Some of my classmates from Maynooth met together this week in Athlone. We’ve managed to meet every year since leaving the Seminary and that’s a bit of an achievement 
There are regular faces each year – some that dip in and out and a few we’ve not seen. It’s good to meet though and to catch up on how things are going. I’m sure we see changes each year and certainly, I think it’s fair to say, the faces in the Class Piece have altered with the passing of time. There’s greyness or baldness where once there were youthful heads of hair (not for all admittedly!) and a few pounds (not of the financial kind) extra (again, not in all cases admittedly) – maybe it’s just me!
Anyway, was good to meet up. We went to the ancient Monastic Site of St Ciaran at Clonmanoise for Mass yesterday. Like the early disciples the journey was made by boat. I’m not sure the disciples had coffee-making facilities or an ongoing and very interesting commentary as they travelled but our intention was, as theirs, to get to the shore and meet the Lord. That we did, in a prayerful celebration of Eucharist. It certainly was a highlight of the gathering.
We will meet again in May in Maynooth since, hard and all as it is to believe, a quarter of a century has passed since we looked forward to ordination, sent out invitations, prepared booklets and all those other necessary and exciting things linked with the step we were about to take. I’m happy to say the memories, in the main, are good and the friendships solid. We might not meet too often but when we do there’s a sense of just picking up the conversation where it left off. That can’t be bad.
Going to include a few photos here – just for memory’s sake – I hope my classmates won’t mind. I should have asked them …. However, as someone once wisely said, “In certain situations, it can be easier to ask for forgiveness than permission”!
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