Séamus Ahearne: ALL THROUGH MY LIFE, THE NEW SIGHTS OF NATURE, MADE ME REJOICE LIKE A CHILD. (Marie Curie)
A LITTLE GIRL FROM A TINY VILLAGE:
“I was a little girl from a tiny, little village – and I still am that little girl from Sligo,” Mona McSharry said. She wanted to further say that if a person put their mind to something, it can be done. Katie Harrington fights on and she believes she can add to her medals. Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have continued to show that Skibbereen fears no one, and has real clout. The Skibbereen Eagle has to keep its eye on Russia… Daniel Wiffen was extraordinary and ever so confident. What was most impressive? The work he has put in to reach that standard. There was also Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle who showed once more, the power, strength and commitment of Irish rowing. And then there was Simone Biles with her GOAT ornament. She was dismissed after Tokyo as a snowflake. She isn’t now. (Dismissed by anyone!) The Olympics are a feast of wonder and beauty. I dare to suggest that it is poetry sprinkled everywhere for the rest of us to celebrate. To believe in miracles.
EDNA O’BRIEN:
Edna O’Brien has died. She lived those 93 years to the full. She was passionate when interviewed in recent times on the plight of the Nigerian girls kidnapped by Boka Haram. She had an ability to be always passionate. ‘August is a wicked month’ comes to mind as we move on into the year. Edna stirred up the people of Ireland with The Country Girls. She was greatly helped when the censor banned her earlier books. It worked marvels. Our writers have wakened our minds to more. They lift us beyond the obvious and the ordinary. They hint at something bigger and different and more. They call us to look at the views. They are like the diviners who let the twig tell them where the water is. They are the ones who cause us to ‘divine’ the extraordinary hidden in the grounds of our lives. They are a blessing.
Edna achieved a high literary status. Now I wouldn’t attribute to her some of the extravagant plaudits which exploded after her death. Did Edna rescue us from the Dark Ages with our attitudes to sexuality especially for women? Was she the one who set our culture free from the overwhelming burden of the church? We can admire her and enjoy her but surely we can’t idolise her. People need to slow down their excessive commentary. Many of our attitudes have changed, which is good. Some of the tyranny of the church (as many understand it) needed to be overwhelmed. Lest we forget: Who were the educators, the nursing, medical people, the social workers, the counsellors, the carers for the poor, in those Dark Ages? People like Edna helped to open minds and imaginations. However, the values of Christ and Christianity were needed and are needed. They are needed now. Our new cultural values are weak and sad in many ways. We need new writers who stick up the signposts on today’s craziness, even if it happens without the church and those domineering priests! Edna wanted to be buried in the family plot. Her mother wanted to be buried where people would pass by and pray. Edna wanted to be buried where the birds and nature would talk to her and where the monastic ruins would whisper of something more!
AN EAVESDROPPER:
I probably shouldn’t do this but it is a story worth telling. In your kindness and gentle care don’t let anyone know what I am telling you. I was eavesdropping on some women during the week. In truth, I was the only male present at that particular meeting. I am naturally and normally shy, quiet, gentle and reticent. The chatter began before the real meeting got going. There was some heated comment on the number of women now leading the discussions on sporting events. They had no problem with women being on the panels but not as leaders. This is what the women said: ‘It is wrong. They don’t have a clue. They think that they can comment on men’s games. On hurling. On football. On rugby. It is quite pathetic. In fact, it is a false attempt at equality. Camogie doesn’t come near hurling. Women playing rugby or Gaelic football isn’t anything like the men’s game. So why carry on like this?’ These are seriously liberated women but this was their message. They definitely wanted someone like Joe Brolly as chief commentator on the football! However, that didn’t finish their ‘rant.’
One of them had been to a Healing session in Fairview with Eddie Stone. The story told was scathing. It was full of mortal sin, which was occurring everywhere. Everyone should be running back to Confession. We had to double genuflect. The devil was rampant. Anyone who had died in the past fifty years was in purgatory. There were sins piling on sin. There was no escaping now how the devil had taken over our world. Is this a true reflection of what went on in Fairview? I don’t know but the reporter is usually succinct and exact in telling a story. That was her report. Our reporter lady felt dragged back to a foreign past where the misery of faith was dominant and she didn’t want to be there. Whatever about healing, this definitely wasn’t her understanding of the God of the Gospels or of the Faith, we are now celebrating… I had to share that and let you know how those rebellious women were feeling. I am timid and was intimidated but also full of admiration and affection for those wonderful women. They also turned on me – the Lone Ranger, as a man. They weren’t impressed by my coordinating in regard to clothes, etc. They also had a go at the length of my eyebrows! Our meeting got underway eventually and we were led on by a reflection on what a Living Eucharist can mean. (Or should). I can tell you that their view doesn’t approximate how Mass is often celebrated or the bad language of our Mass. It was living Eucharist indeed. And it was wonderful.
MUSIC AND SONG:
We had the Royal Norwegian Navy Band in the Church of St Canice’s in Finglas on Thursday. This Woodwind Ensemble was magnificent. We had Down by the Salley Gardens; Gli Ucelli; Serenata Andaluza plus much more. It was delightful. The Church was filled. The appreciation was fulsome. The music soared and seared into our guts. It awakened depths of wonder in ourselves that had laid dormant for too long. (I thought for a moment as an aside – how is ever possible to celebrate Liturgy without music and song?) We also had the local Choir sing – Moonshiner and Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry with Delia Murphy. It called out some distant memories. We couldn’t help recalling Delia, who was a nightmare for Thomas Kiernan (her husband) in his ambassador’s role; he was so proper and she wasn’t. Many Jews escaped in Rome through Delia Murphy and Hugh O’Flaherty (the Scarlet Pimpernel) plus others who did such wonderful work at the time. Pius X11 was hardly unaware and surely was part responsible for the escape route. It is a mighty story.
THE RETURNED PRISONERS:
Vladimir Kara-Murza was on Sky News (Friday evening). He had escaped from Russia in the exchange of prisoners. He spoke with such love of his country. He spoke with such regard for humanity and each person. He spoke with such passion for democracy. A few days ago, he thought he was being led out to be executed and now he was free. It was emotional listening to him. And who do we have now in America? Donald Trump is a disgrace to everything that democracy means. It is to be hoped that somehow Kamala Harris can rid the US and the world of this man. It surely cannot be happy for our times, that this sad and empty man, who is the Donald, could ever be voted in again. Now his co-pilot JD Vance doesn’t add much glamour or hope either. Vance became a Catholic in 2019! I wonder what his Catholicism might mean…
AUGUST AND THE AUGUSTINIANS:
August is a wicked month! I can’t grasp where those years have gone. It is sixty years since I joined the Augustinians in August 64. I keep on thinking of the sacred intimacy in this ministry where I am/we are invited into the heart of people’s lives. The trust. The privilege. The wonder of it all. The few who besmirch that trust damage the sacredness of it all for everyone. John’s Gospel, which has intruded into Mark’s story for us this year. We are left with the Bread of Life for too long these weekends; we are asked to think more. Such thoughts follow: How I have been fed by God in the ordinary sharing of life every day in this ministry in this trust that people have in the laughter and the fun, in the kindness and generosity, in the emergence of our own athletes-of-faith, who begin to believe in themselves? We do need the Edna O’Briens within the faith community who expand our minds and imaginations; who help us to see more; who make us aware of the speaking God in every situation; who show us the miracle in the everyday at the Table of memories; who is much bigger than our small minds can ever imagine. I go back to Pádraig Daly’s line: Who can disbelieve a world drenched in miracles?
Seamus Ahearne osa
3rd August 2024