I Am Said I (Huruma)

God's voice Is in the heart And with my heart I hear Seeking his face With the eyes of my soul Great silence Within and around On hills and valleys and farms I want to pick up Mountains and kiss Them with love Even as I mourn The passing Of this sacred journey The newly formed Intimacy found We climb into The falling night You in white The only light in front Of me Scallop shell Like cowbell tinkling And I like a drunk Stumble on uncertain Rocks of pain Within these boots You would carry me Up to the height You have lifted me My Camino companion And I miss you Even as the sound Of your voice echoes In my heart And I see you as I see God With the eyes of my soul Beholding your beauty More marvelous than The most majestic mountain  +++ ONE MILLION STEPS TO FREEDOM: CAMINO DIARY

My novice master is someone I love and respect greatly. He is growing old now, his health is in decline and in conversation a few months ago and he asked me, “Do you think we are in the end times?” I said, “I don’t know.” And he said, “I wouldn’t mind if we were. I wouldn’t mind dying.” To which I replied, “I wouldn’t mind dying either if I were in the state of grace.” “You are never to assess yourself” was his clear response. I found that to be a great word of encouragement and wisdom because so often we can feel that we are actually unfit for the kingdom of heaven, that sometimes when the struggle is too great and we feel that we will never be ready. To know that we are not to assess or judge ourselves on the journey to eternal life is a blessing and a consolation. What we are called to do is to strive. The word that Jesus uses in the gospel is “strive to enter through the narrow door” ( Luke 13:22-30).  And the narrow door is the door of God’s discipline that is s...

Ballyovey Cemetery Flying high On Grace Soaring sunward Over sorrow Bright sky Above dark clouds We worship The Maker The Taker Of all life In Spirit and In truth You have  Prepared us Lord For parting And we have Allowed ourselves  To be prepared Prepare us too For the loneliness  Of absence And tears That speak Of Grace Abundantly Poured forth We beseech You (Partry Church October 19,2016 7.00pm)

Dark evenings closing in I turn my chair to the fire Facing the warmth My back against night Suggestions of cold weather I am Alone but not abandoned Flame and hearth Hold memory Mesmerising moments The mystery of old stories told And new unfoldings Past and future huddled Together for now

Depression turns Physical Not content With breaking Heart and Soul and Mind It assaults Flesh and bone The very marrow Its dark heavy sadness Pressing down Upon the head Taking possession Of every single fibre Leaving the body Restlessly ill An unnameable Sickness That craves a clawing The young man's Self-harmed lacerated Arms are red and raw The only way he can bear And feel the pain We take different Fretfully frightened paths To escape the overwhelming Onslaught I have turned To God in agony At Gethsemane Crucified at Golgotha Abandoned Surrendered Taken down Restored

Jesus sleeping In my soul Your head cushioned On my heart My body the vessel Of your choosing Spirit the wind That fills my sails The breaking Storm The Father's House Our destination  Though rough the sea And filled with fear I will not wake you The silence of repose The serenity of your face Are calm enough for me +++ Mark 4:35-41 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Jesus Stills a Storm 35  On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  36  And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him.  37  A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.  38  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  39  He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to...