of the feminine and the masculine.
The School accesses the wisdom of great Celtic teachers, grounds that wisdom in spiritual practices, and aims to translate wisdom into action. And so it was a fitting start to have participants reflect on their “holy desire,” the yearnings of God they embody. With hands on our hearts and in sacred silence, a chapel-full of people entered one of John Philip’s prayers: To hear our heartbeat and to be mindful that its beat is the same one that throbs at the Earth’s core … that pulses through the Cosmos … that beats in the hearts of everyone. You are listening into the heartbeat of God.
As part of this first spiritual practice, participants wrote their yearnings on paper, which were collected in a large basket and placed on the altar as an offering. The longings remained there for the three-day program, a simple symbol of the deep attentiveness, prayer, ritual and contemplative dialogue that followed.
Last year, John Philip focused the curriculum on Pelagius who believed that when we look into the face of a newborn child we are looking into the face of God. Since the School recognizes spiritual vision and action as inseparable, consider how that outlook would translate into social action today. If we saw God in every child, would we separate children from their parents at our nation’s borders? Would our immigration policies honor all people instead of shutting out those of different religions? John Philip also focused on St. Brigid who teaches us about the liminality between heaven and earth and Pierre de Chardin who saw the heart of God in all matter.
This year focused on three teaching influences: John Scotus Eriugena who believed in a “flow” of God’s light at the core of all beings. John Philip also made the oral tradition of Celtic poetry come alive with the performance of his “Hebridean Treasure: Lost and Found” beautifully complemented by musical interludes. Lastly, John Philip discussed John Muir, the greatest prophet of ecological consciousness. Muir saw every atom of the Universe connected to another. He saw everything as a theophany in “flow” — both sacred and evolutionary.
John Philip described how Celtic spirituality radically opposed the Imperial mission of the time, which was built on “original sin.” Rather, the Celts embraced the goodness of creation, or in Matthew Fox’s words, the belief that we are born of “original blessing,” created in the image and likeness of God. The Celts also believed that only a “thin” veil separates this world from the next. They observed an interwoven integration of heaven and earth — alive to nature’s rhythms and seasons.
Throughout the program, John Philip acknowledged the diaspora that exists today, the deeply lonely seekers – waiting, yearning, praying – for a new spiritual vision. They hunger for the wisdom tradition and for the soul strength to transform wisdom into action.
We were mindful that our altar basket filled with yearnings held humanity’s ache while the floor-to-ceiling backdrop of a luminous white rose painted by Mary C. Daly, RSM, signified our enduring hope. John Philip’s question invited a new way of being: “Should we become a generation looking for resurrection of our world?”
We prayed:
“I will tell you what wisdom is and how she came to be and will trace her path from the beginning of time. I will make her teachings clear to you and will not pass by the truth. For the company of the wise is the salvation of the world and those who love her receive great treasure. Wisdom is radiant like the whiteness of the moor and more beautiful than the glistening stars. She is found by those who seek her and makes herself known to those who long for her. She can be found sitting at the gateways of life in every moment and on every path. She is a breath of the power of God and a pure flow of heaven’s glory.”
Often we sang the “Iona Alleluia,” our voices rising and falling like the rhythmic waves just beyond our doors, rising and falling like a community breathing as one, rising and falling like hope and despair.
As we were anointed to be strong for the work of healing in our world, our tears reconnected us to Essence and the wisdom to see the light of the Divine in all. How will we adore and serve it?
- Patrice Ficken wrote the poem “In the Beginning,” as part of one of the program’s spiritual practices and read it to participants in one of the large group sharings.
- Registrations will be accepted for the July 16-18, 2019 School of Celtic Consciousness starting January 2019.
- Join us February 1, 2019 for St. Brigid’s Feast Day with Deborah Norko.
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