I went to Knock yesterday. I wasn’t at all clued in to what was going to happen there. Your mother mentioned a few months ago that there’d be Mass for your Fifth Anniversary and that if I was free, I’d be welcome to join in. I planned on keeping the day free and am so glad I did.
I arrived in Knock about an hour before the time I thought Mass was taking place. Happily I was very early as the Mass was set for an hour and half later than I had been told by your mother!! (Wonder was she always good at times????) I met Fr Richard Gibbons as I walked towards the Basilica and he told me the Mass was at 1.30. I had a cup of coffee with him and went over a while later. As I walked into the Basilica I met hundreds of students walking out. They looked so happy and sounded so cheerful. I had no idea where they were going but heard mention of “workshops” so figured they were going to hear and share a bit more somewhere or other. When I got inside there were still hundreds, if not thousands, of school-goers there – from all over the country. School crests and uniforms identifying the broad canvas of this gathering. It looked so impressive.
I saw the bishop of your diocese there and nodded to him. I took a seat and listened to a recently ordained priest speak of you. He, like me, had never met you but was clearly impressed by your story. He shared his – a soccer player who thought he had his dreams fulfilled only to realise he is still living his dream and has more road to travel or, as you might say, “hills” to climb. I realised later that others had spoken before him – spoken words of encouragement that you’d have been proud of.
I met your father and mother and, for the first time, your sister. We didn’t have much chance to talk but their pride in you was palpable. I’m sure they remembered that night you spoke to us through a camera lens and asked us to value life and how, in particular, you called on your own peers to treasure and cherish the gift that is theirs in the opportunity for life and love, faith and adventure.
The Mass was, as it should be, amazing and inviting. The priests in the entrance procession were accompanied by young people carrying colourful flags. I asked the girl beside me her name and where she was from. “Tralee”, she said. We smiled and I knew she was proud to be from your town. A large number of priests concelebrated, as did your bishop and the Papal Nuncio presided. Your name sounded strange from his lips but it was clear he knew about whom he spoke and in whose memory we had gathered. Your reach has been far Donal, and it continues.
I thought again of Fr Walsh’s words to you – when you asked what Heaven would be like. He said it would be a better place with you in it. He was right. I often think of Knock as a place where “Heaven met earth” in the quiet presence of Our Lady as she offered reassurance to our people on that August evening in in 1879. I equally had a sense of the two meeting yesterday and you were deeply embedded in that quiet presence.
They walked last night Donal, from darkness to light – in towns and villages all over Ireland and beyond, begging for deliverance from the scourge of death by suicide. Alas, I didn’t walk this year, but it’s a message we need to proclaim and your voice is found in every word of that message as is the determination of your family to deliver that message in your name. Some of your Tralee friends sang for us yesterday and surely their powerful voices and music and willingness to be there to share their talents, offer a mighty message of hope. If only people can take a few more steps to get over the hill and see more clearly the goodness that’s to be seen and the help that’s available.
I’ve been in Knock many times through the years Donal but there was something very special about yesterday. A wonderful gathering took place in your name and though I’m much older than the ones gathered in their thousands, I was glad to be there.
Keep up the good work. Heaven and earth are better places because of it.
During the week I spoke with parents of Confirmation Children in a neighbouring parish. I was happy to have the chance to do this as it made me think about our own schools in the parish and the children who are preparing there for the Sacrament of Confirmation. I thought a bit about what I might say to these parents and tried to get an image to put before them.
The notion of crossroads came to mind. For a while I thought it might describe where the boys and girls are at in life and that it’s a place of decision-making. I felt parents would, of course, have a role in that process and help the children to figure out the best road to take. I wanted to make the point that there was a call to be changed by the Sacrament of Confirmation and the outpouring of the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit and that staying the same wasn’t really an option. I spent a bit of time thinking about this and came to the conclusion that “crossroads” is not the right image. For at a crossroads we have the option of just travelling on the same road, maybe even without much thought or reflection. Even if it’s the wrong road we could easily just travel on our way and not make any real or meaningful change to the journey.
I had second thoughts about the crossroads but still wanted some image that might stay with people and that took account of the “faith” journey the boys and girls are part of. My mind wandered to another intersection we encounter on our travels – the “T” Junction.
It struck me that the T-Junction is a better image because when we reach it, a choice has to be made. At first I thought there were two choices; Left or Right but then realised that there are, in fact, three. We could also choose to go back the road we’ve already travelled and go no further along the way. I would see this as very regrettable. The only way to continue on the journey is to YIELD and make a decision for Left or Right. I believe that is very much a daily choice for all of us and one that teenagers as they celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation are approaching in a very real way. The decision, you’d hope, is for the RIGHT! The right path, right choices, preferring right to wrong, good to bad and safe to harmful. All we should be about as adults is rooted in offering encouragement that the right path is taken. Even if, for a while, we travel “left” or in the wrong direction the hope remains that the Holy Spirit, the “SAT-NAV” that is our inner and guiding voice will say “Make U-Turn when possible”. That’s the hope but we need to equip people to hear this voice and be able to recognise and follow it.
I had an image and wanted one word that the parents might bring home with them. The word that came to mind is SHARE and I decided to apply a thought or phrase to each letter. We are entering Catholic Schools Week and maybe the word is appropriate to more than just the parents of Confirmation children but, in some way, to all of us as we seek to SHARE the faith with others and help people (ourselves too) to make the right choice at the T-Junction.
S (Show interest)
H (Help with projects)
A (Accompany to church and in prayer)
R (Recall your own stories of faith and traditions from your home)
The Isle of Inisfree has always been one of my favourite songs. I especially love the beginning of the closing verse where the man recalls his home and “the folks I love” gathered around the fireplace where “on bended knee their Rosary is told”. Not prayed, said, recited but “told”. I think it is such an accurate verb to take us to the heart of the Rosary for, at best, it is telling us the story – the Sacred Story – of Christ from the moment of Annunciation to Resurrection and Ascension. The story of our Faith is contained within the fifteen and now twenty mysteries of the Rosary
Last Sunday evening we had a lovely gathering in Kilmovee Church. It was a sort of last minute decision but one I’m glad was made. Placing chairs at the front of the Altar and creating something of “fireside” we invited some parishioners to take their place kneeling at the chair as would have been done in countless homes. Each took a turn in leading us through a “decade” of the Rosary.
“On bended knee, their rosary is told” (R Farrelly, Isle of Inisfree)
It truly was special. Meeting one of our older parishioners afterwards, he said: “that brought me back years”. I’m fairly sure there was a tear in his eye as he said these words. I believe he was brought back to a good place.
As we come towards the end of October may we do all in our power to keep “telling the story” and gathering around the fireside in prayer, friendship and memory.
“Our Lady of The Rosary. Pray for us”.
Isle of Innisfree
Author: words & music by Dick Farrelly
Copyright: Peter Maurice Music/EMI Music
These are the correct words given to me by Dick Farrelly’s son Gerard
I’ve met some folks who say that I’m a dreamer
And I’ve no doubt there’s truth in what they say
But sure a body’s bound to be a dreamer
When all the things he loves are far away.
And precious things are dreams onto an exile
They take him o’er the land across the sea
Especially when it happens he’s an exile
From that dear lovely Isle of Innisfree.
And when the moonlight peeps across the rooftops
Of this great city wondrous tho’ it be
I scarcely feel its wonder or its laughter
I’m once again back home in Innisfree.
I wander o’er green hills thro’ dreamy valleys
And find a peace no other land could know
I hear the birds make music fit for angels
And watch the rivers laughing as they flow.
And then into a humble shack I wander
My dear old home, and tenderly behold
The folks I love around the turf fire gathered
On bended knees their rosary is told.
But dreams don’t last
Tho’ dreams are not forgotten
And soon I’m back to stern reality
But tho’ they paved the footways here with gold dust
I still would choose the Isle of Innisfree.
Theme of the film “The Quiet Man”
It is the melody and not the words that feature in the film.
Today we celebrate St Valentine’s Day. Celebrations may take the form of sharing gifts, cards, going out for meals to name but a few. For some it will just be an excuse to show how much they love another. For others, it might be an opportunity to take the first steps towards showing feelings for another. For all it is an opportunity to show gratitude for the trust shown by another in his or her love. For all too, it is a timely reminder of how much we need one another in life.
Many of the images used will be of young fun-loving couples in air-brushed photos that show no sign of the wear and tear that is truly part of love. For Valentine’s Day Love is found in Nursing Homes too, where an old man or woman sits by the side of an ailing partner. It is the home, where mothers and fathers do so much for their families and not just children but their adult families who may have long since moved out of home. It is the man or woman who maybe had love for a while and somehow it got away. In other words, the love celebrated this weekend, is as much about long term commitment as social media fun.
“Will you still love me”, he asked, “when I’m old and fat?” “I do!”, she replied 🙂
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