If you live in the Mountain View, Arkansas area and are interesting in helping to develop a Celtic Christian Community please contact Celtic Priest John Chiaromonte @ celticzazen@gmail.com

Celtic Christian Spirituality

1. A deep respect of nature, regarding creation as the fifth Gospel. 2. Quiet care for all living things. 3. The love of learning. 4. A wonder-lust, or migratory nature. 5. Love of silence and solitude. 6. Understanding of time, as a sacred reality. 7. An appreciation of ordinary life, worshipping God through everyday life, and with great joy. 8. The value of family and clan affiliation,and especially spiritual ties of soul friends(anamchara).

Anamchara Celtic Church Principles-Based on the Quaker Universalist Fellowship commonly held principles

                            THE MISSION OF THE REFORMED CELTIC CHURCH

 
"The mission of the Reformed Celtic Church is to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and administer His Sacraments from the understanding of the Celtic theologians St. Morgan of Wales and St. John Scotus Eriugena. We seeks to foster the understanding that within everyone is a directly accessible spiritual light that can lead people to equality, simplicity, justice, compassion and peace. We do this through parishes, chapels, prayer groups, and other ministries using Celtic Christian liturgies and spiritualiity.

Commonly Held PrinciplesThere is that of God in every person. All human beings, regardless of religious beliefs, have the ability of unmediated spiritual communion and relationship with the transcendent Divine that is immanent within.

The central theme of RCC universalism is that spiritual awareness may be achieved by everyone everywhere. It may be experienced through the teachings of all the great religious systems or in the personal and private experiences of an individual seeker who may have no religion at all.

Spiritual awareness is accessible to everyone of any religion or none . . . no faith can claim to have a final revelation or monopoly of truth. We acknowledge that such awareness may be expressed in many different ways. We delight in this diversity.

While being convinced of the validity of our own religious path, we not only accept but also rejoice that others find validity in their own spiritual tradition, whatever it may be. Each of us must find our own path, and each of us can benefit from the search of others.

There are many paths toward a truth that lies beyond the confines of any single religious doctrine. No one faith has a monopoly of the way to truth. Seekers must find their own paths, assisted by the search of others.

Underlying the infinite diversity of life is the unity of one all-pervasive Spirit. We seek unity with all creation, joining with the increased awareness that a peace testimony includes reverence toward all life.
We nurture a spiritual path open to all, providing a spiritual community in which all sincere seekers of Truth can join, whatever their religious beliefs or doubts. Through the sharing of different religious insights and experiences, anamchara (soul friends) can give support to each other's spiritual search. that can be both refreshing and unifying.

The attribute of holding a position confronted by an opposite position which must be respected has great importance in the formation of spiritual character.

While affirming God's witness in the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, we also acknowledge that the Light, the Principle, the Spirit of Love has been made manifest in the teachings of other religions and that there is still much more Light and Love to be revealed in the world.

The Light, the Life, the Truth, the Love of God is revealed directly to every human being, of every race and religion, without the requirement of any intermediary such as church, priest, or sacred book. Each of us has the choice of relying on ourselves or discerning and following the Divine Light within.

Celtic Christians chose the wild goose as a symbol representing the Holy Spirit. A wild goose is one noisy, bothersome bird. I like this image of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose because it jars us out of our complacency.

I will wash my face In the nine rays of the sun, As Mary washed her Son In the rich fermented milk. Love be in my countenance, Benevolence in my mind, Dew of honey in my tongue, My breath as the incense. Black is yonder town, Black are those therein, I am the white swan, Queen above them. I will travel in the name of God, In likeness of deer, in likeness of horse, In likeness of serpent, in likeness of king: Stronger will it be with me than with all persons.

"Every one of us is a mystic. We may or may not realize it, we may not even like it. But whether we know it or not, whether we accept it or not, mystical experience is always there, inviting us on a journey of ultimate discovery. We have been given the gift of life in this perplexing world to become who we ultimately are: creatures of boundless love, caring compassion, and wisdom. Existence is a summons to the eternal journey of the sage - the sage we all are, if only we could see." Wayne Teasdale: Non-dual Interspirituality

THE INTERSPIRITUAL AGE

"We are at the dawn of a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to our life as the human family in a fragile world. This birth into a new awareness, into a new set of historical circumstances, appears in a number of shift in our understanding. 1. The emergence of ecological awareness and sensitivity to the natural organic world, with an acknowledgement of the basic fragility of the earth. 2. A growing sense of the rights of other species. 3. A recognition of the interdependence of all domains of life and reality. 4. The ideal of abandoning a militant nationalism as a result of this tangible sense of our essential interdependence. 5. A deep, evolving experience of community between and among the religions through their individual members. 6. The growing receptivity to the inner treasures of the world's religions. 7. An openness to the cosmos, with the realization that the relationship between humans and the earth is part of the larger community of the universe" The Mystic Heart, Wayne Teasdale