Esther de Waal is an Anglican laywoman who lives in the Welsh borders where she grew up. In this deeply satisfying volume she uses prayer and poetry to illustrate the Celtic way of "holding things together," such as heart and mind, time and eternity, East and West, pagan and Christian, inner and outer. Or, as she puts it in one memorable sentence: "So the Celtic approach to God opens up a world in which nothing is too common to be exalted and nothing is so exalted that it cannot be made common."
De Waal presents the daily practices of the Celtic Christian tradition where believers brought all of their daily activities at work or in the home under the auspices of the Trinity, the saints, and the angels. This brand of everyday spirituality has great relevance to our times. The author also emphasizes the unswerving devotion of these people to the cross and their commitment to a rigorous asceticism. Both of these traditions are covered in de Waal's overview of Celtic monasticism. A final element in Every Earthly Blessing is the emphasis given to the celebration of the Creation as a devotional practice. This wonderful overview of Celtic spirituality is a classic in the field.
