blip : Basic Living Instruction Protocol :

A celtic prayer today, or at least a part of it since it’s very long. It’s one of my favorites, perhaps because of its earthiness. Many prayers seem so other-worldly or ethereal that I find them hard to connect with every-day life. Translation from The Celtic Way of Prayer.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate

For my shield this day
A mighty power:
The Holy Trinity!
Affirming threeness,
Confessing oneness,
In the making of all
Through love…

For my shield this day I call:
Christ’s power in his coming
and in his baptising
Christ’s power in his dying
On the cross, and his arising
from the tomb, his ascending;
Christ’s power in his coming
for judgment and ending.

For my shield this day I call:
Heaven’s might,
Moon’s whiteness,
Fire’s glory
Lightning’s swiftness,
Wind’s wildness,
Ocean’s depth,
Earth’s solidity,
Rock’s immobility.

Be Christ this day my strong protector:
Against poison and burning
Against drowning and wounding,
through reward wide and plenty…
Christ beside me, Christ before me;
Christ behind me, Christ within me;
Christ beneath me, Christ above me;
Christ to right of me, Christ to left of me;
Christ in my lying, my sitting, my rising