Council for Health and Human Service Ministries

Word and Deed: Thoughts on Faith-Based Leadership

A Tribute to John O'Donohue

Shirley Nelson A couple of months ago my friend quietly slipped away. John O'Donohue, Irish teacher, author, and poet, passed away in his sleep on January 3, 2008. I call him my friend, even though we never met, because my relationship to him through his poetry connects us at the core. I find this particularly so in poems from his book entitled Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom.

In the Celtic language, Anam Cara means soul friend, which O'Donohue defined as a person who loves your essence and can see you beyond your mask and beyond your fear. "...Real friendship and holiness enable a person to frequently visit the hearth of his solitude," he wrote in Anam Cara, reminding us to cherish both our friends' willingness to see us whole and free and our need to nourish, strengthen, and renew our own souls by turning within.

One of my colleagues, Carol Tilley, recently gave me O'Donohue's newly released book, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings. Carol is a member of CHHSM's Walking the Talk team. She also knew O'Donohue personally and has fond memories of times they shared together.

To Bless the Space Between Us is a book that can be read randomly or from cover to cover. It is filled with stories, poems, and reflections that are divided into seven segments: Beginnings; Desires; Thresholds; Homecomings; States of Heart; Callings; and Beyond Endings.

For those who experience work as a calling and for those who do not, I pray that O'Donohue's poem entitled For Work will bless the space between us as we celebrate his life and the treasures he has left behind. I am grateful for the time he walked among us and I know that his work will continue to be a source of replenishment and inspiration in our lives.

For Work
May the light of your soul bless your work with love and warmth of heart.
May you see in what you do the beauty of your soul.
May the sacredness of your work bring light and renewal to those who work with you and to those who see and receive your work.
May your work never exhaust you.
May it release wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration, and excitement.
May you never become lost in bland absences.
May the day never burden.
May dawn find hope in your heart, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May evening find you gracious and fulfilled.
May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected.
May your soul calm, console, and renew you.

Previous Word and Deed reflections on John O'Donohue are available here: The Sacred Seven, July 2005 and Five Ways to Spiritualize Your Mind - Kindling the Human Presence, July 2007. A recording of one of O'Donohue's last interviews was broadcast on American Public Media's Speaking of Faith; listen to the program here.

Shirley Nelson

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