Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas

We gathered today at the Crib in Kilmovee.  It was Noon and a fine number turned up to place the figures in the Crib – a Crib that had been set in place by Martin Frain who celebrated his 80th Birthday a few months ago – a decent and good man who takes such pride in getting the crib ready.  I asked him how long he has been doing it now and he told us “since 51, whatever length that is …..” – the maths done, it was clear that Martin has placed the Crib in the church for 62 years!  Such generosity – as I write that, I realise he was eighteen the first time he did it – quite likely with someone else who showed him the how and the where …. it was a lesson well taught and eagerly learned.  We so need people like that ……..

The children took the different figures from the porch of the church and carried them to the Crib as we sang “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and I thought the “faithful” were truly gathered.  It was lovely to see so many children and their parents taking a bit of time out of Christmas Eve to focus on the essential.

We talked about “jigsaws” and the importance of each part in the story of the picture being assembled.  Any part missing, irrespective of size or position, would leave the picture incomplete.  We looked at the pieces in the Crib’s jigsaw:

      • The straw: Supplying bedding and warmth.
      • The lambs and sheep: their wool and breath combining to take away the winter chills
      • The shepherds: carrying not just the sheep but the Angels’ story
      • The Donkey: carrier of “The Carrier” or as one child put it “Mary rided to Bethlehem on the donkey …”
      • The Cattle: providing milk and added warmth
      • Mary: the one who found her “yes”
      • Joseph: the provider
      • The shed: only place available to offer shelter

Each one of us has something to bring to “the jigsaw” and my prayer for you all – my prayer for myself – is that, having found it, we may willingly offer that piece so that the story is complete.

Happy Christmas to you one and all.  Thanks for your friendship, your prayers and your support.  Thank you for helping me complete or at least have a clearer view of the jigsaw image …..

I will remember you all in Masses over the Christmas Days.

Words later ….

Words later ….

Just did a search for one of my favourite Christmas Carols (if not my FAVOURITE!!), Silent Night.  There are countless versions of it available but this one seemed appropriate.  We just have the music for now … the words come later.  Enjoy and prepare for the hearing of the words – the message!

[youtube=http://youtu.be/NIaIjRH-qiI?rel=0]

Christmas Eve Truce (1914)

Christmas Eve Truce (1914)

This is a beautiful song, based on an all too true story.  The date (1915) is a mistake in the recording since it would have been Christmas Day 1914 but that’s by the way …..  God rest all who have lost their lives in the futility of war and God bless all who have allowed themselves be touched by The Christmas Story …

[youtube=http://youtu.be/JT0ysO58KXE?rel=0]

Fr Alec Reid, R.I.P

Fr Alec Reid, R.I.P

Fr Alec Reid, C.Ss.R. R.I.P

PRAYER OF ST FRANCIS

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/DP73rWUovYg?rel=0]

______________________________

RTE’s “Would you believe” programme ran a feature on Fr Alec last year.  The piece above is taken from that and the show, in its entirety, may be viewed below.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/53ZuVw-FCRw?rel=0]

34th Sunday – Christ The King

34th Sunday – Christ The King

Another year over …..

Wasn’t it John Healy who wrote about the tragedy of rural decline in a book entitled “No One Shouted Stop”?

“STOP”! If today is asking us to do anything it’s to stop and look again at the man on the Cross and to search for and find in the bleakness of that moment the one we call “KING”. It may not be an instant recognition but it’s there to be found, somewhere in the dialogue of the two thieves – one of whom cried “STOP”. Stop the sarcasm, the taunting, the mocking – “this man has done nothing wrong”. Nor has he ….. Recognition of a centurion who, having seen how he died said, “In truth, this man was a Son of God”. Recognition in a veil of the temple being torn in two …

We have celebrated the “YEAR OF FAITH” that comes to an end today. What impact has it had? What impact on YOU? The logo contained a boat, the great image of Church and of voyage from one shore to another. How did we make the crossing? Do we feel we’ve travelled at all? Did we un-berth the boat or leave it tied at the pier?

It’s that sort of a day. It’s a day for honest and deliberate reflection. Little can be gained by stepping away from this year if we don’t allow for some reflection. Joy should be part of that – joy and gratitude for a year of fidelity to prayer and worship, community and church. Joy – in our being there with and for people when “Calvary” drew all too close and real for them in recent months. There should be in us a sense of living faith in our celebrating the Sacraments this year; Baptisms, First Penance, First Eucharist, Confirmation, Marriage, Anointing of The Sick and maybe here and there an Ordination. We had these moments because our “KING”, Christ The King, journeyed with us.

Though celebrating Christ The King, our day is not spent in Royal Palace or on Celebrity Red Carpets but in the here and now of life in this parish, this place and at this time. The KING before us is practically naked, blood stained, battered and bruised. He is riddled with doubts and hurt “My God, my God, why have you deserted me?” He has the taste of bitter vinegar on his lips and the taunting of a mocking crowd in his ears. He so needed that recognition and prayer of the man by his side “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom”. He is KING though and that’s the truth we’re called to accept today.

The King calls us to service and recognition. He calls us to be men, women and children of faith, vision, compassion and courage. He needs us to speak out, to whisper or if need be shout “STOP” when things are going in the wrong direction. He needs us to change the flow and direction of an uncertain and possibly non-reflective age. He needs us to come away from the foot of the Cross having recognised there-upon, the presence and love of a gracious and giving King.

33rd Sunday of the year

(Another of The Furrow installments!!)

Within walking distance of Ground Zero, New York, is found a memorial to the victims of the Irish Famine.  It’s an amazing piece of work – approaching it from one side you see a high wall with place names, quotations from accounts of the famine, statistics and details of the impact it had on our country.  The counties and many place names of Ireland are included.  Many might see this as the memorial but, in reality, that’s only the backdrop.  It is literally the reverse side of the intended memorial – yes, of course, part and parcel of the design but you could almost say a “lean-to” to the main focus of the memorial.

The memorial is best approached from the other side and, it’s on that approach, the reality is best displayed.  It is a fallen down cottage, nested on a little hill that gives life to hungry rushes, patches of grass and all that is familiar to anyone who has ever wandered through, never mind lived in rural Ireland.  It’s so real.  The cottage, taken stone by stone, from a townland in the parish of Attymass, Co. Mayo was re-birthed in its adopted surrounds of Battery Park, New York.  Re-birthed like so many who travelled from Mayo and the other 31 counties of our country in search of new life and hope.  As they went, they left the cottages behind and, in the words of another tune; “Castles tall, houses small, left alone, all fall down” – that’s what the memorial represents – the emptiness left behind, the falling in of the house, the quenching of the fire … stones left to crumble.

Surely that’s what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel passage.  The admired temple, it too without love and left alone, will fall in on itself.  It is truly dependant on people’s love – literally the movement of feet in prayerful attendance to keep it alive, relevant and fresh in the hearts and minds of people.  If just looked at from a distance, admired as a piece of art, its full potential will not be reached.  That house in Attymass was once a temple.  Its kitchen table, the alar – its s rooms the sacristy, its door the entrance to a place of prayer and worship.  Its floor the concrete kneeling board where family prayer found its launch and, its family, the congregation called to faithful service and mission.  It emptied though, hunger and death – worry and emigration took a lasting toll.

It took a lot to transport that fallen cottage from its Attymass foundation but it sits well and speaks a sad but pride-filled message in its new setting.  It took a keen eye to see the potential of that cottage to tell a story to people who might otherwise never hear.  Whatever it took, it was worth it and necessary.

Is there, as we near the end of the Church’s Year of Faith, a call here to protect the building, not just admire it – to be partakers not just onlookers and to recognise the true beauty of our Church which, like the Famine Memorial in the shadow of the fallen and desecrated towers, is best approached from the other side where the view reminds us of home, calls us home and makes us better people?  Is there a need for the imaginative and creative eye that can see us in a better setting where the story can be told?

Like the Mayo Cottage, the church in which we now gather has a story to tell also.  As long as we gather to hear and share that story it will be safe, solid and present for in our gathering it is not left alone, it is not unloved – it lives and breathes.

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