by Vincent | Feb 18, 2018 | Reflections, Lent 2018
On the one road
This tractor belongs to a man called Shay. It could not be further from his mind that I am writing about him now. As I walked down the path to the church this morning for Sunday Mass, Shay drove the path ahead of me as he has done, I’d imagine for decades. This is his transport – the tractor that serves his daily farming needs is also his travelling companion as he goes to worship his God. say his prayers and meet his neighbours. He’s truly a lovely person and a good man. He’s not alone.
All over Ireland today – indeed all over the world – Shays left their homes to celebrate Sunday as it deserves to be celebrated in the making holy of the Sabbath Day. He lifted my heart today as he has done on many occasions because he reminds me it’s still important and, indeed, essential, to take that bit of time out to say a word of thanks, to be nourished by Eucharist and to be faithful.
Shay reminds me too that my life matters and that I owe it to him to be as happy as I can be in ministry and continue to be there to share God’s word with him, his neighbours and our parish community.
Statistics reassure us that faith and worship are in decline but Shay reminds us that Sunday is the day you set aside, dress up and travel, irrespective of the mode of transport, to bend the knee, bless the face, say a prayer and be “parish”. Yes, I’m saddened that many didn’t hear this call today but glad to have seen this man and many more like him.
We must not forget! We must not be ungrateful. We must MUST carry on ….. on the one road!
by Vincent | Feb 17, 2018 | Reflections, Lent 2018
Remembering and re-visting
This photo was taken back in November at our Parish Rememrance Service. There we rememered in prayer and by name those from our parish who had died in the previous twelve months. Sadly other names of our parishiones have been added since then. It’s a very important night in the life of a parish – a night of remembrance, respect and love re-visited.
Earlier today I had a Month’s Mind Mass for a lady who died in the parish in January. It was wonderful to see how many people came to pray for her again and to support her family.
Sometimes I wonder about the ongoing care and support we (I) give to the bereaved. Maybe this Lenten season gives us the opportunity to visit where visitation is possible or at least call, send a text or drop a line to those who have lost loved ones in the past year. I’m convinced it could make a significant difference.
Is there anyone you could “reach out” to these Lenten days?
by Vincent | Feb 16, 2018 | Reflections, Lent 2018
Waiting the call
I’m hoping to do a some sort of thought each day for Lent! Not sure it’s going to happen but I find myself starting with a glance through photos I’ve taken. This one, from a few months ago, is of Alpha “manning” the phone!!
Some calls are welcome, others not; some urgent and, again, others not. I sometimes wonder about caller-displays. There was a time we picked up the phone having no idea who was on the other end. Now we check the name before we answer and there can be a great reluctance to answer the one presenting as “private caller”.
We are all perhaps waiting for a call. Maybe today we hear again, in these early days of Lent, the call – not from “Private Caller” but from God through the pages of Scripture:
“Come back to me with hearts renewed” or, in the words of the child from the famous Dublin School recordings: “Give up you aul sins”!!
by Vincent | Feb 15, 2018 | Reflections, Lent 2018
Cemetery at St Patrick’s Kiltegan
During the week, I had the joy of spending a bit of time with the priests of St Patrick’s Missionary Society (Kiltegan). I was there for a Day of Recollection.
After lunch I walked to the cemetery and spent a bit of time there. I found names I knew: Ciaran Needham, Kevin Brehony, Leo O’Sullivan and others that I’d heard of, Vincent McNamara and one that I met when there for the annual retreat in 2016; Padraig Ó’Máille who died last year, R.I.P.
The Cemetery is overshadowed by a wind turbine and I couldn’t help but make the connection between the energy it produces and the energy these men brought to mission. I had a sense of the shafts of the turbine overshadowing me and there was a certain reassurance in the whirring sound they made. The sound of energy. A necessary sound for where there’s movement – life – there’s sound too.
I was reminded of a piece written many years ago about another cemetery in the grounds of Dalgan Park where Columban missionaries are buried. The writer mentions the simplicity of the headstones – name, date of birth and date of death. He concludes “but God knows the full story”. So also the Kiltegan headstones and the knowing of the full story.
Many of the men I met the other day are aged and tired but wonderfully cared for. They have a certain and deserved level of comfort but I had a strong sense of many of them having a deep longing for missionary days again in far flung lands.
I gave a lift to one of the newest Kiltegan priests, Fr Patrick, ordained just five years. He was travelling to Knock and we crossed the country together. Fr Patrick is one of the first African born Kiltegan priests and is visiting Ireland for the first time. I mentioned to him that I’d spent the bit of time in the Cemetery. I spoke of Kevin Brehony and he said “there’s a plaque in his memory in my church”. It was as if Patrick knew Kevin but then I realised Kevin is dead over thirty years and Patrick was, at most, three years old when he died and Kevin had been in Ireland for a number of years prior to his death. It’s likely Patrick never met Kevin but he knew him. He spoke of another man that I had met earlier and told me there’s a street named after him in an African city. It was clear to me that Patrick carries in his heart a depth of gratitude that runs deeper than the six foot grave.
These people made and continue to make a difference.
Lenten thought …. what difference will we make? For what will we be remembered?
by Vincent | Feb 14, 2018 | Reflections, Lent 2018
Another chance!
It’s Ash Wednesday 2018, Mass just celebrated and crosses traced on foreheads. It always strikes me when I see people coming to Holy Communion a little later in the Mass, how the ashes, blessed and placed have settled and the shape of the Cross becomes so clear. A short while earlier, the ashes mixed with some water and blessed with Holy Water are damp and find their shape beneath my thumb as I say again and again “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” People willing to be “marked” with the sign of the cross and to carry that sign from the church, into their day and into Lent. Later in the Mass, the sign – the dust – has settled and the Cross is clear.
To all who have begun this journey, peace and strength to you for its duration. To all promises made and intentions renewed, blessing and encouragement. For all falls and fails that may well beset us, strength to begin again.
The Trocaire Box slogan “Don’t give up on her” is apt. We won’t. God won’t give up on us either.
