Thank you for this beautiful piece on Sunday morning, Paul. A treat.
What do people "offer", and what is the sense of their offerings ? Is it supposed to be thanks, in relation with their ailment, or what ?
I am moved by the idea of people going around stations on their knees.
That must really get the hackles of the sophisticated enlightened up. Very disturbing.
But I know that on his deathbed, Voltaire called for his mother, and she had been dead for many years, probably.
I notice that maybe in recent years it's mainly the women ? going around on their knees, at least in France, where faith is often considered to be a woman's thing., and... unmanly.
But there are not all that many "gentle men" around our world these days. A gentleman is not a weakling or a coward, but a man who disciplines his strength and puts it to good use.
You made this well beautiful this morning. And it is in your backyard, if I understand correctly.
I have a deep jealousy for the role of Jesus as the Great Physician who bore our diseases and afflictions. I think many assume there was some sort of “divine overdrive” involved in this earthly work, making it easy to restore blindness or heal leprosy. It was Malcolm Muggeridge’s writing that helped me to understand the true cost of Christ’s humanity in dealing with the consequences of sin. This is why I find petitions to Mary so distressing. It diminishes that costly bearing performed by Jesus.
When I lived in Ireland I heard some interesting “anthropological” explanations for Mary’s “intercession”, to wit — if you want a son to do something, ask his mother. Or, you can’t directly make a request. Such theology seemed a neat fit with a matriarchal, decidedly indirect culture. There was also the sense that Mary provided a “female balance” to God. Yet God — who is spirit — does use female imaginary to express his care and involvement with humanity. (A hen gathering chicks.)
Bad theology and misunderstanding of anything can be a stumbling block. Muslims have informed me that I worship three gods, and atheists have let me know my master held ethnic prejudice towards Samaritan ’dogs’.
Likewise until I came to know Mary sympathetically through love and prayer I could make no sense of her. But as with the Holy Trinity and Jesus’s enfleshed in a culture, to to approach and respond through love to that which is real, Will only heal and smooth the soul.
To begin with Mary it’s essential to know her as Theotokos- birthgiver to God. This opens up her own participation in her son’s suffering, prophetically spoken to as the sword that will pierce her own soul by Simeon the prophet.
Just as the cross is what it must be for Love to incarnate in this world, so the piercing is what it means to bear him.
There is far more interconnection and participation in Christ than the West remembers.
She is the archetypal Christian- showing us how to say yes to bearing Christ into this violent world. But you can really only know her this way- as one not separated from her son and God- through love and prayer, and in a liturgical life that shares her with you rightly.
I would guess because in the Catholic church August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of the BVM, and September 8th is that of the Nativity of the BVM and therefore a good time to ask for her intercession. But that is a just a guess.
When I was a child, we had no holy wells nearby to cure our warts. Thus, I was instructed on how to cure my warts with a method my mother must have learned from her mother, born in West Court. You took a potato, cut it in half, and then rubbed it on the wart. After that, you took the potato halves and buried them in a secret place, telling no one where you buried them. This last part was considered very important. I can personally attest to the efficacy of this cure and remain wartless to this day.
“A decent man was standing at a little distance and, seeing that I was a stranger, approached. I asked for what was the water of this well good. ‘Oh, Sir,’ said he, ‘it is good for everything, – the blind return walking, the lame speaking, and the deaf seeing. If you have any infirmities, just go round on your knees seven times and see what happens.’”
When I read this quote silently the voice of Richard Dawkins immediately took on the role of this foolishly skeptical Frenchman:)
The Rounds caught my attention when reading this intriguing missive. For it is, after all, an example of ritual performed at a Holy place. Rituals are, in my view, more about what is not performed than what is performed and so in that sense it is more about limitations.
Why just those actions and not some thousand other ways of ritual like going counter-clockwise or starting at the Grotto first or stopping and facing East when saying the prayer?
The Rounds represent a tiny fraction of activity one could potentially perform and like the Liturgy drives home this notion in scripture (Matt 7) that “...the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life...”
The paradox of Freedom is that it is found by the reduction of our options; obedience, rather than the illusion that Freedom=abundance and vast options as presented by modernity.
Thus one of the many benefits of asceticism is to practice constricting our options and getting used to it-getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
I am noticing the very earthy and earthly pictures of rough stone walls and structures, the uninviting, stale pools of water, mud, forlorn rags on branches, plastic figurines, messages from the past and I am trying to reconcile it all to the beautiful and perfect Divine. Sadness wells up inside me, the true wretchedness of our state cries out for compassion....Because there is miracle, too, in the midst of it all - the miracle of the longing for the Divine in our hearts, and maybe the miracles of healings, as well.....?(I am aware that this is a very personal reaction and others may see something quite different in these pictures of healing wells.)
I really hope you turn this into a book, one suitably sized for carrying around. I'd love to do a trip to visit some (all!) the wells using the fabulous account you are creating.
"More than two centuries on, the scepticism of the Enlightened does not prevent people coming here still to seek the healing that the mainstream medical system cannot offer."
The much ballyhooed enlightenment is but a blindness to the miraculous. Christ's miracles are loudly and continuously denied, as are those more recent and those present. While we can't claim that all our ills will be healed, we can't deny thar they are sometimes healed. I don't wish to encourage magical thinking, I must insist that there exist happenings beyond our understanding. Any honest doctor will admit to having seen diseases mysteriously disappear.
I need a little help. I'd like to gift a friend a subscription to The Abbey but can't for the life of me figure out how to do it. Any assistance would be deeply appreciated.
Just beautiful. We should bring our children and grandchildren to these sacred sites. Doon Well, near Letterkenny, the well associated with St Patrick near An Ghrianan, (I have a beautiful picture of my daughter praying there hanging in my house) St Columb's Well in Derry's Bogside come immediately to mind. There are hundreds in west Ulster alone. This is our heritage.
I am greatly enjoying this series of essays on the holy wells of Ireland. Especially since we just celebrated Holy Theophany on the New Calendar only 1 week ago!
"We can't bear too much neatness, or too much reason." Wonderful and deep, thank you.
Indeed, "The Great Mystery will always be lurking...."
Thank you for this beautiful piece on Sunday morning, Paul. A treat.
What do people "offer", and what is the sense of their offerings ? Is it supposed to be thanks, in relation with their ailment, or what ?
I am moved by the idea of people going around stations on their knees.
That must really get the hackles of the sophisticated enlightened up. Very disturbing.
But I know that on his deathbed, Voltaire called for his mother, and she had been dead for many years, probably.
I notice that maybe in recent years it's mainly the women ? going around on their knees, at least in France, where faith is often considered to be a woman's thing., and... unmanly.
But there are not all that many "gentle men" around our world these days. A gentleman is not a weakling or a coward, but a man who disciplines his strength and puts it to good use.
You made this well beautiful this morning. And it is in your backyard, if I understand correctly.
“A gentleman is not a weakling or a coward, but a man who disciplines his strength and puts it to good use,”- indeed, and well said!
Reading your essays are like listening to lovely, soothing music.
Thank you.
I have a deep jealousy for the role of Jesus as the Great Physician who bore our diseases and afflictions. I think many assume there was some sort of “divine overdrive” involved in this earthly work, making it easy to restore blindness or heal leprosy. It was Malcolm Muggeridge’s writing that helped me to understand the true cost of Christ’s humanity in dealing with the consequences of sin. This is why I find petitions to Mary so distressing. It diminishes that costly bearing performed by Jesus.
When I lived in Ireland I heard some interesting “anthropological” explanations for Mary’s “intercession”, to wit — if you want a son to do something, ask his mother. Or, you can’t directly make a request. Such theology seemed a neat fit with a matriarchal, decidedly indirect culture. There was also the sense that Mary provided a “female balance” to God. Yet God — who is spirit — does use female imaginary to express his care and involvement with humanity. (A hen gathering chicks.)
Bad theology and misunderstanding of anything can be a stumbling block. Muslims have informed me that I worship three gods, and atheists have let me know my master held ethnic prejudice towards Samaritan ’dogs’.
Likewise until I came to know Mary sympathetically through love and prayer I could make no sense of her. But as with the Holy Trinity and Jesus’s enfleshed in a culture, to to approach and respond through love to that which is real, Will only heal and smooth the soul.
To begin with Mary it’s essential to know her as Theotokos- birthgiver to God. This opens up her own participation in her son’s suffering, prophetically spoken to as the sword that will pierce her own soul by Simeon the prophet.
Just as the cross is what it must be for Love to incarnate in this world, so the piercing is what it means to bear him.
There is far more interconnection and participation in Christ than the West remembers.
She is the archetypal Christian- showing us how to say yes to bearing Christ into this violent world. But you can really only know her this way- as one not separated from her son and God- through love and prayer, and in a liturgical life that shares her with you rightly.
Lovely and provocative as usual; thank you.
I am wondering about the significance of the dates listed on the “Rounds” sign: August 15 - September 8. Why?
I would guess because in the Catholic church August 15th is the Feast of the Assumption of the BVM, and September 8th is that of the Nativity of the BVM and therefore a good time to ask for her intercession. But that is a just a guess.
When I was a child, we had no holy wells nearby to cure our warts. Thus, I was instructed on how to cure my warts with a method my mother must have learned from her mother, born in West Court. You took a potato, cut it in half, and then rubbed it on the wart. After that, you took the potato halves and buried them in a secret place, telling no one where you buried them. This last part was considered very important. I can personally attest to the efficacy of this cure and remain wartless to this day.
Of course, that should have been "West Cork."
“A decent man was standing at a little distance and, seeing that I was a stranger, approached. I asked for what was the water of this well good. ‘Oh, Sir,’ said he, ‘it is good for everything, – the blind return walking, the lame speaking, and the deaf seeing. If you have any infirmities, just go round on your knees seven times and see what happens.’”
When I read this quote silently the voice of Richard Dawkins immediately took on the role of this foolishly skeptical Frenchman:)
I would definitely read an account by Richard Dawkins of his travels to holy wells and religious sites. I think it would be riveting!
Wouldn’t it tho!
The Rounds caught my attention when reading this intriguing missive. For it is, after all, an example of ritual performed at a Holy place. Rituals are, in my view, more about what is not performed than what is performed and so in that sense it is more about limitations.
Why just those actions and not some thousand other ways of ritual like going counter-clockwise or starting at the Grotto first or stopping and facing East when saying the prayer?
The Rounds represent a tiny fraction of activity one could potentially perform and like the Liturgy drives home this notion in scripture (Matt 7) that “...the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life...”
The paradox of Freedom is that it is found by the reduction of our options; obedience, rather than the illusion that Freedom=abundance and vast options as presented by modernity.
Thus one of the many benefits of asceticism is to practice constricting our options and getting used to it-getting comfortable being uncomfortable.
I am noticing the very earthy and earthly pictures of rough stone walls and structures, the uninviting, stale pools of water, mud, forlorn rags on branches, plastic figurines, messages from the past and I am trying to reconcile it all to the beautiful and perfect Divine. Sadness wells up inside me, the true wretchedness of our state cries out for compassion....Because there is miracle, too, in the midst of it all - the miracle of the longing for the Divine in our hearts, and maybe the miracles of healings, as well.....?(I am aware that this is a very personal reaction and others may see something quite different in these pictures of healing wells.)
I really hope you turn this into a book, one suitably sized for carrying around. I'd love to do a trip to visit some (all!) the wells using the fabulous account you are creating.
"More than two centuries on, the scepticism of the Enlightened does not prevent people coming here still to seek the healing that the mainstream medical system cannot offer."
The much ballyhooed enlightenment is but a blindness to the miraculous. Christ's miracles are loudly and continuously denied, as are those more recent and those present. While we can't claim that all our ills will be healed, we can't deny thar they are sometimes healed. I don't wish to encourage magical thinking, I must insist that there exist happenings beyond our understanding. Any honest doctor will admit to having seen diseases mysteriously disappear.
I need a little help. I'd like to gift a friend a subscription to The Abbey but can't for the life of me figure out how to do it. Any assistance would be deeply appreciated.
Hope this helps:
https://support.substack.com/hc/en-us/articles/360037489632-How-do-I-give-a-paid-subscription-as-a-gift-on-Substack
Just beautiful. We should bring our children and grandchildren to these sacred sites. Doon Well, near Letterkenny, the well associated with St Patrick near An Ghrianan, (I have a beautiful picture of my daughter praying there hanging in my house) St Columb's Well in Derry's Bogside come immediately to mind. There are hundreds in west Ulster alone. This is our heritage.
I am greatly enjoying this series of essays on the holy wells of Ireland. Especially since we just celebrated Holy Theophany on the New Calendar only 1 week ago!
Beautiful. So funny! "...some sort of Hobbity gate." - love this phrase. Yes, beneath everything. I am learning to drop into that also.
That did the trick. Thanks Heather.