Christ with Me

There’s something about spirituality that drag our attention. I believe that in every single person lies a bit of spirituality. And if we have to be honest human kind through its history has displayed that “sense” in various forms, so often it is poured into artistic expressions. Someone once told me (or maybe I read it) that every generation expressed itself through Art. And that makes sense; you can recall music movements that are indeed attached to one specific period of time.

Continuing with the Celtic culture, when they were Christianized they just bought the whole package. They didn’t select what they wanted to believe. They embraced the gospel entirely. So the normal thing for them was to capture it in every single way they could. They were truly illustrated. So they pictured the way the saw life through the written word, through imagery (Celtic knots), through music, because it was important for them. It is said that St. Columba used to pray the whole book of Proverbs while he walked though Iona. It is also said that on this Isle 365 Celtic crosses were displayed and that the Iona religious community prayed every day on one different cross. So it is not surprise that they had worked out gorgeous prayers, that I believe continues to speak insight for our modern society.

It is one of these prayers that have caught my attention. St. Patrick’s Breastplate is a profound prayer that contains such a huge amount of wisdom that today brings insight and inspiration to my spiritual journey.

The whole prayer is huge but this section of it is the one that makes me think a lot:

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

Christ with me.

This is how this part of Patrick’s Breastplate starts. And it is a good reminder to us that God is with us. God is with us through the Holy Ghost, which came into our lives in the moment we repented of our sins and asked God’s forgiveness. In simple words it was through our salvation experience that the Holy Spirit made place in us. Personally it strikes me the fact that God is indeed with me. But so often, when I go my way instead of God’s that I do things (sins) that offend Him. But there also this times when I’m about to do something wrong that the Spirit gently reminds me that what I’m about to do goes against God’s principles. Sometimes we could feel like if God’s not alongside. When that happens I’m happy I can go to my Bible and read this:

…and behold, I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be). Matt. 28.20 AMP

If you ever feel alone, if you think God has quit on you, if you just can’t go an extra mile, if you believe it is it for you, be not afraid, for God has said that He is with us; and that includes you.  God is with you….

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.  Isa. 41.10 NLT

Patrick knew this, and I believe he reminded himself every day this truth.  I urge to pause for a moment and think about this amazing truth that God indeed is with you.

St. Patrick’s Prayer

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

These words are assumed to be said by legendary Irish missionary and well known Saint of Ireland: St. Patrick. The whole prayer is just profound and inspiring. I was raised in a non-liturgy Christian background. I was not familiar neither with liturgy nor tradition.  This approach to, what is now called, Celtic Christianity has been an amazing journey, one in which I’ve gained wisdom, insight, courage, and inspiration.

My first approach to “the Celtic stuff” was when I was a little boy and heard about these pagan bad guys called druids, whom were responsible of what we now call Halloween. A devil-pagan-satanic festivity celebrated worldwide. That was what my mind associated with the word Celtic.

A few months later I got a Máire Brennan album. Her music was familiar to me. It reminded me of Enya; the main difference was that Máire’s lyrics had a strong Christian message.  Searching for more info about this new artist which music was 100% Irish I discovered that she was sister to Enya.  Thus my interest for this amazing island started.

I was one of the many people who’s vision of the term Celtic is limited to the ancient pagan Celtic culture. I’m not denying the fact that they were pagans and they were involved in occult stuff. But we must remember that they were Christianized.  The gospel came to this Island through Patrick. There are extraordinary stories about Patrick. What I like about him is that he had a vision and his whole life ran around it.

The Celts embraced Christianity in such a way that it was about God that they lived. They gave meaning to every activity. God was relevant and real in every single activity they did. They formed incredible beautiful prayers that not only show us their devotion to God but also continues to give insight to our lives today.

The words I used are taken from “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” a prayer attributed to Ireland’s Saint.  Anglicans have a hymn inspired by this prayer. There are great lessons we can learn if we just pause for a moment and meditate on this extraordinary prayer. I strongly believe it a great reminder of the work of Christ in our midst.  I invite you to open yourself to discover more about Celtic Christianity, I’m sure that there are wonderful lessons we could learn that will inspire us to live our Christian life in another level.