Anam Cara

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Copyright © 2008 by John O’Donohue

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Convergent Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC, New York.

crownpublishing.com

CONVERGENT BOOKS and its open book colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Doubleday, an imprint of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC, New York, in 2008.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

O’Donohue, John, 1956–

To bless the space between us: a book of blessings / John O’Donohue.

p. cm.

1. Prayers. 2. Benedictions. I. Title.

BV245.O33 2008

242'.8—dc22

2007031558

ISBN 9780385522274

Ebook ISBN 9780385525640

v3.0_r3

Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

INTRODUCTION

1 BEGINNINGS

Matins

A Morning Offering

A Blessing for the New Year

In Praise of Fire

For a New Beginning

For Light

For the Artist at the Start of Day

For a New Home

For a New Position

2 DESIRES

For Eros

For Freedom

For Love in a Time of Conflict

A Blessing of Angels

For Longing

In Praise of Air

For the Senses

For Presence

For Friendship

For Belonging

For Absence

3 THRESHOLDS

For Your Birthday

For the Traveler

For a Mother-to-Be

For a New Father

For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness

At the Threshold of Womanhood

At the Threshold of Manhood

For the Parents of One Who Has Committed a Crime

For a Parent on the Death of a Child

For Old Age

For Death

To Learn from Animal Being

In Praise of Water

4 HOMECOMINGS

As a Child Enters the World

In Praise of the Earth

For a Mother

For a Father

Grace Before Meals

Grace After Meals

For a Brother or a Sister

On Waking

On Meeting a Stranger

On Passing a Graveyard

To Come Home to Yourself

At the End of the Day: A Mirror of Questions

Before Sleep

5 STATES OF HEART

For Courage

For an Exile

For Solitude

For an Addict

For Failure

For Grief

For the Interim Time

For Beauty

For a Prisoner

For Suffering

For One Who Is Exhausted

For Equilibrium

For Loneliness

6 CALLINGS

For Priesthood

For Marriage

Elemental Blessing for a New Home

For the Farmer

For a Nurse

For the Time of Necessary Decision

For the Unknown Self

For Work

For One Who Holds Power

For Citizenship

For a Leader

Axioms for Wildness

7 BEYOND ENDINGS

At the End of the Year

The Inner History of a Day

For the Family and Friends of a Suicide

For Broken Trust

For the Breakup of a Relationship

For Retirement

For Someone Awakening to the Trauma of His or Her Past

On the Death of the Beloved

For Someone Who Did You Wrong

After a Destructive Encounter

For Celebration

For Lost Friends

Entering Death

For the Dying

Vespers

TO RETRIEVE THE LOST ART OF BLESSING

The Eyes of Jesus

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

About the Author

Also by John O’Donohue

          FOR OLIVIA LEONARD,

Soul to soul

Through all the years

Introduction

There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life. Without this subtle quickening our days would be empty and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing. Our passion for life is quietly sustained from somewhere in us that is wedded to the energy and excitement of life. This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as blessing. We enter the world as strangers who all at once become heirs to a harvest of memory, spirit, and dream that has long preceded us and will now enfold, nourish, and sustain us. The gift of the world is our first blessing.

It would be infinitely lonely to live in a world without blessing. The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Each life is clothed in raiment of spirit that secretly links it to everything else. Though suffering and chaos befall us, they can never quench that inner light of providence.