No one blesses better than the Irish. Many Irish blessings have, however, become kind of kitschy after too often being found on dishware, door knockers, and tshirts, but they come from a culture that is deeply religious.

I would like to pass on an Irish New Year’s blessing to you and your family this season. This comes from Irish poet John O’Donohue and was written for his mother Josie. To me it carries deep meaning and has an artful use of texture and imagery. Note: Beannacht is the Irish/Gaelic word for “Blessing” and “currach” is a large boat used off of the west coast of Ireland.

Beannacht – for Josie, A New Year Blessing
~ John O’Donohue ~

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The grey window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colours,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the currach of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the fluency of the ocean be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

May you have a New Year filled with abundance, peace and hope-fulfilled. May God find full expression in your life in 2018!
See you in church,
–Rev. Dominic