Customer Reviews

Celtic Benediction: Morning and Night Prayer

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sometimes the less said the better. Celtic Benediction is an invitation to simplify your day and make it spiritual. This quietly introspective book helps you slow your pace down to think, to reflect and to pray. Little is asked of the reader. Just a moment of time for God at the start and end of the day. The imagery is clear and directive, the opportunity for personal reflection is strong. The beauty of the art, the simplicity of the poetry and the invitation to meditate all work together in this beautiful book. It will be my gift to many this year.

Celtic Benediction is a lavishly illustrated book of daily prayers drawn from the great spiritual insights and wisdom of the Celtic Christian church. These are timeless prayers and Scripture readings for every morning and evening the week, any time of the year. Celtic Benediction invites Christians to mediate on a different aspect of the creation story from Genesis. This superb compendium compiled by J. Philip Newell, a parish priest and warden of spirituality in the Diocese of Portsmouth, is wonderfully illustrated throughout with colored panels from the Lindisfarne Gospels and will be a treasured and valued addition to any personal, church, or seminary library.

I've been using Newell's little book as guide for my prayer time. It has been wonderful for keeping my mind and spirit focused upon the glory of God.

A gentle reminder, in both the morning and evening, of our humanity and place in the world. Every day the words seem new and challenging, and we are reminded to pray for our coming day and the life of the world. A small book...easy to carry with you on a trip or vacation.....a wonderful gift for someone who is ill or housebound.

This is a great book to bring with you when you travel. It is small and yet rich. The rhythm of morning and night prayer helps to keep you centered and focused in the midst of the chaos that post 911 travel has become.

Sometimes just reading a beautifully worded prayer helps to jump start your own prayer life. Consider this short collection to be the mother of all Celtic Prayer jump starters.

Lyrical and lovely!

An absolutely lovely book. I use it daily. When connected with Centering prayer, Christian Meditation (John Main's), or some other prayer practice, it can complete your daily prayer. If one were to actually follow the outline in the book, and spend the time to "be still and aware of God's presence within and all around", what else would you need? ;^)

Very disappointing and not so great for personal prayer based on symbol, rhythm and imagination. In "Look Inside," graphics are beautifully formatted and illustrations are beautifully colored and are an integral part of the prayer (and the point) Newell is making. In the Kindle version, graphics are muddy and purposeless.

Having downloaded the book onto my iPad, I expected the full experience of the book. The Kindle edition is a very poor substitute.

Buy this in hard copy or not at all.

I was required to use this prayer book for an entire semester during a seminary course. Coming from an Evangelical tradition that encourages spontaneous prayer and fears rote repetition, I confess that it took a while before this practice became meaningful to me (maybe 2 weeks?). Ultimately, though, my prayer life deepened in ways for which I had always longed. I think there is something about prewritten prayers that free us to rest more deeply in God's presence. I was always quite good at speaking to God, but horrid at quieting myself and listening to God. This book somehow opened the doorway for me to enter more fully into God's presence. By the end of the semester, I did feel that I needed "more." So I returned to my daily Bible study routine, but in a more contemplative spirit. About once a month or one week a quarter, I sense my soul's need to return to the simple depths of Celtic Benedictions. I keep giving my copies away, in fact, and I need Newell once more, so here I am at 1:30am trying to order yet another! :)

This book is part of my daily prayer... often read during my subway ride to work, where I "Be still and aware of God within and all around".
The words sink into me over time, and I believe have been written in a way that reveals God whenever these words are spoken.