A Fragrant Offering: A Daily Prayer Cycle in the Celtic Tradition

by John Birch

A daily prayer liturgy in the Celtic tradition, with prayers for morning, midday and evening, along with prayers for some of the traditional Celtic festivals.

 Can be used by groups or individuals. Themes include The gift of a world, a community of faith, journeying together, from desert places

, led to a pleasant land

, the resurrection life

 and the call to follow. 

Christian prayers for traditional Celtic festivals include liturgies for Samhain

, Imbolc

, Beltane

, Lughnasadh and the Winter Solstice. Throughout the liturgies is an opportunity for sharing the reading of both prayer and scripture. They can also be used as a personal daily cycle of prayer. For the midday prayers I have adapted the ancient practice of lectio divina, which is a slow, contemplative prayerful reading of a portion of Scripture, which can allow the Word to speak directly to our hearts and lives. This method of praying is particularly loved of the Benedictine tradition of monasticism. St. Benedict encourages us to hear Scripture’s words with ‘the ear of our hearts’ and hear that ‘gentle whisper’ that Elijah heard on the mountain.

120 pages, Paperback

Published January 24, 2017