Jim Cogley Reflections: Tues 1st April – Mon 7th April 2025

Note: A seminar entitled Healing the Inner Child by psychologist Donal Spring is scheduled to be held in the Edmund Rice Healing Centre in Callan, Co Kilkenny on Saturday May 10 from 10am to 4pm. The cost will be €50 with refreshments and lunch included. Bookings by phone or text to Jim Maher on 086-1276649. This is a beautiful venue that is quickly becoming established as a centre of Healing. The speaker is highly recommended and will provide an ideal follow-up for those who have attended the Wood You Believe seminars. Early booking is advised.

Tues 1^st April – The Need to Belong

In my work and travels I meet so many who have become disillusioned and estranged from Church and yet long for community with a sense of belonging and to find some place where their souls can be nourished. In many of the Wood You Believe seminars this issue comes up as there are usually lots there for whom this is a real issue. Typically, these are people who have experienced a deep spiritual awakening, but who as yet, have not found a suitable container wherein that newfound faith can be valued and nurtured. At a time when traditional churches are steeply in decline and finding it difficult to get lay involvement, such individuals could well be their salvation. Yet the reality is that this is not happening, or at least not to any considerable degree. Why it’s not, should surely be seriously considered by all, especially those like me, who hold positions of responsibility within the institution to ensure that such new wine is not being poured into old wine skins where it can’t be contained.

Wed 2^nd April – The Missing Anchor

The reasons people have abandoned traditional practice are many and varied and some even find their particular one difficult to articulate. Many would say that the spate of clerical abuse scandals was a major factor in losing interest, along with the age-old inequality towards women. Beneath these issues were more fundamental ones that, had they been in place, would have provided them with an anchor, perhaps enabling them to ride out the various storms. The focus on religious practice, and in most cases, the total absence of spiritual experience finds expression over and over. These were people who experienced their religion as cold and sterile, wordy and uninviting. It had never introduced them to Spirit or any dimension of depth and seemed to have overlooked the obvious, helping them to find a relationship with Jesus Christ, the only one who is the sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.

Thurs 3^rd April – Grass Roots awakening

It would seem obvious from the popularity of retreats and seminars that there is a huge spiritual awakening taking place but at grass roots level, and it is usually among people who might be classed as having ‘fallen away’. Their Faith awakening journey has generally been born from deep suffering. Alcoholics who practice the AA Programme have a spiritual basis, elements of which should form the basis of every sermon. Yet they find that the kind of spirituality that works for them, and is quite universal, is rarely mentioned. Others have experienced the dreadful pain of separation or divorce but this too, with all its loneliness and heartbreak, has awakened something deep within. Likewise, a serious loss has forced many a one to pray and seek Spirit, knowing that there, and only there, can they find communion with their loved one. Even abuse with all it horrors can leave a deep wound through which the light can shine through.

Fri 4^th April – The Church I would not attend

As a priest, there are searching questions that I ask myself. What kind of church would I not attend? I would not be interested in a church where the focus is on ‘getting Mass’ with no community interaction. A place where you go in as an isolated individual and come out even more isolated seems a contradiction of what Church as a gathering is all about. Many churches are like that and how can they expect to have appeal? A ‘same old’, ‘same old’ routine with no innovation or room for creativity would not appeal to me either. Unfortunately, some priests seem fearful of any deviation from the set texts and the result is a boring liturgy where the Spirit appears stifled. Leonard Cohen said many times in concerts that in his lifetime he had tried many religions and ‘joy had always broken through’. A boring routine and continuous lack of joy in a liturgy would for me be a real turn-off.

Sat 5^th April – The disappointment of ‘Churchianity’

A considerable number of those who have experienced some levels of spiritual awakening have gone back to church with hope in their hearts. More often than not, this return has been for just a short time, as they came away feeling empty and disappointed after finding that their needs were just not being met. Sermons in particular come in for criticism as not being grounded in the human reality of life or dealing with real issues. The ongoing clerical arrogance of a few priests that should have died the death long ever ago came as a shock to many. The absence of a prayerful and reflective liturgy, where words were in abundance, but silence was lacking, was a factor for others not returning. An age-old system ‘that was now in its death throes’ was what many experienced and felt that they wanted no part of. While this rather strong statement was not true for every church, it is still an indictment on so many.

Sunday 6^th April – Adultery

The Divided Heart

Today’s gospel brings up the question of adultery. A teacher gave her class of nine-year-olds an essay entitled ‘Our Childhood’. One boy wrote, ‘Children should be allowed to enjoy their childhood as much as adults enjoy their adultery’! It’s no harm to remember that children find their identity in the strength of the relationship between their parents. So, maintaining that relationship in as good a working order as possible is of paramount importance not just for the couple concerned, but for them also.

Adultery is a lot more complex than it usually appears. There’s so much more to the issue than meets the eye. Its exact meaning is not even sexual, but rather anything that acts as a wedge in the primary relationship. It may well be another person but in that broader sense it could be work or sport, in-laws, a hobby or even children, and certainly any form of addiction. In today’s world it might even be the Internet and social media.

I know a lovely lady who lost her husband some years ago and has been stuck in grief ever since. Every day she visits his grave and has made a shrine out of their bedroom. His death was sudden, and her grief complicated by the fact that when it happened, she was involved in an affair. All their married life he was rarely at home and was heavily involved in sport and well up in GAA circles. She was lonely and felt justified in turning to someone else. Now she was beating herself up and eaten with remorse. His background was that his mother had died shortly after they got married and he never dealt with it, but instead lost himself in sport. Years later when both her parents died within months, he couldn’t be there for her. It was after this that she strayed. If there was a question of adultery it had to be on both sides; first he with his sport and eventually her with the other man.

Very few can get through marriage without at some stage being seriously attracted to another. If such an attraction is not nipped in the bud it quickly takes on a life of its own and it’s like coming under a spell. In that state we begin to see all the things we don’t like about the person we once adored, and we end up justifying our actions and making all sorts of excuses for ourselves. The more we try to hide something the more attention we draw to it and while love may be blind the neighbours aren’t!

Some years ago, a woman who was happily married with five kids for thirteen years met someone else. She became so blinded by infatuation that she forgot her commitments and justified leaving her family on the grounds that she was being true to herself. They set up house in England and within weeks her father had a heart attack and not long after her mother who was trying to mind the children had a stroke. It was a year before her bubble of infatuation burst but meanwhile, she had left a trail of destruction behind, one that may well last for generations. What she forgot is that, in the absence of any real grounds for separation, the family unit has to be looked at as being greater than any one of its parts. In removing herself she destroyed the very building that she had helped to build and was ultimately responsible for.

In the Book of Genesis when God saw all that he had made he said that it was good and that includes sex and sexuality. It’s so good that as one wit said if he made anything better, he must have kept it for himself! However, being as powerful as it is we have to make jolly good sure that we are in control of it and not the other way around. If sex takes up more space in our minds than our sexual organs do on our bodies, then there is an imbalance and we just might be heading for trouble.

Mon 7^th April – Lord, to whom, or where shall we go?

I genuinely feel a deep sense of sorrow for the many who feel spiritually stranded and let down by the church of their youth which they feel has little to offer for where they find themselves at present. This is not universally true but is all too common. There are groups of such like-minded spiritual people in most areas, and to go back to the essence of Church as the ‘Gathering’ surely with modern technology some networking could facilitate bringing people together for sharing prayer and life experience. Even for a few like-minded individuals to begin meeting, the word can spread very fast, and numbers will grow. Inviting a speaker or facilitator on a regular basis is always a good idea and creates interest. The one thing to avoid for anyone on a faith journey is isolation – it is just not good to remain alone on this path. For faith to mature it needs community, just as seeds need soil before they can come alive and grow.

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Hi Folks

The current postings list stands at 1200. As I do my bit in keeping them going and you do your bit in sending them on who knows where the wind of the Spirit will take them. Thank you for being part of this work that over time can bring about a considerable degree of faith renewal. I continue to receive positive responses and the people you send them to seem deeply appreciative.

Regards

Jim C