{"id":8438,"date":"2026-02-01T16:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=8438"},"modified":"2026-02-01T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T21:43:15","slug":"a-blessing-of-angels-by-john-odonohue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=8438","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;A Blessing of Angels,&#8221; by John O&#8217;Donohue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This &#8220;Bless of Angels&#8221; was read by Tess Hartford at the opening of worship on February 1, 2026 at Durham Friends Meeting<\/p>\n\n\n\n<pre class=\"wp-block-verse\">A BLESSING OF ANGELS<br><br>May the Angels in their beauty bless you.<br>May they turn toward you streams of blessing.<br><br>May the Angel of Awakening stir your heart<br>To come alive to the eternal within you,<br>To all the invitations that quietly surround you.<br><br>May the Angel of Healing turn your wounds<br>Into sources of refreshment.<br><br>May the Angel of the Imagination enable you<br>To stand on the true thresholds,<br>At ease with your ambivalence<br>And drawn in new direction<br>Through the glow of your contradictions.<br><br>May the Angel of Compassion open your eyes<br>To the unseen suffering around you.<br><br>May the Angel of Wildness disturb the places<br>Where your life is domesticated and safe,<br>Take you to the territories of true otherness<br><br>Where all that is awkward in you<br>Can fall into its own rhythm.<br><br>May the Angel of Eros introduce you<br>To the beauty of your senses<br>To celebrate your inheritance<br>As a temple of the holy spirit.<br><br>May the Angel of Justice disturb you<br>To take the side of the poor and the wronged.<br><br>May the Angel of Encouragement confirm you<br>In worth and self-respect,<br>That you may live with the dignity<br>That presides in your soul.<br><br>May the Angel of Death arrive only<br>When your life is complete<br>And you have brought every given gift<br>To the threshold where its infinity can shine.<br><br>May all the Angels be your sheltering<br>And joyful guardians.<br><br>\u2013 John O\u2019Donohue \u2013<br><em>To Bless the Space Between Us<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This &#8220;Bless of Angels&#8221; was read by Tess Hartford at the opening of worship on February 1, 2026 at Durham Friends Meeting A BLESSING OF ANGELSMay the Angels in their beauty bless you.May they turn toward you streams of blessing.May &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/?p=8438\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":213,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-message"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9rLvf-2c6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8438"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8439,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8438\/revisions\/8439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durhamfriendsmeeting.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}