World Youth Day in Sydney - start planning now!
There is in God (some say), a deep but dazzling darkness - Henry Vaughan
30.5.07
27.5.07
Croagh Patrick
The mountain pictured at the top of this blog is the striking pilgrimage site, Croagh Patrick in Co. Mayo. If you're ever in the West of Ireland, find it and climb it! Here's some information on it from the Tuam archdiocesan website:
Documentary evidence associating Croagh Patrick, or 'The Reek', as it is affectionately known, with St Patrick's forty days of fasting there, goes back at least to the seventh-century account of Bishop Tírechán. The traditional pilgrimage is mentioned in several documents from 1300 and it is certain that the pilgrimage extends back at least one thousand years.
Formerly a pre-Christian shrine, called Sliabh Aigli, it has been hallowed by St Patrick and by Christian footsteps and prayers through the centuries. For people outside the area the traditional date of the pilgrimage in the last Sunday of July but local people usually do it the Friday beforehand, called 'Garland Friday'. Nowadays, the pilgrimage takes place from early morning, but until the 1970s pilgrims climbed the mountain in the darkness and were on the summit for the first of the morning Masses at daybreak. Private pilgrimages also take place on most days of the summer.
The traditional 'station', as distinct from the climb, begins at the eastern base of the cone at Leacht Benian, where the pilgrim walks seven rounds of the Leacht and then climbs to the top by way of the steep passage known locally as 'the ladder'. One walks fifteen times around Teampall Phádraig on top, seven times around each of the three mounds of Roilig Mhuire and seven times around the area of Garrai Mhor on the western slope. A corresponding number of Paters and Aves and the Gloria and the Creed are said at each one of these.
Documentary evidence associating Croagh Patrick, or 'The Reek', as it is affectionately known, with St Patrick's forty days of fasting there, goes back at least to the seventh-century account of Bishop Tírechán. The traditional pilgrimage is mentioned in several documents from 1300 and it is certain that the pilgrimage extends back at least one thousand years.
Formerly a pre-Christian shrine, called Sliabh Aigli, it has been hallowed by St Patrick and by Christian footsteps and prayers through the centuries. For people outside the area the traditional date of the pilgrimage in the last Sunday of July but local people usually do it the Friday beforehand, called 'Garland Friday'. Nowadays, the pilgrimage takes place from early morning, but until the 1970s pilgrims climbed the mountain in the darkness and were on the summit for the first of the morning Masses at daybreak. Private pilgrimages also take place on most days of the summer.
The traditional 'station', as distinct from the climb, begins at the eastern base of the cone at Leacht Benian, where the pilgrim walks seven rounds of the Leacht and then climbs to the top by way of the steep passage known locally as 'the ladder'. One walks fifteen times around Teampall Phádraig on top, seven times around each of the three mounds of Roilig Mhuire and seven times around the area of Garrai Mhor on the western slope. A corresponding number of Paters and Aves and the Gloria and the Creed are said at each one of these.
Bono at the NAACP Awards
This video features some fantastic rhetoric on the subject of extreme poverty. Bono shows a concern for the poor that's inspired by the Gospel, and doesn't distort it, as liberation theology sometimes seems to. His words near the end moved me almost to tears.
The Happy Celibate?
A friend of mine who was applying for the diocesan priesthood here in England was made to feel like something of a simpleton by the diocesan interviewers for suggesting that celibacy could lead to happiness. It's good to see that he's not the only one to take this 'radical' view! (taken from CatholicIreland):
Celibacy can be a really fulfilling lifestyle, and priests need to get that message across, according to Maynooth theologian, Dr Breandán Leahy.
In a radio interview, Dr Leahy said that big challenge for all Christians, whether they are married or celibate, is to love other people. There were marriages which ran into difficulties, and there were some priests who had difficulties with celibacy, but just as you would not throw out marriage because of the difficulties experienced in some marriages, neither should the Church throw out celibacy.
Dr Leahy was responding to calls for a change in the rule on celibacy following the recent revelations concerning Clare priest, Fr Michael Hogan.
Dr Leahy agreed that it was a choice that many did not understand. “Jesus himself in Matthew 19, said ‘Not everyone will understand it.’ And I know that. But you can be terribly happy living a celibate life, just as you can be terribly happy living a married life.”
According to Dr Leahy, who is professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, there was a tradition of celibacy in the Catholic Church from the very beginning. Church documents from the second and third centuries show it was the practise of people who wanted to give their lives to God completely and to be at the service of the community, to live celibate lives.
Celibacy was a call from God to work at the service of the whole community. The Church never forced people into it. “I remember when I was in the seminary, I was told several times that ‘You have to be sure you want to make this decision.’ I had to write a letter to the bishop saying I wanted to be a priest and that I felt free in my heart to take this step.”
Answering an assertion that perhaps celibacy suppressed urges, which then came out in ‘warped’ sexualilty and at worst, paedophilia, Dr Leahy said celibacy does not warp people if it is lived properly.
“Very often priests can live it too much as loners. That is not the idea Jesus had in his mind at all. What did he do? He formed around him a community of people. Priests are called to form a community with the people from their parishes, but also a community among priests.”
He himself was part of such a community, and regularly met with a group of priests who shared how they were trying to live the Gospel and socialised together.
Celibacy was a form of loving, said Dr Leahy.
“The one thing we all have to do in life is to love people. To love people in a way that is right and true, whether you are married or celibate. The important thing is not to live your sexuality in a warped way, but to live it in a way that is a gift of yourself.
“As priests we are called not to express our love in a physical, sexual relationship. We are called to love with our hearts, our affections, our will and our minds. Just as a married man enters a relationship with one woman and therefore can’t flirt with every woman he meets, with a priest the relationship is with God, whom we experience as love and with other people, and priests.
That has a certain consequence - that we don’t live other compromises in sexuality. That would be wrong.”
Celibacy can be a really fulfilling lifestyle, and priests need to get that message across, according to Maynooth theologian, Dr Breandán Leahy.
In a radio interview, Dr Leahy said that big challenge for all Christians, whether they are married or celibate, is to love other people. There were marriages which ran into difficulties, and there were some priests who had difficulties with celibacy, but just as you would not throw out marriage because of the difficulties experienced in some marriages, neither should the Church throw out celibacy.
Dr Leahy was responding to calls for a change in the rule on celibacy following the recent revelations concerning Clare priest, Fr Michael Hogan.
Dr Leahy agreed that it was a choice that many did not understand. “Jesus himself in Matthew 19, said ‘Not everyone will understand it.’ And I know that. But you can be terribly happy living a celibate life, just as you can be terribly happy living a married life.”
According to Dr Leahy, who is professor of moral theology at St Patrick’s College Maynooth, there was a tradition of celibacy in the Catholic Church from the very beginning. Church documents from the second and third centuries show it was the practise of people who wanted to give their lives to God completely and to be at the service of the community, to live celibate lives.
Celibacy was a call from God to work at the service of the whole community. The Church never forced people into it. “I remember when I was in the seminary, I was told several times that ‘You have to be sure you want to make this decision.’ I had to write a letter to the bishop saying I wanted to be a priest and that I felt free in my heart to take this step.”
Answering an assertion that perhaps celibacy suppressed urges, which then came out in ‘warped’ sexualilty and at worst, paedophilia, Dr Leahy said celibacy does not warp people if it is lived properly.
“Very often priests can live it too much as loners. That is not the idea Jesus had in his mind at all. What did he do? He formed around him a community of people. Priests are called to form a community with the people from their parishes, but also a community among priests.”
He himself was part of such a community, and regularly met with a group of priests who shared how they were trying to live the Gospel and socialised together.
Celibacy was a form of loving, said Dr Leahy.
“The one thing we all have to do in life is to love people. To love people in a way that is right and true, whether you are married or celibate. The important thing is not to live your sexuality in a warped way, but to live it in a way that is a gift of yourself.
“As priests we are called not to express our love in a physical, sexual relationship. We are called to love with our hearts, our affections, our will and our minds. Just as a married man enters a relationship with one woman and therefore can’t flirt with every woman he meets, with a priest the relationship is with God, whom we experience as love and with other people, and priests.
That has a certain consequence - that we don’t live other compromises in sexuality. That would be wrong.”
25.5.07
Science and Religion
Four days before my Science and Theology exam, I come across a website that addresses all the questions in the paper! It's a brilliant resource, full of solid information and even videos of interviews with luminaries in the science-religion dialogue. Check it out: CounterBalance.
Election 07
Voting took place yesterday in the Irish General Election. Based on tallies, it looks like a very good election for Fianna Fáil, despite predictions to the contrary. They'll probably have to enter a coalition, either with the Green Party or the Labour Party (their former coalition partners, the economically right-wing PDs, have not done well). Looks like a third term for Bertie Ahern!
21.5.07
Pilgrimage Pics
Here are some photos of the pilgrimage on Sunday, taken by Br Lawrence (more pics on Godzdogz). It was a great occasion, good craic, and plenty of time for prayer :)
Here's the Fisher House group with the Dominican provincial (and former Cambridge chaplain) fr Allan White. I'm there on his left
The younger friars led the procession along the Holy Mile.
Serenading Our Lady outside the new parish church of the Annunciation.
19.5.07
Dominican Pilgrimage to Walsingham
I'm taking a whole day off revision (!!!) tomorrow to take part in the Dominican pilgrimage to the beautiful Marian shrine of Walsingham in Norfolk. Can't wait - it was great last year, with a good crowd of young people, and a load of Newcastle ladies who were keen to find husbands for their daughters! There's a group of about a dozen coming from Fisher House - I'm sure Our Lady will intercede to make up for the loss of study time!Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Thomist
A very strange thing happened to me today...
I was reading a copy of Aquinas' Summa Theologiae in King's library today (revising for a medieval theology exam). In the volume I was reading (Ia.28, if you're interested!), I found a little card with tiny scrawly writing all over it. Once I managed to decipher it, I realised that whoever wrote this knew Thomas inside-out, and it contained a few nice interpretations that were very useful for the essay I was writing just then. This'll ring alarm bells for those who've read the latest Harry Potter .
When my books start giving me potions advice though, I'll back off...
The weirdest thing of all was that the notes were written on a card (dated 1911) that was obviously meant to be handed into a school to ask permission for a child to attend Mass on Ascension Thursday. It includes the unequivocal sentence (emphasis included in the original): 'The Ascension Day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by The Church'.
Is a liturgically-aware don trying to communicate his disquiet from beyond the grave...?
I was reading a copy of Aquinas' Summa Theologiae in King's library today (revising for a medieval theology exam). In the volume I was reading (Ia.28, if you're interested!), I found a little card with tiny scrawly writing all over it. Once I managed to decipher it, I realised that whoever wrote this knew Thomas inside-out, and it contained a few nice interpretations that were very useful for the essay I was writing just then. This'll ring alarm bells for those who've read the latest Harry Potter .
When my books start giving me potions advice though, I'll back off...
The weirdest thing of all was that the notes were written on a card (dated 1911) that was obviously meant to be handed into a school to ask permission for a child to attend Mass on Ascension Thursday. It includes the unequivocal sentence (emphasis included in the original): 'The Ascension Day is exclusively set apart for religious observance by The Church'.
Is a liturgically-aware don trying to communicate his disquiet from beyond the grave...?
18.5.07
Pray for Maddie
Once again, I'm going to use this blog to encourage prayer for Madeleine McCann and her family.
If you want to make a monetary contribution, text MADDIE to 60999 - £1 will be taken from your mobile account. Visit www.findmadeleine.com for details. Her parents are hoping her distinctive right eye might help to identify her:
If you want to make a monetary contribution, text MADDIE to 60999 - £1 will be taken from your mobile account. Visit www.findmadeleine.com for details. Her parents are hoping her distinctive right eye might help to identify her:
A Wayfarer's Prayer
Apparently it was the Feast of St Brendan the Navigator (d. 580) on Wednesday (it wasn't celebrated here in Cambridge). Irish-Catholic and Dangerous posted this beautiful prayer on this day last year. It struck me as a powerful meditation for anyone considering a vocation to the priesthood or religious life - if you are, 'Be not afraid'!
Shall I abandon, O King of mysteries, the soft comforts of home?
Shall I turn my back on my native land, and turn my face towards the sea?
Shall I put myself wholly at your mercy,
without silver, without a horse,
without fame, without honor?
Shall I throw myself wholly upon You,
without sword and shield,
without food and drink,
without a bed to lie on?
Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land, placing myself under Your yoke?
Shall I pour out my heart to You,
confessing my manifold sins and begging forgiveness,
tears streaming down my cheeks?
Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach,
a record of my final prayer in my native land?
Shall I then suffer every kind of wound that the sea can inflict?
Shall I take my tiny boat across the wide sparkling ocean?
O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?
O Christ, will You help me on the wild waves?
- Ascribed to St Brendan before sailing across the Atlantic
Shall I abandon, O King of mysteries, the soft comforts of home?
Shall I turn my back on my native land, and turn my face towards the sea?
Shall I put myself wholly at your mercy,
without silver, without a horse,
without fame, without honor?
Shall I throw myself wholly upon You,
without sword and shield,
without food and drink,
without a bed to lie on?
Shall I say farewell to my beautiful land, placing myself under Your yoke?
Shall I pour out my heart to You,
confessing my manifold sins and begging forgiveness,
tears streaming down my cheeks?
Shall I leave the prints of my knees on the sandy beach,
a record of my final prayer in my native land?
Shall I then suffer every kind of wound that the sea can inflict?
Shall I take my tiny boat across the wide sparkling ocean?
O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my own choice upon the sea?
O Christ, will You help me on the wild waves?
- Ascribed to St Brendan before sailing across the Atlantic
16.5.07
Knock Y2K Retreat
It's about time to start promoting summer events, so... I urge you all to consider attending the Youth 2000 retreat in Knock this July (26th - 29th) - I know it's far off, but make sure to pencil it into the diary! Youth 2000 describes itself as a door into the church - this is how I have experienced it, as have many of my friends. So many young Catholics have a poor understanding of their faith, and no great love of it... Attendance at a Youth 2000 retreat can help change all this. If you are a young Catholic (16-35) come! And if you know young Catholics, get them there, by hook or by crook!
... and, above all, it's about Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
It's about friendship...
... witness
... solid teaching
... and, above all, it's about Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament
11.5.07
Chester Beatty Museum
I was in Dublin on Wednesday for a job-related exam, and I popped over to the Chester Beatty Library on Dame Street when I had some free time in the morning. What a place! It has one of the best collections of religious art in the world, with Egyptian papyri, beatifully illuminated copies of the Qur'an and Bible, medieval European manuscripts, Turkish miniatures, and Japanese woodblock prints...
It's an amazingly rich cultural resource, and, for the biblical scholars out there, it houses the important Chester Beatty collection of New Testament texts, which includes some of the earliest manuscripts of the Gospels and epistles, dating from c. 200 AD.
Well worth a trip!
7.5.07
Fisher Mass
The Catholic community at the University of Cambridge today celebrated mass in honour of its greatest light: St John Fisher: bishop, scholar and martyr. The University Church, Great St Mary's (shown on right), kindly let us use their building, and the two choirs combined to great effect!
Fr Aidan Nichols OP, author of dozens of tomes (and some of whose essays are available online), preached for the occasion. His approach was interesting: not only was St John Fisher a martyr for Catholic Unity, he was also a martyr who died defending the institution of marriage (and avowedly so). Fr Aidan urged us to follow his example in facing up to challenges presented to the institution of marriage and the family in the present day: we should begin, he said, by turning to Christ and allowing our intellects to be enlightened by the cross.
5.5.07
Abduction in Portugal
It's been two days since the abduction of Madeleine McCann in Portugal. Let's pray for a safe return to her young family...
1.5.07
The Hibernicisation of Cambridge Continues Apace!
From the Cambridge website:
Modern Irish will this week officially become the newest subject available at the University of Cambridge – marking both its establishment as an EU working language, and rising enthusiasm for Irish studies as a whole.
The Irish government is funding new classes in modern Irish at Cambridge to commemorate it becoming the 23rd working language of the EU.
The subject will be launched on Wednesday, May 2nd, in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC), where the classes are being run. The Irish ambassador, Dáithí Ó Ceallaigh, will be among the guests, and the acclaimed Gaelic poet, Dr Louis de Paor, will give a celebratory reading.
The launch means that Cambridge is the first English university to teach both modern and medieval forms of the language. Uniquely, it is also the only university anywhere that allows students to study Irish in its wider context as one of a network of ancient languages and cultures that together define the heritage of these islands.
Academics also hope that the classes will help reinforce an understanding of Irish identity not just within Ireland itself, but among the enormous Irish Diaspora beyond its shores. Although the language is spoken in certain regions of the Irish Republic and is a familiar part of the school curriculum, modern Ireland is in a state of cultural change, with new waves of immigrants arriving from countries such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, senior lecturer in Celtic languages and literature for the University, said: “Ireland is going through an era of rapid cultural change, in which it is particularly easy to lose track of where one comes from. As we move into more of a distinctively European future, the study of Irish has the potential to be a positive aspect of identity.”
Dr Kaarina Hollo, who teaches the Irish classes, said: “Learning Irish need not be related to ethnicity or family background, however. One of the main reasons for setting up classes at Cambridge is to stress that the study of Irish is of value for anyone interested in it for whatever reason.”
Increasingly, Irish studies are also seen as having an important part to play in the understanding of European history and culture. In the Middle Ages, Ireland was Christianised at an early stage. Its learned classes also began to produce texts in the vernacular (as opposed to Latin) in the 6th or 7th centuries – hundreds of years before the Germans or French began to write in their own languages. Many of these early scholars also travelled widely in Europe, leaving behind religious texts and legal, literary and historical documents that tell us about European, as well as Irish culture.
The government funding has enabled the University to employ a modern Irish teacher, Dr Hollo, who has already begun Irish classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels as well as informal Irish conversation sessions for enthusiasts. The course also involves the study of Irish poems, short stories, newspaper articles and Irish-language films and television programmes.
“By giving this grant to ASNC in Cambridge, the Irish government is recognising the long tradition of Irish in the department and elsewhere in Cambridge,” Dr Ní Mhaonaigh added. “We have a long history of work in Irish studies and a high degree of interest among the student body.
“In addition, it is sending a message that Irish need not be only for the Irish, but anyone who has an interest in Irish heritage, culture, or a love of the language itself.”
Modern Irish will this week officially become the newest subject available at the University of Cambridge – marking both its establishment as an EU working language, and rising enthusiasm for Irish studies as a whole.
The Irish government is funding new classes in modern Irish at Cambridge to commemorate it becoming the 23rd working language of the EU.
The subject will be launched on Wednesday, May 2nd, in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNC), where the classes are being run. The Irish ambassador, Dáithí Ó Ceallaigh, will be among the guests, and the acclaimed Gaelic poet, Dr Louis de Paor, will give a celebratory reading.
The launch means that Cambridge is the first English university to teach both modern and medieval forms of the language. Uniquely, it is also the only university anywhere that allows students to study Irish in its wider context as one of a network of ancient languages and cultures that together define the heritage of these islands.
Academics also hope that the classes will help reinforce an understanding of Irish identity not just within Ireland itself, but among the enormous Irish Diaspora beyond its shores. Although the language is spoken in certain regions of the Irish Republic and is a familiar part of the school curriculum, modern Ireland is in a state of cultural change, with new waves of immigrants arriving from countries such as Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Dr Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, senior lecturer in Celtic languages and literature for the University, said: “Ireland is going through an era of rapid cultural change, in which it is particularly easy to lose track of where one comes from. As we move into more of a distinctively European future, the study of Irish has the potential to be a positive aspect of identity.”
Dr Kaarina Hollo, who teaches the Irish classes, said: “Learning Irish need not be related to ethnicity or family background, however. One of the main reasons for setting up classes at Cambridge is to stress that the study of Irish is of value for anyone interested in it for whatever reason.”
Increasingly, Irish studies are also seen as having an important part to play in the understanding of European history and culture. In the Middle Ages, Ireland was Christianised at an early stage. Its learned classes also began to produce texts in the vernacular (as opposed to Latin) in the 6th or 7th centuries – hundreds of years before the Germans or French began to write in their own languages. Many of these early scholars also travelled widely in Europe, leaving behind religious texts and legal, literary and historical documents that tell us about European, as well as Irish culture.
The government funding has enabled the University to employ a modern Irish teacher, Dr Hollo, who has already begun Irish classes at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels as well as informal Irish conversation sessions for enthusiasts. The course also involves the study of Irish poems, short stories, newspaper articles and Irish-language films and television programmes.
“By giving this grant to ASNC in Cambridge, the Irish government is recognising the long tradition of Irish in the department and elsewhere in Cambridge,” Dr Ní Mhaonaigh added. “We have a long history of work in Irish studies and a high degree of interest among the student body.
“In addition, it is sending a message that Irish need not be only for the Irish, but anyone who has an interest in Irish heritage, culture, or a love of the language itself.”
G.M. Hopkins on May
May is Mary's month, and I
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season --
Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?
Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?
Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring? --
Growth in every thing --
Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested
Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.
All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.
Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.
Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.
When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp are merry
With silver-surfèd cherry
And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all --
This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation.
Muse at that and wonder why:
Her feasts follow reason,
Dated due to season --
Candlemas, Lady Day;
But the Lady Month, May,
Why fasten that upon her,
With a feasting in her honour?
Is it only its being brighter
Than the most are must delight her?
Is it opportunest
And flowers finds soonest?
Ask of her, the mighty mother:
Her reply puts this other
Question: What is Spring? --
Growth in every thing --
Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,
Grass and greenworld all together;
Star-eyed strawberry-breasted
Throstle above her nested
Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin
Forms and warms the life within;
And bird and blossom swell
In sod or sheath or shell.
All things rising, all things sizing
Mary sees, sympathising
With that world of good,
Nature's motherhood.
Their magnifying of each its kind
With delight calls to mind
How she did in her stored
Magnify the Lord.
Well but there was more than this:
Spring's universal bliss
Much, had much to say
To offering Mary May.
When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple
Bloom lights the orchard-apple
And thicket and thorp are merry
With silver-surfèd cherry
And azuring-over greybell makes
Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes
And magic cuckoocall
Caps, clears, and clinches all --
This ecstasy all through mothering earth
Tells Mary her mirth till Christ's birth
To remember and exultation
In God who was her salvation.
Drama in Balthasar
One of Hans Urs von Balthasar's most original contributions to theology was his emphasis on drama in theology. The relationship between the Son and the Father is dramatic, on his account, and filled with risk and tension. Here's a nice snippet pointing out some immediate consequences of this insight (there's a lot in it - I've been chewing on it all morning!):
The Christian's faith teaches him to see within the most seemingly unimportant interpersonal relation the making present and the 'sacrament' of the eternal I-Thou relation which is the ground of the free Creation and again the reason why God the Father yields His Son to the death of darkness for the salvation of every Thou.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
