Séamus Ahearne: On Glen Hansard…
I CAN SEE GOD.
I dropped in yesterday afternoon on RTÉ to check on a News item. Maire Saaritsa was speaking and caught my attention. She enthralled me and I stayed (apart from some interruptions by the phone.) She spoke beautifully and succinctly. Glen Hansard’s Funeral at St Patrick’s Cathedral was a poetic and musical explosion of affection for a man who lived the ordinary virtues of humanity. Kindness. Care. Thoughtfulness. Humility. There was such dignity throughout. There was warmth. There was heart. There was love. There was humour. There was beauty. It was holy.
FOREVER YOUNG.
The words throughout in song and spoken, stirred our innards. ‘Sing all our cares away.’ ‘The song of good hope.’ ‘I can see God.’ ‘Old note.’ And above all – ‘Forever Young.’ ‘Falling Slowly’ (outside). Music and song did what music can do. If Prayer is the raising of the mind and heart to God, the hearts of all were raised. Humanity had let go and expressed the depths of feeling and love. It was Prayer. And everything happened gently and calmly. The quietness was there too to make a space for the pain and loss to be expressed. (It did what Liturgy has ambitions to do.)
BEAUTIFUL DAY.
I kept on thinking of Mick Cantwell. He was our local community man who was involved with everyone and in everything. Mick died a short time ago (16 May). He was wrapped up in music all his life. He would love to be in Belfast now to celebrate the Fleadh and Ceoltas on their 75th birthday.
(Photo shows Glen and Mick, discussing a song. I am told it was ‘Jennifer Gentle.’ Now that does seem strange!)
GOD’S WORK OF ART.
Mick and Glen shared many of the same qualities. Mick was sometimes accused of being a total pain, because he was always positive. He always saw the best in everyone. He was always cheerful. He enjoyed everyone and appreciated everyone and everything. He was like Glen – kind, caring, thoughtful, humble and let his heart sing with music. I was thinking all of this and thinking of the Funeral for Mick. The music and song at his Funeral was captivating, and captured the whole congregation. And musicians all over joined in. It lifted everyone. It carried throughout the building. It was magnificent, as it was yesterday. The power of those instruments and those voices, and the collective singing. The commitment. Words alone can never say everything. But together, it can happen and it did.
THE SONG OF GOOD HOPE.
A further thought: Glen was told that school wasn’t the ideal place for him and so at 13 he went busking. A friend of mine who is now a bishop had something of the same experience. His mother was told that it would be a good idea to take him off school at a very early age because school wasn’t doing much for him. He went to work in a Butcher’s Shop. And now he is probably the most ‘educated’ and most ‘academic’ of the bishops in the UK! Do we ever know?
THE DUCKS AND THE HERON AND THE WEEPING WILLOW.
This morning, I was walking by the Pond at the Tolka. Some mornings the ducks are gathered, as if for a morning meeting, before they set out. Or possibly a Prayer Meeting. This morning, the heron was standing at the edge of the gathering, as if eavesdropping on their conversation. The Weeping Willow was listening in too. I was more discreet and stood at a distance. It was too private for me to invade. But this was a holy moment as was yesterday’s Funeral. A Transfiguration moment (just before the 6 August). We all need such moments as Mick’s Funeral; as Glen’s Funeral; as a morning with the heron and the ducks.
Seamus Ahearne osa
5 August 2026.