This rather elaborate cherub from Naples served as a support for a carriage used to transport important religious personages through the town (I've carefully photoshopped out his private parts). I'm sure they thought of him as a sort of personal travel blessing, which is why I'm offering him here today.I am still reading John O'Donohue, though I'm near the end of the book, and he is explaining the concept of blessing. I had never really thought about it in this way before, so I thought I'd share it with you:
Our longing for the eternal kindles our imagination to bless. Regardless of how we configure the eternal, the human heart continues to dream of a state of wholeness, a place where everything comes together, where loss will be made good, where blindness will transform into vision, where damage will be made whole, where the clenched question will open in the house of surprise, where the travails of a life's journey will enjoy a homecoming. To invoke a blessing is to call some of that wholeness upon a person now.
I like that thought, that offering a blessing is an invitation to wholeness. And so I offer you a blessing today, and wish you wholeness.
NOTE: All John O'Donohue quotations are from his wonderful book of blessings, To Bless the Space Between Us (© John O’Donohue. All rights reserved). To learn more about John O'Donohue, be sure to visit his website: www.johnodonohue.com
1 comment:
What a beautiful description of "blessing." I have the book, but have never read all the way through it. Since you were reading Freeman's "Jesus The Teacher Within" at the same time as me, I need to pay attention to what you are currently reading! (And I DID finish the Freeman book.)
Post a Comment