Posts by Karen Kent

Reading Niamh Brennan’s book ‘The Human in the Universe’ in our book club has prompted me to share a few thoughts or inspirations. I find cosmic history awe inspiring and mind boggling…all the different phases our earth has gone through and how it continues to transform building on what went before…a work in progress. Our relatedness to our earth is basic to our existence…no earth, no humans. lsn’t it amazing to think that no two things of any species are ever the same! We are born to be different, and yet so connected, all having a common origin, sharing the same atoms and molecules. We are in the Universe and the Universe is in us and we exist only in communion. To be in real communion with ourselves, with God and with the Universe is vital. Nothing can exist in isolation. The Mission Statement of the Oblate Congregation sums it up for me…we are ‘Pilgrims of hope in Communion’.

The following Psalms are all saturated with concern for the earth and call us to wonder and praise…

Ps. 19:2-5…The heavens proclaim the glory of God…

Ps.36:6-9….Your justice is like the mighty mountains…

Ps.24:1-2…The earth and its fullness belong to the Lord…

Ps.104:24… How varied O Lord are your works…

Ps.97:1-2…The Lord reigns let the earth rejoice…

Maureen OSU

It is only a short time since we celebrated the wonderful Easter ceremonies. But isn’t it easy to go back to where we always have been – immersed in the daily grind and in the media’s constant reminders of wars, genocide, atrocities and disasters everywhere?

But whatever the atrocities all around us, something has changed and stones have been rolled away. Huge obstacles may remain, but our ever-deepening faith assures us that these too can be overcome; the Easer Gospel reminds us of this, even though it will involve a painful journey.

So the resurrection calls us to radical change – and once changed calls us to share that transformative joy everywhere we go

Some once said that we must go out and spread the Easter message because:

“There is nothing more needed by humanity today than the recovery of a sense of “beyondness“ –  that dimension of life and love that assures us that God is in control.

May we feel the energy of Easter every single day and especially today!

                                                                                      B. O ‘ S

Deciding to say YES to an invitation is not always easy…particularly if it is not an invitation you are expecting or have desired to receive. If you are like me, you prefer to make decisions based on having all the facts clearly laid out…with the list of pros and cons fully completed and pondered over.

Decisions come easy when we can see as if standing at the top of a mountain…where the vista is clearly visible before us…where all the pitfalls or potential dangers can be seen and assessed well beforehand. If not a mountain-top then perhaps from a level plain with nothing to obscure the view of the landscape lying ahead, so there are no surprises lurking in the undergrowth.

However, if we think of Mary and her YES at the moment of the Annunciation or perhaps Joseph when he was approached by the angel too – they were not well prepared in human terms, they did not really know how their lives would change, would be affected, by their YES to God.

And so it is for us – we cannot always know the full picture…sometimes we have to have the courage to trust that it is God’s call, heard somewhere deep within that asks for our response.  We will not have the full picture of the future but we will have the Lord as our guide, our friend, our mentor if we choose to set out on the journey and see where it leads. 

So as we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation this year let us be open to the invitation…open to the possibility that lies ahead…open to the future designed by the hand of God…

Karen OSU

Veronica,

Vero Icon,

anonymous woman,

as so many women are, 

named for the unexpected,

unanticipated response

to your gratuitous,

brave,

compassionate

gesture

– reaching out  

regardless of dangerous judgements, 

a spontaneity rising from the depths of her being.  

Ah, the feel of a soft cloth,

Mopping the sweat,

The blood,

The spittle,

Even momentarily.

In our suffering world today

can I feel

the urge,

the knowing niggle,

the call,

the basic humanity

to relieve

the suffering the Christ today

in Gaza,

in Ukraine,

in Haiti

in Mount Street

at my own back door?

Where is

my Courage?

my compassion?

What ‘momentary relief’

can I offer the Christ today?

(Image from St Margaret Mary Catholic Church, FL)

Anne Harte Barry OSU

A Presence of Inclusivity and Integration in our Land

The Boy

With my heart’s eye

I see a lad lonely on a hillside

Learning that he is not alone

Like a leaping flame the lesson

Burns through generations

To lap my life. Patrick I thank you.

    Josephine O’ Connell

The little poem led me on a journey with the young boy. Patrick, son of an upper class Roman official – a boy who studied Greek philosophy and Roman law.  Sadly, his education and privilege were suddenly swept away – his life changed forever, when he was kidnapped, forced on board ship and made work as a slave in a foreign land  – all too familiar in our times. Yes, he became a migrant, an exploited and trafficked person, denied his freedom at the hands of local wealthy chieftains and druids in our land. We can all relate to the teenager in his loneliness and struggle to survive six years of hardship, deprivation, rejection and hostility…

But that is the path that led him to God.

Weary and helpless, he eventually managed to escape by ship. Listen to him:

“Years later…I was in Britain with my relatives…in a vision, I heard the voices of the Irish” they cried, “we ask you boy, come and walk with us once again”…“I was pierced to the heart and woke up”

Disturbed and upset, he responded to the call, continued his education, studied for the priesthood and found himself back in Ireland.

He met with many problems, both secular and ecclesiastical, but his humanity and holiness overcame them all because he knew who he was and Whose he was.

Patrick, gift us all with your deep faith, wisdom, humanity and the ability to create relationships of trust and integration like you did. 

St. Patrick

I hear a voice calling me

To deeper waters and deeper lands

I hear a voice gently say

Come follow me I am the way

To deeper waters and deeper lands.

Go raibh spiorad  and dochas Phadraig

In ar gcroithe go deo is choice.

B. O’ S