Prayer
-
Writing a Hymn—and Learning Stabilitas Overnight
This hymn didn’t emerge in a chapel. It came overnight. In silence. In storm. In the unbuilt monastery of the mind. “Wild winds rise fierce across the plain,My refuge be.” The imagery came quickly. But the deeper formation came slowly—as most Benedictine things do. I’m part of a Benedictine community without walls. We are dispersed… Continue reading
AnglicanTradition, AutisticFaith, BenedictineSpirituality, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, ContemplativePrayer, Faith, Hymnody, IrishSpirituality, LiturgicalReflection, NeurodivergentFaith, NeuroDivine, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, Psalm54, QuietMoments, RuleOfStBenedict, SacredRoutine, SacredSpaces, Spirituality -
Stay with me in the waiting.
There are days when Jeremiah’s cry—“My anguish, my anguish!”—feels less like something from long ago and more like the body’s own truth. In the dialysis unit, with the soft beeping of the machines and the hush of people doing their best to get through another session, you can hear that same ache. Jeremiah speaks of… Continue reading
AnglicanTradition, AutisticFaith, BenedictineSpirituality, bible, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, ContemplativePrayer, Dialysis, DialysisLife, Faith, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishLandscape, IrishLiturgicalReflection, IrishSpirituality, jesus, LiturgicalReflection, NeurodivergentFaith, NeuroDivine, Prayer, QuietMoments, SacredRoutine, SacredSpaces, ScriptureAndStillness, Spirituality -
The Knot of Grace: A Lorica for the Wired Mind
I wrote the hymn in English first. It came out of lived places. Hospital corridors. Strip lighting. The hum of machines. Motorways. Rain over stone. The strange ache of being surrounded and alone. It wasn’t theory. It was my nervous system on paper. There are days when my brain feels like too much input and… Continue reading
AutisticFaith, BookOfKells, CelticChristianity, Christianity, ChronicIllnessFaith, ChurchOfIreland, CodexCenannensis, ContemplativePrayer, Faith, FaithInTheWard, Hymnody, HymnWriting, HyperfocusAsPrayer, IrishHymnody, IrishSpirituality, IslandFaith, jesus, LatinPoetry, Lorica, MetreMatters, NeurodivergentChristians, NeurodivergentFaith, NeuroDivine, PatternAndPeace, PatternAndPraise, Prayer, PrayerAndPattern, QuietMoments, SacredLanguage, SacredRoutine, SacredSpaces, SacredStructure, SkelligMichael, Slemish, Spirituality, TranslatingFaith, WiredForWorship, WritingProcess -
Arrival
Arrival is a poem about coming home—not only to a place, but to a moment, a body, a ward, a riverbank, a sky clearing after rain. Set along the familiar paths of Monasterevin and Ballybrittas, the poem moves through train platforms, hospital rooms, shared umbrellas, and sudden shafts of light. What might appear ordinary becomes… Continue reading
Arrival, Ballybrittas, ContemplativeLife, EverydayGrace, Faith, FaithInTheOrdinary, GentleStrength, GraceUponGrace, IrishLandscape, LightBreakingThrough, LivingWithVulnerabiity, Monasterevin, NeurodivergentVoice, NeuroDivine, PilgrimParth, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QuietMoments, RiverMoments, SacredAttunement, SacredOrdinary, SacredSpaces, SmallMercies, StainedGlassArt, ThinPlaces -
Ash, Attention, and the God Who Breathes: Writing This Hymn for Ash Wednesday
I wrote this hymn for Ash Wednesday out of a neurodivergent way of praying. For many of us, faith does not begin in abstraction. It begins in texture. In the grit of ash against skin. In the sound of a river looping the same bend again and again. In the stillness of a heron that… Continue reading
-
Word. Refuge. Faith.
“Write Your Word Upon Our Hearts” is a hymn rooted in Deuteronomy 11, Psalm 31, Romans 1 and 3, and Matthew 7, the readings for today (Proper 4) in the Church of Ireland. It prays that God’s Word would be inscribed not only on stone, but within our lives—shaping faith, grounding us in Christ’s righteousness,… Continue reading
-
Rule. Dawn. Praise.
This hymn and stained-glass image are inspired by Chapter 13 of the Rule of Our Holy Father Saint Benedict, in which he sets forth the reverent ordering of the Divine Office at Lauds on ordinary days. Rooted in the rhythm of psalmody, canticle, Gospel praise, and litany, the work reflects Saint Benedict’s vision of a… Continue reading
AnglicanCommunion, AnglicanTradition, Benedictine, BenedictineRhythm, BenedictineRhythms, BenedictineSpirituality, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, ContemplativePrayer, DailyDevotion, DailyOffice, EmbodiedPrayer, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, FaithInTheEveryday, HeldInLove, Hymnody, HymnWriting, InclusiveChurch, Ireland, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHymnody, IrishReflection, IrishSpirituality, jesus, LiturgicalLife, LiturgicalReflection, LiturgicalRhythm, ModernMonasticism, MonasticWisdom, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, OraEtLabora, Pilgrimage, Poetry, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QuietCourage, QuietMoments, QuietWitness, Reverence, Routine, RuleOfLife, RuleOfStBenedict, SacredRoutine, SacredSong, SacredSpaces, Sanctity, ScriptureAndStillness, Spirituality, SpiritualJourney, SpiritualReflection -
A hymn about Grace in humble things — “In quiet parks at break of day” (CM)
The hymn reflects on discovering God’s presence in everyday moments, emphasizing the beauty of ordinary experiences that reveal grace and the gradual manifestation of the Kingdom of God. Continue reading
-
Before Your holy altar
This hymn was written as a prayer of presence and sending — rooted in the Celtic landscape, centered on the Eucharist, and alive with the missionary fire of the saints. It gathers altar, land, and people into one act of worship: Christ present among us, Christ restoring us, Christ sending us forth. May it be… Continue reading
-
Stop. Start. Stay.
Not every journey is straight. Some of us live by detours. Some of us measure time in appointments, recoveries, resets, and the quiet courage it takes to begin again. This new hymn was written from within that kind of landscape. It blesses the roundabout and the restart. The traffic light on a rain-washed street when… Continue reading
Autism, AutisticFaith, bible, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, Contemplation, Faith, FaithInAction, FaithInTheEveryday, god, Hymnody, InclusiveChurch, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHymnody, IrishSpirituality, jesus, LiturgicalReflection, NeurodivergentFaith, NeurodivergentTheology, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, Poetry, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QuietMoments, SacredSpaces, Spirituality -
Healing. Prayer. Hope.
This hymn was written for World Day of the Sick, a day when many pilgrims gather in Lourdes seeking healing, prayer, and hope. While crowds pray at the grotto and walk in candlelight procession, many of us keep the day in quieter places—hospital wards, dialysis units, and our own homes. For me, it is shaped… Continue reading
-
Incense. Whisper. Hope.
This hymn is inspired by Psalm 141, the Church’s ancient evening prayer: “Let my prayer rise before you like incense.” Set in the landscape of Clonmacnoise, it joins the psalmist’s cry to the Shannon’s air and the long vigil of those who prayed on these stones before us. As night gathers, it asks Christ to… Continue reading
Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, Clonmacnoise, Contemplation, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInTheEveryday, Hymnody, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHymnody, IrishSpirituality, MonasticWisdom, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, Pilgrimage, Poetry, PoetryOfPlace, Prayer, QuietMoments, SacredSpaces, ScriptureAndStillness, Spirituality, TheLostCity -
Hours. Pump. Grace.
As I begin another week of dialysis, I come as I am—carrying tiredness, hope, and whatever this day holds. This hymn was written in the quiet place where machines hum and my heart keeps its own steady rhythm. It reminds me that Christ is here with me: in the care I receive, in the long… Continue reading
-
Shepherd. Host. High King.
This hymn began with a simple wondering: What if Christ doesn’t only meet us at the table, but walks the whole week with us? Faith is rarely confined to sacred hours. It unfolds in Mondays heavy with responsibility, Wednesdays full of noise, Fridays marked by grief, and Saturdays thick with waiting. This hymn traces the… Continue reading
AnglicanTradition, AutisticFaith, bible, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, Contemplation, ContemplativePrayer, Eucharist, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, FaithInTheEveryday, FindingConnection, god, Hymnody, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHymnody, IrishSpirituality, jesus, LiturgicalLife, LiturgicalReflection, ModernMonasticism, NeurodivergentFaith, NeurodivergentTheology, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, Pilgrimage, Poetry, Prayer, QuietMoments, Routine, SacredRoutine, SacredSpaces, ScriptureAndStillness, Spirituality, SpiritualJourney -
Claimed. Accompanied. Sent.
I wrote this hymn slowly, paying attention to water. Not water as an idea, but water as something that moves, waits, gathers, seeps, and returns. Water that has weight and sound and temperature. Water that holds memory. Baptism is often talked about as a moment—something that happens and is done. For me, baptism has always… Continue reading
-
Courage. Gentleness. Wisdom
This hymn grew out of listening rather than certainty. It brings together two women who never met, yet somehow recognise one another across time and land. Saint Agatha, standing her ground in the hard stone world of Rome, and Saint Brigid, whose holiness took root in hearth-fire, field, and care for ordinary people. One knew… Continue reading
-
Flour. Aprons. Presence.
For many of us, faith is encountered not first through abstraction or silence, but through texture, rhythm, repetition, and shared work. This poem emerges from the sensory world of baking—warmth, fragrance, patience, and touch—and attends to grace as something embodied and practiced rather than merely believed. Written to be read, prayed, or sung, it traces… Continue reading
-
Silence. Suffering. Steadfastness.
A day of uneasy memory, quiet courage, and layered history. On 30 January, NeuroDivine holds space for complexity, conscience, and the land’s long remembering—and offers a new hymn rooted in Leinster’s fields for those who honour your servant Charles with tenderness rather than triumph. Continue reading
AnglicanCommunion, AnglicanTradition, AutisticFaith, Christianity, ChurchOfIreland, Contemplation, Faith, FaithAndHistory, FaithInAction, FindingConnection, HeldInLove, Hymnody, InclusiveChurch, Ireland, IrishAnglicanVoice, IrishHistory, IrishHymnody, IrishReflection, IrishSpirituality, LiturgicalReflection, NeurodivergentFaith, NeurodivergentTheology, NeuroDivine, NewHymn, NewHymns, NewSong, Pilgrimage, Prayer, QuietCourage, QuietWitness, Reverence, SacredRoutine, SacredSong, SacredSpaces, Sanctity, Spirituality, SpiritualReflection, ThresholdOfGrace -
Ground. Way. Breath.
I’ve been sitting for a while with the idea that faith is something made as much as it is believed—shaped by hands, time, weather, and patience. This hymn grew out of that sense of slow, faithful craft. It’s written with stone in mind: quarries and chisels, walls raised and repaired, the quiet devotion of people… Continue reading
-
Threads. Loom. Beauty.
Some hymns arrive not just as words but as sensations—colours, textures, patterns that settle into the body before they ever reach the intellect. The hymn I’m sharing today is one of those pieces. It grew out of my own love for the way creation speaks in colour and form, and how many neurodivergent people encounter… Continue reading
NeuroDivine 