Homes of Donegal
We have come into this house …. gathered in His name
Parish Mission continues in Parish of Urney (Doneyloop and Castelfinn, Co. Donegal and Clady, Co. Tyrone) with early morning Mass in St Columba’s, Doneyloop. An amazing gathering of committed people and so heart-lifting. Good to be here.
After another Morning Mass in Castlefinn at 10am I went with a local parishioner to visit some of the sick and the housebound. No more than in my own parish, it was great to see these people and to breathe in the honesty of their faith. I was quite taken by the amount of religious imagery in the homes and was reminded of a lovely version of the Homes of Donegal that has these lines:
Outside the night winds shriek and howl, inside there’s peace and calm
A picture on the wall up there, our saviour with a lamp
The hope of wandering sheep like me and all who rise and fall
There’s a touch of heavenly love around the homes of Donegal
The last house I visited, I asked the man if he’d mind me taking a picture of the Crucifix, candles and Holy Water he had left out. This had been a feature of every home I visited.
In that house, the man is caring for his wife, in an illness that has lasted more than a decade, and I couldn’t but admire him.
I mentioned this to the local priests when I came back to the house for lunch and one of them told me of an elderly lady he used to visit. She would come to the gate to meet him and, with a lighted candle, lead The Blessed Sacrament into her home. It was that important to her.
LENTEN THOUGHT: Is there room in our homes still for Religious Imagery? How far will we go to show respect for God’s presence among us?
