John O'Donohue: “The human soul is hungry for beauty.”

The Irish poet-philosopher offered blessings of protection and awareness, beauty and friendship

Apr 20, 2025

The human soul is hungry for beauty…
When we experience the Beautiful, there is a sense of homecoming.
— John O’Donohue, from“Beauty: The Invisible Embrace,” quoted in The Marginalian

The soft words of poet-philosopher John O’Donohue feel like a handhold in life — as hardy, practical, and gentle as poems come.

Born in Ireland, he studied philosophy, theology, and English literature in college, where he began writing poems. He finished his master’s in philosophy and was ordained as a Catholic priest in the same year. Ah, perhaps that is his precise mix right there: both scholarly and sacred, both communal prayer and inner investigation. He later earned a PhD in Philosophical Theology from the University of Tübingen in Germany, where he focused on the philosopher Hegel.

The writing of many philosophical scholars can be opaque to non-academics, and yet John’s blessings are as approachable and deeply human as any comfort poems I know.

John’s first book, Anam Cara — which means “soul friend” in Gaelic — became a surprise international bestseller and propelled him onto a new path.

Through several more books, and lectures around the world, he traced and retraced these themes of friendship and beauty, often returning to our inner light.

As he wrote in his exquisite book To Bless The Space Between Us:

“There is a quiet light that shines in every heart. It draws no attention to itself, though it is always secretly there. It is what illuminates our minds to see beauty, our desire to seek possibility, and our hearts to love life. Without this subtle quickening our days would be empty and wearisome, and no horizon would ever awaken our longing … This shy inner light is what enables us to recognize and receive our very presence here as a blessing.”

To Bless The Space Between Us (published as Benedictus in Europe) is a collection of blessings for myriad variations of ordinary and life-changing woes. (The book is compact enough to fit into a purse and decorated throughout with Celtic crosses as patterns, blue-inked writing, and other lovely touches.)

The blessings in the book follow, more or less chronologically, along the flow of human life: Beginnings, Thresholds; Homecomings; States of Hearts; Callings; Beyond Endings.

“A blessing is a circle of light drawn around a person to protect, heal, and strengthen. Life is a constant flow of emergence. The beauty of blessing is its belief that it can affect what unfolds.” — John O’Donohue

Here is a tiny sample of the blessings, to give you a sense of his range and wonder:

“For a New Beginning'“
“For the Artist at the Start of Day”
“For a New Position
“For a Friend on the Arrival of Illness”
“Grace Before Meals” (also “Grace After Meals”)
“For the Interim Time”
“For a Nurse”
“For the Time of Necessary Decision”
“For the Unknown Self”

His blessing “For a New Beginning” starts:

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In out-of-the-way places of the heart,
Where your thoughts never think to wander,
This beginning has been quietly forming,
Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

Such a gentle and thoughtful opening, the blessing acknowledges this special moment.

Read the full blessing at The Marginalian.

In a marvelous interview, one of the last he ever gave, John appeared on “On Being,” interviewed by Krista Tippett. He read “Beannacht,” which means blessing in Gaelic.

It begins:

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On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble,
May the clay dance
To balance you.

The kindness in his words continues, and the hope, the comfort.

Listen to John O’Donohue read “Beannacht” during his On Being interview, below, or read the poem.

That interview with Krista occurred not long before he died suddenly in his sleep in 2008, at age 52, while on vacation in France. The reason has never been disclosed publicly.

His blessings — and their beauty — live on.