Chapter 1 - The Presence of God

Today I gird myself with a mighty power,Invocation of the Trinity.Belief in the threeness, affirmation of the oneness.In the Creator’s presence.

Before one word is spoken, there is the Presence of God. After all words cease,there is the Presence of God. God is before all, after all, anticipating all, within alland yet above all. Prayer acknowledges this reality. In the midst of our busy lives,we can turn to face the Presence of God.In one sense, Patrick’s breastplate is a prayer of Presence: confessing that all life issustained by the Presence, and yearning for a greater awareness of the Presence.This Presence is not a generic divine force but rather the personal Presence of theCreator whose very essence as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit is acommunity of love. This prayer serves as a continual reminder of the One whosustains us and to whom we look in hope.Hope. Hope is powerful gift that frees us from the chains of fear. Hope renewsour vision. Hope empowers us to walk forward into the future kingdom. Thishope is a gift that fundamentally changed the world of the early Celt.Like many animistic cultures, the ancient Celtic people find spiritual forces behind every bush, in every pool of water and in every forest. In one sense, thisseems like a magical vision of the world where everything is filled with wonder.Today we look with fascination at the world of leprechauns who promise a pot ofgold beyond the rainbow.This is a tame version of the ancient Celtic understanding of powerful spiritssurrounding and guarding all things—and sometimes entering into our world.Unfortunately, the ancient Celt did not always know if these spirits were kind orvengeful. John McNeill suggested that the pre-Christian Celts believed in up to 400different deities.

There were spirits of the trees and the streams and the lakes

John T. McNeill, The Celtic Churches: A History, A.D. 200 to 1200, Chicago: University of ChicagoPress, 1975 (3

impression), p. 7.

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and the fields. There were spirits for all kinds of animals. But there was not aclear deity whose sole function was to care for and protect humans.They could not turn to a single deity as their chief intercessor, so they had tooffer prayers and sacrifices to every deity in every place. This kind of worldcould seem precarious and even terrifying at times. Potential evil forces couldcrush them or trick them or lead them into confusion at any time.The ancient Celt also faced the threat of warring tribes. These tribal people werenotorious for fighting amongst themselves. In fact, this is one of their greatweaknesses that often led to their defeat. When they could get along, theyterrorized their foes. Unfortunately, they usually ended up fighting one anotherinstead of their enemy.After observing the ancient Celts in battle, Caesar realized their great power, buthe also saw first-hand their lack of discipline to stay united. And he used thisweakness as a means to eventually crush them and drive them away from Rome.

So the ancient Celt faced the threat of untamed spirits as well as warring betweentribes. Imagine the hope that Christianity brought to them. They discover there isone Creator to whom they must answer. They discover this Creator is one God(completely united) in three persons (a loving community).This vision of God brings hope into our midst. If the Creator of all things sustainsall things with His loving presence, then we can find hope even in the midst ofgreat dangers.Imagine the ancient Celt wandering through a dark forest. When the fear of theshadows begins to overwhelm her, she stops walking, takes her walking stickand cuts a sunwise (clockwise) circle into the ground around himself. Asshe cutsthe circle, she prays:

Today I gird myself with a mighty power,Invocation of the Trinity.Belief in the threeness, affirmation of the oneness.In the Creator’s presence.

For a brief overview of the fierce Celtic tribal culture that was eventually defeated by Rome, see GerhardHerm, The Celts, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1975.

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She is surrounded by a power greater than herself; a loving Creator who willprotect and guard her and keep her from all harm surrounding him. Now shecontinues walking with a renewed since of God’s presence. This is known as aCaim, an encircling.As the Celt prays the caim, she physically turns in a circle, so that her body joinsher voice and mind in prayer. A Caim is a way of centering our whole person inprayer. Sometimes it is easy to forget that prayer is not simply limited to ourmind but is actually infused into our body.We often pray silently, so not even our mouths participate in the prayer. Thishabit may cause prayer to seem limited to our mind. We think prayers towardGod. Unfortunately, this can make our spiritual life rather abstract: just anotheridea among many other ideas.Christianity is centered upon the story of God taking human form. The Word ofGod entering human history. In other words, it is a faith that is not simply anidea, it is embodied. We read the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles to see thereality of God’s presence embodied fully in Jesus and then through his collective body: the church.We see people walking to the Temple, eating meals together, laying hands on oneanother, baptizing in water, healing the sick. We see a faith that is not simplyideas but ideas taking form through human bodies. Christianity is an earthy,incarnated, historical religion.This might help us to understand the Caim. It is a prayer that we pray with ourwhole body: our mind, our mouths, our hands, our legs and our hearts. TheCaim makes me think of a form of prayer common among Orthodox andCatholics: the breath prayer.The most famous breath prayer of all is often referred to as the Jesus prayer. As aform of devotion, some Christians will pray the following prayer over and overthroughout the day: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me asinner.”

This form of prayer is common among the Russian Orthodox and made popular in the West through a popular Russian story, “The Way of a Pilgrim.” Helen Bacovcin translator, The Way of a Pilgrim, NewYork: Image/Doubleday, 1978.