This is an image from the Altar in Castlefin Church. I took it last week and have, since then, used it as the desktop image on my computer. There’s something inviting in it. I’m not sure but I think it’s the light above it – seems to draw you in and, in that drawing, invites you to come closer to Jesus.
There seems to be a fair bit of confusion around the table. People looking in different directions; some looking toward Jesus and more towards one another. It’s as if answers are needed – direction maybe.
I think I took this photograph the same day Mary McAleese was speaking in Rome. I still haven’t heard all her words from that day but it’s my intention to listen. Hurt and frustration are difficult travelling companions and anger sometimes not the best starting point but I have no doubt she speaks to the truth. My regret is that anger and soundbytes took a more prominent role than I believe they might have done on a different day.
I remember the difference Mary McAleese made when she visited my home parish in 1998, following the tragic drownings of three local teenagers. Her presence meant so much. I recall hearing her speak one time that I happened to be in Rome and in the Irish College. She spoke movingly of the channels for good that priests had been in Ireland and beyond. Countless acts of kindness, miles travelled and words of hope shared leave us in no doubt about her sincerity and goodness.
I have no reason to believe she is not still that woman and I am convinced she has a place and a voice in our church. In many ways, I believe she can be that woman of influence she so clearly seeks in her words – that voice of leadership.
I’m happy to say I had to Google the word misogyny (to be sure I had the correct spelling) – yes I know what it means but I never see it as a companion on the road I travel. I believe in people – men and women, lay and religious, young and old. I believe that like the ones carved on the front of Castlefinn’s Altar, we are all, in one way or another, seeking answers. Sometimes we have enough faith to look to Christ, sometimes to one another but that light … yes, that light, shines on Christ and calls us closer. If there was confusion around the table in the Upper and Borrowed Room, surely that must give us some hope that we are travelling a road that has borne the imprint of many feet – including those of Christ.
We’re in this together … called to be companions not controllers ….
LENTEN THOUGHT: That we are open to hear the truth even when it’s not the most comfortable room in the house.