My Irish Ancestors Were Truly Blessed

I’m thankful for Irish blessings, for those who immigrated to America had to have been blessed. Both sets of my mother’s grandparents were born in Ireland, back in the 1850’s and immigrated to America when they were very young children. The ship was cramped and unsanitary. Those who made it to America to start a new life truly benefited, I’m sure, from more then just 4 Irish blessings, more like 20 Irish blessings.

I am blessed that they survived, for I would not be enjoying our 5 grandchildren with my husband (not Irish), who all have Irish on both sides. Through researching my family tree, I found my grandmother’s mother had 12 siblings and her father had 9. My Nana lived to be 94, but unfortunately she passed away two months before the birth of my first child. It wasn’t until later that I became interested in my family’s past. Fortunately, I did remember some of the bits and pieces Nana shared with me…enough for me to find her family in the census for McCaffrey and Grant in Clinton, MA.

4 Irish Blessings

To you, I send these Irish blessings…

Irish Blessings #1

May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Now sweetly lies old Ireland
Emerald green beyond the foam,
Awakening sweet memories,
Calling the heart back home.

Ireland, it’s the one place on earth
That heaven has kissed
With melody, mirth,
And meadow and mist.

Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

May your heart be warm and happy
With the lilt of Irish laughter
Every day in every way
And forever and ever after.

May the luck of the Irish possess you.
May the devil fly off with your worries.
May God bless you forever and ever.

Bless your little Irish heart-
and every other Irish part.

Ireland is where strange tales begin
and happy endings are possible.

An Irish method for tackling problems;
There comes a time when you must take the bull
By the tail and face the situation squarely.

Here’s to good Irish friends
Never above you
Never below you
May the Irish hills caress you.
May her lakes and rivers bless you.
May the luck of the Irish enfold you.
May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you.

Now sweetly lies old Ireland
Emerald green beyond the foam,
Awakening sweet memories,
Calling the heart back home.

Ireland, it’s the one place on earth
That heaven has kissed
With melody, mirth,
And meadow and mist.

Wherever you go and whatever you do,
May the luck of the Irish be there with you.

May your heart be warm and happy
With the lilt of Irish laughter
Every day in every way
And forever and ever after.

May the luck of the Irish possess you.
May the devil fly off with your worries.
May God bless you forever and ever.

Bless your little Irish heart-
and every other Irish part.
Ireland is where strange tales begin
and happy endings are possible.

An Irish method for tackling problems;
There comes a time when you must take the bull
By the tail and face the situation squarely.

Here’s to good Irish friends
Never above you
Never below you
Always beside you.

Always beside you.

Irish Blessings #2

May the blessing of Light be on you –
light without and light within,
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart till it glows like
a great peat fire, so that the stranger
may come and warm himself at it, and
also a friend.
And may the light shine out of the two
eyes of you, like a candle set in two
windows of a house, bidding the wanderer
to come in out of the storm.

And may the blessing of the Rain be on you –
the soft sweet rain. May it fall upon your
spirit so that all the little flowers may
spring up, and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the Great Rains be on
you, may they beat upon your spirit and wash
it fair and clean, and leave there many a
shining pool where the blue of heaven shines,
and sometimes a star.

And may the blessing of the Earth be on you –
the great round earth; may you ever have a
kindly greeting for them you pass as you’re
going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when you
rest upon it, tired at the end of the day, and may
it rest easy over you when, at the last, you lay
out under it;
May it rest so lightly over you, that your soul
may be out from under it quickly, and up, and
off, and on its way to God.

Irish Blessings #3

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And the rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

Irish Blessings #4

 Wishing you always –
Walls for the wind
And a roof for rain
And tea beside the fire.
Laughter to cheer you,
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart might desire!