2015-07-05 The Celts - Spirituality and Christianity

This homily examines the essential features of pre-Christian Celtic spirituality and its effects on Christianity when it met the Celts. It examines the main players - Bards, Ovates, Druids; Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Magdalene, Patrick, Brigid, Aidan - and main themes: the feminine face of the divine, Thin Places (portals to the mystical), the centrality of nature, the notion of Anamchara (soul friend). It goes on to compare the Celtic Diaspora to that of Tibetan Buddhism and Native American Spirituality.
For the Celts, culture is the human face of nature; culture and nature are lovers not enemies, as the “West” would have us believe.
About Fr. Seán ÓLaoire, PhD
Fr. Seán ÓLaoire, PhD was ordained a Catholic Priest in 1972 and is Spiritual Director of Companions on the Journey, a community which seeks to recognize the God / divinity within each and all of us. Through homilies and lectures, Fr.Seán inspires and empowers us to develop our own personal cosmology where each individual’s spirituality is seen as derived from his / her experiences of God, immanent and transcendent, and illuminated by the teachings of Christ and the wisdom of other spiritual traditions. People of all faiths are welcome to liturgical services: Friday and Saturday, 7:30 AM, St. Mark’s Chapel, 600 Colorado Avenue, Palo Alto CA 94306; and Sunday, 9:30 AM, Seventh Day Adventist Church, 786 Channing Avenue, Palo Alto CA 94301. To contact Fr. Seán directly, please visit www.SpiritsInSp...

[@ssaul6951]

May God continue to bless you and your work for many years to come.

[@KeithBarley-p4j]

Thank you for your riveting homily which adds to and illuminates writings and videos of the late John O"Donohue. Alaso enlarging my personal interest in the Celtic saints travelling from Iona to Lindisfarne and other locations via Melrose to evangelise the English dominated by a different sort of church then in the 7th Century. I love the back and forth of John O"Donohue's deliveries on Christianity and the influence of the Irish upon it. Just like yours.. Brilliant, I am only sorry its taken me so long to discover your approach and work. I know it is giving me much already to consider and revaluate into the rest of my life.

[@lunamoon3037]

I love him. Im incredibly happy I found his information ☺️ lots of love to you, kind and awesome sir!

[@richardswatton6702]

you are a God-send. in this brief but packed presentation, complete with historical truth and spiritual intermingling, language pathways, meaning-systems and a tour through many versions of spiritual worship and understanding, there is created a wonderful whole. i felt like I was being a gift, the gift of erudite summation of diverse paths of knowledge and cultural evolution interweaving a pattern of truth that helps to place such diversities into pattern of totality. What a gift from such a learned but clearly spiritually imbued man. many many thanks. I will be checking out this space in future. Richard

[@carmeltinnes3508]

Wonderful! Such a clear identification and illumination of Celtic Spirituality! I'll be sharing this with others!

[@razorslice99]

A great man , the topic sounds just like African Spirituality as well as other ethnic spirituality systems. He articulates in a way I feel and understand better. Thank you for posting this video

[@andrewnash8291]

Thank you Fr. Seán ÓLaoire . . . this is brilliant . . . it's a major stepping stone for me on my journey and is something I can share with others when appropriate. I've been following Fr Richard Rohr for a year or two and felt there must be a continuation of the journey . . . you have shown me the door, thanks . . . .

[@flatbushfox]

Such an Excellent Presentation.............Best I ever heard,

[@marydoyle6254]

I loved this thank you so much 🙏 xx

[@chantelvarley4584]

I would just like to take a min to THANK YOU for this much needed information. I will continue to seek... and hope to gain much more Wisdom in the roots of energy.

[@myangelina100]

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you! 🦋

[@celticcc3658]

Awesome sermon. Good luck everyone, may your journey be blessed :)

[@Paulbyfate]

as a bloke who once had a moment. I find this refreshing to hear. thanks

[@Claudia-gu2nr]

Wunderbar❤️ thank you so much . I am listening from germany .

[@barrymcevoy-spiritualsense6593]

a fascinating account of spirituality and mysticism of these ancient lands......a powerful orator whom could very well be the embodiment of the celtic bards of yore keeping the past alive.....enjoyed the video fr sean

[@SoulinPhoto]

Wonderful historical backround on the origens and significance of Celtic spirituality. 🙏🏽

[@philosophy_schilling]

Wonderful! Thank you! Shared with my Celtic Studies students. I'm sure they will love this.

[@susannahkelpyotter5595]

Thank you so much. When I click on your link to your website there is a 404 error. Just thought to let you know. Trees are my favourite animals. Having just arrived in Ireland from Africa I was devastated to learn how far reaching Irelands deforestation went. From a mass of sacred trees it dropped to one percent forest and thankfully due to sterling effort it stands at currently 17percent. Blessings on your Father and to all hearing this...

[@jeanneamato5525]

This is coming at an important time for me

[@ravenmorris4229]

Thank you so very interesting.

[@wildrabbit1314]

Thank you. I was looking for this information.

[@Aervund]

This is incredible

[@daragildea7434]

Ogham is not "a language", it's an ALPHABET, or script, which was used to write several different Celtic languages. And the names of the Ogham letters are not all names of trees/shrubs. The following is Irish-English translation: Beith=birch, caortann=rowan, fearnog=alder, sailleach=willow, fuinseog=ash, sceach gheal=hawthorn, dair=oak, (dairragh in Old Irish) cuileann=holly, (tinne=fire) coll=hazel, abhaill=apple, (ceirt=rag) grape vine=finiuna fionchaor, ivy=aidhnean, (gort=field) reed=giolcach, blackthorn=draighean, elder=trom, (Ruis=Russia) fir=giuis, gorse=aiteann, heather=fraoch, poplar=poibleog, and iur=yew (iubhar in Old Irish). Grape vine and silver fir are not native to anywhere near Ireland, and reed is not a woody plant, it's a grass. And Samhuinn was NOT October 31. The ancient Celts did not observe a solar calendar, they observed a LUNI-solar calendar. Which means that each month was a lunar cycle (new moon-full moon-dark moon). A lunar cycle is roughly 29.5 days, which means each month was either 29 or 30 days. 12 cycles is a bit over 354 days, and 13 cycles is a bit under 384 days, which means that leap years had a 13th month. There is a 19 year cycle in this calendar, in which there are always 12 years of 12 months each, and 7 years of 13 months each, because 19 solar cycles (years) is nearly exactly equal to 235 lunar cycles (months). The reason why the days began at sunset, is because the new/crescent moon is only visible for a short time, in the western sky, at/immediately after sunset. The 4 Celtic festivals were observed at specific phases of the moon, not on fixed dates of a solar calendar (like the Gregorian calendar is). As there are 8 phases of the lunar cycle, and 29.5 divided by 8 is roughly 3.6, 3 is the number of complete days within each phase. That's why the 4 festivals were 3 days each. Imbolc was at a new/crescent moon, (beginning of month) Beltane and Lunasa were both at full moons, (roughly middle of month) and Samhuinn was at a dark/invisible moon (end of month). The word Samhuinn means summer's end, that's because it was the end of the month/of the summer/of the year. And the beginning of the year and of the winter was immediately after the festival. They reckoned 3 seasons in the year, not 4, as they reckoned all creation to be so divided, into 3 aspects (winter/spring/summer, sea/land/sky, night/day/twilight, etc., etc.).

[@candyclews4047]

clever clogs

[@birdbraINCorporated]

I love this channel.. i don't know if you do requests, but could you give your thoughts on the relationship between Egypt and Ireland?

[@themaskedman221]

Yeah, there is none.

[@ConstantCompanion]

That's not where the stone of Destiny came from. It was Jacob's pillow when he wrestled with the angel.

[@kickinghorse2405]

Go raibh maith agat!

[@juliebarks3195]

I thought it was Billy Connolly.?

[@rogercarroll2551]

The "Jesus look" does not enhance the paganism of the Celts. This is balony.

[@finglasman1]

Did st Patrick even exist ? Patrick = papal trick 🤔

[@artregeous]

well somehow i wish preacher findout megalithic yard what is it and understands that second pound ounce meter actually 5000 years old also findout celtic cross is 100 000 yrs old and its a gps and measurement device who knows may be he look up this comment and asks a reference about those researchers spend decades of their life on such subjects than exegesis can be so much fun with a new perspective to listen from him well until than peace

[@michaelireland8770]

This is not an Irish Catholic priest. He is lying that he was ever a Catholic priest, he is a fraud. He is not preaching Jesus, he is preaching paganism, pretending that the druids did not practice human sacrifice.

[@motorcop505]

Michael Ireland You obviously have never studied even the most basic elements of Celtic Christianity! In this brief talk, the priest managed to give a comprehensive and articulate overview of both the history and the key tenets of this little known branch of Christianity. For viewers who are interested in learning more about this, I suggest the Rev. Anthony Duncan's book, "Celtic Christianity," or any one of Esther de Waal's many classic books. There are also several beneficial videos of Dr. de Waal here on KZbin. One point that was overlooked was that the adoption of Christianity's doctrine of the Trinity (which was often a stumbling block to other groups in their adoption of the faith) was actually a point in its favor among the Celts, because Celtic culture was permeated with threes (e.g. in its art, poetry, puzzles), to include its native pagan religion. For example, the goddess the Morrigan had three distinct and different aspects. Many preserved bodies that have been recovered from the period have shown signs of triple ritual sacrifice (e.g. strangulation, a blow to the head, and drowning), which are theorized to have been required to appease each of the divinity's three separate natures.

[@luxintra5335]

Fuck you, you people accuse our Aryan ancestors of human sacrifice and then you threaten to burn our families. Disgusting

[@mcmishmo]

Hauld yer gob an pick up a book ye eejit. Father Seán has the truth of it.

[@DakotaMcKenzieArt]

Oye. How does ignorance comment on learning?

[@kickinghorse2405]

Meh. This isn't a mass, but an post homily informational talk for those interested in a topic about which he is well versed. Your comments mimic those made by contemporaries to the likes of priests in the past who spoke on topics and helped advance science. This is history. No more, no less.

[@andrewsteeves6982]

Blithering nonsense