Tentpegs

One engaging old prayer that the Celts used that says much about their attitudes, reality, and the politics of the time goes thusly:

To go to Rome
Is much of trouble, little of profit;
The King whom thou seekest there,
Unless thou bring Him with thee, thou wilt not find.

In a similar fashion, many have gone to church this weekend and walked away wondering why they didn’t find God. Simple: you didn’t bring Him with you.

The Celts — and that includes the early Christians among them — have always had an inordinate and, sometimes, too hearty a love for traveling. What lies beyond the next hill fascinates them and makes their feet take to the road. St. Columbanus warned them, “Let us not love the roadway rather than the homeland lest we lose our eternal home; for we have such a home that we ought to love it.” Of course, here he was warning them not of moving house or venturing far down the road, but of falling in love with the idea of finding our home here on this earth. Since we already have a place above and eternity in our hearts, we may walk the road but are advised not to love it too dearly.

Celtic Christians believed that they were truly pilgrims and travelers here. They called themselves “the guests of the world.” What a wonderful phrase!

Here is a Traveling Prayer from St. Columba. May it bless your journey.

The path I walk, Christ walks it. May the land in which I am be without sorrow.
May the Trinity protect me where I stay, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Bright angels walk with me — dear presence — in every dealing.
In every dealing I pray them that no one’s poison may reach me.
The ninefold people of heaven of holy cloud, the tenth force of the stone earth.
Favorable company, they come with me, so that the Lord may not be angry with me.
May I arrive at every place, may I return home; may the way in which I spend
be a way without loss.
May every path before me be smooth, man, woman, and child welcome me.
A truly good journey! Well does the fair Lord show us a course, a path.

Remember that first line: The path I walk, Christ walks it. Compare that to Paul saying that for him to live was Christ. We are the ambassadors of the Most High, guests in this world, His representatives to those on the road.