HerringIn Norway, Christmas is herring season. Christmas, as we know, lasts until 2 February. One has time to eat a lot of herring. So I valued as topical the review of Graeme Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring in the TLS. Most Read More
TrivialitiesIn today’s office of readings the breviary gives a passage from St Basil’s Rules. It meditates on God’s immense graciousness, then concludes with the words: ‘To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome Read More
Shun to Appear HarshI recently found, hidden away in a book, some advice from St Seraphim of Sarov that a friend, a Benedictine nun, sent me in the last letter I received from her before she died in 2009. I needed to re-read Read More
A Pierced HeartOn Saturday 31 January the religious of Trondheim met to mark the annual Day of Consecrated Life, which we normally keep on the Saturday nearest to Candlemas. Malachi 3.1-4: Who will stand when he appears? Luke 2.22-40: A sword will pierce your own heart. In the Blessed Virgin Mary the Church sees an image of herself. Mary’s call was unique, prepared by an exceptional grace. No one will ever again do what she did: bear the Uncreated into the world, be a concrete, living tabernacle for God’s substantial glory. Yet the incarnation carries on. There is wonderful truth in what we sing about in many a Christmas carol: through the Church the Lord is born in our lives, he establishes his dwelling in us. All of us can say, seriously and realistically, what Paul says: ‘Christ lives in me’, as long as we do not drive him away by sin. In the Eucharist we receive Jesus in Body and Soul. That is why each aspect of the Virgin Mary’s life has relevance for each and every one of us. The course she staked out is one we must follow faithfully as best we can. How, then, are we to understand what Simeon, in today’s Gospel, tells Mary: ‘Your heart will be pierced by a sword’? In the language of the Bible the heart is more than an engine pumping blood. The heart is first referred to in the sixth chapter of Genesis, when human evil is spreading upon earth. God saw that ‘every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually’. As a result, he was sorry he had made man ‘and it grieved him to his heart’ (Genesis 6.5-6). A connection is made here which it is vital to notice. What we think of as our ‘heart’ corresponds to a reality in God himself. So intimate is the relationship between us and him that it pulls at heart strings. By bad choices and evil deeds we can cause his heart pain. God is beyond any conditioning. Theology would say he is ‘impassible’. He cannot be hurt by anything or anyone. Yet because he loved the human being so, he exposed himself to us. We in our turn, made in his image, our vulnerably exposed. To come close to God, Simeon tells Mary, is to hurt at times. That is how it must be, simply because God’s light and truth touches depths in us that are infinitely susceptible. To the degree that we learn to live by grace, to the degree that the life of Jesus flourishes in us, our inner senses will be sharpened: we shall see, hear, feel, perceive, yes, even smell with new intensity. Such ability is risky in a coarse, often brutal world. Simeon tells Mary, and us, that Christian maturing is maturing in vulnerability. We use a lot of time and energy to arm ourselves against hurt, and that may be necessary. But when it comes to the life of grace and prater, disarmament is what is required. Then we are called to stand bare. Mary’s courage to let herself be pierced by the sword of God’s love and truth is clearly apparent in the Gospel. By saying Yes! to the life in God in her, she said No! once for all to selfishness and murmuring and stupid navel-gazing. When Jesus’s preaching set him at risk, she experienced with intensity the painful growth all parents must live through as they realise; ‘I cannot protect my child against death.’ She had to learn to give her Son back to his Heavenly Father. She accomplished that committal on Golgotha in silent, noble compassion. Thereby her heart was opened and broadened to receive an explosion of jubilant light at Easter. As consecrated women and men we are especially called to a Marian existence. Let us give thanks for the boundless, undeserved gift of our call. Let us renew our Yes! to God’s purpose for us here in this place, in this beloved Trondheim, where we have been placed to give the kingdom of God a foothold. To say yes is to be pierced by a sword now and again; for the kingdom of God is still seized with power, it’s no child’s play. But the battle is won, the victory is sure. We can therefore proceed fearlessly, in peace even when storm winds howl round about, having the Virgin Mary as our leader and guide. So to do will be the best, most consoling, most authoritative testimony we can possible give an anxious time. Amen. The Presentation in the Temple by Mantegna.
Sense in Chastity?During the launch of Chastity in Polish before Christmas (in a fine translation by Renata Senktas), I was interviewed by Tomasz Samolyk, an important voice in Polish Catholicism. Tomasz was keen to know why I had written the book, whom I had written it for, what I had learnt from it. You can listen to our conversation here. To tie chastity down, as has been done, to mere mortification of the senses is to make of it a tool to sabotage the flourishing of character. It is also to misunderstand, misrepresent and misapply the meaning of a complex notion. I hope, in this book, to release ‘chastity’ from imprisonment in too narrow categories, allowing it to stretch, extend its limbs, breathe freely, perhaps even sing. I use these images advisedly. Unless chastity has a degree of full-bloodedness, it is not the real thing, but counterfeit. I shall proceed partly by analysis, partly by examples. If I seem to cast my net disconcertingly wide, bear with me. It is as it must be, for we are, I hope you will come to agree, entering a field the length and breadth of which reach far, very far. From the Introduction to the book.
HerringIn Norway, Christmas is herring season. Christmas, as we know, lasts until 2 February. One has time to eat a lot of herring. So I valued as topical the review of Graeme Rigby’s Encyclopaedia of the Herring in the TLS. Most informative. The poor herring was long associated with Lenten penance. A sixteenth-century poem ends a description of Ash Wednesday by bemoaning the profusion of ‘Herrings, herrings, stincking herrings’. Could this be the deeper cause of the Reformation? ‘In 18th-century Cork, to mark the end of Lent, a flayed herring would be tied to a stake and processed through the streets, where crowds would whip it out of town.’ Och, the Irish. One would rather recall Alexandre Dumas, who with Gallic perspicuity defined the herring ‘an excellent fish’ – or the sworn herringist Sir Lawrence Olivier who reportedly considered his (successful) campaign to have kippers reinstated on British Rail’s menu for the Brighton Belle train his ‘greatest role’. You can read the whole piece, and be greatly instructed, here.
TrivialitiesIn today’s office of readings the breviary gives a passage from St Basil’s Rules. It meditates on God’s immense graciousness, then concludes with the words: ‘To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities.’ The point is an important one. Trivialities are not always trivial. The more we focus on them, the more they become weighty; indeed they may weigh our existence down entirely, like an anchor caught in some sad wreckage at the bottom of the sea. The more we get used to losing ourselves in small things, the less we incline towards what is great. And love can die. From which fate may the Lord preserve us. We can help him in this by resuming, without delay, a conscious practice of recollection.
Shun to Appear HarshI recently found, hidden away in a book, some advice from St Seraphim of Sarov that a friend, a Benedictine nun, sent me in the last letter I received from her before she died in 2009. I needed to re-read it: ‘We cannot be too gentle, too kind. Shun even to appear to appear harsh in your treatment of each other. […] All condemnation is of the devil. We condemn others because we shun knowing ourselves. When we gaze at our own failings, we see such a morass of filth that nothing in another can equal it. That is why we turn away, and make much of the faults of others. Keep away from the spilling of speech. Instead of condemning others, strive to reach inner peace. Keep silent, refrain from judgement. This will raise you above the deadly arrows of slander, insult, outrage, and will shield your glowing hearts against the evil that creeps around.’
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Photos from Cloyne Diocese's postToday, Sunday 1st February we celebrate the Feast of Saint Brigid, Abbess and Secondary Patron of Ireland. She shares a name with a Celtic goddess from whom many legends and folk customs are associated. She founded the first nunnery in Ireland, Read More 1 Comments
Ahead of the Feast of St Brigid, tomorrow we share with you, her blessing for your home. May Brigid bless this house Wherein we dwell, Bless every fireside, every wall and door, Bless every heart that beats beneath its roof, Bless Read More 1 Comments
Feast of St. John Bosco Today we celebrate the feast of St. John Bosco and who was Founder of the Salesians and Patron Saint of Youth. Let us pray today for all the young people in our Diocese. 13 Likes
Don't miss our monthly episode of Catholic Mothers: Family Matters this Sunday, 1st February, at 7 pm on Radio Maria - Ireland . 🔵 This month Sinéad is talking to Fr James O'Reilly on the topic of how we, as Read More 2 Likes
Only 4 months to go until the Cloyne Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes 😊 #CloyneLourdes2026 Booking information: ➡️ www.joewalshtours.ie ➡️ Ruth is available in the office for information on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9.30 to 3.30 on 021-2427190. ➡️ All bookings can be made online Read More 1 Likes
