To Bless the Space between Us: A Book of Blessings

From the author of the bestselling Anam Cara comes a beautiful collection of blessings to help readers through both the everyday and the extraordinary events of their lives.

John O’Donohue, Irish teacher and poet, has been widely praised for his gift of drawing on Celtic spiritual traditions to create words of inspiration and wisdom for today. In To Bless the Space Between Us, his compelling blend of elegant, poetic language and spiritual insight offers readers comfort and encouragement on their journeys through life. O’Donohue looks at life’s thresholds—getting married, having children, starting a new job—and offers invaluable guidelines for making the transition from a known, familiar world into a new, unmapped territory. Most profoundly, however, O’Donohue explains “blessing” as a way of life, as a lens through which the whole world is transformed.

O’Donohue awakens readers to timeless truths and shows the power they have to answer contemporary dilemmas and ease us through periods of change.

The Irish teacher, poet, and author of Anam Cara draws on Celtic spiritual traditions as he presents a new compilation of special blessings and spiritual insights to offer readers comfort and encouragement as they make their way through all of the milestones and transitions of life. 30,000 first printing.

JOHN O'DONOHUE is the author of several books, including, most recently, Beauty, and the international bestsellers Anam Cara and Eternal Echoes, as well as two collections of poetry, Echoes of Memory and Conamara Blues. He lives in Ireland and frequently travels to the United States to give lectures and conduct workshops.

Beginnings — Matins — A morning offering — A blessing for the new year — In praise of fire — For a new beginning — For light — For the artist at the start of day — For a new home — For a new position — Desires — For eros — For freedom — For love in a time of conflict — A blessing of angels — For longing — In praise of air — For the senses — For presence — For friendship — For belonging — For absence — Thresholds — For your birthday — For the traveller — For a mother to be — For a new father — For a friend on the arrival of illness — At the threshold of womanhood — At the threshold of manhood — For the parents of one who has commited crime — For a parent on the death of a child — For old age — For death — To learn from animal being — In praise of water — Homecomings — As a child enters the world — In praise of the earth — For a mother — For a father — Grace before meals — Grace after meals — For a brother or a sister — On waking — On meeting a stranger — On passing a graveyard — To come home to yourself — At the end of the day : a mirror of questions — Before sleep — States of heart — For courage — For an exile — For solitude — For an addict — For failure — For grief — For the interim time — For beauty — For a prisoner — For suffering — For one who is exhausted — For equilibrium — For loneliness — Callings — For priesthood — For marriage — Elemental blessing for a new home — For the farmer — For a nurse — For the time of necessary decision — For the unknown self — For work — For one who holds power — For citizenship — For a leader — Axioms for wildness — Beyond endings — At the end of the year — The inner history of a day — For the family and friends of a suicide — For broken trust — For the break up of a relationship — For retirement — For someone awakening to the trauma of their past — On the death of the beloved — For someone who did you wrong — After a destructive encounter — For celebration — For lost friends — Entering death — For the dying — Vespers — To retrieve the lost art of blessing — The eyes of Jesus.