Taken from Anam Cara, Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World by John O'Donohue
"A person should always offer a prayer of graciousness for the love that has awakened in them. When you feel love for your beloved and his or her love for you, now and again you should offer the warmth of your love as a blessing for those who are damaged and unloved. Send that love out into the world to people who are desperate; to those who are starving; to those who are trapped in prison; in hospitals and all the brutal terrains of bleak and tormented lives. When you send that love out from the bountifulness of your own love, it reaches other people. This love is the deepest power of prayer.
Prayer is the act and presence of sending this light from the bountifulness of your love to other people to heal, free and bless them. When there is love in your life, you should share it spiritually with those who are pushed to the very edge of life. There is a lovely idea in the Celtic tradition that if you send out goodness from your self, or if you share that which is happy or good within you, it will all come back to you multiplied ten thousand times. In the kingdom of love there is no competition; there is no possessiveness or control. The more love you give away, the more love you will have. One remembers here Dante's notion that the secret rhythm of the universe is the rhythm of love which moves the stars and the planets .
A Friendship Blessing
May you be blessed with good friends.
May you learn to be a good friend to your self.
May you be able to journey into that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling and forgiveness.
May this change you.May it transfigure that which is negative, distant or cold in you.
May you be brought into the real passion, kinship and affinity of belonging.May you treasure your friends.
May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth and light that you need for your journey.
May you never be isolated; but may you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your Anam Cara.
with love,
Sirona