by Úna Agnew SSL

October 25, 2023

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.  I first heard it one Sunday morning, when the Welsh singer Tom Jones was being interviewed on radio at the launch of his latest album “Surrounded by Time.” Jones had been silent for some years in the wake of his wife’s death whom he deeply grieved. Realising that he is now in his eighties, he is struck with a new sense of his life “surrounded by time. “He is aware of the long fruitful innings he has enjoyed as a well-respected singer for over forty years. So, he selects songs for his new, and perhaps final album, with a renewed level of consciousness.

by Enda McMullan SSL

October 18, 2023

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 sitting watching seagulls on the sand. They look as if they are playing ‘tag’ but I’m sure that is a very superficial interpretation of their interactions. They are certainly engaged in playful behaviour that doesn’t seem to have any real purpose other than their own enjoyment. I’m wondering at the value or otherwise this modern world places on ‘play’.  Many of us are so involved in work or commitments that we never seem to have time for pure fun. Play is a sure way to relieve stress, fuel the imagination, creativity, and emotional well-being. ‘We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing” (George Bernard Shaw). It connects us to others and the world around us.

by Úna Agnew SSL

October 11, 2023

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 up to a spring- time of the soul even as we grow older and less active. Now I add to that the consoling idea that we also ripen.

by Marion Reynolds SSL

October 4, 2023

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 myself beyond these symbols, up to the pure majesty of the real itself; I, your priest, will make the whole earth my altar and on it will offer you all the labours and sufferings of the world.

by Enda McMullan SSL

September 27, 2023

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 the sea! As a child, I would spend long hours each day on this beach, with friends, in and out of the water, or in boats or building sandcastles, or collecting shells.

by Úna Agnew SSL

September 20, 2023

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 extensive scientific knowledge, she knows the readiness in plants to receive the sun and transform it into energy and life. She believes in an innate dynamism that is the soul and seal of everything. She sees an undeniable connection between the physical world and divine Presence.