During the week I had a call from someone asking if I’d record the words of the poem put together in memory of the Crew of Rescue 116. I discovered that the piece had been picked up by the Connaught Telegraph and that may well have been the reason I was contacted. It was good to think the words had gone a little further than my little bit of cyberspace and I truly hope they are some help and, if nothing else, an assurance to the families of all involved that they are not forgotten and that the lives and loss of their loved ones have impacted heavily upon us. I sent the recording to the lady and believe she may use it on an upcoming Radio Tribute to the Crew. I asked my friend, Fr James McDonagh, if he’d record a solo version of “The Waves of Kilkee” (he has a fine version with his family and friends on a “Rose In The Heather” CD) and James kindly agreed. I include his tune now with the words and hope they have a place here again. (James was the friend I was speaking with the night I heard Rescue 116 pass overhead)
We remember in prayer Dara and Mark who have been returned to their families and continue to hold in the depths of our hearts a prayer for the finding of Paul and Ciarán that they may be returned to their families to allow space and time for grieving and healing. May God’s blessing be upon all those continuing to search for them and may there be a successful outcome to that search.
On Monday last I heard your sound you in sky and me on ground, on the phone, chatting with a friend wondered where your journey’s end?
Someone somewhere was in need prayed you’d reach them with due speed and from the sky you’d hover low to help the stricken ones below
The sound was loud as you crossed Mayo I prayed God’s blessing as you’d go a fleeting wish that you’d be blest and to ones troubled you’d bring rest
An hour later I went to bed your journey then had left my head a few hours later the story broke as to a new day I awoke
Helicopter missing near Black Sod; Could it be them? I asked my God is that the one that passed last night to ease another’s troubled plight?
And yes it was or so it seems in a world shattered by broken dreams In lives laid down, you gave your all in answer to another’s call Your photos now before our gaze friends and family offer tear-filled praise and the loss they feel is ours too for as a nation we mourn you How could you as crew have known the destiny to which you’d flown but know this now and for evermore your memories in our hearts we store To Dara, Paul, Ciarán and Mark who flew that night into the dark know this day, you gave your best in God’s hands we leave the rest.
As we enter the days of the Triduum, a few reflections around letters exchanged between Jesus and some of the central characters of the Holy Week Story. Based on previous pieces posted on this blog and adapted for Radio, these are featured during Holy Week on “A Living Word”, produced by Aidan Mathews and aired during “Rising Time” on RTE Radio 1 at 6.15am.
Today’s reflection is based around the Centurion at the foot of the Cross, the one who came to recognise Jesus and accept him at the very moment of His death on the Cross. The recognition may have been at that moment but it came as the result of witnessing a remarkable journey, maybe even struggle … there is also a short response from Jesus, based around his final words “It is accomplished”
A Letter from the Centurion and Jesus’ reply
Holy Week Letters
Thanks for sharing this journey over the days. Thanks also to Aidan Mathews and RTE Radio for the opportunity to share these few reflections. I hope you enjoyed them and I hope they had some part to play in your Holy Week 2017 journey.
Last week I met Aidan Mathews in RTE and we recorded five “reflections” for Holy Week. These are being broadcast over the coming days, the first this morning, and take the form of letters exchanged between Jesus and some of the characters in the Passion Story. Today’s letter is from Jesus to Judas and seeks to reassure him that there is an understanding around the decision he took.
The pieces go out during the “RISING TIME” Show in the “A LIVING WORD” segment and are broadcast around 6.15am each morning.
We had a lovely gathering in Urlaur Church last night. It was around the Vigil Mass and an Enrolment Ceremony for thirty-eight young people from the parish who are to be confirmed this year. The gathering was timely, as it filled the church almost to capacity and went some small way towards easing the pain and grief felt by the absence of one of our regular and faithful parishioners, Nuala Hawkins, who died unexpectedly during the week. To see the church almost full was as necessary as it was heart-warming.
Speaking to the boys and girls from our Confirmation Classes in Tavrane, Kilkelly and Kilmovee National Schools, I told them of a homily I’d heard a few months ago. It was preached in Knock on the third Sunday of May, the traditional day for our Diocesan Pilgrimage to the National Shrine. We share the day with the Archdiocese of Dublin and the homily was preached by one of the priests of Dublin, Monsignor Dan O’Connor. He shared three stories with us, all from his own ministry, where he encountered young people who experienced the Holy Spirit in their lives, long after they had celebrated their Confirmation Day or perhaps expected such an encounter. I shared one of the stories with last night’s congregation.
He told us of a young boy in a secondary school where Dan worked – indeed all three stories came from that time of Dan’s ministry. He was a typical and lively student, full of fun and always up for some excitement. Dan recalled one day when a class was out at the front of the school, taking P.E. instruction from its teacher. Dan was walking towards the school when he noticed a window open upstairs, a water hose come out and within seconds all on the ground were being soaked from the vantage point of an upstairs window. Running up the stairs, Dan encountered the young lad, still spraying willfully at all and sundry below. “What are you doing?” he roared. The lad turned around, whilst continuing the spraying and said “A Safety Drill, Father”.
Years later Dan received a letter from a diocesan bishop in Canada, seeking a reference for this same young man who had volunteered to be a Lay Missionary in his diocese. Contacting the lad’s mother, to enquire about this, the mother’s reaction was “I’ll kill him”. Later, when speaking with the young man, Dan realised the request was indeed sincere. When asked why he wanted to do this, the lad – now a man – replied “When we were confirmed, Bishop Dermot O’Mahony told us that one day the Holy Spirit would let us know what he wanted us to do with our lives.” He continued, “I was at the Niagara Falls and it came to me that I should give some time to my faiith and sharing it and I thought I’d like to volunteer for this work for a few years”. He did. During his time he met and fell in love with another Lay Missionary and they are now married and living in Scotland “Where”, Dan concluded “ironically he is now a Fire Fighter”. The point, well made, was that the truth of Bishop O’Mahony’s words came to fruition – “fruition” now there’s a word! We speak about the “Fruits of the Holy Spirit”.
At this morning’s Mass in Kilmovee I briefly shared the second part of Dan’s homily. A story again from that school and about a young girl that everybody loved. She was full of life, bright eyed and cheerful. She lived for fashion and her dream was to work in the Duty Free at Dublin Airport where she’d have access to discounted cosmetics. I think, if I remember it correctly, that part of her dream was fulfilled. Years later Dan was asked to go to visit her in hospital. He went but was not totally prepared for the shock that awaited him. The girl’s long and beautiful hair was all gone but her eyes were bright though her story was not good. She reached under her pillow and handed Dan some folded sheets of paper saying “That’s my Funeral Mass and I want you to say it. I did this all this because I know Mammy won’t be able to”. Dan was shell-shocked. He asked her how she was able to do this and she told him the day the diagnosis was confirmed she was devastated and found herself in the hospital’s chapel. Again, she spoke of her Confirmation Day and of her being told one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is courage. She prayed for that gift and believed she received it. So did Dan. So do I. With the gift she faced what followed. Dan told us he celebrated her Funeral Mass within two weeks of that conversation.
Last night I got a message from someone again saddened by revelations of the Church’s blotted and tear-stained history. The message was along the lines that some of the awful happenings of our past were done by people who were not catholic other than in name or position. Acknowledging too that there were always good people in the church but that there were some too who acted in a way that was anything but Catholic of Christian. “The people who will be in front of you tomorrow”, the message read “are the real Catholics”. The message went on to say that maybe in the past people came to church and claimed the name Catholic more out of fear than choice. Nothing new was being said here but I knew what it meant and the truth of that statement “The people who will be in front of you tomorrow are the real Catholics” was not without merit. The message concluded with a voice of hope “I think the church can now be what it is meant to be”.
Today, I thanked the Catholics who were in front of me at Mass. Today I pray that we will all embrace our faith and nourished by it and dependent on those gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit mentioned earlier, we might seek to be better people – focused and faith-filled.
In fairness, I believe some of the Catholics were also at home – perhaps for different reasons, some having decided they don’t need to come to Church to be Catholics. There’s a truth in that too but it’s a very big and important part of our faith. Indeed, as I walked back to my house, I noticed a football team training on the Astro Turf. It struck me that they only way they can effectively train as “team” is by being together. Training “at home” or in the gym has its merits but the only way the team can truly function as a team is by being at training together. I see a link here ….
“Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and en kindle in them (in us) the fire of your love.”
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