Week ending 28th February 2012
_
We wound
ourselves up for Lent here in southwest Conamara recently with the annual
novena in Cill Chiaráin (Kilkerrin) This takes place each year to coincide with
the one in Galway Cathedral and I am told that it is the only all Irish Novena
of its kind in the country. It originated when Fr. Prionsias Ó Malaithe
(Francis Mullahy) a Redemptorist priest served in the area up to the time of
his death about five years ago. It was a joyful celebration of prayer, hymns
and petitions which filled the house of God each evening despite the competion
from the TV soaps and other distractions. When we reached the last evening some
people were wondering: “What are we going to do every other night?”
The opening salvo came from former Parish Priest of the parish who is now in a similar position in the parish of Clonbur/Cor na Móna, An tAthair Peadar Ó Conghaile or Peter Connolly. At the time of last year’s novena, Fr Peadar was seriously ill in Castlebar hospital and being prayed for each evening. This year he was throwing in the spiritual ball for the opening of the novena. I use that image advisedly because he soon had an eye on a different ball as his local football team were getting ready to go to Croke Park from which they took home All Ireland honours the following Sunday. Congratulations to them.
He was followed in the next couple of days by two priests who have retired from active ministry, Fathers. Padraic Audley (An Cheathrú Rua – Carraroe) and Padraic Ó Fatharta (Ros a’Mhíl – Rossaveal) and the Saint Patrick’s Fathers of Kiltegan. They had lost none of their ‘oomph’ in retirement and displayed both wit and wisdom. As both are native Irish speakers they had no trouble communicating. Father Pat Farragher, a former curate in the area came the following evening from Castlebar to bring us up to date on preparations for the Eucharistic Congress later int Irish speaker. He celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a priest last year and has been apart from weekends, but returnto look after the novena. The biggest turnout came for the Mass of the sick at which people were blest with the glove of Saint Padre Pio as well as anointed. They went home ‘well oiled’ despite not having any alcoholic drink.
A native of the parish, Father Éamonn Ó Conghaile preached on the final night on the tradition of devotion to Our Lady in the Conamara Gaeltacht. A late vocation to the priesthood, Father Eddie Bheartla as he is kn Irish prayers. All in all the Novena was a joyful and happy experience even if it has left me struggling to catch up with all the storylines in the soaps.
The opening salvo came from former Parish Priest of the parish who is now in a similar position in the parish of Clonbur/Cor na Móna, An tAthair Peadar Ó Conghaile or Peter Connolly. At the time of last year’s novena, Fr Peadar was seriously ill in Castlebar hospital and being prayed for each evening. This year he was throwing in the spiritual ball for the opening of the novena. I use that image advisedly because he soon had an eye on a different ball as his local football team were getting ready to go to Croke Park from which they took home All Ireland honours the following Sunday. Congratulations to them.
He was followed in the next couple of days by two priests who have retired from active ministry, Fathers. Padraic Audley (An Cheathrú Rua – Carraroe) and Padraic Ó Fatharta (Ros a’Mhíl – Rossaveal) and the Saint Patrick’s Fathers of Kiltegan. They had lost none of their ‘oomph’ in retirement and displayed both wit and wisdom. As both are native Irish speakers they had no trouble communicating. Father Pat Farragher, a former curate in the area came the following evening from Castlebar to bring us up to date on preparations for the Eucharistic Congress later int Irish speaker. He celebrated his fiftieth anniversary as a priest last year and has been apart from weekends, but returnto look after the novena. The biggest turnout came for the Mass of the sick at which people were blest with the glove of Saint Padre Pio as well as anointed. They went home ‘well oiled’ despite not having any alcoholic drink.
A native of the parish, Father Éamonn Ó Conghaile preached on the final night on the tradition of devotion to Our Lady in the Conamara Gaeltacht. A late vocation to the priesthood, Father Eddie Bheartla as he is kn Irish prayers. All in all the Novena was a joyful and happy experience even if it has left me struggling to catch up with all the storylines in the soaps.
Week ending 21st February 2012
_
Once again
we are invited to start flexing our spiritual muscles as Ash Wednesday comes
around to get us restarted on the springcleaning of the soul. It is about three
weeks earlier than last year at what seems to me to be a more normal time for
Lent than the middle of March. Many Eastern European churches have long had a
fixed Easter, and it just happened that their Easter and ours coincided last
year. The Irish church was at the forefront of efforts to have a fixed feast
many years ago, but they eventually lost out to Roman influence.
I am quite pleased with the idea of having an unfixed Easter. It is good to have something that is not tied down by commercial considerations. Great sporting events and occasions for instance are nailed down by TV deals, while the chocolateers who make our Easter eggs have to time their products to moveable markets. Our Easter is tied to the date of the Jewish Passover which was being celebrated the week that Jesus was crucified. This commemorates the escape of the Jewish people across the Red Sea from captivity in Egypt. The miracle of the parting of the waters was obviously connected to a natural event, an extremely low tide, as tides are governed by the phases of the moon. For that reason the Passover and Easter are connected with lunar activity. Easter falls on the Sunday after the full moon after the Spring equinox.
Now that I am back living close to the sea-shore for more than a year I appreciate more than I have done for a long time the vagaries of moons and tides. I walk out at the rear of Carna Church most days before Mass to gather my thoughts, as I used to do along by the Glensaul river that runs by Tourmakeady church. While the river was in full flow from time to time the seashore nearest to me now can be completely empty one week and full to the brim the next. I am again looking carefully at the phases of the moon and the tidal charts, as I used to do in years past while in the Aran Islands or Carraroe.
The build-up or the slim-down to Easter starts on Ash Wednesday this week. Operation Transformation may be finishing on RTÉ 1 on Ash Wednesday, but Operation Spiritual Transformation is about to start. In the language af NAMA and the Banking sector we need a spiritual haircut. Lent reflects the forty days that Jesus fasted in the desert, forty days mirrored by Saint Patrick on his holy mountain, Croagh Patrick. It is a time to look in the mirror of our own souls, to see where are we at and where are we going in our lives. Ash Wednesday has a resonance for many people who are not particularly religious. Some old instinct tells people that it is time to get their act together, to give up the fags, to start a healthier phase of life.
Trócaire, as it has done for almost forty years now will play an important place in many people’s Lent. Giving to those who need it most in other parts of the world complements the traditional ‘giving up’ and people’s small sacrifices over the years have played an enormous part in helping others to help themselves. There are probably millions worldwide who have benefited. While Trócaire will continue to be part of Lent, it is gradually expanding its fundraising appeals. We regularly hear those on radio and TV advertisements. The leaflet which comes with this year’s Trócaire box also contains a small form as it did in recent years by which people can make a monthly contribution through a Bank account. It is good to see that in this and previous recessions many people are still willing to share some of what they have with the poorest of the poor.
I am quite pleased with the idea of having an unfixed Easter. It is good to have something that is not tied down by commercial considerations. Great sporting events and occasions for instance are nailed down by TV deals, while the chocolateers who make our Easter eggs have to time their products to moveable markets. Our Easter is tied to the date of the Jewish Passover which was being celebrated the week that Jesus was crucified. This commemorates the escape of the Jewish people across the Red Sea from captivity in Egypt. The miracle of the parting of the waters was obviously connected to a natural event, an extremely low tide, as tides are governed by the phases of the moon. For that reason the Passover and Easter are connected with lunar activity. Easter falls on the Sunday after the full moon after the Spring equinox.
Now that I am back living close to the sea-shore for more than a year I appreciate more than I have done for a long time the vagaries of moons and tides. I walk out at the rear of Carna Church most days before Mass to gather my thoughts, as I used to do along by the Glensaul river that runs by Tourmakeady church. While the river was in full flow from time to time the seashore nearest to me now can be completely empty one week and full to the brim the next. I am again looking carefully at the phases of the moon and the tidal charts, as I used to do in years past while in the Aran Islands or Carraroe.
The build-up or the slim-down to Easter starts on Ash Wednesday this week. Operation Transformation may be finishing on RTÉ 1 on Ash Wednesday, but Operation Spiritual Transformation is about to start. In the language af NAMA and the Banking sector we need a spiritual haircut. Lent reflects the forty days that Jesus fasted in the desert, forty days mirrored by Saint Patrick on his holy mountain, Croagh Patrick. It is a time to look in the mirror of our own souls, to see where are we at and where are we going in our lives. Ash Wednesday has a resonance for many people who are not particularly religious. Some old instinct tells people that it is time to get their act together, to give up the fags, to start a healthier phase of life.
Trócaire, as it has done for almost forty years now will play an important place in many people’s Lent. Giving to those who need it most in other parts of the world complements the traditional ‘giving up’ and people’s small sacrifices over the years have played an enormous part in helping others to help themselves. There are probably millions worldwide who have benefited. While Trócaire will continue to be part of Lent, it is gradually expanding its fundraising appeals. We regularly hear those on radio and TV advertisements. The leaflet which comes with this year’s Trócaire box also contains a small form as it did in recent years by which people can make a monthly contribution through a Bank account. It is good to see that in this and previous recessions many people are still willing to share some of what they have with the poorest of the poor.
Week ending 14th February 2012
_ It is not
often that I am stopped on a street by someone anxious to discuss the gospels
of Jesus Christ. In can happen with evangelicals but in this case it was a
commited Catholic who was interested in an article I had written for The
Connaught Telegraph the previous week. It was probably six years ago that I had
written: “Don’t mark my words. Mark Mark’s.” I was drawing attention to the
gospel of Saint Mark which is read at Masses for the most part every third
year, with Matthew and Luke in the intervening years and Saint John’s here and
there throughout every year.
The late District Justice John Garavan, then retired as far as I remember, engaged me in conversation about Saint Mark, as he recalled being told during his studies to read it for the purpose of the clearly defined and almost legal language contained in it. I think of this every Sunday as I launch into Mark’s writing in the Irish language. He was a man who didn’t waste words. No beating around the bush, few enough flowery phrases. He was a tell it as it is kind of evangelist or gospel writer. Although we put Mark second among the four evangelist’s it is generaly thought by scholars that his gospel was the earliest.
Mark was a companion of Saint Paul on some of his missionary journeys, although it seems that they had some fallings out from time to time before coming back together again. He is generally seen as the the interpreter of Saint Peter, but probably did not know or hear Jesus himself during his lifetime. Scholars say that what he wrote is accurate but not written in order, as might be expected when someone is writing down what someone is recalling, in this case, Saint Peter. When Mark is referred to as the interpreter of Peter, it would seem to mean the translator more than anything, as Peter the fisherman probably did not know or understand enough Greek to teach or write in that language.
Regular church attenders may not realise that they hear almost all of the gospels and most of the New as well as some of the Old Testament every three years. That means that someone who may never read a Bible actually hear much of it read to them many times in the course of their lives. The different evangelists were writing for or instructing different audiences, some of whom were Jews with a wide knowledge of the Old Testament, others who who knew little of those traditions and needed to have them explained to them. A big effort was made to convince Jesus that Jesus was the Messias by quoting prophecies from the Old Testament.
I enjoyed meeting John Garavan, partly because his mother was a Daly from Belcarra,, but also because I appeard before him while he was on the bench in Galway. When I say “I appeared” I don’t mean it in the Biblical sense., but that I was up on a charge of not having my car taxed in 1986. This was part of a concerted campaign to have roads and other infrastructure improved in Conamara, which led to five of us being jauled at various points for non-payment of fines. I was fined two hundred euro or two weeks in prison, but my way was paid out of Loughan House in Cavan on the second day by the workers in the Gateaux bakery in Dublin. I didn’t hold it against Justice Garavan who was only doing his job, and I pray for his eternal happiness every time I think not to mark my words but to mark Mark’s.
The late District Justice John Garavan, then retired as far as I remember, engaged me in conversation about Saint Mark, as he recalled being told during his studies to read it for the purpose of the clearly defined and almost legal language contained in it. I think of this every Sunday as I launch into Mark’s writing in the Irish language. He was a man who didn’t waste words. No beating around the bush, few enough flowery phrases. He was a tell it as it is kind of evangelist or gospel writer. Although we put Mark second among the four evangelist’s it is generaly thought by scholars that his gospel was the earliest.
Mark was a companion of Saint Paul on some of his missionary journeys, although it seems that they had some fallings out from time to time before coming back together again. He is generally seen as the the interpreter of Saint Peter, but probably did not know or hear Jesus himself during his lifetime. Scholars say that what he wrote is accurate but not written in order, as might be expected when someone is writing down what someone is recalling, in this case, Saint Peter. When Mark is referred to as the interpreter of Peter, it would seem to mean the translator more than anything, as Peter the fisherman probably did not know or understand enough Greek to teach or write in that language.
Regular church attenders may not realise that they hear almost all of the gospels and most of the New as well as some of the Old Testament every three years. That means that someone who may never read a Bible actually hear much of it read to them many times in the course of their lives. The different evangelists were writing for or instructing different audiences, some of whom were Jews with a wide knowledge of the Old Testament, others who who knew little of those traditions and needed to have them explained to them. A big effort was made to convince Jesus that Jesus was the Messias by quoting prophecies from the Old Testament.
I enjoyed meeting John Garavan, partly because his mother was a Daly from Belcarra,, but also because I appeard before him while he was on the bench in Galway. When I say “I appeared” I don’t mean it in the Biblical sense., but that I was up on a charge of not having my car taxed in 1986. This was part of a concerted campaign to have roads and other infrastructure improved in Conamara, which led to five of us being jauled at various points for non-payment of fines. I was fined two hundred euro or two weeks in prison, but my way was paid out of Loughan House in Cavan on the second day by the workers in the Gateaux bakery in Dublin. I didn’t hold it against Justice Garavan who was only doing his job, and I pray for his eternal happiness every time I think not to mark my words but to mark Mark’s.
Week ending 7th February 2012
I sometimes
read the amateur astrological predictions, ‘the stars’ in newspapers and
magazines with mild amusement. They can come close to the mark on occasions, as
all generalities do. Things are looking up for us all from time to time. On the
other hand it is not too difficult to warn people not to spend money foolishly
in a time of recession. Nobody is expected to take them too seriously, and I
have no problem looking on such predictions as light entertainment. The funnier
side of them is seen when they promise an old timer like me that I am about to
meet a tall dark and handsome man in the near future. They are right of course.
There are lots of such men around. How could I avoid meeting them?
Where I do give some credence to ‘the stars’ is in the surge of energy and adrenalin I seem to get at this time of the year, the time I was born sixty-six year’s ago, which leaves me an Aquarian. Maybe it has nothing to do with that. It could be the coming of Spring, the time of new growth and renewal. The whole idea of springcleaning, of cleaning out, starting from new effects many more than Aquarians. Yet I find myself with a spring in my step, a desire to get down to a new project, to write a novel, or at least the basis of one. When I look back over the years I find I have written more and better at this time of year than any other. It is the time to do the hard slog, get a draft of a book on page or screen, and spend the rest of the year working on revisions and corrections.
There is an excitement in starting into a new project, a buzz, a joy, a revival of youthful energy and imagination. I have only written a handful of notes for my next one so far, so all the hard work is out there before me, a thousand words a day for about eighty days. Drudgery, hard slog, but worth it in the long run. The story itself is bubbling underneath, but I am not telling it now. That is because I don’t know how it will turn out. Characters will take on lives of their own, go their own way, open up new opportunities, new directions. It is enough to have the basic bones in mind for a start. Set in Barcelona, one of Europe’s magnificent cities, the one with its best soccer team, and some of its most amazing archictecture, it is basically about the goalkeeper who will eventually replace Shay Given and Kieron Westwood on the Republic of Ieland team, the young man yet to arrive on Barcelona’s books.
I didn’t have a passport until I was nearly fifty, as I wasn’t pushed about seeing a world which arrives each day on a box in the corner. When I did begin to travel a little I found stories that have eventually ended up on bookshelves. One was set in Crete, another in Venice, the next in Amsterdam and hopefully the one after that in Barcelona, as mentioned above. The books are really about Irish people living or holidaying abroad. That is because I don’t know enough about people from other cultures or countries. The advantage of setting them abroad is because the cities or countries themselves become characters in the stories, and give us a wider picture than in something set at home. So what is a clergyman doing writing about a young soccer player? The moral dilemmas are out there waiting to be explored, and especially the temptation to let in a soft goal for shifty family members who have bet on the outcome of the Copa Del Rey (The King’s Cup)
Where I do give some credence to ‘the stars’ is in the surge of energy and adrenalin I seem to get at this time of the year, the time I was born sixty-six year’s ago, which leaves me an Aquarian. Maybe it has nothing to do with that. It could be the coming of Spring, the time of new growth and renewal. The whole idea of springcleaning, of cleaning out, starting from new effects many more than Aquarians. Yet I find myself with a spring in my step, a desire to get down to a new project, to write a novel, or at least the basis of one. When I look back over the years I find I have written more and better at this time of year than any other. It is the time to do the hard slog, get a draft of a book on page or screen, and spend the rest of the year working on revisions and corrections.
There is an excitement in starting into a new project, a buzz, a joy, a revival of youthful energy and imagination. I have only written a handful of notes for my next one so far, so all the hard work is out there before me, a thousand words a day for about eighty days. Drudgery, hard slog, but worth it in the long run. The story itself is bubbling underneath, but I am not telling it now. That is because I don’t know how it will turn out. Characters will take on lives of their own, go their own way, open up new opportunities, new directions. It is enough to have the basic bones in mind for a start. Set in Barcelona, one of Europe’s magnificent cities, the one with its best soccer team, and some of its most amazing archictecture, it is basically about the goalkeeper who will eventually replace Shay Given and Kieron Westwood on the Republic of Ieland team, the young man yet to arrive on Barcelona’s books.
I didn’t have a passport until I was nearly fifty, as I wasn’t pushed about seeing a world which arrives each day on a box in the corner. When I did begin to travel a little I found stories that have eventually ended up on bookshelves. One was set in Crete, another in Venice, the next in Amsterdam and hopefully the one after that in Barcelona, as mentioned above. The books are really about Irish people living or holidaying abroad. That is because I don’t know enough about people from other cultures or countries. The advantage of setting them abroad is because the cities or countries themselves become characters in the stories, and give us a wider picture than in something set at home. So what is a clergyman doing writing about a young soccer player? The moral dilemmas are out there waiting to be explored, and especially the temptation to let in a soft goal for shifty family members who have bet on the outcome of the Copa Del Rey (The King’s Cup)