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A Wafer-thin World

Nadine Foley, OP

As spirituality is pursued and expressed in a variety of ways by those who search for human meaning in a post-modern world today, many come to the realization that spirituality reflects a worldview. The dualistic worldview of medieval times and the idealization of reason in the modern worldview no longer serve. We search for wholeness, integration, relationship as human values - uniting rather than dividing, joining rather than separating, affirming rather than denying. While spirituality for the most part evades definition, these are common threads in all pursuits of human meaning that bear the name " spirituality." Sally McFague uses for spirituality a description from a Scottish Churches Council, "an exploration into what is involved in becoming human." Old divisions inspired systems of dominance and to that extent were dehumanizing.

While we have been brought up in our tradition in a worldview that separated reality into spirit and matter, body and soul, reason and emotion, immanence and transcendence, and yes, male and female, we look today for other ways in which to embrace the whole of reality into community and interdependence. Sometimes we find inspiration in ancient worldviews. One such was that of the Celts.

Celts spirituality has its roots in the religious lore of the Druids and as such, was not initially assimilated to the Greek dualistic worldview. The Celts revered nature, pilgrimage, sacrifice, hospitality, healing , mysticism and daily labor. They believed in the presence of spirits and an afterlife. Their worldview brought the spirit world close to the world they inhabited and laid the foundation for understanding God as immanent as well as transcendent. Marcus Losack, an expert on Celtic spirituality, says, "the monasteries were venerated as sacred places where the veil between the material and spiritual worlds was but wafer thin."

With the advent of Christianity the Celts, far removed from the centers of Church power, developed their own brand of Christianity. Their spirituality involved a great love of Scripture where they were able to transfer their love of heroes to biblical heroes, a yearning to explore the unknown, spiritual guidance under a "soul friend" - who could be either a man or a woman - great reverence for nature, appreciation of women's gifts, and something that reflected the pagan past in which women, married and single, were considered equal with men.

The Celts had a particular focus on place. They centered their rites upon local sacred sites such as woodland, glades, lakes, springs, or mountains. Birds and animals were important symbols evident in Celtic art. In the pre-Christian era they represented deities. Above all, however, the sense of continuity with the world of nature is an evident feature of Celtic spirituality that carried over in their embrace of Christianity.

In Christianity they found the doctrine of the Trinity - especially appealing. In their pre-literate period they had adopted triads as memorization devices to express a typically witty wisdom. "Three sisters of lying: perhaps, maybe, guess." "Three sisters of youth: desire, beauty, generosity." Three vats whose depth no one knows: the vat of a king, the vat of a wealthy bishop and the vat of a poet's imagination." Three slender threads on which the world swings: the thin stream of milk from the cow's udder; the thin stalk from which corn springs forth; and the thin string of grace by which God holds us up." The story of St. Patrick teaching the doctrine of the Trinity by means of a shamrock takes on special meaning in light of this tradition.

A brief look at Celtic spirituality reveals to us a worldview that many of us desire to reclaim for our time - one that unites ourselves with our God who inhabits our world and draws close to us in the world of nature and symbol, embracing us in communities of soul friends.

Nadine Foley, OP, is Historian of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She has published two books: Journey in Faith and Fidelity and Mother Mary Gerald Barry, OP, Ecclesial Woman of Vision and Daring. Sister Nadine has served the Congregation in leadership for 14 years, as a member of the General Council and Prioress of the Congregation

Article from "Voices in Mission and Ministry", used with permission from the Office of Communications, Adrian Dominican Sisters,

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