#uucwreads highlights the ways that books are part of our members’ and staff’s lives. Because of its’ length, this post is running as a separate article.

In answer to the question “What book did you like most from those you read in 2022?” the Rev. Aaron Payson said “The book that I have returned to over and over again in 2022 is one of poetry “To Bless the Space Between Us” by the Irish poet and author John O’Donohue.

O’Donohue’s words have been a continual source of inspiration for me as I have tried to speak to a world coming out of and continuing to reel from the pandemic. His writing calls forth gentle compassion and spirit that is so very important for healing in the world today.

One of my favorite poems “For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness” includes these lines:

May you find in yourself
A courageous hospitality
Toward what is difficult,
Painful, and unknown.
May you learn to use this illness
As a lantern to illuminate
The new qualities that will emerge in you.

~ O’Donohue, John. To Bless the Space Between Us (pp. 60-61). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.