Prayer and Worship
The Word of God and prayer were central to all the Celts did. Life was hard for these people. Infant mortality was high and life was short. Their rural surroundings were often merciless, with raging seas and rough land. They faced daily struggles. Plagues were rampant and leprosy was nothing unusual. Yet their faith in God was strong. Paul’s exhortation to pray without ceasing (1Thess. 5:17) was how they lived. Not in some pious or frenzied attempt to win favor with God, but in an ordinary everyday fashion of talking with Him as if He were right there in their midst.
They had prayers for just about every situation we could imagine. For example, there is a prayer the woman of the house would say when she got up early in the morning to stoke the embers in the fireplace. They also have prayers that are said during labor for the child about to be born, and different prayers are offered after the birth. The men had prayers that were said as they went out to sea in their fragile boats. These boats were called ‘coracles’ and were not always fit to survive the endless storms they would encounter. Therefore they said prayers as they prepared to go out to sea, others as they were out on the waters. And of course prayers of thanksgiving for their safe return.
Contemplative prayer is certainly an important aspect of Celtic Christianity but the prayers of those early saints were much more than silent retreats or passive intercessions by monks or nuns in remote cells. The regular, everyday Celts, as well as those called into monastic orders, basically lived Paul’s exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to “Pray without ceasing.” They prayed because they experienced Him in their midst, they prayed because they knew their need of Him, but most of all they prayed because they experienced His love and were grateful for His faithfulness. They also lived, not only with the concept of talking to God, but with the reality and expectation of God talking to them.
Celtic prayer has many forms; here are a few of them: