MANY OF US, alas, might have snored through the Sermon on the Mount. Patrick, Bridget and Columba realised there was no time to lose. We too are called to be salt and light, and leaven. God has given to each some acres of his wide domain to till, as the Sower goes out in love to sow the saving seed. Many of our people have answered the Master's call with love beyond all telling. Nano Nagle and Edmund Rice ... George Otto Simms and Helen Waddell... Edel Quinn and Matt Talbot! Their very names awaken immortal longings in us.
The litany is endless. Our isle is full of voices. The call is for a return to Scripture and to prayer.
to holiness and to hope made new. There is forever a Pauline echo in all Celtic spirituality.
"Now is the acceptable time! Now is the Day of Salvation!" All grace is given for action. The time is always now.
Our myriad holy places awaken and inspire. Armagh and Durrow . . . Lough Derg and Clonmacnois Croagh Patrick and Kevin's Glendalough ... Bangor, Kells, and Clonard of the many saints! All these and many more must call forever to the deep places of the heart. Our island outposts of holiness summon us to Gospel values and to vision once again restored. Who would come to Colmcille's Iona, or to A, ran of the Saints, and not know immortal longings that will fan into flame the dying embers of the faith transmitted by countless holy ones who are our kith and kin?
We once more awaken to the profound realities we most need to remember, and yet all too often so easily forget. Patrick Kavanagh awakens us to truth. "From the Boher Bwee to the Lady Well was the pilgrim road that twisted by quiet fields away from the clever villages THAT LAUGHED AT ANCIENT HOLINESS" . . . Are we sad, shallow residents in sterile, cold and empty regions from which vision has long fled?
The saints of Ireland call to us in love. Attracta, Ita, Lelia, and Dympna . . . Finbar, Brendan, Kieran, and Kevin . . . the noble litany sings to us a song of holiness and hope. Do we forget the heritage that is ours? Killian and Columban and Gall have carved their names in pride upon the spiritual map of Europe. A noble President of a country long in chains has warned us that we shall have nothing to offer to the future if we reject our Christian past. Have we ears to hear?
A poet gives to us a vibrant challenge in words of unconquerable hope.
Thank God our time is now
When wrong comes up to face us everywhere
Never to leave us
Till we take the longest stride
Of soul men ever took.
Affairs are now soul sized
The enterprise is exploration
Into God ...
(Christopher Fry: "A Sleep of Prisoners").
Our time must certainly be now. The saints still guide us by word of scripture and by gift of sacrament, as along the paths of prayer they lead us towards the blessings that will make for us our lasting peace.