Séamus Ahearne: “No man (or woman) is an island.” John Donne
THE THIRD ANNIVERSARY 24TH FEBRUARY:
Three years of Russian madness in Ukraine is marked today. The US joined Russia to vote against the UN Resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine today. One million refugees are in Poland. Over hundred thousand are living in Ireland. What is the number in other countries? How many are dead? How many cities destroyed? How many lives and homes shattered? And US aligns with Russia.
A TEAM SPORT!
Am I naïve or simply innocent? Mo Salah might now get the money his agent wants for him. (One comment on today’s paper). He has played so well this year. Liverpool beat Manchester City yesterday. That was real success. I was of the opinion that soccer was a team sport. I thought that the Mo Salahs of this world depend on everyone else on the team. How the backs play. How the midfielders play. How the forwards play. How the ball reaches Mo Salah or any other one who can celebrate the glamour of scoring. Why then doesn’t every player receive the same money? No one player can win a match. No one player is the star. It is a collective. It is a team effort. Yes. I am naïve. An innocent at large.
POPE FRANCIS AND WILLIE WALSH:
Pope Francis is sick. His time as pope is approaching the end. I was almost assaulted in the Sacristy last week in Oliver Plunkett’s, Finglas South. The singer at a funeral came in – and was full of anger. This can’t happen, we were told. I didn’t know what it was that couldn’t happen. But I was told. Francis can’t die. Jenny seemed angry with me. With God. With Francis. With everyone. I protested. It wasn’t my fault that the pope was sick. I was then rather flippant and said it was time for him to retire anyway. He was giving a bad name to older people. We were all expected to go on and on forever because of him. I suppose the truth is Francis helped all of us to see the simplicity of the Gospel. To move away from the pomposity of the Church. To disentangle ourselves form the cumbersome rituals that we have accumulated. Willie Walsh has died and his funeral was today (24th February). Willie too showed us the humanity of Christ. The simplicity of faith. The Word made flesh in the ordinary. The God of everyday was to be found where we are and in the lives of every(wo)man. Sometimes, we like making faith too complex. We are attracted to official documents and policies and glossy statements. That is ‘office faith.’ Or the bureaucracy of religion, and it isn’t real. Simplify. Strip away the (non)sense. Get to the heart of things. Find the God of everyday and everywhere. Willie did it. Francis had tried to do it. We must do it.
JOHN DONNE AND OURSELVES:
“No man (or woman) is an island, entire of itself; every man (or woman) is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less. Any man’s (woman’s) death diminishes me, because I am involved in humankind.” John Donne. How applicable that is to our lives, if we allow it. Trump et alia, might not see it that way. But surely, those of us who claim to wave the banner of Christian, do. When the Jesuits announced those names of the 17 against whom allegations were made over the past 70 years I felt diminished. When the Anglican Church is shattered through the reasons that led to the resignation of Justin Welby and the questions around Stephen Cottrell’s handling of sexual abuse cases, all of us are diminished. But there is also the other part of the quotation. There is a continent of faith. There is a continent of hope. There is a continent of love. There is the overwhelming power of the Godliness and Graciousness of life. We are held up by the wonderful people in our lives. By the awesomeness of nature. By the God who is forever among us. By the world of beauty. By the goodness of people around us. By the music of life. By the daily revelations. Let’s stretch the muscles of our imaginations, and forever embark on the adventure of discovery. The poetry of humanity calls us beyond failure; beyond weariness; beyond failure; beyond diminishment.
A JUBILEE OF HOPE:
We smash down the door (whatever locks up or out, our spirit) as we enter a new oasis of hope. It can’t be about the rubbish of indulgences, plenary or otherwise. Or exciting or inciting more people back to Confession. Or getting people back to Mass. Or getting people officially married. We don’t want more of the same. If the Jubilee can be allied to a Lenten launch it has to tap into a Spring moment. Let the flowers and bushes and leaves speak to us. Let the birds call us to wake up. Where new life is found. Is discovered. Where the Holy, Holy can be said. Where heaven and earth can be noticed, as full of God’s glory. Where refreshment is occurring. Where Mass is truly a celebration of the extraordinary in the ordinary. Where the clutter of Liturgy is pushed aside and somehow God is revealed. Where Church people truly celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ. Where miracles are noticed. Where the surprises of God are caught. Where (as I often say from Elizabeth B Browning) every common bush is afire with God. Where shoes are taken off in the awe of wonder. Where mystery for all of us is humbly seen. Where hope is more than optimism. Where questions are taken seriously. Where the daily routine or the humdrum isn’t allowed to absorb all our energy.
Seamus Ahearne osa 24th February 2025.