Lovely, this Sunday morning which I learned is the 300th anniversary of Bach's St. John's Passion, a work that I have sung, listened to, and loved, and still love, but listen to... less now, and can no longer sing, unfortunately.
Thank you for making me laugh through my tears ? The wedding planners make me think of Las Vegas, and we know where that is, right ?...
The world one big Las Vegas, is that where we're heading ? I certainly hope not. Las Vegas looks so incredibly... cheap, even with the sophisticated cardboard replicas of Venice installed in it (but I may be wrong, and they may even be gone by now, who knows ?).
Yes, for going back to the source... literally and metaphorically, both together.
Thankyou for writing full of a haunting resonance that is such a deeper sounding into what was founded here in Ireland where the voices of the past are like underground streams and carried on the air. A delight to read.
It’s been a while since I visited the Abbey. How replenished I am by the spring of your words.
In our home town the convent became a commercial art gallery and wedding venue. Every weekend it’s booked out with people drunkenly celebrating their nuptials. It’s raucous. In the nearest provincial city, a gold rush town, the glorious monastery was turned into swanky apartments. Indeed, one is up for sale: https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-wendouree-144561296 They have been 'tastefully restored' but the sad thing is they sold off the grounds which framed the building. Now there is a supersized homewares store that abuts one side and a large concrete shopping centre with massive carpark on the other side. The contrast between the world that was and the one that is, is especially sad and stark. Thank you for your humble sanity and faith, Paul.
Beautiful writing as ever Paul. If you want to know why church buildings in Ireland all channel the gloomy Gothic vibe, then the answer came from one man, Cardinal Cullen, who in the wake of the existential shock of the Famine took the Irish Church by the scruff of the neck and Romanized and standarised it in his image. And while, like you, I find it really sad that these buildings, financed by the donations of the poor, are now being retooled into the new churches of consumerism, after Vatican II, many church buildings were shown as little respect by the church who ripped out altar rails, stained glass and turned some churches into bland bingo halls often without the permission or consent of their congregations. But it is really sad to see the Pottersvillification (from a Wonderful Life) of so many Irish towns these days.....
I loved this story. It’s an enticing picture you paint, with your words, of the search by you (sometimes with your daughter or son) for forgotten wells. Theres a sadness there - faith replaced by … oh I don’t want to
I just read Fr Stephen De Young's book "God is a Man of War" - at one point he is talking about how a disrespectful and casual approach to His holy places (from the burning bush to the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple) would be met with his awesome, burning and blinding divinity and also with his anger at our audacity. Where is this awesome God now? Sometimes I wish we could fear God again.
A recent drive on Easter Sunday morning found empty parking lots at a half-dozen local churches. Twenty years ago, they would have been parking along the streets.
It's wondrous how much those schoolchildren knew who wrote down the folklore. Your children who have come round with you searching for wells will be able to tell the stories to others some day, too.
I'm really loving the tales of such glorious atavism surrounding the history of these wells in my ancestral home-place. Wish I'd known about (and visited) more of them when we visited Ireland a decade ago. Only one I made it to was the tourist-y Brighid's Well in Kildaire. Fell head over heels into the water trying to tippy-toe across the water to do the traditional tourist-y touching of the statue. I imagine Herself chuckling and saying "Well now, if it isn't The Gallaher come callin'! In ya go, boy!"
The world is going to be turned upside down in the coming years by the emergence of AI (the final manifestation of 'the Machine').
It's easy to feel gloomy as this creature of materialism assumes its fullest power at the same time that holy places slip out of memory and into disrepair, churches fall empty and people turn their faces away from the divine.
But this could also be a surprising moment, an opportunity even. The very ahuman* nature of this new, artificial world will compel many of us to seek out its opposite - the non-material. More of us will find ourselves drawn to abandoned holy wells, to the ruins of what were once churches, even to remote caves and forest glades like the wild saints of old. We will want to explore the divine in nature, or just seek it in our hearts.
When I discuss The Abbey and Paul's journey with friends, they often assume that he is retreating from modernity (and 'the world'). This is not a criticism on their part - usually they are envious. But they are wrong.
When you retreat you go backwards, you withdraw from where you are and go back to where you once were. I don't see that as what Paul is doing. He is a pioneer. He is not behind, he is out in front, inviting us (tacitly) to follow.
If materialism is taking its final shape, then the tide of holiness, spirituality and appreciation of the divine is approaching its lowest ebb. When that tide turns - and it will - it will come back with a power that will surprise the world.
Paul is not retreating. He has been sent to show us one way forward.
* I might have just made up the word 'ahuman', but 'anti-human' did not feel right. The Machine will not be anti-human, it just won't care about us at all.
I do think people yearn for something Holy and something to worship. Look at all they excitement over the eclipse tomorrow. Millions of people are traveling to the path of totality to see something unique and rare. Thats how we used to see God. A mighty and very real force. Just like the story of the nun catching fire, God was immediate , watching , and very real. The manmade world lacks in every way and is a cheap fix to what we really need. Id welcome an instant beating or burning from God for my sin just for the sake of His touch.
Tears have “welled” up in me at the reading of the last two lines of your essay this morning Paul. Seems my own childlike faith and curiosity have dried up somewhat in the last two decades. Your writings are guideposts to reaching the source again, and I’m so thankful for your wise and moving writings.
Another Sunday meditation. Way better than what passes to church in my part of the world. Next week will be heading back to the Camino de Santiago praying with my feet. I will carry us all with me
Benedict was elected Pope, in hopes that he would be able to replicate in western europe what John Paul II did in eastern Europe.
Enough to say that didn't happen. Western europe is gone to Christianity, probably forever, at least for the foreseeable future.
After western europe was abandoned, Francis was elected in hopes that he could salvage Latin America. Enough to say that it don't look good there, either.
Lovely, this Sunday morning which I learned is the 300th anniversary of Bach's St. John's Passion, a work that I have sung, listened to, and loved, and still love, but listen to... less now, and can no longer sing, unfortunately.
Thank you for making me laugh through my tears ? The wedding planners make me think of Las Vegas, and we know where that is, right ?...
The world one big Las Vegas, is that where we're heading ? I certainly hope not. Las Vegas looks so incredibly... cheap, even with the sophisticated cardboard replicas of Venice installed in it (but I may be wrong, and they may even be gone by now, who knows ?).
Yes, for going back to the source... literally and metaphorically, both together.
Thankyou for writing full of a haunting resonance that is such a deeper sounding into what was founded here in Ireland where the voices of the past are like underground streams and carried on the air. A delight to read.
It’s been a while since I visited the Abbey. How replenished I am by the spring of your words.
In our home town the convent became a commercial art gallery and wedding venue. Every weekend it’s booked out with people drunkenly celebrating their nuptials. It’s raucous. In the nearest provincial city, a gold rush town, the glorious monastery was turned into swanky apartments. Indeed, one is up for sale: https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-vic-wendouree-144561296 They have been 'tastefully restored' but the sad thing is they sold off the grounds which framed the building. Now there is a supersized homewares store that abuts one side and a large concrete shopping centre with massive carpark on the other side. The contrast between the world that was and the one that is, is especially sad and stark. Thank you for your humble sanity and faith, Paul.
Beautiful writing as ever Paul. If you want to know why church buildings in Ireland all channel the gloomy Gothic vibe, then the answer came from one man, Cardinal Cullen, who in the wake of the existential shock of the Famine took the Irish Church by the scruff of the neck and Romanized and standarised it in his image. And while, like you, I find it really sad that these buildings, financed by the donations of the poor, are now being retooled into the new churches of consumerism, after Vatican II, many church buildings were shown as little respect by the church who ripped out altar rails, stained glass and turned some churches into bland bingo halls often without the permission or consent of their congregations. But it is really sad to see the Pottersvillification (from a Wonderful Life) of so many Irish towns these days.....
I loved this story. It’s an enticing picture you paint, with your words, of the search by you (sometimes with your daughter or son) for forgotten wells. Theres a sadness there - faith replaced by … oh I don’t want to
speak it… but ‘wedding planner’ ….
I just read Fr Stephen De Young's book "God is a Man of War" - at one point he is talking about how a disrespectful and casual approach to His holy places (from the burning bush to the tabernacle and the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple) would be met with his awesome, burning and blinding divinity and also with his anger at our audacity. Where is this awesome God now? Sometimes I wish we could fear God again.
The speed with which churchgoing has disappeared, even in our rural valley, is shocking. This article in the Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/04/america-religion-decline-non-affiliated/677951/?gift=Vldr1EADnz3JyUKZd1CUWXAdl7DVaOH2CjaxTQfTetk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share) addresses the social costs of loss of community and friendships.
A recent drive on Easter Sunday morning found empty parking lots at a half-dozen local churches. Twenty years ago, they would have been parking along the streets.
My best,
Lovely piece, Paul.
It's wondrous how much those schoolchildren knew who wrote down the folklore. Your children who have come round with you searching for wells will be able to tell the stories to others some day, too.
I'm really loving the tales of such glorious atavism surrounding the history of these wells in my ancestral home-place. Wish I'd known about (and visited) more of them when we visited Ireland a decade ago. Only one I made it to was the tourist-y Brighid's Well in Kildaire. Fell head over heels into the water trying to tippy-toe across the water to do the traditional tourist-y touching of the statue. I imagine Herself chuckling and saying "Well now, if it isn't The Gallaher come callin'! In ya go, boy!"
Beautiful as always.
The world is going to be turned upside down in the coming years by the emergence of AI (the final manifestation of 'the Machine').
It's easy to feel gloomy as this creature of materialism assumes its fullest power at the same time that holy places slip out of memory and into disrepair, churches fall empty and people turn their faces away from the divine.
But this could also be a surprising moment, an opportunity even. The very ahuman* nature of this new, artificial world will compel many of us to seek out its opposite - the non-material. More of us will find ourselves drawn to abandoned holy wells, to the ruins of what were once churches, even to remote caves and forest glades like the wild saints of old. We will want to explore the divine in nature, or just seek it in our hearts.
When I discuss The Abbey and Paul's journey with friends, they often assume that he is retreating from modernity (and 'the world'). This is not a criticism on their part - usually they are envious. But they are wrong.
When you retreat you go backwards, you withdraw from where you are and go back to where you once were. I don't see that as what Paul is doing. He is a pioneer. He is not behind, he is out in front, inviting us (tacitly) to follow.
If materialism is taking its final shape, then the tide of holiness, spirituality and appreciation of the divine is approaching its lowest ebb. When that tide turns - and it will - it will come back with a power that will surprise the world.
Paul is not retreating. He has been sent to show us one way forward.
* I might have just made up the word 'ahuman', but 'anti-human' did not feel right. The Machine will not be anti-human, it just won't care about us at all.
I do think people yearn for something Holy and something to worship. Look at all they excitement over the eclipse tomorrow. Millions of people are traveling to the path of totality to see something unique and rare. Thats how we used to see God. A mighty and very real force. Just like the story of the nun catching fire, God was immediate , watching , and very real. The manmade world lacks in every way and is a cheap fix to what we really need. Id welcome an instant beating or burning from God for my sin just for the sake of His touch.
Lovely piece. It ends so strongly as well. To refresh something tired and ancient, go back to the source. It's heartening to be reminded of that.
Tears have “welled” up in me at the reading of the last two lines of your essay this morning Paul. Seems my own childlike faith and curiosity have dried up somewhat in the last two decades. Your writings are guideposts to reaching the source again, and I’m so thankful for your wise and moving writings.
Another Sunday meditation. Way better than what passes to church in my part of the world. Next week will be heading back to the Camino de Santiago praying with my feet. I will carry us all with me
Benedict was elected Pope, in hopes that he would be able to replicate in western europe what John Paul II did in eastern Europe.
Enough to say that didn't happen. Western europe is gone to Christianity, probably forever, at least for the foreseeable future.
After western europe was abandoned, Francis was elected in hopes that he could salvage Latin America. Enough to say that it don't look good there, either.