Blog

Part 5. That was the River: This is the Sea. Learning from a popular song-lyric: There is a song entitled: “This is the Sea”, composed by lyricist and song-writer Mike Scott, lead singer of the Waterboys, which has made a strong impression on me....

Everyday events can be incredibly entertaining! I have always enjoyed the sight and sounds of seagulls-a comforting sound along with the rhythm of the waves.  So, I know that birds make me happy, but I wonder do they experience joy themselves? I’m...

Part 4. Ripeness. Some wise persons tell me that we do not age, we ripen! In my last piece, I found myself rejoicing in the greening power of Hildegard of Bingen’s viriditas, as I discovered that it can be cultivated and grow within us, opening us...

Teilhard composed his Mass on the World when on a dig in China. The opening lines are: Since once again, Lord - though this time not in the forests of the Aisne but in the steppes of Asia - I have neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, I will raise...

I couldn’t count the number of times in my past that I exclaimed “O my God, isn’t it just so beautiful?” Access to this beauty was easy. The house looked over the beach - just to jump over the sea wall and you are on the beach and if so desired in...

Part 3. Greening from Within. The Rhineland mystic, Hildegard of Bingen, who lived into her eighties, developed her own understanding of this innate vitality. She uses a Latin word, viriditas to denote the greening of things from within. With her...

Reading Teilhard’s life story has taught me a lot about the importance of being faithful to one’s insights. Although much of his writing was censored by the Church during his lifetime he is now accepted and is an influence in the spirituality of...

Part 2 - Finding the Soul’s Song. I began to write about ageing when I first admitted I am old myself. Looking at some of the negative attitudes age receives, I realised there’s something of an ageist in all of us. This manifests itself especially...

When invited recently to share some memories of Tom Hamill, the only thing I was actually sure of was, that others would write much more eloquently than I of his genius, his theology, his Biblical understanding, his love of people, his delight in...

Many years ago when I was a second year pupil in school I found myself in a science class. I had no interest in the subject and didn’t really want to be there. So I used to take refuge in pleasant daydreaming. One day, noticing my faraway...

Part 1 - Is it Downhill All the Way? It was when I reached 80 myself that I began to accept that I was ‘old.’ I remembered Shakespeare’s play As you like it, and the seven stages of human life, each playing a part on the stage of life. With my...

In a place, where there was no shop, no post office, no Garda barracks, no petrol pump and no cars, of course, the Franciscan Monastery with its adjoining school, was highly regarded as the centre of the district. We lived our lives to the rhythm...