Lent traditionally follows Jesus into the wilderness. This is because of the suspicion that there lies certain wisdom and insights at the edges of things, that the centre just can’t hold.
As a Mohawk Elder said after one of John Phillip Newell’s talks:
“𝑨𝒔 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝑾𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 - 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑬𝒖𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒈𝒐, 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒔.”
During Lent 2025, inspired by John Philip Newell’s "Sacred Earth, Sacred Soul", we’ll explore the voices of Pelagius, Brigid of Kildare, Alexander John Scott and others, rediscovering a Celtic spirituality that has always been present - even if often overlooked.