Séamus Ahearne: ‘SAVE US, GOOD LORD, FROM SCORN AND CONTEMPT AND THE JUDGEMENT OF THE UNTENDER.’ (A Small Psalter – Pádraig Daly OSA) 

DONALD TRUMP: 

I didn’t think it possible that twelve people could agree, but they did. It happened rather quickly. Donald Trump was found guilty last evening. One of my female companions here immediately declared that she wouldn’t let him into her bed if he was her husband. Now he wasn’t asking, but she was very clear. Of course Donald declared himself innocent as he left the court. His usual rhetoric exploded. The judge was corrupt. Biden was the worse president ever. He himself was the most wronged person in the world. His grandiosity is not surprising but is very sad. The Defence focused on the ‘lying’ of Cohen and the impossibility of believing anything that Stormy Daniels had said. It was amusing and also pathetic that Trump would fight the case on the issue of truth. It always appears as if Donald is a total stranger to the truth, but he seems blissfully unaware. This was an awkward case for Trump. He was stripped naked and forced to listen in silence. However, this case was minor enough. He had been through the case of his misstatement of assets and had been found guilty. He had been through the case of sexual assault of E Jean Carroll and found guilty. He hasn’t as yet faced the case of retention of confidential documents; he hasn’t faced the very serious case of election interference (Georgia); he hasn’t as yet faced the case of incitement for the 6^th January assault on the Capital. And he still goes on. And he is still supported. That is the real problem. 

CONFESSION: 

Why can’t people see? If ever there was a place for the phrase: ‘The emperor has no clothes’ this is it. I was thinking this morning at the beach of Donald. My mind kept rambling towards a single point. Why doesn’t someone tell him the truth about himself and protect him from his own deluded perception of reality? And then as the vastness of the ocean and the enormity of the sand on the beach spoke to me I began to think of Confession in our own celebration of faith. It mostly is unreal and irrelevant. We do need some process to help us face the mirror of life and speak truth not only to power but to ourselves. Real Confession demands honesty in our depths. It cries out too for gratitude for life and people and God. There is the problem of today when people are ignorant of God and wonder and beauty and ancestors.

HEADLESS AND FINGERLESS WRITING: 

I write when I am driving. I write when I am walking. I write when the sea talks to me. I don’t need a pen or a keyboard. My fingers retain the cascading thoughts in my head. I’m quite sure that no one is very interested in what my thoughts are, or what the fingers write. But for me, this is the playfulness of reflection. It is nonsense mainly, but like Elegy in a Country Churchyard: ‘Full many a flower is born to blush unseen and waste its sweetness on the desert air.’ Who cares? It is the freedom of life that matters. Splash the words. Throw around ideas. Let them be taken away by the wind. We are all too cautious. In my mind and heart I celebrate the freedom I see to be, the gift of faith. So here is a quick outline of my morning meanderings. I thought back on life.

THE INSPIRATION OF A DYING MAN: 

Shortly, I will be 60 years in the Augustinians. Shortly, I will be 51 years a priest. Shortly I will be 78. I recalled a friend of mine who was dying with Leukaemia, Michael Holmes. We had joined the Augustinians together in 1964. He left after a few years. I fast forward then to more recent times. Michael was very sick but all he could ever say was this: “I have had 76 years. I have had a great family. I have seen all my children settled. I had the privilege of seeing my grandchildren. I was very happy in my work. I had great friends. I had a great life. My body held up for all those years. My sporting life wasn’t bad! My Bridge-life was good. My mind remained sharp. My gardening life was full of surprises. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for everyone and for everything. Even with the sickness, I have met some wonderful people. The staff were brilliant. I hope to end my days at home surrounded by the fun and arguments and banter of the family.” (Which he did). He was oozing with gratitude. I then thought back on my life. 

THE COMPLAINTS OF AGEING:

As we age, we can get submerged with the joints paining, or having to take pills or forgetting names or having to write things down. But like Michael, our bodies have done lots of work. Have been full of energy. Have carried us through the years. It is rather better to be grateful for what we have and where we have been, who we have met. In Church life, we can get weary with the sense that the whole project of faith is collapsing. Priests can feel belittled and rather irrelevant. There are no new recruits. The church is ridiculed. The priesthood/religious life is scoffed at or caricatured. Society sees all the faults in our culture as caused by religion and church. But if like Michael, we focus on what has happened in our lives, then this leads to a proper Eucharist. God has danced throughout our lives. We have been privileged to be brought into the heart of family life. We have been trusted and loved. We have comforted so many. We have met God in all kinds of ways and in all kinds of people. The burning bush has happened everywhere and every day. Sometimes we forgot to take off our shoes. 

A HISTORY OF PEOPLE AND PLACES: 

I think back to my home place. Curraghmore in Lord Waterford’s estate. We lived in a tied lodge. It was basic. We had food. We had ‘firing.’ We had an idyllic playground. My father worked in the local tannery and then on the estate gardening. The pay was minimal. But life was simple. The community of workers on the estate were friends. We were blessed with the open air, the fields, the river, the woods. It is afterwards, we appreciated it more. My grandniece Sophie said that she never wanted to hear of Curraghmore again after doing a project on the family history there. However, the older members of the family loved reminiscing. We had the local school and then biked it to Carrick-on-Suir for Secondary. Brendan Coffey (a one-time Augustinian) got me into New Ross school. I have severe criticism of our education and the whole system but through that schooling, I reluctantly reached Orlagh and the Augustinians. Again, I would be very critical of those nine years towards priesthood. But when I was set free, life began. In Hoxton (East End). In Limerick. In Drogheda. In Dundee. In Edinburgh. In Carlisle. And Finally in Finglas. My most difficult times were eight years as provincial. That wasn’t my scene but the same thing applied: I was humbled by the trust people had in me. How I was invited into the heart of a life. This was the same as life everywhere in every community I have been. I also reached Nigeria, S Korea,  Japan and Brazil. Again what a blessing this was for me and an eye-opener. 

ANGELA RAYNER AND A LIFE STORY: 

People everywhere have been inspirational. Life has been a blessing. It is true that life is different now. In my early days in Drogheda and my early days in Dundee,  young people were everywhere. That is no longer true. Like Michael, it has been a great life and I am forever grateful. Fun. Laughter. Experiment. The delight of community. Mind-blowing. Everything happened. It has been wild, wicked and wonderful. The God of surprises teased and taunted me everywhere. My limiting mind was stretched. Angela  Rainer (Deputy Leader of the Labour Party UK) has just been cleared of any wrongdoing re house sale, and now can concentrate on Labour winning the UK election. She has just said that at her age, anyone can scrutinise her life story and will find out many things she did and how she went crazy. I liked her quote: “I’ve lived a life. I’ve gone out with my mates. I’ve got drunk. I’ve probably had a boyfriend that I shouldn’t have had. I’m not perfect. But my heart is in the right place and I want to do the right thing.“ That could apply to all of us. And it does to me. Life in the church has been a celebration. All I ask is for eyes and heart and imagination to see it. I am now in a huge parish with some 70,000 people. The team is brilliant and so generous and supportive. We are inspired by each other and by the people of every Mass Centre. My Confession then is (like Augustine’s) – in amazement and astonishment at how God has worked in me and through me and how blessed I have been.

RESCUE OUR BISHOPS: 

I revisited this morning at the beach, a place of my past. (Dundee). I see now that at last a new bishop has been appointed to succeed Stephen Robson (Dunkeld, Scotland). Stephen had tried to resign on health grounds but it took a long time. Kevin Golden was administrator in the meantime. I remember Kevin in Gillis when he was a student and I led a Retreat! Then Martin Chambers was appointed but died before being installed. There was then a very quick appointment of Andrew McKenzie. May all go well. On Trinity Sunday,  Donal Roche and Paul Dempsey became auxiliary bishops in Dublin. Again the wish and hope is that all the administration doesn’t absorb them, but that they can become ‘leaders’ who can reach out to the ordinary people and local priests and listen to them. The dioceses don’t need speeches or homilies but real people who truly know the smell of the sheep. All the trappings of office need to be cast aside and these men need to go foraging for the unexpected life of God hidden in the most unlikely people and places. They need praying for. They have to be adventurers. And learners. It can be such a severe burden. It is no wonder that thirty per cent turn down the offer!  Real Confession needs to be celebrated by them and by us and by me.

Seamus Ahearne OSA 

31st May 2024.